Even so, it was still a bit difficult in actual practice.
Fu Juncheng had been cooped up in the room for a whole week, to the point where blisters had practically formed on his lips from boredom. Yet every time he walked toward the front door, someone would intercept him, claiming that Young President Wu had given strict instructions for him to rest up properly and stay inside instead of wandering around.
The scumbag CEO sure talked a good game about resting up properly, but he was really just terrified that this face of his might suffer another mishap and lose its pleasing aesthetic value.
Fu Juncheng truly couldn’t help muttering to himself: “Does your President Wu know that unlawful detention is a crime? If you don’t let me out right now, I am going to call the police.”
Upon hearing this, the man gave him a bewildered look, his expression plainly screaming: Go ahead and try, if you have the guts.
Fu Juncheng: “Period.”
Fu Juncheng rubbed his still-sore shoulders and forearms, rolling his eyes so hard he practically looked up into the clouds.
Fine. He admitted defeat. Was that good enough?
According to the original novel’s descriptions, although the Wu family could not exactly do whatever they pleased, if you truly pissed them off, they had plenty of ways to torture you.
A short while later, Fu Juncheng sat straddling the bedroom windowsill with his legs apart, mentally calculating the probability of jumping from here and landing completely unharmed.
To be honest, the chances were not great.
Though it would not kill him, the odds of breaking a hand or a leg were extremely high, and there was no guarantee he would even be able to run away.
As Fu Juncheng pondered for a long while, sudden movement stirred down in the courtyard.
The moment Wu Jin stepped out of the car, the surrounding area instantly quieted down for a few seconds. Lowering his gaze, Fu Juncheng saw Wu Jin staring fixedly at his face with burning intensity. Before he could recover, the assistant beside Wu Jin gasped sharply, widened his eyes, and shouted: “Xiao Cheng, what kind of foolish thing are you doing?”
Fu Juncheng hesitated for a few seconds, belatedly realizing the man must have misunderstood something.
“Don’t mind him,” Wu Jin said with a dark face, his heavy gaze never leaving Fu Juncheng’s direction for a single fraction of a second. “Jump, if you have the guts.”
“President Wu, but this…”
“If your luck is good and your legs do not snap, I will help you break them.”
Fu Juncheng’s lips twitched.
He really was the scum gong of the original novel: thoroughly heartless!
Fu Juncheng didn’t move. Wu Jin lifted his chin, his tone light and arrogant, yet loud enough to drift into Fu Juncheng’s ears and ensure he heard every word clearly: “Still not jumping?”
Fu Juncheng looked at him expressionless: “The view is great from up here. Just enjoying the scenery, is that a crime?”
No sooner had his voice fallen than he saw Wu Jin stride through the door, taking two steps at a time until he was completely out of sight.
Fu Juncheng braced one hand against the corner of the windowsill, flipped his body over, and landed steadily beside the bed.
Suddenly, a loud crash rang out.
The door lock was twisted open from the outside. Wu Jin walked in, his entire person radiating an aura wrapped in layers of icy frost from inside out, striding straight toward him.
Fu Juncheng dodged hastily, taking a panicked step backward.
Capitalizing on his movement, Wu Jin advanced another step, frowning as he grabbed hold of him.
Startled, Fu Juncheng pressed his back against the edge of the window and hurriedly tried to pull his hand away: “What are you doing?”
Wu Jin seemed momentarily stunned by his own action as well, before stating in an uncompromising tone: “Take off your clothes.”
Fu Juncheng: “Question mark.”
Why so sudden? Did he take the wrong medicine?
According to the plot of the original story, Wu Jin was still pining for Xu Yaozhou, his pure devotion as steadfast as heaven and earth; it was utterly impossible for him to have any substantive relationship with a cannon fodder character like himself.
It wasn’t until later that Wu Jin would accidentally drink drugged wine at a banquet, leading him to make a move on the person he longed for in his heart, making a scene for the entire night—even if the person sobbing beneath him was merely the shadow of someone else.
Afterward, he found the taste addictive and couldn’t stop.
But that was all a story for the future.
In the heat of the moment, Fu Juncheng couldn’t care less about offending this big shot; he was already considering whether he should kick the man between the legs to protect his dignity if things escalated.
Then he heard Wu Jin say with dissatisfaction: “Who told you to wear your own clothes?”
Fu Juncheng: “Question mark.”
Fu Juncheng lowered his gaze to glance at the cotton T-shirt he was wearing and fell into deep thought.
Wu Jin parted his lips, adopting a commanding tone: “Pick one of the outfits I had someone send over for you last time and put it on.”
Realizing what was going on, Fu Juncheng thoughtfully opened the wardrobe and, following Wu Jin’s line of sight, found several jackets and inner layers with the price tags still attached.
So this guy was treating him like a life-sized action figure of Xu Yaozhou.
Wu Jin looked Fu Juncheng up and down with a critical eye.
Fu Juncheng’s temple twitched, and alarm bells rang loudly in his heart.
Changing clothes right in front of Wu Jin? No way in hell was he doing that!
Fortunately, Wu Jin didn’t press the issue.
Wu Jin closed his eyes, then opened them again, this time staring straight into his face and refusing to look away.
Fu Juncheng found himself being stared at for no apparent reason; his brow furrowed slightly as he cast a strange, lowered gaze at him.
In a split second, the shadow of Xu Yaozhou flashed across Wu Jin’s mind.
His throat bobbed as he stood stunned for a moment.
Belatedly, an inexplicable feeling of displeasure surged straight to the top of his head.
Breaking the heavy silence, Wu Jin spoke out of the blue, his voice dropping several degrees lower: “Change all your clothes. We are going somewhere later.”
Fu Juncheng was currently debating what excuse to use to make Wu Jin get the hell out of his bedroom.
The man suddenly sneered in disgust: “Put away those little schemes of yours. Haven’t you played enough of these crying, making a fuss, and threatening suicide games?”
Fu Juncheng: “Period.”
Wu Jin: “I like obedient people, understand?”
Fu Juncheng: “Period.”
Wu Jin: “And another thing: change your clothes after I leave.”
Fu Juncheng: “Period.”
Wu Jin: “Don’t rack your brain trying to seduce people. It is disgusting.”
Fu Juncheng pressed his lips together, barely managing to suppress the urge to roll his eyes.
This guy must have a screw loose in his head.
No wonder he couldn’t win over his white moonlight!
The clothes were all arranged in complete matching sets, so it didn’t take up much time.
When Wu Jin saw Fu Juncheng again, a rare trace of uncharacteristic gentleness softened the edges of his gaze.
Without leaving a trace, Fu Juncheng glanced at the recent calls displayed on the other man’s phone screen.
The name at the very top was painfully familiar: Xu Yaozhou.
Judging by the fact that he had probably just been chatting with Xu Yaozhou, Wu Jin’s mood seemed quite pleasant—as if nothing had happened earlier. He even spared a few extra words for Fu Juncheng: “The people attending today are all figures of high status and prestige. Didn’t you say before that you had your eye on Director Zhang’s new role?”
Fu Juncheng, however, had no heart to entertain him. Secretly pondering what kind of bizarre fetishes this scumbag CEO possessed, he resolved to throw away that entire closet full of Xu Yaozhou-style replicas immediately; otherwise, disaster was bound to strike sooner or later.
Wu Jin shot him a sideways glance: “Be smart about it. Don’t make a fool of yourself and humiliate me like last time.”
Too lazy to utter a sound, Fu Juncheng remained silent.
Wu Jin naturally mistook this period of silence for submissiveness.
After all, Fu Juncheng had always been well-behaved, resembling an overly docile pet. Even if you left the cage door wide open, you could rest assured he wouldn’t run away.
If you occasionally hit him hard enough to hurt your own hand, he would probably even look at you with heartache and lick your palm.
Wu Jin’s thoughts paused momentarily, finally forcing his gaze away from Fu Juncheng.
He had to admit that that face in front of him truly suited his tastes to a T.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to get his hands on the person in the first place.
It was just that, whether it was because he had been treating Fu Juncheng a bit too well lately, it had given the other person the illusion that he could easily rebel, even occasionally displaying an unbefitting, spoiled temperament.
Sometimes, a pretty pet that grew too smart stopped being quite so cute.
Throughout the rest of the journey, Fu Juncheng remained very quiet, and neither of them spoke another word.
Halfway there, however, Wu Jin suddenly remembered something: “Oh right, there is one more thing.”
Fu Juncheng shot him a suspicious, sideways glance.
Wu Jin instructed: “Remember to apologize to Xie Chen later.”
Xie Chen?
Fu Juncheng racked his brain before finally remembering who Xie Chen was.
Wu Jin said indifferently: “The Xie family and the Xu family have a pretty good relationship. Don’t let Xu Yaozhou find out that the person I brought bullied Xie Chen and make him unhappy.”
Fu Juncheng: “Period.”
Fu Juncheng touched his own face, still able to feel the faint presence of a tiny scar.
He had to apologize.
This was utterly absurd.
No wonder the original body used to silently take all that bullying without a word; judging by Wu Jin’s attitude today, Fu Juncheng finally understood everything.
And so, another entry was added to the scumbag’s ledger of malicious acts.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, regretting only that his physical condition had not been better last time, causing him to hit that fellow named Xie far too lightly. Judging by that punk’s attitude, there was no telling how many times he had bullied the original owner.
Speak of the devil.
The car stopped right in front of the courtyard of a detached villa. Fu Juncheng walked in footsteps trailing behind Wu Jin as they crossed a long, winding corridor, and from afar, they spotted Xie Chen popping out of nowhere.
Clearly, Xie Chen was none too thrilled to lay eyes on him either.
Fu Juncheng watched clearly as their gazes collided unexpectedly, causing Xie Chen’s face to darken instantly.
Xie Chen glared savagely: “You actually dare to show your face in front of me? This young master gets annoyed just looking at you.”
Despite saying that, however, he strode forward with an arrogant swagger, marching straight up to Fu Juncheng with steps so swift Fu Juncheng didn’t even have time to dodge.
Speechless for a moment, Fu Juncheng looked at the overbearing person before him, suddenly connecting him with a certain major male supporting character in his mind.
A pampered young scion who always looked down his nose at people, only ever displaying an exceptionally docile side in front of Xu Yaozhou.
Such a character setting could belong to none other than Xie Chen.
Xie Chen’s family background was decent enough, and having been terribly spoiled since childhood, you could practically call his life a playground. He hadn’t started reigning it in until he met Xu Yaozhou, even courageously charging into the entertainment industry for love, making him a true believer in true love for Xu Yaozhou.
Between love rivals, tit-for-tat confrontations were inevitable.
Thus, when it came to courting death, Xie Chen was second to none, ultimately getting tortured miserably by the main romance’s scum gong in the later stages.
The kind of misery where your family goes bankrupt and you lose everything.
As expected, having the halo of the main scum gong was truly overpowered; even if the author wanted a bad ending, you would still be the last one standing before dying.
Not daring to let his mind wander for too long, Fu Juncheng subtly leaned back behind Wu Jin.
Who would have thought Xie Chen would completely ignore Wu Jin, stepping forward with a look of disgust: “You still have the nerve to hide? Why aren’t you talking now? Where did all that aggressive fire from the other day go?”
Finally, Fu Juncheng understood why Xie Chen met such a miserable end.
The guy was genuinely annoying.
Casting a casual glance over his shoulder, Wu Jin offered a reminder: “Today is Mrs. Xu’s birthday.”
Xie Chen paused momentarily before waving a hand impatiently: “You don’t need to remind me, I know.”
For days, he had been harboring a ball of pent-up frustration with nowhere to vent. Now that he had finally run into the source of his anger, the flames rising to his head weren’t about to die down so easily.
Yet Fu Juncheng just stood there in absolute silence—like punching a mound of cotton—which only added fuel to the fire.
Without further ado, Xie Chen reached out and grabbed Fu Juncheng: “I’m talking to you! Are you mute?”
Lips parting, Wu Jin readied himself to tell Fu Juncheng to offer an apology, if only to temporarily appease this headache-inducing little tyrant.
Suddenly, he watched Fu Juncheng intentionally sway forward, allowing himself to be pulled by Xie Chen as they both tumbled toward the side—brushing past a stone-carved picture frame on the flank, they plunged straight into the koi pond!
Instantly, schools of fish darted wildly in all directions. The crystal-clear pool surface exploded like a popped pot, kicking up massive white splashes that spattered across the bluestone pathway, leaving large stains of water in their wake.
The incident happened so fast that startled gasps echoed all around.
Caught completely off guard and looking like a drowned rat, Xie Chen froze on the spot.
Meanwhile, the very split second before falling into the water, Fu Juncheng had swiftly wrenched himself free from Xie Chen’s tightly locked grip, throwing his weight sideways to land squarely on the jade-green stone base, getting nothing more than his trouser hems and sleeves wet.
“Did you do that on purpose?!”
Swatting away the hands of bystanders trying to pull him up, Xie Chen scrambled out of the shallow pool in a fury, instantly yelling unreasonably: “Why are you trying to frame me?!”
As he spoke, Xie Chen even subconsciously glanced down at his own hand.
Others might not know, but he knew best: given the exact force of what just happened, it shouldn’t have turned out like this!
Lowering his eyelids slightly, Fu Juncheng said nothing. Even the sharp, overbearing edge that had marked his brows and eyes when they fought last time was now coated in a layer of unquestionable innocence.
He looked utterly pitiful.
Coupled with a fair face and rosy lips, the act was profoundly deceptive.
The murmuring among the onlookers grew louder.
“You… why are you even pretending to cry?” Xie Chen shrieked, losing his mind. “If you dare shed a single tear, I will—I will… Fu Juncheng, are you even a man?!”
Xie Chen wasn’t feeling sympathetic; he was purely terrified of ruining Mrs. Xu’s birthday party and incurring Mrs. Xu’s displeasure.
Yet this exact reaction was precisely what Fu Juncheng wanted.
The more Wu Jin and Xie Chen feared something, the more he would deliver it.
If Wu Jin found him a disgrace, he might just kick him out on the spot.
To the ends of the earth, see ya later!
“I’m talking to you!”
Seeing that Fu Juncheng remained stubbornly mute, Xie Chen went all-in, throwing aside any remaining need to save face for Wu Jin in public as he signaled a few security guards, fully intending to have the man dragged straight out.
Still, because Fu Juncheng was, after all, a guest brought by Wu Jin, no one dared to step forward immediately.
Frowning in displeasure and equally feeling that Fu Juncheng’s behavior was utterly shameful, Wu Jin said coldly: “I’ll have someone take you back.”
Fu Juncheng had been praying for this exact outcome.
He had never wanted to hang around these two in the first place. If not for the sake of playing his role all the way to the end, he would have bounced up and run off by himself right now.
Overjoyed, right before the corners of his mouth could betray him by curling upward, he tilted his head slightly to avoid the surrounding crowd, facing a vacant, deserted corner.
Fu Juncheng massaged his temples and inadvertently raised his gaze.
Caught completely off guard, he froze, his smile stiffening on his face.
Up above, by a certain floor-to-ceiling window, someone was standing near a half-drawn curtain. The distance was too great to make out their features clearly, yet he could vividly sense the person’s indifferent expression as they stared steadily right back at him.
Taking in his momentary, triumphant smirk in its entirety.
Fu Juncheng: “Period.”
As the saying goes, life is always a series of dramatic rises and falls—truly no lie.
Case in point right now:
I cried.
I faked it.
I’m crying again.
Ah!
My life is so hard!