I want to go with Pei Song'an

"I kissed you, you choked me, and you snapped at me when I cried." Li Shu's throat tightened, and he coughed softly twice. "That makes us even, right?"

"You want to call us even?"

Pei Song'an's voice was low and steady, his pitch rising slightly at the end. On closer consideration, there was a distinct hint of mockery in it.

Most people would have felt intimidated by those words. Unfortunately, Li Shu only liked hearing what he wanted to hear, and automatically filtered out the unpleasant edge in the man's tone.

"If we're not even, what else do you want? You want me to get on my knees and apologize? No way. A man doesn't kneel lightly. I don't even have to kowtow for my New Year's money anymore. Besides, I've only seen that kneeling stuff in TV dramas set in feudal times."

The string of short sentences did not interrupt Pei Song'an's thoughts.

The man's gaze was like a tongue of wildfire, slowly and imperceptibly licking over Li Shu's fair, delicate face. He did not know much about the Li family's youngest son, only vaguely that he had changed his college application choices without permission to pursue a man, and had recently fallen out badly with his family.

Judging by Li Shu's reaction now, there had most likely been a mix-up. Together with that abrupt exchange on the phone, it had long since become clear to Pei Song'an that the person Li Shu had wanted to kiss tonight was not him, but someone else.

Since it was all a misunderstanding, Pei Song'an had no energy to waste on Li Shu. He stood and buttoned his shirt.

"I'll extend the room for another night. You can sleep until tomorrow morning before-"

Li Shu could clearly hear that the other man intended to let him off. Before his anxious heart could settle, the system's voice abruptly echoed in his mind again, overlapping with Pei Song'an's.

[The Pei family's crown prince and the birthday celebrant disappeared together, completely disrupting the atmosphere at the banquet.]

[Hotel surveillance soon pinpointed the crown prince's location. But to everyone's horror and astonishment, the person who drugged him and took him away was none other than the star of the birthday banquet, Li Shu.]

[In three minutes, the room's door will be kicked open.]

[At that point, Pei Song'an's bodyguards will throw you into the sea to feed the fish.]

Li Shu: !

So Pei Song'an wasn't letting me off? He meant dead men tell no tales?!

Ha, haha, hahaha.

He had spent so much time being absurd that the world had finally decided to take a turn at messing with him.

Seeing that Pei Song'an had already put on the shirt he had tugged into disarray, Li Shu had no time to wonder whether grabbing the crown prince's arm would get his hand chopped off. He yanked the man back onto the bed.

"You can't leave!"

If Pei Song'an left, he really would have no way to explain anything.

Not expecting Li Shu's sudden ambush at all, Pei Song'an was dragged back onto the bed, his expression no longer pleasant. Looking at those eyes, still not entirely clear of tears, he felt his temples throb.

"Let go."

Li Shu craned his neck. "No!"

Pei Song'an had intended to shake him off, but his gaze landed on those pale pink lips, and he paused briefly. "Young Master Li, we have nothing to discuss."

Of course Li Shu knew that.

He looked the man straight on again, taking in everything from his hair to his striking face and sexy Adam's apple. Even the rumpled, disheveled shirt had a particular rakish charm on Pei Song'an. When he stood, his posture was straight and tall, clearly the result of deliberate training from childhood.

But even if Pei Song'an was about to choke him again, Li Shu could not let go now. This crown prince clearly wanted nothing more to do with him. Once the door opened, he would not be able to explain himself even with eighteen mouths.

[System, help me out! Social interaction is supposed to be give-and-take, but right now I'm just giving, giving, giving, giving, giving. Am I a dog? I can't take this anymore!]

What kind of hellish opening was this? Didn't games all start with a tutorial?

Why had his been skipped?

[Ding!]

[Loading plot-]

[The people who burst into the room discover you alone on the messy bed. Amid the embarrassment, you fail to notice someone leaving through the doorway. Soon, sudden gunfire outside shatters the mortifying atmosphere, followed immediately by someone shouting that Pei Song'an has been shot in the shoulder...]

Pei Song'an was shot in the shoulder?

"You'll be in danger if you go out. Someone wants to kill you!"

Those words successfully made him stay.

Pei Song'an's icy gaze settled on Li Shu. He caught his chin between his thumb and forefinger, the thin calluses on his fingertips rubbing against the delicate skin.

A faint fragrance lingered around Li Shu's nose. Together with the slight shivers the touch brought on, it left him tingling and dizzy.

This man was a menace.

At the same time.

Bang-

The room's door suddenly burst open.

Zheng Linchuan, Pei Song'an's bodyguard, led the way, with a large crowd following behind.

Of course, most of them were Pei Song'an's people. With the system's prompts, Li Shu also spotted his childhood friend Chen Yannan in the crowd, along with an unfamiliar, pretty boy beside him.

Li Shu swept a quick glance over them, an inexplicable ache rising in his heart again from the original owner's emotions.

Chen Yannan had even brought the boy to his birthday party. No wonder the original owner had been driven to resort to drugging him.

But as Li Shu studied them, the expressions on their faces were hardly calm either. In fact, on closer inspection, they looked somewhat horrified.

The crown prince was still fairly neatly dressed, but the chaotic creases in the fabric made it easy to imagine what his clothes had been through. Li Shu, whose chin was caught in Pei Song'an's grip, was not nearly as presentable.

The overhead light spilled across Li Shu's snow-white shoulders and neck. His soaked shirt clung tightly to the contours of his body, his handsome face was flushed pink from crying, and his chest rose and fell faintly with nerves. Even his pale fingertips were trembling.

If a mirror had stood before Li Shu, he would have understood just how much he could stir someone's desire at that moment.

"Xiao Shu."

Chen Yannan frowned slightly at the scene before him. It was not that he did not know Pei Song'an; he simply did not understand why Li Shu had gotten involved with this crown prince.

The incandescent light also shone into Pei Song'an's dark eyes. His gaze darkened as he looked at Zheng Linchuan. The bodyguard immediately understood and blocked Chen Yannan, preventing him from taking another step closer.

At the same time, Pei Song'an pulled over a jacket from beside him and draped it over Li Shu.

He had not expected Li Shu to look like this under the lights either.

"Song'an, there must be some misunderstanding. Xiao Shu isn't someone who would casually drug anyone."

Being stopped only made Chen Yannan's expression stiffen slightly. He showed nothing else.

Pei Song'an's and Chen Yannan's grandfathers had been comrades-in-arms. Later, the Pei family had entered politics, while the Chen Family had gone into business. Thanks to their grandfathers' connection, the two had met on many occasions. They were neither close nor distant, and the intricacies involved could not be explained in a few words.

The pretty boy standing beside Chen Yannan had heard a little about this too. In particular, his own grandfather had said that the Chen Family and the Pei family were very close. Listening to Chen Yannan, he did not think Hong Kong City's crown prince was anything special, and gently interjected:

"I'm sorry, Li Shu. I caused you to misunderstand. There's really nothing between Brother Yannan and me. I'm new to Hong Kong City and a little shy around strangers, and hotels aren't completely safe either, so I'm just staying at Brother Yannan's place."

"Please don't get angry with Brother Yannan because of me."

Li Shu felt that this pretty boy had a few tricks up his sleeve. Every implication in those few sentences spoke of how intimate he and Chen Yannan were, yet if Li Shu made a fuss now, he would be the one in the wrong.

This was bad. College didn't offer a course on 'How to shut down a scheming innocent'!

"What the hell are you talking about? Did pxx take a hatchet to your head?"

Li Shu was not the original owner, nor did he like Chen Yannan. Hearing this pretty boy babble on only left him bewildered.

Before the pretty boy could speak, Pei Song'an unhurriedly turned his head toward Chen Yannan, his tone sounding utterly casual.

"Your boyfriend?"

Chen Yannan heard Pei Song'an's displeasure. "Just a friend."

Pei Song'an hummed. "Don't bring just anyone into our circle."

The pretty boy's face visibly paled at those words.

The term "social climbing" was cruel, but once understood, a tactful remark could cut even more deeply.

Pei Song'an swept his gaze over the crowd again, gave Zheng Linchuan a look, then stood and said to the somewhat dazed Li Shu, "We're leaving."

Li Shu hastily murmured his agreement. Truthfully, he did not want to see Chen Yannan at all right now. But as soon as he stood, a wave of alcohol-induced dizziness suddenly hit him. His vision went black, and he dropped back onto the bed without warning.

"Xiao Shu!"

Chen Yannan tried to step forward, but Pei Song'an's people still blocked him. For some reason, the other man's jacket on Li Shu looked particularly offensive to him today.

Pei Song'an remained preoccupied with Li Shu's claim that someone wanted to kill him. In his position, there were many things he had to consider deeply. Even a nonsensical remark could not be dismissed lightly.

He had intended to have Zheng Linchuan bring Li Shu along. Then he glanced at Chen Yannan, and, whatever went through his mind, turned and scooped Li Shu straight into his arms.

Beside them, Zheng Linchuan was so shocked by the sight that he could not speak.

"Xiao Shu, you're drunk. I'll take you home." Chen Yannan's expression cracked slightly.

Li Shu naturally looped his long, slender, fair arms around Pei Song'an's neck. His lashes lifted slightly as he refused Chen Yannan for the first time.

"No need, Brother Yannan."

"I want to go with Pei Song'an."

Why did I write such long first two chapters?!

Something's wrong. Extremely wrong...