Deep in the Night - Chapter 30

When he woke up the next morning, Gu Yuan was fully prepared for Fang Jin to flip the script and pretend nothing happened. He sat astride Fang Jin, watching menacingly as Fang Jin’s eyelashes fluttered open in the morning light. He was even mentally bracing for a slap across the face.

Fang Jin opened his eyes, closed them tightly, and repeated this several times before finally waking up. He looked vaguely at Gu Yuan, who was straddling his waist:

“Morning?”

Gu Yuan froze for a moment, then cautiously rolled off the bed: “…Morning.”

Fang Jin was wearing the white shirt Gu Yuan had worn yesterday, unbuttoned, sitting blankly on the bed. The shirt was a bit large on him. The dark, soft tips of his hair were tucked into the snow-white collar, the colors soft and harmonized in the morning light. Gu Yuan couldn’t resist leaning over to kiss him while brushing his teeth, leaving a smudge of white foam on Fang Jin’s cheek.

Fang Jin was still immersed in the morning’s low blood pressure fog until Gu Yuan quickly finished washing up, brought in a glass of freshly squeezed juice from the kitchen, and waved it in front of him: “Mmm-hmm? Sleeping Beauty?”

Fang Jin was abruptly jolted awake. He stared at Gu Yuan for two seconds, covered his mouth, and quickly scrambled out of bed.

For a moment, Gu Yuan had the fleeting illusion that Fang Jin was experiencing morning sickness. But when he followed him to the bathroom, he saw Fang Jin frantically squeezing toothpaste and brushing his teeth. Gu Yuan couldn’t help but laugh instantly, leaning against the doorframe to tease: “—What are you shy about? Afraid I’ll smell your breath? I’ve already smelled it. Why are you only afraid of me judging you now, Assistant Fang?”

Fang Jin desperately waved his hands while brushing his teeth, unclear if he was trying to emphasize that he didn’t care or trying to hide his guilt.

Gu Yuan burst into laughter, refusing to leave the bathroom doorway, using every method to mock and flirt with him. He even made a show of trying to watch him use the toilet. As a result, Fang Jin’s morning routine was awkward and rushed. He had to constantly be careful not to be secretly photographed. By the time he was finally dressed and sat down at the breakfast table, working hours were long over.

Gu Yuan sat impeccably dressed at the dining table, sipping his coffee. He patted his thigh and commanded: “Sit here.”

Fang Jin turned his face away, pretending not to hear, and sat directly across the table, his earlobes looking slightly red.

Gu Yuan held his coffee cup in one hand and rapidly tapped out emails on his phone with the other. Without lifting his head, he lamented: “You’re really not following the script, Assistant Fang. After a secretary seduces the boss, they should wake up early the next morning, do their makeup and hair, put on a sexy nightgown, and lie back down. They pretend to just be waking up to give the boss a good morning kiss. Then, during breakfast, they should sit on the boss’s lap, feed him bread mouth-to-mouth, suck on a fried sausage with suggestive eyes, and then playfully initiate a romp right there on the dining table… Look at you.”

Gu Yuan sighed in disappointment: “You rushed to brush your teeth first thing in the morning, fine. Wearing the boss’s shirt because you don’t have a sexy nightgown, I can overlook that. But you don’t even know how to utilize a crucial scene like the breakfast table. You just sat down and started eating, eating, eating, not even thinking of sitting on my lap…”

Fang Jin murmured: “You sound experienced.”

“They show this on TV! Didn’t you think to get some study materials to improve your technique before making a move on your boss?”

“…Shouldn’t the boss on TV take the secretary out to a five-star restaurant for breakfast the next morning?” Fang Jin asked suspiciously.

Gu Yuan got fired up, slapped his phone down, and pointed at the white platter on the table: “—Who do you think made all this? Do you know how much I paid a three-Michelin-star chef to deliver this takeout? Do you realize how difficult it was for this half a tomato to travel all the way from England and this egg from Brazil to land on your plate, huh? And you have the nerve to criticize me for not taking you out to eat?”

“…” Fang Jin looked at the remaining half of the fried egg on his plate and sincerely offered his condolences: “You’ve worked hard.”

Gu Yuan finally conceded, then commented bluntly: “You really need to get some material to improve your technique, Assistant Fang. Do you think you can just rely on your ‘Face Card’ to get by with me for the rest of your life?”

Fang Jin, under the pretense of sipping his coffee, discreetly touched his face, thinking: Me relying on my Face Card? Clearly, you’re the one being swayed by my face.

However, Gu Yuan didn’t think so. He refused to admit that Assistant Fang had swayed him with anything other than his face, adamantly believing he was merely fooled by superficial looks.

The CEO, fooled by superficial looks, personally drove Assistant Fang to work in his Mercedes-Benz SLR. The morning rush hour hadn’t passed, and the drive to the company was stop-and-go. The gleaming silver car attracted countless envious looks from pedestrians. Fang Jin, sitting in the passenger seat, felt pressured by all the attention and finally couldn’t help but ask: “CEO Gu?”

Gu Yuan said coldly: “I’ve noticed how quickly you change faces. Yesterday, you were crying and screaming ‘Gu Yuan’ in bed. This morning, you’re acting like nothing happened. Now you’ve even distanced yourself by calling me ‘CEO Gu’… Are you going to call me ‘the nameless Mr. Gu in the office next door who pays my monthly salary’ once we get to the company?”

Fang Jin was speechless. After a long moment, he managed to squeeze out: “…Gu Yuan.”

“Assistant Fang,” Gu Yuan scoffed.

Yet, his scornful expression was still very handsome and appealing. Fang Jin glanced at him from the corner of his eye for a while and decided to forgive him. He said: “I just wanted to ask you… Where did you get so many… cars? You’ve changed seven or eight this month. Shouldn’t you keep all the tax, insurance, and other documents organized…”

This was within the scope of an assistant’s duties, so there was nothing wrong with asking. But Gu Yuan, like a warrior fighting tooth and nail at the negotiation table to secure his rights, immediately found an weapon for attack: “Oh, no, Assistant Fang,” he said politely. “I can’t give you this car because your performance this morning was completely unacceptable. You haven’t even given the boss a good morning kiss yet. There must be something to give to have a take. If I always let you benefit without effort, you’ll ride roughshod over me later. The boss isn’t that foolish.”

Cry, cry! Gu Yuan glanced at the passenger seat.

But Fang Jin showed no sign of getting teary-eyed. If anything, his mouth twitched slightly: “…This car isn’t yours, is it?” he finally ventured after a long silence.

Gu Yuan didn’t take the bait. The rest of the drive was silent.

—

It wasn’t until they drove into the company parking garage, when Gu Yuan applied the brake and pulled the handbrake, that he finally turned to Fang Jin and admitted: “I borrowed it.”

“…”

“I heard that you have to show off your financial strength during the courtship phase to increase your chances. So, this one and the Bentley from the day before yesterday were borrowed from friends. But the Maybach and the Phantom are mine, as is the Cayenne. I also have a racing car in the UK that you haven’t seen.”

Fang Jin looked at him silently, then finally said: “…I don’t mind.”

“I know you don’t mind. It’s fine; my current financial situation is enough to support you and a family.” Gu Yuan took his hand, carefully straightened his cuff, unclasped and re-clasped his cufflink, smoothing it out. Then, he said earnestly: “I just don’t want you to see someone else driving this car in the future and think my company is in trouble and I’ve even sold my car. That would be quite embarrassing.”

Fang Jin returned his earnest gaze and said: “You really overthink things.”

They spent nearly half an hour lingering in the parking lot before finally heading upstairs. Before the door to the CEO’s office on the top floor, Gu Yuan stopped Fang Jin again, adjusted his cuff one last time, inspected him from head to toe with satisfaction, and said in a low voice: “Go on.”

The pose was like a farewell at a train station platform, when in reality, he was just entering the office separated from Fang Jin’s by one wall and a connecting inner window.

Fang Jin walked straight ahead without looking aside, glancing around like a thief before pushing the door open. Fortunately, there were very few people on the top floor of the high-rise office building, and no one in the secretary’s office across the hall was looking their way. Gu Yuan’s moment of tenderness hadn’t been witnessed by anyone.

Fang Jin sighed with relief, feeling both happy and a little embarrassed, mixed with an ephemeral, floating feeling as if he were walking on clouds.

The last time he left this office, his heart was full of unknown fear and desperate resolve. He had even thought he might never step through that door again. Yet, only three days later, he was back safe and sound, as if starting a whole new journey in life.

Although countless thorns and abysses lay ahead, and this period of happiness might not last long, he at least had the present.

He had every minute and every second right now. Every piece of time was gold stolen from fate, enough for him to deeply immerse himself in a beautiful illusion.

—

Fang Jin spent two hours dealing with his routine tasks and was surprised to find no new files or reports coming in. The backlog from the past few days he was absent had miraculously vanished.

He figured it was because Gu Yuan had been relatively idle lately, so he turned to look through the inner window. He saw Gu Yuan sitting behind his large desk, pinching his chin, staring unblinkingly at him.

Fang Jin thought that his boss was indeed bored these past couple of days, which was why he hadn’t been assigned any tasks… Then his phone dinged. It was a text message from Gu Yuan:

“What are you looking at me for?”

Fang Jin: “…”

Before he could summon the courage to argue that Gu Yuan was clearly the one staring at him, another message dinged onto his screen: “Are you wondering why I haven’t given you any work?”

Fang Jin raised his eyebrows, slightly confused.

In the office across the way, Gu Yuan quickly typed on his phone screen. Text messages popped up one after another: “Because I’ve transferred a lot of the miscellaneous tasks I used to give you to the secretary’s office and the translation department. I’m also planning to hire a new legal assistant to share some of your workload, so you’ll feel quite idle.”

“They say ‘busy assistants are busy, idle assistants get busy [with the boss]’. I think that saying is unreasonable. Since I got busy with the assistant at night, I should let him rest properly during the day. Exploiting residual labor is unethical.”

“You can take a nap in the office now to catch up on sleep.”

“Can I still come to your place tonight?”

Fang Jin stared at his phone, completely unsure how to respond.

After a long time, he finally looked towards the office next door, only to see that Gu Yuan had buried his face behind the computer screen and was completely invisible.

…Is he serious…?

Does he really want to come to my place that badly…?

Fang Jin hesitated for a long time, so long that he started to dislike his own humility and indecisiveness. Finally, he took a deep breath. He mentally prepared a response for being rejected to avoid awkwardness, and an explanation to prevent misunderstandings. After meticulously arranging all his excuses, he adjusted his tone and replied with a text message:

“But my rent is almost due. Can I move to your place?”

For Fang Jin, this was an unprecedented leap of assertiveness and progress. After successfully sending the message, he stared at his phone, not daring to turn his head toward the next office.

However, just half a minute later, a message from Gu Yuan popped up on his screen: “Yes, pack your things after work tonight and move to my house.”

“You’re finally showing some initiative in seducing your boss. Good, keep it up.”

—

As it turned out, Gu Yuan didn’t give Fang Jin anything to do for the entire afternoon and, unprecedentedly, left work early to help him move.

Although a suitable look of impatience was visible on his handsome face, his actions were remarkably proactive—at least he had never left work early for anything before, not even during the month he claimed to be pursuing Fang Jin and taking him to high-end restaurants every day.

The moment he stepped out of his office, the entire executive floor buzzed. Although no one showed it openly, Fang Jin could distinctly feel it from the excited expressions of everyone, the knowing glances they exchanged, and the pleasurable buzz in the air.

Standing in the elevator, Gu Yuan tapped the Cartier watch on his wrist and said coldly: “I have reservations for the specialty menu from that three-Michelin-star chef from this morning, so you better finish packing within half an hour. Throw away any trashy things you don’t need, understand?”

He expected Fang Jin to haggle for more time, but instead, Fang Jin looked at him, a soft light flickering in the depths of his eyes: “Okay.”

Gu Yuan raised an eyebrow, about to object, but was completely captivated by those eyes and utterly forgot what he was going to say.

What he didn’t know was that Fang Jin had only lived in that apartment for a few months. None of the furniture or decorations belonged to him, and there was nothing he needed to take. After arriving, Fang Jin went to the bedroom to pack. Gu Yuan, peeling an orange, wandered around the living room and kitchen out of boredom. Less than twenty minutes later, Fang Jin came out pulling a single suitcase, saying easily: “All done.”

“That fast?”

“I was renting this apartment from a friend. All the belongings are his. I can just leave them here.”

—What kind of friend rents out a fully furnished apartment, complete with appliances and decorations, to you?

Gu Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly like a hawk but then shook his head at himself, knowing now was absolutely not the time to probe this question.

“You have too few belongings then. I’ll buy you some more later.” Gu Yuan finished the last segment of the orange, pinching the peel, and stepped on the kitchen trash can pedal: “Keep up the good work seducing your boss. Try harder—we’ll get the financial power of the household transferred to you, and then you can buy whatever you want.”

Fang Jin finally couldn’t help but retort: “First, return the borrowed car!”

Gu Yuan let out a dismissive snort. He was about to say, But I succeeded in my pursuit, and I have several good cars of my own. I can take you for a spin in a different one anytime—when he suddenly noticed a very conspicuous jade-green object inside the trash can.

His heart skipped a beat. He bent down and picked up the small item.

—It was a jade ring.

Under the light, the jade shone with a crystal luster. The carving on the outside of the ring was exquisite and rare. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be the strokes of several characters, deliberately carved only halfway.

Gu Yuan examined it, his sharp, dark eyebrows furrowing slightly.