Chapter 9: Dropping Out of High School Isn’t Illiteracy!

Chapter 9: Dropping Out of High School Doesn't Make You a Dummy!

Zhao Yu was too nervous. He lied over and over, but no matter how many times he did, the nerves never went away. He couldn't help but grip the blanket tightly, and a little blood flowed back up into the IV tube.

Gu Hansheng noticed and pulled his hand away, gently prying open his clenched fingers. "I know Chen Li put you up to this. The past is the past—let's just pretend none of it happened. But I still have to ask you: what are your feelings for me?"

Zhao Yu was caught off guard, not expecting to face this question head-on, but he reacted quickly, answering almost without hesitation: "I like you."

As soon as he said it, his face flushed at how shameless the answer was. Luckily, it looked a lot like shyness, which helped him sell the lie.

Gu Hansheng didn't fully buy it. Once money and interests were on the table, feelings weren't as pure as they used to be—only time would tell if this "like" was real.

But Gu Hansheng didn't rain on his parade either. He accepted the answer for now. Regardless of whether the outcome was perfect, the ice between them had thawed after a brief cold spell.

Gu Hansheng had been in a meeting. He took a call and stepped onto the balcony to continue it online, his voice drifting in and out, hard to catch. "Chen Xitong" was awake, so he could have gone straight back to the company, but he still couldn't bring himself to go.

Zhao Yu turned over, facing away from the balcony, staring blankly at the cabinet by the wall. He had to deal with Gu Hansheng the second he woke up, but he still hadn't shaken off the fear of being trapped in that elevator.

He had mild claustrophobia, and he had his dad, Zhao Lianfeng, to thank for that. Every time Zhao Lianfeng got drunk, he'd fly off the handle. Once, when Zhao Yu talked back, he got shoved into a suitcase and locked in there for an entire night. The suitcase was cramped and pitch-black. He couldn't stretch his limbs, and only a little air seeped through the gaps, making him feel like he was being buried alive.

To get out, he apologized to Zhao Lianfeng over and over until his throat felt like it was ripping apart, and for days afterward, he couldn't even talk. Ever since then, he'd been terrified of small, enclosed spaces, and he'd never gotten over it.

It was getting dark by the time Gu Hansheng's meeting finally wrapped up. After that, he called the logistics department: "Wang Xiaochen, how's the progress on that shipment?"

"Mr. Gu, all the goods have been inspected. If there are no problems, we can have everything loaded tonight. The only holdup is customs, which might take a few days."

"Good work. This shipment is critical, and we're on a tight deadline. I need you to oversee every step and make sure nothing goes wrong."

"Understood."

After hanging up, Gu Hansheng walked back into the hospital room and saw the guy in bed fast asleep. He was about to step out to grab some dinner when he suddenly heard him muttering in his sleep.

"Let me out..."

Zhao Yu was trapped in a nightmare, drenched in cold sweat, his body curled up in an unnatural position, looking terrified.

Gu Hansheng stepped closer, felt his forehead, and called out, "Xitong, wake up."

Zhao Yu jolted awake. The room was dark, and he panicked—scrambling up, flicking on the bedside lamp, and shrinking back to the corner of the bed, staring at the person in front of him.

The second he recognized Gu Hansheng's face, he remembered where he was—and that Zhao Lianfeng from the nightmare wasn't here.

"Xitong?" Gu Hansheng saw the fear still on his face, and his heart suddenly felt like it had been stabbed with a needle.

Zhao Yu snapped out of it, quickly pulled himself together, scooted forward, and threw himself into Gu Hansheng's arms, faking it: "Brother, you're still here."

"I never left." Gu Hansheng gently stroked his back. "Did you have a nightmare about what happened earlier?"

"Yeah. Will you stay with me for a bit?"

"I'm not going anywhere tonight."

Zhao Yu leaned against his shoulder, and somehow, those words made him feel safe. The hospital room was too quiet. He didn't want to be alone—as long as someone was there, his mind wouldn't spiral.

He knew Gu Hansheng's care and gentleness were all meant for Chen Xitong. He was just a fraud, but ironically, in this city, Gu Hansheng was the only one who was genuinely kind to him. On the loneliest, most helpless nights, Gu Hansheng was the only one who could be there for him.

Hidden inside Chen Xitong's skin, he secretly soaked up this man's warmth, like a low-down, shameless thief.

Gu Hansheng stayed with him all night, and they slept together in the narrow hospital bed. The bedside lamp stayed on, and Zhao Yu could watch him sleep. It was the first time he'd seen him up close without any masks or defenses. Gu Hansheng had killer bone structure—being a quarter foreign gave his features depth without making them look harsh. Zhao Yu remembered his eyes weren't pure black but had a hint of brown, which really showed in good sunlight.

Gu Hansheng always had a faint, easy smile on his face. That was what stood out most to Zhao Yu—because his smile was so calm and unbothered. Even when the media provoked him outside the racetrack, he never lost his cool. Guys like that had a strong core and made everyone around them feel at ease.

Zhao Yu's life had never been stable. Zhao Lianfeng was the closest, most dangerous ticking time bomb in his life. He was used to people blowing up out of nowhere. Sometimes Zhao Lianfeng would show up at Guo Lin's Chinese restaurant to start shit, and Zhao Yu would end up in a brawl with him, turning the place upside down.

It felt like those things happened just yesterday, but today he was lying next to Gu Hansheng, cared for and protected by this man—like a dream.

Zhao Yu's emotions were all over the place. He didn't know what was wrong with him today—his mood kept swinging out of control. All he could do was lean into Gu Hansheng's arms and force his mind to go blank. If he could just forget the past, even for one minute, he wanted to be the real Chen Xitong for that single minute.

In the morning, Gu Hansheng went downstairs to grab breakfast and didn't leave until he'd watched Zhao Yu eat. The guy was always put together, but today his hair was a little messy from sleep, and his shirt had a few extra wrinkles.

Before leaving, he leaned down to look at Zhao Yu, like he wanted to kiss him, but he held back.

He was still trying to figure out if this "like" was real or fake, but Zhao Yu looked up, kissed his chin on his own, and said, "Brother, drive safe."

The hesitation in Gu Hansheng's eyes melted, and he pressed a kiss to Zhao Yu's lips—a quick, feather-light peck that was gone in a second.

At noon, Zhou Lan showed up, rushing in with a worried look. He only relaxed once he saw Zhao Yu was okay. "I heard you got stuck in the elevator and almost got hurt. Are you okay?"

Zhao Yu was flipping through a magazine in the hospital room, bored out of his mind, and said without looking up: "I'm not hurt. Assistant Zhou, you're pretty in the loop."

"President Chen told me and asked me to come see you." Zhou Lan set the fruit basket on the table. "I didn't know what fruit you liked, so I got a little of everything. Want an apple? I'll peel one for you."

He sat by the bed, peeling an apple, and went on, "President Chen came by last night. She saw you with Mr. Gu, so she didn't come in. She does care about you."

Zhao Yu flipped a page and said flatly, "Yeah, she cares a lot—cares about whether I've crawled into Gu Hansheng's bed. Tell her not to worry. Gu Hansheng and I already made up."

"Don't always think like that. President Chen can be pushy, but she does care about your safety, at least a little."

"Right. If she didn't even care if I lived or died, she'd basically be inhuman, wouldn't she?"

Zhou Lan sighed, helpless, cut the apple into slices, and set them next to him.

Zhao Yu closed the magazine, his eyes shifting, and asked, "How much do you know about Chen Li's project?"

"I know most of it. The company's dealing with some complicated issues right now."

"So what's really going on?"

"It's hard to explain in a few words, and honestly, even if I told you, you might not get it. Why the sudden interest in all this?"

"Just curious. If her project can make money, couldn't she get Gu Hansheng to invest if she pitched it to him properly?"

"That's the problem. The project can make money, but it's risky. And right now, it's a cash flow issue. Investors have a lot to think about—helping her doesn't guarantee a return, but not helping costs them nothing."

"What about her friends? Don't her business partners pitch in?"

"There are no friends in business. It's all just relationships built on self-interest."

Zhao Yu rubbed the corner of the magazine page between his fingers, thought for a second, and said, "Some people are all about money, but there have to be some who care about personal connections. Assistant Zhou, knowing Gu Hansheng, if I took the proposal to him for investment, how long would he actually listen to me?"

"You?" Zhou Lan asked, curious. "What was your major?"

"High school..."

"Just high school?"

"...I didn't graduate." Zhao Yu felt a little embarrassed.

"You dropped out of high school?!" Zhou Lan said in disbelief. "Even in the US, it's not that hard to graduate, is it?"

"Got in fights, got warned three times, and got expelled." Zhao Yu touched his nose. "That doesn't matter."

"If you didn't even graduate high school, you probably can't read a project proposal anyway."

"Objection! Assistant Zhou, that's discriminatory. I just don't have a high school diploma, it's not like I'm illiterate or something!"

Zhou Lan couldn't help but marvel again at how different Zhao Yu was from Chen Xitong, yet he'd managed to study Chen Xitong's every mannerism and mimic him so convincingly. His quick thinking in dodging trouble time and again showed he was no dummy—when he applied himself, he could get things done.

Zhou Lan sighed. "Alright, I can tell you about the project, but first you gotta tell me your plan."

"The plan is I go convince Gu Hansheng to invest."

"You're serious?"

"A hundred percent." Zhao Yu shrugged. "I've done worse than this; what's there I wouldn't do? Win and I'm set, lose and I'm no worse off."

...

In the GM's office at Tuotu Tower, Gu Hansheng glanced through the documents in his hands and asked the strategic director sitting across from him, "What do you think of her project?"

"That Ms. Chen, I've had some contact with her. She's a very visionary person, and this project of hers does have profit potential. But for Tuotu, our strategic development doesn't lean toward her field. Investing in her might make some money, but it's not necessary."

Gu Hansheng said nothing, thoughtfully studying the contents of the documents. This report had basically stripped Chen Li's company bare, making her current mess crystal clear. He also got why "Chen Xitong" was in such a hurry.

The strategic director added, "Mr. Gu, to be honest, helping her would yield too little return for us—it would be like charity. If you want to develop that line of business, it might be better to wait until she can't hold on any longer and then negotiate an acquisition. At that point, you could drive the price down to the minimum, and she'd have no choice but to sell."

He was right. Pushing Chen Li to the edge and then snatching away her life's work was cruel, but it was the most advantageous move for Gu Hansheng.

Could a destitute Chen Li still afford Chen Xitong's hopeful life and dreams? No, she couldn't, but Gu Hansheng could. As long as Chen Li still loved him, she would choose to hand him over to Gu Hansheng.

These dark thoughts surfaced in Gu Hansheng's mind, tempting him to make the cruelest move.