The curtain of rain was like a thick, heavy drape, completely enveloping the Ji family estate.
Nie Xu’s words hung in the air. Ji Yang released his grip on the stone pillar and stood up. His right foot paused slightly when it touched the ground, but he quickly returned to normal.
As a result, his movement was taken as a signal that he was determined to start a fight. Wang Weitao, standing behind Ji Chengyi, reacted immediately. He stepped in front of Ji Chengyi and raised a hand to stop him.
“Fourth Young Master.”
Wang Weitao had a build somewhat similar to Han Biao’s, but he wasn’t as rough-looking as Han Biao. His face could even be described as upright and handsome.
“Please don’t come any closer.”
Ji Yang raised an eyebrow. As expected, there are no ugly fish in this pond.
Before Ji Yang could say a single word, someone grabbed his arm and pulled him backward. Even after pulling him back, that person didn’t let go.
Ji Yang turned his head toward the person who had just said, “If you’re asking for my opinion, then no.” He nodded toward the bottom of the steps.
Then, several people came up one after another.
Several bodyguards dressed in black stood there in an orderly formation, holding umbrellas and facing off against Wang Weitao. No one at the scene said a word. What had originally been a conflict between two young masters had immediately taken on a different character. The raindrops crackled and pounded down, leaving only the cold, solemn atmosphere at the entrance and an overwhelming sense of pressure.
Wang Weitao shifted his gaze from Ji Yang to the person beside him and frowned.
“Brother Xu, Fourth Young Master was the one who said he wanted to fight first.”
“I know,” Nie Xu replied calmly. “But I’m not discussing who’s right or wrong with you.”
This indifferent permission to let the situation escalate was already a very clear act of protection.
Everyone present should have seen it.
As a result, Ji Chengyi’s expression was particularly unpleasant.
Wang Weitao looked troubled. Although he was Ji Chengyi’s personal bodyguard, he belonged to the same system as Nie Xu. He knew all too well what would happen if he took another step forward now. The consequences went without saying.
He didn’t want to alert the Old Master.
So he compromised.
“I only want to make sure Fourth Young Master poses no threat.”
Nie Xu said, “He wasn’t actually going to hit anyone.”
Wang Weitao was momentarily at a loss for words.
“Fourth Young Master once kicked Qi Yiming into a swimming pool. I need to be prepared for any eventuality.”
Hearing this mention of his glorious past, Ji Yang couldn’t help but chuckle behind them.
When he said he wanted to hit someone, he was actually testing Nie Xu’s current attitude more than anything else. He hadn’t genuinely intended to charge forward and fight someone while his leg was bothering him.
However, Nie Xu’s reaction was also somewhat beyond his expectations.
Ji Yang turned his head and glanced at the hand gripping his arm, then looked up and met Nie Xu’s gaze.
“I want to go back.”
“Then let’s go.” Nie Xu opened the umbrella with one hand, but the hand gripping Ji Yang’s arm still didn’t let go.
Ji Yang realized that Nie Xu had noticed something was wrong with his leg.
This time, Ji Yang didn’t object.
To keep him out of the rain, Nie Xu simply changed his posture. Instead of gripping one of Ji Yang’s arms with one hand, he simply drew him into the crook of his arm.
As soon as he moved, the several bodyguards behind them moved as well.
Just as they were passing between Ji Chengyi and Wang Weitao, Ji Chengyi suddenly spoke.
“Nie Xu, I always thought that after today, we’d be on the same side. I’ve already done my part. What about you?”
Nie Xu stopped and turned his head to look at him.
“I provided the data that helped Third Young Master secure the shipping business. Building Four still receives two batches of shipping personnel every year, and they must obtain permission to participate in rebuilding the core system. It was an equal agreement. Once fulfilled, it is terminated.”
This time, not only Ji Yang but even Ji Chengyi hadn’t expected him to say it so directly.
He instinctively glanced at Ji Zhonglin, who was standing not far away.
Ji Zhonglin had obviously heard it already.
No one knew what he was thinking at that moment.
Ji Yang had no interest in asking about the specifics.
He felt that a person simply shouldn’t be too optimistic. He had just said that he hadn’t been troubled by phantom limb pain for a long time, and now his leg was hurting even more severely than it usually did on rainy days.
Ji Yang waved at Ji Mingyue, signaling that he was leaving first.
When he turned around, he happened to run into Aunt Mo, who had just brought his things out.
Aunt Mo was startled by the scene at the entrance. Holding his luggage carefully, she approached them.
“These are all things you use every day. If there’s anything missing, just tell Aunt Mo.”
As she spoke, she looked at Nie Xu.
“Mr. Nie, the two of you are often out and about. I’ll have to trouble you to take good care of Young Master.”
“Okay,” Nie Xu replied.
He signaled to his men to take the luggage.
Ji Yang hopped forward a step and hugged Aunt Mo.
“Don’t worry. Once I’ve bought a house, if you don’t mind, you can come stay for as long as you like.”
Aunt Mo happily agreed and patted his hair.
Back under the umbrella, most of Ji Yang’s weight was resting on the person beside him. He touched his own hair several more times.
“What’s wrong?” Nie Xu noticed his movements and asked.
Ji Yang said, “I feel like I’m still being treated as a child. It’s a rather strange feeling.”
Nie Xu glanced at him.
“Does it make you uncomfortable?”
Ji Yang denied it.
“It’s just too easy to make someone soften their heart. If everyone in the Ji family were like Aunt Mo, I probably wouldn’t be standing beside you right now.”
The heavy rain kept their conversation isolated from the outside world.
It reminded Ji Yang that, along this entire journey, this person really had always been by his side.
They each had secrets the other didn’t know.
Yet, through circumstances that had been passive or forced, they had made it all the way to today, still sharing the same umbrella. Without the helplessness of the beginning, the urgency of time, or the threats of fate, Nie Xu had chosen to stand in front of him in a situation like the one just now. Ji Yang had actually felt a stir in his heart.
At the very least, he knew that Nie Xu was a man who kept his promises.
Regardless of what he had been through or what circumstances he might face in the future, at least right now, Ji Yang could trust him.
Nie Xu’s voice was calm.
“If things really were like that, the Ji family wouldn’t be the Ji family.”
“True,” Ji Yang said.
Ji Yang lowered his head, thinking about how to avoid the places where water had collected on the ground. As he walked, he said, “You still haven’t told me what that cooperation with Ji Chengyi was about. Was it really you who helped him get this division by pushing things along… Uh.”
Ji Yang was lifted slightly and carried straight over a low-lying puddle.
His mind went blank for a moment.
Then he heard Nie Xu say, “The new system will use Jian Yuan’s technical framework.”
So he’s cutting off the source? Ji Yang thought.
When they reached the familiar Hummer, Nie Xu handed the umbrella to a nearby bodyguard and opened the car door.
At that moment, back at the Ji family estate’s entrance,
Ji Chengyi had already left with his people.
Only the siblings, Ji Zhonglin and Ji Mingyue, were still standing there.
Ji Mingyue looked in the direction of the parking spaces and said in a daze, “Big Brother, he really won’t be coming back easily anymore, will he? I never imagined that he would be the first one to leave.”
“He’ll come back,” Ji Zhonglin said, his hands in his pockets.
Ji Mingyue asked, “Why?”
Deep down, she was already fairly certain. The scene just now, with him being held protectively in front of someone as they walked away, several bodyguards following behind them, had given her a momentary illusion. It was as though he hadn’t been escorted away by bodyguards, but had been taken away by someone.
And the person taking him away was no longer just a bodyguard.
He had single-handedly pushed Ji Chengyi into power.
In doing so, he had effectively pulled Ji Zhonglin, the eldest brother, down from his position. Even Grandpa wouldn’t dare move him lightly.
So now she was seriously wondering: Was Ji Yang really the only one in love with the other person? Why did something about that seem off to her?
Then she heard Ji Zhonglin say, “Nie Xu is still here. The person he keeps saying he likes is right here. Do you think he can completely sever his ties with the Ji family?”
Ji Zhonglin sounded displeased. It wasn’t the displeasure of someone who had been schemed against by two people working together. It was simply the displeasure of someone hearing Ji Yang say he liked Nie Xu.
Ji Mingyue: “…”
Although that made quite a bit of sense, coming from Big Brother, it somehow sounded completely unreasonable.
Over by the car, Ji Yang had just climbed into the front passenger seat. The first thing he did was remove his prosthetic leg.
He first curled his left foot up onto the seat, then pressed down firmly on his right leg. With a movement that looked rather difficult, he rested his chin against his knee. In reality, he had experimented with this position before and found that pressing down like this could relieve some of the discomfort caused by rainy weather.
By the time Nie Xu got into the car, Ji Yang noticed that more than half of his right shoulder was wet.
Ji Yang looked around.
“Are there any spare clothes in the car? Change into something dry.”
“In the back.” Nie Xu closed the car door.
Ji Yang spotted a bag on the back seat and reached backward to grab it.
When Nie Xu turned his head, his gaze happened to sweep over Ji Yang’s slender waist, stretched into a thin line. He paused, then looked away and reached back to take the bag himself.
Ji Yang withdrew his hand and noticed the large stack of documents on the front of the car.
“Are you taking me back to the hotel? Don’t you have anything else to do today?”
Nie Xu tugged open the button at his collar.
“Ji Chengyi’s rise to power will inevitably bring a series of moves. The Ji Group will go through a period of relatively stable transition in the short term. As for last night’s transaction, it has already been completed successfully. The Old Master will be flying overseas soon.”
Ji Yang raised an eyebrow.
“What reason is he giving this time for not taking you along?”
“He doesn’t need to explain his reasons to me.”
Nie Xu tossed his tie forward, then suddenly looked at him.
“There is one requirement, though.”
“What?” Ji Yang asked.
Nie Xu paused what he was doing.
“Turn around first.”
“You can just change.” Ji Yang understood what he meant. He looked down at himself and said listlessly, “I’m already in this condition. It’s not as if you can force yourself on me, right? Besides, this whole act between us has gone on long enough. Whether you’re caught up in the scandal of being forced into a relationship by a rich young master, or people think there’s something wrong with your sexual orientation to begin with, Grandpa won’t do anything at a time like this, will he?”
Nie Xu gave him a look.
“What do you mean?” Ji Yang felt uneasy under that gaze. “Is there really something?”
Nie Xu said, “The Old Master’s latest demand is for us to develop feelings for each other.”
Ji Yang sucked in a sharp breath. “…Don’t tell me he wants you to fall in love with me?”
Ji Yang didn’t turn around, and Nie Xu didn’t insist. He pressed the button to darken the car windows. However, when he actually began undoing his buttons, Ji Yang still instinctively looked out the window. At the same time, he complained, “Now that the marriage alliance with the Qi family has failed, does he want to try the same trick again? And he can actually bring himself to say something like ‘develop feelings’? Why not just say he wants to sell off his grandson?”
Hearing the rustling sounds behind him, Ji Yang suddenly thought of something.
“Wait, that’s not right.”
As he said this, Ji Yang abruptly turned around, only to bump his forehead into Nie Xu’s collarbone. The pain made his face twist as though he’d just bitten into a sour lemon.
“What are you doing?” Ji Yang looked up, only to see Nie Xu’s chin.
Nie Xu was wearing casual clothes. He reached over and pulled the seat belt across Ji Yang’s body. Lowering his gaze, he fastened it for him while saying, “Let’s go. Are you planning to sit here and discuss how much you were sold for?”
Nie Xu started the car.
The moment they drove out of the Ji family gates, even though the weather was still terrible, Ji Yang felt as though he’d finally escaped and could breathe a sigh of relief.
“I’m definitely not worth much.” Ji Yang tugged at the seat belt across his chest and continued the previous topic. “Besides, he’s not trying to sell me. He wants to trap you in the Ji family, doesn’t he?”
Nie Xu gestured toward the stack of documents. “Qi Songqing has seized quite a few of the Ji family’s shipping resources. It’s already attracted attention.”
Ji Yang: “…Every time you tell me something like this so directly, I get a little nervous.”
“What are you nervous about?” Nie Xu turned the steering wheel and glanced at his face.
Ji Yang touched his chest. “I’m afraid that knowing too much might get me silenced. Besides, I only have one leg. I can’t take a second injury. And I really hate going hungry.”
Nie Xu frowned. “Have you ever gone hungry?”
“Occasionally?” Ji Yang answered casually, then said, “I don’t really remember. Anyway, I hate it.”
Nie Xu said, “Murder is illegal.”
“Then I really have to thank you,” Ji Yang replied.
The car had been driving for quite some time before Ji Yang realized this wasn’t the road back to the hotel.
When they stopped, Ji Yang stared at the building for a long time before remembering that Nie Xu had brought him here once before. It was the laboratory building where Qi Songqing worked.
Only this time, the person who came out to receive them wasn’t Qi Songqing, but a tall foreign man with a face full of stubble.
The other man was also wearing a white lab coat. He came up and bumped shoulders with Nie Xu.
“Nathan, long time no see.”
“Long time no see.”
Nie Xu raised a hand and embraced him.
It was a familiar, genuine hug, the kind shared by people who were truly happy to reunite after a long separation.
Standing to the side, Ji Yang felt that his understanding of Nie Xu was being overturned yet again.
As he listened to them talk, aside from a few simple words, it was like listening to a foreign language from another planet.
The foreign man named Knox soon noticed him. He rattled off something incomprehensible, then looked at him expectantly.
Ji Yang calmly met his gaze, then turned to look at Nie Xu.
Nie Xu seemed to freeze for two seconds before explaining directly, “He used to be a researcher in overseas war zones. Now he’s working on a human exoskeleton project here in the country.”
He paused.
“He said you’re very cute.”
Ji Yang was speechless.
The foreigner who had been with Qi Songqing the last time they’d met had said practically the same thing.
Still, he turned back and smiled at the man.
“Thank you.”
Nie Xu said, “Both his legs are prosthetic. He was also troubled by the aftereffects for many years, so he has a lot of experience. I’ll have him help relieve your discomfort in a bit.”
“Is that why you brought me here?” Ji Yang asked.
Nie Xu replied, “What else?”
Ji Yang gave an acknowledging “Oh.”
“But I don’t speak English.”
Nie Xu looked at him, seemingly lost in thought. “The Ji family’s children are taught several languages from childhood. Did you forget even basic skills after losing your memory?”
Ji Yang said, “Some people lose their memory and even forget Chinese characters. At least I haven’t forgotten my roots. Besides, I can speak simple conversational English, okay? You two are the ones talking about overly technical stuff.”
He was so natural when dealing with Nie Xu that, for once, Nie Xu seemed at a loss for words.
He pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose.
“Knox knows a little basic Chinese. Go inside. I need to see Qi Songqing. Call me if anything happens.”
Ji Yang really had been too trusting.
Ten minutes after following Knox into the treatment room, the two of them were engaged in a completely incomprehensible exchange, like two people speaking different languages.
Meanwhile, in Qi Songqing’s private laboratory,
Nie Xu stood beside him, both of them leaning over to examine the experimental data on the computer.
Qi Songqing tapped the desk.
“All twelve experiments have failed. If we can’t recover the experimental data that went missing back then, it’ll be very difficult for us to prove the crimes committed by the Ji family and several other families in those years.”
Nie Xu shook his head. “It’s too difficult.”
Qi Songqing looked at him in disbelief.
“Do you still insist that a female researcher named Elara took all the data away back then? But according to our investigations over all these years, there was never anyone by that name in the original laboratory.”
Nie Xu’s phone began vibrating.
As he picked it up, he pointed at the computer and said, “We can’t rely solely on the old data. Ask about the latest developments overseas.”
“Hello.” Nie Xu answered.
Qi Songqing hadn’t even had time to ask who it was when he heard a furious shout come through the phone.
“Nie Xu, you bastard! Get over here! This guy’s trying to pull my pants down!”
The steel pen in Qi Songqing’s hand fell onto the desk with a clatter.
“Who’s with that young master? You left him with that guy Knox? …No, why are you walking so fast?”
Nie Xu said, “He probably didn’t understand what was happening.”
Qi Songqing: ???
Where had this little illiterate come from?