Becoming the Caged Canary of a Forced Love - Chapter 14

“I heard that Manager Chen can casually arrange for people to enter the Pei Corporation for idle positions?” Pei Jichuan paused.

The way Chen Yan looked at Gu Nian made him extremely uncomfortable. A long-lost surge of violent irritability seemed to rise within him, and Pei Jichuan’s fingers instinctively tightened around Gu Nian’s coat.

“I wasn’t aware that I had handed HR’s responsibilities over to you, Manager Chen!” Pei Jichuan’s face darkened with fury. He stepped to the side, blocking Chen Yan’s line of sight to Gu Nian.

“President Pei, I… it’s not like that… please let me explain…” Chen Yan’s lips trembled, but he couldn’t stammer out a single complete sentence.

Pei Jichuan had no intention of giving him a chance to explain; he delivered his judgment from a height of absolute authority.

“Save your explanation for Chen Yongbing. Tell him that if I don’t receive a satisfactory answer by tomorrow, both of you can pack your bags and get out!”

After finishing, Pei Jichuan didn’t spare him another glance. He turned to drape the coat over Gu Nian’s shoulders and led him out. Chen Yan slumped against the wall and slid to the floor, his eyes vacant. “It’s over… it’s all over…” he whispered.

In the crowd, Li Zichen opened his mouth timidly, but in the end, he lacked the courage to call out to Gu Nian.

Gu Nian walked out side-by-side with Pei Jichuan. This time, surprisingly, the man did not grab his hand. Gu Nian cast a searching look at Pei Jichuan. Chen Yan’s earlier words hadn’t been audible to outsiders, yet Pei Jichuan knew them word-for-word…

It felt as though countless invisible eyes were watching him. It was suffocating.

Pei Jichuan felt Gu Nian’s gaze. Without looking back, he accurately reached out and grasped Gu Nian’s hand. Once back in the car, he continued to warm Gu Nian’s cold fingers.

“Did that Chen Yan guy always bully you during university?” Pei Jichuan kept his head lowered, looking at the faint scar on Gu Nian’s wrist. Even with the best medicine, that wound had left a mark. He stroked it gently.

Gu Nian felt a bit of an itch and tried to pull his arm back, but he couldn’t budge it. “It wasn’t exactly bullying, just spreading rumors.”

“Rumors?” Pei Jichuan looked up, somewhat surprised.

Gu Nian’s brow arched slightly as he spoke slowly. “Yeah, rumors. During sophomore year, he told everyone I was selling myself and sleeping with an ‘old man’.”

This was information he had just fished out of Li Zichen during their conversation at the table. It seemed the original owner had already been entangled with Pei Jichuan by his second year of college.

Pei Jichuan fell silent for a moment, lowering his head to avoid Gu Nian’s eyes. The air seemed to freeze; Pei Jichuan’s evasive silence made Gu Nian feel irritable.

The driver and the assistant in the front seat held their breath, not daring to make a sound. They glanced at each other, seeing mutual terror in their eyes. Finally, the driver gathered his courage and raised the soundproof partition.

“But aside from the ‘old man’ part, he wasn’t really lying, was he?” Gu Nian suppressed his anger and asked matter-of-factly.

Pei Jichuan still didn’t answer. After a long silence, he suddenly exerted force, pulling Gu Nian into his embrace. Gu Nian didn’t resist, following the momentum into the man’s arms.

“It wasn’t that kind of relationship.”

Gu Nian looked at him in confusion.

“Lin Nuo, I love you. Whether you believe it or not, I searched for you for many, many years. All I have ever wanted in my entire life is you.”

“No matter what happens, even in death, we cannot be separated again in this lifetime.”

Pei Jichuan’s absolute, unwavering tone strangely soothed Gu Nian’s anger. Gu Nian offered no response, staying quietly in his arms.

There are too many suspicious points; I can only take things one step at a time. Gu Nian sighed and closed his eyes.

Country F, Tianyu Group

The room was thick with swirling smoke. A pair of well-defined hands idly toyed with a cold firearm, the dark muzzle shifting between his fingertips. He took the cigar from his mouth with his left hand and exhaled, a heavy cloud of smoke dispersing in front of him.

Two people were kneeling and trembling before his desk. Behind them stood a row of fully armed mercenaries, their weapons at the ready and their predatory eyes scanning the two individuals as if waiting for a single command to tear them to pieces.

They were like bloodthirsty, savage beasts.

Country F was in a state of turmoil, dominated by mercenaries and the underworld; local officials were useless. The entire region was practically under the thumb of Tianyu, though the covert schemes of other organizations never ceased.

“Cough, cough—”

The man in the executive chair suddenly coughed twice. The unexpected sound made the two kneeling men jump in terror. The lights were off, and with only one small window and the lingering smoke, the room was hazy and difficult to see clearly.

He lowered his legs from the desk and gave a slight push; the casters of the chair rolled forward, finally exposing his face to the sunlight.

Blond hair and blue eyes—a typical person of Country F. He had deep eye sockets, a high bridge to his nose, and a chilling smile lingering on his thin lips. However, his peerless beauty was marred by a gruesome scar; a jagged mark ran across his left cheek from the tail of his eyebrow to the corner of his mouth, seemingly carved by a sharp blade.

He rose slowly and walked to stand before one of the men. The man on the ground saw the leather shoes approaching and swallowed hard. Just as he tried to look up, he was seized by the hair and yanked back by a mercenary.

Encountering the other man’s cold gaze, his fear intensified. His desperate struggle was pathetic against the trained mercenary.

“You should have known the consequences before betraying Tianyu.” His low, magnetic voice rang out, his deep eyes carrying a faint smile, yet his words held an undeniable killing intent.

“AAAAAUGH!!!”

The glowing tip of the cigar was vivid in the dim environment. Before the restrained man could even plead for mercy, he was scorched by the approaching crimson light.

“BANG—”

His screams didn’t last long before they were cut short by a gunshot. Red liquid splattered everywhere, drenching the other traitor and spraying across the blond man’s face, coincidentally landing right on that scar.

“Too noisy. Is a tyrant like Gu Congnan really worth your loyalty?” He turned and shook the smoking muzzle of his gun, his icy gaze shifting to the remaining survivor.

His silhouette blocked the light from the window. Golden hair, eyes as deep as the ocean, and a perfect physique—he looked like a god descended to earth. Yet his chilling gaze and the red on his cheek made him look like a demon from hell. He was a beautiful contradiction.

Enveloped in this shadow and faced with a fatal threat, the traitor found a spark of desperate courage and lunged forward. However, he only managed a single step before the mercenaries swarmed and pinned him back down.

“Zhou Yi! You’re nothing but Gu Nian’s mad dog! You and Gu Nian conspired to steal Old Man Gu’s empire! Go ahead and be proud, but I don’t think Gu Nian even treats you like a human. I’ll be waiting in hell for the day you lose your usefulness and Gu Nian kicks you aside, ending up just like me!” He struggled frantically, his eyes bloodshot and his expression crazed.

Zhou Yi’s face darkened. He hated nothing more than people insulting Gu Nian in his presence. He stepped forward and raised his gun.

“Ding—” A phone notification interrupted his movement.

Zhou Yi turned his head in confusion and gave a casual wave with the hand holding the gun. The mercenaries immediately stepped up, and with a sickening snap, the man’s neck was twisted. His eyes remained wide and distorted, but his body went limp like a pile of mud. The mercenaries quickly bagged the bodies and moved them out.

Zhou Yi returned to the desk and picked up his phone. A strange text message caught his eye—a string of seemingly meaningless numbers from Country Z.

Suddenly, Zhou Yi’s eyes went wide. His fingers trembled so much he could barely hold the phone.

This was a code known only to him and Gu Nian. Translated, the numbers read: Country Z, University A, Lin Nuo.

“Lin Nuo…”

Zhou Yi gripped the phone with excitement, the name lingering on his lips. “Finally… I’ve finally found it… I hope there’s still time…”

He then took out another phone and dialed a number.

“Find someone for me. Country Z, University A, Lin Nuo…” Zhou Yi’s ecstatic gaze fell back on the message screen. “And the owner of this phone number…”