A Lesson
Xie Zhetao drew a card, his legs crossed. Holding a cigarette in his left hand, he took a drag, turned his head, and exhaled a plume of smoke directly into Gu Qingyan’s face. He then reached out and patted Gu’s cheek, as if he were teasing a stray cat or dog.
“Well, big star, still haven’t made up your mind? You’ve been standing there like a statue for half an hour. Isn’t that drug making you feel miserable yet?”
The smoke drifted past the bridge of his nose; the smell was nauseating.
Gu Qingyan jerked his head to the side and said stiffly, “Young Master Xie, I apologize, but I only came here today for an interview.”
His cheeks were flushed with a sickly red, and his lips were pressed into a thin line, yet his posture remained ramrod straight.
“Oh? You’re here for an interview?” Xie Zhetao let out a long, mocking laugh. He pulled a young boy sitting nearby into his arms, pinched his chin, and let out a whistle.
“Who here isn’t here for an interview? Hey, weren’t you here for an interview?”
The boy forced a smile and tried to refill Xie Zhetao’s glass. “Yes, exactly. We all want to pour wine for the Second Young Master, but only if he thinks we’re worth his time.”
Xie Zhetao held his cigarette between two fingers. “Gu Qingyan, my bed isn’t a trash can. I don’t just take any kind of goods. Countless people break their necks trying to climb up here. If you want to latch onto my connection, I have to see if you have the looks for it. If you’re ugly, even if you’re willing, I wouldn’t be.”
He looked at Gu Qingyan with a mockingly earnest expression. “Big star, if you want to run in our circle, you have to know our rules. If you don’t latch onto someone’s thigh, do you really think you can survive?”
The other guests joined in the persuasion. One pointed at Xie Zhetao, subtly flattering him.
“I say, you probably don’t know who this is, do you? His father is the former CEO of Radiance Entertainment, and his brother is the current CEO. This is the genuine Second Young Master of the Xie Family.”
Gu Qingyan offered no reaction.
The man across from him froze for a moment, then slammed the table.
“Hey! Don’t you know the Xie Family? What about Xie Linxi? President Xie Linxi—you know him, right? The man calls the shots in your industry. With one word, he can blacklist you, no matter how famous you are. He can make sure you don’t get a single script for years. You believe that?”
They were all stumbling drunk, the alcohol clouding their judgment. Another person chimed in with a laugh, “Just no scripts for a few years? More like the company he’s signed to wouldn’t be able to open for business for years!”
The group burst into laughter and stood up one after another to toast Xie Zhetao.
Xie Zhetao held his glass, clinking it against theirs one by one. He gave a casual wave of his hand.
“Alright, alright. My brother is my brother, and I am me. Everyone, sit back down.”
Despite his words, Xie Zhetao’s eyebrows arched, and the muscles at the corners of his mouth twitched as he struggled to suppress a smug smile.
He was enjoying this.
In truth, he wasn’t close to Xie Linxi; in fact, he despised his older brother. But Xie Zhetao knew his own situation. His father had Alzheimer’s and no longer had a say in the company. His own mother was incompetent and lacked any shares, relying entirely on his father’s support. Currently, the most illustrious name in their family was his distant, untouchable brother, Xie Linxi.
The circle of spoiled heirs Xie Zhetao ran with was full of people who trampled the weak and flattered the strong. As soon as they heard Xie Linxi’s name, they treated him with extra courtesy. Although Xie Zhetao felt loathing in his heart, he didn’t hesitate to use Xie Linxi’s name to act the part of a ‘fox borrowing the tiger’s majesty’.
Controlling the grin on his face, he put on an air of nonchalance and glanced sideways at Gu Qingyan.
He had seen plenty of minor stars at this level. Once they heard Xie Linxi’s name, nine out of ten would rush forward to offer a toast.
But Gu Qingyan didn’t move.
He remained silent. Hearing Xie Linxi’s name didn’t cause so much as a ripple of emotion on his face. His expression remained cold and detached. He had narrow eyes with slightly drooping outer corners—a natural “world-weary” face. When he wasn’t smiling, he looked profoundly indifferent.
Xie Zhetao, who had been floating on cloud nine from the flattery, saw this reaction. His hand, holding the cigarette, froze in mid-air. The smile on his face vanished instantly.
He had single eyelids and a slight “Sanpaku1” look—the whites of his eyes showed beneath the irises—giving him a cold, sinister appearance.
The rowdy table went silent. For several seconds, no one spoke.
Seeing the shift, the boy next to him quickly poured a glass of wine and held it to Xie Zhetao’s lips.
“Young Master Xie, this person doesn’t know the rules. He’s new. Please, don’t let it get to you.”
Xie Zhetao suddenly lashed out his hand, knocking the glass from the boy’s grip. The glass hit the floor with a sharp shatter, breaking into a thousand pieces.
Before the boy could even gasp, Xie Zhetao stood up and rushed toward Gu Qingyan. He swung his palm and delivered a brutal slap straight across Gu’s face.
The onlookers were stunned. Gu Qingyan’s cheek instantly turned a violent red and began to swell. His head was whipped to the side by the force of the blow. His teeth sliced into his lower lip, and he spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. His body fell backward uncontrollably, slamming into the corner of the sofa table.
“Damn it,” Xie Zhetao cursed.
He stood before Gu Qingyan with his arms crossed, but his anger wasn’t satiated. He suddenly raised his leg and delivered a heavy kick to Gu’s abdomen. Gu Qingyan let out an involuntary gasp of pain, which he immediately smothered in his throat. The kick was savage. Clutching his stomach with one hand, he sank to his knees, his body arched in pain. His face turned deathly pale, and he began to tremble.
Xie Zhetao nudged Gu Qingyan’s shin with the tip of his shoe and took another drag of his cigarette. He crouched down in front of Gu Qingyan, his fingers clamping onto Gu’s chin like a vise. With his other hand, he slapped Gu’s cheek lightly.
“Didn’t your manager tell you what kind of place this is? You think you can just leave after being sent here? It’s not that easy. You just debuted, and you already think you’re a big star? I’ll ask you one more time: are you going to play along or not?”
Pinned by the chin, Gu Qingyan couldn’t lower his head. His clear, cold eyes stared straight at Xie Zhetao.
“I don’t do that.”
“You don’t do that?” Xie Zhetao tightened his grip and punched him in the stomach. Gu Qingyan hadn’t eaten anything all evening, but he had been forced to down half a bottle of wine earlier. He let out a dry heave and collapsed onto the floor.
Only then did the surrounding guests finally snap out of it. They stood up to intervene.
“Hey, Young Master Xie, that’s enough, forget it.”
“His frame is so small, don’t cause a real problem.”
But while they crowded around Xie Zhetao with words of persuasion, their hands were loose. Not a single one of them dared to actually pull him back.
Everyone knew what Xie Zhetao was like when he went on a drunken rampage.
Xie Zhetao barked, “Give me a bottle.”
No one dared to move. Xie Zhetao glanced back. The boy that he stared at shivered and handed him a new, unopened bottle of liquor.
It was 62-percent proof white spirit.
Xie Zhetao used a bottle opener to pop the cap with a sharp pop. He grabbed Gu Qingyan by the throat, hauled him up, and shoved the neck of the bottle directly into his mouth. He didn’t care if he chipped Gu’s teeth; he tilted the bottle up brutally. Gu Qingyan was forced to arch his neck back.
The sound of swallowing mixed with desperate coughing. The excess liquor spilled from the corners of his mouth, soaking his shirt. Gu Qingyan’s trembling fingers groped along the plush carpet until they brushed against something cold and hard.
An empty beer bottle.
Gu Qingyan gripped the bottle and suddenly swung his arm, smashing it against Xie Zhetao’s head. The glass shattered into fragments with a dull thud.
Xie Zhetao’s head snapped to the side, and blood immediately began to flow. He stumbled back, releasing his grip. Gu Qingyan slumped against the sofa, coughing violently.
Xie Zhetao was momentarily dazed, then he touched his forehead in disbelief. He looked down at his fingertips.
Bright red. Covered in blood.
As the pain surged, Xie Zhetao looked at his hand, then at Gu Qingyan. He broke into a furious, twisted grin. “Fine. You’ve got guts.”
He paced back and forth in the room for two laps before picking up a full wine bottle they had just started.
A full bottle was different from an empty one. With the liquid inside, it weighed at least two pounds—it was as heavy as a brick. A blow from that would split a skull open.
Outside the door, 008 had already floated into position.
The little ball of light flipped through the script, its fluffy body pressed against the pages. It looked down at the book with the rigor of someone who is a stickler for rules:
“Detection: The plot is collapsing. Xie Zhetao is committing an act of violence. Host, please step in to stop him, criticize and educate Xie Zhetao, and urge him to realize his mistakes and return to the right path…”
Before it could finish, its host’s lips curled into a strange expression.
Xie Linxi, “Criticize and educate? Return to the right path?”
This innocent little system had no idea. In his previous life, while lying in a hospital bed, handling company affairs while on an IV, sweating from pain while conducting shareholder meetings, and watching his blood pressure skyrocket, Xie Linxi had only ever wanted to do one thing.
Kick Xie Zhetao to death.
Xie Linxi suddenly raised his leg and slammed his foot into the door.
“…path,” the light ball squeaked as its last syllable got stuck in its throat.
The heavy doors of the private room slammed open. Amidst the flying wood splinters, Xie Linxi swept his gaze across the room and stepped inside.
The commotion was so loud that everyone inside froze and looked toward the door.
Gu Qingyan was half-kneeling, clutching his abdomen. After two strained coughs, he also looked up toward the entrance.
Through the lingering smoke, a man stepped in. He stopped half a meter from the card table and looked down at the scene with a commanding presence.
He was very tall, at least half a head taller than Xie Zhetao. He wore a long, British-style charcoal suede coat, left unbuttoned and draped loosely over his shoulders. Its sharp, structured silhouette emphasized his broad shoulders and narrow waist, making him look more imposing than a male model. But looking further up, his expression was incredibly cold. His noble, handsome features were clouded with what looked like a brewing, heavenly rage.
Upon seeing this man, everyone at the table stood up in unison and took a step back.
Xie Zhetao was the first to react. Although he loathed this brother, standing face-to-face with Xie Linxi made him lose his nerve. He took a step forward, forcing a smile onto his face.
“Brother? …Uh, no, I didn’t tell you I was here. Brother, why are you here?”
Xie Linxi glanced at him and asked coldly, “What is going on here?”
Xie Zhetao was still clutching the wine bottle. He laughed sheepishly, grabbed a glass from the side, and made a show of pouring a drink.
“Ah, this? We were just… standing up to give a toast, clinking glasses with friends. Brother, do you want a drink?”
Xie Zhetao filled the glass to the brim and held it out. When Xie Linxi didn’t take it, he shoved it into Xie Linxi’s hand, stammering, “Brother, have a drink, have a drink…”
The people around them quickly chimed in.
“Yes, yes, exactly.”
Xie Linxi ignored them. He tilted his head slightly, his eyes falling on Gu Qingyan in the corner.
Xie Linxi generally had a decent temperament, but his eyes were narrow and long, with pale, glass-like grey irises. They carried an innate sense of detachment. When he looked down at someone, it often appeared contemptuous. Even if he didn’t mean it that way, the slightly shorter Gu Qingyan had once said that what he hated most was Xie Linxi looking down his nose at him.
Xie Linxi had never been one to listen to Gu Qingyan. The more Gu said he hated it, the more Xie Linxi would look down at him with a smile, provoking him at every turn.
But back then, Gu Qingyan had been standing, looking up at Xie Linxi with a cold smirk, trading barbs. He wasn’t like this—clutching his stomach, curled in a corner, fingers gripping the edge of the plush carpet so hard they spasmed, his face drenched in cold sweat.
Xie Linxi, “What happened to him?”
“Him? Oh, him…” Xie Zhetao waved it off. “Just a little star. Came to me begging for a role. I didn’t give it to him, so he kept pestering me. He’s a real nuisance.”
Xie Zhetao knew that ever since his brother took over Radiance Entertainment, he couldn’t stand even a grain of sand in his eye. Xie Linxi hated people who used the back door to get roles. So, Zhetao struck first with a lie to prevent his brother from digging deeper and finding out the truth.
Xie Linxi let out an ambiguous “Oh.” He sneered, “He came to you for a role and refused to leave?”
Xie Zhetao, “Exactly! I told him, ‘No can do.’ The roles are already cast; we need the right person for the part. Going through the back door is useless. Who knew he’d be so stubborn?”
As he rambled on, Xie Linxi’s gaze never left Gu Qingyan. He saw Gu reach out to press against the sofa, his pale fingers straining as he forced himself up from his knees. He leaned against the wall for support, finally managing to stand straight.
Xie Linxi thought: This man really does fear looking pathetic in front of others.
Even though he was clearly in agony, he insisted on standing tall. Even his cries of pain were suppressed into mere rasps in his throat.
Xie Linxi was waiting for Gu Qingyan to defend himself.
A man as proud as Gu Qingyan, having been slandered so foully by Xie Zhetao, should have argued. But even after he stood straight, Gu Qingyan remained silent.
Not only did he not speak, but his spine was pulled taut in a purely defensive posture, as if he expected Xie Linxi to strike him next to teach him another “lesson.”
—If a spoiled heir is drinking with a starlet and the family shows up, they’ll assume the starlet is the bad influence. They come to warn and intimidate the outsider; they never come to discipline their own.
Xie Zhetao threw mud, and Gu Qingyan just let it stick. It was as if he were certain no one would listen to his side, that no one would help him leave, and that speaking up would be futile.
Xie Linxi thought to himself: So, in Gu Qingyan’s eyes, this is the kind of person I am?
A member of the same nest of vipers as Xie Zhetao? Someone who would protect his brother unconditionally? While the brother lies through his teeth, the older brother indulges him with brotherly love and harmony?
Was that why Gu Qingyan had loathed him so much in their previous life? The reason why he targeted Radiance Entertainment like a madman? Because he never believed—never dared to believe—that Xie Linxi was actually a decent human being with principles?
In the prolonged silence, the atmosphere in the room grew as cold as a layer of frost. Xie Zhetao gave a stiff laugh. “Brother, don’t just stand there. Why are you looking at him? I’ve already given him a lesson. Come, come, drink with us.”
He reached out to pull Xie Linxi, but the older man didn’t budge. Xie Linxi turned his head, looking at him with a half-smile.
“You gave him a lesson? The injuries on him—you’re the one who ‘schooled’ him?”
Gu Qingyan’s waist was bruised blue and purple, and his lip was bitten through, still seeping blood. By any standard, the “lesson” had gone too far.
Xie Zhetao huffed. “Well, he wouldn’t stop pestering me. He wouldn’t leave without a role. I had no choice but to teach him a bit of a lesson. Plus, I had a little to drink, so my hand was a bit heavy…”
Xie Linxi’s voice carried a hint of amusement. “A little to drink?”
He raised the glass to his lips and took a leisurely sip. “Did I mention that I’ve also had a bit to drink today? I was about seventy percent drunk. Adding this glass… makes it eighty?”
Xie Zhetao: “…Huh? What do you mean? Oh, brother, don’t worry about this guy. He’s just a shameless person who’ll do anything to get famous. Don’t let him foul your eyes. Come, join us…”
“Is that so?” Xie Linxi repeated ambiguously. Then, while Xie Zhetao watched with a look of confusion, Xie Linxi suddenly lashed out with his leg and kicked his brother squarely in the chest.
TL Corner:
1 – Sanpaku Eyes
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