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The banquet buzzed with the clinking of glasses, and Shi Yin’s side wasn’t quiet either. With a striking red-dressed beauty standing nearby, there was a brief moment of silence before the beauty began to clap enthusiastically. “Bravo!”
Hearing the commotion, people around them turned their heads to look.
Ever since Gu Congli was summoned over by Shi Yin, the staff from the Crimson Moon editorial department had been keeping an eye on this corner.
When they saw Teacher Shi Yi tugging down on the tie of their aloof and stern Editor-in-Chief Gu, the entire Crimson Moon team was stunned.
From a distance, the Crimson Moon crew couldn’t quite hear what was being said. They sent a young intern to discreetly move closer and gather intel.
The poor intern approached reluctantly, standing at a moderate distance. By the time he heard the final exchange, his jaw nearly dropped.
He returned in a daze, staring blankly at his gossipy colleagues and seniors, his expression crumpled with despair. “I have… a few updates.”
The Crimson Moon editorial team huddled together. Zhao, the senior editor, raised a hand. “Speak, my good intern.”
“The editor-in-chief said he is Qi’an.”
Everyone: “!”
“The editor-in-chief and Teacher Shi Yi seem to be… in a relationship.”
Everyone: “?”
“The editor-in-chief calls Teacher Shi Yi… ‘darling.’”
Everyone: “…?!?!?”
The sheer volume of information left everyone momentarily unable to process it.
The intern didn’t know who Qi’an was. While the others wore expressions of utter shock as if they’d seen a ghost, he was simply wallowing in the heartbreak of realizing that Teacher Shi Yi had a boyfriend. His face was a picture of devastation. “I’m heartbroken… I’m heartbroken…”
Meanwhile, on Shi Yin’s side, Li Nian’s face alternated between pale and flushed as more and more attention was drawn to them. She felt extremely awkward.
She felt like a clown performing for attention.
During the book signing event in the capital, the dynamic between these two had been nothing like this.
If anything, Shi Yin’s demeanor toward Gu Congli back then had been more like that of a junior speaking to an elder or someone she relied on. Now, their roles had completely reversed. He appeared utterly obedient, his eyes fixed solely on Shi Yin, not sparing a glance for Li Nian.
Li Nian wanted to say something, but an unspoken aura between the two made it feel impossible to interrupt.
Frustrated, she ground her teeth and forced a smile. “Are Teacher Shi Yi and Editor Gu… dating?”
Shi Yin turned her head, looking at her in surprise. “Can’t you tell?”
Li Nian stared at Gu Congli.
She believed she was no less impressive than Shi Yin. From the moment she sent him an email inviting him to meet and he agreed, Li Nian had felt confident that she was halfway to success.
After all, if he wasn’t interested, he would have declined.
But now, she clenched her teeth, feeling不甘.
Gu Congli didn’t even glance her way. Keeping his gaze lowered, he reached out and gently tucked a stray strand of hair behind Shi Yin’s ear.
Finally losing her patience, Li Nian’s face flushed red, and she stormed off with a toss of her head.
Only after she had walked far away did Shi Yin tilt her head and sneakily watch her retreating figure, exhaling deeply.
She looked like a thief who had just committed a misdeed.
Gu Congli found her amusing.
Her earlier fiery demeanor had completely vanished. She released her grip on his tie and smiled smugly, her little chin tilting up as though reaching for the sky. Pleased with herself, she began fishing for compliments. “Wasn’t I great?”
Gu Congli calmly smoothed out the wrinkled tie she had tugged on, tucked it back in, and adjusted his disheveled collar. “Great.”
Shi Yin paused, her smile disappearing instantly, and glared at him fiercely. “Who’s prettier, her or me?”
Gu Congli obediently replied, “You’re prettier.”
“And yet you were looking at her. You even checked out her legs,” Shi Yin pouted. “Did you find her attractive?”
To be fair, Li Nian’s figure was stunning.
She had curves in all the right places—her legs were fair, straight, and slender. Even Shi Yin, as a woman, couldn’t deny their beauty.
Gu Congli’s lips curled into a smirk. The hand resting on her waist beneath her shawl slid smoothly from her slim waist to her hipbone.
Shi Yin flinched sensitively and slapped his hand away.
He withdrew his hand and leaned in close to her ear. “Yours are prettier.”
His low voice, audible only to her, carried a faint rasp. It reminded her of the night when he had bent her body to his will, whispering sweet nothings into her ear to coax her into submission.
Shi Yin’s bare ears turned crimson. She pushed him lightly and whispered, scolding him. “Hey, don’t be a pervert. We’re in public.”
Gu Congli remained still. “So you do realize we’re in public?”
Shi Yin finally caught on. She was standing in a corner, backed against a large floor-to-ceiling window. She shifted a couple of steps, fully hiding behind him, peeking out cautiously with her head lowered.
Gu Congli glanced down and raised an eyebrow. “Teacher Shi Yi was so bold just now. Why are you suddenly acting shy?”
“I wasn’t thinking much back then,” Shi Yin admitted, slightly flustered. “Did a lot of people see us?”
Gu Congli thought for a moment. “Probably… everyone who knows you saw.”
“…”
Shi Yin pursed her lips and said nothing.
Gu Congli’s expression softened, and he lowered his eyes to look at her, speaking in a low voice. “Do you regret it?”
Shi Yin blinked, a bit slow to process his words. “Huh?”
He averted his gaze and said indifferently, “If you don’t want others to know, I can just find an excuse to cover it up.”
Shi Yin tilted her head to look at him. “It doesn’t matter if they know.”
Gu Congli lowered his eyelashes.
The little girl gazed at him, her dark eyes sparkling with the thick, mascara-coated lashes like two dense brushes.
Perhaps because she had eaten something earlier, her lipstick had faded by half, leaving behind a softer shade akin to pale pink roses. Her lips pressed together as she softly whispered to him, “Does Yaoguang Publishing have rules against editors dating authors?”
Before Gu Congli could respond, the red-dressed beauty peeked over, blinking. “Nope.”
Shi Yin: “….”
Gu Congli turned his head emotionlessly and spoke coldly. “Lin Yujing.”
Lin Yujing raised her hands in surrender. “Editor Gu, please carry on. I’ll leave now.”
The beauty clicked away in her high heels.
Shi Yin turned back to him. “Isn’t she the boss?”
“Mm.”
“You talk to your boss like that, and you haven’t been fired yet?”
Gu Congli casually wrapped his arm around her slim waist. “Maybe soon.”
Shi Yin smirked proudly. “Then hurry up and get fired. I’ll take care of you. You can stay home and cook, do housework.”
Gu Congli chuckled. “Does Teacher Shi Yi earn much in royalties every month?”
Shi Yin glanced at him. “Not as much as Teacher Qi’an.”
Initially, Shi Yin thought Gu Congli must be a chief editor with powerful connections, since how else could an ordinary editor afford a Porsche? But after learning he was Qi’an, everything made sense.
Teacher Qi’an—his income flowed like the Yellow River, torrents of money pouring in effortlessly.
Now, she began to suspect again that he was a chief editor with influential backing, given how familiar he seemed with the beautiful boss Lin Yujing.
At Lin Yujing’s glamorous year-end banquet, many celebrities were invited, including famous actors and singers. The event concluded with a performance by a popular singer.
Shi Yin no longer spotted Li Nian, while workaholic Gu Congli lived up to expectations. Midway through the banquet, he dragged two chairs over, sat beside her, and started discussing work matters.
Shi Yin watched the lively crowd sipping champagne, chatting, and mingling with their partners, then looked at herself—sitting in a corner next to a cold man holding a tablet. Her expression grew indifferent. “So, why do you insist on talking about work right now? Can’t we wait until the event ends? Or discuss it at home later? Are you a devil?”
Gu Congli replied succinctly, “To save time.”
Shi Yin: “….”
Shi Yin’s Hongming Longque had received such a positive response that even as the print media industry declined—with paper prices skyrocketing and magazine sales plummeting—online comics flourished. The popularity of webcomics on platforms like Weibo far surpassed traditional print media.
Yaoguang Publishing’s tech department had long launched its own comic app and website. While continuing traditional comic production, they were also expanding into online comics. However, these efforts were handled by separate departments within the company. Crimson Moon remained focused on traditional print media, which had a smaller audience and different promotional channels compared to the booming webcomics.
Despite this, Hongming Longque consistently ranked highly in Yaoguang’s overall popularity charts. Not long ago, renowned BL artist Nishino Naito created a series of fanart featuring sweet, non-cloying interactions between Hongming and Longque, garnering over ten thousand retweets. Fans clamored for the “Red and Blue CP.”
After six months of serialization, it was finally time to release the first collected volume. Gu Congli had prepared thoroughly before approaching Shi Yin to discuss it.
Initially, Shi Yin sat in a corner yawning as he rattled off data analysis. She found him utterly boring. Everyone else was enjoying themselves—eating, drinking, and watching performances—while he dragged her into a secluded corner to work overtime.
It reminded her of those poor students who failed exams and were forced to attend private tutoring sessions.
But when Gu Congli mentioned the collected volume, Shi Yin’s eyes finally lit up.
Her experience with publishing the first collected volume of ECHO had been fraught with difficulties. It coincided with a change in editors, and the previous editor left abruptly without clarifying many details. This led to numerous mishaps, which were only resolved after Zhao worked tirelessly day and night.
Now, Hongming Longque had been entirely managed by Gu Congli from start to finish. And Gu Congli was perhaps the person Shi Yin trusted most in the world, second only to her parents.
Once news spread that the Hongming Longque collected volume was in preparation, Shi Yin became energized like never before.
Truthfully, ever since Gu Congli became her responsible editor, aside from the initial months when she procrastinated heavily, the subsequent months saw her working diligently. Though she always submitted just before deadlines, under the pressure of Chief Editor Gu’s authority, she had never been late.
For the collected volume, she needed to write a preface, create a full-page color illustration for the cover, include three exclusive bonus chapters as gifts for fans, and continue with regular monthly updates without delay.
Thus, Shi Yin initially assumed Gu Congli’s “saving time” referred to her rushing home after the banquet to finish the full-page illustration, bonus chapters, and next month’s update.
However, after the banquet ended and they got into the car, it wasn’t until Gu Congli drove for over ten minutes that Shi Yin realized something was amiss.
This wasn’t the usual route.
She turned to him. “Where are we going?”
“Home,” Gu Congli replied calmly.
Shi Yin nodded and continued playing on her phone, assuming he’d simply taken a different route she didn’t know.
Fifteen minutes later.
The car slowly entered a residential complex. Gu Congli parked in the garage, turned off the engine.
Shi Yin, feeling drowsy, leaned against the car frame almost asleep, yawning as she opened her eyes. “Are we here?”
Gu Congli hummed in affirmation.
Shi Yin opened her eyes and looked around.
Something was off.
Her apartment didn’t have a garage—her driver’s license had been gathering dust since she passed the test.
She turned to him. “Where is this?”
Gu Congli smoothly removed the car keys, unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door, and stepped out. “My place.”
Shi Yin immediately snapped awake, all traces of sleepiness gone. Her eyes widened. “What kind of person are you?”
He patted her head. “Get out.”
“…”
With no other choice, Shi Yin followed him out.
The dim yellow lighting of the residential area hinted at a luxurious environment—far superior to where she lived. They swiped in at the entrance, took the elevator to the 16th floor.
Two units per floor. Shi Yin followed Gu Congli out of the elevator and to the door. A digital lock required a code. As he lowered his head to enter it, Shi Yin finally, belatedly, sensed something was amiss.
She recalled a recent night when she had been left utterly exhausted and sore.
That area of hers had swollen for days, making walking uncomfortable. Her body bore countless marks.
Shi Yin: “….”
So this is what you meant by “saving time.”
A soft chime signaled the door unlocking.
Shi Yin instinctively tried to turn and run but was scooped up by the waist and pulled into his embrace. He carried her inside, kicked the door shut behind them, and pinned her against it.
The metallic door was icy cold. Her shawl had slipped to the floor, leaving her bare back pressed directly against the door. The chill made her shiver.
In the quiet darkness, Gu Congli gripped her wrist, gently nibbled her lip, and murmured lowly, “Don’t run.”
Shi Yin had lost count of how many times he had said those words to her.
He said it during arguments, during reconciliations, and even during intimate moments.
She raised her hand to push him away, whimpering tearfully. “I don’t want to… it hurts so much…”
He was too rough, leaving her with lingering trauma.
Gu Congli’s fingers explored, finding the zipper of her long dress, slowly pulling it down. He kissed her earlobe, coaxing her softly. “I’ll be gentle.”
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