Jiang Ran froze mid-malicious smile as she clicked “send.” A deep red exclamation mark stabbed at her eyes.
She had just been kicked out of the group? No… why?
Before Jiang Ran could process it, Wang Yuewei’s scolding message popped up.
Wang Yuewei: Didn’t I tell you not to speak?
Jiang Ran: I was just worried you’d all be fooled by him.
Wang Yuewei: That’s none of your business!
Jiang Ran: So… should I apologize?
Wang Yuewei: Don’t do anything unnecessary!
Jiang Ran anxiously banged the table, cracking her manicure painfully, and hissed through her teeth. She didn’t understand what Wang Yuewei meant, she’d only said one sentence in the chat. Was it really that serious?
And those dumb rich second-generation kids, just one sentence and they kicked her out of the group. Were they out of their minds?
Jiang Ran gritted her teeth, packed up the things she had just taken out, and immediately booked a flight back to China.
Why did Jiang Yumo live a life full of success and ease, while she had to scurry away like a mouse just to avoid trouble?
Why was Jiang Yumo living so well?
This was the Gu family! How could he?! The Gu family must have been deceived by him. She had to stay behind and tear apart Jiang Yumo’s true face! She alone deserved to live in the sunlight, while he should be a rat in the sewer, forever unseen by the light!
At this point, after kicking the irrelevant people out, the group admin had spared their face and didn’t single anyone out, only emphasizing not to let outsiders in again, or everyone would be kicked.
Jiang Yumo didn’t care about the group drama. Using a spoon, he scooped a large mound of wasabi and held it out toward Yuan Qiao. “Miss Yuan, please.”
A small mountain of wasabi piled on the silver spoon in front of her. Yuan Qiao hesitated slightly, but not wanting to ruin the mood, she raised her hand to eat. Jiang Yumo, however, lifted his hand slightly, signaling: “Eat it like this.”
Xu Feiyao’s brow twitched. Leaning back into the sofa, he quietly pulled out his phone, hiding it against his thigh and using the table for support, snapping a hidden photo of the scene to send to Gu Yu.
Xu Feiyao: 【Photo.jpg】
Xu Feiyao: You really are a man steeped in sin!
Gu Yu didn’t reply, he was probably busy.
Gu Xuan was sipping his wine and glanced over. “Pfft.”
Xu Feiyao scratched his head, sensing the awkward atmosphere and trying to ease it. “Well, um, how about—”
“Sure.” Yuan Qiao paused for a moment, then leaned forward and took a big bite of the full spoon of wasabi.
The moment it hit her mouth, the intense spiciness overwhelmed her. Yuan Qiao covered her mouth and coughed, her eyes turning red instantly as tears streamed down like pearls on a broken string. She held a tissue to her face to avoid the embarrassment of a runny nose.
It was a rare sight. If they hadn’t been cautious about the Yuan family, Wang Yuewei and the others would have already snapped pictures.
Jiang Yumo, however, was reminded of his previous life, his last moments, when Yuan Qiao, saying “I’m sorry,” had pulled a knife and plunged it into his heart once more.
Tch!
Jiang Yumo casually tossed the spoon onto the table. “No more. This isn’t fun.”
He stood up and was about to leave.
【Wait! Host, did you forget the punishment mission?】
【Punishment mission: Hug Gu Yu. Remaining time: 3 hours】
Jiang Yumo: “I’m going to the restroom.”
Gu Youyou followed him step by step out of the banquet hall, eyes full of longing.
Gu Xuan stroked his chin, looking thoughtful.
In the restroom, the cold water temporarily cooled Jiang Yumo’s sudden heat of the moment. He leaned on the sink, took a few deep breaths, then pressed the soap dispenser and carefully washed his hands.
When he returned to the hall, Madam Gu, curious about her daughter’s friend, listened as Gu Youyou excitedly introduced her benefactor.
By the time Gu Yu received Xu Feiyao’s message, he was already on his way back home.
He hadn’t intended to check Xu Feiyao’s message, but worried it might be important, he looked anyway.
Then he saw the photo, Jiang Yumo forcing Yuan Qiao to eat wasabi.
Gu Yu’s smooth brow slowly furrowed, his gaze sharp enough to kill.
He noticed Gu Youyou’s half-visible face in the corner of the frame, as well as the familiar furnishings in the photo.
Jiang Yumo is at his house!
Gu Yu’s jaw tightened. He gripped his phone so hard that his knuckles whitened and the veins on the back of his hand bulged.
Another photo arrived.
The seemingly harmless boy chatting happily with his family stabbed at Gu Yu’s eyes like a cactus.
Gu Yu showed no expression. He slammed his foot on the accelerator, and the Rolls-Royce leapt forward from a standstill.
As he neared the Gu family estate, a Bentley Mulsanne was leaving.
Through the window, Gu Yu caught a glimpse of Jiang Yumo’s exquisitely handsome face in the passing car.
Fsssh!
A Rolls-Royce Phantom screeched to a stop at the gate.
The second-generation heirs couldn’t hide their excitement. Just as they were about to prepare a chat with the Gu family’s Second Young Master, the Phantom suddenly made a U-turn and sped away. They all exchanged confused glances.
“Huh? That’s Ah Yu’s car, right? If he’s not coming back, where’s he going?” Madam Gu wondered.
Xu Feiyao sipped his drink nervously. If he didn’t hurry and something happened between Gu Youyou and Jiang Yumo, it would be too late.
Who would have thought that the always dignified and noble Second Young Master would fall for the same person as his own sister?
Xu Feiyao shook his head. “Sigh… the world is going downhill; people aren’t what they used to be.”
Gu Xuan squinted. “You seem to know something?”
Xu Feiyao was startled. “No spreading rumors, I swear!”
Gu Yu’s face remained calm, even curling into a faint smile. There was no hint that the person he had been following earlier was the very culprit who had killed all his friends in his previous life.
Gu Yu drove skillfully, weaving through the unending traffic.
A vein throbbed at his temple. Images of his friends and sister dying in his previous life flashed unbidden through his mind, and after several days of poor sleep, his head throbbed with pain.
In just two days, Jiang Yumo had quietly made his way to Gu Yu’s home!
If given a little more time… he could practically move in there himself?!
“Heh.”
Gu Yu didn’t get angry, he just smiled.
Veins stood out on the back of his hands like little snakes of anger crawling up his pale arms, while his fingers tapped rapidly on the steering wheel.
The neon lights along the highway only illuminated the lower half of Gu Yu’s faintly smiling face. Above the bridge of his high nose, his upper face was hidden in darkness.
Over half an hour later, the Bentley stopped in front of a narrow alley.
Jiang Yumo got out and walked into the alley under the orange glow of the streetlamp overhead.
As the Bentley left, another Rolls-Royce silently pulled up at the roadside.
Here, Jiang Yumo wasn’t in the mood for conversation and moved forward in silence.
The system whimpered: 【Host, punishment mission not completed. Difficulty for the next punishment mission will increase and will be forcibly executed.】
Jiang Yumo shoved his hands in his pockets and rolled his eyes. “Ha, do you think I don’t want to? That bastard Gu Yu isn’t even home, what am I supposed to hug? Air?”
The hallway of the old building was narrow, with yellowed, crumbling walls. The overhead motion-sensor light had been barely working before; now it was completely dead.
Stomping his foot did nothing. Giving up, he was about to take out his phone to use the flashlight when hurried footsteps sounded behind him.
Jiang Yumo assumed it was someone rushing upstairs and stepped aside toward the wall.
The next moment, a large hand suddenly grabbed Jiang Yumo’s head and pressed it against the wall. Long fingers covered his eyes tightly.
“Ugh!” Jiang Yumo froze for two seconds. He braced himself against the wall to resist, but the man’s wide palms grabbed his hands behind his back and twisted them, lifting his legs. The moment he tried to move, the other reacted immediately, pressing him firmly against the wall.
Within just a few breaths, Jiang Yumo was completely restrained. The whole process flowed seamlessly.
He struggled desperately to break free, but the man’s strength was terrifying. Even as he panted, drenched in sweat, all he could do was rub his face against the wall until it hurt.
Jiang Yumo quickly gave up. He tried a pitiful tone to show weakness. “Y-you… who are you? Please, can you not hurt me?”
“I have a paralyzed, demented mother at home, a sister who’s gone astray… my father had a stroke and thinks he’s a dog, sneaking around eating feces… I need to earn money to put him in a nursing home, I can’t get hurt, boohoo…”
In the dark hallway, after his eyes adjusted, he could barely make out the contours. Tears flowed freely from the boy, quickly wetting the man’s fingers.
The man’s breathing was heavy, silent.
Jiang Yumo’s lips were bleeding from biting himself. Seeing that showing weakness was useless, he tried probing further. “Did Qian Xin or Qian Sheng hire you? Or Jiang Chongyuan or Jiang Ran?”
“No matter what they told you, it’s all lies! They just want me to sell myself! I just don’t want to ruin my body, what’s wrong with that? Are you going to be an accomplice to their evil?!!”
The man seemed provoked, no longer wanting to listen. The hand covering his eyes suddenly dropped and gripped the boy’s slender neck with force.
The suffocating pressure left Jiang Yumo unable to speak any of his slick, cunning arguments. His palm-sized face was streaked with tears; his pale, snowy cheeks gradually showed hints of purple from underneath. His eyelids fluttered wildly, rolling back, and moisture trickled uncontrollably from the corners of his mouth.
The man could clearly feel the warm, pulsing blood beneath the thin skin under his hand.
“Ugh.” Jiang Yumo, feeling close to death, struggled with all his strength, but he couldn’t free himself from the grip behind him. He had only wanted to test the other’s origin, but there was no chance.
The system, which had remained silent until now, suddenly spoke: 【Host…】
Dizzy and desperate, Jiang Yumo thought fiercely, System, shock him with energy! Now!
System: 【…Okay, host. 5 energy points extracted. Remaining energy: 10.】
When Jiang Yumo was shocked, the man was jolted as well, but only briefly. Jiang Yumo, gritting his teeth against the pain, turned to try to kill the man. Suddenly, the punishment system struck again, shocking him once more. Jiang Yumo’s body went limp, his legs giving out, and he collapsed onto the man. Both of them tumbled down the stairs with a thump thump thump.
After being shocked twice in a row, Jiang Yumo blacked out for a moment. When he came to, he found himself alone.
“Fuuuuuuckkkkkk!” he shouted, pounding and kicking the walls, his hands bloodied from the blows.
The system dared not speak, silent as a chicken.
The hallway was filled only with Jiang Yumo’s heavy, gasping breaths. Upstairs, a resident knocked on the wall to demand quiet. Jiang Yumo’s eyes blazed with anger as he stomped and kicked the wall, roaring, “Shut the hell up, b—!”
The neighbor, probably intimidated, didn’t knock again.
The quiet hallway was filled only with his labored breathing, until heavy, repeated wall kicks were followed by a loud thump thump thump going upstairs, and the door slammed shut.
The first thing Jiang Yumo did upon returning to his room was head straight to the bathroom to wash his face.
He leaned on the sink, staring at his reflection in the mirror.
The purple-blue handprint on his fair neck stood out starkly. His eyes were red and moist, his face flushed, lips tinged with color, and his hair tousled, as if he had just been through a brutal struggle.
Jiang Yumo smashed the mirror with a punch. “Damn it! Fuck!”
ᘻᘿᓍᘺ
Bang!
Gu Yu slammed the car door shut, burying himself in the steering wheel as he breathed heavily.
He had almost…
Looking at the dampness on his hands, he pressed his lips together, grabbed a few wet wipes, and scrubbed his hands clean with force.
The marks could be wiped away, but in his mind, the scene of Jiang Yumo being pinned against the wall by him kept replaying.
Jiang Yumo was so fragile, his neck so slender, he had almost crushed it.
Gu Yu stared at his palms for a long time. That feeling of holding Jiang Yumo’s life entirely in his grasp, it was as if everything was under his control.
In the rearview mirror, the man’s eyes shed their usual calmness and gentleness, replaced by undeniable dominance and danger.
Not yet. He couldn’t let the mistakes of the past life spill onto this Jiang Yumo in the present.
He had to watch him closely. The moment Jiang Yumo revealed his true, ambitious nature, Gu Yu would personally send him straight to hell.