Chapter 17: Gambling for Him

Chapter 17: Staking It All for Him

A honk from the car behind snapped them back to reality. The light had been green for a while. Gu Hansheng wiped the corner of his mouth and drove toward Tuotu Tower.

Zhao Yu's face burned. He turned to look out the window, touching his cheek. Kissing had become a regular thing, but Zhao Yu still hadn't gotten used to it. An indescribable feeling was quietly building, making his heart race.

Gu Hansheng dropped Zhao Yu off at the lounge on the second floor of Tuotu Tower. "I've got to run upstairs and take care of a few things. I'll take you home later."

"Okay."

Zhao Yu watched him get on the elevator, then looked toward the employee café outside the lounge. Quite a few employees were gathered together, talking in hushed tones.

On the surface, the company seemed calm, but underneath, things were churning. Wang Xiaochen's case wasn't an isolated incident. Gu Hansheng was about to conduct a major purge across all of Tuotu, and anyone with a guilty conscience was on edge. With the irrefutable evidence Zhao Yu had gotten, Gu Hansheng could do no wrong. Even his third uncle, who kept throwing obstacles in his path, knew he was in the wrong and didn't dare meddle anymore.

Unlike the chaos outside, the lounge was dead quiet. Zhao Yu waited a long time for Gu Hansheng, then fell asleep. When he woke up, it was already getting dark. A secretary pushed the door open and said, "Mr. Chen, Mr. Gu asked me to call you a car to take you home."

"Is he still working?"

"Yes."

"How much longer will he be? I can wait."

"Mr. Gu thinks he won't be done for a while. You should go on ahead—the car's waiting downstairs."

"Alright." Zhao Yu got up and walked out with her, then asked, "Has your company been having a lot of problems lately? Is he in trouble?"

The secretary smiled. "Mr. Gu's always been like this at work. He was even busier when he first started. No matter how big the problem, he can handle it."

Zhao Yu walked out of Tuotu Tower and looked up at the building. Gu Hansheng's office was on a very high floor, but it didn't seem unreachable.

Gu Hansheng got home very late that night. In the middle of the night, as Zhao Yu was sleeping, he felt arms wrap around him from behind. He jolted awake, but relaxed the moment he recognized the faint, cool scent. Gu Hansheng did nothing else—perhaps he was too tired—and was asleep within minutes.

Zhao Yu woke up early the next morning, but the spot next to him was already empty. He walked out of the bedroom and saw Gu Hansheng just coming out of the bathroom, hair dripping with water that landed on his collarbone and trickled into his bathrobe collar, the wet trails catching the light.

Gu Hansheng's neck was long, and his Adam's apple bobbed slightly when he spoke. Whenever he leaned close to Zhao Yu's ear to talk, his voice sounded like it was seducing him. Zhao Yu's eyes couldn't help but follow the trail of water droplets, from his sexy Adam's apple down to the slightly open collar.

They had slept together once, but Zhao Yu had been so nervous he hadn't dared to look at anything, so he had no idea how great Gu Hansheng's body really was.

"What are you looking at?" Gu Hansheng walked toward him while drying his hair, teasing, "Like what you see?"

"I... I'll dry your hair for you." Zhao Yu quickly looked away and looked around for the hairdryer.

"It's in the bathroom."

"I'll go get it."

Zhao Yu hurried into the bathroom and looked at his red face in the mirror, scratching his head in frustration.

I'm straight, I'm straight, I'm straight—Zhao Yu repeated it three times, then grabbed the hairdryer like he was walking to his doom. But just as he walked out, he happened to see Gu Hansheng stripping off his bathrobe to change clothes.

He stopped dead in his tracks, then retreated back into the bathroom, leaning against the wall with his face in his hands—repeating anything seemed pointless now.

"Does it really take that long to get a hairdryer?" Gu Hansheng called through the door.

Zhao Yu opened the door. "I couldn't find it at first. I had to look around."

"It was hanging right on the wall and you couldn't find it?"

"Out of sight, you know." Zhao Yu cleared his throat. "Have a seat."

Zhao Yu turned on the hairdryer, warm air flowing through his fingers as he touched Gu Hansheng's hair. It was a bit rough, damp and slightly cool. It felt strange, because Gu Hansheng was so tall that Zhao Yu always had to look up at him. Looking down at him was a whole different feeling—as if this man had let his guard down, and between them there was no scheming or deception, just plain, ordinary intimacy.

Gu Hansheng suddenly leaned his head back to look at him and said, "Once I'm done with this busy period, I'll take you out to get away."

"Where to?"

"Where do you want to go?"

"No idea."

"Think about it in the next few days."

After his hair was dried, Gu Hansheng grabbed his jacket and headed out. Zhao Yu walked him to the door, and he suddenly turned around, bending down to kiss him in the doorway.

Zhao Yu was caught off guard. By the time he snapped out of it, Gu Hansheng had already gotten in the car and left.

The atmosphere at Tuotu was still tense, but Gu Hansheng only dealt with a handful of people like Wang Xiaochen. He didn't clean house on the veterans left behind by his uncles, because he still needed to use their influence for a specific reason—something concerning Chen Li's company.

The ten million he'd invested in Chen Li was just the beginning. Because of her near-bankruptcy not long ago, her reputation in the industry was on shaky ground, and not many companies wanted to work with her. To truly save her, she needed a company big enough to back her—Tuotu would be perfect.

But using Tuotu's resources wouldn't be easy for Gu Hansheng. He had to convince these difficult uncles.

When Gu Hong heard that Gu Hansheng hadn't taken this opportunity to root out the spies in the company, he called, and the moment he spoke, he started right in with a scolding: "Hansheng, do I really have to teach you how to run a company? Don't you know who to keep and who to cut?"

Gu Hong was Gu Hansheng's father, but Gu Hansheng didn't exactly respect him. He kept reviewing documents while blowing him off: "I know what I'm doing. You're busy traveling the world chasing women—if you really care about me, why not give me some actual support? How about you just transfer all your Tuotu shares to me?"

"Ridiculous," Gu Hong said. "What the hell are you keeping those people for? Get rid of them right now. Don't worry about me. Gu Hui and the rest of them are snakes—I can't be bothered to keep up this fake family act."

"You're overthinking it. It's not about you. I'm keeping them because I need them."

"Need them for what?"

"Using Tuotu's name to back a small company. They're struggling right now, but they're still turning a profit."

"Why get involved in other people's affairs? You'll get nothing out of it! Hansheng, don't be an idiot. You've barely gotten comfortable in the CEO chair—everything is just beginning. The old man never liked me, and he's never given you the time of day because of it. You earned your place in the Gu family all on your own. Don't risk your most valuable resources for some nobody little company and give Gu Hui and the others something to hold over you."

Gu Hansheng was annoyed. "Tsk. I'm busy right now. Why don't you go hit up a red-light district?"

"What red-light district? How am I supposed to be in the mood? Isn't it 1 a.m. on your side? Why are you still working?"

"When I first joined Tuotu, I was this busy every day. How come you never checked on me then?"

"You were young back then—you needed to be toughened up..."

"Yeah, yeah. Bye."

With that, Gu Hansheng hung up without giving him a chance to keep going, and blocked Gu Hong's number for the time being.

The city was dead quiet at one in the morning. From the forty-second floor, only a few lights were still on. Gu Hansheng got up to pour himself a cup of coffee and sat back down in front of his computer.

He knew everything Gu Hong had said, but some people were worth taking the risk for. He loved this one special Chen Xitong. For everyone else, he was stingy with his time, yet he was willing to be generous with Chen Xitong.

A week flew by. Almost every day, Gu Hansheng didn't get home until nearly dawn. Whenever he came home, Zhao Yu would always wake up and notice how exhausted he was. At first, Zhao Yu just let himself be held while sleeping, but later he would turn over very carefully, afraid of waking him, afraid of cutting off the circulation in his arm—gradually, they fell asleep in each other's arms.

Zhao Yu never asked why he was so busy. He only woke up early with him every morning, made sure he ate on time, and checked if he'd brought an umbrella when it rained. Somewhere along the way, caring about Gu Hansheng had also become a habit. He didn't notice that he seemed to be getting too deep into his act, that he couldn't tell what was real anymore, yet it had become second nature.

...

The meeting about whether to invest in Chen Li's project was coming up fast. On the day of the meeting, Gu Hansheng's uncles arrived in full force with their right-hand men. The conference room was packed with people, every one of them staring at Gu Hansheng with dark expressions. The tension was suffocating.

They envy this talented young upstart, resent him for taking a slice of the Tuotu pie, and watch him like hawks, waiting to trip him up. If they could bring down Gu Hansheng, they would stop at nothing—just look at Wang Xiaochen.

As a key project lead, Chen Li naturally showed up on site, but she wasn't allowed into the meeting room; she only caught glimpses of what was going on inside whenever the door opened and closed.

As people filed in, no one acknowledged Chen Li—except Gu Hansheng. She stood awkwardly outside the door, feeling the air so thick it made her sick to her stomach.

Gu Hansheng's secretary handed her a glass of warm water. As she took it, she was startled to realize her hands were trembling.

She had deep admiration for Gu Hansheng. If she were in his shoes, even with twenty more years of experience, she doubted she'd have the guts to face that hostile crowd head-on.

Gu Hansheng pulled out a chair and sat down. His subordinates handed out the documents, but almost no one bothered to open them. This was within his expectations, and he had already prepared his countermeasures. Chen Li's project had been packaged by him to look extremely attractive—as long as they didn't mind making a profit, these greedy old-timers would most likely not refuse.

The meeting dragged on intermittently for two days. Gu Hansheng inevitably faced tremendous resistance; these seasoned veterans of the business world constantly challenged and besieged him, mocking him for chasing petty gains. The storm of criticism in that room came down on Gu Hansheng alone, yet he didn't retreat a single step, defusing every attack with flawless answers.

Finally, on the afternoon of the third day, everything was settled. Though the uncles were dissatisfied with him, they were also happy to profit from the new venture. Gu Hansheng fought his way through the onslaught, winning what he wanted by giving up some ground. The formal partnership with Chen Li was finally confirmed.

Backed by the giant Tuotu, Chen Li's company had a bright future ahead. When Zhou Lan learned of this, he asked her with delight, "Ms. Chen, does that mean we can settle the final payment for Zhao Yu now?"

Chen Li hesitated for a moment, then said, "Let's wait a bit longer. Don't tell him for now."

The smile on Zhou Lan's face gradually stiffened. "But didn't you agree with him?"

A trace of worry flickered across Chen Li's face, but in the end, she said nothing.

She felt a sense of guilt toward Zhao Yu, yet after everything that had happened, she also found that Zhao Yu was really too useful to let go.