Chapter 4

“You are good at kneading, I didn’t know you had a talent for serving people,” the man withdrew his leg and said jokingly.

Chu Yunhan, who had been recognized, felt  cold all over. His brain slowly recovered from the shock and he tried to get up, but was held down by the shoulder.

“Young Master Yun, don’t move!” Bai Xiao, who had appeared behind him at some point, whispered with a smile. “If you move, you might get another hole in your body.” It sounded like a joke, but there was a hint of coldness in his words. 

Only then did he feel the gun pressed against  his shoulder blade, and the hairs all over his body stood up. He looked at Chu Yichen. The man was like a deity with his eyes downcast amidst the burning incense. The expression on his face was extremely faint, as if it would change in the next moment, his emotions concealed.

Chu Yunhan did not dare to move.

At Hei Yu’s sign, all “outsiders” including Cao Kun retired. Only Chu Yichen, the half-kneeling Chu Yunhan, Hei Yu, Bai Xiao, and four bodyguards were left in the room.

This was a family affair that should be kept private, wasn’t it? Chu Yunhan sneered inwardly. Chu Yichen was very particular about saving face.

The lights were turned on one by one.

“Hair is too ugly,” Chu Yichen’s voice sounded from above.

The burgundy wig was swept away by Bai Xiao, revealing the short brown hair underneath. Hei Yu took a disposable comb from the cabinet next to the bed and fixed his hair.

“That’s better.” The man finished the wine in his glass and raised it at him. “Come here and pour me some wine!”

Kneeling down on one knee, Chu Yunhan did not move. After remaining silent for a moment  he said, “Didn’t you forbid me to move? Pour it yourself.” When he was hiding before, he was constantly anxious and was about to go crazy. Now that he was exposed, he calmed down again. He knew very well that if he fell into Chu Yichen’s hands there would be no way out, and struggling would be useless. It was better to smash the pot if it was already cracked. However, the small gesture of unconsciously fiddling with his fingers still betrayed his inner tension.

The man raised an eyebrow. Chu Yunhan only felt a tingle in his arm, followed by a gradually spreading burning sensation and the feeling of something warm and sticky oozing out. Bai Xiao’s bullet ran across his left arm accurately, cutting through the sleeve, and leaving a  bloody mark on the skin.

“Next time, it will be more than just a scratch, Young Master Yun,” Bai Xiao said in a cold voice. 

Chu Yunhan’s face paled. He stood up in a daze, his legs somewhat soft, staggered, and paused. Then he walked slowly to Chu Yichen’s side and poured him some wine. 

“It’s too boring to drink like this. Sit down and play dice with me,” the man said. “We’ll guess the number. The loser drinks.”

Can I refuse? Chu Yunhan smiled bitterly and sat down on the single sofa next to him.

A second wine glass was placed before them. Hei Yu squatted half-kneeling in front of the coffee table, put two dice in a black dice cup, shook it a few times, stopped, and withdrew his hand from the table.

“You go first,” Chu Yichen said.

Chu Yunhan made a random guess since it was a matter of luck anyway, “Big.”

The dice cup was lifted. Ten points. He actually guessed it.

Bai Xiao poured a sip of red wine in Chu Yichen’s glass. The man swirled the wine and drank it in one fell swoop.

Second round. The other party still asked him to guess first. Chu Yunhan chose “small” but lost with nine points. Bai Xiao walked to him, lowered the mouth of the bottle, and the red wine kept flowing out until it filled the glass to the brim.

“What’s this?” He frowned. “It’s not fair at all!”

“It really is unfair.” Chu Yichen looked at him indifferently. “I never said this was a fair game.”

“You…” He tried to stand up, but was pressed back down on the sofa. There was the usual smile on Bai Xiao’s face. “Don’t move!”

“Why don’t you just shoot me directly?” Chu Yunhan gritted his teeth.

“If Young Master orders it, I will be happy to do so.”

Chu Yunhan was shocked by the looming killing intent in that smile. He sat stiffly and asked Chu Yichen, “You want me to drink this glass?”

“Latour, 1989, Bordeaux. If I remember correctly it is your favorite brand.” The man leaned back on the sofa and looked at him lazily.

Chu Yunhan pursed his lips, picked up the cup full of deep ruby-colored liquor, raised his head, closed his eyes, and drank. The sour taste filled his mouth which became numb after swallowing repeatedly. No matter how good the wine was, drinking it like this would make it difficult to swallow. After drinking the glass empty, he put it back on the coffee table.

Hei Yu kept shaking the dice cup. Five points, small. He guessed correctly again and breathed a sigh of relief. However, the game continued. As soon as Chu Yichen drank the sip of wine in his glass, the dice were shaking in the dice cup again. Now Chu Yunhan understood why this person would let him guess first. Because no matter how long they played, following these rules, he was bound to lose. He could only pin all his hopes on luck, hoping he would always guess right. Unfortunately, good luck always slips away easily.

After guessing wrong four times in a row, he looked at the wine nauseously, his head dizzy. He picked up the glass and then put it down again with the words, “I can’t drink anymore.”

Chu Yichen rested his hand on the back of the sofa and looked at him. Seeing that he did not move, he said, “Bai Xiao, help him.”

“Young Master Yun, excuse me.” Bai Xiao lifted Chu Yunhan’s chin, forced his jaw open, and abruptly poured the wine into his mouth.

Chu Yunhan’s eyes widened and he struggled desperately, but his body was firmly pressed on the sofa, rendered immobile by the bodyguard. The wine pouring in the trachea choked him and he started coughing instinctively, but was forced to swallow the liquid that suffocated him, letting out a whimper. The bodyguard let go after the glass was empty. He bent forward and coughed violently. Both his face and his white uniform shirt were stained with red wine, making him look extremely wretched. Chu Yunhan coughed for a long time before calming down and looking at the person in front of him with red eyes. “Have you played enough?”

“Go on.” Chu Yichen looked at him indifferently. “Guess, big or small?”

Obviously, the game had to go on, and it would not end before the one in control decided so. Chu Yunhan knew that at this moment, he was like a herbivore besieged by a group of wolves. There was no chance to escape anymore. Being played with, or tortured, it all depended on the other party’s mood. His heart was filled with despair. 

There was no escape.

He pursed his lips, gritted his teeth and said, “Let’s change the game! One game will determine the outcome. If I guess right, you  let me go. If I guess wrong, you kill me.”

The man looked at him. The ridicule in his eyes grew thicker, his face relaxed, his thin lips curled up, and he said lightly, “Okay.”

He actually… agreed. 

Chu Yunhan was somewhat stunned for a while. Staring at the other party, he couldn’t read any other emotions from that face, as if the game that decided over his life or death right now was merely entertainment, a pastime to him.

His expression was indifferent. 

The man didn’t care about his life or death.

He expected that if he fell into Chu Yichen’s hands he would be beaten, tortured, and even shot, and that it would hurt to death. But he was sure that person would not let him die, so he made this bet in order to escape. But now his determination was shaken. He started thinking that his assumption was fundamentally wrong. Chu Yichen really wanted his life, and his “smart” move gave the other party a reason to take it. He basically jumped down the cliff voluntarily. 

“Guess, big or small?”

Chu Yunhan shivered, looked in despair at the dice cup that Hei Yu held his hand on, and then moved his gaze back to Chu Yichen. The rims of his eyes turned slightly red, and it took a long time before he said dejectedly, “Big.”

“Is that your decision?” The man looked at him with a smile. “You can think about it for a while. I have time tonight.”

Dense sweat oozed from his forehead and mixed with the spilled wine in a sticky mess. There was a scale in his head with two weights, “big” and “small”, swaying from side to side. The more he thought about it, the more confused he felt. He supported his forehead with a hand and changed his mind, “Small…I choose small.”

The dice cup was lifted. 

Chu Yunhan stared at the two dice stiffly, motionless, as if he were frozen, until Hei Yu whispered, “Young Master Yun, you lost.” Then he raised his head in a daze, his eyes covered with a layer of mist, and asked in a low voice, “So you are going to kill me, right?”

“Such are the rules of your game.” Chu Yichen leaned back on the sofa, tilted his head slightly, and Bai Xiao pulled out his gun again.

“You can’t kill me…” He stood up abruptly, but was immediately pushed back down on the single sofa by the two men in black. Bai Xiao’s gun pressed against the back of his head. His complexion deathly pale, Chu Yunhan said trembling, “Chu Yichen, if you kill me, Uncle Yu and Uncle Xu will never forgive you, and Minran and Jiahui…”

“As the head of the family, it is my duty to get rid of traitors.” The man glanced at his panic-stricken face and said, “Don’t worry, I will still allow you to be buried in the family cemetery as an elder of the Chu family, so that you can accompany your old man.”

“No, you can’t do it…” He was already in a mess and just wanted to beg for his life. He shouted, “Yichen, I was wrong! At that time, I only agreed with them…I didn’t know that things would develop this way, I really didn’t know…Yichen, I—”

“Enough! Don’t call me that!” the man’s cold voice interrupted him. His black pupils seemed to be burning with dark flames, reflecting a mixture of conflicting emotions, and every word he uttered was as cold as ice, “Every time you call me like that, it reminds me of your performance on the phone. Your voice was trembling, you said you were afraid, you begged me to save you, crying my name. Tell me, what was the look on your face at that moment?”

“I was wrong…” Chu Yunhan felt Chu Yichen’s unconcealed anger for the first time. It made him tremble with fear, and he kept begging for mercy softly, his eyes red, “It was me who was obsessed with this kind of thing…I don’t dare anymore, please…”

The whole room was quiet. Only the sound of him crying and begging for mercy could be heard.

After a long time, the man’s cold voice rang, “I can give you two options. The first one is to die, keeping everything. The second one is to live, losing everything.”

Translator: Taalia