Chapter 12: Shadow of White Moonlight
The kiss in Macau that went beyond the agreement was like a huge rock thrown into a calm lake, causing huge waves in Su Lingwan's heart.
On the plane back to Hong Kong, the atmosphere was delicate and tense. Huo Linshen continued to attend to official business, his profile as stern as ever, as if that aggressive, predatory kiss in the corridor last night had been nothing more than a dream. But Su Lingwan couldn't calm down. His scorching heat and strength still lingered on her lips, and his husky words, "Fake it, real it!", echoed repeatedly in her ears.
She secretly glanced at him, trying to find even the slightest hint of something unusual in his flawless expression, but found nothing. This made her feel inexplicably depressed and... lost.
What did he mean? Was it a spur-of-the-moment reaction? The natural reaction of a grown man and woman in an ambiguous atmosphere? Or... was there something really different?
She got no answer. Huo Linshen clearly had no intention of offering any explanation or discussion. After returning to Hong Kong, he quickly plunged into a new merger and acquisition case and was so busy that he was nowhere to be seen.
Su Lingwan forced herself to focus back on work and the upcoming Paris Fashion Week. However, the lines on the design would occasionally twist into his deep eyes as he approached; when selecting fabrics, her fingertips would inexplicably recall the crisp feel of his suit fabric.
This uneasy state was pushed to a peak a week later at a business forum dinner hosted by the Huo Group.
The dinner was held at a five-star hotel on Victoria Harbour, bringing together prominent figures from the political and business sectors. Su Lingwan, wearing a royal blue velvet dress, entered the venue arm in arm with Huo Linshen. After the incident at Macau City, she felt a surge of inexplicable complexity as she faced the cameras and gazes, yet she maintained a respectful smile.
Huo Linshen, as always, was the center of attention, constantly approached to greet people. He handled the situation with ease, occasionally leaning over to whisper a few words to Su Lingwan, introducing her to an important figure. His manners were impeccable, but they also made Su Lingwan feel the businesslike distance even more clearly.
Just when the banquet was halfway through, there was a slight commotion at the entrance.
Su Lingwan looked up subconsciously.
A woman in a champagne-colored silk mermaid dress approached gracefully. Her figure was elegant, her temperament intellectual and gentle. Her long hair was loosely tied, revealing a slender, graceful neck. Her makeup was delicate and appropriate, and her face wore a perfectly balanced, radiant smile. Her beauty wasn't as bright and vivid as Su Lingwan's, but more like the clear, bright moon, calm, elegant, and possessed of the composure of time.
Almost immediately, Su Lingwan sensed a subtle shift in Huo Linshen's aura. His hand, casually draped at his side, tightened slightly, almost imperceptibly. Though his expression remained calm, his usually impassive eyes flickered with something when the woman appeared—not surprise, not admiration, but more like a... complex, mingled wave of memories and some indescribable emotion.
The woman walked straight towards them.
"Lin Shen." She spoke, her voice gentle and pleasant, like the sound of jade colliding. Her eyes fell on Huo Lin Shen's face with a familiar smile, "Long time no see."
Then, as if she had just seen Su Lingwan, she turned her gaze towards her, her smile still appropriate, but with a subtle scrutiny: "Is this Miss Su? It's true that hearing about her is worse than meeting her in person. She is truly charming and charismatic."
Su Lingwan's heart sank slightly when the intimate and natural "Lin Shen" sounded. She maintained a polite smile and looked at Huo Lin Shen, waiting for his introduction.
Huo Linshen's gaze lingered on the woman for a moment before he turned to Su Lingwan and introduced her calmly, "This is Miss Shen Qinglan, the managing director of the Shen Group, and also... my college classmate."
Shen Qinglan.
Su Lingwan had a vague impression of this name. She seemed to have heard someone in her circle mention her as another prominent and talented daughter of a wealthy family in Hong Kong. She had studied abroad in her early years and had only recently returned to China to take over part of the family business. More importantly, some groundless rumors had her as... or rather, she had always been considered the most special and likely woman around Huo Linshen. Some even secretly called her Huo Linshen's "white moonlight."
Shen Qinglan took the initiative to extend his hand to Su Lingwan, smiling gently: "Hello, Miss Su. I often hear the elders mention the jewel in the crown of the Nanyang Su family. Seeing her today, it is indeed well-deserved."
"Miss Shen, you're too kind." Su Lingwan gently shook her hand, feeling a warmth and coolness. She could sense in Shen Qinglan's eyes the seemingly gentle, yet actually measured and probing meaning.
"Qinglan just returned to China not long ago. Shen's is also an important partner in this forum." Huo Linshen added, as if explaining why she was here.
"Yeah," Shen Qinglan replied naturally, his gaze returning to Huo Linshen with a nostalgic smile, "I remember back in college, we often participated in activities like this together, discussing cases late into the night. Time flies."
Her words naturally pulled Huo Linshen into their shared past, in which Su Lingwan was not involved.
Huo Linshen did not respond, but just said "hmm" lightly, but did not show any disgust.
At this time, someone else came over to greet Huo Linshen, and Shen Qinglan took the opportunity to smile at Su Lingwan and said, "Miss Su, do you mind if I borrow Linshen for a while? I have a client from Europe who I've been wanting to introduce to him."
Her tone was intimate and natural, as if she had a close relationship with Huo Linshen.
Su Lingwan's nails dug into her palms slightly, but she had an impeccable smile on her face: "Miss Shen, please do as you please."
Shen Qinglan made a "please" gesture to Huo Linshen. Huo Linshen glanced at Su Lingwan, said "I'll be back soon", and walked towards a foreign businessman not far away with Shen Qinglan.
Su Lingwan stood there, watching their backs as they walked away side by side. Shen Qinglan tilted his head slightly to listen to Huo Linshen's words, a perfectly placed smile on his lips. The two of them looked... perfectly matched, as if they had a tacit understanding and a past that no one else could interfere with.
A subtle but extremely clear feeling of sourness quietly wrapped around Su Lingwan's heart like a vine.
Was this… the type he might have once been attracted to? Elegant, intellectual, mature, someone who shared a common background and topics with him.
In comparison, this "girlfriend" of his who showed up halfway and got promoted through an "agreement" seemed so out of place.
She remembered the instantaneous change in Huo Linshen's eyes when he saw Shen Qinglan, the natural and intimate "Linshen" that Shen Qinglan called her, and the shared memories between them that no one else could meddle with...
The throbbing and confusion brought by the kiss in Macau were replaced at this moment by an inexplicable sense of crisis and uncertainty.
How much truth and how much falsehood did he express when he said "fake play becomes real"?
When faced with this sudden and perfect "white moonlight", where should she, the "agreement girlfriend", be placed?
Su Lingwan picked up a glass of champagne from the waiter's tray and shook it gently. The amber liquid rippled in the glass, reflecting her somewhat confused mood at the moment.
She told herself that this was just a play and she shouldn't put real emotions into it. Shen Qinglan's appearance had nothing to do with her.
However, the lingering bitterness and subtle pain in her heart reminded her very clearly—
Some things seem to have changed without us noticing.
Huo Linshen talked with Shen Qinglan for a while and then walked back. He looked normal, with no signs of anything unusual.
"Are you tired?" He lowered his head and asked Su Lingwan in a flat tone.
Su Lingwan raised her eyes and met his deep gaze, trying to find some clues about Shen Qinglan, but she only saw a calm deep sea.
"A little." She lowered her eyes to hide the emotions in them.
"Then let's go back first." Huo Linshen put his arm around her waist and said goodbye to his master naturally.
As Su Lingwan left the banquet hall, she turned around and happened to meet Shen Qinglan's gaze from a distance. Shen Qinglan still smiled and raised his glass to her, but behind that smile, there seemed to be some deeper meaning.
Su Lingwan quickly turned back, and the shadow in her heart seemed to become even heavier.
Sitting in the car, Huo Linshen rubbed his eyebrows and seemed a little tired.
Su Lingwan looked at the night scene outside the window that was rapidly receding. Finally, she couldn't help but whispered casually, "That Miss Shen... looks very outstanding."
Huo Linshen opened his eyes and glanced at her sideways. In the dim light, his eyes were dark and unclear.
"Yeah." He responded lightly without any extra comments.
Then, there was a long silence.
This silence, like a huge rock, weighed on Su Lingwan's heart.
He didn't want to talk much.
Is it about Shen Qinglan? Or is it about... their past?
Su Lingwan turned her head away, no longer looking at him, and forcibly suppressed the unfamiliar jealousy and uneasiness that was surging in her heart.
However, the shadow of "Shen Qinglan" has quietly spread like the mist over Victoria Harbour tonight, adding another layer of uncertainty to the already confusing relationship between her and Huo Linshen.
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