“Beauty, I advise you not to toast to a forfeit only to drink a forfeit in retreat.” Lin Ze pressed closer and closer toward Wen Yu. Behind Wen Yu was a sofa, leaving him with nowhere left to retreat.
“While I’m still quite interested in you, if you play along and act sensible, I can still afford to be a bit gentle with you. But if you truly exhaust my patience,” the smile at the corner of Lin Ze’s lips paused for a moment, and had the desire in his eyes been able to materialize, it could have cleanly carved a bloody patch of flesh right off Wen Yu. “I can’t guarantee what kind of things I might do.”
Lin Ze had originally intended to look for Wen Yu tomorrow, never expecting he would actually run into Wen Yu today at Muxin Hotel. Perhaps this was destined by some unseen fate.
The two of them were standing very close, and Wen Yu could even feel certain physical reactions from Lin Ze, making him feel utterly disgusted.
Wen Yu only wanted to smoothly get through his high school years. Sometimes, he felt the heavens had a peculiar sense of humor toward him. The moment he was born, his parents loathed him; just when he thought his life would simply be like this, he met Shen Yuqing, who treated him well; and just as he reflected that perhaps all his misfortunes had merely been to lead him to Shen Yuqing, fate tore them apart and sent him into the dragon’s pool and tiger’s den that was the Zhou family.
Yet, that had led him to meet Cheng Xiaoling and experience maternal love for the very first time, only for the heavens to afflict Cheng Xiaoling with a severe illness, forcing him to undergo a surgery with a mortality rate as high as 63 percent. Before the operation, Wen Yu thought he might die right on the operating table, but the surgery went smoothly and he survived.
He no longer asked for anything else; right now, he only hoped to smoothly navigate high school, get accepted into a university, and eventually be able to take Cheng Xiaoling away.
Yet even with this meager request, the heavens refused to grant it to him. The person standing before him, someone he had merely bumped into, was pushing him step by step like this, forcing his high school life to veer toward a terrible direction.
Wen Yu suddenly felt that, by comparison, Fu Chen was much easier to deal with. Fu Chen only liked to occasionally prick him with a few sarcastic remarks, but at least he wouldn’t actually do anything to him.
Fu Chen.
Right, Fu Chen!
“I advise you you’d better not mess around,” Wen Yu clenched his fists, trying his best to make his words sound confident. “I already have an Alpha, and he is not someone you can afford to provoke.”
“Are there still people in City A that I can’t afford to provoke?” Lin Ze sneered, completely brushing off Wen Yu’s threat. “Name him so I can hear which backwater wilderness that stray Alpha crawled out from.”
While Wen Yu’s hand inconspicuously groped for his school bag compartment, he stared straight at Lin Ze and said, “He is a member of the Fu family.”
“The Fu family? Fu Chen?” Hearing that name, Lin Ze reacted as if he had heard a remarkably humorous joke. “Little beauty, your stage play was brilliant, but what is he even worth? At best, he’s just a pretty boy. His family only drops him off in a Luochuan sedan, yet every single day at school he puts on airs of being some mysterious figure. What kind of background do you think his family could possibly have?”
Naturally, because both Wen Yu and Fu Chen generated massive discussions at First High School and sat as deskmates, Lin Ze’s mind naturally jumped straight to Fu Chen.
Fu Chen’s background was exceptionally well-concealed. The identity Fu Chengzhe arranged for Fu Chen was that of a son of a subordinate named Fu under his command; basically, any investigation would only reach that far, and digging any deeper required exceptionally high clearance levels. Coupled with the fact that the vehicle dropping off and picking up Fu Chen for school every day was an extremely common, mass-market automobile brand, it mirrored the family circumstances of most students at First High School.
Lin Ze had also investigated Fu Chen’s file, and it was entirely ordinary. Because the school leadership treated Fu Chen with relative respect, the fanciful identities everyone in the school imagined for him daily just struck Lin Ze as laughable. Fu Chen possessed nothing more than a hollow shell of good looks, while everyone else insisted on fantasizing that he held an extraordinarily distinguished background.
“A single word from me is enough to make it impossible for him to survive at First High School,” Lin Ze said arrogantly.
“Go ask around in City A and see who hasn’t heard of our Lin family.” Lin Ze’s hands began wandering restlessly onto Wen Yu’s shoulders, sliding downward along his arm as he spoke. “Sometimes, a simple choice can determine the course of a lifetime.”
“What you’re saying makes sense.” Wen Yu stared dead ahead at Lin Ze, finally touching the stun baton tucked inside his school bag compartment. Quietly, Wen Yu extracted the stun baton from his bag and gripped it tightly in his hand.
Lin Ze adored Wen Yu’s eyes, dark and contrasting, clear as bottomless spring water. Being stared at so intensely by Wen Yu made him feel thoroughly at ease, and he assumed Wen Yu had finally seen reason and stopped resisting. He was utterly oblivious to the alternative crisis creeping up in the shadows.
“Those who know when to yield are wise.” Lin Ze’s hand slid down to Wen Yu’s waistline. He encircled Wen Yu’s waist, pulling him abruptly into his own embrace and leaning close to Wen Yu’s lips. “Beauty, trust me, you won’t regret today’s decision.”
With barely three centimeters left between their lips, Wen Yu raised the stun baton and swung it toward the back of Lin Ze’s neck. Just one second shy of sending Lin Ze crashing to the floor, a pair of slender, powerful hands snapped down to firmly grip Wen Yu’s wrist.
Following the source of those hands with his gaze, Wen Yu looked up to see Shen Yuqing.
Exerting force, Shen Yuqing yanked Wen Yu directly into his own embrace. He offered Lin Ze a smile, though his gaze was chillingly cold. “Young Master Lin, long time no see.”
The member of the Fu family he referred to actually turned out to be Shen Yuqing!
Visible surprise flashed across Lin Ze’s face. He was well aware of Shen Yuqing; he was the eldest son Fu Chengzhe had brought back home some years ago. Rumor had it that Fu Chengzhe also had a second son, but due to poor health over the years, he rarely appeared in the public eye and his official records remained blank.
With an enterprise as massive as the Fu family, Shen Yuqing competing for family assets against a younger brother in poor health might not guarantee absolute victory, but his advantage was considerable. He was someone who could not be easily offended; otherwise, should Shen Yuqing genuinely emerge victorious in the succession battle later on, things would become difficult to handle.
“Brother Yuqing,” Lin Ze greeted Shen Yuqing with forced politeness.
“It really has been a long time. I never expected you’d still be just as much of a scoundrel.” Shen Yuqing’s smile was gentle, but his tone was freezing cold. To an outsider, one might have thought the two of them were simply chatting about everyday household matters.
The last time Shen Yuqing had encountered Lin Ze, the latter had been harassing an Omega; this time, the Omega he was harassing happened to be Wen Yu.
Shen Yuqing had originally come to Muxin Hotel with some friends to dine and discuss business matters, never expecting that right upon arrival, he would spot an Omega in the lobby looking as though he were being harassed. It was only as Shen Yuqing walked closer that he realized it was Wen Yu, and furthermore caught sight of the stun baton hidden behind Wen Yu’s back.
Shen Yuqing quickly tightened his grip around Wen Yu’s hand.
If Wen Yu had actually injured Lin Ze, it would bring him endless trouble.
Hearing Shen Yuqing speak in that manner caused a surge of irritation to rise inside Lin Ze’s chest, but he kept his expression smooth, offering Shen Yuqing a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Brother Yuqing’s lesson is well taken.”
“Don’t provoke Wen Yu ever again.” Shen Yuqing spoke coldly, fixing Lin Ze with a dark, brooding stare.
This marked the first time Lin Ze had ever witnessed Shen Yuqing wearing such an expression. Stripped of his usual gentle and approachable veneer, stripped of the smile that frequently hung at the corners of his lips, Shen Yuqing’s facial features actually carried an intensely formidable aggressive aura.
“I, I understand.” The hair on the back of Lin Ze’s neck stood on end under Shen Yuqing’s gaze.
“Get lost,” Shen Yuqing said.
In a panic, Lin Ze hurried away from this right-and-wrong battleground.
“Are you okay?” Shen Yuqing lowered his head to look at the Wen Yu cradled in his arms, his voice softening into a tenderness that contrasted sharply with his demeanor moments ago.
Wen Yu pulled away from Shen Yuqing’s embrace, hiding the stun baton behind his back as he gripped it tight. “I’m fine.”
“Why are you here?” Shen Yuqing asked.
“Waiting for someone.” Wen Yu kept his head lowered. Staring at the small red mole on Wen Yu’s eyelid, Shen Yuqing felt a slight itch in his chest, as that was the spot he had loved kissing most back when they were together.
“Waiting for whom?”
“Fu Chen.”
Shen Yuqing guessed as much.
How could Wen Yu possibly come to a place like this?
Just as Shen Yuqing frowned, opening his mouth as if to say something, a sudden shout of “Brother!” rang out from behind.
Song Chengxu, who had accompanied Shen Yuqing, spoke up, “Ah Feng?”
Both Shen Yuqing and Wen Yu turned their heads to see the trio of Fu Chen, Ji Chen, and Song Chengfeng walking toward them.
The three approached, and Song Chengfeng embraced Song Chengxu. “Brother, I haven’t seen you in ages.”
“Did you grow taller?” Song Chengxu smiled.
“I’ll definitely end up taller than you someday,” Song Chengfeng declared, before turning to politely greet Shen Yuqing. “Brother Yuqing.”
Shen Yuqing smiled back at him. “Chengfeng really has grown quite a bit taller.”
“Brother Yuqing, Brother Chengxu,” Ji Chen greeted them as well.
“Mm.” Shen Yuqing maintained the same gentle smile.
Fu Chen’s gaze swept over Wen Yu and Shen Yuqing, finally coming to rest directly on Shen Yuqing.
Without calling out to him, Fu Chen treated him like a complete stranger. Instead, he addressed Song Chengxu, “Brother Chengxu.”
Everyone present was well aware of the delicate relationship between the two Fu family brothers, prompting Song Chengxu to offer an acknowledging chuckle.
Fu Chen had never once called Shen Yuqing “Brother,” clearly refusing to acknowledge this sudden older brother who had dropped out of the sky.
Shen Yuqing didn’t mind in the slightest, his expression remaining entirely devoid of fluctuation.
“Did the three of you come here to eat?” Song Chengxu asked.
“Yeah,” Song Chengfeng said. “Just finished.”
“Planning to head home now?” Song Chengxu inquired.
Song Chengfeng raised an eyebrow. “At this hour? No way.”
Song Chengxu laughed and scolded playfully, “You brat, if you want to play around, don’t drag Fu Chen and Ji Chen down with you.”
“Do they even need me to drag them down?” Song Chengfeng thought to himself that these two merely looked slightly more serious on the surface; thinking back, anyone capable of hanging out with him couldn’t possibly be a good influence.
“Where is your next stop planned?” Shen Yuqing asked at this juncture.
“We’re planning to go get a drink,” Song Chengfeng replied, then casually added a polite courtesy. “Brother, Brother Yuqing, care to join us?”
Song Chengxu was just about to say “No need” when he heard Shen Yuqing beside him say with a smile, “Sure.”
“It’s been quite a while since I’ve properly unwound anyway,” Shen Yuqing said.
Altogether there were six people and two cars.
Fu Chen, Ji Chen, and Song Chengfeng got into one of the vehicles, while Shen Yuqing told Song Chengxu, “This is someone from my old neighborhood back then; I need to chat with him for a bit.”
Understanding, Song Chengxu got into the car with his younger brother, leaving Shen Yuqing and Wen Yu to board the back seat of the other vehicle.
Silence blanketed the interior of the car; it was quiet to the extreme.
Shen Yuqing watched as Wen Yu’s hand remained tightly clenched around the stun baton, and noted the lingering tremble in Wen Yu’s eyelashes. He knew Wen Yu was still gripped by residual fright.
Gently patting Wen Yu’s spine, Shen Yuqing spoke in a soft voice, “Xiao Yu, it’s alright. I am here.”
Such a gentle voice in a moment of such nervous agitation seemed almost magical, carrying an effect that felt capable of traversing time and space. For a brief second, Wen Yu felt disoriented, as though a spatial displacement had occurred, as if he and Shen Yuqing were still together, and the rainy night when he had gone to beg Shen Yuqing to save Cheng Xiaoling, only to be subjected to Shen Wanjun’s humiliating and wretched treatment, had somehow been retracted.
Wen Yu indulged himself in enjoying a momentary slice of Shen Yuqing’s gentleness, before exercising every ounce of self-control to speak. Even his ending notes carried an imperceptible tremor, and the eye sockets shadowed by the dim light were actually flushed red: “Brother Yuqing, I’m scared.”
I was scared when I was being tortured at the Zhou family home; I was scared when I found out Xiaoling fell ill; I was scared when Shen Wanjun slapped me across the face; I was scared during my gland transplant surgery; I was scared when Fu Chen marked me; and I was scared when Lin Ze harassed me.
In truth, there were countless times when Wen Yu felt afraid, yet growing up, there was rarely anyone who cared about his fears. Aside from Shen Yuqing, he practically had no one he could confide in.
What did Shen Yuqing mean to Wen Yu? His sole childhood playmate, an intimate older brother, a youthful first love.
Wen Yu had once loved him, and now he hated him.
Regardless of the reason, Shen Yuqing had given up on the relationship between them.
The sensation of being abandoned was simply too agonizing to bear.
Yet upon hearing Shen Yuqing say “I am here,” Wen Yu suddenly lost all his defenses. The lingering resentment he had stubbornly maintained instantly dissipated, and the emotions that had remained buried deep within his heart for so long poured out in a rush.
Shen Yuqing pulled Wen Yu into his arms, his heart aching violently.
Wen Yu’s displays of vulnerability were a rare sight indeed; the moment even a trace of it surfaced, it meant his emotions had reached their absolute breaking point.
“Don’t be afraid, I am here.” Shen Yuqing rested his chin atop Wen Yu’s head, comforting the person in his arms like a sigh, just like the old days.