What Bad Intentions Could a Spoiled Little Brat Possibly have? - Chapter 17

Men and Men Do Not Marry

“Do you want me to be curious?” Fu Zheng tossed the question back lightly, his deep eyes inscrutable.

“What if I say I do?” At this moment, Cheng Huai showed none of the fragile helplessness he had displayed in the car, fearing abandonment by his brother. His words carried a desperate, all-or-nothing sharpness, like a porcupine raising its quills not only threatening to prick the other person but destined to backfire on himself.

“Fine.” Following his lead, Fu Zheng sat down on the edge of the bed and looked him levelly in the eye. “Then tell me, why?”

Even though he had received the response he wanted, the suffocating knot in Cheng Huai’s chest only grew heavier. He could never get a definitive answer from Fu Zheng, and this realization brought a sense of powerless frustration.

“Because I hate everyone who appears by your side!” Cheng Huai suddenly looked up, staring into Fu Zheng’s eyes with a stubborn intensity, refusing to miss even the slightest flicker of change in the other man’s expression.

Fu Zheng, however, showed no signs of anger. He simply watched him quietly.

“So, all this time you’ve been avoiding me just to scout for a sister-in-law, right?” Cheng Huai’s eyes reddened instantly, his breathing becoming ragged. “If I hadn’t followed you today, if I hadn’t seen it all with my own eyes, how long were you planning to keep me in the dark?”

Fu Zheng was six years his senior. At twenty-five, he was about to complete his doctorate while already holding the reins of power in the business world. With his intellect, looks, and family background, he was at the prime age for marriage; even if he were unwilling, there would be a constant stream of people trying to play matchmaker.

But what if… he was willing?

The thought left Cheng Huai cold. He had imagined countless possibilities, but this was the one he never dared to dwell on.

“That’s enough.” Ultimately, Fu Zheng couldn’t bear it. He reached out and gently stroked the boy’s back to help him catch his breath. “I wasn’t planning on keeping anything from you.”

“It’s just a business collaboration,” Fu Zheng added.

“But she likes you.” Cheng Huai’s gaze remained fixed, looking up at Fu Zheng. “What kind of ‘collaboration’ requires you to sacrifice yourself like this?”

Such blatant admiration anyone could see Lin Yarou’s feelings for Fu Zheng at a single glance.

“That is her business.” Fu Zheng’s response was cold and detached, showing total indifference to the idea of “sacrificing” himself. He stood up and placed his coat into a laundry bag; it was damp from the rain, and he intended to have Zhou Yuan take it for dry cleaning tomorrow.

“And you, Brother?” Cheng Huai curled his lips into a smirk, the underlying probe impossible to hide. “Are you not interested in her at all?”

“No.”

“But I heard Miss Lin say she wanted to take you by force,” Cheng Huai persisted, leaning forward. “Aren’t you even a little curious?”

Fu Zheng replied offhandedly, “Not interested.”

Cheng Huai continued to be relentless, testing Fu Zheng’s bottom line bit by bit.

“Are you really that bothered?” Fu Zheng was clearly unwilling to continue the topic. He stopped what he was doing and turned to face Cheng Huai’s eyes, which were filled with provocation and insecurity. He looked down, slowly turning the watch on his wrist, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly. When he looked up again, his gaze was calm.

He looked directly at Cheng Huai, his voice steady to the point of being cold: “Cheng Huai, that’s enough.”

Cheng Huai froze.

He looked into Fu Zheng’s eyes those eyes that used to be filled with tenderness. In the past, no matter how he acted out, he could always find infinite tolerance in that gaze. Those eyes had held more than ten years of Cheng Huai’s seasons, carrying the joys and sorrows of over five thousand days and nights.

But now, those eyes had grown deeper, like ink sharp, cold, and hiding too many emotions he couldn’t decipher.

During their years apart, Fu Zheng had been transforming at a speed Cheng Huai couldn’t hope to match. He had missed these changes; it seemed he could no longer expect Fu Zheng to remain only within his small corner of the world as the brother who pampered him most.

Cheng Huai felt a twist in his heart, a sharp pain spreading from his chest.

Indeed.

What did his “bother” matter? Or rather, what right did he have to care? To outsiders, he and Fu Zheng were brothers bound by blood; by all logic and reason, he shouldn’t be overstepping into Fu Zheng’s private life.

Cheng Huai knew Fu Zheng was reminding him that he had crossed the line again.

Yet the obsession in his heart pushed him forward. If he didn’t get the answer he wanted, he feared he would lose control and destroy everything. In that case, he didn’t mind overstepping a little more. It felt as though only by thoroughly enraging Fu Zheng could he gain a moment’s liberation from this hopeless entanglement.

Cheng Huai unconsciously pressed a hand to his chest, his voice carrying a sense of self-destructive finality: “Brother, will you get married in the future?”

Fu Zheng sat back on the edge of the bed with his long legs bent, watching him without speaking.

The silence made Cheng Huai feel strangely panicked. That familiar stifling sensation in his chest spread once more. The discomfort from the alcohol mixed with his allergies sparked a reckless urge to throw everything away.

“Will you?” he asked stubbornly.

After a long moment, Fu Zheng gave an extremely soft, “Mm.”

That single sound was like a blade plunged straight into his heart. Cheng Huai felt that if he spoke, hot blood would pour from his lips. An overwhelming sorrow nearly drowned him. With a trembling voice, refusing to give up, he continued: “Then… can I marry you?”

The moment the words left his mouth, he regretted them.

A violent storm suddenly erupted in Fu Zheng’s eyes. His face, usually so calm and composed, instantly turned ashen, and the pressure around him became terrifyingly low. Those eyes were now like dark clouds heavy with a coming tempest, pressing down on Cheng Huai until he could barely breathe.

Cheng Huai suddenly lost his nerve; the courage he had just now vanished instantly. Provocation was one thing, but facing a truly enraged Fu Zheng was quite another. Memories of past discipline rushed back like a tide, and Cheng Huai instinctively flinched.

In this suffocating silence, Cheng Huai met his total defeat. His hands gripped the bedsheets beneath him so hard his knuckles turned white.

“I’m sorry, Brother, I…” He started to speak with a tremble, but was cut off by a low chuckle.

Fu Zheng suddenly laughed, the intense anger having transformed into a mocking glint. He leaned forward, the sudden proximity causing their breaths to mingle, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. His voice was filled with cold derision: “Cheng Huai, men and men do not marry.”

Fu Zheng’s fingers carried a trace of coldness as he gripped Cheng Huai’s chin. His thumb brushed over the boy’s soft lips with an ambiguous pressure, his gaze dark and unreadable. “If you insist on this, I don’t mind having an extra lover.”

As his lips were pressed and rubbed, a numbing sensation instantly surged through Cheng Huai’s entire body, but the contempt in those words felt like a bucket of ice water poured over him from head to toe.

His eyes widened in shock. A feeling of extreme humiliation and grievance welled up, and tears filled his eyes almost instantly. Though he often said bold and suggestive things to Fu Zheng, it was one thing for him to say them it was another thing entirely to hear them from Fu Zheng like this.

Fu Zheng didn’t seem intent on letting him off yet. His thumb slid slowly toward the boy’s bright red earlobe. The suggestive kneading made Cheng Huai instantly recall the intimate posture between Huo Tingdeep and Yu Chuan at the hospital. Warm breath brushed against his ear, and a low, husky voice sounded like a demon’s temptation, the underlying meaning self-evident.

“Hmm? Are you willing?” Fu Zheng’s voice was playful.

“I…” Cheng Huai couldn’t speak. His body trembled uncontrollably, responding honestly to the stimulation, while his soul was torn apart by the insulting words. A teardrop finally fell, soaking a dark spot into the bedsheet.

The interplay of cold fingers and the rising fire within him trapped him in a torment of ice and flame.

Sensing the violent trembling of the body beneath his hand, Fu Zheng finally let go.

He withdrew his hand, his expression returning to its usual indifference. He gazed down at him for a moment before leaving a cold instruction: “I’m sending you back at seven tomorrow morning. Don’t wake up late.” Without another look, he turned and walked out of the bedroom.

The moment the bedroom door clicked shut, Cheng Huai could no longer hold himself up. He buried his face in his hands and let the tears flow. It felt as if a giant hole had been ripped in his heart, the sharp pain spreading to his very bones. He went from sitting blankly to curling into a ball, burying his face in his knees and sobbing quietly.

He had messed everything up after all.

Why did his love only cause his brother such disgust? Had those warm memories, that pampering that belonged only to him, all vanished into thin air?

The heartbreak was real, but a corner of his heart still stubbornly refused to believe it. Cheng Huai didn’t believe that Fu Zheng was truly as cold and heartless as he claimed to be.

After crying for an unknown amount of time, he finally fell into a heavy sleep.

The Next Day

When the alarm went off, Cheng Huai opened his swollen eyes, feeling exhausted. His throat was so raspy he couldn’t make a sound. The fragmented memories of last night came flooding back; only now did he realize how pathetic the alcohol had made him.

And Fu Zheng had personally torn open his shameless ugliness.

He silently packed his schoolbag, taking only the essentials and leaving everything else behind in a fit of pique. Walking downstairs quietly, Cheng Huai was still wondering how to face Fu Zheng, only to unexpectedly see the culprit who had bumped into him yesterday in the living room.

Zhou Yuan stood tall in the middle of the living room, appearing to have been waiting for a while. Upon seeing him come down, he offered a professional, friendly smile: “President Fu went on a business trip this morning. He instructed me to see you safely to school.”

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