He looked down at the podium briefly.

"Our platinum sponsors this evening." He began reading names, each one receiving a measured acknowledgement, a nod from the relevant table, the quiet recognition of significant money given to a significant cause. He moved through the list with the efficiency of someone who understood that gratitude should be genuine and also brief.

Then he said, "Liu Liuxian, CEO of Liu Corporation, whose contribution this year was not only the largest single donation in the foundation’s history but came without conditions or stipulations of any kind."

He looked directly at their table.

"Mr. Liu," he said, with genuine warmth. "The foundation is in your debt."

The room applauded.

Liuxian inclined his head once, with the composed modesty of someone who was not uncomfortable with recognition and also did not require it.

Guiying looked at the side of his face.

Then he looked back at Bai Feng at the podium, who had already moved on to the next name on his list, and thought that he was going to find a way to talk to that man before the evening was over.

He was absolutely going to find a way.

The dinner progressed through its courses with the unhurried elegance of an event that had been planned down to the minute. A delicate soup followed the amuse bouche, then a fish course, then the main, each one presented with the quiet precision of a kitchen that understood the assignment.

Guiying ate properly for the first time in days and felt the difference immediately.

Between courses, conversation moved around the table. Liuxian was approached by two separate guests during the fish course, both of them Alpha, both of them with the particular energy of people who wanted something and had decided that a charity gala was an appropriate place to pursue it. He handled both exchanges with the efficient courtesy of someone who was giving them exactly as much of his attention as they had earned and not a fraction more.

Guiying watched and said nothing and learned.

He also kept track of Shen Zihao.

Three tables away, Shen Zihao had settled into the evening with the practiced ease of someone accustomed to these events. He was charming at his table, Guiying could see that from a distance, the surface warmth turned on and maintained without apparent effort. He had not looked in their direction once.

Guiying was not comforted by this. Shen Zihao not looking was not the same as Shen Zihao not noticing.

The main course plates were cleared and the room shifted into its next phase, the paddle raise, where Bai Feng returned to the podium and walked the room through the foundation’s specific funding needs for the coming year with the methodical clarity of a lawyer presenting a case. He was precise and compelling and entirely without sentimentality, which made everything he said land harder than sentiment would have.

The paddles went up.

Liuxian’s went up twice, at two separate funding initiatives, each raise significant enough that the room registered it with the particular attention that large numbers commanded.

Guiying watched the second paddle go up and leaned slightly toward Liuxian.

"You are going to run out of money," he said quietly.

"Darling, I am not going to run out of money, this is barely chicken change." Liuxian said, with the same certainty he brought to all factual statements.

Guiying looked at the number on the board and decided that was probably accurate.

The paddle raise concluded and the room relaxed into its final phase, the open networking portion of the evening, where the structure dissolved and guests moved freely between tables, the string quartet resumed, and servers circulated with dessert and after dinner drinks.

It was the moment Guiying had been waiting for.

He looked across the room to where Bai Feng had stepped away from the podium and was now standing with a small group near the far wall, engaged in what appeared to be a genuine conversation rather than a performative one.

He turned to Liuxian.

"I am going to speak to Bai Feng," he said.

Liuxian looked at him. Then at Bai Feng’s direction. Then back.

"He is surrounded by Omegas, they seem to be noteworthy ones," he observed.

"I know," Guiying said.

"Stay where I can see you," Liuxian said.

Guiying stood, smoothed his shirt, picked up his champagne glass, and walked across the room in the white satin and the Louboutins with the unhurried certainty of someone who had decided where they were going and saw no reason to be tentative about it.

He was halfway across the room when someone stepped into his path.

Not Shen Zihao.

Quinn.

He smiled that very good smile and said, "Tang XiaoYu. I was hoping we might have a chance to talk properly."

Guiying looked at him with the pleasant, composed expression of Tang XiaoYu, lover of art, partner of Liu Liuxian, and said, "I am afraid I am on my way somewhere. Perhaps another time."

He stepped around Quinn and kept walking.

Quinn watched him go with a frown when he saw where Guiying was heading.

Guiying did not look back.

He reached the group around Bai Feng and stopped at a respectful distance, waiting for a natural pause in the conversation. One of the Omegas in the group noticed him first and the group shifted slightly, an unspoken invitation.

Bai Feng looked at him.

Up close his eyes were sharp and entirely assessing, the kind of eyes that processed information quickly and missed very little.

"Tang XiaoYu," Guiying said, before Bai Feng could speak. "I am a lover of art and an admirer of your work. I have been wanting to meet you for a very long time."

Bai Feng looked at him for a moment.

Then he smiled, and it was the same real smile he had worn at the podium, the one that reached his eyes.

"Bai Feng," he said, extending his hand. "Tell me, what is it about the work specifically that brought you across the room tonight?"

Guiying shook his hand and said, with complete and genuine honesty, "Everything."