That evening, at the Marriott Hotel.
Beneath the enormous crystal chandelier hung overhead, every facet of luxury was on full display.
Zhou Ruo An sat on a sofa in the first-floor lobby, casually tossing a coin into the air.
Five minutes earlier, through carefully chosen words, he had discreetly extracted a crucial piece of information from a front desk employee: Room 1301 was already occupied, and room service had been called there not long ago.
The coin flipped upward, tracing an arc through the air, but unlike usual, it did not land steadily back in his palm.
Zhou Ruo An had to make another grab for it before finally catching the coin that had slipped between his fingers.
He had now been sitting there doing nothing for five minutes.
During those five minutes, he had regretted four separate times not selling out Lin Yi in exchange for his own temporary safety.
“Zhou Ruo An, you’re such a fucking idiot.”
After cursing himself, he finally put the coin back into his pocket. Then he casually pulled out his phone and expressionlessly pressed a speed-dial key.
The call connected quickly.
Lin Yi’s low voice came through the receiver.
“Hello?”
Lowering his voice, Zhou Ruo An asked calmly and directly, “I heard you’re planning to kill your boss?”
Silence lingered for a moment on the other end. Lin Yi did not ask how Zhou Ruo An had “heard” about it. He merely responded softly.
“That’s right.”
Glancing at the darkening evening sky outside the window, Zhou Ruo An said evenly, “I’ll help you kill him. Marriott Hotel. Get me a knife within fifteen minutes.”
Lin Yi did not sound surprised.
“It won’t even take fifteen minutes. Come upstairs. I’m waiting for you in 1301.”
Zhou Ruo An’s brows instantly furrowed.
“You’re in 1301?”
Before he had even finished speaking, he was already rushing toward the elevators.
“Lin Yi, don’t do anything stupid!”
Outside Room 1301, everything was quiet. The door stood slightly ajar, allowing a beam of warm yellow light to spill out.
Carefully, Zhou Ruo An pushed the door open and stepped inside, his feet sinking into the soft carpet.
The room was silent. There were no signs of a struggle.
Passing through the long foyer and turning a corner, Zhou Ruo An saw Lin Yi sitting on a sofa in the living area, smoking.
Lin Yi was completely unharmed.
Suddenly, Zhou Ruo An let out a breath of relief, as though the string holding up a puppet had been cut. The tension binding his body instantly dissolved.
Lin Yi raised his eyes toward him and smiled faintly.
“Were you worried I’d fight Bai Jiu to the death?”
Standing up, he walked over and gently stroked Zhou Ruo An’s cheek with the hand holding the cigarette. The gesture was tender, but his voice carried a chill.
“Risking my life for someone as faithless as you wouldn’t be worth it.”
Wearily, Zhou Ruo An rubbed a hand over his face. Snatching the cigarette from Lin Yi’s fingers, he took a deep drag. Only after the smoke slowly dispersed into the air did he offer a halfhearted reply.
“Right, right. Not worth it.”
Walking over to the sofa, he dropped down heavily onto it.
“How did you end up here? Where’s Bai Jiu? Don’t tell me you actually killed him.”
Lin Yi sat down beside him and began fiddling with Zhou Ruo An’s crystal cufflink.
“Killing him? If only it were that easy.”
Then he explained,
“I felt something was off with you last night, so I secretly looked into Bai Jiu’s schedule today. I found out he had booked a room here. The Marriott is where he brings his lovers. He always brings his little sweethearts here.”
“You thought I was the one he brought today?”
With a cigarette hanging from his lips, Zhou Ruo An reclined against the sofa and crossed his legs arrogantly.
“I came here for a transaction involving power and sex, and naturally you had to come ruin it.”
Meeting Zhou Ruo An’s eyes, Lin Yi said nothing.
Instead, he suddenly snatched the cigarette away. Twisting it between his fingers, he brought the glowing tip directly in front of those bright, shifting eyes.
Zhou Ruo An instinctively leaned back, but the sofa left him little room to retreat.
His trembling eyelashes scattered the smoke drifting from the cigarette.
Grinding his teeth, he cursed.
“Fuck. Lin Yi, what the hell are you doing?”
“You don’t want to sleep with Bai Jiu. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have called and asked me to bring you a knife.”
The smoke made Zhou Ruo An’s eyes sting.
“If you already knew that, then why the fuck are you scaring me?”
“I’m not scaring you. I’m warning you.”
The glowing tip moved slightly farther away.
“Whether you were joking or trying to make me angry, don’t say things like that again. Because you don’t care nearly as much as you pretend not to care. And… I don’t like hearing it.”
Through the smoke, Zhou Ruo An could not tell whether Lin Yi’s eyes held cold severity or tenderness.
He only felt like a pufferfish that had been punctured, slowly deflating.
Swatting away the hand in front of him, he rubbed his sore eyes.
Avoiding the topic entirely, he asked,
“So where did you send Bai Jiu?”
Lin Yi returned the cigarette to Zhou Ruo An’s fingers.
“I had someone lure him away by claiming there was an emergency with the overseas business.”
Sure enough, Zhou Ruo An’s phone vibrated the next moment.
Taking it out, he saw a WeChat message from Bai Jiu:
Kid, our date is postponed. Wait for me to come find you.
Tossing the phone aside, Zhou Ruo An let out a short laugh.
“Looks like Brother Lin isn’t completely useless after all.”
Night deepened beyond the windows, the city’s neon lights continuing to flash endlessly.
Inside the room, the lighting was soft.
Only now did Zhou Ruo An seem truly relaxed. He was practically sprawled across the sofa, one hand lazily hanging over the armrest with a cigarette between his fingers. The glowing ember flickered on and off in the dim room.
Turning his head toward Lin Yi, he asked lazily,
“What now? Can we arrange for Bai Jiu to die overseas?”
Lin Yi had moved on from playing with Zhou Ruo An’s cufflink to playing with his fingers.
From palm to fingertips, he gently kneaded them over and over, as though he were not the same man who had just been threatening him with a lit cigarette moments ago.
Too lazy to struggle, Zhou Ruo An merely cast an annoyed glance at their slowly interlocking hands.
“No.”
Leaning back beside him in the same relaxed posture, Lin Yi answered calmly.
Taking a drag from his cigarette, Zhou Ruo An barely let the smoke pass through his throat before exhaling it.
“Then what exactly can you do?”
His throat.
Suddenly, another question occurred to him.
Back when Lin Yi had forced him, he had been hoarse for three whole days afterward. Last night, however, he had harbored a bit of revenge in mind and had been far less restrained. Yet listening to Lin Yi now, aside from a slight huskiness, his voice sounded perfectly normal.
“Why isn’t your voice hoarse?”
Lin Yi chuckled softly.
Pulling Zhou Ruo An into his arms, he lowered his head and kissed the beautiful Adam’s apple at his throat.
“I’m naturally gifted.”
Zhou Ruo An clenched his teeth.
“Just wait until next ti—”
He immediately corrected himself.
“There won’t be a next time. Now hurry up and tell me. How exactly are you planning to kill Bai Jiu?”
Lin Yi’s expression turned serious.
“I’ve joined forces with Wang Zhi Ping, one of Bai Jiu’s men. This trip abroad was arranged with Wang Zhi Ping’s help.”
Zhou Ruo An’s brows rose slightly as his mind began racing.
“So the two of you are planning to overthrow Bai Jiu, then put Wang Zhi Ping in power afterward. That’s the reward you promised him?”
Lin Yi nodded.
“That’s right.”
After thinking for a moment, Zhou Ruo An asked,
“Can Wang Zhi Ping be trusted?”
Lin Yi tilted his chin toward the slowly burning cigarette.
The meaning was obvious.
He wanted a drag.
Zhou Ruo An clicked his tongue in annoyance. Reluctantly, he lifted the hand holding the cigarette and brought the half-smoked cigarette to Lin Yi’s lips.
Lin Yi took a drag from the cigarette while Zhou Ruo An held it for him. Only after exhaling the smoke did he slowly say, “Wang Zhi Ping wants to rise to power, but he’s extremely cautious. I told him I’d made contact with people from across the river to help deal with Bai Jiu, but he’s always been half-convinced at best. He insisted that he had to meet Jiao Chen before he’d be willing to carry out the plan with me.”
A look of surprise flashed through Zhou Ruo An’s eyes.
“Jiao Chen of Ding Sheng Group? The one who stands on equal footing with Bai Jiu… that kind of figure?”
Lin Yi nodded.
“Yes. Wang Zhi Ping doesn’t want the reputation of betraying his boss, so he’s only willing to help in secret and provide convenience where he can. If I want to deal with Bai Jiu, I have no choice but to borrow outside forces.”
Zhou Ruo An frowned.
“Someone like that would be no less guarded than Wang Zhi Ping. He definitely wouldn’t agree to meet.”
Lin Yi remained silent, effectively confirming it.
“So the current situation is that Wang Zhi Ping refuses to help unless he sees Jiao Chen, while Jiao Chen is afraid of walking into one of Bai Jiu’s traps and refuses to show himself?”
Lin Yi nodded, his voice filled with helplessness.
“That’s right. Everything has been deadlocked.”
Zhou Ruo An’s mind raced as he considered every faction involved, searching for an opportunity he could exploit. He became so absorbed in thought that his movements slowed unconsciously. Without realizing it, he lifted the cigarette to Lin Yi’s lips himself, allowing those lips to brush lightly against his fingertips.
The brief contact made his fingers tremble.
When he looked up, his gaze met Lin Yi’s, and for a moment the two of them fell into a strangely delicate silence.
“So obedient?” Lin Yi pulled him closer.
The tips of Zhou Ruo An’s ears turned red with annoyance.
“We’re discussing serious business. Focus.”
A large hand pressed his head down onto a shoulder.
“Then talk.”
Zhou Ruo An sighed. Giving up, he leaned comfortably against Lin Yi’s chest and said softly,
“I think this deadlock can be broken.”
“What’s your idea?”
“If the two of them don’t trust each other, then you need a middleman they both trust to guarantee things.”
Lin Yi hesitated.
“A middleman? Someone both of them trust won’t be easy to find.”
Watching the smoke rise straight upward from the cigarette between his fingers, Zhou Ruo An said,
“It won’t be easy. Right now there’s only one person.”
“Who?”
Their eyes met.
Slowly, Zhou Ruo An answered,
“Me.”
Lin Yi was startled.
“You?”
He immediately objected.
“You may be the Zhou family’s young master, but in terms of status, experience, and position, you’re nothing more than a spoiled rich kid in the eyes of Wang Zhi Ping and Jiao Chen. You’re not important enough for them.”
Zhou Ruo An unconsciously slipped a hand into his pocket and rubbed the coin inside.
“I know my current status isn’t enough. But what if I enter Shengkai Foreign Trade’s board of directors? What if I become the primary person in charge of its next transformation project? What if I’m controlling project funds worth over a billion yuan? Would I still be unsuitable then?”
Lin Yi’s expression gradually became serious. Lifting Zhou Ruo An’s chin, he asked,
“What have you done this time? Why is Zhou Ran Ming giving you an opportunity like that?”
Zhou Ruo An lightly patted the hand gripping his face.
“Because neither his son nor his nephew is capable. I’m the only one willing to do whatever it takes to get things done, so he’s decided to elevate me.”
The pressure of Lin Yi’s hand slowly eased.
A trace of concern entered his voice.
“Will you be okay?”
Smiling, Zhou Ruo An shook his head.
His gaze drifted into distant emptiness as he said quietly,
“I’ll be fine. I know my limits.”
When the words fell away, silence settled over the room. Only the faint crackle of a burning cigarette remained.
The cigarette had burned down to a short stub. Zhou Ruo An drew the final drag deep into his lungs and slowly exhaled, as though releasing his emotions along with the smoke.
Then he said softly,
“Bai Jiu found out I’m an impostor. He’s using my identity as leverage to force me into… being with him.”
Lin Yi’s arm tightened around him.
“Why didn’t you tell me something this serious?”
“Tell you?”
The cigarette hung from Zhou Ruo An’s lips as he deliberately stretched out his words.
“You’re not much better than Bai Jiu yourself.”
“I learned from Bai Ban that you were planning to move against Bai Jiu. I almost used that information to make a deal with him.”
He gave a short laugh and held up two fingers.
“I was this close to selling you out.”
Lin Yi removed the cigarette from Zhou Ruo An’s mouth and crushed it into the ashtray. Then he turned his face toward him.
“Then why didn’t you?”
Zhou Ruo An smacked his lips thoughtfully and looked into the man’s eyes from very close range.
“Who knows?”
After a pause, he added lightly,
“But I’m starting to regret it now.”
At last, a faint smile appeared in Lin Yi’s eyes.
He kissed Zhou Ruo An’s cold lips. His gaze resembled the darkness just before dawn broke.
“An An, let’s work together and kill Bai Jiu.”
Amid their heavy breathing, Zhou Ruo An asked,
“What if we fail?”
Lin Yi slowly fed the answer into his mouth.
“There’s an empty plot beside Zhang Jin’s grave. The two of us can be buried together.”
“Fuck.”
Zhou Ruo An immediately objected.
“You want to lie beside me while we’re alive, and you won’t let me go even after I’m dead?”
“It’s dark inside those little boxes. The two of us can keep each other company.”
The room was softly lit. Their breathing intertwined. For this moment at least, all the schemes and calculations seemed temporarily set aside.
Outside, the night grew deeper. The city’s neon lights continued to shine.
The night was late.
The stars had come out.
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