After Redeeming the Paranoid Villain [Transmigration] - Chapter 24.2

The collective mockery seemed to enrage the original poster. He posted “Just you wait” before vanishing from the internet. Everyone assumed he was just another keyboard warrior and treated it as a joke.

Su Yu felt as exhausted as if he had been on a real battlefield. When he dragged himself home, Gu Chen had already ordered dinner to be laid out on the table.

“You are back?” Gu Chen asked.

“Yes.”

“Then let us eat.”

Lately, their interactions had been ordinary, if one could ignore Su Yu’s subtle attempts to avoid him. Gu Chen’s eyes lost focus for a moment. Ever since Li Wen had left that day, Su Yu had been keeping his distance. The thought that Su Yu was intentionally avoiding him filled Gu Chen with a nameless frustration. Anyone could be afraid of him or avoid him, but not Su Yu.

The steam from Gu Chen’s cup obscured his darkening gaze. After dinner, Su Yu returned to his room while Gu Chen watched his back. He opened a folder on his computer named “La Lueur,” which was locked. Inside was only one photo: the snowy picture Huaxing had used for the announcement. Gu Chen stared at the image, his fingers resting on the trackpad as his light brown eyes grew deep.

When Su Yu opened his wardrobe, he was shocked by the contents. Aside from his Psyduck pajamas tucked in a corner, his casual clothes had been pushed aside by rows of suits, shirts, and trench coats. They were all high end brands and current styles. Su Yu guessed this was Gu Chen’s doing. Every suit was in his exact size, though he did not know how Gu Chen had obtained them.

Gu Chen was a perfectionist to a morbid degree. Even though he was disabled and stayed home, his daily attire reflected this obsession. As Su Yu stared at the clothes, a memory surfaced. He saw Gu Chen in a black suit, holding a wine glass and standing on a terrace, looking down like a king at the crowd below. This memory did not belong to him; it was a fragment of the original Su Yu’s memory from a time before Gu Chen was injured.

Downstairs, Gu Chen played with his phone, estimating that Su Yu had seen the clothes. A pleasant curve appeared on his lips. He had personally specified every item the butler bought. It gave him the feeling that Su Yu belonged to him from the inside out. He closed his eyes, hiding the madness within. Perhaps it began when Su Yu disobeyed him and entered his room, or when Su Yu held him and said he was his partner. Whatever the reason, Gu Chen could no longer look away.

Su Yu was like a pure white hibiscus blooming in the middle of a deep swamp, brilliant and beautiful.

Su Yu had only been asleep for a short while when he was awakened by his ringtone. He instinctively flicked the mute switch and rolled over to continue sleeping, but the caller was persistent, ringing as if possessed. After the phone had vibrated for several minutes, Su Yu finally answered with an expression of total collapse.

The moment he placed the phone to his ear, Zhou Chuyao’s voice rang out. “What is wrong with you? Why did you suddenly run off to become a celebrity? You have certainly grown bold, doing this without even discussing it with me, have you not?”

Su Yu gave a strained laugh. When he made his decision, he truly had not considered Zhou Chuyao.

While Su Yu struggled to find a response, Zhou Chuyao began to list his misdeeds one by one. “How tragic. I only found out about your debut because my secretary told me. By the time I checked my phone, I saw that my own son had signed with another company behind my back. If that were not enough, you signed with my rival company.”

Zhou Chuyao wiped away a stray tear. “Is this your way of protesting against your mother?”

Su Yu, who did not have such complicated schemes and actually thought that not signing with his own family’s company was saving resources for other artists, could only utter a confused, “Huh?”

Zhou Chuyao ignored his confusion and indulged in her own imagination. “I understand. A son grows up and leaves the nest. You felt that my company restricted you, so you wanted to escape.”

Su Yu spoke up weakly. “No, that is not it.”

“I see. Perhaps this is simply the best arrangement. A son married off is like water splashed out; it turns out my son’s last name is now Gu,” Zhou Chuyao continued to lament.

“Please do not think that way,” Su Yu said helplessly.

“Or was it that fox, Gu Chen, who enchanted you and sent you out to sell your face just to earn money for the household?”

In just a few moments, Zhou Chuyao had hallucinated an entirely different version of events. Her story was nearly as tragic as the “poor little orphan” persona Li Wen had once suggested. The more she thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Thinking of Gu Chen’s face and how her son threw himself at the man, she began to curse Gu Chen even more harshly. Seeing that the plot was spiraling out of control, Su Yu quickly reined in her wild imagination.

“Mom, it is really not as sordid as you think. I am doing this voluntarily.”

“Voluntarily being brainwashed?” Thinking of her son’s devotion and Gu Chen’s disdainful contempt for him, she snorted. “It turns out my son has Stockholm Syndrome.”

Su Yu felt like the world was ending.

“Mom, listen to my explanation. I really wanted to be a star on my own. I did not sign with our company primarily because I was afraid you would tilt all the resources toward me and leave no way for others to survive,” Su Yu explained.

“That is not necessarily true. Money still needs to be made,” Zhou Chuyao replied with a grounded sense of reality that left Su Yu speechless. It turned out he was the only one being sentimental. He had forgotten that besides being a mother, Zhou Chuyao was also a major shareholder of Zhou Corporation Entertainment.

Su Yu’s face fell. The matter was settled and could not be changed, yet he felt a strange sense of loss. After a few distracted remarks, he hung up the phone.

On the other end, Zhou Chuyao looked at Su Guangji, who had just rushed back from abroad. She pursed her lips and said, “Our son has grown up and has his own ideas now.”

Su Guangji ruffled her hair. “You were clearly worried about him, so why did you say those things to upset him?”

Zhou Chuyao huffed. “He made a decision without consulting me. Am I not allowed to be a little angry?”

“If our son had come to the Zhou Corporation, what would you have done?” Su Guangji asked. He knew her best, and his question caused her to fall silent for a long time.

“So, his concerns were not without reason,” Su Guangji said with a smile. “Even though the Zhou family has a massive estate, he was considering your position. He was afraid you would squander it all on him, the little rascal.”

Zhou Chuyao did not respond, but the tension on her face visibly softened.

Su Yu drove to the Huaxing building. To minimize gossip, he had swapped the eye-catching Maybach Gu Chen had given him for a common Toyota. Because of this, Gu Chen had been sulking in the living room for a long time.

In truth, Su Yu was not certain if Gu Chen was actually angry. Gu Chen was always deep and difficult to read. When he had caught sight of the Toyota keys in Su Yu’s hand, he had only given them a faint glance. Su Yu had felt a wave of inexplicable panic and blurted out a long explanation for why he had changed cars. Gu Chen had only given a lukewarm “Oh” and said nothing more, but their long period of living together allowed Su Yu to guess that the man was displeased.

He sighed deeply, thinking that he would have to go home and coax a certain grumpy person after work. He is just like a child, Su Yu grumbled internally.

Today was another routine vocal training session. When it ended, Li Wen handed a bottle of water to Su Yu. “Hard work.”

Su Yu took the water and smiled in response. Ever since he had left Su Yu’s home, Li Wen felt as though he had stepped into a world of Western magical realism. Now that his sanity had returned, he hesitated for a long time before finally asking, “Do you wealthy people have some sort of misunderstanding about what a middle-class family is?”

Su Yu realized Li Wen was referring to his “middle-class” claim from their first meeting. He avoided Li Wen’s gaze uncomfortably. “I just did not want to be too high-profile.”

“But you cannot be low-profile to this extent!” Li Wen roared. His only relief was that he had not given Su Yu any ridiculous public personas; otherwise, he would have had to apologize with his life.

Speaking of death, Li Wen thought of the man who had sat silently beside Su Yu that day. He could not suppress his curiosity and asked cautiously, “About your husband’s legs…”

Su Yu’s movements stiffened, and his expression darkened. “He will get better.”

Leaving only that sentence, Su Yu exited the room.

In the empty stairwell, Su Yu lowered his guard and leaned against the wall. He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and shook one out. He did not smoke often, but he always lit one when he was troubled. He watched the smoke drift, feeling as though his worries might dissipate along with it.

Although he had told Li Wen that Gu Chen would get better, he had no certainty at all. To this day, Gu Chen had not shown the slightest desire for treatment. Even though Su Yu was worried, he did not dare overstep his bounds to ask.

As Su Yu was lost in thought, the stairwell door was pushed open. A cold voice rang out. “So, you know how to smoke?”

Even without looking up, Su Yu knew the owner of the voice. It was definitely his sharp-tongued, wicked capitalist boss.

“I did not know President Chi had a hobby for voyeurism,” Su Yu said with a light laugh. He looked up at Chi Wenjing with no fear in his eyes.

Chi Wenjing leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed, looking at Su Yu meaningfully. He did not get angry at the remark; instead, he closed the distance and stood directly in front of Su Yu. He was a head taller than Su Yu, forcing the latter to look up at him. Under Su Yu’s gaze, a malicious curve appeared on Chi Wenjing’s lips. “Su Yu, do you really no longer recognize me?”

That single sentence caused the cigarette between Su Yu’s fingers to tremble, dropping a bit of ash. Su Yu forced himself to remain calm. After the incident with Xia Maoyan, he had memorized everyone in his contact list to avoid such a blunder. However, he had not accounted for the possibility that the original host knew Chi Wenjing, especially since the name was not in his phone.

While he searched his mind, Su Yu adjusted his posture to mimic the original host’s cynical attitude. He took a drag of the cigarette and said, “I know many people. It is only natural to forget one or two occasionally.”

Chi Wenjing stared at him for a long time before he laughed. He laughed heartily, as if he had discovered a fascinating toy. Seeing this snake-like man laugh sent a shiver down Su Yu’s spine. He felt that Chi Wenjing and Gu Chen were both madmen, but while Gu Chen’s madness was a suppressed internal struggle, Chi Wenjing displayed his insanity and malice without any filter.

“True enough,” Chi Wenjing said, his eyes dark and unreadable. “Young Master Su is a busy man with a short memory, so it is natural you would not remember. However… we have never even met, so why do you speak as if we have?”

At this point, the malice on Chi Wenjing’s lips became more apparent. He placed his hands in his pockets and leaned down, resting his chin near Su Yu’s shoulder. His voice whispered in Su Yu’s ear like a lover’s murmur. “I was only joking with you. Why did you take it so seriously?”

Su Yu stepped back to avoid him. He looked at the man before him. He did not know if Chi Wenjing had said that purely for fun or if he had detected an anomaly and was testing him. But since the man called it a joke, Su Yu would strike back in kind.

Su Yu took another drag of the cigarette and then, as if by accident, blew the smoke directly into Chi Wenjing’s face. As Chi Wenjing frowned in displeasure, Su Yu stubbed out the cigarette and brushed past him.

“Is that so? Then perhaps President Chi’s face is simply similar to some of the host club boys I have seen at Shanmian, causing me to mistake you for one.”

The stairwell door creaked as Su Yu opened it. Behind him, his mocking tone drifted back. “I am terribly sorry for confusing President Chi with a host.”

Without looking back, Su Yu left the area.

As the footsteps faded, the curve on Chi Wenjing’s lips became more pronounced. He leaned against the spot where Su Yu had been standing. Despite the sharp insult, he felt no anger. Instead, his eyes held a glimmer of excitement. Chi Wenjing had actually lied to Su Yu; he had seen him once before at a business banquet. He had watched Su Yu navigate the room with a wine glass, embodying the very definition of a profligate, decadent playboy.

At that time, Su Yu seemed like a hollow shell built of gold and jewels, his very bones carrying the rot of excess. He was handsome, but he was rotten from the inside, as if he had lost his soul. Consequently, Chi Wenjing had lost interest after only a moment of initial attraction.

But now…

Chi Wenjing toyed with the ash Su Yu had left on the windowsill. The current Su Yu felt entirely different. It was as if the rot in his bones had suddenly vanished, replaced by a flower blooming in a wasteland—a flower that attracted people to follow it, even to their deaths. It was as if only this Su Yu was worthy of such a stunning face.

“Things have become interesting,” Chi Wenjing laughed. His voice echoed in the empty stairwell, filled with a joy and madness that bordered on insanity.

Su Yu finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the perverted boss had not followed him. During the audition, Chi Wenjing had appeared to be a refined gentleman, leading Su Yu to believe he was merely sharp-tongued. After spending time around him, Su Yu realized the man was a pervert who enjoyed seeing people in pain.

“Madman!” Su Yu cursed after starting his car.

Halfway through his drive, his phone rang. It was an unknown number. He pulled over and answered. As expected, that familiar voice spoke from the other end. “Su Yu, you actually signed with Huaxing? What on earth are you thinking?”

Su Yu remained silent.

“Su Yu, I truly cannot see through you anymore,” the person said to themselves. “What exactly are you planning?”

“Let us meet,” Su Yu said calmly.

The person on the other end seemed shocked. “What did you say? Have you forgotten what I told you about keeping your distance?”

Su Yu repeated his request. “Do you not want to know the reason why I am doing this?”

The person seemed to deliberate. After a few minutes, they responded, “Fine.”

After they agreed on a location, Su Yu turned the car around. His request to meet was not an impulse. The other person was in the dark while he was in the light, which made his every move restricted. He needed to understand the person’s identity so that he would no longer be so passive.

Su Yu called Gu Chen and told him he had something to do and would be home late, so Gu Chen should not wait for him.

On the other end, Gu Chen held the phone and looked at the meal in front of him. Every dish was something Su Yu liked. A flash of gloom crossed his eyes, but it vanished in an instant.

“Alright.”

Gu Chen’s voice sounded somewhat weary, but he did not force Su Yu to come home, even though he had specifically ordered the maid to prepare this meal and had been waiting at the table for nearly half an hour. He knew that if he forced the issue, Su Yu would be unhappy. He instinctively did not want to restrain him.

Su Yu sat by the window stirring his coffee. The person had not arrived yet, so he spent the time considering their identity and how he should handle the encounter without exposing himself.

The chair across from him was pulled out. A man in a dark overcoat sat down. Su Yu looked up, and his pupils contracted. The coffee spoon slipped from his hand and fell into the cup, splashing liquid onto the pure white tablecloth.