The book launching party was being held lavishly at the private room of the Cloud Recess Hotel, with only around fifty private guests – friends and family of the author. The real party would be held tomorrow at the grand ballroom, and the guests would be in the hundreds.

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian entered the room – which was guarded by a horde of bodyguards – and Wei Wuxian gasped in awe when he saw the inside of the room.

"I take from your sexy little gasp that you like it?" Lan Wangji lowered his head and whispered into Wei Wuxian's ear, adding the shiver to the goosebumps.

The decor of the room was… seductive, to better describe it. There were lots and lots of red velvet draped from the ceiling, the table, the comfy couches, candles everywhere, and a huge black candelabra hung from the ceiling. The floor was covered by various animal skins and the walls were made out of dark mahogany panels.

The waiters all looked like they came out of the GQ, and they were wearing only a pair of tight black pants with a garter and leather choker, while the waitresses were all looking like they came straight out of Playboy's mansion wearing only a black semi transparent garter top that pushed their breasts up to the limit of indecent, and a long wide black skirt. And they were all wearing half masks.

"To explain this all, the book is about vampire romance, thus the getup." Lan Wangji took two glasses of red wine from the passing waitress – who gave him and Wei Wuxian a once over and winked flirtily.

"Vampire romance?" Wei Wuxian inadvertently gasped. He loved the vampire romance genre and his favorite author was…

"There you are, Wangji."

An older woman walked to their direction and gave Lan Wangji kisses on his cheeks, and then she turned her attention to Wei Wuxian.

"Oh my, what a handsome young lad…" She smiled and kissed Wei Wuxian's cheeks too. "I gather that this is the young and talented chef that you've been pursuing, Wangji?" She winked at Lan Wangji who only smiled at her.

Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian was gaping at the beautiful woman who acted so familiar with Lan Wangji, because she was his all time favorite author, Pandora Harker.

Wait, so this was the book launching party of the Pandora Harker – the queen of vampire and supernatural super hot romance – who happened to be a very private person, and Lan Wangji took him here?

He knew that Lan Wangji was very rich and connected, but this was out of this world. Pandora Harker never disclosed her background story or even her true identity, and that was one of the reasons why she was so popular. They all thought that she was a vampire herself but of course he doubted that. Pandora Harker was the queen of all vampires.

And after he saw her up close, he started to believe it even more, because the woman was so flawless despite her mature age, and it only added to her charm and beauty.

Her long auburn hair was still thick and glossy, and beautiful light hazel eyes also showed signs of intelligence and they were full of life and intensity.

They actually reminded him of Lan Wangji's golden eyes.

Then the most surprising thing happened.

Lan Wangji pulled him closer, which caused him to have a heart palpitation since the man smelled so damn good, and he introduced them both.

"Mom, this is Wei Wuxian, the talented young chef from Purgatory, who also happens to be your number one fan. Wei Ying, this is my mother, Pandora Harker."

The drive was mostly done in silence because Shen Qingqiu was thinking about what made Luo Binghe seem to be infatuated to him – of all people. Hell, the man was a popular movie star and there should be no shortage of a willing fan to grace his bed, or doing whatever he wanted.

And yet, here he was, going out on a secret date to god-know-where.

Shen Qingqiu's only hope was that this man was not actually a deranged serial killer who brought his victims to his cabin in the woods and started to chop him to pieces.

Damn Wei Wuxian for making him watch that god awful movie. Well, Chris Hemsworth was always a good reason why, even for a below average movie, but still…

But then he took a peek at Luo Binghe, and the man looked so satisfied with himself Shen Qingqiu literally could see his tail wagging in excitement.

Ah well, instead of being chopped into pieces, he's probably going to be licked to death.

Wait a damn second.

Licked to death??

What in tarnation hell would he want to be licked by… by… well, a very hot movie star, but he was not gay for chrissake and he liked women!

Chris Hensworth was an exception though.

But really, why would he even think about being licked by this man???

"We're here, Shizun."

Shen Qingqiu's thought was suddenly halted by Luo Binghe's words, and it made him almost jump from surprise. Then when he saw where they were stopping, he frowned.

"Where is here, exactly?" He looked around and only saw lush forest. He didn't pay attention where they were going and this place was dark, and he didn't like it. "Are you secretly a serial killer who's going to chop me into pieces? I'm good at using knives too, remember?"

Luo Binghe chuckled as he opened his door and walked to the back of the jeep to open it. He took out a big basket and then walked to Shen Qingqiu's side before he opened his door.

"Let's go. The place I want to show you is not far from here. I'll bring this stuff and you follow me please." He then took the thick blanket from the back seat and locked the car with the remote before he walked to the direction of the dark wood.

Oh god, this was just like the start of a horror movie…

Shen Qingqiu was contemplating if he should follow or call an uber and then go back home, but he saw that there was no bar at all so he decided to screw it and followed Luo Binghe who was waiting for him.

It turned out the walk was not that far, and Luo Binghe seemed to be very familiar with the place. Shen Qingqiu followed closely and when he almost fell from a big root that was obstructing the way, he held onto Luo Binghe's shirt. The latter seemed to pause for a bit, but then he resumed walking without saying anything else except, "Be careful."

Shen Qingqiu grumbled and focused on the dirt road and not looking at the front, when Luo Binghe suddenly stopped and he bumped into his hard back.

"What? What happened? Is there a bear? Or a lion?" He quickly hid behind Luo Binghe's wide frame, and it caused him to laugh.

"No, Shizun, we're here. Look."

Shen Qingqiu was never an outdoorsy type since he worked in the kitchen day in, day out. The last time he went camping was probably back at high school when he, Wei Wuxian and Xie Lian ran away together because they finally could not take it anymore and yet they didn't have enough money to sleep at even the cheapest motel.

So camping it was – for at least three months – and foraging the forest for edible plants, mushrooms, fruit, hunting small animals, anything that they could eat. That time was the worst part of his life and his friends, but it also made the bond between him and his friends unbreakable.

Funnily enough, everything came back to him in a flash just now, when he smelled the dirt, the tree, the leaves, and it hit him with melancholy.

And then he saw it. The thing that Luo Binghe pointed at. And it caused a drop of tear to involuntarily fall down on his cheek.

"Oh gosh, they're beautiful."