Make Gu Shiyan a dog in my hands

"Hello?" Not hearing any response, Gu Shiyan glanced at the connected call screen. "Chu Tian?"

"Ah? Ah!" Chu Tian's ears turned bright red as he hurriedly picked up the phone. "I-I'm here."

Hearing the guilty, breathless tone in his voice, Gu Shiyan immediately understood.

"Did you see the note I left you? Your stomach will feel uncomfortable after a hangover. I made you some porridge. You'll feel better after drinking it."

Unlike what Chu Tian had expected, Gu Shiyan was not calling to hold him accountable. His tone was even rather gentle.

"I-I saw it." Mixed in with Chu Tian's guilt was a tiny bit of remorse. "I just woke up and wasn't hungry, so I didn't eat it..."

Gu Shiyan fell silent.

During those several dozen seconds when he said nothing, annoyance and shame flooded Chu Tian's heart, nearly drowning him.

"Mm." To Chu Tian's surprise, Gu Shiyan neither got angry nor pursued the matter. He merely replied indifferently, "Wait a moment."

Whatever event Gu Shiyan was attending today, the surroundings seemed rather noisy.

He gradually moved away from the crowd and found a secluded corner, so quiet that Chu Tian on the other end could clearly hear his breathing.

Chu Tian did not know why, but listening to Gu Shiyan's soft, shallow breaths made his own heart race... He was probably sick.

Chu Tian quietly pressed a hand to his chest, his face burning.

"Did you see the news about Director Li?" Gu Shiyan spoke again, a trace of chill in his voice. "Zhang Yang organized yesterday's gathering, but his name wasn't on the arrest list they released."

Chu Tian's breath caught as he instantly understood what he meant.

Zhang Yang had treated everyone to dinner yesterday. As the host, there was no way he did not know what was happening next door.

If nothing unexpected had happened, he should have been caught red-handed along with Director Li and the others. Yet somehow, he had managed to escape.

As long as he had not been caught in the act, he had a chance to clear himself.

At the same time, Chu Tian realized an even more important issue—Zhang Yang had not appeared in the original story at this point.

He was supposed to appear much later, when Gu Shiyan was about to reach the pinnacle. But because the Zhang family had cruelly kicked the Gu family while they were down, snatching away their projects, clients, and market, he had been swiftly written out only a few chapters after appearing.

Zhang Yang's role as cannon fodder was merely to serve as the trigger for Gu Shiyan's revenge after he had grown powerful.

Yet not only had he appeared ahead of schedule, he had even gotten involved in a plotline where he was never supposed to be.

Although Chu Tian did not know exactly what consequences this variable named Zhang Yang would bring, he had a persistent bad feeling.

Gu Shiyan did not know the plot's development as Chu Tian did, but with his keen instincts, he quickly sensed that something was wrong.

"What about now?" Chu Tian immediately sat up straight. "After Director Li and the others were arrested and interrogated, they should already know Zhang Yang hosted yesterday's dinner, right? They didn't find anything?"

"Zhang Yang was summoned this morning, but he walked out of the police station an hour later," Gu Shiyan said in a low voice. "He's very capable."

Chu Tian fell silent. He heard the implication in Gu Shiyan's words.

This involved drugs and group sexual misconduct, yet Zhang Yang, the person who had hosted the gathering, had managed to walk away spotless. His methods were anything but ordinary.

"Did he come looking for you yesterday and ask you to meet those investors?" Chu Tian suddenly thought of something and sucked in a sharp breath, immensely relieved. "Good thing you didn't go, otherwise..."

Otherwise, Gu Shiyan's name would have been added to yesterday's arrest list.

But what was Zhang Yang after?

From how he had pestered Gu Shiyan before, Chu Tian had thought Zhang Yang had designs on him and wanted to climb into his bed.

Yet he had turned around and made such a huge move, nearly dragging Gu Shiyan down with him.

Even Chu Tian could no longer understand what Zhang Yang was trying to do.

The emotions churning within Gu Shiyan were nowhere near as calm as he appeared. He had avoided the risk only because he had heard Chu Tian's thoughts and become wary.

If not for Chu Tian, then with no knowledge of what was going on, when Li Yu urged him to go, he might really have attended just to avoid offending the director.

What would have happened then was beyond anyone's prediction.

While the two people on the phone fell into silent thought, unable to make sense of it, Zhang Yang elsewhere was overwhelmed by fear and rage, venting like a trapped beast as he smashed everything around him.

Before long, the entire room looked as though a violent storm had swept through it. Not a single visible object remained intact.

"Why? Why!" Zhang Yang tore at his hair hysterically, pacing back and forth as he muttered to himself. "No, this is wrong! That's not what the Divine Book said. How could he not have gone to that private room? And who called the police?!"

If anyone saw Zhang Yang's current state, they would definitely think he had gone mad.

Only Zhang Yang knew he was not crazy. Everything had started with a Divine Book he had acquired by chance.

The book's setting and certain events matched his own experiences, while its protagonists were Gu Shiyan and an "I" written in the first person.

Zhang Yang did not know who the "I" described in the book was, but after reading it in full, he quickly placed himself in that role.

The Divine Book began with the Gu family's bankruptcy. After Gu Shiyan entered the entertainment industry while burdened with enormous debts and left with nowhere to turn, "I" appeared at his side, accompanying and supporting him, helping him through every hardship and witnessing Gu Shiyan's rise to the top.

In the Divine Book, Gu Shiyan not only became an internationally renowned superstar, but also made a fortune through his own businesses and investments, rising in one leap to become the world's richest man—a person who stood above everyone else.

And "I," who walked beside him all the way to the end, shared Gu Shiyan's wealth and power, becoming the most important person in his life.

At first, Zhang Yang had thought it was merely the fantasy of some deranged person obsessed with Gu Shiyan. But after secretly keeping tabs on Gu Shiyan and discovering that everything he experienced after entering the industry matched the Divine Book's descriptions perfectly, Zhang Yang could no longer sit still.

If the Divine Book was a real book of prophecy, why could he not obtain everything "I" later enjoyed?

Unable to resist such an enormous temptation, Zhang Yang returned to the country at once, appearing before Gu Shiyan before the point when "I" was supposed to appear in the Divine Book.

The later plot had yet to come true, and Zhang Yang was unsure whether that "I" would still appear. He had to find a way to take that person's place.

So he used every connection he had to approach Li Yu, negotiated an exchange of benefits, and secured a spot on the show so he could get close to Gu Shiyan.

Then he discovered that reality differed slightly from the Divine Book's plot. Gu Shiyan already had a boyfriend who had appeared from who knew where.

But Zhang Yang firmly believed that everything in the Divine Book was correct, and that every deviation would eventually return to the proper path.

So after repeatedly testing Gu Shiyan's attitude toward him and nearly provoking his disgust, Zhang Yang withdrew in time and sought another method.

Time was pressing, leaving Zhang Yang no room to slowly lay out a plan. So he simply tampered with an event that was about to happen—for example, getting Gu Shiyan hooked on something and making him a dog on his leash from then on.