Because of Su Leyan, Pei Youting had indeed invested in the film Life and Death Appraisal. Even though he later had a falling out with Xu Xizhe, he did not withdraw his funding.
Consequently, he received an invitation to the victory banquet as a matter of professional courtesy. He hesitated for a moment, but ultimately, he came.
He had not been there long before he witnessed the scene. He had arrived just in time to hear Yu Song say that Jiang Zui was a prostitute he had grown tired of.
The two bright red palm prints on Jiang Zui’s cheeks were incredibly stark. Seeing that scene and hearing Yu Song and his cousin talking that way, he truly felt the urge to kill those two animals.
But in this very moment.
Pei Youting held his breath as he pulled the person who was gradually sliding off him back into his arms. Jiang Zui’s feverish breath sprayed against the side of his neck, revealing a rare sense of urgency.
Dirty tactics are not uncommon in this industry. Pei Youting could guess with his eyes closed what kind of drugs Jiang Zui had been fed. Yu Song and his associates wanted to ruin him completely, so the dosage was quite high. Jiang Zui was no longer in his right mind; he clung to Pei Youting like a boneless snake, his eyes unfocused as he murmured that he was hot.
“Water.” Jiang Zui licked his lips, inadvertently showing Pei Youting that vibrant red tip of his tongue, which sparked endless wild thoughts. “Drink water.”
He lifted his gaze, eyes half-lidded, as his former coldness melted into an ambiguous, moist warmth that vanished entirely.
Pei Youting watched him, momentarily stunned, his Adam’s apple bobbing. He had not been drinking, yet he felt a strange, inexplicable heat.
The heater was turned up too high.
He looked away, though his hand gripped Jiang Zui’s waist more firmly. “I had someone open a suite upstairs. I am taking you up.”
Jiang Zui remained pressed against him, seemingly hearing nothing.
The elevator ride to the upper floors felt like a century. Pei Youting used all the self-restraint he possessed to resist this sudden temptation. Then, with a ding, the elevator doors opened, and Pei Youting used his room card to open the door.
He placed Jiang Zui on the bed and pulled out his phone to message his assistant. His assistant, who earned a multi-million annual salary, was diligent; despite the late hour, he answered instantly. “President Pei.”
Pei Youting gave him the location and said, “Call a doctor. Tell them to come.”
He suddenly covered the phone’s microphone, looking down in disbelief. With a clink of the belt buckle, those hands had begun to tremble as they reached to undo even more.
“Hmm.” Jiang Zui’s movements elicited a muffled groan from him. The assistant noticed the abnormality. “President Pei?”
“No need to come. Let them stay away. They do not need to come.” He uttered this, cut the call, and tossed the phone aside. Pei Youting reached out to grab Jiang Zui by the back of the neck to separate him from his own body, his voice hoarse. “What are you doing?”
Jiang Zui only looked at him with unfocused eyes, filled with a strange bewilderment. His lips had become glistening and wet due to what had just occurred.
His entire body was flushed an abnormal shade of red, as if he were on the brink of an explosion of desire.
Pei Youting stroked the smooth skin on the back of his neck, his gaze darkening, and then he leaned in to kiss him.
He had not originally intended to do anything, but with Jiang Zui in this state, Pei Youting did not want to force himself to be a saint. Jiang Zui reached out to wrap his arms around him, showing an unusual initiative.
Pei Youting suddenly felt very angry, knowing Jiang Zui’s initiative was due to his lack of sobriety. He suddenly thought: What if I had not seen Jiang Zui today? Would he have acted like this toward someone else? Shown this side of himself?
Inexplicable jealousy and dissatisfaction prompted him to sit up. He reached out to grip Jiang Zui’s face and asked, “Who am I?”
Jiang Zui’s eyes were filled with tears, and he shook his head helplessly.
Pei Youting did not get the answer he wanted and suddenly grew enraged, his movements turning rough. Jiang Zui’s tears flowed even more profusely, like unending rain.
Fingernails raked across his back and shoulders, contrasting with the rumpled bedsheets, while the floor-to-ceiling windows reflected two figures inseparable from one another.
The night grew deeper and then gradually dissipated, revealing scattered pinpricks of dim, yellow light.
It was a night of madness and retaliation. By the end, the drug’s effects had worn off, but Pei Youting could not stop, as if he were the one drugged rather than Jiang Zui.
After Jiang Zui left, he had gone without for so long that he finally ate his fill in one go. The feeling was unlike anything anyone else could give him, even more satisfying than he had imagined. The only downside was that the night was too fleeting.
In the bathroom, Pei Youting took him one more time. Looking at Jiang Zui slumped against him in the mirror, Pei Youting formed a thought that would become unwavering from then on.
He would have Jiang Zui stay by his side. If soft tactics did not work, he would use force. If he would not yield to that, he would use coercion.
So what if he was eating his own vomit? He was Pei Youting. So what if he was returning to an old flame? Whatever Pei Youting wanted, was there anything he could not get?
Jiang Zui was no exception.
He held this thought while he cuddled Jiang Zui and drifted off to sleep for a while. Jiang Zui had been drained by him, and after he had been awake for a while, Jiang Zui finally struggled to open his swollen, tear-stained eyelids.
Pei Youting leaned against the headboard, unabashedly showing off his beautiful abdominal muscles, slowly exhaling a cloud of smoke. He turned his head, his handsome face still carrying the laziness of the aftermath. “Awake?”
Jiang Zui had just woken up; seeing him, he seemed momentarily stunned. Then, his eyes slowly widened, his gaze turning icy as he regained clarity. “Why is it you?”
He frowned slightly and rolled out of bed to pick up his clothes and pants. Pei Youting looked at the back that he had left in such a wretched state and suddenly felt very annoyed. He reached out to grab Jiang Zui’s arm and yanked him back. “Is this the attitude you give me?”
He sneered. “If it were not for me, you would probably have been left paralyzed from the waist down by someone else by now.”
Jiang Zui turned to look at him, a mocking smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He pointed at himself. “And you did not receive your reward for it, did you?”
He did not want to say another word to Pei Youting. As he finished dressing and started toward the door, he was pushed back against it, his throat caught in a grip. Pei Youting was very close, half a head taller than him, and his gloomy face looked dangerous.
Pei Youting truly loathed, absolutely loathed, Jiang Zui’s attitude toward him.
“Do not be so ungrateful,” Pei Youting said coldly. “I have given you plenty of chances to step down; that is enough.”
He fell silent for a moment before saying, “For people like us, expecting exclusivity is impossible. Jiang Zui, do not be so naive anymore.”
Jiang Zui suddenly looked up. Pei Youting saw strangeness and disappointment in the depths of his eyes, which caused a slight ache in his heart. Then, Jiang Zui suddenly shoved him hard. “If it is impossible, I will not ask for it. Get lost!”
Pei Youting was never a man with a good temper, and he was on the verge of exploding. However, he managed to calm down through a few deep breaths and attempted to persuade him with reason:
“Is it not good to follow me? You saw it for yourself yesterday; if I had not appeared, what would have become of you? You want to work in the entertainment industry, become an award-winning actor? Whatever you want, I will pave the way for you. What exactly are you dissatisfied with?”
His words caused Jiang Zui to involuntarily recall what Yu Song had said the night before. Suddenly, he felt panicked, his hands and feet turning cold. He said, his voice trembling, “I do not need you. I do not want those illegitimate, dishonorable things. Leave me alone, stop bothering me!”
As if trying to escape, the more Jiang Zui thought about it, the more afraid he became. He shoved Pei Youting hard once more. “Stop bothering me!”
Pei Youting’s eye twitched, and he could no longer maintain his gentle facade. He looked at Jiang Zui and instinctively scoffed, “I am bothering you?”
“Then what do you want to do? Run off with Xu Xizhe? With no status or legitimacy, do not forget who you owe your current position to. Do not be a fking whore trying to build a memorial arch for your chastity.”
Pei Youting suddenly realized what he had said and wanted to stop, but it was already too late. Jiang Zui looked at him, his eye sockets turning blood-red.
It was a look Pei Youting had never seen before; like a ceramic vase on the verge of shattering. Pei Youting even saw a flicker of fear in his eyes.
Pei Youting forgot; he forgot why Jiang Zui had insisted on maintaining those strange bottom lines. At that moment, he only thought that since the words were already out, the die was cast, and there was nothing left to hide. So, he braced himself and continued, saying:
“Jiang Zui, you are not that stupid, are you? Are you truly naive, or are you just pretending? Do you not know what you were like before you met me? Do you think Director Chen and Xu Xizhe and those people really valued your so-called aura and acting skills?”
Do you think Director Xu and Xu Xizhe and that crowd really valued your so-called aura and acting skills? This sentence finally blew away the last shred of self-deceiving fog, placing the dark truth before Jiang Zui, as if mocking his hypocrisy.
So, what Yu Song and the others said was all true.
In the end, he was the same as the people he looked down on and hated the most.
So, he really was just a male prostitute who got to the top by relying on his sugar daddy.
Pei Youting paused and then spoke from a position of superiority: “The one thing the entertainment industry never lacks is this sort of thing, Jiang Zui.”
He wanted Jiang Zui to see clearly; to see exactly how important he was to him, and to let him know that without Pei Youting, he was nothing. It was because of him, Pei Youting, that Jiang Zui had today.
Jiang Zui was deathly pale and silent. Pei Youting thought he was listening, secretly pleased that this guy was not hopelessly stubborn. “Follow me, and I can give you so much. What do you want? Money, status, position? Move in with me, and I will give you a monthly allowance. How about that?”
“Five million, ten million; however much you want, I can give it to you, as long as you…”
His words were interrupted by a sudden, intense pain in the back of his head. Pei Youting reached up to touch it, finding his hand covered in blood. He looked at Jiang Zui, who was holding the vase ornament.
Pei Youting was suddenly very glad that he had worn Jiang Zui out the day before, leaving him with muscle weakness, or he might have actually been killed by that blow today.
Jiang Zui was also stunned. He stared blankly at the vase in his hand, seeing the blood on it, and as if frightened, he threw it aside. Then, without looking back, he ran; he escaped.
Along the way, everything around him seemed to collapse instantly. Everything he believed in, everything he held firm to, and everything he loved had become lies. The gazes of passersby made Jiang Zui feel chilled to the bone. Terrified, he ran to a dark stairwell and curled up in a corner, unable to stop crying.
He thought of his father, who had committed suicide many years ago; his hysterical mother; and the words of Lin Yan at the hospital: “My husband already became a male prostitute; is my son going to follow in his footsteps?”
The prediction had come true.