The Scum Gong Villain Returns to Work - Chapter 5

When Yu Baihua naturally woke up, he felt unusually free of any lingering physical discomfort. He sat blankly on the edge of the bed for a long while before recalling what had transpired the previous night. Without a moment’s hesitation, he got out of bed, pushed open the door, and swept his gaze across the outer room no one was there, save for the rumpled sofa, which silently testified to the events of the prior evening.

Yu Baihua’s gaze grew increasingly profound. His eyes possessed a grayish tint, making him resemble a polar sea with undercurrents churning beneath the surface whenever he fell silent, as though a storm were on the verge of brewing at any second.

Not until a rustling sound of shifting position drifted out from the inner suite did Yu Baihua manage to pull himself away from that gloomy state, walking straight ahead to push the door open.

There were no heavy curtains in Yu Sui’s room capable of blurring the boundary between dawn and dusk; the lightweight, rice-white drapes softened the morning sunlight into a delicate halo that fell across the person resting in the bed.

The heating in the room had been turned up quite high, so Yu Sui wore only a single shirt, its cuffs pushed up to his elbows to reveal the gracefully curved lines of his forearms. His skin was naturally pale, making the sight all the more striking.

The neckline had been pulled askew, exposing a bruise along his left arm. Just then, as Yu Sui shifted his sleeping position, he brushed against the injury and let out a tiny, soft hiss of pain.

It felt no different from the past. In former times, Yu Baihua had occasionally woken up earlier than Yu Sui, usually following one of Yu Sui’s intensely demanding touring schedules. Because he was thoroughly exhausted, he could sink into a deep, heavy slumber.

On mornings like that, Yu Baihua would scurry into his room. Though he always harbored the thought that ‘I absolutely will not disturb Yu Sui,’ he invariably ended up waking Yu Sui anyway. Thereupon, Yu Sui would reach out to pin him down, his tail-end syllables carrying a lazy, uncharacteristic softness: “A-Yu, stop messing around.”

Uttering those words meant Yu Sui was actually awake. After Yu Baihua responded with a beaming smile, Yu Sui would push himself up from the covers, fixing a look of helpless resignation upon Yu Baihua as the latter sat at the foot of the bed, bossily arranging their itinerary.

Such times were both too long and too brief; years seemed to have passed, yet looking back, the memories spanned only a fleeting moment.

Yu Baihua sat at the bedside, his eyes fixed unblinkingly upon the person sleeping soundly in the bed, the expression in his gaze obscure and unreadable. He reached out his hand not to curl his fingers and play with Yu Sui’s like he used to, but to slowly wrap his fingers around Yu Sui’s throat.

Yu Baihua’s hands were chillingly cold, coiling around Yu Sui like a brightly patterned yet utterly bloodless venomous snake as he gradually tightened his grip. The person fast asleep in the dream began to experience a rising discomfort.

“Yu! Sui!” 058 alerted him from within the system space. “Yu Baihua is about to choke you to death!”

“Oh,” replied Yu Sui in a tone of mild anticipation, responding with the air of someone expecting precisely this because waking up too early was dreadfully boring, which had forced him to drag his own consciousness into the system space. He tossed down a playing card: “A straight flush from Ace to King I’m out of cards.”

058 angrily flung the King of Hearts from its own hand: “A straight flush my foot! The King of Hearts is right here with me.”

“My apologies.” Smiling genially, Yu Sui covered the tossed King of Hearts with his hand, and when he spread his palm back open, the suit had transformed into a diamond.

Too lazy to spare this person another glance, 058 promptly booted Yu Sui’s consciousness straight back out of the system space.

Yu Sui instantly felt the agony of asphyxiation wash over him. He forced his eyes open, his breathing turning ragged as a crimson flush bloomed across his face.

Yu Baihua’s gaze dropped down to the wound wrapped in gauze on his own right hand, and the pressure in his grip unconsciously slackened.

Coughing and gasping for breath, Yu Sui stared up at Yu Baihua with a puzzled expression, tilting his head slightly to nudge affectionately against Yu Baihua’s hand.

As though scalded by something, Yu Baihua’s fingers curled imperceptibly before instantly snapping back. He locked his gaze onto Yu Sui, asking with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes: “Does it hurt?”

Yu Sui nodded honestly.

“If it hurts, learn your lesson,” Yu Baihua said, the malice in his gaze solidifying into tangible weight as he softly interrogated Yu Sui: “Who gave you the qualification to touch me?”

Yu Sui blinked slowly, the morning sunlight pooling completely within his amber eyes and dissolving into a pristine, limpid brightness. The lingering flush from oxygen deprivation had yet to fade, dusting peach-like blushes across Yu Sui’s face which was perpetually difficult to read otherwise making him look thoroughly innocent, as though he had been wronged by Yu Baihua.

The corners of Yu Sui’s lips twitched upward into a faint curve before he spoke in a tone laced with aggrieved innocence: “But… you were the one who brought me here… I was terrified, and I didn’t know what was wrong with you.”

Annoyed the moment he saw Yu Sui acting like this, Yu Baihua reached out to grip Yu Sui’s chin, forcing the face exposed to the sunlight toward the shaded side of the bed:

“Yu Sui, don’t you dare look at me with that expression.”

The distance between them closed in a single instant. Yu Sui let out a slow hum of assent, raised a hand to clasp Yu Baihua’s wrist, and then very stealthily tightened his grip to stroke across it.

He’s lost so much weight.

Unable to detect his subtle maneuvers, Yu Baihua could only feel a wave of warmth suddenly wash over the skin above his veins, following which his heart rate began to accelerate for reasons unknown was it because his heart was racing?

He loathed this sensation.

Abruptly, Yu Baihua curved his lips into a smile, recalling the naive and foolish posture he used to wear when he smiled in the past, and asked Yu Sui in a casual, everyday tone of voice: “Would you be willing to follow me?”

Based on his understanding of Yu Sui, Yu Sui would never agree. If he could accept humbling himself and playing second fiddle by his side, why hadn’t he done so in their past life? Back then, Yu Baihua had held him in the palm of his hand, willing to give him anything and everything the moment Yu Sui expressed a desire for it.

Then again, even if Yu Sui hadn’t done those things, hadn’t he still behaved like a complete fool himself?

Yet this time, Yu Baihua had no intention of spoiling him; he simply wanted to watch someone like Yu Sui, driven by an ambition to climb higher, become entangled in his own desires, struggling and filled with revulsion.

Yu Sui tilted his head, observing Yu Baihua’s shifting, unpredictable expression, and realizing that this idiot was likely concocting another elaborate drama inside his head once more, he gave a nod and countered with a question:

“Very well, but what exactly do you want me to do?”

“You aren’t willing? You don’t even look… hang on?” Yu Baihua’s brows knitted tightly together. The derisive mockery of his spectator stance abruptly twisted into a different register, laced with disbelief and a vexed exasperation at his lack of self-respect as he stood up to demand of Yu Sui:

“Are you some kind of stray dog? Whoever tosses you a scrap, you just eagerly throw yourself at them?”

Disliking Yu Baihua’s phrasing, Yu Sui watched the smile slowly fade from his face. Leaning back against the headboard, he shifted his posture, causing the long hair tucked behind his ear to spill free and slightly obscure the outer corners of his upturned eyes. He asked softly:

“What did you call me, President Yu?”

Though his form of address was deferential and his tone mild, it invariably carried an inexplicable pressure. Strip away his eyes, and Yu Sui’s facial features naturally projected an impression of utter detachment and indifference; paired with his affectionate eyes, however, that icy texture was normally concealed. Yet Yu Baihua would catch fleeting glimpses of Yu Sui’s chilling coldness at moments like this.

A Yu Sui like this felt terribly familiar. Calming down, Yu Baihua watched as a bizarre, eerie atmosphere fermented in the room. Tugging at the corner of his mouth uncertain whether he was smiling or simply incapable of expressing sorrow Yu Baihua said:

“Yu Sui…” His tone was strange and surreal, as though he had stumbled upon something extraordinarily entertaining while forcefully suppressing his inner emotions. “Don’t you think you look an awful lot like… mm—”

Yu Baihua stared with bewildered eyes at the person before him, for Yu Sui had suddenly lunged forward, intercepted him by the waist, and tossed him onto the bed before leaning in close to press a kiss to his lips.

The strands of hair falling down were far too obstructing; Yu Sui unceremoniously gripped Yu Baihua’s wrist, forcing him to help sweep the stray locks back behind his ear. Yu Baihua’s hands were trembling, but Yu Sui remained utterly patient if the first attempt failed, he tried a second, kissing him until his breathing stabilized completely.

After a long moment, Yu Sui slowly drew back, blooming into a clever, mischievous smile:

“President Yu, was I supposed to do it like this?”

“Yu Baihua.” His artistic fingertips traced a scarlet, ambiguous trail across Yu Baihua’s throat. Though it was merely a touch, it groundlessly made Yu Baihua feel as though a noose were tightening around him inch by inch.

“Say it again: what am I?”

“Yu Sui.” With his emotions fluctuating violently and his voice slightly hoarse from the kisses, Yu Baihua clenched his hands into the fabric of Yu Sui’s collar and pressed his forehead down into the hollow of Yu Sui’s shoulder.

He wasn’t necessarily answering Yu Sui’s question; perhaps he was merely calling out Yu Sui’s name, yet Yu Sui still reached out to stroke the back of his neck, the corners of his eyes curving into crescents as he silently and soundlessly praised the air before him:

Good boy.

Once Yu Baihua finally quieted down, Yu Sui stood up and strode out of the room without looking back, leaving behind a single parting line for Yu Baihua:

“Tonight, I’ll take you to Saint Aurorofei.”

Resting quietly upon the coffee table in the living room was a black invitation card:

“Cordially inviting Mr. Yu Baihua to attend Young Master Tang Jue’s birthday banquet on November 19th. We await your esteemed arrival at the Saint Aurorofei Hotel.”

Tang Jue, the young master of the Tang family perhaps also Yu Sui’s former… engagement partner.