Projects the Huo family could not secure no matter how much they talked were settled by a single remark from Huo Chuyun's assistant: "I heard President Wang's mother is a fan of Best Actor Huo." It was a resounding slap in the Huo family's face.
After his doting grandfather entrusted the Huo Group to him, Huo Chuyun went abroad for further study. Within a year of returning, he expanded the Huo Group's industrial chain tenfold.
Huo Chuyun seemed to enjoy great success in the first half of the novel, but his fate in the second half was miserable. His own mother exploited his last shred of familial affection and orchestrated a car accident, costing him both legs and the sight in one eye.
When Lu Xingchen reached that part, he cried his eyes out. Why would they do that to someone so exceptionally gifted?
Just because Huo Chuyun stood in Huo Junchi's way, and because Huo Junchi was influenced by Lu Yichen's protagonist halo, every factor unfavorable to Lu Yichen had to be eliminated.
Lu Xingchen strongly suspected that the author was Lu Yichen himself, someone who had met a man as outstanding as Huo Chuyun in real life but could not win his love, and so killed Huo Chuyun off in the book as revenge.
After turning dark, Huo Chuyun killed everyone who had harmed him and ultimately burned himself to death.
When Lu Xingchen read that, he sat stunned for a long time, unable to recover.
That was not the ending he wanted for Huo Chuyun. Someone as outstanding as Huo Chuyun should have lived a happy, healthy, carefree life.
At the end, the author brought Lu Yichen and those other scourges back to life, deliberately turning it into a happy ending. Lu Yichen and Huo Junchi even went on to live a blissful life together. Lu Xingchen was so furious that he threw the book away, then stamped on it several times when that was not enough to vent his anger.
If not for Huo Chuyun, even a glance at that shitty book would have made him sick.
Huo Chuyun raised an eyebrow as he watched the young man before him go from anger to sudden understanding, then to heartbreak, and finally laugh in indignant fury.
The young man's complexion was fairer than snow, his skin smooth and delicate. His fluffy hair looked soft to the touch, with a few gentle wisps resting over his eyes. He looked so sweet, and the way he had bristled just now was like a kitten baring its little pink paws, making one want to tease him.
What was he thinking about, making such adorable expressions?
His lips were red and plump, like freshly picked cherries, luscious and tempting. Huo Chuyun's gaze drifted downward to the boy's body, and his eyes instantly grew unreadable.
The outer corners of the young man's eyes tilted up slightly like crescent moons, and the tiny black mole beneath one eye was like a star twinkling in the night sky. Huo Chuyun remembered kissing that mole last night.
Huo Chuyun could not help breaking the silence. "What are you thinking about?"
Only then did Lu Xingchen come back to himself. Whether from heartache or anger, the corners of his eyes had flushed red, setting off the tiny black mole beneath his eye and making it all the more striking.
When Lu Xingchen shook his head, Huo Chuyun narrowed his eyes. Seeing him lower his head, afraid to look him straight in the eye, he gave a pointed scoff. "You were so fierce just now. Now that you've noticed my face, are you scared?"
"No!" Lu Xingchen jerked his head up and loudly denied it. Although Huo Chuyun wore a faint smile, he caught an almost imperceptible flicker of disappointment in his eyes, as though saying, Just as I thought. (Through Lu Xingchen's filter.)
Lu Xingchen could not help growing anxious.
So, under Huo Chuyun's shocked gaze, Lu Xingchen half-knelt on the bed and nimbly crawled a few steps toward him.
The next instant, he grabbed Huo Chuyun's cheeks and planted a firm kiss on that horrifying, jagged scar.
One kiss was not enough for Lu Xingchen. He planted several more emphatic kisses on it, mumbling, "No, I've never thought you were scary..."
As though afraid Huo Chuyun would not believe him, Lu Xingchen hurriedly added, "I really like your movie, The Vanished Murderer. I've watched it so many times. The plot twists again and again, and your performance as Shen Jie was wonderful. You really did scare me back then."
Huo Chuyun froze for a moment. Just then, faint golden light slipped through a gap in the curtains and fell across the scar on his face. It felt as though a feather had brushed his heart, and his long-silent heartbeat thundered in his ears.
The next second, Huo Chuyun noticed movement against his body. He looked down, his brows knitting so tightly they could have crushed a fly, and the veins on his forehead bulged. That little flutter of feeling instantly vanished.
"Lu Xingchen! You really want it all! You've already kissed me, and now you're copping a feel? Hurry up and get your paws off my pecs!"
Reluctantly, Lu Xingchen gave Huo Chuyun's full, springy pecs another squeeze before sheepishly letting go and scratching his head. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. It's all your fault for having such a great body, Brother Chu."
Lu Xingchen had already started calling Huo Chuyun "Brother Chu" with easy familiarity. Wait! How did Huo Chuyun know his name?
"Brother Chu, you know who I am?" Lu Xingchen pointed at himself.
"I saw you at a Lu family banquet," Huo Chuyun explained, without correcting his casual use of "Brother Chu."
But the Lu Xingchen back then had been nowhere near as lively as he was now. He had been like an invisible, dispensable presence, and the Lu family had treated him as though he did not exist.
Huo Chuyun had only noticed Lu Xingchen by chance and casually asked the people around him, who were all trying to curry favor with the Huo family. When he heard that Lu Xingchen's situation resembled his own, he had frowned almost imperceptibly.
One was repeatedly provoked by an illegitimate son; the other had his place usurped by an adopted son.
Lu Xingchen nodded in understanding. Huo Chuyun must have met the original owner of this body at the Lu family home. Remembering last night, he asked, "Brother Chu, why are you here? I'm sorry about last night. I only acted that way because I'd been drugged."
Huo Chuyun gave Lu Xingchen an inscrutable look. Remembering how someone had wrapped around him like a snake last night and could not be pried off no matter what, he said helplessly, "I know."
Lu Xingchen shifted his sore, weak waist and looked at Huo Chuyun earnestly. "Huo Chuyun, I'll take responsibility for you."
Huo Chuyun gave Lu Xingchen a surprised look. Why did he make it sound as though Lu Xingchen had taken advantage of him? Seeing Lu Xingchen struggle into his clothes on trembling legs, he could not help reaching out to steady him.
"You don't need to take responsibility. I was the one who took advantage of you. I was drugged last night too." Remembering something, Huo Chuyun's eyes instantly turned icy, and he clenched his back teeth. Huo Junchi. Very good!
Huo Chuyun rubbed his aching forehead. Last night, he had endured the burning heat in his body and was just about to open the door to go to the hospital when someone knocked. The moment he opened it, a scorching-hot body lunged inside.
Huo Chuyun instinctively dodged, then tried to help Lu Xingchen up from the floor. With bloodshot eyes, Lu Xingchen pushed him away and rasped at him to get lost and not touch him.
Huo Chuyun did not invite further trouble. He straightened coldly and irritably took out his phone to call an ambulance.
But the next second, the irritable young man who had just told him to get lost sprang up. His foxlike eyes were red, and large tears splashed onto Huo Chuyun's clothes as he stroked Huo Chuyun's face and asked in a trembling voice.
"You're Huo Chuyun? I... I'm not dreaming, am I? That shitty author was way too careless, killing you off just like that. I was so angry I nearly had a heart attack. I wanted to send him razor blades."
Before you continue