Chapter Four: Sichuan’s Mineral Deposit (2)
Treacherous and cunning, ruthless and devoid of mercy.
She suddenly remembered the evaluation Bodongha had given him.
Yet she could not imagine how cruel and merciless the Cheng Muyang before her could be. Devious, certainly, he had some of that.
With a soft click, Cheng Muyang placed a stone.
“I heard you’re very forceful when it comes to this deal?” Nan Bei picked up a white stone.
“Not really.”
“Chinese people care about face. How much money you make isn’t important,” she said softly. “Be careful not to stir up everyone’s anger.”
Only after she finished speaking did she begin to look at the board. Because she had not played go in a long time, she remembered only bits and pieces, so she always had to think about which intersection to place her next stone on.
Just as she was lost in thought, Cheng Muyang suddenly took her hand and guided her to place the stone.
His hand was very warm, while hers had long since turned icy from the low temperature in the private room and the fact that she was wearing only a close-fitting qipao. At the sudden contact of skin, he realized that she really was cold, and simply tightened his grip a little. “Do you want to go back and change into a long-sleeved qipao?”
From the corner of her eye, Nan Bei caught sight of the eldest son of the Shen family’s father, Shen Jiaming’s father, rising from behind the beaded curtain.
“Fan Xiping and Shi Xiangxia became famous in their lifetimes, yet this was the only time they ever played against each other,” she withdrew her hand calmly and looked at Cheng Muyang as she said, “Actually, they played thirteen games that time. The ‘Ten Games of Danghu’ that have been passed down to the present are only part of them.”
A tall figure came to a stop beside her.
She raised her head to glance at him and smiled obediently. “Isn’t that right, Uncle Shen?”
Shen Jiaming’s father smiled. “Although the ‘Ten Games of Danghu’ ended with five wins apiece, Xiping, playing white, went first in six games, which was against the rules. That is why there is a saying that there were thirteen games. Unfortunately, apart from the people who were there at the time, I’m afraid no one knows who won or lost those three games.”
She gave an “Mm,” then said casually, “These two great masters of go were from the same hometown. Perhaps they were simply too close to each other and did not want to fight over the outcome.”
Cheng Muyang rested his arm on his knee and accepted the teacup offered by the young girl, listening as she chatted idly with the elder about the go games of the Qing dynasty, yet his gaze never once left her face.
As the performance neared its end, there were finally new guests.
It was the middle-aged man who had watched Cheng Muyang punish the traitor from start to finish at the dock that day. Besides two attendants, he was still accompanied by his two female companions, with the younger-looking one even carrying a little boy.
While everyone exchanged pleasantries, she merely nodded politely and continued looking at her own go board.
She could more or less guess that this white-haired middle-aged man was from the Zhousheng family. Unfortunately, she had nothing to do with the business currently being fought over openly and covertly, so naturally there was no need for pleasantries.
The four surnames had originally survived on entirely different lands.
It was only because of their scale and influence that they had always been spoken of in the same breath. Apart from the Nan and Shen families, who had developed a friendship beyond the ordinary because of certain events many years ago, the remaining surnames truly had little connection with one another.
She had not eaten dinner, having only drunk a cup of hot milk, and by now she was somewhat hungry.
She casually found an excuse to leave the room, but at the very end, the middle-aged man from the Zhousheng family finally smiled and spoke to her for the first time. “I heard Nan Huai recently put a batch of Southeast Asian red sandalwood on the market, all large pieces that have aged for many years. I heard about it rather late. I wonder if there will be another opportunity next time?”
Nan Bei was rather surprised.
The identity of the buyer for this batch of red sandalwood was highly sensitive, and the timber was being purchased solely to fill a private museum.
For this deal, Nan Huai had also included dozens of the finest woodcarvers from Southeast Asia and inland China. Supposedly, the plan was to carve these woods into a miniature imperial city, scaled down proportionally from the Forbidden City and the like.
“Uncle Zhousheng certainly has very well-informed sources,” Nan Bei said with an expression that seemed serious. After thinking for a moment, she continued, “This batch of large pieces already counts as the finest of collectibles. You know, with things like collectibles, you can only wait until someone is willing to sell before you have a chance to get them. However, there happens to be an old client who wants to let go of a batch of finished furniture made from Hainan rosewood.”
The middle-aged man nodded with a smile. “Hainan rosewood? That would be even more sought after.”
“Indeed.” She smiled. “The rosewood handled by the Nan family, whether in terms of the density of the timber or the shape of its ‘leopard spots,’ is all of exceptional quality, worthy of a place in any collection. However, what this client wants in exchange this time is a government permit to enter the Iranian automobile market.”
The middle-aged man laughed, clapping his hands. “What a bold idea. Isn’t this basically the same as going to North Korea to sell luxury goods?” As he laughed, he turned his head toward the middle-aged woman standing behind him. “Wan Niang, what do you think? Is there a chance?”
The middle-aged woman with her hair coiled up slightly lifted the corners of her lips and said gently, “Entering the Iranian market is somewhat difficult, but a joint venture could be attempted. I remember that Iran’s largest automobile group is IRAN KHODRO. If we choose a government joint venture and support this local automobile group, there should be a chance to gradually enter the market.”
Hearing this, the middle-aged man lightly patted the back of the woman’s hand. Then he turned back and smiled at Nan Bei. “I wonder if Nan Huai would be interested in letting me handle this deal? But with such a large Middle Eastern market, if the joint venture succeeds, I’ll have to take a stake as well.”
“Alright.” Nan Bei’s eyes curved into a smile. “I’ll remember this matter.”
After saying this, she placed a hand over her abdomen and innocently told everyone, “I’m really hungry. Everyone, Young Master Shen, and Boss Cheng, I’ll take my leave.”
From beginning to end, Cheng Muyang had listened to the conversation with keen interest, as though there were laughter in his eyes, though none of it showed on his face. Only now did he finally touch his lips lightly with two fingers, quietly bidding her farewell.
Honestly…
Nan Bei left the private room, and thinking of what he had just done, she still felt like laughing.
The restrooms on this floor were all inside the private rooms. Since she had already come out, there was no need for her to go back, so she simply walked down the stairs and found the restroom outside the open-plan private rooms on the second floor.
She pushed the door open. All three enclosed stalls stood with their doors wide open, and there was no one inside.
She reached behind her, intending to close the door, but unexpectedly met some resistance.
The next second, someone had already wrapped an arm around her waist. Her heart gave a sudden leap, and she tried to strike back, only to have her ear gently bitten. “Beibei.”
It was Cheng Muyang.
That voice, along with such sudden intimacy, immediately made her arms go limp.
Slowly, she withdrew her attempt to fight back.
Cheng Muyang silently caught her wrist, half-embracing and half-pushing her into the first stall, then locked the door. Before Nan Bei could even open her mouth, he had pressed her against the wooden door, covering her lips directly with his own.
One of his elbows braced against the door, while his body completely pinned all her joints, giving her no opportunity to react.
A long, deep kiss.
By the end, both of them were beginning to run out of breath. He finally used his other hand to lift her entire body into his arms, allowing her to meet his eyes at the same level. “When this matter is over, come back to Moscow with me, okay?”
Even as he spoke, he continued to kiss the corners of her mouth in between words.
She looked into his eyes, gently bit his lips, and murmured, “I’m afraid of the cold.”
“The room is kept at a constant twenty-four degrees Celsius.”
Her breathing was unsteady. “Are you going to lock me up?”
“I’d be more than happy to.”
As they spoke, they never stopped kissing each other. Vaguely, she heard someone push open the restroom door, and she quickly squeezed his arm.
Cheng Muyang frowned, seeming quite displeased at being interrupted.
Girls of every kind of background were always eager to share their little thoughts while touching up their makeup in the bathroom. The voices of several girls drifted over, from complaining about the dull opera to speculating about the wealthiest families on the third floor. Naturally, the topic eventually fell upon the younger members of the various families.
“Among those old families upstairs, only the Cheng family is somewhat Westernized. I really don’t know what those old fossils are thinking. It’s already the twenty-first century, and they still come to watch this kind of opera.”
“It’s good to know more. Otherwise, if you had to talk to Shen Jiaming, you wouldn’t even know what to say first.”
“Then if you wanted to talk to Cheng Muyang, wouldn’t you have to be an expert in all kinds of firearms and weapons?”
Someone laughed. “If he were willing to talk to me, what would it matter if I memorized a few manuals on firearms and weapons?”
Nan Bei could not help laughing as she listened.
Amid the girls’ clearly audible conversation, his hand had already come to rest on her leg, gently stroking it.
His palm was warm, bearing the traces of long-term firearm use. It was not particularly rough, yet it made her even more flustered.
She caught his hand and silently mouthed: Pervert.
Cheng Muyang’s smile was extremely restrained. He slowly savored her lips, tasting her flavor, while his hand never stopped. Again and again, it lingered over her skin, as though caressing a priceless piece of Hetian jade.
The laughter and chatter gradually became muffled by the door, and the restroom once again fell silent.
She could finally speak. “How long are you planning to stay here?”
He told her softly, “I don’t know.”
“Boss Cheng.” She caught his hand again and moved it away from her leg. “Did you come here to do business, or to have a one-night affair?”
“Not a one-night affair.” Cheng Muyang smiled, his hand feeling the line of her waist through the thin fabric of her clothes. “It’s an affair every night.”
His words were truly intoxicating.
Her heart softened. For the third time, she pulled his hand away and said quietly, “This isn’t the right place.”
She was not simply referring to this bathroom, but to this cruise ship.
That morning, Bodongha had given her a veiled warning.
And after learning the truth, she too had drawn a line for herself. Here, she was no longer simply herself. More than anything, she represented Nan Huai’s position. She thought Cheng Muyang should understand what she meant.
✦
m&m: i can't help but think about how completely different their dynamic is from wen han & cheng muyun (life: a black and white film) .... its so subtle unlike the latter's very charged one
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