Chapter 43#

The rain fell like a heavy curtain, sealing the Ji family estate shut against the world.

Nie Xu’s words hung suspended in the air. Ji Yang released his grip, rising from the stone pillar. His right foot paused slightly when it touched the ground, then quickly returned to normal.

However, this motion of rising was interpreted as a signal of insistence on a fight. Wang Weitao behind Ji Chengyi reacted at the first moment, stepping in front of Ji Chengyi and raising his hand to block.

“Fourth Young Master.”

Wang Weitao’s build bore some resemblance to Han Biao’s, but he lacked Han Biao’s roughness. His face could even be called handsome and upright.

“Please don’t come any closer.”

Ji Yang raised an eyebrow. As expected, fish in a pond were never ugly.

Before Ji Yang could get a single word out, someone seized his arm and pulled him back. And after the pull, they didn’t let go.

Ji Yang turned his head to look at the person who, just a moment ago, had been saying “asking for my opinion—that’s not going to happen,” and jerked his chin toward the stairs below.

Then one after another, several people came up.

Several bodyguards in black held umbrellas in an orderly fashion, standing there to form a standoff with Wang Weitao. No one at the scene spoke. What had been a conflict between two young masters immediately took on a different tone. Rain pattered overhead; only the entrance remained cold and solemn, suffused with an oppressive weight.

Wang Weitao’s gaze shifted from Ji Yang to the side, frowning. “Brother Xu, it was Fourth Young Master who moved first.”

“I know,” Nie Xu said coolly. “I’m not here to reason with you.”

This tacit approval of escalation—or rather, this indifference to it—was a very obvious display of protection.

Everyone present should have been able to see it.

So much so that Ji Chengyi’s expression looked 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 that if he took even one more step forward now, the consequences were self-evident.

He didn’t want to alert the Old Master.

He compromised. “I only need to confirm that the Fourth Young Master isn’t a threat.”

Nie Xu: “He wasn’t really going to fight.”

Wang Weitao choked for a moment. “The Fourth Young Master once kicked Qi Yiming into the pool. I need to err on the side of caution.”

That glorious piece of history made Ji Yang let out a scoffing laugh from behind.

He said he wanted to hit someone, but that was more of a probe to test Nie Xu’s current attitude. It wasn’t that he actually wanted to go up and brawl with someone when his leg wasn’t cooperating.

Though Nie Xu’s reaction had been somewhat beyond his expectations.

Ji Yang tilted his head and glanced at the hand on his arm, then raised his head to meet Nie Xu’s gaze, who was looking his way.

Ji Yang: “I want to go back.”

“Then let’s go.” Nie Xu opened the umbrella with one hand, while the hand gripping his arm still didn’t let go.

Ji Yang caught on. He had noticed something was off with his leg.

This time, Ji Yang didn’t object.

To avoid getting wet, Nie Xu simply changed his hold. From gripping one arm with one hand, he went straight to pulling Ji Yang into the circle of his arm.

As he moved, the bodyguards behind him moved too.

As they passed between Ji Chengyi and Wang Weitao, Ji Chengyi suddenly spoke up. “Nie Xu, I always thought that after today, we’d be on the same side. I’ve done everything I was supposed to do. What about you?”

Nie Xu stopped and turned his head to look. “I provided the data that helped the Third Young Master secure the shipping business. Building Four still gets two shipping personnel quotas every year—this is conditional on granting me access to the core system rebuild. Equal treaty. It’s void once fulfilled.”

At this, not only Ji Yang but even Ji Chengyi hadn’t expected him to say it so bluntly.

Ji Chengyi instinctively glanced at Ji Zhonglin, not far away.

And Ji Zhonglin had clearly already heard it.

No one knew what he was thinking in that moment.

Ji Yang didn’t have the energy to ask for the details either.

He figured a person just shouldn’t be too optimistic. After saying he hadn’t been bothered by phantom limb pain in a long time, the discomfort in his leg came on heavier than on any rainy day before.

Ji Yang waved at Ji Mingyue, signaling that he was heading out first.

He turned and ran into Mo Yi, who was just coming out with his things.

Mo Yi was startled by the scene at the door. She carefully brought the luggage over. “These are all your everyday things. If you’re missing anything, just tell Mo Yi.” She then looked toward Nie Xu. “Mr. Nie, you’re always running around outside—please look after the young master for us.”

“Alright,” Nie Xu acknowledged.

He signaled his men to take the luggage.

Ji Yang hopped forward a step and hugged Mo Yi. “Don’t worry. Once I’ve bought a house, come stay with me long-term if you don’t mind.”

Mo Yi agreed happily, patting his hair.

They returned under the umbrella.

Leaning most of his weight on the person beside him, Ji Yang touched his own hair several more times.

“What’s wrong?” Nie Xu noticed the movement and asked.

Ji Yang: “I have this feeling that I’m still being treated like a kid. It’s kind of strange.”

Nie Xu glanced at him. “Does it feel uncomfortable?”

Ji Yang denied it. “No—it’s that it makes people too easy to go soft on me. If everyone in the Ji family were like Mo Yi, I probably wouldn’t be standing next to you right now.”

The heavy rain shut out all conversation from the rest of the world.

It reminded Ji Yang that along the way, this person had truly always been by his side.

They both had secrets the other didn’t know.

Yet, whether by choice or by force, they had reached this point—and were still sharing the same umbrella. Without the desperation of the beginning, without the urgency of time, without the threat of fate—if Nie Xu could stand in front of him in a scene like that just now, something inside Ji Yang was genuinely moved.

At the very least, he knew Nie Xu was someone who kept his word.

No matter what he had been through, no matter what circumstances lay ahead—for now, at least, he could trust this person.

Nie Xu’s voice was calm. “If that were really the case, the Ji family wouldn’t be the Ji family.”

“Fair point,” Ji Yang said.

Ji Yang kept his head down, thinking about how to avoid the deep puddles underfoot, as he spoke: “You still haven’t told me about your cooperation with Ji Chengyi. He really managed to get that business because you helped pull strings… uh—”

Ji Yang was suddenly hoisted upward, jumping clean over a patch of deep water.

The move left his brain reeling.

Then he heard Nie Xu say: “The new system will use Jianyuan’s technical framework.”

A move to pull out the foundation from underneath, wasn’t it?

Ji Yang thought.

They arrived at the familiar Hummer. Nie Xu handed the umbrella to the bodyguard beside him and opened the car door.

At this moment, at the entrance of the Ji estate.

Ji Chengyi had already left with his people.

Only Ji Zhonglin and Ji Mingyue, the siblings, remained standing there.

Ji Mingyue gazed toward the parking area, dazed. “Big brother, he really isn’t coming back easily anytime soon, is he? I never imagined he’d be the first one to leave.”

“He’ll come back,” Ji Zhonglin said with his hands in his pockets.

Ji Mingyue: “Why?”

In truth, she already had a firm suspicion. The image of him just now—encircled protectively in someone’s arms as he was led away, with several bodyguards trailing behind—for a moment, created an illusion. It seemed as though he wasn’t being escorted away by bodyguards, but rather taken away by someone.

And that someone was far more than just a bodyguard.

He had single-handedly pushed Ji Chengyi into power.

Which was tantamount to pulling Ji Zhonglin, the eldest brother, off his horse—and even Grandfather wouldn’t dare touch him lightly.

So now she seriously doubted: was Ji Yang really the one unrequitedly in love? Something about this didn’t add up.

Then she heard Ji Zhonglin say: “Nie Xu is still here, and the person he claims to love is right here. Do you think he can sever ties with the Ji family?”

Ji Zhonglin’s tone was displeased. Not the displeasure of someone who had been schemed against. Purely the displeasure of Ji Yang saying he liked Nie Xu.

Ji Mingyue: “…”

It made a lot of sense, in theory. But coming from your own mouth, big brother, it somehow sounded like the most unreasonable thing ever.

Over at the car, Ji Yang had just gotten into the passenger seat. The first thing he did was remove his prosthetic leg.

He curled his left foot up onto the seat first, then pressed down hard on his right leg, pressing his chin onto his knee in a move that looked rather acrobatic. In reality, he had figured out through experience that this pressure helped ease some of the discomfort brought on by rainy days.

When Nie Xu got in the car, Ji Yang noticed that his right shoulder was soaked through.

Ji Yang looked around. “Is there a spare change of clothes in the car? Put one on.”

“In the back,” Nie Xu said, closing the door.

Ji Yang spotted the bag on the back seat and leaned back, reaching for it.

Just as Nie Xu turned his head, his gaze swept across the thin, taut expanse of Ji Yang’s waist. He paused, looked away, and reached back himself to retrieve the bag.

Ji Yang withdrew his hand and noticed a thick stack of documents on the dashboard. “You’re taking me back to the hotel? Nothing else to do today?”

Nie Xu undid a button at his collar. “Ji Chengyi taking power will inevitably bring a series of moves. The Ji Group will go through a period of stable transition in the short term. As for last night’s deal—it was a success. The Old Master will be flying overseas soon.”

Ji Yang raised an eyebrow. “What’s the reason this time for not taking you along?”

“He doesn’t owe me an explanation.” Nie Xu tossed his tie onto the front console, then suddenly turned to look at him. “But there is one condition.”

“What?” Ji Yang asked.

Nie Xu paused his movements. “Turn around first.”

“Just change, I don’t care,” Ji Yang said, realizing what he meant. He looked down at himself and said weakly, “Look at me—I’m already like this. You can’t exactly force anything, right? Besides, our little drama’s about run its course. Whether you’re embroiled in a scandal about being forced into a relationship by a wealthy heir, or whether your orientation is simply questionable, the Old Master wouldn’t do anything at this point, right?”

Nie Xu gave him a hard look.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ji Yang’s skin prickled under that gaze. “Is something actually going on?”

Nie Xu: “The Old Master’s latest requirement—to build your relationship.”

Ji Yang drew 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 press him, simply pressing the window privacy screen. However, when he actually undid his buttons, Ji Yang still instinctively looked out the window, muttering at the same time: “Is this because the Qi family marriage alliance fell through, so he wants to try the same trick again? And he actually has the nerve to say ‘build your relationship’—why not just say outright that he wants to sell his grandson?”

Ji Yang listened to the rustling sounds behind him and thought of something. “Wait, that’s not right.”

Saying this, Ji Yang whipped his head around—only to slam the front of his skull into Nie Xu’s collarbone. The pain made him feel like he’d bitten into a raw lemon.

“What are you doing?” Ji Yang looked up, and again found himself staring at Nie Xu’s chin.

Nie Xu was wearing casual clothes. He reached over and grabbed the seatbelt, his gaze lowering as he buckled it for Ji Yang. “Let’s go. Were you planning to stay here and discuss how much you were sold for?”

Nie Xu started the engine.

The moment they drove out through the Ji family gates, even though the weather was still miserable, Ji Yang felt the unmistakable relief of having finally escaped.

“I’m definitely not worth much,” Ji Yang said, tugging at the seatbelt across his chest, picking up the earlier topic. “And he doesn’t want to sell me—he wants to trap you inside the Ji family for good, right?”

Nie Xu nodded toward the stack of documents. “Qi Songqing has seized quite a bit of the Ji family’s maritime resources. It’s already gotten attention.”

Ji Yang: “…Every time you tell me this kind of thing so bluntly, I get a little nervous.”

“Nervous about what?” Nie Xu turned the steering wheel, his eyes sweeping across Ji Yang’s face.

Ji Yang touched his chest. “I’m afraid that if I know too much, I might get silenced. And I only have one leg—I can’t handle a second round of damage. Also, I really hate going hungry.”

Nie Xu frowned. “Have you gone hungry before?”

“Occasionally?” Ji Yang said without thinking. Then he added: “I don’t remember clearly. Anyway, I just hate it.”

Nie Xu: “Silencing people is illegal.”

“I’m really touched by your concern,” Ji Yang said.

They had been driving for quite a while 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 before—Qi Songqing’s laboratory building.

Only this time, their host wasn’t Qi Songqing, but a tall foreign man with stubble covering his face.

He was also wearing a lab coat. He came up and bumped Nie Xu’s shoulder, addressing him: “Nathan, long time no see.”

“Long time no see.” Nie Xu raised his hand and embraced him.

It was a warm, genuine embrace—the kind between people reuniting after a long absence.

Ji Yang stood to the side, feeling that his understanding of the world was being shattered anew every single day.

Listening to them talk, apart from the simple words, it was like listening to a foreign language.

The foreign man called Knox quickly noticed Ji Yang. He babbled something unintelligible, then looked at Ji Yang with an expectant expression.

Ji Yang met his gaze calmly, then glanced at Nie Xu.

Nie Xu seemed to pause for a couple of seconds, then translated directly: “He used to be a researcher on foreign battlefields, now he’s working on an exoskeleton project here in the country.” He paused here. “He said you’re very cute.”

Ji Yang was defeated.

Last time he met Qi Songqing, the foreigner beside him had said essentially the same thing.

But he still turned around and smiled at the man. “Thank you.”

Nie Xu: “He has prosthetics on both legs and suffered from the aftereffects for many years. He has a lot of experience—let him ease things for you in a bit.”

“You brought me here for this?” Ji Yang asked.

Nie Xu: “What else?”

Ji Yang said, “Oh.”

“But I don’t speak English.”

Nie Xu looked at him, seeming to think. “The children of the Ji family were raised with multiple languages from a young age. You lost your memory and forgot even basic skills?”

Ji Yang: “Some people lose their memory and forget how to read Chinese entirely. At least I haven’t forgotten my roots. And I can handle basic conversation, okay? It’s just that the two of you were being too technical.”

He answered too naturally, and Nie Xu was left momentarily speechless—a rare sight.

He pressed the bridge of his nose. “Knox knows some basic Chinese. Go on in. I need to find Qi Songqing. Call me if anything happens.”

Ji Yang really should have known better than to trust him.

He followed Knox to the treatment room, and ten minutes in, he found himself in a completely incomprehensible chicken-and-duck conversation.

Meanwhile, in Qi Songqing’s private laboratory.

Nie Xu stood beside him, both of them bent over, examining the experimental data on the computer.

Qi Songqing tapped the desk. “All twelve experiments have failed. Without recovering the experimental data that was lost back then, it’ll be very difficult for us to prove that the Ji family and the other families committed those atrocities.”

Nie Xu shook his head. “The difficulty is too great.”

Qi Songqing looked at him in disbelief. “You still maintain that there was a female researcher named Elara who took all the data? But according to our investigations over all these years, there was never such a person in that laboratory.”

Nie Xu’s phone vibrated.

He picked it up while pointing at the computer screen. “We can’t rely solely on old data. Check for new progress from overseas.”

“Hello?” Nie Xu answered the call.

Before Qi Songqing could even ask who it was, a furious voice came through the speaker.

“Nie Xu, you son of a—get over here quick! This guy’s trying to pull down my pants!”

Qi Songqing’s pen clattered onto the desk.

“Who’s beside the young master? You handed him over to that guy Knox? …Wait—why did you leave so fast?”

Nie Xu: “He probably didn’t understand him.”

Qi Songqing: ????

Where did this little illiterate come from?