Chapter 15

As more and more people gathered, Jiang Chi felt a considerable sense of crisis.

The sight of Gu Wang standing onstage holding flowers last night had hurt his eyes. He had not intended to do anything serious today; he just wanted to drag Gu Wang back into the mud. Looking as wretched as a dog-that was how Gu Wang should be.

So before long, he waved for them to stop. Standing over Gu Wang, he said, "Today was just a warning. You'd better watch yourself."

He strode off with the others. Gu Wang kept his eyes lowered, soaked from head to toe, his fringe hanging in disarray as rainwater dripped steadily from its tips.

Gu Wang raised a hand to wipe his eyes. They had not hit him particularly hard, but his skin was fair, making the few injuries on his face especially obvious. He could not be bothered to see what he looked like. He picked up the umbrella from the ground and walked back with it in his hand, without opening it.

He did not know what the Original Host had been through, but this was the greatest humiliation Gu Wang himself had ever suffered, and it was because of He Qinghuan.

When Gu Wang appeared in the classroom looking like a drowned rat, with injuries on his face, the noisy students slowly fell silent, all staring at him in surprise.

Song Zhiyan sprang to his feet and rushed over to Gu Wang. "Wangwang, what happened to you?" He saw the injuries at the corner of Gu Wang's eye and mouth. Gu Wang was so fair that even a scrape stood out. Song Zhiyan's eyes widened. "Who the fuck hit you?"

"I'll tell you when I get back." Gu Wang pushed Song Zhiyan aside and headed for his seat.

Song Zhiyan followed him. "Back where?"

Gu Wang said, "Home."

He was soaked all over. In weather like this, he was bound to catch a cold.

He Qinghuan was not there. Gu Wang quickly packed his bag, and Song Zhiyan walked him to the stairs, repeatedly reminding him to message him on WeChat once he got home. Gu Wang also reminded Song Zhiyan to do his practice questions. Seeing Song Zhiyan's face fall so quickly actually lifted Gu Wang's mood a little.

He went downstairs and spotted He Qinghuan coming up at the second-floor turn. Gu Wang lowered his eyes. Although He Qinghuan really did not seem to have done anything, and simply did not like Gu Wang, Jiang Chi had targeted him because of He Qinghuan, whatever the case. Gu Wang could not help resenting him too.

He ignored him and prepared to go straight downstairs.

As he passed He Qinghuan, He Qinghuan reached out and caught his wrist, his thumb slowly stroking the thinnest skin there. His gaze fell on the injuries on Gu Wang's face, and he asked softly, "Who hit you?"

"None of your business." Gu Wang tried to pull free but failed. He lifted his eyes to He Qinghuan. With water still on his face and those injuries, Gu Wang looked especially pitiful.

He Qinghuan looked at the droplets still clinging to the long lashes of the person before him, but the corners of his mouth sank when he saw the wound at the corner of his eye.

The school building seemed to have fallen silent and still. No one came up or down the stairs, either. Gu Wang began to panic.

He Qinghuan gave a quiet "Mm," then abruptly shoved Gu Wang against the wall, though he still kept some distance between their bodies.

Gu Wang's heart thundered. He Qinghuan's eyes were ink-black, darker than most people's. He stared unblinkingly at Gu Wang, who could not help turning his head away.

He Qinghuan raised a hand and caught Gu Wang's chin, turning him to face him. Then his fingers slid up the side of Gu Wang's face. They were slightly cool, making Gu Wang shiver.

Even Gu Wang himself did not know whether it was from fear or something else.

But fear was certainly part of it. Compared with the male lead, Jiang Chi, He Qinghuan was the one who truly inspired fear and dread.

At last, He Qinghuan's fingertips stopped at the corner of Gu Wang's eye, gently stroking the glaring wound. He softened his voice until it was almost a murmur, yet the viciousness in his tone was chilling.

"Who hit you? Hmm?"

Author's note: He Qinghuan: I only like your face.

Not long afterward, He Qinghuan: I like you as a person too.

Wangwang: Get lost.

1. He Qinghuan really is a sucker for good looks, so we have to make him truly fall in love with Wangwang, rather than just liking him because he's pretty. Up to now, every change in He Qinghuan's attitude toward Wangwang has been because Wangwang fits his aesthetic tastes. How about we sharpen our knives and each take a slash at him?

2. He Qinghuan bears some responsibility for the Original Host's ultimate fate, because he was indifferent. So now that Jiang the damned dog has hit Wangwang, if he still watches coldly from the sidelines, let's spit on him.

3. Please curse Jiang the damned dog. Hitting our Wangwang is unforgivable.

Chapter 21

Gu Wang shrank back a little in pain.

Seeing that Gu Wang genuinely resisted him, He Qinghuan lowered his eyes, moved away, and released his wrist. After a pause, he asked, "Jiang Chi?"

Other than Jiang Chi, few people at school would dare lay a hand on Gu Wang. His family might be nouveau riche, but their money was real enough. As far as He Qinghuan remembered, the few fights Gu Wang had gotten into had all been with Jiang Chi.

But Gu Wang had rarely been injured before. At least, never on his face.

The injuries on Gu Wang's face now were painfully jarring, like milky-white paint muddied with red, stirring up agitation. Yet unexpectedly, there was also a kind of ravaged beauty to him.

It was different from his usual clean purity.

But He Qinghuan still found it an eyesore, because it had been done by someone else's hand.

"I'll handle it myself." Gu Wang avoided He Qinghuan's gaze. He neither confirmed nor denied it, but that more or less indirectly admitted that Jiang Chi was responsible.

He Qinghuan smiled. "How do you plan to handle it?"

Leaning against the wall, Gu Wang tightened his fingers around his backpack strap and said quietly, "Give him a taste of his own medicine."

If Jiang Chi could get people to ambush him, he could get people to ambush Jiang Chi too. The Jiang family had not yet reached the point where a stamp of their foot could shake all of Province A, as they would later. The Gu family was no pushover, either. So what if he had Jiang Chi ambushed?

This was the first time Gu Wang had bared his claws in front of He Qinghuan. He Qinghuan tilted his head and watched him for a while before saying softly, "Good."

Gu Wang looked at He Qinghuan in confusion. What was good about it?

Even the air seemed to grow thin when he was with He Qinghuan. He pushed He Qinghuan aside, muttered, "I'm leaving," and hurried downstairs, afraid He Qinghuan would block his way again.

In the taxi, Gu Wang called Li Shuya and only said that he had fallen. He had been behaving well lately, so Li Shuya did not think much of it and even reminded him to be careful.

After hanging up, Gu Wang stared out of the window in a daze.

Gu Wang thought he must have lost his mind. Just now, he had actually gotten the impression that He Qinghuan was on his side.

The Gu family's villa was lavishly decorated; all it lacked were walls built of gold bricks. The roses in the yard were all imported varieties, with someone specifically employed to tend and prune them. They even had their own lake out back and kept horses on the pasture in the villa complex.

Everyone in the Gu family was home today. When Gu Wang pushed open the door, several pairs of eyes in the living room turned toward him in unison.

Gu Dazhi jumped up from the sofa. "Wangwang, how did you end up like this?"

Grandma Gu was even more dramatic. She shoved Gu Dazhi aside, hurried up to Gu Wang, and looked up at him, pulling him around in several circles as she cursed, "What godforsaken bastard hit my Wangwang? Gu Dazhi, Gu Dazhi, get the car! Get the car! We're going to the hospital first, then to the school. If they don't give us an explanation, this isn't over!"

Gu Dazhi would never disobey his mother. He grabbed the car keys from the coffee table, answering, "All right, all right," several times.

Gu Wang had not had a chance to speak. Only when Grandma Gu started rushing upstairs and downstairs gathering things did he tell Gu Dazhi, "I fell at school. It's nothing serious."

"Bullshit!" Gu Dazhi planted his hands on his hips. He came from the countryside, but he had read plenty of books and was well educated-a cultured roughneck. "I've been in more fights than you've eaten grains of salt. One look tells me you got into a fight, and you lost!"

"..." Gu Wang said helplessly, "Dad, I can handle it myself."

Gu Dazhi glared, but Gu Wang's mother, Du Liping, spoke up from beside him. Leaning against the sofa and leisurely painting her nails, she said mildly, "Let Wangwang handle it himself. He's too old for us parents to help him every time he loses a fight, isn't he?"

Grandma Gu clearly disagreed. Gu Wang had been spoiled since childhood. Du Liping rarely intervened, nor did she have time to, but when she did, her word was final.

"Mom, Wangwang's all grown up. He's not three anymore. He knows to hit back. If you help him, won't his classmates laugh your grandson to death?"

Grandma Gu considered it. Ah, that did make sense.

Gu Dazhi pondered for a moment, then asked, "Was it that Jiang boy?"

Gu Wang instinctively wanted to ask how he knew, then realized that if Gu Dazhi could guess, the Original Host must have mentioned him before. He nodded in acknowledgment.

Gu Dazhi sneered twice. "He's getting far too full of himself. His second uncle was just trying to negotiate a contract with your cousin the day before yesterday, and your cousin was about to agree. I'll go throw a wrench in it. He can blame himself for having a nephew like that. Heh-heh."

Gu Wang said, "..."

The Gu family could not be called an established elite family, but they ran a large business and had dealings with many families. They were only one step away.

Du Liping beckoned Gu Wang over. The housekeeper went upstairs to run a hot bath, and Grandma Gu went to make ginger soup. The whole family bustled around Gu Wang.

"Does it hurt?" Du Liping asked.

Gu Wang lowered his eyelids. "No."

Du Liping patted his arm and said softly, "You have to pay it back, understand? Even if a dog bites you, you have to bite it back. Do you hear me?"

Toward the end, her tone abruptly turned stern.

Gu Wang's scalp tightened. "Understood."

In this family, Du Liping was the one whose word truly was final. In the original novel, if Gu Wang had not held them back, it would not have been impossible for the Gu family to become another He Corporation under her leadership. But the Original Host had made the Gu family clean up his messes time and again, destroying everything they had built over so many years in one fell swoop.

Having put Gu Wang on notice, Du Liping leaned back against the sofa and leisurely returned to her nail polish. Her manner was gentle and her features soft, betraying none of the qualities of a powerful businesswoman, yet this was the woman whose lead the entire Gu family followed.

Gu Wang took a hot bath and lay down on his bed. Messages from Song Zhiyan and Shen Zhao had already filled his WeChat screen.

[Song Zhiyan: Wangwang, are you there? Are you there? Are you there?]

[Shen Zhao: Wangwang, Song Zhiyan said someone hit you? Who was it?]

Gu Wang gave a rough account in the group chat. Song Zhiyan and Shen Zhao replied almost instantly, both clamoring to sever the tendons in Jiang Chi's wrists and ankles, hang him upside down from a roof beam to bleed for three days and nights, then throw him out in the sun to dry.

Gu Wang asked Song Zhiyan to help contact a few people. Song Zhiyan understood what he meant and replied, "Got it." Shen Zhao followed with a "Got it" too.

Outside the window, the heavy rain continued unabated. Rain and mist spread over the entire city, giving it a hazy, almost illusory hue.

Gu Wang stared at the ceiling, his expression darkening. Since becoming the Original Host, he had never thought of provoking anyone. He had taken great care to avoid the male lead and He Qinghuan, but things had almost never gone his way.

He was only trying to avoid things that might happen. That did not mean he was a coward or afraid.

The only ones he feared were the unfathomable He Qinghuan, or rather, the male lead who would become a rising business tycoon in the future-not Jiang Chi as he was now, a teenager in his rebellious phase.

Gu Wang did not want trouble, but even a cornered rabbit would bite. And he was no rabbit.

The next day, Gu Wang went to school on time as usual.

Gu Dazhi and Du Liping each had things to attend to, and both family drivers had been commandeered, so Gu Wang had to take a taxi to school himself. He stood at the intersection with his umbrella. The asphalt road stretched through the rain beyond sight, and a black Bentley broke through the curtain of rain and stopped in front of him.

Unable to see inside from outside, Gu Wang assumed it was someone from the same villa complex and stepped aside.

The door opened. The rain, strung together like beads, obscured his view, leaving the face of the person inside somewhat indistinct. But Gu Wang could feel that the person was looking at him.

Gu Wang narrowed his eyes, trying to see who it was.

The front passenger window slowly lowered, and a middle-aged man's low, husky voice sounded beside him. "Are you Gu Wang? Our young master would like you to get in."

That respectful tone, that humble manner, that unmistakable air of an elite family-Gu Wang tightened his grip on the umbrella handle. It was He Qinghuan.

Gu Wang was still hesitating, and puzzled as well. The middle-aged man in the front passenger seat repeated himself. They even switched off the engine. If Gu Wang did not get in, they would not leave.

Gu Wang closed his umbrella and climbed into the back seat. Turning his head, he met He Qinghuan's gaze. He had been watching Gu Wang the whole time.

Gu Wang