When Lu Zexi came upstairs, he wore a strange smile.
The lights in private room 206 were blazing. Bo Lin sat at ease on the sofa, glancing up at Lu Zexi before looking away.
The sofa beside him was covered in documents.
"President Lu."
Jiang Kai greeted him politely, and Lu Zexi swallowed the words he had been about to say.
He smiled sheepishly. "Still working overtime, Assistant Jiang? Want something to drink? I can have them bring it up."
Jiang Kai smiled. "President Lu, these are the documents for the partnership with Minghua. Since we haven't been able to reach you these past few days, President Bo came straight here as soon as he returned from his business trip."
Lu Zexi's lips moved, but he decided not to speak.
Like boss, like employee.
After working for Bo Lin for a few years, Jiang Kai was practically a carbon copy of him, except that he smiled more.
He was just as good at making barbed remarks, too.
Still, Lu Zexi wasn't going to stoop to their level.
He sat opposite Bo Lin, looking his friend up and down with a suggestive gleam in his eyes.
Tall, handsome, eight-pack abs, a man who could reduce Bo's senior executives to tears with a glare-and Hua Jian had carried him...
Tsk.
He idly recalled their last drinking session. Hua Jian really had been the one to take Bo Lin home.
But had Bo Lin actually been too drunk to walk that night?
"You've looked sleazy ever since you came in." Bo Lin frowned. "What is it?"
"Ahem." Lu Zexi glanced at Jiang Kai, then turned back to Bo Lin. "What's going on between you and Xiao Jian?"
Bo Lin's fingers twitched almost imperceptibly, but his expression remained unchanged. "The bartender downstairs? There's nothing between us."
Lu Zexi pressed him. "Didn't you have a few drinks here before your business trip? Xiao Jian took you home. Nothing happened between you two?"
Bo Lin's lashes trembled slightly. Then he lowered his eyes and said evenly, "No. I drank too much that night. Housekeeper Chen said it was too late, so she let him stay in a guest room at the villa. He was driven home first thing the next morning."
"Really?"
Lu Zexi was starting to believe him. From what he knew of Bo Lin, there was absolutely no way he would let a man carry him if he were sober.
"What did he tell you?"
"Nothing, actually."
With his curiosity somewhat satisfied, Lu Zexi failed to notice anything unusual about Bo Lin's answer.
Whenever Lu Zexi had paired Bo Lin up with some man in the past,
Bo Lin's usual response had been: "I don't like men. They're filthy. Don't lump me in with people like that. Disgusting."
Yet today, Bo Lin had actually explained that night's events in detail.
Lu Zexi began pouring drinks. Bo Lin's hand, resting on his left thigh, gave a spasmodic twitch before he clenched it tightly.
Time always passed quickly at night.
With the clock nearing eleven, Hua Jian told Brother Shen he was getting ready to leave.
He had just changed into his own clothes and come out when he ran into someone he hadn't expected to see here.
"President Bo. What a coincidence."
"It isn't," Bo Lin said evenly. "I was waiting for you."
Hua Jian raised his brows slightly. "Did you need something, President Bo?"
"Add me."
Hua Jian lowered his gaze. It was a WeChat QR code.
"My housekeeper told me you took me home last time. Sorry for the trouble. I left the Imperial Capital on a business trip the next day and only got back today, so I haven't had a chance to thank you."
So that was what this was about.
Hua Jian smiled. "You're too kind, President Bo. As an employee of UP, I was only doing my job. Besides, you let me stay the night and had me driven to school the next morning. I didn't lose out on anything. There's no need to thank me."
As he spoke, he thought to himself, Looks like he doesn't remember a thing about that night. All the better! Big Boss Bo is asexual. Being carried by a man isn't exactly something he'd be proud of. It'd be bad if he got embarrassed and took it out on me.
Bo Lin's ears began to burn again. His fingers tightened slightly, and his voice grew colder. "Add me."
Hua Jian's smile froze. He quietly took out his phone and scanned the code.
[You're now friends. Go ahead and start chatting!]
The message appeared on both their phones at the same time.
Bo Lin turned off his screen and glanced at Hua Jian again.
The young man standing before him wore a fake smile that was truly unpleasant to look at.
Only after Bo Lin left did Hua Jian breathe a sigh of relief.
The original novel had all sorts of men, but Bo Lin was the one Hua Jian found hardest to read.
He wasn't controlled by the plot or affected by Shu Yao's protagonist halo. His sole focus was making money and building his career.
Late in the story, Shu Yao's suitors began killing one another off. Only Bo Lin remained unshaken.
"Xiao Jian, someone's asking for you outside!"
A server called out to him. Hua Jian gathered his thoughts. "Coming."
After leaving UP, Hua Jian spotted his visitor beneath a tree around the corner.
"Xue Pan?" Hua Jian looked him up and down, then suddenly smiled. "So you really did strike it rich?"
Xue Pan scoffed. "Rich? You mean these clothes?"
Hua Jian neither agreed nor disagreed. "What did you want?"
"Something." Xue Pan took a deep drag on his cigarette and said flatly, "Cui Chengming reached out to me."
"What?" How had the plot changed so much?
In the original novel, several years from now, Cui Zhao took advantage of Cui Chengming's serious injuries to gradually strip him of his power. Only then did he have someone around him deliberately let slip a little information about Xue Pan.
But Xue Pan was already dead by then.
Xue Pan had been driving drunk when he hit and killed Qin Ci, the rich young master who ran a red light while high on an overdose of drugs.
According to the plot, Cui Chengming was supposed to die without ever meeting his biological son.
Xue Pan's hand trembled. Then he frowned, threw his cigarette butt to the ground, and ground it hard beneath his foot.
"It's thanks to you. You told me to stop Shu Yao from taking Qin Ci to Moyan last time."
"Oh." Hua Jian rubbed his nose.
"Someone anonymously reported illegal activity at Moyan that night. When Qin Ci sobered up the next day, he thought I was the reason he'd dodged a bullet, so he started taking me around with him. That's how I ran into Cui Chengming again."
Hua Jian-the anonymous tipster-looked enlightened. "So that's what happened."
Xue Pan held out a hand with a snort. "I sent the five thousand yuan I borrowed from you back through WeChat. Give me the IOU."
Hua Jian shrugged. "I don't have it on me. It's at my apartment. I'll bring it to school for you tomorrow."
There was something odd about Xue Pan's expression in the dim night. He said quietly, "I'll go with you to get it. You can let me stay another night while you're at it."
For some reason, Hua Jian's straight-guy radar suddenly went off.
He took a step back and frowned. "If you've got nowhere to sleep, sleep on the street."
With that, he turned to leave. Panicking, Xue Pan stepped forward to grab him, but his hand had barely touched Hua Jian's clothes before Hua Jian shoved him away.
"What the hell are you doing?" Hua Jian's expression darkened.
That bastard Xue Pan had been one of Shu Yao's devoted lapdogs in the original novel, too.
Xue Pan hadn't fallen for Shu Yao at first sight this time, but that didn't mean he didn't like men.
At that thought, Hua Jian's voice turned cold. "We're working together. Keep your fucking hands off me. Being touched by a man makes me sick. Get lost!"
Standing entirely in shadow, Xue Pan watched Hua Jian hurry away.
Just then, an understated black Rolls-Royce across the street started up.
Its headlights abruptly shone straight at Xue Pan. The glare forced him to raise a hand to shield his face.
The light vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
Within seconds, the luxury car drove away, leaving the spot in darkness once more.
"Cui Peng, have someone look into Xue Pan."
"Yes, President Bo."
Sitting in the back seat, Bo Lin calmly lifted his eyes. Just then, the man on the roadside, only a car door away from him, glanced in his direction.
Through the dark window tint, their gazes met for a second before slipping apart.
Hua Jian watched the Rolls-Royce. Its license plate number was very auspicious. He felt as though he had seen it somewhere before.
The thought lingered for half a second, then vanished as he entered the subway station.
Before you continue