Chapter 20#
In the end, Ji Yang removed his pants while hiding under the blanket, rustling quietly.
He hadn’t slept well for most of the night. After getting through the most painful stage, just as Qi Songqing had said, the painkillers did almost nothing. The pain was bearable, but the phantom stabbing sensation from his nonexistent limb would jolt him awake at the most unexpected moments.
After going through it over and over, Ji Yang suspected he was going to develop heart disease.
Every time he woke, he could see the figure sitting in the dark.
Nie Xu didn’t seem to have changed his posture at all, but Ji Yang knew he must have been awake whenever he was awake.
An occupational habit of keeping night watch.
He wouldn’t ask, and Ji Yang was never the type to describe his feelings to others when he was truly in pain.
It was just that on nights like these, the shadows of the past easily resurfaced.
He thought of his childhood.
That old, run-down house had only two rooms in total.
In the middle of the night, he could always hear the clattering and banging of a middle-aged man smashing things, or the man paying women to come over. The house would be filled all night with those nauseating sounds — the woman’s deliberately sweet, affected cries, and the cursing of the neighbors next door. After the man finished, he would come knock on Ji Yang’s door, ordering him to go out and buy water or get up and cook. Ji Yang never opened it.
That little room, less than five square meters, had been his only safe haven as a child.
Even though such safe time was extraordinarily brief.
What followed were heavier slaps and fists. The man would curse him as a worthless bastard no one wanted. As Ji Yang grew older, the man would size him up with that filthy gaze, asking him why he just had to be one with “the handle.”
Having grown up in that environment, Ji Yang had seen too much of the ordinary, so much so that when he was tricked into a club in his teens, he could tell at a glance it wasn’t a respectable place.
Calling the police, reporting them — he’d been chased like a stray dog through ten streets.
He never described that experience to any friends he made later.
Until he realized he couldn’t muster any sexual interest in women.
When he sent out women’s clothing benefits to his fans, he had a fleeting illusion — as if he truly had become, just as the man had always wanted, a complete woman, never having escaped that place for the rest of his life.
When Ji Yang woke, his forehead was still slick with sweat.
He exhaled a long breath at the ceiling.
Right. That was all years ago. He was something of an overnight sensation now, wasn’t he? He was still a young master.
His follower count was approaching eight hundred thousand, a proper young master of a wealthy family.
He’d even won a battle just last night.
Outside, the sky was bright. The rain had stopped, and threads of sunlight peeked through the clouds. This hotel wasn’t far from the beach; from the window he could see the azure sky outside, birds circling overhead, symbolizing a certain kind of freedom.
There was no sign of Nie Xu in the room.
At eight, a hotel attendant delivered a complete set of fresh change of clothes and a wheelchair.
When Ji Yang saw the wheelchair, he sent a message to “NX” on his phone.
“Did you have someone bring this?”
At that moment, the hotel lobby was a noisy commotion.
A large group of reporters stood outside, blocked at the entrance by the hotel security guards, not a single one allowed in.
Nie Xu’s suit jacket was draped over his forearm. Standing in front of him was Ji Chengyi, who had also stayed at the hotel the previous night.
Ji Chengyi glanced toward the entrance. “Ji Yang really caught everyone off guard this time. The group’s stock price went up, and it’s made advancing the Lanhai Bay project much smoother.” He pulled his gaze back and looked at the man before him. “Brother Xu, but I don’t want to thank him for it.”
Nie Xu looked at him. “Third Young Master, I’ve said before — matters between you brothers are no need to inform me.”
“You’re always so cold,” Ji Chengyi said, a self-deprecating smile crossing his gentle features. “I still remember the day I was brought back to the Ji family. You came to pick me up personally. I thought, after all these years, even though we haven’t spoken much, the relationship was something different.”
Nie Xu heard his phone chime, picked it up and glanced at it.
He typed back: “Pain duration exceeds eight hours. Reporters outside. Leaving in a wheelchair will be more convenient.”
Ji Chengyi, seeing him not respond, frowned and asked, “Ji Yang again?”
Another message popped up: “You actually remembered the time [shocked.jpg]? You really do care about me.”
Recalling the person from last night who had been so infuriated by a single sentence, yet woke up with absolutely no memory of it, Nie Xu turned off his phone screen and slipped it back into his pocket.
He looked at the person before him. “Does Third Young Master have other business?”
“Do I need to have business to come looking for you?” Ji Chengyi grabbed his arm, then suddenly asked, “Why is it Ji Yang?”
Nie Xu glanced at the hand on his arm. “What do you mean?”
Ji Chengyi said, “As his bodyguard, as his assistant — ever since he laid hands on you last time, time after time, you haven’t refused a single request he’s made. Just because he changed that one little bit, it erases all the bad from before?”
Nie Xu pulled his hand away. “Third Young Master, if you need an emotional regulation therapist, I can help arrange one.”
“You think this is my problem?” Ji Chengyi stared at him in disbelief.
When Ji Yang came downstairs, he suspected he had stumbled onto the main couple fighting.
But as he listened, something wasn’t quite right.
Ji Chengyi kept going on about himself, himself — and Ji Yang, this “homewrecker,” hadn’t even made much of a move. How was it being made to seem like he’d actually interfered?
But then again, he supposed it made sense.
If you liked a guy, could you stand the fact that he was on call twenty-four hours a day, and shared a room with the person you hated most at night?
Ji Chengyi had been drugged last night. Put yourself in his shoes — anyone would find that hard to accept.
Ji Yang leaned on the second-floor railing and called down, “Hey.”
Both men looked up simultaneously.
Ji Yang: “Third Brother, with so many reporters outside, when are you planning to return him to me?”
Ji Chengyi faced him, his composure returning, cool and detached.
“You really think public opinion is that easy to manipulate,” Ji Chengyi said. “The Ji family never resorts to such tactics to vie for the upper hand. If you want to compete, wait until you can stop dragging your feet on project promotion first.”
An hour later, Ji Yang was sitting in the car.
Nie Xu was still driving.
The car belonged to the company. Ji Yang sat in the passenger seat and grumbled, “Even competing has its class distinctions.” Ji Yang looked at the coastal road stretching ahead toward the airport. “We agreed to go on Monday, and now suddenly it’s moved up, and you’re making me leave first while you stay behind. Am I being singled out for punishment?”
When Nie Xu drove, he loosened his shirt collar. The late-May wind already carried a hint of mugginess. Hearing this, he said, “The Ji family wants you to avoid the reporters.”
Ji Yang crossed his arms and let out a cold laugh. “More like they’re afraid the stock price that finally went up will crash again, isn’t it.”
Nie Xu: “You and Qian Yitian are going today. Deng Jiao will go ahead as a team member. The originally planned female colleague Qiao Qiao will be on the same flight as me tomorrow.”
“Sister Jiao, huh.” Ji Yang glanced at Nie Xu’s profile, shifted his whole body to the side slightly, and asked, “I had a feeling this Huizhou trip wasn’t going to be simple. When you proposed I go, you had other purposes, didn’t you?”
Nie Xu turned his head and met his eyes.
His first question was: “If I say yes, are you afraid?”
“I was the one who proposed cooperating with you first.” Ji Yang leaned back. “I also said I wouldn’t ask what you’re planning to do.”
Nie Xu’s index finger tapped the steering wheel silently. “You wouldn’t care if the Ji family ran into trouble?”
Here it comes, Ji Yang thought.
After all this time, Nie Xu had taken him into Building No. 4, had let him overhear things right in front of him without a care — but only after yesterday, when that report came out, had Nie Xu finally shown signs of revealing his true intentions.
This was different from what Ji Yang had predicted in advance from the book. It proved that this cooperation had moved from a one-sided plea for survival into a stage where he could reluctantly negotiate terms.
Ji Yang’s sharp grasp of such moments absolutely did not fall short of the bodyguard industry’s reaction speed to danger.
Ji Yang kept his face calm and said, “The premise for caring is that I was ever truly cared about in the first place.”
The original owner clearly had not been.
Now the Ji family might care a little, but that was only because they’d seen his value.
Nie Xu said nothing.
Ji Yang looked at him and asked only the thing he cared about: “I’m not going to end up begging for food on the street, am I?”
Nie Xu looked as though he’d heard a question he couldn’t fathom. He glanced back, paused for two seconds, and let out a scoff. “With your abilities, couldn’t you casually beg for two meals’ worth on the internet?”
Ji Yang gritted his teeth. “I certainly hope so.”
Begging on the internet was fine.
Begging in real life? That was all thanks to you!
Nie Xu spoke up: “Last night’s livestream caught Fu Cheng’s voice. The Fu family is about to be exposed.”
“Exposed?” Ji Yang’s attention was piqued.
Nie Xu: “Two years ago, the state vigorously promoted the ‘Beautiful Bay’ project, piloting it in eight cities. Fanzhou and Huizhou were jointly developed, and both were key cities. Take a guess — why was it that only Fanzhou, where the developer the Ji family was located, died halfway?”
Ji Yang followed his train of thought. Just because of the water pollution issue? Absolutely not.
But the original owner only had this one thread that could be connected to the events of two years ago.
Therefore, this trip to Huizhou — the business trip was a sham.
“Using me as a sacrifice?” Ji Yang asked.
Nie Xu was mildly surprised he had figured it out so quickly, then continued: “The day after tomorrow afternoon, Huizhou has an engineering development project symposium.”
Ji Yang: “Can I not attend?”
“You can,” Nie Xu nodded. “As long as you can withstand the pressure when news of data fabrication comes out.”
Ji Yang was skeptical: “Attending this symposium would make a difference?”
“The two developers who partnered with Ji Corporation two years ago will both be there.” Nie Xu asked, “Which do you think is bigger — your data fabrication issue, or the Ji Corporation’s financial violations?”
Ji Yang: “…”
Ji Yang muttered under his breath: “No wonder Qi Songqing said you’re never soft on your people.”
This was one link after another, all calculated long ago.
Ji Yang reacted for a moment: “But why did you decide to tell me the plan? Not afraid I’ll leak it?”
Nie Xu said lightly: “Consider it an exchange — your timing of putting Ji Corporation at the top was just right. As for leaking, do you have proof?”
Ji Yang: “…”
If Nie Xu were purely exploiting him, Ji Yang would have continued with the impression from most of the book, thinking this person had an extremely dark undertone. But precisely when he spoke about it so carelessly, Ji Yang could sense the kind of madness beneath that restrained, silent shell — the kind that, pushed to the extreme, had nothing left but calm.
Threading its way outward in wisps, making the back of one’s neck prickle cold.
For a moment, Ji Yang was curious: what exactly had happened to him in the past?
Then he remembered — curiosity killed the cat.
He shook his head and let it go.
When the car pulled up to the airport entrance, it was just past two in the afternoon.
Qian Yitian and Deng Jiao were already waiting at the entrance.
The car had barely stopped when Deng Jiao came up and knocked on the window.
“Boss, reporters are staking out the airport.”
Nie Xu unbuckled his seatbelt. “Where did the reporters get the information?”
“Not sure,” Deng Jiao said. “This thing’s blowing up hot online. The media probably doesn’t know the specific flight. Should I contact the airport’s…”
Deng Jiao’s remaining words died in her throat.
Not for any other reason — it was that Ji Yang had twisted around, lying face-down across the passenger seat, reaching for the prosthetic leg in the back seat.
His shirt had ridden up past his waist, exposing a dazzling strip of white.
Nie Xu let him reach for half a minute, then couldn’t bear it anymore and reached over to pull the prosthetic toward him, frowning as he asked, “You’re sure you want to wear it?”
“Of course.” Ji Yang tugged the prosthetic over and held out his hand to Nie Xu. “Where are your sunglasses?”
Nie Xu gave him a long look, then took out the sunglasses and handed them over.
“Showing up right now isn’t a wise move.”
Ji Yang cradled the sunglasses, with deep emotion: “I know. I know that though I’m disabled, fragile, and unable to care for myself, and I don’t earn your favor… but before you truly no longer need me, I will be strong for you.”
Outside the car window, Deng Jiao was biting her lip so hard she barely maintained the authority of the company’s top female bodyguard.
She recalled how this young master had called her “Sister” last time, making her lose so much face.
Now she felt balanced — this guy tormented even the boss.
And so, the Fanzhou Times that day reported that the Ji family’s Fourth Young Master, after single-handedly sending himself and the entire Ji family trending the day before, had been photographed appearing at Fanzhou Airport the very next day.
He wore a black hoodie with the hood up, pursued and mobbed by a crowd of reporters.
Because reporters were filming him, passersby who had no idea what was going on assumed it was some celebrity and started running after him too, nearly causing a scene at the airport.
Airport security eventually had to step in to maintain order.
They followed him all the way to the boarding gate.
Surrounding him on all sides were nothing but phones, and the clicking sounds of cameras.
Reporter: “Fourth Young Master, respond to last night’s livestream, please.”
“The livestream affected Ji Corporation’s stock price — was this a premeditated marketing strategy?”
“The Fu family’s only son, who’s in the same social circle as you, was exposed this noon for building an illegal factory causing severe pollution to nearby residents and the sea. Is this related to the livestream content from last night?”
“Someone says you lost out in a wealthy family power struggle, so you’re using your young master identity to harvest leeches online. Is that true?”
The figure on camera only slowly raised his head after hearing the last question. He pushed back his hood, removed his sunglasses, and revealed a face so clean it was almost flawless.
He answered them one by one.
“The livestream content is entirely true. Insulting people is purely a personal hobby.”
“No marketing. It was premeditated.”
“As for the Fu family’s matters, ask the Fu family. I’ve forgotten everything about the past — and as for why I’ve forgotten, the public will learn the truth one day.”
“I’m not planning to harvest leeches. I lost the power struggle, so I’m counting on netizens to support me one day. For what happens next, keep clicking the account ‘One Yang,’ hit follow, and you won’t get lost… oh.”
Ji Yang put the sunglasses back on.
There was laughter all around.
Everyone thought he was just talking off the cuff.
But the photo was still enlarged on the front page.
Headline: “Fourth Young Master Doesn’t Deny Livestream’s Authenticity, Admits Insulting People Is Purely a Personal Hobby.”
On the internet, his cursing of the Ji family members was dug up and flogged all over again.
On the plane.
Ji Yang was replying to netizens, his fingers tapping at lightning speed.
“Please give us high-res outfit photos from the airport.”
Ji Yang sent one of himself.
“The sunglasses look nice. Handsome, but they’re a bit big on your face.”
Ji Yang: “My assistant’s fleece.”
“Your legs look fine — can’t tell at all.”
Ji Yang: “If you could tell, I wouldn’t have come out. I mostly care about my face.”
Qian Yitian, sitting beside him, silently turned his head away.
“Fourth Young Master.”
“Mm?” Ji Yang looked up from his phone.
Qian Yitian, awkward: “Assistant Nie just sent me a message. He wants me to take your phone.”
Ji Yang, baffled: “Why?”
Qian Yitian: “Assistant Nie said, during the business trip, you should stop messing around online.”