Long Yin stood there with his mouth slightly agape, unable to utter a single word. His brain had stopped functioning, and his vision was blurred. His cheeks, which had been merely flushed before, were now a deep, burning crimson.
The silver chain was right there within reach. If he simply extended his hand, he could grasp it and toy with it at his whim. And the moment he did, that collar would serve its humiliating purpose: forcing Yue Mingcang to bow his head. The scene before him was enough to shock Long Yin for ten thousand years, yet something even more stimulating followed.
If the goal was simply to hide the collar, a scarf would have sufficed; there was no need for the down jacket. The reason for the jacket was that, besides the collar, Yue Mingcang was wearing something else. As Yue Mingcang deliberately puffed out his chest, his full pectoral muscles strained against the white shirt. The buttons seemed overwhelmed, as if they might burst at any moment. Beneath that thin fabric, traces of something moving like a python caught Long Yin’s eye.
Those were definitely not marks produced by a shirt. Long Yin had never seen such a thing in real life, but miraculously, he knew exactly what it was. He had once heard an extremely respected senior describe a technique that had nearly been lost due to being considered far too suggestive: Bondage.
The senior had warned him solemnly that such advanced methods were beyond his control and must never be used recklessly. If handled poorly, the consequences would be unthinkable. In the past, Long Yin had kept that warning close to his heart. No matter the situation, he had never considered such extreme measures. And now, this method that Long Yin “could not control” was being displayed proactively by Yue Mingcang. It was even layered with a collar!
During the time Long Yin was struck dumb by shock, Yue Mingcang kept a close eye on his expression. If a single hint of displeasure had appeared on Long Yin’s face, Yue Mingcang would have immediately zipped the jacket back up and apologized for presuming his desires. Fortunately, there was none. His intuition had been perfect: this was exactly what Long Yin wanted to see. While mentally applauding his own boldness, Yue Mingcang tightened his core, braced his arms behind him, and bit down harder on the tie in his mouth.
The action looked simple but was full of calculation. Areas that should be tucked in were drawn tight, and areas that should be prominent were pushed forward. Beneath the thin shirt, his well-defined muscles were sharply outlined by the ropes, looking full and powerful.
After five full minutes, Long Yin finally recovered from his immense shock and spoke in a faltering voice, “How could you? How could you dress like this? Are you crazy? What are you trying to do? You! I!”
Yue Mingcang naturally assumed Long Yin was worried about being discovered by outsiders. He spat out the tie and explained hurriedly, “I made sure to avoid everyone. I used your private elevator. And since I am wearing this thick down jacket, even if people saw me, they would have no idea what is underneath.”
Long Yin was speechless. Was that the point? Wait, if he had to be honest, that was indeed a point. Would a power fantasy protagonist really wear such suggestive clothing to visit a villainous boss just to save his business? Is this right? Is this really right? What happened to the “power fantasy”? He was not feeling powerful at all. Why is this more suggestive than a restricted tier novel?
Oblivious to Long Yin’s near desperate confusion, Yue Mingcang shifted his posture like a peacock displaying its feathers and asked, “Prince, am I worthy to witness your new methods now?”
Long Yin’s vision went dark in waves. He took a deep breath and asked in the calmest tone possible, “Tomorrow is the deadline for the gambling agreement. The audit report comes out tonight! Do you not think it is a bit late for you to be doing this now?”
“The gambling agreement? Oh, right. You are right.” Yue Mingcang was confused for a second before tossing that confusion aside and entering “Long Yin is always right” mode.
It was not that he had forgotten the agreement entirely. It was just that since he had received the third loan of the month from the Long Family Conglomerate, Yue Yuling had completely taken over his workload, freeing him to serve Long Yin with all his heart. Now, Yue Yuling was the one responsible for the agreement; it had nothing to do with him. If Long Yin had not mentioned it, he would have forgotten the deadline was tomorrow.
He did not even care if the agreement could be completed, because the answer was already obvious. With eleven consecutive injections of capital, was there any possibility of failure? None. Not even a shred. Unless Long Yin collaborated with the auditors to forge the books. Yue Mingcang’s only remaining impression of the agreement was that shaky promise made when the “birdcage” was finished. A drunken, airy promise could not give him a sense of security. What he wanted was a more concrete, intimate, and unshakeable reality.
“Prince, do you remember? If the gambling is successful, you are supposed to take me as your male concubine and sleep with me.” He thought it was a simple question, but when the words came out, his voice cracked on the last syllable.
Yue Mingcang could walk through the solemn Long Family Group wearing nothing but a scarf and a jacket, but he could not maintain his composure regarding the thing he truly cared about. His trembling voice betrayed him. His anxiety, fear, and panic were laid bare before Long Yin like a blank sheet of paper, perfectly confirming Long Yin’s suspicion: Yue Mingcang was truly going to sell his body to him for the sake of the agreement.
For a moment, Long Yin’s emotions were incredibly complex. In his days playing a “passerby top,” he usually had to exhaust every possible means, planning every step carefully just to have a chance with a “protagonist bottom.” Even then, he was destined to fail. The protagonist bottom would always be saved by the “protagonist top,” making his efforts come to naught.
The thing he could never achieve in a restricted novel was about to happen in a power fantasy. And why? Because the power fantasy protagonist could not complete the agreement on his own and had to sell his body to a villainous boss through a transaction of sex for money!
The development was ridiculous enough as it was, but then listen to what Yue Mingcang said! What did he mean by “If the gambling is successful, you are supposed to take me as your male concubine and sleep with me”? What kind of word order was that? How did Yue Mingcang graduate from elementary school?
Long Yin suppressed his churning emotions and corrected him word for word, “It should be, ‘If the gambling is successful, I will take you as my male concubine and sleep with you,’ right?”
Yue Mingcang asked, “Is there a difference?”
Long Yin slammed the desk in frustration. “Can you seriously not hear the difference? What you said was wrong, completely wrong! What I said is correct!”
Yue Mingcang immediately gave up thinking and admitted his mistake. “Yes, what you said is correct.”
Long Yin said coldly, “Say the correct version again.”
Yue Mingcang said confidently, “If I win, you have to sleep with me.”
Long Yin was speechless. With a brain like that, no wonder he could not finish the agreement! Feeling as though he had fallen into a thief’s trap, Long Yin let out a long sigh and said gloomily, “I agree.”
“Really?” Yue Mingcang’s eyes lit up. Then, thinking of something, he asked with a face full of anticipation, “Then can I see your methods now?”
“Please leave before I change my mind,” Long Yin’s tone was cold enough to drop ice. “I do not want to see you until tomorrow.”
“Okay, see you tomorrow.” Yue Mingcang was not discouraged by Long Yin’s attitude at all. He hopped off the desk with a motion as smooth as a seal sliding on ice.
Just as Long Yin thought Yue Mingcang would keep sliding until he left the office, the man did the opposite. He leaned in close to Long Yin’s ear and asked an intriguing question, “By the way, Prince, the result of tomorrow’s gambling, I think we are both very clear on it, right?”
Long Yin gave a cold snort and lazily raised an eyelid. “So?”
“So, I will collect a bit of interest.” Yue Mingcang smiled brightly and kissed Long Yin gently on the earlobe. Then, he backed away slightly, fixed his gaze, and kissed him again. The second kiss landed on the corner of Long Yin’s mouth.
This was no ordinary kiss; it was a kiss carrying the Aura of Destiny. As their lips met, a mouthful of the aura that Long Yin had dreamed of obtaining slipped into his slightly parted teeth. Before Long Yin could react, Yue Mingcang pulled away. He picked up his discarded down jacket and scarf and slid away as quickly as a seal. It was not until long after Yue Mingcang had left that Long Yin slowly recovered from the shock and regained control of his body. He covered his burning earlobe and whispered a small, defiant rebuttal, “Idiot, that should be called ‘paying a bit of interest.'”
When Long Yin returned to Mingyue Tan, he ran right into a team of designers who were wailing like ghosts. The butler was holding Xiao Bai and saying righteously, “If the young master barks once, it means he agrees. If he barks twice, it means he disagrees. He just barked twice, which means he does not like the color of this cushion.”
Xiao Bai: “Woof woof woof woof woof!”
The design team was speechless. As soon as Long Yin appeared, the head of the design team looked as if he had found his savior and approached with a tearful face. “Little Master Long, look! Look at this!”
Long Yin nodded as if he empathized perfectly with the man’s plight. Just as hope began to rise in the man’s heart, Long Yin spoke, “Xiao Bai means that he does not want a cushion in this spot. Change it to a small table, and put his favorite paw print nest on the table. Xiao Bai, which nest do you want?”
Xiao Bai spun in circles excitedly. “Woof!”
Long Yin said, “The one with a white background and black patterns.”
The design team leader was frustrated. That afternoon, the design team left Mingyue Tan looking utterly defeated. Before they could even exit the villa area, they were surrounded by a horde of reporters and paparazzi armed with cameras and microphones. That night, several major media outlets in S City released a series of breaking news stories, every one of them closely linked to Long Yin.
The Little Master Long Is Ruthlessly Rich: Spending a Billion to Pamper a Pretty Boy!
Exclusive Scoop! Male Star Claims He Was Attacked by a Giant Python After Bravely Entering the Birdcage!
The Old Cage Welcomes a New Pet: Who Is the Pretty Boy’s Real Identity?
The next day, in the Long Family Group meeting room.
The gambling agreement between White Dragon Shipping and Yinlin Company had reached its final stage, and the three parties gathered once again. Unlike the previous time, Long Yin was now confident in the result, one hundred percent certain that the agreement would be completed. He entered with a composed stride, radiating a steady aura of being in total control. He was the picture of serenity. However, as the villain who was about to be “slapped in the face,” Long Yin could not exactly look happy. Therefore, he sat in his seat with a poker face, revealing no emotion.
Compared to Long Yin’s restraint, the attitude of the auditors was much more direct. During the first stage of settlement, the auditing firm had sent three people. This time, only a single auditor was present. Such a clear change in numbers screamed the words: “I am not happy.”
The auditor, whose face was written with displeasure, looked up and felt as though he was surrounded by a dark mass of people. This was not a hallucination, but a fact. Last time, only Long Yin and his special assistant had attended for White Dragon Shipping. This time, Long Yin was flanked by his special assistant, first assistant, second assistant, secretary, group employees, and, due to a lack of seats, the representatives of the Long Family Conglomerate had sat over on Yue Mingcang’s side.
The auditor checked several times before confirming that the nameplate in front of that representative did indeed say Long Family Conglomerate. The auditor found this unbelievable. The Long Family Conglomerate sent people to listen in on a gamble between White Dragon Shipping and Yue Mingcang? Fine, but what was with sitting on Yue Mingcang’s side? Even if the Party A seats were full, you cannot sit with Party B! Where is the law!
Although the Conglomerate was under the Long Family Group and was a sibling company to White Dragon Shipping, this gamble theoretically had absolutely nothing to do with them. Surely the Conglomerate was not trying to take advantage of their sibling company’s gamble to secretly lend more money to Yue Mingcang? Wait, is that right?
Even ignoring the Conglomerate representative who seemingly walked into the wrong room, Long Yin’s presence was bizarre. He brought too many people, so many it inspired fear. A gambling agreement is a contract between two parties. If he were going to win, bringing a crowd to watch would be one thing, serving as a cheerleading squad. The problem was, could he win? Clearly not. Even if he could have, after yesterday’s “flexible judgment,” “could” had turned into “could not.” So, knowing he could not win, why did Long Yin bring a massive crowd to witness his own failure? The auditor’s face was twitching.
But even so, the auditor’s expression was not the worst in the room. The worst expression belonged to Yue Mingcang. This much watched rising star of Longmen Port wore a formal suit today. The cut was high end and clearly expensive, his tie was immaculate, and a silver scale shaped brooch sparkled under the lights. Unfortunately, even the best clothes could not hide his expression, which was terrible to the extreme. With dark circles under his eyes, downcast lips, and a gaze full of despair and resentment, he stared at Long Yin like a male ghost.
From the moment Yue Mingcang stepped into the room, the auditor could not take his eyes off him. He was confused. He was even more confused than when he saw Long Yin’s exaggerated entourage. This was the final meeting for the gambling agreement. As Party B, for Yue Mingcang to show up looking like this practically wrote “I failed the goal” on his face. But the fact was not like that at all. Yue Mingcang had not only completed the goal but had exceeded it by a wide margin. It was a solid completion; one could even say it was done with ease. Just as the auditor had judged yesterday, even without Long Yin’s instructions for “flexible handling,” Yue Mingcang could have easily won the gamble. The formal report, personally drafted and signed by the auditor, sat on the desk right now. No matter how many times he looked at it, the conclusion was clear: failure was impossible.
So, what kind of game was Yue Mingcang playing with this funeral like expression?
Soon, the time reached exactly six o’clock in the evening. The three party meeting officially began amidst the auditor’s boundless confusion. After a brief preliminary process, the auditor read out the results: “According to Article 5 of the agreement, our firm issues an unqualified audit report, confirming that Party B has completed all the goals stipulated in this gambling agreement.”
As a renowned elite in the industry, the auditor had handled countless similar audits and read out similar results many times. Based on past experience, the moment the result was announced, sounds of frustration, admiration, and celebration would intermingle and fill the room. It should not have been like this: a dead silence. Yue Mingcang still looked like a male ghost, with not a hint of happiness on his face. On the home turf of Longmen Port, for a rising star like Yue Mingcang to win a gamble against Long Yin was a massive honor. Yet, no one in the room was clapping for him, which was a bit unseemly. Although, if one had to be honest, this was his own fault for coming alone.
Clap, clap, clap.
Suddenly, applause rang out, breaking the stalemate. The auditor’s gaze quickly scanned the room to find the person clapping. It was not Yue Mingcang, and it was not himself, so it had to be someone from Party A. In the business world as in war, it is only human to applaud an opponent’s victory after a fierce battle. However, after seeing the person clapping, the auditor nearly screamed on the spot.
Does this have anything to do with you? Why are you clapping? Who even are you?
Yes, the only person clapping in the entire room was that representative from the Long Family Conglomerate. Not only was he clapping, but he also turned to Yue Mingcang with a face full of smiles to offer congratulations, looking like they were best brothers. After a few brief seconds, applause filled the entire room. Humans are such creatures that as long as one person leads, others will follow suit. Although no one knew why they were clapping for Yue Mingcang, since they were already here, serving as a cheerleading squad was fine.
Amidst the thunderous applause, Yue Mingcang stood up. Across the table, he looked at Long Yin from afar and asked in a dull tone, “Prince, do you have anything you want to say to me?”
Long Yin stood up. The applause died down. Long Yin cleared his throat, preparing to speak. Yue Mingcang taking over Longmen Port was one of the most important events in the original story. As the clown used to highlight the protagonist, Long Yin naturally had much to say. According to the original plot, he should have a total breakdown, insulting Yue Mingcang, desperately trying to cover up his own failure and misjudgment, and refusing to acknowledge Yue Mingcang’s excellence even unto death.