Chapter 36: Zhou’s Perspective / First Loop [Side Story]

The first time Zhou Jinsheng saw Shen Yu was at a cocktail party.

It was a banquet hosted by the Zheng Family for their youngest daughter Zheng Zhijue’s birthday. The event took place in the Zheng Corporation’s magnificent estate, where Elder Zheng personally oversaw the proceedings, inviting guests from all directions. At the same time, he hoped to leverage the Zhou Corporation’s power through a marriage alliance, adding fuel to the Zheng Family’s skyrocketing momentum.

Zhou Jinsheng had met Zheng Zhijue before. Despite her young age, she already carried an air of decisive efficiency. She was neither as laid-back and mild-mannered as Zheng Keqin nor as aggressively domineering as her older brother.

Among the younger generation of the Zheng Family, Zheng Zhijue was the youngest and had entered the family’s power struggles the latest. Yet she possessed the strongest presence of a Zheng Corporation heir.

She was still young, however. Though her actions showed restraint, she had yet to learn how to conceal the burning ambition in her eyes, their sharp glint capable of scorching anyone who met them.

She resembled Zhou Jinsheng in his younger days, to some extent.

A marriage alliance between the Zheng Family and the Zhou Family was a surefire win-win deal for both sides. But for the other guests, it was anything but. Everyone harbored their own ulterior motives, and those who came purely to celebrate Zheng Zhijue’s birthday could be counted on one hand.

At that moment, the entire estate was enveloped in brilliant lights, resplendent with gold and jade. Though it was nighttime, the illumination outshone the daytime by several degrees. Everywhere one looked, there was dazzling splendor. Men and women in lavish attire mingled about, their vivid faces emerging under the extravagant lights as they raised glasses and chatted amiably.

Zhou Jinsheng was surrounded by the crowd, a wine glass held lightly in his fingers as he stood on the second floor. Amid the noisy throng, he idly lowered his gaze and swept it over the scene below.

The central champagne tower reflected twinkling sparks. The area around it teemed with people, seductive music filled the air, and everyone conversed with smiles, their hidden ambitions and desires bubbling beneath the surface. They resembled a swarm of moths fluttering toward a flame.

Just then, Zhou Jinsheng’s gaze paused. He noticed Shen Yu.

Truth be told, it was hard not to notice the young man.

The youth in the corner stood apart from the boisterous crowd, leaning lazily against a potted plant. His head was bowed, black hair falling over his forehead as he idly extended a finger to poke at the leaves of an ornamental bamboo.

The leaf, toyed with too much, angrily swiped at his finger before snapping away in indignation. Then it was mercilessly grabbed and kneaded again.

Snap away, grab back. Snap away again, grabbed back once more.

The cycle repeated endlessly.

The youth seemed endlessly amused.

Could a person and a single leaf really provide so much entertainment?

Zhou Jinsheng didn’t quite understand. His threshold for pleasure was far too high. But for some reason, watching the youth play with that leaf didn’t bore him at all. The clamor of music and conversation receded like an ebbing tide, distancing itself from him.

The youth’s finger paused, as if sensing his gaze. His chin lifted slightly, lashes fluttering upward. His eyes pierced through the noisy crowd, over the towering champagne tower, through the endless glittering lights and glamour, meeting Zhou Jinsheng’s gaze.

Zhou Jinsheng froze.

What words could describe the sensation of that instant?

It was as if a corner of his heart had been suddenly pried open. The sealed world cracked apart, and a soft, fluffy feather slipped in, gently brushing against his heart.

But even such words felt too superficial. Trying to articulate that moment only highlighted the poverty of language.

Zhou Jinsheng’s fingers tightened around his wine glass as he looked away.

Zheng Keqin, dressed in a suit and exuding the poise of a refined gentleman, followed his earlier gaze to the handsome youth in the corner. He raised a brow slightly. “What’s up?”

Zhou Jinsheng took a sip of wine, his eyelids drooping as he asked indifferently, “Who is that man?”

Zheng Keqin frowned, searching his memory for a moment before smiling. “Ah, from the Shen Family. I think he’s called Shen Yu?”

Yu?

What an intriguing name.

An unexpected encounter, or adapting to circumstances—which “yu” was it?

Perhaps it was deliberate. In any case, this unexpected interlude was quickly cast aside by Zhou Jinsheng, like a dragonfly skimming the water’s surface— a fleeting ripple that soon restored calm.

He had an uncanny instinct for danger beyond the ordinary. This time, his subconscious warned him that this person was extremely dangerous—more so than anyone he had ever encountered.

Getting close to the one who had scratched at his heart would likely lead him to misstep and plunge into an abyss of no return.

Zhou Jinsheng knew his instincts had never failed him.

He forgot about it for a long time.

The next time he heard about the man was at a private gathering.

Those in attendance were all close acquaintances. As the group chatted about recent happenings in Shangjing, Zheng Keqin suddenly remembered something and turned to him. He said the man had been caught in a power struggle, sacrificed as a pawn in the contest for influence, and sunk into a lake under Zhou Yaoshu’s orders in the name of the Zhou Corporation.

When he heard the news, Zhou Jinsheng paused mid-reach for his wine glass.

The topic came and went quickly; the group soon shifted to other subjects. Zheng Keqin leaned in again to ask, “A few days ago, I saw you getting along well with Zhijue. Why the sudden decision to turn down the marriage alliance?”

The Zheng Corporation was currently embroiled in internal power struggles. The youngest Zheng daughter and her older brother were fighting fiercely, and everyone else wished to stay far away to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. Zheng Keqin, on the other hand, appeared balanced on the surface but had long since picked a side.

Zhou Jinsheng lowered his gaze and picked up his wine glass. “You’re not even trying to hide it—you’re fully on your sister’s side, huh?”

The third young master of the Zheng Family sprawled like a listless salted fish and sighed. “If my older brother takes power, don’t worry—you won’t see me in Shangjing anymore. I’ll just follow my wife back home to farm.”

Zhou Jinsheng raised a brow. “Even without this marriage, Zheng Zhijue has it in the bag. Just lie back and enjoy it.”

With those words from Zhou Jinsheng, Zheng Keqin’s suspended heart finally settled. That was exactly what he had been waiting for. He couldn’t help but glance at him with a grin. “So that’s the reason you’re rejecting the marriage alliance?”

Was that the reason?

Zhou Jinsheng asked himself the same question.

The man lowered his eyes and found, for the moment, that he couldn’t give a definitive answer.

The next day was Old Madam Zhuang’s death anniversary. Per her last wishes, his grandmother had not been laid to rest in the family cemetery. Zhou Jinsheng drove to the cemetery in the eastern part of the city.

When he emerged from the cemetery, the sky had darkened considerably, the sun dipping low in the west. Zhou Jinsheng sat in the driver’s seat, buckled his seatbelt, and rested his arm on the steering wheel, about to start the car. As he turned his head, he caught sight of a beautiful sunset on the horizon.

The clouds were painted in shades of red, orange, yellow, and purple, like bolts of burning silk.

Zhou Jinsheng stared at the sunset for a long time—so long that his arm went numb. Only then did he suddenly realize that the person he wanted to share it with was not by his side.