Chapter 27
At last, Qu Xueyu flashed a faint smile as he looked at the teenager and asked knowingly, “That kid is definitely a person who knows how to repay his debts, right?”
Lu Bai nodded subconsciously, “Right… yeah, ah? You, what do you want?”
Qu Xueyu raised an eyebrow, measuring the young man’s body up and down with his eyes, as if he was considering where to eat first.
Although Lu Bai has not yet recovered his wits, the other man’s gaze caused his scalp to tingle. He subconsciously tried to step back, but his waist hit the stone railing, leaving him with nowhere to go. Qu Xueyu took a step forward, their distance now frighteningly close. Lu Bai held his breath, eyes wide open and staring blankly at the other.
“Xiao Bai. What do you think I want?” Qu Xueyu questioned, looking straight into the teenager’s eyes.
“Qin, Qin Gu?” Lu Bai subconsciously replied.
Qu Xueyu smiled kindly but it made Lu Bai’s hair stand straight up, then he said: “Congratulations. You guessed it wrong.”
Lu Bai: “…?” He felt that his brain had become a muddled mess. He couldn’t think. He wanted to retreat further, but his back was already hurting from being pressed against the stone railing, and he couldn’t move. He suddenly realized that for what he had done to the other, he could be considering retaliation, so he blurted out. “It can’t be to beat me up, right? If… if you want to beat me up, you can do it.” He then closed his eyes tightly and looked like he was preparing for death: “You can hit my face, too.”
Qu Xueyu: “…”
Qu Xueyu quietly stared at the teenager’s pursed lips; the small lip bead1A Lip bead is commonly on a cupid bow mouth shape. It is the middle of the top lip, and it dips a bit forming a ‘bead’ and it is considered very attractive, so much so people often get surgery to have one. on his lips was so very cute and tempting. As he continued to silently look at the teenager, his heart softened in the end. He took a step back and said softly, “Don’t hate me anymore.”
Lu Bai stiffened before slowly cracking one eye open to peak at Qu Xueyu. Then he opened both of his eyes as he nodded his agreement: This is great too! He originally did not hate Qu Xueyu. Not to mention that the other party was his life-saving benefactor.
Qu Xueyu saw the teenager nodding and then added: “No more pairing me and Qin Gu together.”
Lu Bai’s eyebrows twitched in puzzlement, and his eyes were a bit hesitant—after all, the main character Gong and the main character Shou seemed to be in the cultivation period of mutual understanding right now; after the cultivation period was the honeymoon period.
Qu Xueyu’s eyes narrowed dangerously, and Lu Bai nodded nervously.
“The third thing,” Qu Xueyu looked at the teenager’s lovely lip bead and opened his mouth. In his heart, he exclaimed ‘I want to kiss you’, but instead he exhaled, “Give me that glass of champagne you’re holding.”
“Eh?” Lu Bai blinked and looked at the glass of champagne in his hand…which he hadn’t had time to even take a sip, before handing it over. “Here.” After a second, he added: “You can drink it; I have definitely not touched it.”
Qu Xueyu: “…”
He gently sighed but still took the glass from the other. Then, as if taking a gamble, he drank it like a shot. The ice-cold alcohol flowed down his throat, and all the agitation this teenager caused him was somewhat pacified.
Lu Bai couldn’t help but watch Qu Xueyu’s elegant yet bold and wilful drinking posture. His Xiao Ruan and Qu Xueyu were too much alike. He wondered what Xiao Ruan looked like while he was drinking… He couldn’t help but curl his lips into a soft smile thinking about it.
With that glass of champagne, Qu Xueyu felt a little warmer. He loosened his tie and saw that the teenager was staring at him. Probably a little buzzed, he smiled and asked, “Xiao Bai. For you, who am I?”
Lu Bai subconsciously blurted out, “Substitute.”
Qu Xueyu: “…”
Lu Bai quickly reacted and clarified while waving his hands about, “No! No, you’re not his substitute. He’s one of a kind.” There was a pause before he added: “Of course, you are also unique.”
Finally understanding who the other was looking at through him, Qu Xueyu nodded with mixed feelings and asked: “He is very important to you?”
Lu Bai stilled and nodded solemnly; his eyes were shining like the stars in the sky and said seriously, “Extremely important.”
The corners of Qu Xueyu’s mouth twitched as he said, “Good.”
No sooner had the words been spoken than Qu Xueyu’s brow furrowed slightly. Suddenly, he felt a little dizzy, and his body felt unusually hot. He took off his jacket and put it on his arm, the cool autumn breeze brushed over his body, but his neck and cheeks burned even more.
“What’s wrong with you?” Lu Bai saw that the other was not in good shape. He hurriedly went forward to check, and when he saw the other’s flushed face and his crimson-lined eyes, his pupils shrank, and he reached up to touch the other’s forehead: It was really hot!
Qu Xueyu was now breathing heavily, and his body was trembling. Looking into Lu Bai’s eyes made him feel even more terrifyingly hot, but he took a deep breath and retreated two steps away from the other. Forcing a smile, he replied, “Xiao Bai, get out of here.” He paused to take a deep breath and added: “I’m not feeling well. I will look for my own room after you leave, I’ll be fine after I get some sleep.”
He glanced at the now empty glass in his hand, and his eyes were a little cold. Who was it that gave Lu Bai such a dirty, nasty drug at his mother’s party? For some reason, he thought of that masked waiter he had bumped into coming to the terrace, and his eyes became even colder.
Lu Bai stepped forward to support Qu Xueyu, pursing his lips. “I’ll help you back to your room.” A few of the upper floors of the hotel were reserved as rooms for guests to rest if needed, and Qu Xueyu was obviously not feeling well, so he couldn’t leave him here all alone.
What’s more – Lu Bai glanced at the empty glass and his eyes chilled – there was most likely something wrong with the drink he had given to Qu Xueyu. It must have been laced with a quick-acting drug of some type.
Qu Xueyu gazed dazedly at Lu Bai’s worried face and forced a weak smile, “It’s alright, I just need to get some rest.” He said that, but his forehead was starting to bead with cold sweat. The young man was too close to him. He could smell the sweet fragrance from his body. His lovely lips were so close that as long as he wanted to, he could just lean over and kiss. Qu Xueyu swallowed—his eyes were terribly dark, but in the end, he restrained himself; the young man hadn’t given him permission, and he could not.
Lu Bai regarded Qu Xueyu’s more alluring figure because of his sensual state and then frowned slightly. Qu Xueyu is a public figure whose presence anywhere is highly visible. Not far away, the banquet hall is still full of lights and laughter. Even though this venue has good security and privacy, if someone attending sees this appearance and spreads it, there is no telling what those people outside will say.
Thinking of a plan, Lu Bai pulled the jacket from Qu Xueyu’s arms and covered his head, hiding his lust-stained face tightly. If someone asked him about it he would say that Qu Xueyu was allergic to alcohol and that he was helping him to rest. As an actor, he naturally would not want the outside world to see his allergic appearance, which made it the best excuse. As for how they would speculate about his relationship with Qu Xueyu afterward, he no longer cared, his second uncle would help him with that.
Compared to the explosive news that Qu Xueyu had been slipped an illegal drug, some random people’s speculation about their relationship was irrelevant. What’s more, all the guests today were prominent figures in Jinghai, and they would not dare to offend both the Lu and Qu families because of some speculation that was not even a scandal.
All ready, Lu Bai then turned and braced Qu Xueyu on his shoulder. Wrapping his arm around the other and feeling the radiating heat and his increasingly heavy breathing, he knew he must be uncomfortable now, and he reassured him: “Don’t worry, I’ll take you to your room to rest.”
Qu Xueyu leaned against Lu Bai’s shoulder, helplessly thinking about how to get the teenager out of his room as soon as possible after. Otherwise… he didn’t want to think about what he might do.
Almost everyone in the hall was gathered by the stage where Ming Yan—the star of the night—was talking about the story behind one of her paintings. Seeing that most of the guests were focused on his mother, Lu Bai breathed a sigh of relief as he guided the way from an inconspicuous corner toward the hall’s entrance.
From her vantage point on the stage, Ming Yan glimpsed her son’s figure leading a covered man out and froze. Her heart swelled with worry before she met her son’s eyes. Lu Bai, who was carefully holding up Qu Xueyu, looked at his mother and put a finger to the middle of his lips with a plea visible in his eyes. Ming Yan’s eyes narrowed but still reluctantly smiled and nodded; her face maintained a light smile and continued her speech.
~~~~~~~
The guests of the banquet should have been provided with accommodation on the upper floors, and it was said that there would be hotel staff guarding the entrance to the elevator on those floors so that guests who needed it could get their room cards directly from the attendant. It was already a little late at night and thankfully, Lu Bai found that there were no people in the corridor as he helped Qu Xueyu walk into the elevator.
The elevator door opened, and there was indeed an attendant posted at the door. When he saw Lu Bai and the covered man beside him, he was confused; this was different from what he had been told. His boss had said that there would be a man bringing Lu Bai here before the party was over, and he should bring them to Qin’s room as planned.
But now, it’s clearly not ‘A man with Lu Bai’, but ‘Lu Bai with a man’.
“I am a guest from the 15th floor, please open a room for me.” Lu Bai stated.
The floor attendant frowned slightly but still put his doubts behind him. Whatever, it didn’t matter who was leading whom. In any case, it was indeed ‘Lu Bai and a man’, and as long as he followed what came next, he would get a large sum of money. So he gave a faint smile and said, “Please, follow me.”
Lu Bai followed the attendant to a room, where the attendant took out a door card and opened the door, “Please, come in. Have a pleasant evening.”
Lu Bai took the room card with one hand and said thanks as he helped the man whose head was covered by a jacket into the room.
The attendant regarded the closed door with a feeling of unease but still sent the word “completed” to his boss. And, he asked for the rest of the money as part of their deal.
Along with this message came another on Xiao Yang’s phone: “Xiao Yang, I’ll go back to the terrace. Lu Bai has disappeared – from Chen Ming.”
~~~~~~
After entering the suite, Lu Bai inserted the door card with the light in the living room turning on. 2Ok, so.. this didn’t make any sense to me until I remembered a few scenes from some movies/shows I watched years ago. As it’s not something we have in America I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to talk about it right but here’s what I can recall. Utilities are pre-purchased in some places onto either a rechargeable card or a just like one-time use one. You take these cards and insert them into card readers inside your apartment/home and your lights/water then work. In cases like hotels you use the key card you use to unlock the door to turn the stuff on. If any of that is wrong I apologize. Also, my editor Krone has informed me that even if you check in alone and get 2 cards( very common) you can also sometimes use a playing card. He helped Qu Xueyu to walk in the direction of the bedroom, and because his view was blocked by the other’s body, he did not see the briefcase on the sofa in the living room.
When they reached the bedroom, Lu Bai tried to carefully help Qu Xueyu down onto the bed.
“Hmm…”
With a soft clatter, Qu Xueyu collapsed on the soft bed with Lu Bai in his hold.
Lu Bai looked at Qu Xueyu who was pressing down on his body—his pupils shrank, and he subconsciously swallowed; this Qu Xueyu, he felt, was a little scary.
Qu Xueyu propped up his body with his elbows bent and his eyes closed, his favorite and most cherished youth was now close enough that he could be easily grasped. His chest heaved with his heavy breathing and his body was also scorching, his forehead glistened with sweat, next was that he opened his eyes and stared at the youth trapped beneath him, his eyes ebbing and flowing with lust and desire.
He slowly raised a hand, wanting to touch the boy’s face, touch those lovely lips. No, not just touch. He wanted to kiss him—wanted to kiss his lips, kiss his collarbone, kiss every inch of his body, he also wanted to…
Lu Bai had not had time to turn on the bedroom light, so the whole room was left dark and ambiguous.
“You, what are you doing?” Lu Bai’s voice trembled a little.
They were so very close and the hot breath of the youth grazed his face. When the sweat from his forehead fell and dripped onto the other’s nose, Lu Bai’s entire body felt like it had been electrified. He wanted to push the other man away, but his strength was so great that he couldn’t move.
Lu Bai finally realized that he had been confined under Qu Xueyu’s body. His eyes widened, and he started to toss his body, trying to escape but found that he could not break free.
Qu Xueyu’s burning, hot breathing sprayed over Lu Bai’s ears and blended with his own breathing, giving him a faint illusion of familiarity. The darkness in the room did not seem to end, and Lu Bai’s heart tinged with fear.
His voice was trembling slightly as he felt himself starting to panic, and almost subconsciously, he blurted out, “Xiao Ruan!” Like a plea for help that could evoke anyone’s compassion.
Qu Xueyu’s eyes fluttered, and finally, a moment of clarity came to his mind. He took a deep breath and lifted up from the teenager, then turned on the bedside lamp. He rubbed his disheveled hair, and the end of his eyes was red and frightening. As he dropped his body into the chair next to the bed, he looked at the teenager who was lying there in a daze; the other’s hair was in a mess, and his face was dyed red but with a little fear and aggression. Qu Xueyu’s heart ached. He pinched his eyebrows, followed with his eyes closing and opening up again, and said in a hoarse voice: “Leave.”
Authors Note
Authors Self Promotion
The author has something to say:
The Special Issue of “Delusions of Love” is a new article! Thank you, Bixin(TN: Not this fingers crossed emoji but, the name of the finger heart emoji) ~
The text is as follows:
As a stand-in for the male protagonist who is going to cross over to this world, Li Yule is coerced by the male protagonist’s plug-in to save the spare tires for the male protagonist.
He rescued the movie star who was down and out on the streets, helped the protagonist’s senior who was still a poor boy at the time and was forced to do good deeds without leaving a name to take care of the sick boss. Naturally, the movie star, the senior, and the boss, all think the protagonist is their white moonlight.
The worst thing is that Li Xianle is also forced to suffer from lovesickness, and every day he is forced to express his love and affection to the movie star, the senior, and the boss who loathes him.
He is no better than a silly lapdog.
However, the fact that his own father did not love him, his own mother was murdered, and he was forced to be a simpering lapdog is not acceptable. So, Li Xianle kept a small record in his heart every day.
Life was so miserable, but fortunately, he picked up a sweet little wolf cub as his companion at home, and his incomparably cute little niece accompanied him. A big house, a wolf cub, a small niece, and a round cat. Even if it is a little flawed, it is also a heavenly existence.
But the good times did not last long. One day, the protagonist finally came to this world, and so, the world of Li Xianle instantly turned upside down. The protagonist moved his fingers and obtained the property of Li Xianle’s father, occupied the large four-bedroom house left to him by Li Xianle’s mother, his cat was snatched away, the little niece fell ill, and the little wolf cub disappeared. By the end of the day, Li Xianle had lost everything.
Then the control of the main character’s plug-in is finally lifted.
The next day, the poor man, Li Yule, sneered and smashed the protagonist’s right eye socket, and then began to calculate one-by-one the accounts listed in his ledger.
And then—those men, who originally hated him to the core, looked at him more and more wrong and even had to painfully confess to him ……
In this regard, Li Xianle was expressionless: “Oh. Actually not necessary.”
……
One day, the man who is said to be the protagonist’s destined cp returns from abroad, and it is said that the man is deeply in love with the protagonist, but the more he looks at the man, the more he looks like his lost wolf cub.
When he was blocked by the handsome man at the door, Li Yule’s throat moved – his long-cured lovesickness was back – He must like me, he must like me, he can’t dislike me!
T/N Bixin Footnote: “The heart-to-heart gesture is always used by idols, using the thumb and index finger intersecting to form a heart shape to express love for fans or friends. Because when singing, it is easier to compare the heart with the hands than to put the hands on the top of the head. This plus action plus a wink constitutes the meaning of the heart.
In order to pursue a more cute feeling, some netizens wrote “Bixin/比心 ” as ” pen refill /笔心 “, deliberately writing typos to express confusion. Later, it was accepted by more netizens, and the “pen refill” spread.” –Baidu
T/N Story Promotion: Ok, so I translated it, but I can’t actually find the story to link it… the author also has the same thing in the novel summary but once again… CAN’T FIND IT. They did mention the same story in the author notes a few chapters ago but I hadn’t included it then as they stated they had the first chapter written but not posted yet…
Here is release 1 of 2 in thanks for the Kofi “.” gave me!
I do want to say how much I love and appreciate how respectful QXY is about getting LB’s CONSENT! He’s one of very few danmei ML’s that asks for permission, and one of the biggest reasons I picked this up.
Edit: Krone
Proof: Nitta
