Chapter 9
Shang Tingzhi’s mention of “going to bed” referred to sleeping together, and Xia Leyang naturally understood the implication. However, the two elders across the dining table seemed not to grasp the meaning.
Shang Jianye and Yang Wenting initially looked puzzled, then bewildered, followed by sudden realization, and finally, a complicated compromise.
Shang Jianye said, “Although it’s a bit unexpected, it doesn’t seem that surprising.”
Yang Wenting added, “Well, it’s fine. After all, Hua Hua can’t find a wife either.”
Xia Leyang looked at the two elders strangely, feeling like he missed some crucial information. He glanced at Shang Tingzhi beside him, and Shang Tingzhi’s expression seemed to indicate that he knew what his parents were talking about.
“Don’t overthink it,” Shang Tingzhi frowned, “He’s scared, so he comes to sleep with me, that’s all.”
“I’m not that scared, actually,” Xia Leyang added, somewhat missing the point.
Their appearance indeed didn’t match what Shang Jianye and Yang Wenting had assumed. However, after the elders left, Yang Wenting, eating fruit, thoughtfully said to Shang Jianye, “I think it’s not bad. Why not talk to old Xia about it?”
“No need,” Shang Jianye calmly sipped his tea, “If they have such affinity, it will naturally work out.”
Here, Xia Leyang had no idea that his status had shifted from being a debt-collateral protective amulet to a debt-collateral daughter-in-law.
Tang Fengyi dropped the two off at the Gu family mansion. In the courtyard of the old western-style house, there were various flowers and plants. Xia Leyang, passing by a small white flower, suddenly stopped, grabbing Shang Tingzhi’s clothes, and said, “Look, the flower on the roadside looks so beautiful.”
Shang Tingzhi bit his posterior teeth, knowing that Xia Leyang was mocking his nickname. He said, “Feeling itchy?”
Xia Leyang chuckled inwardly but maintained a serious tone on the surface. “Don’t you think? Enjoying flowers after a meal is quite leisurely and elegant.”
“Then, continue enjoying them,” Shang Tingzhi said with a black face, leaving Xia Leyang behind and walking towards the house.
Xia Leyang quickly caught up with Shang Tingzhi’s pace, complaining, “Oh, the prettiest flower has walked away. People can’t appreciate it anymore.”
The fire in Shang Tingzhi’s heart surged suddenly. He stopped abruptly, turned around without warning, and Xia Leyang, not paying attention, almost bumped into him.
“Don’t want to sleep tonight?” Shang Tingzhi asked coldly.
“Why do you always threaten me with this?” Xia Leyang said listlessly, “Can’t you be a bit more creative?”
Living for so many years, Shang Tingzhi encountered someone like Xia Leyang for the first time, someone he couldn’t deal with. He couldn’t drive him away, scold him, and what was more troublesome was that if he lost Xia Leyang, he might get into trouble. Thinking about this, he could only suppress the anger by himself.
Noticing that Shang Tingzhi turned around expressionlessly and headed towards the elevator, Xia Leyang forgot about his subservient tone from the previous night. He followed behind Shang Tingzhi, shouting, “Hua Hua, wait for me.”
The elevator quickly reached the second floor. After the prompt sound, the elevator doors slowly opened. However, at this moment, something strange happened.
The doors on both sides only opened less than ten centimeters, then slowly closed again. They opened once more, closed again, and this process continued.
Xia Leyang, who had unknowingly shrunk behind Shang Tingzhi, nervously pinched his clothes, asking, “What’s going on?”
Shang Tingzhi, not surprised at all, considered it normal for some minor issues to occur in this house with supernatural elements. However, Xia Leyang’s reaction reminded him that dealing with this annoying spirit might still require the assistance of these supernatural elements.
“Do you remember yesterday when I fell down the stairs, and you said it was because I had a fever?” Shang Tingzhi raised his hand to hold the elevator doors, and this time, they opened without any trouble.
“Uh, and then?” Xia Leyang followed Shang Tingzhi out of the elevator, nervously glancing around.
“I didn’t fall by accident,” Shang Tingzhi said, opening the door to his bedroom, stepping inside, and then turning to face Xia Leyang, who was standing outside the bedroom door. “A ghost pushed me from behind.”
Bang—
As Shang Tingzhi finished speaking, he closed the bedroom door, locked it, all in one swift motion.
Sure enough, the next second brought a rapid knocking sound on the door from Xia Leyang, “What do you mean? Where did the ghost come from? Explain yourself.”
Inside the bedroom, there was no sound. Xia Leyang suddenly regretted teasing Shang Tingzhi. Now, this charlatan was angry and ignoring him.
It was at this moment that he realized something. It seemed that when he was with Shang Tingzhi, he didn’t feel scared at all, even in the dark of the night. But as soon as Shang Tingzhi wasn’t around, the atmosphere in this old western-style house immediately changed. Even in broad daylight, it felt like a spooky haunted house.
Xia Leyang admitted defeat again. He entered the bathroom from his side and, through the bathroom connecting the two bedrooms, entered Shang Tingzhi’s room. Meanwhile, Shang Tingzhi had already changed into casual clothes and was preparing for a nap.
“What?” Shang Tingzhi looked at Xia Leyang expressionlessly.
“Hehe.” Xia Leyang awkwardly chuckled, asking as if he was struggling for words, “Napping?”
“Mm.” Shang Tingzhi replied indifferently, lifting the blanket and getting into bed.
“Then, wait for me.”
“?”
Xia Leyang quickly returned to his room, changed into pajamas, and then ran back to the next room, jumping into Shang Tingzhi’s bed like he owned it. He casually said, “I stayed up too late last night. I’ll catch up on some sleep.”
“Did I invite you to come over?” Shang Tingzhi frowned.
“We’re good brothers, right? Who’s with whom.” Xia Leyang nudged closer to Shang Tingzhi, patting the pillow as if it were naturally his.
“Xia Leyang.” Shang Tingzhi said sternly.
“Ah, I’m so tired.” Xia Leyang turned over, facing away from Shang Tingzhi. “I’m falling asleep.”
“…”
Shang Tingzhi sighed helplessly. Unable to control it, he lay down. He hadn’t intended to hug Xia Leyang, but somehow his hand acted on its own and pulled Xia Leyang into his embrace.
When Xia Leyang woke up, Shang Tingzhi was no longer beside him. He rubbed his messy hair, washed his face in the bathroom, and then went downstairs to look for Shang Tingzhi.
“Master? Hua Hua? Guru?” Xia Leyang happened to reach the doorway of the study on the middle of the first and second floors when Shang Tingzhi opened the door, asking with a dark expression, “Guru?”
“A deity, it’s a deity.” Xia Leyang hurriedly corrected, “Are you working?”
“Anything?” Shang Tingzhi didn’t answer directly, asking without much expression.
“I’m a bit bored…” Xia Leyang scratched the back of his head. He didn’t speak the truth. In fact, he wanted to stay close to Shang Tingzhi. Otherwise, doing anything in this ominous house wouldn’t bring peace of mind.
“Bored? Go entertain yourself.” Shang Tingzhi said without mercy and closed the study door.
“…”
Xia Leyang stood in the middle of the first and second floors, glanced upstairs, then downstairs, hesitated for a while, and finally decided to go to the living room on the first floor.
The living room was closest to the main entrance, allowing Xia Leyang to rush to the yard outside in case anything eerie happened inside the house.
To add some liveliness to the house, Xia Leyang turned on the TV, sat on the sofa, and started browsing his phone.
The TV was broadcasting news about the relocation of City One High School, the school Xia Leyang attended in his childhood. He glanced at it casually and continued searching for Feng Shui-related articles on his phone.
Out of the ten webpage links, eight were related to scams.
Xia Leyang clicked his tongue, realizing that, despite their differences in ideological concepts, Shang Tingzhi didn’t seem like a bad person. It was similar to some people having different beliefs, like Buddhism, and you couldn’t force them to change.
As he continued reading, the news webpage automatically pushed a message about a beautiful Feng Shui master.
Big data was more mystical than Feng Shui itself. Search for something on Baidu, and Taobao would recommend it, making it seem like surfing the internet was equivalent to streaking.
Xia Leyang clicked on the link and found out that, besides the renowned Shang family, there were many Feng Shui practitioners in Rui City. One of them was Zhao Ying, a beautiful Feng Shui master, a graduate in architecture from a prestigious university, who gave up a million-yuan salary to help people with Feng Shui and had gained some fame in the industry.
Xia Leyang shook his head with mixed emotions, wondering why someone would resort to Feng Shui.
During dinner, Xia Leyang casually brought up the topic with Shang Tingzhi, asking if it was easy to enter the field and which one of them was more formidable. Shang Tingzhi calmly responded, “You’re talking about Zhao Ying? She’s my college classmate. Interested in meeting her?”
There were pictures of Zhao Ying on the webpage, and she did look beautiful, but Xia Leyang wasn’t interested.
“No, no.” Xia Leyang made a “farewell” gesture. “Our values don’t align.”
Shang Tingzhi continued eating without saying more. Xia Leyang had implied that if he didn’t align with Zhao Ying’s values, it meant he didn’t align with Shang Tingzhi’s values either, as they were both in the Feng Shui business.
Changing someone’s deep-rooted beliefs was difficult, and Shang Tingzhi had no intention of doing so. He just hoped Xia Leyang would behave and not cause trouble, making everything peaceful between them.
With this in mind, Shang Tingzhi kindly reminded, “Tonight is the night of the full moon. Don’t mess around. Come directly to sleep in my room.”
“Do you think there’s a werewolf in this house?” Xia Leyang whispered, “What if something happens on the night of the full moon.”
Despite his sarcasm, when night fell, Xia Leyang eagerly ran into Shang Tingzhi’s room. He neatly arranged his phone, tablet, computer, and chargers on the bedside table, as if he were making a nest. Then, he grabbed some clean clothes and went into the bathroom.
It was Xia Leyang’s first time using the bathroom alone at night. He remembered stories about single women committing suicide in the bathtub, so he tried to keep his distance from it while quickly applying foam to his body.
As he bathed, Xia Leyang felt uneasy. Each time the sound of water became too loud for him to hear the outside noises, he would find an excuse to strike up a conversation with Shang Tingzhi. However, after calling Shang Tingzhi for the third time, there was no response from outside.
“Hua Hua?” Xia Leyang intentionally used this nickname, waiting for Shang Tingzhi to get angry. However, there was still no sound outside.
Something wasn’t right.
Xia Leyang quickly turned off the tap, plunging the bathroom into silence. As he dried himself off, he called out, “Shang Tingzhi, what are you doing?”
No response came from outside.
Still no response.
Xia Leyang hastily put on his clothes, but at this moment, the dim ceiling light flickered, and the steam in the bathroom suddenly gathered towards the direction of the bathtub.
He stiffly turned his head to look at the bathtub, only to see that the previously empty tub was now filled with mist, making it impossible to see what was inside.
The once warm bathroom suddenly became chilling, and Xia Leyang swallowed hard, moving backward toward the bathroom door while keeping a wary eye on the mysterious bathtub.
The mist floated in the tub, vaguely forming an outline.
Finally reaching the door handle, Xia Leyang’s gaze stayed on the bathtub, unaware that in the bathroom mirror behind him, there was a woman sitting next to the tub, looking at him with a sly smile.
When Xia Leyang came out of the bathroom, Shang Tingzhi was half-lying on the bed, checking the work arrangements sent by Tang Fengyi.
He knew that he had been lazy for the past three months, so he had pushed off as much work as he could, but there were still some tasks he couldn’t refuse due to face.
“Hey.” Xia Leyang stood at the foot of the bed, hands behind his back, tilting his head to greet Shang Tingzhi.
Shang Tingzhi inexplicably glanced at Xia Leyang, continuing to look at the tablet in his hands. “Finished showering?”
“Yeah.” Xia Leyang climbed onto the bed from the foot, but instead of going next to Shang Tingzhi, he climbed onto Shang Tingzhi’s long legs.
Shang Tingzhi: “?”
“What’s wrong with you?” Shang Tingzhi frowned.
“Hubby.” Xia Leyang rested his chin on his hands, looking up at Shang Tingzhi. “I’m hungry, what do you have for me to eat?”
“???”
“Xia Leyang, what’s wrong with you?” Shang Tingzhi threw the tablet aside, sitting up straight. However, as soon as he straightened up, Xia Leyang forcefully pushed him back and then straddled his waist.
Shang Tingzhi, who usually worked out, had considerable strength, but he had to admit that Xia Leyang’s push just now almost made him see stars.
No, Shang Tingzhi quickly realized that the person in front of him was not Xia Leyang.
Although it was Xia Leyang’s face and body, the seductive eyes with a hint of charm, coupled with the seemingly ordinary teenage figure, inexplicably carried a sexy aura.
“Lei, why am I being weird?”
“What do you want me to feed you?”
The possessed Xia Leyang smiled enchantingly, then withdrew a bit, his right hand mischievously tugging at the navy blue cotton sleep pants.
“Damn it, Xia Leyang!”
The cold sensation came, and Shang Tingzhi firmly held onto that unruly wrist, but it was still unable to prevent the fate of the sleep pants.
The following scene shocked Shang Tingzhi as if he had been struck by lightning, almost making him unable to catch his breath.
He stared in astonishment at the unfolding scene, a mix of pleasure and shock causing his brain to completely malfunction.
Xia Leyang…
Was actually doing this to him?!
