Chapter 8#
The car Nie Xu was driving looked understated, but the rear seat space was enormous.#
It rode so smoothly on the road that bumps were virtually imperceptible.
Ji Yang sat in the back seat. By the neon lights flashing past the window, he could see the driver put on a pair of sunglasses again, his sharp half-profile silhouetted in the dark.
He had no concept of social hierarchy, let alone any sense of superiority that would make him demand someone who controlled his life and death serve as his driver.
With a mindset of proactive communication and friendly exchange,
“Is this car bulletproof?” Ji Yang surveyed the seats and picked a topic he was genuinely curious about.
Nie Xu: “Wei Qiming doesn’t have the guts to hijack this car.”
Ji Yang stalled: “…That’s not really what I meant.”
Wouldn’t using a cannon to kill a chicken be overkill just to guard against Wei Qiming?
Nie Xu glanced at the rearview mirror and added, “This is the runaround car Jiang Lei just bought for the household with his own money. His nephew starts kindergarten today. First day on the road.”
And then, to repay a certain someone, he’d get to enjoy a one-day tour of the police station.
Ji Yang caught the unspoken implication and rubbed his nose.
In his simplistic understanding, bodyguards were the kind of people that books only ever skimmed over in a single sentence—appearing only in major scenes—a group of hard-to-emote humanoid weapons. Nie Xu didn’t count, because his identity encompassed far more than that. He was, in fact, a byword for something far more ruthless and cold-blooded than that entire profession.
Ji Yang had only just realized that people in this career, aside from their extremely exploited private time and enforced secrecy, also had lives and families, old friends and new acquaintances.
A belated sense of relief washed over him—thank goodness he’d sent that message to Nie Xu.
Not to save his legs, not to change the original plot’s ending—simply because a little kid could ride happily to kindergarten in a car instead of facing a workplace accident, or even death, at such a tender age.
Ji Yang had always been more tolerant of children.
Probably because he hadn’t had many good memories from his own childhood. He must have had some, but they were too far back, blurred by time.
Most of what he remembered was from the tube building—the auntie next door screaming at her husband for never going to work; the neighbors greeting him with smiles and gossipy tones: “Little Yang, why are you always coming back these days?” He’d reply, climbing the stairs with a touch of mischief in his smile: “Auntie, I just saw your Second Wa pulling garlic sprouts from the Wang family’s spot at the alley entrance.”
Then came a string of roaring shouts as she chased him out to scold the little brat.
The neighbors’ chatter was nothing new. “What’s Ji Yang doing nowadays? Not studying?”
Another voice: “You don’t know about that three-poisons drunkard of a father of his? That kid was a piece of work when he was small—just like his old man, cut from the same cloth. Probably got beaten so hard that year he nearly lost half his life, and somehow turned out alright after that. Went out on his own in his teens. Because he’s good-looking, they say he signed with an agency and supports himself. They call that, uh, bad bamboo sprouting good shoots!”
“People just have different fates, you know. That woman upstairs who’s raising her kid alone—we just don’t know who Ji Yang’s mother is…”
Some things you could choose to tune out.
A person didn’t have to dwell on the past, nor make any assumptions about it.
Up until he transmigrated, he’d owned a fully paid-off apartment, six-figure savings, a multitude of friends, an account that had just crossed a million followers, and a whole pile of anti-fans who cursed him daily for coasting on his looks yet showered him with gifts every single day.
Living came first.
Happiness came second.
Everything else could take its place in line.
He’d long grown accustomed to accepting whatever problems his environment threw at him, which was why he could adjust so quickly to finding himself inside a melodramatic novel.
And because he despised passive waiting, in such a short span of time, with person after person after person, and incident after incident after incident, he’d been in a constant state of resolving, coping, or taking initiative—whether willingly or otherwise.
The key point was that his mobility was restricted—a very real and unalterable fact.
After two days, not a single curse had slipped from his lips—that would’ve been a lie.
Until tonight.
He faced Nie Xu again.
He finally understood that this wasn’t the person he’d imagined—one who would only ever say “break his legs.”
At the very least, when Nie Xu mocked someone, he did it with remarkable subtlety.
Realizing this, Ji Yang broke into a grin.
A person with emotions—someone who could be moved to emotion by others—at the very least wouldn’t break his legs for no reason, and certainly wasn’t some domineering tyrant who’d declare “winter is coming, the Wang family is finished” the way some villains in the book did.
So when the car stopped and Nie Xu said, “We’re here,”
Ji Yang reflexively blurted out, “Already?” Then he caught himself after a second. “Oh, no—I mean I can’t walk.”
It was still too blunt. Ji Yang softened his tone while keeping his face perfectly numb. “I was just trying to say I genuinely have no legs. You wouldn’t mind carrying me one more time, would you?”
A prey animal showing a few weaknesses before being caught helps lower the opponent’s guard.
But when he looked up and met Nie Xu’s face—those sunglasses making it impossible to read when the other man’s murderous intent might surface—he recognized the silent refusal and gave up. “Get me a wheelchair, then?”
Nie Xu tapped the steering wheel with his index finger, watching him.
“Wait a moment,” he said, and turned back.
Just then, someone knocked on the window.
Nie Xu rolled it down, and Ji Yang realized they were at the estate entrance. Not far away stood a team in black mesh tactical gear conducting inspections.
“Brother Xu? Is that you!” The man who’d knocked on the window spotted the person inside and registered surprise before breaking into a grin. “I was thinking this car’s not registered anywhere, and wondering who’d be out here in the middle of the night.”
Nie Xu: “Lei’s car. I’m taking it away tomorrow.” He jerked his chin toward the front. “What’s going on?”
The man didn’t seem pressed anymore, letting out a sigh. “Who knows? Seems like a batch of goods from the docks had an issue during the day, and the other side’s come knocking to argue. Just the usual—you know, the big shots fight upstairs and we down here get caught in the crossfire.” He pointed upward as he spoke. “They say the old man’s furious. We might carry Mr. Lu Li’s name, but we’re really just on inspection and errand duty. Not like you and your crew, Brother Xu.”
A flattering performance, all things considered. As he spoke, he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, extracted one, and offered it toward Nie Xu.
Offering it with one hand, he said with practiced eagerness, “I heard someone got hurt. You know about this, right, Brother Xu?”
Ji Yang, sitting in the back, remained silent throughout.
From the moment he heard something about dock goods, he knew this matter had to involve Nie Xu.
He watched as Nie Xu reached out to accept the cigarette, leaned back in the seat, and let out what sounded like a low chuckle.
He laughed?
Ji Yang’s impression of him shifted once more.
Nie Xu: “I know.”
The man: “Then give us brothers a tip-off. You see, we’re stuck out here with this inspection, and we don’t even know what we’re looking for. Give us a heads-up so the boys can go home and rest early, yeah?”
Nie Xu rested the hand holding the cigarette on the window ledge. When the man moved to light it for him, he gently raised his hand to decline, indicating it wasn’t needed.
“Not smoking?” The man blinked. “Even in your own time, you’re this disciplined.”
Nie Xu: “I’m working.”
This “working,” at this hour, in this place—the man instinctively assumed both parties were dealing with the same matter.
He looked around. “You’ve got people posted too? And you had to come personally in the middle of the night?”
Having spotted no one else, he belatedly turned his gaze toward the back seat.
Ji Yang waved at him the moment their eyes met, watching the man’s eyes widen bit by bit.
“Hey.”
“Fourth… Young Master?” The man clearly hadn’t anticipated this—hadn’t for a single moment imagined that right here, right now, the Fourth Young Master would be sitting in the back seat of this car. After a long, dazed pause, he ventured another question: “Still assigning work to Brother Xu at this hour? Was Brother Xu with you all afternoon, Fourth Young Master?”
Ji Yang’s eyes curved into crescents. “Isn’t that perfectly natural? Right now, I am his work. His only work.”
The man’s mouth twitched at this.
Nie Xu paid no attention to what Ji Yang was saying, continuing his answer instead: “The dock incident didn’t hurt our own people. A third party was there to collect the goods. The matter’s been settled, but there was a problem with the shipment.”
“A problem with the shipment?” The man collected himself, lowering his voice.
Nie Xu had no intention of elaborating, speaking with deliberate implication: “If Lu Li has anything else he’d like to know, he can come ask me himself next time.”
At this, the corner of the man’s mouth outside the window froze in an awkwardly stiff arc, his expression tinged with two parts embarrassment.
Nie Xu tossed the car keys at him.
“It’s your duty. I won’t be driving this car inside tonight. Find somewhere to park it for me.”
The man fumbled to catch the keys, stammering after a long moment: “Sure.”
Two minutes later, Ji Yang sat in a wheelchair, being pushed forward by Nie Xu. [Portal: Ranking List | Transmigration into Books, Male Lead, Lighthearted Audiobook]
A wheelchair that could appear in the Ji family was naturally of fine craftsmanship and outstanding performance. The tires rolled over the stone-paved path, emitting barely a whisper.
Behind them, the man who had just spoken with Nie Xu stared intently in the direction they were departing.
Someone nearby leaned in and whispered, “Just letting them go like that? Didn’t Mr. Lu say the shipment problem was definitely Nie Xu’s doing?”
“You think I don’t know that?” The man dropped his little-brother act, his face taking on a vicious edge. “He knows we know. He was just toying with us back there!”
“Then…” The person beside him was cut off before he could finish.
“You think you know who Nie Xu is? Mr. Lu took a massive fall in his hands this time, and even the old man couldn’t do a thing about him. He won’t let anyone get their hands on evidence easily.”
The other man nodded. “Should we tell Mr. Lu about the Fourth Young Master showing up? Could he be involved in this too?”
“You think that’s likely?” The man looked over slowly. “That useless young master’s infatuation with Nie Xu is known far and wide. For Nie Xu’s sake, he even caused a scene in front of the old man against the Third Young Master of the main branch. Who knows what he’s got going through his head in the dead of night—no need to go looking for trouble for ourselves.” At this point, a hint of contemptuous satisfaction crept into his expression. “At the end of the day, having a high birth does have its perks. Even if he’s a cripple.”
Even if he’s a cripple—said softly and slowly.
A sneer followed.
As if merely saying those words could make his hunched back straighten an inch or two.
And at this moment, Ji Yang tilted his head back to ask the person behind him, “You never intended to drive inside in the first place, did you?”
“Mm.” Considered a confirmation.
Ji Yang’s lips curved. “Am I useful?”
“Weren’t you so concerned about your purity?” Nie Xu lowered his head and shot back.
“Getting unclear and ambiguous with you doesn’t count as unclear and ambiguous.” Ji Yang formed a heart shape with his hands over his chest. “That’s what you call being perfectly willing.”
No sooner had he spoken than the wheelchair came to a stop. Ji Yang tilted his head back and burst into laughter amid air that had nearly solidified.
In the original plot, after Jiang Lei’s incident, the already tense atmosphere within the Ji family escalated by the day. “Ji Yang” learned that Ji Chengyi had gone to the hospital to visit Jiang Lei, followed him there, sneered that Jiang Lei had it coming, and launched into a tirade against Nie Xu—saying things like “This is what happens when you choose Ji Chengyi over me”—flawlessly completing yet another KPI for a mindless villain.
None of that would happen now.
Or rather, some of it had quietly come to pass—but with the backstory of “love turned to hatred” in place, the persona Ji Yang had constructed of someone so consumed by love they’d lost all reason had a bizarre, almost accidentally effective quality, like wild punches accidentally felling a grandmaster.
Some things, hidden beneath the veneer of absurdity, transformed the unreasonable into the reasonable.
It was a delicate balance.
Ji Yang could sense it—after all, at the entrance just now, Nie Xu hadn’t stopped him from spouting nonsense.
Ji Yang laughed his fill, straightened up, and signaled the other man to let go.
The people at the entrance were no longer in sight. Ji Yang tried switching to electric mode—he’d only been introduced to it this morning and hadn’t had time to explore.
The result was that he shot forward with a startling lurch.
The one good thing about this estate was that the roads were wide and flat.
An occasional loss of control wouldn’t send him into a ditch.
Ji Yang managed to stop, steadied himself, then continued exploring—spinning in circles, left, right, forward, backward, and brakes.
The high-tech wheelchair taught him to adapt faster than that whole row of prosthetics ever could.
Ji Yang noticed that whenever he looked back, Nie Xu was always within about two steps behind him—not an inch closer, not any further away.
They were already inside the estate. Was this level of proximity really necessary?
His professionalism was genuinely impressive.
Until he rounded a corner and found that Nie Xu hadn’t followed.
He stopped and turned around.
Ji Yang: “Come on.”
Then he watched as the man in question hooked his index finger to pull down his sunglasses, brow furrowed, looking at him as though examining some new species he couldn’t comprehend.
“Where are you going?” Nie Xu asked.
Ji Yang, puzzled: “Back to sleep? It’s almost two in the morning.”
Nie Xu seemed to find the idea absurd. “To sleep in Building Four?”
Ji Yang glanced at the direction he’d been heading and froze. Within two seconds, he cheerfully decided to accept this beautiful misunderstanding.
“Consider that your invitation?”
Nie Xu looked at him for two seconds.
Then uttered: “The last bed in Building Four went to the stray cat that wandered over from the neighboring villa complex.”
Meaning:
Even the bed beside you isn’t yours anymore.
In the dimness, Ji Yang murmured faintly, “Then I’d better go have a look—this cat that dared to steal my bed, whether it’s a tom or a queen, I need to know.”