Ji Yao stepped onto the small trail. The bushes on campus were messy and dense, exuding a certain unpleasant smell reminiscent of ripe oranges that had fallen to the ground and rotted there without anyone caring to pick them up. The smell of sweet gradually turned revolting.
Ji Yao stopped.
He glanced back.
The trail’s twist and turns meant that he could no longer see that crossroad anymore, nor that thin figure.
Ji Yao turned and glanced at the bushes again. Then he headed down the path leading out of school.
Ji Yao waited for Yan Shuang in the hotel. His ID was still being used as a deposit here, and he needed Yan Shuang to bring his to get it back. Looking at the time, it was about time for Yan Shuang to head here after tidying his clothes.
However, there was no sight of Yan Shuang even after Ji Yao waited for half an hour.
“Yo handsome, you waiting for someone?”
The person at the front desk immediately recognized Ji Yao as he came out to switch shifts.
Actually, it would be hard to forget a boy with such outstanding looks and temperament.
Ji Yao nodded to him in response.
That made the front desk person happy. He didn’t expect this handsome dude to have some manners due to his ice-cold demeanor. He continued, “Your friend hasn’t come back yet.”
“I know, thank you.”
“Why don’t you call him and ask instead of just waiting around?”
Ji Yao lowered his eyes and ended the short conversation with an evasive attitude.
“You don’t have his phone number?” The front desk perceptively picked up on the dilemma he was in and went to grab a scrap of paper enthusiastically. He wrote down the phone number Yan Shuang signed in with this morning for Ji Yao.
Ji Yao took the paper. “Thank you.”
The front desk smiled again and gave Ji Yao a big thumbs up to show his appreciation towards the handsomeness of someone of the same sex. Handsome and polite. Not bad.
A long string of numbers was shown on the phone screen. As soon as they were dialed, you could establish contact with another person.
Ji Yao looked down at these numbers for a long time, his eyes moving back and forth between the keypad and the phone number.
He only had the numbers of a few family members and trust administrators in his phone. Even Qin Qing’s number wasn’t in here.
Qin Qing didn’t have a phone.
Qin Qing was very closed off, almost to the point where he didn’t seem like someone from the modern age. He didn’t use any electronics like phones and computer, nor did he enjoy socializing. Because of his poor health, he never showed his face at any events.
It might sound laughable, but Ji Yao could barely remember when he had last talked with Qin Qing.
Qin Qing had built up a cocoon room with thick walls all around him. Within it, he freely painted and played piano without any care for worldly affairs.
And Ji Yao had never thought of disturbing him.
Sometimes, he would head to the Qin manor and take a look from afar. Seeing that Qin Qing was doing well was enough for him.
A rare smile appeared on Ji Yao’s face. His eyes fell onto the note he was holding again.
He dialed that number, establishing contact with a person similar to Qin Qing.
After the call went through, he even became a little nervous. He spoke preemptively after a two second pause.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Qtfgf jgf sbe?”
“Qts vlvc’a sbe ub yjmx ab atf tbafi?”
Djmx ja atf klcfgs, Tjc Vtejcu kjr jmaejiis raeqfolfv ab tfjg Al Tjb’r nblmf. Lf vlvc’a fnfc cffv ab qgfafcv atlr alwf.
Al Tjb! Pr atlr atf xlcv bo ubiv mbcafca sbe rjs ja 10% gfijalbcrtlq qgbugfrr?! Rb cffv ab rjs wbgf, Gjv ibnfr sbe!
The hand holding the phone suddenly tightened its grip.
A quiet sound could be heard. A spiderweb of cracks spread from an already broken corner of the screen.
“Hello?”
The voice was still transmitted faithfully by the phone with a broken screen. The neutral tone of the other person somehow took on a taunting quality to Qin Yubai.
Qin Yubai’s expression was dark, but his tone was still calm. “Barton Winery, 111 Wannan Road.”
“Qin Yubai?”
Ji Yao’s tone suddenly tensed.
“Yan Shuang’s with you?”
“Yan Shuang…” Qin Yubai slowly repeated, looking at the pale boy in his arms. “It seems that this call of his was no mistake.”
The other end had already hung up.
Qin Yubai casually threw the old and broken phone onto the table, his left arm continuing to squeeze Yan Shuang about the waist. Yan Shuang grunted as his chin was sharply twisted back.
“Tell me,” Qin Yubai said lightly, “did you sleep with him?”
The angle he was being twisted at was so extreme that it was hard for even his cheeks to move. Yan Shaung said with difficulty, “He…isn’t as…dirty as…you…”
Qin Yubai suddenly loosened his grip, causing Yan Shuang to stagger forward uncontrollably. At the last second, a pair of powerful hands caught his elbow. They only supported him for a moment before immediately letting go. Their owner properly stood to the side as if nothing had happened.
Yan Shuang glanced at Wei Yichen’s rigid expression. He quietly winked at the man again.
Wei Yichen turned away as if he hadn’t seen anything.
“Go ahead then, tell me what happened at the hotel.”
Qin Yubai retook his seat and drained the remaining red wine in his glass. The sensation of wine going down his throat barely calmed the emotions raging within his chest.
This was only a substitute, not something worth getting worked up over. He didn’t need to be angry. He couldn’t be angry.
Out of frustration, Qin Yubai unbuttoned part of his collar.
“I don’t think I owe you an explanation.”
After regaining his balance, Yan Shuang reached for the phone on the table with one hand and took his bag with the other.
“Do you want Yan Guofu to die?” Qin Yubai said coldly.
Yan Shuang didn’t even turn back as he closed the zipper.
“We live in a lawful society. I’d like to see you try.”
“You’re right. I won’t do anything that violates the law. However, it’s only natural for a new employee like Yan Guofu to work overnight for a couple of days since there’s a shortage of manpower at the warehouse. A few nights in a row won’t hurt anyone.”
Yan Shuang paused with his bag on his back.
Qin Yubai’s lips quirked up at his frozen figure, a cold and cruel look in his eyes.
Like a movie being unpaused, Yan Shuang adjusted his bag before turning to say to Qin Yubai, “You’re right. Remember to pay him overtime.”
The boy’s eyebrows practically screamed his stubborn refusal to admit defeat. For the sake of what little self-esteem he had left, he pretended not to care about his adoptive father, cutting off his nose to spite Qin Yubai’s face.
“It’s going to be the Mid-Autumn Festival soon, a day where families are meant to reunite. I’m certain that the warehouse will be quite short-staffed then. It may be necessary for some individuals to make a bit of a sacrifice.” Qin Yubai put down his wine glass and stood up. He approached Yan Shaung and pressed his palm to Yan Shuang’s face, quietly saying, “He’ll have to do overtime in the ice-cold freezer instead of spending time with his family.”
According to his prior investigation, Yan Shuang had been raised by his adoptive parents as a child. After the death of his adoptive mother, his adoptive father was downright abusive towards Yan Shuang, but Yan Shuang just couldn’t let go of this not so related ‘relative’.
No matter how many times Yan Guofu lied to him, he would foolishly fall for the same tricks again and again.
Children who lacked love couldn’t bear to even let go of false familial affection.
Yan Shuang looked down, his eyelashes flickering. He started biting his lip again out of habit.
Yan Shuang did this last night on the bed. Kneeling before him, he viciously chomped down on his lips, hot tears streaming from his eyes.
Like he had to endure no matter what.
It was only thanks to his extremely strong force of will and ample work experience that Yan Shuang didn’t burst out laughing on the spot.
Working during the Mid-Autumn Festival meant 3x the salary!
This was way too refreshing, la!
If Qin Yubai kept this up, he wouldn’t even be angry that the man broke his phone screen!
“How about it? Ready to answer my question about the hotel?”
Yan Shuang turned his face away and took a deep breath in, trying to regain his calm. “Qin Yubai, we have a contract between us. I have to come when you call me. However, I’m free to do and go where I want when you haven’t called me.”
Qin Yubai pinched Yan Shuang’s cheek again with greater force so that this disobedient servant couldn’t break away. His expression was ice-cold, but flames raged on in his eyes. “Do you want me to lock you away?”
Qin Yubai felt a significant amount of pressure lift from his chest as he said this.
How could a servant not be by one’s side, waiting to serve?
He should remain by Qin Yubai’s side, always under his control. Trapped in his palm like a caged bird.
This was what he wanted, but couldn’t bear to do, to Qin Qing.
What was Yan Shuang? A substitute for Qin Qing. Naturally, he could accept all the desires Qin Yubai had for Qin Qing.
Qin Yubai’s arm was trembling from excitement as he thought this. He lowered his head and got very close to Yan Shuang, infecting every breath he took with his own scent. His tone was dangerous, “I think this is a very good idea. What say you?”
It’s starting again.
Teeth peeked out from between lips, biting down on the lower part stubbornly. Yan Shuang’s lower lips turned pale from blood red due to the pain in just a few seconds.
It was like his possession of Yan Shuang had already effortlessly defeated the boy.
Yan Shuang was holding it in so hard his intestines were twisting into knots.
Was he going to be taken to live at the Qin manor already?
Wasn’t this great? He could save money on dormitory fees and food this way!
He decided to give Qin Yubai back 0.1 points.
Allowing Qin Yubai back to the 9.0+ points team.
Eyelashes parted to reveal inky, moist eyes. His voice was as stubborn as ever, but with a tremor that couldn’t be concealed, “Suit yourself.”
“Very well…”
“Qin Yubai–”
The three people present all turned in the direction of the voice.
Of the more than ten years he’s known Ji Yao, this was Qin Yubai’s first time seeing him so…disheveled.
Actually, it was no more than wrinkles on his shirt.
But for Ji Yao, who always strived to be immaculate, this was already considered haggard.
“Ji Yao…” Yan Shuang immediately started crying when he saw Ji Yao.
He tried so hard not to laugh just now that tears had gathered in his eyes. Perfect. Large teardrops streamed effortlessly down his cheeks.
Suspecting it was one thing, but seeing it with your own eyes was another.
Even thought Ji Yao had long since guessed the relationship between Qin Yubai and Ji Yao, even personally hearing Qin Yubai call Yan Shuang’s name over the phone, it was only after seeing Qin Yubai pinch Yan Shuang’s cheeks and his ambiguous, seemingly leaning in for a kiss posture, that Ji Yao snapped.
Ji Yao strode towards them with big steps.
The pressure around him descended to an all time low as he advanced on the two of them.
Qin Yubai didn’t let go of Yan Shuang, instead flashing Ji Yao a faint smile. “Does Young Master Ji want a turn…”
Yan Shuang was abruptly yanked from Qin Yubai’s arms by Ji Yao– by his collar. Even if Yan Shuang had pain shielding on, he felt like he was about to go to heaven for a second.
Fortunately, Ji Yao threw him behind himself and immediately let go.
The smile on Qin Yubai’s face gradually disappeared.
“Ji Yao, you should know who I’m giving face to by calling you Young Master Ji.”
Ji Yao suppressed the wrath welling up in his chest and said lightly, “There are still classes in the afternoon. I’ll be taking him.”
He turned to face Yan Shuang.
Yan Shuang just stared at him blankly. The ink-coloured eyes behind the glasses were soaked with tears; moist, weak and helpless.
Suddenly, the image of Yan Shaung crying silently on the floor appeared for some reason in Ji Yao’s mind.
“Ji Yao, I can’t stand up anymore…”
He was too weak. If no one was there to lend him a hand, he would just rot away in that spot.
Ji Yao reached over and took Yan Shuang’s arm with a grim expression.
Who would’ve thought that such a cold person would have such scalding hands?
“Let’s go.”
I love him sooo much, ah yes 3x the overtime pay 😂😂
Haha. So playful MC.😍😍😍😍
These type of misunderstandings give me life
+1
These scums would vomit blood if they knew what is the “substitute” thinking!
I can only say “hehehehe”
Except Wei Yichen, he’d just be glad that the other scum gongs finally relate to his suffering😂
This story is beautiful, the tension is my cup of tea and the comedy keeps my head above the angst. I adore MCs like him.
Mc had priorities straight, money matters most 😌
,🥺 this book gives me hella mixed feelings 😩👌💕
Lmao same. My brain Keeps trying to cheer for someone but i have to remind it we’re cheating for MC not the scum behind him
I swear😭😭
WYC might be the final boss? Maybe the readers got top attached to him to the point where they couldn’t accept the author’s ending lmfao hahahhaha what a green tea. After reading this fic I’m going to read dog-blood novels and pretend the MC is like YS as well hahahha
Thanks for the chapter ♡♡♡♡♡
OMG I can’t 💀🤣🤣
I LAUGHED SO HARD 3X THE PAY 😂😂😂
This is so good 😭😂 manipulate abuser into punishing another abuser thinking it’s a way to control you lmao
I like mc’s scenes with Wei Yichen 😆
It’s ever so satisfying when the players get played in their “own” game.