HOYSE CHAPTER 26

Chapter 26 — “If Rong Jing and I fell into the water together, who would you save?”

Gu Xi closed his eyes again and buried his face in the raven-feather pillow.

He had a touch of neurasthenia; his therapist said it came from long stretches of stress and high pressure. 

In showbiz, days and nights were always flipped, which counted as an occupational hazard. He usually relied on sleeping pills, but tonight he had been so exhausted he drifted off without them, only to be jolted awake again and again by the commotion next door.

After another failed attempt to sleep, he gave up.

XieLier’s soundproofing was excellent and you normally could not hear a thing. He glanced at the open window he had been too tired to close earlier. After rolling over like a fish in a pan several times, he raked a hand through his messy hair and sighed, 

“Ugh.”

If he could not sleep, he might as well get up.

He called room service. The hotel’s online ordering system was robust. Gu Xi scanned a QR code and ordered a nondescript set of casual clothes, plus Shu Uemura’s special effects makeup remover oil.
The prosthetics on his face were far too waterproof; warm water would never take them off. The basic rule of being an actor reminded him to avoid sleeping in makeup whenever possible. The skin always exacted double interest later if you did.

Everything he needed could be bought from the XieLier website. Their e-commerce platform was comprehensive, and the hotel even ran errands for an extra fee. The storefront was full of tempting goods. 

To push their in-house products, they had launched a light-luxury label called “Xie,” also sold on the site. The strategy screamed business savvy. However you sliced it, the money ended up in their own pockets, and plenty of customers loved the illusion.

They felt they were getting a deal because “Xie” items were slightly cheaper on the hotel site than on the brand’s official page. In truth they were the ones being played.

As one of the few six-star hotels in the city, XieLier really did have services worthy of its reputation. The price was high but you felt your money had done real work, which was exactly their trick.

Thinking of the two Xie brothers he had seen at the banquet, Gu Xi let out a small laugh. Darlings of heaven, nothing to do with a person like him.

He went to the balcony to shut the window and glanced at the balcony next door.

The window there was also open, the room was dark, and a chain of soft moans drifted out. Perhaps heavy panting was more accurate. Gu Xi checked the time. It had been almost an hour since he was first woken. That was some stamina.

Judging by the earlier soul-rending shout, was that O still alive?

The O was probably not well. The beauty had clearly heard something crack inside his own body and now could not move.

Every time Rong Jing woke up, there was a short blank stretch. Half asleep, he wrapped himself tight in the comforter, slowly cocooning like a silkworm, the picture of a forced and virtuous spouse. He looked nothing like a bigshot who had been offered up by an Omega, and everything like a bullied little lamb.

Rong Jing stared dully at the Omega sprawled on the floor.

Who the heck was this, and how did he get here?

The lobby manager had sensed something was off. When he swiped in with a master card, he found the young master wrapped chastely in a quilt, sitting upright on the bed and still a bit foggy.

He ran to help the groaning beauty, but the man’s face was white with pain and cold sweat. “Don’t… don’t move me. Call an ambulance!”

Ambulance-level serious already?

The manager was stunned. How had things turned into this, and where exactly had it all gone wrong?

Was the young master’s martial arts too powerful or was this O made of glass?

Most O’s were a bit fragile, true… but this young master was not supposed to be like other people. Faced with such a stunning Omega, he had shown not a shred of tender pity.

A few minutes later Rong Jing finally shook off the haze and took in the disaster scene. His brain began piecing together the possibilities.

Since Xie Ling had been able to walk in earlier, and now the lobby manager had appeared, well, he basically had his culprits.

Was the Xie family fond of surprise raids? Must be a hereditary trait.

He looked from the manager to the ashen Omega and apologized. “That was an accident. Anyone who touches me like that in the middle of the night gets treated as an attacker.”

When he was little, he had trained at Shaolin and they held night classes. He had been drilled to respond reflexively to ambushes, so he had not held back at all.

Now, faced with the tearful, pitiful beauty he had kicked, Rong Jing felt oddly awkward. He truly could not handle a man crying like a flower in the rain. Spare him the lecture about six genders. To him, this was still a man.

“Can someone please explain why you broke into a private residence in the middle of the night… fine, a private room, and what for?” He sniffed. The air held a faint rose scent. Pheromones or actual flowers?

His own pheromones gave a tentative stir. Wonderful. Men, always trouble.

Everyone present, including the injured beauty, assumed Rong Jing was unresponsive. He was responsive, just not ruled by his lower half.

Besides, the first scent he had truly registered was Gu Xi’s, which seemed to leave him oddly impervious to other Omegas. In his sleep, his brain had not leaped to mating. It had leaped to danger.

The lobby manager gave a mortified explanation that matched Rong Jing’s guess. Rong Jing told him to turn around while he quickly got dressed.

Given the mortifying ambush, he would normally not mind being casual, but could an Alpha not be afforded some bodily privacy?

He grabbed something from the nightstand and walked over to the beautiful Omega. The man looked ready to cry again, but managed a delicate, wounded pose in hopes of earning compassion.

The manager had not lied. Looking at this man made your heart thump.

Rong Jing crouched and asked gently, “Where does it hurt?”

He lifted the man’s leg, careful with his touch. “Easy. I just want to assess the damage. I lost control just now.”

He pressed a few spots and asked at each one whether it hurt.

The beauty was not used to being treated by an Alpha with such gentleness and respect. It was a strange feeling, and he answered honestly.

Rong Jing sighed in relief. Maybe he would not have to pay too much compensation.

Considering how fast the original owner’s wallet had dwindled in a few days, Rong Jing’s urge to make money was getting urgent.

He tried to negotiate. “It looks like a minor fracture of the radius or tibia. If it is only a hairline, surgery will not be necessary. Get an X-ray at the hospital, and you might be in a cast for a few weeks. How about we add each other on WeChat. I will cover all follow-up costs. Is that alright?”

“Y… yes.” The beauty stared at him, dazed.

Good, hooked.

This was an Omega. Whether he had come in on purpose or not, Rong Jing had injured him. If the man wanted to press charges, Rong Jing could end up in detention. Better to settle this amicably now.

“What is your name?” He was already typing in the note field.

“I… I am Su Xi. You can call me Susu. I was wrong just now.” Perhaps afraid Rong Jing would think he was some disreputable hustler, he rushed to add, “I am a first year at the Film Academy, not someone with a shady background.”

“Alright, Little Xi.” A man called Susu? That would take some getting used to.

Great, a junior from his own school. No escaping this one.

Was this considered a side hustle?

Omegas were rare, but there was no rule that an O could not profit from his advantages. Consenting adults were the same in every world.

The manager had thought the mess would be impossible to clean up, but the young master kept his cool, used a bit of charm, and solved it with four ounces to move a thousand pounds.

When the EMTs arrived, they carefully loaded Su Xi onto a stretcher. At that moment Rong Jing used the hotel’s pheromone-blocking spray, one for Su Xi and one for the room.

If he breathed this in any longer, he might do something beastly.

He glanced at the stubborn flagpole below and gazed toward the heavens, speechless. He was awake now. His brother downstairs was very awake. And very uncomfortable.

“Young master, Omegas need to be protected.” Not summarily disabled.

“I think I am the one who needs protection. Do you not think Alphas have it rough sometimes?” Ambushed in your sleep and still expected to comfort the ambusher. Say a word and you sound like you got the bargain and were playing coy.

The manager did not think Alphas were pitiful at all. When someone threw themselves at you, what Alpha was unhappy?

So this was why the young master was single. Basically, pure skill.

Rong Jing headed into the bathroom to take care of his unwelcome condition first.

He was still simmering. The fire had been lit and no one had put it out.

Once he had cooled off, he called Xie Zhanhong. He felt the man at least needed to know where he stood.

Xie Zhanhong happened to be at a bar. He rarely received calls from Rong Jing and assumed it was a thank-you. He sounded pleased with himself. “Well? I picked a good one for you, right? And good provenance. If I had not given him to you, I would have kept him for myself. No need to thank Uncle, you are welcome.” He had not been much of a father to this stepson. Doing one decent thing put him in a smug mood.

Rong Jing refused three times in a row. “I do not need this. I am fine. I really do not.”

“You never know what is good for you. You have always been like this. Are you sure you are not, you know, having performance issues? If you are, see a doctor. Do not hide it. What Alpha your age has no one by his side? Tell me that is not embarrassing.”

“… take care of my mother and spare me the rest, please.” Rong Jing kept his tone as polite as he could. Beyond bed talk, he and this stepfather had nothing to discuss.

“So now you talk back. You never did before. Kids grow up and stop listening to their fathers.”

“That is because you never knew me. You can get to know me again now.” A thought struck Rong Jing.

In the original plot, less than a week after Xie Ling, Xie Zhanhong suddenly dropped dead, exactly as Old Master Xie had predicted, an overdose, on a woman’s belly. “In the coming days, do not eat anything people hand you when you are out, especially pills.”

Jisheng was currently in custody, but Rong Jing had no proof of anything. All he could do was warn him.

Xie Zhanhong was unconcerned. He was not easily spooked. He claimed he always watched his health, ate meals outside but never took pills, except for the occasional supplements from the family doctor.
Never took pills… then how had the autopsy in the original story found an overdose?

“If you are so worried about me, go to a hospital yourself. Medicine is advanced now. They can fix your impotence.”

“Who is impotent!” No man tolerated that kind of slander

Rong Jing’s voice had the flustered anger of someone stung on a sore spot.

He had just opened the bathroom door and blurted that last line when his gaze collided with another person’s at the threshold.

They stared for a beat.

Rong Jing blinked. “Huh? You…”

Huge, startled eyes flashed, rabbit-quick, and the person darted back into the neighboring room. The door slammed.

So fast.

Was that not the server from earlier? Why was he here?

When Gu Xi had collected the makeup remover and clothes, he had seen an Omega on a stretcher in the hallway. The man’s cheeks were flushed and he looked shy, so Gu Xi mistakenly believed the Alpha inside had ravished him into injury.

He had come to ask if they could please close the windows so everyone could sleep, and he was also a teeny bit curious about what sort of Alpha could break an O’s bones.

He knocked lightly and got that explosive line as a reply.

He suspected he had misunderstood everything.

Gu Xi flew back to his room, leaned on the door, and covered his pounding heart.

He slid down bit by bit. Good grief. Had he just become a creepy stalker?

Rong Jing lived next door.

How was he supposed to know. Sure, he had accidentally followed him, but he was not a weirdo.

Explain now and it would only look worse.

Gu Xi covered his burning face. Why did Rong Jing always catch him at his most embarrassing?

Then he remembered the word “impotent” on the phone, and his earlier speculation with Xiao Hong.

“Ah.”

It had only been a suspicion, but it might be true?

A twinge of sympathy. Rong Jing had it rough. He would definitely want to keep such a secret. Gu Xi decided to pretend he had heard nothing and keep it for him.

Rong Jing, of course, had not thought anything about being tailed. He only felt they were oddly fated. Also, how could a server afford a room that cost several thousand a night. Was he working service just for the experience?

Downstairs, the lobby manager felt he had messed everything up and dreaded reporting to Old Mr. Xie.
He called Zhou Xiang, who passed it to Xie Ling, who was anxiously waiting on test results.
Xie Ling’s nerves were already strung tight. Hearing the report, his expression went cold.

He immediately called Xie Zhanhong. “Fine, you have girlfriends. Why are you teaching my little brother how to have them too?”

Xie Zhanhong was speechless. The man had no respect for his own father.

Xie Ling was his firstborn. They had been at odds for years over Xie Ling’s mother, and they rarely spoke. He might as well have been a stud horse kept at home.

Not killing his father counted as filial in his book. He was not about to use a sweet tone now. Unlike Rong Jing’s firm refusals, Xie Ling’s tone was outright severe. Father and son were at each other’s throats again.

At one point, Xie Zhanhong demanded the eternal question. “You scold your biological father over Rong Jing. Are you even my son anymore? If Rong Jing and I fell into the water together, who would you save?”

Xie Ling did not even lift an eyebrow. “My little brother.”

Then he hung up.

Just then a lab tech hurried over, excited, and handed him a report.

“Where did you get this sample? It is a toxin we have never seen. I cannot analyze its components in a short time. If we publish the molecular structure, it could win an international award.”

An unknown poison meant modern forensics could not find solid evidence of homicide. Such poisons had recently shown up in film and television, but they were so rare and so difficult to make that they remained unsolved mysteries.

If a death could not be called poisoning, the law would say it was sudden cardiac arrest due to unknown causes.

If the poison was time-delayed, that created an alibi.

Ring after ring, everything clicked.

Xie Ling’s tall frame swayed.

Zhou Xiang rushed to support him. He brushed the hand away. “I am fine.”

He had just never imagined that so much care and so much patience would be paid back like this.

Early the next morning, Rong Jing received an unexpected call from Wu Hanqi. Wu Hanqi said he had gotten back to the hotel very late and heard Rong Jing had given up his presidential suite for him. He was grateful. He had not thanked Rong Jing last night for fear of disturbing his rest and would like to buy him breakfast.

In the original novel, Wu Hanqi did not appear many times, but almost every time he had helped the omega lead.

Rong Jing found him hard to read. He said it was nothing and the excuse was so polite it was hard to refuse, so he agreed.

Passing the neighboring door, he glanced at the number. No idea whether the server was still inside.

At the restaurant, Wu Hanqi was already waiting. He had prepared a cappuccino and smiled with impeccable manners. “I ordered this ahead. I hope I got it right.”

Being with Wu Hanqi was comfortable. He did not talk about himself and catered to his company, bringing up topics Rong Jing liked, his grace and attentiveness evident in every detail.

Rong Jing also noticed that when Wu Hanqi fetched food, he chose only dishes the original owner liked.
He had not thought anything of the cappuccino at first, but when the later selections avoided ginger with surgical care, it became a question. There was no way his big brother had told Wu Hanqi such specifics.

By the end of an otherwise unremarkable breakfast, Rong Jing had only confirmed one thing: Wu Hanqi had definitely investigated him.

Why was another matter. Perhaps great power made people cautious. Perhaps he had a powerful need for control and liked to master every variable in his orbit.

Or perhaps it was both. Either way, Rong Jing did not much want to entangle with him.

As the two families were old acquaintances, he still walked Wu Hanqi to his car.

Wu Hanqi slipped him a card. It was his private number, which he did not give out easily. If Rong Jing needed anything, he could call. He would be in Shangjing for a while.

All very ordinary. Until the window slid down and Wu Hanqi asked, smiling, “Do you still want to be Uncle’s bride?”

The words hit like a cymbal crash. Rong Jing nearly tripped on flat ground. Wu Hanqi’s rare loud laugh floated back as the car pulled away.

---

Gu Xi had thought he would not be able to sleep after that, but finding out Rong Jing was next door settled his nerves for no reason he could name.

He slept well and felt clearer headed.

He was still weak and aching from his heat, but he remembered that the “Sovereignty” auditions were that morning and afternoon. He had invested in the film. Whether he could turn things around hinged on it.

He planned to drop by the auditions, then come back to rest.

Day one was crucial. Most main roles were locked then; the rest was pageantry.

Masked up and fully covered, he cracked his door and looked toward Rong Jing’s room. No movement next door. He let out a small breath. Running into him would be too awkward.

He took a cab to the audition site. When he got out, he felt watched and scanned the street. Only pedestrians and passing cars.

Someone was observing him. It was the sixth sense he had honed growing up stalked.

He looked again and saw nothing suspicious.

He shook it off and went inside. The production had rented a venue just for auditions. The scale doubled as publicity.

The hall smelled like flowers. Near the entrance stood a great mound of roses, probably thousands. He heard the buzz.

“Whoa, how many is that?”
“The delivery guys said 9,999. Now I finally know how much space that takes.”
“Who are they for? That is crazy. Anyone would cry on the spot.”
“Who else. Only Gu Xi gets this treatment.”

“There is no name. Just ‘best of luck with casting.’ Are we supposed to guess which big shot sent it?”
“I heard the director say Gu Xi could not make it this week.”
“Then Gu Xi will not see them. What a waste.”
“Am I the only one sad I cannot see the real Gu Xi’s face up close?”

Since “Lotta’s 365 Days” had blown up, bouquets had followed Gu Xi everywhere, always the same blazing red roses.

He had thought it was a fervent fan at first. Over time it turned eerie. The flowers even showed up at his door. He had been saving up to move to a more secure building.

He felt no warmth. Not only no warmth, but a lingering chill of being shadowed.

He gave the mound a single look, then slipped into the yet-to-begin audition room.

Director Liu Yu was discussing the stack of candidates with the ADs and the writer. When Gu Xi pulled off his disguise, Liu Yu blinked. “Didn’t you say you needed a week off? Do not worry about the auditions. I have it covered.”

He understood Gu Xi’s concern though. As an idol-turned-actor, Gu Xi had never filmed intimate scenes and had kept to drama pieces or supporting roles without kissing.

This time there were a number of intimate beats, possibly even bed scenes without explicit nudity.

Because Gu Xi was an Omega, a dedicated body double would handle certain shots.

Gu Xi had always avoided romance work, but this was their second collaboration and he loved the script. Without the intimacy, the film would lose its flavor. After much persuasion, he had agreed to try a few moments that felt organic.

So his nerves about scene partners were reasonable.

Gu Xi knew very well that intimacy was part of the craft.

But on his first shoot an Alpha co-star had groped him off-camera with practiced subtlety. Like many Omega actors, he had nowhere to take the complaint. The shadow had stayed with him.

“I will just take a look and go,” he said with a soft smile. Crew who did not know him sucked in a breath and stared.

“Perfect,” Liu Yu said. “A few colleagues recommended some promising newcomers. Film Academy and Shangxi both sent bright seedlings. You can see for yourself.”

They all crowded around the packet. An AD frowned at one résumé. “If he shows up, send him away. He is an insult to the profession.”

No one contradicted him. There was no point offending a respected AD over a random auditionee.

Gu Xi sat and skimmed idly.

Then his gaze locked in place.

Rong Jing?

The face in the photo was different in texture from the man in life, but the features were the same.

Gu Xi was silent for a beat. No one objected when the AD went to crumple the sheet. Gu Xi reached out, indicating he wanted a look.

They liked that he was so diligent and handed over the wrinkled page.

There was a bright red X across the top. That AD had a reputation for uncompromising standards. If he rejected someone, the candidate had likely done something to genuinely put him off.

Gu Xi smoothed the paper and said evenly, “He may have had issues before, but newcomers always have shortcomings. We should not write him off completely. Giving him a chance would not hurt. Perhaps I can see him first.”

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