The second chime hadn’t even faded for a few seconds…
The gilded elevator doors opened.
Lin Zhishui lowered her gaze, quietly watching Ning Shangyu’s hand tucked in his suit pants pocket.
When she suddenly looked up, she realized they were heading directly to the top floor.
Outside, the corridor was surrounded by floor-to-ceiling glass, revealing a panoramic view of the city’s dazzling nightscape.
Standing here, looking down, the view was so wide that it felt like you could overlook all the debauchery below from an unattainable height.
Right then, a man in a porcelain-white casual suit walked over.
Aside from a watch with a clan emblem carved on the wrist, he wore almost no luxury accessories.
He stopped, glanced at Lin Zhishui, then turned to Ning Shangyu and said, “I thought you weren’t coming, bro. Turns out you brought sister-in-law.”
This was Ning Ciyu, who took the initiative to hold the elevator door.
Hearing the address, Lin Zhishui suddenly realized he was a member of the Ning Clan.
At this moment, Ning Shangyu was already moving, his defined hand slipping from his pocket and gently but firmly wrapping around her shoulder, guiding her out.
Several other elite men stood quietly inside the elevator, clearly a private gathering, not following them out.
They only planned to rest for a while in the suite on the next floor.
Lin Zhishui kept her slender back rigid.
On the surface, she showed no sign of discomfort, but her pace was extremely slow.
Only Ning Shangyu knew what was going on with her.
He lowered his head, leaned close to her pale ear, and spoke unhurriedly, “I’ll help you check later.”
Those five short, gentle words vanished before his cool pine scent could even linger.
Lin Zhishui couldn’t help turning her face toward him.
Seeing his agreement, she finally let out a breath of relief.
Ning Ciyu led the way down the corridor.
The top floor here was private and never casually used to entertain outsiders.
It was the Ning Clan’s exclusive gathering place.
Tonight, everyone present was part of Ning Shangyu’s power faction.
Once they entered the luxurious, spacious private room, there were quite a few people, some sitting, some standing.
The crystal chandelier in the center seemed to carve countless diamond-shaped beams of dazzling light into the room, like an illusion.
Several men nearby had already taken off their suit jackets, lounging as they chatted.
It was no exaggeration to say that in all her years sheltered by the Lin Family, this was the first time Lin Zhishui had directly mingled with a group of young men so brimming with testosterone.
She stared blankly for two seconds.
Then, quite honestly, she looked at the even more imposing Ning Shangyu beside her: “You have so many brothers with ‘Yu’ in their names.”
Ning Shangyu didn’t care: “Yeah.”
“Where should I sit?”
Lin Zhishui wasn’t familiar with his clan members at all.
She even instinctively felt a sense of danger, as if surrounded by a pride of lions.
Unconsciously, she revealed a childlike and pure dependence on him.
Ning Shangyu looked at her: “Where do you want to sit?”
“Closer to you, or at least don’t go too far.”
Lin Zhishui didn’t think much, her voice softer still.
“Standing like this, I’m afraid I’ll fall.”
She really didn’t feel safe.
If she really did fall, that would be a complete loss of composure.
She just wanted to find a quiet spot to wait for him.
Ning Shangyu gently pulled her over to the velvet sofa near the open-air balcony.
Every one of his actions would be scrutinized for deeper meaning, and in the eyes of the others, it looked like he had erected an invisible barrier around her.
No peeking allowed.
Once seated, Lin Zhishui instinctively kept her knees together, her posture proper, her watery eyes always seeming to rest on him.
Clearly, as long as Ning Shangyu was present, he was the center of the power vortex.
The others stopped chatting and started clamoring to set up a card table, all itching to win a little something from him.
But what they wanted wasn’t luxury yachts or cars.
They were hoping to win a chance to join Ning Shangyu’s acquisition project team.
Watching from afar, Lin Zhishui felt dizzy, not really understanding the rules of the game.
But Ning Shangyu always maintained a lazy posture, leaning back in his chair with a calm expression.
After only a few rounds, Ning Zhuoyu, acting as dealer, was deemed unfair for secretly helping the seemingly proper Ning Ciyu several times, which sparked outrage and got him kicked out.
He merely snorted, unconcerned, and walked over to Lin Zhishui.
“Weren’t you supposed to be picking out auction items on the thirty-sixth floor with Ning Shuyu, that little good-for-nothing? How’d you end up up here?”
Ning Zhuoyu clearly knew Ning Shangyu had arranged her schedule for the night.
Normally, Ning Shangyu would finish his private gathering on the top floor before heading to the private auction to pick her up.
Now that Lin Zhishui had turned up here, she just shook her head lightly without explaining.
Ning Zhuoyu, looking at her like a disaster-in-the-making little clingy thing, lazily teased, “Ning Shangyu’s away on business more than he’s home, and you’re this attached to him… Why not just apply for a secretary job serving tea and water? That way, you can use your position to check up on him anytime.”
Lin Zhishui had been pampered at home for years and had no habit of serving others.
She smiled slightly, “I’m not going to be Mrs. Ning, and you want me to be a little secretary? Young Master Zhuo, you’re boldly challenging my intelligence.”
Ning Zhuoyu was actually amused by her bluntness and laughed a few times.
Before he finished laughing, his phone vibrated with a call from Ning Shuyu.
He didn’t avoid Lin Zhishui, lazily picking up.
Lin Zhishui gazed calmly toward the card table, not deliberately eavesdropping.
Over there, Ning Shuyu had already followed Lin Zhishui’s instructions, auctioned off the antique pocket watch as a gift, and completed the formalities.
He heard from the secretary that Lin Zhishui had gone to the top floor and was about to take the elevator up.
Qin Wanyin also wanted to come.
She intended to talk to Ning Shangyu about Qin Family business.
Although Ning Shuyu was often teased by his brothers as a pretty but useless “embroidered pillow,” a little princess with no accomplishments, even he knew the family rules:
Ning Shangyu was tough and aggressive in business, never mixing public and private affairs.
Countless people wanted to talk business with him, but not everyone could get a meeting without an appointment.
But Qin Wanyin always found some dignified excuse.
Ning Shuyu, clueless about business intricacies, asked Ning Zhuoyu, “Should I bring her up?”
Ning Zhuoyu glanced at Lin Zhishui, but before he could answer this fool—
Ning Qingyu, sitting openly on a single sofa nearby and eavesdropping, scolded, “Did he donate his brain to a museum?”
The Ning Clan controlled a massive business empire, and in the pharmaceutical field, they had always reserved deep cooperation opportunities for the Qin Family.
But now, with the Lin Family’s new pharmaceutical power entering the Gang District, the long-standing balance was subtly broken.
The Qin Family’s interests were already being divided up.
Letting Qin Wanyin come to negotiate on behalf of her family against the Lin Family—even if she was willing to pay a high price to secure her position—tonight was not the right time.
After all, if she could humble herself for her family’s benefit, didn’t Lin Zhishui, as the Lin Family’s daughter married into the Ning Family, have an obligation too?
The two of them continued roasting Ning Shuyu’s intelligence.
They went so far as to question whether he’d gambled away his brain along with yachts and luxury cars, considering how often he was talked into gambling by freeloaders.
Lin Zhishui stopped listening.
She shifted her posture slightly, still feeling uncomfortable, and simply stood up, walking straight to Ning Shangyu.
In front of everyone, she tugged at his Hongbao Cufflinks.
“You haven’t lost a single round since you sat down. It’s been so long… How much longer will it be?”
She spoke every word softly, but if she didn’t get a response in the next second, she’d really get angry.
The lively atmosphere suddenly froze for a moment.
The “Yu”-generation brothers all tacitly stopped joking, each pretending to be more composed than the last, but their eyes kept darting between Lin Zhishui and Ning Shangyu.
Ning Shangyu glanced at his watch, then looked at her directly, his voice calm as he called Ning Qingyu over to take his place.
There were bedrooms on the top floor for honored guests to rest and sober up.
Once inside, in the darkness, Lin Zhishui couldn’t wait to undo her collar.
She was so anxious she nearly stifled herself, and even her skin gave off a faint, elusive fragrance.
She hadn’t even undone two buttons before Ning Shangyu stopped her, his long fingers slowly grasping her delicate wrist, his voice low: “Don’t rush.”
Lin Zhishui’s fingertips froze for several seconds: He wasn’t in a hurry, but she was, wasn’t she!
Who could stand wearing such heavy jewelry for so long?
Ning Shangyu: “Sit properly.”
Lin Zhishui instinctively obeyed, since she still needed his help.
She moved as lightly as possible to sit on the soft bed. Soon, as she looked up, she could see his figure looming over her in the dim light by the bed.
Ning Shangyu leaned down a little.
When his cool fingertips touched her slender wrist, and their eyes met, he could clearly sense her growing tension, which made him smile.
“Relax. If you’re not careful and scratch yourself while taking off the jewelry… you’ll be the one hurt.”
Lin Zhishui had been wearing this jade jewelry for over ten hours.
Her skin was delicate—how could she stand it?
At this point, her fair forehead was covered in a fine sweat, but she gritted her teeth and endured.
She didn’t move away.
And in this darkness, her skin looked even paler, especially as his amber eyes fell heavily on her, making her even more flustered.
“I am relaxed.” Unable to help it, her voice trembled as she asked softly, “Can you… take off the jewelry now?”
Ning Shangyu waited as she grew impatient, and after a long minute, his voice finally came, low and mesmerizing: “It’s safe. I’ll take it off for you later.”
Hearing she’d have to wait, Lin Zhishui’s heart pounded faster.
Without thinking, she suddenly grabbed his long wrist as he was about to move away from her knees.
Her fingertips pressed right on his striking tattoo.
“No.”
She strongly refused to be left hanging like this…
On instinct, she wouldn’t let go, wanting to cling to Ning Shangyu until he showed mercy.
In the end, she didn’t even know how, but like a little animal seeking favor, in the darkness, Lin Zhishui’s unpainted lips brushed his mouth, just like that night at the winery.
“Please?”
Ning Shangyu, as always, was impeccably dressed, even his tie perfectly in place.
He didn’t answer her persistent questioning.
Suddenly, he turned on the bedside lamp, its soft light spilling over her.
Even then, she wouldn’t let Ning Shangyu’s hand go.
Murmuring his name, her voice was sticky and indistinct: “Ning Shangyu—”
Finally, Ning Shangyu didn’t just watch coldly.
He brushed away the tear mole at the corner of her eye with his fingers, his voice forceful and deep: “Shedding so many tears, Lin Zhishui, are you made of water?”
“You want to know?”
Lin Zhishui clung to him, trying to bargain, her voice softening further.
“Help me take off the jewelry and I’ll tell you.”
Ning Shangyu, ever the self-serving capitalist who never lost at the negotiating table, how could he be swayed by her little tricks?
He chuckled softly, “Lin Zhishui, Lin Zhishui, your name really suits you. The elders who named you got it right, whether by accident or fate.”
Lin Zhishui froze.
Ning Shangyu wasn’t the only one who’d teased her name before.
As a child, she was sensitive and weak, prone to allergies and crying.
Her glassy eyes were always covered in a watery sheen, and when she cried, her thin skin would flush red from the eyes to the lips.
Because of this, Aunt Qin and others often teased her, even joking that her long eyelashes were from crying so much, watering them until they grew so long.
Later, two beautiful, prominent moles appeared at the lower corner of her right eye, as if to stop her tears from flowing.
Lin Zhishui didn’t cry much after growing up, but whenever she met Ning Shangyu, it was like she reverted to her childhood habit.
She couldn’t help it, panicking until she could barely breathe.
“I-I’ll do it myself.”
Her words were out of nowhere, but Ning Shangyu understood instantly, raising an eyebrow.
Not waiting for his approval, Lin Zhishui bit her lip, and in her extreme nervousness…
She lay down, arching her slender neck that looked like it could be snapped by his long fingers.
Her heart and breath grew tighter and tighter, until at last she couldn’t help calling his name.
Ning Shangyu.
Ning Shangyu.
Ning Shangyu.
The next second, the finely carved jade slipped off, landing softly on the white sheets without a sound.
Lin Zhishui’s knees were reddened from kneeling, but she quickly reached out, snatching up the jade and, as if venting her frustration, threw it at Ning Shangyu’s chest, who had been calmly watching her the whole time.
The precious jade slid down his silk suit and fell back onto the bed.
Lin Zhishui said, “Take it back.”
Ning Shangyu’s lips curled in a faint smile, “Lin Miss, you already accepted and used the gift—how can you just return it like that?”
“I have the right to refuse, Mr. Ning.”
Lin Zhishui didn’t care if she was being rude; after all, he hadn’t exactly been polite to her either.
She insisted, already putting herself back together.
Then, with a shove, she pushed past Ning Shangyu blocking the bed.
No longer worried about the jade falling to the floor, she even moved lightly as she got off and made her escape.
She really ran off.
***
After escaping, Lin Zhishui chose to return to the previous private room.
She glanced around; not a single Ning Clan member was missing.
Lin Zhishui slowly returned to her seat on the velvet sofa near the open-air balcony, feeling thirsty.
But when she looked at the coffee table, all she saw were brightly colored bottles of strong liquor.
Maybe she stared too long.
Ning Ciyu, attentive as ever, played bartender and mixed her a beautiful cocktail with almost no alcohol.
“This won’t get you drunk.”
He reminded her politely and gently, clearly aware of Ning Zhuoyu’s wild night with her.
Lin Zhishui thanked him softly and took a small sip.
Immediately, she tasted a sweet grape flavor, with hardly any trace of alcohol.
Ning Ciyu smiled, and before leaving, he casually asked, “Where’s my brother?”
That question sparked everyone’s gossiping curiosity.
After all, the two had disappeared for nearly an hour…
When Lin Zhishui reappeared, she could still walk normally.
Aside from a bit more color in her skin, she seemed perfectly calm.
It was rather odd.
Lin Zhishui glanced at him.
Out of gratitude for the cocktail, she decided not to keep silent and started to make up a story: “Mm, Ning Shangyu, he…”
Before she could finish—
Ning Shangyu’s suited figure appeared, his face as composed as ever, walking straight over.
He sat on the sofa with calm confidence, his gaze sweeping over the glass.
Yet that was enough to make Lin Zhishui’s heart race, her hand trembling so much that a few drops splashed from the rim, landing on Ning Shangyu’s immaculate suit pants.
“I didn’t mean to.” Lin Zhishui’s hand moved faster than her lips, reaching to wipe it off, but her fingers brushed against something in his pocket.
It felt very much like what he’d kept from her before… very similar.
Her fingers curled up, and she asked softly, “What’s in your pocket?”
Ning Shangyu leaned lazily against the sofa, the dazzling nightscape behind him.
“If you want to know, take it yourself.”
Lin Zhishui really wanted to reach in, but immediately realized that doing so in public would be inappropriate.
She could only ask him tactfully, “Which one? Why did you bring it?”
Ning Shangyu replied, “Yes. Of course I brought it to ‘return it to its rightful owner.’”
He spoke those four words very slowly.
The meaning was obvious: it was going back where it came from.
Lin Zhishui instinctively pressed her knees together.
She glared at him with those glassy eyes.
But when she met Ning Shangyu’s half-smiling gaze, she couldn’t quite tell if he was teasing her.
She thought for a moment.
Lin Zhishui decided to gamble and reached out.
Then she froze.
It really was that piece of jade.
If she’d known, she would’ve destroyed it before running away…
Just then, Ning Shangyu, who had been looking lazy, suddenly leaned in, lowering his voice to ask, “How long do you plan to keep touching this jade?”
Lin Zhishui’s breath trembled.
“Shouldn’t Lin Miss have memorized every detail of its pattern by now?”