Xie Jin had carefully selected every bouquet he gave to Bai Ying.
The most frequent were bunches of white daisies. The first time they met, Bai Ying had worn his raincoat and hugged a bouquet of double-petaled daisies as he walked away into the rain, light and graceful like a white deer crossing a stream. Daisies were beautiful, pure, and innocent, just like Bai Ying in Xie Jin’s eyes.
He had also given baby’s breath a few times—hundreds of tiny white flowers dotting the green leaves, like stars scattered across the night sky. They sometimes appeared alongside other flowers, numerous but unobtrusive, gently playing a supporting role. It was just like when he was with Bai Ying: his gaze always fell on Bai Ying, drawing everyone else’s eyes along with it. He was a household-name movie star, but in those moments, he was content to be a side character.
Xie Jin had once given champagne roses. Roses were always linked to passionate love, but the pale hue of champagne roses added a subtle restraint to his feelings, like treading the line between friends and lovers, silently confessing his affection.
The flowers Xie Jin ordered were always the freshest, picked by the growers and air-freighted to the florist, reaching his hands in under twelve hours. When they arrived in the early morning, the petals still carried dew. Bai Ying would gently touch the tender petals and place them in vases filled with water. These flowers stayed fresh for a long time, so the vases in Bai Ying’s room kept multiplying.
A drop of rainwater fell from the tip of his hair onto Bai Ying’s lips.
Xie Jin suddenly thought of a bouquet of rouge-tinted silver lilies. They weren’t the kind of flowers one gave to a lover, so although he had seen photos and videos, he hadn’t bought them. The color of the silver lilies resembled Bai Ying’s lips—not vivid, but a soft pink like rouged powder. The flowers bore morning dew, and when the grower showed them to him, they accidentally shattered, turning into shimmering fragments.
Xie Jin lowered his head and kissed the raindrop from Bai Ying’s lips.
The raindrop was slightly cool, but the lips were warm and soft like petals, making him fear that any heavier pressure would crumple or crush them. Xie Jin gently caressed them, and the previously dry lips grew moist after being moistened by the crushed droplet.
In this dampness, they seemed to melt into one.
Bai Ying was stunned, completely dumbfounded. Xie Jin held his lower back, pressing him into the man’s embrace. He clutched the dangling raincoat, gripping it powerlessly.
After a brief moment of tenderness, Xie Jin began to suck on his lips. Bai Ying snapped back to his senses and shoved Xie Jin away with force.
He yanked off the raincoat covering them and stared at Xie Jin in disbelief.
“You… you…” Bai Ying stammered, unable to form a complete sentence.
“I’m sorry, I was presumptuous. I couldn’t help myself.” Xie Jin lowered his eyes submissively, his apologetic attitude seeming sincere.
But someone who confessed and then kissed right away—could he be anything good!
Bai Ying glared at Xie Jin, his eyes reddening with grievance.
Xie Jin took a step forward, and Bai Ying retreated one, but his back soon hit the wall, leaving nowhere to go. Xie Jin looked at him earnestly: “Bai Ying, I really like you. I fell in love at first sight the moment I saw you. Can you give me a chance?”
Bai Ying murmured, “You said you liked me from the first time we met?”
“Yes.” Xie Jin finally stopped hiding and admitted his feelings.
“Then why do you want to raise a little snake!” Bai Ying suddenly raised his voice.
Xie Jin didn’t understand the connection, but he instinctively replied, “We can raise a little snake together… You like that little snake a lot, don’t you? We can raise it together.”
Idiot, idiot! There had only ever been one little snake from start to finish—how could he raise himself with someone else!
Bai Ying’s eyes reddened, and he pushed Xie Jin away with a shove.
“Your snake is gone!” With those words, Bai Ying turned and ran out of the alley.
Xie Jin reached to grab him but only caught the raincoat in Bai Ying’s hand. Bai Ying tossed it straight to him. Xie Jin stepped forward to chase, but dense footsteps sounded behind him. His expression changed—the reporters had found them.
He froze for a few seconds, then turned and headed in the opposite direction from Bai Ying, luring the reporters away.
In that short time, Bai Ying had already hailed a taxi and headed to the hotel where he and Xie Jin had been staying these past days.
“I’ll pay for the car wash.” Bai Ying, drenched to the skin, said, “Please wait for me outside the hotel. I need to go somewhere else.”
For a while, Bai Ying’s phone kept vibrating with incoming messages. There were calls and WeChat messages from Xie Jin. Bai Ying, getting the hang of it, gritted his teeth and blocked him. When Xie Jin’s manager called, Bai Ying wasn’t sure who it was and blocked them too for good measure.
At the same time, he and Xie Jin trended again. This time, the buzz was even bigger. The first photos had seemed like coincidence, but the second set felt like solid proof. Multiple paparazzi from different outlets had caught them dining together—no one thought to blackmail Xie Jin for money; they all raced to publish first.
It started with photos of them eating dim sum. Bai Ying had forgotten how they’d eaten it—it seemed perfectly normal to him—but the paparazzi shots made it look incredibly intimate. Photos of halved dim sum pieces, him feeding Xie Jin or Xie Jin feeding him, spread like wildfire online. Later, more leaks came: photos from their recent visits to Leifeng Pagoda and Lingyin Temple. The passersby who snapped them hadn’t recognized the youthfully stylish Xie Jin at the time, just thought the two looked great together. Only after seeing the paparazzi shots did they realize—holy crap, these two are the trending topic!
Xie Jin’s disguise skills were top-notch, but once netizens suspected, they matched every feature. Bai Ying hadn’t even covered his face, just let his hair down and changed his style—easy to link to the previous scandal photos.
Trends exploded, super topics blew up, fan groups flooded with messages. Bai Ying clicked into one and saw the same line repeated hundreds of times: “It’s the real sister-in-law?!”
Bai Ying’s eyes hurt from reading; he quit the group. Unexpectedly, the group admin—who’d thought he was an overzealous girlfriend fan—DM’d to comfort him. Bai Ying replied perfunctorily, then despairingly locked his screen. Out of sight, out of mind.
The taxi dropped him at another hotel. Bai Ying dragged his suitcase through the rain into the lobby, feeling like a drowned ghost. He booked a room without checking the price, took the key card, and floated like a wandering soul onto the elevator.
Only when he turned on the faucet, filled the bathtub with hot water, stripped off Xie Jin’s clothes, and sat naked inside did Bai Ying feel his soul return to his body. He hugged his knees and began shedding tears in patters.
He’d just wanted to find an owner… Why was it so hard!
Was he destined to be a corporate slave?
Bai Ying thought despairingly.
He didn’t dare look for another owner now. Curse, it must be a curse. He’d wanted Xiao Lu as owner, and Xiao Lu confessed to him on the Ferris Wheel. He’d wanted Xie Jin, and Xie Jin not only confessed but kissed him… How could he just kiss someone like that!
Bai Ying rubbed his lips hard, crying even harder. He hadn’t kissed anyone else before—his first kiss was inexplicably gone.
His phone vibrated again beside him.
Corporate slaves were like that: no matter what happened, they never turned off their phones. Bai Ying fished it out, planning to block if it was Xie Jin, but the screen showed Liu Qingzhang calling.
Wasn’t Mr. Liu still in heat?
The thought popped into Bai Ying’s head, but he was too heartbroken now and instinctively craved comfort, so he answered.
“I’ve had the trends removed,” the reliable big snake said first. “No one will harass you.”
“Mr. Liu…” Bai Ying’s voice carried a sob.
“What’s wrong? Who upset you?” Liu Qingzhang’s tone grew urgent. “Did reporters bother you?”
“No,” Bai Ying shook his head. “Xie Jin confessed to me.”
The scene felt eerily similar to when Lu Changjun had confessed before. Bai Ying panicked and vented, instinctively seeking Liu Qingzhang’s help.
Liu Qingzhang said, “If you don’t like him, just reject him.”
Rejecting confessions was getting easier, but this time was different from last.
“Xie Jin kissed me.” Bai Ying felt endlessly aggrieved. “I hadn’t even agreed, how could he just kiss someone like that…”
Liu Qingzhang’s breathing grew heavy, like a storm brewing.
Oblivious in his sorrow, Bai Ying kept mumbling: “I haven’t kissed anyone else. They say you should only do that with someone you like—first kisses are special… Do I have to be with him now…”
Maybe from the rain, Bai Ying’s mind was a mess, spilling every thought.
The big snake’s muscles tensed, his tail able to shatter boulders with a swipe. He ground his teeth: “That’s not true!”
Bai Ying slumped over the tub’s edge, heartbroken. Being kissed wasn’t something he could shake off easily. Xie Jin’s lips were scorching; the moment they covered his, Bai Ying felt like he’d burn—not from body heat, but from the intense emotion within. That sucked moment sent shivers through him, scattering his senses.
His mind still looped three words: kissed, kissed, kissed…*
Xie Jin’s impact hit harder than Lu Changjun’s.
On the other end, Liu Qingzhang suppressed his rage and asked, “Where are you now?”
Bai Ying subconsciously named the hotel.
“Wait for me in the room,” Liu Qingzhang said.
He had already shifted to human form and left the Cold Pool, burning with fury, his brows frosted with chill. The Zhong Family members didn’t dare breathe or look up. The plane took off immediately, approval for the Hangzhou route coming minutes later.
Bai Ying hadn’t said which room, but his whereabouts for the day had been reported. Along with it came surveillance footage from a nondescript alley in Hangzhou. The alley had only Bai Ying and Xie Jin at the time, but the unassuming camera captured everything.
The dangling raincoat like an intimate cocoon, the youth inside kissed fiercely by the mature man.
The screen shattered into quarters the next instant.
Zhong Qian’s heart skipped a beat as he presented the footage. Under pressure, he glanced at Liu Qingzhang, whose eyes had turned to serpentine slits, revealing part of his snake demon form.
The great demon, already in heat, teetered on the edge of losing control.
A knock sounded at the door. Peering through the peephole and seeing Liu Qingzhang outside, Bai Ying—in just a bathrobe—cheerfully opened it, thinking the big snake had come to keep him company and console him like last time.
His mind was a whirl; Xie Jin was too unreasonable—how could he just kiss like that? It had dazed the little snake completely! Bai Ying wanted to shift back to his original form and curl on Liu Qingzhang’s head. Perched on the big snake’s crown felt so comfy, his mind would blank out, forgetting all troubles.
But as soon as Liu Qingzhang entered, he shut the door behind him. Before Bai Ying could react, Liu Qingzhang pinned him against it.
“…Mr. Liu?” Bai Ying said blankly.
He’d booked a standard king room and had gone straight to the bathroom, so the room lights were off. Only the bathroom light glowed, spilling faintly to illuminate the doorway.
Liu Qingzhang stood backlit; Bai Ying couldn’t see his face clearly but noticed his eyes had become serpentine slits.
Even weak demons like Bai Ying rarely exposed their traits.
It showed Liu Qingzhang’s mindset was on the verge of collapse.
“Are you okay? Is the heat cycle…” Bai Ying started to ask if the heat hadn’t passed—he’d assumed Liu Qingzhang came in person because it had ended, but it seemed not.
Liu Qingzhang didn’t answer.
He gripped Bai Ying’s chin, thumb rubbing his lower lip. Bai Ying uncomfortably turned his head away, but because it was Liu Qingzhang, despite his confusion, he turned back.
The lips were rubbed to a vivid red.
“How did he kiss you?” Liu Qingzhang’s voice was low and deep.
“…What?” Bai Ying suspected he had misheard. How could Mr. Liu ask such a question?
But in the next second, Liu Qingzhang lowered his head and captured his lips.
