Only after hearing the man say that did Wen Jiu remember.
Last night, his manager had taken the original owner to a dinner hosted by investors, hoping to snag some resources.
Although the manager had watched him as closely as a mother nursing a baby the entire time, even that couldn't overcome the call of nature.
And in the time it took to use the restroom, someone had drugged the original owner.
Even more absurdly, Feng Chi, the elusive top man at the Feng Group-
Had actually! Just happened to be at that very dinner!
The original owner had hurried toward the restroom to find his manager, only to accidentally crash into Feng Chi's arms while he was surrounded by a crowd of people discussing business.
What happened next had been like a wild horse breaking free of its reins. There was no reining it back in.
Wen Jiu: ...
Wen Jiu didn't even have the energy to complain!
He really wanted to ask Feng Chi: as a big shot who signed deals worth tens of billions in minutes, why had he had the leisure to attend such a small dinner-
A fucking dinner that even an eighteenth-tier "nobody" like him could get into!
(P.S. No offense to his manager's resources.
Even more absurdly!
How had a drugged little weakling like the original owner managed to "accidentally" crash "precisely" into the arms of a big shot protected by a dozen bodyguards, through a crowd of baldies?!
Was the author sick in the head? Could anyone even stomach a plot this ridiculous?!
Did they think the reader-Wen Xiaojiu himself-was an idiot?
And it had fucking trended?!
Big shot, how could you stand it???
Wen Jiu was utterly frazzled.
The man turned sideways to look at him, revealing the face netizens called "so handsome it was inhuman," the red mole at the corner of his eye utterly bewitching.
It was a beauty that gave no regard to anyone else's survival.
With that handsome face and reddened eyes, looking utterly pitiful and aggrieved, he said quietly:
"You slept with me. Everyone knows I'm yours now. If you don't marry me, I'll become the laughingstock of the imperial capital."
Wen Jiu: ...
Wen Jiu couldn't help swallowing, his knees going a little weak.
A string of downright horrifying revelations hit him. Wen Jiu had never panicked like this before, and his instinct was to flee.
He didn't dare look at the man's face at all.
"No... I..."
Trembling, Wen Jiu reached for the torn shirt he had flung aside. He hesitated for a second between covering his ass and covering his face, before years of maintaining his idol image made him react on instinct-
He decisively pulled it on, wriggling over to the other side of the bed to pick up his pants.
"Although I haven't remembered what happened last night yet, if I really did..."
Wen Jiu grabbed his pants in a panic, then lowered his eyes to the cuffs around his ankles.
Wen Jiu: ...
The series of movements had pulled at his wounds. Wen Jiu fell silent for a moment, breathing in and out repeatedly.
Sensing the burning gaze behind him, he hurriedly used his pants to cover himself again, embarrassed, flustered, and uneasy.
His hazy memories told him that he had indeed been the one to approach the man last night.
What should I do?
What should I do?
Pay him compensation?
The big shot didn't need money, and besides, he couldn't afford it anyway.
Wen Jiu closed his eyes in anguish, wanting to cry but finding no tears. "...I'm sorry!"
The bedroom fell quiet for a moment, followed by rustling beside him.
Wen Jiu gritted his teeth. Just as he was about to throw caution to the wind and beg the big shot to undo the cuffs and let him leave first, leaving everything else for later, he discovered that someone had gently caught the hem of his shirt.
Wen Jiu froze, instinctively lowering his eyes.
The man looked up at him, his eyes growing redder and redder.
The tear mole at the corner of his eye glowed with an even more startlingly vivid color, making him look like a noble, seductive demon.
Now, that demon's eyes were slightly lowered, his thin lips pressed loosely together, silently radiating grievance. He looked utterly pitiful.
Wen Jiu's Adam's apple bobbed, and he suddenly felt a little guilty.
Wanting to run away the moment something happened, without the slightest sense of responsibility.
That was far too unmanly.
Feng Chi saw the struggle in his eyes and gently tugged at his shirt hem. "After everything I've said, you still want to leave?"
"What good is an apology?"
Wen Jiu felt even guiltier. "I'm sorry, I... I don't know what to do..."
Never mind the flood of news and trending topics outside; he didn't even know how to deal with the man before him.
"Does marrying me put you in such a difficult position?"
Oh, right!
There was still marriage!
Wen Jiu's eyes lit up. Suddenly, he saw a glimmer of hope.
"I..." I can!
Yet the man seemed to have anticipated his reaction. He let go first, looking desolate. "Forget it. Just go."
Wen Jiu: ...
He moved his feet, and the cuffs made a clear scraping sound.
The man had told him to leave, yet remained sitting there without moving. Even when he heard the cuffs, he merely accused him quietly:
"Sleeping with me and leaving. Scumbag."
Wen Jiu's attention was immediately diverted again. Gazing at that startling splash of vivid color at the corner of the big shot's eye, he denied it guiltily. "Who-who said I was leaving?!"
Did I say that?
I don't think so.
I was just about to agree!
Don't slap that label on me. Do I look like someone who would abandon his wife and forsake his wife?
"No, listen to me."
Wen Jiu felt it necessary to clear his name. "I just don't know what I should do. If getting married can spare you the gossip, I'm willing to marry you."
"Once this blows over and you don't need me anymore, I'll leave. I promise I won't burden you with anything extra."
Just listen!
What considerate, responsible words!
But the man seemed too afraid of being hurt again. He raised his eyes to look at him, actually appearing doubtful. "Really?"
Wen Jiu: ...
Was he the kind of irresponsible scumbag who would do that?
"Tsk!" Wen Jiu shot the man a reproachful glance and boldly held out his hand. "Give me the agreement. I'll sign it."
Surely he'd believe him now?
Feng Chi still didn't move. His gaze merely shifted downward, landing on the person before him.
The young man's fair skin was covered in hickeys and teeth marks he himself had left. The wrinkled shirt wouldn't even close, leaving those lean, well-proportioned abs exposed before him, covered in traces of intimacy.
The pants he had been using to cover himself had already slipped to the floor when he held out his hand. Both pant legs dangled from his other hand, covering none of what they should.
Yet this oblivious straight man hadn't noticed. He was still solemnly demanding the agreement to prove he was a good man with a sense of responsibility and accountability.
Feng Chi couldn't help his lips curling in pleasure as he chuckled.
So cute.
Wen Jiu's rambling stopped. The man's voice sent a tingling sensation through him, and that laugh gave him goosebumps.
"Wh-what is it?"
Feng Chi pressed his fist against his thin lips. "Nothing."
He got up and fetched the agreement, produced an ink pad from somewhere, took Wen Jiu's hand directly, and then-
Swiftly pressed a fingerprint onto it.
Wen Jiu: ...
Smooth.
Half an hour of arguing couldn't beat one second of fingerprinting.
Wen Jiu watched the man carefully put away the agreement, seal it, then place it in a safe, his expression going numb.
He had actually prepared everything so thoroughly.
If Wen Jiu hadn't agreed to the marriage of his own accord, he would have thought the man had done it on purpose.
The young man patted himself sheepishly. Luckily, he was quick-witted, kind, and responsible.
Otherwise, who knew what bizarre contract selling himself away he might have been forced to sign!
Sure enough, he couldn't let his guard down around a big shot from a novel.
With his goal achieved and the person staying, Big Shot Feng was in an excellent mood.
Only then did he seem to remember that the young man still wasn't dressed. In his great mercy, he took out the clothes he had prepared long ago and handed them to Wen Jiu, even considerately lifting the dangling pant legs to cover him.
"Your pants are crooked. Put your clothes on."
Wen Jiu lowered his eyes at those words, and a crack finally appeared in the face fans had hailed as "the entertainment industry's most unflappable, elegantly handsome face."
A full minute passed before Wen Xiaojiu's furious, distraught roar rang out through the luxurious top-floor apartment at the Imperial Residence.
"Then why the fuck didn't you give me clothes sooner?!"