Gu Qichi couldn’t help but shrink back.

His face was cupped in the man’s hands, and a damp flush spread across the corners of his eyes and brows. The skin at the corners of his crimson, soft lips was rubbed a little raw, making him look somewhat pitiful.

“Baby, call my name.”

Bo Yu kneaded the back of his neck with one hand, and cupped his jaw with the other, repeatedly caressing the raw skin beside his lips.

Gu Qichi’s hair wasn’t dry yet. Following Bo Yu’s movements, water droplets smashed onto the purlicue of his hand, soaking that patch of skin.

The light from the bedside nightlamp was dim, the hazy glow shallowly outlining their bodies. In front of the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, the halo of light blurred out their intertwined figures.

Gu Qichi’s eyes were moist and soft. He was controlled by Bo Yu, tightly gripped by the most fragile part of a person’s body. Under Bo Yu’s palm, his undulating artery pulsed weakly, vibrating against the skin of the man’s palm.
Along the palm prints, it pierced straight into the deepest part of his inner heart.

This was clearly a disadvantaged posture, as if he had completely handed himself over to the other person.

Gu Qichi’s eyes clearly reflected Bo Yu’s appearance. He was panting finely.

The man carried an extremely strong aggressiveness, intrusively drilling into his skin and lungs, flowing through every drop of blood in his body. Even his cells were clamoring for possession.

He was like a fierce wolf, pacing anxiously in front of his favorite food, yet harboring some reservations.

But if any other clear-eyed person were to look, they would clearly be able to discern exactly who was taking the lead in this relationship.
It was Gu Qichi.

Gu Qichi controlled Bo Yu. He controlled his desires, and he controlled his love.

“Bo Yu.”
“Husband.”

He switched titles one by one, watching the changes in Bo Yu’s expression, watching the burning red in his eyes. His uncontrollable emotions were near the point of madness, and the teasing in Gu Qichi’s eyes unnaturally revealed itself a little.

Even though it hurt immensely, he still smiled.

Gu Qichi stroked Bo Yu’s eyelids, and a scorching yet gentle kiss was branded upon them.

The night was heavy, the dawn desiring frost and snow.

He just wanted to make Bo Yu completely captivated and crazy for him.
He just wanted to make Bo Yu go mad, losing his rationality only for him alone.

Outside the window, the heavy snow rustled, falling upon the pine branches. Birds chirped, and the wind battered against the windows, yet it still couldn’t overcome the warmth dissipating indoors.

In the dim room, those dark emotions were magnified inch by inch.
Brutality, possession, control, and the desires residing in the deepest parts of one’s own heart.

Gu Qichi’s hands were clasped by Bo Yu, their five fingers intertwining. His finger bones were gripped dead tight, bringing an indescribable pain.

“Bo Yu.”

In his drowsy haze, he always subconsciously called out his name, over and over again, never tiring of it.

“Who is the person you love?”
This was the first time he asked this question.

Bo Yu hugged his back. His movements lightened, his voice low and hoarse, his tone filled with cherishing: “It’s you. It has always been you, Gu Qichi.”

Having received the answer, a dense wave of pleasure washed over him. Gu Qichi hugged Bo Yu’s neck, his five fingers tightening, his slender finger bones exerting so much force they turned white.

“Bo Yu, I love you.”

If love was a shackle, he was willing to draw the ground as his prison.
Imprisoned within Bo Yu’s heart.

Romance and debauchery gradually spread in the silent night.

…
…
…

No matter how careful Bo Yu had been, the next morning, Gu Qichi still caught a fever.

His work schedule had been too packed this year. He had been constantly traveling between different places, tossing and turning every few days, and hadn’t rested properly at all.
Coupled with his large emotional fluctuations recently, standing in the cold snow for so long last night, and then dragging Bo Yu to torment him… all of this resulted in this high fever coming on fiercely. Gu Qichi’s head spun and ached from the heat. He was completely unconscious for an entire day, never once opening his eyes.

Intermittently, he remembered many things again.
But in his dreams, he simply couldn’t distinguish whether this was true reality or an empty illusion.

Gu Qichi’s five fingers tightly gripped the bedsheets. His brows were deeply furrowed, his lips pale, and he continuously spoke in his sleep.

He didn’t know what he was saying; he only curled up restlessly, plunging into endless nightmares, struggling in pain.

But before long, an exceptionally familiar woody fragrance drifted past the tip of his nose, carrying a reassuring scent. His hands were gently pried open.
Warm water flowed over him. Someone was helping him wipe his body. The movements and force were very light, as if terrified of hurting him.

Gu Qichi’s tightly furrowed brows smoothed out, and he docilely allowed Bo Yu to take care of him.

It wasn’t until late into the night of this day that Gu Qichi’s fever broke.
But he still hadn’t woken up; he was still unconscious.

Bo Yu kept watch by his bedside for a whole day and night.

But it was also during this day and night that a storm silently brewed across major social media platforms.

Gu Qichi had stolen the entire spotlight at the Alla grand ceremony. Not only did it make Gu Yuning green with envy, but it made Lan Yi jealous to the point of madness.

Rewinding the time to the previous night.

Lan Yi was an artist under Xuyi Entertainment. He had been debuting for seven or eight years, yet he had never managed to make a single splash on the internet.
Until a few months ago, when a Xianxia-themed idol drama exploded in popularity. Relying on his role as a deeply affectionate male supporting character, he also attracted a wave of fans and gained quite a bit of heat.

If it were any other normal actor, the first thing they would do upon gaining heat would be to choose better scripts to further expand their popularity.
Lan Yi was different. He wanted to be famous, and he had wanted it for many years.
Now that he had finally tasted a bit of the dividends and heat, how could he be willing to let it go easily?

He began frequently accepting livestreams, taking on micro-business endorsements, playing big shot, and deliberately delaying his red carpet time, all in hopes of increasing his traffic and exposure.

After all, black-red (infamy) is still red. Only with traffic and heat could more people notice him.

Especially since he was currently the artist the company was heavily promoting, his team also intended for him to take the black-red route so they could quickly harvest a wave of “chives” (fans’ money) in a short time. The artist and the team hit it off instantly, practically committing crimes out of obscurity and acting outrageously.

Perhaps because his status was too low for anyone to care, or perhaps he was just lucky and hadn’t bumped into any big shots, but during this period—while setting up a persona for himself as ‘indifferent to fame like a chrysanthemum’ and ‘strong and unyielding’ on one hand, and pulling flashy, outrageous operational stunts on the other—Lan Yi actually managed to achieve something.

At the very least, he paralyzed a portion of people. By relying on forced associations and touch-porcelain (staging incidents to claim victimization), he forcibly elevated his status by a chunk, and even managed to get an admission ticket to the magazine Alla‘s event.

And Lan Yi himself firmly believed that the route his team planned for him had no mistakes, and was even an absolutely brilliant strategy.

The entire team was waiting for Lan Yi to shine brilliantly at the Alla grand ceremony and ruthlessly suck in a wave of fans.

Who would have expected that before the army could achieve victory, the general would die? Lan Yi was directly thrown into the front row of the red carpet by the organizers—among the batch of people they valued the least.

How could Lan Yi, who had previously stolen screen time on other magazines’ red carpets, let go of this bit of sweetness and exposure?

He immediately repeated his old trick, dragging out the time and refusing to go on stage, wanting to push his appearance order as far back as possible.

But he forgot that this wasn’t one of those obscure magazine events he had attended before. This was the premier fashion magazine in the country.

Naturally, Editor-in-Chief Yao couldn’t possibly let him have his way, and even directly blacklisted him within the fashion circle.

Lan Yi’s intestines turned green with regret. He called Editor-in-Chief Yao countless times, but in the end, he was blocked and directly kicked out of the Alla waiting area.

Meanwhile, Gu Qichi, who took his place on stage, directly rushed to the high-ranking hot searches. Not only did he spark widespread discussion, but he directly dominated Weibo. Lan Yi’s entire homepage was filled with his photos.

Lan Yi paid even more attention to Gu Qichi’s rising fan count than Gu Yuning did. He gritted his teeth so hard they nearly shattered.

If he hadn’t “happened to have something to do” and gone on stage late, if Gu Qichi hadn’t taken his spot, the person breaking out of the circle tonight should have been him! The person patronized and praised by major media outlets should have been him! And the fans Gu Qichi gained today should have all been his!

On what basis? On what basis did Gu Qichi snatch everything that originally belonged to Lan Yi?!

Even more unfortunately, when Lan Yi sneaked into the inner venue to find Editor-in-Chief Yao to plead for mercy, he happened to walk past Yu Sheng’s lounge room.

He witnessed the entire moment Gu Qichi made his move.
He even secretly recorded a video.

It was just that when someone passed by later, Lan Yi slipped away early out of a guilty conscience. Naturally, he didn’t record Gu Qichi’s final sentence: “I am also a young master of the Gu family.”

Holding this piece of “evidence,” he felt immensely pleased with himself, intending to use it as a bargaining chip to destroy Gu Qichi.

Fighting with him for heat and resources? Doesn’t he weigh himself to see how many catties and taels he has? He, Lan Yi, has at least been muddling in the circle for seven or eight years!

At 3:15 AM.
All was quiet, the dead of night.

Lan Yi suddenly posted a Weibo. The content was simple, but it held deep underlying meaning:

@Hardworking and Enterprising Lan Yi:
I have always believed in the saying that heaven rewards the diligent, so I desperately work hard at whatever I do. But fate seems to have played a joke on me; every time my career advances just a little bit, he always snatches it away.
I’m sorry for disappointing everyone, for failing to let everyone see a better me.

At first glance, this Weibo was obviously insinuating something. “Failing to let everyone see a better me”—Lan Yi currently had no dramas broadcasting, nor were any dramas sent for censorship review. He only had a scant few events. Fans were all smart; a quick flip through the studio’s schedule map would tell them everything.

The teaser poster for attending the Alla grand ceremony was still blatantly displayed in the studio’s feed, as conspicuous as could be.

Tonight, Alla had canceled the event due to fire safety hazards at the inner venue, but the red carpet process hadn’t been dropped. From fourth- and fifth-tier little actors all the way up to those few massive Best Actors and Best Actresses, all had attended.

Yet, only one person was missing.

When the fans flipped through today’s event leaked photos, Lan Yi had clearly gone very early. Even if the studio hadn’t finished editing his photos, could it be that the media and passersby couldn’t snap a single photo of him walking the red carpet?

There was clearly something fishy going on here.

According to “an informed staff member of Alla,” there was an obscure artist today who played big shot and hogged the red carpet, dragging his feet and refusing to leave, forcibly snatching away the runway time of other artists on the red carpet.

There was only one artist tonight who vastly broke out of the circle yet was previously obscure. The spearhead pointed directly at Gu Qichi.

Lan Yi’s fans immediately blew up.

Although Lan Yi had done all sorts of stupid things in the circle, his persona was perfect. In his fans’ hearts, he was a hardworking, dedicated good actor, a little pitiful image.

Lan Yi had debuted for seven or eight years, after all. Speaking of which, he could be considered Gu Qichi’s senior. Snatching a senior’s red carpet time just to make himself break out of the circle—what kind of repulsive behavior was this?

Overnight, quite a few repulsive greetings from Lan Yi’s fans flooded Gu Qichi’s Weibo.

Furthermore, red carpets—especially grand ceremonies like this where top-tier male and female stars gathered—inevitably became the traffic passwords for major bloggers, who would grab the sheep and shear them wave after wave.

And some of these bloggers happened to be fashion bloggers who loved to inventory and critique artists’ formal wear.

Gu Qichi had massive traffic and stole all the limelight tonight, so naturally, he became the very first target.

A massive blogger on Weibo with three million followers took the lead in posting a questioning video.

@Picky Eater Manman: “As we all know, the quantity of haute couture formal wear for male celebrities in our country, compared to female celebrities, is pitifully small. You don’t even need to do much of an inventory to count them clearly. And ES’s formal wear is notoriously difficult to borrow. As far as I know, besides those few Grand Slam Best Actresses, very few little flowers can wear them, let alone male celebrities.”

“But this formal wear on Gu Qichi is almost exactly the same as the 20xx Spring haute couture style and fabric that ES showcased on the runway half a month ago. The only difference is a few major alterations at the waist and the inner shirt. And I have checked all recent niche brands; not a single one has a style identical to this ES haute couture formal wear on Gu Qichi.”

“As a public figure, knowingly wearing counterfeits isn’t very good, is it?”

“I hope @Mr. Gu Qichi can provide a reasonable explanation.”

This blogger was always known by netizens as a “troublemaker.” She originally broke out of the circle by sharply nitpicking and venomously criticizing artists’ outfits. Because of this, she attracted a wave of fans who loved to watch the world burn. Her active fan index was terrifying.

The video was posted at 10 PM the next afternoon, exactly the time when everyone was busy eating melons and slacking off at work.

The play count and discussion volume shot up instantly.

Not to mention, Lan Yi wasn’t the only one who wanted to destroy Gu Qichi. Behind this, there were countless people adding fuel to the flames.

At that time, Bo Yu was busy taking care of the sick Gu Qichi. He ignored everything and had put his phone on silent mode.

Meanwhile, Wen Xi and Luo Qianqian had held an emergency meeting at the company last night. They even found a professional lawyer to consult on the consequences and countermeasures of Gu Qichi assaulting Gu Yuning. They practically stayed up all night, coming up with seven or eight plans, before indulging themselves by going home to sleep with the covers over their heads.

No one noticed the brewing of this storm.

The only person who noticed this matter was Bai Heng, who was standing guard at the front lines of the company.

He had just thrown the nearly frozen stiff Gu Yuning back to the Gu family. Along the way, on Bo Yu’s behalf, he warned Gu Yuan’an, telling him not to let Gu Yuning out to harm Gu Qichi again. Otherwise, the Gu family’s ending wouldn’t be this simple next time.

When Bai Heng left, he felt a bit strange. Why hadn’t he seen Gu Chengtian, but only Gu Yuan’an at the door?

The other man’s eyes were fierce. Deep-seated hatred swept over Bai Heng’s entire body as he gritted his teeth and said, “Where is that slut Gu Qichi?”

Bai Heng gave a mocking smile. His sarcastic gaze swept over Gu Yuan’an and the heavily injured Gu Yuning in his arms. He spoke in a weird, mocking tone: “Gu Yuan’an, I really don’t know whether to say you are truly stupid or just acting stupid.”

He raised his voice, enunciating every word: “That thing in your arms has absolutely no blood ties with you. The person you keep calling a slut has suffered all sorts of unfair treatment since childhood, and even now, he has to be cursed at by an animal like you.”

“It seems that helping the Gu family go bankrupt was truly the most correct decision President Bo could have made. After all, this family business would have been ruined sooner or later anyway, so bringing the timeline forward a little probably doesn’t matter much.”

Under Gu Yuan’an’s gloomy gaze, Bai Heng decisively walked away, not speaking another word of nonsense.

When he received the message from the Bo Corporation’s network technology team, Bai Heng gave it a faint glance.

Although it was just a harmless clown jumping around, to avoid recreating the tragic, spectacular feat Bo Yu had pulled on Song Zhian last time, Bai Heng decided to sever this possibility right from the source.

Picky Eater Manman‘s video was directly deleted by the Bo Corporation, and even Lan Yi’s vaguely insinuating Weibo post was directly blocked.

In an instant, all the search terms and public squares related to Gu Qichi wearing fakes and Gu Qichi playing big shot completely vanished.

No matter how many times people refreshed the Weibo hot searches, they couldn’t bring them up.

The netizens who had just gotten off work and planned to go home and happily eat melons: “???”

Help?
What kind of new capitalist power is this?!

Having finished all his work and planning to get off work, Bai Heng: “The world’s number one professional gold-medal assistant, Bai Heng—as expected of you.”

But contemporary netizens were naturally rebellious. The more you didn’t let them do something, the more they insisted on rushing up to do it for no other reason than just to show off their rebellious bones.

The netizens, who had been jumping up and down all night but failed to successfully eat the melon, were just about to go to sleep when they suddenly refreshed an explosive revelation under an obscure search term.

It was a picture-and-text post titled: #GuQichiSugarDaddyNudePhotoScandal#.

Inside was an 18-grid photo layout, densely packed, all showing photos of Gu Qichi together with different men.