Volume 1 - CH 5

After being blown by the cold wind for a night, Gu Yan got sick the next day. He had a cold, a fever, and a sore throat, unable to get up from Qin Zhiyuan’s bed, even finding it difficult to make a mere phone call.

In contrast, Qin Zhiyuan was the picture of health. After he got off work, he even brought Gu Yan a bowl of century egg and pork congee.

Gu Yan sat in bed, eating it spoonful by spoonful, and felt just the slightest bit more alive. It couldn’t be helped, Qin Zhiyuan’s home fridge was beautiful but desolate, completely empty without even the trace of food. Even if he wanted to cook, he had absolutely no way of showing off his skills. He’d probably die from starvation before he died from his sickness.

Qin Zhiyuan waited until he finished eating before reaching out a hand to feel his forehead, saying, “Your fever seems to have gone down.”

Gu Yan’s nasally voice was heavier than usual, and he vaguely made a sound in affirmation. “If you have time tomorrow morning, you should send me home.”

“That early? You still haven’t recovered. Why not stay a few more days?”

“I already took two consecutive days off work. If I don’t go to work tomorrow, then I’m afraid the director will come and kill me.”

Qin Zhiyuan was also someone who put his work first and so nodded, saying, “If you want to go back to work, it’s fine, but we need to see how your health is tomorrow. If you seem OK, then come with me to my office tomorrow to sign a contract first.”

“What kind of contract?”

“Did you forget?” Qin Zhiyuan smiled and looked at him askance. “That clothing brand ambassador that I had you go take a screen test for last time. It’s already been confirmed.”

It was only then that Gu Yan had some faint recollections.

Actually, even if he didn’t remember, it didn’t matter. When it came to the things that Qin Zhiyuan wanted to give him, the other would always neatly and properly handle everything. If this person wanted him to screen test, he’d do a screen test; if Qin Zhiyuan wanted him to sign a contract, then he’d sign. There was nothing to worry about.

So Gu Yan also didn’t ask further. That night, he slept earlier, and when he got up the next day, he found that his health had actually recovered a good bit. It was only that he still had a slight cough.

Even like this, Qin Zhiyuan wasn’t at ease and told him to put on two more layers before finally taking him outside.

In the morning, Gu Yan finished signing the contract, and the moment he got on set in the afternoon, he received roses sent by Qin Zhiyuan. They were pure black in color, very low-key and discreet, so they didn’t attract many people’s attention. Only Zhang Ji, intentionally or otherwise, gave them a few more glances. When he returned home at night, he once again got a call from his manager saying that his work for the latter half of the year had been just about decided. A famous director was planning on shooting a martial arts film, with a famous cast and large production, just saying the amount invested would make people whistle in surprise. It was obvious that it’d definitely attract a large audience.

Gu Yan naturally was set to be the male lead.

Since following Qin Zhiyuan, he had never again had to take a supporting role. His acting was so terrible, yet he was still able to be the lead each and every time. There was naturally no need to say who exactly was putting in the effort.

Gu Yan played around with his cellphone. Right as he was wanting to call a certain person, Qin Zhiyuan actually called first. The voice on the other end of the line was still as gentle as ever, first asking after his health, then emphasizing over and over that he had to drink water and take his medicine, before finally saying that work was too busy and so the visit tonight might be slightly late.

The hidden meaning was that he wouldn’t be able to come over today.

Gu Yan completely understood. After saying a few more words to Qin Zhiyuan, he hung up the phone and then went to the kitchen to make a simple dinner. When he finished eating, he then got into bed.

He had been sleeping very soundly until Qin Zhiyuan woke him up.

When he woke up, his head felt a bit dizzy, and the surroundings were still pitch-black. Upon grabbing his cellphone, he saw that it was two in the morning. The time really was ‘slightly late’, and his house wasn’t very close to the office; it would’ve been easier if Qin Zhiyuan had returned to his own apartment.

“What? Did I wake you up?” Qin Zhiyuan was just taking off his clothes and burrowing into the blankets. Reaching out a hand, he grabbed the other’s waist and said, “It’s still early. Go back to sleep.”

Gu Yan shifted to a more comfortable position and said, “You don’t need to come if it’s this late.”

Qin Zhiyuan used his hands to cover the other’s eyes and said, as if it was a matter of course, “How could I leave a sick person home alone? Hurry and sleep.”

Gu Yan thought it was funny; he hadn’t imagined that such a benefit would come from getting sick. But the familiar warmth really did make him feel at peace, and soon he unconsciously became immersed in dreams once again.

Over the next few days, Gu Yan’s illness kept resurfacing. Although it wasn’t serious, he still couldn’t stop coughing. As such, Qin Zhiyuan ran over every day to make sure he took his medicine and even substituted as a driver to take him to set.

Today was the female lead’s birthday, and after splitting the birthday cake, she even invited everyone to play at a nightclub. Gu Yan was still sick, so he originally hadn’t wanted to go, but if he didn’t even show his face, he was afraid that he’d come off as arrogant and standoffish and so could only agree to go sit for a bit.

It was only when he got there that he began to have regrets.

The ear-splitting music made his ears hurt, the mix of cigarette smoke in the air caused his cough to worsen, and the worst thing was that he even ended up meeting Qin Feng in the hallway. He was holding that long-legged model named Lily, his ice-cold handsome face still the same as before, but the moment he saw Gu Yan, his expression changed, and he ferociously glared, looking as if he wanted to jump over and bite.

How fun.

If Gu Yan had been feeling well, then he would’ve definitely taken the opportunity to tease, but it was a pity that his body wasn’t up to it, and so he simply gave a nod in greeting.

Qin Feng snorted and swaggered off with his head raised. His arrogance hadn’t changed a bit.

Gu Yan then followed everyone into the private room.

The air in the room was somewhat better, but the moment they sat down, someone clamored for a toast. Gu Yan was the male lead, so he was forced to drink several cups, and some people even made a fuss, wanting him to exchange sips with the female lead.[1] He had just taken his cold medicine before coming here, and the minute the alcohol hit his stomach, he felt as if the world was spinning, unable to keep steady on his feet.

When everyone saw his face pale, they all stopped messing with him. Without knowing who had called the server for a warm glass of water, Gu Yan leaned against the sofa drinking it and felt his stomach feeling a bit better. Midway through, he made a trip to the bathroom, and feeling his head spinning even more, he decided to leave first after saying a word to everyone. However, when he went back to the room, he found the entire place completely empty, without a single person around.

What happened?

Did they all go outside to dance?

Gu Yan slowly made his way back to the sofa, feeling as if his thoughts had become very strange, so light and airy that he couldn’t seem to concentrate on anything. This kind of strange feeling felt very familiar, just like, just like…

Gu Yan looked at the empty cup on the table and, in a moment, remembered.

That’s right, it was like he had taken some kind of hallucinogens.

That kind of stuff was available at many nightclubs. After taking it, it’d slow people’s thoughts, giving rise to hallucinations, allowing them to reach greater heights of pleasure when playing, but also probably taking half their life in the process.

He hated those kinds of play the most.

Gu Yan’s mind was a complete mess. Everything in the surroundings jumped hither and thither before his eyes, with even the lights becoming a blurry mess, and he couldn’t help but lean against the sofa again.

He sighed, mostly able to guess what had happened.

Recently, he really had been too flushed with success, so no wonder someone would find him an eyesore and change tactics to teach him a lesson. Who could he blame? The only one he could blame was himself. His guard had been so low that he had never anticipated that someone would want to play this kind of cliché game.

Give him a break, he’d already gotten sick of such games years ago.

Gu Yan steadied his nerves and did his best to calm his breathing. As he walked towards the door, he fished out his phone to make a call, but right as he pushed the door open, he ran into someone.

That person grabbed his phone and threw it to the floor before walking in and locking the door. Gu Yan narrowed his eyes and, after a lot of effort, was finally able to see the other’s face clearly — that handsome and attractive face.

Ah, so it turned out to be Qin Feng.

This kind of childish move actually suited him quite well.

With his normal strength, Gu Yan would’ve been fine, but right now, he didn’t have any way to fight this person, so he didn’t try to do anything unrealistic, simply leaning against the wall for support and asking, “Where is everyone else?”

“I opened up a VIP room next door that’s far bigger and more luxurious than this one. I invited your colleagues over there and told them that all drinks were on me. As for you… I just have to find someone to say the word, and they’ll all think you left early.”

Gu Yan nodded, thinking that this move wasn’t bad. It was quite easy for someone of Young Master Qin’s identity to do such a thing, and of course, if someone had been coordinating on the inside, then it would definitely succeed very easily.

Who was that person?

Simply trying to think for a moment made his focus scatter to the winds once again.

Qin Feng walked forward a step and used a hand to stroke his face, saying with a very ambiguous tone, “This place has very good soundproofing, so you don’t need to worry about being heard by anyone else.”

Gu Yan couldn’t help but start laughing. “Does Young Master Qin really insist on playing around with me once?”

“Whether we’re playing once or twice will depend on how good you are at satisfying me.”

That handsome face was seldom this close, so Gu Yan couldn’t help but blow air in his direction, saying, “If Young Master Qin is willing to be on the bottom, then I can guarantee that you’ll become addicted.”

In an instant, Qin Feng’s eyes grew wide, and he said, furious, “You…!”

“Why are you this angry? Even though your brother really likes this.”

“W-what?” Qin Feng almost bit off his own tongue. “It can’t be that you and my brother… Impossible…”

All smiles, Gu Yan moved closer and continued with, “I’ve always thought it was weird. Why do you love to steal your brother’s things? But I feel like I can guess the reason now. Are you… secretly in love with him?”

Qin Feng’s face immediately turned a deep red, and he looked as if he wasn’t even able to speak for a moment, so angry that he gave Gu Yan a push, shouting out, “You’re crazy!”

Gu Yan had originally been having trouble standing, and after being pushed, he immediately buckled, falling to the floor.

He hadn’t fallen hard, but he had been clever in choosing his position and had fallen right on top of the cellphone that Qin Feng had thrown to the floor earlier. The only thing he had to do was crook his finger to touch it. He feigned injury from the fall and slowly curled up, his finger moving little by little to his phone.

He could call quite a few people.

The police, his manager, or his assistant Xiao-Chen. Other than that, his phone also had a speed dial button that would directly call a certain someone.

Gu Yan closed his eyes and felt around, pressing down on that button.

At this time, Qin Feng had also already calmed down, though now his face was dark, looking extremely ugly. He raised his leg to kick the other a few times before saying, while gnashing his teeth, “The person I hate the most is Qin Zhiyuan. No matter what he likes, I’m going to destroy them all.”

Once he finished, he bent down to unbutton the other’s dress shirt.

Gu Yan secretly stuffed the phone beneath the sofa and, at the same time, raised his hands to cover his neck, saying with a hoarse voice, “It’s hot…”

The drugs were starting to flare up.

His forehead was covered with a sheen of sweat, his eyes filling with mist, and while his face had become paler than usual, his lips had turned a brighter, fresher red. His nipples were faintly discernible under his dress shirt and were charmingly hard from his shivering, making him look extremely enticing.

Qin Feng felt his mouth dry.

But he still remembered the pain he had suffered last time and didn’t dare to get too close to Gu Yan, simply dragging this person by the arm onto the sofa and pressing down. And then he ripped off his own necktie and used it to tie Gu Yan’s hands together.

Gu Yan let out a low shout, his body already entering a state of excitement such that even this action was pleasurable. He sucked in a deep breath and, with much difficulty, brought his consciousness back from the clouds. With one look, he saw that Qin Feng had rifled out a box from the drawers, with all kinds of sex toys inside to liven things up.

Gu Yan felt his head go numb.

He wasn’t sure, with Qin Feng’s skills, if the other knew what to do with these; Qin Feng had probably never even seen the instructions.

“Young Master Qin,” he gasped for breath as he struggled to say, “don’t tell me that you have some special kinks?”

Qin Feng coldly laughed. “I didn’t use to have any, but I can try it out on your body.”

Oh jeez, just by looking at the young master’s malicious expression, one could tell that this person clearly had bad intentions and was purposely playing around with him. But was he bearing grudges from last time’s rudeness, or were the grudges from this time’s ‘secret love’ claim?

Gu Yan sighed, and the corners of his mouth twitched as he said helplessly, “Remember to wear a condom when you do it.”

His body was getting hotter and hotter, and his mind growing fuzzier and fuzzier. The Qin Feng before his eyes moved blurrily from one side to another before slowly looking down to meet his gaze a long time later.

“I know you rely on your face to eat.” Qin Feng reached out a hand to grab his chin and said, one word at a time, “So don’t worry, I won’t hurt this face of yours.”

As for anywhere else… that was another story.

Gu Yan understood what the other meant completely, but he already didn’t have the strength to care about such things.

He had started hallucinating. His body felt as light as a feather, as if he was lying on a cloud, and the lights above had changed into a blur of color. All kinds of familiar and unfamiliar images passed before his eyes in succession, and it felt as if his entire body had been dropped into a strange and grotesque fantasy.

This dream’s lead was Qin Zhiyuan.

He didn’t have a handsome face, and he didn’t have an enticing voice, but the gaze he used to look at Gu Yan was extremely tender.

Gu Yan felt as if his whole body was boneless, and he couldn’t help but smile at the person holding him. It was a pity that the Qin Zhiyuan in the dream had a bad attitude and was poking him in the arm with a sex toy, asking, “Hey, how do you use this?”

Gu Yan opened his mouth slightly.

That dildo was thus stuffed into his mouth.

Gu Yan was choked and couldn’t help but start coughing, though he still half-closed his eyes and obediently started licking the foreign object inside his mouth. His hands had been tied, so he had to rely on twisting his body in order to adjust his position. Saliva trickled down from the corners of his mouth, getting even his chest all wet and sticky.

The dream Qin Zhiyuan’s breathing quickly turned hurried. It was only a short while later that this person roughly took off Gu Yan’s pants, forcefully opening his legs and stuffing that lubricated dildo right into his body.

“Ugh…”

Gu Yan smothered a groan, in such pain that his face paled, but in the next instant, even more pleasure bubbled forth, very quickly overtaking that bit of pain. He thus started to move his waist, raising his head and gasping out in a low voice, “Quick, kiss me…”

The dream Qin Zhiyuan seemed to startle, coldly staring at him, before taking that object, moving it even deeper into his body, and then pulling it back out again in the next moment.

“Uh… oh…”

Gu Yan could no longer hold back his voice, feeling both pain and pleasure, his two open legs twitching, feeling as if he was about to reach his climax.

“Bang!”

Right at that moment, he heard the sound of the door being kicked open. His ears were buzzing, and that sound felt as if it was coming from another room altogether, so at first he didn’t take it to heart. It wasn’t until “Qin Zhiyuan” was pulled away from him and given a fierce punch along with a follow-up kick that he realized something wasn’t right.

Huh?

What happened?

Gu Yan struggled, wanting to sit up from the sofa, but he had forgotten that his hands were tied, and so he almost rolled onto the floor. Luckily, someone immediately grabbed him by the waist.

“Thank you.”

Gu Yan raised his head to smile.

He had smiled quite a bit tonight, but as he smiled, and smiled, he suddenly frowned. Because the one in front of him was Qin Zhiyuan. Strange, he had clearly seen Qin Zhiyuan being kicked aside onto the ground by someone, and even now, that person was still lying in the corner, unable to get back up. So how did one suddenly turn into two?

And this newly arrived Qin Zhiyuan was very strange, without a sliver of a smile on his face, his pitch-black eyes so deep that it was unfathomable. His lips were tightly pursed, as if he was doing his best to suppress his rage.

If Qin Zhiyuan could get angry, then this was probably how he’d look like.

But how could the elegant and refined Qin Zhiyuan get angry? It was definitely just his imagination.

But Gu Yan was still willing to kiss this imagination. Right as he kissed Qin Zhiyuan’s cheeks, he saw the one at the floor being helped up by two bodyguards. This person had just been punched, so that face was slightly swollen, and with red eyes, the person was glaring at him, fuming with anger.

Gu Yan let out an ‘ah’, finally recognizing that this person was Qin Feng. He then leaned against Qin Zhiyuan’s shoulders, smiling. “Your brother’s eyes are swollen, just like a little rabbit. Hahaha… little white rabbit Qin…”

He himself knew that he was babbling nonsense, but he couldn’t control his euphoria.

Qin Zhiyuan’s eyes were profound, and in a moment, he pressed the other’s head against his chest.

Gu Yan once again did his best to raise his head and saw one of the bodyguards walking over to ask, “Boss, what should we do with the second young master?”

Qin Zhiyuan finally began smiling.

He usually always had a slight smile, but the smile tonight was somewhat different. His eyes were still ice-cold, and anyone who saw it felt a wave of fear. Very, very softly, he said, “Send him home.”

The Qin Feng who had recovered his senses began shouting and screaming, but that sound was quickly cut off by the door. What he said earlier was true — this room really did have good soundproofing.

For the sake of verifying this point, Gu Yan continued to move close to Qin Zhiyuan in order to kiss his face.

Qin Zhiyuan held him by the waist with one hand and untied his bound hands with another. The person stared at the marks left on his wrists for a while before saying in a deep voice, “Qin Feng’s been spoiled rotten since he was young, but he really has gone too far this time, so I’ll definitely make sure he learns his lesson.”

“OK, OK, OK, you can teach your brother whatever you want, but before that, can you take care of me first?” Right when his hands regained their freedom, Gu Yan hugged Qin Zhiyuan, not letting go, saying quietly next to the other’s ear, “And there’s still something… down there…”

Qin Zhiyuan’s gaze moved down Gu Yan’s body.

Although before rushing in here he had already heard the moans over the phone, upon seeing Gu Yan looking like this, wearing only a white dress shirt, naked below the waist down, with a large dildo inserted under there, and even the fluids between his legs still sliding wetly down, he still felt his brows furrow in dismay.

“He drugged you?”

“Yes,” Gu Yan was somewhat lucid now and replied with some difficulty, “But you came quite fast.”

“Good thing you came together with the cast and crew. I just had to make a few phone calls, and I was able to find the right place.” As for what he did after receiving that phone call, how he searched for this person, what he felt while rushing over here, Qin Zhiyuan didn’t mention any of that. He simply reached between Gu Yan’s legs and slowly pulled out that object which had tormented him.

Gu Yan gasped out a breath. Although he had gotten free, he felt an even greater emptiness.

The drug’s effects still weren’t over.

His body still desired another person’s warmth.

Qin Zhiyuan took off a jacket to drape over him.

Gu Yan unconsciously burrowed into those clothes; it was a habit that he had developed over the years. When they first met, he had looked even more miserable than today, and because he had been too stubborn, his body had new scars on top of old ones. At the time, Qin Zhiyuan had also taken off a jacket and tossed it to him, saying in that same gentle tone, “You need to learn how to smile first.”

Later, he really did learn how — in Qin Zhiyuan’s bed.

And it was also later that he learned that this person was this gentle and considerate to everyone, while he had already fallen in deep.

Gu Yan was in a bit of a daze and suddenly couldn’t clearly distinguish the time and place. He didn’t know if it was due to the effects of the hallucinogens, but he seemed to return to the time when he had just turned twenty, his movements inexperienced as he tried to use kisses to please Qin Zhiyuan. With a trembling voice, he said, “President Qin, I know how to smile now… I’ll follow the rules of this game; it’s only business, with no feelings involved…”

[1] So social drinking is really common throughout East Asia, and it’s considered impolite not to drink. Also, in traditional Chinese weddings, you exchange wine with your spouse during the wedding vows, which is why the cast is (jokingly) trying to get him and the female lead to exchange alcohol. 

Also, in case folks don’t know — 20 is the age of majority in China. That’s why it’s been mentioned so often up to this point.

So now you know why Gu Yan is in love with Qin Zhiyuan!

Anyway, I think this is the only chapter that has a super heavy content warning. There might be other things I warn for, but none as heavy as this.