AD Chapter 42
Chu Zichen rambled on for quite a while before belatedly realizing that the living room seemed a little too quiet. His voice gradually trailed off, and he finally shut up.
Gu Lingfeng hadn’t said a word the entire time, and Su Ning hadn’t defended himself either—both remained silent.
The two of them simply looked at him with faint, dispassionate gazes, as if watching some kind of farce.
A surge of inexplicable anger rose in Chu Zichen’s chest. He had said so much, yet not only did Gu Lingfeng not stand up for him, he even had a look of distrust on his face. That Su Ning was just a mere assistant—what was so worthy of his protection?
“Lingfeng, don’t you believe what I said?” Chu Zichen shouted at Gu Lingfeng with a face full of grievance.
Gu Lingfeng withdrew his gaze from Chu Zichen and gave Su Ning a glance, finally opening his mouth. “No one tells me what to do.” He then swept a glance back at Chu Zichen, the message in his eyes a subtle warning.
Chu Zichen’s brief flicker of hope was instantly extinguished by that look. He lowered his head and took a small step closer to Gu Lingfeng, tugging lightly at the hem of his sleeve, and said softly, “I just… I just missed you…”
Gu Lingfeng brushed his hand perfunctorily across Chu Zichen’s face, allowed him to stay for a meal, then instructed the driver to take him home.
Chu Zichen was deeply unwilling, but he didn’t dare throw a tantrum in front of Gu Lingfeng. He could be clingy and jealous, even openly show hostility toward Su Ning in front of Gu Lingfeng—but what he never dared to do was truly go against the man’s will.
It was then that Chu Zichen began to feel a real sense of crisis. There had been a time before when Gu Lingfeng, after letting Su Ning escort him to a hotel, kept Su Ning behind and sent him back to set. He had felt humiliated and angry at the time, but not like this—not with this mounting sense of danger.
Seeing Su Ning actually living in Gu Lingfeng’s villa, seeing how naturally he moved around inside the house, and especially witnessing the subtle, wordless rapport between the two men—Chu Zichen realized that he had severely underestimated this assistant.
Assistant? The man had already been fully accepted into the household. Meanwhile, he, the so-called official boyfriend, couldn’t even step into the villa without explicit permission. Compared to that, didn’t he look more like the outsider?
After returning home, Chu Zichen immediately had someone investigate Su Ning. He had known a few vague details before, but nothing thorough—and most of what he did know was hearsay.
But the deeper he dug, the more unsettled he became. An assistant who had been living in the boss’s home for over four years? Not a single one of Gu Lingfeng’s past lovers had ever stayed in that villa—not just living there, even staying overnight was rare. Chu Zichen himself had never once succeeded in spending the night.
What made an assistant more worthy than him, the official boyfriend? That Su Ning was clearly just clinging to his status, shamelessly wedging himself into Gu Lingfeng’s household to gain an advantage.
Chu Zichen clenched his fist and slammed it down hard, brimming with renewed fighting spirit.
In his eyes, this was about defending what was rightfully his. With his current fame and status, he couldn’t lose to a mere assistant.
In the days that followed, aside from working on new songs and recording variety shows, Chu Zichen spent nearly every free moment heading to Gu Lingfeng’s villa. Whether Gu Lingfeng was home or not, he would show up to flaunt his presence in front of Su Ning. In his own words, it was to "keep an eye on Su Ning and stop him from using any more tricks to seduce Gu Lingfeng."
Su Ning could only respond with helpless resignation.
Chu Zichen’s visits became so frequent that, given his considerable celebrity status, he was eventually spotted by paparazzi, who sent the photos to the tabloids. Fortunately, Su Ning caught wind of it early and notified Gu Lingfeng, who pulled some strings to get the photos taken down.
Though Gu Lingfeng’s reputation for keeping lovers was practically an open secret, he was, after all, the CEO of Hua Entertainment, with the massive Gu Corporation backing him—he still had to consider appearances.
But what made Su Ning question Chu Zichen’s sanity was what he did after the incident. Upon realizing he’d been photographed, instead of demanding the photos be deleted, Chu Zichen had smiled bashfully and declared, “I was just visiting my boyfriend.”
Su Ning: “…”
It was precisely because of Chu Zichen’s “permission” that the paparazzi dared to publish the story. Otherwise, even if they had ten times the courage, they wouldn’t have dared to provoke the CEO of Hua Entertainment—let alone the powerhouse Gu family behind him.
When Su Ning learned the real story from the paparazzo, he was stunned into silence for a long time, unsure how to even respond.
Needless to say, Chu Zichen’s little stunt completely infuriated Gu Lingfeng. The man issued a strict order: Chu Zichen was no longer allowed at the villa.
“Why?! Why can he live there, and I’m not even allowed to visit?!” Chu Zichen flew into a rage, yelling and throwing things.
“He’s just an assistant! Who the hell does he think he is?!”
His manager sat on the couch nearby, watching his artist spiral out of control like a mad dog gnawing relentlessly at Su Ning’s name.
Chu Zichen refused to see that any of this was his fault. He believed Su Ning must have been bad-mouthing him to Gu Lingfeng, deliberately trying to sabotage him. That was the only explanation for why Gu Lingfeng had suddenly turned cold and barred him from the house.
“If he wants to make my life miserable, I won’t let him off easy either!”
“What are you planning to do?” his manager finally asked after a long silence, frowning in irritation. When the company had first assigned him to Chu Zichen, he had been optimistic about the boy’s potential—especially after learning he was the boss’s lover. He had thought he’d struck gold and was on the fast track to a promotion.
He never expected to be saddled with a reckless idiot who managed to botch every opportunity he was given.
At this point, Chu Zichen felt like the whole world was against him. He no longer cared what his manager thought—any trace of respect was gone.
“Don’t worry about it. One way or another, I won’t let this go,” Chu Zichen said through gritted teeth, his once delicate features twisted with rage.
His manager suddenly stood up from the couch, glaring at him. “I’m warning you—leave Su Ning alone. Don’t ruin the career you worked so hard to build.”
Though part of his concern was self-serving, he truly didn’t want to see such a promising artist crash and burn from his own stupidity.
Unfortunately, the worst thing he could’ve done at that moment was to mention Su Ning’s name.
Already on the edge, Chu Zichen exploded the moment he heard it. “Su Ning, Su Ning! He’s just a damn assistant! Why does everyone care so much about him, but no one gives a shit about me?! He slept his way into Gu Lingfeng’s house, didn’t he? I heard he even signed some kind of contract—what’s the difference between that and selling himself outright? What makes him so noble?! At least I love Gu Lingfeng! I want him, not his money!”
His manager looked at him like he was watching a madman. Shaking his head, he said nothing more and walked out the door.
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