By the time Nie Xu arrived at the treatment room, Ji Yang was still desperately defending his pants.
His hair was soaked with sweat. Clutching the waistband of his pants, he struggled and shouted, “Let go… I’m not nervous, I’m very relaxed! But that doesn’t mean you can pull someone’s pants down! I can do it myself! …I understand what you’re saying. You’re the one who doesn’t understand me, right? Ah, damn it!”
Knox had also increased his grip because of Ji Yang’s struggles. He rattled off another string of words, even frowning as he gestured with his hands.
Ji Yang was completely at a loss. Just as he accidentally bumped into the metal tray beside the equipment, producing a loud bang,
Ji Yang turned his head in surprise.
The scene he had expected, with the instruments scattered all over the floor, never happened. A hand had caught the tray securely.
That hand reached over Ji Yang’s head from behind and patted Knox on the arm.
“I’ll do it,” Nie Xu said.
Nie Xu exchanged a few more words with Knox. The latter first looked shocked, then blushed and scratched his head awkwardly.
He shrugged apologetically at Ji Yang, stepped aside, and gave the spot to Nie Xu.
Ji Yang asked, “What did you say to him?”
Nie Xu glanced at him. “I told him you’re an inexperienced little boy who’s rather conservative.”
Ji Yang’s entire face turned bright red.
“…Get lost! How do you know whether I’ve had sex or not? I knew he wanted me to try out his new equipment. I just couldn’t stand him trying to take my pants off. The more I explained, the more excited he got. What was I supposed to do?”
Nie Xu observed his expression and said, “Knox already gave you a round of electrical nerve therapy. The weather has intensified your pain response, so he thought you were experiencing discomfort somewhere and insisted on giving you a full-body examination.”
Ji Yang said, “So that’s why we almost got into a fight just now?”
Nie Xu gave him a sidelong glance.
“He’s a combat champion.”
In other words, if it had become a real fight, Ji Yang would have been beaten one-sidedly.
Ji Yang no longer felt like saying anything.
The electrical therapy just now had indeed required several adjustments. Even now, his fingertips were still tingling.
Earlier, as he lay there listening to the sound of the electric current, he had felt as though he were a broken object waiting to be repaired.
However, the discomfort in his knee had eased considerably. The warmth transmitted by the equipment penetrated his skin, and most of the aching, swollen bone pain seemed to have been drawn away. It was different from the damp cold of rainy days in the past, when the chill would seep into the gaps between his bones and even trigger more severe phantom limb pain.
Still, between the treatment and the struggle, most of his energy had been used up.
Nie Xu pulled up the folding armrest on the side of the treatment bed.
“Not going to examine me?” Ji Yang asked.
Nie Xu stood up and gave a quiet “Mm.”
“There are signs of compensatory activity in the signal transmission areas. The results are better than they were before you stopped taking your medication. Since there’s no other problem with your body, rest for a while and recover your strength.”
“If there’s nothing wrong, I’ll get down now.”
Ji Yang made as if to sit up.
Halfway through, he was pressed back down.
“Don’t move.” Nie Xu frowned.
Ji Yang was puzzled. “Why?”
Nie Xu said, “Why don’t you take a look at how much color you have in your face? You sweat when you have nightmares, you sweat during treatment, and you also have low blood sugar. Wait a little longer before getting up.”
Ji Yang: “…So you lied to me just now, right? You didn’t actually tell Knox anything about me being inexperienced, did you?”
Nie Xu asked, “Are you bothered by that?”
“If I called you a virgin, would you be bothered?” Ji Yang shot back.
Nie Xu said, “Then I guess that confirms it.”
Ji Yang really wanted to punch him a couple of times, if only he were physically capable of doing so.
Just then, the phone tucked into the side of Nie Xu’s trousers flashed. Ji Yang happened to glance at it and saw a document that had finished loading:
Backup of the New Land Base Site Selection for the Ji Group’s Shipping Division.
Nie Xu didn’t know where he had found a blanket. He tossed it to Ji Yang, checked something, and then took his phone and went outside.
Knox watched Nie Xu leave, then walked back over and smiled at Ji Yang.
“Nathan… nervous… now.”
Ji Yang struggled to make out what he meant from the man’s broken pronunciation.
“Nervous?”
Was he talking about the contents of his phone? Ji Yang hadn’t noticed anything unusual.
Knox said, “He… never… does this. For anyone.”
Ji Yang asked, “Does what?”
Qi Songqing, who had appeared at the doorway at some point and had come to get some materials from Knox, finally couldn’t stand listening any longer.
He walked inside.
“Look outside,” he said.
Ji Yang followed his gaze and, through the glass door, met Nie Xu’s eyes as he stood in the hallway talking on the phone.
Ji Yang suddenly had a flash of insight. “Knox wasn’t saying that Nie Xu was worried about me, was he?” He found it both amusing and absurd. “Worried that his newly accepted one-way alliance might die in the laboratory?”
Qi Songqing took a breath and shook his head. “Forget it. I can’t be bothered with you two. I still have to work overtime tonight.”
Ji Yang glanced behind Qi Songqing. He hadn’t seen anyone else from Building Four coming and going here, so he asked curiously, “Is this laboratory building your secret base? Won’t someone discover it?”
Qi Songqing laughed. “It’s a legitimate research institute. It’s officially registered.”
Ji Yang asked, “Have you known Knox for many years?”
Qi Songqing replied, “I got to know them relatively late. I’m not like those energy-obsessed maniacs. Take Knox, for example. He met Nie Xu when Nie Xu was training overseas. The mercenary group Knox served after retiring was also one Nie Xu introduced him to. They’ve been through life and death together.”
Knox kept nodding beside them.
Ji Yang couldn’t help laughing. He thought, You haven’t understood a single word, have you?
Qi Songqing’s gaze passed over his smiling face.
“As for the rest, you can ask Nie Xu yourself when you have time.”
“What are you asking me?” Nie Xu returned after finishing his call.
Qi Songqing said, “The young master is rather curious about you.”
Ji Yang: ???
Weren’t you the one who kept bringing him up?
Nie Xu walked over. “Are you done resting? The rain has stopped.”
Ji Yang rolled the blanket into a ball.
“Let’s go.”
When they left the laboratory building, they discovered that it was already dark outside. The rain had stopped, and puddles had collected on the road, reflecting the neon lights on both sides. As car tires rolled over them, the reflections shattered into a dazzling array of colors.
The evening breeze carried a chill rarely felt in summer, making Ji Yang instinctively rub his arms.
The next second, a jacket was draped over him.
Ji Yang turned his head in surprise.
Nie Xu said, “Someone’s following us.”
Was the Old Master in such a hurry?
Ji Yang tugged at the oversized jacket and smiled, his eyes curving.
“Thank you.”
Nie Xu narrowed his eyes slightly, opened the car door, and gestured for him to get in.
The drive from the laboratory building to the hotel where Ji Yang was currently staying took about half an hour. Since Nie Xu said someone was following them, but behaved as though nothing was wrong, Ji Yang didn’t feel particularly concerned either. Wrapped in the jacket, he unknowingly fell asleep again in the car. When he woke up, they had already arrived at the hotel entrance.
He checked the time. It was nine at night.
He had actually slept for almost two hours in the car.
Ji Yang moved his stiff neck. “Why didn’t you wake me?”
“Nothing urgent.” Nie Xu closed his laptop and turned to look at him. “Want to get something to eat?”
“Sure,” Ji Yang said.
Then he remembered that Peng Jiaying had said last time that he wanted to treat Nie Xu to a meal. He asked, “Would you mind if we had one more person join us?”
“Whatever.”
And so, at ten that night, they ended up at an outdoor barbecue restaurant about five hundred meters from the hotel.
Ji Yang ordered a whole tableful of food.
When Peng Jiaying hurried over with his briefcase, he was panting as he said, “Sorry. I had to work overtime unexpectedly, so I’m late.”
“Has the proposal still not been approved?” Ji Yang tossed a handful of lamb skewers onto the grill in front of him. “Could President Huang be taking revenge on me? Because of that time Lin Yue came to the hotel looking for me, and I turned him down?”
Peng Jiaying first nodded to Nie Xu, who was leaning back in his chair across from them.
“Assistant Nie.”
“Mm, President Peng.” Nie Xu looked up from his phone and greeted him.
That one “President Peng” was enough to make Peng Jiaying feel awkward. He turned his head and whispered to Ji Yang, “I asked you to treat us to a meal. Couldn’t you have picked somewhere nicer? Why barbecue? It’ll leave your mouth all greasy. Look, even Assistant Nie hasn’t eaten.”
Ji Yang looked over while holding a bamboo skewer. “It’s fine. He’s not hungry. As long as I want to eat, that’s enough.”
In fact, he’d already finished eating before Peng Jiaying arrived.
Peng Jiaying: “…”
Peng Jiaying had no choice but to awkwardly steer the conversation back to the topic at hand.
“It’s not that President Huang is holding up the proposal. We went to Xianshi for a meeting and discovered that President Huang can’t make the decisions on his own. There’s a big-money investor behind his company. Apparently, he’s quite powerful.”
Ji Yang ate one kernel of grilled corn at a time. “How powerful?”
“Someone with that kind of background,” Peng Jiaying said cryptically.
The moment Ji Yang heard that, he had a pretty good idea.
Happy Paradise again.
If Xianshi really couldn’t even control its own project, Ji Yang was beginning to wonder whether they should continue this partnership at all.
Just as he was lost in thought, he heard someone say, “Don’t worry about it.”
Peng Jiaying and Ji Yang turned to look at the speaker almost simultaneously.
Peng Jiaying asked quietly, “What do you mean?”
Nie Xu put down his phone. “The person you’re talking about is surnamed Jin. The previous several heads above him all ended up in prison. He’s just wearing a ghost’s skin and pretending to be a king. In reality, he’s relying on the connection that his younger sister married the younger brother of Huang Kai’s wife. He invested a little money in Xianshi. Huang Kai won’t keep letting him do as he pleases. There’s no problem with this project.”
Peng Jiaying had been holding his breath, and now he finally relaxed.
“Assistant Nie really does know a lot. Now I can rest easy.” Peng Jiaying spoke ingratiatingly. “I have to raise a glass to you. Last time, when our company’s people went to Zhouling, we also had Assistant Nie to thank for that.”
Peng Jiaying raised his voice. “Boss! Bring us some beer!”
“Why drink beer?” Ji Yang tugged at him and pointed to the buckwheat tea on the table. “Just use this to toast him.”
Peng Jiaying stared silently at Ji Yang.
From initially distrusting this young master to working together with him now, his experience had actually been pretty good all along.
But he really felt that the young master’s attitude toward Assistant Nie was far too casual. Even if the man was only a bodyguard, treating him like that wasn’t quite right.
“I have to thank him properly,” Peng Jiaying insisted.
Ji Yang simply gave up trying to persuade him.
There was nothing wrong with expressing gratitude, but you kept treating your own boss like an assistant. Wasn’t that a little…?
The beer arrived.
Ji Yang continued gnawing on his corn skewer and looked over at Nie Xu.
Faced with Peng Jiaying’s limited and somewhat outdated drinking-table etiquette, Nie Xu very naturally drank with him.
Peng Jiaying acted as though he’d found an all-knowing encyclopedia. He asked question after question, and Nie Xu answered them all. Occasionally, he’d elaborate further, making Peng Jiaying’s eyes light up.
After a few drinks, Peng Jiaying’s spirits rose.
Ji Yang remembered how fiercely Peng Jiaying had smashed Wei Qiming’s head back when they’d first met. Without a second thought, he placed the remaining half bottle under the table.
Peng Jiaying had finally finished asking all his questions. Only now did he notice something.
“Fourth Young Master, isn’t that jacket you’re wearing today a little inappropriate?”
Just then, a huge chorus of cheers erupted from the next table.
At a glance, it was a group of rebellious-looking young men and women.
The reason for all the cheering was a boy and girl who had originally been in the ambiguous stage of a relationship. The boy had draped his jacket over the girl’s shoulders.
Peng Jiaying saw it too and sighed emotionally. “Ah, youth.”
“Shut up. You’re the only old one here, thank you very much.” Ji Yang picked up a fresh skewer of barbecue and stuffed it into his mouth.
Only then did Peng Jiaying belatedly catch on.
He looked at the other two people at the table.
Then he leaned toward Ji Yang and whispered, “Has Assistant Nie surrendered to you?”
“Mm-hmm.” Ji Yang gave Peng Jiaying a fake smile. “Because we’ve recently switched roles.”
“What?”
Ji Yang said, “The Cold-Blooded Bodyguard’s Stockholm Syndrome: Falling Deeply in Love with the Fourth Young Master of the Ji Family Who Beats Him Up. Interesting, isn’t it?”
Peng Jiaying said, “That’s ridiculous.”
A second later, Peng Jiaying reacted. Lowering his voice, he asked in disbelief, “You’ve actually hit Assistant Nie before?”
“Sure have.”
Ji Yang pushed the remaining barbecue toward Nie Xu and smiled.
“Brother Xu, you can have all of this.”
Peng Jiaying thought: Doesn’t this look suspiciously like he’s giving someone his leftovers? Is he humiliating him?
Assistant Nie won’t get angry, will he?
Peng Jiaying quietly glanced over.
He discovered that Assistant Nie had lowered his head and was busy with something again, seemingly unconcerned with whatever the two of them were saying. Hearing the sound, he looked up at Ji Yang, then naturally accepted the plate.
And set it aside.
Good. He didn’t eat it.
But wasn’t he being a little too casual about accepting it?