Qi Jing looked up, trying to explain. “But I can’t. Some of the programs I applied for are out of province. If I don’t live on campus…”
“Capital University wasn’t your first choice?”
The man glanced down at him, utterly serene.
“It was.”
“But I might not get in—”
“You will.”
Bo Chengyan released his hand with gentle warmth, slipping back into that familiar, approachable reliability.
“Capital University… isn’t it a bit far from Brocade River Villas? I think…”
“I’ll buy you a school district house.”
Qi Jing froze.
The contents of the suitcase were packed away one by one, right in front of him—or rather, with him standing there watching.
Not quite.
In truth, it was Qi Jing who stood nearby during the weighing. He couldn’t quite hide his expressions, glancing anxiously at the suitcase beside him.
“I’ll pack it myself.”
Qi Jing moved to do so, but his neck was pinched lightly, and his face was turned back toward Bo Chengyan.
“No need.”
“Have you grown taller?”
Bo Chengyan seemed lost in his own world. He reached up to smooth the stray hairs from Qi Jing’s forehead.
“What do you want for a graduation gift?”
~~~
It was around eight or nine in the evening.
Qi Jing shook 996 in frustration. It had guzzled most of the watermelon juice and then sprawled motionless on the desk, completely out of commission.
What was he supposed to do?
996 stirred slowly, smacking its nonexistent lips. Liquids really packed a punch—enough to leave it numb for so long.
In reality, it had simply crashed.
【It’s fine, it’s fine.】996 listened to the rundown and blinked its beady eyes, perching on the desk to console him.【Plots always deviate a little. That one time with my host… the protagonist went way off the rails.】
【No problem. I fixed it all.】The Slime patted its nonexistent chest.
Qi Jing slumped over the desk, his legs crossed idly. “Why does it feel like he doesn’t want me to leave?”
“I might not even get into Capital University.”
“And I don’t want to watch him have a one-night stand with someone. It feels weird.”
The young man didn’t notice the faint reluctance in his own tone. He couldn’t identify the emotion anyway—just figured any normal person wouldn’t want to be stuck in the middle of someone else’s romance.
【Then wait it out. Ruan Heng’s activation date isn’t set in stone—it could be delayed or early. You’ve already completed the Goldfinch mission, so you won’t be erased…】
【Huh?】
996 noticed the character info had updated. Two new words appeared in the health section.
—Threshold too high.
~~~
Bo Chengyan hadn’t forgotten the heart voice he’d overheard at the start. His “Little Bird” had cheerfully told that man he’d leave after university.
Why?
Who put that idea in his head?
Bo Chengyan felt a tangle of messy threads in his mind. After turning them over, he found only one familiar loose end.
—Jiang Xiuyuan.
The next afternoon.
Chen Zhuo never imagined Bo Chengyan would ask for his help. He’d already returned to Capital City and had heard bits about the downfall of that fake couple claiming kinship.
The fallout had been massive.
He prided himself on not being capable of such absolute devotion. Answering the call idly, he said, “What’s up? Not throwing a graduation party for your Baby?”
If he didn’t tease for a day, he’d die.
Chen Zhuo sometimes envied this childhood friend. From youth to now, Bo Chengyan had always outshone him. At first, it was fine—he’d laugh it off with “My bro’s the best.”
But later, it soured.
So when trouble hit the Bo Family, Chen Zhuo had felt a secret thrill of schadenfreude.
What good was all that excellence? The family’s tangled mess would drag him down eventually.
Yet oddly enough…
Chen Zhuo didn’t want to see Bo Chengyan totally isolated. He relished being useful—like it was his one chance to gain the upper hand.
“Jiang Xiuyuan from Yuan Sheng. I hear he’s with you now? I want to meet him.” The voice on the phone was low and emotionless.
Chen Zhuo paused, frowning slightly. He glanced back at the person on the bed.
Raising a brow, he asked, “Why him?”
“I just have a few questions for him. What, you refusing?”
“Of course not.”
Chen Zhuo hung up with a soft tsk. He slipped into his suit and walked to the bedside.
He bent down and patted Jiang Xiuyuan’s face.
The young man woke slowly, his brows furrowing.
“You’ve struck gold. Getting to meet your dream guy.”
Chen Zhuo’s tone dripped with sarcasm, his expression turning sullen.
~~~
In an upscale restaurant.
Jiang Xiuyuan was tense all over. He’d done his makeup specially, covering the marks on his neck with concealer, and spritzed on perfume.
“What did you need me for?”
Chen Zhuo sat gloomily beside him, saying nothing.
He just felt screwed.
“What did you say to Qi Jing at the party? I know you humiliated him, but Yuan Sheng staff later told me the person he selected there the second time was you.”
“There’s your contact in his phone. Why’d you add him?”
“Something like that.”
Jiang Xiuyuan’s face paled slightly. He froze.
“I made him add me. I was just curious about the person by your side. He barely sent five messages on WeChat.” Chen Zhuo laid his cards on the table.
But Bo Chengyan merely glanced at him, showing no big reaction. He was still waiting for answers.
The young man opposite him breathed a little easier. He stood and bowed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have spoken so carelessly. I was in the wrong. He’s so young.”
His tone was earnest, almost a whisper.
Bo Chengyan frowned. “I’m not here to chew you out. I just want to know why he picked you the second time. What did Little Jing say to you?”
Jiang Xiuyuan felt a pang of envy at the nickname—so intimate. He’d never known that kind of affection.
After growing up, all he heard was “money pit.”
He zoned out briefly, then apologized in a panic before slowly explaining. “He asked me how Little Birds do it.”
Bo Chengyan’s expression darkened.
“But I didn’t teach him anything. He thinks he’s a kept man, but I don’t see it that way.”
Jiang Xiuyuan waved his hands hurriedly, explaining sincerely. “The first time, I was ungrateful. But Qi Jing wasn’t mad at me. He insisted on seeing me again, so the Clubhouse rehired me. I never harassed him on WeChat after that.”
Chen Zhuo was stunned. Wait, it just came spilling out like that?
Had he wasted his money for nothing?
Bo Chengyan leaned back against the sofa, lids half-lowered in nonchalance.
“Be more specific.”
“What exactly did Little Jing say? Who did he talk to most? No summaries.”
Jiang Xiuyuan blinked in surprise.
This was getting a bit too strict, wasn’t it?
~~~
A few days later, the admission results came out. Qi Jing stared blankly at the webpage.
He had been assigned to paleobiology.
He didn’t understand it at all.
Was it convenient for civil service exams?
Bo Chengyan came home from outside and headed to the living room after hanging up his coat. The boy sat there holding his laptop, lost in a daze.
He had no idea what to do.
He hadn’t studied biology in high school…
Bewilderment overshadowed any joy he felt, leaving him looking utterly dazed until Bo Chengyan reached over and took the laptop away.
Qi Jing usually wore shorts at home, though Auntie always made him put on socks. Right now, he was curled up on the sofa. Once the laptop was taken from his hands, he tilted his head back and looked up eagerly.
“It’s fine,” Bo Chengyan said. “You can change majors in university.”
Bo Chengyan did not seem too concerned. He merely shifted his gaze to the boy on the sofa, frowned slightly, and called out in a deep voice toward the back of the house. “Aunt Lin, where’s the blanket?”
Qi Jing had actually been about to say that he was not cold. It was summer, after all—hot as it was, he hated fluffy blankets anyway.
“Why is the AC set so low?”
Fifteen degrees.
For some reason, Qi Jing felt a surge of anxiety. When he saw Bo Chengyan adjusting the thermostat, he dashed over barefoot.
“No, no, no…”
It was the first time he had ever tried to stop him.
Bo Chengyan turned his head. “Why aren’t you even wearing shoes?”
Without a moment’s hesitation, he scooped Qi Jing up by the back of his shirt and adjusted the temperature to twenty-four degrees.
Qi Jing was deposited back onto the sofa. He wilted completely.
It would be too hot.
“Not hot,” Bo Chengyan said suddenly. He looked down at Qi Jing and added, “Recite one, two, three to yourself.”
The boy tilted his head up in confusion.
[One, two, three.]
Qi Jing was not entirely sure what this was about, but he did as asked. Just as he opened his mouth to question it, someone pinched the back of his neck.
It felt like a reward.
That was what he always sensed.
Bo Chengyan seemed to be in a better mood whenever he pinched his neck like that.
“Tonight, I’ll take you to a restaurant. We’ll eat out.”
With that, Bo Chengyan headed upstairs.
Qi Jing sat on the sofa and glanced down at his feet. He was wearing shoes now.
He paused for a second or two.
Then the boy kicked them off.
With a frown, he curled up on the sofa again and began searching online for how to change majors.
~~~
When 996 returned two hours later, the person on the sofa had shrunk into a tight ball—so small and unobtrusive that it was easy to miss unless you looked closely.
【Wake up.】
Qi Jing blearily cracked his eyelids open. He discovered a blanket draped over him. As he stretched out his long arms and legs, he expanded back into a much larger presence.
【You’re back? How did it go?】
By now, he had gotten the hang of using telepathic communication flexibly.
996 conjured an image: a bartender with skin as white as fresh snow and a faint air of aloof detachment.
Qi Jing gazed at the picture hovering in midair and thought to himself how handsome he looked.
【Ruan Heng works at Prosperous Leap Bar, but he also picks up shifts as a waiter at a members-only restaurant in Capital City…】
996 adjusted the image. It showed a rooftop garden restaurant with stunning views—romantic and atmospheric.
【Florence Restaurant.】
~~~
It was four or five in the evening.
Qi Jing had not expected such a coincidence. The place Bo Chengyan wanted to take him was exactly that one.
He fussed anxiously around his room, picking out clothes, though deep down he still wondered…
Did he really have to be there?
Ruan Heng was so good-looking.
Qi Jing hesitated. He did not want to go. Could they not just meet on their own and then send him away?
Changing clothes took him nearly thirty minutes.
Someone knocked on the door.
Qi Jing was just about to answer when Bo Chengyan pushed it open. Seeing that he had not changed yet, he frowned. “Why has it taken so long?”
People could get spoiled easily, especially when it built up one indulgence at a time.
That was why Qi Jing’s first words tumbled out: “I didn’t even get to the door yet…”
The implication was clear: How did you just come in?
But as soon as he said it, Qi Jing himself froze. The entire Brocade River Villas belonged to Bo Chengyan. What was he thinking?
The boy opened his mouth to explain.
Too late. The man had already stepped back out and knocked again.
A strange, fluttering sensation welled up in Qi Jing’s chest—thump-thump.
He trotted over and opened the door. Bo Chengyan looked down at him steadily. “May I come in?”
His tone was mild and refined, as always.
“Y-Yes.”
Qi Jing had just started to turn away when his wrist was caught. The Band-Aid was noticed.
“How did this happen?”
“The brooch poked me. I didn’t see it.”
It started as simple conversation.
Qi Jing assumed that was the end of it, but Bo Chengyan promptly peeled off the Band-Aid to inspect the wound.
He led Qi Jing to the desk and fetched the iodine.
“Why didn’t you disinfect it?”
He applied a fresh Band-Aid. Qi Jing stared blankly, unsure what to make of it.
It was just a tiny pinprick. It would heal in a few more minutes.
And it still needed checking?
“Go change. Pick something out.”
Bo Chengyan pulled out a chair and sat down, gesturing for him to get on with it. Qi Jing stood before him in a comfortable T-shirt and shorts, his skin fair and luminous. He curled his fingers.
