[“Who is Chen Zemian?”]

Xiao Kesong’s energy levels were incredibly high.

He was busy from morning till night at the birthday banquet, constantly socializing and taking photos. After the banquet, he still had the energy to keep partying.

Truly worthy of a twenty-year-old.

Chen Zemian’s nineteen-year-old body housed the soul of a twenty-seven-year-old corporate slave. After seeing so many people at the banquet, his passive skill, “physically and mentally exhausted after team building, just want to sleep,” automatically activated. He fell asleep in the car before even reaching Fanlou.

When he woke up, the car was completely dark.

With his vision gone, his sense of smell became exceptionally acute.

Chen Zemian caught a faint scent of sandalwood mixed with lily.

And cedarwood and white musk.

Cold and crisp like early winter snow, dry and fresh—a very familiar woody, neutral fragrance.

“Is this Path to the Underworld?” Chen Zemian rubbed his eyes, drowsily asking, “Where did that nap take me?”

A cool, low male voice came from beside him: “Fanlou parking lot.”

Chen Zemian recognized the voice, sharply sat upright, his sleepiness instantly vanishing: “Lu Zhuonian?”

Lu Zhuonian calmly responded, “Mm.”

Chen Zemian was a bit confused: “Where’s Young Master Xiao? Wasn’t I in his car? How are you here?”

Lu Zhuonian was concise: “You fell asleep. He was afraid you’d suffocate.”

Chen Zemian thought, ‘Wouldn’t leaving a driver watch be enough? Why did Lu Zhuonian stay?’

“Let’s go up then,” Chen Zemian said.

Lu Zhuonian hummed in agreement.

Outside the car, the night was deep. Because Chen Zemian was sleeping, the driver had deliberately parked the car in a shaded spot. The car interior was pitch black, and Chen Zemian couldn’t see anything. He reached up to press the overhead reading light.

As soon as he stretched out his arm, before he could touch the light, he bumped into another hand.

With a soft ‘snap,’ static electricity burst into faint blue sparks in the darkness.

Beijing’s autumn was too dry; everything sparked with static electricity.

The charge penetrated the skin, stimulating nerves. The sensation was like being bitten by some rodent. Both people’s movements paused simultaneously, both feeling a slight tingle where they were zapped.

The next second, the overhead reading light cast a soft glow. Chen Zemian turned his head and saw a high bridge of a nose and a pair of deep, dark eyes.

After the slight sting, the touch became exceptionally clear.

Warm skin, cool fingertips.

It was Lu Zhuonian’s hand.

Chen Zemian reacted quickly, springing back sharply in the opposite direction. He not only retracted his hand but also retreated to the edge of the seat, his back pressed tightly against the car door.

But the car cabin was still too narrow. Even with one person trying their best to maximize the distance, they were still incredibly close.

A soft chuckle sounded, so close it felt like it was right next to Chen Zemian’s ear.

Lu Zhuonian’s voice sounded different from usual, with a strange sense of amusement and mischief: “The voltage from static electricity is indeed high, but it’s not enough to send someone flying, is it?”

Chen Zemian rubbed his still slightly tingling fingers and mumbled, “Don’t you have mysophobia?”

Lu Zhuonian’s eyebrows subtly twitched: “How do you know?”

Chen Zemian blurted out a lie, “Young Master Xiao told me.”

Lu Zhuonian didn’t say whether he believed it or not. He pulled an alcohol wipe from the storage compartment and meticulously wiped his entire right hand three times.

After entering the private room, the first thing he did was wash his hands.

Xiao Kesong was used to Lu Zhuonian’s mysophobia but was also a little curious.

Lu Zhuonian was born into privilege and generally didn’t need to touch things when out. When going to public places, they’d clear the area in advance, he’d use special entrances, the driver would open the car door, assistants would carry his things, and if he absolutely needed to reach for something, a bodyguard would bring him gloves.

Xiao Kesong couldn’t figure it out no matter how he thought about it, so he simply asked Chen Zemian, “What did he touch?”

Chen Zemian certainly couldn’t answer ‘me,’ so he looked at a pile of gift boxes in the corner of the private room and asked knowingly, “Are these all your presents?”

Xiao Kesong’s attention was easily diverted. Hearing the question, he looked over. “Yes, I had someone send them over specifically. We’ll open them later… What did you give me?”

Chen Zemian found a palm-sized gift box from the pile of presents. “I didn’t know what you needed, so I just bought a small trinket.”

Xiao Kesong shook the box. “Can I open it now?”

Chen Zemian smiled and nodded. “Go ahead.”

Xiao Kesong tore open the wrapping in a few quick movements and gasped at the logo on the gift box. “Wow, you actually bought me Prada.”

Chen Zemian lightly coughed. “Young Master Xiao, you don’t need to exaggerate so much.”

Xiao Kesong was genuinely surprised. “You actually gave me a luxury item! You don’t even use them yourself, which means you really care about me! You’re much better than that grandson Ye Chen. He just bought me headphones, and they’re wired! Who wears wired headphones these days? So old-fashioned.”

Ye Chen had a valid point: “Don’t you always lose wireless ones?”

Xiao Kesong ignored Ye Chen and held up the gift box for Lu Zhuonian, who was sitting on the side, showing off. “Chen Ze gave me Prada!”

Lu Zhuonian turned to look. “What is it?”

With three top young masters from prominent families gathered around so solemnly, it made Chen Zemian a little embarrassed.

Chen Zemian quietly said, “It’s nothing valuable. It’s a collar.”

‘A collar?’

Ye Chen and Lu Zhuonian simultaneously looked at Chen Zemian.

Xiao Kesong’s hand, which was lifting the lid, paused. He thought he’d misheard. “What?”

“A collar, a pet collar. Don’t you have a Maine Coon…”

Chen Zemian was baffled at first. Noticing Xiao Kesong’s odd expression, he rambled on with a few more explanations—only to watch the man’s gaze shift gradually from shocked to utterly unflappable. Then it hit him.

“Damn, what were you guys thinking? Your minds are so dirty!”

Ye Chen coughed lightly and picked up his water glass to drink.

Lu Zhuonian calmly looked away.

Xiao Kesong laughed heartily and obliviously, “Oh, so it’s for the cat. We overthought it, ha ha ha ha.”

Chen Zemian furrowed his brows. “A decent person wouldn’t think that way, would they?”

Xiao Kesong dangled the collar, swinging it lightly. “It’s mainly because we just watched an art performance a few days ago, and these things had quite a high appearance rate.”

Chen Zemian was speechless. “You watch everything?”

A look of indescribable expression appeared on Xiao Kesong’s face. “It wasn’t good at all. Maybe Ye Chen and I just don’t have that inclination.”

Upon hearing that, Chen Zemian was greatly surprised.

Xiao Kesong and Ye Chen didn’t have that inclination either, so the one who did have that inclination was…

Chen Zemian thought he was being subtle as he secretly glanced at Lu Zhuonian.

The original book stated that the male lead enjoyed niche extreme sports. Could it be this kind of niche, this kind of extreme?

It was too niche, too extreme.

He was a germaphobe yet played things so wildly. The greatest source of pain for the submissive party during the game must be the alcohol disinfection, what a novel way to play.

Chen Zemian’s expression shifted several times, almost everything he was thinking was written on his face.

He was seen sometimes knitting his brows in confusion, sometimes suddenly understanding, and finally settling into a faint, subtle admiration?

Seeing his expression, even without knowing precisely what he was imagining, one could roughly guess what he was thinking.

Lu Zhuonian was a bit helpless. “I didn’t go.”

‘So, he didn’t go.’

For some reason, Chen Zemian felt a sense of relief.

Lu Zhuonian added, “I’m not like that.”

Chen Zemian snapped back to attention and subconsciously said, “Me neither.”

Xiao Kesong immediately followed suit. “That’s great, me neither.”

Ye Chen didn’t know what Xiao Kesong was joining in for. “Did anyone ask you?”

Xiao Kesong had his own reasoning. “Zhuonian and Chen Ze aren’t like that. If I were, wouldn’t I be very unsociable?”

Ye Chen calmly said, “Zero people care.”

Xiao Kesong was so angry he wanted to kick Ye Chen but dared not. He turned to advise Chen Zemian, “That stuff is boring. Don’t go looking it up out of curiosity. You’ll be disgusted for days and lose all worldly desires.”

Speaking of which, Xiao Kesong seemed to remember something and suddenly looked at Lu Zhuonian. “You, however, could try watching it.”

Lu Zhuonian: “…”

Ye Chen couldn’t help but rub his forehead. “Xiao Kesong, can you please stop talking?”

Xiao Kesong immediately bristled. “Why can’t I talk!”

Ye Chen: “Because no one wants to listen.”

Xiao Kesong instantly flared up, arguing with Ye Chen, feeling very indignant. Most of it was one-sided, as Ye Chen said little, but the occasional sentence or two could infuriate Xiao Kesong.

Chen Zemian excused himself to buy wine and quickly slipped out.

Lu Zhuonian probably also found it noisy and left the private room with Chen Zemian.

The corridor was covered with thick cashmere carpets, which felt dense and soft underfoot, making it exceptionally quiet.

The two walked in silence, taking the elevator down to the basement level, where there was a luxuriously and exquisitely decorated small wine cellar.

Guests frequenting Fanlou were either wealthy or noble. The staff had sharp eyes and immediately noticed Lu Zhuonian’s luxurious attire, with a high-end watch on his wrist starting at seven figures.

The staff member approached with a smile, walking quickly. He was good at reading people. Lu Zhuonian merely gave Chen Zemian a faint glance, and the staff member understood his service target, bowing and beginning to introduce wines to Chen Zemian.

Chen Zemian felt that today’s salesperson was exceptionally enthusiastic, not only friendly and polite but also remarkably generous, frequently pouring samples for him to taste.

He originally only intended to symbolically take a sip, buy quickly, and leave, but he couldn’t withstand the other’s quick reflexes, always precisely predicting his movements and presenting the wine glass to him with both hands at just the right moment, looking at him with sincere eyes, as if the wine’s very existence depended on his tasting.

“It’s quite good,” Chen Zemian, with his limited vocabulary and lack of wine knowledge, simply pointed to the bottle he thought tasted best. “How about this one?”

The staff member clapped and exclaimed, “You truly have excellent taste! This is one of our best-selling wines here.”

Chen Zemian wasn’t swayed by the staff’s flattery. He turned to Lu Zhuonian, seeking the influential man’s opinion.

Lu Zhuonian nodded slightly, a dignified and elegant gesture. “It’s fine.”

Only then did Chen Zemian say, “Then please wrap these two bottles and send them to private room K866.”

The staff member smiled in acknowledgment, took the bank card Chen Zemian offered, swiped the POS machine, and asked Chen Zemian to sign.

Chen Zemian signed his name with a flourish.

The POS hummed, spitting out a receipt.

The staff member tore off the customer copy and handed it back: “Here’s your receipt; please keep it.”

Just as Chen Zemian reached for the receipt, another hand moved faster, taking the slip.

Lu Zhuonian held the receipt, his gaze lingering on the thin paper for two seconds before he spoke Chen Zemian’s name:

“Chen Ze.”

Chen Zemian looked up, responding with slight confusion, “Hmm?”

Lu Zhuonian flipped the receipt, revealing the boldly flowing signature at the customer signature line, and asked in a low voice:

“Who is Chen Zemian?”