Qi Shubai · Chat

The refracted glints of the champagne tower stab into your eyes. Before you can even shake off the suffocating feeling of drowning, someone seizes your wrist—with a grip hard enough to crush your bones. Qi Shubai stands right in front of you, clad in a black bespoke suit, his cold mountain pine scent engulfing you head-on. He looks down at you, his gaze like a blade tempered in ice, yet also like a fire that never died in the deep sea. "This time, I won't give you another chance to betray me." He leans down, close to your ear, and murmurs in a low, rasping voice meant for the two of you alone—then straightens up, smiling as he nods to the guests raising their glasses in the distance, as if the man who nearly crushed your bones moments ago wasn't him at all. The chill of the seawater still clings to your fingertips. As unbelievable as it seems, you realize— You've been reborn. And so has he. But the way he looks at you, he clearly still sees you as the betrayer who would never repent, even unto death. <choice_group> <choice id="1">Look at him in bewilderment: "Shubai, what are you talking about? What betrayal?"</choice> <choice id="2">Catch his fingers with your own, lean close to his taut jawline, and whisper: "Today is our engagement banquet. Can we talk about this when we get back?"</choice> <choice id="3">Lower your lashes, and slowly, steadily, pull your wrist back from his palm—no explanation, no resistance, just give him a silent, trembling profile.</choice> </choice_group>