After returning to Hanguan, life returned to what it was before. Zhuo Yue began to work regularly and complete all the tasks given to him by his master. However, he lost his previous enthusiasm for adapting to the camera. He no longer went to the cage alone and even began to reject adaptation exercises.
He became increasingly difficult to focus, constantly drifting away.
Fang Mingyan quickly noticed something unusual, but did not make any comment and continued to adapt to the training as planned. Zhuo Yue began to rely more and more on the man and always preferred to be near him.
That night, Fang Mingyan worked late in the study and fell asleep on the sofa as usual. When he woke up in a daze, he saw a man sitting beside him and looking at him. There was an expression in those dark eyes that he couldn’t understand, as if there was some intolerance and pity in the gentleness.
He called out softly, “Master.”
“Shh.” Fang Mingyan pressed his middle finger on Zhuo Yue’s lips and said, “Don’t talk.” Then he stroked his cheek with his fingers, looked at him quietly from above for a while, and leaned forward to kiss him.
Zhuo Yue fell into his lingering kiss and stayed in a daze—so much so that when he woke up the next day, he couldn’t tell whether it had really happened or if it was just a dream.
One night, two weeks after the awards ceremony, Zhuo Yue accepted the order to go to the fourth floor for adaptation training as usual. He knelt in the middle of the carpet, glanced at the camera, and pursed his lips.
However, Fang Mingyan didn’t come up for a long time.
As the hour hand continued to move forward, Zhuo Yue became anxious.
An hour had almost passed, exceeding the usual time to adapt to training. He turned around several times to look at the door, but there was still no movement. He didn’t know why the man hadn’t shown up, and he didn’t dare get up. He could only wait there anxiously, staring at the clock in a daze.
When the door opened, nearly eighty minutes had passed. Zhuo Yue was startled and immediately bowed his back with a distressed expression. When Fang Mingyan’s footsteps stopped before him, he spoke with a trembling voice, “Master… I feel uncomfortable…”
The man did not carry him out as he had done in the past but stood in silence.
Zhuo Yue bit his lip and raised his head to look at him, only to see Fang Mingyan faintly looking at himself. His eyes moved, and he called out, “Master ……”
“You plan to continue acting, right?” The man’s voice was extremely cold.
Zhuo Yue felt his heart suddenly sank and froze in place.
“Kneel down and look at me.”
The cold command made Zhuo Yue tremble involuntarily and called out in panic, “Master…”
“Do you need me to say it a second time?”
He did not dare disobey the order. He straightened his upper body into a standard kneeling posture and then raised his head uneasily. Their eyes crossed, and the man’s black eyes were as sharp as one’s heart. Zhuo Yue, who was already feeling guilty, was at a loss under such a gaze, and his eyes avoided looking at each other.
Fang Mingyan drew a black riding crop from the wall, raised Zhuo Yue’s chin with the whip at the front, forced him to look at him, and asked, “What order did I just give you?”
“Kneel down and look at you.” His throat was dry.
“Why did you look away?”
“…I was wrong.”
“Turn around.”
He had just turned and knelt when he heard a slight thud. The riding crop hit his back diagonally, making him scream in surprise. The leather of this kind of whip was tough. It made little noise when used, but the pain inflicted was very strong. He had rarely suffered such a heavy punishment, and this harsh pain made him tremble all over.
“Does it hurt?” A cold male voice came from behind.
Zhuo Yue’s eyes were red, but he still tried his best to straighten his upper body and kneel down. He then replied, “It hurts…”
“If you are afraid of pain, answer my question carefully.” Fang Mingyan said, “When did you find out that your camera phobia is cured?”
The most feared thing finally happened. Zhuo Yue’s heart felt cold, and he pursed his lips tightly and said nothing.
“If you don’t want to answer, that’s fine.” The man raised his hand and whipped him for the second time. The pain spread, and the whole back was burning.
The second question followed, “Why did you hide it from me?”
Zhuo Yue still gritted his teeth and remained silent, but he soon received another whipping.
“How long do you plan to keep this from me?”
Still silent.
The whip did not fall. The man behind him threw the whip aside and untied the fingerprint collar around his neck. Zhuo Yue’s eyes widened as he froze and called out in panic, “Master…”
“As I said, the relationship between master and slave should be based on mutual trust and voluntariness. If this foundation collapses, the master-slave relationship will cease to exist.” Fang Mingyan paused and continued, “Your pretense wasn’t enough to fool me, and I didn’t reveal it because I wanted to give you enough trust so that you could take the initiative to tell me everything. I gave you a chance, but you didn’t treasure it. Zhuo Yue, since I am not enough to make you trust me wholeheartedly, then the master-slave relationship between us ends here.”
Zhuo Yue turned around in panic, and the tears in his eyes finally couldn’t be held back anymore and fell from the corners of his eyes.
His heart ached.
It hurts a thousand times—ten thousand times more than those whips on the back. It was as if someone had dug it out of his body with blood, turning it into a broken hollow. The pain was so painful that he could hardly breathe. He couldn’t open my mouth to argue and didn’t dare to beg for forgiveness. Zhuo Yue raised his face and begged in the most humble manner, “Master, I was wrong, no matter how you punish me… Please…”
Please, don’t abandon me.
“Stand up.” The man’s voice was cold.
“…because I’m scared.” Zhuo Yue’s shoulder blades were trembling, and there was heartbreaking helplessness and sadness in his crying voice, “I’m afraid that you will let me go after you find out, I’m afraid that I will lose you after I recover, I’m afraid to imagine life without you. I have no other choice but to pretend. Master, I want to stay by your side… because, because…”
“That’s enough.” Fang Mingyan interrupted the words he had repeated countless times in his heart and said indifferently, “Zhuo Yue, I have terminated the contractual relationship with you. You don’t need to use this title for me anymore. Now, I will treat you as a guest, and please respect me as a homeowner. The fourth floor is my personal private area. Please leave.”
It’s all over.
The despair that surged up was like a turbulent sea, turning the world upside down.
Zhuo Yue stood up stiffly like a puppet with its strings broken and walked towards the stairs outside. Tears rolled down uncontrollably, leaving marks on his cheeks that were difficult to dry. His vision was empty and blurry, his strength seemed to have been drained, and every part of his body had lost consciousness. Just when he lost his balance on the edge of the stairs and was about to fall, someone grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
Seeing Fang Mingyan’s frowning expression, he apologized anxiously, “I’m sorry…”
The man grabbed his wrist and entered the guest room on the third floor. He took a nightgown from the closet and put it on the bed, “Sleep here tonight. If you need anything, you can call Zhou Chi. You know his number. Tomorrow morning Lin Hui will pick you up at nine o’clock.” After saying that, he turned and left, closing the door.
Decisive and resolute, passionate and ruthless, this is Fang Mingyan’s attitude towards his sub.
Zhuo Yue sat down on the ground beside the bed with red eyes and buried his head in his knees. From the first time he pretended to feel uncomfortable, guilt and uneasiness had always been with him. Whenever he wanted to explain, he lost his courage because of cowardice. He was greedy for the tenderness given by the man. He wanted to maintain the relationship between the two and enjoyed every second spent by the man’s side. He thought he was cleverly delaying time, and finally brought everything to an irreversible situation.
It was just his own fault.
He didn’t know how long he had been sitting. When he stood up, his legs were so numb that he could hardly feel them.
The night was silent without any sound. He walked naked through the corridor, walked down the stairs to the door of the master bedroom, and then curled up against the door. The moonlight filtered in from the corridor window and shone on him, like a gentle companionship.
Zhuo Yue gradually fell asleep. In his daze, he had a hazy dream. In the dream, the tall man hugged him, placed him gently on the bed, then leaned over and kissed the moist corners of his eyes, and seemed to say something to him. He tried hard to hear the voice clearly, but it was blown away by the sudden strong wind, leaving only the word ‘sorry’.
When he woke up the next day, he found himself sleeping on the bed in the guest room. A complete set of clothes from inside to outside was placed on the vertical clothes rack next to the bed. He got dressed and went downstairs. The butler, Zhou Chi, stood at the top of the stairs with a smile and bowed slightly to him, “Mr. Zhuo.”
“Mas…where is Chairman Fang?” he asked.
“Master Ming said he had something to do and went out early in the morning. I don’t know his specific whereabouts.” Zhou Chi said, “He has arranged a car to pick you up and is waiting outside the door. Do you have any items that you need me to pack for you?”
“No.” Zhuo Yue’s smile was a little sad.
From the beginning, he came here with nothing, and ultimately, he left with nothing. Everything he gained was finally lost, and the only thing left was the longing for another man in his heart, but that man didn’t even want to see him again.
“It’s time for me to go.” Moist mist filled his eyes again. He lowered his eyes to hide his emotions and said, “Please help me bring him a message. Thank you for taking care of him all the time. I will work hard. Please rest assured.” He glanced back in the direction of the stairs and turned to go out.
Lin Hui, who was called to pick him up at short notice last night, was startled when he saw Zhuo Yue’s red and swollen eyes and pale face. He didn’t dare to ask anything and silently started the car.
Zhou Chi watched them leave, took a cup of tea to the study, and said to the man standing by the window looking at the lake in the distance, “Master Ming, Mr. Zhuo has left.”
“Yeah.” Fang Mingyan took the teacup but didn’t drink it.
“He asked me to tell you something.” The butler repeated Zhuo Yue’s words.
The man listened with a calm expression and said, “Contact Tang Can and ask him to send someone to keep an eye on Zhuo Yue throughout this period, especially when he is working in front of the camera. If any symptoms similar to PTSD appear, report to me immediately.”
“I understand.” Zhou Chi stood there for a moment and couldn’t help but ask, “Since you can’t help but worry about him, why don’t you let him stay?”
Fang Mingyan glanced at the collar on the table, “People always have to make a lot of choices, and sometimes they have to give up something in order to move forward.”
“You let him go in order to move forward?” he asked in confusion.
The man smiled lightly, his tall body standing by the window looking a little lonely, “You can think of it that way.”
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Thanks for the chapter, how often do you update? Really missed the novel lately
It used to be 2x/week but since I grew increasingly busy it’s 1x/week
Still trying to get back to 2x/week update tho
Thank you for the TL!!