The wedding banquet was fast approaching. Only after sending out invitations to the prominent figures and socialites across Ronggang did Yan Chong, with a sense of belated realization, deliver an invitation to the other party involved in the wedding.
And as for Tang Songzhi, it felt as though the moment he received the invitation was the exact instant he realized. Oh, so I’m getting married early this month on the sixth.
“It’s a good thing Young Master Yan sent this invitation in the nick of time. Otherwise, I would’ve been on my way to the Maldives for a vacation. Once I left, who knows when I’d return? I might have missed this wedding banquet entirely.” Under the amber glow of the setting sun, Tang Songzhi walked alongside Yan Chong toward the nursing home, playfully twirling the invitation in his hand, the wedding invitation belonging to him and Yan Chong.
How amusing. Just like that, I’ve been ‘gotten married.’
Yan Chong had long anticipated that Tang Songzhi was not one to accept control easily, so he wasn’t particularly surprised by these words. He merely offered a composed, calm smile and replied, “It doesn’t matter. If you had gone, I would have flown to the Maldives the day before the wedding to drag you back.”
The warm twilight flowed quietly between the two of them. Yan Chong cast a sideways glance at him, his voice gentle yet laced with a soft warning. “Tang Songzhi, you should know that I don’t want to make things look too ugly.”
Tang Songzhi: ?
Tang Songzhi was completely bathed in the warm setting sun, but under Yan Chong’s penetrating gaze, a sudden, chilling shudder ran through him. He knew this man was capable of doing it! He knew this man was an absolute lunatic, a shameless rogue who deserved to be cut into a thousand pieces!
Yan Chong took in every bit of Tang Songzhi’s fear. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the caregiver pushing old Mrs. Yan outside. Raising his chin slightly, Yan Chong said, “Grandma is out. Go on, she wants to see you.” After a short pause, he added, “Look happy.”
Tang Songzhi took a deep breath. Before forcing out a bright smile, he tossed his expensive handbag into Yan Chong’s hands as if venting his frustration. Yan Chong accepted it without objection and carried the bag as he quietly walked over to sit on a nearby bench. Facing the twilight rays, he watched Tang Songzhi put on a face full of smiles, acting hypocritically around his grandmother to charm her.
In reality, after all these years, what kind of person had his grandmother not seen? What kind of flattering words had she not heard? Tang Songzhi’s childish tricks weren’t anything old Mrs. Yan actually took to heart. Calling him over today was likely just to see what this soon to be grandson-in-law was truly like.
Yan Chong pondered silently, his long eyes narrowing as he unconsciously turned the jade thumb ring on his hand.
Suddenly, a series of buzzing vibrations sounded. Yan Chong pulled out a cell phone from the handbag and saw four bold characters flashing across the screen, “Mother.”
It was Tang Songzhi’s phone. Yan Chong froze for a moment. Just as he was about to place the phone back into the bag, he caught sight of a card inside, a gold-embossed room keycard.
Yan Chong narrowed his long, narrow phoenix eyes and pulled the room card out of the bag. At that moment, Tang Chao sent him the latest information he had gathered.
“President Yan, I found out that Tang Songzhi recently joined CY. His current role is… personal assistant to Wei Chengran. These are photos taken by the private detective I hired.”
“They seem to have been… quite close recently,” Tang Chao continued cautiously after sending the photo package.
In the setting sun, Tang Songzhi was squatting beside old Mrs. Yan like a little puppy, sticking out his tongue playfully to coax the elderly woman into laughter. “…Grandma, don’t you worry about us! Yan Chong and I are doing great. He listens to everything I say! If I tell him to go east, he wouldn’t dare go west, he’s super obedient!”
“The wedding banquet? Yan Chong and I are preparing the wedding together! Grandma, put your heart completely at ease. When the time comes, we will definitely give you the most, most, most beautiful and grand wedding ever!”
Yan Chong narrowed his eyes, silently watching the warm evening light stretch their shadows out into the distance.
Looking at the room card in his hand, Su Xingyan felt as though he were holding a hot potato. A scalding heat seared him from his fingertips straight to his heart.
The room had been booked for him by Wei Mingran, complete with an entire setup of romantic, suggestive decorations. After designing everything, Wei Mingran had even specially sent sample photos for Su Xingyan to see. Su Xingyan had only clicked on them once before blushing crimson, hastily shutting off his screen.
…It was too much. It was genuinely way too much.
Su Xingyan buried his burning face in his hands, but his sensitive ears caught the sound of Wei Chengran stepping out from the shower.
“…Yanyan, I’m done washing up. You should go shower soon, too. It’s getting late, get some rest after you wash.”
“…Oh, okay.” Probably because he felt like he was doing something bad, Su Xingyan looked a bit guilty. He blinked rapidly and quietly hid the room card behind his back. “Okay, I’ll go in a bit.”
“Mhm.” Wei Chengran nodded, drying his hair with a towel as he made to walk away. Seeing Su Xingyan’s face flushed red like a cooked shrimp, he paused in surprise. “Yanyan, what’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”
Wei Chengran reached out to touch his forehead. Su Xingyan instinctively ducked away, but seized the opportunity to slip the room card into Wei Chengran’s pocket, he still lacked the courage to give such a embarrassing thing to Wei Chengran with his own hands.
“Are you… busy tomorrow?”
“Me? Tomorrow?” Seeing him pull away, Wei Chengran didn’t react much. He retrieved his hand and thought carefully about his schedule. Realizing that tomorrow was just an ordinary weekend with nothing major planned, he nevertheless put on an apologetic expression and said to Su Xingyan, “I’m sorry, Yanyan. The new car pre-sales are happening recently. I’m really, really busy and won’t be able to spend time with you.”
“…You don’t even have time on the weekend?” Su Xingyan silently clenched his fist, lowering his eyes with a complex feeling in his heart. “Is there really no time… even for just a quick lunch?”
It was rare for Su Xingyan to be so persistent. Wei Chengran opened his mouth, but couldn’t bring himself to say another refusal. He did have plans tomorrow, though they had little to do with work. Wei Chengran let out a soft sigh, forced a wide smile, and leaned in close to Su Xingyan.
“If you invite me out, even if I don’t have time, I’ll make time! How about this? As soon as I finish up tomorrow, I’ll call you. Just send me your location, even if I have to crawl across the earth, I’ll crawl right over to you! How’s that sound?”
Listening to his outlandish talk, Su Xingyan felt a strange mix of helplessness, yet hearing that familiar tone brought a sense of comfort back to his heart. Su Xingyan gently patted the back of his hand and said softly, “Take care of yourself. Don’t overwork.”
After a brief pause, he added, “About Uncle’s matter…”
“His business… you don’t need to explain anything to me. You have your own principles for doing things, I understand.” Wei Chengran forced a smile. Fearing Su Xingyan wouldn’t believe him, he patted Su Xingyan’s head and cooed playfully like usual, “Alright, Yanyan, go take a shower. It’s getting late. Don’t sleep too late.”
Su Xingyan: ?
It was so strange. Everything clearly seemed normal, yet Su Xingyan felt that something was off.
After Su Xingyan left, Wei Chengran collapsed onto the bed as if relieved of a heavy burden. After a while, as if remembering something, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a room card.
What had Tang Songzhi said to him when he slipped this room card into his pocket?
Oh, he said. “Being with your spouse must be so boring, right? Su Xingyan looks like such a rigid person. Why don’t you give me a try? Just once. Just try it once.”
Splash, splash!
Standing under the showerhead, Su Xingyan let the warm water vapor billow over his face. At that moment, a sudden wave of humiliation washed over him. His pounding heart seemed to constantly interrogate him.
Su Xingyan, are you really going to do this? Are you really going to… spread your legs and act so shamelessly just to keep a man?
…You weren’t like this before. Wei Chengran wasn’t like this before, either.
Despite the trembling apprehension in his heart, Su Xingyan still brought the “battle attire” carefully prepared by Wei Mingran and arrived early at the hotel the next day. Carrying his things into the bathroom, he cleaned himself thoroughly, even finishing the necessary prep work.
Then, he cautiously opened the bag tied with a pink ribbon from Wei Mingran. Sure enough, inside was a revealing, light pink nightgown.
Looking at the cut, it seemed to be a woman’s style. Holding it up, Su Xingyan realized the hem barely reached his upper thighs. He didn’t even dare imagine how wild and shameful it would look if he actually put it on.
Su Xingyan’s entire face burned red. Gritting his teeth, he steeled his heart and slipped the nightgown over his body. He wasn’t wearing any underwear, leaving his lower body bare and completely exposed, making him feel exceedingly uncomfortable. Just as he was about to put the bag away, he noticed a pair of pure white silk stockings lying at the very bottom…
Are these… for him too?
In the past, Wei Chengran had brought up similar ideas. But every time before he could finish speaking, Su Xingyan would glare at him sternly to shut him down. But now… right now… did he really have to go this far? …
Beep!
The room door unexpectedly unlocked and opened.
Su Xingyan’s heart suddenly thundered in his chest. Could it be Wei Chengran? So soon? But I haven’t sent him a message yet. Could it be… could Wei Mingran have told him in advance?
Su Xingyan didn’t know. He only felt a fine, cool breeze waft past his lower half out of nowhere. His entire body froze in place, helplessly listening to the distinct sound of leather shoes stepping closer, step by step.
Tap. Tap.
The person finally came to a stop. Su Xingyan raised his head, only to see Yan Chong’s dark, icy face.
Yan Chong was equally stunned the moment he laid eyes on Su Xingyan. He never could have imagined that President Su, who usually bundled himself up so conservatively, would currently be wearing a nightgown that barely covered his thighs, with his exposed skin flushed a delicate pink for unknown reasons. This scene, this view…
“Why are you here?! Get out! I said get out right now!”
Su Xingyan panicked like a startled animal, he never expected his current state to be seen so completely by Yan Chong. Almost instinctively, Su Xingyan threw the bag in his hand straight at Yan Chong, then scrambled frantically toward the landline telephone.
Just as he pressed the button for the front desk, “Hello, please send security up! mmpf!”
Before he could finish his sentence, a wave of heat surged from behind. Yan Chong wrapped one arm around his waist, while his other hand aggressively and forcefully reached past him to press down the phone hook, severing the call.
Su Xingyan turned his head back in terror, only to be thoroughly frightened by the fierce ruthlessness in Yan Chong’s eyes.
“Dressed so provocatively, and you’re asking me why I’m here? Hmm?”
Yan Chong’s eyes were bloodshot. He tightened his grip on Su Xingyan’s waist, pulling him intimately close to his body. Sensing Su Xingyan’s trembling, Yan Chong let out a somewhat sinister laugh. In an instant, he understood completely what was going on.
“Su Xingyan, turns out you’re such a slut in private.”
All of Su Xingyan’s anxiety from the entire day shattered under Yan Chong’s single insult of “slut.” Furious tears filled his reddened eyes in an instant, and purely out of instinct, he swung his hand and slapped Yan Chong hard across the face.
Yet Yan Chong didn’t back away.
Su Xingyan resentfully slapped Yan Chong across the face. Yan Chong violently leaned in and kissed him, kissing him as if he wanted to swallow him whole.