Chapter 46

The day they were set to leave.

Qi Jing had already raised his hand in farewell, but he circled back, looking utterly bewildered as he asked, “I still want to ask about that one thing.”

The young man tilted his head slightly, his eyes puzzled behind the mask. “Which thing?”

“Going to bed.”

“…”

Jiang Xiuyuan’s fingers tingled, a tooth mark still visible on his ring finger. His face flushed red in an instant.

But the person across from him was Qi Jing, after all.

“You want to?”

It was a probing question.

The teenager’s eyelids drooped slightly as his innocent face turned toward Jiang Xiuyuan. He seemed to understand, then nodded.

He wanted to give it a try.

“Then how far have you gotten?”

Jiang Xiuyuan apparently felt it wasn’t ideal to discuss this at the door. He pulled the other man inside, found a mask for Qi Jing, then bent down to grab the alcohol spray.

Pssht, pssht.

The teenager sat prim and proper, just like he had been when earnestly seeking advice at the clubhouse before. He looked up at Jiang Xiuyuan. “He kisses me. He will kiss me.”

“He’ll help me—”

The syllable starting with Z had barely left his mouth when the young man’s entire face turned scarlet. Unable to hold back, Jiang Xiuyuan raised his hand to interrupt. “Alright, alright. I get it.”

The Chinese were conservative folk. Even frequent visitors to shady websites online would blush at hearing certain specific words in real life.

A middle ground of openness.

A middle ground of restraint.

The reserved Chinese had somehow produced a sprawling population of 1.4 billion.

Jiang Xiuyuan sat on the edge of the sofa, striving to remain objective and calm. “You’re still too young right now. President Bo is actually doing this for your own good.”

“…”

Even Jiang Xiuyuan himself couldn’t keep a straight face. How had he ended up like this?

“Hey… what do you want to do about it?”

The teenager merely lowered his chin, his emotions tucked away, but he clearly had his own ideas.

“I want to try it.”

Practice was the best teacher.

Nothing beat hands-on experience.

“Let me think… if you do it like this…”

~~~

It was around four or five in the morning.

The bedside lamp in the master bedroom cast a dim yellow glow, but the bedding was dark. A section of pale leg protruded from beneath the blanket.

Bo Chengyan gazed down, his grip gentle as he massaged it softly.

Tear tracks still stained Qi Jing’s cheeks. He slept curled up tight, his body half off the edge of the bed.

His ankle twitched.

Bo Chengyan glanced up, but the pressure from his palm didn’t ease in the slightest. The person on the bed remained asleep.

He didn’t wake.

It was as if a sudden gale had demolished the psychological walls he’d so carefully built, leaving nothing but devastation behind.

In his dreams, Qi Jing tottered unsteadily, his breathing stifled as if he’d plummeted into the sea. He thought he would drown.

But he didn’t. The water seemed to engulf his entire body, wrapping around him.

He couldn’t move no matter how he tried.

A soft whimper finally escaped his lips.

Only then did the teenager wake. His chin rested on the other’s shoulder. Just as he stirred to move, Bo Chengyan said, “Don’t move.”

There was a cool, soothing sensation near his hips—the ointment for the swelling.

Qi Jing’s eyelids felt damp. He frowned in discomfort, wanting to spread his legs apart. It hurt so much.

His skin felt raw, nearly abraded.

It wasn’t long before Bo Chengyan wrapped an arm around his waist and shifted him lightly into a new position, his calves dangling, faint star-like marks dotting his ankle.

Qi Jing’s lips were swollen. His voice came out hoarse as he watched his own knees being gently parted.

Some memory seemed to resurface.

Without thinking, he tried to clamp them shut.

Bo Chengyan paused for a moment, then said mildly, “Open them.”

The person in his arms seemed to shrink back. He looked up, his shallow breaths brushing warm and moist against Bo Chengyan’s Adam’s apple.

“No more touching.”

Qi Jing was like a fledgling, unaware that climaxing too many times could be unhealthy. He lacked the self-control anyway.

His calves just trembled.

“Applying the medicine.”

Qi Jing blinked, then realized. His earlobes turned red as his arms still hung from the man’s shoulders.

He obediently parted his knees.

No seduction needed.

Every one of his movements danced along the high wire of Bo Chengyan’s mental tension.

“It’s not like in the videos.”

The naive teenager in his arms tilted his head back innocently to ask, his tone tinged with disappointment.

“Why is it different?”

Seeing no reaction, Qi Jing stretched his neck in confusion, pressing a kiss to the other’s chin.

Like a small animal showing affection.

“Wait a little longer.”

Qi Jing heard those words again. Unhappy, he reached out to push at the man’s shoulder, but his hand was caught and pinned.

“Why such a temper?”

Bo Chengyan frowned down at the person in his arms, soft black hair cascading down. The teenager merely tugged at his fingers.

His strength was pitifully weak.

In the end, his eyes grew watery as he looked up.

Qi Jing: “I don’t have a temper!”

[He doesn’t like me at all.]

Bo Chengyan froze for a second, but in that brief lapse, the teenager really did push him away.

He stumbled off the bed.

Predictably, Qi Jing lost his balance entirely and was pulled back by arms like iron bands.

His inner thighs were forced apart.

As if to prove some undeniable fact.

…

Qi Jing was carried off for another bath. Bo Chengyan held him while changing him into pajamas, frowning slightly as he cradled him one-handed.

His phone screen showed Lin Se’s contact info.

Perhaps he should consult this kid of similar age about why someone might lack a sense of security.

But as he went to dial, he gave up.

Instead, he opened a search page.

When Qi Jing woke in the morning, he found his mouth pried open, his teeth being meticulously cleaned inside and out.

He spat out the fingers and shoved at the arm.

Bo Chengyan’s eyes were deep and dark. He held Qi Jing in the bathroom, his face expressionless as he asked, “Who taught you to push me?”

The deer’s eyes showed no fear.

He’d been spoiled rotten.

“I want to brush my own teeth.”

His voice was muffled, utterly unafraid.

As if he knew the other would yield.

Back in high school, Qi Jing had gotten into the habit of applying face cream. It was essential grooming for a goldfinch, according to the employee handbook.

He had to maintain an impeccably beautiful state.

After washing his face, the teenager stared blankly at his reflection in the mirror—red at the corners of his eyes, speckles dotting his neck.

A mess.

No… not pretty.

Just as he turned his head, his neck was firmly held. Bo Chengyan was tall enough to nearly trap him against the vanity.

The Adam’s apple was a soft spot.

Rough fingers slid gently up and down it, making it impossible not to swallow reflexively.

Qi Jing clutched at the man’s shirt, his lips parting slightly.

The hand glided up from his neck skin and into his mouth, prying his teeth apart like a lever.

Bo Chengyan’s gaze lowered. “Be good.”

“Let me see.”

Qi Jing was lifted onto the vanity. He opened his mouth himself, revealing neat, clean teeth.

His soft tongue lay quietly inside.

“Do I have cavities?”

The teenager closed his mouth and asked earnestly. He was so pure, so serene.

“No.”

Qi Jing reached up to wrap his arms around him. No need to walk anymore—he couldn’t sense danger and was always so clingy.

Bo Chengyan’s lingering gloom dissipated. He lifted the young man down, a crisp voice sounding by his ear.

“So when can we?”

~~~

Qi Jing did lack a sense of security, especially after that trip to Z Province, where he’d directly experienced the crude reality of “handing someone over.”

The perfume scent at a collar.

The girl being nudged forward by the back.

People would keep coming to latch onto the powerful.

Willing or not.

Bo Chengyan never lacked for attractive company, men or women, young or old. Would he ever be swayed?

Sometimes Qi Jing wondered if he’d simply gotten lucky, living a life he’d never dared dream of before.

But would the luck hold?

How long would it last?

The teenager sat at the desk, a bit distracted as he gazed at the online class on his computer. At least he had his missions. The one in Harbor City was managing his assets for him—that was what he’d earned playing the role of Little Bird…

Qi Jing pursed his lips, earnestly reassuring himself.

It was what he deserved.

As for the Bo Family.

Qi Jing was simply confused. He liked him, but why could they never take that final step?

He was a boy.

No risk of pregnancy, no worries there.

He didn’t want to reach the point where Bo Chengyan lost interest, only to realize they still hadn’t gone to bed.

Qi Jing lowered his chin, curling his fingers in frustration.

It felt like such a loss.

Just then, a blue unidentified object with a small bundle on its back popped up on the desk, looking utterly exhausted.

Qi Jing hadn’t seen it in ages. “996?”

[Alright, alright. Once the protagonist top gets through that plot point, you’ll be free!]

The teenager untied the little bundle for 996, revealing a few Wangzai milk candies inside. He blinked in surprise.

But he still peeled one for it.

“Can you even eat these now?”

[I brought them for you.]

Qi Jing paused, his watery eyes reflecting the blue jelly-like form.

[Eat them, eat them.]

Was even the system treating him like a kid?

The teenager sometimes puzzled over it. He was an adult already, with full legal capacity.

Yet he was still being sheltered.

The milk candy started off hard, melting bit by bit into a sweet, milky fragrance.

Qi Jing propped his chin on his hand and poked 996 with a fingertip. “Thanks for bringing me here.”

[Ah?]

“Without you, I never would’ve met him.”

The lucky beginning.

It was this somewhat unreliable system.

Still, his head had hurt so badly at the time. Qi Jing frowned as he recalled the moment—it had probably been during the connection, right after which he had been able to see 996.

“What do you mean by ‘the plot’? And what’s this about ‘liberation’?”

996 had no choice but to recount everything it had done during that period, from the big events like visiting the Bo Family Old Mansion to watch the madams clawing at each other’s hair, to the little ones like sniffing the aroma at the roadside bun shop.

It hadn’t forgotten to check on Ruan Heng either, who had risen as a new powerhouse in Shanghai.

In essence, the 256th World was meant to trend toward stability. The protagonist was just one of the fluctuating variables, destined to experience ups and downs before settling into calm.

“What do I need to do?”

【Very simple. Just keep him stable. Once we pass the plot point at the Macau Old Estate, this dungeon will be over.】

Qi Jing felt a dazed sort of emptiness, as if “ending” was far too abrupt a word. He lifted a hand to cradle 996.

Harbor City’s figure suddenly came to mind.

“After you complete your missions, how does he cope on his own?”

Prolonged time with a system could lead to disconnection from reality, fostering a profound sense of dissociation.

Qi Jing had many such concerns.

【He said: An ending is merely a new beginning.】

~~~

Things didn’t go as smoothly as Qi Jing had hoped.

The weather gradually warmed, the rains receded, and the city returned to its usual bustle.

It was four in the morning.

Bo Chengyan bent down to speak to him. “I have to go on a business trip to Macau. I’ll be back in three days. Skip the military training at school—I’ve arranged a sick leave for you.”

“Rest at home, alright?”

The young man on the bed snapped awake in an instant. Still bleary-eyed, he reached out, and the man swiftly pulled him into his arms.

The embrace didn’t last long.

“I want to go with you.”

His voice was thick with grievance.

“No.”

It was the first time he had refused.

The young man stared at him in stunned silence.

Bo Chengyan frowned, his heart heavy with worry, but he steeled himself and left. Macau was full of prying eyes; he couldn’t afford to expose his vulnerability. Besides, he needed to uphold his upright image.

Everything seemed to proceed without a hitch.

Until boarding time, when the Smart Wristband’s location signal vanished without a trace.

A message came from Brocade River Villas.

—Mr. Bo, I went to deliver food but didn’t see Little Jing in his room. Did he leave with you?