Gold-Devouring Bottom: A Guide to Pampering - Chapter 15

Ye Xiuchen’s face turned a visible, kaleidoscopic shade of black as his fingers flew across the phone screen.

A notification pinged on Shen Xinghuai’s phone.

Ye Xiuchen: Not looking.

Ye Xiuchen: Why aren’t you home yet at this hour?

This hour? Home?

A giant question mark sprouted over Shen Xinghuai’s head. It was only 8:00 PM!

Shen Xinghuai: I’ll be back in a bit. I’m going to go say hi to that handsome guy first.

Ye Xiuchen stared fixedly at the reply, his gaze growing colder by the second.

Ye Xiuchen: Send a photo. Let me see.

Shen Xinghuai: Okey-dokey! I’ll go get a selfie with him.

After sending the message, Shen Xinghuai tucked his phone away and walked toward him.

The veins on the hand holding Ye Xiuchen’s phone bulged, and a sinister, dark aura enveloped him. Someone suddenly approached and came to a halt right beside him.

Countless people tried to strike up conversations with him, and Ye Xiuchen usually couldn’t be bothered to respond. He didn’t even lift his eyelids, still gripping his phone while waiting for Shen Xinghuai to send the photo of that man. He wanted to see exactly which “lucky” man he was going to send away forever tonight.

“Brother, could I get a photo with you?” A clear, refreshing voice rang in his ear.

He had encountered this request too many times to count. Without engaging his brain, his body reacted on pure instinct: “Piss off if you don’t want to die.”

Only after the rejection did Ye Xiuchen realize the voice sounded familiar. He looked up into a pair of bright eyes and a subtle, curving smile.

“Brother, why are you so mean? I just told my boyfriend how handsome you are, and he wants to see, too.”

Ye Xiuchen stared at the person in front of him, experiencing a momentary illusion that it wasn’t night, but high noon—there was light, dazzlingly bright. The coldness in his eyes melted away under the “sunlight.”

“You came with your friends?”

With eyes curved like crescents, Shen Xinghuai sat down intimately beside him. “Mm, they all signed up for the race and went to the pit area.” Even as he spoke, his hands weren’t staying idle, playfully tugging at the hem of Ye Xiuchen’s jacket. “You look really young in sportswear. Like my son.”

Ye Xiuchen shot him a sharp glare that jolted Shen Xinghuai back to reality. He slammed his hand over his mouth.

He’d gotten too smug and accidentally let his inner thoughts slip. He wondered if it was too late to fix it. “I misspoke. I meant remarkably like our son.”

Ye Xiuchen’s glare turned into a dissecting gaze. His eyes slowly traveled downward, stopping at Shen Xinghuai’s lower abdomen. He let out a lukewarm huff. “Our son? You can give birth?”

Shen Xinghuai shifted to one hand over his mouth and one over his stomach, shaking his head honestly. “I cannot.” He was incredibly relieved he hadn’t transmigrated into a mpreg novel!

Ye Xiuchen scoffed again, shifting his gaze forward. After a long silence, he spoke in a low, ghostly voice. “Do you know who arranged to have you sent to my room that night?”

Shen Xinghuai: “??”

Shen Xinghuai turned to him. He thought about it for a moment, and having already pieced some clues together, he had a good guess.

However, he didn’t let on. He simply looked at Ye Xiuchen with a bewildered face. “Who?”

“Han Xu.” In the night air, Ye Xiuchen’s voice sounded exceptionally deep and magnetic.

Shen Xinghuai looked surprised—though he was faking it—and blinked his long lashes. “It was actually him! So, did you come here today to settle the score?”

“It’s a return gift. I just sent over a ‘meeting present’; he should be coming over shortly.”

Shen Xinghuai realized then that the security guard hurriedly calling Han Xu away must have been Ye Xiuchen’s handiwork. He mentally cheered for him. Even if Ye Xiuchen hadn’t acted, he wouldn’t have let Han Xu off cheaply!

Just as Shen Xinghuai was thinking this, Han Xu made his appearance, flanked by a crowd.

The stand Ye Xiuchen had chosen was relatively secluded with few people around, so Han Xu easily locked his gaze onto the two of them. As the owner of the racetrack leading a grand entourage, he made quite a scene, drawing frequent backward glances from the crowd.

A few sharp-eyed onlookers recognized Ye Xiuchen and began whispering in astonishment:

“Why is he here? He doesn’t usually play this game.”

“I heard Lu Yan was hospitalized recently. He must be here to crash the place while the man’s away.”

“Let’s go! Let’s go see!”

Gossip is a perennial human interest, but since Ye Xiuchen was known for “going crazy” and harming innocents, the crowd remained reserved. They lingered at a distance, and those pushed to the front consciously adjusted their positions to ensure they could get the fresh gossip without being hit by the metaphorical “watermelon knife.”

Others were terrified of Ye Xiuchen, but Han Xu wasn’t. The only man in Lincheng who could face Ye Xiuchen head-on was his fiancé. Even though his man was currently in a bit of a sorry state—lying in a hospital bed with his legs apart and unable to close them—Han Xu believed his man would eventually be able to close his legs and stand up again.

Therefore, he wasn’t panicked. On the contrary, he stood before Ye Xiuchen with plenty of confidence and a brilliant, overly familiar smile. “Xiuchen, Xinghuai! You’ve arrived. Why didn’t you let me know!”

Shen Xinghuai arched an eyebrow and looked at Ye Xiuchen. The madman’s face was cold and expressionless; he clearly had no intention of responding.

Met with a cold shoulder, Han Xu’s attitude didn’t chill. Instead, his smile took on a hint of apology. “Are you angry because I wasn’t at the gate to welcome you? My sincere apologies. A group of people just came by to cause trouble, and I had to deal with it. Given the circumstances, please don’t be angry. I’ll make it up to you both.”

Looking at Han Xu’s beaming face, Shen Xinghuai didn’t feel warmth—he felt a chill. If he remembered correctly, the phrase “a dagger hidden behind a smile” was coined for people like him!

One doesn’t slap a smiling face. Since Han Xu was providing both explanations and apologies in front of a crowd, let the standoff continue, and he would seize the initiative. If Han Xu started acting up later, it would be harder to shut down.

Thus, Shen Xinghuai returned a smile that was even larger and sweeter. “Boss Han, our relationship is so good, how could we possibly be angry with you? Saying that is far too formal—it’s like you don’t even see us as friends.”

Han Xu was visibly stunned.

The onlookers couldn’t take their eyes off Shen Xinghuai’s face. First came surprise—Shen Xinghuai was famous for being an “Ice Beauty”; seeing him even curve his lips was a rare occurrence. After the surprise came unmaskable enchantment. He truly deserved the title of Ice Beauty, but that single smile was like the melting of snow; his exquisite features were more vibrant and dazzling than any spring scenery.

It took a while for Han Xu to snap out of it. A flash of resentment crossed his eyes, but it was quickly masked by his fake smile. “No, how could I not see you as friends?” He pointed to the main grandstand in the front row. “The race is about to start. We’ll get a much clearer view over there!”

Shen Xinghuai followed his finger, a faint, knowing smirk appearing in his eyes. Personally, coming over to invite them wasn’t just for a “clearer view,” was it?

Han Xu urged them again: “I’ve already reserved seats for you. Please, don’t be polite.”

Before Shen Xinghuai could respond, Ye Xiuchen, who hadn’t spoken at all, finally moved. He rarely uttered two words: “Let’s go.” Only then did he deign to cast a glance at Han Xu. “Lead the way.”

The dignified owner of the racetrack was abruptly relegated to the role of a seating usher.

Han Xu was incredibly annoyed, a string of curses running through his mind. But for the sake of his upcoming plans, he had to keep up the smiling facade. “Follow me.”

The boss’s reserved seats were indeed exceptional—prime viewing spots in the center of the main stand, high enough to take in the entire racetrack at a glance.

However, Shen Xinghuai wasn’t in the mood for the race just yet. He glanced at the immovable Ye Xiuchen beside him and pulled out his phone.

Shen Xinghuai: Brother, he’s going to cause trouble.

Ye Xiuchen pulled out his phone, read the message, and tucked it back into his pocket. He gave him a nonchalant look. “He’s seeking death.”

He had always been the type to not give a damn; he wasn’t afraid of anyone and didn’t hide from them. He said this quite loudly.

Han Xu heard it loud and clear. His already busy expression became even more complex. After hesitating for a moment, he couldn’t help but speak up. “Xiuchen, what did you just say? Is there something about my arrangements that you’re unhappy with?”

He said you’re seeking death, Shen Xinghuai explained to him very honestly in his mind.

But his words were less than honest: “A move. He was asking what kind of ‘move’ that driver just used.”

Han Xu gave a dry laugh. He had heard the words perfectly. Shen Xinghuai’s blatant excuse was clearly treating him like a fool!

One treated him like a waiter, the other like a fool! Han Xu’s teeth were practically grinding into dust from pure rage!

The final preliminary round soon entered its closing sprint, and the entire stadium erupted in cheers. Sitting in the dead center of the stands, Ye Xiuchen stood in stark contrast to the raucous crowd around him; his frigid, heavy aura seemed to wall off the cacophony.

Shen Xinghuai stole a glance at him. In that moment, he vividly sensed the man’s profound loneliness, and a thought he’d never had before surfaced in his mind.

Perhaps he isn’t crazy. Perhaps he just doesn’t belong here at all. Because he was so fundamentally at odds with this world, he was eventually driven to a dead end.

On the track, engines shrieked as the cars roared past. The top three of the final preliminary group were decided! The crowd surged with excitement, celebrating the winners.

Amidst the festivities, Han Xu had already composed himself. With a beaming smile, he looked at Shen Xinghuai and Ye Xiuchen. “What do you two think of the race so far?”

Ye Xiuchen naturally ignored him. Shen Xinghuai’s reply was utterly perfunctory: “It’s fine.”

Han Xu’s smile grew smug as he suggested, “How about I arrange a little surprise event to liven things up before the finals? What do you think, Xinghuai?”

Shen Xinghuai arched an eyebrow. He finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. Is the trouble-making finally starting? “What kind of event is Boss Han planning?”

“Let’s do something thrilling.”

“How thrilling? Is Boss Han planning to perform a striptease to boost the mood?”

Han Xu froze. “Of course not. We’re going to play a game—one that tests a driver’s emergency stop.”

Testing an emergency stop? It was nothing more than a contest of who had more guts and less fear of death.

Han Xu shamelessly pressed further: “Xiuchen and Xinghuai will participate, won’t you?”