131. I’m Leaving

“No, what are you saying, Little Master?” Lu FengYu said. “Secretary Jiang and I are friends. I can’t just standby and watch him get taken away by those scum. It’s my duty to help, not a favour.”

JingYuan looked at Lu FengYu and asked, “Lu FengYu as in the heir of the company, Feng Yuan?”

“It’s just a small company, not much to mention,” the other man replied with an embarrassed smile.

“Mr Lu is still talented and capable. I hope we could have a chance to work together in the future,” JingYuan said. When he saw FengYu about to reply, he continued, “It has nothing to do with today’s incident. Just a business deal. I merely like the look of your company’s prospects. I was even considering your company, thinking to contact you soon. I didn’t think fate would be on our sides.”

At that, all FengYu could say was, “Thank you for your recognition, Mr Mu!”

JingYuan nodded. “Jiang Hua’s drunk. We’ll take him home first. I’ll have Chen Hong contact you about the collaboration another day.”

“Yes, yes,” FengYu hurriedly nodded along. “Let’s meet another day.”

The other conversation by their sides was also wrapping up as YiHan said to Zhu Xun, “I’ll contact you later.”

The young bartender was about to reply that it wasn’t necessary but YiHan and JingYuan were already walking away with Jiang Hua. As they walked by the captured men and the men who had done the deed, the two paused.

“I’ll leave these men to you,” YiHan said to Chen Feng.

“Don’t worry, sir,” the bodyguard replied.

YiHan nodded in farewell and, along with JingYuan, helped Jiang Hua out of the bar.

As they stepped through the doors, JingYuan suddenly halted and looked to somewhere down the road. YiHan craned his head to follow his gaze but he saw nothing.

“What is it?” YiHan asked, head tilted.

“Nothing. I thought I saw something,” answered JingYuan.

YiHan nodded in reply. The two then manoeuvred Jiang Hua into the back of their car. YiHan slid in the back seat to support Jiang Hua’s head during the ride so the drunk man won’t hit his head against the glass.

“Shall we take him back to the Bai family home?” JingYuan asked, sliding into the driver’s seat.

YiHan thought about it before looking at Jiang Hua and gave the man a slight push to wake him up. Upon seeing the man’s eyes slide open, he asked, “Jiang-ge, do you want to go home or to the Bai family home?”

It took Jiang Hua a while before he realised what was being asked. The man frowned and whispered, “I don’t want to go to the Bai family home. I want to go home.”

“Alright,” YiHan coaxed. “We’ll go home.”

“Do you know where his home is?” JingYuan asked.

YiHan gave him the address and continued, “He just moved in not long ago. He’d asked me to stop by and take a look at his new home when I had the time, but I had yet to.”

JingYuan nodded in affirmation and started the car. The vehicle then smoothly slid into the stream of cars on the road. Along the way, JingYuan would sneak peeks at the rear-view mirror. His lips would twitch into a smile at the sight he would be met with.

They soon arrived at Jiang Hua’s home. YiHan found the key in the drunk man’s pockets after a brief hunt. JingYuan then moved Jiang Hua into the apartment while YiHan closed the apartment door behind them and searched for the lights. When the lights came on, JingYuan began moving the man to the wide couch in the living room.

The two then took a brief look around the apartment. It was over a hundred square metres. There were two bedrooms and a study room. The kitchen had everything one would need. It seemed like its owner frequently cooked. The bathroom was placed in between the bedrooms. The entire apartment was bathed in warm tones. The place was clean and homely, so homely that it didn’t look like a bachelor’s pad. YiHan knew JingYuan yearned for a family more than the average person. Was this apartment’s decor a way to comfort himself?

YiHan entered the bathroom, took a towel and wetted it with some hot water. He then wrung it dry and handed it over to JingYuan for the older man to wipe Jiang Hua’s face with. The young man then headed into the kitchen. Having found some honey tucked away, YiHan dissolved it in some warm water for Jiang Hua.

After wiping the man down and feeding him some honey water, the two then worked together to move him into his bedroom, changed him into a set of sleepwear they found in his closet and settled him into his bed. Everyone here was gay. It wouldn’t be decent to help shower the man. This was all the two could do.

Afraid that the man would wake up in the middle of the night needing care, YiHan decided to stay for the night. He’d head home after the man woke up in the morning. Naturally, JingYuan stayed behind to take care of YiHan.

YiHan tucked Jiang Hua in and left the room, closing the door as he went. He sat on the couch. The flurry of chaos was finally over. It was then that YiHan felt fear rising in him over what had transpired. He dropped his head into his hands and let out a long sigh. He looked up to glance at the bedroom door.

“I don’t get it,” YiHan said, voice low. “Jiang Hua isn’t the kind to go out and party. Why would he go to a place like The Dusky Alley all alone? Why would he get so drunk? If it hadn’t been for the bartender calling me, the things that would happen to him… I can’t think about them!”

What happened today made him recall the night he was drugged and thrown into the club. That nightmare destroyed him. The thought of it nearly happening to Jiang Hua has agitated YiHan more than anything else. How he wished he could charge over to those garbage and slice them up, one after another!

“Jiang Hua has always been a mature man,” JingYuan said, embracing his distraught lover. “Something must’ve happened to make him use such a way to vent out his frustrations. However, we can only wait until he’s up. We can ask him about it then and see if we can help him, okay? Look at you puffing up. Don’t worry. I won’t let those vermin have a good time.” JingYuan then began scanning YiHan up and down to make sure the young man was unhurt.

“I’m fine,” YiHan said. “You were protecting me the whole time. They couldn’t hit me at all. But how about you? Were you hurt?”

It was only after JingYuan finished his thorough check-up, lifting YiHan’s shirt to confirm there were no wounds on the other’s chest and back, did he chuckle and reply, “Of course I’m fine. You were gushing about Qin Feng’s fighting skills today. Did you not pay attention to me during the fight? Even if Chen Feng and his men didn’t arrive just now, I could’ve easily taken care of those men.”

YiHan was in the middle of lifting JingYuan’s shirt as the man talked. “Of course you’re the best,” YiHan chuckled. JingYuan’s little pout had made the suffocating emotions in him drift away. YiHan carefully looked JingYuan over. Indeed, the man was fine. He only had some scrapes along his knuckles and a bruise on his back. They were nothing serious.

YiHan got up and began searching through the living room. Upon finding the first-aid kit in the television cabinet, he used a spray, indicated to be for bruises, on JingYuan’s back and dressed the older man’s scrape wounds with some bandages.

“Alright,” JingYuan said, pulling YiHan down to sit beside him after the man had put away the first-aid kit. “Settle down. You must be exhausted. Why don’t you rest up in the guest bedroom? I can take care of Jiang Hua myself.”

YiHan leaned against the older man and lazily stretched. “It’s fine,” he said. “How boring it’d be for you to stay up all alone. If we’re together, we can at least chat.”

JingYuan shifted his arms to wrap even more securely around YiHan and kissed him on the forehead. “Okay. Thank you so much, Little Master Bai, for chatting with this one.”

“No problem. We’re lovers after all,” YiHan replied with a smile.

The two lovebirds cuddled up against each other and chattered away in low voices. A soft chuckle could occasionally be heard when someone said something particularly funny. Two hours later, just as the two were starting to get tired, a loud thump could be heard from the master bedroom. YiHan shot up and ran for the room, nearly crashing into Jiang Hua who’d been running out of the room. The older man was barefoot with a hand over his mouth. He blinked in shock at YiHan for a moment before stumbling straight into the bathroom.

YiHan hurriedly followed behind. Together with JingYuan, they patted Jing Hua’s back and provided him with water to swirl his mouth with as he retched and puked. When the man was finally done and helped out of the bathroom, his face was a sickly shade of white. The two lovers helped him to the couch and got him some water to drink.

Jiang Hua took a sip and leaned back to lay his buzzing head against the backrest. “YiHan, Mr Mu, why are you here?” he feebly asked. He then knocked a hand against his head, looked around and continued, “Ah, you sent me home?”

“A bartender used your phone to call me. I was told you’d a little too much to drink at The Dusky Alley. JingYuan and I went to fetch you. I remember you being able to hold your drink quite well. Just how much have you had to make this drunk?” YiHan replied.

“I’m sorry,” Jiang Hua apologised, “for troubling you two in the middle of the night.” A hand rubbed at his stomach while the other held onto the arm of the couch and pushed himself up.

YiHan hurriedly pressed the man back down and said, “You can’t even stand straight. Why are you getting up?” He then looked at the hand at Jiang Hua’s stomach. “Gastritis?”

“Yes. I’ll go get some medicine,” Jiang Hua replied.

YiHan went and grabbed the first-aid kit from the television cabinet. As he looked through its contents for what he wanted, he chuckled, “While you were asleep, I’d gotten to know your home.”

Despite his pounding head, Jiang Hua smiled back and said, “I should’ve shown you around. It’s my fault for making you figure out my home on your own.”

“Yes,” YiHan said in feigned rage, “so you must make it up to me.” By now, he’d found a box of antacid pills and was reading the directions on the back.

“Alright,” came Jiang Hua’s soft reply. “What would you like?”

YiHan handed over two pills to Jiang Hua and watched the man down it with some water before he replied, “Then can you tell me why you went to The Dusky Alley all alone? Why did you get that drunk? Don’t you know how dangerous that was?”

Jiang Hua bit his lip and said nothing.

YiHan pushed the first-aid kit aside and continued, tone as serious as before, “Didn’t you say you think of me as your brother? What is it that you can’t tell me about?”

“Is it related to Bai Yan?” JingYuan exhaled.

Jiang Hua was shocked. Unwittingly, he glanced at YiHan. All of the anger had left the younger man, leaving him deflated.

“I didn’t tell him, Jiang-ge,” YiHan said, awkwardly scratching at his face. “This guy’s eyes are way too sharp. He guessed it by himself. Don’t worry. He and I are of the same mind.”

JingYuan couldn’t help chuckling at YiHan’s words and raised a hand to stroke YiHan’s hair.

Jiang Hua sighed and bitterly smiled. “Forget it. Nothing matters now. I didn’t know of The Dusky Alley or anything about it. I just entered the first bar I noticed.”

“I knew it,” YiHan said, exasperated. “How could you know which bars to go to? Tell me. What happened? I know you don’t drink other than the times you need to at business dinners.”

“I’ll be moving out to ChangCheng, YiHan,” Jiang Hua answered, hand massaging his forehead.

“Why?” YiHan gasped.

“It’s a company decision,” Jiang Hua replied. “I’ll be transferred to the branch office there. Mr Bai personally announced it himself at the meeting today. The paperwork’s all done. From tomorrow onwards, I’ll be handing over all of my work. In two weeks, I’ll be leaving. I’m…likely to ever come back.”

YiHan was stunned. “My brother said so?” he finally uttered after a long while. “Just what is he thinking?”

Jiang Hua let out a self-mocking chuckle. “Perhaps he found out about my feelings and wanted to transfer me far away from him.”

Translator’s Notes:

Manoeuvred Jiang Hua: Author had a typo here saying “Jiang Yuan” instead.

We’re lovers after all: The actual phrase is “who are we to each other?” which MTL might translate as “who and who”. The MTL version is kind of accurate as the meaning changes according to context.

◄Previous • Index• Next►

130. Jiang-ge in Trouble

YiHan was about to reply to Fang Yi’s question when JingYuan patted him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw JingYuan mouth to him: it’s better to let Qin Feng explain himself.

Only then did YiHan realise he’d said too much to Fang Yi. He hurriedly said, “Anyway, it’s… Huh? Fang Yi, I’ve got a call coming in. Let’s chat another time. See you.”

 Fang Yi placed down his phone and pursed his lips. “Qing Feng,” he whispered to himself. “Who is Qin Feng? What’s special about him? Does he have an additional head? Hmph. If he won’t leave then he can just sleep on the sofa. Let him freeze!”

YiHan wasn’t lying when he said he had a call coming in. He looked down at his phone. The new caller was Jiang Hua. It’s late now. Why would Jiang Hua be calling him at this hour?

“Jiang-ge?” YiHan hurriedly answered the call.

The voice that responded to him wasn’t Jiang Hua though. It was a stranger speaking swiftly, “Hello, are you the brother of the phone of this owner? I’m a bartender at The Dusky Alley. Your brother had too much to drink. Two men attempted to take him with them but he was so out of it that we can’t confirm if he knows them. We called you as you’re the person he last contacted. Could I please get you to confirm these two men’s identities or to pick him up?”

YiHan instantly shot up. “I’m his brother!” he yelped. “Thank you for calling me. Please stall them. Don’t let anyone take him away. I’ll be there soon!”

“Okay,” the bartender replied. “I’ll do my best to stall them. Please hurry u–” Before the bartender ended his sentence, a coarse voice could be heard from the other end.

“Oi!” the man shouted. “You, server! Who are you calling?” Immediately after, the call dropped to a beeping tone.

YiHan flew out of bed and quickly got dressed. JingYuan got changed too.

“What is it?” asked JingYuan. “Did something happen to Jiang Hua?”

YiHan’s panic was visible on his face. As he put on his pants, he explained, “He’s in The Dusky Alley. He’s drunk and two men are trying to take him away! Goodness knows who those two bastards are and where they want to take him to!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he grabbed his phone and wallet and strode out of the room. JingYuan followed close on his heels with car keys in hand. They bumped into Bai Yan at the top of the stairs.

“It’s late,” Yan said, a glass of water in his hand, “where are you two rushing off to?”

YiHan didn’t stop. He walked around Yan as he replied, “Something bad has happened to Jiang-ge! We’re going to save him!”

A loud crash could be heard from behind YiHan, the sound of a glass of water falling to the ground. Even so, YiHan didn’t look back or falter. He opened the door with JingYuan at his side and they jogged over into the garage.

On the way there, YiHan called Chen Feng and asked him to head to the bar with some men, the faster the better.

The Dusky Alley is a bar well-known among the gay community. It’s also a messy place. YiHan was a regular in his last life. He’d yet to step foot in it ever since his rebirth but he knew just how chaotic it was in there. A handsome man like Jiang Hua, with good looks, a good body and was obviously inexperienced, entering the place all alone would immediately attract anyone intent on picking a target. To top it all off, Jiang Hua got drunk. It was easy to imagine how those with bad intentions would be itching to make a move. If it hadn’t been for the bartender’s call… YiHan didn’t want to imagine what could’ve happened. He didn’t know why Jiang Hua, for no apparent reason, would get drunk in that kind of place. YiHan could only hope they can make it in time.

The car sped through the city and screeched to a halt outside of The Dusky Alley. The two men stepped into the bar. Their eyes scanned across every nook and cranny in the bar. Soon, they spot a group of men crowding around a corner of the room.

YiHan and JingYuan looked at each other in the eye and quickly walked over to the crowd. They pulled two men of the crowd aside to check out what they were standing around. As expected, it was Jiang Hua. His eyelids were drooped low as he stood behind the standing figures of two young men, one in a business suit and one in a bartender’s uniform. The trio was surrounded by a ring of men attempting to grab at Jiang Hua. One of the muscular men had a hold on Jiang Hua’s arm. Jiang Hua’s two protectors did their best to loosen the man’s grip but they failed. They weren’t tall or muscular in the first place. Jiang Hua was also drunk to the point of needing support to even stand up straight. The two men had to focus on supporting Jiang Hua while protecting him from the group around them. The tie on the young men in the business suit was crooked. His clothes were tugged askew. The bartender’s bowtie was also barely hanging onto his collar. The two were in such a panicked state that they looked bedraggled.

“I said I’m his friend,” said the man with the grip on Jiang Hua’s arm. “Just who are you? Let go. Or do you want to kidnap him?”

YiHan let out a “Jiang-ge” and charged straight into the fray. JingYuan quickly pulled YiHan aside and grabbed the wrist holding onto Jiang Hua’s arm. JingYuan pulled the hand back hard, forcing the man to let go in pain. Then, JingYuan kicked at the man’s stomach. The man cried out in agony as he took a few steps back from the impact.

The remaining men surrounding Jiang Hua and his two protectors glanced at each other before swarming forward at JingYuan. Anxious and afraid that JingYuan would be overwhelmed, YiHan dashed ahead as well. Upon seeing YiHan joining the fight, JingYuan swiftly made sure he was available to protect YiHan at all times so his lover wouldn’t be hurt. Jiang Hua’s protector in the suit handed the drunk man to the bartender beside him, then he charged into the fight as well. Don’t be mistaken by his slender figure. The man fought fiercely. He punched and lunged at everyone he could reach. As the men brawled, Chen Feng and his men finally arrived. They pushed through the crowd into the fight. JingYuan tugged YiHan out of the battlefield as Chen Feng’s men took care of the other brawlers. Chen Feng and his men were ex-military. As individual fighters, they were very strong. The tables turned and the brawl was soon over. Jiang Hua’s harassers, all eight of them, were pressed into the ground.

All the noise and chatter in the bar was gone. It was now so silent that one could hear a pin drop.

“Are you people crazy?” said one of the men pressed into the ground. He was as thin as a monkey. “Why are you attacking us for no reason?”

“Should I have stood by and watched as you whisk away my brother-in-law?” JingYuan’s deep voice rumbled.

YiHan softly cleared his throat and jabbed an elbow into JingYuan as he looked away.

The man was taken aback. A moment later, he spat through gritted teeth, “What nonsense are you spouting? I’m his friend. I also haven’t heard him mention a family member like you before. What? You were going to kidnap him, weren’t you?”

JingYuan’s eyes bored into the man. “Oh? You’re friends? What is his name then?”

“Of course I do,” the man stubbornly insisted. “But why would I tell you, an outsider?”

“I know it too,” JingYuan replied, “but I can tell you, an outsider. His surname is Jiang and he’s part of the Bai family. You don’t deserve to lay a single finger on him. If you ran off with these losers before we arrived, I might’ve just let it go. Unfortunately, you still refuse to give up. No one can save you now.”

Fear rose within the man when he heard “the Bai family” but he continued protesting, “Who’d know if you’re telling the truth or not? You’re just trying to intimidate us.”

Chen Feng stepped forward and slapped the captured man across the back of his head. “Who do you think you are?” he disdainfully said. “You’re just a nobody. Do you think you’re worth Mr Mu lying to you? You sure think highly of yourself.”

YiHan stepped forward to support Jiang Hua, pulling the drunk man’s arm around his shoulders. YiHan then gently pat the man on the face.

“Jiang-ge?” YiHan softly called out. “Jiang-ge, can you hear me? I’m YiHan. Do you recognise me?”

Jiang Hua squinted at YiHan and whispered the younger man’s name. However, he’d slurred it out so softly that it was hard to tell what the man was saying.

The bartender on Jiang Hua’s other side didn’t let go at YiHan’s approach. “Are you his family?” the young man asked, frowning.

YiHan smiled at the rather dishevelled man and replied, “You’re the bartender who called me just now? My surname is Bai. On the phone just now, I said to you, ‘Please stall them. Don’t let anyone take him away. I’ll be there soon!’ Do you believe me?” As YiHan said so, he pulled out his phone and dialled Jiang Hua’s number.

Music echoed through the bar as a phone on the floor lit up. Chen Feng went to pick up the phone and handed it to YiHan.

“Look,” YiHan said, showing the ringing phone to the bartender. “Did you use this phone to call me just now? You should see my number calling it right now.”

The bartender took the phone and looked down at it. “Brother” was displayed on the cracked screen as the caller. Tension drained out of him.

“My apologies,” the bartender apologetically said. “That group of men kept going on about how they’re his friends or acquaintances. It made me paranoid.” He then handed Jiang Hua over to YiHan.

As YiHan shifted to accept Jiang Hua’s weight, he smiled in gratitude at the bartender and said, “What you did was right. Thank you for calling me. Who knows what would’ve happened otherwise? What’s your name? I’m Bai YiHan from the Bai family. Our family is extremely grateful for what you’ve done today!”

Jiang Hua was so drunk that his legs were wobbly. He couldn’t even support himself anymore. No matter how thin the man was, he was still an adult man. JingYuan could tell YiHan was straining, so he walked over and took Jiang Hua over from YiHan.

The bartender was stunned by YiHan’s admission. He didn’t think there’d be powerful men among the guests today.

“No, no,” said the bartender, shaking his head and waving a hand before him. “I just thought those men didn’t look like good men and I merely poked my nose in where it shouldn’t. No need to thank me. Also, the man just now helped me a lot. If not for him, I wouldn’t have been able to stall them for so long.”

YiHan was in a good mood from having succeeded in saving Jiang Hua. He chuckled and replied, “Don’t say that. Because it might just be an incident of being busybody for you but you’d saved us from a great disaster. Thanks are a must.”

The young bartender still shook his head. He kept silent and wouldn’t tell YiHan his name. JingYuan glanced at the man.

“Zhu Xun?” JingYuan read from the bartender’s nametag. “That’s a good name.”

It was only then did it occur to the young man to cover up his work nametag. Upon hearing YiHan chuckling once more, a red flush bloomed across his face.

YiHan then looked up at Jiang Hua’s other protector, the man in the suit, smiled and said, “Thank you for helping out. I am forever grateful.”

The other man straightened his outfit and walked over, replying, “Excuse me, you’re…are you the Little Master of the Bai family? I’m Lu FengYu. I’m…Secretary Jiang’s friend.”

YiHan took a closer look at the man. The rowdy situation just now had distracted him. Now that the man had tidied himself up a little, YiHan could tell he was rather handsome. YiHan thought back to how hard the man fought to protect Jiang Hua and how furious the man was in the brawl. No matter what, this man didn’t seem like a normal “friend” to YiHan. Even if he was close to Jiang Hua, YiHan had never once heard of him from the other, now drunk, man.

Lu FengYu’s occasional worried glances at Jiang Hua flicked a switch in YiHan’s mind. It’s probably one-sided.

True. With Jiang Hua’s charms and status, it’s more than normal for someone to have romantic feelings for Jiang Hua.

“Thank you so much for protecting Jiang-ge just now,” YiHan said with another smile. “I owe you one. If there’s anything I can ever help you with in the future, please ask away.”

Translator’s Note: Apologies for the missed/late updates! Here they are.

◄Previous • Index• Next►

129. Special Identity

“Mr Qi, I did it for you,” Zhao Hao said, voice quavering even harder. “Please save me.”

“You still dare say you did it for me?” Qi MingYang impatiently rebuked. “After your actions today, not only can I not ensure your safety, I’ve also been dragged into troubled waters! Even if no one says anything, do you not know what kind of person Mu JingYuan is? If he knows you’ve touched a single hair on Bai YiHan, let alone splash boiling hot soup at him, he could torture you to death!”

“It’s not that bad, right?” Zhao Hao warbled. “Little Master Bai wasn’t injured anyway…”

“All dragons have a reverse scale,” Qi MingYang said. “Touch it and you enrage it. Bai YiHan is Mu JingYuan’s ‘reverse scale’. Mu JingYuan himself isn’t a small-minded man. If that pot of soup was aimed at him, he might not bother with you. However, your target was Bai YiHan! It doesn’t matter whether you hurt him or not. Mu JingYuan would never rationalise it out with you. Furthermore, Qin Feng now has his eyes on you.”

“What do I do?” Zhao Hao was on the brink of tears.

“What plan could I have?” the other man shot back, frustrated. “I can only hand you over to Little Master Bai for him to vent his anger out. If you wish to lessen your suffering, think of ways to make him plead for mercy on your behalf. A word from Bai YiHan is more useful than you bashing your head against the ground hundreds of times.”

Zhao Hao dropped to the floor with an audible thump. “Mr Qi, you can’t do this to me. If you send me over, Mu JingYuan would take away half of my entire lifespan!”

“Half?” MingYang coldly said. “I’ve told you, Qin Feng has his eyes on you. If you can’t bear to part with half of your life, then you’d be waiting for Qin Feng’s patience to run out and punish you himself. You’d lose all of your life then. You might not even know how or why you died!”

Snot and tears rolled down Zhao Hao’s face as he repeatedly muttered, “Mr Qi, I did it for you. I didn’t hurt Little Master Bai…”

“And thank goodness he wasn’t hurt,” Qi MingYang interjected. “If he was hurt, Mu JingYuan would likely strangle you to death himself. Ah, right. You must thank Qin Feng for his skilful manoeuvre. Alright. You’re a man. Stop dripping tears and snot everywhere. You’re embarrassing yourself. What were you thinking back then when you acted? Come. Let’s head back.”

“Mr Qi,” Li Guang softly reminded, “aren’t you going to have lunch?”

“Nothing has gone well today!” MingYang snapped. “Who cares about lunch?”

***

After dinner with the Bai family, YiHan pulled JingYuan into their room and began showing off all the loot he’d gotten from his trip to the mall. One by one, he showed them off. After a mini-speech about the “Water, Clouds and Sky” tea set, he then pulled out the wool vest.

“JingYuan, isn’t this vest nice?” YiHan said, holding the wool vest up to his torso. “Do you think Grandfather would like it?”

“It’s very nice,” JingYuan said with a nod. “Grandfather would like anything as long as it’s a present from you.”

YiHan beamed brightly. He held up a scarf and said, “Look at this scarf. It’s so thick and so soft. I’ve tried it on already. It’s super comfortable. Grandfather’s getting old. He gets cold easily in winter. If he has all these, he’d definitely be warm.”

“You’re right,” JingYuan said, wrapping an arm around the younger man. “Grandfather’s heart would warm up just at the sight of these gifts. You have good taste. These all look very nice and suitable for him.”

YiHan fidgeted with the gifts he’d pulled out. It felt like Grandfather was standing before him already. He couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. Ever since his reincarnation, he’d been too afraid to visit his grandfather. They would finally be meeting now. Longing, love and guilt twisted in his heart until they form a complicated and unspeakable emotion.

He packed everything away neatly. Once he was done, his slender fingers began fidgeting with a corner of the fabric.

“Yan Pei went with us today,” YiHan happily said. “She even brought along Yan Hui’s husband. They both have great eyes. They gave me a lot of suggestions and I’m so satisfied with everything I’ve bought on this trip. Oh, right. Qin Feng was there too.”

“What a lively day you had,” JingYuan remarked, lifting an eyebrow as he did so.

“Not only that, we bumped into Qi MingYang too.”

“Him?” JingYuan frowned.

Yihan jerked his chain at the direction of the gifts he’d put away. “Mn. He was also looking for a gift for Grandfather and he also wanted this tea set. But there was only one of it. He was a step too late. I’d already paid. He then came over and we exchanged a few brief words. Later on, when we were walking out of the restaurant we had lunch in, we bumped into him again.”

JingYuan’s brows furrowed harder as he asked, “Intentionally?”

YiHan paused to think about it before answering, “It shouldn’t be. It’s just a coincidence. Speaking of which, Qin Feng saved me today.”

“What happened?”

YiHan looked down at his fidgeting fingers and replied, “One of Qi MingYang’s subordinates seemed to have pushed the server. The young man tripped and nearly splashed me with soup. Fortunately, Qin Feng’s sharp eyes spotted the incident. He pushed me out of the way.” He then looked up at JingYuan, eyes gleaming bright. “You should’ve seen it. His movements were so sleek and beautiful! Ah, but because of that, Qi MingYang recognised him. The other man nearly exposed Qin Feng’s identity but I interrupted him before he could. However, I’m afraid Fang Yi wouldn’t be so easily fooled. If Fang Yi knows who Qin Feng truly is, Qin Feng would be having a hard time. Also, it’d be all because of me. I’d be mortified if that happens.”

A light flashed through JingYuan’s eyes. “Were you hurt?”

“No. I told you. Qin Feng was so strong. With a ‘ha’ and a kick”­ – YiHan imitated Qin Feng’s movements ­– “the pot of soup was sent flying away. Not a single drop landed on me.”

JingYuan stroked YiHan on the head and said, “That’s good. Okay, if Qin Feng’s cover is blown, we’ll go plead to Fang Yi on his behalf. Hm?”

“Mn,” YiHan said, nodding his head.

***

Meanwhile at Fang Yi’s place.

The police officer stared at the man who’d entered his home as if it was his instead of Fang Yi’s.

“Why are you following me into my home?” Fang Yi asked. “Aren’t you going home?”

Qin Feng lazily sprawled out across the couch and replied, “This is my home.”

“Can you be any more shameless?” Fang Yi said, eyes wide in disbelief. “This is my house, my home!”

“What’s with the extra anger today?” Qin Feng asked, glancing up at the policeman.

“I’m extra angry?” Fang Yi coldly smirked. “It’s not as big as your talents. A ‘thug’ who Qi MingYang refers to as ‘mister’ is certainly someone my humble abode isn’t suitable for. What name did he want to call you by? YiHan must’ve known too, right? Otherwise, he wouldn’t interrupt the man and cover for you. Only I’m the fool who truly thinks you’re just a street thug.”

“Lil Fang,” Qin Feng said, scratching his face, “there’s no need to be so serious. No matter what other people call me, I’ll still be the thug you met.”

“Oh?” Fang Yi huffed out, turning to look away from the young man. “How poetic. Is it because there’s a big flashing sign on my face that reads ‘I’m very gullible, come swindle me’?”

Qin Feng looked right at the man and solemnly said, “Lil Fang, I never wanted to lie to you. I’m honest and sincere with you.”

The man standing in the room responded to that with merely a cold chuckle.

“How about I come clean to you then?” Qin Feng sighed. “Will that do?”

Fang Yi crossed his arms on his chest and, cold smirk still on his face, said, “There’s no need. It doesn’t matter who you are. I’m just a lowly policeman. I can’t afford to make enemies with the great man. Take care.”

“You wish to deny our relationship just because of an identity?” Qin Feng asked.

“Were there any relationship between us? Was it one built upon lies?” Fang Yi shot back.

Qin Feng ruffled his hair in frustration, stood up and walked over to Fang Yi. “Lil Fang, must you say such hurtful words?”

“So you’re the poor, miserable one here now?” Fang Yi spat out. “Just who was the one that only lied and lied? I don’t even know who you are! What emotions could be harmed?”

Qin Feng reached out and grabbed the man’s arm. “I said I’ll come clean!”

“It’s too late! I don’t need it! Scram!”

“I won’t!”

“Alright,” Fang Yi hissed, a finger angrily pointing at the young man. “If you won’t leave, I will!”

The policeman grabbed the jacket from where he left it and stomped to the door. He was about to open the door and leave before he stomped right back.

“This is my home,” said Fang Yi. “Why should I leave? You leave!”

Qin Feng laid back down on the couch and stubbornly said, “I won’t!”

Fang Yi could do nothing to that. He could shout and scream at the man but the other would just play dead. Fang Yi can’t win a fight against him. After numerous futile attempts at throwing the man out, Fang Yi just gave up and left him alone in the living room. He stomped off into his bedroom and slammed the door shut with a loud bang.

The living room was left in the bitter cold. While Qin Feng would usually mooch off Fang Yi and sleep on his couch, he would be provided with a blanket at least. Now, there was only an army of one in this room.

Still…

Qin Feng sat up on the couch and laid his head back against the backrest. He wouldn’t leave anyway. Only here can he feel at peace. It was only by Fang Yi’s side did he feel like it was good to be alive.

He glanced at the tightly-shut door then walked over to the apartment entrance. He picked up the jacket Fang Yi had left near it and returned to the couch. Nose buried in the jacket’s collar as the clothing draped over him like a blanket, the man happily closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

***

Back in YiHan’s room, the young man was sprawled out on his bed. He pondered and mused but he just couldn’t stop worrying. So he called Fang Yi with his phone.

As soon as the other man picked up, YiHan asked, “Fang Yi, is Qin An at your place?”

There was a silent pause before the police officer replied, “YiHan, is his name Qin An?”

YiHan gulped hard. “Y-You know?” he whispered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to keep it from you but if his identity is known, you two couldn’t have been close friends. He’s probably too scared to tell you because he thinks the same too.”

“I know,” the other man said, shooting a glance at the door separating him from the man in the living room. “You don’t need to apologise. It’s not your fault.”

“But you must know that we all truly think of you as a friend,” YiHan emphasised. “You mustn’t doubt that.”

“Mn, I know,” said the man over the phone.

“Then,” YiHan cautiously asked, “what do you plan to do about Qin An?”

“Who’s Qin An?” Fang Yi asked in return.

“Qin Feng!” YiHan hurriedly said. “What do you plan to do about Qin Feng?”

Fang Yi let out a snort. He gritted his teeth and turned the question over in his mind. YiHan had yet to realise he’d just sold out Qin Feng. All he heard were teeth gritting over the phone. It made him nervous on Qin Feng’s behalf.

“Fang Yi?” YiHan softly called out.

The older man snapped out of his thoughts. He paused to think on the question posed to him before sighing, “I don’t know.”

“Where is he now?” asked YiHan.

“He’s in my living room. He refuses to leave,” Fang Yi replied.

“Fang Yi, it’s not easy for him either,” YiHan said. “He’s truly sincere when it comes to you. Why not just forgive him? His identity’s rather special. He can’t just let someone he just met know about it. Then, you two became friends and he kept silent because he’s afraid you’d be angry.”

“Special? What’s special about his identity?” asked Fang Yi.

Translator’s Notes:

Dragged into troubled waters: The literal translation is “now, even I stink” or “even I smell fishy (because of you)”.

Li Guang: The original text said “Zhao Guang”. As Zhao Hao’s name had appeared multiple times already, this typo was likely referring to the other man in the room.

◄Previous • Index• Next►

128. A Lively Day

Qin Feng had acted so swiftly and fluidly that it seemed easy. He then loosened his grip on the server’s shirt and dusted off his hands. Those forever sleepy eyes of his opened wider.

“Mr Qi should teach your subordinates to pay more heed to what their hands are doing when walking. We wouldn’t want a disaster to happen. If Little Master Bai was hurt, we’d all be having a bad day.”

Qin Feng had been silently walking by YiHan’s side during both encounters so Qi MingYang didn’t notice the man’s presence. MingYang was surprised to hear those words. He took a closer look at the man and it shocked him to the core. Suppressing the urge to show any of his emotions visibly, MingYang took another look to confirm if Qin Feng was really who MingYang thought he was.

MingYang forced a smile out and muttered, “Qin…”

“Qin An,” YiHan interrupted, “were you hurt?”

Qin Feng glanced at YiHan. His smile softened. “Who do you think I am?” he replied. “It’s just a pot of soup. How could it hurt me?”

From the words Qin Feng uttered before, Yan Pei knew the server’s stumble wasn’t accidental. She was about to speak up when Zhang Su placed a firm hand on her shoulder. With a pout, she closed her mouth.

MingYang was stunned by the interruption. He paused to gather his thoughts and said, “Mr Qin, you seem to be quite close to Little Master Bai? How peculiar.”

“We’re just friends,” Qin Feng said. His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Anyone should have friends. I’m no exception. However, I’m sure you know my greatest flaw is I’m overprotective of my friends.”

MingYang froze. He glanced at his two subordinates. The man to his left was looking visibly guilty. The man’s eyes darted wildly around the room. MingYang shot the man a dark look and turned back to Qin Feng.

“I understand,” he said, a smile back on his face. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure Little Master Bai will be happy with how things end.”

Qin Feng lazily waved a hand at Qi MingYang. The hand then landed on Fang Yi’s shoulder. The policeman shot a glance at the younger man but did nothing to the hand. Instead, he went along with the force behind the hand back to YiHan.

MingYang gave YiHan an apologetic nod and led his two men into the restaurant.

YiHan and his group then headed for the elevators. Inside the lift, Yan Pei was sulking in a corner with puffed cheeks.

“Are you upset because I didn’t let you talk?” Zhang Su said with a smile and a pat to her head.

The girl shot a glare at the man and remained silent.

“You’re such a pure-hearted and just girl,” the man continued. “That’s good. However, in this social circle, a lot can be done behind other people’s back yet a calm and peaceful appearance must be maintained. I know your temper. If you speak, the words you’ll say would never be kind. You were standing by Bai YiHan’s side. That’s a show of the Yan family’s attitude to him. There’s no need to make things awkward. It’s fine as long as everyone knows deep down what happened. Didn’t you see how he kept quiet too? Moreover, Qi MingYang might not have arranged for the incident to occur.”

“As a daughter of the Yan family, I understand all of that,” the girl muttered. “But I still feel anger blazing within me. If not for Qin An, that pot of soup would’ve landed on YiHan. Who knows how badly burnt he’d be then?”

Her eyes then sparkled. “However, Qin An, you’re such a great fighter. That kick, that push, that pull – you were so cool! We didn’t even realise it was a trick but you did!”

“I have someone I wish to protect,” Qin Feng smiled back. “How could I not be strong?” He then glanced at Fang Yi. The other man looked away, hiding from the emotions swirling deep in that gaze.

A secretive smirk crossed Pei’s lips before anger overtook her once more. “I told you that Qi MingYang is a small-minded man. No one would believe me. See? He ordered his man to splash boiling hot soup at YiHan!”

“You might be wrongfully accusing him,” YiHan said. “I know a little of him. While he can be quite narrow-minded, he’s also a thorough man. If he wished to do something, it wouldn’t be so obvious. What happened today wasn’t that major, not to the point where he’d hate me and wish to act on it immediately.”

“What? Did his subordinate do that out of boredom?” she shot back.

“That man is likely an ass-kisser,” Fang Yi chimed in. “Unfortunately, he kissed somewhere else instead. That guess is still quite a stretch though. As YiHan said, what happened today was nothing big. If Qi MingYang would get angry over something so trivial, he’d have died long ago from anger. Unless, something else happened between YiHan and Qi MingYang. It could be why that man thought he could suck up to his master by ‘teaching YiHan a lesson’.”

“Lil Fang, you’re right. Somewhat,” Qin Feng chuckled. “That man is a bootlicker, but Qi MingYang is even pettier than you thought. Think about it. Men like that are best at gauging their master’s thoughts. If the man wasn’t this narrowminded, how could that subordinate have acted/ The only reason why Qi MingYang is still alive is because of his social status. Most of his grudges can be resolved on the spot, rarely would he be forced to swallow his fury. However, today’s incident didn’t happen on his orders. For sure. As YiHan said, he would never be so obvious. While YiHan holds no power in the Bai Group, he holds a social rank equal to Qi MingYang. Not only do the Bai and Mu families dote on him, everyone knows of how madly in love the Chen family heir is with Miss Bai. And everyone knows Miss Bai loves her younger brother the most. Additionally, YiHan has been getting quite close to the Yan family. The old Mr Yan’s liking for him is clear to see. No matter how small-minded Qi MingYang is, he wouldn’t do anything to YiHan over such a minor issue. YiHan is likely one of the few who can make his suppress his rage.”

“Would he play some underhanded trick behind our backs then?” Fang Yi hurriedly asked. “My god. It’s my first time ever meeting someone so petty. Surely it’s a mental illness of some sort now?”

“Don’t worry,” Qin Feng replied, a hand stroking against his jaw. “He shouldn’t. YiHan’s worth is enough to keep him at bay. The man might be spiteful but he’s smart. He knows there’s a time and place for everything. I trust he wouldn’t be that stupid.”

YiHan nodded in agreement. He then looked deep into Qin Feng’s eyes. There was a glint of a smile in those eyes that made Qin Feng’s mouth subtly smirk. With eyes narrowed into slits, the thug then walked out of the lift, still sprawled on Fang Yi’s shoulders.

Meanwhile, there was a suffocating presence looming in a private room of the restaurant the group had departed from.

“Zhao Hao,” hissed Qi MingYang, glowering at his subordinate, “you’ve gotten great at causing trouble for me. Why didn’t you think of your place before you acted? Do you think the third son of the Bai family is someone you can pull tricks on? Even if you were to harm him, you can’t do it directly! You are my man. Every move you make is connected to my intents. Today, you publicly attempted to splash hot soup at Little Master Bai. Everyone would now think I ordered you to do so!”

“This one thought to teach him a little lesson because I saw him snatch the tea set from you, wasting all the time you’d spent looking for the gift,” Zhao Hao stammered. “I-I-I didn’t think of anything more than than.”

“If you want to do that, then be smart and precise with it!” Qi MingYang bellowed. “Don’t let anyone realise it’s you and connect it to me! But you were so foolish that you were caught red-handed. Can you be any more of an idiot?”

“Mr Qi,” the other man murmured, “I was being very careful. I thought no one would’ve realised. I didn’t think that Qin guy had such sharp eyes.”

MingYang’s palm came up and supported his forehead as the man sighed, “You think you’re skilled enough to fool Qin Feng? That man is the head of the Hidden Dragon! With one hand, he could defeat you over and over and over again. You’re quite unlucky to have done such a thing under his nose. It’s considered generous of him to not cripple you right before my eyes!”

“Shouldn’t the head of the Hidden Dragon be with his men?” Zhao Hao gasped in fright. “Why is he by Little Master Bai’s side?”

“I don’t know either,” MingYang fumed. “The Hidden Dragon never bothered itself with the five great families. No enemies, no friendships. Why is he so friendly with Bai YiHan all of a sudden? Does he wish to cross the divide?”

Li Guang, who’d been standing by Zhao Hao’s side, then spoke up, “Didn’t Qin Feng say he was merely making a friend?”

“Your thinking is way too simple,” Zhao Hao replied. “Every move the people in this circle makes has a deeper meaning behind it. If he only wanted a friend, there are plenty of people in this city. Why must it be someone from the five great families? Why must it be someone from the main Bai family? It’s clear he wished to befriend the Bai family instead.”

“You’re smart,” MingYang said to Zhao Hao, “so smart that you dragged me down the waters with you. Even if I announce to the whole wide world I didn’t mean for today’s incident to occur, would anyone believe me? It’s not like you don’t know of the complex social network Bai YiHan has. How could you be so obvious? You’re not hurting him, you’re hurting me! Now, there’s a Qin Feng added into the mix. That man is the worst! Everyone who knows him knows just how cruel he is. He’s a man who strangled his own father to death!”

Zhao Hao and Li Guang didn’t dare speak anymore. They silently stood there.

Qi MingYang slowly thought back to every word Qin Feng said to him earlier. “But,” he mused, “from what he’s said, he should have no ties to the Bai family. He’s only protective over Bai YiHan. As long as we don’t hurt Bai YiHan, he won’t act. He had said nothing for the whole day. He only acted when Bai YiHan was in danger. It seems like he didn’t even want to announce his presence had it not been for your moronic actions. If he secretly made a deal with the Bai family, he wouldn’t expose himself today. That means he must really just wish to make a friend. True, this man is cruel. But it’s also true that he’s overprotective of his own.”

“If we can’t do anything to Bai YiHan, then wouldn’t it mean the anger you’ve felt today would need to be kept inside forever, sir?” Zhao Hao softly asked.

“Is there something wrong with your brain?” Qi MingYang coldly smirked. “Out of the five great families in this city, he has four of them protecting him. Now, even the Hidden Dragon of the underworld is standing by his side. Who could hurt him? Anyway, nothing major happened. Is there a need to risk our lives for a tea set?”

“Four?” said Zhao Hao.

“I said you were stupid,” said Qi MingYang, “but I didn’t think you were brain-dead. Of course, there are the Mu and Bai families. In the Chen family, Chen TianYang’s standing is of no question. As long as he lives, he will, sooner or later, hold the reins. That man’s entire heart belongs to Bai XueQing. The two are now confirmed to be dating and everyone knows who Bai XueQing dotes on the most! The old Mr Yan has publicly proclaimed his liking for the boy. Yan Cheng is a filial son. Whatever the old Mr Yan says, goes. Moreover, didn’t you see Yan Pei standing by Bai YiHan’s side? And that man who steadied the boy. That is Yan Hui’s legally married husband!”

Zhao Hao’s face went stark pale. His voice trembled as he said, “Mr Qi, then I…”

“Do you only just realise what a bad situation you’ve put yourself in? After all I’ve said? ” Qi MingYang asked, “Zhao Hao, I can’t protect you this time.”

◄Previous • Index• Next►

127. A Lively Day

YiHan nearly had his breath knocked out of him by Qin Feng’s claps to YiHan’s shoulder. Fang Yi walked over and smacked Qin Feng’s back as hard as he could.

“Not so hard!” Fang Yi scolded. “Do you think he’s as rough as you? You’re a thug. Why would YiHan ever need you? To help out in a brawl?”

“Lil Fang,” Qin Feng whined, “can’t you leave me some dignity intact?”

Fang Yi side-eyed the man and kept silent.

YiHan eventually caught his breath. “Let’s get in the car,” he said, holding back a laugh.

Not long after the car departed from the gates of the Bai family home, YiHan received a call from Yan Pei. She chattered and begged over the phone for him to go play with her. She said that she even had a bodyguard with her, just for his safety.

All YiHan could answer in reply was to tell her about his plans for the day.

“Then let’s go together!” Pei eagerly cried. “Let’s go! I can help give you ideas too. I’ve got great tastes!

YiHan glanced at Fang Yi. Upon seeing the older man shrug to show he didn’t mind the additional company, YiHan replied, “How about we meet up at the strip mall in Wen Fang?”

“Okay,” Pei excitedly replied. “We’ll head there right now! Quick, Zhang-ge! Get in the car!” It was obvious the last two lines were directed at someone else behind her. YiHan thought for a moment. She called the other person “Zhang-ge”. That should be Yan Hui’s significant other. What a surprise. What a lively day it’ll be.

When the trio arrived at the strip mall, Yan Pei could be spotted from afar, enthusiastically jumping up and down and waving her hands. Beside her stood a tall man.

YiHan and the other two men walked towards them and the two parties introduced each other. As expected, that man was Yan Hui’s legally married husband. His name was Zhang Su. The man was very tall and quite lanky. His skin was a pale white, as if it rarely ever sees the sun. He looked like a proper gentleman dressed in a white collar shirt and beige slacks. A pair of rimless spectacles perched on top of his straight nose, making him seem like a studious scholar. YiHan could sense an air of books around him. The man didn’t say much but his manner of speaking was very elegant and refined.

The group of five made their way through the crowds and into the mall. They wandered from shop to shop. Pei was animatedly chattering non-stop. YiHan had picked out two vests made of goat wool, some winter scarves, gloves and hats, but none of those could be used as birthday presents. The group then turned their focus to the antique stores.

Everyone in the group were of the same age group. Soon, they were familiar with each other. Pei pulled YiHan back as the group headed to the next shop.

“YiHan, your two friends are a couple, right?” she whispered.

“No,” he said. “They’re friends. Don’t talk nonsense or they’ll feel awkward.”

“Ooh,” Pei drawled with an evil smirk. “Little YiHan, you’re too pure. You must trust in my eyes. There’s definitely something going on between them!”

YiHan looked up ahead at Fang Yi and Qin Feng only to watch Qin Feng attempt to put his arm around Fang Yi’s shoulders while the other man would constantly push it off.

“You see that?” cackled Pei. “There’s no way their relationship could be that simple. Even if they’re not a couple now, they’d absolutely be one in the future.”

“How do you know?” YiHan couldn’t help but lower his voice and whisper back.

“Nothing can escape my eagle eyes!” said, giving a proud little laugh. “Look. I won’t talk about Qin An. It’s all too obvious what he thinks of Fang Yi. As for Yi, the man looks like he’s rejecting on the surface but if he really didn’t feel anything for the younger man, he can just pull away. Why is he still walking beside him? It’s clearly a ‘yes’ wrapped in a ‘no’!”

“You have great observation skills,” YiHan commended.

“Of course!” Her chin was held high in pride.

YiHan glanced at Zhang Su who’d been walking by them and whispered to her, “Didn’t you say your brother keeps Zhang Su well-hidden? How did you invite him out?”

“Naturally, it’s because I’m amazing!” She was so happy she could fly. “My brother can be as thorough as he wants but he’s still human. It’s how I got to Zhang-ge. Zhang-ge actually likes me a lot. I just need to plead prettily and he’ll cave in. As long as I send him home before the evening, my brother wouldn’t find out.”

YiHan was curious. “Why doesn’t your brother let you talk to Zhang Su?”

“Hmph!” Pei pouted. “He said he’s afraid I’d teach Zhang-ge bad habits! As if he’s perfect. He’s like the Big Bad Wolf! He’s just afraid I’ll expose his true self to Zhang-ge!”

“And you still have him come with you all this way?” YiHan sighed. “Won’t your brother be furious if he finds out?”

“I’ve wanted to introduce you two for a long time,” she exclaimed, eyes glimmering brightly. “Do you know what’s the happiest thing that can happen to a fujoshi? It’s being a friend to two ultimate bottoms! Bwahahaha! I’m living the best life possible, alright?”

“Who said I’m a bottom?” YiHan said, embarrassment turning into anger. “I’m a top, okay?”

“Okay, I believe you,” she said after pausing to give him a pitying look.

“What’s with that glance?” YiHan could feel the comical black lines descending down his forehead. “It’s true!”

“Yes, yes. I know. I believe you’re a top too. You’re a strong top! Okay? There, there,” she coaxed.

YiHan: …

***

It was nearly noon by the time YiHan finally found something he liked, a tea set made of purple clay. The teacups and pot were quite plain without any decorative touches or any sharp corners. The smooth rounded clay surface gleamed. They were exactly the kind of tea set YiHan’s grandfather liked. YiHan was very satisfied with his find, so he had Chen Feng go pay while he watched the store staff pack the tea set into a box.

“That tea set looks nice. Find me another of the kind. I want to take a closer look at it,” a man’s voice rang out from beside YiHan.

The manager walked over and said, “Our sincerest apologies, Mr Qi. We only have one of the ‘Water, Clouds and Sky’ set. Mr Bai here has already paid for it. We do have plenty of other great tea sets in stock. Perhaps you’d like to take a look?”

YiHan turned to look at the voice to find that man looking back at him.

“Ah, it’s Little Master Bai,” the man said, walking over with a smile and a hand stretched out for a handshake. “What a coincidence. Miss Yan, you’re here too.”

Pei smiled back at the man and nodded in greeting.

YiHan politely smiled at the man and shook his hand. “Yes. Unfortunately, I bought this ‘Water, Clouds and Sky’ tea set for my grandfather. Otherwise, I’d let you have it.”

“It’s fine, Little Master Bai,” Qi MingYang said, smile still present. “It’s a purchase. It’s first come, first served, let alone it being a gift for the old Mr Bai. Even if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t make you give up on it. Are you getting it as a birthday gift for your grandfather?”

“Yes,” YiHan answered. “How do you know, Mr Qi?”

“There’s really no such thing as a pure coincidence. I was thinking of getting that tea set as a gift for the old Mr Bai too. In that case, it doesn’t matter who buys the tea set. I’ll find something else.”

“Alright, Mr Qi. Take care,” YiHan said, nodding in farewell.

“See you,” Qi MingYang said.

The man left the store first. Once the tea set was all packed away, Yan Pei and YiHan walked out of the shop.

“I don’t like him,” she whispered to YiHan, hand in his arm.

“What is it?” he asked. “What don’t you like about him? Oh, is it because he’s straight?”

“This isn’t a question of sexuality,” she solemnly replied. “Am I that shallow?”

At YiHan’s side-eye, she sighed, “Alright, I’m quite shallow. But this time, it’s really not because of that. He’s always smiling at everyone but he’s actually quite petty. If anyone ever offended him once, he’d bear a grudge against them for his whole life. Even if we were in the right back there, he’d think we snatched something from him. He might bear a grudge against us for that. Anyway, I just don’t like him.”

“Oh,” YiHan slowly let out. “It’s not that serious, right?”

Zhang Su, who was beside them during the whole incident, chuckled and patted Pei on the head. “We all belong to the same social circle. There’s no need to cause a fuss. Nod in greeting when you do meet him and it’ll be fine. If you don’t like him, you can just avoid interacting with him in your daily life.”

“Mn,” Pei nodded hard in agreement. “Zhang-ge is right. But, YiHan, you need to be careful of him. Just in case he ends up getting revenge against you.”

“That won’t happen,” YiHan replied.

“I’m serious,” she said. “Anyway, just be a little more cautious. Caution is the parent of safety.”

“Yes, I know,” YiHan said, nodding. “It’s noon now. Come, let’s go get lunch. What do you want?”

“Let’s see what everyone else says. Guys, what do you want to eat?” Pei replied.

“You’re the only girl among us. Of course we have to go with your choice,” YiHan said.

“In that case,” she mused, hand on her chin, “let’s head to the top floor. There’s a really good restaurant up there. I’ve been there a few times.”

YiHan asked around. No one objected to the suggestion so everyone went straight for the restaurant.

As the only regular of the shop, Pei took up the burden of ordering. With an ease born from habit, she swiftly ordered a few signature dishes. Everyone else then added a few more to the list and their table was settled. Indeed, the food was delicious. The group had also been walking around for the whole morning. They were starving by the time the food came. They were enthusiastically downed their meal. Coincidentally, they bumped into Qi MingYang once more on their way out.

The man was heading into the restaurant. When he spotted them, he smiled and greeted, “It seems we’re destined to meet today, Little Master Bai. We meet once more.”

“Yes,” YiHan replied, politely smiling back. “Here for lunch as well, Mr Qi?”

The man nodded and said, “This place has very good food.”

YiHan nodded along in agreement. They exchanged a few more words and said their goodbyes. YiHan and his group walked out of the shop. MingYang walked into the shop with two men by his side. As the two men passed by each other, a server walked by with a pot of soup. One of the men behind Qi MingYang drifted slightly closer to the server and, in a seemingly accidental move, tapped a spot on the server’s back. He was right behind the server as he did so. With the server’s form blocking his actions from sight, no one saw what he did. The server was caught off-guard. He stumbled and tripped forward along with the soup in his hands. Bai YiHan just so happened to be right in front of the server.

Fang Yi and Qin Feng were walking a few steps behind YiHan. The police officer had fast reflexes. His hands were up and about to block YiHan from being splashed when the man beside him, Qin Feng, had acted. With his left hand. Qin Feng pushed YiHan away. His right leg swept up and kicked the pot of soup away. In the chaos that ensued, the man still had the time to reach out with his other hand and grab the shirt collar of the server, saving the young employee from falling flat on his face. A loud crash rang in their ears. The pot of soup had fallen to the floor. The ceramic pot shattered. Steam rose from the puddle of boiling-hot soup.

YiHan stumbled forwards from the force of the push and was steadied by Zhang Su. Upon hearing the commotion, Qi MingYang looked back.

“What happened, Little Master Bai?” MingYang hurriedly asked. “Were you hurt?”

YiHan stood straight and replied with a smile, “I’m fine. Thankfully, no one was hurt.”

Translator’s Notes:

Eagle Eyes: Actual translation = “fiery eyes/penetrating eyesight”. The phrase came from Journey to the West. It’s the skill Wukong uses to differentiate demons from humans. The CGI artists usually show his eyes glowing gold. The phrase’s modern meaning is eyesight so sharp that they could see what’s true and what’s not.

‘Yes’ wrapped in a ‘no’: No. No matter what this story says, a no is a no. It doesn’t matter that the other person could’ve pulled away at any time, it’s still scummy. Not everyone has the courage to reject a friendly face as people often are afraid the other person could react badly. If you ever find anyone in this kind of situation and you’re close/acquainted with the people involved, an intervention might be needed. However, some people do like to play “hard to get”. Always confirm if both parties are aware of what’s going on and had time to think about what they want before staging an outright intervention.

So happy she could fly: The original phrase is “so happy (pretty in mtl) that a bubble swelled from their nose”. It means extremely happy as the explanation given was when kids are happy, a big bubble would appear on their nose (formed from their snot). This phrase is usually used to mock other people for being too happy.

Qi MingYang: Just in case anyone has forgotten, this is the Bai family’s prime suspect for the mastermind behind YiHan’s trauma. He’s the son of the man (Qi Kun) who has a lifelong grudge against Bai Pa due to competition and being thoroughly defeated after years of assuming he was better than Bai Pa.

Caution is the parent of safety: Literal translation, “Caution steers the 10,000-year-old boat”.

Pot of soup: For those unfamiliar, some restaurants serve their soups in little pots like below. It’s usually an implied sign of quality as only the higher-end/soup-focused restaurants would bother buying crockery just for soup and nothing else.

◄Previous • Index• Next►

126. More and More Childish

JingYuan gently bit down on YiHan’s shoulder. His hips sank lower in a light thrust and a moan escaped YiHan’s lips.

“What are you doing? Get out,” YiHan demanded, tears shimmering in the corners of his bloodshot eyes.

The older man remained silent. He merely twitched his hips. YiHan could feel the change going on within him and scrambled to crawl away, but JingYuan locked his waist in with an arm around it.

“You big pervert!” YiHan mewled in dread. “Again? I don’t want to! I want to sleep!”

JingYuan slowly thrust further in as he coaxed, “There, there, HanHan. I just want to change the focus of your attention. I don’t want you to keep thinking about unhappy thoughts.”

YiHan moaned. He shook his head and stammered out between moans, “I don’t need…don’t need you to. I’m…I’m happy. I-I want to sleep!”

JingYuan’s hips moved faster. “Just a while,” he panted. “You’ll sleep much better…”

YiHan’s forehead fell to the pillow, his breath coming out in harsh pants as he moaned and begged, “No…slow down…”

“I can’t, HanHan…”

***

The next morning, YiHan laid in bed as he savoured his back massage. JingYuan obediently kneaded YiHan’s slim waist. Once in a while, his hands would dip lower down that slender body.

“Enough, you,” YiHan pouted, at his wit’s end with the distracted man. “Wasn’t last night enough? Massage my waist properly!”

“It wasn’t,” JingYuan replied with a serious face.

“You darned pervert!” YiHan glowered.

“Do you want me to have enough?” JingYuan leaned down.

YiHan choked. A blush overtook his face and he roared, “Focus on the massage!”

JingYuan chuckled and changed the topic, “In less than a month, it’ll be your grandfather’s birthday. You gave the go game set to old Mr Yan, so what do you plan on giving Grandfather?”

YiHan went quiet for a moment then said, “I don’t know yet. Maybe I’ll go look around the shops tomorrow.”

“Okay, I’ll go with you.”

“Don’t you need to go to work? I’m just going to buy a present. You don’t need to follow me. I can go by myself.”

“No way.” JingYuan frowned. “It’s dangerous for you to be out alone.”

“So much time has passed already. That person can’t eye me up all the time. I can’t spend my entire life glued to your side whenever I leave the house, right?”

“It’s my fault,” JingYuan rumbled, his hands steadily kneaded YiHan’s waist, “for having yet to pull the mastermind out of the shadows. I’m why you’re restricted in all your outings.”

“What does it have to do with you?” YiHan giggled.

JingYuan pursed his lips and remained silent.

“Look,” said YiHan after a moment of contemplation. “Even if you go to work now, it’d be late. You can’t always push aside your work for me. How about this? I’ll call Fang Yi and ask if he has time to go shopping with me. You can stop worrying then, right? Fang Yi’s a good fighter.”

JingYuan didn’t seem particularly happy about it.

YiHan turned around and patted the older man on the hand. “You can’t always be by my side. The Mu Group needs you to oversee it. I promise I’ll do all I can to protect myself and not make you worry. Well?”

JingYuan didn’t say a word.

YiHan took his phone and called Fang Yi. The call was soon answered.

“Hey,” Fang Yi said. “YiHan?”

The young man held one of JingYuan’s hands close as he replied, “Hey, how’s my case going?”

“We’ve found some clues but we can’t confirm them yet,” the officer solemnly said. “Captain Chen said we can’t let anyone know for now.”

“Okay, I understand,” YiHan understandingly said. “I’m calling to ask if you’re free in the next few days.”

“I am. I’m off shift the day after tomorrow. Is there something you need?”

“Oh, my grandfather’s birthday is coming up soon. I want to find him a present but JingYuan’s too worried to let me go alone. I was wondering if you’re free to go with me so he can relax.”

“Sure. Day after tomorrow?”

“Okay. Let’s get in contact on that morning.”

“Alright. I’ll come to your home then.”

“It’s fine. I’ll have a driver pick you up. We’ll go together.”

YiHan then ended the call. He wiggled the phone in his hand at JingYuan as he gave the man a wink and said, “This’ll be fine, right? I’ll be going with Fang Yi the day after tomorrow.”

“Fine,” said JingYuan after a moment of hesitation. “Be careful.”

YiHan meekly nodded.

JingYuan blinked back at YiHan. He patted the young man on the butt as he said, “Aren’t you going to get up then?”

“The plan’s on the day after tomorrow. Why do I have to get up now?”

“Weren’t you telling me to go to work? Hurry up and get up then.”

YiHan slumped back onto the bed and closed his eyes. “You still want me to go with you? No. I don’t want to. I want to sleep.”

JingYuan gently swung the hand he was holding and soothed, “Then sleep. I’ll help you get changed and carry you out. You can keep sleeping then, okay?” As he said so, he began unbuttoning YiHan’s shirt.

YiHan opened his eyes and swiftly stopped the hands on his chest. “Please. If you do that, I wouldn’t be able to look at anyone else in the eye tomorrow.”

“How will you get to the office then?” JingYuan insistently continued.

“Please,” YiHan said in exasperation. “You’re going to the office to work. All I do over there is eat and play. I’d get self-conscious, alright?”

“Did someone say something?” JingYuan scowled. “Or did Chen Hong treat you badly?”

“Dear, are our brains on the same wavelength?” Yihan lightly smacked the man on the head. “I was talking about how I don’t fit in with your office’s serious work environment. What does it have to do with Chen Hong? Every time I’m there, he’d give me a lot of delicious snacks and things to occupy myself with. I get embarrassed. Go to work by yourself?”

JingYuan stared back in silence before finally rising to get changed. The miserable sight of his back looked so forlorn.

YiHan stared after the man’s shadow before getting up to walk to the man. He walked around to look at the man in the face but JingYuan turned his head away, insistent on not letting YiHan see the emotions on his face. YiHan went to help JingYuan put on his tie. The older man wanted to dodge away but he couldn’t bear to do so. He stiffly stood there and watched with lowered eyes at YiHan’s slipper-clad feet.

The young man grabbed JingYuan’s hands. The older man used the tiniest fraction of the strength to struggle out of it and failed. He then just let his hands lay limp in the other’s grip, but he adamantly refused to hold those hands.

YiHan leaned up and pecked the man on the lips. JingYuan’s lashes fluttered as he pursed his lips and glanced up at the man. Upon seeing no intention in the younger man to get changed, he turned away, sighed and walked towards the door.

JingYuan’s steps were heavy and shuffled across the floor. The short journey to the door was dragged out to a few long minutes. When he finally reached the door, he placed a hand on the doorknob and stood there for a long silent moment. When he still didn’t hear any attempts to make him stay, he harshly turned the doorknob a few times before eventually open the door, disappointment weighing down his shoulders.

YiHan watched JingYuan’s entire act, torn between laughing and crying. Just as JingYuan opened the door and was about to despondently charge out, YiHan couldn’t hold back anymore.

“Wait,” YiHan called.

JingYuan instantly let go of the door and turned back to the closet. “If you sincerely don’t want to go, then you can rest at home.”

YiHan was about to speak when JingYuan, who already had a shirt in his hands, interjected, “How about this white collar shirt?”

“…Fine.”

Why has the ever-strict and mature JingYuan become more and more childish?

I might not truly understand my husband!

Why is the Mu JingYuan I see different to the man everyone else sees?

Like a doll, YiHan was dressed by a serene JingYuan and was led out the door by the hand. When they reached the top of the staircase, YiHan tugged his hand out of JingYuan’s.

When the older man felt his hand become empty, he turned to look back at YiHan. The younger man’s heart ached at that gaze.

“You can hold my hand once we’re out of the house,” YiHan carefully coaxed. “We can’t let my parents see us like that.”

JingYuan fully turned around and whispered back, “When do you plan on telling them about us?”

“I don’t know yet,” YiHan said, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, JingYuan. I’m just so scared it’ll hurt them.”

JingYuan nodded. The couple then walked down the stairs, side by side.

Once the two were in JingYuan’s car, YiHan turned to look at JingYuan.

“Are you angry?” YiHan cautiously asked.

The older man lifted a hand to smooth back the other’s hair and said with a smile, “I’m not that easily angered. You’re afraid your parents would be upset. I can understand that but we’re going to be spending the rest of our lives together, HanHan. We would even get married sometime soon in the future. We can’t keep it from your family forever. We have to find a suitable chance to tell them the truth. We’d be respecting them then.”

YiHan solemnly nodded.

JingYuan started the car. As he turned out of the garage, he continued, “Furthermore, I sneak into your room every night while everyone’s asleep. I feel like a lusty horndog every time I do that.”

“It’s fine,” YiHan said, smiling back. “I like lusty.”

The car swerved around the corner. The driver’s eyes stayed focused on the road but a red blush could be seen tinting the tips of his ears.

YiHan cleared his throat, closed his eyes and said, “I’ll take a nap. Call me once we’re there.”

JingYuan let out a soft “mn” in response.

The couple walked together through the Mu Group office building and into JingYuan’s officer under the gaze of every employee they passed by. As YiHan sat down on his personal couch, Chen Hong piled a mountain of snacks, magazines, a laptop and several gaming devices on the table before him. The secretary took the task so seriously it was as if he was handling a vital task.

When Chen Hong was done, YiHan thanked him. Looking at the vast array of items before him, YiHan internally sighed. As expected of a top-tier personal assistant. The man was very thoughtful. He’d merely observed YiHan for a few short days yet he already knew what YiHan liked. Everything displayed on the table was something YiHan had displayed a preference for. YiHan quietly grabbed a bag of beef jerky and began munching.

Ah, he had fallen from grace.

Two days later, YiHan was standing at his home’s doors, waiting for the car sent for Fang Yi to arrive. To his surprise, Fang Yi wasn’t the only passenger in Uncle Xu’s car.

YiHan’s lips twitched as he watched Qin Feng languidly step out of the car.

The man walked up to YiHan and, a smile on his face, said, “We meet again, Little Master Bai. If you don’t mind, how about you take me with you today?”

YiHan glanced at the embarrassed Fang Yi and let out a light-hearted laugh. “We’ve shared a meal before. Why are you acting so polite? Anyway, there’s nothing safer than having you with us. Right, Qin An?”

Qin Feng lowly chuckled and gave YiHan’s shoulder a few hard claps. “I knew it. I like you, Little Master Bai. We’re friends now. If you ever need me in the future, just ask Lil Fang to get me.”

Translator’s Note:

Technically rape in the first scene but some people (stories) like to pretend it’s some romantic gesture.

◄Previous • Index• Next►

125. Don’t Give Him Hope

“If your brother finds out you compared him to a woman, he’d faint from anger,” Jiang Hua laughed.

“Let him faint!” YiHan said, brows still locked in a frown. “Jiang-ge, don’t think about all those what-ifs just yet. Let me go scout out what he thinks first. Perhaps you’re not the target. Just wait for my call.”

However, Jiang Hua didn’t relax from YiHan’s assurance. “You don’t need to comfort me. It’s clear he has something against me. I can’t be wrong. Let me give you an example. He could be chatting with someone else, smiling all the while, but the moment he’d see me, his face would instantly darken.” He mockingly chuckled. “It’s fine though. I’ve thought things through. I’d never planned on having anything with him. Even if he fires me, I’d be close to him as long as I stay in this city. Perhaps we would still be able to see each other then. Even if we couldn’t, it has its own benefits. Not seeing each other means my heart can have more peace. At least I don’t need to watch him get married and have kids. It’s not bad to keep the fantasy I’d always kept deep in my heart alive.”

“How could you be so unambitious?” YiHan fumed. “Don’t be so pessimistic. Let me talk to him first.”

“Don’t ask him,” Hua said. “If he thinks I persuaded you to do that, if he thinks I’ve been trying to goad you two into fighting, he’d hate me even more.”

“Oh, Jiang-ge,” YiHan sighed, “the more you care, the more chaotic your mind. I’m not a fool. I won’t expose you. Just wait for my news. Even if you have to die, you must at least know why. Right now, you don’t even know why he suddenly hates you!”

Hua tilted his head and thought about it. “Okay then,” he lowly chuckled. “I’ll leave it to you, YiHan!”

“Alright,” YiHan said. “Don’t be upset. Eat some more. You’ve gotten skinnier since we last met.”

“Okay.” A warm smile graced Hua’s face.

Jiang Hua was skinnier today. It wasn’t obvious when YiHan sat across from him but when YiHan helped steady the man after Hua bumped shoulders with a man entering the restaurant as they left, YiHan realised the body hiding under the suit was so slender that a single hit could snap the man in half. As YiHan looked at the forever-gentle man walking beside him, he felt a great weight pressing down on his heart.

Later that evening after dinner, YiHan sneakily followed Yan from the dining table back to the older man’s room.

“HanHan,” Yan said, looking back in exasperation, “why are you sneaking around? Do you need my help with something?”

YiHan let out a little giggle as he stepped forward. “No. What could I need help with? I’m just a little worried since you seemed to be in a bad mood lately. Did something happen?”

Yan was touched. He wrapped an arm around his younger brother’s shoulders and led YiHan into his room.

“I’m not in a bad mood,” Yan said, sitting down on the couch in his room. “There’s just been a lot going on at the office. I’m a little tired.”

“No wonder,” YiHan said. “Jiang-ge looked rather rundown today too. His undereye area is all dark. He’s also extremely thin. In the space of one meal, he nearly fell asleep. So it’s fatigue due to overworking. Even so, as his boss, you should be a bit more considerate of your subordinates. Only Jiang-ge is patient enough. No one else would’ve let you push them so hard.”

Yan’s heart throbbed. His mood worsened. He’d been finding himself acting weirdly lately. Every time he thought of Jiang Hua, strange emotions would rise in him, let alone when Hua appeared before his eyes. To reduce the time Yan had to spend with Hua, he deliberately arranged a lot of unnecessary work for the man. He had other employees take over the man’s work. Perhaps Jiang Hua had been working by his side for too long, there was a kind of silent understanding between them that no other person could achieve. A single glance, a simple twitch; those were enough for Jiang Hua to instantly comprehend what Yan was thinking. No one else could do the same. Without Jiang Hua, everything felt hard. The new secretary he promoted was as stupid as a pig. The person had increased who knows how much more work on top of his existing workload. And then Yan would constantly be spacing out at work. The mere thought of Jiang Hua being just a wall away from him was enough to send his thoughts whirling into chaos. Now, when passing by the man’s desk, Yan would intentionally look away. It had been a while since he’d last taken a good look at Hua. Ah, the two truly had a great rapport with each other. Hua would always easily understand what Yan meant to say. Ever since Yan made all those changes, the other man had never once shown up before his eyes. If there was something they needed to tell each other, it would’ve been done through a middle-man.

Was Jiang Hua really that exhausted? Had he grown that skinny? Well, Yan had given the man a lot of work. He was afraid any less wouldn’t be able to stop the other man from appearing before him. Should Yan reduce the man’s workload tomorrow? Why not just send the man off to a branch office? Out of sight, out of mind.

 YiHan paid close attention to Yan’s face as the man was stuck in his own thoughts. His brother’s expressions didn’t give him any good feelings. Deep in YiHan’s heart, he sighed for Jiang Hua’s future.

Yan shot his brother a glance and, in a seemingly nonchalant tone, asked, “He complained to you when you two ate at lunch?”

“Do you not know him?” YiHan hurriedly shook his head and replied. “He would never complain about anything to anyone, not even to me and we have such a close bond. He was sickly pale, thin as a stick and looked lethargic. I pulled the answer out of him. Only then did I know it was because of work. When we were leaving the restaurant, he was nearly knocked over by someone. It was obvious he was in a bad shape.”

Unwittingly, Yan’s heart was tugged and he reflexively asked, “Who knocked him over?”

“I don’t know,” YiHan answered, baffled. “That man didn’t mean it. He merely wasn’t paying attention to where he was walking and he had a big, muscular body. Thank goodness I was nearby to help support Jiang-ge.”

“When did you two become so close?” Yan asked with one eyebrow raised.

“We’ve always been this close,” said YiHan. “He doesn’t have any family and he thinks of me as his younger brother. Is there anything wrong with that?”

For some unknown reason, Yan’s bad mood vanished. “Of course there’s nothing wrong with that,” said Yan, gently patting his brother on the head. “Jiang Hua is a good man. Um, what do you two talk about when you meet up?”

“We’d just talk,” YiHan answered, resting a hand on his chin as he recalled. “We would talk about work, our lives, what’s going in the world; we’d talk about anything and everything.”

Yan paused to gather his words, then asked, “Did he talk about…how he’s been doing lately?”

YiHan glanced at Yan and down at the coffee table before them. “I noticed his face looking quite sickly,” he said, a finger tapping on the wooden surface, “so I question him on it. He said he was rather tired from work but that was it. However, he seemed dead on his feet. As he talked to me, he’d be on the brink of nodding off.”

“Is he that tired?” Yan frowned. “With his competence, he shouldn’t be.”

“He wasn’t in a good mood from the start,” YiHan commented. “Say, aren’t you two together all the time? Why ask me? Also, you gave him more work but did you give him a pay raise?”

“Money has never been a big concern of yours,” Yan asked, mystified. “Why do you care so much about his salary?”

YiHan picked up an orange from the bowl of fruits before him and rolled it around in his hands. “I’ve told you, that’s his retirement fund.”

“Just how old is he that he needs to start a retirement fund?” Yan wearily asked.

YiHan gave his brother the side-eye and said nothing.

Yan: …Why did that gaze look so chastising?

Sick of rolling the orange around, YiHan threw it back onto the bowl and stood up. “Anyway, stop bullying him all the time.”

Yan: Have I bullied him? Oh, I do seem to be doing it a bit lately. Ugh, it’s best to just transfer Hua away.

YiHan headed towards the door, but then he looked back and said, “I didn’t think you’re like this, Big Brother. You would never have bullied anyone.”

Yan: …

YiHan opened the door to leave only to be met with a handsome face, a face that was inches away from him. Startled, he skipped back and glared at the man outside the room.

“JingYuan, why are you standing there without having made any noise?” YiHan said. “It’s terrifying.”

JingYuan used his unique natural (?) bass voice to reply, “I’m here to fetch you back to our room.”

YiHan’s heart raced. He cleared his throat and said, “Then, go. I, um, I was thinking of heading back for a while now but my brother insisted I stay behind and chat with him. I don’t know what to do with him.”

JingYuan chuckled. He nodded in greeting to Yan, who was staring at them with a gaping mouth. Then, with an arm across YiHan’s shoulders, JingYuan led the young man back to their room.

Yan: He might be getting old. He couldn’t understand them. YiHan would be going back to a room that was located in the same house as Yan’s room. Did that require an escort? Also, YiHan, are you really okay with selling your brother out? You’re the one who followed me over!

***

After their evening’s harmonious exercise, YiHan was slumped over their bed, drenched in sweat and panting heavily. JingYuan’s body hovered slightly above YiHan’s, refusing to withdraw from YiHan’s body. Kiss after kiss rained down on YiHan’s ears and shoulders.

“Get off,” YiHan huffed. “You’re heavy.”

JingYuan propped his body up higher and leaned in close to the younger man’s ear to whisper, “How about this? Still heavy?”

“Aren’t you tired?” YiHan tiredly said. “Get out.”

“I don’t want to,” JingYuan said as he nipped along the back of YiHan’s neck.

YiHan rolled his eyes at the man, unable to do anything more. “When did you learn to be so shameless?” he joked.

“I wouldn’t act like this to anyone else,” JingYuan crooned. “What does it matter?” He tenderly kissed a shoulder peppered with hickeys. “HanHan, you seem particularly concerned with Jiang Hua’s affairs.”

YiHan didn’t bother turning around. “Jiang-ge’s a good man,” he sighed. “He just has a bad life and bad luck with love. What made him love my brother? It’s just a disaster for people like us to fall in love with straight men. Jiang-ge is also a very stubborn man. When I was at lunch with him today, he looked drained.” He sighed. “I can’t do anything to help him either. I feel so powerless.”

“HanHan,” JingYuan said, suckling on the man’s earlobe, “love is not something other people can help with. If you wish to help him, you can only do so in terms of his lifestyle, like you can ask him out for a meal when he’s free or you can make sure he won’t be all alone in this world when he’s an old man.”

YiHan let out another sigh, “That’s all I can do. Aren’t I useless? I wanted to make him happier but I don’t even know what to do.”

“HanHan, you must understand that if it’s impossible between them, don’t give Jiang Hua hope. Otherwise, he’ll be even more hurt,” JingYuan gently said.

YiHan thought about it and replied, “You’re right. I only thought about making him happy. I didn’t think about how much more upsetting he’d be to be disappointed after being given hope.”

◄Previous • Index• Next►

124. He Came. I’m Not Crazy

JingYuan grabbed YiHan, tucked him in, held tightly onto him and said, “HanHan, no matter when and where, please trust in me. You and I are one. From now on, tell me if anything is bothering you. Two heads are better than one. If you find that you’re stuck on a problem, come to me. We can discuss it. Perhaps it’ll lighten the load off your shoulders. HanHan, don’t push me out of your world. I’d be miserable.”

YiHan nodded and responded with a serious “mn”. In his heart, he thought: I’ll never keep anything a secret from you, apart from this.

“Also,” JingYuan said, “promise me you wouldn’t hurt yourself again. If you’re unhappy, you can hit me. Please don’t harm yourself. If this happens again, I won’t speak to you for a we–no, three days.”

YiHan nodded again, paused in contemplation and said, “I won’t hit you.”

JingYuan kissed the younger man on the top of his head. “That’s a good boy,” he said, satisfied. “HanHan, you might not understand but I’d rather you beat me up than for you to be harmed in any way. I don’t want a single drop of your blood to flow.”

YiHan chuckled in dopey glee, his head bopping up and down. A moment of silence later, he spoke, “There’s nothing wrong with Tao Qi’s mind at all. What she said was what she believed to be true.”

JingYuan’s mouth twisted as he let out a spine-chilling laugh. “Since she likes Wei Quan to the point of doing it with him, how could I bear to separate a pair of lovers? It doesn’t matter if there’s anything wrong with her at all. Her fate was to fly off together with Wei Quan. I’ll fulfil their wish and let them be together forever.”

***

As JingYuan expected, after further questioning of Tao Qi, Captain Chen Jing came to the same conclusion as the man did. Tao Qi was spouting nonsense from the bottom of her heart. She said she should be married to Mu JingYuan and be the great CEO’s wife. She claimed that Bai YiHan should be dead, that he should die a horrific death, that the Bai YiHan they knew now was a dead man reborn, and so on.

Such a conclusion enraged the police. It rendered them speechless from laughter and tears. All they could do was forcefully admit her and Wei Quan into a mental hospital with a special warning to the staff that the two criminals had intense violence tendencies.

***

Separated by a pane of glass, JingYuan silently watched Tao Qi, tied to her bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling in exhaustion. She’d been struggling against her bonds and crying for the whole morning. Now, an endless stream of tears flowed down her cheeks as she thought back to what Bai YiHan said to her. She thought about how if she had stopped the moment she realised things weren’t going the way she expected, she could’ve taken advantage of her knowledge. Perhaps she would’ve carved out a place for herself in this world. Perhaps she could live a life of luxury free from worries even without her parents’ love. Perhaps she might have met an outstanding man who’d truly love her. Perhaps they’d live a life filled with love. Such a life was something she’d risk her life to attain before her transmigration. Why was she so obsessed with climbing up to the top of the world? Why was she so engrossed in becoming Mrs CEO, something out of her reach?

She’s still so young. Would she really be spending the rest of her life with these four white walls among the insane? If so, she’d rather die! Could she go back to her original world after her death? If she could go back, she’d have her mother cook up a feast for her. She’d cry her heart out before her parents and tell them all the suffering she’d been through.

Her sore eyes vacantly roamed around the room. They swept across the white ceiling and the white walls. When they reached the white door, her pupils shrank while her eyes went wide. Mu JingYuan!

She didn’t know how long he’d been standing there. There wasn’t an ounce of emotion visible on his handsome face. He just coldly stared at her.

Tao Qi used her last remaining strength to begin struggling and shout, “Mu JingYuan! I hate you! I hate you… Why must you do this to me? I’d never thought of doing anything to you. Why must you do this?”

JingYuan turned and nodded to the hospital staff beside him. The staff member opened the door and thoroughly checked the woman’s bindings before exiting and closing the door, leaving the man and woman alone in the room.

“You think everyone’s like you,” JingYuan said blandly as he walked towards the bed, “the mind only ever thinking about yourself? If you were merely going to do something to me, I would contemplate letting you go as you’re just a girl. I wouldn’t begrudge you. But…” He leaned down and stared into her eyes. His voice took on a frigid tone as he continued, “You dared to target HanHan. You even cursed him out before me. I’ve said before; if I can’t make you wish you could die, then I’m not fit to be his man.”

“That’s not my fault!” she rebuked, eyes as wide as plates. “That was meant­–”

“Don’t mention that plot or fate of yours to me again,” JingYuan interrupted, straightening up. “You insist on believing in the plot you speak of, but use your brain. Which incident, in reality, has gone exactly as your ‘plot’ said it would? It’s just wishful thinking. Your greed far exceeds your capabilities. Your desire to climb further up was too strong. The ‘plot’ was just a lie you made up for yourself, yet you truly believe in it. It’s ludicrous. It’s tragic. It’s laughable.”

“It’s not like that!” Tao Qi screamed. “Everything now is different all because Bai YiHan was reborn! He changed everything! He told me himself!”

“Did all the shows and books get to you?” JingYuan chuckled. “You actually believe that? When did HanHan tell you? Why don’t I know?”

“It’s on that night you two talked to me! He came down to the basement alone and interrogated me on what I know. He told me himself he’s an evil ghost who’d crawled out of hell! You say I’m laughable but you’re the laughable one! You’re with a devil cloaked in a human’s skin yet you don’t know it! You even think of him as precious!”

“You really are a crazy woman,” JingYuan said, frost in his eyes as he looked at her. “I was in his room that night. We were together the entire night. He never left the room. Who do you think you are to have deserved HanHan going down there to meet you all alone? As I’ve said, all of that was just delusional thinking caused by your endless greed.”

“How could it be?” Tao Qi shrieked, mouth wide open. “He really did go into the basement! He was down there in the basement for a very long time. He interrogated me. He even said he would pull out all my teeth and cut my face up!”

“Oh?” JingYuan said, emotionless. “You sure have a rich imagination.”

“No!” she said in disbelief. “It’s absolutely true! Perhaps he snuck out while you were asleep! It might be so!”

He looked at her, pity in his eyes. “We didn’t sleep for most of the night. When could he have snuck out?”

“Didn’t sleep?” Tao Qi asked, confused. “How could you not sleep? What were you doing?”

“We’re two lovers, passionately in love with each other.” JingYuan looked at her as if she was an idiot. “What can we have done during a night all alone in the same room?”

Tao Qi’s mouth opened and closed like a goldfish’s. “It can’t be,” she croaked. “You’re lying. You’re lying to me…”

JingYuan shot her an impatient glare before turning for the exit. “Your illness is so very serious,” he said, turning to look back at her from the door. “Just what are you to be worth my time coming here just to lie to you?”

“Then why did you come?” Tao Qi asked, disgruntled.

His lips perked up as he coldly said, “I came to make sure you and Wei Quan would be able to live out your dreams as a pair of happy lovebirds. I thought you were driven to act insane in an attempt to shirk your responsibility because you saw what happened to Wei Quan. I didn’t think you were an actual delusional, hallucinating maniac.”

Tao Qi dazedly watched as JingYuan strode out of the room, slamming the door behind him with a loud bang. Suddenly, a shriek tore through her throat, “I’m not crazy! Everything I saw is true! Bai YiHan really came to me!” She continued her piercing shouts for a while before finally drifting off into a faint mumble, “He came…I’m not crazy…Was it just a hallucination? No, no. He came to me. My memory is very clear…”

***

Far away in a restaurant sat YiHan and Jiang Hua. The two chatted as the air was filled with the tantalising scent of the dish Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. Jiang Hua was good-natured as ever but he looked rather ragged. Dark circles dominated the space under his almond eyes. They were a stark contrast to his fair skin.

“Jiang-ge, what happened to you?” YiHan worriedly asked. “You look exhausted.”

Jiang Hua smiled, a hand reaching up to his face as he asked, “Is it that obvious? I am feeling a little fatigued lately.”

 “Has work been that busy?”

“It’s fine but…”

“But what?”

Hua bitterly chuckled. “It should be fine to tell you. I don’t know what I’ve done to have angered your brother. He has been intentionally giving me a lot of work.”

“Why is he like this?” YiHan was angry. “He’s usually quite mature. I didn’t think he could be so childish as to punish you at work for something personal!”

“Honestly, I’m fine doing more work,” the older man tiredly said, a hand massaging his brows. “It’s just that he acts like he’s starting to hate me. Now, he wouldn’t even look at me. He’d give me more work to do because he doesn’t want me to appear before his eyes. My usual work has all been delegated away to other people. YiHan, I think sooner or later, he’d chase me out of the Bai Group.”

“How could it be?” YiHan gasped in shock. “My brother hasn’t been in the best of moods recently. Maybe he’s only acting like this because of that.  Don’t overthink it. He can’t chase you away.” This didn’t happen at all in YiHan’s last life.

“No matter his decision, I have no choice,” Hua said, shaking his head. “I had only wanted to stand as close to him as I can. It’s good enough that I can see him frequently. But from the look of things, I’m afraid that’s no longer possible. Thankfully, he doesn’t know of my feelings for him yet. Otherwise… I’m sorry for telling you such unhappy things, YiHan. I’ve made you upset as well.”

“If you truly think of me as a younger brother then don’t say something so formal,” YiHan retorted, a frown on his face. “What we need to do now is find out just what Yan is thinking. Why is his mood swinging around like a weather crane? They say a woman’s heart is as hard to know as it is to find a needle in the ocean. Surprisingly, it’s harder to know what my brother’s thinking.”

◄Previous • Index• Next►

123. Take It to My Grave

YiHan glanced at his fingers but his focus was the complete opposite of JingYuan’s. “My hands are fine,” he said. “I don’t need to go to the hospital. JingYuan, don’t…don’t be angry with me. I…”

“How can you not care about your own body?” JingYuan nearly shouted in rage. “Your fingers are all bleeding! Your nails are cracked and split open! The ten fingers lead to the heart. Yet it doesn’t hurt? How could I have the time and energy to be angry when your fingers are this badly injured?”

JingYuan hated himself so much right now. He knew YiHan was depressed. The younger man was even suicidal. He actually interrogated the young man over something so frivolous! He didn’t even notice YiHan hurting himself under his very nose! If he hadn’t walked over and just sat there like a fool, how badly hurt would YiHan’s hands be?

He had sworn to protect YiHan, yet YiHan was hurt this time because of him. There was no way JingYuan could accept that. How he wished he could punch himself!

Despite JingYuan’s words, YiHan was afraid the other man’s suspicion of him would grow because of his self-inflicted injuries. But upon hearing the anger in JingYuan’s voice, he lost the courage to speak further.

“I’m really fine,” YiHan eventually said. “Why don’t we just call Dr Chen and have him discreetly come over to treat them? Let’s not disturb the others.”

JingYuan had no choice but to call Dr Chen and ask him to come over, with an additional order to be careful and not to let the other family members know.

JingYuan then embraced YiHan from behind. His hands carefully held YiHan’s. He was so sombre and silent that YiHan dared not make a sound. A heavy silence fell upon the room.

The hush in the room lasted until Aunt Yang cautiously led Dr Chen in.

Aunt Yang’s immediate reaction upon noticing the state of YiHan’s hands was to gasp loudly in shock. Just before the yelp left her throat, she clasped her hands over it. Her heart raced and her mind panicked.

“How did this happen?” she softly muttered. “It must hurt a lot.”

Dr Chen didn’t dare dilly-dally. He hurriedly placed his kit down and started cleaning YiHan’s wounds.

“Are they serious?” JingYuan asked in a deep voice. “Do we need to go to the hospital?”

The doctor could feel an immense pressure looming over him. “They should be fine,” he warily said. “I’ll clean and dress them. If it hurts a lot, he can take some painkillers.”

JingYuan hummed in response and spoke no more. YiHan also didn’t dare to speak as he noticed JingYuan’s face had gone terrifyingly dark. He didn’t make a single noise and let Dr Chen do as he pleased with his fingers.

“Dr Chen,” Aunt Yang spoke from the side, “please get some painkillers for Little Master later. He’s very sensitive to pain.”

Pain struck JingYuan’s heart. The sight of YiHan bearing the pain with nary a complaint made the expression on his face worsen.

Finally, Dr Chen and the constantly chattering Aunt Yang was sent out of the room. Before YiHan could say “I’m sorry”, he was locked in JingYuan’s embrace.

“HanHan, I’m sorry,” YiHan heard JingYuan say. “I’ve said I would protect you but I ended up bringing harm to you. It’s my bad. Does it hurt a lot? How about some painkillers now?”

“I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt that much,” YiHan murmured. Upon seeing JingYuan’s face turn gloomy at his words, he immediately changed his mind and said, “Erm, well, it does hurt a little. I think I’ll have some.”

JingYuan quickly poured out a pill from the bottle of painkillers he had nearby and poured him a glass of water for YiHan to down the pill with.

After the entire ordeal was done and over with, the two laid down in bed. Lying on their sides, JingYuan held YiHan in his arms, being careful not to touch YiHan’s hands. JingYuan gently patted YiHan on the back as the younger man laid there in silence.

Just when JingYuan thought the younger man had fallen asleep, he heard YiHan whisper, “JingYuan, it’s not that I want to keep secrets from you. I just don’t know how to tell you about it.”

“If you’re not done thinking, you don’t have to tell me,” JingYuan warmly replied, kissing YiHan on the forehead. “You can tell me once you know how to tell me about it and when you feel like telling me.”

“I don’t want there to be a barrier between us,” YiHan said, shaking his head. “JingYuan, do you believe in past lives and destiny?”

“How so?” JingYuan asked, lowering his voice.

YiHan snuggled closer into JingYuan’s embrace until his head was right against the man’s chest, and said, “I had a dream before. It’s after we last argued and before the old Mr Yan’s birthday party.”

“I know,” JingYuan said with a smile, his fingers curling and uncurling. “Your mother told me. You had a nightmare and was frightened to tears by it.”

YiHan’s hand rose instinctively to scratch his face in embarrassment but was caught by JingYuan’s swift hand. YiHan pushed aside the urge and continued his story, “I dreamed that you and XueQing would get engaged and I’d throw a big tantrum until the engagement had to be called off. You two then distanced yourselves from me. Afterwards, I gave up on life and made many mistakes. I thought doing all the wrong things would attract your attention. You’d come to stop me and I’d argue with you. Eventually, I made you so angry that you ran away. After you left, I foolishly listened to Feng Qun and bankrupted the Bai Group. To pay back our debts, we had to sell off everything we could. Our whole family moved into a tiny apartment. I thought I could compensate for my crimes by getting a job behind my family’s backs. But I was useless. I knew nothing. I was a pianist at the Blue Court. Feng Qun would often lead a gang of his friends in to harass me. I didn’t dare to talk back at all. Then…then, a lot of things happened. Grandpa was getting old. His body wasn’t as healthy as it should be. After going through blow after blow and I…I misbehaved again. He collapsed from anger. We couldn’t save him. Grandpa passed away and I was too afraid to go home. I just hid in our secret base. Feng Qun found me and he brought some men to…to beat me to death.”

There were multiple times JingYuan wanted to get YiHan to stop. What the younger man said, just the mere flat descriptions, were enough to make JingYuan’s breath catch. However, YiHan went through all that effort to gather his courage to speak. JingYuan could only grit his teeth and listen without uttering a single interruption.

YiHan paused and contemplated a moment before saying, “That dream just felt too real. It felt like it was a life I had lived through. Even now, I can recall every single detail. Then, you announced your engagement with XueQing. So many things I’d dreamed about came true. I wondered if that dream was perhaps my past life.

“When we saw Tao Qi, a lot of what she said was similar to what happened in my dream. I was terrified. I wanted to ask her about them. I wanted to know more. I knew you wouldn’t want me to see her alone but these weren’t things that could be spoken of before other people. So I gave you some pills that’d help you sleep and I snuck out to talk to her.”

“And the results?” JingYuan softly prompted, suppressing his breaths into shallow inhales.

“She said this world is a novel and she’s a transmigrator from real life,” Yihan continued. “Before she came here, she’d just finished reading this book. She told me everything she read. They were exactly as I’d dreamed. She even said…she said after my death, you’d marry her. You’ll have a child. It’s why she was so confident you and she are an official couple. As for me, I was just the name of a dead man.”

JingYuan immediately sat up at that. “Utter nonsense!” he barked. “It’s absolutely impossible! Not unless I’d been taken over by another transmigrator!”

YiHan was shocked. “What she said,” he dazedly said, “matched my dream. I thought that what she described might be true. Only, after I had that horrifying nightmare, I didn’t follow the so-called plot. That’s why we have a different reality now. Perhaps what I dreamed about truly happened in another incarnation. That dream was a prophecy.”

“Impossible!” JingYuan snapped, infuriated. “It’s impossible no matter in the past life or the next! It was all just drivel born from her wishful thinking!” He jumped out of the bed and began pacing in circles, hand pressed against his head. “HanHan, this is just a question of whether it’s a man dreaming of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being a man. Who could tell what’s real and what’s not? To us, the world we grew up in, the world we live in now, is the real world. Our feelings are real. She said she’s someone from the real world but who knows if her so-called real world is just another book?”

YiHan’s mouth opened and closed. He didn’t know what to say.

JingYuan sat back down on the bed, gently held YiHan’s head and said, “No matter if what she said was true or false, the ‘plot’ she speaks of and the dream you had would never happen. I will never leave you. I’ll stay by your side. I’ll protect you and I’ll love you until my last breath.”

YiHan’s arms wrapped around the older man’s waist as he buried his face into the man’s abdomen. “You truly believe me?” he glumly asked. “It’s rather insane. I never dared to say anything about it. I was afraid you’d think of me as crazy.”

“Little fool,” JingYuan whispered, hand stroking YiHan’s hair. “Is this your secret? Just what goes on in that little mind of yours? How could I think you crazy? While it’s mind-boggling, there’s nothing that can truly be impossible across the entire multiverse. There’s nothing to be shocked at. Look at us now. Look at how incredibly different our situation is now compared to your dream. This means that nightmare isn’t a prophecy. It’s a warning. It’s here to help us avoid danger and walk down the right path. HanHan, this is a gift from the gods to you. We must be thankful for it. Let’s stop worrying over it, okay?”

YiHan’s eyes slid shut. He rubbed his cheek against the other man’s belly as he let out a soft hum in assent. Forgive me, JingYuan. I still can’t be completely honest with you. What I kept from you, I’d keep a secret forever. I want it to…rot in my belly. I’ll take it to my grave.

JingYuan twined a finger through YiHan’s soft hair as he “harshly” said, “Alright. Now it’s time for you to explain about the other issue.”

YiHan looked up at the man, confusion plastered all over his face.

“Little one,” JingYuan said, a finger poking at YiHan’s forehead, “you think you can get past me by feigning innocence? Tell me! Why are there drugs to ‘help you sleep’ in your room?”

YiHan buried his face back into JingYuan’s body. “It’s just…” he murmured. “When I had that dream, it was so real that it upset me a lot. I couldn’t sleep at night from fear. I had no choice but to secretly buy some sleeping pills. Then, we started dating. I never used them since.”

JingYuan let out a heavy sigh and fervently ruffled YiHan’s hair. “You silly fool,” he said. “How should I get through to you? When you encounter a problem, you’d keep silent about it and secretly distress yourself over it. What are we, your family, for?”

YiHan hurriedly dodged away from those demonic claws. “I know,” he said, covering his head with his arms. “I’m telling you about it now, aren’t I?”

◄Previous • Index• Next►

122. Give Me an Explanation

“His history of mental illness is true,” YiHan said. “I’m not surprised at how the case was closed. What I’m concerned about is his statement. Was there anything of value? Was this incident really just incited by Tao Qi? I don’t want to see anyone else threatening my sister and my brother-in-law again.”

Fang Yi stepped through the door that was held open for him and sat down on the sofa just beyond. “At the moment, yes,” he said, nodding his head. “With his situation, his statement cannot be used as direct proof. However, I have always felt he had the ability to make his own judgement. He should actually be held accountable for his own actions. Other than his nonsensical ramblings and unrealistic, over-agitated delusions, he hasn’t lost the ability to think logically.” He scoffed. “At the very least, the man knew he had a history of mental illness, so he won’t be charged with any crime. He’d been rather carefree during his entire time in jail. His mother also kicked up a huge fuss.”

“What’s his explanation for this incident?” JingYuan asked.

“He thinks that just because he’d fallen in love with Bai XueQing, then she should be his woman. However, Miss Bai would never acknowledge him. She never even accepted his confession of love. That made him extremely unsatisfied with Miss Bai. And then he was fired by the Bai Group due to personal reasons. We all know Miss Bai never knew of his existence or of him being laid-off. Still, he thinks it’s because Miss Bai is a gold-digger. She disliked his poverty, so abandoned him and oppressed him. He’d been furious with indignation after being sacked. He thinks it’s Miss Bai’s fault for she was an immoral woman. Due to his constantly unstable emotions, he would always encounter problems with the work he found later on. This increased his anger and depression. But in his mind, he still understood the difference between his and Miss Bai’s social ranks. Thus, he’d only ever curse her out behind her back. He never dared to actually do anything or take revenge. That was until Tao Qi came into the scene.

“She told Wei Quan about Miss Bai dating Mr Chen. This made his anger go through the roof. He felt as if he’d been ‘cheated on’. In a bid to use him as a tool, Tao Qi sacrificed her body and had sex with him for a few nights. By the end, Wei Quan thought of her as his lover. That meant she was on his side. He began to believe every word she said, without a single doubt. A few days of taunting later, Wei Quan was at his limit. This was when Tao Qi told him that due to his history of mental illness, even if he murdered someone, he wouldn’t be legally held accountable. She said a man shouldn’t have to bear such ‘humiliation’ and encouraged him to kill off Mr Chen. However, after all the preparations, right before the act, Wei Quan changed his mind. He thought that even if he killed off Mr Chen, Miss Bai can still go on and find another man. He’d be murdering someone anyway. Why not just kill Miss Bai? Then, she wouldn’t be able to ‘cheat on him’. Even if the Bai family were powerful enough to make him pay with his life, he could then be husband and wife with Miss Bai in the underworld.”

Never could YiHan have imagined there’d be someone so shameless in this world. He was so furious that he stood up and kicked the coffee table before him. His hands were shaking. JingYuan reached up and pulled the trembling man down by his side.

“Don’t be angry,” JingYuan said, gently patting YiHan’s shoulder. “Wei Quan would pay the price for his deeds.”

Fang Yi blinked at the man. “From the looks of it, Wei Quan is just a crazy man with something wrong up there,” he continued as if he’d heard nothing from JingYuan. “He was used by Tao Qi but we still can’t guess what the woman’s motive could be. We would need to thoroughly interrogate her first.”

The officer blinked once more, leaned in close to YiHan and whispered, “Right, YiHan, she’s been at your home for a while. Did you get any answers?”

Emotions flashed through YiHan’s eyes at that.

After a brief glance at the younger man, JingYuan answered, “I’ve had some experts question her. She also doesn’t seem to be right in the head. She might be even crazier than Wei Quan. She thinks our world is just a novel and we have our set destinies. Chen TianYang’s fate was to die under Wei Quan’s car. All she’d done was just to ‘aid the plot’.”

“Why are there so many maniacs living in our society?” Fang Yi shouted in anger. “Their laughable, senseless, thoughts and actions have seriously endangered everyone’s safety. They’d injure people but would end up free of crime! It’s just too infuriating!”

JingYuan’s lips twisted into a cryptic cold smirk.

***

That evening, JingYuan and YiHan were lounging on the sofa in YiHan’s room. The older man had been silent the entire night.

YiHan had spent the whole day scurrying around in guilt. He cautiously sat by the man’s side. To cover up his uneasiness, he kept stuffing his face with the fruits before him.

Eventually, JingYuan turned to look at the younger man and sighed. “HanHan, is there nothing you want to tell me?” he softly asked, raising a hand to stroke YiHan’s hair.

YiHan froze. He stiffly turned to look at the older man, his cheeks still bulging with food.

JingYuan reached out and poked one of the puffy cheeks. “Swallow,” he soothed.

Reflexively, YiHan gulped everything down but then choked so hard that his neck stretched out straight and a bulge could be seen. JingYuan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“You’ve got to chew,” JingYuan said, pouring out a glass of water for YiHan.

YiHan took a sip of the water and timidly whispered, “You noticed?”

JingYuan calmly looked back at YiHan and said, “Your methods were too crude. I only fell for it because I trusted you too much. If I still haven’t realised by today, I’d be a fool, wouldn’t I?”

“Those pills don’t harm the body at all,” YiHan hurriedly said. “It just helps with sleep.”

JingYuan pulled the glass out of YiHan’s hands and placed it aside. “I believe you,” he said. “No matter what, you would never hurt me. I just want to know what was worth drugging me for. Also, you can’t have premeditated last night. Why do you have ‘sleeping aides’ in your bedroom?”

YiHan crossed his fingers. He looked down as he focused on twining them together. A few moments later, JingYuan separated them and held YiHan’s hands in his. YiHan tried pulling them away but didn’t succeed. He bit his lip in hesitation.

“I just…” YiHan whispered. “I just…”

“You went to talk to Tao Qi?” JingYuan interrupted.

“How did you know?” YiHan’s eyes went wide.

JingYuan sighed once more and said, “Because of the nonsense she was spouting? But this shouldn’t be enough to make you drug me.”

When the word “drug” left JingYuan’s mouth, YiHan’s guilt increased. His voice went lower as he said, “I went to ask her why she’d think you and she are a couple. I wanted to know what gave her the confidence to say that.”

JingYuan closed his eyes. “I’ve said you’d be worried over this matter but it’s not enough to make you drug me. HanHan, are you going to keep lying to me? Even now? Am I that untrustworthy?”

YiHan froze again. He lowered his head and thought about it for a few long minutes. But his mind was spinning round and round and he just didn’t know. Should he tell JingYuan?

The moment the thought popped into his head, YiHan immediately recalled his last life, the night when Feng Qun drugged him and dragged him to the hotel, the vile things that happened the day he died.

Those memories made him tug his hands out of JingYuan’s, hard, and jump out of his seat to walk to the window. He placed his palms flat down on the windowsill as he stared out of the window. No! He can’t tell JingYuan!

He shut his eyes and hung his head. No man could accept his other half having such a past, right? Not even if it’s in a past life.

Anyway, not even Confucius would speak of strange events, violence, riots, and supernatural phenomenon. What happened to him was just too far beyond reality. Even if he told JingYuan, the other man might think he’s insane. Right?

He can’t tell. Even at the risk of death, he can’t tell JingYuan. But then how to explain drugging JingYuan? Would their relationship break apart because of this?

What should he do?

He stood there and for a moment, he felt a sense of overwhelming helplessness. Ever since his rebirth, JingYuan had been by his side all the time. It filled him with energy and will. Now, he’s faced with JingYuan’s suspicion. What should he do? He was the one who drugged JingYuan. It’s normal for the man to want to know why. However, he had too many secrets he can’t speak of. Why wouldn’t he want to be fully honest with his lover if it’s at all possible?

It’s all because JingYuan had spoiled him rotten lately. It’d made him forget himself and made the same mistake as he did before. He acted on impulse and didn’t think about the consequences. Drugging JingYuan last night was due to an urge to know what Tao Qi knew. He didn’t think about how to explain himself. What should he do now? He didn’t even dare look back now.

Unwittingly, his fingers had dug into the windowsill. He didn’t even realise his nails had started cracking.

JingYuan was stunned by YiHan’s hard jerk to pull his hands away from JingYuan’s. The sight of YiHan standing at the window, back towards him, looked so very frail and helpless that JingYuan could feel his heart squeeze. But it’s also impossible for JingYuan to not mind being drugged. YiHan should at least give him an explanation.

He sat there, not speaking a single word. He wanted to give YiHan some time. He hoped the younger man could give him an explanation, even if it’s a lie. He’d be willing to believe in anything.

But YiHan stood there by the window as minutes ticked by. He didn’t seem to be wanting to talk anytime soon. JingYuan couldn’t help but be disappointed. Perhaps he shouldn’t be forcing HanHan. Wouldn’t it have been better if JingYuan acted as if he didn’t realise? Great. Now HanHan wouldn’t even look back at him. Now, the air between them slowly froze and turned sour.

He let out another sigh, stood up and walked over to HanHan. His mind was running through what he could say to turn the situation around but then he realised the younger man was hanging his head, thinking about who knew what. YiHan’s gaze stared straight out, not even realising he’d walked over to him. And YiHan’s hands. About five or six of those fair and slender fingers were stained with blood at the fingertips. YiHan didn’t even seem to be in pain. Those fingers were still digging into the wood!

JingYuan was frightened. He immediately stepped closer to grab those hands.

“What are you doing?” he barked in anger. “Your fingers are bleeding. Doesn’t it hurt?”

YiHan snapped out of his stupor. Only then did he realise he was looking at his own hands.

“Oh,” he nonchalantly said, “it’s fine. JingYuan, I…”

JingYuan regretted his words so much. “Say no more!” he said, shaking his head. His heart hurt so badly. “HanHan, if you don’t want to speak, then don’t speak. It’s fine. I know you will never harm me. It’s my bad. I won’t ask anymore, okay? What’s important now are your hands. Come, let’s go to the hospital and clean up your wounds. How about it?”

YiHan’s mind wasn’t even on his fingers. “I’m sorry, JingYuan,” he anxiously said. “Those pills really don’t have any negative side-effects. I wouldn’t do anything bad to you!”

JingYuan held those bleeding fingers in his hands. His hands were both trembling from his heart cracking in sorrow.

“I know, HanHan,” he soothed. “I know. I never once suspected you’d ever hurt me. It’s my bad. You must have your own reasons for doing what you did. If you don’t want to tell me, I won’t ask. Okay? Come on. Let’s go to the hospital.”

Translator’s Note:

Remember, mental trauma is something very personal and differs from person to person. Know when to push and when to back off. JingYuan is an above-average example of what to do. Always be alert if it might be a sensitive topic.

◄Previous • Index• Next►