Bai Ruan froze, utterly stunned. "B-break up?"
"Yes." Feng Yan was still smiling. "Didn't I tell you? If you don't drop out, we're breaking up."
Feng Yan said it casually, even smiling as he spoke. "Since you're so desperate to climb into your advisor's bed, go right ahead."
At those words, Bai Ruan's mind went blank with a buzz. He stared at Feng Yan in disbelief. "W-what did you say?"
"Isn't that why you refuse to drop out? So you can climb into your advisor's bed?" Feng Yan poured half a glass of red wine, then raised it toward Bai Ruan in a mock toast. "Good luck."
"W-what are you talking about?" Tears spilled from Bai Ruan's eyes, wetting his long, curled lashes and clumping them together. The moment he opened his mouth, the tears fell. "How could you say that about me! I never wanted to... to do that!"
"Am I wrong?" The amusement in Feng Yan's eyes never faded as he sneered, "Isn't this the same trick you used to get into my bed?"
"You're such an expert at getting into men's beds." Feng Yan even took a sip of wine, every inch the man in control. His alluring eyes were full of mockery as he looked at Bai Ruan. "When people called you a little slut who seduced men, I didn't believe them."
"Now I see they were right."
Feng Yan looked away. "Bai Ruan, you've really disappointed me."
"No, I'm not! Please, listen to me-" Bai Ruan sobbed so hard he could barely speak. He stood and reached for Feng Yan's hand, but the man pulled away.
That sent Bai Ruan into a complete panic. He got up and rushed toward Feng Yan, only to catch his foot on the corner of the table and fall to the floor.
Bai Ruan hit the floor hard with a thud that sounded painful.
He scrambled on his hands and knees to Feng Yan's feet, crying as he begged him.
"Sob... I'm not. I just don't want... don't want to give up my studies." Bai Ruan's long lashes brushed tear tracks beneath his eyes. The corners of his eyes were red, and the watery sheen looked pitiful under the lights.
Kneeling on the floor, he looked up at Feng Yan in desperate supplication. "Sob... I'll drop out. I'll drop out, okay? Please, I really didn't..."
"Sob... I'm sorry..."
Bai Ruan rubbed his eyes. "I really didn't... didn't want to get into anyone's bed..."
Bai Ruan was sobbing too hard to get out a single complete sentence.
His flushed face and relentless sobbing made him look heartbreakingly pitiable.
Feng Yan lowered his eyes slightly. His black hair hung just above his eyelids, leaving his expression shadowed.
But Tao Zhiyan could see the faint upward curve of Feng Yan's lips and the excitement in his eyes.
He seemed to enjoy seeing Bai Ruan on his knees at his feet, begging him.
In suit trousers and gleaming leather shoes, Feng Yan sat with his long legs crossed, the very picture of absolute control.
Then the man reached out and slowly tipped up Bai Ruan's chin.
His voice rumbled softly from his chest, unhurried and utterly assured. "Ruanruan, you've been very naughty."
Bai Ruan parted his red lips. "I-mmph!"
The man suddenly clamped his hand around Bai Ruan's jaw, his fingers tightening. He was smiling, but his eyes were vicious. "I may be good-tempered, but that doesn't mean I'll tolerate anything."
Bai Ruan's beautiful face went deathly pale, his lips trembling.
"If you keep misbehaving, I'll have no choice but to lock you up," Feng Yan said.
"Once you're locked up, you'll behave."
Tao Zhiyan took a deep breath.
Wait, how the hell did the plot end up here?
...So these two are doing that old-school domineering CEO routine: he runs, he chases, and there's no escape?
This Feng Yan was a sick bastard with an unforgettable first love and a twisted need to control his little stand-in! He even wanted to play at captivity!
Tao Zhiyan's disgust was written all over his face.
He was already cheating, and he still had the nerve to play the obsessive lover!
Who the hell wrote a novel this deranged!
With Feng Yan's hand clamped around his neck, Bai Ruan trembled nonstop. He was forced to lift his chin, yet didn't dare resist.
His eyelashes kept fluttering, as though in fear.
Bai Ruan was truly terrified of Feng Yan getting angry. Whenever Feng Yan lost his temper, he seemed to become an entirely different person, and it was frightening.
Feng Yan had flown into a rage the time he discovered Bai Ruan calling his advisor at night to ask about his coursework.
That night, Feng Yan had chained him to the bed, fed him drugs, and abused him until he couldn't even stand.
He had kept him chained up for over a week, kneeling until his knees swelled.
The memory filled Bai Ruan with shame and fear. He never wanted to go through that again.
"Please... I really was wrong. I'm begging you..." Bai Ruan trembled all over, pleading like a small animal.
The young man was so frightened that even his sobs grew quieter. Only fat tears kept falling, his eyes alarmingly red and swollen. "Don't... don't lock me up..."
Bai Ruan was nearly scared to death, his tears falling uncontrollably, yet Feng Yan was still smiling, as though the boy's abject behavior amused him.
Suddenly, Feng Yan's phone vibrated. He took it out and glanced at it.
Several streaks of light gathered above Feng Yan's head, then slowly formed a line of text: [In half an hour, he will get a room with his ex at the Binhai Hotel.]
*???*
Tao Zhiyan's eyes widened.
You fucking scumbag. You tormented your boyfriend until he went pale with terror, and you're still smiling.
As if smiling weren't bad enough, you're even planning to get a room with your ex!?
Feng Yan put his phone down, released Bai Ruan, and stood. "Your punishment is to spend tonight kneeling in confinement."
There was a small, dark room in the Feng Family's back courtyard. It had once housed the Ancestral Hall, but after the hall was relocated, it became the Confinement Room.
At that, Bai Ruan hurriedly asked, "Then... then are you still breaking up with me?"
Tao Zhiyan was beside himself with frustration.
Bai Ruan, what are you thinking? He's humiliated you like this, and you're still worried about breaking up?
Feng Yan gave a cold laugh. "That depends on how you behave."
Bai Ruan immediately got up from the floor. "I'll go kneel right now!"
Feng Yan grunted in acknowledgment, barely interested.
With permission granted, Bai Ruan wiped his tears, turned, and ran to the Confinement Room.
Only after Bai Ruan had left did Feng Yan take out his phone and reply to the message. Before leaving, he instructed, "Don't bring him any food. Understand?"
Tao Zhiyan nodded, pretending to be obedient.
Inside, he was so furious he was grinding his teeth.
That was the last fucking straw!
So you like that whole locking-up-your-stand-in routine, huh?
Then I'll make you regret it when you're begging to get him back!
You like being the one in control, don't you?
Then I'll show you what real dog training looks like!
With a bang, Feng Yan shut the door.
Watching an episode of toxic, melodramatic romance between a scumbag top and a doormat bottom up close had shaved even more years off Tao Zhiyan's life than the Fourth Young Master's stepmother romance. His blood pressure was already shooting up to one-eighty.
Tao Zhiyan looked at the table full of food and prepared to pack it all up and take it to Bai Ruan.
Halfway through packing, he suddenly remembered something.
He hurriedly took out his phone, pulled up the anonymous Moments post from that morning, and found the suspicious reply from the previous night-[Anonymous: ...? My name has the character Luo in it? Second Young Master? My boyfriend is the second son... Surely it can't be that much of a coincidence?]
Tao Zhiyan looked at the reply, thought through his wording, and typed:
[Hi, could I ask whether your boyfriend's name has two characters, with the second one starting with Y?]
Before you continue