Under the lights, the boy's rosy lips parted slightly of their own accord.
He said nothing, his round eyes staring blankly at Huo Yuzhou, as though trying to find something unusual in his expression.
But those pitch-black eyes simply stared straight back at him. His icy face was handsome and aristocratic; no one could read his true thoughts from it.
Nan Qing fell silent. Nan Qing seethed.
Nan Qing simply could not understand, his raven-feather lashes fluttering.
"Huo Yuzhou, you want to date me?"
The man's Adam's apple dipped. Before he could answer, a soft little hand landed on his smooth forehead.
It was like a soft feather, or grapes chilled in well water in summer, their peeled flesh cool and so soft it made the heart tingle.
His voice was soft too, and particularly spoiled.
"Huo Yuzhou, are you possessed?"
The touch of his palm flitted across his forehead before he stingily withdrew his hand, pressing his rosy lips together as he looked at him.
Huo Yuzhou's expression was indifferent. "Young master, wasn't this your own suggestion?"
Nan Qing was speechless.
He really had suggested it himself.
The point was, he had said all that to make Huo Yuzhou kill him off in a fit of rage!
Why had they dragged this out for so long without Huo Yuzhou showing the slightest intention of laying a hand on him?
Strange, unbelievable, and downright uncanny.
Nan Qing looked around at the windows battered by wind and rain, pursing his lips as he considered whether jumping from upstairs right now would count as completing his mission.
But the man's large, well-defined hand landed on his face, gripping that flawless, pretty little face and turning it toward him.
Huo Yuzhou had always had an icy face.
He had been an iceberg as a child and a glacier as an adult. Even his gaze was chilly, as though it carried knives.
He simply watched him quietly, his long, straight lashes lowering and casting broad shadows beneath his eyes, concealing the darkness in them.
His voice was cold too, sinister.
"What? Young master, are you trying to toy with me like you used to?"
"But unfortunately, Qingqing."
"This time, you've fallen into my hands."
His slightly rough fingertips brushed over the boy's soft cheek, almost gripping his entire face.
Held fast like a kitten, Nan Qing looked at the sinister young man and slowly sighed.
Huo Yuzhou really did hate him.
It would have been strange if he did not. After all, he had bullied him so viciously before.
With a subtle sense of guilt in his heart, Nan Qing lowered his eyes evasively.
From those few remarks just now, he seemed to understand why Huo Yuzhou had not simply strangled him outright.
He had stirred up so much trouble that the man utterly loathed him.
Ordering Huo Yuzhou around, making Huo Yuzhou take the blame, finding opportunities to bully Huo Yuzhou every day, making him eat leftovers, hitting him, stepping on his hands, humiliating him, sabotaging his startup projects...
Whether he should have done it or not, however outrageous it was, he had done it all.
Now that he had lost his identity as the Bai family's young master and become a rat everyone inside and outside their circle wanted to beat, who would not want to toy with him?
Especially a villain as vengeful as Huo Yuzhou. In all likelihood, he was keeping him alive to torment him over and over rather than give him a quick death.
He was doomed.
Why hadn't the system told him that doing his mission too well was no good either?
Doing too well earned him hatred, turning one strangling into repeated stranglings. Maybe Huo Yuzhou would even whip him back and forth, tormenting him until he was on his last breath before stabbing him to death...
The crisp scent of alcohol drew closer, mingled with the scent of Atlantic fir on the man. Huo Yuzhou's meaning was unclear, his voice dark and hoarse.
"Scared?"
Outside the window, wind and rain howled. Inside, the threatened Nan Qing raised his eyes.
He could not worry about all that now!
Whether he stuck his neck out or pulled it back, the blade would fall anyway. He, Nan Qing, had to die at Huo Yuzhou's hands tonight!
Nan Qing had only just raised his fingers when violent knocking sounded outside.
Noisy voices drifted in from outside, and the system spoke at just the right moment.
"It's the little white flower protagonist shou."
"He realized the vicious fake young master wanted to climb into Huo Yuzhou's bed, so he rushed over with people to expose Nan Qing's scheme."
"Don't panic. Although the timing of your exit is a little off, Bai Ruanruan is here now. He'll definitely help Huo Yuzhou make up his mind to kill you."
Nan Qing breathed a sigh of relief. His slender fingertips changed direction in midair and patted the man's arm around his waist, signaling for him to let go.
The commotion outside rose and fell, but the aristocratic, sinister villain boss simply looked down at him, showing no intention of letting him leave.
"You haven't answered yet."
Answered what? Whether I'll be your wife?
In a flash, the delicate, pretty boy slid his fingertips onto the man's chest, tracing the clearly defined contours of his muscles through the thin silk shirt.
His round eyes lifted, the upturned corners tinged with a faint red, carrying an unwitting allure.
"Of course, hubby~"
He chuckled softly, glancing toward the door.
"But right now, it seems you're a little tied up."
The hotel corridor was particularly brightly lit. The opulent decorations reflected the lights onto Bai Ruanruan's delicate face.
"Don't worry, Ruanruan. Mr. Huo will definitely be fine!"
"Exactly, Ruanruan. Who doesn't know Mr. Huo has no interest in men? Even if Nan Qing stripped naked and stood in front of him, Mr. Huo wouldn't so much as lift an eyelid!"
"Maybe by the time the door opens, Nan Qing's face will already be beaten black and blue..."
Several people spoke over one another, surrounding Bai Ruanruan like stars around the moon.
Bai Ruanruan looked worried, both hands clasped over his heart.
"But getting beaten hurts terribly. Nan Qing is still a celebrity. If word gets out, his career will be over..."
"Ruanruan, you're just too kind!"
"Nan Qing stole your place as the Bai family's young master for so many years, yet you're still thinking of him."
"Who wouldn't praise our Ruanruan for being beautiful and kind? You're miles ahead of that impostor! Only our Ruanruan deserves to be the Bai family's young master. What the hell is Nan Qing?"
"If you ask me, we should post this online and let everyone see how disgusting Nan Qing is!"
The flattery around him was particularly noisy. They spoke Nan Qing's name in anger, planning how to expose him shortly, as though they could already see him utterly disgraced, eager to trample him into the mud.
Bai Ruanruan merely sighed helplessly. He did not stop their increasingly indignant discussion, only gazing quietly at the door.
Of course he knew nothing would go wrong today.
Ever since he had been old enough to understand, he had known he was the protagonist of a book, the true young master who had been switched at birth. At twenty, he would be welcomed back to the Bai family in grand style and reach the pinnacle of life.
And the fake young master who had stolen his life would lose his own life after the glorious banquet celebrating his return.
Over the years, following the warnings in the book, he had redeemed the great villain Huo Yuzhou and revealed clues before his birth parents, allowing him to be smoothly recognized and brought home.
Every major event had come true. Nothing had ever gone wrong.
Especially with such a good opportunity today, he ought to appear before Huo Yuzhou, display his vulnerability and kindness, soothe the dark and violent Huo Yuzhou, become his only white moonlight, and thoroughly redeem him once more.
After all, Huo Yuzhou had far more power and influence than his future husband.
And he liked him so much, regarding him as his one pure white jasmine flower.
Then surely it was not too much for him, Bai Ruanruan, to take this opportunity to add Huo Yuzhou to his fishpond and scoop up a few more benefits along the way?
The latch clicked, and faint light spilled through the doorway.
Bai Ruanruan's lips curved slightly, his voice fragile and pitiful.
"Is that you, Mr. Huo?"
"I'm sorry I'm a little late. I heard there was some trouble here."