MBFAAO 9: Fierce Battle

A massive sense of crisis rose in Cheng Yan’s heart. He used all the strength in his body, and finally, his wrists violently broke free. Pushing hard, he rolled over and away, then jumped out of the bed.

Lin Liekai was pushed backward. In his groggy state, the back of his head slammed against the headboard. With a “bang,” it hurt terribly, and his consciousness finally slowly began to clear up.

It’s that little boy from just now? Oh, it wasn’t a dream.

He shook his head vigorously, vaguely remembering the conversation between him and Shi Jun just now.

Therefore, this youth… voluntarily followed into the room?

If it had been Shi Jun who wanted him, would he have gone just the same, smiling like this to help that bastard wipe his face, and then unbuttoning his clothes?

Since it was voluntary and he’s acting like this now, does he not like kissing?

While he irritably reached up to tug at his somewhat tight collar, at this time, Cheng Yan’s mind was also racing, thinking of how to escape. Involuntarily, his body stepped back a few paces.

One person was tugging at his tie, the other was moving his feet, seemingly heading toward the bathroom. Out of the corners of their eyes, both saw the other’s movements—full of vigilance, they instantly misunderstood each other.

Cheng Yan thought Lin Liekai was going to take off his clothes, while Lin Liekai thought Cheng Yan was going to the bathroom to shower.

The two blurted out almost at the same time, shouting out, “Don’t strip!…”

As soon as the words left their mouths, the room suddenly fell into a bizarre silence.

Cheng Yan turned his head suspiciously, a bit uncomprehending of this person’s meaning. Lin Liekai, on the other hand, swallowed his saliva with difficulty, his gaze inexplicably locking tightly onto the other’s lips.

Those were a pair of perfectly shaped lips, pinkish in color, not bright red, easily reminding one of newly bloomed mimosa flowers¹The silk tree flower. In Chinese literature, it often symbolizes fleeting beauty, delicate pink fluffiness, and romance (the name literally contains the characters for “together” and “joy/pleasure”). on an early summer morning.

Lin Liekai’s face was flushed. His heart was chaotic and tense, full of messy thoughts: He pushed me away, is it because he wants to take a shower first? That makes sense. After all, he followed me here, so he must be consenting. It’s just that neither wants to do it dirty.

Even though he himself didn’t really intend to do it, those lips were so beautiful, just, just…

Liquid courage²Translates to “alcohol strengthens a man’s courage.” A well-known idiom meaning being drunk makes a person bold enough to do things they wouldn’t sober. emboldened him—his heart pounded wildly. Feeling reckless internally, he carelessly leaned back, and gestured toward his lower half with his mouth.

“Mm, you don’t need to take a shower and you don’t need to take off your clothes.” He forced himself to look experienced, with a frivolous expression, coughing to cover it up. “Just using your mouth is fine.”

“…” Cheng Yan slowly took a step back, his mind spinning rapidly: Oh no, it really is coming to this!

He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, I don’t do this. You rest well, I’ll go out and find someone to serve you.”

Having said this, he turned around and bolted for the door. However, anxious and flustered, the long towel dropped on the floor unfortunately tripped his feet.

He stumbled, lost his balance, and fell back onto the bed again!

Lin Liekai subconsciously reached out abruptly and grabbed him.

Cheng Yan completely believed this person wanted to force him to stay and didn’t dare delay any longer. Finding an opening, he thrust an elbow right into Lin Liekai’s chest.

Lin Liekai was half-drunk after all. Feeling the pain, his body jerked backward, but his hands couldn’t react in time, still tightly gripping him. Cheng Yan got truly desperate at this point, and landed a solid front kick squarely on his lower abdomen.

He was wearing soft-soled sneakers, and pulled back some of his strength when kicking. Even so, it still made Lin Liekai yelp “ouch” in pain, stumbling as he fell off the bed.

Cheng Yan didn’t waste a single second. He immediately followed up with an extremely dashing carp leap³The Chinese term for a “kip-up” (the martial arts/breakdancing move where you spring from lying on your back directly to your feet). Literally translates to “a carp stiffening its body.”, his waist twisting through a stretched angle, like a beautiful little fish leaping out of the water, incomparably agile. He bounced right up on the bed!

His formerly impressive dance foundation was still there, and he had done this simple movement a thousand times, but Cheng Yan forgot one thing.

—Beneath his feet was not the hard floor of a dance studio or a stage, it was an expensive latex mattress priced at tens of thousands of yuan!

The moment his feet landed, he knew things were bad. Sure enough, his ankle twisted, and with a thud, his body rolled off the other side of the bed onto the floor in an equally wretched state.

Shaking his dizzy head and taking another look, Cheng Yan felt a bit like he wanted to cry but had no tears.

It would have been great if he had fallen toward the door. He could then just turn around, twist the doorknob, and run away. However, heaven maliciously refused to cooperate—he fell toward the balcony side, next to a small bar counter with a wine cabinet, while that handsome rich playboy was holding his stomach with one hand, blocking the door with a face full of shock and confusion!

Lin Liekai only felt a fire inexplicably burning in his heart.

To think how strictly he, Young Master Lin, kept himself pure—ordinary people couldn’t even get close to his body. Today, on a whim, he meddled in extra business, afraid this person would be ruined by Shi Jun and kindly rescued him. He didn’t force anyone nor did he use violence, so how did he end up getting beaten like this!

This 18th-tier little singer, sent by some unknown garbage company, how could he be so audacious as to wrap the sky⁴An idiom used to describe someone who is extremely reckless, overly bold, or completely fearless of authority.—on what grounds did he lay hands and hit someone!

Lin Liekai was truly angry, and truly in pain.

Feeling both wronged and shocked, he simply couldn’t believe it, trembling as he pointed a finger at Cheng Yan. “You, you dare hit me? Do you even know who I am that you lay hands on me?!”

In the entire Yancheng city, someone who dared to hit him, Young Master Lin, he hadn’t seen one since he was sixteen!

Furthermore, even if he was nobody, there’s no reason to just come up and beat someone like this, right? On what grounds? Didn’t he willingly enter the room?

Cheng Yan thought to himself that he was indeed a rich playboy.

“I don’t know who you are, but probably a mama’s boy?” He smiled, knowing today’s matter wouldn’t be easy to fool his way out of, so he simply dropped the overcautiousness he had in the private room, his pretty face carrying a bit of complete indifference.

“You…” Lin Liekai only felt a burst of pain in his chest, not knowing if it was from being kicked or from being angry, the alcohol still making his head dizzy.

He loosened up his wrists, and viciously lunged toward this side. “I’m telling you, little bastard, if I don’t f*ck you into the ground tonight, my surname isn’t Lin!”

If he didn’t return this elbow strike and front kick exactly as they were, his f*cking surname would be Mu, Cao, or Hua!

However, Cheng Yan obviously immediately misunderstood the meaning of “f*ck into the ground⁵This is the core pun/misunderstanding of the scene. In Northern slang, “Gan pa xia” usually means to brutally beat someone until they drop to the floor. However, the verb “Gan” (干) is also the standard slang for “to f*ck”. Because Lin Liekai just tried to kiss him, Cheng Yan assumes Lin is threatening to violently r*pe him, not beat him up in a fistfight..”

He really shouldn’t have come. He thought he was just an arrogant young master, but he didn’t expect him to be a reckless second-generation heir who dared to commit r*pe.

With a quick dodge, he turned sideways and slipped past the tall man lunging over. Catching sight of the wine cabinet beside him out of the corner of his eye, he reached back with a backhand grab.

In the diamond-shaped compartments of the wine cabinet, it was fully stocked with liquors for guests to choose freely.

His long, slender arm shot out, swiftly scooping up the nearest bottle. The wine bottle, ruthlessly and accurately, was smashed against the stainless-steel pillar of the small bar counter.

With a crisp crack, dark red wine liquid spilled out with a splash. Half of the wine bottle’s body shattered, and glass shards like broken jade beads scattered all over the floor.

“Young Master Lin, don’t move.” Cheng Yan smiled, holding up the half wine bottle and pointing it at a certain dumbfounded playboy. “If you move, I get nervous. If I get nervous, it’s inevitable that I’ll stab blindly.”

“What are you doing!” Lin Liekai’s drunkenness was finally scared away by more than half—not because he was afraid, but because he felt a bit baffled.

Is it that serious? Playing with lives just like this?

This child beat him up and still refused to suffer even a bit of a loss, now he wasn’t even allowed to hit back?

Cheng Yan knew his voice was hoarse, so he could only try his best to make his tone gentler, to avoid sounding so cruel and gloomy. “Before you go into heat, let me popularize some common sense for you. If a man wants to r*pe a man, if the other party doesn’t cooperate, it is extremely difficult. For example—”

He glanced opposite him; the reaction on the fit young man’s body was truly too obvious. His face burned hot, not daring to look again. “That place is actually quite fragile. If you try to force it, it’s very easy to snap it, understand?”

“F*ck! Laozi⁶An arrogant slang pronoun. Men use it to refer to themselves as “your father” to assert dominance over the person they are talking to. is very hard! You’re the one who’s easy to break, you’re the one who’s fragile!” Lin Liekai was both furious and exasperated. “Your whole family is fragile!”

I don’t have a whole family. Cheng Yan thought in his heart, though of course, he didn’t say these words out loud.

“Fine, fine, I’m soft, I’m fragile.” He readily accepted good advice, not wanting to bicker with this drunkard. “However, I’m someone who easily takes things to heart. If you let me go right now, everything is negotiable. If you don’t let go—”

He waved the half glass bottle flashing with sharp light back and forth, turning it to point at himself. “I’ll either stab you, or I’ll stab myself. Tell me, with your delicate and precious body, is it worth it?”

Lin Liekai looked at that thin little wrist holding the broken glass, and felt a burst of terror in his heart. He truly wasn’t afraid of Cheng Yan stabbing him, but he was afraid this little brat would stab himself!

“You-you-you, you put that down!” He yelled, “Get the f*ck out of here quickly, don’t die on my premises!”

Cheng Yan smiled and slowly approached the door. Lin Liekai helplessly raised his hands, stepped far to the side, and made way.

“With this stinking temper of yours, you’re still mingling in the entertainment industry?” Lin Liekai ground his teeth loudly. “Sooner or later, someone will break your arms and legs!”

Cheng Yan stopped and looked at him. In a flash, his features under the light were picturesque, his expression carrying a faint sharpness. “My bones are hard.”

Ignoring him any further, Cheng Yan lunged forward and pulled the doorknob open in one motion.

Suddenly, behind him, Lin Liekai shouted out again.

“Hey!”

Cheng Yan turned his head warily. “?”

“Look at the wine bottle in your hand!” Lin Liekai sneered, with a bit of malicious intent.

Cheng Yan looked down suspiciously, his gaze sweeping over the bottle’s body. When he clearly saw the small slip of paper stuck near the neck of the bottle, his foot suddenly slipped, almost making him stumble.

What the hell!

The price tag, how many zeros are behind the 38?!

He dazedly counted again and again, finally confirming he hadn’t misread the decimal point: 38,000.00.

Exactly thirty-eight thousand!

Doomed, he forgot that while mineral water in these rooms is free of charge, liquors require a separate bill.

“What did you smash? Petrus or Chateau Lafite Rothschild?” Lin Liekai’s mood suddenly improved greatly. Squinting, he watched his face get redder and redder. “Fiery chaste little comrade⁷Fierce Woman / Chaste Woman (烈女 – Liènǚ): In ancient China, a “Lie Nu” was a woman who would rather commit suicide than be defiled by a man or remarry after her husband died. Lin Liekai is mockingly calling Cheng Yan this because Cheng Yan literally held a broken bottle to his own throat to defend his “virtue.” I translated it as fiery chaste., smashing is one thing, but how about you settle the bill?”

Cheng Yan swallowed hard, unable to speak.

Young Master Lin wasn’t in a hurry either, sitting leisurely on the large bed in the center of the guest room, his pair of long legs spread arrogantly. “I paid the room fee, so I can’t possibly pay the liquor fee too, right?”

…

Closing the door, Lin Liekai thought of Cheng Yan’s eating dirt⁸A slang term meaning to suffer a setback, be forced to submit, be left speechless, or look frustrated/deflated after losing an argument or confrontation. expression as he fled in panic. For some reason, he laughed out loud.

However, he didn’t laugh for long. The laughter pulled at his trembling muscles, and his chest burst in pain. He bared his teeth fiercely, annoyance and humiliation once again occupying his cerebral cortex.

That little bastard, he really hits hard!

So audacious—not only daring to hit him, this tyrant⁹Historically a title for a powerful feudal lord (like Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Western Chu), used here to describe Lin Liekai as the untouchable, ruling “bad boy” of Yancheng’s elite circle. of Yancheng, but also daring to point a wine bottle at him?

After tossing about for a long while, his drunkenness had finally truly faded. His face and body were covered in sweat, and he just wanted to go wash up.

The moment he jumped onto the floor barefoot, he let out an “ow” cry of pain.

F*ck, f*ck, f*ck! The carpet was dark-colored, and the red wine that had seeped in could no longer be seen. He had forgotten there was still a huge pile of broken glass shards on the floor.

Holding his foot, he hopped crazily, took a deep breath, and lay back down on the bed.

Lifting his foot to look, sure enough, broken glass had pierced into it, all on his left foot—two places were currently bleeding profusely in an incomparably cheerful manner!

…

Hopping on one foot, he rummaged around in the guest room’s drawers and found spare band-aids and a sewing kit. Young Master Lin steeled his heart, personally picked out the broken glass, and put on the band-aids.

After this bout of tossing about, even though he could endure pain, he was still forced into a cold sweat.

However, he no longer had the mind to take a shower—tired, sleepy, and in pain, he fell asleep less than ten minutes after lying down.

However, he slept extremely unsteadily that night, his dreams full of a messy jumble of things.

One moment it was the large posters plastered by his bedside when he was young, featuring several heroic and handsome youths;

The next moment, the youth right in the center of that poster walked down from the picture, smiling as he approached him. “Does Young Master Lin like listening to me sing? I’ll sing for you alone then.”

In the blink of an eye, it suddenly changed into the appearance of that little bastard from tonight, viciously holding up the broken wine bottle, pointing at him and roaring with a broken gong voice, “Are you secretly in love with me? Get lost!…”

This whole night was practically a nightmare!

…

Cheng Yan sprinted wildly out of the private club, and it wasn’t even twelve o’clock yet.

The nanny van driven by Hu Fan was parked outside, and sure enough, it was waiting faithfully. After all, he had brought Cheng Yan here personally, and having agreed it was only to accompany them in drinking and singing. If he didn’t wait until Cheng Yan came out, he couldn’t leave with peace of mind.

He was just smoking a cigarette when he saw a familiar figure dart out from the private club entrance. Cheng Yan’s long legs ran as fast as a fleeing hare¹⁰A famous four-character idiom (chengyu) originating from Sun Tzu’s Art of War. It means to be as swift and agile as a rabbit bolting from a trap., and in the blink of an eye, he had hopped in.

Hu Fan was startled by him. “W-what are you doing? Is someone chasing you?”

Cheng Yan glanced behind him, confirming that no security guards were actually chasing him. His heart relaxed slightly.

Although that Young Master Lin was not a good thing, he wasn’t so low as to actually call people to block him for revenge.

He turned his head, hesitated again and again, and bit the bullet to speak. “Hu-ge… can you lend me some money?”

Hu Fan froze. “How much do you need? For what?”

Cheng Yan bit his lip, whispering with a guilty conscience, “While I was in the private room accompanying them singing, I accidentally smashed the good wine they ordered. They weren’t happy and told me to pay for it.”

Hu Fan was dumbfounded, starting the car while saying indignantly, “There’s such a thing? How can they be so disgusting?”

Those several young masters inside, which one of them isn’t either rich or noble? The silver casually leaking through their fingers would be enough for an ordinary person to eat for years. It’s just a bottle of liquor—if it’s smashed, it’s smashed. Where is the logic in taking it seriously and asking this kind of 18th-tier little artist to pay for it!

However, after thinking about it, he felt relieved.

With Cheng Yan’s stubborn attitude, he must have made them unhappy. Those people, if they decide not to give face, they just won’t. They can’t be offended.

His face was full of worry and he sighed. “How much? I’ll lend it to you. I’ll just deduct it directly from your base salary next month.”

Cheng Yan carefully glanced at the rearview mirror. “Thirty-eight thousand.”

Hu Fan’s foot trembled, almost stepping on the accelerator instead of the brake. “What!?”

• 1
  The silk tree flower. In Chinese literature, it often symbolizes fleeting beauty, delicate pink fluffiness, and romance (the name literally contains the characters for “together” and “joy/pleasure”).
• 2
  Translates to “alcohol strengthens a man’s courage.” A well-known idiom meaning being drunk makes a person bold enough to do things they wouldn’t sober.
• 3
  The Chinese term for a “kip-up” (the martial arts/breakdancing move where you spring from lying on your back directly to your feet). Literally translates to “a carp stiffening its body.”
• 4
  An idiom used to describe someone who is extremely reckless, overly bold, or completely fearless of authority.
• 5
  This is the core pun/misunderstanding of the scene. In Northern slang, “Gan pa xia” usually means to brutally beat someone until they drop to the floor. However, the verb “Gan” (干) is also the standard slang for “to f*ck”. Because Lin Liekai just tried to kiss him, Cheng Yan assumes Lin is threatening to violently r*pe him, not beat him up in a fistfight.
• 6
  An arrogant slang pronoun. Men use it to refer to themselves as “your father” to assert dominance over the person they are talking to.
• 7
  Fierce Woman / Chaste Woman (烈女 – Liènǚ): In ancient China, a “Lie Nu” was a woman who would rather commit suicide than be defiled by a man or remarry after her husband died. Lin Liekai is mockingly calling Cheng Yan this because Cheng Yan literally held a broken bottle to his own throat to defend his “virtue.” I translated it as fiery chaste.
• 8
  A slang term meaning to suffer a setback, be forced to submit, be left speechless, or look frustrated/deflated after losing an argument or confrontation.
• 9
  Historically a title for a powerful feudal lord (like Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Western Chu), used here to describe Lin Liekai as the untouchable, ruling “bad boy” of Yancheng’s elite circle.
• 10
  A famous four-character idiom (chengyu) originating from Sun Tzu’s Art of War. It means to be as swift and agile as a rabbit bolting from a trap.