Gui Wen couldn’t explain any part about the system, so he bit the bullet and bluffed that he had received insider information.
Zong Xian didn’t look entirely convinced by his answer, but he didn’t press for details either. “So you had the nerve to come here all by yourself?”
“I didn’t think that much.” Gui Wen awkwardly pursed his lips. “Besides, I’m not alone. I have you.”
Zong Xian wiped his palm dry, then gently placed it on top of Gui Wen’s head. “After I leave, this boat will take you back.”
“Where are you going?” Gui Wen asked instinctively.
“Didn’t I tell you already? Abroad.” Zong Xian tidied Gui Wen’s damp, loose hair. “If I turn back now, the other party knows I’m still alive and will come after me again. Before that happens, I need to slip away to a foreign country completely unnoticed by everyone and uproot their base camp.”
“But now I know.”
“So you know what to do?” Zong Xian curved the corner of his lips. “Don’t breathe a single word of this to anyone, not even my parents.”
Gui Wen looked into Zong Xian’s eyes and nodded earnestly.
“A helicopter will come to pick me up and take me to a private airfield. I’ll take my own plane out, so nobody else will be able to check my flight records.”
Zong Xian stopped touching Gui Wen’s hair and instead leaned close to Gui Wen’s ear. “I’ll also take a private plane back home. Out of everything that’s happening, you’re the one who knows the most.”
“Since I’m on the same boat as you right now, I’ll be obedient and keep my mouth shut.” Gui Wen sighed inwardly, because after all, if he accidentally got the mission target killed, he wouldn’t have any way to reverse it.
Zong Xian was clearly very satisfied with Gui Wen’s reaction.
The early morning sea breeze brushed against their faces, making Gui Wen feel a bit chilly, and he couldn’t help sneezing.
“Go inside. Don’t stay on the deck.” Zong Xian led the way, bringing Gui Wen into the interior space of the boat.
Clearly, no one had specially decorated the place. The basic furniture looked as though it had been randomly tossed around the space, with the bed and dining table sitting in the very same room.
Gui Wen glanced at Zong Xian, who was still stripped to the waist, constantly worried that the other man would catch a cold just like he had earlier. “You should take your clothes off and get into bed.”
Surprisingly, Zong Xian listened to Gui Wen quite obediently, peeling off his soaked lower garments as well, sitting on the bed, and pulling the blanket up to cover his lower half.
Gui Wen deliberately averted his eyes, turning his back to Zong Xian, and the latter couldn’t help laughing at his reaction. “What is it?”
“Nothing.” Gui Wen feigned nonchalance, still refusing to turn back around. “I’m going to check out the other rooms.”
Though the excuse was made up on the spot, Gui Wen genuinely ended up wandering around the cabin. When he finally returned to the deck, he discovered that several large crates had somehow appeared at the bow of the boat.
He instinctively opened them up and found that they were filled with material supplies, including plenty of clean changes of clothes and fresh fruits and vegetables.
Gui Wen went back inside the cabin to call for Zong Xian, but noticed the man lying on the bed with his eyes tightly shut, looking fast asleep, so he decided not to disturb him.
It was almost lunchtime, anyway. Gui Wen picked out a few ingredients and simply boiled a small pot of congee.
After his parents divorced, Gui Wen had lived with his mother. Since his mother always got off work later than Gui Wen finished school, he had always been sensible enough to cook meals so they could eat together when she returned.
His mother preferred light meals, which made Gui Wen quite skilled at making congee.
He ladled out two bowls and placed them on the dining table, along with a set of clean clothes set neatly at the head of the bed for Zong Xian.
“You’re not running a fever, are you?” Gui Wen muttered to himself as he reached out to touch Zong Xian’s forehead. The moment his fingertip made contact, his palm was caught by the person on the bed.
“Ah!” Gui Wen was yanked by the arm, and under that external force, he was forced to tumble directly into Zong Xian’s embrace, landing squarely on the man’s lap. “Are you alright?”
Before Gui Wen could finish his sentence, Zong Xian pressed a hand against the back of his neck and kissed his lips. Clinging almost entirely to the man’s shirtless body, Gui Wen was forced to tilt his head back, enduring a kiss as fierce and sudden as a driving storm.
Before Gui Wen could raise a hand to push him away, Zong Xian snapped back to reality as if waking from a dream, loosening his grip on the captive waist.
He felt as though he had just woken from an exceptionally long dream. In his dream, Zong Xian felt himself sinking into the deepest abyss of the ocean, forgetting how to struggle while surrounded by an unbearable, suffocating silence.
Until the icy surface of the water was suddenly shattered like a mirror by Yan Guanbai’s silhouette. The very person Zong Xian had deemed the absolute worst had turned out to be the one reaching out a helping hand to him.
For a split second, he seemed to lose all capacity for thought, following pure instinct as he grabbed the other’s hand and even stole breath straight from Yan Guanbai’s lips.
Until everything was torn apart without warning, revealing a corner of harsh reality.
Even though there was no blood relation, and Yan Guanbai didn’t even have a formal adoption status with the Zong family, his parents had long since treated Yan Guanbai as their own flesh and blood.
Kissing someone who was practically the equivalent of a biological younger brother, Zong Xian was certain he had lost his mind.
“I have to go.” Zong Xian forcefully pushed Gui Wen off his lap. “Forget what just happened.”
He busied himself changing into the clean clothes left at the head of the bed. Gui Wen, still half-stunned from being kissed, sat blankly on the bed and stared at Zong Xian’s retreating back.
“What are you looking at?” Zong Xian turned his head, noticing Gui Wen’s gaze.
“Nothing, I wasn’t looking.” Gui Wen awkwardly broke eye contact with Zong Xian. “Were you dreaming just now?”
“Yeah.” Zong Xian intentionally avoided Gui Wen’s eyes, shifting his gaze instead to the mixed vegetable congee Gui Wen had prepared. He slid one of the bowls over to himself, took a couple of bites, and found the taste surprisingly good. “You made this?”
“Yeah.” Still unable to fully recover from the earlier encounter, Gui Wen answered blankly.
Zong Xian had never heard of Yan Guanbai knowing how to cook, but he didn’t dwell on it too much, considering he had never really bothered to understand this nominal younger brother properly anyway. “See you in half a month.” He stood up.
A short while later, Gui Wen heard the approaching roar of a helicopter.
All these events were clearly tied to the Jiang family. On one hand, there was the prior feud between the two sides, and on the other hand, rumors circulating online suggested that the Jiang family planned to expand their business overseas. Stacked together, it didn’t look like a simple coincidence.
Thus, the moment Gui Wen logged onto social media, his attention was immediately hooked by news concerning the Jiang family.
The corporation was planning an internal restructuring, and as for where the Jiang family would ultimately end up, Gui Wen didn’t need to care, because they were definitely on a downward slope.
At the same time, another piece of business news dominated the headlines, which stated that the Zong Group was partnering with a major well-known international enterprise.
Aside from his bumpy ride on the cargo ship, everything else about Zong Xian’s trip seemed to have gone remarkably smoothly.
Gui Wen never received any further messages from Zong Xian on his phone, and their chat log remained frozen at Zong Xian’s pre-departure warning. Even after waiting for Zong Xian to disembark and rush back to the villa all the way from abroad, a full half-month passing without a single sighting, sitting together at the same dining table again yielded not a single extra glance in his direction.
His parents had clearly already heard about the achievements Zong Xian had secured overseas, not only dealing a heavy blow to the Jiang family, but also expanding the family business further into overseas markets and securing partnerships with influential foreign enterprises. Gui Wen didn’t understand commerce, but seeing the relaxed expressions on the two elders, he knew Zong Xian’s trip had yielded massive results.
Knowing he couldn’t chime in on the conversation, Gui Wen lowered his head to gnaw on a roasted chicken leg in his bowl. Just as he bit off a large mouthful of meat, his name was suddenly spoken aloud, causing him to snap his head up in surprise to look at Zong Xian.
“The villa is too far from Guanbai’s school. I want to set up a new place for him closer to campus.” When Zong Xian spoke, he didn’t even glance at Gui Wen, as if the matter required no consent from Gui Wen whatsoever.
“What you’re saying makes sense. It would be more convenient for Guanbai if he lived closer.” His mother’s gaze fell upon Gui Wen, who was still chewing on chicken meat. “But if Guanbai moves out to live alone now, won’t he find it a bit hard to adjust?”
“Should Guanbai just stay in the school dorms instead?” His father chimed in suddenly.
“Dorms are nowhere near as comfortable as living outside, and it’s not like we don’t have the means for it.” His mother frowned ever so slightly.
Gui Wen quickly swallowed the meat in his mouth. “I’m fine with whatever, Auntie.”
With the person in question raising no objections, Gui Wen’s temporary departure from the villa was officially settled. From start to finish, Zong Xian handled practically all the arrangements for him. Suitable high-end apartments near the campus were sent to Gui Wen’s WeChat, and he picked a single apartment from the options, as it wasn’t overly large since he didn’t like staying in overly spacious places by himself.
The furniture and appliances were basically ready-made, requiring hardly any extra interior work. Not long after everything was finalized, Gui Wen officially moved in.
He packed up his personal belongings in his room at the villa, while the rest of his noticeable items had already been boxed up by the housekeepers. Everything was loaded onto a truck and hauled straight to Gui Wen’s new residence, along with the white cat his father kept.
Zong Xian had his assistant handle the remaining trivial matters, while Zong Xian himself remained completely unseen.
Ever since moving into the apartment alone, Zong Xian no longer had to give him rides home on his way back from work, and Gui Wen only returned to the villa for meals during holidays when he had free time. Because Zong Xian was constantly tied up with work, they didn’t even overlap at the dining table during those visits, behaving with a coincidence so precise it felt deliberately avoided.
Gui Wen had originally thought Zong Xian suggested he move out because the man couldn’t stand the sight of him. He persistently checked the disgust value on his system several times, only to find it hadn’t budged at all, remaining stubbornly stuck at 35%.
[Don’t get discouraged, Host. Even if you can’t see the mission target, you need to find ways to annoy him and farm that disgust value. Keep going.] System O0O’s emotionless mechanical voice chimed in rather untimely.
Gui Wen, currently sitting in the middle of a major-specific class, thought to himself.
The bell rang, signaling the midterm break. Many of his classmates left their easels to wander out into the hallway and stretch their limbs. Too lazy to move his spot, Gui Wen was looking down at his phone when he suddenly caught the sound of hushed discussions coming from the hallway outside.
“Who’s that handsome guy?” a classmate sitting next to Gui Wen muttered. “He’s been waiting downstairs for ages. Is he someone’s boyfriend?”
“He’s just a guy, what’s so rare about that? The streets are full of them.”
“That’s different. The streets are full of average Joes, but someone this striking is a rare sight.”
Unable to resist his curiosity, Gui Wen stood up and walked out into the corridor, only to find several classmates leaning over the railing outside the studio to rubberneck, prompting him to join the crowd.
Looking down, Gui Wen spotted Zong Xian standing right outside the base of the teaching building. Unlike his usual workdays in a stern, formal suit, he wore a casual hoodie and jeans, blending in surprisingly well with the college student demographic.
Zong Xian’s physical features were remarkably superior, and whether wearing a suit or a hoodie, he always managed to leave a deep, distinct impression.
As if sensing it telepathically, Zong Xian raised his head at that exact moment and locked eyes directly with Gui Wen.