Chapter 15: A Graceful Figure

Having cleared a new level, Chen Yu tossed his phone aside in boredom. He stretched lazily, his joints crackling crisply in succession.

The room was unbearably quiet. Apart from the faint rustling of pages being turned somewhere in the distance, only his own breathing filled the air.

He glanced at the small, focused figure seated at the desk.

Forget it—he couldn’t possibly drag her back to play games again, could he? Judging by the ghostly expression she had just worn, if he mentioned “Happy Elimination” once more, the girl might just stage a runaway right then and there.

Boredom—sheer, utter boredom.

Chen Yu rose from the sofa and paced a few steps across the living room. His gaze swept over the nearly brand-new set of fitness equipment tucked in the corner.

It was something Jiang Zhiyun had bought at some point, likely on a whim, as it had gathered more dust than use.

He walked over, casually picked up a dumbbell, and weighed it in his hand.

Hmm, the weight was decent.

A thought struck him.

If he was going to be a kept man, he ought to maintain some professional pride in it.

A handsome face might be innate, but a well-maintained physique required effort.

No benefactor would appreciate a man flabby and paunchy.

To secure a high-paying, steady income long term, having a figure that looked lean in clothes and muscular without them was undeniably a key competitive edge.

With that in mind, he listlessly tore off his T-shirt and tossed it onto the sofa, revealing a strong, well-built upper body.

The livestream camera followed his movements perfectly.

In an instant, the earlier barrage of comments discussing “reverse internet addiction therapy” exploded as if hit by a depth charge.

“Holy crap, holy crap!!!”

“Ahhhhh, what am I seeing? Is this something I’m getting for free?!”

“This… this is the legendary… abs and Adonis belt? My god, those lines, that contour—it’s more perfect than a classical Greek sculpture!”

“Ladies, calm down! You’re drooling on the screen! But… sob, I want to drool too! That body is just unreal!”

“I take back what I said earlier about him being lazy! A man who maintains this physique must have incredible willpower and self-control! This is no overnight thing!”

“Wait, have you forgotten what he does? He’s a kept man! Could this be… the so-called professional ethic?”

“Upstairs, you’ve got it right! To serve the sugar daddy properly, you have to maximize your hardware! I see it now—that’s true dedication!”

“Sobbing, I want to be kept like this… no, I want to keep a man like this! Forget a hundred thousand, I’d pay two hundred thousand!”

Inside the VIP viewing lounge, Jiang Zhiyun’s recently settled emotions were stirred once again by the sudden scene on the screen.

She sat upright almost instinctively, her cold, sharp eyes fixed unwaveringly on the shirtless man in the center of the screen.

Smooth shoulder lines, broad back muscles stretching with each movement, forming a perfect inverted triangle.

Firm, well-defined pectorals, eight-pack abs beneath, sweat beads sliding slowly along the ridges of his muscles.

Finally disappearing beneath the Adonis belt—the epitome of male sensuality.

“Gulp.”

Jiang Zhiyun clearly heard herself swallow.

Her cheeks flushed red in an instant.

Having lived over twenty years surrounded by promising young talents and business elites—men who were either refined “cultured beasts” or corpulent “successful types”—she had never seen such an aggressively masculine physique.

This was a stark contrast, a world apart from the lazy, decadent man who had nothing going for him but his looks—the so-called “kept man” image she had in her mind.

This man… how many more facets did he have that she did not know?

Chen Yu was unaware of the storm his unintentional act had caused.

He simply wanted to find something to do to expend his excess energy.

Grasping the pull-up bar with both hands, he performed a textbook pull-up.

One, two, three…

His movements were precise and rhythmic, breathing steady, showing no signs of strain.

The livestream comments had gone completely wild.

“Help! Those pull-ups! That back muscle! I’m dead!”

“How is he making pull-ups look as easy as breathing? My boyfriend struggles with just one!”

“Upstairs, don’t compare your boyfriend to a god… this man is beyond human!”

“I declare, from today on, Chen Yu is my one and only male idol! No one else can compete!”

“Damn it! Why does such a perfect man have to be a kept man? I refuse to accept this! The world is too unfair!”

Just as the atmosphere inside and outside the viewing lounge reached a bizarre fever pitch over Chen Yu’s stunning physique, a sudden, sharp phone ring shattered Jiang Zhiyun’s trance.

It was her private phone.

Snapping back like a startled cat, the abnormal flush on her face quickly faded, replaced by her usual icy composure.

She glanced at the caller ID—“Assistant Zhang”—and immediately answered, rising to walk out into the quiet corridor outside the lounge.

“Speak,” her voice was devoid of any emotion, as if the woman who just blushed and thumped her heart before the screen was a stranger.

“Madam Jiang,” came a sharp female voice tinged with urgency, “we’ve just received news that the bidding for the ‘Galaxy Bay’ real estate project in East City has been leaked.”

“Galaxy Bay?” Jiang Zhiyun’s brow furrowed slightly.

This project was one of Jiang Group’s most critical strategic objectives for the second half of the year, with countless competitors, the greatest threat being the powerful Lin Group.

She had already pulled several all-nighters working on the proposal.

“What kind of leak?” she asked in a low voice.

“The bidding party, the parent company of Galaxy Bay—Dingsheng Group—the chairman, Lin Zhengxiong, is critically ill.”

Assistant Zhang’s voice dropped lower.

Jiang Zhiyun’s heart tightened.

Lin Zhengxiong, a legendary figure in business, self-made, founder of the Dingsheng empire.

A notoriously difficult man, whimsical and unpredictable, infamous in the circles for his obstinacy.

“Continue.”

“I heard the old man has stopped eating and is deteriorating rapidly. The doctors say… it’s likely only a matter of days.”

Assistant Zhang paused, then added, “The Lin family is in utter chaos now.”

“Everyone in the Lin family is anxious, and as you know, there are many family members all vying for power.”

“But the old man is smart—he only trusts his eldest son and his youngest granddaughter.”