Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Gu Lin felt the increasingly scorching heat beneath his palm and realized he had accidentally pressed against something—Pei Sheng was responding.

His breathing grew heavier, his fingers gripping the sheets, the sound of his panting particularly clear in the darkness.

Gu Lin’s ears burned as he wanted to pull his hand back.

But the drunken Pei Sheng, likely feeling wound too tight, bent his legs slightly and casually rested his palm over Gu Lin’s hand, pressing it down. His head tilted back against the pillow, neck arched back.

Clearly, he was struggling.

Gu Lin was just as tense—he didn’t dare move, nor could he withdraw his hand.

His palm burned fiercely, as if he could even feel the throb of veins beneath.

His throat bobbed as he bit his lip, watching Pei Sheng exhale a hot breath, his eyelids fluttering shut. Gritting his teeth, Gu Lin thought, *If only I hadn’t been so careless, this wouldn’t have happened.*

Gu Lin himself barely had any experience with this, so his movements were fumbling.

His clumsiness only made Pei Sheng more restless. Feeling suspended on the agonizing edge, Pei Sheng’s Adam’s apple rolled as he reached down and firmly grasped the source of his torment.

“Faster,” he growled, voice rough, mingled with ragged breaths—maddeningly hot.

Gu Lin, on the verge of tears, thought, *How the hell do I even—?!*

How could Pei Sheng even demand speed?!

His face and hand were both burning, and he inwardly pleaded, *You speed up!*

The wrist Pei Sheng had seized was gradually going numb under Pei Sheng’s grip.

He tried to pull away, but his struggle only registered as resistance to Pei Sheng’s hazy instincts. His hand clamped down again, this time with an unmistakable dominance, pressing Gu Lin’s palm firmly against that treacherous heat.

Gu Lin looked up and saw Pei Sheng blinking up at him, dazed. “Gu Lin?”

“It’s not me!” Gu Lin blurted out in panic, yanking his hand back and lurching upright, almost tripping over the trash can in his haste. He wished he could teleport off the face of the earth.

But Pei Sheng, caught between drunkenness and wakefulness, could only hazily watch the shadow disappear into the darkness.

Frustration coiled low in his gut, unsatisfied. With one hand, he tugged his waistband loose, turning to clutch the mussed-up sheets. The scent of apples filled his nose.

He nuzzled into the spot where the fragrance was strongest, his body and breath growing even hotter until, at last, he tipped over the edge.

Gu Lin leaned against the door, hunched by the door as he listened for any movement outside, terrified Pei Sheng might charge in wielding a cleaver.

After a while, hearing nothing, he finally let out a shaky breath and collapsed back onto the bed.

Staring at the ceiling, he absentmindedly lifted the hand that had just touched *Little Pei Sheng*.

He circled his fingers, estimating the size, and marveled once more, “That’s not a normal man’s size.”

He touched his own backside, and though nothing had happened, he faintly felt a twinge of sympathy pain.

Wrapping himself in the blanket, Gu Lin turned off the lights, pulled out his phone, and began searching with grave seriousness:

*Do two people with incompatible sizes have a future?*

In the end, lost in sweet fantasies, he spent half the night cackling into his pillow.

At seven o'clock the next morning, he dragged his drained body out of bed after a sleepless night and headed to work.

Working at the haunted house earned him two hundred bucks a day, plus Chu Gege was really generous, often tipping him a few hundred or even a few thousand bucks.

He needed to work hard to save up and repay the 200k he’d blown on male models.

Yawning and stretching, he bared a strip of his waist as he opened the door, only to see Pei Sheng standing by the entrance, deep in thought.

Gu Lin immediately tensed up and turned to retreat into his room, but Pei Sheng stopped him.

"Come here." Pei Sheng’s gaze fell on the exposed part of Gu Lin’s waist, where a noticeable red mark stood out, overlapping with hazy memories from the night before.

His eyes drifted to the sofa—he remembered lifting Gu Lin into his arms, followed by chaotic darkness and mumbled complaints.

His hungover mind was still foggy, the scattered fragments making his head throb.

When Gu Lin hesitated instead of approaching, Pei Sheng looked at him again.

This time, Gu Lin walked over like a condemned man, nervously asking, "Wh-what is it?"

*He was so drunk, he probably doesn’t remember what happened last night.*

Gu Lin silently prayed.

By the time he reached the entrance, his scalp prickled with nerves as he looked up at Pei Sheng.

Pei Sheng must’ve showered—up close, Gu Lin could smell the fresh mint shampoo scent.

His heart pounded nervously, dreading Pei Sheng asking, *What did you do to me last night?*

Seeing Gu Lin’s nervousness, Pei Sheng vaguely sensed something unusual must have happened—otherwise, Gu Lin wouldn’t be this guilty.

Every time he acted guilty, it was always related to something risqué.

But Pei Sheng didn’t ask. Instead, he grabbed a bag and handed it to him.

"Huh? What’s this?" Gu Lin took it, feeling its weight, and opened it to find a bag of cold roasted chestnuts. His face lit up. "When did you buy these?!"

"Don’t remember." Pei Sheng crouched down to put on his sneakers while Gu Lin eagerly shelled one and tossed it in his mouth, grinning ear to ear. "You must’ve bought them for me when you were drunk last night."

Pei Sheng had no recollection, but he knew they were meant for Gu Lin.

Yesterday, while getting an IV drip, Gu Lin had been practically salivating watching someone else eat roasted chestnuts, going on and on for half an hour about how delicious they were and how winter was the perfect time for them.

But it wasn’t even winter yet.

He didn’t know why he’d remembered.

Once his shoes were on, Pei Sheng frowned slightly as he watched Gu Lin peel and eat two chestnuts like an eager chipmunk—without having brushed his teeth.

Still oblivious, Gu Lin noticed Pei Sheng staring and instinctively offered him the third chestnut he’d just peeled, his finger grazing Pei Sheng’s lips as he beamed. "Here, try it. It’s good."

A memory flickered in his mind—Pei Sheng pressing his fingers against Gu Lin’s lips the night before—and his frown deepened.

Just as he was about to refuse, Lado darted over and snatched the chestnut away.

"Lado!" Gu Lin hadn’t expected Pei Sheng to guard his food or Lado to steal it. He scrambled to retrieve it from the dog’s mouth. "That was for Pei Sheng!"

"You think I’d eat it if you got it back?" Pei Sheng sighed, grabbing Gu Lin by the collar and ushering him to the bathroom. "Brush your teeth first."

"Oh." The chestnuts in Gu Lin's hand were taken away by Pei Sheng.

Gu Lin squeezed toothpaste and brushed his teeth, poking his head out to watch Pei Sheng's retreating back, wondering if he remembered what happened last night at all.

Seeing that his state was no different from usual, it seemed he didn't remember. If he did, he would have exploded.

Pei Sheng ignored Gu Lin's gaze and walked out the door with Lado, but today he seemed distracted while walking the dog.

His gradually clearing mind kept replaying the events of last night.

From the entrance to the living room and finally the bedroom, those fragmented scenes began to form a coherent sequence.

When he recalled Gu Lin fleeing in panic, he helplessly rubbed his forehead.

He had never been drunk before; yesterday was the first time, and he hadn't expected to lose control like that.

Zheng Wei even had the nerve to call him.

Pei Sheng's eyes darkened as he answered the phone.

"Boss, how was it last night?" Zheng Wei asked tentatively, his ears practically perking up to hear if anything untoward had happened.

"Fine," Pei Sheng replied coolly.

"How is Gu Lin?" Zheng Wei probed further.

"Fine," Pei Sheng said, noticing Lado approaching a Samoyed.

Zheng Wei was thoroughly puzzled. Based on his experience, men like Pei Sheng, who suppressed their desires, usually went wild when drunk. He cautiously asked, "Nothing bad happened, right?"

"Yes, you're docked six months' salary." With that, Pei Sheng put Zheng Wei on block.

Zheng Wei: "???"

Pei Sheng hung up the phone and looked at Lado sniffing the Samoyed's butt.

He hadn’t expected that after just one walk with Gu Lin, Lado would transform from an aloof golden retriever into such a weirdo.

It seemed the corrupting influence of Gu Lin, that little troublemaker, was not to be underestimated.

He walked over to pull Lado back, but Lado wasn’t having it. Pei Sheng crouched down and said seriously, "Lado, you're neutered."

Lado got teary-eyed.

The Samoyed's owner laughed. "Mine’s a boy too."

Lado looked at the Samoyed in disbelief, then let out a sassy bark. Pei Sheng gave him a nudge with his foot and apologized to the Samoyed's owner, "Sorry."

The Samoyed's owner was a young, cute girl, about Gu Lin's age. "It’s all good. So you’re not Lado’s usual walker?"

Pei Sheng: "I am his owner."

"Ah? Then was the person walking Lado last night your friend?" the girl asked curiously.

Pei Sheng nodded. "What’s up?"

"Oh, nothing." The girl seemed a bit shy. "Why isn’t he walking the dog today? Did something happen? Yesterday, I saw him on the phone looking all choked up."

"On the phone?" It clicked for Pei Sheng that his first call to Gu Lin yesterday had never gone through.

"Yeah, he was fine one moment, but then a phone call came in and he just shut down completely, his eyes got all red. I asked him what was wrong, but he just said it was nothing." The girl spoke with visible concern in her eyes. "Can you hook me up with his WeChat?"

Pei Sheng finally caught on to her meaning—she was into Gu Lin.

He inexplicably recalled that someone at the traffic bureau had also asked for Gu Lin's contact before.

How does he pull this off so easily?

Pei Sheng deadpanned, "Phone's dead."

The girl pointed at his phone. "Didn’t you just make a call?"

"Uh... killed the battery," Pei Sheng deadpanned again, slipping his phone into his pocket. He was about to bail when he saw Gu Lin rushing past, spotting him, Gu Lin turned back.

From a short distance away, Gu Lin lit up and called out, "Pei Sheng, I’m heading to work. I whipped up some hangover soup for you—remember to drink it, or you’ll get a headache."

After waving at him, Gu Lin took off, his hair shimmering in the morning light.

The Samoyed’s owner seemed to catch the vibe and awkwardly asked, "Are you his boyfriend?"

Pei Sheng didn’t answer, only saying, "Cute dog."

With that, he made his exit with Lado.

On the way back, he thought about what the girl had said, overlapping with bits of conversation in his mind.

He remembered Gu Lin mentioning last night that someone had threatened him—that he was terrified and hated their guts.

This meant Gu Lin’s mother, Li Chunhua, had already found him.

Pei Sheng hurried home, left Lado in the living room, and went straight to his room.

Sitting at his computer, his fingers flew over the keys, and soon a phone number appeared on the screen.

Using a virtual number, Pei Sheng dialed it.

Someone picked up immediately. "Who is this?"

There was Li Chunhua demanding five million from Gu Lin.

Gu Lin’s voice was tight but firm. "I won’t give it to you. This is Pei Sheng’s money, and I’m returning it to him."

Li Chunhua sneered. "To them, you're nothing but a whore. Now you’re trying to act virtuous? When Pei Sheng kept you, he didn’t even touch you because he thought you were filthy."

Hearing the tremor in Gu Lin’s voice afterward, Pei Sheng's expression darkened.

After a long silence, Li Chunhua asked again, "Who the hell are you?"

Pei Sheng closed the call log and said coldly, "We need to talk."