JingYuan pulled YiHan's hand into his palm. With a doting hum in response to YiHan's exclamation, JingYuan pulled YiHan out of the elevator. The two then entered JingYuan's office.
Before YiHan's special couch was a table filled with snacks, digital devices to entertain himself with like a tablet and a laptop, and books. JingYuan only sat down at his desk when YiHan awkwardly settled himself into his spot.
Chen Hong, who'd followed them in, immediately began reporting on the work of the day. "One more thing," he said at the end of his list, "about your order, nothing unusual happened last night. That man didn't appear at all."
"Hm," said JingYuan, "this isn't something we can't rush through. We can only wait. You may leave."
After a swift response of confirmation, Chen Hong turned and left.
YiHan leisurely stretched out across the couch on his side. Flipping through a book from the pile before him, YiHan said, "Say, when do you think that scumbag will appear?"
"No need to worry," JingYuan replied. "As long as he doesn't realise anything unusual happening, he'll soon appear. From the results of our previous investigations, he'll visit Nan Shan at least twice a week. While he rarely ever stayed over, he visits the other quite frequently."
YiHan placed the book back on the table. "From the looks of it," YiHan pondered with a tilt of his head, "he's quite enthralled by Nan Shan."
JingYuan let out a little chuckle. "That's why this person should be homosexual. Even if he's bisexual, he much prefers men. He should also have quite a lot of power. That's why he could keep him and his wife so well-protected. As for Nan Shan…" He paused. "In times of need, naturally, he can only be sacrificed."
"Perhaps it's his wife who has a higher social rank?" YiHan said, a cold smirk on his lips. "In terms of who's more useful, Nan Shan could never compare to her. To men like him, there's always a limit to how much they love another person. They only love themselves, just like Chu FangMing."
"You're right," JingYuan replied. "If Nan Shan is truly, deeply, irrevocably in love with him, things will be troublesome. Once Nan Shan knows the truth, he'll be severely hurt."
YiHan angrily dug out his phone and said, "Men like that are too despicable. Not only did they use lies to lure another into marriage, they even hurt other people and cheat others out of therr love. This scumbag really is the embarrassment of all men."
"There are actually quite a lot of these men," said JingYuan. "Perhaps they couldn't bear being looked at weirdly, perhaps for other reasons, many homosexuals would choose to get married to a woman instead."
"Yes, I know," said YiHan. "Some do it for their families, for their relatives. Some do it for reasons out of their control. They have no choice but to marry a woman. However, no matter what the reason is, once you're married, you have a responsibility to the other person! Look at this man! He's married but he still lies to Nan Shan to lure him into a relationship. Not only is he two-timing and cheating both the wife and Nan Shan of their affections, he even abandons Nan Shan when an issue pops up. He would even let his wife humiliate and push Nan Shan around while he hides behind her as if this whole matter had nothing to do with him. There's no man viler than he."
"You are absolutely right," JingYuan said in a pacifying tone. "That's why we must now drag him out so he can't hide any longer. We'll save Nan Shan from his suffering. Even if he ends up alone forever, it'd be much better than sacrificing himself for trash."
"You're right, Mu-Mu," said YiHan. "As his fan, I must do my best to protect my idol! As the family member of a fan, it's natural that you cannot stand by! If need be, I can contact Pei-Pei. She's also a fan of Nan Shan. Wait. Say, why do you think Pei-Pei didn't do anything for Nan Shan in the dream? She's a fan. I was powerless then but she's the young miss of the Yan family! If she steps in, Nan Shan would never have died in such a horrible manner! Did she not know because she wasn't in the city then? Oh, poor Nan Shan."
JingYuan thought about the question posed before saying, "We know nothing on that point but you'd best avoid telling Yan Pei anything about this for now."
YiHan looked down in thought. Suddenly, he mumbled, "You suspect Yan Pei is connected to that trash somehow?"
"I'm not sure," said JingYuan. "Don't think too much about it. We're not telling her because we want to be on our guards against what-ifs. We can settle this matter by ourselves. We don't need to pull other people in, right?"
"Yes, you're not wrong," YiHan replied, nodding. "But Pei-Pei must not have known. She has a heroic and just heart in her. If she knew, she'd definitely make a move to save Nan Shan." Having said so, he tapped into his chat with Nan Shan on QQ and his fingers flew across the screen as he typed.
[Mu-Mu's HanHan: What are you doing? I'm bored. Chat with me."]
Soon, the other replied.
[YouRan: Nothing much. Chat about what?]
"Nan Shan is so interesting," YiHan burst out into a muffled chuckled. "He doesn't know how to chat at all. He only knows how to kill a conversation."
"Do not praise other men before me!" JingYuan boomed with a dark look on his face.
"I'm not praising him," YiHan said, surprised.
"You said he was interesting," JingYuan replied.
"Can you be any more irrational?" YiHan sighed in exasperation. "That's praise? Anyway, there are plenty of interesting men in this world but I am only interested in you."
JingYuan gave a loud "humph" and went silent, flipping swiftly through the document before him.
Using his ultra-strong eyesight, YiHan saw the other man's ears turning red. Deep in his heart, YiHan guffawed. Hah! He could get jealous over nothing and anything yet his skin was thin. JingYuan was way too naive to be beating him in this! Aah, why did JingYuan look so cute when he's both proud and shy?
Hiding a smile behind pursed lips, YiHan looked back down on his phone.
[Mu-Mu's HanHan: Say, why do you think Nan Shan hasn't published a new novel yet? He's not posting any works online either. I want to catch up on his new writing but there's nothing for me to read. I can only wait in agony. I've re-read "The Blue Mountain" multiple times now.]
[YouRan: Writing a new book isn't a fast process. Perhaps he's busy with something else. He can't use every moment of his day to write then.]
[Mu-Mu's HanHan: True. Perhaps he's married or he's in love, and he needs to give more time to his lover?]
[YouRan: That's…possible. I don't know either.]
[Mu-Mu's HanHan: Hm, I can understand if that's the case. Just like me and my future husband, we're almost always by each other's side. If he's at work, I have to go with him too. He's particularly clingy.]
[YouRan: Your…future husband? Aren't you a man?]
[Mu-Mu's HanHan: Yup. Can't men have husbands? We're going to be married soon. Do you hate gay people?]
[YouRan: No, no. That's not what I meant. Congratulations.]
[Mu-Mu's HanHan: Thanks. I was so afraid you couldn't accept it. We get along so well. I truly cherish you as a friend. I was afraid of scaring you off.]
[YouRan: How could you? I'm the same.]
[YouRan: I meant, I too cherish you as a friend. I have very few friends.]
[Mu-Mu's HanHan: That's great! Money is easy to come by but true friends are not! (shake hands)]
[YouRan: (shake hands)]
[YouRan: Can I ask you something?]
[Mu-Mu's HanHan: Shoot.]
[YouRan: You and your lover… How do you usually interact with each other? Are you always together? Doesn't he go home or go off to do something else?]
[Mu-Mu's HanHan: We live together. We're lovers, of course, we have to be together. He said that wherever I am, that is his home. His family aren't around anymore. I've moved out of my home to live with him. When I head back to my home, he'll stay with my family too. Anyway, he doesn't want to spend a single day apart from me. I also can't bear to let him stay in a lonely home. As for other matters…he has to work too. But he'll bring me with him. When he can't bring me with him, we have our phones. A call, a short message; we'd do anything and everything to feel like we're still together.]
[YouRan: I see. Is that…what it's like to be dating another person?]
[Mu-Mu's HanHan: How do I put this? It depends on the situation. Many couples don't spend the whole day together. My man is just too clingy. However, the usual couples would meet every day too. Perhaps they'd split off to work during the day but they'll be together in the evenings, unless it's a long-distance relationship or due to unforeseen, special circumstances. Still, such relationships usually don't last long so most people try to stay together as much as possible.]
[YouRan: Wouldn't he… Could he usually be found in his own home or off attending to other matters, only visiting you once every few days?]
[Mu-Mu's HanHan: How can it be? Either way, we definitely couldn't do that. If not for situations beyond our control, he would never be apart from me for a single day. Frankly, even if he was okay with it, I wouldn't be.]
[Mu-Mu's HanHan: By the way, just a little secret advice. If you have friends whose lovers do what you say, you'd best warn them to be careful. Who knows? That person might be married already.]
[Mu-Mu's HanHan: YouRan? You there?]
[Mu-Mu's HanHan: Did something come up?]
YiHan's head snapped up as he cried out, "Mu-Mu, I might've caused a disaster."
"What is it?" JingYuan gently asked, raising his head from his work.
"I was chatting with Nan Shan just now," YiHan sighed. "We somehow started talking about how people are like when they're in love or dating. I was too anxious and might've said something wrong. He won't reply."
"What did you say?" JingYuan asked.
YiHan pushed aside the snacks around him to stand up and show JingYuan his chatlog.
After a few moments of reading, JingYuan didn't know whether to cry or to laugh. "Just what kind of man have you made me out to be? Do you think I'm especially clingy?"
"It was only so I can make him see what true love looks right," YiHan hurriedly replied. "I didn't want him to internalise that scumbag's words and think their type of love is the norm."
JingYuan looked back down at the phone and said, "From what he'd written, it certainly seems like it. He doesn't have much experience in love. Naturally, whatever that man says will be correct to him. He actually doesn't know what love should look like. That man misguided him on how love should be and fooled Nan Shan into being his lover."
"This man is just disgusting!" YiHan angrily said. "But what's important now is Nan Shan is ignoring me. What do I do?"
"You did move on too quickly," JingYuan sighed. "What we've planned is still just based on a hypothesis of ours. It's still too early for us to voice our opinion."
"But it's no guess that the man is married," YiHan said. "Also, from Nan Shan's words, our hypothesis is at least 80 or 90 per cent correct!"
"It certainly seems so," JingYuan said with a nod. "Don't panic. Give him some time. Slowly guide him to realising it himself. Don't be too direct."
YiHan's face fell. "But I've already said it right to his face."