Chà Chà Novel

Ever since returning from the mountain trip, Gu Yan hadn’t been feeling well.

Perhaps it was merely psychological, or perhaps some unseen force was trying to warn him of something. For several days in a row, Gu Yan had struggled to fall asleep. Even when he finally managed to drift off, nightmares would jolt him awake in the middle of the night.

Gu Yan thought back over everything he had done since transmigrating into the novel.

Apart from the times he had proactively intervened to help Yi Heng, every other conflict had been started by someone else.

He had already changed much of the original character’s life. He had even managed to salvage a little of the original owner’s notoriously terrible reputation.

Where exactly had he gone wrong?

Why had he drawn the Lowest Fortune?

The future felt like a vast black sea shrouded in thick fog, making it impossible to see what lay ahead.

Gu Yan stared at the beautifully prepared, appetizing food in front of him, but he had almost no appetite.

“Mr. Gu, here’s your milk.”

The housekeeper’s voice pulled Gu Yan out of his thoughts.

“Thank you.”

Although he didn’t feel like drinking it, Gu Yan was too embarrassed to reject the housekeeper’s kindness, so he finished the entire glass.

The housekeeper watched him with growing concern.

She had been feeding and nourishing this child for so many days, so why did he seem to be getting even thinner?

Yi Heng had gone to the office that morning and returned after finishing his work.

He set down his briefcase and noticed that Gu Yan still had a considerable amount of food left on his plate despite having been eating for quite some time.

“Don’t like it?” he asked gently.

Gu Yan quickly shook his head.

“No… I’m just not very hungry. Everything tastes wonderful, and they’re all dishes I like.”

Yi Heng’s gaze swept over the faint dark circles beneath Gu Yan’s eyes, and his brows drew together slightly.

He sat opposite Gu Yan, drinking coffee while working.

Meanwhile, Gu Yan absentmindedly poked at the food on his plate, his eyes unfocused and his entire demeanor listless.

That night, Gu Yan was once again startled awake by a nightmare.

He shot upright in bed, gasping for breath as his heart pounded violently.

He had dreamed of the original character’s ending in the novel.

In his dream, he had been sent to the bed of a perverted old man and brutally abused until he died.

The digital clock on the bedside cabinet continued changing its numbers automatically, providing the only source of light in the dark room.

Gu Yan leaned back against the headboard.

His entire body was drenched in sweat, as though he had just been pulled out of the water. Damp strands of hair clung to his face.

He glanced at the time.

It was almost midnight.

Gu Yan got up, took another shower, and changed into a fresh set of dry clothes.

Instead of going back to sleep, he took a sheet of paper, sat down at his desk, and began writing and sketching out his thoughts.

Recently, the people he had sent out had finally succeeded in earning the man’s trust.

Their assistance had deeply moved him, and he had begun continuously providing them with evidence and clues.

Unfortunately, none of the information had proven genuinely useful.

Gu Yan had also assigned someone specifically to monitor Du Ting’s movements, but nothing unusual had been discovered.

Du Ting appeared perfectly normal.

Aside from going to work, he spent his time attending business engagements and social gatherings. At first glance, he seemed like an ordinary workaholic, with no particularly suspicious activities.

Gu Chengjing, on the other hand, had been making increasingly ambitious moves lately.

First, he purchased a plot of land in the western district. Then, he acquired another real estate development.

In the short term, these investments appeared to be nothing more than money thrown away.

In reality, however, a major hospital was currently under construction in the western district.

Once the hospital and nearby schools were completed, the area would naturally begin to develop, and the value of those plots and properties would multiply.

But given Gu Chengjing’s limited courage and vision, there was no way he could have possessed such foresight on his own.

Someone behind the scenes must have instructed him to make those investments.

After organizing all the information he had gathered recently, Gu Yan took a sip of water and stood up.

A sudden wave of dizziness washed over him.

The lack of sleep over the past several days had taken a toll on his mental state and had even triggered his anemia.

He quickly grabbed the chair to steady himself.

That was when he noticed a faint light still shining through the gap beneath Yi Heng’s bedroom door.

Yi Heng was still awake?

Gu Yan’s grip on the chair gradually tightened.

Suddenly, he desperately wanted Yi Heng’s pheromones.

The calm, woody fragrance of fir blended with the fresh scent of newly fallen snow and the subtle earthiness of damp soil.

It made him feel as though he were standing in the middle of a vast wilderness, where even his restless mind could finally find peace.

Although they had held each other for a long time during their contact therapy session that evening, it still hadn’t been enough.

The more Gu Yan thought about it, the more he felt as though he were under some kind of spell.

Almost without realizing it, he gently pushed open the door to Yi Heng’s bedroom.

Yi Heng was wearing a thin black jacket, leaning against the headboard as he read a book.

The warm yellow lamplight softened his otherwise sharp features. He held the book in one hand, his large, well-defined fingers revealing faint bluish veins beneath his skin.

Yi Heng raised his head and saw the young man standing hesitantly in the doorway, seemingly unable to decide whether to come in.

In truth, Gu Yan had already come to his senses the instant he pushed the door open.

Unfortunately, by then, it was too late to stop. The door struck the magnetic doorstop behind it with a loud thud, the sound especially jarring in the silence of the night.

Yi Heng put down his book.

“What’s wrong?”

His deep voice and calm expression made him seem incredibly reassuring at first glance.

Gu Yan swallowed.

Then, as though his brain had suddenly short-circuited, he stubbornly lifted his chin and blurted out,

“I can’t sleep. Can I sleep with you tonight?”

Yi Heng’s fingertips twitched slightly.

The sensation of the book cover brushing against his skin suddenly felt clearer than ever before.

“Of course.”

To Gu Yan’s surprise, Yi Heng agreed without the slightest hesitation.

Gu Yan returned to his own room, gathered his blanket and pillow, and brought them over.

On Yi Heng’s enormous bed, he occupied only a tiny space along the very edge.

“I’m a really deep sleeper, so I won’t toss and turn. Don’t worry, I won’t crowd you.”

The tips of Gu Yan’s ears turned bright red.

He was terrified that Yi Heng might suddenly ask why he wanted to sleep in the same bed.

Because he genuinely didn’t know how to answer.

Feeling safe while surrounded by Yi Heng’s pheromones was one reason.

The other was the tiny seed of affection that had only just begun to sprout in his heart, now quietly stirring to life.

Watching Gu Yan climb onto the bed with such excessive caution, Yi Heng couldn’t help thinking,

He’s so thin. Even if he tried to take up more space, how much could he possibly occupy?

This was the first time they had ever shared a bed.

Gu Yan turned his back to Yi Heng, lay on his side, and slipped beneath the covers.

Almost instantly, Yi Heng’s pheromones enveloped his entire body.

His black hair nestled into the pillow, and the scent of his body wash quickly filled the space beneath the blanket.

Yi Heng reached out to turn off the light, but Gu Yan’s muffled voice came from beneath the covers.

“You don’t have to turn off the light. You can keep reading. I’ll still be able to fall asleep.”

He curled himself into a little ball like a cat, pulling the blanket up until half his face was hidden.

Yi Heng watched him silently for two seconds.

Then he lowered his gaze, a gentle warmth gradually spreading through his eyes.

“I’m done reading. Let’s sleep.”

Click.

The room went dark.

Through the faint light filtering in from a gap in the curtains, the slight outline of a body could still be seen rising beneath the covers near the edge of the bed.

Perhaps Gu Yan had simply been too exhausted over the past few days.

Even though his heart was still beating rapidly, fatigue soon won out. Before long, his eyes closed, and he fell into a deep sleep.

Finally, he could get a proper night’s rest.

Surrounded and soothed by Yi Heng’s pheromones, Gu Yan felt an overwhelming sense of security.

Even the nightmares that had been tormenting him disappeared without a trace.

Unfortunately, this time it was Yi Heng who couldn’t sleep well.

In the middle of the night, Yi Heng woke up because he felt too hot.

When he opened his eyes, he discovered Gu Yan’s face pressed tightly against his shoulder.

The little bit of flesh on Gu Yan’s cheek had been squished into a small, adorable bulge.

Gu Yan seemed to be instinctively searching for warmth. He had completely abandoned his own blanket, stretching one leg out and draping it directly over Yi Heng’s body.

The sound of steady, peaceful breathing filled Yi Heng’s ears.

So this was what he meant by not moving around in his sleep?

Yi Heng gently touched Gu Yan, poking his cheek with his slender finger.

But Gu Yan was sleeping so soundly that nothing Yi Heng did could wake him.

Apparently, he really was a deep sleeper.

Yi Heng was momentarily speechless, though he couldn’t help feeling amused.

His gaze traveled over Gu Yan’s long eyelashes before finally settling on the faint dark circles beneath his eyes.

The young man was so light that Yi Heng could easily lift him with just one arm.

He could have effortlessly moved Gu Yan’s leg aside and tucked him back beneath his own blanket.

But Yi Heng didn’t do that.

Instead, he gazed at Gu Yan, his eyes gentler than the moonlight streaming into the room, as though he were admiring something precious and fragile.

After a long while, Yi Heng reached out, gathered Gu Yan’s carelessly sprawled arm, lifted the blanket, and drew him into his embrace.

Gu Yan squirmed restlessly, his knee unconsciously jerking upward.

Yi Heng wrapped himself around Gu Yan in a half-embrace, holding him securely against his chest.

Resting his chin on the crown of Gu Yan’s head, he murmured with a mixture of helplessness and affectionate resignation,

“Be good. Stop moving around.”

For the first time in five days, Gu Yan finally enjoyed a truly restful night’s sleep.

Yi Heng always woke up early, and this time was no exception.

However, he didn’t wake Gu Yan, allowing him to sleep straight through until noon.

Curled up on the large, soft bed, Gu Yan stretched lazily.

Then he suddenly froze.

His own blanket had somehow been kicked onto the floor, and the one covering him now belonged to Yi Heng.

“?”

Gu Yan blinked his sleepy eyes and stiffly turned his head.

To his astonishment, he discovered that he had somehow rolled into the middle of the bed and taken over the entire thing.

The bedsheets were also covered in wrinkles from his rather inelegant sleeping position.

The housekeeper entered carrying a glass of milk.

Upon seeing the messy bed, she gave him a meaningful smile.

“Mr. Gu, President Yi asked me to bring you this. He instructed that you should drink a glass every morning after waking up.”

Looking at the housekeeper’s smile, Gu Yan couldn’t shake the feeling that something was strange.

He was certain she had misunderstood something, and he felt compelled to explain.

“Um… actually, I was just…”

Just then, the phone Gu Yan had left in the guest bedroom the night before began ringing incessantly.

The housekeeper placed the milk on the bedside cabinet, wiped her hands, and said,

“I’ll go get it for you.”

She returned with his phone.

It was Wang Zhiliang calling.

“Hello?”

Hearing Gu Yan’s lazy, sleepy voice, Wang Zhiliang immediately blurted out,

“Holy shit! Why are you only waking up now? That makes no sense!”

Gu Yan yawned as he climbed out of bed.

“Cut the crap. What do you want?”

“What else could it be? The cultural festival, of course!”

Previously, Wang Zhiliang had reluctantly followed Gu Yan to school every day.

But recently, for some inexplicable reason, he had become unusually enthusiastic about school activities.

Gu Yan squeezed toothpaste onto his toothbrush.

“Oh? What about the cultural festival?”

Wang Zhiliang sounded rather evasive on the other end of the line.

Nevertheless, Gu Yan quickly picked up on the important details.

“You have a crush on the class arts representative, but your class doesn’t have enough people participating in the cultural festival. So you want me to join you and help leave a lasting impression on that girl?”

His voice was full of teasing.

“I thought all you knew how to do was pick up girls at bars. Since when did you decide to turn over a new leaf?”

Wang Zhiliang stammered,

“It’s not exactly a crush… I just think she’s pretty.”

Gu Yan laughed.

After all, he had slept wonderfully the night before. He felt refreshed, was in a good mood, and was therefore much easier to persuade.

“Alright, then. For the sake of our friendship, I’ll help you this once. Which performance is short on people?”

Wang Zhiliang immediately beamed with delight.

“Oh, the performances already have enough people. We’re just short on Flower Basket Ladies.”

Gu Yan: “W-What?”

Wang Zhiliang repeated himself and even thoughtfully offered an explanation.

“Every class has Flower Basket Ladies, but they’re all girls. If we want to participate, we’ll have to dress as girls. And we can’t let anyone from the other classes recognize us.”

Gu Yan had just finished rinsing his mouth when he finally lost his composure.

“Are you an idiot?! You’re planning to dress as a girl to pursue a girl?!”

Wang Zhiliang chuckled mischievously.

“Well, you’ll be doing it with me, won’t you?”

“GET LOST!”

Gu Yan hung up without the slightest hesitation.

Wear women’s clothes?

He was a man!

There was absolutely no way he would ever wear women’s clothes in this lifetime!

That idiot Wang Zhiliang!

Only someone like him could come up with such a ridiculous idea.

With Wang Zhiliang’s physique, the moment he put on a cute maid outfit, he’d instantly transform into a muscular Barbie doll.

And one with hairy legs, at that!

Just imagining the sight made Gu Yan want to smack him in the face with a brick.

But before long, Wang Zhiliang, still unwilling to give up, called again.

When Gu Yan refused to answer, he launched into a relentless barrage of calls.

After finishing his milk, Gu Yan sat on the sofa and rubbed the space between his eyebrows.

He decided that he couldn’t simply abandon this hopelessly foolish friend.

Perhaps Wang Zhiliang still needed a little more guidance.

So Gu Yan answered the phone.

“If you want to pursue someone, you need to show off your strengths as an Alpha. For example, having a good physique or being handsome. And even if you don’t have those advantages, you can still volunteer for some physical work and show her that you’re a responsible, dependable man!”

Unfortunately, Wang Zhiliang’s focus was completely different from Gu Yan’s.

“Yan Zi, you’re not an Omega. How would you know what an Omega is thinking?”

Gu Yan: “.”

Well, as it happened, he actually was an Omega.

And Gu Yan had also realized that there was a very good chance his growing attraction to Yi Heng had started simply because he was captivated by the man’s looks.

Gu Yan licked his lips, cleaning away the last traces of milk foam from the corner of his mouth.

“Anyway, what exactly are you planning to show off by dressing as a Flower Basket Lady? Your thick leg hair? So she can knit herself a sweater out of it?”

Thoroughly devastated by the insult, Wang Zhiliang muttered under his breath,

“What’s wrong with having hairy legs? Experts say men with lots of leg hair have especially good kidney function.”

Gu Yan glanced down at his own perfectly smooth legs.

“Stop listening to that nonsense those so-called experts spout.”

“Oh,” Wang Zhiliang replied dejectedly.

Gu Yan fell silent.

This guy was usually so carefree, so why was he suddenly acting as though Gu Yan had bullied him?

Gu Yan touched his ear, wondering whether he had gone a little too far and hurt Wang Zhiliang’s pride.

“Hey, you…”

Gu Yan was just about to offer some comforting words when Wang Zhiliang interrupted him.

“But what if she actually likes that kind of thing? Think about it! I’m a big, strong Alpha, yet I’m willing to dress as a girl just to help her. If that isn’t true love, then what is?”

With Wang Zhiliang’s ridiculously twisted logic, Gu Yan found it utterly impossible to communicate with him.

Seeing that Gu Yan had remained silent for quite some time, Wang Zhiliang realized just how strongly he opposed the idea.

So he began pestering him relentlessly, trying every possible way to wear him down.

He even resorted to all sorts of disgustingly sweet nicknames, repeatedly calling him “my dear big brother” in the most nauseatingly affectionate voice imaginable.

Determined to defend his last remaining boundary, Gu Yan mercilessly hung up the phone.

Wear women’s clothes?

And a maid outfit, no less?

Absolutely not!

There was no way he would ever agree to that!

The day of the cultural festival arrived.

“Yan Zi, I knew you couldn’t bear to abandon me~”

Wang Zhiliang’s muscular body was practically bursting out of his outfit.

He threw an arm around Gu Yan, whose expression had been sour from the very beginning.

If he hadn’t been afraid of accidentally pulling off the wig on Gu Yan’s head, he would definitely have given his hair a vigorous ruffle.

Standing nearby, the class arts representative and her close friends burst into laughter.

Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined that the two Flower Basket Ladies for this year’s festival would turn out to be boys.

And the two couldn’t have looked more different.

One was obviously a boy dressed as a girl at first glance.

But the other, apart from being slightly taller than the average girl, could easily have been mistaken for a genuine beauty if one didn’t look closely.

Especially with that tiny mole at the corner of his eye.

It was the perfect beauty mark!

Looking at himself in the mirror, Gu Yan simply couldn’t bring himself to smile.

Wearing the black-and-white maid outfit felt incredibly strange.

The cool, breezy sensation beneath the skirt made him feel as though he might accidentally expose himself at any moment.

A platinum-blonde wig fell to his chest, and someone had even attached a round, bubble-shaped hair clip to his head.

But that wasn’t even the worst part.

What Gu Yan found most unbearable was the eyeshadow and eyeliner the makeup artist had applied to his face.

He wasn’t used to having anything around his eyes and constantly felt the urge to rub them.

Yet every time he raised his hand, the class arts representative immediately stopped him.

His eyebrows and eyes naturally had sharp, defined contours rather than soft, gentle features.

But after the makeup artist had worked her magic, those striking features had become even more captivating and alluring.

“All done! You two can head outside now!”

The class arts representative looked at this year’s rather unique Flower Basket “Ladies” with great satisfaction.

Then, in a sweet voice, she reminded them,

“Remember to keep smiling! Try to attract as many students as possible to our class’s performances. And don’t forget to remind everyone to vote for our class!”

With that, she hooked a flower basket filled with promotional flyers over Gu Yan’s arm and promptly pushed him out of the lounge.