Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Pei Sheng let out a muffled grunt in the darkness, took a step back, and looked down at Gu Lin, who was more than half a head shorter.

How the hell did they manage to bump into his damn crotch?

Gu Lin’s ears burned red. "You… didn’t get hurt, did you?"

Pei Sheng felt like it was almost damaged. He pressed a hand against Gu Lin’s head, forcibly turning his gaze away from his lower half. "You want to inspect the damage?"

Gu Lin shook his head hastily, his expression innocent. "No, I’m just worried you might *not* get it up."

After all, it concerned his future ‘happiness.’

Pei Sheng didn’t catch it clearly. "Huh? What won’t *what*?"

Gu Lin pursed his lips, squeezing out a vague syllable from between them. "Get hard."

Pei Sheng: "…"

He pinched Gu Lin’s hair in exasperation. "You’re *real* worried, huh?"

Gu Lin’s hair was a particularly sensitive spot for him. The light tug sent a tingling numbness spreading across his scalp, and his already burning ears grew even hotter. He quickly swatted Pei Sheng’s hand away. "If you’re fine, let’s keep moving."

He turned in a fluster, only to find the dangling skull from earlier still hanging in place. It scared the shit out of him, making him instinctively jump backward—right back into Pei Sheng’s arms.

This time, Gu Lin was in a full-body press against him. Pei Sheng could even feel the frantic pounding of Gu Lin’s heart from the scare. Of course, he also noticed another, far more discreet reaction.

Pei Sheng’s fingers dug in slightly at the sensitive skin at the nape of Gu Lin’s neck, sending a shiver down his spine.

Then, in a low voice, Pei Sheng murmured, "Sounding *real* eager there, huh?"

Gu Lin froze, mortified, and hastily pulled away. "I just really gotta piss!"

Pei Sheng arched a brow. "Oh?"

"You think I’d get turned on by a *skull*?" Gu Lin insisted, dragging Pei Sheng forward with hurried steps, desperate to escape the awkward situation. "Let’s go, let’s go. This place is cursed."

Pei Sheng glanced at the yellow light casting an eerie glow on Gu Lin’s face from the corner and nodded. "Yeah, *real* shady yellow."

Gu Lin: "!" So annoying!

Thankfully, their shift ended soon after. The moment they stepped out, Gu Lin bolted straight for the men’s restroom—like a bad cover-up.

Admittedly, needing to pee was only half the story. The real discomfort had started back when that couple was sucking face.

By the time he left the restroom, Gu Lin spotted Pei Sheng leaning against a nearby wall, head bowed over his phone, flying over the keys with one hand.

Gu Lin had no idea what he was constantly busy with. Every spare moment outside, Pei Sheng was glued to his phone.

Was he chatting with some side piece in there?

Suspicious, Gu Lin sidled up, eyeing him. Pei Sheng was still engrossed in his phone, and for some reason, Gu Lin found himself trying to sneak a peek at the screen.

But Pei Sheng’s phone had an anti-spy screen.

*Fucking player!* Gu Lin seethed.

In reality, Pei Sheng was just replying to Wang Yang. Unlike Zhou Shaoran and Zheng Wei, who handled marketing/PR, Wang Yang—like Pei Sheng—was all tech, no fluff.

Apart from the short video platform YinYin managed by Zheng Wei, Pei Sheng has also established smart home systems under Zhou Shaoran's leadership, both of which have already made impressive progress.

Wang Yang primarily focuses on game development, a huge untapped market in China. Pei Sheng assigned Wang Yang to specialize in this area, but while he’s good at doing, he’s bad at figuring things out, encountering numerous issues.

Whenever he has free time, Pei Sheng answers Wang Yang's questions.

Tech-Brain Xiao Wang: *Boss, did you know Cheng Zhiqing sent people to tail you?*

Pei: *I know.*

Tech-Brain Xiao Wang: *Want me to get someone to rough them up? (knife emoji)*

Pei: *Hold on, let’s cut ties real quick.*

Tech-Brain Xiao Wang: *…*

Pei Sheng replied with "It's fine" before putting away his phone. Looking down, he noticed Gu Lin kicking a small stone nearby, head lowered, showing off his pale neck.

His fair skin was glowing under the sun.

Passersby couldn’t help but glance at Gu Lin. He reached over and pulled up the hood of his jacket, covering that slender, pale neck.

Gu Lin, blinking at the hood suddenly over his head, looked up at him in confusion. *"Done chatting?"*

His phone kept vibrating, but he ignored it. *"Food?"*

Gu Lin, already starving, nodded. *"Yeah, starving."*

As they reached the haunted house entrance, they overheard people in line chattering.

*"I heard today that this haunted house has NPCs who are total scaredy-cats. They got so frightened they screamed louder than the visitors, hugging each other for dear life!"*

*"Really? Let’s go scare them later!"*

*"Which room? I wanna see these screaming NPCs too!"*

The group was getting hyped.

NPC Gu Lin and NPC Pei Sheng: *"People got nothing better to do?"*

Gu Lin poked at his lunch, grim, never expecting the job to be this tough.

He was scared, and so was Pei Sheng. If people deliberately came to frighten them, it’d be next-level misery.

He finished his meal slowly. Pei Sheng asked about drinks and left.

Glancing down, Gu Lin noticed his empty lunchbox still had traces of fishbones.

A single fishbone lay inside, with fishbones spelling ‘too many’.

After a moment, he realized his verdict on the food was "too many fishbones."

Gu Lin snorted.

When the manager came in and saw Gu Lin laughing alone, he asked curiously, *"What’s the joke?"*

*"Inside joke."* Gu Lin smiled, finishing the last of his food before adding, *"Boss, besides acting as ghosts, are there other jobs here?"*

*"Nope, just ghosts,"* the manager replied, puzzled. *"You wanna switch?"*

"I'm quite scared," Gu Lin didn't dare mention Pei Sheng's fear.

After all, even a former tycoon needs to keep up appearances.

"It's fine, if you two are scared, just hug each other," the boss chuckled.

Only then did Gu Lin realize the boss had probably been watching the whole time.

Recalling that R-rated moment, Gu Lin asked softly, "Boss, what else did you see?"

"I saw everything," the boss propped his chin, grinning like a proud matchmaker, "and I heard everything too."

Gu Lin went limp and just stared weakly at Pei Sheng, who walked in carrying drinks.

Pei Sheng handed him a cola and warned casually, "Go easy on that."

Gu Lin was puzzled, "Huh?"

Pei Sheng said seriously, "Soda kills your swimmers."

Gu Lin almost spat out his drink.

"Cough, cough—Pei Sheng, let’s just go back to work." He figured fewer people meant less chance of dying of embarrassment.

But he underestimated people’s curiosity.

That afternoon, they were back in the same room from the morning. While only two couples had come in the morning, it seemed to have turned into a hotspot by the afternoon.

Of course, the attraction was Pei Sheng and Gu Lin freaking out.

So, by the end of the afternoon, the two went from being scared to totally desensitized—even wishing a real ghost would show up.

When their shift ended, night had already fallen outside, with a chilly wind whipping through.

Gu Lin led Pei Sheng to sit down. Both of them were pale, their lips colorless, their eyes hollow—completely wiped out.

Gu Lin felt like Pei Sheng had fused to his hand. All afternoon, Pei Sheng had been gripping his hand tightly.

Even now, Pei Sheng hadn’t let go, their palms clammy from the prolonged contact.

Gu Lin didn’t move. Pei Sheng seemed to come to his senses and finally released his hand.

Gu Lin’s fair hand was left with red streaks—too obvious to cover up.

Rubbing his hand, Gu Lin stared at the finger-shaped marks, worried they might leave scars.

The boss came over and handed them cash, grinning. "You two really are a real draw. Here’s an extra fifty for each of you."

Gu Lin snatched up the 200 bucks, his dead eyes suddenly sparking to life. "Thanks, Boss!"

Pei Sheng, on the other hand, looked like he wanted to burn the whole place down.

Holding the 200 bucks, he was plotting something.

"Pei Sheng, I’ll treat you to milk tea!" Gu Lin, riding high on his first payday, grinned. "Wait here for me."

With that, he dashed off. Pei Sheng sat alone on the bench, watching the amusement park bathed in nighttime glow.

The nighttime crowd had thinned out. All the excitement was fizzling out, but the lights blazed on.

So this is what Gu Lin saw at the amusement park?

Deep in thought, he got up and walked outside.

When Gu Lin returned, he noticed Pei Sheng wasn't where he'd left him. He looked around but didn’t see him anywhere.

He quickly sent him a message.

LL: Where did you go?

After a while, Pei Sheng replied with a brief "Be back soon."

Gu Lin thought he was being weirdly secretive. Sitting on the bench, he gazed at the Ferris wheel illuminated by colorful lights, and his eyes suddenly lit up. He jumped up and rushed to the ticket booth.

He wanted to take Pei Sheng on some rides!

"Sorry, but the evening tickets are sold out," the ticket attendant said kindly.

Gu Lin hadn’t expected the tickets to sell out so fast.

"Today's night session is half-price, so they went quickly," the attendant explained.

"Alright, thanks." Gu Lin’s heart sank a little.

He’d just have to invite Pei Sheng another time.

Head down, he started to walk away when a shadow fell over his, growing closer.

"Gu Lin." Pei Sheng’s voice sounded beside him.

Gu Lin turned to look and noticed the faint sweat on his forehead. Curious, he asked, "Where did you go?"

Gu Lin handed him the milk tea, sighing, "I wanted to buy tickets to take you on some rides, but they're sold out. Next time, I promise."

With that, he shuffled off, disappointed.

"Wait." Pei Sheng snagged his hood and pulled him back.

"What?" Gu Lin shot him a glance.

Pei Sheng tugged him toward the amusement park entrance. "Taking you in."

Gu Lin slapped his hand away from his hood. "But we don't have tickets. How are we getting in?"

As he spoke, he felt something being slipped into his hood. He reached back one-handed and pulled out two tickets—all-access passes for the amusement park!

He stared at Pei Sheng in disbelief. "Where did you get these?"

"The last two," Pei Sheng said smoothly.

"Pei Sheng! You're amazing!" Gu Lin wanted to kiss that gorgeous face on the spot.

Perhaps sensing his intention, Pei Sheng turned his head toward the park. "What’s first?"

"The Ferris wheel!"

And so, under the watchful eyes of a few couples, the two guys happily climbed into the Ferris wheel.

Gu Lin had expected it to spin wildly, but in reality, it moved slowly, allowing him to soak in the city’s night view.

He gazed at the scene beneath the Ferris wheel, his long eyelashes fluttered as he tugged at Pei Sheng's sleeve.

Pei Sheng looked over at him, noticing the excitement in his eyes.

Gu Lin's eyes lit up: "Did you know there's a rumor about Ferris wheels?"

Pei Sheng was unaware: "What rumor?"

Gu Lin said, his cheeks turning pink: "They say you're supposed to kiss at the very top."

Pei Sheng blinked: "Huh?"