Chapter 53 Part 2

He was still holding Zhu Ran’s body and used his other hand to grab the door handle, locking it with a click.

Zhu Ran let out a long breath. He had been so scared he’d forgotten they could lock it from inside.

With the external crisis averted, the internal stimulation became glaringly obvious. Zhu Ran belatedly frowned and quietly urged Huo Boyan to go out.

But Huo Boyan didn’t budge. He turned on the speaker again and said to Huo Junlin, “Wait, I’ll get it for you.”

Then, he carried Zhu Ran with one arm toward the study.

Huo Boyan’s apartment was enormous, with the study diagonally opposite the living room, nearly dozens of meters away.

Huo Boyan, leveraging his injury shamelessly, was wicked to an almost infuriating degree.

Zhu Ran didn’t dare move or even scold loudly. He could only cling tightly to Huo Boyan, scratching like a kitten—clearly bullied badly.

Huo Boyan carried Zhu Ran into the study and spotted Huo Junlin’s phone on the desk. He carried Zhu Ran back to the entrance and placed his hand on the door handle.

“Wait,” noticing his movement, Zhu Ran looked up in panic. “Huo Boyan, what are you doing?”

Huo Boyan: “Giving him the phone.”

Zhu Ran immediately said, “Put me down first.”

Huo Boyan didn’t speak, but his expression and body language showed disagreement.

“Huo Boyan, if you keep this up, I’ll get angry!” Zhu Ran trembled at his own guess, flailing as he added, “If you dare open the door like this, I-I won’t talk to you ever again!”

For men their age, the threat of “I won’t talk to you ever again” was childish. But Zhu Ran would rather say something childish than threaten breakup. Because he was serious about this relationship, not using breakup as a bargaining chip.

Huo Boyan clearly understood the unspoken meaning and finally relented, withdrawing his hand. He took two deep breaths, tidied himself haphazardly, blocked Zhu Ran behind him, opened the door, and handed over the phone.

Zhu Ran hid on the other side of the inner door, body shielded by Huo Boyan, holding his breath as he waited for the person to leave.

Outside, Huo Junlin paced restlessly like a dog without commands. The moment the door opened, he rushed in.

Huo Boyan held the door open with one hand, his expression cold. “You can go now.”

Complex emotions appeared for the first time on Huo Junlin’s face, which had been foolish for over twenty years. He glanced at Huo Boyan’s disheveled clothes and hesitated. “Bro, you…”

“No next time,” Huo Boyan said calmly. “I’ll change the door code. Book an appointment next time you want to come over.”

Through the door crack, Huo Junlin glimpsed a smaller shadow, responding with a complicated “oh.”

Before he could ask more, Huo Boyan closed the door. Behind it, Zhu Ran exhaled deeply, his suspended heart finally settling.

“You scared me to death,” Zhu Ran recalled the scene and still felt lingering fear. “Huo Boyan, can you not pull stunts like this in the future…”

Before he finished, Huo Boyan pressed down again.

Zhu Ran: ?

Huo Boyan: “No one can disturb us now.”

“But I don’t like it here,” Zhu Ran pouted delicately, half-seriously complaining. “The door’s too cold and hard. Can we go to the bedroom?”

What could Huo Boyan do? Of course, he agreed to Zhu Ran’s suggestion.

At first, Zhu Ran was comfortable, naively thinking Huo Boyan’s injured arm would make him hold back. But unexpectedly, with one hand, he was even more ferocious. Before, when bullied too much, Zhu Ran could scratch, bite, or kick him. Now, mindful of the wound, he didn’t even dare push, getting thoroughly ravaged.

Zhu Ran passed out in a daze. When he woke, he found himself in the bathtub, with Huo Boyan half-kneeling beside it, cleaning his body with one hand.

Zhu Ran enjoyed it for a few seconds with squinted eyes, then suddenly remembered Huo Boyan’s injury. He propped himself up on the tub edge and said he could wash himself.

Huo Boyan: “Do you know how? First, stick your fingers in…”

Zhu Ran: “Stop! I know!”

Zhu Ran shooed him out irritably and headache-inducingly cleaned up the mess. He had no experience with this kind of cleanup, and his sense of shame was off the charts. It took him half an hour of fumbling.

Huo Boyan sat at the door in a half-wet shirt, his arm wrapped in bandages, looking somewhat disheveled.

Zhu Ran’s heart softened again. He said gently, “Why didn’t you go wash up?”

Huo Boyan: “Afraid you’d call me.”

Zhu Ran didn’t believe the nonsense, but remembering Huo Boyan’s external injury probably made self-washing difficult, he offered proactively, “Come in. I’ll help you wash.”

Zhu Ran had never done caregiving before, but Huo Boyan was easy to please. Even when Zhu Ran vengefully pinched or scratched him, he had no complaints, just kept saying thank you, it’s fine, good.

The only impolite part was a certain spot, but Zhu Ran said nothing more—he was truly intimidated by that thing.

After the bath, Zhu Ran wrapped Huo Boyan in a towel and asked, “Huo Boyan, where are your pajamas?”

Zhu Ran himself was only wrapped in a towel. His clothes were in the suitcase, and he didn’t want to rummage naked, so he planned to borrow one of Huo Boyan’s first.

“They’re all here,” Huo Boyan stood at the door of the walk-in closet and pointed to a row of wardrobes. “Those over there are all your clothes. Pick whatever you want to wear.”

His clothes?

Zhu Ran pulled open the cabinet door and discovered an entire wall of clothes tailored to his size. Half were formal suits and half casual wear, along with a bunch of weird outfits that couldn’t be worn in public—why were there even skirts?

Zhu Ran looked more closely and realized these were the items he’d asked the sales associate about last time, the ones that had been out of stock. Huo Boyan had actually bought them all?

But with his butt still hurting, Zhu Ran pretended not to notice and turned back to ask Huo Boyan, “No pajamas?”

“None,” Huo Boyan said. “No need to wear pajamas at home.”

Zhu Ran: “……”

“Then you shouldn’t wear any either!”

True to his word, Zhu Ran rummaged through his suitcase, pulled out pajamas, and changed into them. But he absolutely refused to let Huo Boyan wear any.

Huo Boyan had only half a bath towel wrapped around his waist. The phone rang three times before he finally gave in. “Have some mercy. I still have an online meeting. You’re really going to make me join like this?”

“Isn’t that perfect?” Zhu Ran put his hands on his hips and said smugly. “Your body is so great—nothing to be ashamed of.”

Huo Boyan: “But I only want to show it to you.”

“Fine,” Zhu Ran glanced at Huo Boyan’s prized pecs and abs, then sighed. “Huo Boyan, I’m still too good to you.”

Ten minutes later, Huo Boyan wore a tight cartoon hooded pajama that clearly outlined his muscles, complete with two cat ears sticking up from the hood. He abruptly joined the video conference.

At this weird sight, all the executives fell into collective silence.

Author’s note: Huo Zhixiao frantically bought up dirt overnight: Huo Boyan suspected of being abandoned by Huo Corporation, Old Scallion dons a green hat and plays the good boy (Of course, nothing leaked out! President Huo’s image remains rock-solid).