“Speak.” The man’s handsome, pale lips brushed against the boy’s flushed ear. “You’re dreaming right now. You can say anything, no one will ever know what you said.”
The low, deep timbre of an adult male’s voice whispered at his ear, unconsciously lowering his guard.
The boy’s ears itched and he wanted to pull back, but the moment he moved, his neck was gripped even tighter.
His slender hands clawed weakly at Gu Yu’s wrist like a kitten scratching, and his legs pressed helplessly, brushing against the man’s thigh by accident.
Jiang Yumo’s struggles were not only useless but only further provoked the instigator.
Gu Yu squinted, visions of friends and family dying from his past life flashing across his mind.
His eyes burned red, and his grip tightened instantly.
“Uh…” Jiang Yumo’s breath hitched. Soon, struggling for air, he tilted his head back, opening his mouth to suck in more.
The pink tip of his tongue pressed between slightly parted lips and teeth; saliva quickly pooled in his mouth, unable to swallow, and gradually trickled from the corners.
The moment Gu Yu’s hand touched the liquid, his gaze faltered briefly.
“What…giant monster! I’ll hit you!” Jiang Yumo muttered as if in a nightmare, flailing his hands, one clawing at Gu Yu’s thick black hair, the other at his face.
Gu Yu leaned back, failing to fully evade, and his nose stung.
At that moment, the car braked suddenly. Gu Yu’s body swayed; his hand pressed against the seatback for support.
“Cough, cough.” Jiang Yumo curled up on the seat, instinctively clutching his neck, tears at the corners of his eyes, fragile like a newborn.
Gu Yu tilted his head, staring, lost in thought, his gaze dangerous and unreadable.
“Boss, sorry, someone ran a red light ahead,” came the driver’s voice from the front.
Soft, but enough to bring Gu Yu back to full awareness.
The handprint rising on the boy’s pale neck was a clear sign of what had just happened.
But thinking of what Jiang Yumo had done in the past life, Gu Yu’s briefly softened heart hardened again.
This was all his own fault, Gu Yu thought.
Twenty-some minutes later, the driver smoothly pulled the car over to the side of the road.
He opened the door and stepped out.
The boy in the back was clearly drunk. There was no way he could carry him, he was the boss, after all. How could the boss be the one carrying him?
But the moment the driver stepped out and the rear door opened, he froze. In his entire career, he had never, under any circumstance, lifted a drunk young man over his shoulder with one hand, whether the person was male or female, boss or not.
He blinked, and then the next second, he saw the scratch on the boss’s nose, the messy hair, and the handprint on the boy’s neck.
Driver: O-O
They… played like that?
He quickly turned and got back in the car, closing the door behind him. He had never been so grateful for his reflexes.
ᘻᘿᓍᘺ
The system had completely lost track.
System: O-O
It forced its eyes wide open but still couldn’t understand what the host and the male lead were doing.
“Damn! Gu Yu’s shoulders are way too hard, pressing on my stomach is killing me!” Jiang Yumo grumbled to the system, still pretending to be drunk on the outside.
He continued: “I’m serious, your male lead is crazy! This is the second time he’s grabbed my neck!”
“What kind of fetish is this?!” Jiang Yumo scoffed. “You guys really have terrible taste picking your male lead!”
【…The male lead wasn’t chosen by us, that was fate!】
The system was torn between shock and disbelief, feeling like its code was about to break.
Gu Yu had obviously done his homework on Jiang Yumo in secret and, without error, delivered him right to the doorstep.
“Hehe! He actually knows where I live!! So sneaky!” Jiang Yumo thought furiously to the system.
In reality, Gu Yu finally put Jiang Yumo down, but whether it was his stomach being compressed too long or having drunk too much, the moment he hit the ground he “yued.”
It was a completely normal physiological reaction, but Jiang Yumo’s quick mind immediately jumped to exaggerate. Panicked that Gu Yu might notice, he “vomited” again, the alcohol in his stomach rising all the way to his throat.
Gu Yu, relying on his exceptional reflexes, pinched Jiang Yumo’s mouth into a duckbill shape.
Jiang Yumo: …
“Ugh, yuck!”
Jiang Yumo slapped Gu Yu’s hand away and immediately vomited. Gu Yu pressed down on his back, and the vomit spilled all over the floor.
Half-opening his eyes, Jiang Yumo saw Gu Yu’s pants and shoes getting splashed and, bending over in the process, laughed like a child whose prank had just succeeded.
Gu Yu’s unflinching expression only doubled Jiang Yumo’s sense of accomplishment.
Thanks to years of self-discipline, Gu Yu didn’t throw Jiang Yumo straight into the pile of vomit at the doorway.
While searching for keys on Jiang Yumo, the boy still fidgeted, and in the process, Gu Yu ended up with a faint palm mark on his face.
After over ten minutes of struggle, Gu Yu finally tossed Jiang Yumo onto the bed.
He stood at the bedside for a long while.
Jiang Yumo, lying there, teased the system again: “Guess what he’s thinking now?”
The system’s voice carried a nasal tone, like a fan who just succeeded in meeting their idol only to have the idol’s scandal revealed, utterly helpless.
【What?】
Jiang Yumo turned his face toward the window, his snow-white neck and shoulders completely exposed to Gu Yu.
“I guess,” Jiang Yumo said decisively, “he’s thinking about whether, if I don’t behave, I might choke on my vomit in the middle of the night.”
【Impossible! Absolutely impossible!】
Time dragged on, and Jiang Yumo grew impatient. He rolled over, feeling hot, his hands constantly fidgeting with his clothes.
At that moment, he heard footsteps approaching.
He felt the bed dip beside him, then Gu Yu adjusted him into a side-lying position. The man’s warm hand gently held the back of his neck, placing his head and neck carefully on the pillow.
The warmth receded, the footsteps faded, and with a soft click of the door, the room returned to silence.
【Waaah! I knew the male lead is still the same male lead!】
After the system finished sighing, it realized that the host hadn’t even objected.
【Host, what’s wrong? Your neck is really red.】
Jiang Yumo: “It must be that the ‘Thousand-Cups-Without-Getting-Drunk’ ability you exchanged for is a defective product!”
【Impossible!】
Jiang Yumo: “Then how else do you explain why I’m burning up like I’m about to catch fire! It’s definitely the alcohol’s fault!”
【But…】
“I’m not listening to your excuses! Hmph! I’m going to sleep!”
Jiang Yumo finished washing up while holding his eyelids open, flopped onto the bed, and immediately fell asleep. But even after he dozed off, the back of his neck still felt scorching hot.
Damn it! He’s definitely allergic to Gu Yu!!
ᘻᘿᓍᘺ
Jiang Huarong had been stressed the past couple of days. When he went to the company secretary, he found out that several projects were running into problems. If things continued like this, the company might go bankrupt in just a few months.
Jiang Huarong knew this was definitely Qian Sheng’s doing, but knowing who did it wasn’t very useful.
In A City, these wealthy families weren’t something a middle-class household like his could compete with.
Jiang Huarong’s already sparse hair was practically falling out in clumps from worry.
He smoothed his wig-topped head and made a last-ditch effort, calling Jiang Yumo with the secretary’s phone.
Although he had no idea how that kid had gotten to know Young Master Xu and his circle, A City’s wealthy circles were divided, and the Xu family ranked even higher than the Qians, Jiang Yumo was able to drink and entertain with them. As long as he said a word, the Qian family would hesitate, and the matter could be solved easily.
Jiang Huarong envisioned this perfectly. He made the call: “Xiao Mo, it’s your dad—”
“Damn it! I’m your dad!”
An irritable roar came through the phone. “You damn liar! I’m your dad!”
Then the call was abruptly hung up.
Even though the call wasn’t on speaker, the secretary standing nearby heard everything clearly.
The beeping of the phone sounded to Jiang Huarong like a series of slaps thrown across his face.
A flicker of surprise passed across the secretary’s eyes in an instant, brief but noticeable, Jiang Huarong caught it.
He tossed the phone onto the secretary, watching the flustered scramble as the secretary fumbled to answer. Lifting his chin, Jiang Huarong shouted arrogantly, “Why are you just standing there? If a project isn’t going smoothly, go fix it! Do you think money falls from the sky?!”
The secretary nodded quickly, bowing and retreating from the office. The moment the door closed, she rolled her eyes viciously.
That fat idiot! Nouveau riche! Serves him right if he goes bankrupt!
Really, she hated people who couldn’t control their emotions the most.
Inside the office, Jiang Huarong sat back in the boss chair, letting out a sigh.
Now only one option remained: satisfy Qian Sheng and Qian Xin’s demands.
But…
Jiang Huarong thought of Mrs. Jiang. She would never agree, and she would certainly make a scene. If he was going to do this, it had to be fast, precise, and ruthless.
“Everything is for the Jiang family!”
His hand trembled slightly as he held the phone. “If the Jiang family falls, it won’t benefit them at all. I’m doing this only for the Jiang family! They will understand!”
At this time, Mrs. Jiang was still at the hospital with Jiang Chongyuan. After a few days of observation, the doctor said it was fortunate he had been brought in on time, that his vital functions were intact, and that all he needed now was rest. He could be discharged today.
After seeing the doctor off, Mrs. Jiang sat back down on the single chair beside the bed.
“Don’t worry about the Qian family’s affairs.” Mrs. Jiang noticed the lingering anger and gloom on her son’s face and knew immediately he was thinking about Jiang Yumo again. “That kid is devious. All that submissiveness he showed before? It was all an act.”
“Mom! You think I can’t beat him?!” Jiang Chongyuan clenched his fists and pounded the blanket. The pain in his lower body felt like a constant reminder of humiliation, a constant echo that it was that brat he had always looked down on who had caused it.
Seeing him like this, Mrs. Jiang knew he was worked up again. She took a slim cigarette from her bag and lit it, the curling smoke blurring her eyes’ disdain for her son, and her contempt for that idiot Jiang Huarong’s genes.
“He came into the Jiang family when he was five. In the first year, your father, desperate to find any black mark on our family, treated him very well. He often brought him along for charity events and various functions.”
“But that year, he treated Jiang Yumo better than he did you and your sister. So even when the company started to fail the following year, your father didn’t need to put on a show anymore. He immediately abandoned Jiang Yumo, treated him as a stain, and punished him, either beat him or scolded him!”
“One time, his leg was broken, and yet Jiang Yumo still looked up to your father! He thought he had done something wrong, and no matter the abuse he endured, he kept trying to please him without a single complaint.”
Mrs. Jiang tapped her cigarette several times, continuing, “You and Xiao Ran had him living in dog kennels for ten years straight, exposed him to rabid dogs, drenched him in freezing water… every single thing…”
“Mom…” Jiang Chongyuan stammered. He had always thought the things he and his sister did were well hidden, but he hadn’t realized Mrs. Jiang had seen everything, and even took a perverse satisfaction in it.
“Who told you he was the child of a mistress?” Jiang Chongyuan tried to justify himself.
Mrs. Jiang raised her hand to stop him. “He’s eighteen now. All these years he endured it, making us think he was a docile sheep. And today? He’s stabbed us hard in the back.”
“I admit he’s very patient,” Jiang Chongyuan still protested. “But maybe he’s just lost it! How could a person change overnight?”
Mrs. Jiang said, “Exactly. How could he change overnight? That only proves that the person he is now is who he really is.”
“I’ve already sent Xiao Ran abroad,” Mrs. Jiang put the cigarette back in her bag and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You behave yourself. I’ll deal with your father and the Qian family.”
“Xiao Ran’s gone abroad?”
Jiang Chongyuan’s expression darkened. Hesitantly, he said, “But I just saw her post on social media… her location is still in A City.”
“What!” Mrs. Jiang’s face drained of color. “What on earth is that little girl thinking?!”