“Aiya, the even greater sin falls behind! That younger son wasn’t right the split second he was born that gaze was that ruthless, merely a few years old and the look he used to scan people was like a wolf cub’s, sinister and dark. I heard when he was six, the Fu family performed ancestral sacrifice. That child held zero idea what he was thinking perhaps instigated by that mad mother actually setting a fire to burn the Fu family’s ancestral temple! A fire that massive, burning the ancestral tablets until they were completely cleaned out! He even held a fruit-slicing blade, nearly piercing Fu Sihan’s neck completely through!”
“Heavens! This small and already this toxic?”
“That’s why he’s called a ‘natural-born evil’! Old Master Fu found a master to look at him back then, claiming this child’s birth chart carried a curse, cursing his father and brother, non-retainable.”
“Then what? Killed him?”
“Killing a child damages hidden virtue; though Old Master Fu is ruthless, he wouldn’t go so far as to personally act. But it was close enough he directly had people throw that child, along with that mad mother, straight into the Kowloon Walled City.”
Hearing these four words, the socialite wives listening nearby all sucked in a sharp breath of cold air. The malignant tumor of Hong Kong, a three-way-unmanaged hell hole.
“A place of that nature that eats people alive without spitting bones throwing a child of a few years and a mad woman inside, isn’t that sending them to their deaths?”
“Who says it isn’t? I heard that within less than two days after being thrown inside, that mad woman was by someone… later dying an exceptionally miserable death. As for that child…” The socialite wife voicing the words shook her head. “Tsk, tsk, growing up inside a mud-pit of that nature, scrambling with wild dogs for food even if he’s alive, he’s estimated to be a lunatic who wouldn’t blink an eye at killing. His life can be considered ruined this time.”
“Truly a sin…”
Shen Yanzhou wanted to continue listening, yet discovered the adjacent seat had switched to a different person. Compared to that person taking their seat, he first inhaled the rum-flavored scent.
Fu Sihan didn’t act polite either, extending a hand to directly snatch the wine glass from Shen Yanzhou’s hand, forcing him to lift his head to look at him.
“Just now beneath the stage, everyone was clapping.”
“Only Master Shen didn’t even lift a hand. What, does Master Shen hold an opinion against me?”
The churning sensation that had just been pressed down inside Shen Yanzhou’s stomach surged right back up. This rum-flavored scent was too pungent, smoking him until his head spun and his eyes blurred. He shifted a distance sideways, pulling away a bit of space. “Congratulations, Eldest Master Fu.”
“However, if you desire to hear applause, there is a mountain of people outside who will clap their hands raw for you to hear. What, do you lack this single stroke of mine?”
True perfunctoriness. Yet he didn’t turn wrathful either. The more he looked at Shen Yanzhou, the more he felt he looked exactly like the pure white Persian cat he had raised back in London feed it premium dried fish and it wouldn’t eat, give it a velvet nest and it wouldn’t sleep. Insisting on flashing its claws to scratch him when he wasn’t paying focus, looking exactly as if that could display its backbone.
“Mouth is quite hard,” he let out a low laugh. “The rain is heavy tonight; once things conclude, I’ll escort you back.”
“Don’t trouble Eldest Master Fu to expend effort,” Shen Yanzhou declined cleanly and efficiently. “I drove here myself. And…” He cast a glance over Fu Sihan, his distaste unconcealed: “I am unaccustomed to riding inside other people’s vehicles.”
“Is that so?” Fu Sihan’s focus settled across his pale, nearly transparent cheek, before roaming down along that long neck, finally halting onto his hand which was falsely pressing against his stomach area. “I scan Master Shen’s complexion, and fear you can’t even hold a steering wheel steadily, right?”
He suddenly snapped his hand out, intending to test toward Shen Yanzhou’s forehead, yet was locked in a grip by Shen Xici.
“Don’t touch my brother! I will escort my brother back!”
Fu Sihan’s movement halted midair, his focus halting onto Shen Xici’s hand, before shifting up along the arm to square with his eyes packed entirely with rage.
“The adopted son of the Shen family?” He retracted his hand, his gaze crossing Shen Xici’s shoulder to settle onto Shen Yanzhou’s face: “Master Shen, this brother of yours guards the food exceptionally tightly.”
“Anyone out of the loop…” He narrowed his eyes a fraction. “…would assume you aren’t brothers, but some pair of miserable lovebirds.”
“Eldest Master Fu, drop the nonsense!” Shen Xici said with rage.
“Xici,” Shen Yanzhou called him to a halt. He lifted his head, meeting Fu Sihan’s scrutinizing gaze, his eyes clear. “Eldest Master Fu harbors heavy thoughts, scanning anyone and finding them filthy. My brother is direct and fast-talking, incomparable to Eldest Master Fu’s deep scheming. Since Eldest Master Fu is this idle, why not go check out the auction over there? I heard tonight’s grand finale is a pink diamond, matching Eldest Master Fu quite well.”
“Forget the pink diamond,” Fu Sihan let out a brief laugh, completely unconcerned by his irony. “I dislike vulgar items of that nature. However, there is a ballroom party later. Since Master Shen refuses to ride inside my car, then show some face surely a single dance is fine?”
“This is also for the sake of both families’ faces.”
Dance? Again with the dancing.
“Apologies,” Shen Yanzhou declined cleanly, too lazy to even seek a fresh excuse: “My body is uncomfortable today, hold zero desire to dance.” He tilted his face, looking toward his brother: “Xici, give the cheque to Eldest Master Fu.”
Shen Xici immediately caught the intent, fishing a pre-filled cheque from his suit inner pocket and delivering it over with a cold face. Shen Yanzhou took the cheque, arrogantly stuffing it into the breast pocket of his suit jacket, exposing only a border displaying a massive figure.
“This is a meager piece of mindfulness from the Shen family, counted as adding bricks and tiles to the charity fund. Additionally, congratulations to Eldest Master Fu on securing his desires. My body is uncomfortable, so I’ll leave first.” With that, he stood up and walked out of the banquet hall together with Shen Xici.
Fu Sihan sat on his original spot, lowering his head to cast a glance at the cheque stuffed against his chest by Shen Yanzhou. What did Shen Yanzhou treat him as? A beggar demanding food? Or a roadside attendant to be dismissed at will? A character who dared lash cash across his face like this—this was the first one.
His focus halted onto the half-glass of champagne Shen Yanzhou had left unfinished from his drinking moments ago. At the cup rim, a faint speck of a lip print remained. Fu Sihan extended his hand, hoisting that cup up. Setting his lips against that lip print, he tilted his head back to drink the remaining liquor inside the cup down whole. The sharp notes of the liquor slid past his throat, yet carried a bizarre sweetness that seemed to belong to that person.
“Still quite sweet.”
“No wonder he was constantly drinking it.”
When Shen Yanzhou was escorted back to the villa by Shen Xici, it was already late into the night. That dog wasn’t waiting for him outside the villa, nor was he inside the living room surely he hadn’t truly been kneeling until now, right.
He went upstairs, clicking on the main bedroom light. Sure enough, beside that king-size bed, that man was actually obediently, motionlessly kneeling. But he appeared to be too exhausted. From the afternoon until now, six or seven hours had passed; even knees forged of iron couldn’t bear it.
At this moment, the man’s upper torso was slumped across the bed edge, his head pillowed across his arms; utilizing a crooked posture of this nature, he had fallen asleep while kneeling. His frame still wore that laughable small bear apron, his messy black hair draped across his forehead; when his eyes were closed, his eyelashes were long, his breathing lengthy, appearing completely devoid of any non-peaceful edge.
“Serves you right.” He cursed in a low voice, yet didn’t turn wrathful anyhow. “Who told you to perform it that ruthlessly? Kneeling until your legs snap is also your own doing.”
He originally intended to leave him alone like this, but if he spent the entire night sleeping while kneeling like this, what if his legs went soft tomorrow who would boil congee for him? Who would plant flowers for him?
Forget it.
Shen Yanzhou bent his waist, his hands pushing against the man’s shoulders, wanting to push this massive behemoth down onto the rug. Truly heavy. The incoming muscle was hard as rock; Shen Yanzhou expended immense effort before managing to let him flat-lay across the thick long-haired rug.
Looking at a body of this nature, the mere thought of himself being pressed deathly by a body of this nature last night being shackled by this pair of powerful arms, being held by him to be tortured over and over again his face turned uncomfortably a bit hot.
“Wild dog,” he spat a crimson flush from his lips, casually yanking a cashmere throw from the bed, preparing to cover him up. He was merely a bit worried that if this dog caught a chill, it would infect him.
As he leaned his frame over to cover the man with the throw, relying on the illumination of the light, Shen Yanzhou finally discovered that the man’s brow bone was prominent and his eye sockets deep, looking remarkably similar to the Old Master Fu he had witnessed tonight.
Shen Yanzhou shook his head, attempting to fling away this absurd thought; it must be from listening to too much gossip tonight, scanning anyone and finding them resembling a member of the Fu family. Within the split second his focus drifted
The previously deeply sleeping man’s body suddenly executed a movement.
Looking as if he sensed a heat source, or perhaps an unconscious roll inside a dream landscape, the man’s arm lifted without a single hint of warning, encircling Shen Yanzhou’s narrow waist and yanking his defenseless frame downward. Shen Yanzhou’s center of gravity was unstable, his entire being tumbling down.
Two pieces of soft lips, beneath the bright illumination of the light, lightly touched together.
A single touch and they parted. Yet the man pressed him downward another fraction, even moving his lips to take a bite of his upper lip.
Shen Yanzhou supported his upper torso, his eyes wide, staring at the man before him like a startled cat. Remaining across his lips was the man’s warm tactile sensation a faint cedar flavor. He stared with panic and uncertainty at the man who was still closed-eyed and deeply sleeping, his beautiful eyes open wide till they were round, expressing both shame-fueled irritation and suspicion.
“Thirty Million?” He dropped his voice low, testingly asking: “Are you intentional?”
The man’s breathing was stable, motionless, and that hand encircling his waist also slid loosely down, looking exactly as if that strike moments ago was truly an unintentional action.
Shen Yanzhou furrowed his brow, un-submissively extending his index finger to forcefully poke the man’s left cheek. One poke, zero reaction. Poking the right side again, still zero reaction. He extended a bare foot, stepping onto the man’s hard abdominal muscles, even grinding against them a couple of times. Still zero reaction.
“Truly asleep?” Shen Yanzhou muttered a phrase. “Sleeping like a dead dog.”
He was too lazy to bicker with a sleeping dog, turning off the main light to climb onto the bed. Turning his back toward the man on the rug, he wrapped himself securely inside the duvet, even wrapping it tightly to prevent this dog from crawling into his bed again in the middle of the night.
As the light extinguished, inside the bedroom remained only the rising and falling sounds of the two people’s breathing.
The man lying across the rug slowly opened his eyes within the darkness. He lifted his hand, his rough finger print gently caressing across the lips that had just been kissed by Shen Yanzhou. The corners of his mouth hitched upward bit by bit inside the darkness, exposing a smile that was both bad and sweet.
The taste… truly sweet.