At that moment, Zhou Hui didn’t speak. He just stared blankly at Chu He, his gaze lingering for a long time on the collarbone visible beneath his collar.
Then, after a full ten seconds, he snapped back to his senses and asked, “What are you doing here?!”
Tan had clearly not anticipated this turn of events and stood there in a daze. Zhou Hui’s friends were also stunned. The sounds of talking, joking, and drinking slowly died down.
Chu He strode forward, one hand in his pocket, the other grabbing Zhou Hui’s collar and yanking him up. Despite his slender frame, his movements were incredibly powerful. He dragged Zhou Hui directly from behind the sofa, with such force that he even knocked over the coffee table. The fruit platter and wine bottles crashed to the floor, and a bottle of ten-thousand-yuan cognac shattered on the ground.
Chu He pulled his hand from his pocket and landed a heavy punch on Zhou Hui’s handsome, party-shaking face. “The moment I’m not looking, you run off to pick up girls. You think you’re something, huh?!”
That punch was truly vicious. Zhou Hui stumbled backward onto the coffee table, drenching himself in spilled liquor. The people around him jumped up with cries of alarm.
Zhou Hui shook his head hard to clear it, took a couple of ragged breaths, then leaped up and grabbed Chu He. “Damn it, you’re for real?! I f—ing knew it, you’ve wanted to beat me up for a long time, haven’t you?!”
“Yes, I’m beating you!” Chu He kicked him away. “If you don’t like it, suck it up!”
Zhou Hui once again crashed miserably onto the sofa, his head hitting the wall with a thud. He nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood. The girl in the white dress, Xiao Xi, jumped up and ran out, followed by a chorus of shrieks from the other escorts. Seeing Chu He step over the coffee table to continue the assault, Tan hurriedly rushed over to intervene. “Brother Zhou! Brother Zhou, what’s wrong with you! President Chu, what are you doing?! Someone, pull them apart!”
Only then did everyone else snap out of it. A few of the princelings who had been staring slack-jawed also rushed over, yelling, “What’s going on, what’s going on,” as they tried to separate the two.
But by now, Zhou Hui’s temper had flared. He shoved Tan, who was blocking his way, and roared, “You come to this kind of place too! How dare you criticize me?!” He then went straight for Chu He. With the momentum, they both fell to the ground.
Ignoring the glass shards digging into him, Zhou Hui reached for Chu He’s throat, but Chu He deftly grabbed his hand and used the leverage to flip him over. Looking at their body types, no one would have thought Chu He was such a good fighter. Fearing they would seriously hurt each other, several people urgently shouted to the madam and waiters, “Call security! Call security!”
“I’d like to see who dares!” Upon hearing this, Zhou Hui exploded with rage. “Nobody move! —Phoenix Four, you f—er, I’m going to set things straight with you today!”
“Team Leader Phoenix Four, how can it be him?” someone on the side exclaimed.
“That’s not right. Isn’t Team Leader Phoenix Four supposed to be a rare beauty?”
“What do we do about this? Hey, stop fighting, let’s talk this out! …”
A few who were about to intervene hesitated when they heard it was a domestic dispute. Only Tan, who was afraid his guest would cripple Zhou Hui and he’d be the one to suffer the consequences, still wanted to step in. But Zhang Shun, seeing his own brother had the upper hand, secretly tripped Tan, who fell with a crash into the pile of broken bottles, crying out in pain.
Zhou Hui took the opportunity to drag Chu He outside. Amidst the terrified shrieks of the hostesses, they wrestled their way out and rolled into the service corridor behind the private room. Then there was a loud bang, followed by Zhou Hui’s angry curse, “Damn it! Are you trying to cripple me?!”
In the corridor, Zhou Hui, after cursing, exerted his strength and flipped their positions. The situation was instantly reversed.
He pressed hard against Chu He’s throat, pinning him to the wall. While forcefully reaching into his collar, he said angrily, “—You hit so hard because you really wanted to beat me, right? You’ve wanted to beat me for a long time, right?!”
“…” Chu He blocked his hand and said, “No, you’re overthinking it.”
Zhou Hui gestured for him to look at his own crotch and said indignantly, “Tomorrow, this will be all over the National Security department. Wasn’t it enough that I spent a whole night acting like an idiot? If you cripple your man, are you going to use a cucumber yourself? Are you stupid?!”
“…” Chu He said calmly, “I told you, you’re overthinking it! Take your hand away!”
Zhou Hui flipped him over, pressing his face against the wall. Chu He was wearing very slim-fitting clothes today, but Zhou Hui was too strong. He half-pulled, half-tore his belt loose. With one elbow pinning the back of his neck to stop him from struggling, his other hand went straight down his lower back, following the curve to his entrance, and roughly pushed two fingers inside.
Chu He let out a muffled grunt. The sound was mixed with obvious pain, but hidden within the pain was a thread of deeply suppressed pleasure.
“Someone… someone will come! Let go!”
“If they come, I’ll kill them.” Zhou Hui’s thrusts were very rough. He leaned close to his ear and whispered, “Before they die, they can watch how I f—k you, and how you cry and beg me to go faster… It’s a pity I didn’t record it last time. You’re the type to forget everything once you’re out of bed. You ignored me for so many days, and the moment you see me, you turn our act into reality. What were you doing in the next room with that Tan guy?”
Chu He pressed one hand against the wall, while the other reached back to hold Zhou Hui’s hand tightly, but the fingers causing a storm inside him showed no sign of stopping. The sound of people rushing up the stairs was already approaching.
“…Let go!” Chu He gasped for breath, his voice hoarse with anger. “We haven’t even talked about the important stuff, you…”
“I, this scoundrel who makes you do nothing but cry.” Zhou Hui proudly finished the sentence for him. Finally, he mercifully withdrew his hand and brought it intimately before Chu He’s eyes. “See? You’re this wet, and you still want to talk about important stuff.”
Chu He slapped his hand away and, trembling, quickly straightened his clothes, buttoning up his torn shirt one by one.
“—I went to the place you mentioned last time. I’ve been there the past two days and found nothing.” He said hoarsely as he gasped for breath and fastened his belt. “What you suspected might not be true. Keep observing.”
Zhou Hui rubbed his chin and grunted, “It’s always good to be careful. You continue to monitor, and I’ll go ask that unlucky guy again—seriously, I think he’s about to go crazy staying here…” He then rubbed his fingers together and smiled. “Ex-wife, you’re really wet. Do you miss me that much?”
Chu He slapped him with a backhand, sending him reeling backward.
At that moment, the footsteps from the other end of the corridor grew closer. The people from the private room finally couldn’t wait any longer and came to check. The first to arrive was Zhang Shun. While blocking the anxious Mr. Tan, he ran over in a few strides and shouted, “Brother!”
Chu He looked up and saw him, his expression changing slightly. “What are you doing here?”
A wave of nameless anger rose in Zhang Shun. Before he could ask, Zhou Hui turned his head, rubbing his face, and cursed, “Exactly! It’s one thing for kids to go to internet cafes to play DOTA, but trying to pick up girls in nightclubs like an adult? Are you looking for trouble? Get the hell out of here!”
Chu He said coldly, “I mean, why is he in Beijing? You…”
“Oh, I already chewed out that idiot Hu Qing for that,” Zhou Hui said. “But you have to be understanding of our little sister-in-law—it’s a fox, after all. Not very cultured, doesn’t think before it acts. If it happens again, I’ll help you beat it to death.”
In that instant, Zhang Shun felt he really should have beaten Zhou Hui to death. When his brother was hitting Zhou Hui earlier, why hadn’t he rushed up and smashed a wine bottle over this lunatic’s head to end it all?
Chu He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, he had regained his composure. By now, Tan and the others had run over. Chu He glanced quickly at Zhang Shun and said, “Leave Beijing immediately. This is not a place you should be.” After straightening his sleeves, as if leaving in a huff after an argument, he walked past Zhou Hui without a second glance and headed for the stairs.
Zhang Shun, who had been full of anger and questions, was now left with only anger after that remark. He blurted out, “—Stop!”
Chu He turned his head. Zhang Shun saw his frosty expression and instinctively paused.
“I can’t explain it to you right now,” Chu He interrupted him during that pause, speaking quickly. “If you can’t leave, stick close to Zhou Hui during this time.”
—Can’t leave? Why can’t I leave? And why are you telling me to stick with this lunatic? Damn it, do you all think I’m some Hello Kitty you can just play with?
Zhang Shun was suddenly extremely frustrated, feeling the憋屈 (biēqū) – a suffocating sense of grievance – of a bomb with a lit fuse being smothered in his own arms.
Before he could say anything, he watched as his brother turned away expressionlessly after saying those words. Everyone instinctively made way for him, but Chu He paid them no mind and walked down the stairs without looking back, under the gaze of many.
·
Zhou Hui was helped back to the private room, where they busily checked his wounds, applied medicine, and gave him water.
After such a scene, the princelings naturally had no mood to party anymore. Those who weren’t close found excuses to leave, while the closer ones stayed a bit longer to console Zhou Hui—one should enjoy life while one can. Everyone looks glamorous on the surface, but who hasn’t had their face scratched up by their wife in private? You get used to it.
No one dared to offer any deeper advice. The six teams under the National Security Special Department were all strange. Phoenix Four was no pushover either. If they said too much, he might just show up at their bedside at night and slap them.
Zhou Hui’s face was grim. He held an ice towel to his face without speaking, his handsome face’s eyes glowing like a wolf’s. His friends didn’t dare to stay long. They quickly called over the girl in the white dress, Xiao Xi, to serve tea and water, instructing her to take good care of Brother Zhou, and then they all took their leave.
Zhou Hui didn’t press them to stay, but said with a dark smile, “I’m really sorry about this time, it ruined everyone’s mood—I’ll host again next time to make it up to you.”
Everyone quickly said it was no problem, they all understood. He should put out the fire in his backyard first.
After everyone had left, only Zhou Hui, Zhang Shun, and Xiao Xi remained in the room. As soon as the door closed, Zhou Hui leaped up from the sofa. He tossed the ice towel on the floor. “Let’s go, let’s go! An hour of spring night is worth a thousand gold. I’m f—ing bursting with pent-up energy!”
Zhang Shun was utterly bewildered as he and Xiao Xi were dragged out the door by Zhou Hui. Downstairs, the silver Lexus was already waiting by the roadside. Zhou Hui first pushed Zhang Shun in, then got in himself and said, “To the old place, hurry!”
The driver, Xiao Liu, started the car without a word.
Seeing that Xiao Xi was also there, Zhang Shun was greatly surprised. “Where are we going? Just find me a hotel! I’ll go home on my own tomorrow!”
Zhou Hui said casually, “Brother-in-law, your brother entrusted you to me. From now on, where I am is your home.”
The driver burst out laughing with a pfft, then immediately straightened his face and pretended he hadn’t heard anything when he saw Young Master Zhang’s expression in the rearview mirror.
The Lexus skillfully drove to an inconspicuous hotel outside Jianguomen. Zhou Hui got out of the car, dragging Zhang Shun with him, followed closely by Xiao Xi. Without even checking in, they went straight up the elevator. He pulled a room key out of his pocket.
Zhang Shun was shocked. “What are you doing? I don’t want to be in the same room as you two!”
“Too late,” Zhou Hui said.
He opened the door. Inside was a two-room suite, with decent decorations and facilities. Xiao Xi walked in first and sat on the bed. Then Zhou Hui pushed the struggling Zhang Shun in as well and closed the door behind him.
Zhang Shun stared at the large bed with an indescribable look, then at the calm Xiao Xi, and then at Zhou Hui, who was taking off his jacket.
“…What is going on?” he asked, his voice trembling. “What are you guys trying to do?!”
Zhou Hui hung his jacket on a hanger, rolled up his sleeves to reveal his strong forearms, and turned to look at Zhang Shun seriously.
“Brother-in-law,” he asked earnestly, “have you ever heard of a threesome?”
