YMW CH 2

To Foster Hatred

Cen Wu’s palms were drenched in cold sweat. The packed private room made it hard for him to breathe, and Xie Guilan’s cold, indifferent gaze only intensified his blank state of mind.

The oppressive silence shattered when the room’s heavy, ornate door suddenly swung open.

Xie Shangjing stood in the doorway. A silver ear cuff gleamed on his ear, and half a cigarette hung lazily from his lips. Wisps of smoke curled around his strikingly sharp features, giving him a dangerous, yet nonchalant aura.

“Young Master Xie,” everyone stood up in unison.

Xie Shangjing ignored their attention. He played with a lighter, its soft clicks filling the room, as he walked over to the sofa. Fixing his eyes on Cen Wu, he smirked, “Well, feeling better now?”

Earlier, they had been riding horses at the track, but a sudden downpour had forced them to the club—another property owned by the Xie family, accessible only to members.

Xie Shangjing often brought them here to relax.

While he was outside taking a call from his father, something had changed. Cen Wu was no longer the same Cen Wu.

Worried that Xie Shangjing might drag someone out for another beating, Cen Wu nodded obediently, “…Yeah.”

“Good,” Xie Shangjing turned to Xie Guilan, his tone icy and mocking. “Second Young Master has decided to let you off. Aren’t you going to thank him? Go clean his shoes.”

Cen Wu glanced down and realized his boots were wet and sticky—filthy, even. Blood. His scalp tingled; it was Xie Guilan’s blood.

Forcing the victim to clean the attacker’s bloody boots? It was beyond cruel.

Classic you, twisted brother.

Laughter erupted in the room. Someone grabbed Xie Guilan by the hair, shoving him toward Cen Wu’s feet.

“Young Master Xie is right!”

“Make him lick it! On his knees—lick them clean!”

Xie Guilan, disheveled and gasping, fell near Cen Wu’s ankles.

Panicking, Cen Wu stepped back. This wasn’t in the original plot—why provoke more hatred?

“I… I never said I wanted him to lick them,” Cen Wu’s throat tightened. Remembering the original character’s arrogant persona, he barked, “Disgusting! Let go of him—why are you holding him down?”

The room froze in surprise. Everyone hesitated, then looked up.

“Second Young Master said let go,” Xie Shangjing didn’t press the issue. “Do it.”

Cen Wu exhaled in relief.

“Disgusting indeed,” Xie Shangjing glanced at the blood-soaked Xie Guilan. The mockery vanished from his face as he waved to the bodyguards, coldly instructing, “Take him out. I’ll deal with the rest later—he’s an eyesore here.”

The bodyguards complied immediately. “Yes, sir!”

Cen Wu’s heart sank.

Xie Shangjing had everything—looks, family, and top grades. Only a month older than Xie Guilan, he shared the same class in their second year of high school.

To the elite circles of Huaijing, Xie Shangjing was the golden child.

But Cen Wu knew from the novel that, beneath that polished surface, Xie Shangjing was ruthless and twisted.

No matter how much Xie’s father paid in medical bills, Shangjing never let Xie Guilan off easily. Tonight would be no different.

In the original story, after everyone left the track, Shangjing had ordered Xie Guilan’s wrist and finger bones broken, leaving him kneeling for hours before calling a doctor.

He had even ground his riding boot into the boy’s shattered fingers, sneering, “Can’t control your hands? I’ll do it for you.”

“Want those medical bills?”

“Is this enough?”

Xie Guilan hadn’t been permanently crippled, but his right hand never fully healed. The injury cost him a chance at the provincial chemistry competition.

In the original story, Xie Guilan was cold and aloof. After being brought back to the Cen family by his wealthy parents, he remained distant from them. He was like a solitary mountain covered in snow—unyielding and remote. The only thing that made him feel truly alive was his remarkable grudge-holding nature. He repaid every slight a hundredfold.

After his hand injury, he often wore black gloves, even after rising to become a prominent figure in Huaijing’s business world. No one knew how much blood those gloves had seen.

“Wait…” As Xie Guilan was about to be taken away, Cen Wu’s lips moved, heart pounding against his ribs. Summoning his courage, he called out, “Wait!”

His voice wasn’t loud, but it was clear, cutting through even the distant sound of rain.

The room fell noticeably quieter.

Cen Wu had given up on clinging to the male lead for protection. He just wanted to earn a bit of favor, hoping for a chance to escape.

“What now?” Interrupted again, Xie Shangjing’s expression darkened, his eyes narrowing as he stared at Cen Wu. The cigarette between his fingers burned quickly, the pale smoke making his gaze seem even more inscrutable.

Cen Wu didn’t dare help Xie Guilan directly, afraid Xie Shangjing might notice something and refuse to let them leave. After all, Xie Guilan was still officially a Xie family illegitimate child—Cen Wu couldn’t openly contest that.

He stepped forward, relying on whatever acting skills he’d picked up over the years. Grabbing Xie Guilan’s collar roughly, he tried to lift him. But… he couldn’t budge him.

Cen Wu glanced down at his own slender wrist.

“…”

Too weak.

His appearance was deceivingly imposing: dark, tousled hair framed a pale, delicate face, making his lips look even redder. When he lifted his beautiful, sparrow-like eyes, there was a cold, misty depth to them.

He didn’t have the original character’s hysteria. His calm, emotionless demeanor made it seem like he was genuinely angry.

Even the red-haired thug fell silent. When he looked up and met Xie Shangjing’s icy stare, he realized he’d been staring at Cen Wu, completely lost in thought. He quickly looked away, too scared to continue.

The room, once noisy, fell completely silent. Cen Wu’s cold, striking appearance was like a rare, night-blooming flower.

Had Cen Wu always looked this… intense?

Xie Shangjing’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He flicked the ash from his cigarette and spoke more softly, “What are you waiting for?”

Fortunately, male leads in these stories were notoriously hard to kill. Despite his severe beating, Xie Guilan managed to stand on his own, though his knees wobbled from kneeling too long.

“I said it was disgusting, but… but I never said I’d let him go.” Cen Wu grabbed Xie Guilan again, subtly shielding him. He spoke with an arrogant tone to Xie Shangjing, “Shangjing, I want this one. I’ll handle punishing him for you.”

Xie Guilan’s dark eyes were partially hidden by disheveled bangs. His pale, stern face carried an unsettling calmness beyond his years. When he lowered his gaze, it fell directly on the top of Cen Wu’s head.

Cen Wu wore a mask of cold disdain, but the tips of his snow-white ears, hidden in dark hair, had turned crimson with fear. His hands, pressed against Xie Guilan’s chest, were trembling.

No courage—just pure fear.

He even wondered if he’d eaten some strange mushrooms before bed. Why else would he be hallucinating all these people around him???

Feeling dizzy and lightheaded, he steadied himself by subtly gripping Xie Guilan’s arm. Beneath his palm, Xie Guilan’s muscles tensed, rock-solid under his touch.

The lighting in the private room shifted constantly. At the moment, only a few gilded vintage wall lamps were lit, casting a dim, shadowy glow.

Since the others stood at a distance, even though Cen Wu’s voice was tight with tension, they didn’t notice anything unusual.

Meanwhile, Xie Guilan averted his eyes in disgust. He didn’t know what Cen Wu was scheming, but he was certain it wasn’t an attempt to save him.

He stayed silent, his expression impassive, as if it wasn’t him who had been humiliated and abused tonight.

“Shangjing?” Cen Wu called out nervously, his heart tightening. Xie Shangjing was too handsome—it made Cen Wu worry he might get jealous.

In the original story, the protagonist had a subtle, ambiguous relationship with Xie Shangjing.

Xie Shangjing was like a cold, venomous snake. Although he might not have genuinely cared for the protagonist, once Xie Guilan was brought into the Xie family, it destroyed any possibility of Xie Shangjing being with the protagonist.

After all, it’s human nature to covet what you can’t have.

The heir to the Xie family could never openly be a homosexual. If Xie Shangjing had been the sole successor, it might have been overlooked. However, now he was no longer his father’s only choice.

The original protagonist, however, didn’t like Xie Shangjing. The Cen family was one of the most powerful in Huaijing. When Guan Xue gave birth under harsh conditions in a remote area, the baby—frail and prematurely born—was showered with love and indulgence, as everyone assumed his fragile health stemmed from his early arrival.

Yet, no one ever suspected the baby had been switched at birth.

If he wanted, the protagonist could marry eight men simultaneously and sleep with eight male models every night! So why would he ever lower himself to serve a young master?

Nevertheless, he didn’t dare reject Xie Shangjing’s advances. If Xie Shangjing got angry and discovered he was a fraud, everything would fall apart. His fate would be worse than Xie Guilan’s.

After all, it wasn’t like he could get pregnant. At worst, he’d let Xie Shangjing use him a few times. As long as Xie Shangjing didn’t say anything, and he didn’t either, who would ever know?

Cen Wu was dumbfounded. The sheer absurdity left him speechless.

What kind of lunatic drama was this?

And the wildest part? In the original story, Xie Shangjing and the protagonist did end up sleeping together. When the truth about the baby switch came out, and the protagonist was left with nowhere to turn, he gambled everything on Xie Shangjing.

At the time, the Xie family was under attack from the Cen family, leaving Xie’s father overwhelmed and Xie Shangjing seething with resentment.

When the protagonist showed up, Xie Shangjing pinned him down in a rage. The protagonist, desperate for protection, didn’t dare resist. They spent the entire night consumed by a toxic mix of hatred and desire, each act only deepening Xie Shangjing’s disgust.

It was then that Xie Shangjing realized his so-called “beloved” wasn’t even worth the trouble—he wasn’t even as satisfying as a third-rate celebrity.

With an icy glare, Xie Shangjing gripped the protagonist’s chin and sneered, “I must have been blind to ever fall for you.”

The protagonist, spoiled and pampered all his life, lacked any sense of humility. Naturally, Xie Shangjing had no intention of catering to him. That night was nothing but a disaster.

Afterward, Xie Shangjing left him to fend for himself. Burdened with his own troubles, he didn’t lift a finger when Xie Guilan dragged the protagonist back and fed him to the sharks.

Cen Wu: “…”

Your heart may have died, but your mouth didn’t. The way you can still kiss and kill is terrifying.

Luckily, Cen Wu had entered the story at the beginning. Nothing had happened yet. Therefore, better to leave that tainted plotline untouched.

“Xie Bo never even acknowledged him. He’s just an illegitimate child,” Cen Wu said, clenching his hands to stay calm. “And yet he dares to spend the Xie family’s money. Tonight, I’ll cripple his hands.”

Stealing the vicious villain’s lines left the actual villain speechless.

Cen Wu’s lips were thin but soft, tinted with a natural rosy hue. His tearful eyes, combined with his delicate and vulnerable appearance, created a stark contrast to the ruthless venom in his words.

The people in the room shuddered.

The young master of the Cen family wasn’t joking. If he said he’d do it, Xie Guilan was as good as done.

Anyone who’d wanted to provoke Xie Guilan earlier now dropped their heads, afraid Cen Wu’s wrath might turn on them.

Even Xie Shangjing paused.

If Cen Wu had phrased things differently, Xie Shangjing might not have agreed. However, he hadn’t expected Cen Wu to align with him so perfectly—or to announce his intentions so brazenly in front of everyone.

So stupid and so wicked. Xie Shangjing chuckled darkly, the cigarette still between his lips glowing faintly red.

He’d always known Cen Wu was a fool.

But tonight, this fool was especially stunning. And Xie Shangjing was happy to indulge his whims.

“Fine. Whatever you say,” Xie Shangjing agreed, his tone indulgent. “Punish him however you like.”