Chapter 32#
Enrollment#
Ye Sheng hadn’t expected Ning Weichen to come. He sat on the sofa and turned around in surprise.
A group of people followed behind Ning Weichen — all enforcement officers from the Huai City Bureau. Cheng Fa, Xu Qing, and Yuanchun looked like they were swallowing nails, furious but not daring to say a word.
Ning Weichen met Ye Sheng’s eyes and broke into a smile. Then he turned to the people behind him with a graceful air. “Thank you for escorting me up. But what comes next — I’ll need to speak with Director Cheng privately.”
Butler Li immediately grasped his meaning. The moment Ning Weichen stepped through the door, Butler Li took hold of the handle and pulled it shut. Planting himself in front of the door, he turned a pleasant smile on Cheng Fa and the others. “Thank you all so much. The Young Master has matters to discuss with Director Cheng. We’ll wait downstairs.”
Yuanchun rolled his eyes. Cheng Fa shot Butler Li a single flat look, turned without a word, and headed back down.
Once inside, Ning Weichen strode forward and sat down beside Ye Sheng. He’d left the Rose Empire Hotel in a hurry and hadn’t had time to change — the cuffs of his dress shirt carried a faint, luxurious fragrance.
After settling in, he looked at Ye Sheng with eyes full of worry and apology, and said softly: “Sorry. I’m late.”
“…”
Compared to Ning Weichen’s acting, Ye Sheng’s was on a completely different planet.
Ning Weichen could wring undying devotion out of a piece of wood. Ye Sheng could offer nothing beyond a blank face.
To keep Director Cheng from seeing through them, Ye Sheng gave a vague, cool nod and occupied himself with looking down at his cup and drinking.
Fortunately, with Ning Weichen here, Cheng Ze’s attention had no reason to stay on him.
Cheng Ze was bewildered. “Fiancé?” Wasn’t it just a brief encounter on a train? How had it suddenly become fiancé?!
The moment Ning Weichen arrived, he took complete command of the negotiation. He directed one abundantly tender glance at Ye Sheng before turning to answer Cheng Ze’s question, lips curling as he nodded.
“Yes. Fiancé.”
“I just finished a call with my father — he gave me quite a scolding. It seems the Bureau has already filled him in on what happened on the train.” Ning Weichen’s smile carried a faint edge. “When he found out that I’d gotten someone pregnant and wasn’t planning to take responsibility, he felt I was being completely unacceptable. And especially now that this video has surfaced — with the entire Bizarre Empire’s eyes on me and Ye Sheng — my father felt that dragging an innocent person into danger was a deeply immoral thing to do. So he told me to make it right.”
The words make it right, spoken by him, seemed to come wrapped in a particular kind of warm, lingering suggestion. Ning Weichen’s peach-blossom eyes curved, and he reached out and took Ye Sheng’s left hand, threading their fingers together slowly.
He regarded Ye Sheng’s profile with apparent sincerity, considered for a moment, and said with a smile:
“I think my father is right. Ye Sheng is already carrying my child — of course he’s my fiancé. I need to take responsibility in every sense of the word. Including the legal one.”
Ye Sheng: “…”
He did genuinely admire Ning Weichen sometimes.
A completely improvised performance, and he could still build out endless sequels from it, airtight logic with a beginning, middle, and end.
A true award-winning actor, and no mistake.
That whole cup of water still wasn’t enough to douse the fire quietly burning in Ye Sheng’s chest.
The performance was so seamless that even Cheng Ze was left momentarily stunned. She’d never imagined the Ning family ran on principles like these. A globally elite financial dynasty — and the heir’s private life was managed this strictly? An unexpected pregnancy, and he had to formalize it with a commitment?
Cheng Ze was a little at a loss.
Ning Weichen curved his lips and said: “So I’m no longer in a rush to head back. My father has bought a flat near Huai’an University for me. If all goes as expected, I’ll be attending school alongside my fiancé.”
Ye Sheng: “…”
Cheng Ze: “…”
Cheng Ze forced the words out: “Didn’t you already graduate from MIT?”
Ning Weichen laughed and shrugged it off. “There’s nothing wrong with going back to school. Isn’t there a saying? Learning has no end.”
Cheng Ze: “…”
That’s not what that saying is for?!
With the Ning family’s resources, having Ning Weichen enrol in a domestic undergraduate programme was trivial to arrange. But it also meant that from now on, Ning Weichen and Ye Sheng would be inseparable.
The Bureau could disregard Ye Sheng’s wishes and put him under surveillance. But add Ning Weichen to the picture, and that became an entirely different matter.
The Ning family would not — could not — ever permit the Bureau to track and monitor their sole heir around the clock.
For all those years, even with their suspicions that an S-class aberrant had been implanted in Ning Weichen, they had only dared to investigate in the shadows, sending only elite officers.
No. This couldn’t be allowed. The two of them could not be left together.
Cheng Ze said: “Have you asked Ye Sheng what he wants?”
Yes — she suddenly remembered. Ye Sheng had wanted to terminate the pregnancy!
Ning Weichen heard this, and his smile deepened. He lifted Ye Sheng’s hand and turned to him. “Big brother, Director Cheng is asking you a question.”
Ye Sheng had, under conditions of complete non-thirst, just finished the entire cup of water.
He had a feeling that he and Ning Weichen were cosmically, inescapably bound together.
In any previous version of his life, Ye Sheng would have sooner died than accepted being another man’s partner.
But the olive branch Ning Weichen had just extended was, right now, the optimal solution. Ye Sheng didn’t want to be under Bureau surveillance — but he also needed to cooperate with the Bureau, to investigate the Forum, to trace the truth of his own origins.
Accepting the identity Ning Weichen had handed him was the best available move.
Jeremiel.
Mercy of God.
Ye Sheng looked up, brow slightly furrowed, at Ning Weichen. “You’re planning to stay in Huai City and go to school?”
Ning Weichen: “Yes.”
Ye Sheng: “Same school as me? Same programme?”
Ning Weichen smiled and winked. “Yes. And if you don’t want to move in with me, we could also share a dorm room.”
Ye Sheng declined without expression. “Thank you. No. I’ll stay in the dorms. You stay in the flat.”
Ning Weichen looked mildly put out. “Fine.”
Cheng Ze watched the two of them talk, feeling her heart sink slowly.
Ye Sheng took a slow breath, steadied himself, and turned to her. “Director Cheng, if Ning Weichen is with me at all times — does the Bureau still need to assign people to protect me?”
Cheng Ze managed a strained smile. “In theory, yes, that would be the case.”
“Then let’s do it that way,” Ye Sheng said. “Don’t arrange anyone near me. I’ll go on as if nothing happened — keep attending class, working, living normally — and wait for the aberrants to come to me. But I’ll stay in contact with you. I’ll let you know if anything unusual comes up. In exchange, I ask that you hold up your end of the agreement and keep me informed of everything you find out about the Forum.”
Cheng Ze was taken aback. She hadn’t expected Ye Sheng to still be willing to cooperate, now that he had Ning Weichen backing him.
“Agreed.” She reached for a sheet of paper without hesitation, uncapped a pen, quickly wrote down a string of numbers, and held it out to Ye Sheng.
“Anything out of the ordinary — come to me directly.”
Ye Sheng took the paper and nodded. “Thank you.”
Ning Weichen, watching from beside him, said to Cheng Ze: “Is there anything else, Director Cheng? If not, I’ll take him now.”
Cheng Ze pressed her lips together, brow creasing slightly as she looked at Ning Weichen. “There is.”
Ning Weichen raised an eyebrow.
Cheng Ze was, after all, a Class A enforcement officer and the director of the Huai City Bureau. She said: “This wanted notice came from the Divine Forbidden Zone. I’d like to ask, Young Master Ning — what does your father have to say about it?”
Ning Weichen heard this and let his lips curve in an unreadable way. “My father didn’t say much,” he replied easily. “Just told me to be careful. Personally, I think this is a good thing. Up until now, we’ve always been the ones in the open while they hid in the dark. This is a rare opportunity, isn’t it?”
Cheng Ze pressed her lips together. “It is.”
Ning Weichen laughed softly. “Then that’s settled. It’s my honour to be of assistance to the Bureau.”
With that courteous closing line, he took Ye Sheng’s hand and rose to leave.
The Huai City Bureau headquarters wasn’t located in the city centre but on the outskirts — secluded, in a spot few people ever passed through.
Ye Sheng stepped outside and found Butler Li was nowhere in sight.
Ning Weichen held the passenger door open for him and flashed a brilliant smile. “He’s gone to handle my enrollment. I’ll be your driver today, big brother.”
Ye Sheng’s first thought was: “Do you have a licence?”
Ning Weichen: “Yes. I got my California licence at sixteen.”
Ye Sheng, unmoved: “This is the Hua nation. Your licence is useless here.” Minors weren’t allowed to drive here — and a California licence didn’t transfer.
Ning Weichen, amused: “I’m not taking it on the road. Just down the hill.”
Ye Sheng shook his head. “Don’t bother.”
“Fine.” Ning Weichen glanced at his watch and pushed the car door shut. “We’re walking down, then?”
Ye Sheng: “Yes. I have some things I want to ask you.”
Ning Weichen’s expression shifted to something slightly odd at that.
He sent a quick message to Butler Li, then looked up at Ye Sheng, peach-blossom eyes carrying a smile and a hint of mockery.
“Big brother — don’t you think the way you’ve been talking to me lately is a little strange?”
Ye Sheng frowned. “Hm?”
Ning Weichen sauntered over, long legs at ease. “You’ve gotten rather used to giving me orders.”
Ye Sheng: “…” Come to think of it, he hadn’t even noticed he was doing it.
Ning Weichen flashed an ingratiating smile. “But I do what my big brother says. Ask whatever you want.”
Ye Sheng didn’t bother playing along. “Thank you for getting me out of that situation in there. But there’s no one around now — you can drop the act.”
Ning Weichen conceded with mild disappointment. “Fine. What do you want to know?”
Ye Sheng said: “You knew me before?”
Ning Weichen: “Yes.”
Ye Sheng said evenly: “What kind of person was I?”
Ning Weichen: “Which aspect did you have in mind?”
Ye Sheng: “Appearance, personality, background, interests.”
Ning Weichen laughed out loud. His gaze wandered over Ye Sheng at leisure for a moment, then he spoke slowly. “Your appearance and personality are exactly the same as now. As for background and interests — I’ve forgotten.”
Ye Sheng: “Forgotten?!”
Ning Weichen nodded. “These are things from a dream. Isn’t it perfectly normal not to remember the details?”
Ye Sheng was skeptical. “Are you sure it was a dream?”
Ning Weichen laughed. “You’re contradictory, big brother. You’re the one who said it was a dream — and now you’re the one questioning whether it was.” He smiled. “What, have you started hoping it wasn’t?”
Ye Sheng ignored the teasing entirely. His tone stayed level and serious. “Ning Weichen. How much do you actually remember about who I was before?”
Ning Weichen registered his sincerity and responded with a careless smile. “Not much.”
Ye Sheng’s brow knitted.
Ning Weichen sighed. “I saw you once on the train and fell for you on the spot, and then I did a string of things that go completely against my nature. I came out in front of a room full of people. I got lectured by my father. And now I’m going back to school for you.” His voice carried something difficult to name. “If I had any clear memories of what we were to each other — I’d probably lose my mind.”
Ye Sheng: “Then what do you remember?”
Ning Weichen clicked his tongue. “Hm. I remember we were together — and then you left me.”
“…” Ye Sheng pulled at the corner of his mouth and pressed on: “When were we together?”
He didn’t believe it was at age five. Maybe before his… rebirth, or whatever it was.
Ning Weichen noticed that Ye Sheng was far more interested in this subject than he himself was, and somehow that made him lose interest.
The mountain path was lined on both sides with white hydrangeas in full bloom.
Ning Weichen’s gaze was pulled apart by the light and shadow of midsummer. After a long silence, he said:
“Ye Sheng. You won’t get your answers from me.”
Ye Sheng said nothing.
Ning Weichen laughed softly, voice even: “Because I don’t want to remember.”
He continued: “My personal physician told me that the things troubling me are false — all of them nightmares. I’ve had three rounds of emotional cleansing. I can’t recall any specific details. They said that after an aberrant implantation, humans show various abnormalities. My condition was apparently something like psychedelic delusions.”
“Stop asking, baby.” His tone was flat. “That’s not what matters most right now anyway.”
When Ye Sheng heard the words aberrant implantation and psychedelic delusions, his brow furrowed deep — but at the same time, a slow understanding settled the confusion in his chest.
He’d always felt that Ning Weichen’s talk of past lives was nonsense. Ye Sheng had never imagined himself capable of loving anyone, nor did he think himself someone others could love. He’d only gone to Ning Weichen out of desperation, grasping for any thread that might tell him about his past.
Maybe it really was just a delusion induced by the implanted aberrant.
Now that he knew Sector Six existed, it was entirely plausible that Ning Weichen might have hallucinated a “past life” scenario — Buddhist doctrine included the concept of reincarnation, after all.
Ning Weichen was right. That wasn’t what mattered most right now.
But with the abilities Ye Sheng currently had, the only strategy was to hold still and let things come to him.
He stopped asking questions and opened his phone to check the time. Already nine in the morning.
He needed to let Xia Wenshí know he’d be taking a half-day off, and head to the haunted house that afternoon.
He ignored the 99+ notifications from the dorm group chat and the freshman group chat, and left a message in the work chat instead.
He’d had no money for even the bus fare to the Rose Empire Hotel this morning. More pressing than any aberrant was the fact that he was almost out of money for food.
Poverty was truly scarier than ghosts.
Meanwhile, back at the Boo! Haunted House, Huang Qiqi and Xia Wenshi had both left their phones untouched.
They had finished their preparations with great enthusiasm and were fully ready. Tonight, they were going to lure that scumbag to Lover’s Lake at Huai’an University and scare him out of his mind with the recording.