Who was drunk?

"If you want to cripple me..." Ji Chuan propped up his chin and smiled. "That's not out of the question."

Gu Xiao looked at him with pity. "You're seriously drunk."

He really would agree to any request, so that inexplicable hug had just been Ji Chuan going crazy, too.

"All right, if we're getting drunk, let's get drunk together." Feng Ji's gaze fell uncontrollably on Gu Xiao.

If Ji Chuan could, why couldn't he?

Ji Chuan was, and so was he.

Why should Ji Chuan be the only one who got to hug him?

A-Xiao couldn't hold his liquor, but around them, A-Xiao always let his guard down.

Feng Ji's Adam's apple bobbed several times before he said with a smile, "A-Xiao, tonight, shall we drink till we're drunk?"

"No," Gu Xiao rejected Feng Ji's suggestion outright and said calmly. "I don't want to get drunk."

Feng Ji blinked innocently, his round, almond-shaped eyes lending him an extra touch of guilelessness.

"A-Xiao, don't be so stingy. There's no one else here."

Gu Xiao looked at Feng Ji with a half-smile. "Really? You can get yourself drunk. Don't worry, no one will do anything to you."

Whenever Gu Xiao looked at him with those eyes, Feng Ji felt as though his little thoughts had been seen through.

Gu Xiao's eyes were deep blue today, as unfathomable as the deep sea. Looking into them meant drowning in that sea, with only a desperate struggle offering a thread of hope for survival.

Feng Ji shifted his gaze away, his heart giving a jolt. No, that couldn't be.

If A-Xiao really knew about these little thoughts of his, he couldn't possibly still be sitting beside A-Xiao unharmed.

Even though A-Xiao had always been tolerant of them.

"Fine, since A-Xiao won't drink, just stay here and keep us company." Feng Ji grinned, revealing a small canine tooth.

With a face like that and such a harmless expression, even the heartthrob protagonist had thought Feng Ji was a good-natured young master.

But among people who came from families like theirs, how could anyone be "good-natured"?

Feng Ji had fooled plenty of people with that face.

It was also thanks to that face that, after the heartthrob protagonist discovered all the filthy things he had done, he had simply acted cute and played nice, without even going through a crematorium.

Gu Xiao raised his glass to Feng Ji and took a light sip. "I'll drink as I please. You drain yours."

"A-Xiao, how could you?" Feng Ji wheedled. "You should at least make a gesture and take a couple more sips."

Gu Xiao swirled the pink liquid. "What, are you pressuring me to drink?"

"Who would dare pressure you to drink?" Feng Ji turned his attention to Ji Chuan, licking his little canine tooth as he said expectantly, "A-Chuan, drink with me."

Ji Chuan didn't mind and drank with Feng Ji, glass after glass.

Gu Xiao watched the two of them drink liquor like water and was quite speechless, but Fu Huai had no interest in them at all.

"A-Huai, why aren't you drinking?"

Fu Huai rubbed his brow. "A-Xiao, are you upset?"

Gu Xiao clicked his tongue, displeased. "I've been upset for quite a while. Why are you only asking now?"

With that question thrown back at him, Fu Huai couldn't tell for a moment whether A-Xiao really was upset.

"Anyway, A-Xiao, I'm truly sorry about the Gu Yun matter. I didn't mean to bring it up."

Gu Xiao waved a hand. "It's fine."

Ji Chuan, who had just finished his fifth glass, chuckled at that. "A-Xiao, Gu Yun is here too."

Feng Ji put his glass straight down. "What did you say?"

This "Gu Yun" wasn't even worthy of being part of their backdrop.

They just didn't know which power had insisted on forcing the Gu Family to take Gu Yun in.

Besides the Feng Family, the Fu Family, and the Ji Family, what other family could accomplish that?

These families might not be as friendly as they appeared on the surface.

And only a handful of people knew about the relationship between Gu Xiao and Gu Yun.

Gu Yun was the adopted son of the Gu Family's butler.

The four families' chains of interests were intricately tangled. On the surface, the Gu Family led, and the other three followed its lead.

But who would willingly remain trampled underfoot forever?

Gu Xiao certainly didn't believe those three families would always "submit."

Last year, the "Gu Yun" incident had caused a disturbance in the Gu Family's stock prices that was neither big nor small.

Although Gu Xiao's mother had dealt with it swiftly and decisively, a small breach had still been torn open.

The four of them would turn twenty next year.

Once they entered their family businesses, could they still maintain the friendship they had now?

In the face of enormous interests, feelings were the least important thing.

Perhaps someone already harbored divided loyalties.

Then did Fu Huai's repeated mentions of Gu Yun count as a threat?

As his thoughts wound through countless twists and turns, Gu Xiao merely raised his glass to Fu Huai and said nothing more.

The heartthrob protagonist's appearance a year later certainly wasn't an accident either.

Why would he appear next year, of all times?

Gu Xiao believed that if the heartthrob protagonist appeared this year and caught "Gu Xiao's" eye, he definitely wouldn't let the heartthrob protagonist develop a harem.

Next year's "Gu Xiao" must have been held in check as well.

Feng Ji was very displeased. "That little bastard actually dared show up on our turf?"

But Gu Xiao looked at Ji Chuan. "How do you know he's here too?"

"A-Xiao, you're not asking because you think I'm in league with him, are you?" Ji Chuan said helplessly. "That really hurts me."

Gu Xiao watched Ji Chuan coldly. Surely he wasn't so drunk that he had lost all ability to think.

Yet he had answered his question with a muddled, incoherent response.

"It's just Gu Yun. What's he got to do with us?" Feng Ji said sullenly. "Why does this place let just anyone in? A-Xiao, why don't we head back?"

Gu Xiao set down a glass with a clink. "Sure."

He was just about to stand when Feng Ji accidentally toppled onto him.

"Sorry, A-Xiao." Feng Ji tilted his head up and gave Gu Xiao a well-behaved smile. "I'm too drunk to stand steady."

Gu Xiao reached out and gave him a light shove, pushing Feng Ji into the corner.

"You stink. Don't come too close."

Feng Ji clicked his tongue regretfully. "So cold. A-Xiao can even hug-forget it-"

He held out his hand and said weakly, "A-Huai, help me."

Fu Huai beckoned. Half a minute later, a male omega arrived, strikingly good-looking, with a small mole at the corner of his eye. "Here, help Young Master Feng sober up."

Suppressing his excitement, the omega sat demurely beside Feng Ji and slowly tried to lie in his arms, wanting to soothe him personally...

The next instant, Feng Ji shoved the beautiful, fragile omega away, nearly sending him crashing hard into the corner of the table. If he had struck it like that, this beautiful, fragile omega, who was simply doing as he had been asked, would have been either killed or injured.

But nothing happened.

Because Gu Xiao reached out and caught him.

It was a lovely orange scent.

Although Gu Xiao was still in his rut, he didn't have much of a reaction to the scent of omega pheromones.

He did feel like eating an orange, though.