The Contract
“I-I’m not messing with you.” Shen Chen, who should now be called Shen Sining, adapted to the fact that he had transmigrated into a book with remarkable speed. With his consummate acting skill, he hid his bewilderment, intending to placate Xiao Jinghan first.
Xiao Jinghan snorted. “You’d better not have.”
Shen Sining realized that Xiao Jinghan was standing right in front of him, completely naked and on full display. The man had an incredible V-shaped build, and just looking at him made Shen Sining’s mouth water. But now was no time to let his imagination run wild, so he suggested, “Get dressed first, then we can talk.”
Xiao Jinghan didn’t say anything else. He casually walked around the bed to pick up his clothes.
The muscles across his back were beautifully defined, and it was covered in crisscrossing red marks. Shen Sining couldn’t bear to look, so he lowered his head and slowly followed.
He wasn’t sure which clothes were his, so he waited until Xiao Jinghan had picked up and put on his, then gathered what was left and slipped it on.
When it came to underwear, Shen Sining didn’t think twice before reaching for the black pair on the floor.
“That’s mine. You’ve got the wrong pair.” Xiao Jinghan stopped Shen Sining as he tried to pull them on. He picked up the white pair from the sofa between two fingers and admired the little strawberry pattern. Raising an eyebrow, he said with a smile, “These are yours. Who knew you had such girlish taste, President Shen? Little strawberries?”
Shen Sining’s face turned red. What kind of taste did the original owner have? Little strawberry underwear was way too embarrassing!
From the bottom of his heart, Shen Sining refused to put them on, and he clung to the black pair.
“Are you interested in my underwear, President Shen?” Xiao Jinghan’s lips curved slightly. “I don’t mind swapping, but…” He held the “little strawberries” up against himself and frowned as if troubled. “Your size doesn’t seem like it’d fit me. What should we do?”
Shen Sining followed Xiao Jinghan’s gesture and glanced down. Sure enough, the man was exceptionally well-endowed.
This guy was shamelessly flirtatious. Shen Sining felt like he was about to suffocate, so before he needed emergency oxygen, he snatched the “little strawberries” from Xiao Jinghan and shoved the black pair into his hands. “I picked up the wrong ones. Here, take yours!”
As he hurriedly got dressed, Shen Sining tried to figure out what to do.
He’d only just arrived, and already he’d slept with the original male lead’s man. He’d stolen the male lead’s man, so how could the male lead not hold a grudge? Was the tragedy of “Cannon Fodder Shen Sining” going to play out all over again?
No. Absolutely not.
I, Shen Chen, have been a leading man my whole life. There’s no way I’m becoming cannon fodder!
My wonderful life has only just begun. There are so many young hunks waiting for me to have my way with them. How could I fall into the same trap?
The only option now was to keep Xiao Jinghan at a distance without offending him. After all, Xiao Jinghan had the protagonist halo. He was the man who’d come out on top in the end. Shen Sining was a cannon-fodder supporting character, with a life as fragile as paper. He couldn’t afford to provoke anyone.
As he was thinking, the doorbell rang outside the hotel room.
Xiao Jinghan was still taking his time getting dressed, so there was no point expecting him to answer the door. Whoever was ringing it didn’t know what was happening inside and kept pressing the button with no sense of timing. Shen Sining’s face darkened as he strode over to open the door.
“Who are you looking for?”
The assistant who’d come to deliver Shen Sining’s keeping contract stood outside. He took one look at his boss’s gloomy expression and sensed trouble. Had he interrupted something?
The young assistant tried to peer over Shen Sining’s shoulder, but Shen Sining blocked his view. In a foul mood, he snapped, “Who are you? Who are you looking for? Speak!”
The young assistant shakily raised the document folder in his hands. “President Shen, don’t you recognize me? I’m your assistant, Xiao Zhou. I came to deliver some documents.”
“Documents?” Shen Sining took the folder and pulled out a few sheets of paper. The words “Keeping Contract” stood out clearly at the top, and there were two copies.
Shen Sining turned to look into the room. Xiao Jinghan had already gotten dressed and was sitting on the edge of the bed, but none of the buttons on his shirt were fastened. The shirt hung open, revealing a stretch of tan chest, with the outline of his pectoral muscles just visible beneath the fabric. His long legs were crossed, his posture relaxed and languid.
Shen Sining stared without blinking, even as he silently heaped scorn on Xiao Jinghan.
Hmph. A scumbag top. Young and strong, but with no ambition, just waiting for a patron to keep him so he wouldn’t have to lift a finger.
Shen Sining turned around, skimmed the contract, then tore it up without changing expression and tossed the pieces into the air. “We don’t need this. Draft a management contract instead.”
“A management contract?” Xiao Zhou said, looking troubled. “President Shen, I’ve never drafted one. I don’t know how!”
Shen Sining folded his arms and looked him over. “You just said you were my assistant, right?”
Xiao Zhou nodded obediently.
Shen Sining said coolly, “You’re now promoted to secretary. Can you draft one now?”
Assistant Xiao Zhou, now Secretary Zhou, left with the dazed, blissful expression of someone who’d just won the lottery.
As it turned out, people rose to the occasion when pushed. If you never pushed them, you’d never find out where their limits lay.
Shen Sining closed the door and turned to find Xiao Jinghan watching him with an amused smile.
Xiao Jinghan said, “Don’t you think you owe me an explanation for last night, President Shen?”
Shen Sining sat down on the sofa, his expression unchanged. “What kind of explanation do you want? It was consensual. Neither of us lost out. Are you going to tell me I forced you?”
Xiao Jinghan chuckled and said unhurriedly, “You’re right, President Shen. Neither of us lost out. But you promised to keep me, and I’ve already put it out there. If you change your mind now, people will think I, Xiao Jinghan, got dumped after you got tired of me. What am I supposed to do about my reputation?”
“Can you stop saying ‘keep me’ all the time?” Shen Sining urged earnestly. “You’re a perfectly capable adult. You should achieve success through your own hard work, not take shortcuts.”
Xiao Jinghan gave a scornful laugh. “Are you lecturing me, President Shen? You didn’t say that last night in bed.”
Shen Sining laughed awkwardly. “You know you can’t trust what a man says when he’s drunk or in bed, right?”
“Oh? So when you said ‘That feels good’ and praised me for being ‘good at it’ last night, you were lying too?” Xiao Jinghan stood and made as if to take off his clothes, smiling as he said, “I see. I must not have been good enough at my job, then. I didn’t really satisfy you, so now you’re having second thoughts. That’s fine. Give me another chance to try again right now, and I’ll make sure you’re satisfied this time.”
Shen Sining’s eyes widened as Xiao Jinghan came closer. He instinctively shrank back against the sofa and said in alarm, “Don’t come any closer! Ow!” He’d moved too abruptly and pulled muscles that were already aching all over. His expression twisted even more. “It’s not because of that! Calm down! I, I, I haven’t changed my mind!”
“Really?” Xiao Jinghan was already standing in front of the sofa, both hands braced on the back of the sofa behind Shen Sining. He leaned down and narrowed his eyes at him, his voice low. “So you’re still willing to keep me, then?”
“Yes! Yes!” Shen Sining gave in without conditions. He’d been deep in the closet for so many years. He couldn’t just let go overnight.
“Want to try again? I can throw in one complimentary trial.” Xiao Jinghan lowered himself, bringing his face close, as if he were about to kiss Shen Sining at any moment.
“No, no need!” Shen Sining waved his hands frantically.
Xiao Jinghan straightened up and sat down on the sofa too. He shrugged. “What a shame.”
“Why are you so set on being kept?” Shen Sining shifted farther away from him and couldn’t help asking, “Are you short on money? I can lend you some. You wouldn’t have to pay it back!”
“I don’t want your money.” Xiao Jinghan gazed at him with dark eyes for a while, then suddenly smiled. “It’s because you’re the one keeping me. That’s why I’m willing.”
A gaze so full of tenderness would have convinced Shen Sining, if only he hadn’t read the original novel.
But he didn’t know Xiao Jinghan’s real motive, so he pretended to be surprised. “Why? We’ve only met twice.”
“Would you believe me if I said it was love at first sight?” Xiao Jinghan asked with a smile.
Shen Sining sneered inwardly. By the time he was Xiao Jinghan’s age, he’d already been a three-time best actor. Who did Xiao Jinghan think he was trying to out-act?
“I believe you. I’ll believe anything Xiaoxiao says.” Shen Sining simply tossed his dignity aside and ran a hand over Xiao Jinghan’s face. When the expected flicker of surprise crossed the other man’s expression, he stood and straightened his clothes, then said as if nothing had happened, “I’m going to the bathroom. Wait here a minute.”
Shen Sining didn’t notice the amused smile that appeared at the corner of Xiao Jinghan’s mouth as he watched him walk away.
In the bathroom, Shen Sining splashed cold water on his face and wiped away the droplets. His reflection came into sharp focus in the mirror.
Love at first sight, my ass. It sounded nice, but it was all just lust at first sight.
This face looked about thirty or forty percent like Shen Chen’s original one, but it was younger and more handsome, with a high nose, thin lips and a pair of beautiful, dewy peach-blossom eyes. A faint beauty mark sat beneath one eye, and his gaze seemed tender and affectionate whenever it shifted.
Before marrying into the Shen family, Shen Sining’s mother had been the entertainment industry’s reigning jade-maiden star. Shen Sining had inherited her best features, giving him a more delicate, feminine kind of beauty than most handsome men.
In the book, Shen Sining had the nickname “male fox spirit.” Hardly any man who liked men failed to find him attractive.
Who could have imagined that a face as lovely as a peach blossom would end up as a mangled mess after its owner jumped from the twentieth floor?
But things were different now. The person behind the “Shen Sining” ID had changed.
A cold smile tugged at the corners of Shen Sining’s mouth in the mirror. He’d already thought of a way to handle this.
If he couldn’t get rid of Xiao Jinghan for now, he could bring him into his own camp instead. There was no harm in getting along with the male lead.
An hour later, Secretary Zhou returned with the hastily drafted management contract and rang the doorbell again.
“Here’s our contract. Take a look at the terms and give it some thought,” Shen Sining said, pushing it in front of Xiao Jinghan with a bright smile. “It’s up to you whether you sign.”
Secretary Zhou stood to one side, his heart pounding. His boss had told him to draft a management contract with a twenty-year term. Wasn’t that just a disguised indenture contract? Only an idiot would sign it.
Xiao Jinghan glanced over the contract. Twenty years? What kind of roundabout way of keeping someone was this?
Without hesitation, he flipped straight to the last page and signed his name in bold, sweeping strokes.
Shen Sining’s smile froze on his face. “You didn’t even read it carefully. Aren’t you afraid I’ll sell you off?”
Xiao Jinghan tossed the pen aside and looked up with a smile. “I’ve already sold myself to you. If you’re willing to sell me on, there’s nothing I can do about it. What can I say? I like little strawberries.”
Little strawberries, my ass!
Shen Sining felt like Xiao Jinghan could see right through him. Even through his pants, Xiao Jinghan could somehow see the little strawberries on the back of his underwear.
Secretary Zhou noticed his boss didn’t look too happy and curiously interjected, “What are little strawberries? Is it a person?”
“No one will think you’re mute if you don’t say anything.” Shen Sining glared at Secretary Zhou, then stood and held out his hand to Xiao Jinghan, his expression shifting to a polished, professional smile. “Well, then. Here’s to a successful partnership.”