At the end of July, the weather in Port City was unpredictable.
Just a few days ago, there was a No. 10 typhoon signal, and today, the Astronomical Observatory had issued a black rainstorm warning.
Usually, from the seaside villa with its excellent view, you could see the delicate white sands stretching endlessly, but today, only a gray and misty sky was visible.
Of course, such weather didn’t affect the wealthy ladies and young masters who had come to attend a certain young lady’s pre-wedding bachelorette party.
Inside the villa, the lights were bright and the flowers were in full bloom.
“One moment the sun is shining, the next it’s pouring black rain. With such terrible weather, any out-of-towners coming here now must regret it,” someone said, withdrawing her gaze and looking at Miss Xu Nanyin, who was resting her cheek on her hand, lost in thought.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Still angry about your nemesis getting engaged?”
“Our Zhuzhu has a fiancé too, you know!”
Zhuzhu was Xu Nanyin’s nickname, meaning she was as precious as a pearl.
As they spoke, tonight’s hostess, Miss Liang Jiamin, walked over, beaming with pride and holding a wine glass.
“Why aren’t you all dancing?”
Everyone gave perfunctory excuses about having danced too much lately and wanting to rest tonight.
Liang Jiamin then turned to Xu Nanyin, who sat quietly and was regarded as a treasure by everyone.
“Zhuzhu, you graduated this year. Didn’t your fiancé come to congratulate you?”
Xu Nanyin replied casually, “He’s rather busy.”
Her face was convincing—delicate, fair, with crescent-moon eyes.
Her temperament was gentle, like translucent porcelain glaze.
If it had been a close friend, they would have stopped pressing her long ago, but unfortunately, Liang Jiamin was not.
Tonight, she was determined to outshine everyone and took the tone of someone with experience.
“No offense, but your fiancé really has no sincerity. So what if he sends a mountain of gifts? It’s been six years and he hasn’t shown his face. Next time, just wire the money directly! Maybe he already has someone new.”
Xu Nanyin smiled gently.
“Then I’ll just change to someone else. My parents love me and wouldn’t choose a playboy for a son-in-law. I’m not worried about marrying well.”
She sounded natural, and no one doubted her.
When Xu Nanyin was a child, her family moved from Ning City to Port City.
Her parents were loving, and she was their only daughter, cherished like a pearl in their palm.
Coupled with her well-mannered and gentle personality, she was often used as a model example by elders in high society.
For wealthy children like them, you either chose a major that benefited your family, or drifted through life gilded by the arts.
Few truly pursued other careers.
Chinese Medicine was a complex field, requiring five years of study.
If you weren’t careful, you’d end up a mediocre doctor.
Only obedient girls like Xu Nanyin would take it seriously and excel in every subject.
Liang Jiamin was the one always compared to her.
After hearing it so many times, she grew tired of Xu Nanyin’s “goody-two-shoes” act.
Miss Lin Zhijun, who had been watching the drama, chimed in, “Zhuzhu was just making a casual comment. She doesn’t know your fiancé was photographed yesterday having tea with a model.”
“Only you, Jiamin, could tolerate that.”
“With so many illegitimate children, if you don’t marry for alliance, how will you fight for the inheritance?”
“Zhuzhu’s a good student—she watches the news, not boring tabloids.”
Liang Jiamin, fuming, rolled her eyes and walked away.
Lin Zhijun sighed.
“Even though she just wanted to see you embarrassed, she had a bit of a point. That childhood verbal engagement of yours—better break it off early. There are enough guys lining up to chase you all the way to Tsim Sha Tsui.”
There was no proper engagement contract, no exchange of tokens—this fiancé only existed in name, and she’d never even met him.
Xu Nanyin just smiled.
Back then, it was only because they were the same age and their elders had casually mentioned it.
But having a “fiancé” in name was convenient.
She could use the title to fend off all those playboy young masters.
Lin Zhijun said, “A Li, am I right?”
A Li glanced at Xu Nanyin, lips tightly sealed.
She received gifts every year too, so it wouldn’t be right to speak ill of the future groom behind his back.
Lin Zhijun was speechless.
“You’re loyal to your young lady only.”
The party was elegant and luxurious, the desserts exquisite and delicious, and even the topics sparkled with luxury.
After chatting about everything, they moved on to gossip and boys.
“Yesterday, when I went out to eat, I saw my elder brother having tea with a man. The guy was ridiculously good-looking, so refined,” Lin Zhijun whispered.
“I heard he’s from Ning City, just like you.”
“What a coincidence.”
Xu Nanyin tasted the sweetness of the pudding on her tongue.
The Lin Family was a top local clan, now headed by Lin Zhijun’s Elder Brother, known for his decisive style.
Anyone who could sit and have tea with him…
A whole day and night had passed, and no one had leaked the man’s identity.
He was surely no ordinary person.
“Maybe it’s that fiancé of yours who’s never shown up,” Lin Zhijun teased, dragging out her words.
“As if it could be that coincidental.”
Someone was about to say more when a servant came in with a message: “Madam Xu just called. There’s a guest at home. She asked Miss Xu to return early.”
The driver followed the coastal road.
All the city’s most expensive properties were here, a cluster of villas nestled between mountains and sea—Xu Family’s among them.
Xu Father had once hired a Feng Shui Master who gave a long-winded explanation, but it boiled down to two words: attracts wealth.
A few years ago, a new neighbor moved in, with a villa in a better location and at a higher price, perched above theirs.
When she and her friends played golf on the court downstairs, they could be seen from above.
Many had sent invitations for banquets, but to their disappointment, only a butler in his fifties and several servants lived there.
The owner rarely stayed, but they welcomed Xu Nanyin and her friends to visit or even stay over.
Xu Nanyin didn’t know the owner, so she never went inside.
A Li had once complained to her young lady, “They have so much money, they should just fold it into paper boats and float them down Victoria Harbour!”
Now, she saw that the special road leading to the villa was lined with luxury cars, and many of the umbrella-holding people by the cars had appeared on TV.
Were they here for the villa’s owner?
Xu Nanyin grew curious.
Suddenly, through the rain, a Maybach Pullman drove up and turned in, drawing everyone’s attention.
Xu Nanyin was too far away to see the license plate.
But those famous figures seemed to know exactly who it was.
They immediately sprang into action, clearing the way for the car, yet couldn’t help but approach eagerly.
“Mr. Song, do you have time tomorrow?”
“Mr. Song, could you give me some advice on my investment plan in the next few days?”
“Mr. Song…”
Their longing and desperation were all for a chance to meet, or even just hear a word from the person in the car.
The secretary glanced at the man in the back seat through the rearview mirror.
The man was resting with his eyes closed, the top two buttons of his shirt undone, draped loosely over his chest, revealing a glimpse of perfectly toned muscles.
It wasn’t until a call from “Xu Tianshi” came in that the secretary answered and put it on speaker.
“Song Sheng, I know you’re in Port City, don’t hang up! As long as you help me, I’ll give you anything you want—”
“Begging me is useless. You should beg yourself.”
Mr. Song Huaixu didn’t even open his eyes as he delivered a cold and merciless reply.
As the first secretary, Jiang Chen immediately caught the hint and ended the call.
The pleading voice was cut off.
If those people outside the car knew there was even a chance to get through on the phone and hear a single sentence, they would be ecstatic.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t be waiting in the rain after learning that the owner of Villa 75 was the current Song Family Head.
Everyone in the world had heard of Mr. Song Huaixu.
Just a few years ago, in his early twenties, he’d made a name for himself on Wall Street.
Backed by the century-old Song Family, he was now known as the Midas of Investments, never having failed.
No wonder the caller’s last name was Xu, Jiang Chen thought.
After getting out of the car, he immediately opened an umbrella and reported, “Second Young Master hasn’t left Ning City yet. He checked the weather forecast and said it’s too bad here, with thunderstorms, so he can’t make it today. He said to leave the engagement matter entirely to you.”
“Mm,” Song Huaixu replied indifferently.
Jiang Chen didn’t show much respect for Second Young Master.
Compared to the boss, he was completely useless and irresponsible.
No matter whether this engagement would work out or not, for now, it was still on.
Who else’s fiancée would be in another city, and instead of coming himself, make excuses and ask his older brother to handle it?
He asked again, “Boss, are we still going to the Xu Family today?”
Song Huaixu raised an eyebrow slightly, “Did I say we weren’t?”
Jiang Chen nodded.
“Understood.”
Inside the villa, the butler had already prepared a clean suit, though not a drop of rain had touched the man’s clothes.
Song Huaixu’s well-defined fingers slowly buttoned up his shirt, then stretched out to grab the tie handed to him.
In the blink of an eye, he went from lazy to upright and dignified.
As Jiang Chen opened the door, he began to talk about tomorrow’s schedule. “The return to Ning City was originally set for 2 p.m. tomorrow…”
“Change it to the evening.”
***
“I need to change into something else.”
Xu Nanyin had worn a dress suitable for dancing at the bachelorette party, but once home, she was dressed in an elegant gown carefully chosen by Miss Xu Mother.
All the lights in the dressing room were turned on.
On the glass counter lay jewelry, including a diamond-studded necklace with a plump conch pearl at its center.
She remembered this was last year’s birthday gift from the Song Family, along with matching earrings and a bracelet. Seeing them brought out now, it was hard not to overthink.
Xu Nanyin’s breathing quickened, the blue silk at her chest rising and falling like ocean waves, her fluffy skirt blooming like a blue hydrangea.
A Li stared. “Madam, this one seems smaller than before…”
“Don’t talk nonsense,” Miss Xu Mother scolded, letting go of her daughter’s hair.
The smooth black hair fell down her swan-like neck, the ends resting at her slender waist, accentuated by boning.
When it came to Xu Nanyin’s attire and etiquette, Miss Xu Mother had absolute control.
No one was allowed to defy her, nor would she permit her daughter to appear disheveled.
Perhaps it was because she had been a popular star in the entertainment industry in her youth, always glamorous, and even after marrying into a wealthy family and having a daughter, her standards remained just as high.
Xu Nanyin understood what A Li meant, her ears growing hot.
“Do we really have to be so formal at home? Who would come visit in this weather?”
Although the Astronomical Observatory had already lifted all rainstorm warnings that afternoon, the rain outside still hadn’t stopped.
“Do you remember the Song Family?”
“I remember.”
“This concerns your future happiness, so behave yourself. The guest is the current Song Family Head, a person of great status,” Miss Xu Mother reminded her. “Wait until I send for you to come downstairs.”
Even the time to go downstairs was so strictly regulated.
Xu Nanyin frowned slightly. What if tonight’s meeting didn’t go well?
After Miss Xu Mother hurried downstairs, A Li suddenly understood, “No wonder Madam wanted me to practice Mandarin.”
So it was so she could accompany her to her future groom’s house!
Thinking of something, she leaned close to Xu Nanyin’s ear.
“After you get married, will your Skin Hunger Syndrome finally be cured?”
“…”
Xu Nanyin’s heart skipped a beat.
There’s a saying in Chinese Medicine: physicians can’t treat themselves.
Xu Nanyin was no exception.
Skin Hunger Syndrome wasn’t a terrible illness, but it was the last thing she wanted to have, and she’d never told her family.
Before, spending time with A Li and the others could ease it, but lately, it had gotten much worse.
Whenever she was alone, every cell in her body screamed to be hugged, to be held tightly, the itch coming from her very bones, sometimes so unbearable she cried and couldn’t stop.
Not just anyone could help her.
Xu Nanyin pushed the thought away, gathered up her skirt, and walked barefoot across the carpet to the window.
Through the rain, a Pullman slowly drove into the courtyard.
The person in the passenger seat got out first, opened a black umbrella, and respectfully opened the back door.
The man inside was blocked from view.
She could only see a pair of long legs in neatly pressed trousers.
Nothing else.
Even with the umbrella covering him, his powerful aura was unmistakable—it was her “fiancé’s” older brother.
Half an hour later, Miss Xu Mother sent a servant to call her downstairs.
The first thing Xu Nanyin saw was that pair of long legs beneath the sofa.
As she entered the living room, she saw more.
The man sitting there was impeccably dressed, his vest buttoned snugly, accentuating his slim waist.
Underneath, a black shirt couldn’t hide his broad chest and arms, veins standing out on the backs of his hands.
Ever since Xu Nanyin studied Chinese Medicine, every time she saw someone, her first instinct was to observe their appearance.
He was very healthy.
He was in great shape.
He must be very strong to hug.
***
Until a voice woke her from her thoughts: “Zhuzhu, come here.”