Chapter Summaries

Bai Ruanruan publicly mocked Nan Qing’s outfit, expecting to impress SN, but SN praised Nan Qing’s couture and Bai was ridiculed. After blaming Nan Qing for his own humiliation, Bai sent a seductive message to Huo Yuzhou.

• Bai Ruanruan criticized Nan Qing’s clothes on a livestream and claimed they were fake, drawing attention online.
• Bai Ruanruan approached Givenchy’s President Jiang at the banquet, but Jiang dismissed him and others mocked him.
• Bai Ruanruan called Zheng Ming for an explanation, but Zheng berated him and hung up.
• Bai Ruanruan saw SN’s post praising Nan Qing’s haute couture and learned that Nan Qing’s outfit was bespoke and revealed SN’s fashion-week theme.
• Bai Ruanruan suspected Nan Qing had a sugar daddy, then took a seductive photo and messaged Huo Yuzhou for help.

Bai Ruanruan tried to recruit Xi Juan after being humiliated at the gala, but Xi Juan revealed he had arranged the organizers’ confrontation and threatened to drive Bai Ruanruan out of entertainment if he bullied Nan Qing again. Nan Qing reunited with Huo Yuzhou in the car, where the assistant announced that someone was sexually harassing Huo Yuzhou.

• Bai Ruanruan blamed system 087 for not warning him about his mistake at the gala and considered changing his goals to pursue Xi Juan.
• Bai Ruanruan met Xi Juan in the restroom and asked him for help staying in the entertainment industry.
• Xi Juan admitted he had arranged for the organizers to single out Bai Ruanruan and threatened him against bullying Nan Qing.
• Nan Qing left the gala and joined Huo Yuzhou in his car, where they discussed his exhaustion and hunger.
• Huo Yuzhou offered Nan Qing food and kept him on his lap as the car headed home.
• The assistant told Huo Yuzhou that someone was sexually harassing him.

Nan Qing saw Bai Ruanruan send Huo Yuzhou a suggestive photo, and Huo Yuzhou explained Bai’s history of trying to win him over before asking Nan Qing to go public as his partner. Nan Qing began to suspect he could hear Huo Yuzhou’s violent inner thoughts, but Huo Yuzhou’s request for an answer remained unanswered.

• Nan Qing saw Bai Ruanruan’s suggestive message on Huo Yuzhou’s phone and asked the assistant to send him a screenshot and block the contact.
• Huo Yuzhou told Nan Qing that Bai Ruanruan had approached him four years earlier with rival-company information and had repeatedly appeared with supposed help.
• Nan Qing asked what Huo Yuzhou thought of Bai Ruanruan, and Huo Yuzhou called him an idiot while his inner thoughts turned murderous.
• Huo Yuzhou asked Nan Qing to go public as his husband or boyfriend so Bai Ruanruan would stop harassing him.
• Nan Qing wondered whether his illness had worsened or he could truly hear Huo Yuzhou’s inner voice as Huo Yuzhou invited him to attend Xingchen’s wine tasting together.

After Huo Yuzhou confessed his jealousy and asked Nan Qing for comfort, the two kissed, leaving Nan Qing confused about their friendship. Yu Xingyan's advice reassured Nan Qing that Huo Yuzhou's clinginess might only be a passing phase, and Nan Qing ended the chapter by asking Huo Yuzhou whether he took protein powder.

• Nan Qing accepted Huo Yuzhou's explanation but reminded him their relationship was still governed by a contract and they were only close friends.
• Huo Yuzhou admitted he felt upset seeing Nan Qing with Xi Juan and asked him for a kiss, then kissed him in the car.
• Nan Qing ate his late-night meal and messaged Yu Xingyan to ask how a scumbag behaved after a kiss.
• Yu Xingyan sent Nan Qing advice and suggested Huo Yuzhou was in a temporary clingy phase, so Nan Qing decided to wait and see.
• Nan Qing returned to the bedroom, saw Huo Yuzhou fresh from the shower, and asked whether he took protein powder.

Nan Qing panicked over Huo Yuzhou’s naked body, then decided to buy him protein powder for his own safety. The next day, Nan Qing impressed a skeptical director at an audition, where he noticed someone flash past the doorway.

• Huo Yuzhou teased Nan Qing about kissing and pulled him close, but Nan Qing kissed him first, then fled to the bathroom and decided to buy him protein powder.
• Zhou Guangliang told Nan Qing that the fashion gala had brought endorsement offers and that SN had spoken up for him, likely because of Mr. Huo.
• Zhou Guangliang explained that Nan Qing was auditioning for a devoted young man who died saving the female lead.
• Nan Qing delivered a few lines, causing the initially dismissive director to praise his performance.
• Nan Qing spotted a figure flash past the audition room doorway.

After losing his Givenchy endorsement and facing a huge compensation bill, Bai Ruanruan went to the Gu Family’s wine tasting hoping to win Huo Yuzhou over. He mistook Huo’s arrival for the start of a confession, but Gu Xingchen greeted him instead, leaving his expectations unsettled.

• Zheng Ming confronted Bai Ruanruan with Givenchy’s termination agreement and warned him to stop causing trouble and finish filming Journey through Luo.
• Bai Ruanruan saw Nan Qing had auditioned for a new role and decided he needed to win Huo Yuzhou over at the wine tasting.
• At the Gu Group winery, Bai Ruanruan tried to mingle with influential guests but was rebuffed and then embarrassed by Xi Juan.
• Bai Ruanruan heard that Huo Yuzhou had arrived with a boyfriend and assumed Huo was about to confess to him in front of Xi Juan.
• Gu Xingchen came downstairs, greeted the guests, and stopped beside Bai Ruanruan to say hello.

At the Gu Family wine tasting, Gu Xingchen embarrassed Bai Ruanruan by criticizing his perfume, while Nan Qing arrived with Huo Yuzhou and heard his shameless thoughts about getting drunk and seducing him. The chapter left Nan Qing flustered after Huo Yuzhou licked his palm and privately counted it as a kiss.

• Gu Xingchen greeted Bai Ruanruan, examined his ring, then mocked him for wearing suffocating perfume to a wine tasting.
• Bai Ruanruan misunderstood Gu Xingchen's attention as romantic interest, then left in anger after the guests laughed at him.
• Huo Yuzhou and Nan Qing arrived at the Gu Family winery holding hands and joked about Huo Yuzhou's ability to hold his liquor.
• Nan Qing heard Huo Yuzhou fantasize about getting drugged or drunk so he could seduce him, and grew embarrassed by his thoughts.
• Huo Yuzhou licked Nan Qing's palm after Nan Qing covered his mouth, then privately celebrated it as a kiss.

Nan Qing struggled with Huo Yuzhou’s possessive flirting at the reception, but the two eventually left the garden together. As they approached the guests, people began calling Nan Qing Mrs. Huo, and Bai Ruanruan pushed through the crowd to reach them.

• Huo Yuzhou held Nan Qing close, apologized, and offered to buy him things while Nan Qing insisted they were only friends.
• Huo Yuzhou refused to release Nan Qing until the reception guests had passed, then sat with him on a bench and tucked a pink flower into his pocket.
• Nan Qing wondered whether he and Huo Yuzhou could really be friends as Huo Yuzhou watched him intently.
• Gu Xingchen confirmed Huo Yuzhou had arrived and watched him approach with Nan Qing.
• Guests gathered around Huo Yuzhou, and Gu Xingchen warned a woman that Nan Qing was the undisputed Mrs. Huo.
• Bai Ruanruan heard people call Nan Qing Mrs. Huo and pushed through the crowd toward them.

Bai Ruanruan tried to attract Huo Yuzhou at a party but fell and discovered Huo was holding Nan Qing, who exposed Bai’s explicit messages and photos to the crowd. Nan Qing declared that he and Huo were dating and warned Bai to stay away from his boyfriend.

• Bai Ruanruan staged a fall toward Huo Yuzhou, but someone tripped him and he crashed onto the floor.
• Huo Yuzhou drew Nan Qing closer and said he had not touched Bai, prompting Bai to realize Nan Qing was in his arms.
• Nan Qing confronted Bai for pursuing Huo Yuzhou and threw chat screenshots and revealing photos into the crowd.
• Bai scrambled to gather the pages while the guests mocked him, and Nan Qing stomped on his wrist.
• Nan Qing declared that he was Huo Yuzhou’s boyfriend and warned Bai that he would beat him if he approached Huo again.

At the Gu family reception, Nan Qing publicly affirmed his relationship with Huo Yuzhou, while Huo Yuzhou and Gu Xingchen discussed suspicious signs about Bai Ruanruan’s family member. In the restroom, Nan Qing confronted Qin Mubai over their broken relationship and slapped him.

• Nan Qing took Huo Yuzhou’s hand in front of the reception guests, and Gu Xingchen invited them to sit down for wine.
• Gu Xingchen told Huo Yuzhou that Xi Juan had been shaken by Nan Qing calling Huo Yuzhou her husband, and that the Bai family man showed no injuries on his knuckles.
• Huo Yuzhou said the man’s origins were suspicious and hinted that the real show was about to begin.
• Nan Qing went to wash his face, where Qin Mubai offered him a handkerchief and stirred memories of their past.
• Nan Qing rejected Qin Mubai’s attempts to speak with him, accused him of taking his blood-related brother’s side, and slapped him.

Nan Qing confronted Qin Mubai over abandoning him and rejected his money and attempts to control his relationship with Huo Yuzhou. Qin Mubai insisted he had believed they would always be brothers, but Nan Qing remained determined to cut ties.

• Nan Qing wept as he accused Qin Mubai of abandoning him and leaving him to face bullying and hardship alone.
• Qin Mubai apologized, admitted he did not deserve to be Nan Qing’s brother, and tried to stop him from leaving.
• Qin Mubai warned Nan Qing that Huo Yuzhou might be taking advantage of him, but Nan Qing accused Qin Mubai of being just as calculating.
• Nan Qing told Qin Mubai that Qi Bin had tried to sell him to an older man when he had almost no money, shocking Qin Mubai.
• Nan Qing refused Qin Mubai’s money and offer of a renovated home, and demanded they go their separate ways.
• Qin Mubai urged Nan Qing to become independent and said he had thought they would always be brothers.

Nan Qing confronted Qin Mubai over his past abandonment and said he would rather Qin Mubai had never treated him well. At the wine reception, Xi Juan sat beside Nan Qing and provoked Huo Yuzhou by lamenting that Nan Qing could not even discuss work freely.

• Nan Qing told Qin Mubai that he hated him for abandoning him and wished he had never been kind to him.
• Bai Ruanruan dismissed system 087’s warnings, used its monthly treatment to heal his cuts, and took a drug before returning to the hall.
• At the reception, Gu Xingchen joked with Nan Qing about sitting at the main table when Nan Qing and Huo Yuzhou married.
• Xi Juan joined Nan Qing and discussed their upcoming acting project, then told Huo Yuzhou that he had once pursued Nan Qing but now wanted to be colleagues.
• Xi Juan teased Huo Yuzhou for seeming unhappy that he and Nan Qing were discussing work.

At a reception, Huo Yuzhou pretended that he and Nan Qing were engaged, and Nan Qing played along before kissing him to counter Xi Juan’s taunts. Huo Yuzhou then learned that trouble had erupted in Xi Juan’s family, leaving Gu Xingchen laughing at him.

• Huo Yuzhou told Xi Juan that he and Nan Qing were getting engaged, and Nan Qing confirmed it despite being confused.
• Xi Juan and Gu Xingchen exchanged barbed remarks while Xi Juan accused Huo Yuzhou of interfering with his work and acting out of jealousy.
• Huo Yuzhou feigned insecurity about being older and losing his looks, so Nan Qing praised his appearance and kissed him in front of the guests.
• Huo Yuzhou taunted Xi Juan with a story about Bordeaux’s disastrous 1999 weather, implying that people’s lives could be just as eventful.
• A messenger told Xi Juan that his mother’s lover had hit his father and demanded that he step aside for their true love.
• Gu Xingchen laughed at Xi Juan, repeating Xi Juan’s claim that the unloved person was the real third party.

Bai Ruanruan waited outside a reception, considering drugging Huo Yuzhou while hoping Xi Juan would return, then messaged Qin Mubai. At the reception, Qin Mubai brooded over his forbidden feelings for Nan Qing and received a message from his younger brother about him.

• Bai Ruanruan tried to enter the hall but a bodyguard refused to let him in.
• Bai Ruanruan considered using the powder in his pocket to drug Huo Yuzhou if Xi Juan did not return.
• Bai Ruanruan grew anxious outside and sent a message to a contact he rarely contacted.
• Qin Mubai remembered Nan Qing's distress and regretted his forbidden dreams about him.
• Qin Mubai received a message from his younger brother saying he had something to tell him about Nan Qing.

Bai Ruanruan told Qin Mubai that he and Huo Yuzhou had dated and slept together, using private details to make the claim credible. Qin Mubai remembered Bai Ruanruan revealing Huo Yuzhou’s mole years earlier and was left confronting the possibility that his story was true.

• Qin Mubai stopped in the corridor and asked Bai Ruanruan what he wanted.
• Bai Ruanruan claimed Nan Qing and Huo Yuzhou were pretending to date and implied Nan Qing was using Huo Yuzhou for status and resources.
• Bai Ruanruan told Qin Mubai that he had dated Huo Yuzhou and offered past meetings and travel records as evidence.
• Bai Ruanruan claimed he had slept with Huo Yuzhou and described a small mole on the lower left side of his abdomen.
• Qin Mubai recalled Bai Ruanruan as a child describing the same mole after accidentally seeing Huo Yuzhou shower.

Qin Mubai let Bai Ruanruan back into the reception after warning him not to scheme against Nan Qing. When Bai Ruanruan arranged for a suspicious dish to be served to Huo Yuzhou, Nan Qing intervened, leaving the potentially spiked food in front of himself.

• Bai Ruanruan told Qin Mubai that Huo Yuzhou was dating Nan Qing to provoke him and asked for help getting back together with Huo Yuzhou.
• Qin Mubai allowed Bai Ruanruan into the reception but threatened to throw him out of the Bai Family if he schemed against Nan Qing.
• Bai Ruanruan took a hidden seat and spoke to a waiter while watching Huo Yuzhou and Nan Qing.
• A waiter served Huo Yuzhou wagyu tartare with crabmeat, and Nan Qing suspected Bai Ruanruan had arranged to have it drugged.
• Nan Qing stopped Huo Yuzhou from eating the dish and switched their plates, putting the suspicious food in front of himself.

Nan Qing realized Huo Yuzhou had protected him from the drugged crab, and overheard how deeply Huo Yuzhou cared for him. Meanwhile, Huo Yuzhou and Gu Xingchen turned Bai Ruanruan’s scheme against him, leaving Bai unconscious and in their custody.

• Nan Qing prepared to eat the crabmeat but Huo Yuzhou took away the dish before he could, and Nan Qing understood it had been drugged.
• Huo Yuzhou told Gu Xingchen that Nan Qing could not take the aphrodisiac because he was young and Huo Yuzhou cherished him.
• Bai Ruanruan followed Huo Yuzhou into the corridor, hoping the drug had taken effect and that he could exploit the situation.
• A bodyguard struck Bai Ruanruan unconscious before he reached Huo Yuzhou, who ordered that Bai be taken away.
• Gu Xingchen inspected Bai and joked with Huo Yuzhou about whether Bai’s instant-healing ability had a cooldown.

After the Gu Family's reception, Nan Qing rode with Huo Yuzhou and drunkenly teased him about his feelings and the drugged dish. Huo Yuzhou made increasingly suggestive advances as they drove toward his other home, leaving Nan Qing flustered by his offer to touch his muscles.

• Nan Qing wondered why Huo Yuzhou still liked him despite how badly he had treated him, then caught Huo Yuzhou watching him in the car.
• Huo Yuzhou pulled Nan Qing onto his lap and told him he would always be his most honored young master.
• Huo Yuzhou explained that the last dish at dinner was likely drugged, and when Nan Qing asked why he ate it, he said he wanted to have sex with him.
• As the car headed up a mountain road, Huo Yuzhou teased Nan Qing about looking at their photos and guided his hand to his abs.
• Huo Yuzhou claimed he was drunk and would not resist if Nan Qing touched him, then invited him to feel his muscles.

Nan Qing woke at Huo Yuzhou’s villa after their night together and insisted he was not angry, while Huo Yuzhou claimed such intimacy between male friends was common. The claim stirred Nan Qing’s curiosity, and he asked whether Huo Yuzhou did it with his other friends too.

• At two in the morning, Nan Qing covered his face with a quilt and scolded Huo Yuzhou for breaking his promises, while Huo Yuzhou wished his “wifey” sweet dreams.
• The next day, Nan Qing woke at noon and avoided looking at Huo Yuzhou as he got up to wash.
• Huo Yuzhou asked whether Nan Qing was angry, and Nan Qing denied it while glaring at him.
• Huo Yuzhou said that helping male friends in this way was common and described two college roommates who had done it without dating.
• Nan Qing became curious and asked Huo Yuzhou whether he did this with his other friends too.

Nan Qing resisted Huo Yuzhou’s teasing advances, then explored the luxurious grounds of Huo Yuzhou’s secluded estate with the butler. After learning Huo Yuzhou had cleared his schedule so they could spend several days together, Nan Qing suspected he had brought him there with ulterior motives.

• Huo Yuzhou teased Nan Qing about their previous intimate encounter and invited him to admire and touch his muscles again.
• Nan Qing fled to the dining room, where the butler showed him the lake views and described the estate’s riding arena, ski resort, organic gardens, orchard, and swimming pool.
• Nan Qing remarked that his celebrity schedule was too busy for leisure, and Huo Yuzhou said Zhou Guangliang had cleared his schedule for several days.
• Huo Yuzhou proposed that they relax together at the estate, prompting Nan Qing to accuse him of bringing him to the secluded property for improper reasons.