Chapter 10

Two short words, and Wen Ran barely slept all night. He'd assumed Gu Yunchi was frigid, that he needed stimulation to feel anything — never imagined the truth was the exact opposite.

Strictly speaking, sex addiction counted as a psychological condition. He'd heard Gu Yunchi had kept up the habit of monthly physicals for years now. Looking at it now, those monthly visits probably weren't just physicals — he'd be getting psychological assessments and treatment too.

S-Class types had innately stable genetics. An S-Class Alpha could even consciously control and avoid the Susceptibility Period, holding the body steady over the long term. In the AO Test framework, most physiological problems traced back to Pheromones — so something must have gone wrong with Gu Yunchi's Pheromone or Gland, which was what triggered the recurring fevers and headaches and what Wen Rui called the sex addiction. For an S-Class, that was a massive loss of control.

Now Wen Ran could understand why Gu Yunchi was a super-promiscuous deviant. One: too rich. Two: the physical reasons. Both objective and subjective conditions met — anyone in his shoes would turn out the same way. Gu Yunchi didn't even have to worry about knocking up some Omega.

Wen Ran wasn't worried either. Gu Yunchi had no interest in him whatsoever, and his bed was surely never short on people. Fundamentally, none of this had anything to do with him.

He got up and went downstairs. Chen Shuhui was sitting at the dining table — Wen Ran could barely remember the last time they'd eaten breakfast together.

'Mom.'

Chen Shuhui didn't even look up. 'Eat your breakfast.' Bare-faced, she looked a little tired, her long hair loosely pinned up, in a dark green silk nightgown, eyes fixed on the documents on her Mobile Phone as she ate.

'Gege said I have to go to tonight's Evening Banquet too — is that right?' Wen Rui had mentioned it offhand yesterday. Wen Ran wasn't sure, and didn't want to go. He'd never accompanied Chen Shuhui or any of them to a single party — like a stray cat or dog the Wen Family kept, he didn't need to socialize or see the world. His only function was to be shaped into an Omega and pushed out at the right moment in exchange for profit.

'Gu Yunchi's going, so you're going.' Only then did Chen Shuhui glance at him. 'Your situation's still being kept quiet, but it never hurts to show your faces together in public more often. Sooner or later people will start noticing our connection to the Gu Family.'

'Okay.' Not something he could refuse, so Wen Ran just agreed. Then another thing came to mind, and he asked, 'Is the Preparatory School entrance assessment next Friday?'

'Mm. Your physical report's already been submitted, no problems with it. Just sit the exam properly.'

How a manufactured Omega's physical report had been disguised as a born A-level Omega's and passed the Preparatory School's review, Wen Ran didn't know — just like he didn't know how Wen Rui had learned about Gu Yunchi's physical condition. But neither was something he could ask about.

He was only a chess piece. A piece just had to wait to be placed; it had no right to pry into the player's thoughts or methods.

Wen Ran still hadn't figured out the theme of the Evening Banquet, but it didn't really matter. Chen Shuhui and Wen Rui went home early to change. Wen Rui's assistant came along too — a clean-cut Beta named Fang Yisen. On the way to the hotel, he rode in the same car as Wen Ran.

'Young Master Wen.' Getting in, he greeted Wen Ran softly.

'Hello, Assistant Fang.'

Fang Yisen smiled, a shallow dimple at the corner of his mouth. His vibe was unusual, not very corporate. Wen Ran was a little curious how he managed to work under someone like Wen Rui — as a boss-and-subordinate pair, they really didn't match.

Neither spoke the whole way. At the hotel, Wen Ran and Fang Yisen got out first, then the other car door opened and Wen Rui climbed out looking thoroughly irritated — probably fought with Chen Shuhui on the drive again. More than mother and son, they were like two ill-matched business partners, at odds on plenty of fronts yet forced to stay bound together by shared interests.

In the banquet hall, Chen Shuhui smiled and greeted a few familiar guests as she made her way forward, only to find it was Gu Chongze attending tonight rather than Gu Peiwen. Her smile dimmed a notch with disappointment, but she politely extended her hand. 'President Gu.'

'Uncle Gu.' Wen Ran greeted him too.

'Mm.' Gu Chongze gave a slight nod. 'Yunchi's probably over by the terrace.'

Chen Shuhui looked over at him too, so Wen Ran took the hint. 'Then I'll go find him. Thank you, Uncle Gu. Enjoy your chat.'

He said it, but didn't head straight for the terrace. He wasn't like the others, able to fill up on just drinks and conversation. He grabbed a few small pastries off a nearby table, ducked into an unremarkable corner, and quietly got some food in his stomach first. Only while eating did he have a chance to look around the room — Wen Ran realized several celebrities were here too.

Stomach full, he could go find Gu Yunchi and get yelled at. Wen Ran wiped his mouth and headed for the terrace down the corridor on the far right of the hall. The whole way the lights were off, pitch dark. Along both sides of the passage were small reception rooms, doors mostly open — only one was half-shut. Passing it, Wen Ran suddenly heard a faint whimper from inside, very brief; when he listened harder it was gone. He kept walking forward.

The terrace door was open — Wen Ran saw that. The terrace was half a step lower than the hallway — that, he didn't see. So when he stepped out his foot caught air, and he stumbled two steps, weightless, the little piece of cake in his hand dropping to the floor.

Once he'd steadied himself Wen Ran lifted his head, flustered, and unfortunately, a few meters away, Gu Yunchi and an Omega pressed close against him were watching.

His first reaction was that the Omega in the aqua-blue gown looked far too familiar. During those months in the hospital, on the ward TV, there'd been that wildly popular drama this year, which Wen Ran had watched in bits and pieces out of sheer boredom — and the Omega was one of its leads, a film-school rookie not even twenty, already vaulted into the new generation's top tier.

His second reaction was that he'd interrupted Gu Yunchi's tender moment, and he was so dead.

The dead-man-walking Wen Ran stood frozen there, holding an empty plate. Gu Yunchi and the Omega didn't waste time on him, though — they quickly turned back as if he weren't there. Wen Ran heard the Omega ask Gu Yunchi, 'You're really turning me down again?'

Gu Yunchi said, 'No need to keep asking, either.'

'Tch, I'll ask anyway. Every time I see you, I'll ask.' The Omega tipped her head up and gave Gu Yunchi's waist an intimate little stroke. 'And here I thought you'd lose control once you were drunk. Boring.'

That one touch genuinely set Wen Ran's heart pounding — terrified some paparazzi was lurking nearby, ready to snap a photo someone could blow up into a story.

Done speaking, the Omega turned to leave. Passing Wen Ran, she used the kind of cutesy tone people used on stray kittens and puppies and said, 'So dumb, aren't you.'

An adorable, coy little jab — for some reason Wen Ran suddenly blushed, and even after she'd gone he couldn't help watching her retreating back.

When he turned back, Gu Yunchi's sour face dropped the mood straight to freezing. Today he wore a suit, finally matching what he'd had on that night at Huyan Mansion — the pure-black formalwear set off his long, lean frame like a sheathed sword, except this time the brooch he wore was shaped like a butterfly.

'I got you some Cake.' Only after saying it did he realize the Cake was on the floor. Wen Ran bent to pick it up, and afraid Gu Yunchi would misunderstand, explained, 'But it accidentally dropped. Can't eat it now.'

Gu Yunchi asked, flat as anything, 'Did I tell you to get me Cake?'

'Well, no.' Wen Ran broke a faint sweat. 'Sorry. I interrupted you two.'

'Are you a leech or something.' Gu Yunchi took a sip of Tequila, then asked him.

'Probably not.' Though it seemed about right... Wen Ran realized that after getting humiliated by Gu Yunchi so often, he didn't really feel embarrassed anymore. Thicker skin — that counted as progress too. He rubbed his chin with the back of his hand. 'I'll go, then.'

Gu Yunchi said, 'Come here.'

Frozen a beat, Wen Ran hesitated, then obediently walked over and stopped a meter away. Gu Yunchi's eyes were deep and black; when they fixed on you they bred a groundless dread. Wen Ran stayed nervously, carefully silent, afraid of saying the wrong thing and setting him off again — though Gu Yunchi had been drinking today, so maybe his temper would be a touch better.

Gu Yunchi looked at Wen Ran for a moment, then suddenly set down his glass and walked toward him. Wen Ran went stiff. When Gu Yunchi's right hand pressed onto his shoulder his scalp nearly went numb, cold sweat breaking out down his back — afraid Gu Yunchi would shove him off. This was the twenty-third floor.

He wasn't pushed off. Gu Yunchi just gripped his shoulder and turned him to one side. Standing behind him, Gu Yunchi reached out his other hand and pointed somewhere. 'The window.'

There was a center-pole sun umbrella on the terrace, swaying faintly in the wind. Following Gu Yunchi's hand, past beneath the umbrella, Wen Ran saw two people standing in a window at the end of a corridor on the same floor — Wen Rui and Fang Yisen.

A faint smell of Tequila hung around them, Gu Yunchi's hand still gripping his shoulder. Wen Ran didn't dare move, just stared hard at that window. He'd thought Wen Rui and Fang Yisen were discussing work, but things always outran the imagination. In under half a minute, Wen Rui had wrapped an arm around Fang Yisen's waist and pinned him to the wall, plucked the glasses off the bridge of Fang Yisen's nose, and bent down to kiss him.

From Wen Ran's angle he could only see Wen Rui's back. Fang Yisen, enveloped by him, showed nothing but a sliver of chin. At first he seemed to resist a little, pushing at Wen Rui's shoulders, then he gave up, submissively looped his arms around Wen Rui's neck, fingers lightly clutching his back collar.

Wen Ran's earlier question got its answer in that moment. So this was how Wen Rui and Fang Yisen got along.

His shoulder lightened — Gu Yunchi had lifted his hand. Wen Ran didn't get what making him witness this was supposed to mean, and turned back to look at him blankly. Catching sight of the lovely shape of Gu Yunchi's lips, Wen Ran inexplicably drifted off, thinking: how does a mouth like that manage to say so many awful things.

Right as he was thinking it, he heard another awful thing. Gu Yunchi said, 'Is there a single normal person in your family.'

There really wasn't, but Wen Ran still asked, not understanding, 'Is dating your assistant not allowed?'

'Fang Yisen used to be an exterior designer at a car brand. A limitless future.' Gu Yunchi couldn't be bothered to ramble, and put it plainly. 'Then your brother took a liking to him, brought him home, and shut him up for half a year.'

His brain short-circuited for a few seconds. Wen Ran opened his mouth but couldn't get a sound out. Then he heard Gu Yunchi go on, 'After that he became the assistant. Waits on your brother day in, day out.'

It took a while before Wen Ran squeezed out a few words. 'I didn't know...' There was too much he didn't know — he'd grown up in a cocoon to begin with. He hadn't even imagined the Gu Family had dug into the Wen Family's affairs that thoroughly, every last detail.

'Now you know.' Gu Yunchi drained the Tequila in his glass. 'Doing whatever it takes is probably written into your family's genes.'

And Wen Rui actually had the nerve to point fingers at Gu Yunchi behind his back, when he was the rotten one — the Wen Family really did deserve every bit of Gu Yunchi's prejudice. Wen Ran watched that window until Wen Rui and Fang Yisen left, then answered, dejected, 'You're absolutely right.'

To Gu Yunchi this looked like a dead pig that didn't fear boiling water. He shot Wen Ran a mocking glance and turned to walk back to the terrace door. Wen Ran ducked his head and trailed after him, slow.

In the dim passage, they passed that half-shut door again, and this time Wen Ran clearly heard someone inside cry out softly. He stopped and asked Gu Yunchi quietly, 'Did you hear that?'

Gu Yunchi turned his head and looked at him, expression unmoved. Wen Ran said, 'Sounds like someone calling out.'

Plenty of possibilities flashed through his mind, and his final guess was that someone had gotten drunk and felt unwell. Wen Ran thought it over, walked to the door, pushed it open a crack, and leaned his body in toward the pitch-black room, asking, 'Do you nee—'

The rest — 'need any help' — never made it out. A cool hand swept silently around from behind, clamped over his mouth, and pulled his whole body back out of the room. In the chaos the cake plate in Wen Ran's hand dropped onto the carpet with a muffled thud, and at the same moment the sound in the room rose again — broken, stop-start, unmistakably the pleasured noise of someone getting off.

Once it clicked, Wen Ran's head nearly caught fire. Gu Yunchi's hand was still sealing his mouth and nose, the suffocation intense, and Wen Ran clawed frantically at his wrist. His back pressed to Gu Yunchi's chest, the height gap so huge he could feel Gu Yunchi's breath coming from above. Wen Ran blinked hard a few times, not understanding how anyone could be bold enough to fool around behind a shut door right outside a hall packed with guests, nor how Gu Yunchi could scoop him up so casually yet with such strength — in his hands Wen Ran was like a plastic bag, one tug and hauled clean away.

One hand cradling the empty glass, the other clamped over Wen Ran's mouth — that face really was so small the palm could wrap it easily. The gaps between his fingers were full of damp, hot, ragged breathing. Gu Yunchi tilted his head, glancing down at Wen Ran, and said in a low voice, 'Really dumb, or playing dumb?'

Wen Ran pried his hand off with effort and gasped for air, his Adam's apple rolling endlessly under the Neck Ring. After a quick bit of self-reflection, Wen Ran figured he was pretty dumb — but not extremely dumb, somewhere in the middle. So he picked a middle option out of Gu Yunchi's question and answered, muddled, '...The first one.'

'Something wrong with your brain.' Gu Yunchi delivered his verdict, stuffed the glass into Wen Ran's hands, and let him go — but instead of continuing out of the passage, he went back to the terrace.

'Is something wrong?' Wen Ran asked, confused.

Gu Yunchi didn't look back. 'Smoking.'