It was around two in the morning when Qi Jing finally stopped clutching at that arm with all his strength. Bo Chengyan withdrew his hand.
His expression was calm.
Lin Se had been watching from the side for quite a while. He signaled for them to step out and talk. The Old Estate didn’t have an elevator, and the air felt somewhat chilly.
“Did you pick him up from Great Cool Mountain?” Lin Se asked.
Bo Chengyan frowned slightly. “Yes. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, I was just wondering—are you sure Little Jing’s parents are really dead?”
Footsteps halted.
Bo Chengyan turned to stare quietly at the man beside him. Lin Se relented with a helpless shrug, raising his hands in surrender. “I’m just reminding you. The government has already compiled a list of missing persons. What if his biological parents come looking for him one day?”
“That won’t happen.”
The man continued down the stairs, his tone even.
Lin Se pressed from behind. “Is that ‘won’t happen’ or ‘don’t want it to’?”
This guy was the best at putting on an act in everyday life, but deep down, his heart was pitch black.
And he was still in human form, for now.
What if he evolved someday?
The kid wouldn’t stand a chance escaping.
Lin Se had never seen anyone cool a fever by hand—weren’t cold towels enough?
A low-grade fever of thirty-seven degrees Celsius, and he’d stayed up all night just watching?
The rumors outside had seriously understated things.
“What are you trying to say?” Bo Chengyan glanced back, his gaze cool and piercing.
Lin Se fell silent for a long moment before frowning. “Are you sure you don’t like him?”
“What kind of like?”
The other’s tone remained utterly calm, without the slightest ripple.
“Like” was such a broad word. It could apply to objects, food, living environments… extending to people, events, even philosophical quotes.
Narrowing it down to just sex felt overly simplistic.
“I wouldn’t have brought him back if I didn’t like him,” Bo Chengyan said without evasion.
Lin Se seemed to mull it over, but after a moment, he stepped down, his expression serious. “I just remembered something—about your abnormally high pain threshold before… Has it been treated?”
~~~
Qi Jing kept running a fever, so the May holiday wasn’t even over before he had to catch a flight back. When he left, he still had a scarf wrapped around his neck.
He said there was wind outside.
Bo Chengyan ushered him into the car. Just before closing the door, he glanced at his phone, and his eyebrows lifted ever so slightly.
It was a look of disdain.
Qi Jing leaned against the window on the other side, blowing cool air. It felt refreshing, whooshing coldly.
“Tch.”
Bo Chengyan shut his door and circled around, frowning. “Close the window. You’ll catch a cold.”
Qi Jing started to tilt his head and say he wasn’t cold, but he ended up coughing instead.
“…”
He grew a bit anxious and wanted to explain that it was just the wind tickling his throat, not that he was getting sick.
But his forehead was pressed back down.
“Close it,” Bo Chengyan said heavily to the driver.
Qi Jing couldn’t catch even a breath of cool air now.
The ride back was pretty boring. He mostly slept, but for some reason—maybe an illusion—it felt much faster than the trip there.
By the time they reached Brocade River Villas, it was already dark. Qi Jing vaguely sensed a shadow falling over him and let out a soft “Mm.”
“You’re awake?”
“Then get out yourself.”
Qi Jing naturally reached out and grabbed the other’s hand. He scooped up his backpack and climbed down.
The hair behind his ears had a slight curl, and his eyes were still heavy-lidded.
He simply closed them.
Bo Chengyan: “…”
He didn’t say anything, just led the boy home.
~~~
Chen Zhuo touched down in Macau only to learn that Bo Chengyan had returned to Capital City. They’d just missed each other.
It made him laugh in frustration.
And right on cue, the elders on his mother’s side started nagging him about marriage.
Chen Jiangqiao, on the other hand, was in high spirits. She lounged at home, too lazy to move, and even treated herself to some nail art—flashy machine-printed designs.
“You’re certainly making yourself comfortable,” Chen Zhuo said.
He reached for the little bottle, eyeing it curiously. His sister snatched it back at once.
“Hey, don’t mess with it.”
Chen Zhuo frowned. “What’s the point besides making it easier to scratch people?”
Chen Jiangqiao had a fiery temper. She shot back, “Have I ever scratched you? You’re just running your mouth.”
“…”
“Bo Chengyan probably won’t get married anyway.”
Chen Zhuo changed the subject. “Pick a different target. He’s not easy to land.”
“Or just find some guy to keep as a sugar baby? Have a kid to carry on the Chen name—no need to actually marry.”
Chen Zhuo suggested.
“Huh?”
Chen Jiangqiao froze.
Arms crossed, Chen Zhuo continued, “Don’t you just want the life of a pampered rich wife? You can have that at home. Bro can provide the setup. Find yourself some educated, good-looking young guy. Worst case, hit up a sperm bank abroad, keep the kid and ditch the dad.”
“Then the Chen Family has an heir.”
The room fell quiet for a beat.
The girl thought it over. “Nah.”
“I’m still young. I’ll have a kid at twenty-eight or twenty-nine.”
Chen Zhuo was baffled. “Then why rush into marriage now? What man can’t you snag? The family has plenty to bankroll you living as a rich housewife.”
Chen Jiangqiao: “…Yeah, you’re right.”
But then she seemed to circle back around. She tilted her head up at him, narrowing her eyes.
“You’re the one who doesn’t want to get married, aren’t you? That’s why you’re dumping the heir duty on me!”
Chen Zhuo kept a straight face. “…We’re both kids—why should you be the one marrying out?”
“You’re not doing real work, just lying around collecting dividends. Why don’t you come to the company and pull your weight?”
Chen Jiangqiao narrowed her eyes at her brother.
“Don’t stare like that. I can’t even be sure any kid of mine is actually mine, but yours would definitely be a Chen.”
“I just don’t get what the old man’s thinking.”
~~~
The marriage alliance rumors didn’t last long. They were quietly resolved before Qi Jing even knew about them.
Time flew by, and soon the Joint Recruitment Exam began in Capital City.
Huang Ze and the others enthusiastically strung up a banner just outside the test site—red background with yellow letters, giving off major overenthusiastic parent vibes.
Unfortunately, a staff member from the exam center soon came over. They said it was messing with the city aesthetics and had to be taken down for now.
“Why? Why? We’re just cheering him on!”
The boys leaned against a tree, chatting idly.
Jiang Yao snapped selfies with her phone. Ever since the Karst Cave incident, everyone had toned it down a bit, though they’d each learned fragments of the truth from their families.
“Is Little Jing going to uni here locally?”
Huang Ze squatted on the curb, sounding glum. “Can’t he come to the UK with me?”
“…”
Lin Yuze reminded him gently, “He has his own choices.”
The sun dipped lower bit by bit. Finally, at six in the afternoon, the exam wrapped up.
Not far off, a sleek black Porsche idled discreetly in its spot. Inside, the man watched as the boy was mobbed in a group hug by his friends, cheeks flushing pink.
—Exam’s over! Exam’s over!
—KTV time! Super fun spot!
—You killed it!
The group in school uniforms chattered under a big locust tree. Qi Jing got pulled into photos, a little dimple forming at the corner of his mouth.
Huang Ze straight-up scooped him up and spun him around.
Bo Chengyan’s brows furrowed. His hand tapped irritably on the steering wheel.
The boy in the distance looked woozy from the spinning, his gaze fixed vaguely in one direction. When Huang Ze finally set him down, he nearly stumbled.
“I need to tell my family,” Qi Jing said seriously.
Huang Ze had learned the hard way about his strict household. Back during the Karst Cave mess, his eyes had been caked with mud and grit, but he vaguely recalled a chilling voice by his ear.
—Why do you have Qi Jing’s Smart Wristband?
It sent shivers down his spine.
“Yeah, go ahead and call,” Lin Yuze said calmly.
Qi Jing pulled his phone from his backpack and dialed. His eyelids drooped slightly, lashes casting a shadow on his cheek.
Bo Chengyan answered in the car. The familiar voice came through. “Um, I didn’t see you…”
“You can go.”
“I’ll pick you up at eight tonight.”
It was pretty lenient.
They’d originally planned dinner after the exam, but that was off the table now.
Bo Chengyan thought for a moment, then made a call. “Run another check on his friends list…”
A subtle edge of displeasure.
They kept playing until nine that night.
More classmates showed up later. Since no one was taking the national unified exam, they’d all cut loose early.
They dove back into truth or dare.
It was a riot.
The music blared too loud for Qi Jing to hear his phone ringing in his pocket. He was too focused on the game.
The bottle spun to him again.
“Truth or dare?” the girl across from him asked with a playful grin.
Jiang Yao propped her chin on her hand. “Little Jing will pick truth for sure. Ask something tame, don’t go overboard…”
Someone nearby hooted, “Why so protective, Miss Jiang? It’s just a game!”
“Don’t be a sore loser.”
Qi Jing considered it. “Dare.”
Jiang Yao’s brows knit, but Lin Yuze cut in smoothly. “No problem. Any lowbrow trash ones are void.”
The room went quiet.
They drew a card.
【Confess your love to the first person you meet outside the door.】
Pretty standard.
The group was a bit deflated, but since it was Qi Jing, curiosity won out.
“Go on, go! Haha.”
“I’m recording!”
Lin Yuze shot them a frown.
People were easily swayed in many situations, particularly when swept up in a group. The collective hyping might hold no malice toward any individual, but sensitive souls could still detect something faintly off about it.
Qi Jing was a remarkably even-tempered fellow.
He had an uncanny ability to rouse the teasing impulse in total strangers, though he remained blissfully unaware of it.
“It’s fine. I’ll go.”
In the past, Qi Jing had never played any games or enjoyed true friendships. He had entered this world solely through his role as the Goldfinch.
But little by little, he was breaking free from those bindings.
He had made genuine friends, enrolled in high school, and one day he would attend university.
These simple dreams were materializing one at a time, like tiny flames flickering in the dead of night—inspiring, heartening flickers that kindled hope in those who saw them.
A confession was child’s play in Qi Jing’s eyes, nothing simpler. He pulled open the door.
Muttering the words to himself under his breath.
—I like…
He froze in place.
Because standing on the other side was Bo Chengyan.
For a moment, he completely lost his composure.
“What time is it?” the man asked with a frown.
The angle was perfectly positioned. As Qi Jing swung the door open, his face had turned to the right, leaving his look of bewilderment plainly visible. The people inside the room guessed at once who waited beyond the threshold.
Everyone held their breath.
Qi Jing glanced down at his watch in a panic—it was nearly ten o’clock. He whipped his head around to the people in the room.
—Go on!
—You got this!
—Say it, say it now!
They mouthed the words silently.
Suddenly, Qi Jing felt as if he had been lifted onto their shoulders. He tilted his head back slightly, hesitating for a few long seconds.
“I like you.”
A profound silence blanketed the scene.
The room exploded into whoops and cheers, as if they had just borne witness to some earth-shattering event.
But in that very instant,
The door slammed shut with sudden force from the outside. The moment Lin Yuze turned around, he caught a fleeting glimpse of Qi Jing’s nape being yanked forward.
Wait, what?
Lin Yuze shoved through the crowd and barreled outside like a frantic mother hen, but no one was there.
His mind blanked out entirely.
Until his phone chimed with a new message.
It was a voice note.
“I-I’m heading home first. Could you take my backpack back for me?”
