“Don’t struggle. The more you move, the harder it’ll be to keep your balance, and the tighter the rope will dig in,” Lin Yi kindly reminded him.
“Fuck off!” Zhou Ruo An had already been cursing for ten or twenty minutes. While he cursed, Lin Yi ate. Each occupied his own corner, neither interfering with the other.
“Lin Yi, it’s true I locked you up for three days, but I got you a bed, laid out brand-new bedding, and even added an electric heater because I was afraid you’d freeze to death. If you want to vent your anger, fine, but was there really any need to tie me up?”
Lin Yi poured the remaining broth over his rice, stirred it with his chopsticks, then wolfed everything down.
Only after setting down the meal box and tossing aside his chopsticks did he reply, “You know me. Whenever I take a loss, I always pay it back with interest.”
He wiped his mouth with the napkin that had come with the meal, stood up, and walked toward Zhou Ruo An.
“Got a cigarette?” Stopping in front of him, Lin Yi kicked aside the empty bottle at his feet and reached over to search Zhou Ruo An for cigarettes.
His hand immediately settled over the left side of Zhou Ruo An’s chest.
The shirt pocket lay flat and obviously empty, yet Lin Yi went through the motions of searching there, his hand lingering for a long time.
“Lin Yi! You damn—” The rope suspended from the beam began swaying violently as Zhou Ruo An stretched onto his toes and leaned backward, trying to escape the pressure and heat against his chest.
“Don’t move.” Lin Yi tugged the rope and easily dragged him back. “You’ll hurt yourself like that.”
“I’ll damn well kill you!” Zhou Ruo An followed the force pulling him back and bit down hard on Lin Yi’s ear. With his teeth clamped around the vulnerable cartilage, he threatened him through a muffled voice, “Let me go, or I’ll leave you with only one ear.”
With his ear caught between Zhou Ruo An’s teeth, Lin Yi could only remain extremely close to him, their cheeks brushing faintly against each other. He lightly patted the young man’s back. “I haven’t bathed in three days. Dirty.”
“Even if you were a pile of shit today, I’d still rather be a dog for once.”
Lin Yi laughed. The hand that had been resting on Zhou Ruo An’s chest abruptly moved upward and clamped around his jaw.
“Sorry. Couldn’t let you play the puppy.”
Zhou Ruo An’s mouth was forced open, leaving his jaw aching and sore. He was just about to curse again when he abruptly fell silent.
The hand that had searched his chest pocket was now resting over the back pocket of his trousers. Lin Yi squeezed through the fabric, his fingers sinking deeply into the flesh beneath it.
“Are the cigarettes here?” Lin Yi asked calmly.
This time, Zhou Ruo An neither dodged nor retreated. He lowered his head and slowly clenched his bound hands. “Do you know why I wanted to cut ties with you completely?” He gave a faint laugh filled with contempt. “Because not only is your appetite too big, you’re also fucking gay.” He ground out the final word between his teeth before slowly spitting it out, then raised his head to look at Lin Yi. “I’m not gay, and I’m not one of those male escorts sent to your room. Lin Yi, take your hands off me.”
Zhou Ruo An wasn’t sure whether he had seen a fleeting dimness pass through Lin Yi’s eyes, but he clearly felt the grip behind him slowly tighten.
After a moment of silence, a thin chill surfaced on Lin Yi’s face. He seemed to be losing patience, his palm rubbing slowly as he said, “You’re talking too much. Getting annoying, Zhou Ruo An. You know how I shut people up. Don’t make me do it to you.”
Meeting Zhou Ruo An’s furious gaze, Lin Yi moved his hand back to that taut, lean waist and shamelessly felt his way around it before muttering, “Not hidden here either?”
“Lin Yi, I’ll kill you.”
“Even if I’m going to die, I still need a cigarette first. I’ve been craving one for ages.”
His gaze dropped between Zhou Ruo An’s legs. The fabric of his trousers there rose slightly in a distinct bulge.
Lin Yi’s burning-hot palm moved down. “Hidden here?”
“Lin Yi!” Zhou Ruo An’s voice jumped in pitch. “You damn homo—don’t touch me!”
The burning palm settled against the inside of his thigh. “Call me Bro.”
“Bro!” Zhou Ruo An was trembling, his bravado vanishing instantly. “Don’t…”
Lin Yi lifted his hand slightly. “Scared?”
“Yes.”
His thumb pressed into the crease between Zhou Ruo An’s thighs. “Don’t like it?”
“No.”
Seeing the sudden fear in Zhou Ruo An’s eyes, Lin Yi fell silent for a moment before slowly withdrawing his hand. His voice dropped lower as he asked, “Where are the cigarettes?”
“In my coat pocket.”
After successfully finding the cigarettes, Lin Yi sat back down on the camp bed, lit one, and took a drag. “How did you fool them over Zhou Zhe’s DNA test?”
“Want to know? Then let me go.”
Lin Yi bit down on the cigarette, freeing his hands to loosen Zhou Ruo An’s rope slightly. “This is as far as I’ll go. If you’re not satisfied, I can hang you back up.”
Zhou Ruo An’s feet could finally plant firmly on the floor. He shifted his sore, aching feet before answering Lin Yi’s question. “They secretly entered my room, picked up a few strands of hair from my pillow, and sent them for a DNA test.”
Lin Yi paused with the cigarette between his fingers and looked at Zhou Ruo An. “That hair belonged to Zhang Jin?”
“Yes. Every morning, I use a lint roller to clean the sheets and floor thoroughly, then put a few strands of Zhang Jin’s hair on the pillow. After brushing my teeth, I take my own toothbrush away and replace it with one Zhang Jin used before. I was guarding against exactly this.”
Lin Yi let out a short laugh. “So Young Master Zhou scored a complete victory?”
“Of course.” Zhou Ruo An tugged at the ropes around him with his bound hands, confirming once again that there was no possibility of escape, then said in disappointment, “After the test results came out, Zhou Zhe was extremely disappointed and didn’t make them public. But I had to force him to say it himself. Only then would my identity be firmly established, and no one would question whether I was real or fake again.” Lin Yi wound the long rope once around his hand. “Young Master Zhou certainly knows how to scheme. Did you also calculate that you’d end up locked in here by me?”
“Lin Yi, you just said that once we settled our accounts, we’d each go our own way and have nothing more to do with each other.”
“That’s right.” Lin Yi tied the rope to the leg of the bed, stood up, put on his coat, and walked toward the door with his back to Zhou Ruo An. “But right now, you still owe me. There are wild cats outside the windows at night and rats inside. Rest well, Young Master Zhou. I won’t disturb you.”
He pulled open the door and reached for the steel pipe beside it. An iron chain was locked to the pipe; Lin Yi gave it a tug and dragged Ren Yu out from the corner where he had been crouching and trembling.
Gripping him by the nape, Lin Yi hauled him upright and turned him toward Zhou Ruo An.
“Assistant Ren, if I let you go, will you call the police?” Lin Yi’s tone was as casual as if he were asking, “Have you eaten?”
“I…” Ren Yu looked helplessly at his boss, unsure how to answer.
“Why don’t you give your subordinate some instructions, Young Master Zhou?”
Zhou Ruo An’s eyes burned with anger, but in the end, he could only give in and sigh as though resigned to his fate. “Don’t call the police when you get out. I’m fine. Brother Lin and I… are just joking around. I’ll be back in a few days.”
“If anyone asks about me,” Zhou Ruo An said slowly, staring at Lin Yi, “just say I fell into a cesspit and need to wash myself clean before coming back.”
Lin Yi smiled and asked Ren Yu, “Understand?”
Ren Yu looked at Zhou Ruo An, then cautiously glanced at Lin Yi before nodding with a bewildered expression. “I… guess I understand?”