Is This The Right Way To Repay A Favor? Chapter 46
byThe Child
In just over a month, Jiang Zhou’s eyelashes had grown back. The thick, long lashes brushed against Shen Zhiyu’s palm like a feather, tickling his heart.
That feather was still trembling slightly, causing a subtle, tingling numbness in Shen Zhiyu’s heartbeat.
Shen Zhiyu’s hand slid down, feeling the body beneath the blanket also shaking uncontrollably.
Shen Zhiyu recalled the video he had received on the way back. In that brief clip, less than a minute long, Jiang Zhou’s clothes were disheveled, and he weakly ordered the man to leave.
Even through the screen, Shen Zhiyu could feel his trembling body and the helplessness and fear he was experiencing at that moment.
Shen Zhiyu didn’t even dare to imagine what would have happened to Jiang Zhou if Yuan Chong and the others hadn’t arrived in time.
Thinking of this, a fire leaped in Shen Zhiyu’s heart. He wanted nothing more than to drag Jiang Zhou out from under the blanket and make him soberly realize the malice of human nature.
But the person under the blanket was still shaking uncontrollably, seemingly terrified.
Shen Zhiyu didn’t consider himself a good person, but he couldn’t bring himself to take advantage of someone in such a state.
His hand rested on the blanket, patting gently, like soothing an infant in a swaddle.
“Are you still very scared?”
Jiang Zhou didn’t know what he was asking and didn’t dare to open his eyes. He shook his head, then nodded.
“Scared, yet you still dare to drink someone else’s alcohol.”
“Jiang Zhou, are you a child?”
“Don’t you know not to eat things given by strangers?”
“Even children are better behaved than you.”
Jiang Zhou couldn’t help but whisper in his own defense, “We were high school classmates.”
“High school classmates?” Shen Zhiyu laughed in exasperation. “A fine high school classmate.”
“Jiang Zhou, did you consider the consequences?”
Jiang Zhou didn’t know about the minute-long hidden camera footage involving him, but he was good at reading the situation. Hearing the severity in Shen Zhiyu’s tone, he immediately promised obediently, “It won’t happen again.”
“Mm. Go to sleep.” Shen Zhiyu couldn’t bear to criticize him too much at this moment, softening his voice. “I’m here. Don’t be afraid. Sleep soundly.”
The tension and fear from being drugged seemed to surge belatedly at this moment, but with the other person’s actions, a strange sense of security spread, like being gently cradled by a warm wave.
Jiang Zhou had thought it would be difficult to fall asleep with Shen Zhiyu beside him. But unexpectedly, under Shen Zhiyu’s soothing presence, he quickly drifted off.
Shen Zhiyu lifted the blanket and placed the kitten he was holding into the bed. “You stay here and sleep with him.”
The kitten meowed and nestled into Jiang Zhou’s embrace.
Shen Zhiyu tucked the blanket around him, kissed Jiang Zhou’s eyes, and then left.
“That side has been dealt with; he won’t be getting out for ten or twenty years. These few pictures are candid shots of CEO Jiang, and they have also been completely handled.” Wang Lei sent Shen Zhiyu a few more photos.
Shen Zhiyu clicked on them and saw pictures of Jiang Zhou attending banquets and bars, all taken from hidden angles.
“They targeted CEO Jiang about half a month ago. It was an organized and premeditated operation.”
Shen Zhiyu hummed in acknowledgment. “Delete all the photos.”
Wang Lei paused for a second, and while deleting the pictures, he couldn’t help but ask, “That precious?”
Even he wasn’t allowed to keep or look at these photos. Although he had no intention of keeping them.
“Mm.” Shen Zhiyu saved the photos. Jiang Zhou in a professional setting was vastly different from the awkward, helpless person he was in private. Dressed in a sharp suit, meticulous, and habitually wearing glasses to hide those innocent, pitiful deer eyes, he looked imposing.
Unlike the protective instinct he felt before, this version of Jiang Zhou inspired a greater desire to conquer.
Jiang Zhou slept soundly. The kitten in his arms was starving and kept meowing loudly until it woke him up.
It felt like he was hugging a fireball. Jiang Zhou lifted the blanket and saw a small cat nestled in his arms.
Jiang Zhou remembered being coaxed to sleep by Shen Zhiyu last night. He didn’t know when the kitten had gotten into his bed.
The kitten was usually distant from him, so it likely hadn’t come in on its own. Could Shen Zhiyu have put it there?
The kitten meowed twice more and rubbed its head against Jiang Zhou’s neck.
After sleeping together for a night, the man and the cat were much closer.
Jiang Zhou got up and poured the kitten food and water.
Jiang Zhou was surprised to find that it was already ten in the morning. His regular morning wake-up biological clock was completely off.
Shen Zhiyu had sent several WeChat messages—selfies of his newly done makeup and styling.
Jiang Zhou replied with “Received.”
Shen Zhiyu was dissatisfied: “Not good-looking?”
“Good-looking.” Jiang Zhou thought of a few phrases and sent them over.
“Handsome and refined, divinely graceful…”
Shen Zhiyu: “I’m going to the shoot now. Remember to eat.”
Jiang Zhou replied, “Okay.” After making breakfast, he consciously sent Shen Zhiyu a photo of it.
There was a trending topic related to Shen Zhiyu.
Jiang Zhou clicked on it and saw the promotional selfie Shen Zhiyu had posted. The angle was slightly different from the photo he had sent him privately.
Jiang Zhou downloaded and saved both before seeing Shen Zhiyu’s caption: “Do I look good?”
This question overlapped with the message Shen Zhiyu had sent him, giving Jiang Zhou the illusion that he had written it deliberately.
What was he thinking! Jiang Zhou patted his flushed cheeks, warning himself not to let his imagination run wild.
Jiang Zhou had intentionally avoided paying attention to Shen Zhiyu’s affairs for a while, so he hadn’t inquired about his filming schedule or subsequent resources.
Today, he couldn’t resist and asked Wei Yan.
Wei Yan had been prepared for a long time, just waiting for Jiang Zhou to ask.
“This shoot in Yanzhen will last a week, and he’ll be back the day after tomorrow. Following that, there are several endorsement shoots and a charity gala. He’ll join the next production next month, which is a spy film, also playing a villain.”
“Oh, right, CEO Jiang, I heard that Mr. Shen’s shoot in Yanzhen hasn’t been smooth. He had stomach pain right after arriving, and yesterday he fell and injured his arm while doing wire work. It’s a minor fracture.”
Injured!
He hadn’t noticed yesterday.
“Did he go to the hospital? Is it serious?”
“The on-set doctor checked it. It’s not serious, but this fall aggravated an old injury, so he needs proper rest and recuperation afterward.”
Jiang Zhou instructed Wei Yan to contact a star-rated restaurant to send a chef specifically to the set. After hanging up, he contacted Yuan Rong for a team of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners to send to the set, ostensibly to provide health support for the entire crew.
Even after doing all this, it wasn’t enough.
Anxiety instantly swept over him, and the urge for self-punishment began to stir again.
Jiang Zhou looked at the fruit knife on the coffee table and slowly reached out.
The cold blade reflected Jiang Zhou’s face. His complexion was pale, veins pulsed in his forehead, and his face was covered in cold sweat.
Jiang Zhou gripped the knife and pressed it against the palm of his left hand, slowly drawing it across.
A blur of movement suddenly lunged at him, and the force caused Jiang Zhou to fall to the floor. The knife clattered onto the cold, reflective tile with a crisp sound.
“Meow—”
Only a small scratch broke the skin on his palm, with tiny dots of blood emerging.
Jiang Zhou didn’t feel pain. He looked down at the kitten nestled in his arms, his expression slightly bewildered.
“Meow meow—” The kitten meowed at him again, its cry sharp, and its claws, though gentle, carried a hint of anger as they scratched him.
The kitten bit at his collar, its furry head rubbing against his neck. Jiang Zhou suddenly thought of Shen Zhiyu, and his punishment.
The restlessness in his body seemed to abruptly cease at that moment, slowly and clearly disappearing bit by bit.
For the first time, Jiang Zhou distinctly felt the turmoil of the punishment rationally receding. It seemed to have become a controllable torrent; if he tried a little harder, if he was a little more forceful, he could stem the flow at any time.
The kitten jumped from his arms onto his forearm and extended its tongue to lick the small wound on his palm.
A strange feeling flowed into his heart. Jiang Zhou silently turned his head to look at the cold knife lying on the floor, and for the first time, a faint sense of calm arose deep within him.
The day’s filming wrapped up in the evening. After Shen Zhiyu finished his scenes, the traditional Chinese medicine team arrived in Yanzhen.
His assistant, Zhang Fanshu, came to call Shen Zhiyu. “Mr. Shen, a TCM team has arrived for the crew. The director asked you to go see them.”
Shen Zhiyu changed into casual clothes and went to the hotel arranged by the production team.
A professor gave him a set of massages and prepared a bottle of medicinal wine for him. “Rub this on whenever you have free time. It will help with your old injury.”
Shen Zhiyu thanked him and asked for the name of the hospital. When he looked it up and saw the director’s surname was Yuan, he had a guess.
Back in his room, Zhang Fanshu pushed in a dining cart.
Shen Zhiyu didn’t even look at it. “I don’t want to eat.”
“They changed the chef today. Try it,” Wang Lei said from the side.
The crew had somehow changed chefs, and the cooking had improved dramatically. It was so delicious that Wang Lei had devoured three bowls of rice that evening.
Only then did Shen Zhiyu look at the dinner on the cart.
One dish looked particularly familiar.
“Where is the chef from?” Shen Zhiyu picked up his chopsticks and took a piece of crispy bone.
It tasted very similar to the tea-leaf fried crispy bone he had eaten in Yongnan Village, but it was still missing something.
“I heard they were hired from Jiang Province. Isn’t it delicious?”
Jiang Province?
How thoughtful.
“Why the sudden change in chefs?”
“Because they’re rich and powerful! I heard this is a chef from a star-rated restaurant.”
“Oh, I see.” Shen Zhiyu began to eat unhurriedly.
“I’m going to have the doctor adjust my bones later. My neck has been bothering me lately,” Wang Lei said, getting up from the sofa, stretching, and heading toward the door.
Just as he reached the doorway, he realized something.
“Holy cow! Did CEO Jiang specifically arrange this for you?”
Shen Zhiyu smiled at him. What do you think?
“CEO Jiang is generous! We’re benefiting from the domineering CEO’s favor.”
After Shen Zhiyu finished dinner, Zhang Fanshu cleaned up and left the room.
Shen Zhiyu uploaded photos of his dinner and the medicinal wine prepared by the doctor and professor to his social media platform.
“Languang is excellent. I’m being well taken care of. Everyone, don’t worry.”
Shen Zhiyu’s two promotional posts today caused his engagement index to skyrocket, and he quickly trended.
This was also seen as a response to fans’ doubts about Languang Media, and the fans’ concerns gradually subsided after the principal figure responded.
In fact, Jiang Zhou had already received feedback from Zhang Fanshu before seeing the trending topic.
Zhang Fanshu was the assistant Languang Media assigned to Shen Zhiyu. Besides handling Shen Zhiyu’s work, he also reported directly to Jiang Zhou about Shen Zhiyu’s situation.
Jiang Zhou had previously intended to cut off contact with Shen Zhiyu, so he hadn’t activated him. It wasn’t until he heard about Shen Zhiyu’s injury that he contacted Zhang Fanshu to understand the specifics.
After his promotional post, Shen Zhiyu sent a separate message to Jiang Zhou.
“CEO Jiang, starting your repayment again?”
When Jiang Zhou saw the word “repayment,” he breathed a sigh of relief.
He quickly took the hint. “Yes, I was negligent before.”
Shen Zhiyu initiated a video call.
Jiang Zhou answered and saw Shen Zhiyu on the screen, a smile playing on his lips, carrying a hint of amusement.
“CEO Jiang, have you heard a saying?”
“What saying?”
“Repayment is always done by offering oneself.”
“CEO Jiang, are you ready?”