Chapter 92#
The sweetness of the Hami melon spread between his lips and teeth.
Ji Yang chewed slowly and gave up trying to contribute.
For the next half hour, he stayed curled up in the spot beside Nie Xu, leaning against the sofa and scrolling on his phone. Listening to these people discuss things he only half understood.
Nie Xu had said their identities were sensitive, and Ji Yang believed it now. From the conversation, he could tell they all had some political background to varying degrees.
So when it came to business, they were especially cautious.
One of them laughed and said to Nie Xu with feeling: “A few years ago, doing business was like being a thief. My old man always thought I was up to something shady out there. Thank goodness Jian Yuan surfaced this year; otherwise I really wouldn’t have been able to explain myself.”
Qi Songqing: “Is your old man getting promoted this year?”
The other: “Barring any surprises, yes.” Then he promised: “So you can rest easy, Brother Xu. That guy named Chu won’t be able to hold the chamber-of-commerce president seat much longer. At the latest, by early spring next year, the red-header document from above will come down.”
Nie Xu: “Chu Zhengqing has been busy dealing with the police investigation lately. That position is a hot potato for him now. It doesn’t matter when he steps down; what I want is for there to be not the slightest cover-up, concealment, or falsification throughout the entire investigation.”
“Understood.” The other nodded. “I’ll get this done for you properly, absolutely.”
The Qiming matter from back then is now all over the internet.
The investigation will inevitably strive to produce results in the shortest possible time.
In this process, not everyone has fairness and justice in their hearts. Bribery, deals, intimidation—anything could happen.
Ji Yang looked up from his phone and watched Nie Xu from behind.
Only at this moment did he truly see how deep and wide the net Nie Xu had woven over the years was. He had served the Ji family for over a decade, truly placing himself in the vortex. Jian Yuan was an external pressure; working with Building No. 4, it could keep the Ji family completely unaware and still land a fatal blow at the critical moment.
The Ji family was gone, but the Ji family’s crimes remained.
These people before him were both friends and allies.
What Nie Xu wanted had never been merely revenge. What he wanted was the truth—the truth in its entirety, to be returned to every person still waiting for an answer.
Half an hour later, after agreeing to find another chance to meet again specially, the group dispersed.
As each person left, they made a point of saying goodbye to Ji Yang.
They also said that this time only Nie Xu had brought a partner; next time they met, everyone had to bring a partner for it to count, and they made Nie Xu promise to treat them.
“Fine.” Nie Xu agreed readily and said, “Don’t bring disposable ones to make a spectacle of yourselves, lest you lead others astray.”
The one who ordinarily looked like a player complained: “In today’s society, where am I supposed to find an innocent young guy for a serious relationship?” Then he turned to Ji Yang: “Fourth Young Master, don’t tell me you two are in it for life?”
Ji Yang blinked innocently: “I’m a good boy. I don’t understand what you’re talking about.” Ji Yang reached out, grabbed Nie Xu’s arm, looked up at Nie Xu, and asked: “Brother Xu, so you think the same as them—you don’t want to be with me for a lifetime?”
Nie Xu glanced at him, then looked up at the person across from him.
The person across nearly spat blood: “That’s not what I meant!”
And he felt he’d been played by Ji Si’er, but facing Nie Xu’s gaze, he really had no strength to retort, so he simply fled.
“Bye-bye.” Ji Yang waved from behind. “Let’s meet again next time.”
Then he watched the last person leave and the door close.
Even Qi Songqing didn’t stay long; clearly he was long accustomed to Ji Yang’s tricks.
Ji Yang leaned back with complete peace of mind.
The sound effects of the mobile game were still coming from his phone; he was halfway through a match, not yet finished.
Ji Yang’s hands moved quickly as he said: “I want to wait a while before going out. The reporters outside are definitely all lying in wait for me.”
After he said that, he didn’t hear a response for a while.
Ji Yang took a moment to glance sideways and found Nie Xu looking at him.
“You’re in a hurry to leave?” Ji Yang asked.
Nie Xu shook his head and asked him, “Did you win the game?”
Just as the words fell, the interface let out the sound of defeat.
Ji Yang was speechless for a moment, held it up to show him: “Lost. Haven’t won a single round today.” As he spoke, a thought flashed through his mind, and he tossed the phone to him. “Just play it for me.”
He did this purely to put Nie Xu in a tight spot; at a glance, Nie Xu was clearly someone who didn’t touch games.
Who would have thought Nie Xu actually picked up his phone, exited, and opened the game rules.
While reading, he asked: “If I win for you, what then?”
“Can you even play?” Ji Yang refused to believe it, leaned in, and looked alongside him. Then he swiped to the second page of the instructions for him and said: “This is a shooting game. I used to be something of an expert, but I play less now and I’m out of practice. Besides, my level is high—it’s not that easy to play.”
As he spoke, he saw that Nie Xu had already opened a new round.
Ji Yang watched from the side for barely two minutes before he started frequently glancing at Nie Xu’s face.
Suspicious: “Are you sure you don’t know how?”
Nie Xu blew a person’s head open. “First time.”
“Then why are you so skilled?” Ji Yang watched his controls. “Even if you’ve used real firearms, a game is still a different matter, right?”
Nie Xu grunted in acknowledgment. “Pretty much. This one’s easy.”
Ji Yang was directly choked speechless.
Nie Xu’s controls were smooth the whole time, and he spoke again: “You still haven’t said what happens if I win?”
“What can happen?” Ji Yang asked. “I give you the account?”
Nie Xu glanced at him and spoke again: “You came in just now calling yourself my partner. Can I take that to mean this is your final conclusion after getting serious?”
Ji Yang was stunned.
He touched his nose and said quietly: “I thought I’d already made it obvious.”
Nie Xu didn’t speak. In the air there was only the sound of game controls.
Finally.
“Victory!” The sound of victory came from the phone.
Ji Yang leaned over to look. Just as he poked his head over, he was pressed onto the sofa by Nie Xu, who had turned back.
Ji Yang’s hand was pressed against the back of the sofa. He swallowed and remembered the scene that night when he’d been held down and unable to move. His eyes flickered: “What are you doing? Repaying kindness with enmity?”
Nie Xu’s gaze swept over his face. “Not obvious. So I’m confirming.”
Ji Yang realized he was talking about his earlier line about having already made it obvious.
Ji Yang: “How is it not obvious?”
Nie Xu’s other hand pinched his chin and shook it. “Count for yourself—every time you came near me and said you liked me, was it not on purpose? Just now, in front of everyone, you even turned it around and said I was the one who didn’t want to be with you for a lifetime.”
Ji Yang refused to admit it and quibbled, “When I first came in and asked you to repay me, why didn’t you mention that?” Ji Yang made a show of lowering his head to bite his hand, missed, and fell back from exhaustion, looking up at him from below. He turned serious for a moment and said: “For someone I, Ji Yang, don’t like, there’s no way I’d let him pin me down like this.” Then he rose again, almost against Nie Xu’s lips, and said slowly: “Much less sleep with me.”
Ji Yang lay back down again, tracing Nie Xu’s face, feeling the warmth of his palm clamped around his own.
“When we first met, I was actually pretty afraid of you.”
Nie Xu’s voice deepened a little, and he asked softly: “Because of that book?”
Ji Yang: “Yeah. In the book, you were the chief culprit who broke my other leg, made me beg on the streets, and ultimately made me die in front of you and Ji Chengyi’s car.”
Nie Xu didn’t rush to argue. He only rubbed his fingers over Ji Yang’s fingers, carrying his own power to soothe people’s hearts.
Ji Yang now gave up on that topic and continued what he’d been saying: “But later I found that you weren’t the person I’d imagined. I used to judge people very superficially—for example, a good-looking face, nice hands, a nice voice could all hit the spots I liked. You’re different: you have all of them, and I like the measure in you that, even when cold, doesn’t casually hurt the innocent; I like your sense of responsibility toward the people you care about; I like your decisiveness when making decisions, your patience in lying low, and the justice you seek like a lone hero.”
Ji Yang changed tack: “I have a strange quirk: I’ve always only ever chosen what I like. So I like you, regardless of whether you like me or whether you treat me well—it’s simply that I like you.”
Ji Yang looked into Nie Xu’s eyes: “If I really didn’t like you, even if you were my brother, it wouldn’t work.”
At the same moment the last word fell, Nie Xu’s kiss followed.
Nie Xu pinched his chin and drove straight in.
Ji Yang had just used a long speech to more or less complete the first confession of his life.
His heart pounded violently in his chest. He had to do something to restrain himself from seeming so swept up. So kissing at this moment became the best cover.
He stretched out the arm Nie Xu had released and hooked it around Nie Xu’s neck.
Their breathing tangled, messy; the itch brought by the nibbling seemed to seep continuously from the seams of his bones all over his body.
If that night in Zhouling had been the breaking of soil after emotionally surviving a disaster,
then now, Ji Yang felt, he had truly completed his self-acceptance and transformation.
No matter what he had been through, no matter what the future held,
what he wanted was only the present, this moment.
This person before him.
Nie Xu’s kisses wandered from his chin to his neck, his collarbone. Ji Yang leaned back against the sofa, his uncontrolled breathing making him feel parched, and he repeatedly licked his lips with the tip of his tongue.
It was too much.
It clearly wasn’t their first kiss—they had even slept together—but this time Ji Yang could distinctly feel the difference. That kind of chemistry couldn’t be put into words; it was in their pressed-together bodies, in every mingled breath.
Especially when Nie Xu bit his collarbone—Ji Yang even cried out directly, the sound utterly indecent.
It startled even himself.
The next second his mouth was covered.
Nie Xu stopped.
Light pecks carried reassurance; he propped himself up and pressed one to Ji Yang’s forehead. Nie Xu smiled and said: “Not here.”
Ji Yang went numb.
He looked down at himself, speechless: “It’s already like this, and you tell me no?”
Nie Xu’s hand slid into Ji Yang’s hair. Following his gaze downward, he teased: “Who knew you’d react so strongly?”
“Screw you!” Ji Yang raised a hand and punched him on the shoulder.
Nie Xu took his hand down, brought it to his lips, and kissed it lightly, looked at him for a few seconds, then said: “What I wanted to say is, the sweet talk just now was very moving. Even if I weren’t your brother, even if we hadn’t known each other when we were young, you will always have the right to take a step back with me.”
Ji Yang’s breathing paused for two seconds, then he slowly said: “Why does it feel like I’ve been handed a get-out-of-jail-free card? The vicious villain finally turned things around?”
Nie Xu rapped him lightly. “Don’t turn things around just yet. Say fewer unlucky things from now on.”
“You still believe in this? Avoiding jinxes?” Ji Yang asked.
Nie Xu looked at him: “I didn’t before. Now I’d rather believe.”
Not believe—rather believe.
Ji Yang heard the difference.
Just then, a knock came from outside the door.
Han Biao’s voice came through indistinctly: “Boss, the reporters are here. Are we leaving now?”
“Got it. Let’s go,” Nie Xu answered.
Then he bent down again, slid his hand behind Ji Yang’s waist, and lifted him straight off the sofa.
He turned his head and glanced at Ji Yang’s mottled neck, touched it with the back of his hand, and said deliberately by his ear: “Sweetheart, do you need me to give you a little more time to tidy up? If you go on the news looking like this, how are you going to explain it?”
Ji Yang’s ears tickled and he kept dodging.
He glared at him and said: “When the time comes, I’ll say it was nibbled by the mysterious big shot Nathan. The reporters were chasing me for this in the first place—by then my follower count will definitely explode.”
Only after saying it did he remember how Nie Xu had addressed him, and he was so shocked his hair stood on end.
“Also, why are you calling me that?”
Nie Xu nodded: “Almost forgot. You really didn’t say that in your livestream.”
Ji Yang was baffled and was just about to ask what he’d said in his livestream,
when he heard a voice by his ear: “Baby?”
Ji Yang: “………………”
I’m never talking nonsense again!