This face...

"Li Guang," he replied, "What's wrong?"

Of course, he knew the reason.

"Jiang Wei, tell me, did you take the news of my fiancée so painfully, is that why you made a mess of things?"

On the other end, someone spoke in a lusciously honeyed voice, and the man asked himself for the first time what he liked so much about this smarmy turd.

Jiang Wei involuntarily squeezed the phone in his hand. Only when he heard the crackle did he relax his hand and, gaining air, answered Li Guang.

"You overestimate our friendship. We were business partners. I'm sorry if you were hoping for more, but you're not my type."

"How boring," stretched out Li Guang, "but I have to go now, the bride is asking for help with her dress selection, ah those wedding troubles!"

Jiang Wei turns off the phone. No sooner had he cursed than he noticed a shadow running down the steps. It was Shi Ling, who suddenly caught his boss right under his door. Of course, he got scared and made a run for it.

Jiang Wei caught up with him between the second and first floor and dragged him upstairs. Shi Ling did not shout and did not resist, as, however, always showed the exceptional weakness of will.

After pushing Shi Ling into his apartment, Jiang Wei blocked the door and let him catch his breath. Looking around, he suddenly changed his mind about his subordinate.

He had expected to see a dusty, dull den. But now mentally comparing his home to the subordinate's nice apartment, he decided that the den was about him.

There was an atmosphere of well-being and joy in the small but cozy space. Shi Ling was not lazy and made repairs, changing the wallpaper and curtains.

It was so cozy now that once you went in; you didn't want to leave at all. There were cute and stylish things everywhere, which made the space, look welcoming and accommodating.

A man unceremoniously collapsed onto the couch with his shoes on, which made Shi Ling's face twist. "What kind of animal is this?" He thought but didn't say a word out loud yet.

His body was still aching and he felt a slight fever, so he went to the drugstore.

While his guest lay on the couch, Shi Ling snuck into the kitchen, took a pill, and drank it with water. Reacting to the noise, Jiang Wei looked around and when he saw the pills, he remembered that he had to go to the hospital.

Unceremoniously tossing the car keys to the young man, he demanded to take him to the doctor. Ling still silently caught the keys and followed his boss.

Once at the hospital, Jiang Wei took tests and, fortunately, they showed traces of a narcotic substance in his body.

The doctor advised him to give the results to his lawyer. This determined the way forward. Shi Ling drove his boss wherever he wanted and was glad that he didn't seem to remember a thing.

So the whole day passed and the men, falling with fatigue, returned to Ling's apartment. Jiang Wei cheekily grabbed the couch, while Shi Ling went to take a shower. Certain places on his body ached mercilessly, and he deliberately made the water cool.

Thus, everything that had previously been throbbing and aching gradually went numb. The special cream helped, of course. Applying it, the young man wondered if he should have used such things in the process, then nothing would have hurt. But what was done was done, and it was too late to discuss the matter with his boss.

The truth was that he was glad these sensations reminded him of the night before. Unlike some people, he went into intimacy consciously, trusting his feelings.

His only regret was the treacherously short memory of his boss, or rather not his boss anymore. And so, on the whole, Shi Ling was quite successful in romanticizing the unexpected situation that had occurred the day before. He remembered well that he wanted it himself.

After wiping the steam off the mirror, he brushed his wet hair and put on his homemade pants and T-shirt. His stomach rumbled unpleasantly. The young man sighed and went to make dinner for two.

Jiang Wei shamelessly fell asleep on the couch, but after a while, he was awakened by the smell of dinner. Without any ado, he sat down at the table and stuffed his belly.

Shi Ling sighed silently. Jiang Wei, who had loved him passionately and tenderly yesterday, had disappeared without a trace, and in his place, a walking misunderstanding sat across from him.

"An unfortunate change," thought Shi Ling and ducked into his plate.

A few days later, Shi and Jiang were still living together. During this time, the young man got rid of his feelings of awkwardness and simply postponed his departure until the end of the month, without communicating anything to the chief. To his surprise, their life together turned out to be quite bearable.

The boss mostly slept on the couch or asked to be taken to a meeting with his lawyer. One day they drove by his house and there still was guarded by journalists.

Fortunately, the rape story was not confirmed, and the conclusive evidence that Jiang Wei had been poisoned was irrefutable.

In addition, there was a witness, namely Shi Ling, who confirmed that he had frightened the girl and her accomplices away by finding the boss unconscious.

On cross-examination, the girl's lawyer, stammering and stooping, settled, and the case was dismissed.

Surprisingly, during the three weeks they spent together, Shi and Jiang did not speak at all. The aide regularly cooked meals went to the store and cleaned the house. Deep down, he was happy to serve his boss, even if for free.

But the month was inexorably coming to an end, and Shi Ling was about to move out. Naturally, he did not tell Jiang Wei about it. His difficult situation had already been resolved.

The media was actively publishing an exposé on the girl, rehabilitating Jiang Wei as a victim of perfidy. He was reinstated. His house was unlocked three days ago, but he was still sitting in Ling's apartment. The latter was a little nervous.

On another of his days, the manager came by and discussed the return of the deposit. They were talking privately outside, as the young man did not want to let the boss in on his business. That same evening he cooked chicken in sweet and sour sauce and a salad.

Realizing what he had done, he froze and thought back for a few minutes to the evening at Jiang Wei's house.

At this very time, the bum on the couch had raked up five or six fashion magazines and was looking at them with interest. He wouldn't admit it, but he particularly liked the male models that the editor of this magazine chose. By a strange coincidence, their tastes were remarkably similar.

Flipping through the glossy pages, Jiang Wei's hand froze in the air, and the next second it was down on someone else's photo. He sat up abruptly on the couch and stared intensely at the face on the page. His heart was pounding like crazy.

Lost memories began to resurrect in his mind. This handsome young man leads him home, covers him with plaid, and Wei's hand rests on the young man's chest.

The man's ears flared scarlet, redness crept up his neck. He remembered, and for some reason, the pain inside of him tormented him.

He had found something precious and lost it. Then at night he tried to soak up every sigh and moan, to remember every curve. He swore to himself that he would not lose this amazing young man, that he would not let him go, that he would bind himself to him in a thousand bonds.

For some reason, just thinking about it made his eyes red. The picture became fuzzy. Jiang turned the page, there was already another photo of the young man with his partner, which made him growl.

Dinner passed in a gloomy, tense atmosphere. Only once did Jiang raise a surprising look at Shi Ling when a sour-sweet taste entered his mind.

"А? Something familiar," he thought and glanced at his assistant.

But then he sank back into his thoughts. Now that the company's problems were settled, he was going over in his head a plan to find that guy. He would pull all the strings, use all his influence, and, of course, the money.

In the morning he left for the office earlier than usual and Ling breathed a sigh of relief.

Jiang Wei flew into the office and immediately summoned everyone to his office. After ordering his assistants to put aside other business, he showed the photo and gave the assignment to find the man, get him out of the ground if necessary, and resurrect him if he was dead.

The assistants, terrified, scattered to their departments and all day like experienced bloodhounds followed the trail. But here's the trouble, the agency didn't know the guy. Under pressure, the editor admitted that the guy accidentally took part in the shooting and then disappeared.

The only thing left to do was to view the video from the camera, but the store manager resisted and refused to cooperate, hiding behind concern for his customers.

Sitting in the car, Jiang Wei tiredly leafed through the contacts on his phone, wondering who else to call. Then, glancing at the driver, he asked:

"Who was with me that night? Did you see someone in a blue suit next to me?" Jiang Wei was grasping at the last straw.

But the driver was not very bright and, not understanding what the boss's predicament was, said what he had already heard.

"Sir, I only saw Secretary Shi with you," the driver didn't remember if the secretary was wearing a blue suit or maybe black.

"Right, I'll ask more Shi Ling," Jiang Wei decided and steered the car toward the secretary's house. Letting go of the driver, he walked down the familiar road.

When he rang the bell, no one opened the door. Jiang habitually sat down on the stairs and opened the stranger's photo on his phone. He had managed to get all the footage from that shooting and now he couldn't wait to scrutinize it.

Someone was walking up the stairs with a bulky bag in his hands.

"Oh, it's you, Mr. Jiang," nodded the manager, "Mrs. Gu from the first floor was picking up her dry cleaning and grabbing Ling's suit at the same time. I'll leave it with you, okay?"

The manager handed over the package and left, and Jiang just put the package beside him and plunged back into the pictures. The more time passed the clearer and fuller he remembered everything.

There was only one question that kept haunting him, why did this man run away.

There could be two possibilities. So, either he thought what had happened was a nightmare mistake and was scared, or he didn't share Jiang Wei's enthusiasm and was a victim, then hated him and ran away.

Both options looked bleak.

Jiang Wei rubbed his forehead and looked at his watch. Shi Ling hadn't been back for almost an hour, so where was he? It was evening; the cool air was chilling through. The grounds were lit by a single faint light bulb. Soon it was completely dark and cold.

Jiang Wei remembered the bag and, rummaging inside with his hand, took out a jacket. He sloppily threw it on top and tried to keep warm. Time passed, and Ling still did not come.

Finally, Jiang Wei called him and was very angry because some guy picked up the phone. The unfamiliar voice told him that "A-Ling was going to stay the night at his place".

"Is he that close to Ling?" Jiang Wei erupted.

He grabbed the bag and went back. The driver picked him up and took him to the mansion. Jiang Wei was so angry that he started undressing from the doorstep. As a result, things were flying all over the room, and to top it off, the man put all his rage into throwing his shoes.

After taking a shower, he calmed down a little and went to bed. In the morning the hunt began again, and until the evening he did not think of Shi Ling.

Plus, he finally got the message:

[Boss, the store manager finally handed over the video, I'm sending it to you].