HOYSE CHAPTER 87

Chapter 87 — To capture, one must first let go

The moment Wu Fuyu saw that Rong Jing had finally agreed to meet, all the lines he had prepared for days vanished. He could only stare.

I should not be like this. I should project my overlord aura, pin him down, tell him how angry I am, and warn him to stop deleting me. One more delete and forget about adding me back.

But with Rong Jing right in front of him, Wu Fuyu forgot everything.

So good-looking and even better up close. Those eyes are like glass marbles. When he looks at me so gently, I want to hand him my heart. 

Wu Fuyu hated that he had not studied harder. He could not even come up with a decent adjective.

Before, he had only watched from afar. Rong Jing never let him get close. He knew some of his behavior went against Rong Jing’s values. He was slowly changing.

His tone sounded like rain after a long drought. “You really came…”

Rong Jing felt the heat in Wu Fuyu’s gaze and rubbed at imaginary goosebumps. “Use your normal tone. The way you usually talk is fine.”

The surging tide in Wu Fuyu stopped cold. He got a little sulky. “Rong Jing, are you only gentle with Omegas?”

Rong Jing glanced at him and said mildly, “You are a special case. How am I supposed to be gentle to an Alpha who resorts to violence every time he wants to teach me a lesson?”

Wu Fuyu was speechless. He truly regretted ever picking a fight with Rong Jing. Would it have killed him to talk things out? What possessed him to make Rong Jing see why the flowers are so red? Was he kicked by a donkey back then?

Turns out the biggest obstacle to his love life was not the spicy little pepper Gu Xi but it was himself.

“Feeling wronged?”

“Do not ask.” Asking only made him regret more. He clutched his chest, beating it in frustration. “You came down for that matter, right? I can help, it’s not impossible. But I set the terms. I am afraid you cannot do it.”

He stared at Rong Jing with open provocation.

Rong Jing did not rise to it. “Just say it. I will see. If I cannot do it, I will find another way.”

If he dared bring it up, he was prepared.

After what Lu Jin had gone through, locking someone in a dark room was an option, but it would waste too much time.

He could use other methods to observe Ji Jiongjie, but that man was very good at cleanup and destroying evidence. Catching a slip would take time and luck. These were unusual days. He had to get as much done as possible while he still had control.

Wu Fuyu was unhappy. “I have not even said anything, and you are already backing down?”

Could you not hold firm a little longer? Let my constantly rejected heart recover some HP.

If Gu Xi made the same request, you would not answer like this.

Argh! How infuriating.

The parking garage was not a great place to talk, so they went to Rong Jing’s car. From Xie Ling’s angle, he could not see what they were doing.

Not long ago the Xu family’s scandal broke. The Wu family smoothly swallowed that not-small chain of businesses. Outsiders saw only the Wu family’s deep pockets, but Xie Ling thought more.

To make Xu Juelian’s mess known to all, you needed the media to push. The Xu family had close ties to the industry, so where did that wave of scandals come from?

He had good reason to believe the Wu family had fanned the flames.

The Wus were hungry wolves. Wu Fuyu was a young wolf not yet fully grown but already showing fangs. He was about to come of age and had sharp edges. He could not be underestimated.

They did not talk long. When they stepped out of the car, terms had been set.

Rong Jing looked as calm as ever. Wu Fuyu was grinning ear to ear. No one knew what they had agreed to in those few minutes.

Wu Fuyu hinted he had not driven today. Would Rong Jing send him back?

He had kept the car at home on purpose. Maybe Rong Jing would take pity and agree. That would be a win.

But Rong Jing was a man who stayed cool to the end. He laid out all conditions in the open. If he used someone, he said so plainly. Asking for extras, no.

So he politely offered, “I can call you a ride. I will reimburse.”

Wu Fuyu stared at him without expression.

Rong Jing returned the look, just as blank.

On the surface there was no conflict, but Alpha dominance met Alpha dominance, and the air between them crackled.

Their gazes crossed back and forth. Neither would yield.

When the stalemate dragged on, Wu Fuyu, for once, thought of retreating a step. Rong Jing looked gentle, even like someone with no temper to many, but once you knew him you realized he was strong to the bone. What he decided rarely changed.

“I will drive you,” a voice cut in, ending their back-and-forth.

“Big brother, you are awake?” Rong Jing stared, shocked, at Xie Ling standing there in pajamas.

Seeing his brother’s guilty look, Xie Ling rubbed his head, a trace of indulgence in his eyes. “Not your fault. I was going to be up anyway. Go on upstairs. I cannot sleep either.”

“I should take him…” Rong Jing’s heart pinched at the shadows under his brother’s eyes. Lately Xie Ling had been all but sleepless rectifying the Xie Group from top to bottom.

“You are leaving the province tomorrow. Rest. Go up.”

“Brother Xie,” Wu Feiyu said with extra respect. He was always proper in front of Xie Ling. “I can go by myself…”

“Mm?” Xie Ling cut him a sideways glance. There was no threat in it, but paired with his habitual coolness, the pressure was real.

“Alright, sorry to trouble you,” Wu Feiyu changed tune immediately.

Only this man could make soft pajamas look like a winter gale.

Faced with this peerless “other people’s child,” the paragon everyone had grown up being measured against, Wu Fuyu did not dare act out.

Once in the car, the temperature seemed to drop ten degrees.

Wu Fuyu sat up very straight. The man beside him had been praised by the older generation in countless venues since childhood.

It was like school. One was a perennial valedictorian, the other a troublemaker who fought and caused chaos. The gulf showed itself.

“You like Alphas?” Xie Ling asked as he started the engine. The brothers were both direct men.

“No.” I do not like Alphas, I just happened to fall for a man who is one.

Xie Ling nodded and pulled up a few news pieces on his phone for him.

“Keep scrolling. Read more.” He kept his eyes on the road.

Wu Feiyu took a look and nearly dropped the phone. Headlines read: “The reality of gay survival, how to face social pressure,” “Shocker. An Alpha says his boyfriend abused him. Turns out his boyfriend is…,” “Do

Dual Income, No Kids.
It can also be about same-sex couples,
but overall related
to child-free couples. DINK

couples have a future? Focus on marginalized groups”…

…

………

He ran a media company himself and knew these clickbait pieces were half-true and often exaggerated. He just never expected Xie Ling to read them.

He sensed that Xie Ling had probably noticed something and was keeping dignity for both sides by not saying it outright.

“Brother Xie, are you against gays?”

“Not so much. They face too many hardships. As a parent, how could you bear to watch your child suffer?” It was a sentimental line, yet he said it flatly, without any visible emotion.

Ah.

Wu Fuyu had not expected such a warm answer, least of all from an Alpha with not a soft-looking inch on him.

“What if the child insists anyway?” He thought of how Ji Jiongjie had crudely lined up a bunch of Alphas for him to sleep with and his skin crawled. Look at other people’s parents, then look at his, and you wonder what you missed growing up.

Xie Ling said, “Once you are an adult, think it through and do not regret it.”

Even if he had once disapproved of his brother’s orientation, all he did was have people keep an eye out. If he interfered, it would depend on circumstances. If someone hurt his own too much, he would step in.

The rest of the ride was unusually quiet. Xie Ling focused on driving, but his habit of keeping tabs on his brother made him glance at Wu Fuyu from time to time. He saw Wu’s face pinched with pain and his hand pressed to his stomach.

“Does it hurt?”

“Drank too much tonight,” Wu Fuyu said with effort. It was all Ji Jiongjie’s fault. After being rejected by Gu Xi so many times, the man still refused to give up. Each time he showed up, he latched on like a madman, becoming more unhinged with every attempt.

Xie Ling noted the pallor and pulled into a 24-hour convenience store. He went in, heated a bowl of congee, and grabbed a millet cake.

Wu Feiyu stared at the steaming container, almost dazed by the warm vapor.

“Only drank, did not eat, right?” Xie Ling said, seeing his surprise. “Back when I had social dinners, drinking on an empty stomach did this to me. My little brother had someone prepare congee and easy-to-digest food on schedule for me.”

One look at Wu and he had guessed.

“I do not eat instant stuff,” Wu said, poking the wooden spoon at it with disdain.

“Then toss it and have your personal chef handle it.” Xie Ling was concise.

“You already bought it. Would be a waste not to eat,” Wu said, contradicting himself.

He sipped the congee in small spoonfuls. Warmth rose from his stomach.

When he was little, his father was never around. The siblings and cousins across three generations all followed the Ji Jiongjie mold, with few exceptions. In that kind of environment, he’d barely encountered anyone normal, much less experienced the warmth of a real family.

Xie Ling spoke so casually, like he was used to it.

Maybe to Rong Jing it was just daily brotherhood. No need to spell it out.

Wu thought hard. Growing up, no one had ever fussed over his life like this.

Family, such a simple word, such a difficult thing.

His chest felt full. A strange warmth named envy swelled up, unfamiliar and addictive.

You brothers are weird. Why do you exist like this?

You make people want to be part of your family.

…

“Do you need another little brother?”

“No.”

With Rong Jing, it was enough.

The next day, Rong Jing rolled his suitcase to the rendezvous point for the bus.

The gear and equipment had already been sent ahead in another vehicle. The actors and staff would take two coaches out of province.

In the group chat, people had gushed that the producers and directors were finally spending money, thanks to generous investors. At last they would not be jammed into rickety vans.

Those things had you pressed thigh to thigh with nowhere to put your feet. In summer it was hellish.

Rong Jing arrived late because Gu Xi had messaged him before departure to board at the last minute.

He had been brooding about how to handle the remaining scum-gongs, but Gu Xi had yanked him right back with one text. Thinking of their moonlit confession and everything that followed left him not quite himself.

Gu Xi’s assistant Mo Dian had taken the earlier bus. This coach was mostly actors. Gu Xi was alone for now, sitting on the aisle with earbuds in, eyes closed, listening to music.

That made quite a few people back off, unwilling to bother him.

Also, because of the seating, anyone going in would have to brush past him. That meant contact.

More and more boarded. Every Alpha who came on glanced at the prime seat beside Gu Xi, then retreated under the threat in other Alphas’ eyes. A vacuum formed at his side, until the last Alpha stepped up.

Everyone watched as Rong Jing climbed aboard. There were no extra seats.

The two had not exactly gotten along. Faces all around wore the look of people ready for drama.

Rong Jing scanned the bus, then walked to Gu Xi’s row.

“Is anyone sitting there?”

Every Alpha held his breath, waiting for Gu Xi to refuse. This was Rong Jing, after all.

He looked high and rich and handsome, and was a good person by all accounts, but he and Gu Xi had been tied together by rumors from the start. Later neither paid the other any mind, and off set they barely interacted.

Poor guy. He was about to be politely and ruthlessly rejected.

Gu Xi did not need to look. The moment he smelled that familiar scent draw near, he opened his eyes.

They changed at once. He gave Rong Jing a soft, sultry smile, then it vanished into cool reserve.

“No one.”

He stood and stepped aside to make a path.

As they slid past each other, he breathed three words at Rong Jing’s ear.

“Good boy.”

Ambiguous warmth pooled in the air, seeping slowly into the bone.

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