Bian Yiqiu was actually quite idle, and most of the time, he could sleep in until he woke up naturally. Perhaps because he had endured tough times in his youth, once he gained wealth and power, he lived his life freely and without constraints. He had entered the CEO’s office so few times that he could count them on one hand. After each meeting, he would rush out as if his butt were on fire, never staying longer than necessary.

Of course, him not going to the office didn’t mean he wasn’t managing things. His work environment was often quite baffling to others. Ye Zhen would frequently bring him various documents to sign at the VIP club, and every time she saw him, she’d notice that his handsome little lover had changed again. This made Ye Zhen suspect more than once that when Bian Yiqiu said he liked Lu Xiao, he might be just deceiving himself.

Bian Yiqiu, of course, had no idea what his subordinates were secretly gossiping about. He was simply thoroughly engrossed and blissfully playing the role of a romantic figure, changing lovers like he was changing clothes.

And Ke Mingxuan was an incredibly annoying and unexpected presence on Bian Yiqiu’s journey of playing the romantic hero.

—-

It was July in City Z, the peak of the scorching summer, with temperatures high enough to turn people into dried meat. Bian Yiqiu hated the heat, so he rarely went out in the summer, instead spending his days and nights indulging in the club’s luxurious nightlife. But that afternoon, for some inexplicable reason, he suddenly craved clay pot porridge. So, he took Zuo Cheng, He Xu, and a few subordinates along in a grand procession to the porridge shop he often visited.

He never expected to run into Lu Xiao there, and even more so, he never expected that Lu Xiao would be accompanied by another man. Lu Xiao must have spotted him first because, before Bian Yiqiu could even react, Lu Xiao had already grabbed the other man and ran out of the porridge shop. Without thinking, Bian Yiqiu immediately chased after them, but all he could do was watch helplessly as a white SUV disappeared from his sight.

He squinted and memorized the license plate number, immediately ordering his subordinates to investigate. To dare make a move on a man he had his eye on right under his nose, this guy had quite the nerve.

The gang was quick at handling things. In just two days, they told him they’d already kidnapped the guy.

Bian Yiqiu received the call, then turned to Zuo Cheng and asked, “Did I tell them to kidnap someone?”

Zuo Cheng, with his usual stoic, poker-faced expression, replied, “You didn’t say it outright, but that’s what you meant.”

“…” Bian Yiqiu couldn’t help but think his men were way too good at taking matters into their own hands.

Now that the guy was kidnapped, and whether Bian Yiqiu had explicitly ordered it or not, he had to go see for himself. He also planned to give the kid a lesson so he’d stop messing with Lu Xiao. But he never expected that when he arrived at the room and saw the guy, blindfolded and bound, sitting on the floor next to the couch, he realized these idiots had kidnapped the wrong person.

Bian Yiqiu had a photographic memory, whether it was people or things, anything he had seen once was firmly etched in his mind.

Although he didn’t face that man directly at the porridge shop, he was sure this was not the guy they were supposed to kidnap.

The thug who handled the kidnapping, still unaware of the mistake, excitedly stepped forward to take credit, only to get a slap from Bian Yiqiu that nearly twisted his head sideways.

“Idiot.”

“Boss…” The thug was stunned.

Bian Yiqiu coldly said, “You’ve kidnapped the wrong person.”

“It’s impossible… Boss, please take another look. This man is indeed the owner of the Benz GL. I had a buddy at the car registration office check it. There’s no mistake.”

“You’re saying that my eyesight is bad?”

“No, no, no, it’s not that, Boss Qiu… I know I messed up… What should we do now?”

“What to do? Let him go, of course. What the hell do you think this is, the old days where you could just kill someone and bury the body and no one would care?”

“What if he calls the police…”

“His eyes are blindfolded, right? Let him go somewhere far away, just don’t let him see your faces, which scream ‘idiot’ all over them.” Bian Yiqiu finished, turned around, and left. He didn’t see the man on the floor smirk and silently mutter “Boss Qiu.”

The man was let go, but Bian Yiqiu wasn’t feeling at ease. He prided himself on being charming and handsome, with money and power to his name. Aside from not having an education, he believed there was nothing about him that fell short compared to others. And his feelings for Lu Xiao were genuine—he had like him with a sincere heart for years, but no matter what he did, Lu Xiao didn’t seem to care at all. Instead, he turned into a scared animal, running away the moment he saw him.

Bian Yiqiu felt frustrated. In his mind, Lu Xiao was nothing but an ungrateful little wolf. If it weren’t for his protection and care when Lu Xiao was in prison, that kid would never have made it out unscathed. He had taken care of him, promised to support him, but as soon as Lu Xiao was free, he disappeared without a trace. This made Bian Yiqiu feel like a fool.

Bian Yiqiu gritted his teeth, thinking that he should never have felt any pity for Lu Xiao. All those excuses about needing time, not liking pressure—he wished they would all go to hell. He could have just pinned him down, stripped him, and done what needed to be done. Once he had satisfied his desires, all the problems would have been solved.

But now, the guy he’d been obsessing over for years was about to be taken by someone else, and it made him furious.

But what could he do? He wasn’t blind to why Lu Xiao was avoiding him. To Lu Xiao, Bian Yiqiu represented everything dark and painful from his past—the time he spent in prison, the despair and suffering. Lu Xiao wanted to forget all of that, to start fresh, to integrate into a normal life. Bian Yiqiu’s very existence reminded him of that past, which was why he ran, why he avoided him. Bian Yiqiu could understand all this, so, in the end, all he could do was step aside and let Lu Xiao go, there was no other choice.

Z City wasn’t that big. With his power, it wouldn’t be hard for him to find out where Lu Xiao lived or worked. But he didn’t push his subordinates to go all out with the search. He didn’t want to pressure him too much, but he also didn’t want to let go so easily either. So, he’d have his men chase Lu Xiao down every few days. The point wasn’t to catch him, but to let him know: I can find you anytime, but I’m giving you space. You can run, you can hide, but you’re mine. One day, I’ll have you back.

Unfortunately, Boss Bian’s deep feelings didn’t lead to anything good. The day after kidnapping the wrong guy, Lu Xiao came knocking on his door, at the worst possible time. One of his flings was on their knees, giving him a blowjob. When the door was suddenly kicked open, the poor guy almost bit his cock in fright.

Bian Yiqiu couldn’t describe how he felt in that moment. Lu Xiao completely ignored the presence of the fling, stormed in, and immediately started throwing punches. Bian Yiqiu, while pulling up his pants, had to deal with Lu Xiao’s fists. He had never been so humiliated in his life. Rage boiled inside him, and he gave that ungrateful brat a proper beating, thinking, You came knocking on my door yourself. If I don’t take you this time, I’ll stop calling myself Bian Yiqiu.

But, of course, he didn’t get the chance. That guy who had been eating porridge with Lu Xiao the other day showed up with a bunch of cops, surrounding his club under the excuse of a police inspection.

Inspection, my ass. Bian Yiqiu spent a fortune every year keeping those officers happy. Something like this would never happen without prior notice. But that man clearly went all out to rescue Lu Xiao. Bian Yiqiu had to admit, the guy had some guts.

Bian Yiqiu came from a criminal background and had only cleaned up his act in the last few years. Normally, he wouldn’t provoke the police, so he said nothing and let them search. All he could do was quietly mourn the fact that he wasn’t going to get his hands on Lu Xiao this time.

While he was still brooding, a voice suddenly spoke next to him. “Boss Bian? You were the one who kidnapped me yesterday, right?”

Bian Yiqiu turned his head and was immediately met with a pair of slightly upturned eyes, their shape alluring, filled with a playful glint—peach blossom eyes.

His first reaction was, it’s a shame he was blindfolded last night, otherwise I definitely wouldn’t have let him go.

The man, seeing that Bian Yiqiu didn’t respond, looked around and then said, “Your place is nicely decorated.”

Bian Yiqiu smiled, humbly replying, “It’s okay.”

Who would have expected the man to immediately add, “Yeah, smashing it up would probably feel amazing.”

When Bian Yiqiu heard this, he thought to himself, Is he threatening to smash my place? Bian Yiqiu had been ruling Z city for many years, and no one had ever dared to be so arrogant in front of him. Immediately, his handsome face darkened. However, since he hadn’t yet figured out the other man’s background, he decided not to burn bridges and could only smile in return, “Yesterday was a misunderstanding, sir…”

“Boss Bian, my surname is Ke,” the man said.

“Mr. Ke, my surname is Bian,” Bian Yiqiu replied.

Ke Mingxuan’s voice was deep and rich, carrying a seductive tone that only a mature man could pull off. He stood about the same height as Boss Bian, maybe even a bit taller. Those mesmerizing fox-like eyes swept lazily over him, as if casting a flirtatious glance. For a moment, Boss Bian’s heart wavered.

Bian Yiqiu was a pure gay man, the type who couldn’t get aroused by women. Over the years, he’d been with no fewer than eighty men, if not more, and even during his time in prison, he never denied himself. He’d had his way with inmates who caught his eye, and even some of the guards had been pinned to the restroom by him. But never before had he seen a man with such dangerously alluring eyes. For the first time, Bian thought that he might not mind using forceful methods, just this once, if it came to this man.

However, Boss Bian’s wild thoughts were quickly shattered by reality when Ke began ruthlessly mocking and scorning his name.

“Bian? Bian Qiu? What kind of lame name is that?”

“… It’s Bian Yiqiu.”

“Tsk, Bian Yiqiu? Is it really appropriate for a gang boss to have such an artistic name?”

“… It was given by my parents.”

“You can change it.”

“……”

In that moment, Bian was convinced that when his men kidnapped Ke yesterday, they must have hit him on the head and caused some serious damage.

Sure, he liked beautiful people, but he definitely didn’t like this kind of baffling, self-centered, completely disrespectful beauty. Whatever little attraction he had felt vanished in an instant.

Lu Xiao was soon found, and Young Master Ke seemed in a good mood. Before leaving, Young Master Ke arrogantly threw out a parting shot at Bian: “This isn’t over.” The words nearly choked Bian with rage—he couldn’t spit it out or swallow it. With no better outlet, he turned to vent his frustration on his subordinates.

This fiasco, where the wrong person was kidnapped, ended with Lu Xiao finding out and coming to fight him.

The club was left in shambles after the police search, Bian Yiqiu ended up black and blue from the brawl, and to top it off, he had to endure Ke’s mocking remarks. Just thinking about it made his blood boil. What puzzled him the most was how Lu Xiao even found out about the kidnapping? He hadn’t mentioned Lu Xiao’s name in front of Ke at all.

Later, one of the subordinates told him that after the kidnapping, the man had asked why they had taken him. Qi Ge, had answered, “Lu Xiao is our boss’s person.” The man had claimed not to know anyone named Lu Xiao, but Qi Ge had ignored him.

Oh, right, Qi Ge was the idiot who had acted on his own to kidnap the wrong person.

After hearing this, Boss Bian sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t help but wonder how Old Master Jiu, his late predecessor, managed to handle this bunch of brainless subordinates. Was it too late to just quit now?

The answer was obvious—of course, it was too late. Old Master Jiu had already gone underground to reunite with his old lover. Even if he went to Baoding Mountain now to dig up his remains, he wouldn’t be able to form a shape. So, in the end, Boss Bian could only take matters into his own hands, giving that Qi guy a good beating to vent his frustration.

What he didn’t expect was for Ke Mingxuan to soon make good on his words and show him exactly what “this isn’t over” meant.