The messages on SNS were swiftly suppressed.
That night, on the top floor of Half-Mountain Mansion, Liang Jin freshened up after her shower and fiddled with her lighter on the windowsill. The fresh camisole dress she wore had been bought for her by Shen Keye through room service—a white silk number with an exquisite drape that fit her perfectly.
What a coincidence.
Liang Jin let out a scoff amid her weariness, lit a cigarette, and gazed into the distance.
The city sprawled in decadent opulence, its nightscape a glittering tapestry of lights. Far off, a red double-decker bus threaded through the golden haze of towering buildings on the elevated highway. From what Shao Xingyu had said over the phone just now, Song Youhuai had been shipped off to South America—unlikely to return for years. With his real-name account locked down, he was cut off from the internet for life, forced into a permanent “internet detox.”
This, she supposed, was the taste of power.
Dark strands of hair fell across Liang Jin’s eyes.
【Why have all the messages been taken down?】
A message from Wu Lin popped up. Liang Jin pursed her lips and glanced back toward the bathroom. Shen Keye was in the shower; he’d brought her here and requested just the one suite.
In the dim golden light, the frosted glass door took on a hazy gray tint, accompanied by the steady patter of running water.
On the way over, Liang Jin had asked Shen Keye if he intended to sleep with her. He hadn’t answered, but somehow, the answer didn’t seem to matter.
As long as she wanted something, she would surrender to it.
In her heart, she told herself she’d sold her soul to the devil.
She replied: 【My boyfriend took care of it.】
A new message lit up her phone—not from Wu Lin. Liang Jin’s lips tightened.
It was from Deng Jiayi.
【One of my colleagues at Yanghe Hospital says they’ve received data from an old project in Northern Europe related to amyloidosis. Your mom and sister have a chance now.】
【Liang Jin, want to know more?】
It matched what Wu Lin had mentioned.
Deng Jiayi had only recently given her Liang Wei’s genetic test results. Out of courtesy and necessity, Liang Jin couldn’t ignore his call.
She typed back: 【Tomorrow.】
But Deng Jiayi didn’t listen and called her directly.
The ringing startled Liang Jin.
“Liang Jin, I’m just glad you’re willing to talk to me.” The man on the other end sighed in exasperation. He’d barely arrived in Jiangnan when he learned Liang Wenbin had misunderstood his intentions. “Your dad didn’t say anything to you, did he?”
Liang Jin didn’t respond. Instead, she stood and headed for the door, tossing her cigarette into the trash bin as she lowered her gaze. “Just say what you called to say, Deng Jiayi.”
“What’s going on between you and Shen…?” Deng Jiayi clearly had something more pressing on his mind. He pressed urgently, “Is what SNS is saying true? I saw it. He’s forcing you, isn’t he?”
Liang Jin frowned, her hand resting on the door handle.
Deng Jiayi urged her, “Liang Jin, you don’t have to go this far for your family.”
Liang Jin wanted to know if there were better treatments for Zeng Zhi and Liang Wei too. She stepped out into the hall and said, “About the data…”
The corridor was empty.
Deng Jiayi cut her off. “That movie role—you traded yourself for it. How could you land the lead on your own? Liang Jin, you don’t have that kind of talent!”
The words cut deep. Liang Jin let out a cold laugh. “If you don’t want to talk, we can schedule it for next time.”
What was Deng Jiayi really after?
Concern for her? Or just accusations?
“Why bother talking to him?”
Liang Jin jumped at the sudden male voice. She turned to see Shen Keye emerging from the bathroom.
Steam still clung to him. He’d thrown on a gray-black tank top and pants, his damp hair slicked back. Only then did Liang Jin notice the scar on the left side of his forehead. His arm muscles were sleek and defined, veins tracing paths over lean strength—an aesthetic blend of beauty and power, marred unfortunately by injuries.
A patchwork of old and new scars crisscrossed his skin, vanishing into his sleeves.
They all looked like the work of blunt clubs.
Deng Jiayi had clearly heard the muffled voice. He demanded, “Who are you with?”
Liang Jin ignored him and told Shen Keye, “He’s found some recent info on my mom and sister’s illnesses.”
Shen Keye glanced at her phone, then went back inside to grab the first-aid kit and sat down.
Silence stretched between the two of them, broken only by Deng Jiayi’s scolding. “Liang Jin, did you get a room? You’re barely an adult—!”
Shen Keye smirked. “Hang up.”
The girl lowered her gaze almost imperceptibly, suppressing the flicker of emotion in her eyes. Liang Jin stepped forward. “Yanghe Hospital just received treatment protocols for my mom’s rare disease. I have to talk to him.”
Even so, she obediently ended the call.
Shen Keye’s expression remained impassive as he added, “Block him.”
Under the ceiling light, the two stood in taut, wordless standoff.
She stood just an arm’s reach away, her shoulders slender and pale. Liang Jin had showered and spritzed on some light perfume—a crisp, languid scent that wasn’t inviting in the slightest.
She hesitated for a moment, then blacklisted the number right in front of Shen Keye.
Liang Jin asked, “He wants to help me, but you won’t let him. So, are you taking responsibility?”
Shen Keye fell silent for a beat before lifting his gaze, his tone mocking. “Liang Jin, you said you wanted to hook me, yet you put me on the same level as that thing. Well played.”
The girl lowered her eyes and caught Shen Keye’s displeased expression. He pursed his lips, his thin eyelids raised to reveal pitch-black eyes that stared at her with cold, tangible intensity. When he scoffed, the tiny black mole on his hard, sharp nose bridge stood out starkly.
Liang Jin scooted over to sit beside him. When she glanced up, she spotted the wound hidden beneath his soft, tousled bangs once more.
It was faintly bruised with hints of purple—a long streak, already somewhat swollen. The mark looked jarringly out of place on his sharply defined, aloof face.
Shen Keye was scrolling through his phone, looking for someone to contact. He said coldly, “If I help you out with this, you’ll owe me again, Liang Jin.”
He was helping her yet again. Liang Jin acted as if she hadn’t heard, frowning as she asked, “Did your uncle hit you again?”
Shen Keye turned an indifferent gaze on her, scoffing. “What?”
Liang Jin’s emotions were a tangled mess. She said, “You brought me here to get a room, but not to sleep with me.”
Shen Keye paused mid-twist with the iodine swab, pulling back his gaze. He couldn’t suppress a cold laugh.
She actually thought he’d brought her here to make love.
“Want me to help treat it?”
His response held no warmth. “No need.”
Before meeting her, Shen Keye had gone to tend the graves, arriving far later than planned.
Shen Keye was at odds with Shen Junbang, and he’d never hidden that from her.
He’d clashed with Shen Junbang again.
Shen Keye was defying Shen Junbang, and he’d never kept it from her. Perhaps one day, this Crown Prince—surrounded by admirers—would find himself in peril.
Liang Jin thought of Liang Wei. During their last video call, her sister had woken up, still looking frail and sickly as she nibbled on an apple and insisted, “It doesn’t hurt at all.”
Liang Jin always rewarded her little sister.
She remembered their meal at the restaurant near school last time—they’d planned to go shooting but skipped it because it got too late. Liang Jin did owe Shen Keye that outing. She reached out and touched his wound.
The sudden contact brought a cool sensation; her fingers were soft as cotton. Shen Keye watched Liang Jin’s face draw near.
She bit her lip and murmured, “Didn’t you say you’d take me out tonight?” A faint smile curved the girl’s lips as she suggested, “I saw an arcade near the casino down the hill. Once you’ve treated that wound, I’ll win you a gift.”
~~~
Macau’s nights were chillier than its days.
Shen Keye shrugged into a thin sweater and jacket before heading out, a long-chain cross-star pendant dangling from his neck. He stood amid the crowd, waiting for Liang Jin to buy the stewed pear soup.
She’d wanted to check his wound moments ago, only to be rebuffed—but the warmth of her touch still lingered on his forehead and arm, carrying her faint scent.
Shao Xingyu had just heard that Shen Keye got someone to quash the scandal. He called, demanding, “What the hell do you mean by this?”
“Who’s ‘you’?”
“You and Liang Jin. You just told me to round up people from Yanghe Hospital to help her—that’s your sister’s turf, and you’ve already bailed her out.” Shao Xingyu scrolled through social media in shock, reading aloud from the posts. “What do you mean you two aren’t dating?”
Liang Jin had promised Shao Xingyu the scandal would blow over that night, but this wasn’t the fix he’d imagined. He sneered, “Fuck, is Liang Jin screwing with you? You break up?”
Shao Xingyu was pissed, rambling on about the evening’s events and on the verge of exploding—when Shen Keye suddenly asked, “She really told Song Youhuai I’m better?”
“…”
Shao Xingyu demanded, “You like her that much? Even when she’s toying with you like this?”
Liang Jin approached through the crowd, carrying two bowls. Shen Keye’s indifferent eyes lit with a breezy smile as he remarked, “Who’s toying with whom remains to be seen.”
In the past, he’d only wanted Liang Jin as his possession. Shen Keye had never failed to claim what he desired.
But now, he realized he could have even more.
Shen Keye said, “Gonna hang up.”
The boy waited for her to stroll over, then issued his command: “Let’s go.”
Liang Jin had taken the liberty of getting something sweet and handed him his bowl. She added, “My sister loves sweets. She says they put you in a better mood.”
It was already midnight. Without the casino’s blaze of colorful lights, the area would have been lost in darkness. The arcade beside the night market wasn’t too crowded. Liang Jin found a shooting game near the back entrance.
Her cold, focused look was mesmerizing—the sort of striking beauty made for the silver screen.
Shen Keye lit a cigarette.
The night stretched on endlessly, shadows swallowing countless places, yet the moonlight draped itself over her alone, as if she were the only one bathed in its glow.
She’d nailed sixteen perfect tens, two nines, and a single seven.
The shooting game at the arcade wasn’t all that tough, but she was still a few points shy of cashing in the grand prize.
Liang Jin fiddled with the fixed moving target, then froze mid-motion.
Shen Keye carried the sharp scent of disinfectant and ointment, mingled with the cool bite of mint-laced cigarette smoke.
His face pressed close to hers, his masculine presence seeping through the stiff fabric of his clothes.
Instinct screamed at Liang Jin to bolt, but she wrestled it down and managed, “What’s wrong?”
Shen Keye replied, “I don’t want to shell out another fifty bucks for twenty more rounds. Let me show you how it’s done.”
His gaze drifted down to her, light as a feather but heavy with unspoken pressure.
Liang Jin’s heart hammered in her chest. There was a tenderness to being guided like this, but Shen Keye’s version of it was so forceful, so intense, it bordered on the perverse.
His breath ghosted over her ear, sending shivers rippling through her in waves.
His hand clamped over her knuckles, fingers intertwining, his aura enveloping her completely.
“Liang Jin,” Shen Keye murmured, “it’s not that I don’t want to sleep with you.”
The words hit like a thunderbolt, leaving her utterly stunned.
Her finger squeezed the trigger. The toy bullet rocketed out, slamming dead center into the target.
The garish game machine blared its mechanical “Congratulations! Congratulations!”—shrill and utterly devoid of joy.
The world dulled to a stark black-and-white cartoon.
Liang Jin still wore that flimsy spaghetti-strap dress. She lifted her gaze slowly, and there he was: the sharply chiseled boy filling her entire field of vision.
Shen Keye leaned in with devastating intimacy, his voice dropping to a negotiating drawl. “Think about moving in with me once we’re back in Hong Kong. Who knows—I might even make you a star. As my girlfriend.”