When he was young, Zhu Ran had heard a very old question: If you had a regret pill, when would you take it?
He had long forgotten how he answered back then, but if someone asked him now, he would definitely say right now! Immediately!!! Right away!!!
Even the heavens were against him. Zhu Ran sat on Huo Boyan’s neck and inexplicably sobered up.
His head was still dizzy, and his body felt a bit off, but his consciousness was indeed clear.
When Huo Boyan’s rough, scorching breaths sprayed substantively onto the root of his thighs, and a pair of eyes peered out from between his legs, staring at him intently, Zhu Ran’s muddled brain fully cleared.
He now clearly realized that this wasn’t a dream. He was sitting on Huo Boyan’s face, and this was really happening.
Zhu Ran struggled to maintain his sitting position, hands propped on either side of Huo Boyan’s head, body motionless, embarrassed not knowing where to look.
And Huo Boyan…
Pinned beneath him, Huo Boyan swallowed hard, seemingly lost in a daze as he asked, “Zhu Ran, are you serious?”
Zhu Ran began to feel incredulous.
Someone as shrewd as Huo Boyan should have noticed something was wrong with him long ago, so why did he show such an expression of a foolish ruler willing to go with the flow?
He wasn’t going to go through with it for real, was he?
Zhu Ran’s scalp tightened. No longer caring about the risk of being discovered, he bolted.
But just as he straightened his waist, Huo Boyan grabbed him and pressed him back down. Zhu Ran landed squarely on Huo Boyan’s face again, the man’s straight nose poking right into his…
“Ahhh! Huo Boyan, what are you doing? Let me go! Aaaah!!!” Zhu Ran completely lost it, flailing wildly with his hands and feet before scrambling behind the bed curtains like he was fleeing. He glared fiercely at Huo Boyan and accused, “Huo Boyan, you pervert! How could you do something like that!”
Huo Boyan looked like a cat owner who had failed to force a kiss on his pet only to get beaten up instead. His hair was messed up by Zhu Ran, his glasses askew, and a rare disheveled look appeared on his face.
He sat up on the bed, readjusted his glasses, and fixed his eyes on Zhu Ran through the lenses with a half-smile. “I’m the pervert? Do you need me to remind you who insisted on sitting on my face just now…”
“Ahhhh! Don’t say it!!!” Zhu Ran pounced to cover Huo Boyan’s mouth. “Don’t say it! Swallow it back!”
Huo Boyan swallowed, then stuck out his tongue to lick Zhu Ran’s palm.
The wet, hot, slippery sensation transmitted without reservation, burning Zhu Ran’s cheeks fiery red. He yanked his hand back as if fleeing. He stared at Huo Boyan in shock, his face screaming how shameless can you be.
“I never intended to do anything to you,” Huo Boyan sat on the edge of the bed and straightened his disheveled clothes. Feeling his wording wasn’t precise enough, he added, “I mean, I wouldn’t take advantage of you while you’re drugged.”
What did that mean? If he hadn’t been drugged, would Huo Boyan have continued?
Wait, that wasn’t the point. Zhu Ran finally snapped back and jerked his head up. “What did you just say? Drugged?”
Huo Boyan was silent for a few seconds before asking, “You don’t remember anything?”
Zhu Ran truly had no recollection. He only remembered coming back after drinking, falling asleep, then dreaming of Huo Boyan entering his room—though he now knew that hadn’t been a dream; it was all real.
Thinking of the things he’d said in front of Huo Boyan made Zhu Ran wish he could bury himself in a hole.
But the more pressing issue now was… he’d been drugged?
Thinking carefully, his body did feel off, and he’d fallen asleep too quickly—he usually had trouble sleeping, yet this time he’d passed out the moment his head hit the pillow. And that dream was wrong too. Even if it had been a dream, he shouldn’t have had those kinds of thoughts about Huo Boyan.
Zhu Ran frowned and eyed Huo Boyan warily. “How did you know I was drugged?”
In that short time, Huo Boyan had regained his composure. He straightened his suit and hair, then said calmly to Zhu Ran, “Your proactive attitude at the time made it hard not to suspect.”
Zhu Ran’s mouth twitched. He really didn’t want to recall the details, but he did realize it couldn’t have been Huo Boyan—otherwise, why go to the trouble of giving him the antidote?
If not Huo Boyan, then it must have happened at the bar. A thought flashed through Zhu Ran’s mind, but he didn’t dare believe it.
While he was still reeling, Huo Boyan answered a call, then looked up and said, “Zhu Ran, Jia Ming got the surveillance footage. Do you want to see it?”
Zhu Ran had a vague guess. He stared blankly into space, as if frozen.
But Huo Boyan didn’t give him a chance to evade. “This might be hard for you to accept, but it concerns your safety, so I think you should know and judge for yourself.”
Zhu Ran closed his eyes. In that instant, he felt like he was standing alone in an endless wilderness, overwhelmed by isolation.
He wanted to run, to escape, to abandon everything. But in the end, he opened his eyes and said to Huo Boyan, “Okay.”
Huo Boyan, upon hearing this, said into the phone, “Jia Ming, come to my room to report.”
The wait was particularly agonizing. Zhu Ran moved from behind the bed curtains to the living room sofa. He fought the urge to curl up, keeping his back straight throughout, refusing to show weakness.
Just as he was about to break and flee, there was a knock. Chen Jiaming had arrived.
He said only three things.
