The voice was warm and practiced, the kind of warm that had been calibrated over time to land exactly right. Guiying turned around.

The man standing behind them was handsome in an obvious, immediately legible way.

Late twenties, well dressed, with the particular expression of someone who had walked into a room and found something they had not expected and were deciding how to handle it.

His eyes moved from Liuxian to Guiying and stayed there for a moment too long.

"Quinn," Liuxian said. His voice was even and entirely neutral

Quinn smiled. It was a very good smile. Guiying noted that it did not reach his eyes.

"I did not know you were bringing someone tonight," Quinn said. His gaze moved to Guiying with the particular attentiveness of someone conducting an assessment. "I do not think we have met."

"Tang XiaoYu," Guiying said pleasantly.

"Liuxian’s partner."

Quinn looked at him for a moment.

"Partner," he repeated.

"Mm," Guiying said, and took a sip of his champagne.

Quinn opened his mouth to say something further when Guiying’s attention snagged on something across the room.

A man had just walked in.

Tall, well dressed, surface charm radiating from every carefully constructed detail of his appearance.

He moved through the entrance with the easy confidence of someone who had never once been told no and fully believed that streak would continue.

Guiying recognized him before his brain had finished processing the visual.

Every muscle in his body went very still. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Shen Zihao was at this gala.

He was forty feet away, scanning the room with the particular attention of a man who was looking for something, and he had not yet looked in their direction.

Guiying took a slow, measured sip of champagne and did not move a single muscle in his face.

Guiying’s free hand found Liuxian’s slowly, fingers sliding between his and holding tight.

Liuxian felt the change immediately. He looked down at their joined hands, then at Guiying’s face, which was composed and entirely still in the particular way of someone working very hard to keep it that way.

"What is wrong?" he said quietly.

"Shen Zihao is here," Guiying said. His voice came out even. He did not look in Shen Zihao’s direction.

Liuxian followed his gaze anyway.

A frown formed on his face slowly, the kind that started at the eyes and worked its way down. He looked at Shen Zihao across the room for exactly three seconds, with the flat, assessing expression of someone filing information away for future use.

Then he looked back at Guiying.

"Don’t worry," he said. His voice was low and entirely certain. "You are safe with me. He cannot touch you." A pause. "And if he tries, I will break every single bone in his body."

Guiying looked at him.

Liuxian looked back, warm and steady and completely serious.

Guiying tightened his grip on his hand and said nothing, which was its own kind of answer.

The cocktail hour wound down as guests were guided toward the ballroom’s main seating area, a vast arrangement of round tables dressed in white linen and gold centrepieces, each set with fine china and crystal that caught the candlelight from the centerpieces. A string quartet played softly from the far corner as guests found their seats, the low hum of conversation filling the room with the particular energy of important people in a room together.

Liuxian and Guiying were shown to a table near the front, the placement of it communicating, without anyone needing to say so, that the person sitting there was among the evening’s most significant sponsors. Two seats, side by side, with a clear sightline to the stage.

Guiying sat, smoothed the white satin shirt across his lap, and scanned the room with the quiet efficiency he brought to most situations.

Shen Zihao was three tables to the left and slightly behind them. He had not looked in their direction yet.

Quinn was seated two tables to the right, already in conversation with someone Guiying did not recognize, his eyes moving across the room at intervals in a way that suggested he was tracking Liuxian’s location without making it obvious.

Guiying noted both of them and returned his attention to the stage.

The first course arrived, a light amuse bouche that the server presented with the practiced elegance of someone who understood that the presentation was part of the experience. Wine was poured. Liuxian placed his hand briefly over Guiying’s glass when the server approached with a second bottle, a small and unhurried gesture, and the server moved on without comment.

Guiying picked up his original glass and said nothing.

Then the lights shifted slightly, a subtle cue that drew the room’s attention toward the stage, and a figure walked to the podium.

Bai Feng did not need the spotlight to command the room. He walked to the podium with the unhurried certainty of someone who had never once needed the advantage of an entrance, and when he looked out at the assembled guests the room went quiet the way rooms went quiet for people who had earned that particular silence.

He was even more striking up close. The white suit worked in a way that should not have been possible in a black tie room and worked completely. His face was composed and sharp, the kind of face that communicated intelligence before a single word had been said.

He smiled, and it was a real one.

"Good evening," he said. His voice was clear and unhurried, carrying the particular quality of someone who had spent years in courtrooms and knew precisely how to fill a room with sound. "For those who do not know me, my name is Bai Feng. I am the founding head of the Omega Rights Foundation, and I want to begin by saying something that I suspect some of you did not expect to hear tonight."

The room was very quiet.

"Thank you," he said simply. "Not for the donations, though those matter enormously. Thank you for being in this room. For choosing, with your presence and your resources, to say that this cause is worth your time." He paused. "Now. I also want to be transparent with you, because transparency is the foundation on which this organization was built. The work we do is difficult. The progress is real but it is slow. And the funding we receive tonight will go directly, without exception, into the programs and legal initiatives that are changing the material conditions of Omega lives across this country."

He looked out at the room.

"I will not stand here and tell you that everything is fine," he said. "It is not fine. But it is better than it was. And it will be better still." Another pause. "That is what your presence here tonight means."

He let that land for a moment.

Then he smiled again, easier this time.

"Now. I am told dinner is getting cold, so let me first acknowledge the people whose generosity made this evening possible."