Futile Devices Scans

The next day, at eight in the evening, outside Room 1601 of Jinrui Hotel, Zhou Ruo An tossed a pill into his mouth.

Unscrewing the bottle cap, he took two gulps of water. An oddly cloying sweetness slowly spread through his mouth. His throat bobbed, and Zhou Ruo An swallowed the pill.

Throwing away the bottle, he slipped his hand into his pocket and once again rubbed the patterns engraved on the coin before expressionlessly pressing the doorbell.

Not long after, the room door was pulled open from inside by Lin Yi. The man glanced at his watch and said leisurely, “Young Master Zhou actually managed not to be late.”

Zhou Ruo An didn’t bother looking at Lin Yi’s face. His gaze passed over him into the room beyond—a luxurious suite, curtains hanging low, dim and shadowy, like the entrance to an abyss from which there was no return.

Taking a deep breath, Zhou Ruo An shoved Lin Yi aside and slowly walked into the room. He got straight to the point, taking off his coat as he walked, but just as the overcoat slid off his shoulders, Lin Yi pulled it back up again.

“No rush. Before sleeping with you, there’s one more thing to handle.”

Zhou Ruo An pressed his lips together, anger surfacing faintly.

Lin Yi tugged the fine wool coat around him, drawing him closer. “Don’t like hearing that? That’s already the most civilized term I could use.”

He leaned close, his mouth full of filthy words. “Fuck or screw—Young Master Zhou can pick whichever one he likes. I don’t mind.”

Zhou Ruo An was hardly innocent himself, but even he froze for a moment before connecting those two verbs with himself. He grabbed the man by the collar. “Lin Yi, right now you’re a complete bastard.”

Lin Yi patted the hand on his collar and pulled him into his arms. “Save the love talk for later. Don’t keep them waiting.”

The plot took a sharp turn. Zhou Ruo An was forcibly yanked out of the midnight adult channel in his mind. Surprise showed on his face as he asked, “Who’s waiting for me? Lin Yi, what trick are you playing now?”

Lin Yi wrapped an arm around him and headed toward the door. “You’ll know when we get there.”

In Zhou Ruo An’s imagination, it was supposed to be simple: take the medicine, sleep together, leave. Within an hour, he’d be slamming the door to Room 1601 behind him.

Who would’ve thought that Lin Yi, breeding-stud-boar-like as ever, would instead lead Zhou Ruo An downstairs in the elevator and push open the door to a small conference room in the hotel’s business center?

Inside sat a woman—beautiful and alluring. It was none other than Zhou Ruo An’s nominal girlfriend.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Lin Yi said politely.

The woman’s gaze fell upon the less-than-innocent distance between the two men. Her high heels tapped lightly against the floor, and a sweet smile spread across her face. “I just got here myself. Didn’t wait long.”

She looked at Zhou Ruo An. “Honey, we haven’t seen each other in days. What have you been busy with lately?”

Zhou Ruo An stiffened all over.

Lin Yi’s footsteps paused slightly as well. He looked at Zhou Ruo An and said calmly, “So Young Master Zhou really wasn’t lying. You and your girlfriend really do have a good relationship.”

He patted Zhou Ruo An’s rigid shoulder. “Go sit down. Sit beside your girlfriend.”

Moments ago, Zhou Ruo An had still been worried about his own situation. But after being lightly patted twice, his thoughts drifted, and even his bones seemed to soften.

The medicine took effect quickly. Zhou Ruo An now felt as though he were being simmered slowly over a low flame—not yet boiling, but already faintly bubbling.

Pinching his own thigh hard, Zhou Ruo An controlled his voice and asked, “Lin Yi, what exactly are you trying to do?”

“Didn’t you two sign a contract?” Lin Yi bent close and poured his voice into Zhou Ruo An’s ear. “Then let’s void the contract today.”

“I don’t want to sleep with someone else’s husband.”

The words were vulgar. Zhou Ruo An should have answered with a slap, yet at this moment he hadn’t even clearly heard what Lin Yi had said. The warm breath sliding into his ear canal drew out tingling tremors through his body. By the time he regained his senses, Lin Yi had already guided him into a seat beside the woman.

Two documents were pushed in front of them. Lin Yi spoke on Zhou Ruo An’s behalf. “Miss Song, once you sign this termination agreement, your romantic relationship with Zhou Ruo An will officially end from this moment onward.”

The woman smiled faintly and closed the folder. “That won’t do.”

“How so?”

“Terminating the contract unilaterally before it expires requires a penalty fee.”

“How much?”

“Five hundred thousand.”

Lin Yi sat across from them, pondering briefly before calling out, “Young Master Zhou, what do you think?”

Though Zhou Ruo An was simmering under that metaphorical low heat—his body restless and thirsty—his mind still retained some clarity. He knew Lin Yi’s personality well. The kind of man who’d rather let eggs rot than sell two for one yuan. Since he had pushed open this door tonight, there was no way the contract would be allowed to remain intact.

All Zhou Ruo An could do was curl his fingers tightly and look at the woman. “Ours was just a mutually beneficial arrangement. While the contract exists, it benefits both of us. Once it’s terminated, we can each go our separate ways peacefully. Miss Song, there’s no need to extort money like this.”

The woman lit a slender cigarette with lazy elegance. “You were the one who wanted to sign the contract in the first place, and now you’re the one demanding to cancel it. So what, I spent all this time playing house with you for nothing? Honey, you’re not young anymore. You should learn to pay for your own decisions.”

“I…” After simmering slowly over low heat came the stage of reducing the sauce over high heat. Zhou Ruo An was now rich and thick with flavor, and the few scraps of clarity left in his mind began dissolving under the newly added fire.

He scrambled for several excuses, but none could refute the woman’s argument. It was poetic justice for a lifelong schemer—after playing with hawks his entire life, he’d finally had his eyes pecked out by a sparrow.

Out of options, Zhou Ruo An could only look toward the man across from him and grit out, “Lin Yi, that’s five hundred thousand. Does this contract really have to be terminated?”

The man tapped his fingers lightly against the table, his gaze settling on the woman’s cigarette. “Mind if I borrow one?”

The woman arched a brow and slid the cigarette pack across the table toward him.

Lighting it, inhaling, exhaling—through the slowly rising smoke, Lin Yi murmured his thanks before finally replying to Zhou Ruo An: “She already called you husband. Five hundred thousand isn’t much.”

After Lin Yi finished speaking, another voice sounded out—extremely weak, carrying blatant jealousy. “Zhou Ruo An, she already called you husband. Five hundred thousand really isn’t much.”

Following the voice, Zhou Ruo An looked to his side. Zhang Jin, who had been dead for half a year already, was sitting in the empty chair, lounging carelessly while sniping at him. “No one’s ever called me husband in my whole life. If someone did, I’d pay a million.”

“In ghost money?” Zhou Ruo An said this sentence to empty air.

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. When he opened them again, Zhang Jin had disappeared. Enduring the discomfort surging through his body, Zhou Ruo An picked up the pen and signed his name on the termination agreement before taking out his phone to transfer the money. “Five hundred thousand. I’ll pay you.”

Satisfied after receiving the money, the woman left. As she closed the door behind her, she swept her gaze over the two men in the room, clicked her tongue with a smile, and slowly pulled the door shut.

Once the sound of the closing door faded, only Zhou Ruo An and Lin Yi remained in the conference room, along with harsh, uneven breathing.

Zhou Ruo An tossed away the pen in his hand and, clinging to the last shreds of clarity, asked Lin Yi, “Can you really help me take over Jinggui Electronics?”

“What did you take?” Lin Yi answered with another question.

“Weren’t you going to sleep with me?” Zhou Ruo An leaned back in the chair, his gaze unfocused. “Come on then. I’m letting you do it.”

Lin Yi stood up and walked around the table. Bending slightly at the waist, he exhaled smoke onto that dazed face and said softly, “Zhou Ruo An, you really kill my appetite.”

Then he kissed him fiercely.

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