Shen Li could never forget that night. Zhou Lifen had drugged him and locked him in a room with a woman she had found from somewhere unknown.
That woman had taken money from Zhou Lifen.
The moment Zhou Lifen walked out of the villa, he jumped straight down from the third floor. The woman hadn’t succeeded, and Zhou Lifen hadn’t either.
Zhou Lifen had never expected that he would go to such lengths. There were shrubs at the bottom of the building, and after being checked at the Shen family’s private hospital, he had no major injuries aside from some scrapes and bruises.
The incident had even been brought before his father, and for a period of time, Zhou Lifen didn’t dare pull any more stunts.
The rift between him and Zhou Lifen had started from that very moment.
Zhou Lifen believed that his preference for men was a psychological perversion.
Shen Li’s face looked terrible, and Ji Zhouye figured he had pushed him too hard. Some things couldn’t be rushed, and there was still a long way to go.
He stood up, loosening his grip on him. “Shen Li, I can guarantee that I only like one person, on the condition that you never brought up breaking up.”
Shen Li gave a faint tug at the corners of his lips. Breaking up or not wasn’t something he could decide; he had no room for choice, just like how he had become his lover now.
If he hadn’t become his lover, he would have lost Jiang Qing.
Then what would he have lost if they hadn’t broken up back then?
He didn’t dare think about it too deeply.
“Smoke less. It is choking. I am leaving.”
When Ji Zhouye left, he took the cigarettes Shen Li had left on the desk.
Only a lighter remained on the office desk.
“Damn it.” Shen Li watched Ji Zhouye’s retreating figure. “Take the lighter with you too, along with that dog of yours.”
“I am leaving it for you.” Ji Zhouye didn’t even turn his head.
Shen Li rolled his eyes.
He finally understood. He had just come here to add to his frustration, and after adding it, he left without even a backward glance.
Looking displeased yet acting entirely compliant, he picked up his phone and booked two movie tickets for a suspense thriller.
As it was nearing the end of the workday, Ji Zhouye called to say something had come up on his end and told him to head back first.
Shen Li hadn’t mentioned the movie to him, figuring that if Ji Zhouye had time after work, they could go together.
If he didn’t have time, they would just have to skip it.
Instead of heading back, Shen Li stayed at the office to work overtime; Jiang Qing still had plenty of room for progress.
Working until seven o’clock, Shen Li rubbed his aching neck and decided it was about time to head back.
After organizing the documents on his desk, Shen Li picked up his phone and walked out just as Ji Zhouye’s call came through.
He answered the phone.
Ji Zhouye asked, “Still at the company?”
He let out an affirmative hum. “Heading back now.”
Reaching the elevator doors, he gave Ji Zhouye a quick heads-up and hung up the phone.
The underground parking garage was deathly quiet, making Shen Li instinctively think of the horror movie tropes set in parking garages.
Even while recalling horror movie plots in this environment, he felt entirely unperturbed.
He even found himself thinking that if ghosts really existed in this world, one should come out and fight him for three hundred rounds so he could see for himself whether human malice or the ghosts people talked about were truly more terrifying.
The moment he opened the car door, his heart skipped a beat, and a chill surged straight from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
Recovering his senses, Shen Li opened his mouth and cursed, “Ji Zhouye, are you out of your mind? Did your brain short-circuit again?”
Ji Zhouye was sitting in the driver’s seat with the interior lights turned off. The side windows were tinted so you couldn’t see inside from the outside, and the parking garage was dim, so you would practically have to press your face against the windshield to see that someone was sitting inside the car.
With his hands resting on the steering wheel, Ji Zhouye wore a playful look in his eyes. “Are you scared?”
“Scared my ass. Your grandpa here doesn’t know what fear is.” Even if beaten to death, he would never admit to being startled. “How did you even get in the car?”
Shen Li felt like his question was a bit redundant. He was driving Ji Zhouye’s car, and cars didn’t just come with a single key.
Ji Zhouye replied, “I have a key.”
Resting his elbow against the car door, Shen Li asked, “Ji Zhouye, did I offend you? Or did I do something to incur your displeasure?”
“How so?”
Ji Zhouye turned on the interior car lights. The illumination fell half-light and half-shadow across Shen Li’s face, softening his facial contours slightly.
“First you come and ruin my mood and give me a hard time today, and now you hide in the car to scare me.”
His expression carried a hint of grievance, but even more of a defiant stubbornness, like someone spoiling for a fight.
“I was waiting for you. I did not expect to scare you.” Ji Zhouye reached out and took his hand, his fingertips lightly scratching against his palm.
His palm felt itchy, and his heartstrings tickled along with it.
He must have been poisoned, infected with a poison called Ji Zhouye. Whenever he drew close, he couldn’t help himself; even though his heart belonged to him, it refused to obey his control.
Shen Li pulled his hand back. “Who are you trying to kid? Do you take me for a fool? Waiting for me without turning on the car lights?”
“I forgot.”
Could a casual, understated “I forgot” just wipe away the soul-shaking shock he had just endured?
Impossible.
“Get in the car,” Ji Zhouye said.
Shen Li walked around to the passenger side, opened the door, and sat down. “Where are we going?”
“Do you have any plans?”
“No.” Shen Li fastened his seatbelt.
“Did you eat dinner?”
Shen Li answered, “Yes.”
He had ordered takeout for dinner and eaten a casual bite.
“Then want to see a movie?”
Arriving at the cinema, Ji Zhouye prepared to buy tickets, but Shen Li stopped him. “I have two movie tickets right here.”
He had bought tickets for the eight o’clock screening, which would work out perfectly right now.
He had originally planned to have dinner with him first and then catch a movie, but plans never kept up with changes, and he hadn’t told Ji Zhouye in advance.
Ji Zhouye asked, “Coke and popcorn?”
“Yes, please.”
Ji Zhouye didn’t care for such things; he only remembered that whenever they used to watch movies together back then, Shen Li loved eating them.
Shen Li went to collect the movie tickets while Ji Zhouye went to buy the cola and popcorn, purchasing a single-person portion.
As the movie began ticket inspection, they entered the auditorium and found their seats. There weren’t very many people watching the film, sitting scattered about in twos and threes.
Ji Zhouye handed the popcorn to him and placed the cola on his left side.
Shen Li picked up the cola, took a sip, and teased, “After all these years, President Ji still doesn’t drink cola. Cola must be so heartbroken.”
“After all these years, you still love drinking cola, yet I’ve never seen cola look particularly happy about it.”
Shen Li scoffed quietly.
As the years passed, he had only grown sharper-tongued and better at talking back.
The movie started, the theater grew quiet, and everyone focused on the screen.
When the film reached its climax and the murderer was being brought to justice, Shen Li glanced sideways at Ji Zhouye several times.
Chewing on his cola straw, Shen Li sneaked a peek at the person beside him, and as luck would have it, locked eyes with him.
Ji Zhouye suddenly leaned in closer, murmuring softly right beside his ear. “If I were the killer, I would never leave that many flaws behind.”
He couldn’t help shivering.
The movie was about a male protagonist who murdered and dismembered his newlywed bride on their wedding night, stuffed the body parts into a refrigerator, transported them out bit by bit, and then called the police.
The protagonist had extremely strong anti-investigation skills, and it took the police quite a long time to crack the case. At the very beginning, no one suspected the husband at all.
The woman would never have imagined that on her wedding night, she would be murdered by the man she intended to spend the rest of her life with.
And in such an extreme, perverted manner.
A chill ran down his spine. Looking at the person beside him, Shen Li had the lingering sensation of sitting next to a malevolent ghost wearing human skin.
Now that they shared a bed every single day, would there suddenly come a day when he died, and even the police couldn’t find where his body was hidden?