“Let memory quiet down—”
“Let me be held—”
“Don’t let me go insane alone—”
Someone on stage was howling like a ghost being tortured.
With this background noise, the others gradually loosened up and started having fun. In the corner, however, Gu Yucheng kept drinking one glass after another. Xia Lening suspected he hadn’t lost the ticket—he had been dumped.
This bar really did feel improper.
Bartenders weaving between booths wore outfits with painfully little fabric.
One of them, with deliberately tousled hair and bright eyes, scanned the booths and suddenly locked onto Gu Yucheng, who was drinking alone.
A confident smile curled on his lips. He picked up a tray and walked over with swaying steps.
When he reached Gu Yucheng, his foot seemed to “accidentally” trip over something nonexistent. With a soft gasp, he leaned straight into Gu Yucheng’s arms—precise, practiced, and deliberate.
Xia Lening, who had been lying there lazily, immediately perked up.
Blackmail material was finally coming.
However, the expected scene of warm, fragrant arms wrapping around someone did not happen.
Gu Yucheng’s reaction was shockingly fast. Almost before the body carrying faint perfume touched him, he sharply leaned aside and raised his hand, pushing the person away without hesitation.
Clean, decisive—and even carrying a trace of disgust.
“Get lost.”
The bartender staggered back. After steadying himself, a flicker of embarrassment passed his face, but he quickly recovered his professional smile.
He didn’t say another word, nor did he look at Gu Yucheng again. He turned smoothly and melted into the crowd.
A seamless exit.
Xia Lening was genuinely impressed.
Gu Yucheng ignored the strange looks from around them, picked up his glass again, and downed the remaining amber liquid in one go.
Ouyang Xun grabbed his hand mid-drink.
“Enough, enough. If you keep drinking like this, you’re going to end up in the hospital again.”
His intention had been to make sure nothing happened to Gu Yucheng drinking alone. Now it looked like he could get into trouble anywhere.
Gu Yucheng ignored him.
Then, suddenly inspired, Ouyang Xun spoke again.
“What about his cat if you get drunk? If it gets stolen in the bar, you won’t even know.”
Gu Yucheng finally paused and looked down, searching for the cat.
Their eyes met.
Gu Yucheng narrowed his eyes and reached out.
The cat swiftly dodged.
His hand froze midair.
He gave a self-deprecating laugh.
“Even his cat hates me.”
Ouyang Xun: “……”
Xia Lening didn’t hear clearly what he said. He only saw Gu Yucheng pick up the glass again.
Ouyang Xun looked like he wanted to stop him but didn’t dare, glancing over helplessly as though he were the cause of the drinking.
Xia Lening: ?
What? Was Gu Yucheng really that fragile?
He just… dodged a touch. It wasn’t intentional.
He imagined it—if he tried to pet a cat and the cat immediately avoided him…
…yeah, that would be a bit hurtful.
Objectively speaking, Gu Yucheng treated him quite well as a cat.
A germaphobe willing to put a cat in his pocket—what was that if not affection?
That avoided touch was probably a fatal blow to someone who might already be heartbroken.
Gu Yucheng didn’t seem to have great alcohol tolerance either. One more drink and he might be done for.
Xia Lening kept telling himself: I’m just doing a good deed as a cat. I can’t just watch him drink himself to death.
After building up his psychological resolve, he reluctantly walked over and rubbed awkwardly against Gu Yucheng’s leg.
Enough, stop drinking—you’re not going to die or anything!
Ouyang Xun looked at the cat headbutting and meowing around, and his expression turned so relieved it looked like he was watching his own husky finally learn to use a toilet.
Gu Yucheng clearly saw the cat’s disgust and concern.
“Want to leave?”
Xia Lening nodded.
There was nothing to drink, no blackmail material, the people downstairs were awkward, and the singing was terrible. Boring.
Gu Yucheng used two fingers to open his pocket.
The cat climbed in, grumbling all the way.
“Put it on my tab,” Gu Yucheng said before leaving.
Ouyang Xun finally breathed a sigh of relief, thinking it was good that what Xia Lening left behind was at least alive.
But just as Gu Yucheng stood up—
He took a few steps, then suddenly collapsed back into the booth.
“Damn it—what happened? Too drunk?” Ouyang Xun panicked.
The cat was thrown into a literal roller-coaster experience.
It scrambled out and scratched Gu Yucheng.
Are you doing this on purpose?!
Then it noticed something wrong with his breathing.
Ouyang Xun’s face changed.
“That bartender!”
“Yeah.”
Gu Yucheng’s expression had turned dangerously cold.
So it was Liuguang after all—drugging people on sight.
Bold.
Before the thought finished, he was grabbed and stuffed into a pocket again.
He punched through the fabric in anger.
Damn it—don’t they make little cat travel bags? He absolutely needed Gu Yucheng to buy one.
At this rate, did he even have cat rights anymore?
Gu Yucheng strode out of the bar. Ouyang Xun didn’t dare follow or ask anything, only shouting for the manager to demand answers.
Inside the pocket, Xia Lening was jostled violently.
When everything finally stopped, he was thrown onto a bed.
Along with him came a windbreaker and a phone.
He lay there blankly for a moment, then lifted his head.
So this was what it meant when a CEO got up from a 500-square-meter bed.
Gu Yucheng had opened a hotel suite.
Water could be heard running in the bathroom.
Gu Yucheng was probably dealing with things with cold water and his right hand.
This was… awkward.
So awkward that he even hallucinated hearing his own name.
Xia Lening paced in circles.
His rival was doing something in the bathroom, while he sat on the bed waiting for him to finish.
Something about this felt very wrong.
A ringtone broke the strange atmosphere.
It was Gu Yucheng’s phone.
The caller ID showed: Chen Wenlu.
“…”
Xia Lening froze.
He stepped on the answer button by accident.
A voice came through.
“Your father said you should come home for dinner tomorrow night.”
No answer.
Then a mocking laugh.
“What, don’t tell me you’re going to attend that Xia brat’s funeral?”
A chill ran down his spine.
He hated Gu Yucheng partly because he always pretended.
Not just him—his whole family felt like they were pretending.
The perfect husband, gentle wife, obedient son.
A family of three acting like flawless puppets.
The first time he visited Gu Yucheng’s home, he felt uncomfortable and told Xia Xiaoyao. She had just glanced at him coldly.
“Rich families are messy. This is nothing.”
That had shattered his young worldview.
After that, when Gu Yucheng smiled and approached him, he instinctively stepped back.
That single step revealed everything.
From that moment on, their ten-year rivalry began.
The woman’s voice pulled him back.
“Now that Xia Lening is dead, you must be breaking down, right?”
A question mark slowly formed in his mind.
Why would Gu Yucheng break down over his death?
Did they… have feelings after all?
Well, someone as outstanding as him was indeed rare.
“The only toy is gone. Now you’ll live like me—forever fake.”
“…?”
Toy?
In your eyes, that’s what I am?!
Enraged, the cat kicked the phone.
It slid a few centimeters away.
A hand reached in and hung up immediately.
Silence returned.
A shadow fell over him.
Gu Yucheng stood there in a bathrobe.
He looked down at his phone, loosely tied robe revealing faint water stains at the collar. A drop of water fell from his hair onto the cat’s head.
The cat yelped.
Second time today!
Gu Yucheng looked down at him, then tossed the phone aside.
His robe parted slightly as he moved. Under the mist of steam, his abdominal muscles shifted subtly with his breathing.
The cat observed carefully.
Expression calm. Slightly red ears. Still that annoyingly composed look.
No drunkenness.
So he was fine.
Relieved, the cat turned to leave, tail high and aloof.
Heh. Toy.
You’re the toy. Your whole family is toys.
But before it could go far, it was grabbed by the hind legs and dragged back.
It flailed in rage, cursing loudly.
But to Gu Yucheng, the tiny cat’s struggle was nothing more than harmless noise.
He flipped it over and looked at it seriously.
“I never treated him like a toy.”