The traffic in A City has always been a mystery. Qin Zhi wanted to go fast but couldn't, stuck in the rolling traffic for nearly an hour before finally arriving at the club.

Following the service staff who were already waiting downstairs, Qin Zhi took the elevator to the 28th floor and found his friend with a swollen face due to a hangover.

Although his friend wasn't especially handsome, he usually stood out in a crowd with his good looks. But now, after a night of heavy drinking, not only was his silver-gray suit wrinkled, his hair was a greasy mess, and his eyes were swollen like two walnuts. Under the dim, ambiguous lighting, he looked like an unidentifiable object sprawled on the dark red sofa.

With a "click", Qin Zhi switched the lighting to normal mode. Seeing his friend's appearance clearly, he couldn't help but gasp. He had a slight germaphobia and had a reflexive aversion to such an eyesore.

Driven by the remaining bit of friendship, Qin Zhi reluctantly reached out his arm to help his drunk friend up. But before the person woke up, his mouth opened first and he vomited all over Qin Zhi.

Qin Zhi: "..." Okay, their friendship officially ended at this moment.

He let go, and his friend immediately fell back onto the sofa like a pickled radish.

Qin Zhi dejectedly took off his soiled jacket. Fortunately, he had dodged just now, so only the jacket was stained, and the clothes underneath were spared.

Looking at the jacket in his hands that was emitting a strange odor, Qin Zhi's brows furrowed so tightly a fly could be pinched to death. This jacket was personally picked out for him by Su Duan. Su Duan had the same style, and every time he wore it together with Su Duan, it would infuriate Su Zheng half to death. He had finally waited until Su Zheng went abroad for work to have a chance to wear it, but he was so unlucky that it got ruined...

Enduring the disgust, Qin Zhi used the tissues brought by the attendant to wipe off the filth on the surface. He sighed and decided to send it to the dry cleaners on the way home for a thorough cleaning.

He was carefully wiping his clothes when his friend suddenly squirmed on the sofa and groggily opened his eyes. Seeing it was him, he called out his name in a voice that was barely human, "Qin... Qi... Zhi..."

Qin Zhi: "..."

With his voice distorted like this, at least he didn't have to worry about his name being known by the people in the club. His current identity was still a secret. If it was leaked prematurely, it could cause some trouble.

His friend stared at him with eyes that could barely be seen for a few seconds, then suddenly let out a wail and started sobbing.

Qin Zhi's hand that was wiping his clothes hesitated. He remembered that he shouldn't have done anything too cruel to this friend. How could a grown man start crying for no reason?

Besides, the clothes the little one at home gave him were all messed up like this. If anyone should be angry, it should be him first, right?

The attendant who was handing tissues to Qin Zhi also froze. Watching this scene that seemed like an emotional entanglement between a scumbag and a pitiful person, he couldn't help but swallow nervously.

......

Through his friend's incoherent narration, Qin Zhi finally managed to understand the cause of today's events.

It was very cliché, extremely cliché, completely unsurprising, and still about those relationship matters.

To put it simply, it was a story of "I love her, she doesn't love me but still wants to be with me to take my money to support other pretty boys", a common plot in many melodramatic romance novels and TV shows.

"Yun yun, hic, wuwuwu..." His friend let out a final weak moan, then closed his eyes and fell asleep again.

Qin Zhi: "..."

Qin Zhi knew that his friend had a girlfriend he had been dating for nearly five years. Just the day before yesterday, he had heard his friend showing off their love in front of him. He didn't expect this to be the result.

But Qin Zhi actually didn't quite understand. Details don't lie. They had been together for five years, almost to the point of discussing marriage. How could there not be any awareness of whether the other person was sincere or not?

At least he was someone who could hold down Qin Group for more than half a year in his place, so he must have had the intelligence and skills. How could he be so stupid when it came to relationships?

Moreover, after discovering that he had been betrayed, his first reaction wasn't to go make trouble for that dog couple, but to curl up like an ostrich without any backbone and drown his sorrows alone. It was so cowardly that Qin Zhi wanted to beat him up to sober him up.

Qin Zhi silently complained in his heart. Of course, if he knew that this complaint would soon come true for himself, he would definitely feel heartache for his friend.

However, many surprises in life cannot be predicted. So after Qin Zhi finished his internal grumbling, he went over to confirm that his friend was just drunk and not in any life-threatening danger for the time being. He then gave the attendant a sizable tip and asked him to help clean up his friend a bit.

The attendant was a very clever and diligent young man. He immediately found a towel and wiped that face full of snot and tears clean. The soiled suit jacket was directly discarded. The shirt underneath was also stained, but it couldn't be taken off, so he could only make do with wiping it. The attendant finally found a piece of clothing that was probably his own and put it on the person. At least he looked much cleaner.

Qin Zhi helped put the clean jacket on his friend. Feeling that it was good enough, he let the attendant watch over him for a while as he went to the restroom to clean himself up.

Although he didn't get any more filth on him later, after all the fuss, he was covered in a foul smell. He at least needed to go wash his face.

This club was one of the top clubs in A City. The decor was luxurious, the cold, hard marble floors reflected light, and it looked very proper. It also protected the privacy of its guests well, so it had a good reputation in A City. Although it was said to provide some improper services, many people indeed chose to discuss business here.

His friend still had some intelligence, choosing a safe place to get drunk. If it were a place like a bar, he might have already been taken away by someone.

The water flowed through his fingers. Qin Zhi rolled up his sleeves and thoroughly lathered his hands and entire forearms with hand soap.

Suddenly, a faint conversation reached his ears.

"Guess who I saw here last night?"

"Hmm? Who?"

"The head boss of the Qin family came alone, looking quite unhappy. I specially waited outside the door a few times and saw the waiters constantly sending in wine, who knew what was happening inside..."

"Hey, why do you care so much about other people's business?"

Hearing the words "Qin family", Qin Zhi slowed down his hand washing, tilting his ears slightly to carefully listen to the conversation between the two people in the restroom.

"At this juncture, who isn't keeping an eye on the Qin family... But speaking of which, this boss is just a puppet. The one really controlling the Qin family from behind the scenes is that illegitimate son named Qin Zhi."

"Have you seen him?"

"How could that be possible? This illegitimate son of the Qin family is very mysterious. I tried to find information about him not long ago, but apart from a name, I couldn't even find a single photo. It's really strange."

"Speaking of which, Qin Feng is really unlucky. He had already inherited half of the family business, yet he was still forcibly driven out by an illegitimate son."

"Well, I don't sympathize with him one bit. Qin Feng is not a virtuous person. When my family just stumbled a bit, he was quicker than my rival company to kick me when I was down. To be honest, the day I found out Qin Feng was finished, I was so happy that I ate two extra bowls of rice, hehe."

That young man who seemed to have an old grudge against Qin Feng, as if getting into the mood as he spoke, began to tirelessly spread Qin Feng's dark secrets.

"...The tide turns. Back then, Qin Feng lived such an extravagant life. He was bold and had means. On the surface, he was engaged to the eldest daughter of the Xie family, got married in a sweet and loving way, enjoying the support of the Xie family. But behind the scenes, he kept who knows how many mistresses, even young boys. For four years, not a single clue was discovered. His devoted image couldn't have been more solid. If it weren't for being taken down by that illegitimate son last time, he could have deceived the Xie family for a lifetime."

"Miss Xie is also a formidable person. As soon as Qin Feng lost his shares in the Qin family, his newlywed little wife broke his legs, cleaned him out and threw him out. It couldn't have been more miserable, hahaha."

"And... I heard Qin Feng even had his third leg broken. Who knows if it has fully recovered by now and whether he can still have those hundreds of rounds of battles with his mistresses?"

"..."

"Speaking of which, didn't Qin Feng go abroad? Is he thinking of making a comeback?"

It was still the gossip circulating in the wealthy second generation circles. Although the protagonist was his own biological brother, Qin Zhi had no interest in these things. He indifferently glanced at himself in the mirror, rinsing off the foam on his arms. The fresh scent of the hand soap diluted the smell that had rubbed off on him from his good friend. He was barely satisfied with this effect.

But the next second, he heard his brother-in-law's name.

"Come back my ass. If Qin Feng still has a brain, he should honestly stay abroad for the rest of his life. A City is full of his enemies. Not to mention our family's level, even the few big shots at the top don't think much of him. The Su family, you know, the one Su Zheng is from, right?"

"I know. Su Zheng is also formidable. He was in prison for more than half a year. Just as the Su family was about to fall into chaos, he came back and immediately brought the Su family to heel again. My family's old man found it incredible, saying that if he keeps up this momentum, the Su family will quickly return to the top three in A City."

The low-key Qin Zhi quietly washed his arms clean and splashed some water on his face.

"The Su family also has an old grudge with Qin Feng. Come, let me tell you the inside story... This happened quite a while ago, so probably not many people specifically remember it."

"It was probably around five or six years ago. The young master of the Su family was completely bewitched by Qin Feng, causing quite a stir. You know about that young master, right? He was born with an illness and had poor health to begin with. He fell seriously ill from the heartbreak over this matter. Madam Su cried until she fainted. The Su family also hated Qin Feng to death. If the eldest son of the Su family had been around when Qin Feng fell from power, he would have happily joined in stomping on him."

Qin Zhi's motion of splashing water on his face faltered for a moment. With his face full of water, he raised his head and looked at the mirror, at that face that undeniably still bore a resemblance to Qin Feng. His thoughts seemed to be pulled by someone on the other end, momentarily unable to think.

The water that hadn't been wiped dry flowed down along the contours of his features, sliding along the blue veins on his neck, dripping all the way down to his collar, creating a large patch of wet traces, vaguely outlining the robust muscles under his clothes.

Qin Zhi suddenly felt as if he had returned to that morning three years ago when he left the Su residence. That cold, hard iron gate of the Su family, with thorns and roses climbing on it, perhaps had never truly opened for him.

"That young master was only fifteen or sixteen years old at the time. Because of his weak health, he was always cooped up at home. What did he know? If it wasn't Qin Feng deliberately seducing him, I'll twist my head off for you to use as a wine goblet..."

"Pff, forget it, forget it. I don't have such heavy tastes. Besides, you didn't even wash your hair last night..."

The people inside were still talking intermittently. Qin Zhi didn't continue listening. He pulled some tissues from the side to wipe his hands and face dry, and with the scent of hand soap all over him, he turned and walked out of the restroom.

He returned to the private room, looking at his dead drunk friend, and suddenly let out a heavy sigh.

Qin Zhi dragged the person back to the apartment, called a doctor to prescribe medicine and give injections as needed, and finally managed to wake him up.

"I'm sorry for troubling you today." His friend, who had finally sobered up, apologized to him weakly, "You were originally at your boyfriend's place, right? Hurry back, don't keep him waiting too long."

Qin Zhi nodded and opened the plain congee that his assistant had just bought, pushing it in front of him, "Eat a little."

His friend was very touched, "I can't believe you didn't just kick me aside and go back to accompany your boyfriend, and even bought me food. Brothers are indeed reliable."

With that, he started slurping away, not showing any of the half-dead state from earlier.

Qin Zhi: "..."

Watching his friend eating the congee like a starving refugee, Qin Zhi calmly said, "It's not like you did anything wrong. What's the point of secretly drinking yourself into a stupor alone? You're a CEO after all. Do what you need to do. Who are you putting on this self-tormenting show for here? Me?"

His friend's motion of eating the congee paused. When he spoke again, his voice carried a hint of a choked sob, mumbling, "Damn it, how can feelings and work... be the same? You yourself spoil your boyfriend like there's no tomorrow. Try using your work methods on him if you can. And you're lecturing me..."

Qin Zhi: "..."

Feeling upset and confused, he found a few bottles of beer from his friend's fridge and chugged them down. Only after his mind was numbed by the alcohol did he feel a bit calmer.

However, after drinking, he was in no state to drive. Qin Zhi had no choice but to call his personal assistant to come pick him up from the apartment.

After the assistant called to say he had arrived, Qin Zhi said to his friend who had crawled back into bed to play dead: "I'm leaving. I'll give you two days off to rest. Remember to go to work the day after tomorrow, counting today."

His friend's eyes suddenly opened wide and he said in anguish: "Come on, don't you think you're being a bit stingy? I just went through a breakup and you're still treating me like this..."

Qin Zhi glanced at him with unfathomable dark eyes, said nothing, turned and left decisively.

Watching his retreating figure, the friend thought in despair, couldn't Qin Zhi share just a tiny bit of the tenderness he shows his little boyfriend with him? He wasn't asking for much, just one percent would do!

......

Sitting in the back seat, Qin Zhi dialed a number and spoke softly for a moment, then leaned his head back and closed his eyes to rest.

His alcohol tolerance was actually quite good, but today he seemed to get drunk especially easily. After drinking just a few bottles of low-alcohol beer, he already felt dizzy. Qin Zhi closed his eyes and thought for a while, feeling like he had vaguely forgotten something, but no matter how hard he tried, he really couldn't remember what it was.

In the clubhouse, the waiter who had just finished lunch returned to the locker room and frowned in consternation at the coat he had retrieved from the private room.

Although with his eye, he couldn't tell the price of this coat, the gentleman's actions when wiping it earlier clearly showed cherishment, indicating it held extraordinary significance.

Just as he was about to leave the room, he unexpectedly discovered that this coat had been forgotten. If left unattended, it would quickly be thrown out by the cleaning auntie who came to tidy up, so he hurriedly picked it up.

But bringing it back was also worrying. The coat's owner had left early and he didn't have the person's phone number, so how could he return it?

......

Qin Zhi first went home and took a thorough shower, washing off the various strange smells on his body, before having his assistant take him to the Su residence.

It was 2:40 in the afternoon, and as expected, Su Duan was still taking his afternoon nap, his biological clock very punctual. The Su residence was very quiet. At this time, even the servants walked on tiptoe, afraid of waking the young master. No one objected to his appearance. Qin Zhi went upstairs and gently pushed open the door to Su Duan's bedroom.

Then with a click, he locked the door from the inside.

Qin Zhi walked to the bedside and quietly looked down at Su Duan sleeping on the bed.

The window was half closed, with only a small sliver of light shining through the gap onto the corner of the bed. Su Duan was lying on his side, body slightly curled up as he slept, half his face buried in the soft pillow, looking very obedient, as if he would whimper pitifully as soon as he was bullied.

Qin Zhi reached out his hand, using his palm to touch that tender cheek. The sensation against his palm was soft and slightly cool.

Su Duan had a cold constitution. When not sleeping together with him, no matter how thick the quilt, his body never held much warmth.

Perhaps accustomed to his touch, Su Duan only moved his head slightly, showing no signs of waking up at all.

Qin Zhi lowered his eyes. In the shadows cast by the curtains, a hint of darkness flickered in his eyes.

Some things, when too many people know about them, simply can't be covered up. As long as you grab hold of a tiny thread, the rest naturally unfolds before you.

On the way home, he had someone investigate. In just over an hour, by the time he finished showering, he had already received a definitive answer, even accompanied by a more detailed account.

However, Qin Zhi didn't finish listening to all those details before hanging up the phone.

Thinking back, how could there be such coincidences in the world? Three years ago, the Su family lacked a servant, and he, without any relevant experience, happened to be recommended by a not-so-close classmate. Just like that, he was muddleheadedly hired.

Qin Zhi remembered at that time, his resemblance to Qin Feng was much higher than now. Anyone who had seen Qin Feng would definitely do a double take upon seeing him, wondering if they recognized the wrong person. That's why Qin Feng despised him so much. Even though he posed no threat to Qin Feng at the time and never thought of fighting for the Qin family business, Qin Feng still forced him into a desperate situation, leaving him no choice but to become a servant.

When he met Su Duan back then, he only thought he had a stroke of good fortune amidst misfortune. But the investigation results just now felt like a cold slap to his face. Most of the coincidences in the world may have been deliberately orchestrated by someone.

When his little young master's eyes curved into crescent moons as he smiled at him, who was he really thinking of in his heart?

No wonder - no matter what, he refused to let him touch him.

Qin Zhi thought, at noon he was still mocking his friend for being foolish and unable to read people, but now it seemed he himself wasn't much better.

The slight tipsiness that had dissipated during his shower now inexplicably reared its head again, growing more intense and quickly eroding his reason.

He gasped for breath, releasing the hand covering Su Duan's cheek. Eyes half-closed, he forcefully pressed down on those pale lips.

With such a commotion, Su Duan, who was not sleeping very deeply to begin with, was quickly awakened. He opened his eyes in confusion amidst the familiar scent, only to see Qin Zhi's tightly furrowed brows and incessantly trembling eyelashes.

How strange, Qin Zhi seemed especially forceful today, as if wanting to devour him whole. Su Duan couldn't help feeling an instinctive unease in his heart and wanted to shrink back into his little quilt.

But kissing should be fine, and it kind of feels good this way too, Su Duan thought hazily.

However, Su Duan soon discovered that things were starting to go awry. Qin Zhi had clearly promised him last time that he wouldn't do weird things to him, but now he seemed to have completely forgotten about it -

Su Duan was so startled he shivered and completely woke up. Using all his strength, he pushed against Qin Zhi's chest, his blocked mouth also struggling to make "mmph mmph" noises.

Qin Zhi remained silent, his body as immovable as a cold, hard boulder, firmly restraining him. Su Duan pushed so hard his fingertips ached, but couldn't budge him an inch.

Although he hadn't heard the sound of his healing value increasing yet, based on his speculation, if Qin Zhi did new weird things to him, the healing value would definitely -

Feeling his flower being pinched, Su Duan completely panicked. Tears spilled from the corners of his eyes in his anxiety, but Qin Zhi was acting completely out of character today, utterly disregarding his opinion and resolutely letting himself go.

......

[Ding, the healing value of the healing target Qin Zhi has increased by 3 points. The total healing value of the target is currently 96. Host, please keep up the good work!]

"Wuwu - hic..."

Although his body was still trembling slightly, upon hearing the expected notification sound of the healing value increasing, Su Duan could no longer hold back. He fiercely bit Qin Zhi, and after being released, he let out a sorrowful hiccup.

Author's note:

Su Duan: No, no, no, it really can't go up any further! Σ(；д；|||)

Qin Zhi: Men are all big assholes! buying_drinks.jpg