Lin Bai’s expression changed slightly as he read the message, his hand gripping the phone tightly. Fu Chengyu noticed that he hadn’t responded and started urging him again.

“Two minutes, if you don’t come downstairs, you know the consequences!”

A flicker of hesitation passed through Lin Bai’s eyes, but in the end, he went downstairs. Fu Chengyu was leaning against a streetlight at the entrance of the apartment, and as he saw Lin Bai panting, his gaze grew even colder.

“You’re late,” Fu Chengyu said.

Lin Bai looked at him apologetically. “I got delayed by something.”

Fu Chengyu pulled him roughly by the arm. “Come on.”

Lin Bai obediently followed behind him, not resisting anymore. The two of them arrived at the hotel. As soon as they entered, Fu Chengyu impatiently seized his chin, a trace of cruelty flashing in his eyes.

“You look even more like him in this outfit,” Fu Chengyu murmured, his hand wandering across Lin Bai’s face with an almost obsessive expression, yet there was also a hint of nostalgia.

The “him” they both knew exactly who it referred to.

Lin Bai’s heart sank, bitter with realization. He had been so naïve, thinking he was someone special to Fu Chengyu. In the end, he was just a substitute. If Fu Chengyu hadn’t been drunk that day and mentioned that his favorite was the face that resembled Shen Nanxing’s, Lin Bai might have lived in that illusion forever.

After Fu Chengyu broke off the engagement with Shen Nanxing, his spirits had been low. Perhaps in his heart, the things he couldn’t have were always the best. When he was still engaged to Shen Nanxing, he admired Lin Bai’s strong and lively personality. But after the breakup, he began to miss Shen Nanxing’s gentleness and started comparing him to Lin Bai. The conclusion was that Lin Bai was inferior in every way to Shen Nanxing.

Lin Bai had no prestigious family background, no extraordinary talents, and even his face couldn’t compare to Shen Nanxing’s. Fu Chengyu began to regret his actions and blamed Lin Bai for ruining the engagement. If Lin Bai hadn’t insisted on working part-time at the bar that day, nothing irreparable would have happened. Now, Fu Chengyu kept Lin Bai by his side just to get revenge…

Fu Chengyu admired the pale cheeks of Lin Bai, caused by pain, his eyes growing more deranged.

“It hurts, doesn’t it?”

Lin Bai weakly nodded, crying out for mercy, trying to make him soften. “Chengyu, it hurts so much, please, be gentler.”

The more Lin Bai suffered, the more invigorated Fu Chengyu became.

“Ah Bai, this is what you deserve!”

“If it weren’t for you, Nanxing wouldn’t have called off the engagement. You ruined everything. You could’ve just stayed as my secret lover, and nothing would’ve happened, but you had to want something that didn’t belong to you. All of this is your own doing, don’t blame anyone else.”

“You should be grateful that your face still has some use, otherwise…”

Lin Bai passively endured it all, his expression changing from pain to numbness. After it was over, Fu Chengyu stroked his face gently.

“Ah Bai, your face is really beautiful.”

Lin Bai silently shed tears. He gripped the bedsheets tightly, his nails digging into the flesh without feeling the pain. He hated—hated Fu Chengyu, and even more, he hated Shen Nanxing. These people had ruined everything for him.

Why could these rich and powerful people trample on his dignity and insult his integrity?

Lin Bai silently swore that one day, he would make Shen Nanxing taste this bitterness.

Fu Chengyu wiped away his tears, gazing at him with soft affection.

“Why are you crying again? You’re not like him when you do that.”

Lin Bai couldn’t hold back anymore and shouted angrily,

“Fu Chengyu, you bastard!”

“Yes, I’m a bastard. What about you? Are you such a good person?”

Fu Chengyu looked at him with mockery.

“Slap!”

Lin Bai endured the pain in his body and raised his hand to slap him.

Fu Chengyu, caught off guard, now had a fresh slap mark on his face. Without thinking, he slapped back.

“You’re really asking for it, you dare hit me!”

He slapped with all his strength, and Lin Bai’s ears rang from the impact. He covered his face, crying in pain and grievance.

“Fu Chengyu, if you don’t like me, why won’t you just let me go?”

Fu Chengyu removed his hand, and the horrifying slap mark was now clearly visible.

“Why else? It’s because of this face.”

After saying that, he tenderly stroked Lin Bai’s face. “Ah Bai, stop crying, don’t blame me, alright?”

Lin Bai glared at him with rage in his eyes. “Crazy, you’re a crazy bastard!”

Recently, Fu Chengyu seemed to have split personalities—one moment gentle and soft-spoken, the next cruel and aggressive. Lin Bai was on the verge of a nervous breakdown from the torment.

He swore silently in his heart: he would find a way to escape Fu Chengyu, he had to! He would get back at them, harshly.

Fu Chengyu saw the hatred in Lin Bai’s eyes and, fueled by anger, grabbed his neck.

“Why are you looking at me like that? You can only like me, love me!”

His hand tightened around Lin Bai’s neck, and his eyes were wild as he demanded Lin Bai to say he loved him.

Lin Bai was so choked he could barely struggle, trying to open his mouth, but no sound came out. After a while, Fu Chengyu’s madness subsided, and he finally let go.

“Cough, cough…”

Lin Bai gasped for air as if he had been reborn, trembling with fear.

“Chengyu, I was wrong, I love you, I’ve always loved you!”

Lin Bai grabbed Fu Chengyu’s shirt hem, pleading with him as if confessing his love.

Fu Chengyu wiped away his tears and kissed his lips with a look of pity.

“That’s better. Ah Bai, you’re mine, you can only love me.”

Lin Bai silently endured everything.

Then, the two of them became entangled again, starting another round…

After Shen Nanxing said his goodbyes to Lin Qingyan and the others, Fu Zhiyuan’s driver arrived to pick him up. Ever since he agreed to let Fu Zhiyuan pursue him, Fu Zhiyuan had transformed. He now reported everything to Shen Nanxing, down to trivial matters like giving an extra candy bar to a cat.

He didn’t know where Fu Zhiyuan had learned all these corny pick-up lines, but he sent them to Shen Nanxing every day, each one more cheesy than the last. Shen Nanxing couldn’t help but think he still hadn’t read enough of those melodramatic novels because some of these lines were so cheesy, he’d never even heard of them.

The driver drove straight into the underground garage of the Fu Corporation. Fu Zhiyuan’s assistant was already waiting there. Thinking of meeting the CEO’s lover, the assistant couldn’t help but be curious about what kind of stunning beauty could capture Fu Zhiyuan’s heart, a man who only cared about his work.

When the car arrived, the assistant eagerly looked forward to seeing.

The door opened, and Shen Nanxing stepped out.

A man?

The assistant’s expression froze for a moment, his curiosity still not satisfied. He looked into the car again, only to find that the driver was the only one left.

At that moment, his heart sank. It turned out that the man who captured Fu Zhiyuan’s heart wasn’t necessarily a woman, it could also be another man.