"Then I won't be polite." Zhang Xuanhua smiled and stretched out his hand, his fingertips brushing against Mu Xinrong's palm, "I'm just hungry."
Mu Xinrong was stunned. Zhang Xuanhua's nails were trimmed very short, but there were thin calluses on the pads of his fingers - the marks of long-term gripping of a gun.
This discovery reminded him of the scene last week at the Chao family villa when Chao Youye was teaching him how to shoot. The young man's hand was covering his own, and his voice was hoarse: "Breathe steadily, like this..."
The moment the dried cherries exploded on Zhang Xuanhua's tongue, he sighed with satisfaction: "It's just the right balance of sweet and sour. It's truly the taste of Young Master Chao."
He deliberately emphasized the word "Chao Shao". The silver tongue stud flashed a cold light in the sunlight. It was from the "Dark Night Star" series circulated on the black market. It was rumored to be made by a royal jeweler in the Middle East. There are only ninety-nine of them in the world.
Chao Youye's pupils suddenly contracted. He finally understood why Zhang Xuanhua was always so able to obtain Chao's internal information. This always-smiling math representative, wearing a Chao watch on his wrist and a tongue stud engraved with the star tracks of the Ye clan, was clearly a double agent.
"Student Zhang, do you know Mr. Chao well?" Ye Qingliu suddenly asked, his silver-rimmed glasses sliding down to the tip of his nose, revealing the gray-blue corners of his eyes. His voice carried the languid air of an aristocrat, yet it pierced Zhang Xuanhua's eardrums like an icicle.
"It's just admiration." Zhang Xuanhua smiled gently, but his fingertips made a provocative gesture towards Chao Youye at an angle that Mu Xinrong could not see.
Chao Youye recognized it as the "Eye of Death" gesture used in underground boxing rings, and dug his nails deep into his palm - this smiling tiger was actually challenging his bottom line.
Mu Xinrong looked at Chao Youye's suddenly tense jawline. He reached out and pulled Chao Youye's sleeve, but was pushed away by the other party.
"Don't touch me." Chao Youye's voice was filled with a cruelty that even surprised himself.
Mu Xinrong's hand was suspended in mid-air, and the dried cherries in the tin box suddenly seemed extremely heavy, like a piece of red-hot iron, burning his fingertips so much that they hurt.
Zhang Xuanhua took the tin box just in time. "Mr. Mu, can I help you with some of the burden?" He rubbed his fingertips over the Chao family's laurel pattern on the lid. "I heard these dried cherries are made with 1992 Bordeaux red wine. Young Master Chao is truly generous."
Chao Youye turned and left, the strap of his schoolbag sweeping across the desk, making a harsh sound.
Mu Xinrong saw the red tip of his ear and suddenly remembered the time in the third year of junior high school when he had blocked a thug's punch for him. He had also said "idiot" with red ears and then stuffed a box of Band-Aids with a note inside: "If you do this again next time, I won't care about you anymore."
"Chao Youye!" He stood up and tried to chase after her, but Ye Qingliu gently held his shoulder. The young man's palm was filled with the scent of cedar perfume, mixed with the ambergris on Zhang Xuanhua's body, forming a subtle counterpoint in the air.
"Let him calm down." Ye Qingliu said softly, his gray-blue eyes reflecting the direction where Chao Youye disappeared. "Some people need to learn to cherish the people in front of them."
Zhang Xuanhua looked at their crossed shoulders, and the smile on his face deepened.
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