Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Through his haze, Qi Yanyu made out the person shielding him and keeping him from collapsing to the floor: his childhood friend, Jiang Tiyan.

This story really dug into his family background, upbringing, and life experiences.

Every person around him was carefully name-dropped and assigned a role.

After speaking, Jiang Tiyan threw a sharp look at Song Yuanting, the ringleader of tonight’s mess. Song Yuanting remained smiling, though his grin lost some edge—of course, he recognized the eldest son of the Jiang family.

Lan Xiaoxiao wrinkled her nose, her beautiful face twisted in anger. “Clean up your language,” she snapped.

“You’re the one who splashed him, right?”

“He hit me first!”

Jiang Tiyan narrowed his fox-like eyes at her. Still playing civil, he asked, “Did he hit you?”

“He hit my friend.” Clearly, the “friend” she referred to was Zhou Yuanan, standing beside her.

Not a scratch on him—there was no sign of where Qi Yanyu could have possibly struck him.

Jiang Tiyan smirked. “Just putting a mutt in its place. The mutt isn’t even barking, yet here you are, a perfectly fine person, making a scene.”

There was no warmth in his narrowed eyes.

But Lan Xiaoxiao wasn’t backing down. She insisted that Qi Yanyu, standing behind Jiang Tiyan, apologize.

“He has to apologize today.”

As she lunged forward again toward Qi Yanyu, Jiang Tiyan’s gaze hardened. “Zhou Yuanan, if you don’t keep your cash cow in check and someone gets hurt, you’ll be rotting in a cell.”

The implication was clear: if he couldn’t deal with the people in their circle, he could certainly deal with Zhou Yuanan.

Zhou Yuanan yanked her back, knowing she was the one at fault today.

Aware of his own misstep, Zhou Yuanan said lowly, “Xiaoxiao, cut the drama.”

“That mouth of his needs to be shut,” Lan Xiaoxiao retorted, shaking off Zhou Yuanan’s grip.

“Have you forgotten what his last name is?”

As she charged forward again, the ice-prince demeanor of Jiang Tiyan snatched her arm. “If you dare cause any more trouble, no matter who your brother is, you’ll regret it.”

Lan Xiaoxiao finally came to her senses. Qi Yanyu might have been disowned by the Qi family, but the Qi family wasn’t dead.

Jiang Tiyan turned back, only to find Qi Yanyu behind him wearing a ghost of a smile.

His already pale face looked weirdly striking with that faint curve of his lips.

Just as it seemed Qi Yanyu was about to say something provocative to Lan Xiaoxiao or Zhou Yuanan—

Jiang Tiyan, who had just cooled off, saw red again. He hauled Qi Yanyu outside.

Once out of the private room, Qi Yanyu was swaying on his feet.

Jiang Tiyan assumed he was reluctant to leave Zhou Yuanan and was about to mock him when—

Qi Yanyu bent over slightly, chuckled for a moment, then said slowly, “I can’t stand…” before slumping against the wall.

Jiang Tiyan, who debuted at the age of sixteen, has become a celebrity in recent years.

He still detests that Qi Yanyu.

He’s disliked Qi Yanyu since childhood—his stuck-up attitude, his inability to tell right from wrong.

Seeing Qi Yanyu getting chewed out and almost slapped by a girl in public while drunk like this, Jiang Tiyan couldn’t help but think how humiliating it’d be if word got out.

He yanked Qi Yanyu, who had been trying to squat on the ground to sober up, and dragged him into the just-opened elevator.

As the elevator doors closed, Jiang Tiyan glanced at the man whose eyelids had already drooped shut. If not for one hand gripping him and the other clutching the back of his clothes, Qi Yanyu would have collapsed into a heap on the floor like a sack of potatoes.

"Why the hell are you in this book, Jiang Tiyan?"

Jiang Tiyan had no clue what drunken crap he was spouting.

He adjusted his hold slightly, and Qi Yanyu's head slumped onto his shoulder.

The man's body lightly fell against him.

Wasn’t that heavy.

But the sensation was undeniably strange.

He wondered if Qi Yanyu had slept with enough men over the years to fill an army.

Jiang Tiyan despised Qi Yanyu for his sleazy behavior.

But out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Qi Yanyu's ghostly pale skin—was this what sleeping around got you?

His pallid face bore only a faint flush of boiled-lobster red.

Soft strands of hair fell across his brows, his entire body limp, arms dangling.

"How much did you drink?"

Jiang Tiyan considered ditching him in a new VIP room at the club and calling Qi Yanyu's family to pick him up.

But he'd heard that Qi Yanyu had been disowned by his family a year ago for Zhou Yu'an's sake. He figured the Qi family probably didn’t care about him anymore.

Jiang Tiyan sneered coldly, "Could it be drinking over an ex makes a thousand cups feel like too few?"

But there was no response from the man.

Smirking drunkenly, on the verge of passing out.

Half-carrying, half-dragging, Jiang Tiyan hauled Qi Yanyu out of the elevator.

But the man could barely stand, let alone walk properly.

Afraid of being photographed by tabloids and accused of roofie-ing and assaulting someone, Jiang Tiyan hoisted him up, sliding one arm under Qi Yanyu’s knees.

Then he cradled him.

For a moment, he stared at Qi Yanyu’s face, red as a steamed lobster. His snark died, and Jiang Tiyan fell silent.

He pulled off one sleeve of the man's coat, turned it inside out, and draped it over the man's face in disgust, so as not to be photographed by paparazzi and embarrass the Qi family’s eldest son.

Carrying the man effortlessly—his own height of 187 cm made lifting such a lightweight easy—he strode forward.

Passersby eyed the strikingly tall, handsome man holding someone with their head covered, unsure if it was a man or a woman, but held their tongues.

After leaving the popular bar-hotel combo, he reached his car parked on the curb.

The driver hurriedly unlocked the car. Jiang Tiyan opened the door, bent down, and propped the man against the seat.

Without his support, the man lost balance and slumped into the backseat, his legs still hanging out of the car. Jiang Tiyan shoved them inside.

Halfway inside the car, he maneuvered the man around until there was just enough space to squeeze in himself.

The driver stared, startled. "Young Master Jiang… what’s this…?"

But upon closer inspection, he seemed to recognize the vague outline—it looked like Jiang Tiyan’s childhood buddy.

"Where to, sir?"

"Home." Jiang Tiyan didn’t want paparazzi making up rumors, so he couldn’t just drop Qi Yanyu off at some hotel.

Driver Zhang lost the paparazzi tailing them and drove back to the apartment Jiang Tiyan rented for filming convenience.

Together, they hauled Qi Yanyu into the master bedroom.

"Young Master, should we leave him here?"

“Yeah.” Jiang Tiyan offered no further words.

Driver Zhang hesitated.

But if he’s left here… where will you sleep?

This apartment only had one bedroom.

Too irritated with Qi Yanyu, Jiang Tiyan missed the hint.

Before leaving, Driver Zhang hesitated. "Young Master Jiang, I’ll head back now."

Stuck babysitting this mess, Jiang Tiyan was in no good mood. He nodded, and once the driver left, he snagged a soda from the fridge.

Since starting filming, the beer and carbonated drinks in his fridge had long been replaced with soda and fruit juices.

The man’s face was sleep-flushed.

Jiang Tiyan walked over, snatched his favorite pillow away, and the man instantly slumped onto the mattress, his face turned to the side, brows slightly furrowed.

He looked deeply displeased, mumbling something under his breath.

Jiang Tiyan didn’t bother listening closely—it was surely just curses.

Yet even without trying, he caught fragments of weak complaints: "Head hurts" and "What kind of trash book is this?"

The pillow in his hands suddenly felt worthless.

Still, he tucked the man in a little.

Jiang Tiyan left the room and returned to the living room, where he turned on the computer and casually logged into League of Legends.

Jiang Tiyan eventually fell asleep on the sofa. He woke up early the next day without needing an alarm and turned on his backup phone to tune into a noon livestream promoting the drama’s cast.

He was the third male lead in the series. Though his role wasn’t extensive, he had a large fanbase. Though he’d only debuted two years prior, he spent most of his time completing his studies and preparing to take over his family’s business.

He’d only planned to mess around in showbiz for a couple of years before returning to inherit the family enterprise.

The livestream kicked off with five leads and a host in a video call.

The format went: introductions, character talk, interactions among the leads, a Q&A with the host, and finally audience engagement.

Back in the bedroom, Qi Yanyu woke up hungover, his head splitting like an axe had cleaved it.

Despite knowing his poor health, Qi Yanyu never quit smoking or drinking.

After getting dumped into this tragic novel world, why bother worrying about how many years he had left?

Groggy and stomach growling from last night’s liquid diet, Qi Yanyu called out from the bedroom.

On the live stream, it was Jiang Tiyan’s turn to speak about his impressions of his third male lead character.

As everyone fell silent, a man’s groan suddenly bled into Jiang Tiyan’s stream. The host and actors froze, thinking they’d misheard.

Jiang Tiyan answered succinctly: "Did every terrible thing—except when it came to the princess."

"Be right back—need water," he added.

Jiang Tiyan entered the bedroom and saw Qi Yanyu drenched in sweat, his face flushed red. The snark on his tongue died unspoken.

Qi Yanyu clutched his throbbing head. "Order me a rideshare."

Jiang Tiyan wanted to sneer—*What, your highness forgot how to use apps?*

But something about Qi Yanyu’s wrecked expression made him swallow his words. "The vultures are circling outside. Stay here for a while."

Last night, photos of him carrying Qi Yanyu out of the entertainment venue had already gone viral, topping today’s trending searches. His name was blowing up across every platform.

Instead of the expected 600,000 to 700,000 viewers, the live stream had surged by an additional two million. Viewer numbers were climbing like crazy.

Qi Yanyu didn’t lift his head. "You got anything edible?"

Jiang Tiyan’s phone blew up with texts from his manager, urging him to return to the live broadcast immediately and not leave the camera’s view.

"Look for it yourself." He threw it over his shoulder as he walked out.

Something about Qi Yanyu’s wrecked expression made it impossible to snap. He returned to the living room.

Sitting back down, answering questions and facing the camera, his gaze occasionally flickered elsewhere.

Qi Yanyu stumbled out of the room, walking like a newborn deer. He wobbled to the kitchen and opened the fridge, only to find it stocked entirely with sparkling water—nothing else. The barren, hospital-white fridge made his stomach turn.

The chat went nuclear:

"Who was that other man moaning just now? Is he Jiang Tiyan's patron?"

"Does Jiang Tiyan actually have a boyfriend? So he really doesn’t like women?"

"Jiang Tiyan was photographed last night bringing a drunk man home. Was the moaning just now from that guy?"

Jiang Tiyan narrowed his phoenix eyes, about to remind him to check the kitchen for fruit.

Then he saw Qi Yanyu marching straight toward him.

Jiang Tiyan watched as Qi Yanyu suddenly pitched forward, falling less than half a meter in front of him. If Jiang Tiyan hadn’t caught him, Qi Yanyu would have cracked his head open on the floor.

The screen showed Jiang Tiyan lurching halfway off-screen, as if trying to catch someone.

Jiang Tiyan caught the man, who had stumbled into his arms and now appeared on camera. The actors discussing the drama faltered, dead silent.

With one hand gripping the limp figure in his arms, Jiang Tiyan used the other to kill the stream.

Of the six connected video feeds, only five remained.

Chat went wild: "Holy shit, what did I just see? Was that a man?"

Jiang Tiyan had hardly ever crossed paths with Qi Yanyu.

He couldn’t stand him since they were kids. If not for their families being close, he wouldn’t have brought him home last night.

He thought Qi Yanyu was faking it to wreck his stream.

But when he looked down, he saw Qi Yanyu’s face contorted in pain, his brows slightly furrowed.

"Cramp."

"Where?"

He gestured weakly at his leg.