“I Have Seven Times Despised My Soul.”
“The first time was when I saw her feigning humility to rise higher.”
“The second time was when I saw her limp before the lame.”
“The third time was when she was given a choice between difficulty and ease, and chose ease.”
A deep male voice rang out, steady and calm, in the empty room. The man seated on the sofa had his back to the light, which traced a bright outline around him.
His eyes were lowered, his gaze fixed on the black words on the white page. The even tone of his voice concealed any excess emotion. Only the lines of poetry emerged rhythmically, one after another, carried by the vibrations of his vocal cords:
“…She did wrong, then comforted herself by saying that others did the same…”
“…She tolerated weakness, and called that tolerance strength…”
“…She despised an ugly face, not knowing it was another mask of her own…”
“…She sang a hymn, thinking it a virtue…”
He did wrong, then comforted himself by saying that others did the same.
He tolerated weakness, and called that tolerance strength.
Lu Chengyi stared impassively at those few short lines, his deep black eyes utterly still. After a moment, he covered the page with his hand and turned to look at the person on the other end of the sofa.
Lin Luoting was lounging lazily there, barefoot, his calves resting across Lu Chengyi’s thighs. His eyelids were half lowered, his gaze unfocused as it settled on Lu Chengyi’s bobbing Adam’s apple.
When the poem ended, the Adam’s apple stilled.
As if coming back to himself, Lin Luoting opened his eyes. “Finished?”
Lu Chengyi said, “Mm.”
“Kahlil Gibran’s I Have Seven Times Despised My Soul,” he asked with interest. “Why did you choose this one?”
Lu Chengyi pulled his lips into a mocking smile and looked at him coldly. “What do you think?”
“I think,” Lin Luoting replied with a pleased little smile, “you made a decision that makes me happy.”
It was an ordinary transaction, nothing more. Both parties were willing, and each got what they wanted. Lin Luoting really didn’t understand why Lu Chengyi was examining himself so closely.
Twisting around, Lin Luoting reached for the small table nearby. The hem of his off-white shirt lifted with the movement, revealing smooth, delicate skin, several shades paler than the fabric.
Lu Chengyi frowned and looked away, uncomfortable.
“Here.”
A hand reached out in front of him.
The glass was seven-tenths full. It held the plain water Lu Chengyi had said he didn’t need, but which Lin Luoting had decided on his own to get for him. Lu Chengyi paused and looked at the person offering it. The other man propped his chin on one hand and gazed at him lazily. When their eyes met, he tilted his head in puzzlement.
Lu Chengyi took the glass and sipped. This man really didn’t seem like a company president who’d built everything from scratch. He was more like a pampered, willful young master.
With another man’s feet still resting across his lap, he held the glass after drinking, his posture a little awkward.
“I should go.” Lu Chengyi glanced at the clock on the wall.
“Go? Where?” Lin Luoting’s brows drew together, and even his delight at seeing the human obediently drink his water ebbed away.
Lu Chengyi didn’t care whether Lin Luoting was happy or not. He spoke as if giving a work report. “I auditioned for a third male lead yesterday. I want to spend the next few days at the company practicing my lines and acting.”
Lin Luoting perked up. “For Fang Yiming’s drama?”
Lu Chengyi said, “Mm.”
So Lu Chengyi had already crossed paths with Fang Yiming yesterday?
In the novel, after the male lead Lu Chengyi rejected the villain’s offer to keep him and was threatened, Fang Yiming recognized his talent and cast him as the male lead. He became an overnight sensation.
Lin Luoting wasn’t worried about Lu Chengyi becoming famous. He held the man’s weakness in his hands. Until Lu Chengyi was claimed by the Lu family, Lin Luoting had the winning card.
As for what would happen after Lu Chengyi was claimed by the Lu family… That was still a long way off. Maybe Lin Luoting would have grown bored by then.
“Have you heard back yet?” Lin Luoting asked.
“No.”
In other words, Lu Chengyi still didn’t know he’d been chosen for the male lead.
Good thing Lin Luoting hadn’t dragged things out too long. If Lu Chengyi had already gotten the news, he might not have agreed to his conditions so readily.
“You can go to your class this afternoon,” Lin Luoting said, taking his feet off the man’s lap and slipping on his slippers as he stood. “You should have lunch with me first. After class, bring your things over.”
His tone left no room for refusal. He clearly had no intention of bargaining with Lu Chengyi.
Lu Chengyi lowered his eyes and considered it for a moment. He’d only just signed with the company and didn’t have many friends. No one would care where he went. His family didn’t follow the entertainment industry, so he didn’t need to worry about them for now. The only person he had to consider was Zhou Miao.
When he’d been at a loss over his mother’s exorbitant medical bills, Zhou Miao had given him a hand. He didn’t want Zhou Miao to know about his relationship with Lin Luoting.
After deciding how to handle it, Lu Chengyi set down the book and glass and followed the person ahead of him.
While Lin Luoting and Lu Chengyi were “talking” in the study, Han Meimei had been waiting dutifully outside the door in case her boss suddenly called for her.
The study was well soundproofed. Even holding her breath and straining her ears, Han Meimei couldn’t hear a single word from inside. After waiting for a while, she got bored and found herself something to do.
So when Lin Luoting opened the door, he saw his budget-edition butler standing by the wall, head bowed as she wrote furiously in a notebook.
The sudden opening of the door startled Han Meimei. She looked up at her boss. His steps were steady, his face bright and cheerful…
Then she looked at Lu Chengyi, two steps behind him. His steps were just as steady, but his expression was “dejected and forlorn”…
With a slap, she clutched the notebook tight against her chest.
Her exaggerated reaction caught Lin Luoting’s attention. He glanced at the notebook and asked casually, “What’s that?”
Han Meimei gave an embarrassed smile, but her stiff mouth wouldn’t let her manage such a difficult expression. She could only shake her head and change the subject. “Mr. Lin, lunch is ready.”
From what she’d learned about her boss lately, he rarely cared about anything besides himself.
Sure enough, after she said that, he walked off without even breaking stride.
Once Lu Chengyi had passed too, Han Meimei quietly let out a breath and lowered her notebook. On its white pages was the result of her work.
At the top, she’d written: Boss and His Little Lover: One Day
Below it was a sketch. The setting was the study. A little figure in a black jacket had a little figure in an off-white shirt backed into the corner by the bookshelves, one hand braced against the wall and the other lifting his chin in a handsome wall pin.
Thinking back to what she’d just seen, Han Meimei murmured, conflicted, “Did I get them backwards?”
No way. How could a man that dominant be the bottom?
She checked her watch to confirm the time, then angrily added the last detail at the bottom of the page: Study play, duration: 1 hour and 5 minutes.
That’s a long time.
“Han Meimei.” The person at the top of the stairs suddenly stopped.
Han Meimei’s heart nearly stopped. She jerked her head up. “Yes!”
Lin Luoting said, “Bring me the revised contract I asked you to work on yesterday after we finish lunch.”
“Of course, Mr. Lin.”
She watched her boss go downstairs without moving a muscle. Once she was sure he wouldn’t suddenly turn around, Han Meimei exhaled and pressed a hand to her chest. Her heart was pounding so hard it seemed ready to leap out of her rib cage.
My poor little heart. I couldn’t take another scare like that.
Lunch consisted of three dishes and a soup. Since no one had told the cook in advance, there wasn’t quite enough rice.
Lin Luoting said to Lu Chengyi, “I’ll have someone make you a bowl of noodles.”
Lu Chengyi shook his head. “No need.”
Worried the other man might pull another plain-water stunt, he added, “If I’m going to start filming soon, I have to watch my weight.”
He sounded very confident that he’d be joining the cast.
But that was practically a foregone conclusion, so Lin Luoting didn’t press him.
They moved to the small tea room where people went to relax after eating. Han Meimei brought over printed copies of the contract right on cue. Lin Luoting slid one across to Lu Chengyi. “Take a look.”
Two years. That was about how long it would take for the Lu family to discover Lu Chengyi existed.
Lu Chengyi found it a little amusing. Something that wasn’t exactly honorable had been arranged like a legitimate business deal, complete with a contract to sign. He looked through it. The points he cared about had all been clearly marked, so he picked up the pen and signed his name.
His handwriting was bold and sweeping, every stroke sharp and precise.
Then he capped the pen and looked up, his tone firm. “I’m going to the company.”
It was a statement of what he’d do, not a question or a request.
Lin Luoting met his intensely predatory gaze. He looked the man in the eye, then only tilted his head and said, “Han Meimei, arrange a car to take him to the company.”
Lin Luoting had backed down, and the taut string inside Lu Chengyi loosened a little. Agreeing to the contract didn’t mean he was going to waste all his time on this man.
A discreet black Maybach soon pulled up at the foot of the steps in front of the Lin Residence. Lu Chengyi changed his shoes and left. From beginning to end, he wasn’t arrogant, but he wasn’t exactly polite either.
He didn’t have a shred of the self-awareness a kept lover ought to have.
Han Meimei nervously stole a glance at her boss.
Lin Luoting changed his shoes unhurriedly. Just before leaving, he said with a lazy air, “Good-looking people always get a few privileges, don’t they?”
You’re the boss. Whatever you say goes.
Early April wasn’t very warm yet. Han Meimei wasn’t going with him to the company, so Lin Luoting stepped out into the sunlight alone. When he reached the parking area, he happened to see Lu Chengyi getting out of the car.
Mm. Lu Chengyi had realized Lin Luoting was going to the company with him.
A smile touched Lin Luoting’s lips. “Get in.”
Lu Chengyi gave him a cool glance.
They sat side by side in the back seat. The partition in front was raised, hiding whatever happened behind it from view.
Lin Luoting rested his head on the man’s shoulder and closed his eyes sleepily. As he breathed, he caught the scent of a blend of fir, pine resin, and a faint trace of rum.
His drowsiness grew heavier.
But the body beneath his head was stiff as a stone. He patted the man’s leg, his voice laced with displeasure. “You’re too stiff. It’s not comfortable.”
Lin Luoting didn’t know when Lu Chengyi finally relaxed. He fell asleep right after saying that.
When he woke again, a man’s voice reached his ears, ingratiating but cautious. “Boss Lin, we’re here.”
Lin Luoting frowned and opened his eyes. He was alone in the spacious back seat, leaning against the soft upholstery. The man who should have been acting as his pillow was gone.
He rubbed his stiff neck, then reached out and pressed the button to lower the partition.
The driver sat ramrod straight in the driver’s seat. Lin Luoting asked, “How long ago did he leave?”
The driver replied cautiously, “About two or three minutes ago.” Then he glanced quickly in the rearview mirror. “He asked me to wake you after he’d left.”
What was that about?
Lin Luoting nodded absently, told the driver to pick him up after work, then got out and headed into the company.
Secretary Lu Heng got the message and came down in the elevator to meet him. When he saw Lin Luoting, he couldn’t help staring for a moment.
Boss Lin hadn’t come into the office once since he’d collapsed and gone home the previous week. This was the first time Lu Heng had seen him.
Boss Lin had changed a lot. The most obvious difference was that he looked younger, and more handsome. He was dressed casually, and looked every bit as good as some of the artists in the company who made a living off their looks.
Though Boss Lin didn’t make a living off his looks. Even comparing him to those artists was doing him a disservice.
Once they were in the CEO’s office, Secretary Lu Heng, dressed like a buttoned-up, ascetic executive, pushed up his glasses. “Boss Lin, there’s a partnership with Jinlin Pictures that needs your personal review.”
Had Boss Lin been practicing some kind of magic at home this past week? Lu Heng couldn’t help letting his thoughts wander.
“Jinlin Pictures?” The name sounded a little familiar. Lin Luoting tapped the desk. “Forget that for now. Pull up someone’s contract for me.”
Secretary Lu asked, “What’s the name?”
“Lu Chengyi. His agent is Zhou Miao.”
Secretary Lu, whose business skills were excellent, soon found the information Lin Luoting wanted. Standing by the desk, he said, “Lu Chengyi, twenty years old. He just signed this month, C-tier contract. Oh, he’s also a top student at T University. We could make something of his academic background.”
He analyzed the details without thinking.
Lin Luoting said, “Prepare an A-tier contract for him.”
“Boss Lin?” Secretary Lu was surprised.
He took another careful look at the file in his hands. Lu Chengyi didn’t have a single project to his name. Aside from his looks, what made him stand out enough to catch Boss Lin’s attention?
What he didn’t know was that Lu Chengyi’s face was exactly what had caught Lin Luoting’s eye.
Lu Chengyi’s clean-cut headshot was open on the computer screen. Lin Luoting said, “He auditioned for Fang Yiming’s new drama. If nothing unexpected happens, he’ll play the male lead. Give him the contract after the news comes out.”
Secretary Lu understood. So Boss Lin saw potential in him. “Understood, Boss Lin.”
Then he swiftly set a stack of accumulated files in front of Lin Luoting, his lips curving into a kind smile. “Boss Lin, these need your approval.”
Lin Luoting: “…” Even the headshot couldn’t save his terrible mood.
The real thing might be worth considering, though.
But Lu Chengyi was downstairs in class right now, probably wishing he’d never have to see Lin Luoting again.
Lin Luoting spent the afternoon working in a foul mood. It wasn’t until nearly quitting time that his spirits lifted. He pushed the work aside and stood up briskly. He was going to take his human home to warm his bed~