Xingzhou City (6)
It was obvious that sitting at the same table as Luo Jingming to play stud poker was not a good choice, and sitting down with him to play mahjong was no better.
One against three, and he had not lost a single round. By the time one full circle was barely finished, more than half the alcohol on the table was already gone. Liang Yongwei had drunk two glasses, Xue Qing four, and Liang Peishan had the worst luck, downing a full eight. By the eighth glass her face had gone pale as she forced it down. She could no longer keep up appearances, bolting out the door and rushing to the restroom to vomit violently.
Seeing the game come to a temporary halt, Tan Guhong rose unhurriedly to take her leave.
“Take your time. I’m going out for a walk.”
Without sparing Luo Jingming another glance, she turned and left the private room.
After stepping out of the Jade Hall, she wandered at an easy pace, eventually reaching the huge floor-to-ceiling window at the end of the corridor’s lounge area.
Outside, the night was deep and the lights glittered. From here she could see the iconic Supertrees of Gardens by the Bay not far away, awash in shifting colors, crowds moving below, a distant melody drifting faintly through the air.
She suddenly remembered that there seemed to be an open-air public dance being held in the gardens tonight.
Someone approached from behind. She did not need to turn to know who it was. She turned around, speaking lazily,
“You came over so quickly. Aren’t you afraid someone might notice…”
Before she could finish, her words were sealed away.
Luo Jingming pressed her against the glass wall, catching her hands, his knee braced against her leg, leaving her no room to refuse.
The kiss was eager and deep, threaded with lingering tenderness, carrying that familiar hint of mint, and her heart softened into water without her realizing it.
Only when they were both short of breath did they finally part.
Foreheads resting together, noses brushing lightly, there were too many things to say, and for a moment neither knew where to begin.
She let out a soft huff. “You play mahjong pretty well.”
She should have known. He had grown up in underground gambling dens. A small scene like this was nothing to him. She had stepped in for nothing.
He understood her intent and smiled lightly. “I told you, I wouldn’t let you lose.”
“Was it you who didn’t let me lose, or you and your partner working in perfect sync?”
She might not know how to play, but after watching so many rounds she had figured it out. He and Liang Yongwei, one upstream and one downstream, echoed each other, inside and out setting the game up against Liang Peiyue. If she didn’t lose, who would?
Luo Jingming did not deny it, only smiling. “Looks like I’ve taught you well. But there’s one more key thing you need to learn. There’s no such thing as a gambling king in this world, only cheating masters.”
Tan Guhong frowned slightly. “So you and your eldest uncle are on the same side?”
“Of course not. It’s just that my cousin and my eldest uncle aren’t on the same side. Her father favors his younger son more.”
“A strained father-daughter relationship, and you’re the one who benefits. Seems like certain people are determined to take Liang Group?”
“What determination?” Luo Jingming shook his head. “What’s the point of those below fighting until their heads break? The power of life and death is still in the old man’s hands. I’ve said it before, no one can read Grandfather’s mind.”
Tan Guhong paused slightly. After her conversation with Old Master Liang that afternoon, she already knew the outcome. She had not expected Luo Jingming to see just as clearly.
“And your fourth uncle?”
“One mountain can’t hold two tigers. I told you, I’m just an outsider who came later. But this outsider happens to have stolen the spotlight from his biological son.”
She clicked her tongue. “No wonder you’re so irritating.”
“Stop thinking about that.” He kissed the faint crease between her brows, his voice low with a smile. “Still haven’t guessed what it’s called when you draw one extra tile?”
“Trying to trick me into saying it again?”
“Trick you into saying what?”
“Big hus…” She almost fell for it, catching herself mid-word and shutting up abruptly, glaring at him in annoyance.
He smiled teasingly, lowering his head to kiss her again, but she dodged it, pushing him lightly.
“Don’t push your luck. Look where we are.”
Although they were half hidden behind a tall potted plant that blocked the line of sight, anyone passing by could see at a glance what they were up to.
He gently bit her ear, murmuring temptingly,
“Then… my room?”
She raised a hand to his face, her fingertips tracing slowly over his handsome brows, the bridge of his nose, his thin lips, a half-smile on her own.
“You came to find me just for this?”
He tilted his head to kiss her fingers, smiling.
“Don’t you want to?”
She pulled away, her fingers sliding lower, circling idly at his neck, just as he had done under the table earlier while holding her hand.
“What if I say no?”
His gaze darkened. His throat moved reflexively, and when he spoke, the vibration carried straight through her fingertips.
“I’ve noticed that sometimes, what you say has to be heard the other way around.”
“Is that so?”
“Isn’t it?” He reached out and pinched her chin, his thumb brushing lightly over her lips as he spoke in an unhurried tone. “Miss Say-One-Thing-Mean-Another?”
She had to admit, a title like that, frivolous as it was, sounded far more pleasant than the polite, distant “Miss Tan.” Tan Guhong let out a silent sigh in her heart.
She leaned in and kissed his cheek, smiling softly.
“Right now, I just want to go down to the garden and dance. See you in half an hour. Whether you come or not is up to you.”
…
Luo Jingming watched the direction she left, raising a hand to touch the place she had kissed, shaking his head helplessly.
Stepping out from the blind spot hidden by the greenery, he glanced toward the figure not far away by a sculptural installation and spoke casually,
“Fourth Uncle, have you seen enough?”
Liang Jiaxing slowly stepped out, a half-smile playing on his lips.
“The girl Father likes most for a daughter-in-law has been taken in by you just like that. A-Ming, you really do have your methods.”
The smile faded slowly from Luo Jingming’s face. Behind his lenses, the warmth in his eyes vanished completely. He gave no response to the remark, only stood there expressionless, looking at him.
“Was I wrong? Or did I hit the mark too well and you’re embarrassed into anger? Tell me, if she found out about those filthy things from your past, would she still—”
“Shut up.” He cut him off impatiently.
This man had always played the role of a proper gentleman on the surface, refined and courteous. For him to tear away all pretense and disregard rank like this was a first. Liang Jiaxing froze for a moment.
“You—”
“Liang Jiaxing, you’d better not touch her.” Luo Jingming spoke calmly. “I’m capable of anything. You know that.”
Liang Jiaxing let out a cold laugh. “And what will you do? You think your life is worth that much? Don’t forget, everything you rely on now was given to you by my father. Without him, you’d still be a Chinatown thug, still a prisoner in the San Francisco Police Department. What would you dare do to me?”
“Whether I dare or not, you can try and see. I’ve said it before. As long as I’m still alive, no one can beat me.”
Luo Jingming smiled lightly, as if it were nothing.
Yet that smile was more chilling than when he did not smile at all. Liang Jiaxing found himself stiffening under that casual glance. Thinking of the contents in the file he had obtained, a coldness crept up his spine.
“If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going, Fourth Uncle.”
As if everything just now had been an illusion, Luo Jingming lifted a hand to adjust his glasses, returning to his earlier refined and courteous demeanor. He nodded, then turned and left without another look back.
Only Liang Jiaxing remained standing there, staring at his retreating figure with an extremely unpleasant expression.
…
Xingzhou City is a city within Singapore, and Gardens by the Bay is a garden within the garden city.
It spans a vast area, with beautiful scenery, lush grass, and dense trees. Inside the Flower Dome conservatory, plants from the Mediterranean to semi-arid regions are all on display. In the Cloud Forest cooled conservatory stands the tallest indoor waterfall in the world. And in the open plaza, the eighteen towering Supertrees are one of the Bay’s iconic structures. Every night, multicolored lights and multimedia projections dress the plaza in flowing brilliance, dreamlike and unreal.
These past few days, with Singapore’s National Day approaching, a grand public dance has been held in the garden plaza. There are no rules, no constraints. Men and women, young and old, can all come and join.
A band plays on site. Onstage, a local female singer’s voice is retro and sweet. Below, people dance freely with the music. Some are graceful and practiced, some clumsy and stumbling. Some are dressed in finery, others in simple clothes. But no matter what, everyone’s face is lit with happy smiles. It is a joyful night.
Luo Jingming moved through the crowd, searching for Tan Guhong, but to no avail, only encountering one stranger after another who came to strike up a conversation.
After refusing yet another girl who invited him to dance, someone reached from behind and placed a hand on his shoulder, laughing,
“Ay, papi!”
A flirtatious line in Spanish, carrying a faint hint of innuendo. In many old films, it is often the opening to a one-night affair.
He smiled, taking her hand as he turned around, about to speak, but suddenly fell silent.
Half an hour later, when they met again, Tan Guhong had already changed into a different outfit. Not her usual clean, sharp look, but a dress.
It was a black strapless evening dress, with no extra embellishments or patterns. Relying only on exquisite fabric and tailoring, it wrapped her slender, long figure perfectly. Like the deep sea, like the night itself, it set off the wide expanse of pale skin at her chest, her delicate collarbones, and her narrow shoulders.
She wore no jewelry either, only a diamond-studded headband in her hair, catching the light and gleaming, making her features look even more refined, her short hair lively.
Seeing that he said nothing for a long while, she smiled lightly, looping her arms around his neck, teasing on purpose,
“What’s wrong, don’t recognize me? Or is it that my dress doesn’t look good?”
“It’s beautiful.”
“My headband doesn’t look good?”
“It’s beautiful too.”
“Then I’m the one who doesn’t look good?”
“You’re the most beautiful.”
He wrapped his arm around her soft, slender waist, lowering his head to kiss her hair. Almost like a sigh, almost like a lament, he murmured softly,
“So beautiful it leaves me utterly bewitched, beyond redemption.”
Her heart trembled. She lifted her eyes to look at him. Their gazes met, words unsaid lingering between them.
He had never spoken such words before. Between them, it had only ever been a fleeting affair, desire between a man and a woman. There had never been promises, expectations, or confessions.
Utterly bewitched, beyond redemption. Words so intense, so deeply affectionate, should not have existed here.
Silence spread quietly between them. She did not ask, he did not answer. He did not explain, she did not press. As if everything just now had never happened.
They spoke no more, only danced along with the crowd, moving with the warm night breeze, the lively music. The subtle emotions in their hearts scattered like drifting clouds, hidden away in self-deception amid laughter and song.
Onstage, the female singer was performing a classic old song popular across Southeast Asia. The people at the dance unconsciously joined in, singing loudly along. The atmosphere grew lively, and for a moment, the entire park, the whole of Marina Bay, echoed with the song:
“I
I want
I want you
I want your
I want your love
Why won’t you come over
I
I want
I want you
I want your
I want your love
Why won’t you say it…”
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