"You call this magic?"

Shen Mingzhu took the grapes, the corners of her lips still curving up, "You couldn't even fool an elementary school student."

"Being able to make Miss Shen smile counts as a success." The man said it naturally, and Shen Mingzhu's smile paused for a moment, then she lowered her head and put the grape into her mouth.

The man in the dark gray shirt picked up the dice cup and asked her, "Want to play a couple of rounds?"

Shen Mingzhu shook her head, "I'm not very good at it."

"It's very simple, guess big or small. The loser drinks."

Yu Wantang immediately chimed in, "No way, she can't lose today."

The man laughed, "Then whatever Miss Shen guesses counts as a win."

"Can you even do that?"

"The birthday girl is supreme."

Shen Mingzhu glanced at Yu Wantang, as if she wanted to say this was bullying people too much, but the smile in her eyes could no longer be hidden.

The dice rolled in the dice cup, making a crisp sound.

"Miss Shen, make your guess."

Shen Mingzhu straightened up a bit, "Big."

The man lifted the dice cup.

Three dice, two sixes, one five.

"Big."

"See." The man raised his glass toward her, "You won on the very first round."

Shen Mingzhu couldn't help asking, "Were you doing that on purpose?"

"How could that be?" The man's expression was open and untroubled, "I just hope the birthday girl wins every single round tonight."

The man in the white shirt chimed in from the side, "Then I want to play too. Miss Shen, guess whether I can finish this glass of wine in one gulp."

Shen Mingzhu looked at the wine glass in his hand and hesitated, "Can you?"

He tilted his head back and finished it, not even frowning when he put the glass down.

Shen Mingzhu lightly clapped twice.

The applause wasn't loud, but it made the man smile even more brightly.

The man holding the guitar hadn't chimed in all along. Only after the two of them finished teasing around did he lower his head and pluck the strings.

Clear notes flowed out from his fingertips.

"What song does Miss Shen want to hear?"

Shen Mingzhu looked at him, a hint of genuine amusement finally surfacing in the depths of her eyes, "What can you sing?"

"Whatever the birthday girl orders, I will sing."

"Then sing a simple one."

"Alright."

He lowered his head and tuned the strings.

As the prelude began, the lights in the private room seemed to soften as well.

The man's singing voice wasn't loud, clean and gentle, and his pitch was very good. Without deliberately showing off his skills, it was moving enough. Shen Mingzhu leaned back in the sofa, her fingers resting against the rim of the cup, and as she listened, her shoulders relaxed little by little.

Taking advantage of the interlude, the man in the white shirt leaned in a little closer and praised her with a smile, "Miss Shen, your dress is very pretty today."

"Is that right?" Shen Mingzhu lowered her head to look at the black slip dress she was wearing.

"It suits you very well." He gave her a serious look and added, "Especially your shoulder and neck line, it looks like it was grown specifically for this dress."

If anyone else had said these words, it might have seemed greasy.

But he spoke with such openness and his gaze was clean, as if he were simply stating a fact.

Shen Mingzhu touched the pearls on her earlobes, a thin layer of blush appearing on her face, "Thank you."

"Miss Shen is also very pretty today." The man in the dark gray shirt placed his wine glass on the coffee table, his gaze falling on her, "However, I think you shouldn't keep frowning."

Shen Mingzhu subconsciously raised her hand and touched the space between her eyebrows.

The corners of the man's lips lifted slightly, "Much better now."

Shen Mingzhu didn't respond, but the corners of her lips had already curved up.

Yu Wantang sat nearby, poured herself half a glass of wine, and quietly watched the three men take turns coaxing someone.

The three of them cooperated quite tacitly, and Shen Mingzhu went from being reserved at first to gradually taking the initiative to ask questions.

"Are you all usually here?"

"Pretty much." The man in the white shirt rested his chin in his hand and looked at her, "Today is the first time celebrating a birthday for such a gorgeous birthday girl, though."

"Do you say that to every guest?"

"That depends on what the guest looks like."

"So I look very good-looking?"

As soon as the words left her mouth, Shen Mingzhu paused in a daze herself first.

She clearly hadn't expected herself to say those words, her wine glass paused mid-air, and her gaze drifted away.

The man in the white shirt burst into a smile, his dimples brightly exposed.

"Is there even any need to ask?"

The red flush on Shen Mingzhu's face deepened. She raised her hand to tuck the hair beside her temples behind her ears, purposely putting on the airs of an eldest miss, "You certainly know how to talk."

"We were paid to coax you into happiness." He said it openly, "Of course we have to show professional standards."

By now even Shen Mingzhu burst out laughing.

Her smile wasn't overly flamboyant; her eyes simply curved, the corners of her lips relaxed, and her entire face became much more vivid than before.

Seeing her chance, Yu Wantang shoved a glass of wine into her hand.

"Come on, don't just listen to them talk. Have a toast to your new life."

Shen Mingzhu took the wine, her fingertips touching the rim of the cup, and turned her head to look at her, "What new life?"

"A new life without Lu Yanzhou."

Yu Wantang spoke cleanly and crisply, and the smile on Shen Mingzhu's face faded a bit.

She lowered her head to look at the wine in the cup. Her phone was placed right beside the coffee table, the screen dark, yet it felt like it could light up at any moment.

Yu Wantang reached out and directly flipped her phone face down on the table.

"Sister, remember this sentence: As long as you change men fast enough, there is no sorrow, only love!"

Shen Mingzhu looked at her, disbelief filling her eyes at first, before the corners of her lips slowly curled up bit by bit.

"What kind of crooked logic is this of yours?"

"So what if it's crooked logic?" Yu Wantang raised an eyebrow, "If it works, it's the truth."

The man in the white shirt nearby heard it and almost choked on his wine. He quickly turned his face away and coughed twice, his shoulders trembling lightly.

The man in the dark gray shirt lowered his gaze, unable to suppress the smile at the corners of his lips.

The man holding the guitar plucked a wrong note, lowered his head to look at the strings, and his ears quietly turned red.

Shen Mingzhu finally burst into laughter.

This time, she didn't deliberately suppress it.

Her laughter was crisp, cutting through the low, slow music in the private room, and even the corners of her eyes took on a lively curve.

She picked up her wine glass, took a sip, and looked at Yu Wantang with her chin tilted up, "Then can I swap one out first tonight?"

"Of course." Yu Wantang leaned back against the sofa, her tone extremely generous, "Out with the old, in with the new. Let's start getting to know the one who sings."

"Miss Yu." The man holding the guitar smiled helplessly, his fingertips resting on the strings, "With such an arrangement from you, shouldn't I also strive for it?"

"Strive for what?"

"Strive to become Miss Shen's favorite person tonight."

Shen Mingzhu's fingers paused.

Yu Wantang took all of this in, slowly swirling her wine glass.

Once a person stops revolving around someone else, the whole person lights up again.

The phone screen lit up for a moment.

Shen Mingzhu lowered her head and looked over.

Lu Yanzhou finally replied to the message.

"I was busy earlier and didn't look at my phone."

If it were the past, she probably would have replied immediately, and even swallowed all of tonight's grievances, just waiting for a word of explanation from him.

But this time, she only looked at it for two seconds before flipping her phone over.

Yu Wantang asked purposely, "Not replying to him?"

Shen Mingzhu pressed her lips together and gazed at the bright lights inside the private room.

The man who sang plucked the strings, the man in the white shirt was competing with her for the last piece of watermelon, and the man in the dark gray shirt pushed the fruit platter closer to her side.

No one was rushing her.

Nor was anyone making her wait for anyone.

Shen Mingzhu picked up her wine glass and took a light sip, "No need to reply."

Yu Wantang smiled.

That's right.

It seems half of her mission is about to be completed.