“He’s really good at pretending,” Lu Anling remarked, sipping his steaming black tea as he watched Chen Miao’s figure disappear into the distance.
Chen Miao had been escorted out by Lu Anling’s personal assistant, a man in his early thirties with thin-framed glasses, who was now driving the same black Bentley. This time, however, the four Alpha bodyguards were absent.
After they turned a corner, Chen Miao said, “Just drop me off up ahead. I parked there.”
The driver glanced at the assistant in the back seat through the rearview mirror. The assistant gave a nod of approval.
When the car stopped, Chen Miao stepped out, closing the door behind him. The assistant lowered the window halfway and handed him a business card. “Mr. Li, if you change your mind, feel free to contact me.”
Chen Miao took the card, offering a polite thank you, and walked over to the bicycle he had locked up earlier. He unlocked it and rode off.
It was already December, and he had given his coat to the Omega who had gone into heat on the street earlier. Now, stepping out of the warm car, he couldn’t help but shiver.
The black Bentley sped past him, stirring up a gust of cold wind as it went by.
The assistant watched Chen Miao’s shrinking figure in the rearview mirror, pedaling away on the worn-out bicycle, and found himself momentarily stunned. He hadn’t expected that the “parked” vehicle Chen Miao had referred to was just a rundown bike.
According to the information he had, Chen Miao had been involved with the young master of the Lu family for two years, and Lu Lianning’s assets had been frozen in the past month.
Given Lu Lianning’s typical style, he wouldn’t have treated someone in his bed so harshly, would he?
The assistant began to wonder if there had been some kind of misunderstanding.
Chen Miao was jolted awake by a phone call at 11 PM.
Lu Lianning’s furious voice blasted through, “Chen Miao! What the hell do you mean by that message you sent me!”
Suddenly awakened, Chen Miao swallowed before replying, “It means… I’m quitting. I thought I made that clear.”
“Quitting? Why? Is it because I didn’t lend you the three million you asked for!?” Lu Lianning practically spat out the words through gritted teeth.
Chen Miao said, “It’s not that. I just don’t have the energy anymore. You could… you could ask Gu Chen-ge to find you another assistant…”
It seemed that Lu Lianning was too furious to think straight. He never imagined that after disappearing for so long, Chen Miao would contact him just to resign.
Sensing the silence on the other end, Chen Miao nervously added, “From now on… do your best…” It sounded like a final blessing.
Lu Lianning rudely replied with a single phrase: “Fuck off!”
Then, he hung up.
Chen Miao was cooking in his apartment. After finishing his meal, he started transferring the leftovers into a thermos.
Just then, a call from the caregiver startled him. His hand shook, spilling the freshly made soup all over the floor.
There was no time to clean up. He rushed to the hospital, arriving drenched in sweat despite the cold winter.
The bed where Chen Yu should have been was empty. The caregiver was sobbing beside it, covering her mouth and crying between broken words. “They… a group of people… I don’t know who… they dragged Xiao Yu away…”
The hospital staff could only look on with pity. Chen Yu had occupied the bed for so long without paying off the debts or settling the medical bills.
The staff said they had called the police, but by the time officers arrived, the group had already left.
Chen Miao could hear his own heartbeat pounding in his ears. Pulling out his phone, he saw a new text message. Forcing himself to stay calm, he reminded himself that Chen Yu only had him, and he had to protect him.
The message read: “Wu’an Warehouse No. 3, East Suburbs.”
Forty minutes later, Chen Miao arrived. The sky was pitch black, and the biting winter wind stung his face.
He entered the warehouse alone and spotted Chen Yu tied up in the corner, a filthy rag stuffed in his mouth, hands bound behind his back.
Just a few steps in, Chen Miao was kicked from behind and fell hard to the ground.
The sound startled Chen Yu, who had been lying still with his eyes closed. When he saw Chen Miao, he began struggling violently.
Chen Miao was beaten until he couldn’t stand, and only then did the group of men step back.
A man with a cigarette dangling from his lips, clearly the leader, sauntered over and kicked Chen Miao. “Didn’t you say you’d pay the money back in installments?”
Chen Miao groaned, breaking out in a sweat. “If there’s a problem, come to me. Why go after him? He’s not the one who borrowed the money.”
“Tsk, listen to yourself. You borrowed it for this sickly guy. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for not being able to resist. If you hadn’t visited him, we wouldn’t have found out. You went to great lengths, changing names and everything. Did you really think you could escape!”
“I’ve already paid part of it!” Chen Miao braced himself on the ground with one hand as he tried to get up.
“How much did you pay back? I hear you’re with some celebrity now. You should be rolling in cash! Yet you’re keeping us waiting, feeding this sick kid instead of paying us back!” With that, the man kicked Chen Miao again.
Chen Miao strained to cover his abdomen, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
“I’ll pay… I’ll pay. Just give me more time.”
“More time?” The man’s lips twisted into a cruel smile as he glanced at Chen Yu, then back at Chen Miao. “Not sure he’s got that long.”
Chen Miao, struggling to his feet, stumbled toward Chen Yu but was stopped again.
Chen Yu kept resisting, his face streaked with tears, appearing as though he was breathing in more than breathing out.
In that instant, Chen Miao’s blood ran cold. Losing all sense of reason, he broke free from the men restraining him and rushed to Chen Yu’s side. As the others moved to stop him, he yelled, “If he dies, you get nothing!”
Seeing Chen Yu on the verge of death, the group hesitated. They knew why Chen Miao had borrowed the money in the first place. If Chen Yu died, Chen Miao might truly fight them to the death.
That wasn’t what they wanted. They were after money, not lives.
Neither Chen Miao nor Chen Yu’s lives held much value to them—the only way to make any profit was to keep both of them alive.
The man with the cigarette gestured for his men to step back. Chen Miao’s bloodshot eyes reflected how cornered he felt, and with just one more step, he looked ready to risk everything.
“Tsk, fine, fine. Look at you, so pitiful. I’ll give you one more week. By next Monday, pay back everything with interest, or we’ll invite your Xiao Yu here for another visit.” His emphasis on “invite” left no doubt that it was a threat.
Chen Miao held Chen Yu tightly in his arms. The Omega’s body was burning with fever, his pale face smeared with dirt. He was dressed in nothing but a thin, striped hospital gown. In the biting cold of winter, his already frail body was now consumed by a high fever.
The group left after these words.
Chen Miao untied Chen Yu’s hands and pulled the rag from his mouth.
Chen Yu said nothing. It wasn’t clear if he was too weak to speak or if he was deliberately holding back.
Chen Miao crouched down, allowing Chen Yu to lean against his back. He gently wrapped his arms under Chen Yu’s knees and lifted him up.
He comforted him in a low voice, “Xiao Yu, don’t be scared… I’ll take you back to the hospital now…”
Chen Yu remained unresponsive, but Chen Miao could feel the wetness seeping through his shirt, a cold patch spreading across his shoulder.
Chen Miao called for an ambulance, but they were in such a remote area, and Chen Yu’s condition was worsening fast. Every second felt like torture for Chen Miao. His palms were drenched with sweat as he carried Chen Yu on his back, walking along a street where even the streetlights were broken. The cold wind cut through his thin clothes as he softly called Chen Yu’s name, trying to keep him conscious.
After twenty long minutes of walking, they finally managed to flag down a taxi.
–
On the last night of the year, Lu Lianning attended a rehearsal for the New Year’s Eve event.
When the rehearsal ended, he was surprised to find Gu Chen waiting for him, along with Yu Ren and Ren Qi.
Lu Lianning looked at the three of them in the dressing room. Yu Ren appeared relaxed as usual, but Gu Chen had a serious expression, and Ren Qi let out a sigh as soon as he entered the room.
Lu Lianning had been struggling lately—no new scripts, no one willing to collaborate with him.
On top of that, Chen Miao had picked this moment to start acting strangely—first disappearing, then abruptly quitting, which only added to Lu Lianning’s frustration. But on second thought, it was fortunate that Chen Miao couldn’t see how pathetic he looked now.
Lu Lianning stepped inside and said, “So, why are we all gathered here today?”
Gu Chen rubbed his temples. “You haven’t checked today’s trending searches?”
Lu Lianning casually unlocked his phone, only to see the top trends were “Boycott Lu Lianning,” “Lu Lianning get out of the entertainment industry,” and other related topics, all ranking high on the list.
After getting some fresh air by the window, Yu Ren came over and, in an unusually encouraging gesture, said, “Don’t worry. It’s not like there’s no chance at all. There’s still the Yulin Cup ceremony, right? You’re practically guaranteed the Best Actor award this year.”
He had a point. After Lu Lianning’s performance in Shattered Window, even Yu Ren couldn’t find anything to criticize. Lu Lianning himself had struggled to move on from the role.
Not to mention, Shattered Window had won an award at an international film festival. It was only fitting that Lu Lianning would be awarded this year.
Lu Lianning scrolled through the trending searches for a while, then calmly locked his phone. He didn’t curse or lose his temper.
Ren Qi didn’t share Yu Ren’s naive optimism and said, “Do you think he’ll interfere with the Yulin Cup?”
No one could be certain whether Lu Anling’s influence would reach that far.
But Lu Lianning shook his head and answered firmly, “No.”
As the other three turned to look at him, he continued, “From what I’ve learned over the years, he’d rather see me win the award. Then, just as I’m about to succeed, he’ll tear me down. He wants me to get close enough to taste victory, only to destroy it himself.” His expression grew colder. “He’s always been like that, even when I was a kid. Once, I had a puppy I loved. He didn’t like it, but he didn’t stop me from bringing it home. He waited until I was attached, then had someone take it away. He said I’d learn the lesson better that way.”
Yu Ren couldn’t agree with such cruel parenting. He couldn’t imagine how Lu Lianning had endured growing up under his father’s torment.
From what Lu Lianning said, it seemed clear that the recent trending searches and investments in his films were all part of Lu Anling’s plan. He had first elevated him, generating public buzz, only to ensure the eventual downfall would be all the more devastating.
The three fell into a heavy silence. Later that evening, they went out to dinner together.
At the table, Yu Ren drank too much and loudly proclaimed that he wanted to cast Lu Lianning in his next film, urging him not to be afraid of his father.
Ren Qi chuckled at his innocence.
Gu Chen just drank quietly, one glass after another, without saying a word.
They had spent these past two years together—a time that felt neither too short nor too long. In the end, Gu Chen simply said, “We’ve actually been pretty lucky.”
Lu Lianning didn’t argue. It was true—they had been lucky.
Lu Anling had given him two years, allowing him to step out and make the films he wanted to create.
But unlike Yu Ren, who had been well-protected by older brothers and a mother who doted on her youngest son, Lu Lianning had none of that. He was Lu Anling’s only son, and with such a vast family business at stake, there were responsibilities he couldn’t avoid and paths he was compelled to follow.
Was he really destined for a life-or-death struggle with Lu Anling, turning against his own father? Perhaps he wanted to, but his abilities weren’t enough to break away from the Lu family.
With just a flick of Lu Anling’s finger, his opportunities could be wiped out.
He could be left penniless, blacklisted by every major company in the industry—no one willing to risk offending Lu Anling.
And this was likely only the beginning…
–
That same night, Chen Miao made a call to Qi Zhen.
“Were you serious about offering a million for one night?” Chen Miao shivered as he stepped out of the hospital, snowflakes drifting down from the sky.
On the other end of the line, Qi Zhen chuckled in amusement.
“So, three nights for three million? Could I get an advance on part of it?” Chen Miao continued to ask.
Qi Zhen replied, “Of course. But you can’t back out halfway.”
Chen Miao said, “Okay.”
Qi Zhen’s words sounded like a warning, “It’s not too late to change your mind. A million for one night—you know things could get pretty intense, right?”
Chen Miao blinked as a snowflake melted on his eyelashes. Gripping his phone tightly, he responded, “I understand.”
After the call ended, Qi Zhen sent the recording of their conversation to Lu Anling and forwarded a copy to Lu Lianning as well.
With that task complete, he messaged Chen Miao the address of a hotel and the room number.
Scattered across Qi Zhen’s desk were Chen Miao’s personal details, which Lu Lianning had asked him to investigate. Qi Zhen stretched in his swivel chair, his expression betraying an uncontrollable thrill.
