Chapter 117 Day 8 of Transmigrating into a Vintage CEO Novel

Chapter 117: Day Eight of Entering a Classic CEO Novel

Gu Mingzhi seemed to enjoy this verbal sparring, relishing the process of tearing off the other's calm mask.

"Sharp-tongued," he commented.

But his gaze dropped to An Yi's lips, slightly parted as he spoke: "I'm just curious, which side is the real you? The docile and harmless adopted son at the dinner table, or the one who shows his claws to warn others in the studio..."

He paused, as if searching for the right word, and finally slowly uttered two words: "Wildcat."

Wildcat?

God! So cheesy! Disgusting!

An Yi almost laughed out of anger. He had lived for countless years, and this was the first time someone used such an adjective to describe him.

"You have a vivid imagination, Little Uncle," An Yi's tone turned cold. "But don't ever use such disgusting words in that sleazy tone again, especially to me."

"If there's nothing else, I'm going back now."

He turned to leave.

"An Yi." Gu Mingzhi called out to him.

An Yi did not stop or look back.

"You said you're gay." Gu Mingzhi's voice came from behind him, steady and unreadable. "So, what kind do you like?"

This question was too personal, too overstepping.

An Yi spun around abruptly, his gaze completely cold. The layer of gentle expression finally peeled off entirely, revealing the icy core beneath: "That's none of your business, Little Uncle. Since you're not, why ask? To satisfy your boring curiosity, or..."

He looked Gu Mingzhi up and down, his eyes filled with undisguised sarcasm: "Have you finally started to doubt yourself?"

Gu Mingzhi's face shifted slightly in the dim light. His jaw tightened, showing he was not completely unaffected.

He was silent for a long few seconds, his deep eyes fixed on An Yi as if trying to see through him.

Just when An Yi thought he was about to lose his temper, he suddenly twitched the corner of his mouth, forming a half-smile: "Doubt? Not really, it's just that..."

"It's just that..." he repeated, his voice low as a whisper, but his gaze burned into An Yi's face: "If you're gay, then... that's much more interesting than I thought."

His words carried a condescending judgment and an almost arrogant interest, as if An Yi were a new species he had discovered.

An Yi's patience was completely exhausted.

He stepped closer, meeting Gu Mingzhi's eyes. His eyes were cold and sharp, as if they could pierce through a person's heart: "Gu Mingzhi."

For the first time, he used his full name, dropping all honorifics. His voice was cold and clear as ice: "I don't care what's going on in your head—boredom, curiosity, or something else. I have no interest in becoming your object of amusement. Your approach, your probing, these suggestive words of yours—they only make me feel..."

He paused and let out two words: "Annoyed."

After saying that, he suddenly smiled.

Then he reached out, grabbed Gu Mingzhi's collar, and as the other looked shocked, threw him hard to the ground.

Gu Mingzhi felt a sharp pain in his palm. Just as he started to get up, An Yi stepped onto his chest, pressing him down.

An Yi actually laid hands on him?!

An Yi looked down at him, a faint smile curving at the corner of his mouth.

He pressed his toe into Gu Mingzhi's chest. Not giving him time to react, An Yi turned lightly and strode away.

Gu Mingzhi slowly sat up, watching his thin but straight back quickly disappear into the darkness of the corridor, staying still for a long time.

The corridor was silent except for the sound of his own breathing.

Annoyed?

Gu Mingzhi slowly raised his scraped hand and touched his chin, where the sting of An Yi's cold gaze still seemed to linger.

Truly... feisty.

Far from feeling offended, he felt a strange, intense emotion strike somewhere in his chest.

That feeling was not anger, nor frustration, but something more primitive, a primal urge to conquer, mixed with a curiosity so strong it nearly spiraled out of control, surging outward.

He really wasn't gay.

At least, before this, he had never felt anything romantic toward any man. Of course, he had also never felt anything romantic toward any woman.

But An Yi...

Images of An Yi uncontrollably flooded Gu Mingzhi's mind: the focused profile in the studio, the cold white skin in the sunlight, the faint blue veins on his slender wrists, the icy gaze of a cornered animal revealing its claws, and those beautiful eyes that always hid emotions...

This person was a puzzle, a vast, dangerously alluring whirlpool.

Despite saying he was annoyed and having cold eyes, those occasional sharp edges that contrasted so sharply with his gentle appearance hooked his attention like a barb.

He was also fierce when he acted.

Why did he press his toe into my chest? That was pretty intimate...

"Gay?" Gu Mingzhi murmured to himself, the corner of his mouth lifting into a mysterious curve.

He suddenly wondered what interesting expressions An Yi would reveal if he kept pushing.

Annoyed?

Maybe.

But in Gu Mingzhi's life, nothing had ever stopped him just because the other person was "annoyed."

The harder someone was to get close to, the more prickly they were, the more it stirred up the stubbornness deep inside him that wouldn't rest until he got what he wanted.

He stood up, staring in the direction An Yi had disappeared, his eyes deep as the sea under the night sky.

Meanwhile, An Yi wasn't sleepy. He went back to the studio, closed the door, and sat in front of the canvas.

He held up his hand, staring at his pale, cold fingertips. A long-unfelt surge of deep offense and anger rose in his heart.

Gu Mingzhi...

His self-righteous probing attitude, that arrogance that acted like everything was under his control—all of it made An Yi extremely uncomfortable.

He sat in front of the easel, looking at the unfinished blue painting. His normally calm mind was disturbed, and a restless energy had no outlet.

He abruptly picked up a palette knife, scooped up a large amount of thick black paint, and without hesitation, scraped it fiercely over the once dreamy and hazy blue!

Rough, destructive brushstrokes instantly engulfed the previous calm, like a storm ravaging the sea, with a devastating beauty.

He suddenly smiled to himself; he had to teach Gu Mingzhi a lesson.

Comments section:

"I... holy shit! The hallway standoff!"

"What a jerk thing for Gu Mingzhi to say! 'Finds it quite interesting'? Is that something a human would even say?!"

"But it's also kind of thrilling... that arrogant, condescending energy, yet somehow being drawn in anyway..."

"What's going on? Why am I getting dirty thoughts? (Pouting)"

"An Yi nailed it! 'Disgusting' 'Idiot'! Haha, look at how Gu Mingzhi's expression is described!"

"Does Gu Mingzhi have a masochistic streak? The more An Yi scolds him and hits him, the more into it he gets? (Blushing)"

"An Yi stepping on him totally turned him on!"

"And he wants to keep deliberately provoking An Yi!"

"Isn't this the typical 'Woman, you've successfully caught my attention' CEO script? Just with gender reversed? (Big confusion)"

"Gu Mingzhi: 'I'm not gay.'"

"That final scrape across the painting by An Yi was so badass! It feels like he really got pissed off!"

"Could it be that all the earlier descriptions of An Yi were just surface level, and he's actually a white-cut-black? (Interesting)"

"Uncle Gu, watch out!"

"Fight! Fight! (Rubbing hands excitedly)"

"..."

"An Yi: ..."