Come to think of it, he not only knew Chu Hanfeng, but he had also lived and eaten with Chu Hanfeng under the same roof for more than half a year.
Back then, his old man, Yu Zhengxiang, finally ended years of single life and got acquainted with Song Feiwan, who was hailed as a legendary figure in the film industry during the previous century. Later on, as their relationship grew closer, Yu Zhengxiang led him to meet Song Feiwan in person.
Time seemed particularly lenient, leaving no trace of aging on the face of this retired actress; she remained a stunning and breathtaking beauty. If he had not heard Yu Zhengxiang mention it before, Yu Cheng would never have guessed that she also had a fifteen-year-old son.
On the day he arrived, the others were already present, and that young man happened to be sitting right under the warm lighting of the dining room. Amidst the interplay of light and shadow, his facial features appeared exceptionally distinct and deep, and even his dark pupils gleamed like scattered stars under the hazy halo. The moment his eyelids fluttered and he looked over, it was as if he had been fitted with a filter, adding a touch of warmth that was not there before and giving off the deceptive illusion of being gentle and approachable.
That was also the first time Yu Cheng ever laid eyes upon Chu Hanfeng.
Wearing a hat and a mask, Yu Cheng’s gaze quietly drifted from Song Feiwan’s face over to the slender figure beside her, lingering for a few extra appraisals.
Although he could not compare to his current lean and upright stature, Chu Hanfeng’s height at that time already stood out as tall among his peers. He was thin without being frail, and the unique slenderness belonging to a youth carried a very special sense of pure nobility.
Then, unable to help himself, right through his mask, he sneezed.
Perhaps the low-grade fever brought on by catching a cold the previous day had not fully subsided, or perhaps his nose was simply stuffed, but Yu Cheng felt his head spinning, accompanied by a burning sensation in his throat.
Later on, as his time spent with Chu Hanfeng grew longer, he thought that it had been love at first sight.
Thinking about it now, it was probably just a simple cold.
Just like right now.
The cold caused by soaking in cold water a week ago had not fully cleared up, and as Yu Cheng stared at Zhong Kun, whose face stank even worse than his own, he felt his head spinning slightly once more.
The other man took a deep breath, looked Yu Cheng up and down from head to toe, and sneered, “Precisely who is the general manager here, you or me? Running wild before was one thing, but now you actually dare to barge straight into my office to bargain with me. Do you honestly think I have no way of dealing with you?”
Yu Cheng sat comfortably in the chair in front of Zhong Kun’s desk, crossing his legs as he met the gaze, and scoffed, “The method you speak of is freezing me out for a few days and then continuing to force me onto a variety show?”
His tone was so disdainful that it practically lacked only the suffix of adding “little piece of trash” at the end.
Zhong Kun almost suffered a myocardial infarction from sheer anger.
He had foolishly assumed that Yu Cheng’s attitude on that day meant the boy was preparing to lower his head to him, which was why he had thrown him a tiny bone, but never did he expect him to remain this arrogant.
Pondering for a fleeting moment, comprehension dawned on him instantly: “As expected of someone who has latched onto a wealthy second-generation heir, you truly have no idea how much you weigh anymore, do you?”
As he spoke, Zhong Kun glanced past the side of Yu Cheng’s face to eye the tightly shut office door, mocking, “Isn’t it just Pei Yan? What great capability could someone from a family running catering clubs possibly have? Now that he has offended people, he won’t be able to act so high and mighty for long, and if he is not careful, I am afraid he will not even have the ability to manage you.”
The tip of Yu Cheng’s brow twitched slightly.
Catching this subtle detail, Zhong Kun tapped his hands resting before him lightly against the desk top and smiled happily: “I said it long ago, if you had not rejected me back then and failed to appreciate what was good for you, the person sitting in Tong Shi’s position right now would be none other than you!”
Yu Cheng, who had fallen into a brief contemplation, lifted his eyelids, digested what Zhong Kun had just said, and abruptly let out a laugh.
“To think your obsession with me runs quite deep.”
“You—”
“What, you investigated me for this long and only managed to dig up a single Pei Yan?”
Yu Cheng rested his elbow on the armrest of the chair, leisurely rubbing his earlobe with his fingertips before lazily resting his head in his hand to look over with genuine interest: “However, I am terribly sorry, but I have no interest in greasy old men approaching forty. After all, mutual give-and-take requires something in return; though the young master of the Pei family is unreliable, his face and figure are still passable, but as for you, President Zhong…”
“Are you banking on your old age and stinky mouth, or are you banking on only lasting two minutes?”
A sudden, sharp crash echoed inside the office!
“President Zhong, are you alright?!”
The assistant waiting outside hurriedly threw open the door to investigate, nearly getting the bridge of his nose poked by a flying fountain pen!
“Get the hell out of here!”
With a flushed face, Zhong Kun stood up and roared while panting heavily, “Yu Cheng, I call you unappreciative and you really start acting high and mighty! Countless people line up just to wait on me; if I hadn’t taken a fancy to your face and let you off previously, do you really think you could run rampant until now?!”
Yu Cheng remained seated without moving, his expression growing increasingly carefree as he looked up from below, yet the outer corners of his eyes pressed slightly downward, carrying a natural sense of innocence: “President Zhong, please do not get angry. I certainly did not know about such private matters; it was all told to me by your little darling Tong Shi, it has nothing to do with me.”
Seething with uncontainable rage, Zhong Kun glared at the face before him as the veins at his temples twitched and throbbed uncontrollably.
The very first time he laid eyes on Yu Cheng, he had thought this face was handsome.
Indeed, it was handsome—handsome enough to secure a recognized ranking in the entertainment industry. Even without excessive marketing, he could easily leave a profound impression in the eyes of aesthetically critical netizens and effortlessly stir up trending topics.
And facts proved that Yu Cheng had indeed entered the public eye purely on the strength of a single photograph. Although he had freeloaded off a great deal of Chu Hanfeng’s clout, Yu Cheng did not resist being bundled together with Chu Hanfeng, so they were more than happy to ride the favorable wind to make a killing and effortlessly push Yu Cheng out into the spotlight.
Moreover, that unique, unyielding arrogance exuded by Yu Cheng was something he viewed as a rare commodity.
Everyone else was scrambling desperately upward; those with backgrounds were naturally high and mighty, and while things sailed smoothly they were willing to keep up the polite facade.
As for those without any background…
The number of people bowing and scraping was countless. As long as he was willing to cast out an olive branch, each and every one of them would wash themselves clean and crowd into his room—and there were certainly those who played even wilder.
Yu Cheng, however, turned out to be an exception.
Not only was he completely impervious to soft or hard tactics, but when he tried to coax and persuade him with good resources, he was met instead with cold glares.
Initially, he figured that occasionally changing things up for a different flavor would not be bad either.
Yet no matter how attractive a momentary, lust-driven whim might be, it could never withstand such vicious, contemptuous disdain.
Yu Cheng had never once placed him in his eyes, and he no longer had the patience to make a fool of himself by pandering.
Especially since Tong Shi had been dragged into this just now.
In his view, among all those people, Tong Shi was the most obedient one possessing a delicate and pretty appearance.
Gritting his teeth, Zhong Kun felt the blood surging faster through his entire body from anger: “Do you really think I will believe you just by saying that? I have seen too many of these cheap little tricks, do not think—”
“Are you certain you want me to speak of it right here?”
Yu Cheng glanced sideways at the pale-faced assistant frozen in fear at the doorway, speaking up deliberately before the other person could scramble out in a panic: “Is there a black birthmark on the inner side of your upper thigh? Tong Shi said that paired with your full-body fat, he finds it extremely disgusting.”
“Yu Cheng, shut your mouth!”
For a moment, Zhong Kun felt a rush of heat surge straight to the crown of his head, and for a fleeting second, he felt the urge to flip the desk over entirely: “Do not forget that your contract is still in my hands! Either obediently hand over ten times the penalty fee and get lost, or else wait to be frozen out by the company. Let us wait and see, when you have nowhere left to turn, I want to see if you still will not come crawling back to beg me with lowered head!”
“Very well, if you ever dare hand me a single resource from this point onward, you are a son of a bitch.”
Having successfully achieved the desired effect, Yu Cheng stood up with satisfaction and left humming a tune.
As it turned out, being a salted fish was not an easy task either; this method of destroying a thousand enemies while hurting oneself by eight hundred felt entirely exhausting.
Recalling those explicit photographs from his dream, Yu Cheng felt nauseous all over again.
According to the progression of that multi-love-interest novel, although Zhong Kun did not dare to act rashly against Chu Hanfeng, his innate nature meant that upon seeing a person standing before him who looked like a bright moon, he would still fail to curb his wild fantasies, and would even chat idly and make casual remarks to his colleagues afterward.
Who could have guessed that those flirtatious remarks would fall into the ears of Zhong Kun’s ultimate superior, the new president?
Having taken over the company not long ago, the new president was extremely busy with thousands of assets and enterprises under his management, leaving him utterly without time to spare extra energy on a minor subsidiary. If not for his close personal friendship with Chu Hanfeng under normal circumstances, he probably would have just blown it off as idle gossip.
Yet the protagonist of those crude remarks happened to be Chu Hanfeng.
In less than half a day, Tong Shi was implicated as well, and indecent photographs of their entangled embraces leaked out, spreading across the entire internet. Even though the web was later scrubbed clean, quite a few people quietly saved copies for themselves.
Within just a few days, Zhong Kun was fired by the company due to disciplinary issues and scandals, thereby exiting the cannon-fodder ranks for good.
Failing to spot anything amiss, he realized the truth of the situation fully.
If he had not retained a vague impression of those photographs from the dream, Yu Cheng would never have known about the birthmark hidden in Zhong Kun’s private area.
That was why he suddenly conceived the notion of probing him.
Judging by Zhong Kun’s reaction, it should be correct.
Everything in that dream was real.
Sorting his thoughts out slightly, Yu Cheng was suddenly gripped by a lingering fear.
Indeed, those cold stares, those expressions of disgust, and the ultimate humiliation and torture from the dream were all real as well.
That near-death sensation of being shoved underwater was far too vivid; even upon waking from the dream, he felt it viscerally.
It felt as though it spanned across the passage of a past life and time, suffocating him every single time he recalled it.
It was only at this moment that Yu Cheng truly realized he and Chu Hanfeng had not even half a chance together.
Chasing after a firefly like a moth to a flame was utterly unnecessary, and everything truly was his own fault for bringing it upon himself.
Just like when he was fourteen years old and ended up in the police station for getting into a fight, receiving a lengthy verbal reprimand:
The road of life is long, and a single misstep onto a deviated path means reaping the bitter fruit oneself.
At that time, Yu Zhengxiang was busy building his commercial empire and completely lacked the mind to care for him.
He still remembered how deep the night was on that day, with surrounding people being successively claimed by their guardians while he remained seated alone on the police station bench, staring blankly and aimlessly at the wall clock.
The police officer guarding him must have grown weary of waiting as well, repeatedly dialing several calls on the desk telephone.
Amidst his drowsiness, he suddenly caught sight of Chu Hanfeng.
The tips of that person’s hair and his coat were both stained with the chill of the thick night, carrying the atmosphere of cold dew and flying snow from the bitter depths of winter, and even his gaze was heavier than usual.
Actually, that feeling was rather magical.
A teenager in his early teens was still in his rebellious phase, always prone to sinking into an ocean of sorrowful melancholy; even when neglected by Yu Zhengxiang due to his career, he could still harbor countless grievances.
Yet the moment Chu Hanfeng appeared, that heavy, buried resentment instantly vanished into thin air.
He subconsciously stood up wanting to walk over, only to snap back to his senses and realize he had been beaten black and blue, looking thoroughly disgraceful.
Subconsciously, he did not wish to lose face in front of Chu Hanfeng.
So he turned to run, only to be hauled right back by the collar of his jacket courtesy of Chu Hanfeng.
For a very long period following their initial encounter, he actually rarely spoke with Chu Hanfeng.
That was the very first time they had physical, close-range contact.
With a cold face, Chu Hanfeng helped him apply medicinal ointment to his wounds, and even as his brows lowered slightly as if still enveloped in threads of frost, inexplicably, Yu Cheng felt his chest grow warm.
Because of that, afterward he always intentionally or unintentionally sought to grow close to Chu Hanfeng.
Yu Zhengxiang also intended to draw their relationship closer, and simply entrusted him to Chu Hanfeng’s care quite often whenever he went on business trips.
Right up until that fateful moment:
On the day of Pei Yan’s birthday, he went wild playing in a KTV private room and drank a considerable amount of alcohol.
It was Chu Hanfeng who came to pick him up.
Chu Hanfeng waited for him under the neon lights of the street, only to be tackled into a full embrace by his floating footsteps and alcoholic stench.
Yu Cheng’s alcohol tolerance had never been considered good, making his memories of that day agonizingly blurry.
Aside from the intertwined city lights and bustling crowds on the main avenue, the clearest memory was of Chu Hanfeng half-embracing him to push open a room door, revealing the vast, quiet, ink-colored night sky, along with the sharp-contoured lines and prominent administrative Adam’s apple along the youth’s jaw and neck.
Neither he nor Chu Hanfeng turned on the lights.
The dim environment induced a certain obscure, secretive sensation, and presumably bewitched by the lingering alcohol buzz, his fingertips gently pressed against Chu Hanfeng’s Adam’s apple. He felt that tiny spot slide slightly, earning him a low-voiced reprimand from Chu Hanfeng: “Do not move around.”
His brain likely lacking clarity, he viciously muttered back: “Otherwise, do you want to touch back?”
The other man’s thin lips pressed tightly together, and amidst that dim night, he mumbled incoherently: “Actually, I quite like you.”
Yu Cheng remembered saying: “Really, I have never liked anyone this much before.”
Perhaps even the most emotionally detached gentleman was deeply startled by him; Chu Hanfeng unexpectedly lost his footing off-guard, causing him to stagger and drag them both down onto the bed together.
The air suddenly stagnated for four or five seconds, and even the howling north wind and the swaying branches of the evergreen tree outside the window abruptly fell quiet at that exact moment.
Chu Hanfeng’s elbows were propped on either side of his ears, and before him was pitch black, with only their intersecting breath proving far more intoxicating than the alcohol.
He felt Chu Hanfeng’s breath brush past the tip of his nose, landing lightly upon his fluttering eyelashes.
Close enough to touch.
Should he raise his chin just a fraction, he would graze the other’s lips.
“Which kind of liking?”
Pausing for a long moment, Chu Hanfeng tilted his head slightly, his scorching breath sweeping across the seam of his lips in a slow, gentle draft.
He heard Chu Hanfeng ask with a scoff: “If the two of them really do end up getting married, what exactly do you think you would have to call me?”
Yu Cheng instantly jolted awake, his drunkenness clearing by more than half.
How could he not know…
After all, Song Feiwan had reminded him early on that Chu Hanfeng was one year older than him, and he could just address him directly as “older brother” in the future.
It was not pleasant at all.
Afterward, he was consumed by shame for a long time, and even when facing Chu Hanfeng whom he had teased, Yu Cheng never dared to look him straight in the eye again.
Yet unpredictable are the ways of the world; later on, Yu Zhengxiang and Song Feiwan’s romance fell through, resulting in a peaceful breakup.
Unrepentant, he had even asked Chu Hanfeng once more whether he could continue liking him, ultimately failing to receive any response from Chu Hanfeng.
Thinking about it carefully, when Chu Hanfeng braved the wind and snow in the middle of the night to pick him up at the police station, he had once neurotically believed that the other’s appearance was meant to save him.
Yet what kind of salvation was that?
It was clearly the beginning of error, the very root of sin!
Since it was an error, it had to be rectified.
Only a fool would repeat the same mistakes.
He absolutely could not be that fool anymore!
He was going off to live a brand new, beautiful life!
Thinking thus, Yu Cheng’s footsteps grew even lighter, practically walking as if on flying feet.
Not far away, Chu Hanfeng looked down indifferently from above, watching Yu Cheng stand by the roadside to hail a cab before speeding away.
The person beside him glanced at the empty company lobby downstairs, shifted their gaze back to the side of Chu Hanfeng’s face, and amusedly said: “I heard he just had a shouting match with Zhong Kun, nearly scaring the fellow into a cerebral hemorrhage. He even knew where the guy had a birthmark on his body; his skills are not small at all.”
Chu Hanfeng’s brows furrowed imperceptibly as he withdrew his gaze and coldly looked over.
Instead of shutting his mouth, that person grew even more intensely interested: “With Tong Shi’s timid courage, he would never dare tell anyone these things.”
Chu Hanfeng gave a detached evaluation: “Xue Ji, you talk too much.”
The man addressed as Xue Ji smiled and leaned back into the boss’s chair. The chair slid back half an inch from the sudden weight, allowing him to stretch out his long legs so that the tip of his leather shoe lightly brushed against Chu Hanfeng’s foot, ruthlessly piercing through: “What is it? Do you feel I offended your step-brother of no relation, and now you are unhappy?”
Chu Hanfeng swept a glance at him without answering.
“Or do you still dislike people talking about him?” Xue Ji asked with a smile, “Come to think of it, do you really loathe this nominal brother of yours to this extent? He has been bullied to this degree, and you still stand by coldly watching?”
“When you instigated me to acquire the company back then, I thought you wanted to take care of his precious son on behalf of Yu Zhengxiang, but it turns out you were just here to watch the joke…” Xue Ji rubbed his chin. “Tsk, right now Yu Zhengxiang is facing severe cash flow recovery issues and is fretting over that patch of wasteland, yet look at you—not only are you failing to help, you are even kicking a man when he is down. You really are something else.”
“Are you disgusted with Yu Zhengxiang, or are you disgusted with Yu Zhengxiang’s son?”
Amidst the other person’s dry talk as he lifted his coffee cup, Chu Hanfeng finally deigned to grant a sparse few words in response: “Both are much the same.”
Xue Ji: “Huh?”
Before taking a single sip, Xue Ji hastily set the cup down and asked with curiosity: “By the way, did you go to the nightclub last night?”
Chu Hanfeng’s expression grew even colder.
Xue Ji asked: “Didn’t you go to see your grandfather?”
Opening the floodgates of conversation, Xue Ji chattered endlessly: “I heard the old man’s birthday banquet was on a grand scale. To tell you the truth, I wouldn’t mind taking a ride in that model of Hongqi L5 either—the kind with the flag stuck on it.”
“I’m leaving,” Chu Hanfeng interrupted, “I have things to do.”
“Leaving just like that?” Xue Ji stood up to see him off, a thoughtful look sweeping circles across Chu Hanfeng’s face. “You still haven’t told me, are you taking up that variety show or not? Give me a definitive answer so I can help your brother make arrangements early on, no?”
“Shut your mouth.”
Without breaking his stride or looking back, Chu Hanfeng pulled open the door: “I have no such relationship with him.”
“True enough, back then every time that kid called you older brother on the phone, I always felt like he was calling you his lover boy,” Xue Ji watched Chu Hanfeng’s departing back and leisurely stated, “And to think you even kept him hidden away like a treasure without letting anyone look—were you trying to play house like the ancients hiding away a beauty?”
Before his voice could even fade, the door slammed shut with a sharp click.
Stepping into the president’s private elevator, Chu Hanfeng inexplicably recalled how that brat from the Pei family had tagged along last night, speaking nicely and offering to apologize to the Chu family, only to name-drop someone he neither recognized nor remembered.
Who knows which illegitimate offspring of Chu Shihua was running around outside flexing borrowed authority and acting completely wild.
“Had I known he was part of the Chu family, I certainly wouldn’t have gotten into a physical fight over some trivial matter. It was just a matter of putting a tab on a meal, a treat is a treat after all,” Pei Yan had said carefully, “Yet my venue still has to operate and cannot handle a scene. Could you put in a good word for me for the sake of Xiao Cheng? I’ve been so worried I haven’t slept in days.”
Chu Hanfeng’s expression grew abruptly colder.
Pei Yan hurriedly changed his tune: “Besides, Yu Cheng also spoke with me, and he guaranteed he won’t pester you anymore or displease you.”
Chu Hanfeng cast a sudden, chilly glance: “He hardly looks like someone suffering from insomnia to me.”
After all, he had recently made the acquaintance of several handsome men and beautiful women; finding himself insufficient company, he was even introducing them to others.
Pei Yan: “?”
Pei Yan failed to figure out which exact sentence of his had provoked this towering Buddha before him, and hurriedly followed up: “Well, things are just past us now, you are magnanimous…”
“Am I some kind of turtle king bastard?”
Though Chu Hanfeng’s tone remained flat, it sounded laced with barbs: “Whoever you offended, go find them. What does that have to do with me?”