In the end, Ji Yang took off his pants under the blanket, making soft rustling noises as he struggled to do so.
He hadn’t actually slept very soundly throughout the night. Once he had endured the worst of the pain, just as Qi Songqing had said, the painkilling injection had barely any effect. The pain was bearable, but the needle-like stabbing sensations coming from the phantom limb that no longer existed would always catch him off guard and jolt him awake.
After going through this repeatedly, Ji Yang suspected he was going to develop heart disease.
Every time he woke up, he could see the person sitting in the darkness.
Nie Xu seemed not to have changed his posture at all from beginning to end, but Ji Yang knew that whenever he woke up, the other man was awake too.
It was simply a habit developed from working night shifts.
Nie Xu wouldn’t ask any questions, and Ji Yang wasn’t accustomed to describing his feelings to others when he was truly in pain.
It was just that on nights like this, the shadows of the past also tended to resurface.
He thought of his childhood.
That old, dilapidated house had only two rooms in total.
In the middle of the night, he could always hear the clattering and crashing of a middle-aged man smashing things. Otherwise, the man would spend money to hire women to come over, and the house would be filled all night with those nauseating sounds: the women’s deliberately high-pitched, saccharine moans, along with the furious curses of the neighbors next door.
After finishing, the man would come knocking on Ji Yang’s door, ordering him to go out and buy water or get up to cook. At times like these, Ji Yang never opened the door.
That tiny room, less than five square meters, had been his only safe haven as a child.
Even if those moments of safety were painfully brief.
What followed would be even heavier slaps and punches. The man would curse him as a bastard nobody wanted. As Ji Yang grew older, the man would look him up and down with a lewd gaze, asking why he had to be born with a dick.
Ji Yang had grown up in that kind of environment and become so accustomed to seeing such things that when someone tricked him into going to an entertainment club in his teens, he recognized at a glance that it was no legitimate establishment.
He called the police and reported the place, only to be chased for ten blocks like a dog.
He had never described that experience to the friends he made later.
Not until he discovered that he couldn’t feel any sexual interest in women.
When he gave his fans a cross-dressing bonus, he had a momentary illusion that he had truly become what that man had imagined: a woman through and through, someone who would never escape that place for the rest of his life.
When Ji Yang woke up, his forehead was still damp with sweat.
He stared at the ceiling and let out a long breath.
Right. That had all happened so many years ago. Now, he could even be considered an overnight sensation. He was still a young master, after all.
His fan base was approaching eight hundred thousand, and he was a bona fide young master from a wealthy family.
He had even won a battle just last night.
Outside, the sky was bright. The rain had stopped, and faint rays of sunlight emerged from between the clouds. The hotel was not far from the sea. Through the window, he could see the deep blue sky outside and birds circling overhead, symbolizing a certain dimension of freedom.
Nie Xu was no longer in the room.
At eight o’clock, a hotel employee delivered a brand-new set of clothes for him to change into, along with a wheelchair.
The moment Ji Yang saw the wheelchair, he sent a message to NX on his phone.
“Did you have someone send this over?”
At that moment, the hotel lobby on the first floor was in an uproar.
A large group of reporters stood outside, blocked at the entrance by the hotel security guards. Not a single one was allowed inside.
Nie Xu had his suit jacket draped over his forearm. Standing in front of him was Ji Chengyi, who had also stayed at the hotel overnight.
Looking toward the entrance, Ji Chengyi said, “Ji Yang really did catch everyone off guard this time. The group’s stock price has risen, and even the progress of the Lanhai Bay project has become smoother as a result.”
He turned his gaze back to the man before him.
“Brother Xu, but I don’t want to be grateful to him.”
Nie Xu looked at him. “Third Young Master, I’ve told you before that there’s no need to tell me about the matters between you brothers.”
“You’re always so cold.” A self-deprecating smile appeared on Ji Chengyi’s refined face. “I still remember the day the Ji family brought me back. You were the one who personally came to pick me up. I thought that even though we hadn’t spoken much over the years, our relationship was still different from ordinary ones.”
Nie Xu heard his phone ring and picked it up to take a look.
He replied, “The pain has lasted more than eight hours. There are reporters outside. It’ll be more convenient to leave in a wheelchair.”
Ji Chengyi saw that he wasn’t responding and frowned.
“Is it Ji Yang again?”
Another message immediately appeared on the screen.
“You actually remember how long it’s been [shocked.jpg]? You really do care about me.”
Thinking back to the person who had been hopping mad over a single remark last night, only to wake up and act as though he had no memory of it whatsoever, Nie Xu turned off his phone screen and put it back in his pocket.
He asked the man in front of him, “Does Third Young Master need anything else?”
“Do I have to have a reason to come looking for you?” Ji Chengyi grabbed his arm and suddenly asked, “Why Ji Yang?”
Nie Xu glanced at the hand on his arm. “What do you mean?”
Ji Chengyi said, “You’re his bodyguard, and now you’re his assistant too. Ever since he laid hands on you that time, you’ve never objected to any of his requests, whether it’s the first or the second time. Just because he’s changed even a tiny little bit, does that mean everything bad he did in the past can be erased?”
Nie Xu pulled his arm free.
“Third Young Master, if you need a doctor to help you manage your emotions, I can arrange one for you.”
“You think I’m the one with the problem?” Ji Chengyi asked incredulously.
When Ji Yang came downstairs, he suspected he had stumbled upon an argument between the novel’s male lead and male lead love interest.
But the more he listened, the more something seemed off.
Ji Chengyi kept bringing up Ji Yang at every turn. Ji Yang, the supposed “third party,” hadn’t even done much yet. So why did it sound as though he had actually gotten between them?
But then again, when he thought about it, it made sense.
If you liked a man, could you really tolerate him being on call twenty-four hours a day while spending the night in the same room as the person you hated most?
Ji Chengyi had been drugged last night, after all. Putting himself in the other man’s shoes, Ji Yang admitted that he probably wouldn’t be able to accept it either.
Ji Yang leaned against the second-floor railing and called down, “Hey!”
Both men looked up at him.
Ji Yang said, “Third Brother, there are so many reporters outside. When are you planning to give him back to me?”
Facing him, Ji Chengyi regained his usual composure and cold demeanor.
“Do you really think public opinion is that easy to manipulate?” Ji Chengyi said. “The Ji family has never relied on such methods to compete. If you want to compete, wait until you can stop dragging down project publicity before you talk.”
An hour later, Ji Yang was sitting in a car.
Nie Xu was still the one driving.
The car belonged to the company. Sitting in the front passenger seat, Ji Yang complained, “So even competition has its high and low classes now.”
He looked at the road stretching along the coastline toward the airport.
“We agreed that we’d leave on Monday, but now you’re suddenly making me go ahead while you stay behind. Am I being deliberately sidelined?”
Nie Xu loosened his shirt collar while driving. The wind at the end of May was already carrying a hint of dry heat.
Hearing Ji Yang’s words, he replied, “The Ji family wants you to avoid the reporters.”
Ji Yang folded his arms and sneered. “They’re afraid the stock price will crash again after finally managing to push it up.”
Nie Xu said, “You and Qian Yitian will go over today. Deng Jiao will accompany you as a team member for now. The originally assigned female colleague, Qiao Qiao, will take the same flight as me tomorrow.”
“Sister Jiao, huh?”
Ji Yang glanced at Nie Xu’s profile, then shifted his body to the side and asked, “I already thought this trip to Huizhou was more complicated than it seemed. You had another purpose in mind when you suggested I go, didn’t you?”
Nie Xu turned his head and met his eyes.
His first question was, “If I say yes, aren’t you afraid?”
“I was the one who proposed working with you in the first place.” Ji Yang turned back to face forward. “I also said I wouldn’t ask what you intended to do.”
Nie Xu silently tapped his index finger against the steering wheel.
“You don’t care if something happens to the Ji family?”
Here it comes, Ji Yang thought.
After all this time, Nie Xu had been willing to bring him into Building No. 4 and had even allowed him to overhear certain things without bothering to hide them. But it was only yesterday, after that report came out, that he had finally shown signs of revealing his true objective.
This was different from what Ji Yang had known in advance from the book. It proved that their cooperation had progressed from a one-sided attempt at survival to a stage where they could, at least tentatively, negotiate terms.
Ji Yang’s ability to sense and seize such moments was absolutely no worse than a bodyguard’s reflexes when faced with danger.
Maintaining a calm expression, Ji Yang said, “The prerequisite for caring is that someone has actually cared about me.”
The original Ji Yang clearly hadn’t received any such care.
Perhaps the Ji family cared a little now, but that was only because they had finally recognized his value.
Nie Xu said nothing.
Ji Yang looked at him and asked only one thing.
“I won’t end up begging for food on the streets, will I?”
Nie Xu looked back at him as though he had heard a question he couldn’t understand. After a two-second pause, he scoffed.
“With your abilities, can’t you easily beg for a couple of meals online?”
Ji Yang gritted his teeth. “You’d better be right.”
Begging online was fine.
If he ended up begging on the streets in real life, wouldn’t that all be thanks to you?
Nie Xu continued, “Fu Cheng’s voice was captured in last night’s livestream. The Fu family is about to be thoroughly exposed.”
“Exposed?” Ji Yang’s attention was immediately drawn to this.
Nie Xu said, “Two years ago, the state vigorously promoted the ‘Beautiful Bays’ project. There were pilot programs in eight cities. Fanzhou and Huizhou jointly developed theirs, and both were key cities. Tell me, why was Fanzhou’s project—the one involving the Ji family as the developer—the only one that stalled halfway through?”
Ji Yang followed his train of thought.
Was it simply because of the water pollution problem? Definitely not.
But as far as the original Ji Yang was concerned, that was the only thing connecting him to the events of two years ago.
So this trip to Huizhou was not really a business trip.
“Am I being used as the sacrificial pawn?” Ji Yang asked.
Nie Xu was surprised that he had figured it out so quickly. He continued, “The day after tomorrow afternoon, there’ll be a project development seminar in Huizhou.”
Ji Yang asked, “Can I skip it?”
“You can.” Nie Xu nodded. “If you can withstand the pressure once the news about the falsified data comes out.”
Ji Yang was suspicious. “Would attending this seminar really make a difference?”
“The two developers who partnered with the Ji Corporation two years ago will both be there.” Nie Xu asked, “What do you think is more serious: one case of you falsifying data, or the Ji Corporation violating financial regulations?”
Ji Yang fell silent.
He silently complained, “No wonder Qi Songqing said you never hesitate to use people, no matter the cost.”
One thing after another. It had all been calculated in advance.
Ji Yang thought about it for a moment before asking, “But why have you suddenly decided to tell me your plan? Aren’t you afraid I’ll leak the information?”
Nie Xu replied indifferently, “Consider it an exchange for the timing of your helping the Ji Corporation rise to the top. As for leaking the information, do you have any evidence?”
Ji Yang: “…”
If Nie Xu were purely using him, Ji Yang would continue to see him much as he had in the book, believing that darkness ran deep in this man’s very nature. Yet when Nie Xu spoke so casually about it, Ji Yang could instead sense the kind of madness suppressed beneath that restrained, silent exterior—a madness so extreme that, in the end, all that remained was calm.
It seeped out in fine, insidious threads, making the back of one’s neck feel icy cold.
For a brief moment, Ji Yang was curious about what had happened to Nie Xu in the past.
Then he remembered that curiosity killed the cat.
He shook his head. Forget it.
By the time the car stopped at the airport entrance, it was a little after two in the afternoon.
Qian Yitian and Deng Jiao were already waiting at the entrance.
The car had barely come to a stop when Deng Jiao came over and knocked on the door.
“Boss, there are reporters waiting at the airport.”
Nie Xu unfastened his seat belt. “How did the reporters get the news?”
“I’m not sure,” Deng Jiao said. “The whole thing is blowing up online right now. The media probably don’t know our exact flight. Should we contact the airport’s—”
She choked off the rest of her sentence.
It was because Ji Yang was leaning forward over the front passenger seat, reaching for his prosthetic leg on the back seat.
Most of the fabric around his waist had ridden up, exposing a stretch of dazzlingly white skin.
Nie Xu let him struggle to reach it for half a minute before finally losing patience and reaching over to pull it toward him.
He frowned. “Are you sure you want to wear it?”
“Of course.” Ji Yang snatched the prosthesis over and held out his hand toward Nie Xu. “Where are your sunglasses?”
Nie Xu gave him a look, then took out his sunglasses and handed them over.
“Showing your face right now isn’t a wise move.”
Ji Yang hugged the sunglasses to his chest and spoke with deep feeling. “I know. Even though I’m disabled, weak, and incapable of taking care of myself, and you don’t like me in the slightest, I’ll stay strong for your sake until the day you truly no longer need me.”
Outside the car window, Deng Jiao had to press her lips tightly together to maintain her dignity as the company’s top female bodyguard.
She remembered how this young master had called her “Sis” last time and made her lose face.
Now she felt vindicated. This guy wasn’t just tormenting her—he was even tormenting their boss.
Thus, the news reported by the Fanzhou Times that day was that, after single-handedly sending both himself and the entire Ji family onto the trending lists the previous day, the Ji family’s Fourth Young Master had been photographed at Fanzhou Airport the very next day.
He was wearing a black hoodie with the hood up, surrounded by reporters who were chasing after him and blocking his way.
Because reporters were following him with their cameras, passersby who had no idea what was happening assumed he was some celebrity and joined the crowd. The commotion nearly turned the airport into a spectacle.
Eventually, airport security had no choice but to step in and maintain order.
The reporters followed him all the way to the boarding gate.
Phones were pointed at him from every direction, accompanied by the constant clicking of cameras.
A reporter called out, “Fourth Young Master, please respond to last night’s livestream!”
“Did the livestream, which affected the Ji Corporation’s stock price, form part of a premeditated marketing campaign?”
“The only son of the Fu family, who moves in the same circles as you, was exposed at noon today for privately building factory facilities that caused severe pollution to nearby residents and the surrounding sea. Is this connected to what happened in your livestream last night?”
“Some people say you lost the internal power struggle in your wealthy family, so now you’re planning to use your status as a rich young master to fleece people online. Is that true?”
The person on camera only slowly raised his head when he heard the last question.
He pushed back his hood and removed his sunglasses, revealing a clean, nearly flawless face.
Then he answered every question one by one.
“Everything in the livestream was real. Insulting people is purely a personal hobby.”
“No marketing. It was premeditated.”
“As for the Fu family, ask the Fu family. I’ve forgotten everything about my past. As for why I forgot, the public will learn the truth one day.”
“I have no plans to fleece anyone. I lost the family power struggle, so I’m counting on netizens to feed me someday. If you want to know what happens next, keep clicking on the account ‘One Yang.’ Follow me so you don’t lose your way… Oh.”
Ji Yang put his sunglasses back on.
Laughter erupted all around him.
Everyone assumed he had merely been joking off the cuff.
Nevertheless, the photograph was enlarged and placed prominently on the front page.
The headline read: “Fourth Young Master Does Not Deny Livestream’s Authenticity, Admits Insulting People Is a Personal Hobby.”
Online, people dug up all over again the things he had said about the Ji family, taking turns criticizing him for them.
On the plane, Ji Yang was busy replying to netizens, his fingers flying across the screen.
“Please post a high-resolution picture of your airport outfit!”
Ji Yang sent someone a picture himself.
“Those sunglasses look pretty good. You look handsome, but they’re a little too big for your face.”
Ji Yang: “They’re borrowed from my assistant. Consider it free promotion for his wool.”
“Your leg looks fine! You can’t tell at all.”
Ji Yang: “If you could tell, I wouldn’t have come out. I still have my pride to consider.”
Sitting beside him, Qian Yitian silently turned his head.
“Fourth Young Master.”
“Hm?” Ji Yang looked up from his phone.
Qian Yitian said awkwardly, “Assistant Nie just messaged me and told me to take your phone away.”
Ji Yang was baffled. “Why?”
Qian Yitian replied, “Assistant Nie said you’re not allowed to go wild online while you’re on this business trip.”