Chapter 17: Bankrupt

Su Yu carried his husband out of the cloakroom in Mrs. Su's green coat, because it was the nearest thing with a hood.

Lu Chen weighed almost nothing.

He also smelled of warm honey and something darker.

Every few steps he made a small sound against Su Yu's collar.

"I can walk," he said.

"You can't."

"I have notes."

"Your notes can walk by themselves."

Mrs. Su met them in the service corridor with Su Lan asleep on her shoulder.

She took one look at Lu Chen's face.

"Oh, my darling," she said. "Already?"

"It's early," Lu Chen said, in a muffled voice. "It's not on the schedule."

"Heats do not read schedules." She patted his hood.

"Your father-in-law has booked suite 1901. He called it a company arrangement."

"He would."

"Go. I have the baby. I have two spare bottles and a husband who has never been so useful."

She smiled with wet eyes.

"Don't come down before noon."

The lobby of the hotel was white marble and gold, and it was full.

Cameras had come in through the front doors while the ceremony ran on.

Reporters stood in a loose crowd by the revolving door.

In the middle of them two officers were walking Shu Fan toward the street.

He had lost a cufflink.

He had lost his smile somewhere between the ballroom and the stairs.

His face now was blank and grey.

He saw Su Yu.

He saw the green coat, and what was inside it.

"You," Shu Fan said. His voice cracked across the marble. "You did this. A clerk and a sleeping heir."

"I don't think you can say that to me," Su Yu said. "I was asleep for most of it."

A reporter laughed, and the sound ran around the lobby.