【凯源】Mountains and Rivers [GCA2019X]

第二章 // Chapter 2

it is not a choice, loving

but a matter of when

or where

or how

or why

the heart chooses to skip a beat suddenly

your eyes land on him

and it's obvious...

but afterwards, he may slip out of your clumsy hands..."

*warning: the following might make people uncomfortable, please skip if you want*

When Junkai exited from the palace, it was already past nine at night. He hated cold nights like this, merely because he hadn't brought enough clothes from home to keep warm, but this time he had no choice but to go out. Tonight, he was going to the Huangs' banquet, held in honour of their young lady turning twenty-one.

He would be going there to eat, to laugh and talk with the masters and have a good time.

- He would also be going there to steal something.

Banquets -- anything, really -- at the Huangs was always an elaborate affair. People would dress up in intricate gowns or formal suits. People would clink glasses and drink, people would mingle and talk politely, and there would always be that few people who stayed over in a bedroom.

An elaborate affair of the heart.

i remember you?

Wang Junkai thought of himself as naturally handsome. Two pairs of long legs, a slender waist, long, thin fingers and a good-looking face normally occupied by a placid smile made up his body. He was told that when he went past his pleasant, sometimes-impassive demeanour (which only happened whenever he was drunk, which again did not happen usually) he had a sparkle in his eyes and would become quite the life of the party.

He was polite around women, no matter young or old, and was the ideal husband for many, especially when they hear of his perfect grades and scholarships he had won to famous schools. Mothers and fathers of hopeful daughters, as they looked at him, they felt even more and more hopeful and positive that, perhaps, this man was to be their daughter's husband. It was no matter that he was rather mysterious, dipping in and out of crowds (and sometimes even conversations) whenever he pleased.

However, this person had one fault, but that fault could always be masked as a merit. When conversing with Wang Junkai, he could act as both sides, pointing out miniature faults in both of them.

He moved like a fish in water through the crowd, smoothly and quietly. Even though it was such a large sea, there were so many other fishes it was a difficulty swimming through them. Shanghai was oh so large, and even though there were thousands of women here Junkai could recognise 60 - 70% of them. That was Boss Zhang's daughter, her hair was styled differently today; that was Johnson's daughter... she was a sight to behold. Rather attractive, and when she noticed Junkai looking at her she smiled, oh so pleased with herself; and that was...

Wang Junkai was stunned dumbfounded.

He didn't recognise that lady, which wasn't such a rare occurrence, but he did feel like he had seen her before, like they had met before...

... like her eyes were somehow so familiar...

- Which was a very odd feeling to have towards an unknown lady.

He was taller than the young lady by a head, and her skin was oh so very white, white like snow. She was thin, but not so skinny until you could see her bones. Proportionately thin, it seemed. She wore a white qipao, but it the hem of it ended somewhere near her ankles. Different and longer than most, as more than half the girls her age at the banquet were wearing skirts that ended somewhere around the middle of their thighs.