Chapter 88: Indulgence

The dark green curtain blocked the light from outside, making one completely lose track of time. In the semi-enclosed space, damp and hot, filled with Sheng Shaoyan’s scent, Shen Xici felt as if he were immersed in the deep sea.

His arms were tightly wrapped around Sheng Shaoyan’s firm back. His vision was already a bit blurry, but he still stared without blinking at the sweat dripping from Sheng Shaoyan’s hair and the deep desire in his eyes.

He so wanted to see the other person become flustered because of him, to be infatuated because of him, to completely lose control because of him, as if the accumulated snow on a mountain peak had melted. He held Sheng Shaoyan within his body, confirming again and again that he was loved.

Their rapid breaths intertwined. This feeling was too addictive.

Shen Xici even had the urge to cry, wanting to continue like this without end.

The person beneath him felt no pain, knew no fatigue, only endlessly clinging and demanding. Under the mythological fresco on the dome, he was like a succubus who fed on love. Sheng Shaoyan was seduced by him until his reason was nearly gone. Unable to hold back any longer, he completely let go, fierce and powerful.

The last time, afraid of truly hurting him, Sheng Shaoyan struggled to rein in his actions with his reason. But Shen Xici was not satisfied. Sensing that Sheng Shaoyan was about to leave, he pressed his heels against the dark silk sheets, propped up his upper body with his elbows, and lifted his head to kiss Sheng Shaoyan’s lips, once again making that hoarse and sweet sound, repeatedly murmuring “A’Shao.”

Sheng Shaoyan held him, his arms strong, easily reversing their positions so that the other was lying on top of him. He caressed his smooth back, and after a shiver ran through him, he let him cling and kiss for a while longer before asking him, “Not afraid of getting hurt?”

Shen Xici’s eyes were filled with a pool of water, as if he were still trapped in the throes of passion, completely unable to think. Or perhaps he wanted to answer with actions, as he once again climbed up to kiss Sheng Shaoyan’s Adam’s apple, still demanding.

Sheng Shaoyan’s fingers slid up along his spine, gently kneading the back of his neck. His voice was low and magnetic as he commanded, “Xici, look at me.”

Shen Xici’s chest heaved. He subconsciously propped himself up, his dazed gaze meeting Sheng Shaoyan’s eyes.

His entire person was damp, like a cherry whose thin skin had been sucked broken, overflowing with sweet and sour juice, unconsciously exuding an alluring lust.

Sheng Shaoyan restrained himself, took his hand, and placed it over his own heart. “Can you feel it? This is the attraction you have over me.”

Shen Xici nodded blankly.

The person holding him had a strong waist and abdomen, broad and straight shoulders. Under his palm, the heart was beating very fast.

“I feel happy just by seeing you. I will change my own principles because I’m afraid of making you angry. I get jealous when you use a keychain someone else gave you. You manipulate my emotions at every moment. Shen Xici, the first time I attended a board meeting and made an investment decision worth tens of billions by myself, my heart never beat this fast.”

Under the taut muscles, the heartbeat was still fierce, like a melody telling of love.

“I love you very much, Xici. In the past, now, and in the future. So you don’t have to be insecure or anxious. You will receive lots and lots of love, so much that one day you might even grow tired of it.”

Shen Xici silently shook his head. How could he get tired of it?

The tears in his eyes blurred the lights into overlapping spots of light. Before the tears could fall, Sheng Shaoyan pressed his head closer and very gently kissed his tear-filled eyes, then his lips.

All his anxiety and restlessness were slowly soothed in the process of their lips and teeth intertwining.

They messed around in the dark green velvet curtains for a whole day. The bathrobe from before was soaked with unknown liquids, completely wrinkled, and unwearable. Shen Xici put on a loose white sweater. When he looked in the mirror, he found that his eyes were slightly swollen from crying, and there were marks all over his neck and body, especially the finger marks on his waist, which almost instantly reminded him of the terrifying force of Sheng Shaoyan’s thrusts.

Dragging his sore legs, Shen Xici insisted on going downstairs with Sheng Shaoyan to eat his birthday cake in the dining room before midnight on March 13th.

He took a photo of the two of them together, and then, with great novelty, had Sheng Shaoyan take a picture of him holding the cake with both hands.

Outside the window, the moonlight was reflected on the surface of the lake, sparkling.

The year he was born, a cold wave had caused a severe ice and snow disaster, a once-in-decades event. There was still snow on the mountains at the end of March.

But on his twenty-second birthday, the ice and snow outside the castle had long since melted, and all things were coming back to life.

They stayed in Paris for a week. Given that he had only been slightly red and swollen the first time and not injured, the two of them became a little less restrained. Almost aside from horseback riding, walking, handling work, and watching movies, they were in bed. In the last few days, the time they spent in bed grew longer and longer, completely immersed in it.

He didn’t know how many times he had looked up at the fresco on the master bedroom’s dome ceiling amidst a storm of collisions. Shen Xici once again confirmed the experience he had summarized before—this level of intimate contact, once started, would continue on and on, with absolutely no possibility of stopping at just a taste.

Rationally, Shen Xici felt that this seemed not quite right, but his emotional and physiological needs prompted him to cling to Sheng Shaoyan at almost every moment.

Or rather, after doing more intimate things, his level of clinginess seemed to have multiplied. Even when Sheng Shaoyan was handling affairs in the study, he would go to the shelves, find a couple of books, and then sit next to Sheng Shaoyan, idly flipping through the pages.

It was as if there was a crack in his heart that needed lots and lots of love to fill.

Sometimes he would look up and see Sheng Shaoyan’s stern side profile, and he would feel that life was marvelous. A year after his rebirth, he had once thought that when he decided to save Sheng Shaoyan, it meant that he would not have the chance to be friends with him again in this life.

He had never expected that they would become the most intimate of lovers.

In the middle of it, Shen Xici made a trip to Germany. A medical group under Shenghe had invested in related laboratories to research gene therapy for congenital insensitivity to pain, neural interface technology, and neurostimulators. After research teams in Heidelberg, New York, and London signed non-disclosure agreements, they conducted detailed diagnoses and clinical trials for his illness. All the data was meticulously recorded and archived.

When the vacation ended and it was time to leave the castle, Shen Xici was still a little reluctant, feeling that the past few days had been as illusory as a dream. The plane landed in Ningcheng. He first went back to the mid-level villa to see the Moon God swimming in the fish tank, telling it about his experiences in Paris, and then he had no more time to think about these things.

A month after “Fleeting Life” was released, the box office had already broken four billion. The screening period was extended. Along with magazine interviews and business invitations, the most numerous were a large pile of scripts of varying quality.

Because Shen Xici had been willing to cooperate with the then-unknown Director Lu Jiming, pulling in investment, finding locations, selecting actors, and revising the script together, and in the end, producing the Spring Festival box office champion “Fleeting Life,” the story had been written by marketing accounts as if it were a fateful encounter and the beginning of a legend, becoming almost common knowledge.

Many directors and newcomers who considered themselves exceptionally talented but unrecognized saw him as a Bó Lè (a good judge of talent) and someone with a Midas touch, and they all threw their scripts at his studio. There were even rich second-generations who, drawn by the title “Son of the Mountain God,” wanted to ask Shen Xici to do a fortune-telling for them, and then invest in Shen Xici’s new movie, replicating Cheng Mingye’s operation.

Lan Xiaoshan held up his five fingers. “Brother Shen, you definitely don’t know, but your photo cards have already risen to five figures each! They say you’re not just the Son of the Mountain God; based on the box office success of ‘Fleeting Life,’ you’re also the Son of the God of Wealth!”

Shen Xici was very rigorous. “Have they verified it? Is it really effective?”

Lan Xiaoshan was curious. “What if it is?”

Shen Xici: “If it is, then I’ll go get one of my own photo cards to worship. If there’s really such a thing as fortune-telling metaphysics, then let’s keep the good fortune in the family.”

Lan Xiaoshan was chuckling when Ge Lanjing walked over and handed a tablet to Shen Xici. “You’ve been on vacation for so long. Hurry up and look at the scripts. These have all passed the initial screening. At least they won’t be moaning about nothing and talking nonsense, which hurts the eyes to read.”

So Shen Xici plunged into a pile of scripts. After reading until his head was spinning, he confirmed that good scripts were indeed a scarce resource. After reading a large pile of incomprehensible, melodramatic, and contrived stories, he decided he still had to go and push Lu Jiming. He shouldn’t just be drawing pies in the sky all day; he needed to put writing the script on his agenda.

A message from Sheng Shaoyan popped up on his phone, saying the car was already parked at the door. Shen Xici glanced out the window and only then realized it was already dark. He shook his dizzy head, picked up his jacket, and went downstairs. On the way, he received a call from Lu Jiming.

Lu Jiming’s voice was filled with suppressed excitement, his tone trembling. “Shen Xici, our movie’s first month’s profit share is out!”

Opening the back door of the Maybach, Shen Xici got in, still in a bit of a daze.

Sheng Shaoyan touched his forehead. “Why are you so distracted? Not feeling well?”

“No,” Shen Xici grabbed Sheng Shaoyan’s wrist, his whole person feeling as if he were floating on clouds. “The first month’s box office share is out. Do you know how much I got?”

Sheng Shaoyan had already calculated the approximate number but still cooperatively asked, “How much?”

“Ten percent, four hundred million!! Three hundred and seventy million is my box office share, and thirty million is a bonus.”

When Shen Xici had looked at the box office data before, he knew that even after deducting special fees, the shares for the cinema chains and distributors, and promotional expenses, the profit would be very considerable.

But at that time, he didn’t have such a strong sense of reality.

“I feel like I’m seeing countless banknotes lined up in front of me, sometimes forming the character ‘一’ (one), sometimes the character ‘人’ (person), flying around, jumping around. And this is just the first month’s box office share… I think I’m really rich now.”

Shen Xici muttered a few words, then suddenly threw himself onto Sheng Shaoyan, his eyes shining with excitement. “A’Shao! I have money! I’ve earned lots and lots of money!”

Sheng Shaoyan caught him steadily and stroked his hair. “Yes, our Xici has money now.”

Shen Xici grabbed Sheng Shaoyan’s tie and started to dream. “If one day, you don’t want to work anymore, I can support you too!”

He remembered the ten-thousand-yuan chair Sheng Shaoyan had ordered in that rental apartment and couldn’t help but add, “Even if you fly out and bring back a branch made of pure gold, inlaid with gems and diamonds, I can afford to buy it!”

Although he didn’t quite understand what the second half of the sentence meant, it didn’t stop a smile from appearing on Sheng Shaoyan’s lips. During the time he had amnesia, he had indeed thought that Shen Xici was his sugar daddy, who was paying to keep him.

“Alright.” Holding him, his hand gently rubbing his waist, Sheng Shaoyan said in a seductive tone in Shen Xici’s ear, “Well then, since you’re the sugar daddy, what position would you like tonight?”

Shen Xici was exceptionally sensitive. The breath tickled his ear, and he felt that something seemed not quite right.