Bonus chapter 2/2
Chapter 15: For Me?
Seeing Shen Ci looking dusty and clearly in a hurry, Zhou Yang’s gaze was strange: “No, Shen Ci, even if Xie Yu’s hospitalized, why are you running?”
Shouldn’t Xie Yu’s contractual partner be wishing for Xie Yu to die sooner?
Shen Ci paused, not answering, “Where’s Xie Yu?”
Zhou Yang pointed to the ward: “Inside, convincing Lin Yin.”
The ward door was closed, but a rectangular decorative glass panel in the door offered a faint view inside. Shen Ci peered in and saw Xie Yu sitting on a high stool. He had nowhere to put his long legs, so he could only cross them in an uncomfortable manner. He was currently peeling an apple with a small knife, leaning over and talking to Lin Yin.
“I’m not here to persuade you,” Xie Yu held up three fingers. “He Zhiyuan probably has this amount in cash, and the He family can give twice that. How much you can get, you decide.”
Lin Yin lay on the hospital bed, her face pale. Her eyes flickered slightly: “You came to see me to say this?”
Xie Yu sneered, “He hit someone; there should be a price to pay.”
Xie Yu was fed up with He Zhiyuan. If it weren’t for the limitations of his persona, he would have knocked out two of that drunkard’s teeth long ago.
There was truly nothing more for the two of them to say. Xie Yu placed the peeled apple on the table, mumbled a couple of nonsensical pleasantries, and then pushed the door open and exited.
Zhou Yang looked up: “How did the persuasion go? Did she agree?”
Xie Yu shrugged: “She didn’t agree. I’m not familiar with her, so of course I couldn’t convince her.”
Zhou Yang then turned to Shen Ci: “You’ve spoken with Lin Yin. You go and try to convince her too.”
Xie Yu frowned: “Why should he go?”
Shen Ci and Lin Yin were in similar predicaments—both playthings under the thumb of young masters. And Xie Yu’s reputation was even worse than He Zhiyuan’s. Now Lin Yin was lying in the hospital, covered in injuries; what kind of sense did it make to ask Shen Ci to go persuade her?
Shen Ci, who had been silent and standing by, suddenly said, “I can try.”
Xie Yu was startled and looked up, only to see Shen Ci’s eyes half-closed, his emotions hidden beneath his eyelashes, making them unclear.
With that, he actually pushed open the door and went inside.
Xie Yu then sat down on the long bench, thinking, “Strange.”
Five or six minutes later, Shen Ci emerged from the ward and nodded slightly: “She agreed.”
Zhou Yang was surprised: “She agreed?”
Xie Yu raised an eyebrow and nudged the system: “Was this in the original text?”
The system flipped through the novel: “No, in the original text, although He Zhiyuan also beat people, he didn’t beat them in the street. This time he was drunk and lost control.”
Xie Yu laughed: “He didn’t lose control in the novel, but he did now?”
The system explained, “That’s right. He wanted to get Shen Ci before, and he succeeded in the original text. But since you took the person away from the cruise, he’s been very unhappy, drinking heavily these past two days.”
Xie Yu found Shen Ci’s actions even stranger. Given his personality, which eventually led to the original owner being sent to a mental hospital, not only did he not let He Zhiyuan go to jail, but he actually helped persuade Lin Yin and succeeded?
He subtly observed Shen Ci. Assistant Shen stood quietly to the side, his body lean and tall in his shirt. He stood with downcast eyes, saying nothing, appearing unusually docile.
Under Xie Yu’s silent gaze, Shen Ci’s face was calm, but his fingers, hidden in his sleeves, twitched slightly, as if he were nervous.
Xie Yu withdrew his gaze and said nothing: “If you still have classes, go back to school first. Zhou Yang and I have more to discuss.”
Shen Ci paused, seemed to want to say something, then nodded and turned to leave. His back was rigidly straight, and his steps were a little stiff.
Xie Yu flipped through the novel. As Shen Ci was almost at the end of the corridor, he suddenly remembered a plot point and spoke: “Wait a moment, Assistant Shen, are you teaching on Wednesday?”
Shen Ci paused, stopping in his tracks: “Yes.”
It was nearing the end of the semester, and undergraduates had Q&A classes. Shen Ci was a teaching assistant, not responsible for lectures, but he was in charge of classroom Q&A. He had a full morning of classes on Wednesday.
Xie Yu said, “Okay, I’ll come find you before your class on Wednesday.”
There was a plot point on Wednesday that needed preparation.
Shen Ci’s eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly, then he said, “Okay.”
He quickly left.
Once he was gone, Zhou Yang tutted, “What the hell is going on? Why did you need to teach him a lesson? When you said ‘Wednesday’ just now, his face went white.”
Xie Yu: “It’s nothing.”
There was a perverted plot in the original, but it didn’t matter; he would make it less perverted.
Zhou Yang laughed: “You also notice that there’s something wrong with Shen Ci persuading Lin Yin?”
Among the three in the original text, Zhou Yang was the only one with a brain. Lin Yin had initially refused to budge, demanding huge compensation. It made no sense for Shen Ci to convince her with a few light words. This could only mean Lin Yin had other motives, and He Zhiyuan’s matter was far from over.
Xie Yu feigned ignorance, perfunctorily saying, “You’re overthinking it. I don’t think it’s that serious.”
He Zhiyuan, an insignificant male supporting character in the novel with low intelligence and poor character, was essentially the worst of the worst. Xie Yu was about to pack his bags for a trip; he couldn’t care less.
Zhou Yang: “Shen Ci probably thinks you’re going to punish him for this, and he’s scared stiff.”
Xie Yu: “Not at all.”
He walked past Zhou Yang. “I’m leaving too. Rushing over here first thing in the morning has ruined my good mood completely. I’m dead tired.”
He was usually still sleeping at this hour.
He walked downstairs, avoiding the elevator. His good morning mood had been mostly ruined by He Zhiyuan’s mess, so he aimlessly wandered along the hospital wards. As he wandered, he found himself in the special treatment area.
This area was funded by Xie Yu’s father, Xie Yuanshan, and was part private within a public hospital, directly collaborating with foreign teams for clinical trials of unlisted drugs. According to the novel’s background, Shen Ci’s grandmother should be staying here.
The novel didn’t elaborate much on this old woman; she was a background character in the entire story, and her illness was the beginning of Shen Ci’s suffering. Suddenly, Xie Yu wanted to see what this old woman was like.
Shen Ci had classes and was in a hurry, so he didn’t stay long at the hospital, leaving after a few minutes. Xie Yu slowly made his way to the ward and peered inside through the glass observation window.
This was a private VIP ward. A frail, emaciated old woman lay in white bedding, looking so weak she could fade away at any moment. Around her were many unidentifiable instruments displaying incomprehensible waveforms and scan curves. An IV drip was high above, and medication was steadily infusing into her veins.
Purely in terms of bone structure, the old woman did resemble Shen Ci somewhat.
Reading the novel through a screen, all characters seemed like background props, their lives and deaths inconsequential. But standing at the window now, Xie Yu vaguely felt that this was indeed a living person, and what weighed on Shen Ci wasn’t some vague, lewd reason from a po novel, but the very real burden of a life.
It was already very cold. Xie Yu’s exhaled breath fogged the glass, forming a white mist. He raised his hand to wipe away the mist but suddenly met a pair of eyes.
The old woman inside was looking at him.
Those tea-colored eyes were seven or eight parts similar to Shen Ci’s, and her gaze was clear. She looked at Xie Yu, first with a slight confusion, then offered a kind smile.
Xie Yu paused, returned the smile, and then wiped the glass clean. Pretending he had passed by by chance, he got up and left.
*
On Wednesday, three days before the end of A University’s semester, a drizzling rain fell on Jiangcheng.
Every autumn rain brings a chill. After the rain, the temperature drops sharply. Many people on the streets wore trench coats and padded jackets, and some were fully bundled up with hats and scarves.
Shen Ci took one last look at his lesson plan and closed the file.
He packed his things into his bag and, instead of going into the classroom, stood at the entrance of the teaching building. Many students recognized him and greeted him politely. Shen Ci nodded to each one. Some students even came up to ask why he wasn’t going inside since it was so cold.
Shen Ci only said he was waiting for someone. After about ten minutes, a Bentley slowly drove up and stopped at the main entrance.
The car was too conspicuous—dual headlights, dual exhaust, five meters long—looking exceptionally expensive. Many students stopped to watch, some even taking photos with their phones. Before long, the car window rolled down, and Xie Yu waved from the driver’s seat. Shen Ci pursed his lips slightly and, in full public view, bent down and got into the car.
The car door closed, and the murmuring suddenly grew louder.
This wasn’t Xie Yu’s first time at the university. His car’s license plate was recognized by many second-generation heirs, and his identity had been mostly uncovered on campus forums. Shen Ci was also implicated, and all sorts of rumors abounded. Calling Shen Ci a “toy boy” was considered mild; more often, people said he was selling himself to climb the social ladder.
Shen Ci had always disregarded these rumors. He and Xie Yu had a contractual relationship, and being a “toy boy” who sold himself was essentially the truth, so there was no need to refute it. However, getting into the car in front of so many people still made him hesitate somewhat.
Xie Yu was warmly dressed today, wearing a gray-brown scarf. The lines of his profile in the shadows were sharp.
Shen Ci’s fingertips twitched with some nervousness.
His conversation with Lin Yin was presumptuous. With Xie Yu right outside, he might be able to figure things out after a little inquiry, which wasn’t a smart move. Yet, he had a strange feeling that even if Xie Yu knew what he said, he wouldn’t do anything to him.
This feeling was inexplicable and illogical. Young Master Xie valued “bro code” the most; He Zhiyuan had known him for almost ten years. In comparison, what did a disposable plaything count as? Yet Shen Ci did it anyway. He hadn’t thought much about it at the hospital, but now, sitting in the car, he suddenly became nervous.
Would Xie Yu… be angry? Was he here today to punish him?
But this nervousness was slightly different from countless times before. Although apprehensive, there was no pain or despair. He even had an inexplicable sense of anticipation.
What did Xie Yu want with him?
Xie Yu didn’t let him guess for too long. He simply handed him a box: “Here, wear it to class.”
This was a line from the original novel.
It was a square package box with a gilded logo on top.
Shen Ci paused: “What is this?”
Xie Yu expressionlessly swallowed the scripted dialogue, cursing the original text countless times, and merely said, “You’ll know when you open it.”
The name of this chapter was “Completely Shattered.”
After the previous plot points of abuse, torment, and the games on the cruise, the novel had reached a stage where it aimed for complete mental breakdown.
Shen Ci in the novel was incredibly stubborn and refused to yield.
What could be more tormenting than physical abuse and torture?
It was degrading his self-esteem in front of friends and old acquaintances, dissolving his personality in public view, making him wear something unacceptable, and then finishing the class on the podium. After that, you could witness the beauty’s complete collapse.
Through the thick blur, Xie Yu couldn’t even finish reading this chapter.
Shen Ci pursed his lips. He held his breath and gently lifted the lid of the box.
It was a scarf.
A golden-brown scarf, made of wool, soft to the touch, with a beautiful houndstooth pattern.
Xie Yu impatiently gripped the steering wheel: “Put it on. Don’t take it off for a single class, or you’ll know the consequences.”
Shen Ci said nothing, his gaze sweeping over Xie Yu’s neck. The style and design of their two scarves were identical, almost as if they were a matching set picked out by the brand for couples.
He held up the fabric, soft like clouds, and said, “… for me?”
Please consider supporting me on Ko-fi if you like what I’m doing. There will be bonus chapter for every kofi (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)
Hmm…