Chapter Seventy-Four: Wang Dan

At that moment, anxiety welled up inside me. I was certain the Emperor had run into something unclean. Yet, this sort of thing wasn’t easy to ask him about directly. Almost instinctively, the name Wang Dan flashed through my mind. Her sudden agreement to become the Emperor’s girlfriend had already struck me as odd, and now, seeing the darkness on his brow, coupled with Wang Dan’s reason for taking a leave of absence last term, I felt compelled to connect it all back to her.

I took a drag from my cigarette and said, “Emperor, now that you and Sister Dan are together, you’ve got to introduce her properly to your big brother. Here’s the deal: tonight, I’ll host, you bring her out for dinner.”

As soon as I said this, a look of discomfort flitted across the Emperor’s face. Watching him grimace as though he'd been forced to eat something foul, I asked, “What’s wrong?”

He gave a wry smile and admitted he didn’t know why, but since Wang Dan returned from her leave, she seemed like a completely different person. She appeared terrified of meeting strangers.

I hurriedly countered, “We’re all familiar here, for god’s sake, nobody’s a stranger. That’s just you two being weird.”

Then I grinned mischievously at the Emperor. “Emperor, don’t you usually brag about being a real man? What’s the matter now, can’t even handle a little woman?”

The Emperor had a quick temper and hated being provoked. Whenever you goad him, he’d do anything, just like back in our freshman year. We had a cool English teacher, and all the girls flocked around him, which naturally annoyed us guys. I egged the Emperor on, saying even Wang Dan was swooning over that teacher and he wouldn’t dare touch him. That night, the Emperor cracked the teacher’s head open with a chair leg and nearly got expelled.

Now, hearing me say he couldn’t handle Wang Dan, he flared up, slapped his thigh, and barked, “You really look down on your Emperor brother!” He whipped out his phone to call Wang Dan, insisting that if he made the call, she’d appear outside our dorm within three minutes.

I ignored him, stood up, and announced I’d go reserve a table at the hot pot restaurant just outside the campus. “You bring Wang Dan with you.”

“Sure thing,” he replied, and I left the dorm. But I didn’t go far; instead, I lingered quietly at the door.

I overheard the Emperor pleading with Wang Dan, “Come on, dear lady, just this once. You know Dao is my best brother—give me some face, okay?”

Halfway through, he must have spotted me at the door. His tone changed abruptly, and he shouted, “That’s settled, you have to come tonight! I don’t care if you’re tired, you’ve got to give my brother some respect!”

I smiled helplessly and headed downstairs. Soon, I heard the Emperor’s appeasing tone drifting from the dorm again, “Darling, how could I possibly be talking to you like that? I was lecturing Jiang Chao and Liu Dong, those two slackers. You know I’m the boss of our dorm—anyone who misbehaves gets schooled. So, Dan, let’s talk more about tonight’s dinner.”

Once outside, I called Jiang Chao and Liu Dong, asking if they’d join us for dinner. Those two were hopelessly addicted to online games; their choice of computer engineering was purely to play on computers. Naturally, they refused, saying they were pulling an all-nighter to push towers.

I didn’t press further. I knew that once they sat down in an internet café, not even ten oxen could drag them away. So I went alone to the hot pot place nearby and ordered for three.

Nearly half an hour passed before the Emperor arrived, alone. I quickly asked, “Where’s Sister Dan?”

He laughed, “Women are so damn troublesome—she’s fixing her hair and makeup. She’ll be here soon. Should I call her and tell her to stop fussing?”

I waved him off, “Forget it, let’s wait.” I just couldn’t stomach the Emperor’s two-faced nature; he almost gave me a split personality.

About another half hour later, Wang Dan finally arrived.

I was already familiar with her, but when I saw her today, something suddenly jolted inside me. Wang Dan was beautiful—of course, not on the same level as Bai Rushuang, whom I’d met before—but among ordinary girls, she was definitely top-tier.

She wore a black Korean-style jacket, a black mini skirt, and black tights. Her once bright red hair was now dyed black and straightened, cascading over her shoulders.

Her outfit was tall and sexy, but she looked strangely off—so much so that I felt uneasy just being near her.

Without thinking, I closed my eyes and then snapped them open, activating my yin-yang sight. Just as I expected, Wang Dan was shrouded in a faint aura of yin energy, and the darkness on her brow shone even brighter than the Emperor’s, several times more severe.

My heart clenched—either both the Emperor and Wang Dan had encountered something unclean, or Wang Dan herself was the source.

Noticing my gaze, Wang Dan waved her hand at me, “What’s wrong, Dao? Haven’t seen me in months, don’t recognize me now?”

I quickly looked away and said, “Sister Dan, you’ve gotten even prettier these past few months.”

She smiled, pulled out a chair, and sat down. I called the waiter to bring our food, and we began eating.

Throughout the meal, I felt distracted, my yin-yang sight open the whole time. I kept glancing at Wang Dan. Her behavior seemed normal, but the yin energy around her made me uneasy.

Wang Dan had already noticed me stealing looks at her. For some reason, her lips would occasionally curve into an inscrutable, eerie smile, as if she were deliberately provoking me.

The Emperor, ever oblivious, failed to notice these subtle changes and kept rambling on, bragging and joking. As the meal neared its end, Wang Dan suddenly gave me a strange smile.

Then I felt a numbness in my calf. Instinctively, I glanced down and saw Wang Dan’s high heels, wrapped in black stockings, had slipped off. Her stocking-clad toes were gently rubbing against my leg.

My nerves tensed instantly. I turned to the Emperor and said, “Emperor, didn’t you just say you wanted to buy flowers for Dan? How could you forget?”

He blinked, thinking I was helping him win Wang Dan’s favor. He slapped his forehead, “Right! Dao, you’re the best. I wanted to surprise Dan, but now you’ve spoiled it.”

I smiled, “My mistake. Didn’t you ask me to order flowers from the shop across the street? Why not go pick them up now?”

The Emperor chuckled and dashed out to the flower shop. Watching his gleeful figure, my heart twisted. I then turned toward Wang Dan, my face growing cold.

I noticed Wang Dan was staring back at me with an equally icy gaze—a look I had never seen from her before.

“Sister Dan, I don’t know why you took a leave last semester, but I can tell you’ve changed.”

Wang Dan smiled faintly, “Dao, I don’t know what you’ve been through lately, but I feel you’ve changed too.”

My expression hardened. I planted both hands firmly on the table and said, with utmost seriousness, “Wang Dan, let’s not beat around the bush.”

She smirked, her smile not reaching her eyes. “Dao, since when did you get so fierce? What do you want to say?”

“I don’t care what you’ve been through, or what you’ve become. But remember my warning: Don’t hurt the Emperor. Otherwise, you’ll regret it.”