After moving into the Feilan Hotel, Miss Xu Nanyin barely went out.
First, knowing that this hotel belonged to the Song Corporation, she didn’t want her investigation to end with an accidental encounter with the Song Family before it even began—she wouldn’t even get a chance to look into things.
Second, there was a typhoon, and it had been raining nonstop lately.
Yun Xia arranged three meals a day and sent up fresh flowers, but it was A Li who would go out shopping for her.
After all, it was her first time in Ning City, and everything felt new and exciting.
“Zhu Zhu, it seems like someone’s living in your house,” A Li said, having looped back from the old house two days in a row.
Miss Xu Nanyin thought for a moment.
“If a house is left unoccupied for a long time, it gets dirty. Maybe it was arranged ahead of time.”
A Li, never one to overthink, nodded.
“That’s true. We’ll be able to go back in a few days anyway, but staying at the hotel is really comfortable.”
She asked again, “So, how are we going to investigate?”
Rich young masters aren’t like celebrities.
Not everything about them leaks out—unless they want to show themselves in public, most people can’t find a thing.
Even then, they only reveal what they want others to see.
That night, after Miss Xu Nanyin finished her bath and A Li helped dry her hair before heading out for barbecue, she lay on the bed searching online.
Most results were about the Song Corporation.
Then there were news articles about Mr. Song Huaixu.
Most photos were taken from afar—he was always in a suit, and the comments were filled with people swooning over him.
This was her first time seeing him in such a formal setting.
On the news, Mr. Song Huaixu looked flawless, from his chiseled features to his impressive physique, like a sculpture out of myth and legend.
Even separated by the camera, his brilliance and innate cold aloofness came through.
Netizens’ reactions were almost unanimous.
Miss Xu Nanyin scrolled through the comments: things like “Let him have me,” “His fingers are so long, it must feel amazing if he uses them…”
That was way too straightforward!
She flipped her phone over, covering the screen, but the thought popped into her mind—were his fingers really that long?
Miss Xu Nanyin unconsciously shifted her body, realizing her thoughts had strayed somewhere they shouldn’t.
She wasn’t clueless. In fact, Miss Xu Mother, wanting to protect her, started educating her about these things very early.
In the years she’d suffered from Craving Skin Syndrome, she’d only gotten close to friends and family for hugs and snuggles, but A Li wasn’t there every night—she had her own life.
When her condition worsened, Miss Xu Nanyin bought toys.
When she was alone and the urge was too much, she’d use them—partly for pleasure, partly to distract herself from the discomfort.
But afterward, the emptiness and restlessness always returned.
Because what she truly needed was the touch of another person’s body.
And that, her toys could never provide.
Miss Xu Nanyin sank into the wide bed.
If someone could just hold her tightly, strong palms pressing against her skin—sometimes gentle, sometimes rough—scalding warmth from her face to every inch, even the deepest places with those long fingers…
It would, without doubt, make her tremble with pleasure.
Miss Xu Nanyin stared up at the crystal chandelier overhead.
The burning light made her dizzy, lost in a haze.
Not until she felt a rush of heat spill out, dampening the bathrobe wrapped around her, did she realize she’d parted her lips and let out a soft cry, her lips flushed red.
The white light before her eyes slowly sharpened into the image of the crystal chandelier.
She…seemed to have fantasized about something.
“Zhu Zhu, come out for some late-night snacks!”
When A Li came back with food, she circled the bedroom and found Miss Xu Nanyin back in the bathroom again.
She wondered aloud, “The temperature’s fine, though. Did the AC shut off while I was out?”
Miss Xu Nanyin came out just in time to hear this, her face heating up.
Luckily, her skin was pink from the bath steam, so the blush on her cheeks looked like it was from the heat.
“Next time, just order delivery.”
“I just wanted to go out for a walk.”
A Li was like a little ray of sunshine.
She handed Miss Xu Nanyin two skewers of barbecue.
“By the way, are we going out to buy masks tomorrow? The invitation letter Mr. Song gave us said the theme is a masquerade ball. It’d be too conspicuous if we don’t wear masks, right?”
At the mention of Song, Miss Xu Nanyin inevitably thought of what had just happened.
It was only after reading news about Mr. Song Huaixu that she…no, she’d only fantasized about his hands, not the man himself.
“Zhu Zhu?”
“Yeah, let’s buy them tomorrow.”
Miss Xu Nanyin snapped out of it and took a bite of barbecue.
“If we wear masks, no one will recognize us.”
The host of the birthday banquet was named Yue Yajun. She’d found plenty of information about her online—her family ran a media company.
Yue Yajun herself had entered the entertainment industry this year, and her debut idol drama had just aired. She was already somewhat well-known.
There were rumors online that while filming, a man in a luxury car would come pick her up, and her haters had even dug up evidence that the man might be Song Second Young Master.
Miss Xu Nanyin had a moment’s doubt when she first saw this, but she quickly slapped her own face—how could she speculate without seeing the truth for herself?
Either way, the masquerade ball was to her advantage.
The next day.
Miss Xu Nanyin got up early, asked Yun Xia about a few places, and took A Li out.
She only needed one mask, but once they started shopping, she couldn’t help herself.
With enough pocket money, she ended up buying five.
There were all sorts—half-face, full-face, lace, feathered, bejeweled, and more.
Miss Xu Nanyin’s favorite was a butterfly mask, which happened to match the butterfly specimen Song Tingchuan had once given her.
When they returned to Feilan Hotel, Yun Xia brought over dinner.
Seeing the different styles of masks, she could already imagine how stunning they’d look on the girl’s face.
She said, “You could’ve let me handle it.”
Miss Xu Nanyin smiled.
“It was just as well—I wanted to get out for a bit.”
Letting Yun Xia run errands for this felt like too much trouble.
“Is the person in the next building still there?”
She hadn’t run into anyone else in the hotel these three days.
If anyone else had asked, Yun Xia would never reveal even a hint about the group boss’s whereabouts.
But the girl in front of her.
“Mr. Song left this morning.”
No one knew when Mr. Song Huaixu arrived, and he left without a trace.
Only today did people in Port City learn he’d already departed.
After Secretary Jiang Chen finished reporting the day’s business, he mentioned Miss Xu’s situation.
“Miss Xu hasn’t gone out the past two days. On the third day, she went out to buy a mask for the banquet, and some snacks.”
As soon as she left, Yun Xia let Secretary Jiang Chen know.
After all, she was someone the group boss had arranged to stay here—if anything happened, she couldn’t bear the responsibility.
Secretary Jiang Chen had bodyguards follow her.
Ning City wasn’t dangerous, unlike Port City, where there were still gangsters causing trouble, and even a shootout in May.
He described the amount, “Enough for three people.”
Mr. Song Huaixu wasn’t interested in girls shopping.
He said lightly, “You just don’t understand women.”
The A Li beside Miss Xu could probably eat twice as much as her.
Secretary Jiang Chen realized, “Right, I should reflect. What I said was a bit of a stereotype.”
***
On the day of the birthday banquet.
Yun Xia asked early on if they needed a makeup artist, but Miss Xu Nanyin declined—A Li was more than enough.
The sky was gloomy, as if it could rain at any moment.
She didn’t know what the food would be like at the ball tonight, but it was best to eat less in unfamiliar places.
So, before leaving, Miss Xu Nanyin ate a few pieces of plum blossom cake and drank a cup of osmanthus rice wine that was so popular she’d had to wait in line for it.
“It really is delicious.” Miss Xu Nanyin nodded in satisfaction.
A Li helped her put on her mask.
It was a lace mask with swirling patterns, not only inlaid with pearls, but also with a pearl chain trailing from the corner of her eye to her ear, ending in pearl tassels.
Because her nickname was Zhu Zhu, Miss Xu Nanyin had always loved pearls since childhood, and most of her jewelry was all kinds of pearls.
It just so happened the mask matched her pearl satin dress for the night—lively and elegant, like a girl from a medieval oil painting.
A Li reminded her, “You’re not good with alcohol, so don’t drink too much. You never know if you’ll have to drink at the ball.”
Miss Xu Nanyin looked at the nearly empty cup.