President Huo, Are You Feeding Me or...

The Rolls-Royce slowly drove away from the film studio, leaving behind the mess on the ground and Shen Huai's pale face in its exhaust.

Inside the car, the partition slowly rose, separating the driver's seat from the back seat into two different worlds.

Jian Ning sat stiffly against the car door, the hand that had just linked itself through Huo Si's arm now having nowhere to go. He secretly glanced at the man beside him.

Huo Si was holding a wet wipe, leisurely wiping the lips that had touched Jian Ning's forehead earlier. The movement was elegant, yet carried a sensual air that made one's heart race.

[What are you wiping for?! Do you think I'm dirty? Weren't you pretty into it when you kissed me just now?]

[I even lost my first kiss just to help you put on an act! That was my first kiss! I was planning to save it for my future sweet young pup with eight-pack abs!]

[This old bastard got the advantage and still acts innocent. If I don't eat you into bankruptcy at this French dinner tonight, my surname isn't Jian!]

Huo Si's wiping motion paused slightly.

First kiss?

So that fleeting touch earlier had been this little thing's first kiss?

For some reason, Huo Si's mood brightened. Even the bare trees flashing past outside the window looked far more pleasing to the eye. He tossed aside the wet wipe, turned to Jian Ning, and curled his lips in amusement. "You were pretty good at flirting on set earlier. Why are you acting so timid now?"

Jian Ning immediately straightened his back, refusing to lose even if he was outmatched. "W-Who's timid? I was protecting President Huo's dignity! In that situation, if we didn't act a little lovey-dovey, how could we piss that scumbag off?"

Huo Si chuckled but did not expose him. He merely said blandly, "Mm, you acted well. As a reward, you can eat whatever you want tonight."

Half an hour later, at Le Jardin, the most exclusive French restaurant in all of Beijing.

There was no menu here. Everything was customized by the chef according to the finest ingredients of the day, and the average cost per person was enough to make an ordinary worker haul bricks for a year.

Jian Ning sat by the window, looking at the river view outside while his little calculations clattered away in his mind.

[Foie gras! Truffles! Caviar! Bring them all out!]

[Anyway, it's Huo Si's card. If I don't eat, it'll be a waste. System, hurry and check whether this meal can be converted into points.]

System: [Host, this system is a gossip system, not a foodie system. However, a major scoop concerning Shen Huai is about to erupt. The host is advised to keep your phone available.]

The appetizer was served soon after.

A serving of caviar tart as exquisite as a work of art.

Jian Ning had just picked up his spoon when Huo Si suddenly took the plate of caviar from him.

Jian Ning: "???"

[No way. Is a CEO this grown-up really snatching food?]

Ignoring Jian Ning's accusing stare, Huo Si used a silver spoon to scoop up some caviar. Instead of putting it in his own mouth, he held it out by Jian Ning's lips.

"Didn't you say you wanted me to feed you?"

Huo Si's voice was deep, and against the soft violin music in the background, it sounded especially seductive.

Jian Ning froze.

He had only been running his mouth back on set! Who could have expected this old bastard to actually do it?

Several nearby tables were covertly glancing in their direction.

Jian Ning's face heated up. Opening his mouth felt wrong, but keeping it closed felt wrong too.

[Hey, hey, hey, this is a public place! President Huo, do you know your character setup is collapsing?]

[But... that spoon looks like pure silver, and this caviar looks really expensive...]

Under the damned temptation of money, Jian Ning ultimately opened his mouth without a shred of backbone and took the spoon between his lips.

The fresh, salty caviar burst across his tongue, so delicious it made him want to cry.

Watching him puff out his cheeks like a little hamster being fed, the amusement in Huo Si's eyes deepened.

He did not withdraw his hand. Instead, he continued feeding Jian Ning the next course.

Just as the atmosphere was becoming a little too intimate, Jian Ning's phone on the table suddenly began vibrating wildly.

Then, the system in his mind sounded a piercing alarm:

[ Ding! Shen Huai's major scoop is fully ripe! It is exploding across the internet! ]

[ Scoop title: #MovieEmperorShenUnderwearGate# #ShenHuaiTimeManagementMaster# ]

Jian Ning's eyes lit up, and he nearly choked on the snail in his mouth.

He hurriedly pulled out his phone.

At the top of Weibo's trending list, a bright red "Explosive" tag was painfully eye-catching:

#Shen Huai Wore His Underwear Backward on Set#

#Shen Huai Met Three Women at a Hotel in One Night#

Opening the topic revealed a grid of nine uncensored high-definition photos.

In the photos, Shen Huai was embracing three different women into rooms at the same hotel, each visit less than two hours apart.

The best part was the last photo—a sharp-eyed paparazzo had captured a close-up of Shen Huai on set with a high-powered telephoto lens. Though he was dressed in a historical costume, the slit in the outfit revealed the edge of his underwear label beneath it... and it really was facing outward.

The comments section had already exploded:

[Holy shit? He wore his underwear backward? How much of a rush was he in?]

[He cuddled up to three rich ladies first, then went to the set to act devoted afterward? Is Movie Emperor Shen's kidney made of steel?]

[I'm dying. No wonder Jian Ning said on set that it was squeezing him. It really was squeezing him!]

[Jian Ning's prophecy came true! He's the real scumbag detector!]

Jian Ning looked at the screen and laughed so hard his shoulders shook.

[Hahahaha! Shen Huai, Shen Huai, you finally got what was coming to you!]

[Three? You really went all out, huh? You'd risk your life just to secure sponsorship money?]

[System, lock this trending topic down for me! It's not allowed to come down for three days and three nights!]

While cutting his steak, Huo Si watched Jian Ning across from him laugh like a cat that had stolen cream.

"What's making you so happy?"

Jian Ning shoved his phone screen in front of Huo Si, his face animated. "Mr. Huo, look! This is karma! Shen Huai's reputation has collapsed! The whole internet is laughing at him for wearing his underwear backward!"

Huo Si swept a glance over the indecent photos on the screen and frowned in disgust.

"It dirties the eyes."

He cut off the most tender piece of steak and held it to Jian Ning's lips again. His tone was calm but commanding. "Don't look at trash. Look at me."

Jian Ning instinctively looked up and met Huo Si's unfathomable eyes.

There was no mockery, no calculation—only the starlight filling the sky and... himself alone.

Jian Ning's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

[This old bastard... why did he suddenly become so swoony?]

[Don't look at trash, look at him? Is he saying Shen Huai is trash, while he is... a treasure?]

As if possessed, Jian Ning opened his mouth and ate the piece of steak.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but this piece tasted better than all the ones before.

Dinner ended.

While Huo Si was paying the bill, Jian Ning secretly peeked at it.

[Five figures?! One meal cost half a year of my rent?]

[What a sin, what a sin. Next time, I should just eat hotpot. This French meal hurts my wallet just looking at it—even if it isn't my money.]

Back in the car.

The night outside had already deepened.

Jian Ning had eaten too much earlier and drunk a little red wine. He was slightly tipsy now, his cheeks rosy as he leaned against the window, drowsy.

When the car entered a deserted tunnel, Huo Si suddenly pressed the button to raise the partition.

"Bzz—"

The partition rose, turning the back seat into a sealed private space again.

Jian Ning opened his eyes groggily. "Mr. Huo? What's wrong?"

Huo Si unfastened his seat belt, turned sideways, and extended his long arm, trapping Jian Ning directly between himself and the car door.

In the narrow space, the air instantly seemed to thin.

"Full?" Huo Si's voice was low and hoarse, carrying a hint of danger.

Jian Ning nodded, instinctively sensing that something was off. "F-Full."

"Since you're full, let's settle some accounts."

Huo Si's fingers lightly brushed over Jian Ning's heated cheek before stopping at the corner of his lips.

Jian Ning was bewildered. "S-Settle what accounts? Didn't you swipe your card earlier?"

[Don't tell me he wants to split the bill? I don't have money! Even if I sold myself, I couldn't pay back five figures!]

Huo Si was so exasperated that he laughed.

Could this little thing put anything other than money in his head?

"Not the meal." Huo Si leaned closer, his nose nearly touching Jian Ning's. "We're settling the account for flirting with me on set and then running away. And... the account for calling me 'old bastard' in your heart all through dinner."

Jian Ning's pupils trembled.

[Holy shit?! He knows that too?!]

[It's over, it's over. He's settling scores after the fact! This old... no, Brother Huo, Grandpa Huo, I was wrong!]

Jian Ning panicked and tried to explain. "Mr. Huo, that's an affectionate nickname! It really is! Where I come from, 'old bastard' means... it means handsome and dashing!"

"Is that so?"

Huo Si clearly did not believe a single punctuation mark of it.

He lowered his head, his gaze falling on Jian Ning's flushed lips, slightly parted from nervousness.

That kiss on set had only touched his forehead.

It had been too shallow.

So shallow that it could not suppress the possessiveness surging within him at all.

"Since it's an affectionate nickname," Huo Si's voice became slightly indistinct, "then I'll give you one too... an affectionate nickname."

The moment the words fell, Huo Si stopped restraining himself and lowered his head to kiss him.

It was not a fleeting touch.

It was a full-scale invasion.

Carrying the mellow scent of red wine and the domineering presence unique to a man, it instantly stole all of Jian Ning's breath.

Jian Ning's eyes flew wide open. His hands pressed against Huo Si's chest as he tried to push him away, but his body had gone soft, leaving him without any strength.

[Mmph!!!]

[This plot development is wrong! Aren't we fake lovers? Isn't this a contractual relationship?]

[Why did we suddenly speed straight onto the highway?! And... his kissing skills... seem... kind of... mmph... nice?]

The lights in the tunnel flickered on and off, illuminating the entwined figures in the car.

The system tactfully blocked its visual feed automatically, leaving behind only a small line of text:

[ Both parties' hormones have exceeded the limit. Recommendation for host: lie back and enjoy. ]

After a long while, Huo Si finally released Jian Ning, who was panting for breath.

Looking at the watery gleam in the person's eyes and his swollen red lips, the darkness in Huo Si's gaze deepened.

His thumb brushed over Jian Ning's lips, and his voice was hoarse beyond recognition:

"This is only the interest. The principal... can remain owed for now."

Jian Ning gulped in huge breaths, his mind already reduced to mush.

[Principal? There's still a principal?!]

[Huo Si, you profiteer! I'm calling the police! This is workplace sexual harassment!]

[But... why is my heart beating so fast? Could I really... be falling for this old bastard?]