He curled up in an armchair, wrapped in a large white towel, like a miserable cat that had been drenched in the rain and then bundled itself up into a little ball.
A servant brought him some medicine.
“How did you end up looking like this? Did someone rob you of your prosthetic leg?”
A voice filled with suspicion suddenly rang out.
It was none other than Ji Mingyue, the only girl among the younger generation of the Ji family’s third branch.
At that moment, she wore a blue gauzy dress and stood beside the sofa with her arms folded, looking utterly disgusted with him. Besides her, the people sitting in the living room were Old Master Ji Yan Song, with the old butler Zhao Yuan standing beside him, and Ji Chengyi, who had summoned the old master.
The Ji family’s businesses spanned numerous fields, including hardware manufacturing, energy development, and logistics management. Over the past decade or so, the family had earned itself the formidable reputation of being the maritime overlord of Fanzhou.
A family of this stature naturally had an extremely complicated distribution of power among its members.
Ji Yang truly hadn’t expected this.
Even though he hadn’t caused a scene this time, the old master had still shown up.
And he had even brought along the Ji family’s famously temperamental young lady.
Before the old master could say a word, Ji Mingyue’s mouth was already firing like a machine gun.
“Looks like the reporters outside weren’t making things up. Calling you a stray dog is practically a compliment.”
As if that wasn’t satisfying enough, she deliberately drove the knife deeper into “Ji Yang’s” most painful spot.
“You used to call other people illegitimate bastards, but now you’re living worse than one yourself!”
From Ji Chengyi’s unconscious tightening of his grip on the armrest, Ji Yang sensed a trace of restrained anger.
He remembered that the book had indeed mentioned this.
Ji Mingyue and “Ji Yang” were around the same age. Although they were cousins, they had been raised together in the Ji household like fraternal twins.
Ji Mingyue was vicious with her insults, but she hadn’t spared Ji Chengyi either. She called him an illegitimate bastard at every opportunity.
Ji Yang actually found it a little amusing.
He hadn’t expected that, despite Ji Chengyi’s irresistible charm that made him universally adored throughout the Ji family, there would still be one person who remained immune.
Perhaps because he wasn’t talking back, Ji Mingyue glared at him.
“What, are you mute?”
Ji Yang picked up his cup of water and struggled to swallow his medicine before finally responding with a soft, “Mm.”
“I’m too tired to talk. With your eloquence, you can do all the talking. I’ll just listen.”
Ji Mingyue was so furious that she nearly toppled over backward.
Ji Yang wasn’t lying when he said he was tired.
Who knew how things had ended half an hour ago when he had faced Nie Xu?
Being a scheming tea-drinker wasn’t frightening.
What was frightening was when the other person simply refused to buy the act of a frail, pitiful white lotus.
Even now, Ji Yang could still recall the icy darkness in the depths of the man’s eyes, as though he were looking at a dead object.
Yet in the very next second, Nie Xu had lowered his eyes and replied in a perfectly proper manner.
“Fourth Young Master, there’s no need to apologize. As the master of this household, you have absolute authority to do whatever you wish.”
Ji Yang wasn’t exaggerating when he said that every hair on his body had stood on end in an instant.
If he hadn’t read the book, he really might have believed that man’s nonsense.
Ji Yang had immediately replied, “No, I don’t have any authority at all. The Ji family would never give me any.”
He knew perfectly well that his words were inconsistent enough to make him sound like a lunatic, so he continued.
“You know this too, don’t you? The old master never truly agreed with Ji Chengyi’s proposal in the first place. After all, the reason he transferred you to my side two years ago was that he was wary of you, wasn’t it? I can’t control what you want to do. From your perspective, a disabled good-for-nothing like me should be a more suitable choice than Ji Chengyi, who’s constantly in the spotlight. Whether you want me to ‘love’ you or you’d rather ‘date’ me, either works. The old master would probably be more than happy to see it happen. With this layer of cover, you can do whatever you want.”
It was shameless, to say the least.
But this was the only use Ji Yang could think of for the original character at the moment. At this stage, the original Ji Yang’s terrible reputation should be more useful than Ji Chengyi’s.
The corners of Nie Xu’s eyes narrowed slightly.
His question, spoken through the rain, carried emotions that were particularly difficult to decipher.
“Is Fourth Young Master planning to use this to threaten me?”
“I already told you it’s because I’m in love with you.” Ji Yang’s tongue always moved faster at critical moments. He picked up the key and began unlocking the restraints. The rain kept falling without pause, and the combined effects of pain and cold made his hands tremble. He missed the keyhole several times.
“Fine. You could also call it repentance after a complete change of heart.”
Just then, Ji Yang suddenly heard movement among the servants behind him. Only then did he learn that the old master was already on his way.
It was as though the old man had been rushing over just to make an already bad situation worse.
The person standing above him gave a soft scoff, so faint that Ji Yang almost thought he’d imagined it.
“Repentance?”
Click.
The lock opened.
Ji Yang immediately lost his strength and collapsed straight onto the other man’s shoulder.
It was the first time he had realized that human muscles could be so hard. His chin hurt from the impact.
Ji Yang hissed and frowned. “There’s nothing left for the Ji family to take away from me. The old master isn’t coming here with good intentions. If you can help me deal with the trouble right in front of me, I’ll be eternally grateful.”
Nie Xu glanced toward the commotion before looking back at him.
“Your change of heart certainly came out of nowhere. It’s a good proposal. Just don’t regret it later.”
Ji Yang shuddered. Those words were almost identical to what he had said when Ji Chengyi approached him about the project.
Now, they had suddenly been thrown right back at him.
Ji Yang was like a lightweight object barely managing to hang on, his voice full of misery and weakness.
“I won’t regret it.”
Whether you destroy the Ji family, bury it, or burn it to the ground—
What does any of that have to do with me?
Ji Yang: I’m as frail as they come. How about you forget about the beating you just took first?
*
“Enough!”
The elderly man who spoke from the seat of honor had white hair and deep furrows between his brows that formed a stern, solemn expression. His gaze swept over Ji Yang’s leg, which was not fitted with a prosthesis, and a clear trace of displeasure flashed through his eyes.
But when he turned toward Ji Mingyue, he said, “Is this how the Ji family raised you? I told you to go on a blind date. What are you doing here instead?”
Ji Mingyue snorted coldly.
“I couldn’t be bothered to go.”
Then she sneered again.
“I thought there would be some huge drama. You even said we should call everyone else over. And this is all there is? Ji Yang has had at least eighty or a hundred scandals on the front pages since childhood. Which one of those wasn’t more interesting than his liking men?”
A trace of awkwardness flashed across Ji Chengyi’s face. He handed a cup of tea to the equally displeased old master before speaking.
“Grandpa, I didn’t think things through. We exchanged a few heated words earlier because I couldn’t hold back. I was worried things would escalate and become difficult to resolve, so I ended up disturbing your peace.”
The butler, Zhao Yuan, picked up the conversation from the side.
“Third Young Master, you’re overthinking things. There’s no need to blame yourself over something like this.”
As he spoke, his words took on a pointed undertone.
“Even in the midst of your busy schedule, you still remembered to find a renowned physician to treat the old master’s insomnia. Such outrageous behavior isn’t something someone like you would ever engage in.”
After saying this, Zhao Yuan turned toward Ji Mingyue.
“Miss, it’s understandable that you and Fourth Young Master have shared a close bond since childhood. But when the Ji family’s reputation is at stake, this is no trivial matter.”
This elderly man had followed Old Master Ji for his entire life. In many situations, his attitude represented Ji Yan Song’s own position and would influence the attitudes of countless people throughout the Ji family.
His instinctive deference and respect toward Ji Chengyi were a clear signal to everyone that Third Young Master had earned the old master’s approval.
The Blue Bay project he had taken over was being restarted after a two-year hiatus. Before long, he would also win the recognition of the Ji Group’s board of directors and truly enter the heart of the family’s power structure.
Even if Ji Mingyue couldn’t see the entire picture clearly, she had already sensed what was happening.
This only made her angrier with Ji Yang.
She felt that he was utterly hopeless, a lump of mud that could never be shaped into anything useful!
When she instinctively glared at him, she discovered that the person who would normally either fly into a rage and smash things in a situation like this or lock himself in his room upstairs had instead been casually rubbing his hair with a towel.
He had rubbed it until his hair was sticking out in every direction, with some strands practically standing on end, yet he was still rubbing away!
Ji Mingyue should have been even angrier, but for some reason, seeing how completely uninterested he seemed in what they were saying, her anger suddenly deflated, as though someone had punctured it.
Only then did she realize that something about Ji Yang was different.
His eyes, which usually looked gloomy and sullen, seemed unusually bright today. He didn’t even care what Grandpa thought. Most importantly, he was simply letting his amputated leg remain exposed, without making any attempt to conceal it.
Ji Mingyue was momentarily at a loss for words.
The moment she fell silent, Ji Yang noticed how quiet the room had become.
Ji Chengyi took the opportunity to say to the old master, “Please calm down, Grandpa. Mingyue is still young, and there’s no need to rush into a blind date.”
Only then did the old master’s expression soften slightly.
He brushed his hand over the rim of his teacup.
“She never knows when to keep her mouth shut. Marrying into the Qi family would already be marrying above her station.”
“Marrying above her station?” Ji Yang suddenly spoke up.
His voice still carried the half-dead weakness brought on by his phantom limb pain.
“That’s true. Who knows? One day, she might cause Qi Yiming’s fourth or fifth mistress to miscarry. Then, through some little accident, she might catch him cheating at an entertainment club and end up in some gossip magazine. With her personality, marrying a man surnamed Qi isn’t merely marrying above her station. She’d have to cross an entire prairie to reach him.”
Ji Chengyi frowned. “Grandpa personally chose this match. Surely the man can’t be that kind of person.”
Ji Yang looked listless as he glanced sideways at him.
“Third Brother, you’re so sure. Have you been hiding under his bed?”
Ji Chengyi fell silent. He chose not to continue speaking, but his expression practically declared that Ji Yang was talking nonsense.
In the book, so many people admired and loved Ji Chengyi because they were captivated by what they considered his ability to preserve his innate goodness and his charm as a white-moonlight figure.
But in Ji Yang’s view, excessive kindness was nothing more than hypocrisy.
Otherwise, why would Ji Chengyi insist on bringing Old Master Ji into this situation, knowing full well that the original Ji Yang wouldn’t let the matter rest?
And why would he conveniently speak up for Ji Mingyue when she resisted the marriage arrangement?
He gained everyone’s favor at every turn. Yet, in the end, the unruly Miss Ji still became a pawn in a marriage alliance, pushed into it by Old Master Ji, who cared only about power and profit.
Her fate was hardly any better than that of Ji Yang, who would eventually die without even leaving behind an intact corpse.
When Ji Yang was reading the novel, he had already thought that, given Ji Mingyue’s temperament, she shouldn’t have ended up dying with her unborn child, without even managing to secure a decent grave for herself.
That was also the main reason Ji Yang had started reading this book after netizens in his livestream recommended it to him, only to curse his way through it and lose interest after “his own” death.
He even liked a villain like Ji Mingyue.
Maybe he was just born to play a vicious villain?
Just as Ji Yang’s thoughts had wandered that far, a phone suddenly rang in the room. It was Zhao Yuan’s.
He could vaguely make out words like dock, something about an event happening earlier than expected, and even Nie Xu’s name.
The rain outside still hadn’t stopped.
Looking out from the hall, Ji Yang could see the open space outside. Naturally, he was reminded of the person who had been kneeling there earlier.
Since he hadn’t run into the old master and the others earlier, Nie Xu should already have made his move by now.
Sure enough, five minutes later—
Zhao Yuan leaned close to the old master’s ear and whispered a few words. The old master suddenly looked at Ji Yang, then at his leg, a hint of deliberation entering his eyes.
In the end, he left them with a single remark. “I’ll continue leaving the man in your care. But Nie Xu isn’t merely your bodyguard, and he doesn’t have that much free time to indulge your nonsense. I don’t want last night’s incident to happen a second time.”
Then he hurried away with Zhao Yuan.
They had arrived with quite a show of force, yet their departure was so abrupt that no one had seen it coming.
Ji Chengyi seemed completely unable to process what had happened. He stared fixedly at Ji Yang. “What did you do? How could Grandpa suddenly decide to leave this matter alone?”
Ji Yang raised an eyebrow. “Take a guess? I’m more curious about something else. Do you actually care about Nie Xu as a person, or are you only interested in the fact that he can no longer help you with the project?”
Ji Chengyi froze for a moment.
“Does it matter?”
“Of course it matters.” Leaning back against his chair, Ji Yang smiled in a way that truly made him look like a villain. “After all, wasn’t the whole reason you called Grandpa here to watch me suffer a crushing defeat?”
As Ji Chengyi’s expression turned cold, Ji Yang straightened up and leaned forward a little, speaking softly.
“What you wanted didn’t happen, Third Brother.”
“As soon as I apologized to Nie Xu, he felt sorry for me.”
Ji Chengyi’s shoulders stiffened. He stared at him and said, “Impossible.”
Ji Yang continued as though he hadn’t heard him. “He even said he understood.”
Ji Chengyi was subconsciously drawn into the conversation. Frowning, he asked, “Understood what?”
Ji Yang replied, “I told him that he wasn’t allowed to go anywhere except stay by my side. He said he understood.”
Ji Chengyi’s expression changed completely.
Thinking back to Ji Chengyi’s declaration that there had never been any of the sordid relationship between him and Nie Xu that Ji Yang imagined, Ji Yang felt that this universally adored protagonist shou wasn’t merely all talk. He was also exceptionally good at deceiving himself.
Watching someone like this completely lose his composure was the most entertaining thing in the world. It even made Ji Yang feel better despite the pain tormenting him.
The truth was, the entire conversation above had been fabricated.
As for what had actually happened at the scene—
Apart from the wind and rain that had surrounded them at the time, only Ji Yang knew.
—
Fanzhou Daily News
“Shocking Exclusive! Fourth Young Master Ji Is a Pure GAY!”
“Two Young Masters of a Wealthy Family Fighting Over a Man: Personal Desire or Something More?”
“Third Young Master Ji Gets Drunk Late at Night—Successful Career, Failed Romance?”
Ji Yang was applying a compress to his leg when he came across these sensational gossip headlines.
The media was churning out new stories faster than he could even adjust to having transmigrated into a book.
That day, Ji Yang didn’t see another member of the Ji family until evening, by which time the discomfort from his phantom limb pain had subsided considerably.
After eating dinner alone, he sat in the small living room, tossing herbal medicine packets into the electric foot-soaking bucket in front of him while staring at the LCD television. Almost without thinking, he began wondering which media outlet had such a keen nose for gossip.
To the servants passing by, he might as well have been some rare animal.
In the end, though, Ji Yang was only interested in the phone in his hands.
Since the other party had already made a move, he felt he should also get in touch with the person he “loved” and nurture their relationship a little.
He took a picture of the television, then opened his messaging app and found the contact saved under the name “Currently Being Tamed.”
He’d known that the original owner had been deeply influenced by that ridiculous taming group from before, but he hadn’t expected things to be this bad. The moment he opened the chat—
Taming?
This was practically a textbook example of throwing his weight around and ordering someone about!
February 29, 22:00
Cloud Club! Two idiots are insulting me. You have ten minutes to show up!
March 1, 14:33
Call the international courier company. If my prosthetic leg still hasn’t arrived by tomorrow, I’ll sue that company until they’re bankrupt!
March 2, 09:18
[Image] [Image] [Image]
Why aren’t you answering me?
My buddy gave me these torture devices. Pretty intense, huh?
March 3, 23:21
Just as expected of the mad dog raised by the old master!
You really are loyal!
Nie Xu, you’re something else!
Your life belongs to the Ji family anyway. Just you wait!
The entire chat was filled with orders, harassment, and furious insults. It had everything.
And not a single reply.
Ji Yang guessed that Nie Xu probably completed all the reasonable requests on time. As for the rest, whenever Nie Xu saw those messages, he probably wanted nothing more than to shove Ji Yang’s head into a toilet.
Ji Yang really couldn’t bring himself to type anything in the existing chat window. The account just felt too filthy.
After thinking it over, he spent two minutes creating a new account.
His profile picture was a cartoon lamb, similar to the one he had used in his previous life.
The first message received no response.
For the second attempt, he added, It’s Ji Yang. Still no response.
For the third, he asked, Where are you? The dormitory? No response.
For the fourth, he asked, How are your injuries? Should I give you another two days off? Still no response.
It wasn’t until the fifth attempt that he finally sent:
Big brother, big brother, big brother, I love you.
After a while, a reply finally came.
Nie Xu still didn’t accept his friend request. He merely replied in the application box:
If you have something to say, use the old account. I’ll deal with it when I see it.
Ji Yang stared at that sentence for a long, long time.
So all those messages he’d sent earlier had been completely wasted, huh?