Chapter 13: Reopening Old Wounds
Qin Wan lay bound on the bed, barely clothed, his heart already a panicked mess.
The psychological defenses he had built over the past few hours collapsed and scattered the instant Gu Xinglan’s extremely dangerous aura approached.
“President Gu, can we… can we discuss this again?”
His beautiful eyes blinked weakly, long eyelashes clinging with broken teardrops.
“Between us… the problem between us, there must be… must be another solution!”
Gu Xinglan seemed to enjoy seeing his utter defeat. Unhurried, he nodded. “Mn, let’s hear it.”
Qin Wan sniffled, trying hard to put on a sincere expression.
“The money I owe you… give me some time. I… I’ll go borrow it. I will definitely find a way to pay it all back to you!”
Gu Xinglan sank a little. “Fine, let me calculate it for you. The Old Master’s life—I’ll give you a friendship price: one million.”
“The antique vase you used to smash the wine cabinet this morning was bought at this year’s Christie’s Spring Auction for two million.”
“I won’t count the cabinet, but inside was a bottle of Yamazaki 50-year whisky, a bottle of ’92 Screaming Eagle Cabernet, and a bottle of ’75 Romanee-Conti. The total price exceeds four million.”
“Qin Wan, how much is that when added together? How much time do you need me to give you to pay it off?”
Qin Wan: …
Gu Xinglan scoffed, his tone mocking. “Oh, I almost forgot, you know how to scam.”
“Perhaps you can find a few more bitter suckers like me and scam this money out of them.”
Qin Wan’s lips trembled, and he fell silent.
He had learned his lesson; Gu Xinglan’s skill at salting wounds was perfection itself.
“Why aren’t you speaking, Qin Wan?”
“So, what is your solution?”
Silence reigned in the room.
Qin Wan’s eyelids drooped low.
He turned his face slightly to the side, speaking in a small voice.
“Maybe… there is no other way…”
“President Gu, then… later, can you… be a little gentle…”
The corner of Gu Xinglan’s lips hooked up. “If you beg me, perhaps I will consider it.”
“Beg you, be gentle…”
Gu Xinglan lifted his leg and straddled Qin Wan’s legs.
Reaching out, he turned his face straight.
“Qin Wan, I just taught you, and you forgot in the blink of an eye. When no one else is here, what do you call me?” His voice held displeasure.
Qin Wan bit his lower lip, speaking with great difficulty: “Brother…”
“So, how should you beg me?” Gu Xinglan pressed.
Qin Wan’s voice was so small it was almost inaudible: “Please be gentle, Brother…”
A cold smile slanted across Gu Xinglan’s lips.
The tip of his tongue pressed against his cheek. “I can consider it. But you keep getting the address wrong; you need to be punished.”
As he spoke, he propped his hands on either side of his ears, lowered his head, and kissed his lips.
He felt the person beneath him tense up instantly.
Undoubtedly hard-to-suppress nervousness.
“Qin Wan, relax. You’re so tense, how am I supposed to do anything later?” Gu Xinglan said, lowering his head to kiss his chest.
Qin Wan’s body couldn’t help trembling.
“I… am so scared…” His small face was full of helpless panic as he whispered.
Gu Xinglan stopped.
He pulled back slightly.
“Scared? Then rest for a moment. I’ll ask you a few questions.”
Gu Xinglan raised his eyes slightly to look at him.
“Qin Wan, is that your real name?”
Qin Wan nodded. “It is.”
“Age.”
“Nineteen.”
“Think carefully before answering the next question.” Gu Xinglan’s eyes were half-closed, his voice exuding a trace of danger.
“Why is there no information about you in the national population database?”
Qin Wan’s fox eyes widened slightly.
“I… I don’t know…” The look in his eyes turned chaotic, and he turned his head to the side.
Gu Xinglan reached out and clamped his jaw.
Turning his face back to face him.
“That answer is too perfunctory. Qin Wan, I think you know. Don’t want to say?”
Qin Wan bit his lip, silent for a moment.
“It has nothing to do with you.”
It was clearly a tough statement, but his voice was so low and soft that it sounded somewhat aggrieved.
Gu Xinglan snorted coldly. “I have to know who I’m playing with, and what their background is.”
Qin Wan’s cheeks twitched fiercely.
He made no sound.
Gu Xinglan’s mouth slanted. “Looks like you don’t want to confess obediently.”
“Fine, rest is over.” He spat out the sentence coldly.
Immediately, he lowered his head, biting onto his collarbone.
At the same time, his large hand stroked his chest, moving all the way down to his waist.
“Qin Wan, you’ve made me unhappy,” he said in a low voice. The tone was flat, but it made Qin Wan’s heart constrict.
“So, the thing you just begged me for…” He enunciated word by word, his tone cruel, “I refuse…”
…
When Gu Xinglan prepared to torment Qin Wan for the third time, Qin Wan truly couldn’t take it anymore.
The injuries left by last night’s violent storm made it impossible for him to bear more.
“Bro-Brother! Spare me! I… I…” He began to sob.
“Please, don’t continue!”
Gu Xinglan suppressed his heavy breathing, his voice ruthless. “I said, Qin Wan, I refuse. Begging for mercy is useless; take it.”
“No! No…”
He cried out, tears gushing forth.
Gu Xinglan slowed his movements slightly. “Really can’t take it?”
Qin Wan’s small head nodded weakly several times.
“Then do you want to answer my question from earlier now?”
He looked down, staring at his small, tear-stained, wet face.
Qin Wan bit his lip, the corners of his mouth twitching with grievance, and fell silent again.
Gu Xinglan’s jaw muscle jumped.
He seemed to lose patience.
“If you don’t want to say, then we continue,” he said through gritted teeth, reaching out to flip Qin Wan’s body over.
“Qin Wan, we…”
Lying on the bed, Qin Wan was even more afraid, crying even harder.
“No…”
Gu Xinglan moved roughly, pulling the loosely hanging bathrobe down to his bound forearms.
However, when he saw Qin Wan’s naked back revealed, his pupils instantly contracted.
On his fair-skinned back, crisscrossing dark red old scars were spread all over.
The lights had been off last night, so he hadn’t seen them.
Now staring at those scars, Gu Xinglan’s brows furrowed tighter and tighter.
He reached out, somewhat cautiously, and touched them lightly.
“Qin Wan, these scars on your back—how did they get there?”
Qin Wan buried his face in the down pillow, trying to muffle the sound of his crying.
So the sobs sounded muffled, but even more pitiful.
Gu Xinglan’s mind cooled down a bit.
He hugged Qin Wan’s body from behind, pulling him into his arms.
“Tell Brother, how did these scars happen?” His voice softened.
The thin body in his arms was held tight but still couldn’t stop trembling.
Gu Xinglan lowered his head, kissing gently on his shoulder and the side of his neck.
“Qin Wan, tell me, and I’ll spare you for today, okay?” His voice carried a coaxing tone.
Qin Wan sobbed for a while longer, finally nodding.
He had indeed been tormented miserably by Gu Xinglan and was terrified.
“I’ll tell you, don’t torture me anymore…”
He sobbed, as if talking to himself, convincing himself to compromise, to seek advantage and avoid harm.
Even though he was ten thousand times unwilling to reveal his old scars to a stranger.
“I am… the illegitimate son of the Sheng family in Jiang City.”
“Before I was four, I lived outside with my mother. When I was four, my mother passed away, and I was taken back…”
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