“…”
Assistant Jiang’s words were like a meteorite crashing into a calm lake.
Zhao Yisen frantically tried to silence his phone, but before he could reach it, the pocket of his trousers emitted a cheerful ringtone.
“Betraying my love~ leaving me behind~”
“I am the last to know the truth, and my tears fall down~”
This was the ringtone China Mobile had just given him a couple of days ago.
Hearing the upbeat music, Jiang Mingze, standing directly in front of Gu Jia, petrified on the spot.
He subconsciously looked toward the source of the sound.
There was a gap between the brown wooden panel of the desk and the floor. In the black shadows, he could barely make out the silhouette of a brown leather shoe.
He recognized that shoe very well.
It was the pair Young Master Yi liked the most.
President Gu, Young Master Yi, the office, under the desk…
!!! Jiang Mingze’s world went black; he dared not think any further.
Maintaining the posture of an ostrich with his head down, he retreated all the way to the door. Even then, he dutifully tried to give Gu Jia an out: “It must… it must be that Young Master Yi forgot his phone here.”
…He shouldn’t have been in the car; he should have been under the car!
“President Gu, th-then I’ll leave first.”
With his bangs covering his eyes, Jiang Mingze bowed abruptly, closed the door, and hopped away like a grasshopper.
Gu Jia: “…”
After a long moment, the man lowered his eyes, his gaze landing once again on the space beneath the desk.
Clutching his phone, Zhao Yisen crawled out from inside, burning with shame and fury.
All I wanted to do was come and get my seal!
Gu Jia’s position blocked his path, and Zhao Yisen said weakly, “President Gu, could you please move…”
Gu Jia, his eyes still holding an ambiguous intensity, sneered as he stared at Zhao Yisen’s light purple eyes. “Aren’t you going to continue?”
Zhao Yisen: ?
“!!!” Suddenly recalling the scene of him kneeling on the floor, colorful fireworks exploded in Zhao Yisen’s mind.
His face was as red as a boiled shrimp. Gu Jia’s twisted pleasure was instantly satisfied. However, the moment he thought about who Yisen had come for, the look of satisfaction vanished.
For the sake of Lu Ming, Yisen was actually willing to go this far.
Gu Jia’s heart felt as if it had been pricked by a needle.
“…”
Zhao Yisen was still half-kneeling on the ground. Just as he opened his mouth to explain and incidentally to condemn the “yellow filth” in Gu Jia’s brain he saw the CEO suddenly lean over and kneel down as well.
A large hand gripped Zhao Yisen’s neck. That handsome face loomed close, delivering a strong visual impact. Gu Jia’s dark golden eyes flickered with a complex interplay of resentment, conflict, and hesitation.
“Mmph…”
Being gripped like this, Zhao Yisen’s eyes widened suddenly. Gu Jia’s fingers were a bit rough, rubbing against his jaw and making it itch.
The man’s gaze seemed to pierce through his exterior, striking deep into his heart.
In the narrow space, Zhao Yisen could hear his own heartbeat, which felt as if it were about to explode.
Before Gu Jia could make his next move, the phone rang again. This time, it felt like a lifeline thrown to him by the heavens.
“Cough, cough…”
Subconsciously answering the call, Zhao Yisen grabbed Gu Jia’s wrist, signaling him to let go first.
But Gu Jia did not let go; instead, he stared intently at Zhao Yisen’s lips with burning eyes.
“…”
The signal on the other end of the line was poor, and the audio was crackling with static. Zhao Yisen couldn’t hear what the person was saying.
The air under the desk was stifling. Zhao Yisen felt dizzy, and his fingers, which were gripping the phone, gradually lost their strength. He felt as if something was about to happen, yet he was powerless to stop it.
In Zhao Yisen’s twenty-plus years of life, he had never experienced a feeling like this.
“…Hello?”
Only when the voice on the other end gradually became clear aged and resonant did the spell break.
“Hello? Little Yi!”
Hearing this voice, Gu Jia froze, and his hand, which had been gripping Zhao Yisen, loosened.
Gaining breathing room, Zhao Yisen coughed twice and tentatively replied, “President Huang?”
President Huang chuckled twice. “It’s me. Little Yi, I’ve considered the matter you mentioned. Bring the detailed proposal, and let’s discuss it tonight.”
The good news came so unexpectedly that Zhao Yisen didn’t react immediately. “Huh? Oh, yes, of course.”
After a few more pleasantries, he hung up the phone.
While he was on the call, Zhao Yisen’s neck had still been lightly pinched by Gu Jia. The young man’s jawline was smooth, and his Adam’s apple, separated by fair skin, bobbed up and down, as nimble as a living creature.
“…”
As soon as the call ended, Gu Jia abruptly let go and stood up, only to notice something gripped in Zhao Yisen’s hand.
It was… the personal seal of the CEO of Shanhe Real Estate.
A simple deduction was completed in his mind in an instant. Another possibility flickered past, and Gu Jia’s expression turned somewhat ugly.
Though he didn’t want to admit it, it appeared that things were not as he had imagined.
On the other side, because he had been hiding under the desk for too long, Zhao Yisen’s legs were too numb to stand.
He struggled to crawl forward a few steps, controlling the original owner’s clumsy motor skills, feeling as though his limbs were flailing about like an octopus.
Gu Jia couldn’t bear to watch any longer and bent down to scoop him up.
Zhao Yisen felt two large hands clamp onto his shoulders, pulling him up and pressing his lower back lightly against the desk.
The coolness of the desk edge made Zhao Yisen instinctively want to pull away.
“You contacted President Huang?”
After a long pause, Gu Jia spoke, his dark golden eyes staring directly at him.
“Y-Yes.”
Zhao Yisen averted his gaze uncomfortably. “The funding chain for the villa project was broken, and the company doesn’t have the cash flow for the time being, so I thought I’d see if I could find someone to help…”
Find someone, to help.
Gu Jia let go, savoring the four words.
He had clearly been in the meeting room earlier, demanding that his subordinates terminate the contract. Now, however, he felt a simmering anger simply because Yisen had had no intention of asking him for help.
Gu Jia’s voice carried a hint of sarcasm, as if masking some sort of emotion: “Then why didn’t you come to me?”
?
Zhao Yisen blinked innocently, saying weakly, “Isn’t this my company?”
Whoever owned the company was responsible for it. Besides, if he really couldn’t think of a way, he certainly would have come to Gu Jia.
“…”
The sound of a helicopter roaring past could be heard outside the floor-to-ceiling window.
Zhao Yisen’s words were so logical that they were impossible to refute.
Gu Jia was suddenly so angry he wanted to laugh, the slight curl of his lips glinting coldly. He abruptly changed the subject.
“…Do you think you can solve the problem just by finding President Huang?”
Meeting the CEO’s gaze, Zhao Yisen heard the subtext.
Providing cash for procurement or raw materials was a significant expense. Although President Huang was a good man, he wouldn’t easily offer help based on just a few meetings.
Zhao Yisen wasn’t stupid; he knew exactly what Gu Jia was pointing out.
However, he had his own methods.
“…”
Gu Jia sneered. He knew Zhao Yisen hadn’t understood his implication.
The next moment, he raised his hand and dialed a number, expressionless. “Mingze, bring me the things you found.”
…
Hurrying over from the end of the corridor, Jiang Mingze trembled as he pushed open the glass door.
The moment he looked up, he saw “Young Master Yi” by the desk, his eyes misty, his cheeks flushed, and his suit pants wrinkled at the knees.
Even though he had prepared himself psychologically, Jiang Mingze felt his heart couldn’t take it. He glanced at the expansive floor-to-ceiling window in front of them and gasped.
He placed the documents Gu Jia had requested on the desk, took a step back, and lowered his head, stammering a suggestion: “Pr-President Gu, do you… do you need me to have someone install curtains tomorrow?”
“…” Gu Jia cast a cold glare in his direction.
Jiang Mingze instantly fell silent and consciously retreated out of the door.
Gu Jia picked up the documents on the desk.
“The procurement of raw materials for the villa project has always been handled by Qian Zheng. Though he has a quick temper, he isn’t that stupid. That subordinate who could hide their embezzlement from him for so long, who clearly had the chance to make another profit, why did they suddenly run away? And the timing happens to coincide perfectly with when you took over Shanhe Real Estate.”
“Furthermore, is Qian Zheng’s word really that reliable?” Gu Jia sneered. “Whether that person only took the money for raw material supplies, or if they emptied the entire project’s reserve fund who can say for sure?”
Gu Jia paused, his tone shifting.
“…If it’s the latter, how do you intend to take responsibility?”
Gu Jia’s words were like bullets fired through the air. Zhao Yisen was accustomed to solving problems as they appeared and never looked too deeply into things. With Gu Jia pointing this out, a chill gradually spread through his heart.
The situation seemed much more serious than he had imagined.
The worst-case scenario: the raw material procurement manager running off with the money was just the beginning. He had inherited an bottomless pit.
Zhao Yisen suddenly felt his head spinning.
As a college student, he had never been exposed to this level of trickery, complex situations, and lies hidden behind smiling faces…
Who he should ask for help was self-evident.
But at this moment, Zhao Yisen just couldn’t bring himself to say it.
Under Gu Jia’s gaze, he coughed guiltily a few times. “Thank you for the reminder, President Gu. I’ll go back now and discuss it with the people underneath me, to see how we should…”
Before he could finish, Gu Jia suddenly took a step forward. “Do you think Lu Ming can help you?”
Zhao Yisen was stunned: …
When did I mention Lu Ming?
“Hmm…”
But Lu Ming was quite reliable, Zhao Yisen thought; perhaps he really could get some advice from him.
He didn’t know how this silence triggered Gu Jia’s nerves, but the scene from his dreams resurfaced. Under the moonlight, Lu Ming reached out to touch Yisen’s hair, and the two shared intimate moments in a narrow room, completely lost in pleasure.
A nameless fire surged in his heart. Without warning, he grabbed Zhao Yisen and pinned him against the desk.
By the time Zhao Yisen reacted, one of his hands was resting on Gu Jia’s shoulder, and his waist was being firmly held in place.
Those hands were scorching hot, so hot they made him panic.
Before he could resist, Gu Jia suddenly pressed his face against his neck.
“…My dear, I am very sad.”
The man’s voice was low. This was the first time he had ever addressed him like that.
It wasn’t that they hadn’t been this close before, but this time felt different. Zhao Yisen felt a fear instinctual, like a herbivore facing a predator.
The feeling made his scalp tingle, and he trembled slightly.
Gu Jia continued: “In this marriage, we actually lack the most basic trust.”
The man’s breath hit his sensitive ear, tickling him.
Zhao Yisen’s fingertips shook. He swallowed, finally remembering where they were.
…Beyond the frosted glass door, Jiang Mingze was still standing in the corridor.
His face exploded in a blush, and he struggled to get off the desk, but was pinned down even more forcefully by Gu Jia. “I read a book recently. It said that trust between husbands needs to be cultivated.”
Footsteps of others could be heard faintly in the corridor.
“Let’s start with skin-to-skin contact.”
Zhao Yisen, perched on the desk, was pulled forward by Gu Jia. His legs were forced apart. The buttons of the white shirt he wore on his upper body were buttoned all the way to the top, yet he felt a sense of naked shame.
One of Gu Jia’s hands slowly reached inside from the hem of his shirt, and he turned his head to kiss the side of Zhao Yisen’s neck.
Mmph…
Zhao Yisen’s vision gradually blurred. His remaining rational mind ordered him to push Gu Jia away immediately, but he couldn’t do it.
Every nerve in his brain was electrifying.
It wasn’t until Assistant Jiang’s voice came faintly from outside the door that Zhao Yisen finally regained a sliver of clarity.
“…Mr. Lu?”
…Someone was coming in?
While his consciousness remained blurred, Zhao Yisen began to struggle slightly, only to be suppressed once more by great force.
“…”
Just before the glass door was pushed open by Lu Ming, Gu Jia lifted Zhao Yisen’s chin, staring at his lips with turbulent eyes.
The next second, he kissed him deeply.