Chi Li chuckled, nowhere near as aggressive as he had been during the day. "Then let's talk."
"Everything I said outside the door just now was true." Zhou Yang gazed at Chi Li affectionately. "I'm absolutely sure my heart is with you."
"Don't look at me like that." The look made Chi Li feel a little sick.
"Xiao Li." Zhou Yang toned it down a little, but his voice was still exceptionally gentle. "I've thought it through. Selling my ship with Xie Weishui doesn't actually stop me from selling one with you at the same time."
Chi Li said, "Oh? Aren't you afraid of getting flamed?"
Even now, this bastard still wanted to have it both ways.
How could he be so shameless?
"What's the big deal? Getting flamed is still publicity." After less than ten days in the Raising House, Zhou Yang's pretensions to lofty purity had completely disappeared. "Besides, audiences love love polygons and shura fields these days!"
Love polygons, shura fields... audiences did love those, but-
"Do you think you're worthy?"
By Zhou Yang's logic, didn't that mean he wanted Xie Weishui and him to fight over him?
"Of course I am." Zhou Yang smiled confidently.
He slowly stood and, under Chi Li's baffled gaze, took off his shirt.
Chi Li: "?"
Why was he suddenly putting pork on display in the middle of a conversation?
"You really regret it, don't you?" Zhou Yang struck a few poses as if casually. "I never took my clothes off in front of you when we were dating."
"Good thing you didn't." Chi Li covered his eyes, unable to keep pretending to be gentle and mild. "I'm Hui. I don't eat pork."
Zhou Yang still hadn't caught on. "Where would you get pork this late? And you're clearly Han."
Chi Li said, "...The pig spoke."
Now he even had to account for someone's level of education when insulting them. He really had it rough.
"You-" Zhou Yang choked with anger, but then inspiration struck, and he confidently puffed out his chest. "If you don't eat pork, does that mean you want to eat something else?"
Chi Li knew perfectly well that this "something else" couldn't be anything good. He was just about to refuse when Zhou Yang grabbed his wrist and forcibly pulled his hand away from his eyes.
What came into view next was something hideous beyond compare.
Chi Li's pupils contracted, and his stomach began to churn.
Seeing the real thing was ten thousand times more disgusting than seeing a photo.
He clenched his fist and swung hard-
Having suffered once last night, Zhou Yang was prepared. He stepped back and dodged the attack.
"Xiao Li." Far from getting angry, Zhou Yang looked smug. "Is that how you treat your own food supply?"
Chi Li looked around, searching for a suitable weapon.
Zhou Yang was absorbed in pitching himself. "I've watched countless videos and learned all kinds of techniques. I guarantee I can make you feel like you're dying of pleasure. Are you really not going to try?"
Chi Li took a utility knife out of the desk drawer.
He raised it before his eyes and slowly extended the blade. "I could try seeing how sharp this blade is."
A cold gleam shone on the blade.
Zhou Yang shuddered involuntarily, but he still refused to concede. "Playing this game of saying no when you mean yes stops being fun if you keep it up... Be honest. I'll feel good, and so will you."
"You?" Chi Li's gaze moved down, growing increasingly contemptuous.
So even a physical threat wouldn't drive him away?
Then he couldn't blame him for being merciless with his words.
"What's wrong with me?" With his manly dignity on the line, Zhou Yang immediately bristled, just as expected. "You think I can't perform?"
Chi Li slowly held out his little finger. "Not even as well as this."
"You-"
Zhou Yang was just about to step forward and compare with Chi Li when he heard movement at the door.
He turned to look. That eyesore Shen Xunye was standing in the doorway.
"What are you doing in Chi Li's room this late?" Zhou Yang demanded first.
Shen Xunye walked inside and closed the door behind him. His gaze swept over Zhou Yang's naked body, and he remarked offhandedly, "Tiny chili pepper."
Only then did Zhou Yang realize he was still naked, and he hurriedly pulled up his pants.
He put on an air of composure. "Since you've seen us, I won't hide it. Chi Li and I are dating, so it's perfectly normal for me to be in his room. What are you here for?"
Chi Li snapped back irritably, "We broke up ages ago!"
Shen Xunye strolled farther inside. "He invited me."
Zhou Yang said, "Invited you?"
Within a few steps, Shen Xunye was beside Chi Li. "That's right. Don't tell me you came uninvited?"
"Well, well, Chi Li..." Zhou Yang pulled his shirt over his head, so angry that he struggled mightily to get through it. "I knew you were a slut, inviting some strange man to your room this late... Just because he's better-looking than me, huh?"
Chi Li said, "No need to state the obvious."
"Hah?" Zhou Yang nearly couldn't catch his breath and began slandering him. "You... he-he looks like all show and no substance!"
"Still better than you, with neither looks nor substance." Chi Li gave a soft snort, curled one corner of his mouth, and raised his little finger with narrowed eyes.
Zhou Yang immediately exploded. "Believe it or not, I'll report you to the production team for sleeping around!"
Chi Li picked up the phone propped up beside him and waved it at Zhou Yang. "Guess whether there's a video in here of you taking off your pants and harassing me just now."
"You-despicable!"
"Get out." Chi Li's expression turned cold. "Don't stay here and bother us."
"Fine!" Zhou Yang kept nodding in fury, looking back as he walked out. "I'll wait for you to see that the goods don't match the description and regret kicking me out!"
Shen Xunye waved at him. "Don't worry. Mine comes with a quality guarantee."
"Pah-"
Zhou Yang slammed the door with an earth-shaking bang.
Silence instantly returned to the room.
Chi Li put the utility knife back in the drawer and explained to Shen Xunye, looking a little embarrassed:
"Zhou Yang came to see me. I was afraid something might get out of control, so I called you over. It was urgent, so I didn't explain in detail."
"Mm." Shen Xunye nodded lightly. "I didn't get the wrong idea."
Although when he first received the message, a few less-than-wholesome guesses had indeed crossed his mind.
But over the ten-minute wait, he had ruled them all out, one by one.
"Also..." Chi Li closed the drawer and lightly tapped his fingers against it twice. "Zhou Yang and I used to date."
Shen Xunye said, "I could tell."
"I came here to make his life miserable," Chi Li explained to Shen Xunye. "But I don't know if he's taken the wrong medicine or what. No matter how viciously I insult him, he thinks I still have feelings for him... Just now, he even wanted to sleep with me."
"An overinflated sense of self." Shen Xunye hit the nail on the head.
When something that had once belonged to him alone, something he hadn't considered particularly precious, suddenly shone elsewhere, regret naturally arose.
"So, just now, I let him misunderstand why I'd asked you over..." A little awkwardly, Chi Li smoothed the stray hair by his ear. "I actually just wanted to use you to fend him off... I wasn't really trying to fool around with you."