The “tribute” sent out felt like a stone sinking into the vast sea, failing to exchange for even a shred of news aside from the book marked “Harmony” in his hand.
Not even the butler gentleman appeared again.
If Chi Ye hadn’t read the original novel and known beforehand that Uncle Zhu was on his own faction, he would have almost suspected that the old man was intentionally framing him by keeping the evidence hidden.
There were no electronic devices in the enclosed basement, not even an old-fashioned clock timer.
Chi Ye could only roughly estimate that another two days and a night had passed based on the number of times people brought food from outside and the frequency with which Bubu was taken out to shit and piss.
Just where had gone wrong?
Chi Ye was about to suffocate to death.
The sound of iron wheels rolling over marble floor tiles came from outside the door again, rumbling “clatter clatter” as it passed down the corridor.
The door opened, and four dishes and one soup were placed on a dining cart similar to a temporary restaurant service table.
Chi Ye curled his lips, though they hadn’t treated him harshly in terms of food, clothing, and daily expenses despite his status as a prisoner.
The expressionless waiter went through the motions of clearing away the few bites of leftover, cold meals from the previous table, then replaced them plate by plate with new ones.
Chi Ye couldn’t help asking him, “Uhm, did your Second Master say when he’s going to let me out?”
The waiter’s hand movement in arranging the plates paused for a moment, he raised his eyes to glance at Chi Ye, then lowered his head again to continue setting the dishes, as if he hadn’t heard a thing.
Chi Ye hit a soft nail, rubbed his nose, and asked, “Did he look at the things I sent over?”
This time the waiter didn’t even raise his head.
Chi Ye grew displeased. “Hey, did you guys receive some kind of hard-and-fast instruction saying that anyone who dares to say half a word to me will have their tongue cut out?”
The waiter gave a symbolic slight nod and turned to leave.
Could he really be mute? Chi Ye suddenly remembered that in television dramas he used to watch, there were wealthy families who specially selected deaf-mute servants to keep secrets.
A chill washed all over his body.
The chopsticks he had just picked up slammed down onto the table with a “啪” (snap).
Chi Ye took a deep breath, facing the flashing red dot of the camera and whoever was monitoring on the other end, and said righteously, “In that case, you don’t need to send meals here anymore. It’d be great if I just starved to death straight away; it would save everyone the trouble.”
While spouting harsh words of a hunger strike from his mouth, his hands weren’t idle either.
Drawing on the skills he used in his previous life to dodge his manager’s eyes while drinking milk tea, Chi Ye swiftly grabbed two chicken drumsticks from the plate and secretly hid them.
After all, he only wanted to force He Lin to show his face, not genuinely go against himself.
Chi Ye turned his back and was pondering over finding a dead zone of the surveillance cameras to swallow the meat when Uncle Zhu’s upper body already pushed open the iron door and poked in, shouting loudly, “Madam, don’t think of doing anything foolish! While there’s life, there’s hope!”
Chi Ye: “Cough cough cough…”
The chicken meat got stuck in his throat, neither going up nor down, and he almost really choked to death.
Chi Ye coughed so hard his lung lobes were about to explode, yet Uncle Zhu let out a long sigh of relief: “I thought you were going to swallow gold.”
Chi Ye rolled his eyes with restraint. “First of all, I need to have a piece of gold.”
Uncle Zhu tried hard to maintain peace, patting the principal party who still hadn’t realized the severity of the problem, and said earnestly, “How is your reciting of the Socialist Core Values going?”
Chi Ye held back, but couldn’t help it: “Reciting my ass.”
The butler choked on that.
Chi Ye simply lay down on the bed, leaving it to fate. “Can we really not install WiFi? If it’s truly difficult, a standalone tablet computer or game console would be fine. I’m not picky.”
Uncle Zhu was disappointed by his lack of drive. “Where is your drive to make progress? Where is the Chinese Dream? Do you really not want to get out?…”
Chi Ye’s eyes went blank. “What can I do? I’ve used every trick I could, and your Mr. He won’t even give me a chance to confront him face-to-face.”
Weren’t rewards and punishments supposed to be distinct? Bah.
Uncle Zhu racked his brains and thought about it before saying desolately, “Why don’t you just go on a hunger strike after all.”
Chi Ye: “…”
“After all, the Second Master doesn’t want to cause any deaths for the time being.”
True to his word, Uncle Zhu immediately moved to take away the dinner tray.
With sharp eyes and swift hands, before Uncle Zhu turned around, Chi Ye grabbed a small steamed stuffed bun and stuffed it into his mouth.
At the top of Universal Building, the landmark building in City B.
He Lin, who had just concluded a business negotiation, was walking out from the president’s office, striding with long, straight legs toward the underground parking lot.
Hours of intense verbal sparring added a bit of unapparent fatigue to He Lin’s handsome, cold face.
The schedule remained very tight.
At the other end of the city, a business banquet to celebrate the smooth completion of another acquisition had already started, and He Lin, as the host, had to arrive at the scheduled hotel within half a minute.
Several assistants ran back and forth around He Lin, busy; someone went to press the elevator, someone called the driver, and someone followed by He Lin’s side to report in a low voice the list of attendees for the banquet shortly.
Lin Yishui was the one who suddenly intercepted He Lin just as he was about to step into the elevator.
“Director He.”
He Lin paused his steps, frowned, but given so many outsiders present, he didn’t strip his chief assistant of his dignity. “What?”
Lin Yishui glanced around, leaned in, and lowered his voice: “It’s Young Master Chi.”
He Lin swept a blank look at him, turned to the young woman pressing the elevator, and said, “Notify the driver to drive the car directly to the building entrance and wait for me for three minutes.”
“Alright.”
Only after watching the elevator doors close tightly did Lin Yishui speak: “Young Master Chi hasn’t had a single drop of water for three days.”
He Lin’s expression was gloomy. “Threatening me?”
He Lin had deliberately avoided it these past few days and hadn’t looked at the surveillance, so he indeed didn’t know about Chi Ye’s situation.
Lin Yishui said, “This morning, the family doctor went to check the situation. Young Master Chi’s blood pressure and blood sugar have already dropped significantly below normal values, and it doesn’t look like he’s faking it.”
“Then give him nutrient injections, glucose.” He Lin’s tone was sharp and cold. “If he’s sick, treat him. What are you looking for me for?”
“Young Master Chi said he deeply regrets what he did in the past and no longer has any will to live. He just hopes to see you. After all, since you were once husbands, he hopes to clear some things up face-to-face.” Lin Yishui kept a straight face as he recited the lines fabricated by Uncle Zhu based on palace intrigue dramas.
He Lin raised a hand and pressed his brow, not losing his temper.
With an artificial, rigid, and crisp voice, Lin Yishui continued, “Second Master, please forgive my candor, but that case just now is crucial for our group to capture the Eastern European market. The other party still hasn’t relented up to now, weighing public opinion and credibility. I think under this circumstance, family matters should still be handled cautiously and must not go wrong.”
He Lin was silent for thirty seconds. “I know.”
Lin Yishui nodded; his purpose achieved, he said nothing more.
He Lin rarely touched alcohol, but whenever he did, it was bound to be liquor.
At the evening feast celebrating the union that night, He Lin was surrounded by a group of people and couldn’t endure without toasting a few cups of Bacardi.
By the time he got home, he was slightly intoxicated.
Without letting bodyguards or assistants follow, the man walked down the spiral staircase alone until he saw the rare iron lock on the door, realizing he had reached the basement.
He Lin paused.
Yet he didn’t hesitate much either, pushing open the door and entering openly.
Chi Ye wasn’t asleep yet.
He was curled up in bed teasing the dog. When the door opened, a gust of late autumn cold wind rushed in abruptly, making him shiver and wrap himself tighter in the quilt.
Clearly, the heating hadn’t been installed yet.
He Lin originally thought he would see a Chi Ye who looked withered, sallow, with sunken cheeks, hollow eyes, neither human nor ghost. To his surprise, apart from his skin being a bit paler and thinner than before, the young man’s overall state was not as bad as he had imagined.
The crimson blood mole near his collarbone stood out even more prominently due to the collarbone growing thin and gaunt, looking all the more seductive and alluring under the dim lighting.
Chi Ye stared at the newcomer, his throat moving as if he wanted to call out but made no sound, stubbornly turning his head away.
He Lin narrowed his eyes.
The small puppy was grabbed by the neck and dragged out of the quilt, tossed outside the door where its little paws scratched at the door frame, letting out a few “Ao ao” cries.
The protest was invalid.
He Lin closed the door with the back of his hand.
Dinner was still sitting on the nightstand by the bed; Chi Ye hadn’t touched it, and no one dared to arbitrarily take it away.
He Lin expressionlessly swept a glance over the neatly arranged dishes and bowls, saying indifferently, “Eat.”
Chi Ye poked a little head out of the quilt, trying to make himself look tough. “I don’t want to…”
“Not eating? The fish soup upstairs…”
He Lin originally meant to say, “If you’re not eating, have them take it out. The oil on that fish soup has solidified, and looking at it disgusts me.”
But before he even finished the opening sentence, he was resolutely cut off by Chi Ye: “Eat!”
Extensively well-read in his past life, Chi Ye was far too familiar with words like “upper” (above) and “lower” (below). In those books, overbearing CEOs who ruined kingdoms overnight would typically say to ungrateful shou with zero emotion: “If you won’t take it from the upper, then take it from the lower!”
Pride and principles were simply not worth mentioning in the face of the chrysanthemum.
Chi Ye swiftly leaned forward, bit onto half a piece of bread, and chewed while vaguely explaining, “…The lower is too narrow… I can’t take it.”
He Lin burst into flames on the spot.
Taking this bite too hastily, Chi Ye choked a bit, his eye rims turning somewhat reddish, long eyelashes fluttering over moist dark pupils as he looked up at He Lin like an innocent deer.
He Lin’s breathing practically stagnated.
Under the effect of alcohol, the blood throughout his body seemed to surge toward the exact same spot in an instant.
After a long, drawn-out gasp, his expression finally turned inscrutable, and turbulent, long-suppressed desires to conquer surged from the pitch-black depths of his pupils, his voice cold and bone-chilling:
“You… went behind my back just to seduce men like this?”