The boy’s soft pink lips pressed tightly together, his watery eyes brimming with confusion and grievance. Out of Shen Leyuan’s sight, his fingertips dug into his palm.
Why can’t Teacher be like before, with only me in his heart and eyes?
Why does Teacher have to go see and care about others?
How can I make Teacher go back to how he was? Would taking off clothes and applying medicine work?
Shen Leyuan shivered.
It was hard to describe the sensation. The boy in front of him was soft and obedient, without even that usual “sweetly tempting” illusion, yet a subtle chill rose behind him.
Is Little Deer about to throw a massive tantrum again?
He felt a bit intimidated and fell silent for a moment before forcing himself to speak: “Because…”
First, use a kind lie to soothe Little Deer, stabilize him.
But the moment he opened his mouth, a huge wave of horror surged through him. His heart raced as he realized the truth had slipped out: “Because Teacher came to see Little Deer today precisely to learn about Little Deer’s big brother’s situation.”
Little Deer froze.
So… he thought in bewilderment, Teacher didn’t come to play with Little Deer today?
Of course, of course. Teacher wouldn’t come on his own.
He’s been avoiding Little Deer, not letting Little Deer kiss or touch him, saying Little Deer lacks common sense and talks nonsense. He only chats with Daddy, and now he cares about big brother too.
But why? Little Deer came first…
Little Deer discovered Teacher first…
The more he thought, the more aggrieved he felt. Lin Shilu lunged at Shen Leyuan, protesting urgently: “No way!”
His eyes welled with tears as he forcibly dragged Shen Leyuan’s hand to his own face: “Teacher should check on Little Deer, not big brother!”
Shen Leyuan instinctively leaned back.
Noticing Teacher’s dodge, Little Deer burst into aggrieved sobs: “Teacher is Little Deer’s teacher, not big brother’s! Teacher should like Little Deer, only Little Deer, and not think about big brother when he’s with Little Deer. That’s not fair!”
Teacher cares about more and more people. Little Deer will get pushed out.
This absolutely cannot happen!
He resentfully bit his lip. The image of Teacher in his eyes blurred, but the thought in his mind grew clearer: Lock Teacher up, so he can only look at me, only talk to me, only like me, only belong to me…
His breathing quickened, and Little Deer nearly drowned in his own fantasy.
“Let go!”
Shen Leyuan’s brows furrowed as he anxiously pried at his mouth: “You’ve bitten until it’s bleeding. Doesn’t it hurt?”
Little Deer dazedly opened his mouth, his tongue tip accidentally brushing the cool pad of the finger. A hallucinatory sweetness flowed into his heart, and his Adam’s apple bobbed with a dry cough. He almost couldn’t restrain himself from chasing after it with a kiss.
“Don’t always…”
Shen Leyuan paused, then softly sighed and suddenly changed his words: “Sorry.”
Little Deer widened his eyes in surprise: “Huh?”
“Teacher didn’t consider Little Deer’s feelings and only cared about big brother, neglecting Little Deer.” He wiped the blood from Little Deer’s lips, asking with heartache: “Little Deer felt wronged and sad, so he threw a tantrum, right?”
“Mm…”
An unprecedented sourness welled up in his heart. Lin Shilu nodded, fat teardrops smashing down as he cried breathlessly.
He was so upset that his words came out in broken sobs: “Little Deer thought… Teacher came to play with Little Deer, but boo-hoo… but Teacher only mentioned big brother… Does Teacher want to revolve around big brother now and ignore Little Deer?”
“How could that be?” Shen Leyuan said with a helpless chuckle.
Little Deer cried even harder: “Teacher only cares about big brother!”
“Because Teacher knows Little Deer is doing well.” Shen Leyuan tried his best to explain: “Teacher hasn’t seen big brother and doesn’t know what punishment he’ll get, so he’s worried and came to ask Little Deer.”
He coaxed patiently: “Little Deer worries about big brother too, right?”
Little Deer glared fiercely: “I don’t worry about him at all!”
It was just empty words said in anger.
Shen Leyuan coaxed him back to his seat and patiently continued: “Teacher’s responsibility is to care for you both and look after you. He has to check on his recent situation. Teacher does the same for Little Deer usually—remember?”
Does… he?
The boy racked his brain trying to recall.
Shen Leyuan smiled and reminded him: “Little Deer likes little cakes, honey water, Teletubbies, and watching handsome guys. He always hugs the blanket when sleeping, hides his gaze when shy, and smiles secretly with his head down.”
“Just like now… Little Deer is shy, right?”
The boy who had just been hysterically sobbing suddenly turned into an obedient little angel, nodding with tiny movements.
Shen Leyuan held out his palm under Little Deer’s eyes, saying solemnly: “Teacher didn’t do well this time. Little Deer can punish Teacher—for example, by hitting Teacher’s palm once. Want to try?”
The palm was pink and soft to the poke.
Little Deer’s eyes darted mischievously. He suddenly threw a little pouty fit: “Mm! Teacher, close your eyes first!”
While Shen Leyuan obediently closed his eyes without a guard up, Little Deer seriously studied him.
Teacher is so good-looking…
His skin was a bit pale, lacking color—even his lips were faintly tinted. Every time Little Deer saw him, he wanted to rub and lick them, suck them red like flower petals, glossy like honey.
But Teacher doesn’t like it. Teacher doesn’t want to do that stuff.
Teacher doesn’t want to be locked up, doesn’t want to only look at Little Deer, doesn’t want to only talk to Little Deer…
What can Little Deer do?
For the first time in his life, he imitated Teacher with a soft sigh. He took hold of Teacher’s palm and gently planted a kiss on it—
“I forgive you!”
Shen Leyuan dazedly opened his eyes to see the boy’s brows curved into crescents.
…
Meanwhile, Lin Yao was drafting the opening of his twenty-eighth version of the apology letter.
He raised his hand and put pen to paper—
He hadn’t even finished the fifth stroke when frustration overwhelmed him. He crumpled the paper into a ball and hurled it at the trash bin—but he threw too hard, and it bounced back to his feet.
“Fuck!”
He smashed the pen away too, cursing: “Who asked you to stick your damn nose in? What kind of crap teacher are you, meddling so much? Trying to be my mom?”
He’d rather take the punishment than write this.
The door was open, bodyguards stationed on either side, ignoring his outburst.
Their sole task was to watch the young master until he finished and submitted the apology. Even at night, two would stay in the room—no chance of him slipping out.
With a dark expression, Lin Yao picked up the pen and kept trying.
It’d been years since they’d met, and the old man’s methods had gotten nastier. Definitely that Fox Spirit egging him on.
Stupid fucking Fox Spirit. I’ll play you to death someday!
This time, he finished the fifth stroke of “old,” but the pen tip suddenly failed, leaving a deep scratch across the paper.
Fine, fine, whatever. This shitty, huh?
Lin Yao completely lost the will to write. He fished a random crumpled paper from the trash and tossed it at a bodyguard: “Here, the apology letter. Take it!”
The bodyguard hesitated: “Young master…”
Lin Yao sneered: “How do you know it’s no good if you haven’t submitted it?”
The letter eventually made its way to Shen Leyuan’s desk.
“Whether you can end your confinement depends on if your family tutor accepts this apology letter.”
That was what Lin Yuan had said.
The paper was one of the early drafts, full of “fuck your mom” phrases, bilingual curses scorched with rage. Zero respect or remorse—the only relation to an apology was the title.
What reaction would the young man have to this garbage?
Lin Yuan was very curious.
On the big screen, the young man had just finished bathing. Wrapped in a bathrobe, he emerged from the bathroom drying his hair. Water droplets trailed from the ends into his slender back, his shoulders flushed from the steam, his face showing subtle surprise.
A bodyguard knocked, saying he’d brought… the apology letter?
Oh ho!
Surprise quickly turned to curiosity. Shen Leyuan hurried to the door with light steps, the pale roots of his thighs flashing into view as he moved.
Lin Yuan’s brows furrowed sharply.
His fingertip hovered over his earpiece, nearly issuing orders to the bodyguard.
But on-screen, the young man suddenly turned back, telling the bodyguard to wait as he hastily yanked off the bathrobe.
Lin Yuan’s eyes snapped to the lean body that appeared, then he immediately closed them.
A moment later, he opened them again.
It’s just surveillance. No need to be overly prudish. He wouldn’t catch feelings for a stray ghost like that.
Light-colored pajamas clung to the young man, exposing arms and legs, his brows and eyes softened with that post-bath laziness—not much better than the bathrobe alone.
Lin Yuan said expressionlessly to the bodyguard: “Hand it over with your eyes closed.”
Smooth handover.
Later, the bodyguard group chat lit up with keywords. The one who’d delivered spoke up: “You guys were right. Teacher Shen really is gentle.”
He hadn’t even looked at it and already liked it?
The group buzzed, voice messages flying: “Right? Last time he noticed I was thirsty and offered me juice.”
“A few days ago I had heatstroke, and he gave me Huoxiang Zhengqi water.”
“He made cake before and had me and Little Seven taste-test. That skill could open a shop!”
After several, the deliverer chimed in: “I accidentally poked him while handing it over. He told me not to worry and asked if I needed a break. Heh.”
Kinda embarrassed.
“You got poked just handing something over?” a colleague doubted. “On purpose?”
Not like Mr. Lin insisted on eyes closed?
The bodyguard’s expression was indescribable, exhaustion seeping through the screen: “Don’t ask…”
Those in the group aware of the boss’s recent changes went quiet. The clueless ones kept squealing excitedly: “Don’t ask what? What happened? Spill for the bros!”
Lin Yuan peeked at the screen, utterly shameless about his reputation taking a hit.
He only cared if any fool got seduced by the stray ghost into doing something irreversible and stupid.
For now, none.
He set the phone down and focused on the big screen.
The young man had read the entire apology and was meticulously correcting errors word by word, face lit with a smile. He ignored the profanity, adding neat comments below the scrawled lines.
—You bravely express your thoughts. Very honest.
—But many misspellings. Please correct.
No scolding, no cursing, no blame or doubt—just gentle tolerance.
Lin Yuan shut off the screen, went back to his room to wash up, and slept.
At four a.m., wide awake, he sat against the headboard, lit a cigarette, and pondered amid the flickering light.
Unfathomable.
Incomprehensible.
That idiot Lin Yao—what the hell makes him worth it?
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