TLSOTMTKOGAYWHTDI Chapter 80

Chapter 78: Xiao Zhu Comes Knocking

When Qi Yanwang rushed to the clubhouse, Liu Jinchen was pacing anxiously in the private room, the ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts.

“What happened?” Qi Yanwang closed the door, his brow furrowed.

Liu Jinchen turned abruptly, his face extremely unsightly.

“Xiao Zhu is missing!”

Qi Yanwang’s fingers tightened instantly, his knuckles turning white.

“Since when?”

“Yesterday afternoon.”

Liu Jinchen ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “The people I sent to follow him said he ditched them in the mall restroom.”

Qi Yanwang’s temples throbbed. The memory of that night flooded back—

The glass of water Xiao Zhu had offered, the gradually blurring vision, and the icy water in the bathroom washing over his burning skin when he woke up…

It’s over. That ticking time bomb is back!

“Find him!”

Qi Yanwang’s voice was as cold as ice. “Turn the place upside down if you have to, but find him.”

Liu Jinchen hesitated. “Don’t be too nervous. He might just want to forget you completely, forget what happened in Jiang City, and hide away. Maybe he…”

“No maybes!” Qi Yanwang interrupted him.

He slumped onto the sofa, feeling like all the blood in his body had solidified.

Remembering the scene that night, he painfully dug his fingers into his hair!

Liu Jinchen lowered his voice. “But Lao Qi, are you sure you don’t want to tell Zhuo Huaimo? You two didn’t really have anything going on. I don’t think Director Zhuo is an unreasonable person!”

“I can’t tell him!”

Qi Yanwang shot up, knocking over a wine glass. Red wine stained the tablecloth a dark crimson.

“Absolutely can’t let him know!”

Liu Jinchen sighed. “But keeping it from him like this…”

“I can’t risk it!” Qi Yanwang’s voice was strained.

“We finally have a fresh start. If something like this happens…”

He didn’t dare to think about it.

He had indeed been drugged that night, and nothing had happened between them, but that person had indeed climbed into his bed. If it hadn’t been for that phone call…

But once something like this is said, it’s like burying a time bomb in the relationship.

He’d seen too many relationships shattered by suspicion. Just imagining Zhuo Huaimo looking at him with suspicion made it hard to breathe.

“Keep looking!”

Qi Yanwang grabbed his coat. “Once you find him, send him abroad directly, the farther away, the better.”

As he walked out of the clubhouse, it started to rain in Jiang City.

Qi Yanwang stood in the rain, letting the cold raindrops soak his suit.

His phone screen lit up with a message from Zhuo Huaimo:

“When are you coming back? I saved you some soup.”

Qi Yanwang stared at this ordinary, domestic message, a sharp pain rising in his chest.

He took a deep breath and replied:

“Coming back soon. Miss you.”

The car drove toward home, the windshield wipers moving rhythmically.

Everything was developing in a positive direction. He absolutely wouldn’t allow anyone to ruin it!

Just as Qi Yanwang’s car turned into the villa district, a familiar figure made him slam on the brakes.

Through the rain-blurred vision, Xiao Zhu stood at his door holding a black umbrella, his white shirt soaked and clinging to his body like a drowned cat.

“Fuck!”

Qi Yanwang slammed his fist on the steering wheel, the horn startling Xiao Zhu.

He jumped out of the car, grabbed Xiao Zhu’s wrist, and dragged him to the corner of the garden under the sycamore tree.

“Are you fucking crazy?”

Qi Yanwang lowered his voice, each word squeezed out between his teeth. “Who told you to come here?”

Xiao Zhu raised his wet eyes.

“I… I just wanted to see you one last time.”

His voice was as light as a feather. “I saw the video of you and Mr. Zhuo at Xingyue. You guys are so good together…”

The curtains on the second floor suddenly twitched.

Qi Yanwang’s back instantly broke out in a cold sweat, and he subconsciously pushed Xiao Zhu deeper into the shadows of the tree.

His phone vibrated in his pocket with a message from Zhuo Huaimo:

“Where are you? The soup is getting cold.”

Qi Yanwang quickly replied with one hand,

“Still stuck in traffic, be good, you drink first.” Only after sending it did he realize his fingers were shaking violently.

“Brother Qi!”

Xiao Zhu suddenly grabbed the corner of his coat. “I’m going to Australia tomorrow. I just wanted to see you one more time!”

“How much do you want?”

Qi Yanwang took out his checkbook directly. “My patience is limited. Take the money and disappear immediately!”

But Xiao Zhu shook his head. “I don’t want money.”

He stepped forward, raindrops dripping from his hair onto Qi Yanwang’s suit collar.

“I just want to tell you, that night I…”

“Shut up!”

Qi Yanwang grabbed his chin. “Nothing happened that night, understand?”

Xiao Zhu hugged him.

“Why do you have to force me to leave? I love you so much. I won’t ruin things between you and Mr. Zhuo. I just want to see you occasionally. Can’t I even have that?”

“I don’t want to see you! I never want to see you! Get out!”

Zhuo Huaimo felt uneasy. Just now, he seemed to have seen Qi Yanwang’s figure.

He pulled back the curtains of the French window. The car was there. Could something have happened?

The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he became. He grabbed his coat and walked into the garden.

He faintly heard voices arguing under the sycamore tree. He quietly approached—

Zhuo Huaimo stopped abruptly.

Under the sycamore tree, Qi Yanwang pushed Xiao Zhu away with so much force that he staggered and crashed into the trunk.

Raindrops ran down Xiao Zhu’s pale cheeks, like tears of grievance.

“Brother Qi…”

Xiao Zhu’s voice trembled. “Do you hate me that much? That night, you clearly…”

“I told you to shut up!”

Qi Yanwang’s forehead veins bulged, but his voice was extremely low. “If you dare to spout nonsense again…”

Xiao Zhu suddenly caught sight of the familiar figure in the rain and the corners of his lips curved imperceptibly.

He threw himself into Qi Yanwang’s arms, intentionally raising his voice.

“I know you have feelings for me! When you held me that night…”

Qi Yanwang froze.

A chill ran up his spine. He slowly turned around and saw Zhuo Huaimo standing ten feet away, raindrops dripping from his hair, his face whiter than paper.

“Huaimo…” Qi Yanwang’s voice caught in his throat.

Qi Yanwang’s heart was pounding wildly in his chest, his ears ringing as if someone had detonated a bomb in his brain.

His blood instantly froze, his limbs as heavy as lead.

He saw Zhuo Huaimo’s eyes—those eyes that were always full of smiles, now like ice-tempered glass, sharp and cold.

It’s over.

The thought struck his mind like lightning. Everything he had worked so hard to build, the relationship that had finally started anew, was about to be reduced to ashes at this moment.

Xiao Zhu seized the opportunity to grab Qi Yanwang’s sleeve, saying with a sob,

“Mr. Zhuo, I’m sorry… I’ll leave right away…”

Zhuo Huaimo’s fingers trembled slightly at his side, his nails digging deeply into his palm.

He forced himself to put on a smile.

“Who is this?”

Qi Yanwang shook off Xiao Zhu’s hand.

“He’s just…”

Just what?

A bed partner?

Zhuo Huaimo narrowed his eyes at Qi Yanwang, who didn’t dare to look at him!

“I’m Brother Qi’s…”

The lovely person beside him timidly spoke, “Former assistant!”

Former assistant?

What clumsy acting and excuses!

When he came over just now, from their argument, Zhuo Huaimo seemed to have heard the name “Xiao Zhu.”

He remembered the name.

Liu Jinchen was on a video call once, and he was next to him. Qi Yanwang answered the call in front of him, but the moment he tried to mention the name, he immediately cut him off!

So this was Xiao Zhu!

Zhuo Huaimo sized him up from head to toe. He had some looks, the typical pale, young, and thin type.

Apart from being young and shameless, he had nothing to offer!

Zhuo Huaimo even felt that treating him as an opponent was a bit beneath him, even if he was….

Young!

Qi Yanwang’s heart almost stopped beating.

Zhuo Huaimo was too calm, frighteningly calm.

Qi Yanwang finally found his voice.

“Huaimo, let me explain…”

“No need!”

Zhuo Huaimo chuckled, his eyes fixed on Xiao Zhu’s face.

“You’re making a scene here, just to lure me out, what do you want to tell me? Go on, I’m listening!”

Xiao Zhu’s expression faltered visibly. He hadn’t expected the other party to see through his tricks, but speak so bluntly!

Tears welled up in his eyes.

“Mr. Zhuo, please don’t misunderstand! Brother Qi drank too much that night, we didn’t do anything…”

“Enough!”

Qi Yanwang grabbed Xiao Zhu’s collar. “If you dare to spout another word of nonsense…”

Zhuo Huaimo chuckled, slowly took two steps forward, raindrops falling from his eyelashes, but not diminishing the sharpness in his eyes.

“What?”

He tilted his head slightly, a cold smile on his lips. “Are you trying to tell me you two slept together?”

Xiao Zhu was stunned by his blunt question, his eyes reddening, his voice faint.

“Mr. Zhuo, I, I didn’t mean that…”

“Oh?”

Zhuo Huaimo lightly raised his eyebrows. “Then what did you mean?”

He looked Xiao Zhu up and down, his gaze as contemptuous as if he were picking out livestock.

“To be honest, I don’t quite believe it.”

He slowly circled the other person.

“Based on my experience of sleeping with him, he wouldn’t like someone like you…”

“Too thin.”

He stretched out his hand and gestured at Xiao Zhu’s waistline, sneering.

“Too bony to hold, he likes someone with some meat on their waist, comfortable to hug.”

Xiao Zhu’s face stiffened, and he subconsciously shrank his shoulders.

“Too short too.”

He tilted his head, laughing wickedly. “How do you even do 69?”

“And your voice won’t do,”

He shook his head. “Too high-pitched, like you haven’t been weaned yet.”

He suddenly lowered his voice, imitating Qi Yanwang’s favorite tone in bed.

“He likes to hear me call out…”

He paused, smiling wickedly. “Never mind, those details are too much for you to handle.”

Qi Yanwang stood to the side, his heart almost leaping out of his chest.

The more understated Zhuo Huaimo’s tone was, the more he could feel the suppressed anger.

He knew him too well. He would never say such things normally.

The current him had a frightening sense of madness.

But Qi Yanwang wasn’t afraid, he was in pain, a suffocating heartache!

And he had brought that pain upon him!

Qi Yanwang’s throat tightened.

“Huaimo, I…”

“That’s enough,”

Zhuo Huaimo raised his hand to interrupt him, turned and walked back, his back as straight as a board.

“The rain is getting heavier, let’s go inside.”

The moment he turned, he tasted a hint of metallic sweetness on his tongue—

He hadn’t even noticed that he had bitten down too hard, and blood had seeped into his mouth.

He couldn’t lose, even if his heart was breaking, he absolutely couldn’t lose!