At 12:30 AM, Huo Mingjun was sound asleep when he was abruptly awakened by a call from Huo Zhikuan. Upon hearing the words, his only thought was to send Huo Zhikuan back to his mother’s womb and make him reconsider why he came into this world.
“What’s going on?”
He rubbed his tired eyes and listened to Huo Zhikuan report the situation. After a few seconds, his fingers suddenly froze between his eyebrows. “Who did you say? ”
“Xie Guan, the one you asked me to investigate last time, isn’t he your guy?” There was faint rustling in the background. Huo Zhikuan continued, “He seems heavily drunk. What should I do? If he sleeps here tonight, he’ll definitely freeze into an icicle by tomorrow.”
Caught off guard by Xie Guan’s name, Huo Mingjun didn’t fully process it yet. He subconsciously asked, “Doesn’t he have an assistant?”
“No, everyone’s gone,” Huo Zhikuan heard his businesslike tone and assumed they didn’t have much contact. So, he tactfully suggested, “How about I arrange something here? The club has guest rooms; him staying won’t make any difference to them.”
Huo Mingjun hesitated for two seconds before decisively saying, “No need. You bring him inside and wait. I’ll be there shortly.”
Huo Mingjun’s residence was not in the same district as the Blue Moon Club. By the time he arrived, nearly half an hour passed. Huo Zhikuan left Xie Guan in the employee lounge on the ground floor and found a staff member to look after him.
Huo Mingjun walked into the lobby chilled to the bone. Huo Zhikuan, eyes bloodshot with exhaustion, waiting eagerly as if he found a lifesaver. “He’s here, he’s inside.”
Huo Zhikuan glanced behind Huo Mingjun, expecting to see a bodyguard or an assistant. However, Huo Mingjun just acknowledged him with a casual “Hmm,” paying him little attention. He walked straight past him into the lounge.
Huo Zhikuan was dumbfounded. “My goodness, did you… come alone?”
As he pushed the door open, Xie Guan was sitting on a folding chair in the lounge, his face pale and eyes tightly closed. His gaunt chin was hidden inside the collar of his coat, with only a hint of drunken redness on his cheeks.
Huo Mingjun hadn’t seen him for almost two months. Now, looking at that familiar face, it seemed oddly unfamiliar.
In a certain sense, Xie Guan succeeded.
He used the most decisive and resolute method to completely separate himself from Huo Mingjun’s perception of him and Cheng Sheng: Huo Mingjun would never see him again, and therefore, he would never link him to Cheng Sheng.
This method of hurting his enemy even at the cost of himself was surprisingly effective. The barrier between them was broken, and Huo Mingjun found that every time he saw Xie Guan, the memories of them replayed in his mind, ultimately freezing at the moment when Xie Guan calmly said, “Let’s stop seeing each other.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
He is not Cheng Sheng.
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Xie Guan’s brow furrowed uncomfortably. He closed his eyes and haphazardly grabbed his hand, mumbling, “Stop shaking… dizzy.”
Caught off guard, Huo Mingjun was suddenly grasped by his icy fingers. This unexpected physical contact made him pause for a moment.
Huo Mingjun stayed still for what felt like minutes before his breath gradually steadied. He realized he might have been unnerved by Xie Guan. Every move he made now seemed as careful as if he was about to touch an electric wire, afraid that the slightest misstep would trigger an explosion.
If this continues, neither of them will find peace tonight.
Known as the cold-hearted king, Huo Mingjun had a major advantage: he was decisive. Once he identified the root of the problem, he quickly organized his thoughts and no longer attempted to seek Xie Guan’s opinion. He called a waiter, and the two of them helped the drunken man into a car.
Huo Mingjun laid Xie Guan down in the back seat. After instructing a bewildered Huo Zhikuan, he got into the car, turned on the navigation, and drove toward Xie Guan’s residence.
There was quite a struggle when they arrived downstairs. Huo Mingjun exerted great effort to get the heavily intoxicated man out of the car. This rascal who couldn’t walk a straight line in his drunken stupor, recognized him once he was roused. He didn’t speak, and just continuously pushed him away, refusing to go inside.
The narrow corridor of the old building made it difficult. The two of them jostled and shoved, and Huo Mingjun nearly lost his grip several times. He broke into a cold sweat on his forehead during the freezing winter night.
Xie Guan swayed unsteadily, persistently attempting to keep Huo Mingjun away from him even in his inebriated state. The grudge he held even in this condition showed how deeply he was hurt; he usually tried hard to conceal it, but some emotions couldn’t be contained. Alcohol eroded the frail lock, and Huo Mingjun’s appearance dealt another heavy blow to it.
Huo Mingjun felt guilty, so he indulged Xie Guan’s rejection and patiently assisted him up the stairs. However, Xie Guan was unyielding. When he couldn’t push him away, he grabbed the stair railing and flatly refused to move forward.
Huo Mingjun took a deep breath, feeling his patience reaching its limit: “Stop it, let’s go home first, we can talk at home, okay?”
Xie Guan’s eyes were bloodshot, behaving like a trapped animal. He didn’t look at him or speak, and refused to budge an inch.
Huo Mingjun’s temper was truly not good. The young master was pampered since childhood and never humbled himself to coax anyone. After undergoing significant changes as he got older, his personality became even more cold. His sense of guilt could only last for fifteen minutes; when that time was up, his decisive and stern side emerged.
“Speak up, don’t put on this pitiful act. What are you trying to prove by being stubborn with me here?” He pinched Xie Guan’s elbow and forcibly pulled him close, angrily saying, “There should be a limit to your nonsense. If you want to get into a drunken frenzy, go do it at your own home!”
As Huo Mingjun’s voice rose, all the motion sensor lights in the corridor lit up. He felt Xie Guan’s body tremble from his yelling.
But before he could soften, Xie Guan hoarsely said, “Why are you always like this…”
Huo Mingjun interrupted, “What?”
“Do you have to appear whenever you want and disappear whenever you want… Did I ask you to come pick me up? Did I ask for your help? Does my life have anything to do with you? Huo Mingjun, I told you we shouldn’t have any contact anymore. Why do you keep approaching me?!”
Huo Mingjun was stunned.
Xie Guan’s eyes were bloodshot, his expression on the verge of collapse. He shouted with all his might, “I’m not Cheng Sheng! You’ve mistaken me for someone else! Please, stop bothering me, can’t you?!”
His strained shout felt like a heavy blow to Huo Mingjun’s heart, leaving behind an indescribable sense of bitterness and pain. Huo Mingjun’s lips moved slightly, about to say something, but at that moment, an irate voice from upstairs broke the silence in the hallway: “What time is it? What the hell are you yelling about in the middle of the night! Are you crazy?!”
The sudden voice was like a bucket of cold water poured on their raging anger, interrupting their tense standoff and leaving behind only a weak and awkward silence.
The brief moment of sobriety was quickly washed away by the rising alcohol, his anger flaring up once again. His emotions fluctuated wildly, and now everything appeared blurred to Xie Guan, his temples throbbing as if about to split open. He was uncomfortable being held, so he lightly moved his arm. Not paying attention, Huo Mingjun instinctively let go.
Losing his only support, Xie Guan instantly became a pile of mud, collapsing towards the ground.
Huo Mingjun was startled, but luckily, he was standing one step lower than Xie Guan and his reaction was fast enough. Seeing Xie Guan about to fall, he quickly reached out and caught him.
Due to the momentum, both of them tilted backward together, and Xie Guan’s unbalanced body crashed uncontrollably into Huo Mingjun’s arms.
Huo Mingjun gasped for breath.
When Huo Mingjun saw Xie Guan earlier, he relied on a rough estimate and felt that Xie Guan seemed to have lost some weight. Now that he was holding him—the hard bones of an adult man pressed against his chest—Huo Mingjun truly felt how much weight Xie Guan lost.
Xie Guan was not short; he was close to six feet tall. However, Huo Mingjun’s frame could completely envelop him. His waist and slender back were wrapped in a thick down jacket, easily embraced with just one hand.
He was not the only one who couldn’t forget.
This collision was a bit forceful; it took Xie Guan a while to recover his senses. His face was mostly buried in the crook of Huo Mingjun’s shoulder. He tried to struggle, but was held down.
One of Huo Mingjun’s hands circled his waist, while the other gently kneaded the back of his neck, as if soothing an unruly cat. The voice near his ear was low and slow, filled with gentle reassurance. “Shh, be quiet. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have scolded you just now… It’s all my fault. Let me take you upstairs now, and we can talk at home, alright?”
Xie Guan weakly raised his hand to push him away, opened his eyes slightly, and suddenly felt a whirlwind of dizziness.
“Still feeling dizzy?” Huo Mingjun gently rubbed his back. “Take a break. We’re only two floors away from home. Just endure a little longer.”
Since they met, their friendship didn’t deepen much, but they certainly had some intense arguments. Huo Mingjun summed up his experiences and roughly figured out how to deal with Xie Guan. This man responded better to kindness than force. He appeared gentle, but in reality, he was quite unyielding. He became a strong opponent when pushed too far. People like him couldn’t be forced, so Huo Mingjun adopted a policy of gentleness to cater to his temperament.
In theory, someone with Huo Mingjun’s status and position was not naturally inclined to be submissive. However, there was a saying, “One thing dissolves another, like tofu in brine.” Between them, it seemed like Huo Mingjun was more dominant, but the one truly maintaining their friendship was Xie Guan. Huo Mingjun was authoritative, and Xie Guan was willing to accommodate him. If one day Xie Guan refused to tolerate it anymore, he would simply leave without looking back, no second thoughts.
The methods he honed through several failures proved to be effective. After ten minutes, Huo Mingjun finally climbed the last two flights of stairs, stumbling and fumbling, and managed to open the bedroom door. He finally safely escorted Xie Guan into the bedroom.
Huo Mingjun let out a sigh of relief as he leaned against the edge of the bed. He glanced at Xie Guan, who had his arm resting on his forehead, then bent down to help him take off his shoes, socks, and heavy coat, arranging him into a comfortable position.
Xie Guan was only wearing a thin shirt inside, with the top two buttons of the collar undone, revealing a small section of conspicuous collarbones. When Huo Mingjun tried to cover him with a blanket, he accidentally noticed that the skin on his neck was red and hot, with a few small red rashes appearing in some places.
Worried that he might have a bad reaction to alcohol, Huo Mingjun quickly woke up the almost sleeping Xie Guan, “Xie Guan? Wake up first, you have a rash on your neck, what happened?”
Xie Guan responded with a groggy “Hmm.”
Huo Mingjun pulled down the hand that was resting on his forehead and checked his temperature. Concerned, he asked, “Has this happened before when you drank? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere else?”
“It’s okay,” Xie Guan said in a hoarse voice, closing his eyes uncomfortably and speaking weakly, one word at a time, “Allergic reaction.”
Huo Mingjun’s heart skipped a beat, “Are you allergic to alcohol?”
Xie Guan remained silent for a moment while enduring the dizziness, and slightly opened his eyes.
In that instant, his gaze was completely sober, unlike someone heavily intoxicated. The deep black pupils reflected the bright light above, emitting a chilling aura.
“No,” he said softly, “It’s ‘to you’.”
The last part was very unexpected. I can’t wait to see what’s gonna happen next.
Thank you for the translation!
Lol burn huo mingjun.. You never appreciate things truly until they’re gone huh
Oh dang! That was a good one!
Hahahaha
Uf! The last sentence…