Chapter 73; Who is that?

"And it wouldn't be fair if you gave all your attention to just one of us," added the second, in gold, her voice laced with flirtation. Since the other young ladies tried and succeeded, why couldn't they? Let the best party win.

The third one, more direct, leaned forward just slightly toward Ting Zhou. "Maybe a walk through the garden would help you catch your breath. What do you think?"

Zi Zhen opened his eyes, annoyance clear in them, though his voice remained polite and firm. "I'm afraid I have given the best of me to the night already. If it's attention you seek, there's an entire ballroom of eager bachelors waiting. Don't shy away, you can try it out." You could tell he was now disgusted. The last thing he needed to do was to entertain a woman. He had patience only when it came to his mother, and he had already tried to control himself for the night.

The red-dressed girl blinked, thrown off. "You don't have to be that cold."

"I'm not," he replied smoothly, rising to his feet, not in invitation, but in dismissal. "Just uninterested."

The silence that followed was thick. The girls hesitated, clearly unsure how to recover from that brutal rejection.

Ting Cheng didn't even look up from his screen as he spoke, voice drawing with amusement, "Honestly, I can't blame them. You are a walking power fantasy, ge. The hair, the attitude, the entire prince's aura, you are killing them with your beauty."

Zi Zhen shot his brother a sideways glance. "Don't you have someone to intellectually dissect nearby?"

Ting Cheng smirked. "She went off to get champagne. I think she realized I was more into oil economics than small talk."

The red and gold-dressed girls now looked at Ting Zhou, the last quiet option.

He offered a polite, almost apologetic smile. "Thank you for the offer," he said gently, "but I promised my mother I wouldn't exhaust myself before her next event. She says I get grumpy when I don't sleep enough."

They chuckled awkwardly, realizing none of them were getting what they came for.

Zi Zhen sat back down, exhaling deeply.

The girls hesitated, then took the hint and walked away with the elegance of a polite retreat.

When they were out of earshot, Ting Cheng shook his head. "You know, you could have at least smiled. You crushed her like a contract clause. Don't be so cold."

Zi Zhen leaned back. "If she can't handle one, no, she's not cut out for this circle. You should know that I don't like girls getting closer to me, I did earlier on for formalities."

Ting Zhou sipped his water with a soft laugh. "We really are the worst nightmares of debutantes tonight."

Across from them, Lu Zhi Hao glanced at Wan Ruyi and said, without looking over, "They handled that well."

She smiled, pride flickering in her eyes. "They are still learning. But they know who they are."

And in a world where identity was both a weapon and a shield, that made all the difference.

A sudden commotion stirred near the entrance.

A man in a slate-gray suit entered—sharp, refined, his presence dark as a brewing storm. The crowd parted instinctively, like animals sensing danger.

Lu Zhi Hao's gaze hardened. Lu Wan Ruyi's eyes narrowed slightly. She had come across this man, and he wasn't new to her.

Ting Zhou leaned toward his brother curiously, inquiring. "Who is that?" With the way people were behaving, he wasn't someone unpleasant, right?

Zi Zhen didn't answer immediately. He watched the man approach, his every step deliberate and his eyes pinned on him.

"That," Zi Zhen murmured at last, shifting his eyes away, "is Nathan Reyes. Head of Black Sun's East Bridge division."