Gu Zhan: “……”

“Ah, there’s no need for that, haha.” The two police officers burst out laughing.

Gu Zhan’s face turned red all the way to his neck. He didn’t know whether it was from his fever or sheer embarrassment at the situation. He was genuinely afraid that once someone went crazy enough, they might actually do something completely ridiculous.

Seeing the awkward atmosphere, the officers promptly stepped in to smooth things over.

“Sir—well, boyfriend, I suppose—your boyfriend nearly went crazy with worry when he found out you were sick at home. He ran all the way to our station and even lost one of his shoes. Look at the trouble this has caused… He was just afraid something might happen to you while you were home alone.”

“Exactly. What a good boyfriend. You should stop being angry with him.”

“Young people these days, you really shouldn’t be so difficult about relationships. If you carry on like that, one day you’ll regret it and it’ll be too late.”

“As the saying goes, couples may quarrel at the head of the bed, but they make up at the foot of the bed. Couples can’t keep fighting all the time. You need to understand each other. Arguments hurt a relationship. You think you’re arguing about something, but really, you’re arguing about your home…”

Gu Zhan gritted his teeth and looked at Fu Yan. It was impossible to tell whether the complicated expression in his eyes was gratitude or irritation. He truly didn’t know what to make of the man in front of him. He wanted nothing more than to give Fu Yan a good scolding, but he knew that if he didn’t give in now, these two well-meaning and dutiful police officers would lecture him to death.

A wise man doesn’t fight when the odds are against him.

Gu Zhan forced a smile onto his face and looked at the two officers. “Thank you. We understand. I’m sorry to trouble you both tonight.”

“Not at all, not at all. It’s our job.”

“Then you two…” Gu Zhan glanced toward the door, eager to send these two police men on their way.

“Sure, sure.” The officers understood immediately and looked at the “young couple.” “You two talk things over properly. And no more fighting, okay?”

“Don’t worry.”

To prove his sincerity, Gu Zhan even took two steps toward Fu Yan. Fu Yan seized the opportunity, pulled him into his arms, draped an arm affectionately over his shoulder, and smiled at him.

Seeing the two so lovingly together, the officers left with satisfied smiles.

The moment the door closed—

Gu Zhan shrugged Fu Yan’s arm off and coldly turned toward the bedroom.

After coming home that evening, he had ordered takeout, intending to drink some congee, take his medicine, and go to sleep. But while sitting on the sofa waiting for the food, he had somehow fallen into a deep, unconscious sleep. He was still wearing his suit, and his shirt underneath was soaked through with layer upon layer of cold sweat.

Gu Zhan walked into the dressing room, stripped off his dirty clothes, and was just about to change into something comfortable when Fu Yan walked in.

Gu Zhan was bare-chested, and he shot him a wary glance.

Fu Yan immediately turned his back. “Gu Zhan, I don’t mean any harm. I’m just worried about you.”

“Thanks. I appreciate your concern. Now that you’ve finished worrying, can you leave?”

After changing his clothes, Gu Zhan headed for the door. As he passed Fu Yan, Fu Yan caught him by the arm.

“Gu Zhan, do you really have to push me away like this? Even when you need me?”

“I need you?” Gu Zhan gave a cold laugh. “What I need is a gentle, considerate partner who can take care of each other with me in daily life—not some sticky pest who barges into my home whenever he feels like it and won’t leave me alone no matter how many times I try to shake him off. Cough, cough!”

He lost control of his emotions, and his words had become too heated. He clutched his chest and began coughing violently.

His sweat-dampened hair clung to his flushed cheeks. His wet eyelashes trembled uncomfortably with each cough, making him look exhausted and painfully vulnerable.

Watching him, Fu Yan suddenly scooped him up over his shoulder and strode toward the bedroom.

Gu Zhan struggled desperately, pounding on his back.

“Fu Yan, what the hell are you doing? Put me down! Cough, cough—”

But he was weak from the fever and had no strength to resist Fu Yan.

Fu Yan walked straight to the bed and tossed him onto the soft mattress.

A look of panic flashed across Gu Zhan’s face. His bright, feverish eyes stared at Fu Yan in alarm.

“Fu Yan, what are you going to do?”

Fu Yan smiled and approached him, but all he did was gently pull the quilt over him.

“Relax. I told you I wouldn’t force you again, so I won’t do anything inappropriate.” The corner of his mouth curved upward. “Besides, if I really wanted to do something, you’re in no condition to resist me right now.”

“You shameless pervert!” Gu Zhan cursed through clenched teeth.

Fu Yan smiled knowingly. “It’s been a long time since I’ve heard you call me that.”

He gently stroked Gu Zhan’s back, coaxing him half-heartedly into bed.

“You’re sick and still so stubborn. President Gu really knows how to take advantage of someone and then complain about it. Me barging into your home? Aren’t you the one who takes advantage of me every time?”

Gu Zhan glared viciously at him, momentarily speechless.

Fu Yan expertly found the medicine cabinet in his house and used a forehead thermometer to check his temperature.

38.1°C.

Gu Zhan closed his eyes and leaned against the pillow. He was too weak to resist and too tired to bother. No matter whether he spoke nicely or cursed angrily, he simply couldn’t get Fu Yan to leave. The man had already decided to stick to him.

After taking his temperature, Fu Yan went outside and brought in the takeout that had gone cold in the wind. He reheated the congee and carried it to the bedside.

Gu Zhan was already drifting toward sleep again.

“Get up. Take your medicine before you sleep.”

Fu Yan gently called to him beside his ear.

Gu Zhan slowly opened his eyes. He looked at Fu Yan smiling at him beneath the warm bedside light, then at the carefully prepared congee and medicine on the nightstand.

He turned his head away and spoke in an apparently calm voice.

“Fu Yan, you don’t need to treat me like this. I know I haven’t been very nice to you lately. That’s because this is the only way I can treat you now. I can’t accept you. Don’t you understand? If you still have even a little genuine feeling for me, then leave. Don’t force me to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt you either…”

Fu Yan lowered his eyes and was silent for a while.

“I know I hurt you before. So whatever you think of me, however you treat me, I can accept it. I owe you all of this. You can do whatever you want to me if it helps you vent your feelings.”

“Vent my feelings? You mean by always letting me top you? Fu Yan, don’t tell me you’re willing to be the one getting topped for the rest of your life.”

“If it’s you…”

Fu Yan looked at him with deep, unwavering emotion in his dark eyes.

“I don’t mind it.”

Gu Zhan froze.

He didn’t dare look into those dark eyes anymore. Avoiding Fu Yan’s gaze, he gave two bitter little laughs.

“Fu Yan, why are you doing this? Honestly, you have everything going for you. There are countless people lining up to be with you. Why do you insist on humiliating yourself by constantly running after me? Because you love me? But have you ever heard the saying, ‘Affection that comes too late is worth less than grass’?”

When he said the last sentence, he practically spat out every word through clenched teeth.

Fu Yan lowered his head. He didn’t have the courage to look at Gu Zhan either.

He couldn’t bear to see the way Gu Zhan regarded the love he had once given him so completely—with such contempt. Fu Yan loved him deeply, and Gu Zhan clearly wasn’t completely without feelings for him either, yet somehow everything between them was wrong.

Could it be that no matter what he did, he still couldn’t win Gu Zhan’s heart back?

He subconsciously clenched his fists, yet still desperately maintained his composure. A gentle smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

“Let’s not talk about this. You’re sick, so you need to rest. Take your medicine. If you still have a fever tomorrow morning, call me. I’ll take you to the hospital.”

After saying that, Fu Yan left.

He didn’t want to stay and irritate Gu Zhan any further, and he was also afraid that if he stayed much longer, he wouldn’t be able to control his own emotions.

Tonight, Hua Jiu and the others had meant well. They had come up with this little “pitiful act” hoping that President Gu, who softened to tenderness but never to force, might finally relent.

But Fu Yan had been the one who wanted to break up with him in the first place. Now he was also the one shamelessly begging to win him back.

Whatever Gu Zhan did to him, however much he hurt him—it was all his own doing.

What right did he have to feel hurt?

What right did he have to be sad?

His pain, tears, despair, and madness—all of it was something he deserved to bear alone.

What right did he have to make Gu Zhan see it?

What right did he have to ask Gu Zhan to pity him?

The bedroom door closed.

Fu Yan’s lonely retreating figure flashed before Gu Zhan’s eyes.

Suddenly, a sharp, piercing pain surged through Gu Zhan’s heart. His insides burned and ached as though everything inside him were melting.

Only at this moment could Gu Zhan no longer deceive himself.

No matter how unwilling he was to admit it, he could fool everyone else, but he couldn’t fool himself.

He simply couldn’t forget Fu Yan.

He still loved Fu Yan…

That police officer had said he was being too difficult about the relationship. Was he?

It wasn’t that he wanted it to be difficult.

He was just afraid.

He wanted to run away.

He only dared to secretly love Fu Yan now. He no longer dared to bare his heart and hand it over so easily.

Gu Zhan finished taking his medicine and buried himself beneath the covers.

He spent the whole night drifting through dreams. Someone was crying constantly in his dreams. He couldn’t see the person’s face and didn’t know whether it was himself.

When he woke the next morning, he felt strangely empty.

His fever was gone. Everything had returned to normal, and his heart was like a scar that had already healed—the ugly wound hidden beneath the surface, no longer visible.

Gu Zhan took a comfortable hot shower, dressed himself up until he looked polished and immaculate, then hurried downstairs with a mixture of eagerness and hesitation.

There was no familiar person or car waiting by the roadside.

It was Xiao Li, back from vacation.

Gu Zhan breathed a sigh of relief, opened the door, and climbed into the back seat. Smiling, he greeted Xiao Li.

“You’re back?”

“Ah, yes, President Gu.” Driver Xiao Li gave an awkward smile. “I actually got back the day before yesterday. President Fu called me last night and told me to be on standby this morning. President Gu, I’m sorry. You won’t hold it against me, will you? I really had no choice. You know what President Fu is like. I’ve got elderly parents and children to support, so I really can’t afford to offend him. Of course, I can’t afford to offend you either. I’m just a fool caught between two stronger people. I mean, President Fu—”

“I know.”

Gu Zhan impatiently cut him off, apparently not wanting to hear a certain person’s name anymore.

“Just drive.”

“Right, got it.”

Xiao Li knew he had narrowly escaped disaster and happily started the car.

It was another busy day.

Gu Zhan forced himself not to think too much about anything outside of work.

Chen Lang continued his relentless pursuit, wanting to invest in Feifan Select’s skincare line. Gu Zhan brushed him off, using his recent illness and the project’s unsatisfactory progress as an excuse.

In reality, he was waiting for the project evaluation report—a detailed forecast of the skincare brand’s investment requirements and risks based on all of Slungshot’s projected expenses and revenue for the coming year.

Only after ensuring that Slungshot’s cash flow was sound would he consider Chen Lang’s proposal to expand the scale.

The company’s affairs had him working nonstop when, on an otherwise peaceful afternoon, he received a call from Suzhou.

For no apparent reason, Gu Zhan’s heart tightened.

He had the numbers of all his friends in Suzhou saved, so it was unusual for him to receive an unfamiliar call.

“Hello, may I speak with Mr. Gu Zhan?”

The caller was a middle-aged man. His warm voice carried a trace of anxiety.

“Yes.”

“Teacher Gu Ru is your mother, correct?”

“Yes.”

“We’re from the school administration office. Teacher Gu suddenly fainted while teaching today. She’s currently on the way to the hospital. Would it be possible for you to come over?”

Gu Zhan shot up from his chair in shock.

“What happened to my mother? How did she suddenly faint?”

“We’ll need to wait for the hospital examination to determine the exact cause, so I can’t say for certain. At the moment, Teacher Gu’s condition…” The man sighed. “She often mentions you. You’re in Beijing right now, aren’t you? It would be best if you could come back as soon as possible.”

“Okay. I’ll return to Suzhou immediately.”