Chapter 36

Ruan Ning started, lifting her head to meet his doting gaze. The unique amber scent of him washed over her, intoxicating her senses. Before she could react, her entire body was enveloped under Bu Chen's broad shoulders.

Bu Chen's thin lips parted slightly, his eyes shimmering with a shallow smile like the shimmering surface of a moonlit lake. Ruan Ning froze, lost in the deep, unyielding tenderness of his gaze.

She had to admit, Bu Chen had a dangerously handsome face, and with his passionate, peach-blossom eyes, any woman who took a second look would find it hard to escape the spell of his affectionate gaze.

Ruan Ning hesitated, blushing furiously as she struggled. "Young Master Bu, please stop joking around."

"What's the problem?" Bu Chen's attention was on Ruan Ning's cards.

Ruan Ning's face flushed crimson, and she couldn't utter a word—after all, everyone around them was clinging to each other in intimate embraces, the atmosphere flirtatious and provocative.

Seeing the host arrive, the young lords and ladies at the card table quickly greeted Bu Chen and invited him to sit. The beauties who had been chatting and drinking in the distance swarmed over. They shot subtle sneers at Ruan Ning, who was held in Bu Chen's arms, and then squeezed into seats around him.

Ruan Ning felt as if she'd been sliced by a hundred sharp glances, a mixture of shock and fear rising in her heart.

Bu Chen's gaze stayed fixed on Ruan Ning the entire time, completely ignoring the fluttering beauties around him. He felt the trembling in his arms, lowered his head, his thin lips brushing faintly past the tip of her nose as he whispered soothingly, "Darling, what's wrong?"

The beauties nearby immediately threw the sharpest looks at Ruan Ning, piercing her through.

Ruan Ning stammered, "Nothing."

She carefully pushed against Bu Chen, trying to put some distance between them, but he unabashedly tightened his hold. "If it's nothing, why did you break up that straight?"

"Huh?" Ruan Ning didn't react.

Bu Chen draped his arm over her shoulder, pulled out a perfect dragon sequence from her hand, and tossed it onto the table. "Straight!"

He leaned in, his tone slightly teasing, "No need to be polite with them. Let them bleed a little."

The wealthy heirs and heiresses, used to such scenes, laughed uproariously. "Chen-ge's just using us to make his girl smile. What else can we say? Everyone, pay up!"

Some deliberately ribbed Ruan Ning. "Sister-in-law's got great luck—one hand just won you a whole building. Next round, I want to get rich by your side."

What—what sister-in-law? Ruan Ning was nearly speechless. She'd only agreed to accompany Bu Chen for some entertainment; when had she been promoted to sister-in-law?

She looked around at the sharp, expectant gazes of the top-tier rich heirs and heiresses and felt like she was suffocating.

Ruan Ning hurriedly backed away. "No, no, it's fine. It's just luck—I got lucky once. Let's not count it. Everyone, take your chips back."

"Hey," Bu Chen tapped her arm, his tone half-joking. "Why give back what you won fair and square?"

The other players also smiled and pushed their chips toward Ruan Ning, forming a small mountain. "Sister-in-law, just take it. How about we enjoy the game—don't be so polite with us."

Ruan Ning looked at the staggering sum—it was less than the price of a breakfast to these young lords and ladies.

Most of the people present had either received help from Bu Chen or hoped to curry favor with him. But Bu Chen didn't easily accept gifts from others.

They'd been looking for a way to establish a connection, and now they'd finally found an opening in Ruan Ning. They pushed money on her in every possible way, and despite her refusals, they wouldn't take no for an answer.

Little did they know, their enthusiasm frightened her, and every "sister-in-law" made her heart race. Ruan Ning felt like she was being roasted over a fire. She stole a glance at Bu Chen, who remained utterly unconcerned.

Ruan Ning looked around, then quietly leaned close to Bu Chen and whispered in his ear, "That's enough to buy a building. Tell them to take it back!"

Bu Chen's ear tingled with a fragrant, soft sensation, but his face remained unchanged. "Worried they can't afford it? If I tell you to take it, just take it."

"The lovebirds are whispering secrets again," someone teased, and all eyes turned toward them.

Caught red-handed, Ruan Ning's face flushed crimson. She only wanted to leave.

Everyone at the table was a seasoned party-goer, and they rarely encountered such an innocent, sweet lamb as Ruan Ning. The more she blushed, the more they wanted to tease her. "Hey, sister-in-law, you've taken the money. Isn't there something else you owe us?"

The speaker grinned wickedly, deliberately leaving the sentence unfinished. The seasoned players at the table burst into loud laughter. "Hahaha, that's right—there's a key step missing."

Ruan Ning was baffled. Bu Chen spoke up, "It's her first time playing. You old foxes, scram—don't bully a newcomer."

A rich young man who'd been leaning against a delicate beauty suddenly sat up. "What do you mean, bullying? We spent a fortune—surely we can ask for a little token of celebration. Bu Chen, that's not how you protect your turf."

Bu Chen scoffed. There was an unwritten rule at the card table: whoever won the money had to give their companion a deep kiss to entertain the crowd.

He knew these people liked to push limits, and he had no intention of becoming the evening's spectacle. Calmly, he ordered the server to deal the next hand.

The others ignored his aloofness and kept egging them on. "Chen-ge's got to up the ante—at least a minute, and the full range of moves—land, sea, and air!"

"Hey, didn't you notice? Chen-ge's a bit off today. Maybe he's too protective of his flower to let us watch."

They all chattered on.

"Chen-ge's being unreasonable—taking money without giving back. We lost a whole building and don't even get a kiss for comfort."

"Exactly. Chen-ge's being stingy today. Careful, your gambling luck might run out."

Ruan Ning listened, more confused than ever, feeling both aggrieved and helpless. She had no idea what kind of trap she'd fallen into, but she felt like everyone around her was mocking her, forcing her to give in.

And that feeling had only intensified since Bu Chen sat down. She was just a plaything, a joke for these young lords and ladies to amuse themselves with. Though they treated her politely on the surface, they saw her as nothing more than Bu Chen's new arm candy, soon to be tossed aside once bored.

Her pride couldn't bear being so belittled. She looked seriously at Bu Chen, who was sorting his cards. "What exactly are they asking about?"

"It means they want you to kiss him," a man answered with a grin, cutting in.

"Yeah, sister-in-law, kiss Chen-ge!"

"That's right—you just won a whole building. A kiss isn't too much to ask."

Shocked, Ruan Ning instinctively leaned back. Bu Chen glanced down at his cards. "Ignore them. Keep playing."

Ruan Ning felt it was all so fake. Bu Chen had brought her to this debauched party, playing the good cop and bad cop, just to get this, wasn't he?

Bu Chen reached for her again, drawing her into his embrace. But Ruan Ning suddenly shook off his hand, held her breath, and pressed her lips to his, kissing him fiercely.

The table erupted in excited screams, people pounding the table and cheering for Ruan Ning.

Bu Chen was stunned. Ruan Ning's delicate face was inches from his, her clear, black-and-white eyes serious and defiant, filled with anger.

She kissed him with force, leaving herself no room to breathe. The burning hatred transmitted through her skin to his heart, as if she were pouring all her indignation and humiliation into that kiss.

He had never experienced a kiss like this—neither sweet nor tender, with a hint of blood. Even with all his experience, his mind went blank for a second, shocked, stunned, the whole world going silent...

At last, Ruan Ning bit him hard, then wiped her bloodstained lips and flashed a proud, unyielding smile. "I'm feeling a bit unwell. I'm going to rest."

She wiped her mouth in fury and stormed off from her seat.

Bu Chen touched his lips, which tasted of iron, and gazed after her retreating figure.

At the sink outside the restroom, Ruan Ning scrubbed her mouth and rinsed furiously, her stomach burning.

She'd traded a kiss for the chance to leave. Staring at her haggard reflection in the mirror, she pitied herself.

She didn't know when Bu Chen would tire of her, or how much longer she'd have to endure before he let her go. But she truly couldn't hold on anymore.

Suddenly, Ruan Ning let out a retch over the sink.

"Cough... cough..." She choked a few times.

The music from the card table drifted in faintly, the laughter and chatter continuing. Ruan Ning, alone in the restroom, was drenched in sweat, her limbs too weak to lift.

The nausea made her retch again in front of the mirror.

"Miss... Miss..."

Suddenly, a polite, soft voice came from behind her, and a gentle hand patted her back.

Ruan Ning frowned, lifting her heavy head to see a server with dark-brown skin and gray eyes standing behind her, a look of concern on his face.

The server was in his fifties or sixties, wearing the standard black bow tie uniform, his graying hair neatly combed behind his ears, with kind crow's feet at the corners of his eyes. His accent was a pure Talun accent from Country A.

Ruan Ning immediately recognized his Country B heritage. The people of Countries A and B looked quite different, and although there were many descendants of B country immigrants in Talun, the two communities kept mostly to themselves.

Ruan Ning had grown up in a neighborhood of locals and rarely saw B country descendants. They mostly lived in the cheap, crime-ridden suburbs, doing menial labor like servants and odd jobs.

Looking at this well-trained server, she suddenly thought of the news about his compatriots back in his homeland who were holding protests and marches, and she felt a bizarre sense of time and space twisting, a topsy-turvy absurdity.

The server bowed slightly and asked with concern, "Miss, are you feeling seasick? Let me take you to the lounge to sit for a bit."

Ruan Ning's eyes flickered, and she forced a smile. "I'm fine. No need to worry about me."

The servers on the yacht were all trained professionals who would proactively check on any guest showing signs of distress. Ruan Ning assumed he was just doing his job and didn't take his words to heart.

But the server didn't leave. Instead, he tried to help her sit down like a family member would.

"Your complexion is very pale. How can you say you're fine? I've been working on ships for decades. Some young lords and ladies feel unwell but push through and keep partying, and the next day they never get up again."

"Miss, you must rest immediately. I know a quiet place where you can relax. Let me take you there."

The old man patted her back with concern, poured a glass of water for her to rinse her mouth, and refused to leave.

Ruan Ning's tightly wound nerves suddenly snapped. Since boarding the ship, this was the first time she'd felt genuinely cared for—and it was from a complete stranger, an elderly Country B immigrant.

Ruan Ning didn't insist any further. She rose unsteadily. "Alright, please take me somewhere quiet."

His brow finally relaxed, and he helped her up with a gratified smile, as if looking after his own granddaughter. "That's the way. Young people need to take care of themselves."

The old man led her to the lower deck of the ship. The lower level housed a party hall, an indoor swimming pool, an indoor karaoke room, a spa room, and other amenities, all clean and spacious.

Most guests were at that moment partying on the upper deck, and only a few lingered at the bar, drinking and chatting. It was eerily quiet.

But that was exactly what Ruan Ning wanted—she only wished to get away from the crowd and be alone for a while.

The old man recommended the spa that the female guests liked best, and led her through a long, winding corridor.

The crowd thinned as they went, and had he not been leading, Ruan Ning would never have found such a remote spot.

Finally, the old man stopped in front of the aromatic spa room deep in the ship's hold and opened the door for her. "Miss, someone's inside—just go right in. After a session, your body will feel much better. If you need anything, feel free to call me."

"Alright, thank you."

Ruan Ning thanked him and pushed the door open.

As the door closed behind her, a hand shot out from behind, grabbing her breathlessly. A low voice warned, "Don't move if you want to live!"