Chapter 44#
When Nie Xu arrived at the treatment room, Ji Yang was still defending his pants with his life.
His hair was drenched in sweat, gripping the waistband of his pants, struggling. “Let go… I’m not nervous, I’m very relaxed — but that still doesn’t mean you can strip someone! I can do it myself, okay?! …I understood what you said. It’s you who can’t understand me! Damn it!”
Because of Ji Yang’s thrashing, Knox increased his grip, rattling off another string of unintelligible words, even furrowing his brow and gesturing up and down with his hands.
Ji Yang went numb — right when he accidentally knocked into a metal tray on an adjacent piece of equipment, producing a loud clang.
Ji Yang turned his head in surprise.
The scene he had expected — instruments scattering across the floor — didn’t happen. A single hand steadied them.
That hand reached over Ji Yang’s head from behind and patted Knox’s arm.
“I’ll do it.” Nie Xu said.
Nie Xu exchanged a few more words with Knox. Knox first looked shocked, then his face flushed red, awkwardly scratching the back of his head.
He gave Ji Yang an apologetic shrug, stepped back, and yielded the spot to Nie Xu.
Ji Yang: “What did you say to him?”
Nie Xu glanced at him: “That you’re a little kid who’s never been past first base, a bit conservative.”
Ji Yang’s face exploded red: “…Get lost. How would you know whether I have or haven’t. I know he wanted me to try his new instrument — I just can’t stand that he insisted on undressing me himself. The more I explained, the more worked up he got. What was I supposed to do?”
After observing Ji Yang’s complexion, Nie Xu said: “Knox already ran a round of neuroelectrotherapy on you. The weather worsened your pain response. He thought something was wrong with you, so he insisted on a full-body scan.”
Ji Yang: “So that’s why we nearly came to blows just now?”
Nie Xu looked him over. “He’s a combat sports champion.”
The implication: if it had been for real, you’d have been the only one getting beaten up.
Ji Yang didn’t want to talk anymore.
The electrotherapy just now had indeed gone through several adjustments. Even now, his fingertips were still tingling.
Lying there earlier, listening to the electric current, he’d had the sensation of being a damaged object waiting to be repaired.
But the discomfort in his knee had eased considerably. The warmth transmitted from the machine penetrated deep through his skin, and the aching, swelling bone pain felt as though more than half of it had been drawn out. Not like the old days when every time the weather turned rainy and cold, the dampness would worm its way in through the seams of his bones, even triggering worse phantom limb pain.
Still, one treatment session plus the scuffle had drained most of his energy.
Nie Xu pulled up the foldable armrest on the side of the treatment bed.
“No more scan?” Ji Yang asked.
Nie Xu straightened up and gave a murmur of agreement. “The signal conduction area shows compensatory activation — better results than before you stopped the medication. Since there’s nothing else wrong with your body, just rest a bit and recover your strength.”
“Alright, if I’m fine then I’ll get up.” Ji Yang made a move to rise.
Halfway up, he was pushed back down.
“Don’t move.” Nie Xu frowned.
Ji Yang was baffled: “What for?”
Nie Xu: “Have you looked at how much color is left in your face? Sweating in your sleep from nightmares, going through treatment like this, plus low blood sugar — wait a bit before getting up.”
Ji Yang: “…So you lied to me just now, didn’t you? You never said anything about ‘past first base’ to Knox at all, did you?”
Nie Xu: “Does it bother you?”
“If I called you a virgin, would you be bothered?” Ji Yang shot back.
Nie Xu: “So it seems the answer is yes.”
Ji Yang really, really wanted to land two solid punches on him — if he had the strength to.
Just then, Nie Xu’s phone, tucked against the side of his trousers, lit up briefly. Ji Yang glanced over absently and caught sight of a fully loaded file on the screen: Ji Maritime Group — New Land Base Site Selection Backup File.
Nie Xu produced a blanket from who knows where, tossed it to Ji Yang, glanced at the phone screen once, then took it and stepped out.
Knox watched Nie Xu’s retreating figure, then walked back over and smiled at Ji Yang, saying: “Na-than… nervous… le.”
Ji Yang barely managed to decipher the meaning through that butchered pronunciation. “Nervous?”
About his phone’s contents? Didn’t look like it.
Knox said: “He… never… for… anyone.”
Ji Yang: “What do you mean, no one?”
Qi Songqing, who had appeared at the doorway at who-knows-when and had come to collect materials from Knox, finally couldn’t take it anymore.
He walked in.
He said: “Look outside.”
Ji Yang followed his gaze. Through the glass door, he met eyes with Nie Xu, who was standing in the corridor on a phone call.
The realization struck Ji Yang like a bolt from the blue: “Is Knox saying that Nie Xu is nervous about me?”
He laughed despite himself. “Nervous that the newest one-way ally, having just been accepted, would die in a laboratory?”
Qi Songqing took a breath and shook his head: “Forget it — I couldn’t be bothered with you two. I still have to work overtime tonight.”
Ji Yang peeked behind Qi Songqing. He hadn’t seen anyone from Building Four coming or going in and out. Curious, he asked: “Is this experimental building your secret base? Won’t it be discovered?”
Qi Songqing chuckled: “It’s a legitimate research institute. It’s registered.”
Ji Yang: “Have you known Knox for many years?”
Qi Songqing: “I came along a bit later — not like those maniacs of his. Knox, for example, he met Nie Xu while Nie Xu was training abroad. After Knox retired, Nie Xu introduced him to the mercenary unit he ended up serving with. It’s the kind of bond forged in life-and-death.”
Knox had been nodding along beside them the entire time.
Ji Yang couldn’t help but grin. You didn’t understand a single word of that, did you.
Qi Songqing’s gaze swept across Ji Yang’s smiling face. He said: “As for the rest — go ask Nie Xu yourself when you have time.”
“What, ask me about what?” Nie Xu walked back in after handling whatever needed handling.
Qi Songqing: “The young master here is rather curious about you.”
Ji Yang: ???
Weren’t you the one bringing it up this whole time?
Nie Xu walked over. “Still resting? The rain’s stopped.”
Ji Yang bundled the blanket into a ball.
“Let’s go.”
Outside the experimental building, night had already fallen. The rain had stopped. Puddles had gathered on the road, reflecting the neon glow from both sides of the street. As car tires rolled through, the reflections shattered into a kaleidoscope of colors.
The evening breeze carried a rare coolness for summer, and Ji Yang instinctively rubbed his arms.
The next second, a jacket settled over his shoulders.
Ji Yang turned his head in surprise.
Nie Xu: “Someone’s following us.”
The old man was in that much of a hurry?
Ji Yang tugged at the oversized jacket and smiled, eyes crinkling: “Thank you.”
Nie Xu narrowed his eyes slightly, opened the car door, and gestured for him to get in.
From the experimental building to the hotel where Ji Yang was currently staying was roughly a half-hour drive. Nie Xu acted completely normal about the tail, so Ji Yang didn’t feel much either. Wrapped in the jacket, he fell asleep in the car without realizing it. When he woke, the car had already pulled up to the hotel entrance.
He glanced at the time — 9 PM.
He’d slept in the car for nearly two hours.
Ji Yang stretched his stiff neck. “Why didn’t you wake me?”
“Nothing urgent.” Nie Xu closed his laptop and turned to look at him. “Want to grab dinner?”
“Sure.” Ji Yang said.
Then he remembered that Peng Jiaying had said last time he wanted to treat Nie Xu to a meal. He asked: “Would you mind if there’s an extra person?”
“As you like.”
And so, at 10 PM, at an open-air barbecue joint 500 meters from the hotel.
Ji Yang ordered a whole table of food.
When Peng Jiaying arrived in a rush, briefcase in hand, he was panting as he said: “Sorry — last-minute overtime. I’m late.”
“The proposal still hasn’t been approved?” Ji Yang tossed a handful of lamb skewers onto the grill in front of him. “Is President Huang getting back at me? About Lin Yue coming to the hotel to find me last time — I didn’t agree to it.”
Peng Jiaying first nodded to Nie Xu, who was lounging in a chair across the table: “Assistant Nie.”
“Mm. President Peng.” Nie Xu looked up from his phone screen and gave a greeting.
But that one word — “President Peng” — made Peng Jiaying visibly awkward. He leaned toward Ji Yang and whispered: “When I said treat to dinner, couldn’t you have picked a nicer place? Barbecue? Grease all over your face — look, Assistant Nie hasn’t even eaten.”
Ji Yang held a bamboo skewer and looked over: “It’s fine. He’s not hungry. As long as I want to eat, that’s enough.”
In truth, he had already finished eating before Peng Jiaying arrived.
Peng Jiaying: “…”
Peng Jiaying awkwardly steered the conversation back: “It’s not President Huang holding up the proposal. We went to Xianshi for a meeting and found that President Huang doesn’t have full authority to make decisions. There’s a financial backer behind their company — apparently quite the big shot.”
Ji Yang nibbled on a grilled corn cob, one kernel at a time. “How big a shot?”
“The kind with that kind of background.” Peng Jiaying spoke with mysterious gravity.
Hearing that, Ji Yang had a pretty good idea.
Xilemen again.
If Xianshi truly couldn’t even control its own projects, Ji Yang was starting to wonder whether this partnership should continue at all.
He was lost in thought when he heard: “Don’t worry about it.”
Peng Jiaying and Ji Yang both looked over at nearly the same time.
Peng Jiaying, in a low voice: “What do you mean?”
Nie Xu set his phone down: “The man you’re talking about is surnamed Sire. The several heads above him all ended up behind bars. He’s dressed in devil’s skin playing king, but the real power comes from his sister being married to Huang Kai’s wife’s younger brother. That’s the connection he used to invest a bit into Xianshi. Huang Kai won’t let him run wild forever. There’s nothing wrong with this project.”
Peng Jiaying had been holding his breath; he let it out all at once.
“Assistant Nie really knows the most. Now I can relax.” Peng Jiaying said eagerly: “I have to toast you. Last time our team went to Zhou Ling, too — we owe it all to Assistant Nie.”
Peng Jiaying called out in a loud voice: “Boss! Bring us some beer!”
“What beer?” Ji Yang tugged at him, indicating the bitter buckwheat tea on the table. “Just toast with this.”
Peng Jiaying looked at Ji Yang in silence.
From the beginning, when he hadn’t trusted this young master, to now working together — the experience had actually been pretty good all along.
But he genuinely felt that this young master’s attitude toward Assistant Nie was far too casual. Even if the man was “just” a bodyguard, it wasn’t quite right.
“I have to thank him properly.” Peng Jiaying insisted.
Ji Yang gave up trying to dissuade him.
Showing gratitude is fair enough, but you keep treating your own boss like an assistant — isn’t that a bit… much?
The beer arrived.
Ji Yang went back to gnawing on his corn skewer, glancing over at Nie Xu.
Before Peng Jiaying’s limited and somewhat inappropriate brand of drinking culture, Nie Xu very naturally clinked glasses with him and drank.
Peng Jiaying latched on as though he’d found a ten-thousand-page encyclopedia, firing off questions left and right. Nie Xu answered them all, occasionally elaborating, leaving Peng Jiaying’s eyes sparkling.
After several rounds of drinks, Peng Jiaying’s mood was running high.
Ji Yang recalled the time, back when they’d first met, when Peng Jiaying had cracked open Wei Qiming’s skull. Without thinking, he slid the remaining half-bottle of beer under the table.
Peng Jiaying finally finished asking his questions and only now noticed.
“Fourth Young Master, isn’t that jacket of yours a bit… inappropriate today?”
Just then, a wave of cheering erupted from the next table over.
At a glance, it was a group of punk-rock teenagers.
The reason for the commotion was a couple who had been in an ambiguous stage — the boy had just draped his jacket over the girl’s shoulders.
Peng Jiaying saw it too, and sighed with feeling: “Youth.”
“Shut up. The only old person here is you, thanks.” Ji Yang picked up a fresh skewer and shoved it into his mouth.
Peng Jiaying caught on a beat too late.
He looked at the other two people at the table.
He asked Ji Yang in a low voice: “Assistant Nie has submitted to you?”
“Mhm.” Ji Yang gave Peng Jiaying a fake smile. “Because recently we’ve switched scripts.”
“What?”
Ji Yang: “The Cold, Ruthless Bodyguard — Stockholm Syndrome — Madly in Love with the Fourth Young Master of the Ji Family Who Beat Him Senseless.” Fun, right?
Peng Jiaying: “That’s absolutely absurd.”
Peng Jiaying processed for a second, then lowered his voice, incredulous: “You’ve hit Assistant Nie?”
“Oh, I sure have.”
Ji Yang pushed the remaining barbecue skewers over, smiling: “Brother Xu, these are all for you.”
Peng Jiaying: Aren’t you basically giving him your leftovers? Humiliation?
Assistant Nie won’t get angry, will he?
Peng Jiaying peeked over quietly.
He found that Assistant Nie had his head down and was already busy with something again, clearly not caring what they were saying. At the sound, Nie Xu looked up at Ji Yang, then very naturally took the plate.
And set it aside.
Good — he didn’t eat them.
But was that a bit too smooth?