Jiang Chiyan tilted his head.
With his wrists chained, the movement came with a metallic clink, making it even more evocative.
He asked Xiao Cheng, "If I said no, could you still stop?"
As Jiang Chiyan spoke,
he raised his leg and rubbed it along Xiao Cheng's waist.
"Don't hold back."
"You can do whatever you want to me."
"I'm looking forward to it," Jiang Chiyan said with a smile.
Xiao Cheng's eyes instantly darkened.
He grabbed Jiang Chiyan's ankles and brought them together.
Click-his ankles were locked up too.
Jiang Chiyan lay flat on his back.
With his hands and feet locked up, he couldn't move.
Yet he wasn't the least bit flustered.
When Xiao Cheng unbuttoned his shirt and took it off, he even let out an especially loud whistle.
He teased Xiao Cheng into blushing.
A little embarrassed, Xiao Cheng frowned and warned him, "Keep your mouth shut."
Jiang Chiyan smiled. "How am I supposed to serve you with my mouth shut?"
"Hmm?"
"Master..."
Jiang Chiyan said it in a husky voice.
Xiao Cheng's gaze darkened, and he walked over, step by step.
His shirt fell to the floor.
His belt fell to the floor.
However,
just then, Xiao Cheng's phone rang urgently.
It startled him.
Without even looking, he silenced it and was about to toss it aside.
Jiang Chiyan hurriedly spoke up. "It's so late. Check who's calling, in case something happened..."
Xiao Cheng leaned down and tipped up Jiang Chiyan's chin.
"Nothing is more important than sleeping with you."
However,
after the call to Xiao Cheng ended,
before long, Jiang Chiyan's phone rang.
Intense displeasure flashed in Xiao Cheng's eyes.
And murderous intent.
Jiang Chiyan tipped his head back and licked the base of Xiao Cheng's ear, coaxing him. "Be good. I'm chained up and can't move. Let me see who's calling."
Xiao Cheng said nothing.
Jiang Chiyan said, "Master."
Xiao Cheng gave in.
He reached into Jiang Chiyan's trouser pocket to find his phone.
Jiang Chiyan sucked in a sharp breath, closing his eyes as he struggled to endure it.
Xiao Cheng pulled out the phone and pressed the answer button.
He deliberately waited until the call connected before saying to Jiang Chiyan, "Baby, Su Jing is calling you."
An utterly blatant declaration of ownership.
Jiang Chiyan: "..."
He smiled helplessly.
Then he asked Su Jing, "What's wrong?"
A woman's voice came from the other end.
"Lawyer Jiang, this is Lu Ting, Xiao Cheng's manager."
"Manager Lu?"
"Yes. Sorry for the trouble, but please let Xiao Cheng take the call." There was a faint heaviness in Lu Ting's voice.
Jiang Chiyan's heart lurched.
He looked at Xiao Cheng.
Holding the phone, Xiao Cheng said, "Ting, what's wrong?"
Lu Ting said, "Something happened to Shen Yunxing!!"
Shen Yunxing was an artist signed to Xiao Cheng Studio, a singer.
That evening, on her way home,
Shen Yunxing encountered an elderly man covered in blood, lying on the ground at death's door.
Without another word, Shen Yunxing took him to the hospital.
However, the elderly man died in the emergency room despite efforts to save him.
His family pinned the blame on Shen Yunxing.
They claimed she had driven drunk and hit him, killing him.
Shen Yunxing couldn't clear her name, no matter what she said.
She had indeed been drinking.
Her car had indeed been at the scene.
The designated driver she'd hired had disappeared.
Everything carried a strange whiff of conspiracy.
With her brows tightly furrowed, Lu Ting instructed Xiao Cheng, "The studio will handle the PR. I know you're usually close to Shen Yunxing, but Xiao Cheng, don't go replying to insults online or posting recklessly on Weibo. Understand?"
Xiao Cheng murmured assent and said nothing else.
After the call ended,
Xiao Cheng immediately opened Weibo's trending searches.
#Xiao Cheng Studio artist Shen Yunxing#
#Shen Yunxing kills 82-year-old man while driving drunk#
#Xiao Cheng Shen Yunxing#
The most popular post under the topic was from the elderly man's family.
The sprawling post ran over two thousand words and said they would take legal action.
They would seek justice for the elderly man's death and make the person responsible pay with her life.
Several bloody pictures were attached beneath the post.
There was a letter written in blood, the deceased's body, and fragments of his skull.
The mangled flesh and blood were particularly horrifying.
Netizens were all insulting Shen Yunxing.
Xiao Cheng's rivals hired paid trolls to steer public opinion, using his connection as Shen Yunxing's boss to start attacking him.
Some even spread rumors that Xiao Cheng had committed premeditated murder.
They made their stories sound convincing, too.
They posted a pile of fake chat screenshots as so-called solid evidence.
Pictures meant proof.
Xiao Cheng lifted his eyelids, looking quite calm.
In his seven years since debuting, he'd grown used to this kind of online harassment.
First, he sent Shen Yunxing's assistant a private message, asking the assistant to look after her emotional state.
Then he opened his fan group.
The group had already exploded.
___: "Are those trolls and gossip accounts fucking idiots?"
___: "I've seen bound feet, but never bound brains. Some are even saying Cheng committed murder. Fuck!"
___: "I bought twenty spare Weibo accounts. Message me if you need one. Come fight them with me!"
___: "Keyboard warriors and their online harassment are fucking disgusting!"
Xiao Cheng thought for a moment, then sent a message. "Don't trade insults with the trolls. Trust me, and please trust our PR team too."
An eerie silence fell over the group.
No one spoke.
Not until several minutes had passed.
Someone kindly pointed out, "Cheng, the Oranges really haven't been trading many insults with the trolls."
Xiao Cheng slowly typed a question mark on the screen.
The person continued.
"The ones arguing with the trolls are Lawyer Jiang and his fans, along with the ship fans."
"Lawyer Jiang is even using his main Weibo account."
"And most of Lawyer Jiang's fans are law students. They don't use a single swear word when they roast people. They're super rational, with logic and evidence. It's an absolute instant kill."
"Lawyer Jiang... the toughest in the universe. Absolutely unbeatable."
Xiao Cheng abruptly turned to look at Jiang Chiyan.
At some point,
Jiang Chiyan had undone the chains around his wrists.
His pale ankles were still shackled to the foot of the bed.
Jiang Chiyan held his phone, his fingertips flying over the screen.
Jiang Chiyan had a venomous tongue, a ruthless hand, and a quick mind.
He fired off a scathing reply every few seconds.
His professional habits as a lawyer made him rigorous and incisive.
He shut people down so thoroughly they couldn't muster a single word in reply.
As the arguments wore on,
perhaps he was running out of patience.
Jiang Chiyan's expression wasn't looking good.
Xiao Cheng walked over and saw a "Fuck your mother" on Jiang Chiyan's screen.
Xiao Cheng's heart leaped into his throat.
He quickly caught Jiang Chiyan's hand and took his phone away. "What are you doing?"
Jiang Chiyan rubbed his fingers expressionlessly. "He insulted you."
Xiao Cheng lowered his eyes.
Then he saw clearly what the troll had written on the screen.
___: "May Xiao Cheng's whole family die!! A piece of trash who got ahead by sleeping with men, farming traffic by pandering to gay shippers all day and climbing the ladder through casting-couch deals. How much longer can you stay in Jiang Chiyan's bed? Your industry is fucking filthy. @Xiao ChengV @Jiang ChiyanV"
Xiao Cheng smiled and kissed Jiang Chiyan's lips. "You're this angry... just because of that?"
His face cold, Jiang Chiyan said each word distinctly. "Give me my phone."
Xiao Cheng couldn't help laughing. "You're a renowned lawyer with millions of fans yourself. Doesn't personally getting into a flame war cheapen your reputation, silly?"
For the first time, Jiang Chiyan didn't listen to Xiao Cheng.
He looked at Xiao Cheng impassively. "Xiao Cheng, do you remember what I once told you?"
Xiao Cheng looked into his eyes.
Jiang Chiyan said, word by word, "People can insult me, but not you."
Xiao Cheng froze for a moment.
Jiang Chiyan continued, "Even if the entire internet attacks me, I don't care. Since I don't care, those things can't hurt me. But..."
"I care about you, so those insults aimed at you matter to me."
Jiang Chiyan's expression was indifferent.
He took his phone back from Xiao Cheng.
His gaze swept over the usernames of those making personal attacks against Xiao Cheng, one by one.
Then,
Jiang Chiyan called his assistant. "Go to court for me tomorrow and file a case."
On the other end, his assistant asked something.
Jiang Chiyan said, "Several Weibo accounts insulted Xiao Cheng. There are eighty-two accounts in total. Their usernames are..."
Over the next ten minutes,
with his IQ of 180,
Jiang Chiyan recited all eighty-two utterly random account usernames from memory without a single error.
A chill threaded through Jiang Chiyan's voice as he raged, "Hit them with everything you've got. Don't let a single one get away."
Deep in Xiao Cheng's heart,
something trembled uncontrollably.
This feeling of someone caring so fiercely about him...
Xiao Cheng closed his eyes for a moment.
He heard Jiang Chiyan's amused voice beside his ear. "Touched?"
Xiao Cheng nodded, admitting it openly. "Shouldn't I be touched when my boyfriend stands up for me?"
Jiang Chiyan chuckled. "That means I haven't done well enough, if you're so easily touched."
After saying that, he pointed at the chain around his ankle. "Unlock this for me."
Xiao Cheng frowned. "You're going out?"
"Yes. That girl at your studio, Shen Yunxing, is suspected of causing a traffic accident. She's still at the police station, right? I'm a lawyer. I'll go see her and find out what happened."
Suspects in criminal cases.
Only lawyers could see them.
Xiao Cheng crouched to unlock his ankle cuff and asked casually, "Which matters more, me or your career?"
Jiang Chiyan put on his coat. "Do you want the truth or a lie?"
Xiao Cheng was tying his tie for him. "Both."
"The lie... you matter more."
"But if I give up my career, how am I supposed to support you?"
In Jiang Chiyan's view.
People who gave up their careers for their partners were precisely the ones who were most irresponsible toward their families.
Without money, how could they sustain love?
"So, the truth is..."
"I'll do both-the courtroom and you."