23: First kiss

Their breathing was scorched and unsteady, and Shen Lian's head-tilted posture was slightly uncomfortable.

Following this, Chu Yilan wrapped his arms around his waist, almost encircling more than half of it. So thin, Chu Yilan thought, using his strength to lift Shen Lian up.

Now their gazes were level. Shen Lian's fingers dug into the gaps of Chu Yilan's hair, which had grown a bit longer, feeling prickly against his palms but exciting nonetheless.

Shen Lian let Chu Yilan kiss his neck, a low, decadent laugh spilling out.

Zheng Ge naturally heard it and then stopped at the entrance of the storage room.

He had watched Chu Yilan go in; there was only someone in there.

Chu Yilan pinched Shen Lian's waist, causing Shen Lian to let out a muffled groan.

It was even clearer now, and one could tell exactly what was happening just by listening. Zheng Ge froze, his cheeks instantly flushing red, yet he was curious—who was inside...

Zheng Ge actually reached out and knocked: "Is anyone there?"

Damn you!

Shen Lian was furious and about to start cursing when he saw Chu Yilan suddenly kick the door with a loud bang. The person outside was so startled they fled in a panic.

Now there was truly no one left. Shen Lian asked with an unsteady breath, smiling: "Aren't you worried about breaking Zheng Ge's heart?"

Chu Yilan captured his lips, not bothering to listen to his nonsense.

They drifted and sank in the midst of passion, their souls meeting as if at the edge of the world's wilderness, unshielded, releasing all their desires before finally embracing and leaping from the highest height.

After an unknown amount of time, Chu Yilan released Shen Lian.

Shen Lian couldn't even stand steadily and had to lean on him.

"Chu Yilan."

"Hmm?"

"Don't treat me like an object, and don't look for testing or novelty."

"..."

Shen Lian said: "Try loving me."

Chu Yilan wanted to say something to Shen Lian face-to-face, but Shen Lian was like a jellyfish. He steadied him several times before finally realizing something was wrong. He freed one hand to cup Shen Lian's face, frowning as he asked: "What's wrong?"

"No strength." Shen Lian didn't understand either; he tried moving his fingertips, but they felt numb. "Master Chu, I think I have low blood sugar."

Upon hearing this, Chu Yilan picked Shen Lian up horizontally and strode upstairs.

On the way, Shen Lian was soft everywhere except for his mouth, which remained stubborn. He kept insisting to Chu Yilan that this was caused by not eating dinner and had nothing to do with the kissing. He was a real tough guy, super tough! Seven times a night was as easy as drinking soup.

Chu Yilan lowered his eyes to glance at Shen Lian, as if committing those words to memory.

Shen Lian's scalp tingled instantly, and he finally quieted down.

This hotel was, when you thought about it, a joint venture between the Zhou Yuanlin family and two others, so it was no surprise that Chu Yilan had a room here.

A waiter soon brought food: hot white congee and several light, appetizing side dishes, followed by a pile of sweets.

Shen Lian first ate a piece of chocolate mousse, and after a few minutes, he seemed less uncomfortable.

He leaned back in the soft chair, swallowing the white congee spoon by spoon.

Looking at his pale face, Chu Yilan felt his temper rising: "Are you a child? Do you need someone to watch you eat?"

Shen Lian sighed: "You just took my first kiss and now you're turning cold and heartless."

Chu Yilan: "..."

Hearing no response, Shen Lian suddenly looked at the man: "Master Chu, that was your first kiss too, right?!"

Chu Yilan: "Eat your food!"

Shen Lian was incredibly amused.

If it were Feng Yueshan, Zhou Yuanlin, or those people, what first kiss? At their status, who would still bother with such innocent things? But Chu Yilan was different; his experiences made it impossible for him to get intimate with just anyone.

After eating, some color gradually returned to Shen Lian's face, though he was still lacking energy. Chu Yilan carried him to the bed: "Sleep for a while."

Shen Lian jolted: "I need to meet more connections."

"I am one." Chu Yilan covered him with the quilt, his movements forceful, giving Shen Lian no chance to refuse. "Don't go to those miscellaneous companies; come to Star Opening."

Star Opening was one of the businesses under Chu Yilan's name.

"Then I'm going through the back door." Shen Lian hummed: "That doesn't fit my independent and strong protagonist persona."

"If you can't make money, I'll kick you out, big protagonist." Chu Yilan replied: "Didn't you find this connection yourself? It's settled, sleep. I'll come to pick you up when the banquet ends."

Shen Lian instantly gave up resisting. Before his consciousness faded, he still struggled to shout at Chu Yilan: "Master Chu, I will definitely make you rich!"

Chu Yilan watched Shen Lian quietly for a while before leaving the room.

Even though forty minutes had passed, as soon as Chu Yilan returned to the banquet hall, he was surrounded by Feng Yueshan and Zhou Yuanlin.

Feng Yueshan looked incredulous, his expression no different than if he had seen a ghost: "Who were you messing around with?"

Chu Yilan still wanted to struggle a bit: "I don't know what nonsense you're spouting."

"Nonsense?!" Feng Yueshan almost jumped up, pointing at Chu Yilan's lips for Ning Sixian to see, as if he had caught irrefutable evidence: "If this wasn't from kissing someone, I'll eat Zhou Yuanlin alive."

Zhou Yuanlin: "Get lost!"

Ning Sixian was also surprised, but only surprised that Chu Yilan would actually go this far. As for the partner, he had long since figured it out.

"Yue Shan, calm down." Ning Sixian said: "Don't you know very well who Master Chu is keeping by his side?"

Who? Feng Yueshan froze for a moment, then, thinking of something, his eyes widened more and more.

"Shen, Shen Lian..." Feng Yueshan said, scanning the area: "Right, where is Shen Lian?!"

"Resting, stop howling." Chu Yilan replied, a faint smile on his face; it was clear he was in a very good mood.

"No, buddy, that's Shen Lian." Feng Yueshan even suspected his brother had been possessed: "What kind of person can't you have? I thought you were just keeping Shen Lian around for fun; why are you getting serious?"

"I wasn't playing." Chu Yilan said.

This one sentence silenced the three people opposite him.

"No." Feng Yueshan just couldn't figure it out: "What about that young master from the Lin family who was showing interest in you a while ago? Wasn't he good?"

"He was just okay. Is he as good-looking as Shen Lian?" Chu Yilan retorted.

Feng Yueshan subconsciously wanted to retort, but thinking of Shen Lian's appearance tonight, he couldn't bring himself to say it, so he dryly remarked: "You're actually a sucker for good looks?"

Chu Yilan just smiled.

So that was it. Feng Yueshan suddenly realized, and Chu Yilan's unusual behavior tonight now had a reasonable explanation.

So these two had been putting on a show of "secret agent romance" right under their noses!

Across the crowd, Zheng Ge gazed blankly at Chu Yilan. He was now certain that one of the people in the storage room earlier must have been Chu Yilan.

An hour later, Chu Yilan went upstairs, by which time Shen Lian had already woken up.

The two took the elevator directly to the underground parking garage. Just as Shen Lian got into the car, they ran into Zhou Tangsi bringing Zheng Ge down. Bad luck; their car was parked right opposite.

As soon as Zhou Tangsi saw Chu Yilan, he acted like he was facing a formidable enemy, immediately pushing Zheng Ge behind him.

Shen Lian saw it clearly through the glass and cursed under his breath: "Idiot!"