But toward those who had shown kindness to Wang Liben, Yan Cheng was exceedingly generous as well.
The orphanage that had taken Wang Liben in received a massive donation. Soon after, Yan Cheng also bought Wang Liben a house and a car.
The once vicious tiger now wore a smile every day, leading Wang Liben to attend various occasions and constantly referring to him as “my son.”
But even though he wasn’t blind and could see that his son wasn’t very close to him, Yan Cheng wasn’t the least bit annoyed. He wished he could shower his son with all the fatherly love he had missed over the years.
It was said that Yan Zhenzhen had been jealous and thrown a tantrum at Yan Cheng, going to Wang Liben’s place to curse at him and try to drive him away. But Wang Liben had simply turned around and told Yan Cheng about it.
How could Yan Zhenzhen have expected him to tattle to the parents? Usually, weren’t people who were bullied supposed to be too afraid to say anything?
When Yan Cheng learned that his only son — the heir to the family line — had been cursed at by his worthless daughter, he was absolutely furious.
He enacted family discipline on Yan Zhenzhen — a daughter he didn’t like but had always indulged — and confined her to her room. She still hadn’t been let out.
And since he doted so much on his son, Wang Liben, how could he not know that his son had once worked as a young underling under Gong Ze?
In Yan Cheng’s eyes, no one had the right to make his son their underling. Gong Ze deserved to die.
But seeing how close his son was to Gong Ze — and that Gong Ze came from the same orphanage as Yan Cheng, and hadn’t forgotten Wang Liben even after making it big — that counted as a favor too.
Afraid of angering his son, Yan Cheng temporarily decided not to go after Gong Ze.
It so happened that one day, his son’s expression was off. Yan Cheng, bursting with fatherly love, saw his precious boy — who resembled him so closely — upset and felt a pang of heartache. He immediately asked what was wrong.
Wang — oh, right, Yan Liben — said that Qin Chuan of the Qin family looked down on him and talked about him behind his back. But since his father was the head of the Qin family, he didn’t dare offend him and could only swallow his humiliation and come home.
Upon hearing this, Yan Cheng exploded with rage.
He thought: his son had endured all kinds of grievances growing up, lost and alone. Even after becoming a young master again, when someone wronged him, he still fell back on old habits of being timid and cautious.
This broke the poisonous tiger Yan Cheng’s doting father heart.
“In the past, when you were bullied, I wasn’t there to back you up. Now, you have a father. Whoever bullies you, bully them back!”
“So what if his father’s surname is Qin? Your father’s surname is Yan. This entire Black City belongs to our family!”
Yan Cheng let out a cold laugh.
Over the years, Qin Chuan’s father had been nothing more than a lackey running errands for him. Yan Cheng only gave him face out of his own goodwill.
How could his precious, biological son be trampled on by the son of his own lackey?
Yan Cheng didn’t suspect that Yan Liben was lying.
The younger generation’s secrets were laid bare for the older generation’s eyes. Of course, Yan Cheng knew what a vile creature Qin Chuan was.
He immediately gave Yan Liben a large group of men. Black City was a chaotic urban jungle, and Yan Cheng had served as mayor for so many years that he was both an official and a gangster — no different from a crime boss.
He kept a large number of local thugs and fighters under his command, often using violent means to make those with rebellious intentions disappear silently.
Who in Black City wasn’t afraid of him?
And with those men, not long afterward, Yan Liben took advantage of a night when Qin Chuan was out partying to ambush him.
Yan Liben remembered how Qin Chuan had secretly scratched Gong Ze’s palm — how he had tried to seduce his man. He was merciless. Qin Chuan’s arm was broken.
When Qin Chuan’s father saw his son beaten to such a state, he was incandescent with rage. He called Yan Cheng directly to demand an explanation.
Gong Ze knew there were old grievances between them — years of accumulated discontent. He hadn’t expected them to blow up so spectacularly, practically tearing their faces off in the ensuing argument.
In the end, Yan Cheng grew impatient. He gave a sinister laugh and said, “It’s just a broken bone. What’s the big deal? Your son bullied Liben — he deserved it.”
“Qin Feng, when did you ever get to shout at me? If you don’t shut your mouth, whether the Qin family disappears from Black City is just a snap of my fingers away.”
Qin Chuan’s father clutched his chest. “You—”
“Hmph.”
Yan Cheng hung up, leaving a furious Qin Chuan’s father to smash his phone.
Pity — as angry as Qin Chuan’s father was, he didn’t dare touch Yan Liben.
On the surface, Yan Cheng was the mayor; behind the scenes, he was a gangster. It wasn’t beyond him to hire a few men to stage a carjacking and commit murder in broad daylight.
In fear of Yan Cheng, Qin Chuan’s father could only swallow his anger.
And under Gong Ze’s instructions, Yan Liben would beat Qin Chuan every time he saw him.
Qin Chuan and his father were miserable. In the end, Qin Chuan could only stay cooped up indoors, his face dark with rage, wishing he could drink Yan Liben’s blood and eat his flesh. He couldn’t even maintain his gentle, sunny disguise anymore.
It was at this moment that Gong Ze sent him a message, asking to meet.
When Qin Chuan received the message, he suddenly remembered that Yan Liben was most obedient to Gong Ze.
His eyes lit up. He immediately contacted Gong Ze.
Receiving Qin Chuan’s plea for help, Gong Ze curled his lips in a knowing smile at the system. The system returned a thumbs-up that said “You’re a genius.”
Gong Ze answered the call and agreed to help.
The two of them met that very day at their usual place, the Mingchuan Hotel.
Seeing Qin Chuan with his arm in a cast and his face swollen and bruised, Gong Ze almost burst out laughing.
He had only told Yan Liben to provoke him — he never imagined Yan Liben would have a personal grudge and beat Qin Chuan so badly, especially targeting his handsome face. He had practically been turned into a pig’s head.
Suppressing his laughter, Gong Ze put on a sympathetic expression, touched his swollen cheek, and said tenderly, “How did this happen to you?”
Finding Gong Ze so gentle with him — and because Gong Ze was the first man who had ever slept with him — Qin Chuan’s heart ached. He poured out all his recent grievances.
“Gong Ze, you have to help me. I don’t know what set that mad dog Yan Liben off. I swear I never talked about him behind his back. Damn it — he just has it out for me!”
Qin Chuan felt utterly wronged.
And the man who had wronged him knew his suffering better than he did. Gong Ze secretly curled the corner of his mouth and said slowly,
“It’s probably because of Yan Zhenzhen. Remember when we ate at your house, and she called him a ‘lousy driver’? Well, now Yan Zhenzhen is confined to her room too.”
Qin Chuan’s eyes widened in understanding. “So that’s it!”
That damned, stinking woman.
That motherfucker Yan Liben!
He knew that brainless, stupid woman Yan Zhenzhen would cause him trouble sooner or later!
Gong Ze reached out, pulled Qin Chuan into his lap, and narrowed his long eyes, deliberately and ambiguously rubbing Qin Chuan’s waist.
As if, because their intimate encounter had made him feel some affection for Qin Chuan, Gong Ze thought for a moment and then said, “Fine. I’ll talk to him for you.”
“But in my opinion, Yan Liben is targeting your family because of Yan Cheng’s attitude. Otherwise, how would he dare? This is still Yan Cheng’s doing.”
Qin Chuan, first aroused by Gong Ze’s touch — his swollen pig-like face showing a hint of lust — wriggled his hips on Gong Ze’s lap.
Hearing that Gong Ze was willing to help, he was overjoyed.
He knew it! Gong Ze had been so passionate and entangled when they slept together — he must have feelings for him, or he wouldn’t care.
After hearing Gong Ze’s analysis, thinking of how his father had been cursing Yan Cheng lately, Qin Chuan nodded in agreement. “I think so too.”
“My father and Yan Cheng — their generation — seems to have some secret between them. Lately, I’ve overheard my father muttering to himself something like…”
“‘If you push me any further, I’ll tell everyone what happened back then.’”
Qin Chuan frowned as he spoke.
Hearing this, Gong Ze’s eyes flickered.
He broke into a smile, as if Qin Chuan’s pig-like face was still as handsome as before. He lifted him up, tossed him onto the bed, and handed Qin Chuan a glass of water.
“My help doesn’t come for free. There’s a little something something in this water — you know what I mean.”
“As long as you do a good job pleasing me, even if your family and Yan Cheng do end up tearing each other apart, I’ll have Sang Corporation back you up.”
“Really?!”
Such a good deal existed in this world?
Qin Chuan was overjoyed. He hadn’t expected his charm to be so potent, that Gong Ze wanted him so badly. And it even came at a perfect time — he’d been stuck at home lately with no lovers to ease his urges. His eyes grew sticky and lustful. “I know.”
He downed the water in one gulp.
“Come here, darling.” Happily, Qin Chuan stripped off his clothes, his one arm still in a cast, and leaned in with his bruised and battered face to kiss Gong Ze. “I’ve missed you so much. Last time, even though it hurt a bit, I dreamed of you taking me.”
Gong Ze: Heh.
The system was dumbstruck.
[Holy crap, Qin Chuan is really something else. He’s all beat to hell like this and he’s still so hot?]
Gong Ze lifted his arm to block Qin Chuan, watched him drink the water spiked with the self-entertainment pill, and within seconds, he was passed out on the bed. Gong Ze smiled faintly and called Yan Liben, telling him to come over.
“It’s time to give Yan Liben a little sweetness too.”
The system sucked in a breath. [If we’re talking about who’s the real animal here, it’s gotta be you, Host.]
Gong Ze smiled knowingly. “Yeah. I can be even more animal than that. Believe it?”
The system: […] It shuddered, gave a dry laugh, and slipped away.
When Wang Liben arrived happily, within ten minutes, he had turned into another fish flopping and dreaming on the bed.
The two men who had been at each other’s throats lately — who wanted nothing more than to eat each other’s flesh — now clung together, one moaning “Gong Ze,” the other “Young master,” making out with great enthusiasm.
And Gong Ze’s sacrifice?
Just a hotel’s worth of chopsticks.
The system: Bloodstained chopstick (handle) x2.
That afternoon, the two men limped out of the hotel at different times. Gong Ze also threw away the chopsticks and leisurely, calmly returned to the Sang Corporation to coach his wife on work.
The system felt that these two — Qin Chuan and Wang Liben — were like two brainless yes-men.
No matter how much they fought, Gong Ze’s true love was only Sang You.
Thinking about the future, if Qin Chuan and Yan Liben ever found out the truth… tsk tsk, they’d probably go dark and turn their love into hate.
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