CH 1

Chapter 1 - Prey

It was midnight, and the lights were still on in the bedroom. Su Yan was standing in front of the mirror while looking at herself happily, holding her wedding dress with sparkles in her eyes, dreaming about walking into the banquet hall step by step in this beautiful wedding dress tomorrow.

Su Yan couldn’t help raising the corners of her lips and asked Yao Anan excitedly, “Do you think Xie Yu will cry tomorrow?”

Yao Anan, Su Yan’s good friend, and the bridesmaid was lying on the bed playing with her mobile phone. She tilted her head, rested her chin with one hand, looked at Su Yan’s back, and asked, “Why is he crying?”

"Because of excitement. Haven’t you seen in TV dramas that the groom will cry when he sees the bride?”

“Oh……. I think you have written too many scripts, so you think Master Xie is also the same as those characters in dramas.” Yao Anan snorted coldly.

Although she knew her words could hurt Su Yan, she could not help but tell the truth. She didn’t feel Xie Yu was such a romantic person.

Su Yan pursed her lips: "Hey, you are not romantic at all!"

Yao Anan: "Oh! I usually care about people's livelihood!"

"such as?"

Yao Anan raised his phone: "As a follow-up of the unfinished building."

Su Yan frowned slightly: "What unfinished building?"

Sure enough, her mind is all about Xie Yu. Yao Anan thought speechlessly.

"It's the film and television city in the original Tang City. The developer of that film city was caught in a debt dispute a few years ago. So he could not continue it. Later, the Bai Group took over that project, and it is going to open next month.”

[TL Notes: This is where the Tang Dynasty was located. In north-central China.]

"Is that the Bai Group?" Su Yan asked.

Yao Anan nodded: "yes!"

Su Yan: "Oh my! They are spending a lot of money."

Yao Anan: "Yes, as it was mentioned in the financial report, they have invested 1.67 billion. That was three times more than the previous developer." 

Su Yan took a deep breath. “Tsk tsk tsk, they are really rich. But there are many film and television cities in China. Aren’t they afraid of losing money? It’s not a small amount.”

“Screenwriter Su, are you out of mind? It’s the Bai Group! The Bai Group. The amount they had spent was probably nothing for them. Anyway, they have helped the local government a lot, so the local government will also support the Bai Group.” 

“Yes, that’s right.” Su Yan sighed. “But since when did you start caring about people’s livelihood?” She was puzzled.

Yao Anan became annoyed, she sighed and said, “Ohh… it’s all because of our master. She was fascinated by the eldest young master of the Bai family, so she wants to become his wife. Yanyan, it’s annoying. Because of her, we have to keep an eye on the young master Bai every day, and if we don’t find anything, she will lose her temper.”

After listening, Su Yan felt sorry for her best friend. She met Yao Anan in high school and later they got selected for the Dongfu Film and Television Academy’s director major. Even though they studied the same major, when choosing a career, they went in different directions. Su Yan was very interested in various novels, movies, and TV series, so she became a screenwriter while Yao Anan joined the line of artist brokers.

However, she could not directly become a broker because all brokers start as assistants. So now, Yao Anan was working as an artist’s assistant and serving her master like a slave. 

Actually, she didn’t like her master at all. “Who does she think she is? Haha… She should look into a mirror and see what she looks like. Who is Bai Xingfan and who is she? Why does she believe she will become the young madam of the Bai family? There are a lot of women who want to be Mrs. Bai. Hahaha…. My master is dreaming” 

Su Yan was amused by Anan’s words and said, “Hahahaha, you are too exaggerated.”

Yao Anan’s facial expressions became serious. “Hey, I really didn’t exaggerate. I followed my master to a charity dinner last year and saw Bai Xingfan. Since then, she has been daydreaming.”

Su Yan smiled. “Just look at it like that. So how do you feel?”

“Yanyan, you know that I’m loyal to my husband, so I won’t climb high. But I know why so many women like Bai Xingfan. Who doesn’t like men who are rich, handsom,e and rich?”

Yao Anan’s “husband” is today’s a certain popular male idol in the entertainment industry.

When Su Yan didn’t speak, Yao Anan thought she didn’t believe it, and said decisively, “You haven’t met Bai Xingfan, you’ll understand when you see him!”

Su Yan wanted to laugh a little, but she didn’t. Actually, she knew Bai Xingfan, but they didn’t know each other very well as they had just been neighbors for two months. So, she didn’t tell Yao Anan that she had met Bai Xingfan before.

She didn’t even send him a wedding invitation, because when they met, she hadn’t been with Xie Yu, and they had not been in contact since they parted ways in the ancient town half a year ago.

So she chose to follow Yao Anan's words and said, "Then I have a little expectation."

Who knew that Yao Anan would reply: "Then don't look forward to it. I'm afraid that you will fall in love with him at first sight."

Su Yan was unhappy and stared at Yao Anan angrily: "Thank you Yu is not Wu Dalang!"

[TL Notes: Wu Dalang, also translated as Wu the Elder, is a major character in the classic Chinese novel The Plum in the Golden Vase, and a minor character in the Water Margin, another classic. In both novels, he is murdered by his adulterous wife Pan Jinlian.-Wikipedia]

"Hahahahahaaaa…..Yanyan you….." Yao Anan laught holding her stomach.

"Oh, and I'm not Pan Jinlian either!" Su Yan said again.

[TL Notes: Pan Jinlian is a fictional character in the 17th-century Chinese novel Jin Ping Mei, and a minor character in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. She is an archetypal femme fatale and one of the most notorious villainesses of classical Chinese culture. - Wikipedia]

"Then Bai Xingfan It's not Ximen Qing." Yao Anan replied.

[TL Notes: Ximen Qing is a fictional Chinese Song dynasty merchant, womanizer, and murderer in Yanggu County, Shandong. He is the male protagonist in the novel Jin Ping Mei and a minor character in the novel Water Margin. - Wikipedia]

Su Yan: "So many women are following him one after the other, so he's not Ximen Qing?"

“I just heard this, but I don’t know if it’s true or not, they say that Bai Xingfan doesn’t like women.” Yao Anan lowered her voice and said.

Su Yan was shocked for a while. “What?”

Yao Anan: “He’s not close to women.”

Su Yan didn’t have a deep relationship with Bai Xingfan so she could not understand his love life. However, she believed that there would be no shortage of women around a man like Bai Xingfan.

As Yao Anan felt Su Yan didn't believe her, she said again, "Really, he is twenty-six years old this year. As I know, he has never been in a relationship, and no women in his work team including the secretary and assistant around him. And I even heard that he is very impatient when dealing with women. Unless his work requires it, he rarely speaks more than ten words to the opposite sex."

Ten words? This is too fake, right? Su Yan was speechless. If she had not met Bai Xingfan before, she would have believed those words. Although he didn't talk much, he was very patient when dealing with her which was completely different from the person Yao Anan described. So she was certain that those words were just rumors.

Su Yan was curious and wanted to laugh: "Where did you hear about it?"

Yao Anan: "Anonymous gossip posts, the more female stars chasing him, the more people who pick him up." She continued, "I have also read a post, the person who posted it was his high school classmate. He said that once in gym class, a girl who pursued him deliberately fell in front of him after running and wanted him to stretch out his hand to support him. But he had taken a step back with a blank face and had said some harsh words."

"It's too ruthless?" Su Yan asked.

Yao Anan: "Why isn't it ruthless? That post said that girl was the school flower, so after that incident, people scolded him saying that he was too arrogant."

Although Su Yan didn't know whether it was true or not, Su Yan was Still a little bit upset for Bai Xingfan: "What's there to scold for? Not helping is to avoid suspicion. If you help, the girl will only want more."

Yao Anan: "I think so too, so I say, jealousy makes people crazy, and men's jealousy is stronger than women's!"

Su Yan nodded in agreement.

Yao Anan: "But I am really curious about Bai Xingfan. What kind of woman or man would such a one-in-a-million man like."

Su Yan: "..." A man? Should, no? It doesn't feel like it.

Although they didn't know for a long time, Su Yan could feel that Bai Xingfan is not gay.

They had met a handful of times when she was living in that ancient town for two months. He seemed to be a gentle person, but he always inadvertently brought a sense of pressure and taboo to her, just like that evening, he made an appointment with her to go to the pastry shop in the ancient town.

Under the misty rain, he wore a dark-gray casual suit and was holding a black umbrella, stood sideways on the bluestone slab in front of the yard, and waited for her. He was tall and straight and had a cold temperament.

After hearing her footsteps, he turned to look at her.

It was a casual action, but she still remembered it. On that dark and rainy day, his complexion was too fair, but his eyes were very dark and deep as a calm beast waiting for its prey, and she was the prey in his eyes.

When she met his eyes, she felt a sense of immortality, a sense of fear, and involuntarily tightened her back, but she couldn't look away.

The cold wind blew, and raindrops splashed on her cheeks, which were icy cold. She held her breath subconsciously, trying to show a calm expression, and walked toward him step by step.

The man standing in the misty rain was dangerous and charming.

She couldn't resist the hormonal pull. It's the attraction of males to females. So she was sure that Bai Xingfan was not gay, and what he liked must be a woman.

After hesitating for a while, Su Yan couldn't help but say something fair: "Even if someone is really not close to women, that doesn't mean he likes men, right?"

Yao Anan: "I hope so, otherwise there will be more women with broken hearts."

At that time, the cellphone on the dresser suddenly vibrated, so Su Yan picked up the phone and looked at it.

It turned out to be a message from Bai Xingfan.

Just two words—— 【Happy Newlyweds】

Su Yan was stunned after reading the message.