NANSO Chapter 2

TL: Hua

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“…”

Shen Ci paused, frowning.

In this kind of “game,” to prevent the dominant party from acting too aggressively and crossing the submissive party’s boundary, a safe word is often agreed upon in advance. When one person says the safe word, the other must stop and end the game to ensure safety.

But that’s how most people play.

Who is Xie Yu, though? He’s the top second-generation heir in Jiangcheng, a young master accustomed to being overbearing since childhood. When he plays, he only stops when he’s tired or bored. How could others have any say?

Shen Ci suspected this might be a new game Young Master Xie thought of on impulse. He fixed his gaze on Xie Yu’s face, trying to find clues in his expression, but Xie Yu just lay lazily on the sofa, his long legs casually curled up, his expression calm. He even had a smile on his lips, a complete image of a cynical rich kid. Besides that, there was no trace of anything else.

Xie Yu let him observe, “Well, Assistant Shen, do you have a preferred word?”

Shen Ci withdrew his gaze and said flatly, “Whatever you like.”

“Whatever I like? Then I need to think carefully.” Xie Yu propped his chin, inadvertently glancing out the window. The sun was setting, with a patch of fiery red clouds in the southwest.

Although the original novel was largely censored, there were still some environmental descriptions. For instance, when Shen Ci entered the room, the author mentioned the floor-to-ceiling window, saying, “The sunset melted gold, the twilight united.” And when the two slept, it described “twinkling stars, the night growing deeper.” This meant they would be playing from dusk until dark.

It was just past six, still an hour or so until dark. He had to stall for time.

Xie Yu appeared to be deep in thought, slowly choosing.

“Hmm, first, this word can’t be too common, like ‘no’ or ‘don’t.’ If you say them, I can’t tell if you’ve really had enough or you’re just trying to provoke me. Second, the word can’t be too complicated; otherwise, at that moment, you might not have the strength to say it. Hmm… I need to find a compromise.”

Shen Ci: “…”

His fingertips fidgeted uncomfortably.

Xie Yu was happy to ramble and stall for time. He maintained a distance of several meters from Shen Ci, not crossing an inch, as conservative as a gentleman who strictly adhered to rules, yet his words became increasingly off-key. The safe word was clearly a private matter, but Xie Yu approached it with the same attitude a student would writing a thesis, finding fault with everything, having to eliminate each option, as if he weren’t discussing a safe word with his plaything but naming a child.

Xie Yu systematically analyzed, summarized, and finally decided, “In short, we need a short, uncommon word.”

He looked up at Shen Ci: “Assistant Shen, do you have any opinions?”

Shen Ci: “…”

Who would have an opinion on something like this?

He remained silent.

Xie Yu was not surprised. Shen Ci in the novel was just like this: good-looking but cold-natured, with particularly stiff bones, never cooperating beyond the contract.

And the original owner detested his aloof personality, cultivated in the slums, wanting to crush those hard bones and carve them into an ornament to hold and play with, which was why he repeatedly tortured the person.

Shen Ci didn’t speak, so Xie Yu simply spoke for him. Young Master Xie looked around, and his gaze fell on a porcelain vase in the hotel’s glass cabinet. It was a clean blue-and-white celadon vase, its shape ancient and slender, with a circle of blue lotus patterns on its body, looking elegant and dignified. In terms of temperament, it was somewhat similar to Shen Ci before him.

So Xie Yu asked, “Porcelain, how about ‘porcelain’? Simple to pronounce and not commonly used.”

Shen Ci remained silent, his gaze, which had been on the window, now returned to Xie Yu’s face, as if weighing what new idea this second-generation rich kid had.

Xie Yu leaned forward: “Speak.”

Shen Ci: “…Okay.”

Silence fell between them again.

At this point, Shen Ci’s shirt was half-unbuttoned, exposing his pale skin, which was covered in goosebumps. He didn’t pull it up, just stood quietly in place, like an inanimate object.

Xie Yu glanced at the floor-to-ceiling window.

There were large, wispy, fiery clouds in the sky. It was still twenty minutes until sunset, so he had to stall more.

Awkward conversation wouldn’t work. He and Shen Ci had nothing to talk about and couldn’t chat for twenty minutes. Xie Yu estimated the time and simply pulled out his phone to make a call.

A sudden ring blasted in the room. Shen Ci trembled slightly and turned his head. Xie Yu got up and walked to the cabinet, speaking in a low voice. The bedroom was large, and they were far apart, so he couldn’t hear everything clearly, only vaguely catching “Yes, yes, yes” and “Come to my room.”

Shen Ci had been standing still, but upon hearing this, he suddenly looked up, clenching his clothes tightly, looking at Xie Yu in disbelief.

Xie Yu was still on the phone: “Yes, yes, yes, 2301, the top-floor suite.”

He looked up and happened to see Shen Ci’s pale face, so he couldn’t help asking, “What’s wrong?”

Shen Ci clutched his clothes so hard that the veins on his wrist were visible. He tried his best to steady his emotions: “No, no.”

Xie Yu asked, “No? What no?”

Shen Ci closed his eyes, his body tense and trembling slightly; even his fingertips began to shake. He seemed utterly mortified: “…Just you, no multiple people.”

At the same time, Xie Yu asked, “No scallions or no cilantro?”

They looked at each other.

Xie Yu looked confused: “Huh?”

He was on the phone, and the person on the other end was also talking, quite loudly, so he hadn’t heard what Shen Ci said clearly. He pressed on, “Do you have any dietary restrictions?”

Xie Yu really hadn’t considered a “multiple people” scenario. It was just that he still had twenty minutes to kill, and he felt that waiting around wasn’t productive, so he called the hotel to order room service, selecting a few dishes according to his own taste. It wasn’t that he deliberately ignored Shen Ci’s preferences; he just figured that even if he asked, Shen Ci wouldn’t say, so he simply ordered. He didn’t expect Shen Ci to speak up directly.

Xie Yu hadn’t heard clearly, but he speculated that Shen Ci probably meant “I won’t eat.”

He thought to himself: As expected of a future big shot, the protagonist of the novel. Even though he’s poor and down-and-out, he’s quite picky.

In the novel, Shen Ci’s family background wasn’t good. He usually ate at the cafeteria for five or ten yuan, things like scallion mixed with tofu and garlic stir-fried water spinach—all greens and vegetables, no meat. Xie Yu had thought he wasn’t picky and would eat anything he was given.

He then thought: But even if he is picky, it’s fine. The original owner is wealthy, so a little pickiness with food isn’t something he can’t afford.

Xie Yu handed him the phone: “Then you order.”

Shen Ci: “…”

His expression was hesitant, but his tensed muscles slowly relaxed. He silently took the phone, and a sweet female voice from the other end of the line began, “Hello, sir, what would you like to eat? Our hotel’s French desserts are very famous, and the chef has won many international awards. I recommend the black truffle mousse, vanilla canelé…”

Shen Ci felt absurd.

He was grappling with how to overcome the humiliation of taking off his clothes, while on the other end, they were talking about black truffle mousse and vanilla canelé.

The phone rambled on, recommending expensive dishes. Shen Ci didn’t respond immediately, just looked at Xie Yu with a strange expression, and asked a seemingly random question, “You’re letting me eat?”

Xie Yu: “Of course, why not?”

This was a purely subconscious reaction, but as soon as the words left his mouth, he knew he had said something wrong.

Young Master Xie was particular and had a slight obsession with cleanliness; on top of overnight stays, he’d never allowed anyone to eat dinner with him.

But since the words were out, Xie Yu couldn’t take them back, so he waved his hand, signaling Shen Ci to order.

The staff member on the phone was still chattering on with recommendations. Shen Ci casually ordered two dishes and then fell silent.

About ten minutes later, the staff knocked on the door with a small cart and set the table with food. Xie Yu gestured for Shen Ci to sit down and then started browsing the original owner’s phone.

The original owner was a dissolute rich kid, and his social circle was also full of dissolute rich kids. His chat app had a pinned group chat called “F1 Group,” which now showed 99+ messages. Xie Yu clicked in and saw that someone was @-ing him.

He Zhiyuan: “@Young Master Xie, did you get that academic guy you were after?”

He Zhiyuan: “What does it feel like? He looks really good, especially with that aloof temperament. I’ve never hooked up with a famous university student before. Young Master Xie is lucky.”

He Zhiyuan: “When Young Master Xie gets tired of him, let me have a taste too?”

Xie Yu didn’t speak.

The rich kid’s friends were also a bunch of rich kids, their mouths full of vulgar and annoying talk. He was about to close his phone when another message popped up.

Li Yang: “Oh, new target? Looks like Young Master Xie won’t be online for the game tonight?”

Xie Yu then typed, “Online.”

In this group full of crazy rich kids, Li Yang was the relatively normal one among them, his hobby being gaming. He often couldn’t find teammates and pulled Xie Yu to play together. Xie Yu, coincidentally, was worried about having nothing to do tonight, so he readily agreed.

After finishing his meal, he put on his headphones and lay down on the sofa, not sparing Shen Ci a single glance, fully engrossed in his game. He played until ten o’clock, then yawned and shakily stood up.

Shen Ci watched him walk into the bathroom.

Through a frosted glass, the sound of water began. Xie Yu quickly washed up and came out wrapped in a bathrobe: “Go take a bath.”

These were some of the few uncensored lines in the original text.

He surveyed Shen Ci from head to toe: “You should know what to do.”

Shen Ci paused for a moment. He got up and walked into the bathroom, his face devoid of emotion. Once the bathroom door closed, completely cutting off Xie Yu’s sight, he leaned his back against the cold wall and silently closed his eyes.

In this two-hundred-square-meter suite, only this bathroom could temporarily contain Shen Ci’s breakdown.

But even so, he dared not, and could not, delay too long. After silently calming his emotions, Shen Ci raised his hand and turned on the shower. Hot water poured down from above, scalding his skin. As the water sprayed, Shen Ci realized that the hand holding the showerhead was trembling.

After all, the person sitting outside the door was definitely not someone to mess with.

Young Master Xie Yu loved to play, and he played in particularly flashy ways, known to everyone in Jiangcheng’s upper circles. But Shen Ci had never been exposed to this circle before, nor had he ever thought he would get involved with Xie Yu. All his achievements, pride, and even dignity, acquired along his journey, seemed as light as a piece of paper before Xie Yu, ready to be trampled underfoot and crushed into mud with a shoe.

On the other side of the wall, Xie Yu was looking through Shen Ci’s medical examination report.

According to the novel, on the day the agreement was finalized, Xie Yu demanded that the other party get a medical check-up. Shen Ci didn’t cooperate and continued working and attending classes as usual. Xie Yu had his people drive a Bentley directly to the lab entrance, attracting a lot of onlookers. Shen Ci, unable to bear the disturbance, reluctantly gave in and went to the hospital.

As he flipped through it, he found it somewhat alarming.

Shen Ci’s health had been in a sub-healthy state for a long time, with insomnia and anemia. Xie Yu even suspected that a simple cold could be the last straw.

“System,” Xie Yu called out to the system, looking at the blood test data, “are you sure the protagonist’s physical condition can handle so much censorship? Will these two letters turn into a murder scene during the game?”

The system said indifferently, “Don’t worry, Host, protagonists are very resilient.”

He definitely wouldn’t die. As for feeling pain… if the protagonist of an abusive novel didn’t suffer, would it still be an abusive novel?

Xie Yu: “…”

He cast a sideways glance: “Damn it, what kind of organization are you guys?”

Are you perverts?

At this moment, the sound of water in the bathroom stopped.

Xie Yu shoved the documents into the bedside table, closed the drawer, and pretended nothing had happened.

Shen Ci put on his clothes, buttoning them up past his collarbone, and carefully smoothed every wrinkle in the mirror—as if wrapping himself in faded, discolored fabric gave him a sense of security. Then he lowered his eyes and opened the door.

At this point, avoidance was meaningless.

He took a deep breath, adjusted his expression to be completely impassive, and then walked to the bed, looking at Xie Yu on it.

Then, he froze.

Young Master Xie, once so arrogant, lay quietly with his face buried in the quilt, half his face against the pillow, revealing a fluffy head. Stripped of his daytime swagger, he actually looked quite gentle.

He was asleep.

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Shen Ci stared fixedly at Xie Yu’s sleeping face for a long time, then walked to the bedside and turned off the main light.

He sat down on the nearby sofa, leaned back against the cushion, and closed his eyes.

On the other side, Young Master Xie, who appeared to be sound asleep, was haggling with the system.

System: “Hmm, let me see. All uncensored lines performed, the protagonist feels humiliation and unease, the key mission node is completed, basic score is 80… Additional non-essential lines added, deduction 40… Overall rating 40 points.”

“Wait,” Xie Yu interrupted, “what non-essential lines did I add?”

System: “There was no safe word in the original text. This behavior violates the character’s persona.”

“There wasn’t?” Xie Yu mused, “I recall the original owner was a rich kid who was exceptionally ‘professional’ in special games?”

System: “Yes.”

“Under normal circumstances, should this game have a safe word agreed upon?”

System: “…Yes?”

“As a professional, he must possess corresponding professional ethics, so he should agree on a safe word?”

System: “…”

The system thought carefully and finally relented: “Okay, then deduct twenty. You know, you shouldn’t have asked Shen Ci about his dietary restrictions.”

Xie Yu couldn’t really argue with that point, so he nodded in agreement.

The two reached an agreement, and the system went offline. After all the haggling, Xie Yu felt a little drowsy. He rested his arm on the pillow and planned the next plot when he suddenly heard suppressed coughing from the sofa beside him.

Xie Yu looked over, illuminated by the moonlight.

Shen Ci’s forehead was pressed against the sofa cushion, his back tensed into an arch, one hand pressed against the backrest, the other gripping his throat, as if desperately trying to suppress the sound in his throat.

It was a single sofa, and Shen Ci, being tall, could only curl his legs, looking like a curled-up shrimp. The hotel’s central air conditioning was set very low, and he was only wearing a thin shirt, which was soaked with sweat. At this moment, he was trembling, desperately trying to keep the sound in his throat, only a small, uncontrollable cough escaping.

Swallowing all the coughs must have been very uncomfortable.

Xie Yu hesitated whether to feign sleep, but he heard the person nearby cough more and more violently, his entire back convulsing with tremors.

Xie Yu: “…”

He estimated the system’s evaluation criteria, then reached out and flicked on the bedside lamp.

Shen Ci’s back stiffened.

Xie Yu sat up and cursed with a cold face, “It’s the middle of the night; are you not letting people sleep?!”

Shen Ci lowered his eyes: “Sorry, I’ll control myself.”

“Control yourself, my foot!” Xie Yu glared at Shen Ci, frustratedly grabbing a pillow: “Why are you on the sofa? Who told you to sleep on the sofa? Get up here.”

“…”

Shen Ci paused but ultimately said nothing. He sat up halfway and began to unbutton his shirt, his eyes lowered.

Xie Yu lifted his eyelids: “Don’t take anything off; just come up.”

Shen Ci froze, his fingers clutching his cuff, his expression unreadable: “I don’t have many good clothes.”

Xie Yu: “…?”

He didn’t understand the logic, but then he saw Shen Ci smile self-deprecatingly and say, “Never mind, it’s fine this way.”

He got into bed from the other side, kneeling on the bed in just his shirt, seemingly waiting for something.

Amidst a flurry of thoughts, an incredible idea popped into Xie Yu’s head: Does he think I’m going to tear his clothes?

The system silently reappeared: “For the original owner, that was indeed standard practice.”

Xie Yu: “…”

He rolled over, turning his back to Shen Ci, feigning a sleepy look, and said impatiently, “I told you to come up, so come up. It’s annoying listening to you cough all night. You’ve ruined my sleep.”

Shen Ci paused, then lay down flat on the other side. It was a large bed, nearly two meters wide. Xie Yu slept on one side by himself, showing no intention of sleeping close to him. Shen Ci hesitated whether to move closer, but then Xie Yu swung a section of the quilt over his head, covering him completely.

Young Master Xie’s sleepy voice drifted out: “It’s late, go to sleep.”

Shen Ci froze.

He clutched a corner of the quilt. It was very wide, not feeling crowded even with them lying on opposite sides of the bed, a dividing line drawn between them. The portion that was given to him carried Xie Yu’s body warmth, which was surprisingly…warm.

He kept his body tense, waiting for Xie Yu’s next instruction, but Xie Yu turned over, and the sound of his deep breathing followed.

Xie Yu seemed to have fallen asleep again.

 

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