Ji Yang heard the sound of dripping water again.
Drip, drip.
Like a slow, agonizing torture.
A red-hot wire spiraled into the bone marrow of his nonexistent right lower leg, then suddenly exploded.
Ji Yang instinctively rolled over in an instant and clutched his knee. He clenched his teeth so tightly that he barely managed to swallow the whimper rising in his throat. Layer upon layer of cold sweat spread across his back, soaking it through and dampening his hair. He then rubbed it haphazardly against the intricately patterned silk sheets beneath him, gripping them so hard that they crumpled into a wrinkled ball.
This was… way too painful.
Just half an hour ago, he had still been livestreaming a video game at an internet café. Relying on his face and his sweet talk, he had managed to fight his way to the top of the popularity rankings in a channel packed with hardcore competitive players, despite his abysmal gaming skills. He didn’t know whether it was because he had been chased around and cursed at by viewers for too long, but in the blink of an eye, he had ended up lying here, neither able to die nor live, like a salted ribbonfish tossed into a wok of boiling oil to be fried, flipped, and stir-fried.
Was this Heaven’s punishment for a handsome streamer?
Transmigration into a book.
Other people transmigrated into books as vicious villains and turned over a new leaf to become better people. At the very least, if they remained evil to the bitter end, they might still make people think they were rather good-looking and had something going for them.
Ji Yang was particularly different.
His vicious villain character now suffered from severe phantom limb pain. His entire right lower leg, from below the knee, had been amputated. He was a genuinely disabled person.
Never mind whether he was evil or not.
He barely even had the strength to crawl back up…
Just as he had recovered from the initial wave of pain, the phone on his bedside table began vibrating frantically. Ji Yang blinked the sweat from his eyelids and struggled to open his eyes.
Only then did he realize that it was raining outside.
Rain beat against the window glass, and the shadows of the trees swayed. Against this backdrop, the room’s lavish decor appeared even more extravagant, its rich, dramatic colors so overwhelming that they made him feel dizzy, as though he were about to be swallowed whole. Ji Yang stretched out an arm to grab his phone and tried several times to unlock it with his fingerprint before finally opening a group chat called “The Rules of the Domestication Selection Center.”
Messages kept popping up in the group. As luck would have it, the topic revolved entirely around himself.
— Not bad, Ji Fourth. I’ve watched the video over and over. You haven’t gotten rusty.
— I’m actually interested in that whip. Wei must have given it to you again, right? Wei has always treated you differently. One crack from that kind of whip leaves a bloody welt. That’s the good stuff.
At that moment, someone whose contact name was Wei Qiming spoke in the group and deliberately tagged “Ji Yang.”
He spoke with an especially earnest, almost fatherly tone.
“Xiao Yang, for people of our status, the most important quality in a personal subordinate is loyalty. He’s just a bodyguard. You can vent your personal grievances on him, but causing a death over it isn’t worth it.”
Ji Yang immediately had a bad feeling.
Then he saw the others chiming in.
— I think Brother Wei makes sense. Betraying your master is a major taboo in this line of work.
— I don’t think that’s possible, though? Ji Fourth, didn’t you say that the guy by your side was personally promoted by your grandfather? So many dirty secrets in wealthy families involve people of their status. Would he really throw his life away?
— You’re just suspicious that he and your dad’s illegitimate son have something going on, aren’t you? If you really can’t swallow your anger, you could always strike first, tie him to a bed, and force yourself on him. Hahahaha!
— Just add something to the mix. Even if he can’t get it up, he’ll have to!
— Hahahahaha, that’s right!
No wonder this society had been constructed as part of some third-rate product. In short, there were no laws and no limits.
Ji Yang was still scrolling up through the so-called video when he actually managed to find it.
The moment he opened the tiny video window, the first thing to hit him wasn’t the image but the sharp crack of a whip slicing through the air.
Crack!
The spacious warehouse amplified the echo. Every time the whip came down, the sound of flesh being torn apart followed.
The lighting in the video was extremely dim. He could barely make out the outline of a man whose hands were suspended from an iron frame. His head hung low, his knees on the ground. His bare upper body, with its well-defined shark-like muscles, was crisscrossed with bloody welts.
From beginning to end, the man in the video didn’t make a single sound. By contrast, “himself” went from simply venting his anger to flying into a furious rage, each sentence more vicious than the last.
“That bastard Ji Chengyi, born to a whore, actually dares to steal my people?”
“He’s taken a liking to you?”
“He said you saved him before, is that right?”
“When was it? Before the Ji family acknowledged him?”
“Or do you like him too?”
“That’s right. Every single one of you likes him!”
“But let me tell you something. The people who belong to me, Ji Yang, would rather be thrown into the sea and rot to the bone than ever be given to that Ji Chengyi! He can forget about it for the rest of his life!!”
“Are you mute?!”
“Nie Xu!!”
“Speak! I said, SPEAK!!!…”
The moment the name Nie Xu appeared, Ji Yang nearly stopped breathing.
He could almost feel the bloody stench lurking in the darkness, spreading out of the screen and tightening around his own throat.
After all, in this danmei novel, The Young Master’s Personal Bodyguard, which combined business warfare, family drama, and power struggles among wealthy clans, the “young master” in the title did not refer to Ji Yang.
It referred to Ji Chengyi, his illegitimate half-brother, who shared the same father and was two months older than him. The story followed Ji Chengyi as the protagonist and shou: despite starting with an utterly disastrous hand, he refused to give up. His path was littered with all sorts of unconventional CP pairings, and he was the classic beloved-by-all character—the unattainable white moonlight and irresistible heartthrob.
As for “Ji Yang”?
A mother who died young, a father who fathered an illegitimate son, and a broken version of himself.
His role in the story was extensive. To sum it up, in the early stages, he relentlessly suppressed and humiliated the protagonist shou. Later, he was relentlessly humiliated and suppressed in return by the male leads paired with the protagonist shou. He devoted his entire life to the noble enterprise of being the “other man,” sparing no effort and giving everything he had to the cause.
But none of that was the key point.
The key point was that he had transmigrated into the story at what was supposedly the later stage.
That was two years after the car accident that had cost him his leg.
For the past two years, he had been ordering his personal bodyguard around like a tyrant, treating him as less than human. That bodyguard was none other than the novel’s highly popular CP male lead who would eventually rise from the ashes—a man even more unhinged than Ji Yang, the villain himself.
In the not-too-distant future, this man would bring down the entire Ji family. The first thing he would do after seizing power was break Ji Yang’s other leg and throw him out onto the streets, where he would be reduced to begging.
When he thought about how “himself” had even tried to throw himself in front of the protagonist shou’s car tires before dying, only for the people inside the car to be none other than Nie Xu and Ji Chengyi, the brutal contrast was almost comical.
Ji Yang—Money-Obsessed Slave / Lover of Good Looks and Pleasure / Hardcore Internet Addict and Pretty Boy—was trembling in fear.
His phone chimed several more times.
They were private messages from that man surnamed Wei.
“Xiao Yang, you’ve been quiet for a while. Are you still angry?”
“You’ve always refused to talk about your leg, and you never let anyone see anything unusual about you. But I’ve always treated you like my own younger brother. Brother Wei sees all your suffering. How about this? I’ve met your dad’s illegitimate son. If you have any ideas, just tell me. Whatever Brother Wei can do, I’ll do it for you.”
Ji Yang looked at the messages and laughed out of sheer anger.
He remembered Wei Qiming. In the novel, he presented himself to the outside world as the son of a wealthy businessman who had returned to the country after his entire family had emigrated overseas for many years. He fooled a whole bunch of stupid rich second-generation heirs and had them dancing in the palm of his hand.
In reality, he was nothing but a pure pervert with the most depraved tastes. Not only had he fabricated his background, but he had also treated Ji Chengyi as prey. His sole reason for approaching “Ji Yang” was to use him as a stepping stone to get close to the protagonist shou.
What had happened to this man later on?
If Ji Yang remembered correctly, Nie Xu had crippled his hands and feet and blinded one of his eyes.
Ji Yang picked up his phone and tapped at the screen a few times, only to discover that his sweat-soaked fingers wouldn’t cooperate. Besides, typing was too much effort.
He simply sent a voice message instead.
Only when he opened his mouth did he realize how weak his voice sounded.
“I’m doing just fine. There’s no need to trouble yourself worrying about me.”
His attempt at sarcasm fell rather flat.
Ji Yang continued, “Thank you for your selfless advice and contributions over the past two years. I’ll remember them well. One of these days, I’ll definitely repay you with a magnificent gift. [Smiling.jpg]”
The other side went silent for quite a while. The words “typing…” appeared and disappeared repeatedly before a message finally arrived.
“Why are you suddenly being so polite to Brother Wei? And what’s wrong with your voice?”
Another message quickly followed.
“Brother Wei is really worried about you. Is it convenient to take a call?”
Whether the man genuinely hadn’t caught the sarcasm or was deliberately avoiding the subject, Ji Yang silently rolled his eyes so hard they nearly disappeared into the back of his head.
“Not convenient.”
The other side pressed on. “What are you busy with?”
Ji Yang finally gave up on voice messages and slowly typed out his reply.
“Busy burning incense, praying to Buddha, and struggling desperately to save your damn father!”
Ji Yang immediately blocked him after sending the message.
Then, with great difficulty, he forced himself upright.
He had to get Nie Xu back on his feet first.
If he remembered correctly, at this point in the book, Nie Xu should still be kneeling.
This was a very important turning point in the entire story.
After Nie Xu fell out of favor and was seriously injured, Ji Chengyi would arrive and play the role of his savior. In the end, he would become the key figure who allowed Nie Xu to gradually devour and swallow up the Ji family’s business empire. Ji Chengyi would regret everything too late, laying the groundwork for their later relationship arc of physical and emotional torment and forced confinement.
To be honest, Ji Yang didn’t care in the slightest whether the two of them were following a tragic love story filled with bitter hatred or a tale of a caged phoenix trapped by obsession.
He just wanted to stay alive.
He had entered society at fifteen. At eighteen, he had been tricked into a private club and nearly forced to become a “young master”—an escort. Whether he was reporting people to the authorities or being hunted down and cornered by a group of underlings for an entire month, he had always held firmly to one belief: A miserable life is still better than an early death.
He knew nothing about business warfare. If he informed the Ji family and got Nie Xu killed, he would die even faster. Even if he wanted to run away, he was still one leg short.
All he could do was console himself with the thought that, at least, his current identity was that of a genuine young master.
Ji Yang looked around and searched for quite some time before finally finding a crutch under the bed.
He moved to the edge of the bed, got himself upright, and took a step.
Unexpectedly, he wobbled, and on his very first step, he fell flat on his face.
Ji Yang hit the floor so hard that he was stunned. He touched the reflection on his phone screen and saw a face identical to the one he had had in his previous life. Yet now, with its overgrown hair and sharply pointed chin, it looked strangely sinister and ghostly.
Damn it.
If he had known things would turn out this miserable, and that he would have to survive at the hands of this overbearing bastard who even resorted to imprisonment when dealing with the protagonist shou, he might as well have gone into prostitution back then!
——
On this day, the entire Ji family estate felt strangely tense.
At around 8:40 in the morning, the servants began gathering in small groups of two or three, stealing glances outside while whispering among themselves.
The reason was simple.
Someone was kneeling beneath the stone steps of the main entrance.
Thin trails of blood spread across the flagstones, mixing with the rainwater. Torrential rain poured down, washing the marble until it gleamed darkly. The white stone pillars on either side of the grand castle-like mansion looked almost like gallows, their exquisite carvings staring down coldly.
At this moment, punishment had become the most tangible proof of the rigid hierarchy separating one class from another.
“Why does Fourth Young Master want someone kneeling there? What exactly is he trying to accomplish?”
“He’s obviously humiliating Third Young Master. I heard Third Young Master went to ask the old master for someone this time. It seems to have something to do with a dock project, and the old master had already agreed. But look at how Fourth Young Master turned around and threw a tantrum, beating someone without even bothering to find out the truth. Who would dare stop him? When all is said and done, he’s the legitimate eldest grandson of the first branch of the family.”
“He thinks his birthright gives him permission to treat people like they’re not even human. The way he’s turned out today is nothing but karma.”
“Shh, keep your voice down. Do you want to lose your job?”
Several servants gathered beneath the dining room windows pretended to busy themselves with their work, keeping their voices low as they chatted.
Among them, the youngest maid couldn’t stop glancing outside.
After looking several times, she finally asked, “Who exactly is that person kneeling out there? I’ve never seen him before.”
The older maid beside her gave her an amused look.
“What, feeling sorry for him?”
Then, seeing the younger woman’s face turn bright red, she continued, “That’s Nie Xu. Two years ago, Old Master Ji personally assigned him as Fourth Young Master’s personal bodyguard to keep an eye on him. Fourth Young Master has been giving him trouble from the very beginning. Every time, there are little girls like you secretly feeling indignant on his behalf. And the result is always the same.”
“What do you mean, the same?”
“The same in that you won’t even get the chance to exchange a few words with him. He doesn’t show himself very often.” As she spoke, the older maid reminded her again, “When it comes to romance, you absolutely mustn’t look for a man like him.”
He had entered the Ji household at the age of twelve, one of the few selected from thousands in a brutal human-defense training camp.
He lived by the blade and bloodshed, and he was often nowhere to be seen.
Although he was kneeling here now, the servants who had worked in the Ji household for many years more or less remembered him.
Five years ago, the Ji family’s core security system had undergone a major purge. The person who had risen to become its chief director afterward had also been named Nie Xu.
Ordinary servants rarely had any dealings with the people stationed in the main building. As for this personal bodyguard, who always appeared whenever Fourth Young Master caused trouble outside, it was only over the past two years that they had begun to get a closer look at him.
As for Fourth Young Master…
His days as a young master were probably numbered.
The Ji family possessed an enormous business empire, and its younger generation was full of talented individuals. Third Young Master, in particular, was humble and courteous toward others while demonstrating exceptional ability. It was no wonder the old master had gradually handed over authority to him and allowed him to enter the group’s headquarters.
Yet Fourth Young Master showed no desire to improve himself. Instead, he continued to grow more and more outrageous.
Just as everyone in the hall was thinking along roughly the same lines, a sound suddenly came from the second floor.
Knock—
Knock—
Knock—
One sound after another, slow but clear.
The next second, everyone turned around and saw the young master they had just been criticizing behind his back suddenly appear at the top of the stairs, leaning on a crutch.
This was the young master who had previously refused to appear in front of anyone unless he was wearing his prosthetic leg and dressed impeccably.
Now, he wore nothing more than a loose set of white pajamas. One hand gripped his crutch as he stood unsteadily, his weight unevenly distributed. He looked as though he had just been pulled out of the water. His hair was a tangled mess, making the skin on his small, palm-sized face appear deathly pale and almost translucent. A gust of wind swept through the stairwell, and the empty trouser leg beneath his right knee swayed back and forth.
Then, under the stunned gaze of the maid responsible for cleaning the staircase, he spoke softly.
“Excuse me, could you give me a hand? Thank you.”
That frail, delicate air, as though a gust of wind could blow him away, hit everyone squarely in the face.
Was… was this Fourth Young Master?
He was this polite?
Had his face always looked like that?
While the maid stood momentarily frozen, she eventually approached in trepidation and helped him down the stairs.
Just then, another voice suddenly cut in.
“Ji Yang.”
The person who had just hurried in through the main entrance folded his umbrella. He wore a casual shirt and had the refined, handsome appearance of a cultured gentleman. Yet his face now carried barely suppressed anger. He stepped in front of Ji Yang and spoke firmly.
“Enough, don’t you think? If you’re unhappy, you can take it out on me directly. Whatever you’re dissatisfied with, you can take it out on me as well. There has never been anything improper between Nie Xu and me, nothing like what you’ve imagined. He agreed to help me because Grandpa instructed him to. I’m telling you to stop while you still can.”
Ji Yang had already exhausted himself struggling around. The moment he reached the bottom of the stairs, someone confronted him at point-blank range.
He looked up at the newcomer.
Ji Chengyi really was just as the book had described him. His looks weren’t exactly outstanding, but he possessed an extraordinary aura.
Unassuming yet dignified, restrained and composed.
There was a kind of resilience about him, like something that had grown out of a pit of mud.
If his bottom line hadn’t been crossed, he probably wouldn’t have revealed his disgust so openly this early.
First, there was Wei Qiming, who hid a dagger behind his smile. Now, the universally adored protagonist shou had appeared in person, providing a direct comparison.
In the original story, when confronted like this, “Ji Yang” had immediately lashed out at Ji Chengyi with his whip. He had caused a huge scene in the living room, eventually attracting the attention of Old Master Ji.
The old master had flown into a rage, withdrawing the last bit of mercy he had shown Ji Yang after the latter broke his leg two years earlier. He had withdrawn Nie Xu from his side, and that had been the direct reason the original Ji Yang completely lost his standing in the Ji family.
But whipping someone was out of the question now.
The sharp pain in his leg had subsided into a dull ache, as though even the spaces between his bones were filled with soreness. Simply enduring the discomfort had already consumed eighty percent of his strength.
Ji Yang smiled weakly. His voice trembled and wavered without him even having to make an effort to lower it.
“Third Brother.”
The form of address visibly cracked Ji Chengyi’s expression a little. Ji Yang pretended not to notice and continued.
“You’re joking, Third Brother. I’m nothing but a useless cripple now. There’s nothing I can do.”
As he spoke, his gaze shifted toward the entrance. He lowered his eyes, unable to hide his dejection.
“You’re talented and capable. It’s perfectly normal for anyone to appreciate and value you. Unlike me, I have only one person left by my side whom I can trust. I admit it. I like him. I’m just jealous, and I can’t stand the thought of you competing with me for him.”
Then, while Ji Chengyi’s expression grew increasingly unpleasant, he added one more sentence.
“But I really can’t give him to you.”
The entire hall fell briefly silent.
Then came the faint sounds of people drawing in sharp breaths.
Many of them wondered what on earth was wrong with Fourth Young Master today.
Whenever he saw Third Young Master, shouldn’t he immediately curse him as a bastard?
Instead, every word he spoke was measured and restrained, yet carried a hidden barb. He might as well have written I’m doing this on purpose across his own face.
Before everyone could process this series of shocking changes, they watched Ji Yang brush past Third Young Master’s shoulder and walk toward the entrance on his own.
Ji Yang crossed the hall, stepped through the doorway, and stopped on the steps.
Rain fell in continuous streams, splashing against the ground.
Ji Yang immediately spotted the person below.
Bound with iron chains and silver locks, the man knelt beneath the gloomy sky, his body radiating a sense of restrained power and barely contained violence. He had broad shoulders and a wide back. Even while kneeling, it was obvious that his legs were exceptionally long.
But the scars on his body, made even more vivid and horrifying by the rain washing over them, stabbed at Ji Yang’s eyes. The pain even seemed to make his own perfectly good leg ache faintly in sympathy.
Tap.
Ji Yang planted his crutch on the step.
His knee suddenly spasmed with pain. Combined with the slippery stairs, it caught him completely off guard. His center of gravity shifted, and the crutch abruptly slipped from his hand.
He felt himself tumble down several steps before opening his eyes again. Amid the world spinning around him, he discovered that he had landed squarely on the ground between the knees of the man who was still kneeling.
Looking up from below, he saw a face as sharply defined as a knife carving.
Then those eyes slowly opened.
Ji Yang: “…”
His throat tightened slightly. With difficulty, he asked, “Are… are you all right?”
After a long two seconds of eye contact, the other man’s thin lips parted slightly. His voice sounded like sand rubbing against rusted iron.
“Judging by appearances, the one who’s not all right doesn’t seem to be me.”
Ji Yang was instantly speechless.
He didn’t know whether Nie Xu had heard his conversation with Ji Chengyi just now.
Ji Yang pushed himself up, only to collapse back down, completely drained of strength.
His body had apparently decided to give up on him entirely.
Two falls in one day!
He dug his fingers into the ground, genuinely wanting to curse someone out.
But in the end, he simply allowed himself to remain in this wretched state, letting the rain soak him through. Slowly, he turned his palm upward where it rested on the ground, revealing his thin wrist bones and bluish-white fingertips.
His voice hoarse, he said, “Here’s the key. Get up first, okay? I don’t have much strength left.”
Then, amid the other man’s unresponsive silence, Ji Yang lifted his eyes slightly, allowing rainwater to trace the reddened corners of his eyes, flushed from pain.
His face was filled with remorse. “I just… wanted to come and apologize to you.”
Lowering his eyes, he spoke softly. “I didn’t want things to be like this. I’m sorry.”
His eyelashes trembled, and he seemed to want to say something but hesitated. “I just… really…”
Loved you too much.
He was going to throw up.
Ji Yang could no longer tell whether he simply couldn’t stand being so pretentious or whether he had actually suffered a concussion from the fall. Then he thought about it again. A “frail, disabled white lotus” character only had pity going for him. Once the backstory of “turning love into hatred” was added, it was still better than being purely vicious.
He was a little too calculating and affected.
But as long as he got the degree right, he shouldn’t end up begging along the streets and dying without even a complete corpse, right?