LCFM Chapter 16

Jiang Xinghuai lowered his head to look at the suit jacket wrapped around his waist. He froze for a moment before realizing that he hadn’t been wearing any clothes and had been scolding for half the day. His face immediately flushed red, and he instinctively shrank back a little.

“Don’t stick to the wall.” Fu Yan placed his hand behind Jiang Xinghuai’s waist, blocking him from moving further.

“I… I’ll just go take a shower then.” Jiang Xinghuai felt that this posture was rather strange.

But he couldn’t quite put his finger on what exactly the feeling was.

Why was his face a little hot… just now he had still felt cold…

“Then go wash.” Fu Yan untied the suit jacket from around his waist.

“Hey!” Jiang Xinghuai quickly covered the front of himself with his hand. “Can’t you at least give a warning?”

Fu Yan had already turned his back long before. Hearing this, he laughed. “I thought you were so capable. What, you get shy just from taking off your clothes?”

“Why don’t you try standing here naked?” Jiang Xinghuai huffed as he reached out to turn on the hot water valve.

Hot water poured down, wrapped in mist.

“Hold onto me.” Fu Yan, still with his back turned, stretched his arm over.

Jiang Xinghuai wiped the mist off his face, grabbed Fu Yan’s strong and solid arm, carefully avoiding his legs as he edged closer.

By the time Jiang Xinghuai finished his shower, Fu Yan was more or less soaked as well.

After sending Jiang Xinghuai back to his room, Fu Yan quickly took a shower himself.

Rubbing his wet hair as he passed by Jiang Xinghuai’s room, he raised his hand and knocked: “Remember to lock the door. Go to bed early.”

“Got it——” Jiang Xinghuai’s voice came from inside the room, dragging out the word especially long.

Fu Yan chuckled at that. He went back to his own room, closed the door, and had only taken two steps forward.

Then something occurred to him. He suddenly turned to glance at the lock on the door. It was an old-style model, and the lock had long since been broken.

Fu Yan frowned, picked up the pillow from his own bed, and stepped back out into the hall.

“What are you doing?” Jiang Xinghuai looked at Fu Yan, who was pushing open his door with a pillow in hand. “Afraid of sleeping alone?”

“Yes.” Fu Yan nodded.

“Come on then.” Jiang Xinghuai’s eyes curved in a smile as he patted the bed.

He liked sleeping with Fu Yan. He could sleep peacefully that way. On his own, he always felt a little scared.

“I’ll blow out the candle.” Fu Yan lay down on the outside.

“Wait a sec!” Jiang Xinghuai quickly slipped under the blanket, snuggling right up against Fu Yan. “Okay, blow it out.”

Feeling the sensation of arms wrapping around his own, Fu Yan let out a soundless laugh.

The candle went out, and the room was plunged into complete darkness.

Jiang Xinghuai edged closer to Fu Yan again, then suddenly drew in a deep breath.

Fu Yan carried a very pleasant scent, the lemon fragrance of Safeguard soap mixed with the unique cool freshness of his freshly changed shirt.

Like a big tree.

Jiang Xinghuai sniffed harder, refining the image in his mind even more.

Fu Yan was like a tall pine tree, gentle yet stern.

“You smell really nice,” Jiang Xinghuai said softly.

“Little pup.” Fu Yan chuckled and patted his back. “Go to sleep.”

“Good night!” Jiang Xinghuai closed his eyes.

After a moment, Fu Yan quietly lowered his head until his chin and the tip of his nose touched the fluffy, soft hair of the boy beside him.

The boy carried a warm lemon fragrance—light, yet enough to soften one’s heart.

“Good night…” Fu Yan whispered.

The small room had two windows, but no curtains. Light shifted with the passing of time and seeped in.

Fu Yan woke early. He glanced at his watch. It was just 5:30. Dawn had only just broken outside.

At this hour, most people sleeping in the warehouse hadn’t woken yet. It was the deepest part of sleep.

So when the door was pushed open from the outside and a greasy head poked in, Fu Yan actually let out a laugh of disbelief and irritation.

He rolled out of bed, opened the door, grabbed the man by the collar, and dragged him directly downstairs.

“Hey! What are you doing! What the hell are you doing!” The man struggled frantically, but couldn’t break free at all.

Jiang Xinghuai woke with a start, turned his head, and, seeing the two figures, instantly realized what was going on. Disgust prickled his skin into goosebumps.

He always had a heavy temper when waking in the morning. Right now, he grabbed his skateboard and followed after them, swinging it across the man’s face. “You filthy pervert, I wanted to hit you yesterday already! And you dare come back!”

Fu Yan kept hold of the man’s collar without letting go, and continued dragging him down.

The huge commotion roused the sleeping people. All the closed doors on the second floor flew open, and many came down the stairs.

Fu Yan threw the person he’d been dragging aside.

The man staggered a few steps, then immediately, for the sake of face, stood up.

Zhu Gaofei ran out wearing only his boxers. When he saw Jiang Xinghuai standing downstairs, he hurried down: “What’s going on? What happened?”

“That filthy pervert touched me while I was showering last night. He came into my room this morning, too!” Jiang Xinghuai spat in disgust.

“What, I touched you? Who saw that? Why would I touch another guy?” After straightening up, he pretended to pull at his suit properly and squared his shoulders. “This is slander! Also, this morning I just walked into the wrong room!”

“Be friendly and you’ll get by! Be friendly and you’ll get by!” Zhu Gaofei wiped the sleep from his eyes, produced a gun with one hand, and, smiling, pointed it at the man’s head. “I don’t care. You apologize properly, or I’ll blow your head off.”

The man’s face was fearful and indignant.

Those watching began to whisper and argue. Unable to bear the pressure, the man finally spoke.

“Sorry……” he muttered a vague apology in a low voice.

Fu Yan frowned. His expression was ugly.

“Forget it, let’s go. Don’t bother with this kind of asshole.” Jiang Xinghuai snapped irritably.

He’d just not been wearing clothes yesterday and couldn’t do much then. Normally, if this guy dared to touch him, he would have smashed his head open.

The man, seeing himself let off so lightly, turned to leave, but muttered under his breath in a low voice, “I’ve played with so many little boys, ruined them, crippled them. What kind of world is this now? Do you think you can guard him forever…”

Fu Yan’s steps froze, his gaze sinking completely. That sentence hit him right at the core.

At first, his only intention had been to use intimidation to create psychological pressure and fear, making sure this man would never dare touch Jiang Xinghuai again.

But now, Fu Yan’s brows furrowed tightly. The slip of information that came out so casually, like a habitual offender’s confession, was enough to make his hands and feet go cold just imagining it.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Fu Yan turned, seized the man’s collar again, and flung him hard against the wall. Twisting his waist, he raised his arm and swung with full force.

The man couldn’t even scream before several heavy punches landed squarely on his face.

By the time Fu Yan’s sixth punch struck, the man’s consciousness was already slipping.

The hands that had been weakly clutching Fu Yan’s arm in a futile attempt to resist finally went limp.

The onlookers were all stunned, not one daring to step in.

“Hey! Mr. Fu, that’s enough! Enough! You’re gonna beat him to death!” Zhu Gaofei, seeing the man’s eyes roll back, hurried to intervene.

Panting, Fu Yan stopped, gritting his teeth as he straightened. Suddenly, his arm was wrapped in an embrace. He turned his head. It was Jiang Xinghuai.

“Your hand is bleeding,” Jiang Xinghuai said, frowning. “Don’t hit him anymore.”

Fu Yan steadied his breathing, then clasped Jiang Xinghuai’s hand in return.

Only then did the man struggle to his feet, bent over, gasping desperately for breath, before doubling over and retching.

“Buddy, you’re at least the boss of a company, how could you stoop to doing such lowly, dirty things?” Zhu Gaofei mocked coldly.

The man wiped a face full of blood, then collapsed onto the ground again, his eyes filled with the humiliation of hatred.

“Find someone to watch him.” Zhu Gaofei muttered a low instruction to the person beside him, then raised his voice to start dispersing the crowd gathered around. “Nothing to see here, scatter, scatter! Breakfast should be ready! Go eat breakfast!”

Hearing the word “breakfast”, the people crowding around this warehouse all began moving toward that side. Once everyone had left, Jiang Xinghuai suddenly shouted out with a string of curses.

“What’s wrong?” Fu Yan tilted his head to look at him.

Jiang Xinghuai’s eyes were shining brightly as he looked up at him. “You’ve definitely trained before! For sure! You’ve practiced boxing, haven’t you!”

“I learned a little. Go eat breakfast first.” Fu Yan patted his head. “You know where to get it?”

“I know.” Jiang Xinghuai was still brimming with excitement. “Do you want to eat? What do you want? I’ll give you all of mine!”

“You go ahead first. I’ll wash my hands.” Fu Yan said with a smile.

Not doubting him at all, Jiang Xinghuai bounced as he turned and left.

Watching him go off into the distance, Fu Yan turned his head toward Zhu Gaofei: “Lock him up.”

Zhu Gaofei froze with the cigarette between his teeth, then laughed. “Mr. Fu is more ruthless than me.”

Fu Yan looked at him without saying anything.

“Of course I’ll lock him up tight, don’t worry.” Zhu Gaofei chuckled, then added, “I also need to go get a few generators over here. I’ll head out first.”

“I’ll be leaving this place tomorrow.” Fu Yan suddenly said with a frown.

“I heard it from that silly kid of mine.” Zhu Gaofei laughed.

At these words, Fu Yan paused for a moment, then spoke softly: “He will stay here.”

“He really likes you.” Zhu Gaofei frowned.

“I like him very much, too.” Fu Yan said.

Zhu Gaofei’s smile faded. “Mr. Fu, who are you going to find?”

“A friend.” Fu Yan replied.

“What kind of friend?” Zhu Gaofei asked.

“What is it you want to ask?” Fu Yan smiled.

“Nothing.” Zhu Gaofei shrugged, then turned his head and switched the topic. “Mr. Fu, what do you think about this sudden virus outbreak?”

“Mr. Zhu.” Fu Yan’s smile didn’t waver. “You’re overthinking it.”

“I used to be a sniper.” Zhu Gaofei narrowed his eyes and tapped the space between his brows with his finger. “I have a sense for danger. The moment I saw you, it was warning me.”

“This virus infection, spreading almost worldwide, fast and unsolvable, caught everyone completely off guard. Personally, I think compared to the idea that such a virus suddenly appeared in the world out of nowhere, I’d rather believe it was man-made. Whether it was intentionally or unintentionally released, those people involved in researching this virus—the losses and the panic they’ve caused can no longer be measured in numbers. What role you play in this, I don’t know. But whether or not you understand this virus, whether or not you know how this all began… given your position in this field, if you claim you don’t know anything, I don’t believe it.” Zhu Gaofei lit a cigarette. “And that person you’re going to find, that friend—maybe they’re one of the participants in this strange virus, even if you didn’t know beforehand.”

Fu Yan stared at him for two seconds, then smiled.

“Brother Fei, the car’s pulled out.” A man shouted from not far away.

“Let’s chat next time, Mr. Fu.” Zhu Gaofei turned around with a squinty smile and left.

With a loud rumble, the car started.

The iron gate swung wide open, and two black Jeeps, pressing down the dust, roared out.

Fu Yan watched as the cars disappeared at the end of the highway. He smiled lightly.

After washing his hands, he turned to go look for Jiang Xinghuai at the dining place, but didn’t see him.

He went upstairs into the house to search and had just pulled the door open halfway.

“Hey! What are you doing! Don’t come in!” Jiang Xinghuai had his hands behind his back and hurriedly hooked the door shut with his foot.

“What’s wrong?” Fu Yan’s hand on the door paused for a moment.

“Why did you just come up here!” Panic showed on Jiang Xinghuai’s face as he quickly pushed the door tight, “I haven’t finished yet.”

“What are you doing? Why’d you come up here?” Fu Yan asked at the tightly shut door, “Have you eaten breakfast?”

“Wait!” Jiang Xinghuai kicked the door fiercely, “Don’t talk!”

Fu Yan was puzzled, but obediently stood where he was.

Not even a minute passed.

The door opened again.

Jiang Xinghuai’s eyes curved into a smile: “Close your eyes.”

“Go have breakfast first.” Fu Yan said.

“Close your eyes.” Jiang Xinghuai glared at him.

Fu Yan closed his eyes.

Three seconds later.

“Alright… you can open them now…” Jiang Xinghuai’s voice sounded.

Fu Yan cooperatively opened his eyes.

A pair of leather shoes, polished to a glossy shine, appeared before his eyes.

“I put shoe polish on them for you! Shiny, right?” Jiang Xinghuai proudly sought credit.

Fu Yan froze. He hadn’t expected Jiang Xinghuai to polish his shoes.

“When I was little, the teacher always said we should wash our dad’s feet, massage our mom’s shoulders, and said that this was giving love. But I never did any of it, and never had the chance either,” Jiang Xinghuai smiled a little awkwardly, “Although I think it’s kind of silly… suddenly I just wanted to do something for you too, but couldn’t think of what to do for the moment. I saw you seemed to like polishing your shoes, so I thought I’d just polish a pair for you…”

Somewhere inside Fu Yan’s heart suddenly softened, like the sound of something collapsing. He frowned, trying to hold it back.

“What’s wrong, so touched you can’t even speak?” Jiang Xinghuai tilted his head, chuckling, “Actually, your shoes are really easy to polish, I just—”

“I’m leaving tomorrow.” Fu Yan suddenly said.

“Ah? Leaving tomorrow?” Jiang Xinghuai was stunned for a moment, his words stumbling, “Leaving tomorrow… so soon… then of course I have to go with you, of course I—”

“I’m going alone.” Fu Yan said.

“I—” The tip of Jiang Xinghuai’s nose suddenly stung sore. He wanted to say something, opened his mouth, but couldn’t ask even a single complete sentence.

“I won’t take you with me.” Fu Yan said again.

Jiang Xinghuai’s face suddenly turned pale. He took two deep breaths before barely steadying himself, but his whole body was still trembling with anger.

He lifted his head to look at Fu Yan, his eyes reddened with grief, yet pride kept him from begging or pleading.

Fu Yan frowned at him, taking a small step forward.

Jiang Xinghuai stepped back.

Fu Yan: “I—”

Bang! The door slammed hard against the frame.

Jiang Xinghuai had closed the door.

Fu Yan furrowed his brows tightly, his hand just about to push the door.

But suddenly, the door was yanked open from inside.

A pair of leather shoes was thrown out, along with a choked curse: “Your feet stink!”

Fu Yan: “…………”

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