Chapter 9

When he saw Chen Heng’s slack jawed expression like he’d seen a ghost, a bad feeling ran through Sun YunZhu. He immediately turned around and saw Xie Xian.

“That bastard, did he follow us here?” But the words died on his lips when he saw the person who was holding Xie Xian’s hand and smiling at him as they walked to a table together. 

Wasn’t that Zhou Yi?! What the hell were the two of them doing together?

He knew Zhou Yi was Xie Xian’s secretary right now but who would take your secretary to visit a romantic restaurant at night like this? Unless they were dating?!

A strange and unpleasant feeling ran through Sun YuZhu’s body as he glowered at the couple across the room. Dating? Zhou Yi and Xie Xian? That couldn’t be right.

No, no… his sense of rationality reasserted itself. Zhou Yi had been in love with him since he was a teenager and there was no way the other person would betray him like this. It had to be for the mission. Although Sun YuZhu had never given him any instructions to seduce Xie Xian, perhaps he was taking initiative and thought that if he wormed his way into Xie Xian’s good graces, it would be easier to complete any instructions that Sun YuZhu gave him in the future.

Yes, that had to be it. It was the only explanation that made sense.

But still… Sun YuZhu narrowed his eyes. It was quite unpleasant seeing the dog you raised rub its head against another person. He would definitely have to punish Zhou Yi later for doing unnecessary things.

He stared across the room. Zhou Yi was looking very good tonight. He was wearing a gray slim fitted suit and his hair had grown out longer. The bangs covered his delicate face and as he tilted his head, smiling, his presence seemed to exude a seductive and beguiling quality...

Realizing that he was staring, Sun YuZhu quickly pulled his eyes away and looked back at Chen Heng guiltily. But after he recovered, he discovered that Chen Heng hadn’t noticed at all but was still staring across the room like he’d lost his soul.

Su YuZhu frowned.

***

“Don’t turn your head right now, they’re looking right at us.”

Lin JunYi said this in a low voice while smiling coquettishly at Xie Xian. If you didn’t hear his words, you would totally assume that he was romantically teasing the other person.

Xie Xian’s eyes seem to have any intention of leaving his face. “Is that so?”

Lin JunYi paused while the waiter came to fill up their wine glasses and take their food orders. Since it was a set menu, it was completed quickly and after the waiter left, Lin JunYi lifted up his wine glass and said, “Do you want to hear my analysis on Mr Chen?”

Xie Xian’s eyes deepened. Had his secretary said this to him last week he would have immediately lashed out at him: what right did someone like him have to pass judgement on Chen Heng? But right now, he didn’t know quite how he felt. He was keenly aware that Chen Heng was sitting across the room with another man. The thought made his heart twist and his throat fill with bitterness. He didn’t even dare turn his head to look at them, feeling if he did so he would lose control.

Instead he could only stare at Zhou Yi’s devilish face, as if Zhou Yi’s bright eyes were the one thing keeping him afloat in a river of darkness…

“What is it?” He asked somewhat stiffly.

“Although I can tell President Xie loves Mr Chen a lot, I’ve been thinking that you and him have a very different concept of what love is.” Lin JunYi took a drink from his glass. Thinking about it now, it was the very first time he’d given love advice so seriously. For him the game of love was something that was based on pure instinct. It was the first time he’d really tried to spell out something like this. Even now he felt like it wasn’t quite really explainable. He could only do his best and hope that Xie Xian would be able to grab the gist of it.

“There’s different concepts of love?”

“Of course. To some people like President Xie, love means possession and constantly being together. Holding the person in the palm of your hand and protecting them, not letting a single piece of wind damage them. But Mr Chen isn’t the same as you.”

He swished the glass around and looked out of the corner of his eye at Chen Heng. He could see the protagonist shou’s face was pale as he tried hard to focus on Sun YuZhu and his meal but he couldn’t help looking over every few seconds. Lin JunYi grinned to himself. “Before you probably thought Mr Chen was too noble for love. You probably thought your love was something that would stain him right?”

Xie Xian only frowned at him in response. Lin JunYi smiled at him. The second male lead was indeed devastatingly handsome but he couldn’t help but feel he would be even better looking if he smiled a bit more often. Still, it was the world’s setting that he had to be broody and unhappy, so he supposed he couldn’t really blame Xie Xian for being the way he was. 

“But now that you’ve seen him with Sun YuZhu, do you still think that? If your love stained him, then wouldn’t Sun YuZhu’s as well? But how come he was able to accept Sun YuZhu and not you?”

Xie Xian frowned. It was true. He was so busy feeling guilty about forcing Chen Heng into a relationship against his will that he never thought about why he would accept another person so easily… 

“Because he loves Sun YuZhu back and he doesn’t love me.” He could only force himself to admit this. 

“Do you think he really loves Sun YuZhu? Someone he’s only known for two months? Compared to you whom he’s known for nearly two decades?”

“You can’t put a timer on love.” Xie Xian said slowly.

“Mmmm but I think there’s actually two types of love.” Lin JunYi said. “Actually, only the second one is real love. The first one is often mistaken as love. It’s the thrill of the chase. The heady passion of a new relationship. Often people who are inexperienced with romance, like Mr Chen, mistake the first one as being true love. They think that without that kind of rollercoaster ride that it means they haven’t fallen in love with the other person.”

Lin JunYi was familiar with it very well. After all, it was the first kind of ‘love’ that he was always chasing himself. Of course he was experienced enough by now that he knew it for it was - just a transitory fixation. As for the second type of love, well he’d never felt it so he had no idea. But, under the regular flow of feelings, if two people were really destined to love each other then once that first type of love faded it should naturally turn into the second type.

But at this point, Xie Xian said quietly. “I think you’re overthinking it.”

Lin JunYi looked up in surprise into the handsome and impassive man’s eyes. Xie Xian looked back at him and his gaze was surprisingly frank and piercing. “I don’t think love is all that complicated. When I love someone, I just want to be with them and want the best for them. That’s all.”

Lin JunYi suddenly laughed. “Perhaps you’re right.” After all, as someone who’d never fallen in love, what right did he have to judge Xie Xian the devoted second male lead? “Then don’t treat it as love. Treat it as a game. If it works you’ll win Mr Chen back and if it doesn’t… then you can go back to whatever you were doing before.”

Xie Xian frowned. After a moment he said quietly, “What do you want me to do?”

***

When Chen Heng saw Xie Xian’s secretary excuse himself and go to the bathroom, he couldn’t help getting up and following him. Just now he’d looked over plenty of times and it was impossible that Xie Xian hadn’t noticed him. But the other person hadn’t made any indication of wanting to come over or confront him at all. That didn’t make sense to Chen Heng at all and was beyond belief considering Xie Xian’s character. So when he saw Zhou Yi head to the bathroom, he immediately seized upon the chance to figure out what was going on.

The bathroom of the French restaurant was located in the corridor outside the restaurant. But when Chen Heng hurried out he saw that Zhou Yi was waiting for him in the corridor and hadn’t actually gone into the bathroom.

“Did Xie-ge tell you to wait for me here?!”

Lin JunYi laughed. Did the protagonist shou really think the whole world revolved around him? (729: It actually sort of does.)

“No, I’m doing this out of my own initiative. President told me to leave you alone but I don’t feel reassured doing that. I wanted to talk to you.”

“Xie-ge told you to leave me alone? Why?!” This made no sense to Chen Heng. Based on Xie Xian’s personality, shouldn’t he want to confront him and drag him away from here? Or could it be that… Xie Xian really didn’t love him anymore?

For some reason Chen Heng felt a crushing and terrible sense of loss. The feeling was so sudden and so extreme that it took his breath away. At the same time, Lin JunYi said, “Of course it’s because President Xie and I have become lovers.”

“What?!” Chen Heng clutched his throat, unable to believe it.

“Let’s see, when did it happen? Oh yes, it was that night you ran away from the house. After you left, I took the initiative to go back to the house and got President Xie drunk. Then I successfully climbed onto his bed and had a wonderful night of bliss- hey!” Lin JunYi ducked quickly as Chen Heng’s hand flew out suddenly. If he hadn’t been prepared then he would really have been slapped by the other person.

“You- you slut!” Chen Heng yelled loudly. At the moment he completely lost his usual elegant and refined demeanor and looked crazed with red eyes and clenched fists.

Lin JunYi pretended to widen his eyes in shock. “What’s the matter with you? I thought you’d be happy. After all, the President told me that you’ve never wanted to accept your relationship with him and haven’t even let him touch you in six years. And from the looks of things, haven’t you gotten yourself a new lover too? Now that you’ve found someone you really like, shouldn’t you be grateful to me for taking the President off your hands?”

Lin JunYi suddenly seemed to think of something. “Or is that you’re worried that President Xie won’t keep providing you with financial compensation? Don’t worry, the President isn’t stingy like that. Since you’ve been together for so long, I’m sure he will provide you with a generous break up fee. You don’t need to worry about anything for at least a decade- hey, what’s up with you?”

Lin JunYi threw himself back nimbly as Chen Heng lashed out again. Inside he was laughing hard. Even 729 was chortling loudly as he took in the crazed and flustered look of the protagonist shou. As the world’s darling, he’d never been angered or treated in this manner before!

“You, you vulgar slut!” It seemed Chen Heng really was very sheltered. His vocabulary when it came to insults was quite limited. “I’m not like you! I wouldn’t climb into a man’s bed just because of money!”

Lin JunYi was just waiting for this sentence. After he said it, Lin JunYi’s face changed. He straightened his back and his exaggerated, playful expression fell away. Instead he looked at Chen Heng seriously and asked, “Then why did you agree to the contract relationship with President Xie?”

Chen Heng stared at him with his chest heaving. “I had no choice… I was in dire straits… I needed the money to help my family.” He had sacrificed himself nobly for the people he loved and wasn’t at all like this despicable gold digger!

“Really?” Lin JunYi blinked at him. “You couldn’t have gotten a job?”

Chen Heng froze.

“You do have some sort of skills right? Don’t you play piano? You can’t earn a living with your own two hands?”

“At the time, I hadn’t finished my musical studies yet…” Chen Heng stammered.

Lin JunYi raised his eyebrows. “Then what about working as a laborer on the weekend? A dishwasher at night? You can’t do those?”

"What are you trying to say?” Chen Heng forced out between clenched teeth. “What are you trying to imply? Get it straight, I’m not the one at fault here. Ah-Xian was the one who forced me. Instead of extending his hand nobly, he actually proposed those kinds of despicable conditions. We have been friends for so long and I’ve always treated him honestly. Helping me would have been so easy for him! But instead he did that kind of thing! He’s completely not a gentleman!”

“Really? But that’s not how I see it at all.” Lin JunYi said, smiling.

Xie Xian, who stood hidden in the shadow of the door while listening to the conversation, opened his eyes slowly.

***

A/N: Thanks for all your comments and reviews you've left me. They make me so happy :)