Chapter 28: Dark-Skinned Rugged Honest Man 28

Jiang Rang’s heart pounded wildly, so fast that even the sound of his knocking couldn’t drown it out.

The Master Bedroom was unnaturally still. Moss scent seeped from under the door like the bloated tentacles of some drowned sea creature, evoking the image of a rotten marine animal suffocated in a plastic bag.

In the oppressive silence, the knocking seemed obnoxiously loud. The beta’s unease sharpened like a needle poised against a balloon, with no telling when it might burst.

Click.

Finally, Jiang Rang gripped the doorknob with trembling anxiety and pushed open the door to the Master Bedroom.

The moment the door swung open, the young man was struck momentarily speechless.

It was an excessively dim, gray world.

The feeble glow came from the tiny Little Bear Table Lamp on the nightstand, its light so pitiful it was almost nonexistent.

Yet it was there, undeniably.

Jiang Rang even remembered why it existed.

He had gotten the lamp as a freebie from a bookstore when he’d gone there to mail a letter. It was pathetically small, crudely made, and utterly colorless.

When the beta had brought it back to the villa, the Male Master had taken an interest in it, so he’d given it to him.

Jiang Rang had felt a bit embarrassed at the time, but the omega didn’t seem to mind. He had earnestly placed the rough little bear—which clashed so starkly with his refined tastes—on the nightstand and personally dusted it off every day.

The young man remembered the Male Master saying to him once: Jiang Rang, don’t you think it looks just like you?

Jiang Rang’s throat tightened. Under that faint light, his gaze took in the room ravaged like a hurricane’s aftermath, and his heart quivered.

The plush, deep-colored carpet was littered with shreds of bedsheets, shards from a shattered vase, and even the large framed photo of the Male Master on the wall had its man’s pallid face torn to ribbons. At first glance, it looked eerily like a ghost risen from the grave.

Only the Little Bear Table Lamp stood unscathed in its place. It was still that obedient, rough, cheap thing, the sole splash of color amid waves of inky blackness.

Nearest to it was the bed, stripped nearly to its bones. Nothing much remained but a thin, plain sheet strewn with a suffocating density of white pills, piled so high they formed a grave mound.

And perched atop that mound was a glamorous ghost with disheveled long hair.

Hearing the noise, the ghost slowly lifted his sharply pale face. His pitch-black eyes, like those of a corpse, bulged as they fixed on the young man.

Or, more precisely, he was glaring sinisterly at the young man’s swollen lips, red and bruised from another’s sucking and biting.

“Jiang Rang.”

The hoarse voice asked, “What were you doing with him?”

But before Jiang Rang could answer, Qi Yu continued in an eerily calm tone, as if talking to himself: “What a stupid question. You’re engaged, after all. What else could you be doing?”

“Jiang Rang, did it feel good with him?”

Jiang Rang knew this stunning Male Master was likely in the throes of an episode. He looked far too abnormal—

Qi Yu’s face was ghostly pale, his eye sockets ringed in deep crimson verging on black. He clutched his head, as if the agony might split it open, his voice growing shrill and piercing: “Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up! I told you to shut up!”

As he spoke, the man suddenly grabbed a fistful of pills from beside him and crammed them into his mouth.

His gaunt cheeks bulged grotesquely in an instant, but with so many pills, he couldn’t swallow them down.

Jiang Rang was so startled by the man’s sudden action that his soul nearly fled his body. Ignoring everything else, he rushed to Qi Yu’s side, clamped his palm over the omega’s lips, and forced him to spit out the pills.

Even as he acted, Jiang Rang’s eyes reddened unwittingly.

It wasn’t just fear—there was endless shock and horror, mental torment from the scene before him… and an untimely pang of heartache for the man’s wretched state.

The omega coughed violently, his lips red as if about to spew blood, as though in the next moment he’d hack up his heart, liver, spleen, and lungs.

Saliva spilled from his mouth, veins bulging on his sweat-slicked pale forehead. Yet at the sight of the young man’s worried, heartbroken expression, he suddenly burst into laughter.

The man’s laugh was deranged and hysterical. With a rasping voice, he spat venomously through gritted teeth: “Jiang Rang, I bought you. We’ve already slept together, and I haven’t even gotten pregnant yet. How dare you cheat on me behind my back?!”

“Can’t wait that long, huh—”

“Qi Yu!”

For the first time, the young man snapped in utter exasperation, shouting his employer’s name.

The beta looked on the verge of breaking down from the injustice. Even the most even-tempered person couldn’t endure such baseless accusations forever.

Jiang Rang’s neck bulged with a thick vein, his honeyed cheeks sharp and strikingly handsome under the light, as if carved by a knife. He enunciated each word to the omega, who was gradually falling silent. “Hang Liu and I didn’t do anything, and we won’t do anything. What on earth are you thinking?”

“Do I need to swear it to you? Before the child crawls out of your belly, I absolutely won’t betray you.”

The man tilted his head back, gazing up at the youth in a near-dazed state, his long black hair sliding from his shoulders down his back.

Qi Yu’s throat bobbed fiercely, and a strange pink flush slowly seeped into his skin, which was as pale as a ghost’s.

Suddenly, he whispered softly, “Jiang Rang, let’s do it. Right now.”

Jiang Rang rubbed his temple, his tone laced with helplessness. “Mr. Qi, what you need right now is a doctor, not these thoughts…”

“Call me Qi Yu.” The man’s eyes bored into him, his voice hoarse.

Jiang Rang drew in a deep breath and went along with it. “Qi Yu, you’re sick right now. We need to get you to a doctor first. I’ll go call the butler to summon one.”

As the youth spoke, he turned to leave—but his movements froze once more almost immediately.

Because Jiang Rang spotted the massive handful of pills clutched in the man’s fist, as if the instant he stepped away, the man would swallow them all.

This was a complete madman, utterly indifferent to his own survival.

Jiang Rang clenched his teeth but didn’t dare leave. His phone wasn’t on him, leaving the youth utterly powerless in the moment.

The omega’s pitch-black eyes brimmed with a watery sheen, his gaze hazy and entranced, as though he’d plunged entirely into a world filled only with Jiang Rang.

Beneath the light, the man’s arm—white as sun-bleached plaster—slowly wound around the youth’s neck. Just before their lips met, his breaths quickened into ragged gasps, like some bizarre itch burrowing into his very bones, stripping away any hope of composure.

Qi Yu leaned close to Jiang Rang’s ear and murmured, “A-Rang, give me a child.”

The omega’s hair came alive once more, slithering over the youth’s body like tentacles.

It curved and twisted, infiltrating the beta’s mouth and coiling around his neck.

Jiang Rang might have wanted to refuse.

But the man gave him no such opportunity.

Qi Yu’s strength was no trifling thing; in certain moments, it completely overpowered the beta.

Jiang Rang’s wrists, pinned in the man’s grip, could barely twitch.

Young people weren’t skilled at restraint. Once they tasted something intoxicating, a dependent craving took root in their minds.

Especially with Qi Yu, who held nothing back.

Jiang Rang’s last clear memory was of the man slowly caressing his own pale belly. As he did, he leaned into the youth’s ear, voice rough and low. “Jiang Rang, the child’s right here.”

He seized the youth’s hand and pressed it against his beautiful, rippling abdomen. His face bore a powdery pink flush like that of a garish ghost, and he murmured, “Jiang Rang, can you feel it? The child’s here. He’ll come out soon. He’ll call you Daddy.”

With that, the omega broke into a blissful, intoxicated smile. “Jiang Rang, this is our child.”

Jiang Rang’s chest tightened from the man’s relentless words, birthing the bizarre illusion that the fellow might actually give birth, belly and all, at any second.

Yet the whole situation was utterly absurd. What pregnant husband strained himself like this?

In his hazy daze before sleep claimed him, the youth wondered if Qi Yu’s exertions might cause a miscarriage.

~~~

Hang Liu hadn’t left Jiang Rang’s room.

Just before departing, the youth had explained that his employer suffered from chronic headaches that might be flaring up, so he needed to tend to him and would return shortly. Hang Liu could rest there in the meantime.

Hang Liu had blushed and agreed.

Truth be told, he was still lost in the memory of that kiss—his very first. A twinge of regret gnawed at him now; he feared Jiang Rang might see him as too forward, lacking in propriety.

But joy outweighed it. He liked Jiang Rang and couldn’t care less about societal conventions. It was just that his fiancé was so proper and bashful in daily life that Hang Liu hadn’t wanted to come across as predatory.

His mother had always said a man’s chastity made the finest dowry.

That was why he’d strived so hard before their wedding to embody gentleness, virtue, generosity, restraint, and purity.

Hang Liu had long dreamed of baring himself completely to Jiang Rang on their wedding night.

Only then would they truly become lovers, bound as family for life.

“Buzz buzz buzz—”

The phone’s relentless vibration drilled into his ears.

Hang Liu pursed his lips and instinctively checked his own device, only to realize the sound wasn’t coming from it.

His eyes scanned the room.

Moments later, he spotted the youth’s phone on the desk—the one left behind in his haste.

Jiang Rang’s phone had no password set. Hang Liu’s heart pounded wildly. He knew that snooping through the young man’s phone was a terrible invasion of privacy, but he simply couldn’t suppress his urge to pry.

He couldn’t help wanting to check up on him, to confirm that the young man’s love for him held no secrets or reservations.

However, the instant Hang Liu unlocked the phone, the System automatically popped up an image of a seductive Omega dressed in a black satin nightgown.

The Omega’s long hair cascaded to his waist, his features strikingly beautiful. He exposed his smooth thighs and gazed drunkenly toward the camera.

It was blatant temptation and seduction.

Last time, Hang Liu hadn’t gotten a clear look at the slutty Omega’s face, but this time, he saw it in perfect detail.

The moment recognition dawned, Hang Liu felt his blood surging in reverse through his veins. A wave of nausea hit him, along with an impulse to rip the man’s clothes off and slap his face.

Hang Liu had always known some shameless slut was opportunistically sending intimate photos to Jiang Rang, but he never imagined it would be the Qi Family’s widower—the one who appeared so proper and composed!

The guy was nothing but damaged second-hand goods, a former live-in son-in-law, yet he had the audacity to seduce Jiang Rang, who already had a fiancé. Utterly shameless!

Hang Liu’s face remained expressionless, but his fingers gripped the phone screen so tightly they turned white as he swiped through photo after photo.

The young man’s expression grew darker and darker until he came across a picture of the Omega kissing a Beta. At that point, Hang Liu could no longer stay seated.

He shot to his feet and rushed to the door in hasty strides, unable to bear the thought of leaving Jiang Rang alone with that brazen Omega.

His head throbbed with pain as a terrifying worry gripped him: What if the Omega managed to lure the young man into bed?

His A-Rang was so honest and innocent—he might not even realize what was happening.

But just as Hang Liu cracked open the door, he found the Butler standing there with several bodyguards and the doctor.

The Butler’s smile remained impeccably polite, though it took on an eerie quality under the dim, pale corridor lights. “Mr. Hang,” he said mildly, “it’s so late. What are you planning to do?”

Hang Liu’s face drained of color. He forced out, “Butler sir, Jiang Rang is my fiancé. I’m worried about him. I need to go find him.”

The Butler’s expression didn’t change, but his words sent ice through Hang Liu’s veins.

“Mr. Hang, you need to know your place. Without Mr. Jiang’s invitation, you wouldn’t even be allowed through this door.”

“If you refuse to cooperate and cause a disturbance while the master of the house is resting, we’ll have to take measures to ensure your silence.”

Hang Liu’s fingers clenched tightly. He had no choice but to retreat back into the room.

That night passed in a blur for the young man. He frantically scoured Jiang Rang’s phone from top to bottom, nearly driven mad.

In truth, Jiang Rang’s private life was impeccably clean. There were only a handful of contacts in his phone, and no random chats on social apps. But Hang Liu was obsessed, searching over and over until he was absolutely certain there were no other intruders.

Time crawled by in that near-frozen space, his heart hammering so fiercely it felt like it might burst free from its cage at any moment.

When Hang Liu finally regained some awareness, daylight had already broken.

He propped his arm on the table and wearily rubbed his haggard, pallid face. Tear tracks had left his skin dry and stinging. In the past, he would have fussed over his appearance, but now he had no energy for it.

All he could do was obsess, trapped in a spiral of torment:

Jiang Rang still hadn’t returned.

What had he been doing all night?

Had he kissed that seducing Omega? Slept with him?

Had there been even a single moment when he’d remembered that Hang Liu was waiting for him?

Hang Liu felt utterly exhausted—bone-deep weariness. His body had always been frail, and after pulling an all-nighter like this, dark circles shadowed his eyes. He looked ghostly pale and translucent, as if he might vanish into thin air at any second.

Knock, knock, knock.

A soft rapping came from the door.

Hang Liu snapped alert in an instant. He licked his lips slightly, trying to moisten the cracked, bloodless skin and make it look less awful.

He knew it had to be A-Rang.

The young man pursed his lips and slowly opened the door. Sure enough, there stood the honey-skinned Jiang Rang.

Jiang Rang didn’t look the worse for wear. If anything, he seemed refreshed—positively radiant, as if he’d slept well the night before.

But…

Hang Liu’s lips twitched faintly as he noticed several distinct deep-red marks on the young man’s wheat-colored neck.

They were too obvious, too deliberately placed, like a brazen display meant just for him.

Oblivious to Hang Liu’s turmoil, Jiang Rang was clearly swept up in his excitement over the good news. “A Liu,” he said eagerly, “the hospital just called—Dad’s finally awake!”