Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Gu Jinglan went quiet for a moment. Someone had already called an ambulance and contacted a cardiology professor. The ambulance hadn’t arrived yet, but the person woke up.

His face was so pale that Gu Jinglan couldn’t bring himself to look at him too long.

"Feeling better?" The TCM doctor had just been doing acupuncture on him, and the needles were still in place.

The person reached for his phone and found it dead—which was actually a good thing.

His second reaction was wondering why the room was so crowded.

"Does your heart still hurt? Do you have heart disease?"

Qi Yanyu didn’t answer.

Maybe it was just angina, someone said. "Was it heart pain earlier?"

Qi Yanyu gave a vague nod, distracted.

After hanging around briefly and seeing that he was fine, the crowd dispersed. Qi Yuanhan still hadn’t returned.

Gu Jinglan saw him pick up his phone again to check something.

While he was unconscious, Gu Jinglan had seen a message on his phone: "Come to this address by midnight tonight. If you don’t, the photos will be sent to the group," with a location pinned.

It was already past eleven.

Gu Jinglan watched him blink, eyes downcast.

"Who is it? A prank?" Gu Jinglan asked Qi Yanyu.

Qi Yanyu looked at him.

Gu Jinglan had only seen the message, not the photos, but he could guess what kind of photos they were without looking.

So, partly reassuring, partly analytical, he said, "The photos are probably AI-generated. If they spread them, just deny it." He tread carefully, considering Qi Yanyu had just suffered severe heart pain. He tried to walk him through it.

"AI-generated?" Even if they were AI-generated, he didn’t want Lan Xiaoxiao sending them to the group.

"Yeah. One of your friends pulling a prank?"

Qi Yanyu wanted to get up.

"You’re really going?" Gu Jinglan muttered.

Qi Yanyu thought his questioning was weirdly insistent.

Everything started when he shouldn’t have pinned Qi Yanyu down multiple times in the "cornfield," maybe even causing a heart attack—though angina was more likely. Now, late at night, he helped him climb over the school’s low wall to hail a cab to that location.

"Are they really AI-generated?" Qi Yanyu asked a second time.

Gu Jinglan just wanted to avoid bad karma. In truth, he figured Qi Yanyu’s panic was more likely due to the photos than the cornfield incident.

"Don’t you know whether you’ve done something like this or not?"

Qi Yanyu was completely lost.

Gu Jinglan didn’t expect an answer. He felt tonight’s involvement was a waste, but then snorted at his own thoughts.

"If they have more to show, we could 100% tell."

"Why not ask your family for help?"

It was his first day at school, not like some royal procession, as Qi Yuanhan and others had described.

Qi Yanyu remained silent. If he sought Qi Muyao, was he asking to get his leg broken again? Instead, he went to light another cigarette. In the past, he had wanted to beat the shit out of Zhou Yuan and his crew.

"You want to die, motherfucker?"

Qi Yanyu stared blankly at Gu Jinglan until the other's gaze fell on his hand, realizing it was about the cigarette.

"Oh." He stubbed out the cigarette. "No use getting asthma before the fight even starts."

"What do you want to do?" Gu Jinglan knew what to do but wasn’t sure about Qi Yanyu’s thoughts.

Qi Yanyu was even more out of it than expected. Maybe the recent heart palpitations and asthma had left him weak.

"Wipe those photos clean, then beat them up."

Gu Jinglan: "How many guys are we talking? You think you can take them?"

He realized this "prince" held grudges like it was his job—petty but persistent.

Gu Jinglan and he arrived at the bar, music pounding loud enough to rupture eardrums, with familiar faces waiting. What looked like just another hallway led them into the VIP section.

Pushing open the double doors, they found people still dancing and drinking inside.

"They’re here, they’re here."

Qi Yanyu also spotted Song Yuanting, who had been singing but killed the track with a smirk.

Lan Xiaoxiao and Zhou Yuan were, of course, present.

"No way, he actually showed."

Zhou Yuan noticed the person beside Qi Yanyu.

Qi Yanyu’s purpose was straightforward: "The photos."

Just as Zhou Yuan was about to explain, Song Yuanting, the ultimate shit-stirrer, intercepted. "Qi-boy, sing a couple of songs," handing over the mic. Then he saw the handsome guy beside Qi Yanyu take the mic and bark into it like a damn PA system: "Who here is Zhou Yuan, motherfucker?" He had seen the sender’s name.

The handsome guy beside Qi Yanyu was nobody any of them recognized. Everyone assumed he was Qi Yanyu’s latest fling.

Zhou Yuan stepped forward to speak to Qi Yanyu.

But Lan Xiaoxiao struck first: "We're still waiting on that apology."

"Like they deserve it?" Qi Yanyu scoffed.

"Who did you hit? Who did you bully? Don’t you know?"

Qi Yanyu knew she was defending Zhou Yuan. "If I spare them my bad moods, they should be grateful."

Song Yuanting, the ultimate shit-stirrer, brought two drinks, playing peacemaker between Lan Xiaoxiao and Qi Yanyu. "Have a drink first, then talk."

But what he really wanted was for the two to smash bottles and fight. Lan Xiaoxiao, hot-headed as always, grabbed a beer mug, but Gu Jinglan caught her by the wrist. She glared at him.

Gu Jinglan shoved the drink away. "Let’s get right down to business. We're calling bullshit on those photos. Show us again."

*Note: "太子" (crown prince) is used sarcastically to refer to Qi Yanyu's privileged status.*