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HOYSE CHAPTER 99
Chapter 99 — Discovery
Wu Fuyu could not accept that he had just watched a movie so wholeheartedly that he forgot himself, and even let his sworn enemy Gu Xi see him in such a humiliating state. He wanted time to run backward.
Why was he so engrossed? He had even visited the set while they were filming. He had not felt this worked up then. Was it because he had not grasped how tragically the story would unfold?
He stormed out to a bench outside the premiere hall, head pounding with anger. He was about to swipe at his eyes when a long-fingered hand appeared in front of him, offering a tissue.
He was ready to snap. Who had the guts to laugh at him?
He looked up and found Xie Ling’s cold, handsome face. The words stuck in his throat.
“B-Brother Xie,” he muttered.
“Mm.” Xie Ling sat down beside him.
This was his younger brother’s first theatrical release. He might have acted indifferent, but he had memorized the premiere date long ago, declined the ticket Rong Jing had sent, and obtained one through his own channels to come silently. A gift was not the same as something won. Coming on his own was a way of supporting his brother. Of course, he would never tell Rong Jing he backed this sort of frivolous hobby.
He had taken a seat in the back row. A few reporters had already noticed him, but since this big shot loathed interviews, they pretended not to see him. His icy face said clearly he did not want to be disturbed, and that was the truth. Xie Ling had no desire to become the focus of attention at Rong Jing’s premiere.
He could not help noticing how loudly Wu Fuyu cried. It would have been hard not to. Every time he ran into this kid, the boy seemed to be at his most embarrassed, and for once it stirred a flicker of sympathy.
Wu Fuyu took the tissue and scrubbed at his face, then told the truth for once in front of Xie Ling. “Rong Jing acted really well.”
When he was performing, Rong Jing seemed to shine from within. As for the other one… pardon him, his mind went blank.
Xie Ling remembered Rong Jing’s serious expression when telling him how much he loved acting. “He has always taken it seriously. The honor should belong to him.”
Wu Fuyu turned and caught a fleeting hint of a smile on Xie Ling’s lips.
There was light in Xie Ling’s eyes, pride for Rong Jing that was impossible to miss.
Those brothers rarely said affectionate things out loud, yet the feeling always reached the people around them.
Because of Gu Xi’s unexpected fall on stage, the two of them stayed on the trending list all day. Many who had watched the livestream wanted to know what happened afterward. The platform was heartless and cut the feed, and although everyone could guess they probably thanked each other and went their separate ways, not seeing it with their own eyes made them itch. It felt like they had missed an era-defining same-frame moment.
Neither of the two parties responded to the curiosity. They maintained their usual cool distance.
After the screening, videos of sobbing fans leaving theaters started circulating online, and fresh reviews appeared. One stood out. The reviewer was a well-known veteran in the industry, and the title read: “To Watch It, You Might Need an Inhibitor.”
Most people clicked because of the title, then realized it was a serious review:
“At the start of this year, there were many so-called big productions, full of five-yuan special effects, with nothing that truly surprised me. ‘Sovereignty’ has the original novel’s fanbase and adds Director Liu Yu and Gu Xi to the team. As long as there is no insane rewrite, it should have a built-in audience.
I came to the premiere by invitation with a picky eye, hoping this lineup would not waste my 120 minutes or destroy my fondness for ‘Lota.’ I did not expect that from the very first minute I would be drawn in. When the credits rolled, I realized I had not even found time to breathe.
It gave me a delightful surprise. The pacing is brisk and never drags. The character work is full, and the actors hold up their end.
Every role has its own distinct personality. You can see the team’s care here. Liu Yu took pains to film ‘people.’
In costuming, hair and makeup, sets, and storyboards, the production strives for excellence. You can sense the director’s ambition. He is not content to be boxed in by past achievements.
As for the film itself: Gu Xi’s acting needs no defense, and this time he bravely steps beyond his usual image. I assumed he might coast in the early chapters because the prince Shao Hua is not particularly likable at first, and even later he is not some saint of righteousness. He becomes a wise ruler because Fu Qianming changes him, bit by bit. Gu Xi plays that inner shift with clarity. I am glad to see he has not stood still.
Now for my former concern: newcomer Rong Jing. To carry a first role like this, I honestly was not optimistic. I was wrong. Rong Jing has a distinctive quicksilver quality that fits Fu Qianming perfectly: restrained, dark-bellied, clever to the point of being uncanny. In the final sequence he walks into the enemy camp both to bring peace to the borderlands and for the person he loves. Perhaps it is only at that moment that he truly…
Rong Jing, today you are my surprise. Your performance is impeccable.
Do not watch with tinted glasses. You will find surprises in every department.
After this parting, will the sovereign live in peace?
Finally, if you go, bring an inhibitor.”
The comments below were plentiful, and both leads reposted the review to thank the writer for the recognition. Along with the anticipation came some sour notes: “Did someone get paid for this?” Others sighed that once the project had funding, everything went uphill, even the caliber of hired shills.
As the theatrical run continued, dissent dwindled. More and more viewers became organic evangelists. Someone even dug up the early “promising future” remark a top film blogger had once made about Rong Jing and pushed it back to the top.
Online feedback rolled in:
“Go see it. You have to go. It is super sweet. Sweetest thing I have seen this year!”
“Do not listen to the person above. Sweet my a**. I sobbed like an idiot in the theater.”
“My tears must be free. Why did Fu Qianming have to die in the end? Shao Hua had already changed so much. They had both changed for each other. Thator "couple exchange" scene.
A term commonly used by fans in Chinese drama,
danmei (BL), or novel fandoms. It typically describes emotional,
romantic, or intimate moments between two leads,
especially when their relationship
takes a meaningful turn. CX
“At first I did not like Shao Hua. He was a prince who only cared about himself. Later he held a city that had run out of grain and arrows for five days, and even when Fu Qianming had ‘betrayed’ him, he kept his faith. It shocked me. Just when he had become his best self, the light in his heart went out. Director, I am mailing you razor blades. Because of this movie, I have switched lanes to become a Gu Xi fan!”
“I had read the dirt on Rong Jing and assumed the production had bowed to capital. Wasn’t he the rich kid who bought his way in? If all bring-their-own-money hires are like Rong Jing, please give me more!”
“Didn’t that classmate already say not to wave around old grudges? Even the ‘victim’ thinks it is in the past. Why keep chasing him? What did Rong Jing do to you to make you blacken him every day?”
“I am not here for your plot talk. I am here for that luscious kiss, the forced kiss, the bed scene!”
“Finally someone said it. That kiss scene and that bed scene had me screaming. Too hot!!!”
“I regret not listening to the wise saying and bringing an inhibitor. I overestimated my self-control because I only knew this would be Gu Xi’s first on-screen kiss. I almost popped early because of the pheromones and had to be escorted out. So embarrassing.”
“Friendly reminder: seriously, bring inhibitors.”
“I went in for the kiss and was not prepared for how hard and how fast it came.”
“I used to think Gu Xi would refuse and we would see a marketing account leak about him walking off set. The man who is supposedly so pure he faints at the thought of a kiss… turns out he was going to make me faint. Aaaaaa!”
“Do not ask questions. The answer is: it is delicious.”
“The visuals are too high-level. Every frame is wallpapery. With the plot, it was like the film kept plucking my pheromones.”
“No wonder there were rumors of pheromone spikes on set. The finished movie is already this stimulating. Imagine being there in person. Respect to the crew. This one is not on you.”
“What kills a kiss scene is greasiness. Anyone with greasy kisses, watch this and learn. A good kiss springs from the story and draws you into the emotion. Fu Qianming kissing Shao Hua felt natural as water finding a channel. It was taut and full of pull. It looked like force, but he was always stroking Shao Hua’s hair and the back of his head, soothing him. The detail was perfect. In real life, Rong Jing must be a gentle, careful person.”
“I do not stan Rong Jing, I do not stan Gu Xi. I stan the two of them together. Please date!!!”
“Every time I see them now, I cannot help thinking in their previous lives they somehow failed to be together.”
“You are projecting a little too hard. Previous lives?”
“Let me tell you a scary story. These two are the least likely CP in the entertainment industry.”
…
With this wave of organic recommendations, “Sovereignty” rocketed up the box office chart, breaking the past three years’ ten-day record. If it kept up, theaters would extend its run. It might even take the crown.
At the same time, hashtags like “Watching It Will Drain Your Inhibitors,” “Arctic Circle CP,” and “Please Just Get Together Already” climbed back onto the hot search, fueling the film and also raising the actors’ profiles to a new peak. As the director had predicted, the roles made people ship the pair even more. Unfortunately, outside of the drama there was no sugar, only an unending delivery of knives.
Both Rong Jing’s and Gu Xi’s personal Weibo accounts, as well as the once-quiet Surprise CP supertopic, were suddenly swamped. A few days ago Gu Xi had been worried about the box office.
He feared that if Rong Jing’s first movie landed poorly, it would hurt him. Rong Jing was calm, but because Gu Xi was nervous, he indulged him and checked the numbers with him every day. These two ascetics had never chased data like this, but concern for each other made them follow every step. Only the stream of congratulatory calls broke their anxious vigil.
Now, Gu Xi lay on the bed, watching their names appear side by side on the trending list, laughter hiding at the bottom of his eyes. His pale legs kicked idly in the air while he happily watched more fans flood the supertopic he had created. An old-timer asked why he had not posted new “food” lately. He was busy consolidating his status in the back courtyard, after all. He glanced at Rong Jing typing at the desk.
In Rong Jing’s peripheral vision, those white legs kept swinging, unraveling his focus. “Do you want to put on some pajama pants?”
“No,” Gu Xi said, refusing him on purpose in a tone he rarely used. “It is cooler like this.”
He wore one of Rong Jing’s oversized shirts, long bare legs smooth and straight, innocently swaying in front of Rong Jing. He heard the question and rolled his eyes inside. Understood, understood. Moral exemplar. Antique values. Model Alpha.
If he counted them up, he had already dropped plenty of little threads lately. He believed one of them would be noticed.
Rong Jing’s mouth was dry as sand. He forced himself to work. After a while he opened his browser. As he clicked into the search bar, a history dropdown appeared.
“Do Alphas stop when they are very into it because they do not like their partner?”
“My boyfriend only did it once. Am I unattractive?”
“How do I let him know that I really, really like it when he holds me?”
One line at a time slid into focus. Each cut ripples across his heart.
Every word sounded like the simplest truth rising out of someone’s chest. The original novel’s imprint on Rong Jing had been too deep; he had arrived in this world too late, and Gu Xi had already been hurt again and again. In Rong Jing’s mind, healing Gu Xi’s heart came before anything else. His own desire could be ignored.
It turned out that even if Gu Xi could not let go of the past, he had been doing his best to open up to Rong Jing. Through these simple searches, it was as if he could see a soul tiptoeing toward him. Beneath that confident, proud surface lay the true Gu Xi, the one who made his heart ache.
Questions were not what Gu Xi needed. He needed Rong Jing to move.
Rong Jing’s gaze shifted. The gentleness sharpened into resolve as he looked at the Omega’s legs swinging in the air.
His voice was hoarse. “Did you use my computer?”
“Ah… mm.” Gu Xi had scat-dropped so many clues that he had forgotten he had tinkered with Rong Jing’s browser. He considered himself a reserved, elegant Omega and would rather die than wreck his image in Rong Jing’s mind. So he had adopted a roundabout strategy, and today it finally bore fruit.
“Gu Xi, come here,” Rong Jing said, turning his leather chair toward him like a hunter regarding a lamb.
Gu Xi padded over while typing on his phone. He had not noticed Rong Jing’s change in expression. He was still replying in the CP topic. Now that “Please Just Get Together Already” had made the hot search, he was finally not the only one shipping. That CP thread was like his child. He had watched it grow with his own eyes, nurturing it carefully until it flourished.
He assumed Rong Jing had something ordinary to say. He was used to Rong Jing being all principle and rules.
Only when he drew close did he hear Rong Jing say, “Sit here.”
Gu Xi’s head snapped up. The fathomless eyes before him made his fingers go slack. His phone thumped to the floor.
His voice shook. “Rong… Rong Jing…”
Rong Jing patted his own thigh and asked, very coolly, “Are you coming or not?”
Do not use that tone and those eyes on me. I am going to explode!!!
Gu Xi’s cheeks flushed. His heart beat as if it would climb out of his chest.
He stepped over and stopped in front of Rong Jing. Even though he was physically looking down, Rong Jing’s presence made resistance impossible. The Omega’s pheromones began to boil.
Rong Jing drew Gu Xi’s wrist into his palm and noticed a faint mark there. He did not ask. He only lowered his head and kissed the spot, slow and careful, filled with tenderness.
Feeling the weight of that emotion, Gu Xi set his hands on Rong Jing’s shoulders and shyly sat down.
“Not wearing them?”
“I am,” he whispered.
Rong Jing could feel Gu Xi’s softness and grace, the way he cooperated with every touch.
He had known for a long time that Gu Xi did not reject him. He had always kept himself for him alone.
Two souls who cared too much and kept testing each other finally began to draw close. Rong Jing’s hands were like flint striking tinder. Breathless sounds slipped out. Gu Xi nearly slid boneless to the floor from the rush, and a pair of large hands caught him just in time.
They made it to the bed. A message chimed on Rong Jing’s phone.
It was from the people he had assigned to keep watch. Xu Juelian was dead. The rumor was suicide, a man who could not bear the free fall of his life.
Rong Jing had kept an occasional eye on the aftermath because he worried this scum might not let Gu Xi go.
Xu Juelian had offended a group of well-known Omegas, who joined forces to ensure he could find no work offline. The Xu family had expelled him. So he was cornered, but he did not stop burning money. Wu Hanqi had agreed only to cover medical bills and refused to pay his debts. Xu Juelian finally took the kind of online gigs he had once despised, but he was so subjective and so unwilling to accept revisions that he fought every client. The bad reviews piled up and the platform banned him.
He lost his mind and went to the Wu house to make a scene, taunting them for being “run by a Beta,” declaring the Wus would crash and burn, accusing them of swallowing the Xu fortune and promising they would pay.
Wu Hanqi was the textbook businessman. He would not hold his hand because of an old acquaintance. Just as in the original book where he had seized the Xies’ assets without blinking, he bought the Xu family for a rock-bottom price.
That sealed Xu Juelian’s fate. Wu Hanqi cut him off completely, medical bill and all.
The man ended up where the original Rong Jing had first gone: a shelter for those who could not get by, a special institution in this ABO world. The shelters were chaotic. The original had been robbed of everything there. Xu Juelian, who had no life skills whatsoever, fell into deeper misery. He drifted on the streets and later vanished from sight. According to the tipster, he died by the roadside and lay there a long time before anyone called the police.
Rong Jing did not pity him. The ending was of his own making. He felt a brief, distant sigh. In the novel, this was the man who had duped Gu Xi in the later arcs by playing the neighbor and friend, turning Gu Xi’s trust in others into dust. He had finally gotten what he deserved.
Gu Xi’s eyes were bright as if filled with water. He lightly slapped the Alpha’s chest. “What is it? Why are you so distracted?”
“Nothing. It is my fault.”
“Am I not attractive enough to keep your attention?”
He had kept that question in his heart for a long time. He asked it now.
Rong Jing’s gaze deepened. He lowered his head.
“No,” he said. “You are more than enough.”
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