The air was thick with the heavy reek of alcohol.
Bo Jingzhou lowered his head and looked at the large mess across his shirt, and only belatedly did he register what Shen Wanci had said just now. She'd said, "Bo Jingzhou, I'm going to be sick."
"Shen Wanci!" Those three syllables were practically ground to pieces and forced out from between his teeth.
The standoff dragged on for a dozen-odd seconds…
Whether Bo Jingzhou couldn't be bothered to bicker with a drunkard, or simply couldn't stand wearing this mess any longer while keeping it up with her, there was no telling. He twisted open a bottle of mineral water and forced her to rinse out her mouth, then stalked into the bathroom with a grim face.
Ten minutes later, Bo Jingzhou came out wrapped in a bath towel. Shen Wanci was already curled up on her side on the bed, fast asleep.
He toweled the water from his hair and made a call, having someone bring up a set of clothes.
The hotel room was on the 45th floor, with floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows that overlooked half of the capital's night scenery. The bustle and clamor couldn't reach up this high; the glittering lights and dazzling colors of the night drifted into view like a soundless, magnificent painting.
Behind him was the woman's quiet sleeping face.
Bo Jingzhou lit a cigarette and turned to look, through the hazy smoke, at Shen Wanci sleeping soundly on the bed.
In the lamplight, the woman's small face—no bigger than a palm—was sunk halfway into the soft pillow, the little half that showed tinted a faint pink.
She was rather well-behaved this time she'd gotten drunk.
Bo Jingzhou stubbed out the cigarette, walked over, and lifted the covers to go to sleep. But the moment he sat down, the "well-behaved" woman beside him suddenly kicked him in the waist, her voice muddled. "Get lost…"
The kick was delivered with full force. Bo Jingzhou, caught off guard, took it square on, and it hurt enough to make him hiss—he felt as though his kidney had nearly been kicked out of place!
"Shen Wanci." Anger wrapped around his heart as he turned his head to look, reaching out to pinch her face. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"
The woman lay with her eyes closed, fast asleep, without the slightest sign of being awake or faking sleep.
Shen Wanci slept deeply that night. In the morning she was woken by the glaring daylight. She stared blankly at the ceiling for a good while before realizing this was not her rented apartment.
Her head was splitting from the hangover. Bracing it with one hand, she slowly sat up and swept her gaze around—this was clearly a hotel's arrangement.
She instinctively looked down at what she was wearing. The outfit she'd had on yesterday had, at some point, been changed into a loose men's shirt, the fabric visibly luxurious.
Three years of marriage to Bo Jingzhou meant she knew his scent all too well. Even though there was no one else in the room but her, she could be certain this shirt was his.
After washing up, Shen Wanci searched the room but didn't find her own clothes, so she decided to go out and take a look.
She'd been far too drunk the night before and had completely forgotten what had happened. But judging by Bo Jingzhou's previous indifference toward her and… the way her body felt, at most he'd only changed her clothes for her.
Of course, she didn't think he'd done it out of kindness. Nine times out of ten it was because he found her filthy.
She opened the door of the inner bedroom and was just about to step out when she heard Gu Chenye's voice from the living room. "Yucheng's holding a welcome banquet at Xishan Court tonight. Want to go together?"
Shen Wanci's raised foot drew back. She hadn't expected someone to be out there. Right now she had nothing on but Bo Jingzhou's shirt, which barely reached the middle of her thighs—and nothing underneath.
She was about to ease the door shut again, but before her hand on the handle could so much as move, Bo Jingzhou's gaze turned toward her, and when it landed on the shirt she was wearing, the man's eyes narrowed slightly.
Noticing something off in his expression, Gu Chenye instinctively followed his line of sight.
Bo Jingzhou took a step forward, blocking his view just in time. "Got it. You go on ahead."
In that brief moment, Shen Wanci had already closed the door.
Gu Chenye realized something and, taking the hint, withdrew his gaze. He gave an "Mm" and turned to leave the suite.
In the bedroom, Shen Wanci wrapped her nearly half-naked body in the covers. Half a minute later Bo Jingzhou pushed the door open. Seeing the woman on the bed bundled up like a silkworm cocoon, he let out a mocking, cold laugh. "So now you know how to be modest?"
Shen Wanci knew what he meant, and knew he was making a dig at what had happened before.
Unwilling to be outdone, she shot back, "Everyone has moments of being blind. Come to think of it, I have you to thank for it."
Bo Jingzhou narrowed his eyes, sensing this was nothing good.
"If a person never runs into a scumbag in life, that flaw can never be cured. Thanks to having you as a point of comparison, if I ever find another man in the future, I'll surely live very happily—because…"
Shen Wanci raised her voice for emphasis. "Even if I found a dog, it would definitely be better than you."
Bo Jingzhou's face contorted with the rage she'd provoked. But before he could speak, Shen Wanci skipped right past the subject. "Where are my clothes?"
The man sneered down at her from above. "Find a dog to fetch them for you."
"……"
"Tonight, you're coming with me to Xishan Court."
Xishan Court was Nie Yucheng's residence. Shen Wanci frowned. "I'm not going."
She hadn't known about Nie Yucheng's return before, and the welcome banquet certainly hadn't included an invitation to her. Because of certain past matters, she had no wish to see that old acquaintance, much less go together with Bo Jingzhou…
"Accompanying me to the banquets I must attend is your duty as Madam Bo."
Those three syllables—"Madam Bo"—were like needles driven one by one into her taut nerves.
Shen Wanci felt it necessary to remind him, "If Mother hadn't suddenly collapsed yesterday, we'd already be divorced by now."
A couple just one final step away from divorce really had no need to keep playing the loving pair—sickening themselves and everyone else!
Mid-way through changing his clothes, Bo Jingzhou turned around, his tone neither warm nor cold. "Since we didn't manage to divorce, then you're still Madam Bo. As long as you bear that title and enjoy the benefits the words 'Madam Bo' bring you, you'll fulfill the obligations you owe in return."
The benefits of being Madam Bo?
Shen Wanci found it nothing but laughable. The corners of her lips tilted up faintly. "The biggest benefit being Madam Bo has brought me is three years of working as a dogsbody at the Bo Group."
"Ding-a-ling…"
The video intercom on the wall buzzed. Bo Jingzhou walked over and answered.
"President Bo, here are the clothes you instructed us to buy for Madam." Shen Wanci recognized the voice as that manager from Ye Lan. "Feng Jianhui says he wants to apologize to Madam in person. He's been waiting since last night until now. I didn't dare make the call myself, so I've come to ask for your instructions."
The night before, Feng Jianhui, unwilling to let it go, had trembled after the young master Gu and asked about Shen Wanci's identity—only to hear the three words that scared the wits clean out of him: Madam Bo.
At that moment, Bo Jingzhou turned his head to look at Shen Wanci. "Without the identity of Madam Bo, do you really think Feng Jianhui would come to your door to apologize of his own accord?"
Every word between the lines was an answer to the taunt she'd just made.
On the other end of the intercom, the manager was still waiting for a reply.
Shen Wanci wanted no apology whatsoever; her attitude turned even colder. "I'm about to stop being Madam Bo. Don't come to me."
What she meant was: Stay away from me—you're bad luck!