Hanging up the phone, sitting in the car, Gao Rong thought he truly looked like a fool.
He didn’t pay much attention to Gao Yuanzhou’s usual character, but he understood it nonetheless. The types who played with Gao Yuanzhou—what good could they be?
And Chi Lanyi, from this early on, was already partying in nightclubs with people like that. So in his previous life, he really had misjudged Chi Lanyi.
Chi Lanyi hadn’t changed later; he had always been like this from the start.
The traffic in Paris was truly congested. At that moment, Gao Rong decided to tell the driver to turn around and head back to his temporary residence.
What did it matter to him who Chi Lanyi played with or how he wanted to play? He and Chi Lanyi were strangers in this life. He had no obligation to be responsible for a former spouse who had betrayed him.
“How much longer until we reach that bar?” Gao Rong suddenly asked.
“Sir, the traffic is a bit heavy, about fifteen more minutes,” the driver replied. “Just keep going straight along this road, and we’ll get there.”
“Hm,” Gao Rong said flatly. He looked at the long road ahead, then added, “At the next intersection, turn left.”
Five minutes until the next intersection.
Gao Rong should have worked out at eight, gone home by nine to review some documents, and been in bed by eleven. Instead, he had broken his non-smoking habit, and because of one phone call, disrupted his schedule, stuck in traffic for half an hour, heading to some childish bar.
How childish, how laughable? Gao Rong couldn’t help thinking, he wasn’t really only 25 years old, even if Chi Lanyi was just 19 now…
Gao Rong froze.
Chi Lanyi was only 19.
Barely an adult for less than a year. For Chi Lanyi to show up at a bar now—was he seeking fun, or was he the fun others were looking to pick up?
As he contemplated this, Gao Rong’s expression gradually darkened. His fingers tapped lightly against the leather seat. He began to reconsider tonight’s matter.
In his previous life, Gao Yuanzhou hadn’t had that much money to squander. The Gao family was wealthy, upper-class, but nowhere near their current level. Gao Xi, entangled in divorce lawsuits with her ex-husband, had raised Gao Yuanzhou into a withdrawn, timid child.
So, Gao Yuanzhou hadn’t become a chaotic demon king, nor studied piano, become a star, serve as a professor’s boy toy, or drive the professor’s other boyfriend to suicide.
The rumors between Chi Lanyi and the professor likely hadn’t been amplified to such a significant degree either. Come to think of it, this could also be considered a butterfly effect stemming from Gao Rong interfering in Gao Xi’s life, which in turn impacted Chi Lanyi’s life.
Gao Rong frowned deeply.
After all—this was a party Gao Yuanzhou organized, and both Gao Yuanzhou and Chi Lanyi were at the center of the storm. If anything happened, it could easily implicate Gao Yuanzhou and make it easy for others to discover the connection between Gao Yuanzhou and Chi Lanyi.
—And thus prevent Chi Lanyi from serving as this convenient scapegoat that saved the Gao family trouble.
“Stay in this lane, head to the bar,” Gao Rong said coldly.
He told himself: he only wanted to be the person who had been wronged by Chi Lanyi. That was the position Gao Rong should hold—forever holding the moral high ground to condemn Chi Lanyi’s betrayal.
He could forgo collecting the blood debt from his past life from this life’s Chi Lanyi. But he could not allow his current self to inadvertently incur a debt to Chi Lanyi first.
Even if Chi Lanyi was completely oblivious to this debt.
…
Chi Lanyi had been drinking continuously.
His alcohol tolerance was poor; very quickly, he lost track of how many bottles he’d had. Only his instinct for self-preservation made him open a new one each time, never accepting a drink handed to him by someone else.
“He’s definitely drunk now,” one person said to Zou Jun. “Brother Zou, take the key and bring him up to the fourth floor. He’s all yours tonight.”
Zou Jun whistled. He looked at Chi Lanyi’s flushed, sluggish, yet still melancholic and pretty face, then at his thin, tall body.
Even though he was too thin, it still looked as good as a model’s frame.
“First dibs tonight. Once we’re closer and he really becomes part of our circle, you guys can join,” Zou Jun said. “Just a bit too skinny. Worried he might feel bony later.”
“Getting a bargain and still complaining. Get on with it,” another person cursed at him.
Chi Lanyi was muddled. His vision swam severely; he had forgotten why he came here tonight. He could feel someone helping him up, asking him, “Hey, Chi Lanyi, what’s one plus one?”
“…Mhm?”
“Response time is really slow now. Let’s get you upstairs to sleep, okay?”
Chi Lanyi nodded, then shook his head. Seeing him nod, the person took it as consent.
Chi Lanyi was thin, hence light. Zou Jun hoisted him up to take him upstairs. Gao Yuanzhou, still waiting for his fearsome uncle and squatting in a corner playing on his phone, suddenly noticed the two of them grappling.
Although he wasn’t close with this group, he still threw out a comment: “So is this considered taking advantage, or date-rape drugging?”
“So what if it’s taking advantage, you’ve never done it?” Zou Jun said.
“Hey, don’t slander me. I’m not like you guys,” Gao Yuanzhou shook his head like a rattle drum, “Every time I do it, it’s consensual.”
It’s just that his partners weren’t exactly stable. Gao Yuanzhou liked that kind of immoral, transgressive thrill.
“It’s not taking advantage. He agreed. I said I’d take him upstairs to sleep, and he said ‘okay’,” Zou Jun grinned, “I’m off. Keep drinking. Thanks for letting me use your name to book this room, by the way.”
“Damn, drink, drink my ass! My uncle is coming, how could I dare drink!” Gao Yuanzhou grumbled and shrank back into his corner to play on his phone. He lived his life rarely engaging his brain, but tonight, he put a little thought into trying to figure out how he had offended his uncle.
Probably still the school thing. He wasn’t really an official F University student; his mom had just pulled strings to get him into some kind of spring program or something at F University—Gao Yuanzhou couldn’t even remember what it was called, as long as it got him in.
Then, during the program, he discovered that Professor Renault was incredibly handsome. Gao Yuanzhou didn’t stand on ceremony and made a move immediately. The other party was also very responsive, seeming to really like his type. They had a sweet period for a while, then Gao Yuanzhou found out Renault actually had a boyfriend.
Profoundly self-centered, Gao Yuanzhou was even more outraged by this. He never cared about who came first or later; in this world, it was always others who needed to do the self-reflecting, never him. So he immediately told Renault to break up with the other boyfriend, planning to dump Renault himself right after, leaving him empty-handed.
Who knew it would ultimately blow up into this whole mess? That boyfriend of Renault’s turned out to actually be an official student at F University—this thought made Gao Yuanzhou’s teeth ache, Renault sure liked getting involved with students—and moreover, that student had depression.
Once they broke up, that person collapsed and made it a huge deal. Gao Yuanzhou was immediately snatched back home by his mom. He hid in a luxury apartment for a few days to weather the storm, and then heard that the student had jumped into the river.
It was just a relationship, why jump into a river?! Gao Yuanzhou was genuinely a little freaked out. He changed boyfriends as frequently as clothes, believing that if he ran fast enough, sadness couldn’t catch him. This was the first time he’d seen someone attempt suicide over a breakup.
Which made him even more unwilling to revisit the situation. Fortunately, his mom, Gao Xi, confidently promised that this matter would be resolved, and once things calmed down in a few days, he’d be back to being a pristine piano prodigy.
Next year, when his mom would boost a few more awards his way, Gao Yuanzhou could once again strut his stuff proudly.
So Gao Yuanzhou didn’t treat this as a big deal. Also, he’d heard that student wasn’t dead, just in the hospital on an IV drip. After barely a few days holed up in the apartment, he couldn’t stand the boredom and came out to find people to play with.
Inviting Gao Rong out was also a spur-of-the-moment thing, an attempt to butter up the uncle cleaning up his mess. Who knew Gao Rong, after receiving the call, would first turn terrifyingly cold, then even more terrifyingly volatile.
Driving through half an hour of Paris traffic just to catch him.
Gao Yuanzhou was genuinely a little freaked out by their uncle-nephew relationship. Wasn’t this being a bit too clingy? He remembered his mom saying Gao Rong had never dated, not a single girlfriend or boyfriend so far. Had his uncle grown a bit warped because of that?
If he had that much free time to sit in traffic, he might as well go find a girlfriend. If Gao Rong couldn’t find one himself, Gao Yuanzhou knew plenty of beautiful women; he’d introduce one to Gao Rong.
Lost in these thoughts, the people in the private room gradually emptied out. Gao Yuanzhou, playing on his phone for too long, wanted to stand up and stretch. Suddenly, a beam of light fell on him.
“Mr. Gao, this is the room.”
Along with it came a tall, imposing figure. Gao Yuanzhou knew his uncle was tall, but today he realized for the first time just how tall he could actually be.
Calculating, easily a head taller than that Chi Lanyi just now.
He hurriedly stood up to greet his uncle. Gao Rong said coldly, “Where are the people?”
“Uh… they’ve dispersed.”
Gao Rong swept a glance across the room, his gaze settling on a pile of empty glasses: “All gone back to school?”
“Not all… there are resting rooms on the fourth floor. A few went up there.” Gao Yuanzhou, baffled, even blurted out, “Uncle, our little party even produced a new couple tonight.”
“…What new couple?”
Gao Rong’s voice seemed to sink heavily. Gao Yuanzhou continued, “That really pale, thin one who could drink really well. Him and that Zou Jun. The two of them hugged and went upstairs together.”
He saw Gao Rong pause for a moment, as if a towering rage had ignited. Even more confused, Gao Yuanzhou suddenly saw Gao Rong jolt, reach out, and pull a strip of pills from between the sofa cushions.
Upon recognizing the name on the pills, Gao Rong’s eyes turned icy cold.
He turned to Gao Yuanzhou, his voice carrying an uncontrollable, low fury.
“Did you give him this stuff?”
“What stuff?” Gao Yuanzhou was still utterly confused.
Gao Rong gritted his teeth. Abruptly, he hurled the pills away and strode swiftly toward the fourth floor.
