Chapter 52: The Night of Going Along with the Error
“You did it on purpose, right? You’ve been pretending all along, thinking the news wouldn’t get out, and you specifically found someone from the fashion circle to help you spread it?”
Ji Hanmo spoke in a teasing tone.
“All along?” Fu Yue was completely dazed, unable to keep up with the logic.
“Hmm.” Ji Hanmo gave a faint confirmation.
His gaze was meaningful, making a circle around Fu Yue’s waistline.
“They say you boarded this ship to find Old Master Pei to see a doctor.”
See a doctor? When did I?
The expression on Fu Yue’s face had gone from shock and anger to humiliation and numbness, finally settling into a deathly pale—richer than a color palette.
He finally understood.
No wonder!
No wonder those people’s gazes were so strange!
As it turned out, the exchange at the BBQ was fundamentally a “cross-server chat.”
I said I was a shou, but he thought I was impotent?!
[System: Hahahaha, save me! Host! This is too tragic! I’m sorry, I feel bad for you but I want to laugh!]
When the song ended, Ji Hanmo released him.
A smile hung on his face, his usual coldness completely gone.
That look clearly said: I know you don’t have a problem. But your method is truly hilarious.
Fu Yue stood in the center of the dance floor, feeling as though his life had never been so dark.
However, this darkness lasted for less than thirty seconds.
Fu Yue’s career-driven brain reminded him to return to rationality quickly.
Reputation is an external thing; the mission is the top priority!
Set these things aside for now.
Fu Yue quickly glanced at the time.
He had to execute Plan B!
There were only 58 minutes left for the core plot of Chen Bai “catching them in the act.”
He had to force the plot back on track; there was no time to lose.
Moreover…
A flash of inspiration hit him.
Kevin was originally supposed to have a seduction scandal with Ji Linye.
The stir caused by that scandal would definitely be much bigger than the current gossip.
A bigger scandal would naturally cover up this damn ugly rumor.
This plot advancement was basically “killing two birds with one stone.”
Under the double motivation, Fu Yue picked up a glass of champagne from a waiter’s tray.
The ball was about to end. He pushed through the crowd and walked straight toward Kevin.
Kevin wore a magnificent peacock mask.
Seeing Fu Yue actively approach him, his eyes shone with surprise.
When Fu Yue handed the glass to him, he was even more flattered.
“Fu?” Kevin took the glass, his green eyes full of emotion. “Do you know now? My heart for you.”
Fu Yue nodded heavily, forcing all his acting skills to squeeze out a shy expression.
Of course he knew!
Fu Yue was already cursing inside: Is this how you show your love?
Officially declaring I’m “impotent” in front of the whole world, causing me to lose all face.
Do foreigners have some kind of major illness in their logic?
Is this you loving me, or you wanting me to die!
But on the surface, Fu Yue only lowered his eyelashes and gently clinked his glass with Kevin’s.
“Thank you…”
Thank you and your whole family!
Seeing his “too moved to speak” appearance, Kevin’s heart melted.
He heroically drained the glass in one go.
“For you, anything is worth it.”
Fu Yue’s brow twitched as he diligently filled another glass for him.
One glass, and then another.
Once Kevin was sufficiently drunk, Fu Yue felt the time was ripe.
He took a step forward and leaned into his ear.
“In half an hour, come to my room to play. How about it?”
Kevin’s breath hitched.
Fu Yue felt it wasn’t enough and continued to add weight: “I have… many fun things there.”
Without waiting for Kevin’s reaction, he breathed out a list of items: “Maid outfits, cat tails, massage devices with adjustable settings…”
Kevin’s ears were already bright red. Fu Yue threw out his strongest trump card: “And… the Staff of Hermes.”
Kevin—an international supermodel who was battle-hardened and progressive in the European fashion circles—his face went red all over with a “boom.”
Half an hour later.
In the luxury guest room area on the top deck of the cruise ship.
The silent hallway was covered in thick carpet.
Fu Yue was hiding in the shadow of a fire cabinet, waiting anxiously.
Plot countdown: 1 minute and 30 seconds.
Why isn’t he here yet?
He stared fixedly at the end of the hallway, his heart pounding in his chest.
Fu Yue looked at his phone; the screen stayed on the interface where he had just sent a message to Chen Bai.
“Emergency! Your Linye is being blocked in a room by Kevin! Come quick to catch them!”
Besides this message, Fu Yue had just placed an order on the cruise ship’s dining app.
In Ji Linye’s name, he ordered an amount of late-night snacks that could only be described as insane.
[Your order is confirmed: King Crab Seafood Porridge x2, Escargot x2, Abalone with Sea Cucumber x2, Black Truffle Pizza x1, Premium Caviar with Blinis x1, Steamed Spotted Garoupa x1, Drunken Crab Platter x1, and… a bottle of Lafite from a top vintage x1.]
The order couldn’t even fit on one screen.
Very good.
In a moment, the scene of catching them in the act would definitely not lack for enthusiastic delivery-audience members.
Now, everything was ready.
He was just waiting for the actors to appear.
Fu Yue watched the countdown on his phone drop to less than a minute; he was worried to death.
Finally, the sound of footsteps came from the end of the hallway.
The tipsy Kevin had arrived.
His walking posture was still elegant, but the flush on his face and his slightly blurry gaze betrayed his current state.
Fu Yue held his breath, watching Kevin stagger past him from the shadows.
Good, the target has appeared.
He followed closely.
Kevin had stopped at the end of the hallway, then turned around and raised his hand…
Wait! That’s not right!
Kevin raised his hand and aimed for the door of room A07!
That wasn’t Ji Linye’s room.
At the critical moment, Fu Yue rushed over and grabbed Kevin’s wrist just as he was about to knock.
“Honey,” Fu Yue panted, a sweet smile on his face, “it’s this one; go in and wait for me.”
His other hand quickly reached into his pocket.
He pulled out the room card he had swiped from Chen Bai and swiped it on the door of A06 across the way with a “beep.”
Then, without allowing for argument, Fu Yue pushed Kevin inside.
With a bang, the door closed.
OK! Done!
Fu Yue made a victory sign in his heart.
Kevin was in place.
Besides that, Fu Yue had bribed a waiter in advance to send his “toy box”—which had all its combination locks cleared—into Ji Linye’s room during the ball.
Chen Bai would soon engage in a variety of “play” with Ji Linye due to jealousy; those props would be more than enough.
Now, it was time to hide his deeds and fame.
Fu Yue turned around, intending to retreat.
Suddenly—
Thump, thump, thump!
Hurried footsteps came from the other end of the hallway. Fu Yue saw a white figure from a distance.
Chen Bai? How did he get here so fast?
As expected, he truly loves his man.
Fu Yue looked around.
The luxury room area had a lotus-style layout; the rooms were located at the fork at the end of the hallway.
One side was a wall, and the other side was Chen Bai; there was nowhere to run!
There was no other choice.
System! 30-second Invisibility, activate!
Fu Yue shouted in his heart.
He decided to hide in the room across the way first.
System, activate Invisible Teleportation.
[30-second countdown begins. 29, 28…]
A second before Chen Bai’s figure appeared in the hallway, Fu Yue threw himself into room A07 across the way.
Success!
The sound of Chen Bai’s footsteps already rang outside the door.
It was a perfect timing.
Fu Yue let out a long sigh of relief.
However, before he could finish that breath—
Bang.
Just as he wanted to turn around, a hard object caught his foot.
His whole person fell in an extremely wretched posture, his face coming into intimate contact with the carpet.
“Ugh!”
Fu Yue raised his head, baring his teeth in pain, and took a close look—
The thing that tripped him was a familiar silver-gray rolling suitcase, the one claimed to withstand a meteorite strike.
“?”
It was Fu Yue’s treasure box, full of “toys.”
Fu Yue clearly remembered giving the waiter a thousand instructions to make sure the suitcase was sent to Ji Linye’s room.
As it turned out, the waiter still sent it to the wrong room?
[Host: The waiter did not send it to the wrong room.]
Fu Yue: “???”
[Testing shows that after target character Ji Linye boarded the ship, he swapped rooms with Ji Hanmo, but did not update the information at the front desk. Therefore, in the cruise service system, the registered occupant for this room, A07, remains: Ji Linye.]
Fu Yue’s expression cracked.
So that’s how it was.
All the effort he put into carefully preparing this box of things, at the risk of social death, had been for nothing.
Before Fu Yue could recover from his sorrow, the door to the room’s bathroom opened with a click.
Amidst the billowing steam, a tall figure wrapped in a bath towel walked out.
The man was wiping his wet hair, water droplets sliding down his well-defined abdominal muscles and disappearing at the end of his V-line.
Seeing Fu Yue lying on the floor, entangled with a suitcase, Ji Hanmo’s action of wiping his hair stopped.
Their eyes met; the air froze into ice.
Ji Hanmo’s expression was like he had seen something interesting.
“I thought a thief had entered the room,” his voice was husky from the bath, “have you… prepared some kind of surprise for me?”
Ji Hanmo’s gaze flickered pointedly.
He was naturally looking at the suitcase beneath Fu Yue.
Fu Yue’s heart almost stopped beating.
This case was already unlocked; fortunately, it hadn’t been knocked open just now.
Otherwise, it would truly be “meaningful.”
Fu Yue shook his head: “No.”
“Then… are you moving in?” Ji Hanmo walked toward Fu Yue step by step.
His tall frame cast a shadow that completely enveloped Fu Yue.
Fu Yue was momentarily speechless.
In the middle of the night, bringing a suitcase over was indeed hard to explain.
At this moment, Chen Bai’s anxious knocking could be heard faintly from outside the door.
Of course, he was definitely knocking on the door across the way.
Things on the other side should be successful!
Fu Yue felt a surge of joy, but then fell into a depression. His own situation was a bit difficult to handle.
He knew he couldn’t leave for the time being.
An abnormal heat rose from inside his body.
After the 30-second Invisibility skill ended, the “body temperature rise” debuff flared up again.
Fu Yue could feel his face getting hotter and hotter.
A hand appeared in his field of vision.
It was Ji Hanmo’s palm.
“Get up,” the man said in a deep voice.
Fu Yue wouldn’t make things hard for himself.
He reached out to grab that powerful palm and stood up wobbling.
“I…”
He wanted to open his mouth to explain, but his throat was as dry as if it had been rubbed with sandpaper.
Ji Hanmo had already sensed the abnormal high temperature in his palm.
Looking at Fu Yue’s appearance, he immediately put away his playful expression.
The person in front of him had an unnatural flush on his cheeks and dry lips. A layer of mist covered his eyes, making him look like a lost fawn—fragile and vulnerable.
Ji Hanmo decisively reached out to feel Fu Yue’s forehead.
The burning temperature caused his gaze to darken.
“Do you have a fever again?”
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