Chapter 321 - 254: The Trilemma

Chapter 321: Chapter 254: The Trilemma

"Be careful."

Gu Heng’s heart skipped a beat, but he just softly repeated his warning.

"Thank you..."

Feng Yao’s face flushed red. She was too embarrassed to even look up into Gu Heng’s eyes, and her heart was pounding so fast it made her feel dizzy.

That was a place no man had ever touched in her entire life. But just now, Gu Heng had not only touched it and caressed it, but it seemed...

It seemed he’d even given it a gentle squeeze!

"Here..."

"It’s just warm. You can drink it straight."

Gu Heng remained composed, handing the cup of tea to Feng Yao.

Feng Yao took the teacup without a word and silently sat down beside Gu Heng.

They were only a fist’s width apart.

Feng Yao lightly sipped her tea, her slender legs submerged in the hot spring, idly lifting and lowering them in the water.

"You have long legs."

Gu Heng spoke suddenly, and his words brought a flash of joy to Feng Yao’s heart. But before she could let the happiness show on her face, she heard him add, "But they’re not quite as long as Su Tang’s."

Hearing this, Feng Yao’s expression instantly fell.

She and Su Tang were already rivals. For Gu Heng to praise Su Tang’s legs right to her face... Well, it was a good thing it was Gu Heng. If Gao Junlin had dared to say something like that, she would have probably kicked him straight into the water and thrown a huge fit.

"Legs that are too long aren’t necessarily beautiful."

Feng Yao said, a bit sourly, "Having a well-proportioned body is the most important factor."

"Su Tang’s proportions are also very well-balanced."

Gu Heng said this in an extremely objective tone, as if stating a simple fact.

"You..."

"Are you that close with Su Tang?"

Feng Yao’s composure was starting to crack, her tone tinged with a hint of grievance.

"You want the truth?"

Gu Heng turned his head and asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course!"

Feng Yao nodded affirmatively.

"To be honest..."

Gu Heng shrugged. "I’m not that close with Su Tang, but I’m a little closer to her than I am to you."

"Then what about you and Qingge?"

Feng Yao pressed on, refusing to give up.

"Qingge?"

"Oh, we’re very close."

Gu Heng was all about being brutally honest today. He and Lin Qingge already knew each other inside and out, so naturally, they couldn’t be any closer.

"Why are you so close with Qingge?"

Feng Yao’s beautiful eyes widened slightly. "Didn’t you and Qingge just meet for the first time recently?"

She had originally thought that no matter how unfamiliar she was with Gu Heng, she would at least be ahead of Lin Qingge. She never expected that Lin Qingge had managed to pull ahead of her after just one meeting.

’Wait, what?’

’So, does this mean that after lights-out in the dorm every night, I’m the only idiot just sleeping while all of you are secretly putting in work under the covers?!’

"So..."

"Out of the four girls in our dorm, you know me the least, is that it?"

Feng Yao bit her lip, her expression a little bitter.

"That’s right."

Gu Heng nodded slightly, a hint of a smile in his eyes.

"Then why did you ask me to come to the hot spring?"

Feng Yao asked sullenly.

"Because I’m interested in you, of course."

Gu Heng replied in a rather relaxed tone.

Hearing this, Feng Yao looked up in astonishment. She never imagined Gu Heng would be so direct about his feelings and intentions.

’Interested... isn’t that just another way of saying he likes me?’

’Gu Heng likes me!’

At this thought, Feng Yao felt like she was bursting with joy.

"It’s a shame..."

"You have a boyfriend."

Gu Heng’s tone then shifted, and he let out a soft sigh.

"I..."

"Didn’t I tell you a long time ago? I’ve wanted to break up with him for a while, I just haven’t figured out how to tell him..."

Feng Yao’s voice trailed off, losing all its confidence by the end.

However, just as she was feeling a pang of shame, she suddenly felt a strong arm wrap around her slender waist. In the next instant, her vision blurred, and she found herself pulled into Gu Heng’s arms.

"From this moment on, you can tell me to stop at any time."

From the restaurant back to the hotel, and from the moment they entered the hot spring until now, the heat simmering inside Gu Heng had finally ignited. "But if you do tell me to stop, that means this is where we end it. I won’t have any improper thoughts about you in the future. So, you need to think carefully before you say it."

Faced with Gu Heng’s deep, dark eyes and his magnetic voice, Feng Yao grew so nervous she didn’t know where to put her hands.

Their eyes met, and a hint of shyness flickered in Feng Yao’s gaze.

Gu Heng slowly leaned closer to Feng Yao, his lips first touching her forehead. He could clearly feel her whole body give a slight shiver the moment his lips made contact.

Forehead, the tip of her nose, cheeks, ears, jaw, neck...

Gu Heng kissed each spot in turn. By the time he had finished, Feng Yao’s once-tense body had gone completely limp, soft as water in his arms, her face covered in an alluring, rosy blush.

Finally, Gu Heng gently captured her lips with his.

Feng Yao let out an involuntary whimper. Her hands, which had been hovering uncertainly, came to rest on Gu Heng’s hard, firm abs, unconsciously tracing their lines.

After a long moment, their lips parted.

Feng Yao slowly opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was Gu Heng’s dark eyes, watching her with a smile.

"I’m a little cold..."

Looking a bit shy, Feng Yao gently rested her forehead on Gu Heng’s shoulder and whispered to him.

"Okay~"

In truth, Gu Heng was getting a little cold too.

Although the trees around the private hot spring provided a natural barrier against the wind, wisps of cold air still managed to slip through.

It was already thirty-something degrees below zero, and the night air was even colder. Even with the steam constantly rising from the hot spring pool, their bodies couldn’t withstand being exposed to the open air for too long.

Gu Heng carried Feng Yao back into the hot spring pool. As the warm water once again submerged most of their bodies, the sensation of ice and fire was incredibly refreshing.

While doing so, Gu Heng adjusted their position, moving Feng Yao from sitting sideways on his lap to straddling him instead.

This way, they were now face-to-face.

"Want to stop?"

Gu Heng asked softly, gently kneading Feng Yao’s backside, which felt fantastic in his hand.

Feng Yao shook her head, her face red. "I have a question..."

"Ask away."

The night was long, and Gu Heng had at least that much patience.

"Of the four girls in our dorm, are you only interested in me, or are you interested in all four of us?"

Feng Yao finally asked the question she’d been wanting to ask since before he kissed her. And as soon as she asked it, Gu Heng laughed for no apparent reason.

"What are you laughing at~"

Feng Yao looked a little bewildered.

"I’m laughing because..."

Gu Heng chuckled and explained, "No wonder the four of you ended up in the same dorm room. You even ask the exact same questions."

"Who else asked?"

Feng Yao’s eyes widened slightly. "You mean Yiyi and the others asked you the same thing?"

"If you were me, do you think you’d be interested in just one of the girls from your dorm, or would you be interested in all four?"

Gu Heng nodded slightly, tacitly admitting what Feng Yao had just asked about.

"I..."

Faced with Gu Heng’s soul-crushing question, Feng Yao tried several times to open her mouth and say that of course, he could only be interested in one girl. But each time the words reached her lips, she couldn’t say them, because she knew it just wasn’t realistic.

Setting aside her own rivalry with Su Tang, just speaking objectively, whenever the four of them went out together, they turned heads 100% of the time, no matter where they went.

Sometimes, when they stood in front of a full-length mirror for a group photo, even she, as a girl, couldn’t help but look at their reflections—all so captivating and beautiful in their own unique ways—and think that if she were an ancient Emperor, she’d definitely take all of them into her harem.

Gu Heng wasn’t an Emperor, but he absolutely had the resources to enjoy the company of multiple women.

"Have you ever heard of the relationship trilemma?"

Seeing Feng Yao’s speechless expression, Gu Heng knew she already had the answer in her heart. He followed up with another question.

"I’ve heard of it..."

Feng Yao bit her lip and nodded, answering in a low voice.

"The so-called three points of the trilemma are loyalty, Wealth, and looks."

"A man can have two at most. If a man seems to have all three, he’s most likely a romance scammer."

Gu Heng paused here, then looked directly into Feng Yao’s eyes and said softly, "Like most men, I can only have two of the three."

Feng Yao had gotten into Jilin University; she was no fool.

From Gu Heng’s words, she understood exactly what he meant.

’In short, it meant: ’I can give you everything except loyalty.’’

’The other meaning was: ’I want all four of you sisters from the dorm.’’

It was that blatant, that direct.

"You greedy man."

Feng Yao gazed at Gu Heng’s exceptionally handsome face and couldn’t help but offer this assessment in a soft voice.

"Indeed."

"Men are naturally greedy when it comes to beautiful women."

"At first, they just want to know what you’re called. Later, they want to hear how you call out."

Gu Heng raised his hand, the back of his fingers gently stroking Feng Yao’s smooth, rosy cheek. "But I’m different. I’m even greedier than other men. From the very beginning, I didn’t just want to know what all of you are called; I wanted to know how all of you call out."

"So..."

"Do you know how any of them call out yet?"

Feng Yao asked in a low voice, gazing at the man before her.

At this moment, even knowing Gu Heng’s "wild ambition," Feng Yao had no intention of leaving him. She knew very well that if she chose to back away now, getting close to him again in the future would be next to impossible.

Especially now that she’d learned the others in her dorm already knew his intentions and were still entangled with him, she was even less willing to let go so easily.

The prettier, more educated, and more ambitious a girl was, the more clear-headed she tended to be about relationships. It was the less attractive and less-educated girls who were often dramatic and demanded perfection in every single aspect.

Those women never stopped to think: if a man who was truly perfect in every way actually existed, why would he ever be interested in a bunch of self-important cunts like them?

"For now, I don’t know a single one."

Gu Heng raised an eyebrow. "Want to be the first?"

"Really?"

Feng Yao was inexplicably surprised and delighted. "But didn’t you just say..."

"I haven’t been with any of them yet."

Gu Heng shook his head slightly. "There’s no need for me to lie to you about something like this."

Hearing Gu Heng say this, Feng Yao was both shocked and overjoyed.

In truth, her thoughts were the same as Lin Qingge’s that night. Whoever was the first among the girls in their dorm would essentially seize the moral high ground. In the future, when the "sisters" had their inevitable "showdown," that person would have the upper hand.

Gu Heng tilted his head slightly, whispering in Feng Yao’s ear, "But given our current relationship, this is as far as we can go, isn’t it?"

"Why?"

Gu Heng’s voice held a hint of a smile as he continued to whisper in her ear, "Because I’m a man of principles, you see~"

Hearing this, Feng Yao’s mind cleared a little.

"Aren’t you ashamed to say that?"

She couldn’t help but scoff. "When you were taking my clothes off just now, I didn’t see any of those principles~"

"I don’t care. I have a thing about... psychological cleanliness."

Gu Heng said, rather domineeringly, "If you want to be my woman, I won’t allow you to have any contact or dealings with other men."

"So the magistrate can burn down houses, but the common people can’t even light their lamps~"

They hadn’t even truly started, yet she had already gone completely weak twice.

"Well, who made me the magistrate and you the commoner~"

Gu Heng’s brows twitched. "If you were Wu Zhaowen, you could also keep three thousand male consorts within the palace walls. In this world, might makes right~"

"So, what do you want me to do now..."

Feng Yao’s voice had a coquettish, wheedling tone.

"It’s simple."

Gu Heng smiled and replied softly, "Call Gao Junlin right now. Break up with him right now..."