The cab pulled up to the mansion gates at half past five.
Guiying paid, got out, and walked up the driveway with the particular contentment of someone who had eaten well and spent the afternoon doing nothing more complicated than talking to a person they liked.
He pushed open the front door himself since Wang Chengli wasn't at the entrance and walked in.
He nearly walked straight into someone.
They both stepped back.
Guiying looked at the person in front of him.
The young man looked back.
He was tall, broad shouldered, with the particular Alpha energy of someone who took up space without meaning to.
He was also clearly not staff, wasn't dressed like it, wasn't carrying himself like one, and he was standing in the middle of Liuxian's entrance hall with the comfortable ease of someone who believed he had every right to be there.
Guiying did not recognize him immediately.
But the young man recognized Guiying.
Something shifted in his expression.
"Xue Guiying?" he said.
