Feeling the coolness on his neck, along with this choked out apology, Pei Yi’s heart seemed to be crushed into two halves.

These few hours, how much had Bo Yueming suppressed his self-blame for his kidnapping?

This was why he was so wild, fragile, and agitated.

“Er-ge, it’s not your fault. You don’t need to apologize to me.”

Pei Yi mirrored Bo Yueming’s actions in order to comfort him, gently rubbing the back of his lover’s neck again and again. “I know, I know, I didn’t let you come to me.”

“I should have gone,” Bo Yueming replied very softly, the strength of his embrace never relaxing.

“I shouldn’t have left you alone. I should have learned my lesson from the first two banquets, but I still took it lightly.”

Pei Yi coaxed him with a hint of humor, “Okay, I forgive you. I’ll ask Mr. Bo to pay attention next time, all right?”

One couldn’t imagine that a thief was living in their own house.

Who would have expected that Bo Guancheng would still be thinking of finding someone to attack him at this juncture?

Thanks to their infrequent contact and his “foolish” disguise on the occasions they met, the poor information had given Pei Yi the chance to escape.

Bo Yueming regained his sanity in his lover’s embrace, and finally recovered from his ruthlessness. “Did I hit him hard just now?”

Pei Yi patted him on the back. “Yes, ah. If I hadn’t come, you would have beat him to death.”

Bo Yueming loosened his grip, but the hostility in his heart had not completely dissipated. “He should be killed.”

Bo Guancheng’s tricks had not been used once or twice. He had planned the car accident, drugged and slandered him—

Bo Yueming could bear it for the sake of the overall situation, but today, the other party had touched his bottom line, and he couldn’t stand it anymore!

“That won’t work. If you kill him, you’ll be at fault.” Pei Yi kissed Bo Yueming’s lips, and said regretfully, “We should send him to jail, the longer the better.”

For a young master like Bo Guancheng who was used to living a good life, sending him to prison would be worse than death for him.

Bo Yueming took a deep breath. “Don’t talk about him, let me see. Where are you hurt?”

Pei Yi said with a guilty conscience, “I’m not hurt, ah.”

Bo Yueming debunked his lover’s well-intentioned excuses. “You can’t hide it from me. During the video call just now, you held the phone very close on purpose, because you were afraid that I would see and be distracted during the meeting.”

“…….”

Bo Yueming took him to sit on the sofa. “Is this coat Mr. Qin’s?”

“En, I was caught off guard today and tied up, and I didn’t have enough clothes……” As he spoke, Pei Yi remembered one important thing.

His expression changed, and he raised his hand, slapping his thigh with force, but unfortunately, his unspoken question changed in tone, “—Hiss!”

His injured right arm went numb with the movement, and Pei Yi’s face twisted.

Bo Yueming was suddenly anxious. “What’s wrong?”

Pei Yi endured the pain and said, “It’s not me, it’s Uncle Kai! Uncle Kai fainted!”

Bo Yueming explained, “I’ve already asked Lao Fu to rush back. He just passed out for a while with a slight concussion, and he’ll be fine after a few days.”

“What about your arm—”

Carefully taking off his lover’s coat, he stopped in astonishment halfway through his words of concern.

There was a tear in Pei Yi’s right sleeve, and when carefully peeled open, it could be seen that there was a big abrasion, red, swollen, and bruised, with oozing blood. It looked very serious.

In contrast, the ligature marks on his wrists and ankles looked very light.

“What happened!”

Bo Yueming’s heart ached as if someone had their hands around his arteries. “Did they mistreat you? How did you get hurt?”

 Pei Yi lowered his eyes and muttered, “I was careless and fell down.”

“Don’t try to lie to me!” Excessive worry caused Bo Yueming to raise his voice for a moment, then he quickly softened it and coaxed, “Kitten, be honest.”

Pei Yi knew that the possibility of deceiving his lover was very slim, so he briefly talked about his experience of being tied up, and then vaguely talked about the end—

“I really couldn’t escape out the front, and I couldn’t let them take me to another location, so I jumped out the bathroom window on the third floor and j-jumped to a second floor platform on the other side.”

Pei Yi carefully observed his lover’s face, and the more he looked, the more confident he became. “I d-didn’t land firmly, and fell sideways.”

“……”

The blue veins on Bo Yueming’s forehead stood out, as if he was trying to restrain himself, and his eyes were beyond red.

“Aiya, I told you I’m fine.” Pei Yi rubbed the corners of Bo Yueming’s eyes with his warm fingertips, and deliberately teased, “Are you twenty-six or a seven-year-old child? Why are you still crying?”

Bo Yueming suppressed his emotion and held his hand, wanting to touch but daring not to. “Does it hurt?”

“It hurts, ah.”

Pei Yi simply stopped hiding it.

He slipped into Bo Yueming’s arms, both coquettish and comforting. “I need you to hug me so I feel better.”

Bo Yueming avoided his injury as much as he could, and kissed his hair. “Do you want to go to the hospital? Or do you want to go home and call for private medical treatment?”

“En, let’s go to the hospital. My brother has been worried this whole way.”

Pei Yi had originally planned to rush to Bo Group and then deal with the injury, but upon arriving to the door—

He saw law enforcement officers taking away a nearly fainting Cheng Yangshan, as well as an ashen-faced Bo Lihui, but only Bo Guancheng was nowhere to be seen. 

For some reason, Pei Yi was instinctively worried about Bo Yueming, so he rushed over just in time to see the previous scene.

His lover hit as hard as he could, and the powerless Bo Guancheng was beaten until he almost passed out.

Pei Yi asked in confusion, “By the way, why wasn’t Bo Guancheng taken away?”

Bo Yueming replied, “Some time ago, Zhong Yi and I checked the company’s accounts for the past year. Without exception, all of the financial records and projects were signed by Bo Lihui.”

It was possible that Cheng Yangshan and Bo Lihui had kept a trick up their sleeves by preventing Bo Guancheng from participating.

It was also possible that Bo Guancheng had calculated the danger of being exposed and took himself out early.

Pei Yi thought of Bo Guancheng’s behavior all this time and was leaning toward the latter option—

Bo Guancheng had Cheng Yangshan and Bo Lihui’s selfish genes engraved into his bones, and even more. He was the one who knew best how to instigate schemes while protecting himself amongst these three relatives!

Pei Yi asked, “What does the Old Madam intend to do? Is she going to be lenient with Bo Guancheng?”

After all, he was one of the grandsons that she had once favored.

Bo Yueming shook his head. “Grandma isn’t someone who acts unreasonably in favor of her own relatives. My car accident and your kidnapping were caused by Bo Guancheng. As long as there is evidence, she won’t play favorites.”

“That’s great.”

That being the case, they had nothing to be polite about.

At the next prison meal, Bo Guancheng must also have a bowl, so that the three surnamed Cheng family members could be reunited.

Bo Yueming glanced at the electronic clock on the wall. “Let’s go, I’ll take you to the hospital.”

Pei Yi didn’t refuse. “Okay.”

When the two walked back to the headquarters lobby, they happened to bump into someone taking Bo Guancheng, who had lost blood and fainted, to the hospital.

Qin Yishun saw his little brother’s figure and approached. “Xiao Yi.”

Pei Yi murmured softly, “Brother, why are your men sending that guy to the hospital?”

“If he isn’t sent to the hospital and there are serious consequences, who will it fall on?”

Qin Yishun glanced at the “culprit”, Bo Yueming, and added, “I’ll send someone to watch Bo Guancheng. As long as those three confess to the police, he will definitely not be able to escape punishment.”

Bo Yueming knew that he had lost his calmness and sense of proportion, so he gave his sincere thanks, “Mr. Qin, thank you for today.”

Qin Yishun still put on the air of “being a big brother,” and pretended to be indifferent. “Don’t be polite. I’m doing it for Xiao Yi, not for you.”

“Thank you, Brother!”

Pei Yi jumped on the opportunity to create peace, and asked on the sly, “Brother, weren’t you going to help me beat him?”

Qin Yishen covered his lips with a clenched fist, feeling a little uncomfortable about ‘doing bad things.’ “I made a few moves while helping to put him on the stretcher. It hurt the bones, but not the skin. He’ll suffer.”

Bursting with delight, Pei Yi gave him a covert thumbs up with his uninjured left hand. “Awesome! As expected of my big brother!”

He thought of how beaten up Bo Guancheng was when awake, and how he was plotted against while he was unconscious—

En, so cool!

Qin Yishun’s expression eased a lot in the face of his little brother’s smile. “All right, let’s go to the hospital.”

Bo Yueming was in the same camp. “Yes, let’s go to the hospital first. Nothing is more important than your injury right now.”

Having finally heard a pleasing sentence, Qin Yishun nodded slightly.

Not bad!

His little brother’s affairs should come first.

Pei Yi looked at his elder brother and his lover who were not yet on friendly terms, and decided to contribute his own strength to the harmony of the family!

With no delay, he tugged Qin Yishun’s wrist with his injured left hand and gently hooked Bo Yueming’s fingertips with his injured right hand.

“Go, go, I’ll go to the hospital with you both right away!”

As soon as these words fell, the three of them saw the nearby elevator door open—

Sitting in a wheelchair, Bo Peizhi was pushed out of the elevator by Zhong Yi, the latter’s complexion slightly grim.

Pei Yi looked at Qin Yishun and changed track in a whisper. “Brother, can you go and start the car first? We’ll go over immediately after greeting the Old Madam.”

Qin Yishun nodded. “Okay. Don’t delay too long, your injury still needs to be dealt with as soon as possible.”

“En.”

Bo Yueming and Pei Yi walked up to the Old Madam. “Grandma, are you feeling unwell? Shall we take you to the hospital again?”

Bo Peizhi shook her head. “No, it’s just that I haven’t had the energy to talk this much for a long time. I feel a little tired after slacking off for so long, so I just need to go home and have a good rest.”

She hadn’t been back to Bo Manor for a long time, and now that the root of evil had been dealt with, she could finally pack up and go home.

The bodyguards sent by Qin Yishun were still there, and the medical staff from Mingxi Manor had been paid for at-home services, so there was nothing for her juniors to worry about.

At this thought, Bo Yueming unconsciously glanced at Pei Yi.

Pei Yi at once politely greeted, “Old Madam.”

Bo Peizhi asked in a low voice, “Have you been wronged? Did that bastard Guancheng plot against you?”

She couldn’t think of any other reason that could have made the always calm and restrained Bo Yueming lose control like that.

Pei Yi also didn’t want his elder to worry. “It was a small matter. Old Madam, please rest well. Don’t be concerned about me, I have Er-ge.”

The last sentence was infused with a bit of unique sweetness.

Bo Peizhi smiled, liking Pei Yi from the bottom of her heart. “Deal with it early and go home, then have a reunion dinner with Grandma tonight.”

Although there were fewer people, there was the new addition of Pei Yi, and the atmosphere must be much better than before.

Pei Yi understood tacitly. “Okay, Grandma.”

Hearing his lover change his address, there was finally a hint of a smile in Bo Yueming’s eyes, and the frightening feeling of being on the verge of losing control just now disappeared at last.

Bo Peizhi was also very satisfied, and waved her hand with a smile. “All right, you two go first.”

Under her affirming eyes, lightly held his lover’s hand again and led him to turn around and leave.

Zhong Yi gazed at the backs of the departing young couple and bent down with a slight smile. “Old Madam, these two kids are really a match. I used to look at Yueming’s indifferent temperament and think that he would never find a partner in his life.”

As she spoke, she remembered the entertaining story of Pei Yi at the exchange banquet in Wencheng, and joked about it with Bo Peizhi in a whisper.

Bo Peizhi followed suit with a smile. “Xiao Yi is an interesting kid, smart enough, straightforward enough, and cute. And he’s able to manage Yueming’s cold temperament.”

That shameless old bastard Cheng Yangshan did the right thing by making this mistake!

Bo Peizhi recalled the secret preparations they had made recently, and patted Zhong Yi’s wrist. “A-Yi, you’ve worked hard during this time, coming here to help with everything.”

“Old Madam, what are you talking about? You treat me just like your own daughter.”

“After I got married, everyone thought that I followed my husband to go out and start a business. Only you understand and know that I am the one who really wants to work hard on my own and take care of things outside.”

From graduating university until now, Zhong Yi had learned and benefited a lot from Bo Peizhi, and was grateful.

Zhong Yi asked with a smile, “My company over there is stable, and my daughter is also being taken care of by her father and nanny. I’ll stay in the capital with you for a while longer before I leave?”

Bo Peizhi answered, “Yes, of course.”

The two returned to the parking lot with the rest of the bodyguards, and saw a figure from a distance.

Bo Jiao ran up, and said with some rare embarrassment, “Grandma.”

Bo Peizhi understood her unspoken thoughts. “Jiaojiao wants to go back with me?”

Bo Jiao nodded. There was something in her heart that she wanted to ask clearly.

Bo Peizhi didn’t refuse. “Then let’s go together.”

The car door closed, and they drove toward Bo Manor.

Bo Jiao still had her straightforward personality, and couldn’t help but ask, “Grandma, did you and my brother prepare ahead of time and set up today’s shareholders meeting?”

Hearing this address from Bo Jiao’s mouth, she smiled slightly and responded, “Yes.”

She looked at her granddaughter who had grown up abroad. “Jiaojiao, I know what you want to ask. Your brother offered to let you speak for the first round of reports at the meeting.”

This was something that she and Bo Yueming had prepared in advance—

Bo Jiao had the same demeanor that she had in the past, but she was still young and lacked experience, and wasn’t a familiar face in front of the shareholders. Today’s shareholders meeting was a good opportunity.

“Jiaojiao, Grandma is actually very glad that you grew up with the Xue family abroad. At least you could avoid being affected by the bad views and influences from our family.”

“After you joined the group, you spent a lot more time with Yueming. You should know what sort of character he has, right?”

Bo Jiao nodded.

Watching the street go by outside the window, Bo Peizhi spoke earnestly, “There are people in the main branch and second branch who think that I’m biased, but you must think about it—”

“It was your father’s mistake in his youth that produced Yueming before he met your mother. This sort of background shouldn’t be considered a sin on Yueming’s shoulders.”

“During these years, if I didn’t protect him a little more, he would have only received more indifference and ridicule.”

Bo Jiao’s eyes lowered slightly. “I understand.”

Not to mention other people, Xue Min’s disgust toward Bo Yueming and Bo Wang’s bullying alone were not something that an ordinary person could bear.

After this experience, the second branch knew who was right and who was wrong, who was good and who was bad.

“I know your father is not good at managing things, so I gave him a more relaxed subsidiary company. If you and Bo Wang are interested in the affairs of the group and having positions, Grandma is willing to give you a chance to practice.”

“The Bo family can stand firm by relying on pure strength, so don’t think about crooked ways, all right?”

“Understood.”

Bo Peizhi breathed a sigh of relief, and said calmly, “You are the future of the Bo family. If you, brother and sister, do not separate, our Bo family can go far.”

Bo Jiao’s heart was moved, and she replied even more resolutely, “Grandma, don’t worry, I will talk to my mother—”

“In, in the future, I will definitely not treat my brother like before.”

“En, good child.”

. . . . . . .

Ten p.m.

Pei Yi, who had been exhausted all day, finally lay back in bed. “So tired. So sleepy.”

Bo Yueming approached his lover and carefully peeled off the waterproof wrapping from his wound. “Did you get any water on it when you washed? Does it still hurt?”

“No, I was very careful.”

Pei Yi could see that Bo Yueming was still anxious, and he only said, “It doesn’t hurt very much, but my arm is still swollen and I can’t lift it up.”

Bo Yueming was still distressed. “It will probably take ten days to half a month for the swelling to subside.”

Pei Yi didn’t want him to continue thinking about the wound, so he changed the subject. “Er-ge, did you notice tonight that the second branch’s attitude toward you is much better?”

“Especially Bo Wang.”

That kid used to turn up his nose at Bo Yueming, but tonight at the dining table in the main house, he offered to pour wine for Bo Yueming.

Bo Yueming replied placidly, “Something like that happened to the main branch, and they restrained themselves toward me for Grandma’s sake.”

Pei Yi shook his head. “When Grandma was at home before, did they restrain themselves? I see, ah. Time reveals a person’s heart, and they finally see you.”

Bo Yueming was indifferent. “I’ve been here for so many years. No matter whether they treat me well or not, it doesn’t mean much to me anymore.”

As long as they didn’t touch his bottom line like the main branch did, Bo Yueming was willing to coexist peacefully with them, but there would be no deeper emotions.

Pei Yi nodded and yawned a little, nestling into the left side of the bed as usual. “I’m a little sleepy.”

“Then rest.”

Bo Yueming also lay down, saying, “You lay down with your back facing me. Don’t press on your left arm tonight.”

“En.”

Pei Yi obediently leaned into his lover’s arms.

Bo Yueming encircled him tightly and pressed his lips against his lover’s neck, but didn’t attack. “Pei Yi.”

It was a simple call, with the joy and cherishment of regaining something lost.

Pei Yi lightly rubbed the back of his hand. “En?”

“Nothing, go to sleep.” Bo Yueming hesitated to speak, and kissed his ear. “Good night.”

“Good night,” Pei Yi responded in a whisper.

He only felt that Bo Yueming’s grip on his waist was tighter than before.

. . . . . . .

Bo Yueming didn’t sleep soundly this time. In his sleep, he heard the ringing of a phone—

When he rummaged around and found that the call was connected, it was still that same call from the kidnappers, but this time they refused to let him see Pei Yi!

Bo Yueming was vaguely flustered, but didn’t believe it. He subconsciously believed that Pei Yi was sleeping in his arms. He struggled to wake up from the dream, and before he could take a breath—

His arms were empty!

The lover who was supposed to be sleeping in his arms had disappeared!

“…….”

Dream and reality tangled together in a flustered maze, firmly capturing Bo Yueming inside it.

His mind went blank for a moment, and he almost fell out of bed as he rushed out. “Pei Yi? Pei Yi!”

“Er-ge?”

Pei Yi returned from outside in the small living room, his voice abnormally hoarse. “Why are you awake? Did I disturb you?”

As soon as the lingering sound fell, Bo Yueming approached in big strides and pulled him into his arms, still remembering to avoid the injured arm.

“Where did you go in the middle of the night?” Bo Yueming tried his best to restrain himself, but there was still undue tremor at the end of his tone. “Where did you go?”

“……”

Pei Yi’s dizziness brought on by the exertion stopped, and he murmured hoarsely, “I was a little uncomfortable, so I wanted to get up and drink some warm water.”

He had been very careful not to wake Bo Yueming, but didn’t expect to hear the other party’s panicked shouts just a few steps into the living room.

Pei Yi reached out and patted Bo Yueming’s head, coaxing, “Er-ge, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll stay by your side.”

“……”

Bo Yueming breathed in with great effort, and managed to calm down.

He felt Pei Yi’s forehead, picked up his lover in front of him again, and brought him back to the bed to settle down.

“You’re sick with a fever? Why didn’t you wake me up when you felt uncomfortable?”

Pei Yi murmured, “I thought about it for a minute or two, but I didn’t want to bother you.”

When he was sick and didn’t feel good in the past, Pei Yi could take care of himself well. But the drinking fountain at the water bar seemed to be broken, and since he was unable to get his warm water, he intended to go downstairs.

“What is the relationship between us? How can you mention bothering me?” Bo Yueming was angry and helpless as he wrapped the quilt tightly for him.

“Stay still, I’ll get you some water.”

Pei Yi leaned forward to kiss his lips, and obeyed in a well-behaved manner. “Okay.”

Three minutes later.

After drinking half a glass of warm water, Pei Yi’s thirst was relieved.

Bo Yueming took his temperature with an electronic thermometer. “You have a slight fever, but there’s no need to take medicine for the time being. Sleep for the night and I’ll check it again when we wake up tomorrow morning.”

Pei Yi nodded, and took the initiative to move his position. “Er-ge, let me switch sides with you? I like to sleep face to face in your arms.”

“All right.”

The bedside lamp gave off only the dimmest gleam of light.

Pei Yi huddled in Bo Yueming’s warm embrace. Recalling the two panicked and uneasy cries he heard not long ago, he felt a little distressed.

He raised his eyes to look at Bo Yueming, who was only a short distance away, and understood the unease deep in his heart.

Pei Yi had always known that he was important to Bo Yueming, but now he had a new understanding of this importance.

Pei Yi breathed lightly. “Er-ge, do you know what I was thinking when I jumped out of that window today?”

Hearing the words “jumped out of that window,” Bo Yueming’s body automatically tensed. “Hm?”

Pei Yi kissed his Adam’s apple. “I was thinking, wouldn’t it be such a pity if an accident happened?”

Bo Yueming denied, “What pity? Don’t talk nonsense!”

Pei Yi looked into his eyes and leaned up to kiss his lover’s lips, saying carefully, “Bo Yueming, I’m right here, staying in your arms.”

“I know,” Bo Yueming replied in a whisper.

“I can take care of myself. I’ll avoid danger as much as possible, and I will not disappear suddenly, much less leave you alone in the middle of the night. I promise.”

“……”

The uneasiness deep in Bo Yueming’s heart was stripped away until it was completely gone. “Don’t lie to me.”

Pei Yi leaned close and kissed his lover over and over. “I won’t lie to you.”

The two exchanged light kisses.

Pei Yi’s cheeks flushed faintly, and he continued to tell him what he hadn’t finished voicing just now in a light manner. 

“I thought for a second or two when I jumped out of the window today that I hadn’t been able to communicate with you in-depth. Wouldn’t it be a pity if I just fell stupidly and miserably like that?”

“If so, I would rather be sleeping with you……”

“……”

Bo Yueming was taken aback. “You’re talking nonsense again.”

Pei Yi smiled and got closer, shyly comforting him and boldly showing his love. “Er-ge, do you want me?”

---

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Chapter Seventy-Three <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Seventy-Five

T/N: Thank you to hope for the donation! Another double update, here we gooooo

*

A WeChat video call suddenly popped up. It was Bo Yueming.

Pei Yi inexplicably panicked, afraid that his sorry appearance would make his lover worry.

He quickly wiped his face with a wet paper towel, smoothed his messy hair a bit, and gathered his outermost coat in before answering the video call.

Bo Yueming’s face appeared the moment the screen switched on.

They had obviously just seen each other that morning, but what happened these few short hours was not something that anyone could easily bear.

After seeing Bo Yueming, Pei Yi’s courage when facing his kidnappers collapsed in an instant, and he felt an inexplicable sense of grievance and sourness. “Er-ge.”

“Pei Yi.”

The two spoke at the same time and stopped at the same time.

Bo Yueming stared at him without blinking, the worry in his eyes undiminished. “Why did it take so long for the video call to connect, are you injured?”

“No, I’m fine, it’s just a little cold.”

Pei Yi explained his situation very lightly, not wanting to distract Bo Yueming from his business at the shareholder meeting for the time being.

He glanced at Qin Yishun, who was sitting quietly by his side with his face growing darker and darker, and added in a very low whisper, “Er-ge, my big brother is getting angry, shh.”

“…….”

Suddenly being used as an excuse to “bluff” people, Qin Yishun’s expression darkened even more—

What was so good about Bo Yueming? Was he enthralled by his own little brother’s willing appearance? 

Seeing that Pei Yi liked him, Qin Yishun just turned a blind eye. As a result, his little brother was involved in the Bo family’s disputes two and then three times, and each time was more frightening!

It had been less than five minutes since he had gotten out of a dangerous situation, and in front of his brother, he only had eyes for Bo Yueming?

“…….”

A daughter married off was like water poured out, and it was hard to recover a cabbage with long legs!^[1]

Qin Yishun remembered this joke he had heard in the army before, and simply turned his gaze out the window so he couldn’t see them.

Annoying!

At this moment, the ‘annoying’ Pei Yi was still immersed in the video call, not revealing the wounds on his body. “Er-ge, the shareholder meeting hasn’t ended so soon, has it?”

“Not yet, I rushed out after receiving the WeChat message.”

Bo Yueming glanced in the direction of the large conference room and explained, “The most important part on the agenda is coming soon.”

Pei Yi was anxious. “Then you go back quickly, what are you still doing here chatting with me?”

Hearing that his tone was as normal as always, Bo Yueming only said, “Listening to your voice wasn’t enough, I needed to see you to rest assured. I’m ready to go back now.”

Pei Yi nodded. “En, don’t forget the business I mentioned.”

Bo Yueming recalled the previous voice message, and his ribcage became a shield as he recovered his confidence. “I know, none of them will leave with a smile today.”

“Okay, go ahead. I’ll wait for you to finish.”

Pei Yi hung up the phone, only to find that his brother’s expression was nearly as black as carbon.

“…….”

Pei Yi suddenly realized the seriousness of the problem, and the curve at the corners of his mouth widened a bit, trending toward cute and obedient.

“Brother?”

“Don’t call me Brother and take my phone to send WeChat messages and make phone calls. You only think about Bo Yueming, but have you ever thought about your brother who was worried this whole time?”

Qin Yishun took a deep breath, feeling a little sour.

Pei Yi thought of the special endearment he had sent Bo Yueming in that WeChat voice message, and his eyes filled with a bit of guilt.

“Cough.” He deleted the WeChat voice message without any trace. “Brother, I really know I was wrong.”

“Can’t you see me now? I’m fine! Don’t worry about me, okay?”

Qin Yishun looked at his red, swollen, bleeding arm and frowned. “You call this fine?”

“The wounds on the wrists and ankles are self-explanatory, but what happened to your arm? Did they drag you on the concrete?”

“No.”

Pei Yi thought of his risky jump from the building that could have resulted in disaster if he was a little careless, and his eyes wandered in avoidance. “I just fell when I was running away barefoot.”

It was indeed a fall, but not on flat ground, and was instead a fall from a high place to a low place.

Qin Yishuen felt that the wound was not that simple. Just as he was about to ask, there was a knock on the car door—

The subordinate sent over the shoes and socks that had been bought for the interim. “Boss Qin, the things you asked for.”

“We also handed over the three kidnappers and their weapons to the police, and Mr. Pei may be required to give a statement later.”

Pei Yi took the opportunity to change the subject. “Okay, I’ve troubled you.”

“It’s no trouble.”

The subordinate stopped there and turned to leave.

Pei Yi picked up the shoes and socks, and blatantly changed the topic, “Aiyo, I’ll put them on quickly, my feet are almost numb from the cold. Brother, you drive, I still want to go to Bo Group to watch the excitement.”

Qin Yishun was angry and helpless. “Do you have to go?”

Pei Yi nodded affirmatively, a dark light overflowing from the corners of his reddened eyes.

“The culprit of the kidnapping is still at Headquarters, and I can’t let this go. Brother, will you teach him a lesson for me later?”

Qin Yishun had always had no way to deal with Pei Yi, not to mention that his last sentence really hit him in the heart.

“Brother~”

Pei Yi’s voice dragged on for a long time. “Let’s go. At worst, we’ll arrive at Bo Group in a while and you can apply medicine for me, okay?”

Qin Yishun sighed. “Fasten your seatbelt.”

Pei Yi responded with a smile, “Okay!”

. . . . . . .

The door of the conference room reopened.

After settling his emotions, Bo Yueming walked steadily back to his place before everyone’s eyes, and calmly took control. “Apologies, some personal matters delayed me. Where are we now?”

Sitting in the back row, Bo Guancheng narrowed his eyes, feeling that something was wrong—

Why did he come back?

Shouldn’t he have run off to find Pei Yi, unable to sit still? Why did he look more at ease than before?

Some shareholders couldn’t help being curious. “Mr. Bo, are, are your eyes okay?”

Bo Yueming took off his concealing guide glasses and placed them lightly on the table. “They’re pretty much healed. Thank you, shareholders, for your concern.”

The light in those blue eyes had rekindled again, even a bit colder than before.

Bo Yueming looked around at the large and small shareholders, and paused for a moment on Bo Guancheng’s face. “As the only ‘general manager’ of Bo Group, I will better lead the group to a new level in the future.”

He bit out the word “only,” and Bo Guancheng grit his teeth upon hearing it.

“In this near year, shareholders and—” Bo Yueming gestured toward Cheng Yangshan and Bo Lihui, and said simply, “Mr. Chairman, please support me.”

The next step was voting to “hire or dismiss” the holders of high level positions. His pre-emptive move made it clear that he had grabbed the shareholders’ votes before the decision-making could begin—

It had to be known that Bo Yueming was able to win the Wencheng project while blind, and now he had publicly stated that his eyesight had recovered. Wouldn’t this improve project efficiency?

At this time, who would object to a general manager that could make the group a profit?

Sure enough, there were shareholders that responded quickly and happily, “That is a matter of course. Let the company’s projects be handed over to Mr. Bo. We can all rest assured!”

“Yes, ah, yes, ah.”

Hearing the responses of many shareholders, Bo Lihui subconsciously looked at Cheng Yangshan, a little anxious.

Cheng Yangshan hadn’t expected for this to happen either, but the matter had come to this point. He still grabbed his cane and tapped it hard, beginning the “scene” that he had planned beforehand—

“I, Cheng Yangshan, do not agree with Bo Yueming continuing to serve as general manager of Bo Group!”

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone’s attention was drawn in.

Bo Jiao was the first to ask, “Why?”

Cheng Yangshan straightened up, harnessing his speaking skills. “Why? He knows this himself!”

A shareholder who was biased toward the main branch assisted him, saying, “From the old man’s tone, has Bo Yueming done something outrageous?”

Bo Yueming picked up his water glass with no outward panic at all.

Cheng Yangshan knew that he was not someone who was easy to deal with, so he took out the set of excuses he had prepared in the beginning, “Ladies and gentlemen, family affairs should not be publicized, but this bastard has made too many mistakes!”

“I was unable to teach him well, but for the sake of the future of Bo Group, I can only place justice above family and remove him from his position. I implore everyone to help me!”

The well-prepared remarks drew the attention of the conference room to the utmost, seemingly reserving affection for Bo Yueming, but actually pushing him to the forefront.

Bo Jiao didn’t know what kind of medicine he was selling in his gourd, and was worried for Bo Yueming—

Over these months of working together, she had truly recognized the other party’s ability, and also accepted him as her half-brother.

Bo Jiao leaned in toward Bo Yueming on his right, and asked in a whisper, “Brother, what does the old man mean by this?”

A sneer appeared at the corner of Bo Yueming’s mouth, and he deliberately didn’t lower his voice. “Since everyone is here, I’ll ask Mr. Cheng to publicly clarify.”

The vague provocation of “Mr. Cheng” made the atmosphere even more tense.

Cheng Yangshan’s expression was slightly stiff, and as if to cover something up, he slammed down with his cane. “Up to now, you still don’t know to repent?”

“Using the convenience of the general manager position and your grandmother’s trust in you, how much funding have you embezzled privately? The GM commercial investment firm in your own name, how did you get the money for it? Don’t you know?”

“After being discovered by your grandmother at the beginning of this year, she originally wanted to educate you in private, but you didn’t consider the kindness of your relatives at all and pushed her to the ground, causing her to fall into a coma!”

Everyone present was shocked to hear this.

What?

Was Old Chairwoman Bo’s accident man-made?

Bo Yueming pushed her after doing something wicked? 

Bo Jiao was the first to deny it, “How is this possible? Who doesn’t know that my brother is the child brought up by Grandma herself? How could he hurt her?”

The shareholders nodded slightly as they recalled the past. 

“How is it impossible!”

Bo Guancheng stood up from the back row, showing his presence. He walked forward from the back while continuing to add “evidence” against Bo Yueming—

“Not long after the old lady fell into a coma, Bo Yueming moved her behind our backs! Whenever we ask about her, he blocks us with various excuses!”

“He’s clearly afraid that the old lady will expose his bad deeds when she wakes up, and he wants to be the first to silence her!”

“The heavens are watching when humans act. Not long after Grandma’s accident, he also lost his sight in a car accident, which temporarily curbed his wolfish ambitions!”

Bo Lihui chimed in cooperatively, “Everyone, it’s not that I’m partial to my own son. There is something else I want to clarify—”

“Guancheng is definitely not a womanizer. The previous incident occurred because someone plotted against him and drugged him. He immediately went for a drug test and handed it over to the police to file a case.”

This was, of course, made up.

“The reason we refrained from speaking is because the investigation results have not been released, so he can only suffer ridicule and grievances in vain.”

Bo Lihui glanced in Bo Yueming’s direction very obviously.

Shareholders who favored the main branch played along, “Chairman, you really save face when you speak!”

“Some time ago, Guancheng had an accident, and the positions of general manager and deputy general manager went to the second branch siblings, and Bo Yueming’s eyes recovered a long time ago. Where can there be such a coincidence?”

“All the shareholders present are not fools, you can see the trick that is being played here!”

He secretly misappropriated funds and hurt the old lady, but going blind in the car accident affected his plans?

And after his eyes healed, he teamed up with the second branch to remove Bo Guancheng from the position as general manager!

What was next? Was he aiming for the position of chairman of Bo Group?

In the large conference hall, discussions abounded.

Bo Yueming felt the gazes cast by everyone, either anxious, puzzled, or questioning, and felt a chill in his heart—

What was he seeing?

Did they want to surreptitiously substitute one thing for another and create a patchwork plan to frame him?

It was clear that Cheng Yangshan had failed to embezzle public funds, and accidentally injured Old Mrs. Bo, but now this set of charges was placed on him?

He had worked and saved money during university, and co-founded GM after his graduation, but even this had become part of the unwarranted allegations?

The car accident was caused by Bo Guancheng, and Bo Guancheng dispensed the drugs first, but now he said the car crash was only an accident and wanted to secretly frame him?

Were the three of them innocent? They were clearly jackals of the same tribe!

Wicked! Ridiculous! Shameless!

Bo Jiao still didn’t believe the main branch’s arguments, and urged in a low voice, “Brother, can you explain?”

Bo Yueming stroked his watch, and said with a calm and breezy air that no outsiders could see though, “What about the evidence? You don’t intend to convict me based on your few arrangements, do you?”

Cheng Yangshan had already guessed that he would ask this question, and continued to create difficulties, “Arrangements? Do you still need us to spell out what you must do?”

“Since you want clarification, then get it from the source! Let your grandmother come out and clarify for you!”

Cheng Yangshan stood up agitatedly, both furious and sad. “It’s been more than half a year. Whether she’s alive or dead, have you let us see her again? You…..”

At the end, his voice was choked with a sob.

Some shareholders asked, “What’s wrong with the old man?”

Bo Guancheng immediately put on an act. “Grandpa, you just got out of the hospital not long ago. Don’t be over-excited, take it easy.”

“I heard that if a cerebral hemorrhage doesn’t improve after half a year, then……”

Some shareholders were uncertain, and spoke tactfully, “According to the old lady’s character, she would have come back long ago if she was okay. How can there be no movement at all?”

“Yes, ah, Mr. Bo stopped the family from seeing the old lady. What does this mean?”

“What else could it mean? If the old lady was awake, the culprit couldn’t hide. If the old lady is gone, according to inheritance laws, what else could Bo Yueming get?”

“How can the grandson stop the whole family from seeing the grandmother? There is no reason! I think he is harboring evil intentions!”

Three or four shareholders who supported the main branch spoke up one after another, and someone else was the first to take a stand—

“I agree with what the old man said, Bo Yueming cannot be allowed to stay in the group, or who knows what he’ll do behind the scenes!”

Right now, it seemed that he was helping the group make money, but that was because he wanted to win people’s hearts. Who knew what he would do when he was completely in power?

Public opinion was great, and slander could melt iron and stone.

The isolated and helpless Bo Yueming lowered his eyes, remaining silent.

Cheng Yangshan concealed the gleam in his eyes, while Bo Lihui and Bo Guancheng exchanged glances.

The confrontation now had a faint bias, and next, a vote would be made. If they added the big shareholders who favored the main branch and the small shareholders they bought in advance with benefits—

Even if others stood in line with Bo Yueming, based on the ratio of shares, the other party could only leave the group today!

At this thought, Bo Lihui covertly gave a shareholder another veiled look.

The latter understood, and launched the final blow. “Yes, ah! Since the old lady isn’t here, the old man and Chairman Bo are in charge, so…..”

—Bang!

The conference room door was swiftly opened.

A slow, powerful voice like the wind in late winter and early spring broke through all the dirt and filth. “Who says I’m not here?”

Bo Peizhi was sitting in a wheelchair, wearing the plain, thick shawl, and the person helping to push her was the former chief assistant Zhong Yi.

Not only that, but there were six strong bodyguards in black standing behind the two of them.

Just standing there, this grand scene was enough to frighten people!

“…….”

The conference room, which had still been a little noisy, instantly switched to silent mode.

Everyone’s expressions changed again and again. It was incomparably wonderful.

Only Bo Yueming, who was in the know, remained calm. He took the initiative to walk over and call out, “Grandma.”

Bo Peizhi nodded slightly. “En, thank you for your hard work.”

Although she was still then, her complexion was much better than when she had just woken up.

Bo Yueming exchanged glances with Zhong Yi, who was pushing the wheelchair. She was specially invited from Haishi to assist. “Sister Zhong, let me do it.”

Some shareholders couldn’t help but say, “W-what’s going on, ah? Chairwoman, are you okay?”

They had just talked so drivenly just now, and even agreed that Old Mrs. Bo was “dead.”

As a result, in the blink of an eye, the other party appeared in front of them in good condition.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please remain calm.”

Bo Peizhi raised a hand lightly, and all conversations stopped in an instant.

What really convinced them was by no means strong words or relying on volume, but the steadiness and calmness of many years of experience.

“Peizhi, you……”

Cheng Yangshan gazed at his wife who had suddenly appeared in the conference room, and his astonishment could not be dispelled. A secret sense of fear even arose in his heart.

He stood up from the head seat, but his feet seemed to be weighted down, and it was difficult to move even half a step.

The Bo Lihui and Bo Guancheng father and son looked at each other, and the impending victory in their eyes cracked.

Bo Peizhi regarded these three generations of grandchildren and grandparents, and prompted, “Xiao Yi, I don’t like to sit in this lousy wheelchair.”

She was of strong character, and if she could stand, she didn’t like to sit and show weakness.

Zhong Yi was helpless, but chose to cooperate.

With her support, Bo Peizhi walked in front of Cheng Yangshan, with an indescribably ruthlessness in her seemingly tranquil eyes.

“Is this seat comfortable?”

Facing his wife’s dry question, Cheng Yangshen felt guilty from the bottom of his heart, and couldn’t help but exert force on the hand holding the cane.

Before he could utter a word, the left side of his face hurt!

—Pa!

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Bo Peizhi slapped Cheng Yangshan hard on the face.

“…….”

Cheng Yangshan opened his eyes in astonishment. The two had been married for many years, and even if Bo Peizhi was a strong woman, she would save him some face outside!

Even on the day when they quarreled the worst and the accident happened, Bo Peizhi hadn’t slapped him.

This was the first time!

Bo Lihui at the side saw this scene and panicked. “Mom!”

—Pa!

Bo Peizhi’s slap landed on Bo Lihui’s face, and she criticized harshly, “You bastard, do you have something to share?”

Bo Lihui felt the heat on his cheek, and immediately fell into a silent panic.

Bo Peizhi looked at Bo Guancheng, who was hesitant to speak, and caught him accurately. “What, do you have something to say?”

Comprehending the situation, Bo Guancheng changed his tone. “N-No, Grandma, please don’t get angry. Has there been some misunderstanding?”

“Misunderstanding?”

Where couldn’t Bo Peizhi see his little calculations? She unceremoniously gave him a slap, pa!

“When you designed a car accident for Yueming, then tried to drug him, and dug your own grave in the end, was that also a misunderstanding?”

“…….”

One slap after another, one question after another!

The shareholders present looked at each other in blank dismay, feeling that they had never seen such a scene—

The three generations of Cheng Yangshen, Bo Lihui, and Bo Guancheng were all slapped in the face by Old Mrs. Bo, but Bo Yueming stood there tranquilly.

There was clearly a reversal, ah!

In the end, according to Old Mrs. Bo’s style of work in the past few decades, who was right and who was wrong in this battle suddenly had an obvious result.

The face that had been strong for decades was completely swept away at this moment, and Cheng Yangshan didn’t hold back after all, glaring angrily. “Bo Peizhi, what do you mean? We’ve been husband and wife for decades!”

“Husband and wife?”

Bo Peizhi exposed the truth regardless of affection. “At the beginning, you misappropriated Bo Group’s finances and my private seal in order to benefit a bunch of your shameless relatives!”

“After I found out, you grew angry and knocked me to the ground. Have you ever considered us to be husband and wife?”

“If it wasn’t for Yueming, who realized something was wrong and transferred me to another hospital for protection, I’m afraid I would be burned to ashes by now and not qualified to stand here!”

This simple and clear statement of facts was enough to shock everyone—

After such a long time, it turned out that Chang Yangshan was the one who used his power for personal gain? Chang Yangshan was the one who almost made the Old Chairwoman fall gravely ill?

“Chang Yangshan, I’ve turned a blind eye to your behavior these years, but you didn’t know to repent and just got worse!”

“Let me ask you, did you want to marry me back then?”

“All these years, Bo Manor has been yours, servants have been arranged for you, and you have never been short of money. If someone else had been eating soft rice for decades, they would be happy, but you—”

Bo Peizhi still retained her hard and unyielding personality. Although she was old, her words were still piercing, and slapped Cheng Yangshan hard in the face.

“How much are you worth? Your shamelessness all these years cannot be afforded!” 

Cheng Yangsheng shook with anger, his complexion more agitated than an overturned color palette. “You, I……”

“Stop talking nonsense! From today until the day you die, go back to where ever you came from!”

“As long as I, Bo Peizhi, live in this world, you and your family cannot even think about getting any benefits from the Bo’s!”

The Bo family would always be the Bo family! No one could covet it!

Bo Peizhi finished speaking in one breath, and signaled to Bo Yueming with her eyes. “Yueming, please come in.”

Bo Yueming nodded, and sent a text message to his assistant Lin Zhong.

Cheng Yangshan was so infuriated by this sudden reversal that he fell down on his chair suddenly, gasping for breath.

Bo Lihui was anxious and flustered. “Dad! Dad, are you okay? Ambulance, Guanchang, hurry and call an ambulance!”

Bo Peizhi watched coldly. “I’ll see who dares call an ambulance for him!”

She had already seen through Cheng Yangshan’s bad nature. The other party was contemptible, and would not fall directly ill like this!

Even if he really passed out on the ground, the bodyguards that Bo Yueming had brought for her also had first aid skills and would not let the other party die for a while!

Within a minute, disordered footsteps sounded again.

Assistant Lin Zhong walked in with four law enforcement officers, and the leader looked around for their target. “Chang Yangshan, Bo Lihui, right?”

“We have received a report that you are suspected of a job occupation dispute, and we have obtained preliminary evidence. Please cooperate with us to go back for further investigation!”

Bo Lihui’s face turned colors. “W-what job occupation? I didn’t!”

The officers didn’t listen to his excuses. “Whether you are involved or not, come with us to make it clear!”

“…….”

Bo Lihui looked at Cheng Yangshan, who was too angry to speak, and immediately cast his gaze to Bo Peizhi. “Mom, I know I was wrong! Give me another chance! I’ll do anything!”

In fact, Bo Lihui was very aware of what he had done to help Cheng Yangshan during this period of time, and was even more afraid of the prison time he would face after the follow-up investigation was completed.

“Mom, I’m part of the Bo family!”

Bo Peizhi looked at this eldest son and was full of disappointment. “From the moment you helped him harm me, you were no longer my son!”

The reason why she refused to hand over the position of chairman for so many years was not that she was obsessed with power, but because she had already seen that—

Neither of the two sons she had given birth to could be of great use!

Bo Lihui was arrogant and full of himself, and in his bones, he was just as greedy as his father! And Bo Lihong had a romantic nature, and even if he restrained himself later, he had no intention of managing the family business.

Bo Peizhi worked hard for her grandson and granddaughter, who were useful people of the next generation—

Bo Guancheng’s temper was mild and sleek, Bo Yueming’s was cold and severe, and Bo Jiao and Bo Wang were still young, so they couldn’t play a role for the time being.

If the former two could help each other along the path they had cultivated, she would have been relieved. 

It was a pity, ah, that there were still some people who had been influenced by their parents and grandparents and had gone astray!

Bo Peizhi ignored her eldest son’s false confession and let the law enforcement officers take him away with Cheng Yangshan, who had almost fainted. She didn’t want to take another look.

“……”

Bo Lihui really panicked, and was filled with so much regret that his intestines turned green. He had obviously lived a smooth life all these years, so how had things come to this point?

It was a pity that no matter how regretful he felt, he couldn’t change the result.

The door of the conference room closed again.

Bo Peizhi sat back on the main seat, holding on to her last bit of strength. “Dear shareholders, since I am back, I will naturally arrange the vacant positions properly.”

“Do you have any objections to today’s shareholder meeting being dismissed?”

Bo Peizhi had been in control of Bo Group for more than fifteen years, and she was also one of the top figures in the Imperial Capital circle!

Even though she had just recovered from an extended illness, she was still resolute in her tactics and even put righteousness before her relationship with her husband and son—

Who would dare to say no to her?

The shareholders’ meeting ended in a farce, and everyone knew that the main branch’s momentum was gone.

The few shareholders who were leaning toward Bo Guancheng and his ilk didn’t dare to speak anymore under the pressure of Old Mrs. Bo.

“…….”

Bo Guancheng looked at Old Mrs. Bo in the main seat, and the malice that had been brewing in his heart all this while thoroughly condensed.

He had never expected that Old Mrs. Bo would recover so early, and that Bo Yueming would invite her to today’s shareholders’ meeting!

What should he do now?

Without the support of Cheng Yangshan, all the hard work he had done before would be in vain!

As he thought, Bo Guancheng caught a glimpse of a figure approaching quickly from the corner of his eye.

Bo Yueming, who had been holding back for a long time, suddenly went into a rage and kicked him to the ground. 

“Ah!”

Bo Guancheng’s vision was filled with stars, and he subconsciously cried out in pain, but this was far from the end—

In front of the shareholders who had not yet disbursed, Bo Yueming, who never preferred to fight, grabbed his collar. “Bo Guancheng, if you touch someone you shouldn’t, you should think about the result!”

His eyes were bursting with rage, and the fist he swung seemed to contain all of his hostility.

“…….”

Bo Guancheng was shocked, and watched helplessly as another punch came—

It actually made him vomit blood!

“H-Help me……”

Bo Guancheng tried to struggle, but having missed his opportunity, he no longer had the strength to resist.

Punch after punch fell.

How had Bo Yueming held back his fear, hatred, and anxiety just now, sitting in the conference room like a normal person? 

He hadn’t even dared to think deeply. If something happened to Pei Yi, he would have killed Bo Guancheng on the spot!

Everyone saw Bo Yueming beating the shit out of him and had some doubts for a moment—

What, what was going on here?

Why did Mr. Bo suddenly go crazy like this? If he did such a thing, he would probably get in trouble, right?

Assistant Lin Zong caught up with him. “Mr. Bo! Stop fighting!”

There were so many shareholders watching! It would be terrible if somebody died!

Bo Peizhi and Zhong Yi, who accompanied him, also realized that Bo Yueming was on the verge of losing control, and stopped him one after another.

“Yueming!”

“Calm down!”

But Bo Yueming was immersed in his uncontrollable hatred, and once again aimed his fist at Bo Guancheng’s face.

At that very moment, there was a soft but powerful cry at the door—

“Er-ge.”

“……”

Bo Yueming stopped at once, and with reddened eyes, he slowly turned around to look.

Pei Yi was still wrapped up in Qin Yishun’s oversized coat, trying his best to cover up his injuries.

He walked quickly to the furious Bo Yueming and gently held his wrist like every time before. “Er-ge, stay with me, okay?”

Bo Yueming stared at the person in front of him and sucked in a sudden breath.

He maintained his sanity that was about to collapse, and said in a voice that was so hoarse that he almost couldn’t respond, “Okay.”

Pei Yi ignored everyone’s stares, and gently took his lover away from the conference room, leaving the group of dumbfounded outsiders behind.

. . . . . . .

In the adjacent unoccupied lounge.

Pei Yi locked the door and turned around, falling right into Bo Yueming’s arms. He suppressed the pain in his arm and reached out to caress the back of his lover’s neck with great effort.

“Er-ge, I’m here, it’s alright.”

“……”

Bo Yueming breathed with difficulty, and fiercely pulled his lover into his arms. “Pei, Pei Yi.”

His heartstrings that had been tense to the point of snapping ever since he received the kidnapper’s call finally relaxed at this moment.

Bo Yueming took a deep breath, and choked out a sob, “……I’m sorry.”

---

[1] Someone stealing your cabbage is when a suitor comes to sweep away your child. Or in this case, when the cabbage runs away of its own volition. 🙂 ⮐

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Chapter Seventy-Two <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Seventy-Four

In order not to disturb the common people in the city, Liu Xian’an got out of bed at dawn the next day, and the rest of Xiao Wang Palace had already prepared the carriage and horses. Both Tong Ou and Liu Meng were in the courtyard, each holding a stack of books in their arms. They had followed Liang Shu’s orders and searched all over to find these strange books. Liu Meng whispered: “Commander Tong, what do you think the prince wants these things for? I turned two pages yesterday, and each page is bloodier and more obscene than the other. There was something about a bloody girl who embraced a man and stuck a lamp on his head. When my mother saw me reading these, she picked up a broom and hit me without saying a word. She didn’t even listen to my explanation, and almost stuffed them into the stove and burned them.” 

Tong Ou said: “You see them as bloody and obscene things, but Second Young Master Liu is reading legends from the Southwest. Sometimes folk tales are not necessarily made up, and shadows of reality can be found in them. Have you never heard the story of the bloody girl with the lantern?”

“What bloody girl?”

“The one in the drawing you saw,” Tong Ou said. “There was a girl who poisoned her man not long after getting married, and cut off his head to make a lantern, which she carried in her hands all day long, walking around the mountains all covered in blood.”

Liu Meng’s hair stood on end when he heard this: “What kind of scholar is able to make up this kind of story?”

“It’s not a story, it’s real.” Tong Ou said, “It was in Raven City. After the girl killed her husband, she pushed the headless body into a dry well. It took three days before neighbors discovered it. A woodcutter encountered the bloody girl in the mountains and recognized her as the missing woman, but because her appearance was so strange, even though he went down the mountain and reported it to the officials, he stated that he had met a ghost.”

But it was a real person. At that time, Tong Ou was investigating the Baifu Sect in Raven City. He said: “It was I who personally led people to arrest her.”

Liu Meng listened to this in disbelief: “Was she insane?”

“She wasn’t insane. She had a clear mind, and wrote down her plan to poison her husband in great detail. The cut was neatly made, and it could be seen that there was no hesitation in the attack.” Tong Ou said, “At first, everyone thought she was just like most murder cases, and could no longer bear being abused all the time. But it was later discovered that she and her husband were very affectionate, and neighbors testified that they had never quarreled more than once.”

The woman killed her husband in order to get her child back. She became pregnant shortly after the wedding, which was a great joy, but lost the child three months later. Although her husband comforted her in every possible way, she was still depressed. And one day, she went to the street to relax and met a wizard.

Liu Meng: “A disciple of the Baifu Sect?”

Tong Ou nodded.

Since then, the woman believed in the cult and donated her property to the wizard again and again. At first, it might have only been a bowl of rice and a piece of meat, but it later turned into a coin or a piece of silver. Seeing his wife getting increasingly confused, the man forcibly locked her in the house and considered taking her back to his hometown to get away for a while, but the woman killed him one rainy night.

“She believed the wizard’s words and felt that the child’s death was entirely due to her husband’s sins, and that at this time, the child’s soul was being torn and eaten by thousands of wild ravens. She wanted to call him back, but had to use her husband’s head as a guiding light. She walked barefoot in the mountains every day, just to call that remnant soul back into her belly.”

Liu Meng’s face paled, not because of fear, but due to nausea. Tong Ou patted him on the back: “You’ll hear more such tragedies in the future, and you’ll become accustomed to it.“

Although the conversation between the two was very soft, Liu Xian’an had good ears and could hear it clearly. He turned his head and asked Liang Shu: “Raven City. If I remember correctly, it should not be far from the Southwest Garrison camp. It’s a large city with lots of traffic, and there are even many foreigners from Nanyang. Is the Baifu Sect so arrogant?”

“Sometimes a cult will not admit that it is a cult. There are so many kinds of witchcraft in the Southwest that they can just put on another disguise at will.” Liang Shu said, “It doesn’t take a lot of fanfare to spread the word. Just one mouth can destroy the families of dozens of people.”

Although Liu Xian’an had never been to the Southwest before, he liked Raven City very much, mainly because of the name. Coupled with the mystery of the Southwest frontier, he felt that there was a sort of magnificence like countless ravens flying in the emerald mountains at twilight. A-Ning didn’t understand, and said: “A sunset in the deep mountain forests, the sky full of flying ravens. Will it be haunted?”

Liu Xian’an pinched his mouth shut. All right, don’t spoil the atmosphere.

Liang Shu said: “Okay, I’ll bring you to the mountains to see it.”

Liu Xian’an let go, but A-Ning still felt very depressed. He wasn’t wrong. How could a normal person go to the mountains to look at ravens? The young master’s tastes were very strange, and the prince also spoiled him.

There was still a long distance between Huaizhen City and Raven City, so Liu Xian’an lay in the carriage and went through all the books that Tong Ou had collected. It was also Liang Shu’s first time seeing him read a book. Saying that he took in ten lines at a glance could be considered modest. The pages turned with a squeaking sound, and Liang Shu watched for a while before stepping forward to stop it with his hand: “What is this page about?”

Without thinking, Liu Xian’an said: “A ghost mother giving birth to a child. A wealthy homeowner in Huaping town had a wife and a concubine. The wife had no children, but the concubine did, so the wife was jealous……wu.”

Liang Shu leaned over and kissed his lips, then ran his tongue across them. “A ghost story about jealousy, I won’t listen.”

Liu Xian’an explained between kisses that there was not a single page in this book that was not a ghost story.

Liang Shu said: “Then I won’t listen to those either.”

Gao Lin passed by and glanced through the gap in the curtain, and immediately straightened his head with a solemn and respectful expression. 

Liu Xian’an went through most of the carriage full of books in three days. Liang Shu asked: “Shall I go find some new ones?”

Liu Xian’an shook his head: “No need. They’re all similar stories with minor differences, not interesting.”

Liang Shu lifted the other’s limp body a little, asking: “How about doing something fun?”

Liu Xian’an didn’t want to do that either, so he crawled under the quilt on his hands and knees and rolled himself up. Sleep was important.

Liang Shu found this amusing, and stopped teasing him, simply staying by his side. The Sleeping Immortal slept for another ten days, lazy all day long, and after laying down for a long time without moving, he began complaining of a headache. Sitting beside the coachman, A-Ning thought, alas, he didn’t seem to have so many problems before. I thought our entire family was used to the young master, but I didn’t expect that there are still further heights he can climb to.

Liang Shu patiently helped massage his temples. Liu Xian’an found a comfortable position in his arms, but before he could take a nap, A-Ning said outside: “Your Highness, Young Master, there’s a village up ahead. It seems they’re also holding a Many-Color Festival, and there are many people. Shall we go around?”

“Go around, ba, don’t disturb them.” Liang Shu covered the ears of the man in his arms, wanting him to continue to sleep, but the crisp sound of rattle drums came from afar.

Liu Xian’an opened his eyes.

. . . . . .

Like thousands of other villages in the Southwest, this village consisted of bamboo buildings with tiled roofs, colorful and gorgeous. A huge bonfire was lit in the middle of the village, radiating warmth in the winter, and pheasant meat was being roasted. The little dolls were circling around the fire, laughing and making noise. It should have been a cozy, festive scene, but because of the rattle drums in their little hands, it was a bit strange.

Liu Xian’an said: “It’s exactly the same pattern.”

The villagers also spotted the group of people at this time and greeted them with smiles, leading them over to share a cup of wine by the campfire.

Liang Shu reached out and calmly wrapped an arm around Liu Xian’an’s waist.

When ordinary villagers saw foreigners, even if they were the most enthusiastic and forthright people, they would ask where they came from and where they were going before pouring tea and wine. Greeting them like this and luring the other party to drink at their home without saying a word….. “Be careful,” he whispered.

Liu Xian’an made a sound of acknowledgment, walking forward with Liang Shu. He had participated in the Many-Color Festival in Huaizhen City, and knew what the songs, dances, and welcoming smiles should really look like. They came from the heart, without a trace of any false joy. At this moment, although the villagers before them were smiling, they smiled like they were wearing human skin masks, extremely stiff in the light of the dancing flames.

The village head invited them to sit by the bonfire, and someone soon brought over two cups of wine. Liu Xian’an didn’t drink, and Liang Shu also set his cup down on the ground. A little doll kept secretly looking at Liu Xian’an, perhaps thinking he looked good. Liu Xian’an called her to his side and handed over a handful of sweets from the bowl in front of him, taking her rattle drum.

A clear texture, with a greasy smell.

It was human skin.

He took note of the number of rattle drums at this scene and felt a chill in his heart. He had previously thought that the drum stuffed into his hand in Huaizhen City could already be regarded as the Baifu Sect’s most straightforward provocation to Liang Shu, but didn’t expect that they could be even more unbridled. There was poison in the wine. He knew and Liang Shu knew, and the Baifu Sect people should know that Liang Shu knew. But they still arranged for the villagers to organize this Many-Color Festival and specially watched the road, holding rattle drums and pouring poisoned wine.

In the Southwest, people were often refined into puppets through mystical witchcraft. Although it sounded terrifying, Liu Xian’an felt that it was far inferior to the scene he was looking at now. These people were neither poisoned nor bewitched, and it was because of this that it was even more chilling — all the people in the village, men, women, and children, had been brainwashed by the cult. Singing and dancing, celebratory and jubilant, they worked together with sober minds to poison and kill.

This was truly more sinister than puppets crawling out of a mass grave.

Sensing his discomfort, Liang Shu took the water bag from his waist and handed it over: “Take a drink.”

“Guest,” an old woman asked him, “Why aren’t you drinking our wine?”

Liang Shu replied: “We still need to travel, and can’t drink.”

“It’s a Many-Color Festival, everyone has to drink,” another villager said. “If you don’t drink, you’re looking down on us!”

“Right, drink! Drink! Drink!”

The villagers began to chant in unison. The little dolls were naive, and also shouted in an excited frenzy, the rattle drums in their hands clamoring like a summer thunderstorm, an anxiety-inducing sound. A little boy no more than five years old raised his head and said with shining eyes: “Drink, drink! Peel the skin and make drums!”

His mother hurriedly covered his mouth. Mixed in the noise, it went unnoticed. 

“Drink! Drink! Drink!”

The people around stood up one after another, holding wine cups and surrounding the two of them. They pushed and shoved as they approached, the wine in their hands shaking and splashing, and the scene was filled with a pungent smell.

Liu Xian’an regarded the group of fanatical, brainwashed villagers, and moved slightly closer to Liang Shu.

---

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Chapter Sixty-Nine << Table of Contents >> Chapter Seventy-One

Lucas looked at the gaudy titles and felt like he was about to burst.

Fuck, Luo Ran secretly read such books!

Hadn’t he thought he was the only one watching adult videos?

Moreover, the videos he watched were quite satisfactory, basically teaching an Alpha how to make an Omega comfortable, and how to complete a perfect sex tutorial. Unexpectedly, there was no limit to the universe or to people, and Luo Ran liked these novel and uncommon things?? Not to mention that he and Luo Ran were the main characters?

Lucas felt even more parched.

Tsk…..!

He knew that little bastard Luo Ran was greedy for his body! Sure enough, he liked it this much!

Oho, and he usually pretended to be indifferent, ah!

The sound of water in the bathroom stopped, and Lucas strode forward. Luo Ran saw Lucas as soon as he opened the door, and was startled.

“Admiral, what’s wrong?”

Lucas gazed at the man in front of him.

It went without saying that his facial features were exquisite, and the tear-shaped mole at the corner of his eye was the icing on the cake.

At this moment, Luo Ran was wearing a loose white bathrobe. His hair was not in its usual up-do, and the long, silver strands were casually draped over his shoulders, still damp with water.

Lucas directly pressed this person against the wall and kissed him, his breath scorching hot.

“I’m going to satisfy you.”

“…….? ? ?”

Luo Ran was a little surprised, but he was pinned to the wall as Lucas kissed him roughly.

He put his arms around Lucas’s neck, raising his head to accept his sudden enthusiasm.

They kissed and kissed. Lucas’s hands became restless, especially now that Luo Ran was wearing a bathrobe and it was very convenient for him to do anything.

Lucas placed his hands on Luo Ran’s chest. Luo Ran frowned slightly, and was forced by Lucas’s movements to make small sounds that were blocked by kisses.

“Admiral……” Luo Ran’s legs were weakened by Lucas’s hot pheromones. The other man was aroused to passion at the moment, and his pheromones were more provocative than usual.

They were two adults, one Alpha and one Omega, staying in a small house.

Too dangerous.

“Ranran.” Lucas moved his lips slightly and asked in a low voice: “If I’m not 38 centimeters, will you be disappointed?”

“……..”

What?

Luo Ran was stunned.

Lucas said: “There also aren’t four of me either.”

Luo Ran: “…….”

Luo Ran’s face reddened, and he asked cautiously: “You……saw it?”

“En.”

“……..”

“Admiral, I-I can really explain!”

Now Luo Ran understood how Lucas felt when he was caught watching those adult videos before.

And it was even more embarrassing than videos.

“No need to explain,” Lucas said. “It’s all Shen Xiluo’s fault.”

Lucas was very understanding.

Hey, it was normal for the little secretary to like his fierce body. He was a thoughtful and considerate Alpha.

“…….” Luo Ran paused for a long moment and faced death with equanimity, saying with hopelessness toward life: “That’s right, it’s his fault.”

There was no way to excuse it. Even jumping into the Yellow River wouldn’t wash him clean.

Anyway, it was all Shen Xiluo’s fault!

“Then will you be disappointed?” Lucas held the two of them together, stubbornly trapping him there, and said: “I might not be that exaggerated.”

Luo Ran lowered his head with a blushing face, and said: “It’s…..anything is fine.”

He felt that it was already exaggerated.

“You say anything is fine, ah? You’ll make do?!” Lucas was dissatisfied. He grasped Luo Ran’s chin and said: “Then your requirement of 38 centimeters is too inhuman!”

And also unfair.

“I don’t have a requirement!” Luo Ran smashed the jar, blushing as he retorted a little loudly: “I think it’s already very good! V-very big!”

“…….”

All right.

Lucas got slightly hard as a token of thanks.

Luo Ran: “…….”

The two were stuck together, after all, and Luo Ran could naturally feel it.

Lucas said hoarsely: “I’ve endured for a long time, you have to help me.”

“…….” Lucas grabbed Luo Ran’s wrist and said: “I don’t want to use hands, I want to go further.”

T-too soon, ba.

Luo Ran did the math. They had been dating for less than half a month, and he hadn’t made any preparations at all.

He didn’t even have time to read the comics. They had been hidden at home ever since Shen Xiluo brought them back from the office.

Luo Ran turned his head and said: “I……”

“Ranran.” Lucas rested his head on Luo Ran’s shoulder, acting like a baby.

“……..”

Luo Ran took a deep breath and knelt down in front of Lucas.

Lucas was startled: “What are you doing? Get up!”

Luo Ran pushed away Lucas’s hand, then gently undid his belt. The iron buckle made a crisp clanking sound, and the sound of the zipper was also obvious.

Lucas was now completely stunned.

Luo Ran was so nervous that his hands shook, but……it was always like this between lovers.

This was also his duty as a lover.

Upon lowering his head, Lucas could see Luo Ran’s collarbones and chest under the loose bathrobe. Luo Ran was half-kneeling, and other than his face being faintly red, his expression was the same as usual, looking like the same professional and distant Secretary Luo.

Lucas felt even hotter, as if he had been walking in the desert without water for three days.

. . . . . . .

That night, Luo Ran slept in his room, and Lucas still slept on the couch in the living room.

But the big lion had tasted a bit of sweetness and was satisfied.

The next day, Luo Ran and Lucas returned to the office together. After finishing their last bit of business, they were ready to go home for dinner in the evening.

“Hiss……why is it like this, ah?” Rong Duo looked at the report and said angrily: “The Royal Family……”

Then she paused. As a civilian in the military department, she shouldn’t talk about the Royal Family, so she could only shut her mouth.

Luo Ran took the report and could probably guess what was going on.

The investigation department had notified him earlier.

Now that the First Prince’s case had been filed, as the investigation progressed day by day, the First Prince’s reputation was being affected more and more.

So the First Prince’s PR counterattacked Lucas.

The Viscount who supported the First Prince was there, along with Shi Xiuqi, accusing Lucas of seeking public revenge.

Luo Ran watched the video.

“The Admiral holds a grudge against His Highness, and that’s why he slandered His Highness so much!”

“Yes, when Luobing sent the new UNK ore, more research would have definitely made great contributions to the Empire’s technology. There must be experiments in research, and there must be failures in experiments, but the Admiral could not accept failures. Moreover, Secretary Luo had a special physique at the time as a Beta who had mastered the mystery of UNK refining. It was a pity that the Admiral was overprotective of Secretary Luo and was unwilling to let him participate in the experiments.”

“At that time, the Admiral even brought his troops back to the capital and used force in the research institute.”

In the video, the voices of the First Prince, his ministers, and Shi Xiuqi were vivid and colorful.

Rong Duo frowned and said: “Secretary Luo……do we need to clarify, ah? Do you want to send out PR?”

“No need.” Luo Ran paused and said: “We’ll bide our time.”

If they came forward to explain, they would look guilty, and Lucas, the Admiral who led troops into battle, did not need to quarrel with these politicians and lower his style and credibility.

“But……do you want to let them smear him casually? Public opinion can turn lies into truth, ah.” Rong Duo was really indignant.

“Don’t worry.” Luo Ran raised his eyebrows and smiled. “There are people who will help us.”

Luo Ran wasn’t very worried about the slander, and went home with Lucas after finishing his other official duties.

“Ranran is back.” Wang Zitong and Luo Cheng always like to wait for Luo Ran outside the door.

Perhaps because Luo Ran was an adopted child and the most wronged one in the family troubles before, the couple felt more compassion and love for him than if he was their child by blood.

“The Admiral is here too.” Wang Zitong smiled and nodded.

Lucas stood stiffly, extremely upright, carrying a large bag of gifts. Heroic and handsome, sonorous and forceful, he said: “Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, hello!”

Wang Zitong: “…….”

Luo Cheng: “…….”

Luo Xingyuan also came out curiously to see what was going on, but when he saw Lucas, he subconsciously gave a military salute and shouted: “Frontier D5 Eastern District Commander Luo Xingyuan greets the Admiral!”

Then Lucas returned the military salute and shouted even louder: “I’m Luo Ran’s boyfriend, good evening, Brother!”

Luo Xingyuan: “! ! !”

What the fuck.

Luo Xingyuan was so shocked by “boyfriend” that he still hadn’t recovered, and he was petrified by Lucas’s address of “brother.”

The two of them stood one straighter than the other at the gate.

Luo Ran: “…….”

Fortunately the neighbor next door wasn’t watering flowers outside.

When the group of people entered the house, Wang Zitong went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Luo Ran led Lucas to sit down in the living room. Luo Cheng glanced at Lucas and said with a smile: “It’s the first time the Admiral has been here with us.”

“Yes!” Lucas sat upright with his hands on his knees, as serious as if he was in an interview.

“Don’t be nervous, you can come back often with Luo Ran in the future,” Luo Cheng said with a smile. “Will the Admiral ever leave the capital to fight?”

“Yes!” Lucas paused, and said cautiously: “I’ll come back as soon as possible.”

“En.” Luo Cheng nodded.

Luo Xingyuan smiled and said: “Dad, don’t worry. The Empire has been doing its best to wipe out the star pirates. One day we’ll be able to completely eradicate them, and then the Admiral will be free.”

Luo Ran knew that Lucas was nervous. Seeing that Luo Xingyuan was wearing tennis shoes and going downstairs to run and exercise, he patted Lucas and asked him to follow.

After all, his big brother and Lucas were familiar, so there would be no awkwardness.

After Lucas left, Luo Ran smiled and said: “Dad approves?”

“Whether we approve or not, you are already with the Admiral. We can’t stop it. If we don’t agree, it will only add to your obstacles.” Luo Cheng smiled, saying: “After all……”

Luo Ran looked up at Luo Cheng.

Luo Cheng said: “Since you’re together, there is no need to mention what will happen in the future. It is up to fate. The only thing that your mother and I hope for is that he will be good for you.”

Luo Ran said: “He is……”

“En, we know.”

Luo Cheng paused, then said: “His fingers seem to be inconvenient, and his childhood and past experiences may be……different?”

Luo Ran was taken aback, not having expected his parents to notice. Maybe it was because he had been teaching all morning?

“It’s clear that it is difficult for him to integrate into normal society both physically and mentally, so he always looks a little clumsy.” Luo Cheng smiled and said: “But since he is willing to try and change for you, that’s good too.”

“En.” Luo Ran gave a big smile.

Knowing how difficult it was for Lucas to do things for him that he wouldn’t otherwise do made him appreciate him all the more.

Later, Lucas and Luo Xingyuan also returned. When the siblings came back from school, they saw Lucas and immediately encircled him, not expecting to encounter a person they had seen in textbooks.

After eating, Luo Ran went back to sleep, and Lucas also went under the direction of Luo Ran’s glance. 

The first time he went home for a meal, it was a complete success.

The next day, Luo Ran’s prediction was correct.

Sure enough, the Second Prince made a move.

The Second Prince showed up in person and also held a press conference, telling the media about the UNK ice mine.

“Director Shi is very cunning. He only released the UNK data and analyzed how powerful and good it is, and what it can bring to the Empire.”

“However, why did Director Shi not mention any of the side effects? Director Shi only said that experiments would definitely fail. Yes, we all know this, but why did he not mention the consequences of failure? Director Shi, your words are very interesting.”

“I won’t try to cover it up. I’ll stand up and say it openly without a representative.” The Second Prince said: “First of all, UNK can indeed bring great benefits, but only Omegas above S level can refine it, and a few A-levels can do so with instructions. However! Long-term refining and exposure to UNK will result in an Omega’s spiritual breakdown. I will show you a few cases here.”

“Also, Director Shi and Elder Brother advocate for the use of UNK on the human body, so I will show you another video of an Alpha losing their mind after being injected with UNK.”

The Second Prince showed countless materials.

The First Prince was not to be outdone. The two sides continued to refute and argue, producing countless materials and theories.

The people were dazzled, but were more inclined toward Lucas. In the end, Lucas had the upper hand and the First Prince was once again at a disadvantage.

Luo Ran had guessed correctly. They didn’t need to show up at all.

Whether the Second Prince wanted to use Lucas’s hand to bring down the First Prince, if he was worried that he would be implicated in the future and came out to refute the rumors first, or if he was really thinking about Lucas and the soldiers, these things were not important. Luo Ran only needed one result.

As for that result, Lucas’s reputation and status remained intact, and the fight for the throne was not only exposed to the eyes of the public, but the image of the First Prince was also compromised again.

However, a wave of ups and downs arose again, and this matter was still being debated when there was other news from Luobing.

— The star pirates had aggressively attacked Western Luobing, occupying several cities.

The tragedy of Luobing’s Te City last time was vividly remembered. The people of Luobing hadn’t yet recovered, and at this moment, several cities in a row had fallen in the West. After Mu Yuan was notified, he led troops to rush over and was only able to save one city.

At present, the star pirates occupied three small cities, and Lucas must go out to quell the chaos.

“Ah……” Lucas scratched the back of his head and said: “I originally wanted to celebrate the New Year with you, and I also promised Father-in-law and Mother-in-law that I would come back.”

Lucas looked at the report in his office, a little irritable.

He and Luo Ran hadn’t been together for very long, and he was leaving again.

“It’s all right. If it is convenient for the Admiral, we can use video calls to communicate.” Luo Ran smiled and said: “We don’t just have this year, but the next year and the year after……there are still many years.”

Lucas paused, then nodded solemnly.

“Luo Ran.”

“En?”

Lucas hooked his fingers: “Come here.”

“…….?”

Luo Ran walked over subconsciously, and in the next moment, his wrist was grabbed and he fell into Lucas’s arms, sitting on his lap.

The office chair was very big. Luo Ran hugged Lucas’s neck, saying helplessly: “What is it?”

Lucas said: “This battle is very urgent. I’ll leave tomorrow morning.”

Luo Ran paused. His ears turned red, and he said: “En, I will arrange everything as soon as possible before tonight.”

“Who fucking wants to talk to you about business.” Lucas leaned toward Luo Ran’s ear and said: “I want benefits before I leave. I might be away for a week this time.”

Luo Ran gently grabbed Lucas’s tie, pulling it as he said with a smile: “What benefits? The Admiral is leaving so suddenly. I am in the military department office today, so the Admiral will have to come back early if he wants benefits.”

Lucas paused for a moment, and then asked: “Luo Ran, will you miss me when I’m gone this time?”

“Ah……?”

Lucas looked at the man in front of him, who always maintained a gentle and elegant expression, always putting work first. He asked stubbornly: “Will you?”

Luo Ran lowered his eyes, a little embarrassed.

“Luo Ran.” Lucas gently bit Luo Ran’s ear and said: “If I fuck you, will you……”

“Admiral!” Luo Ran laughed and said: “Of course I’ll miss you!”

Luo Ran gently held Lucas’s tie and turned around to say: “So the Admiral will come back early, right?”

Lucas’s eyes widened.

Suddenly, as if he had been injected with chicken blood, he said in a whisper: “Okay.”

“I must win the battle and come back soon!”

Luo Ran smiled so hard his eyes narrowed.

“Then I want benefits, right now!” Lucas didn’t forget his original purpose, and was even more excited at the moment. He hugged Luo Ran’s waist and said: “That time at your house.”

“Here……?” Luo Ran stared.

This was the office.

“Here.” Lucas raised his eyebrows. “Should we go home specially for this?”

“…….”

Going home to complete this task of fifteen minutes was really……kind of silly.

. . . . . . .

Rong Duo saw that Luo Ran was in the office all this time, and thought he might be discussing some official business. After all, Lucas was leaving, so she took a stack of urgent official documents and prepared to send them in.

Knock, knock.

Rong Duo knocked on the door, but there was no response from inside.

She knocked again, but there was still no response.

What were they doing……?

Rong Duo cautiously said outside the door: “Secretary Luo?”

“Go away!”

It was Lucas’s voice.

Rong Duo was stunned for a moment, and then came to a realization and covered her mouth, running away crying.

What a wonderful love!

In the office, Lucas rolled his eyes and said: “I told you no one would come in casually, why are you nervous?”

With lingering fear in his heart, Luo Ran hid under Lucas’s desk.

He had been half-kneeling by the table, but when he heard that voice, he almost disappeared.

Lucas pulled out a tissue and grasped Luo Ran’s chin, wiping it for him: “Be good.”

Luo Ran gently batted Lucas’s hand away, feeling that hiding under the table was…..too shameful.

His ears and cheeks were completely red.

It was like a plot in that pornographic literature.

“I can help you too.” Lucas grabbed Luo Ran’s wrist.

“No need……!” Luo Ran turned around and strode away with the documents in his arms.

Too shameful…..!

---

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Chapter Seventy-Three << Table of Contents >> Chapter Seventy-Five

In the executive conference room of Bo Group, there was a surge of people.

Shareholders big and small from around the world surrounded the round table, and even the long benches in the back row were full of people.

The reason why Bo Group could grow bigger and stronger to its current scale was not only because of the salary and treatment of employees, but because it was also firmly controlled by the interests of its shareholders—

The procedures for this annual large-scale meeting were set in stone, and had been determined by Old Mrs. Bo herself.

The first order of business was to summarize the investment situation of the group’s major projects, including profits and losses. The second was to clarify the annual dividends of the large and small shareholders, and the third was the voting of some major shareholders on the hiring or dismissal of the decision makers in top positions.

As soon as Bo Yueming took his seat as the general manager, he was surrounded by many shareholders. “Why does Mr. Bo look so bad? Didn’t you sleep last night, ah?”

“Ai, Mr. Bo should stay in the position of general manager. There are so many big projects to manage, and he naturally puts in a lot of effort, unlike us, ah. It’s thanks to Mr. Bo that we’ve been able to lie down and make money peacefully in the past two years.”

“By the way, Mr. Bo’s eyes……are they better?”

The projects handled by Bo Yueming had always been Bo Group’s profit-making tools, especially the large-scale project he went to Wencheng to win this year, which had opened up a completely new path for Bo Group.

Coupled with the turmoil of his “blindness,” there were few shareholders who did not truly admire Bo Yueming.

To be more realistic, since Old Mrs. Bo’s accident and abdication, how many people in the Bo family could do the job?

Old Mr. Bo had an empty title, and Bo Lihui assumed the title of Chairman, doing things in a well-regulated manner. Bo Guancheng, who was originally among the younger generation, could just get by, but the other party became more and more outrageous—

First, he lost hundreds of millions from the German Chamber of Commerce, and then that type of scandal broke out. It was too disappointing!

As shareholders, their main concern was money.

Who wouldn’t want the group to be run by a capable person?

These solicitous greetings lingered in his ears, both sincere and with an element of deliberate flattering.

Bo Yueming would like to have a few polite words with them as usual, but he was full of concern for Pei Yi, and wished he could leave this meeting directly and rush to his lover’s side.

But at this juncture, it would not be good to leave the meeting and run out—

Not only would such impulsive behavior not help anything, on the contrary, it was possible that Bo Guancheng and others may completely control the situation and put Pei Yi into even more of a predicament.

The next two hours were the grace period set aside for Pei Yi, the search and rescue time for Qin Yishun, and the time he would be trapped in torment here.

“Mr. Bo?”

The shareholders looked at each other in blank dismay. Everyone felt that Bo Yueming’s expression was a little strange today. Since he had lost his sight, didn’t his assistant always stay by his side?

Why was Lin Zhong not there today?

Just as everyone was puzzled, the door of the conference room opened again.

Cheng Yangshan walked in, accompanied by Bo Guancheng and Bo Lihui, his manner imposing and full of posturing.

When the shareholders caught sight of Bo Guancheng, their expressions changed, and some directly whispered to each other—

“Wasn’t he dismissed? How can he still attend the shareholder meeting, ah?”

“Who knows, I didn’t see him on the list beforehand.”

“Could it be that the old man and Chairman Bo want to take advantage of this shareholder meeting to let him return to the position of general manager?”

“What a beautiful idea, the reputation of the group was almost ruined by him!”

“It’s just, how long has it been? If the old man really uses his power for personal gain like this, what prestige is there?”

Bo Guancheng ignored the gazes of the people around him. Anyway, he had already lost his face some time ago, and it was better to make things easier by being thick-skinned.

The winner would become king, and the loser an outlaw.

After today, the trend of this discussion might change again.

At this thought, Bo Guancheng immediately looked at Bo Yueming, who was sitting in the position of “general manager” with a hint of coldness in his eyes—

He didn’t know if he should say that he had overestimated the significance of that fool Pei Yi in Bo Yueming’s heart, or that Bo Yueming had a cold-blooded and mercenary temperament.

His marriage partner had been kidnapped, but he was still turning a blind eye?

Heh.

He wanted to see how long the other party could sit there!

Bo Guancheng was filial, and helped Cheng Yangshan sit in the main seat. He asked the conference room assistant to move in a chair, and sat in the back row seemingly without a fight.

Cheng Yangshan looked around and said, “Shareholders, please take your seats. The meeting is about to begin.”

Everyone responded one after another.

All of the meeting materials had been distributed in advance.

As the chairman, Bo Lihui looked unflustered. “All right, let’s first summarize the overall situation of our group’s projects this year.”

Bo Yueming indicated to Bo Jiao next to him, according to what he had planned in advance. “Go on up, don’t be nervous. I’ll help you fill in any omissions at any time.”

Bo Jiao replied sincerely, “Thank you, Second Brother.”

In the past, this sort of important matter would have been narrated by the general manager, Bo Yueming, but the other party was giving her the opportunity for this public experience.

When everyone saw Bo Jiao stand up, they were secretly surprised.

Only Bo Guancheng in the back row revealed a triumphant smile, thinking to himself mockingly—

He knew it, Bo Yueming was still afraid of something happening to Pei Yi, so he could only be forced to be “mute.” Otherwise, how could he let go of this chance to earn impression points?

It seemed that as long as Brother Gui could keep an eye on Pei Yi until the end of the meeting, Bo Yueming was destined to be ruthlessly controlled by them today!

. . . . . . .

Xiguan Urban Village was one of the few places where the population of the Imperial Capital gathered in disarray, due to the unresolved problem of land reconstruction all year round—

The housing density here was very high, and the living conditions, including lighting and ventilation, were very poor.

“Brother Gui, how long are we going to stay here? I haven’t eaten anything since last night, I’m starving to death.”

“Don’t fucking talk nonsense to me! This is important business!”

Brother Gui was the leader of the three of them, and his original name was Li Gui.^[1]

He accidentally killed someone in his hometown in the early years, and had fled abroad in recent times. He lived a marginal life on the road, and also gave himself a more vicious homophonic name.

He planned to immigrate abroad after completing this job, which was why his asking price for Bo Guancheng was a bit harsher this time. Not only that, but he planned to make money on both sides, and leverage Bo Yueming for a fortune later!

In any case, this rich person valued the life of a fool more than money.

The reason Brother Gui chose this temporary location was because there were many people in the building, which provided cover.

He glanced at Pei Yi in the corner with mocking eyes.

From the start of the kidnapping to present, the other party just shivered in the corner, not even possessing the courage to try to escape.

As expected of a fool, did he really think he could just wait for someone to come get him if he was obedient?

Brother Gui picked up his phone and looked at it. It was only 1:40.

He thought for a moment, then got up and said, “You guys, I’m going out to have a look.”

“Brother Gui, where are you going?”

“In another twenty minutes, we’ll take this fool to another place. Those rich people are really cunning, maybe they’ll call the police or bring someone here.” Brother Gui casually spit his cigarette butt onto the ground and crushed it with the sole of his shoe. “The crafty rabbit has three burrows, understand?”

“We understand! It’s still Brother Gui who is fucking awesome!”

“The car just now can no longer be used. I also connected with a seven-seater that has a fake license. I’ll go to the side of the main road and have a look first. Just wait for my notice and bring him down later.”

Brother Gui had decided that Pei Yi was a senseless fool, so he only said, “Be careful when going out later. Don’t let him startle others by yelling.”

“Yes!”

“Understood!”

The door of the rental house opened. Light and a cold breeze rushed in, and then was blocked once more.

Pei Yi, who seemed to be curled up trembling, listened to this scene, and a long-awaited light gleamed in his eyes—

It should be said that this kidnapper was really a bit cunning and adaptable, it was just a pity that the only mistake the other party made was taking him as a real fool, and spoke without any defenses at all.

It had all happened so suddenly today. He was only wearing a sweater, and stayed in this damp, cold rental room—

The others saw him trembling with fear, but half of that was due to being cold.

Pei Yi suppressed the discomfort in his body as his brain quickly worked out countermeasures—

If he was moved to a different location later, then wouldn’t the information he reported to Bo Yueming and others be useless?

That was no good!

He couldn’t move locations, or he would have less of an advantage!

If he couldn’t wait for a quick rescue from Qin Yishun, then he needed to take the opportunity to escape.

Otherwise, the later it was, the more the other party would watch him. Three people were difficult to deal with, but he had a chance with two.

Having made up his mind, Pei Yi covertly looked around the layout of the rental house again. There was faint light from the door and window of the bathroom to the side, which stirred his thoughts.

“B-Bathroom.”

Pei Yi murmured, looking up at the two chattering people nearby, “I need…..to go…..to the bathroom.”

The shorter one looked over and sneered, “Yo, this idiot knows how to go to the bathroom? Just pee in your pants, you nuisance!”

Hearing this, Pei Yi burst into tears of “grievance” and “timidity.”

The white sweater on his body had been stained with dirt, his unbrushed hair was messy, his nose and ears were red, and even the corners of his eyes were reddened with a sheen of tears.

He looked pitiful, making people a bit reluctant.

The skinnier man frowned. “But don’t we have to transfer him after a while? If this fool really can’t hold it in halfway, we’ll be the ones who’ll get disgusting.”

Smoking another cigarette, the shorter man hesitated. “That’s right. Damn, this fool is a nuisance.”

He glanced at his thin companion, then walked toward Pei Yi, who was tied hand and foot. “Can you use the toilet? I don’t have to hold you to piss, right?”

“……”

Pei Yi suppressed the disgust in his heart, and nodded with a sob.

Soon, the painful restraints around his wrists and ankles loosened.

The short man grabbed Pei Yi and took him to the small bathroom. “Go on, don’t close the door. I’m watching you!”

Pei Yi quickly glanced out the window, confirming the situation—

It was a long window, and with his figure, he should be able to pass through it.

According to his visual estimation, he was at the height of a three-storey building. Although he couldn’t jump down directly, because there were so many illegal buildings in the urban village, there was a small platform directly below on the opposite side.

The width was likely no more than a meter in the middle.

Pei Yi’s thoughts settled down slightly, and he turned around to reveal a bit of “confusion” to the short man. “T-Toilet? Where?”

The short man was stunned for two seconds, then cursed speechlessly while biting his cigarette. “Shit, a fucking rich idiot like you hasn’t used a squatter before, have you? 

As he spoke, he tilted his head and glanced at his accomplice outside.

“……”

Now!

The confusion on Pei Yi’s face swiftly turned to ruthlessness. He slammed the toilet door shut and locked it, then turned around and raised his feet to stand on the window.

It was cold and windy.

Looking from the top down, the height of a three-storey building was still a bit scary. If he couldn’t reach the opposite platform in one jump, he could get injured or die in the fall.

There was a frenzied banging sound outside the door. “Fucking damn it, this fool tricked us!”

“Er-ge.”

Pei Yi held this name between his teeth, took a deep breath, then steeled his heart and jumped.

—Bang!

When the two people broke through the door and saw this death-defying leap, another degree of shock was added to their expressions.

“Damn, where did the fucking fool go?”

“He didn’t die, right!?”

“What are you looking at, hurry up, ah!”

“……”

The sound of the landing made Pei Yi’s eardrums ring, and the mixture of coldness and pain took his breath away for a moment. But he had no time to slow down—

Pei Yi gritted his teeth and got up, enduring the unspeakable pain as he ran down the stairs of the second floor balcony.

He had just run to the first floor when the thin man in the rental house opposite reached the stairs at the junction of the first and second floors. 

“Stop running!”

As soon as their eyes met, Pei Yi dashed wildly down the alley, knocking down a series of drying racks.

He didn’t have the advantage of numbers, so he definitely couldn’t stop and fight. On the contrary—

He had to destroy some things and make as much of a racket as possible in order to get the attention of nearby residents. This would be a kind of alternate protection for him.

If he was lucky, he might even meet the search and rescue personnel sent by Qin Yishun and others.

As he thought, a smelly black stream appeared at the head of the alley.

Pei Yi was about to turn a corner, when he caught a glimpse of a figure from the corner of his eye, and had to stop abruptly—

Brother Gui suddenly appeared to the right and gave Pei Yi a fierce look, and behind him were the other two chasing after him.

“……”

“Pretending? Pretend again!”

Brother Gui drew the short knife he carried with him. The blade glinted coldly. “Okay, ah, I had originally had reservations for the sake of you being a ‘fool,’ and didn’t play rough.”

He was quite good at pretending!

Even Bo Guancheng had been deceived. The other party gave them incorrect information, and they were almost tricked by Pei Yi, who was pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger!

Pei Yi tried his best to control his unsteady breathing. His heartstrings were tight, but he didn’t show any fear on the surface. “You’re working so hard for Bo Guancheng. How much did he pay you?”

He needed to delay for time as much as possible, and find a gap to slip away.

“You don’t need to worry about me and him!”

Brother Gui played with the knife. His hoarse voice was influenced by the sound of the wind, making it more menacing.

“Don’t think you can delay time by talking. The cleverness of you rich people doesn’t seem worth mentioning to me.”

The short man came forward. “Brother Gui, don’t talk any more nonsense with him! Let’s take him up, then tie him up and beat him!”

As soon as these words fell, a figure unexpectedly rushed out from the corner.

Brother Gui’s attention was all on Pei Yi. It was too late to resist.

In the blink of an eye, he was knocked to the ground by a kick.

“Hiss.” Brother Gui covered his waist and abdomen as if his ribs had suffered, his face pale. “Ah…..”

The short and skinny men who were about to step forward were startled, and their footsteps paused slightly. Qin Yishun approached with a dark expression and stepped on Brother Gui’s wrist, forcing him to let go of the knife in his hand. “Who do you think you’ve kidnapped?”

The defensive line in Pei Yi’s heart suddenly loosened, and he quickly ran over, the tension in his eyes replaced with joy. “Brother! How did you find me here?”

“Xiao Yi!”

Qin Yishun saw that his little brother was clearly distressed, and stepped down on the man’s wrist harder.

“—Ah!”

Brother Gui let out a scream, and tried to get up, but failed. He said through gritted teeth, “What are you still doing? Come on!”

The thin man and the short one exchanged glances, and felt a simultaneous burst of anxiety. The height and presence of the other person standing there was enough to scare them.

Qin Yishun handed the knife to Pei Yi. “Xiao Yi, hold this. Wait for me for a moment, and Brother will take you back.”

Pei Yi still had the ability to protect himself, and he believed in his older brother’s strength. “En.”

After all, Qin Yishun was a retired Special Ops soldier, how could his skills be beaten by ordinary people? With almost no effort, he put the three of them on the ground.

Not long after, the search and rescue personnel rushed over after hearing the news. “Boss Qin.”

Qin Yishun was concise and clear, “Arrest them and call the police.”

Pei Yi pointed to the residential building not far away. “On the third floor of that building, there should be the rope they tied me up with, and maybe there’s some other evidence.”

When Qin Yishun heard this, he caught sight of the ligature marks on Pei Yi’s wrists and bare feet that were red from the cold. “Where are your shoes?”

Pei Yi looked at the black and smelly artificial river and gave a thoughtful hum. “I was only wearing slippers earlier when I got up, and then they brought me out.”

The next second, Qin Yishun took off his coat and covered him with it. “Why is your right sleeve ripped like this? How did you escape?”

When Qin Yishun saw his little brother looking like a little beggar, he felt distressed, and at the same time rejoiced that he had already recovered his mind. Otherwise, he wouldn’t even have had the ability to protect himself.

Qin Yishun hesitated to speak, but in the end, he was still afraid that Pei Yi would catch a cold. “Never mind. I’ll carry you back to the car first, and we can talk about things slowly.”

Pei Yi was taken aback. “Carry?”

Qin Yishun seemed to understand his concerns. “What? How can Bo Yueming have anything to say about an older brother carrying his little brother? When this matter is over, I must settle accounts with him!”

Pei Yi felt that his legs were about to freeze, and simply jumped onto Qin Yishun’s back. “Brother, this has nothing to do with Yueming. You can’t blame him.”

He said a few words of excuse for his lover, and couldn’t help wondering, “He asked you to come to me, right? How is he doing?”

Qin Yishun couldn’t let go of his anger as he carried him away. “At this sort of time, you’re still thinking about him? Think about yourself first!”

“Didn’t my brother protect me? Misfortune turned to blessings.” Pei Yi smiled purposefully and pressed his advantage. “Brother, lend me your cell phone, and I’ll send him a message to report that I’m safe.”

“……”

Qin Yishun could only say, “It’s in the coat pocket, but you don’t know the password, so it’s useless if you take it.”

There was clearly a fit of pique in the last part of that sentence.

Pei Yi took the phone out of the coat he was wearing and suddenly pointed it at Qin Yishun’s face. “Brother, smile, I’ll use face unlock.”

The cell phone authenticated Qin Yishun’s face and immediately unlocked.

Qin Yishun was angry and helpless, “Who still thinks you’re a little fool? You should be called clever!”

Pei Yi smiled lightly, and took the opportunity to ask, “So how did you find this place?”

“Bo Yueming called me to explain the situation, and asked me to focus on investigating dilapidated rental buildings that were about twenty minutes away from Bo Manor.”

And this urban village was the only eligible place.

Qin Yishun used the joint road control system between his company and the police to find the surveillance cameras near Bo Manor—

It was found that there was only one vehicle with strange whereabouts at the time, and the car had a fake license plate. The road monitoring along the way also pointed to this.

Coincidentally, when Qin Yishun was driving on the outer roads, he saw the suspicious Brother Gui, and his hypervigilance alerted him right away that something was wrong.

It was his innate intuition and keenness, but also the helplessness of needing to make a gamble that made him choose to follow.

Fortunately, he got there in time.

Qin Yishun closed the car door and immediately turned on the heater. “Cold? I told my subordinate to buy a pair of shoes for you, and I’ll take you to the hospital later.”

Pei Yi’s wrists and ankles had minor ligature marks from being tied up, there were scratches on the back of his right hand and forearm, and the shoeless feet he’d had to run wildly on were not much better.

There were no major injuries, but a lot of minor ones.

Qin Yishun didn’t have any wet wipes in the car, so he could only use paper towels soaked in mineral water to clean his little brother up.

Pei Yi took a paper towel and resisted the pain on his right arm, shaking his head. “I’ll go to the hospital later. Brother, why don’t you take me to Bo headquarters first?”

“…….” Qin Yishun stopped pouring water. “What? Didn’t you just send him a message?”

Pei Yi didn’t conceal it from him. “I sent him a message, but I still want to find him.”

Qin Yishun frowned again. “Why?”

Pei Yi hesitated to speak. Some secrets were hard to reveal—

Uncle Kai had told him that the night he packed his luggage and tried to escape, but was stopped, Bo Yueming sat alone in the living room to watch over him.

And Bo Yueming also told him on Yanshan mountain that his biological mother also left him behind his back.

From then on, Pei Yi knew that his lover was a very insecure person at heart.

With such an unexpected accident today, Bo Yueming had to force himself to stay at the shareholders’ meeting for the sake of Old Mrs. Bo and the Bo Group.

Pei Yi didn’t blame his lover for not coming to rescue him in person, because this decision was his own, but he could imagine that Bo Yueming was the one who was in the most distress and blaming himself.

Pei Yi came back to his senses, and said in a firm voice, “I want to find him, because he can only feel at ease once he sees me with his own eyes.”

They were not each other’s weaknesses, but each other’s inner armor and the card in their hand.

. . . . . .

Bo Group.

The first project review of the general shareholder meeting was over.

From the beginning until now, Bo Yueming had no intention of listening to what the shareholders were saying, and his eyes were fixed on the phone screen from time to time. 

It had been an hour, and guilt and anxiety were eroding his heart the entire time!

Bo Yueming had overestimated himself. He couldn’t last these two hours at all!

—Zizi.

The phone suddenly vibrated, and Qin Yishun’s WeChat voice message appeared on the screen.

Bo Yueming could no longer pretend to be calm, and stood up abruptly.

The solid wooden chair he was sitting on scratched the floor, causing a loud noise that drew the attention of countless shareholders.

Bo Yueming hurried away. “Everyone, I apologize. I’m stepping out for a moment.”

After speaking, he left the meeting without looking back, even forgetting about his “blindness.”

“…….”

The shareholders reacted one after another, revealing their shock. “How can Mr. Bo leave by himself?”

“His, his eyes are alright? When did this happen?”

“…….”

Everyone was astonished and delighted to discuss this. Only Bo Guancheng in the back row looked at his departing back and showed a mysterious smile—

Sure enough, you still can’t sit still? Very good, since you’ve already left, don’t think about coming back!

. . . . . .

Bo Yueming walked quickly to an empty office and clicked on the WeChat voice message from Qin Yishun.

The moment he pressed the button, a familiar voice sounded—

“Er-ge, I’m fine now, don’t worry about me. Just go and deal with that pile of scum.”

When Bo Yueming heard his lover personally report his safety, he sat down as if he had lost all his strength, and his heart hanging suspended in the air was finally able to rest.

—Swish.

Another WeChat came in.

Bo Yueming involuntarily let out a choked breath. His fingers were still trembling as he clicked on the voice message. It was still Pei Yi’s voice.

“I was too lenient in what I said just now, so I’ll repeat it again—”

“Bust that group of people in the face for me, husband~”

---

[1] His original given name is Gui (贵), which means noble, but he goes by Gui (鬼), which means ghost. ⮐

---

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Chapter Seventy-One <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Seventy-Three

T/N: Thank you so much to ColdSnowman for donating again! Here’s your double update!

Pei Yi was woken up by a long-lost hangover headache. He tugged at the quilt and flipped back and forth, but couldn’t get rid of the pain in his head.

“Ugghh.”

Pei Yi let out a noise of discomfort, and subconsciously called out for the person he relied on the most, “Er-ge.”

Footsteps sounded from the small living room outside, accompanied by the gentlest response, “I’m here.”

Following at Bo Yueming’s feet, Inspector jumped onto the bed first.

It walked along the edge of the bed to Pei Yi’s shoulder, looking around and sniffing. “Meow-wu~”

Pei Yi struggled against the headache to open his eyes, shifting his gaze from the pet in front of him to Bo Yueming beside the bed.

The other party was wearing a very formal three-piece suit, and looked like he had risen early to get ready.

“Huh?”

Pei Yi stared at Bo Yueming in bewilderment, uttering a low question.

Bo Yueming put the warm water and pills he had prepared on the bedside table, and bent over to check his condition. “Another headache, right? Seeing you drunk like that last night, I guessed you wouldn’t feel well this morning.”

Last night, Bo Yueming had carried the drunken Pei Yi from the car to the master bedroom and washed the two of them up.

Likely because he was at the side of his closest and most trusted person, Pei Yi’s last sense of reason was overwhelmed by his drunkenness after the hot bath, and he boldly fulfilled his wild words of “I’ll eat you.”

Pei Yi embraced Bo Yueming, kissing and gnawing, and after teasing his lover, he, the “culprit,” fell asleep drunk like a rascal.

Pei Yi lightly tugged Bo Yueming’s hand. “Er-ge.”

“En?”

Bo Yueming broke free from his helpless memories of the night before.

Seeing that his lover’s face was presently screwed up with discomfort, he coaxed, “Drink some warm water and take the hangover medicine before you sleep again?”

Pei Yi accepted his fate in a well-behaved manner and struggled to get up.

He gulped down the hangover medicine that Bo Yueming had thoughtfully prepared, and drank more than half a glass of warm water to moisten his dry mouth before heaving a sigh of relief. 

“Thankfully today is Saturday, so I don’t have to go to the studio.”

The game was being watched over by the technical department in shifts, so if there was any problem, he and Li Yuan would be alerted in a timely manner. 

Bo Yueming asked, “Are you hungry?”

Pei Yi shook his head. “I don’t feel good. No appetite.”

Bo Yueming looked at the time and coaxed, “It’s just after eight o’clock, why don’t you sleep a little longer? I also cooked you hangover soup, go eat some downstairs after you’ve had enough sleep.”

Pei Yi unceremoniously fell back, his reasoning still paralyzed by the headache. “Er-ge, why did you get up so early? Where are you going?”

Bo Yueming replied, “You don’t remember? The Bo Group shareholder meeting is scheduled for today.”

The weather was cold.

Although the heating in the master bedroom was adequate, he still pulled up the quilt for his family’s kitten. “It’s scheduled for two o’clock in the afternoon, but I have to go to Grandma’s place first to arrange some things.”

Pei Yi returned to his senses, and curiosity dyed his expression. “Are you able to deal with those people today?”

“En. I had originally wanted to take you with me. Now that you’re in such a state, it’s better for you to stay home and have a good rest.”

Bo Yueming took Pei Yi’s hand and pinched the acupuncture point on his fingertip. This was a move he learned from the internet, and it was said to relieve discomfort after drinking.

His family’s kitten loved to eat and drink, but if Bo Yueming was not watching by his side, it was easy for him to get drunk, so he naturally had to think of various ways to deal with it.

“I will tell you everything that happened when I come back tonight, to satisfy your curiosity.”

Pei Yi teased with a smile, “Today is cold, la. The Bo family is about to change.”

Bo Yueming nodded slightly. “Certain people have occupied the magpie’s nest for half a year. It’s time to return what should be returned.”

“Er-ge, you need to be careful of Bo Guancheng and the others, and especially protect the Old Madam.” Pei Yi stopped joking, and considered carefully, “In case they are cornered and do something extreme.”

Bo Yueming had already considered this point. “I have already contacted Mr. Qin to strengthen the guard staff. Don’t worry.”

Pei Yi nodded slowly.

For some reason, he felt a disconnect in his mind, as if he had forgotten to explain something to Bo Yueming.

Bo Yueming didn’t know what was going on in his mind. “Okay, I’m about to leave. You sleep a little longer, and remember to message me when you wake up later.”

Pei Yi’s discomfort hadn’t stopped, so he just didn’t worry. “Okay.”

Bo Yueming leaned over and kissed his lips. “Good morning, Little Sir.”

Pei Yi stuck to him again and rubbed the tip of his nose, smiling back. “Good morning, Er-ge.”

. . . . . . .

Pei Yi fell asleep again not long after Bo Yueming left, the remnants of drunkenness still tenaciously playing its role, and he let himself sleep drowsily for a long time.

When he woke up again, the headache was gone, and only a little drowsiness remained.

Pei Yi fumbled to pick up the cell phone on the bedside table, and was surprised when he saw the time displayed on the screen—

12:50?

How did he sleep for so long unknowingly?

Uncle Kai would usually wake him up for lunch at half past twelve, so why did he not do so today?

Pei Yi also glanced at the cat nest. It was empty, Inspector nowhere to be seen.

“Strange.”

Pei Yi muttered as he got up, rubbing his temples. After seizing the time to get up and wash, he changed into a white sweater and went downstairs.

The air was filled with the scent of food.

Pei Yi went downstairs steadily, and asked as usual, “Uncle Kai?”

“……”

There was no response.

“Uncle…….”

Just as Pei Yi was about to call out a second time, he caught sight of a familiar figure laying on the dining room floor from the corner of his eye. His expression changed at once, and he immediately accelerated his pace and rushed over!

Uncle Kai had passed out at some point with his face to the ground, and there was a shattered set of dishes beside him.

Pei Yi turned him over and immediately confirmed that he was breathing. While pinching the acupoint between his nose and mouth to wake him up, he scanned him from top to bottom—

His breathing was normal, and there didn’t seem to be any external injuries. Was it a sudden onset illness?

But a housekeeper such as Uncle Kai arranged for a full set of physical examinations every year, and the other party’s body was usually sturdy, so how could he faint for no reason?

Pei Yi brainstormed quickly, and chose to call an ambulance first.

He tried his best to suppress the still-raging dizziness, and was about to move Uncle Kai when he suddenly noticed Inspector hiding beneath a cabinet from the corner of his eye.

The eyes of one person and one cat met.

“Meow-wu!”

Inspector let out a growling, stressed warning sound from its throat.

“……”

Pei Yi’s slightly raised eyes froze, and he felt that something was wrong.

The moment vigilance erupted in his innermost being, there was a strong wind behind him.

Pei Yi instinctively tried to dodge sideways, but the act of crouching and turning around helplessly made his head dizzy. Swish—

His vision suddenly went black!

It was not just brief darkness due to his dizziness. Someone had put a black bag over his head and forcibly imprisoned his hands from behind.

“Meow-wu~”

Inspector uttered a more ferocious cry.

Pei Yi’s heart tightened, but he quickly calmed down. “Inspector! Run!”

No matter how smart and capable the domesticated pet was, it had little chance of winning against someone with evil intentions.

Pei Yi still recalled Inspector’s ending in the original text, and didn’t want such a scene to happen again.

“Run quickly!”

The person behind him heard Pei Yi’s cry and sneered. “Heh, you really are a fool. Still thinking about a cat at a time like this?”

“Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and take him away!”

“……”

Pei Yi knew there was no chance of victory if he resisted fiercely now, but it would easily expose the truth of his disguise.

So before the stranger behind him could find out, he played the part of the “fool” that the other party had ridiculed him for being, struggling and shouting—

In this way, he would establish himself as a “fool” and make the other party relax their vigilance.

“Be quiet! Or else I’ll kill you!”

“Wu wu, en, en.”

Pei Yi’s mouth was covered tightly through the rough sack, and he was practically carried away.

Footsteps staggered one after another. There were two people?

Soon, a car door closed, and a voice different from the first two people rang out, “Let’s go!”

The car engine sounded.

Pei Yi confirmed his answer. There should be a third person driving the car along with the “kidnappers” who broke into the house.

Uncle Kai was likely knocked out by them while preparing lunch, but the real target was Pei Yi himself?

Pei Yi’s thoughts suddenly turned toward the the figure that had flashed by the wall of the villa the night before, and the sense of something being wrong that had been suppressed by his drunkenness finally emerged—

Right!

It wasn’t a hallucination from drinking the other night, there really was someone waiting outside the villa to keep an eye on the situation?

There was a total of two exits in front of and behind the villa.

The side back door was closed all year round, to the point that it seemed the iron chain was going to rust, and the front door had three layers of security. Unless you had the right license plate and could enter without inspection, you had to have an invitation letter from the owner of the manor.

“Wu wu wu wu!”

Pei Yi’s mouth was covered very tightly, but he still let out a flustered, foolish sob on purpose. He heard the sound of the front door being opened—

The people in this car took him out of the manor almost effortlessly.

It seemed that this was either a car for the Bo family’s own use, or they had gotten through the three levels of doormen inside and outside.

But no matter which option it was, the intentions of the people behind the scenes were obvious. Forced to hide under the black sack, the initial panic vanished from Pei Yi’s eyes, only to be replaced by an upwelling of calm sharpness—

Was it the main branch? Or Cheng Yangshan?

Today was Bo Group’s shareholder meeting. Were they afraid that they would not be able to suppress Bo Yueming, so they just decided to “find another way” and had someone kidnap him?

Pei Yi could pretty much figure out the purpose of this sudden “kidnapping,” and couldn’t help but sneer internally.

At this time, he didn’t know whether to say they were too clever, or that they had enmeshed themselves in a trap of their own devising. Knowing his importance to Bo Yueming, they wanted to use him as a check and balance?

Did they think he and Bo Yueming were easy to deal with? Was the law really just for decoration?

However, since the purpose of kidnapping him was to get a handle on Bo Yueming and take away his right to speak—

Then before the meeting officially started, the main branch or the kidnappers would certainly find a way to inform Bo Yueming about this, and they should temporarily keep him as a “hostage” until the shareholders’ meeting was over.

“…….”

Pei Yi estimated that he would be relatively safe for two or three hours, and lost the last bit of his unnecessary tension.

He had to be vigilant, but he couldn’t let his nervousness and anxiety limit his thinking.

Under such circumstances, it was very easy to encounter misfortune when it was one against three, and Pei Yi felt more and more that he should wait for an opportunity—

He couldn’t be a burden. Rather than wait for his lover to rescue him, he must save himself!

. . . . . . .

Bang!

The cup he had picked up accidentally fell back onto the table, spilling a lot of coffee.

Seeing this, Lin Zhong sitting opposite him immediately got up and took out some tissues. “Mr. Bo, are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”

Bo Yueming wiped the coffee stains from his fingertips, feeling inexplicably uneasy, and glanced at the WeChat interface on his phone—

It was half past one.

Why was Pei Yi silent? The message he sent had not been replied to.

Bo Yueming threw the tissues into the trash can, and said casually, “Lin Zhong, will you call Uncle Kai and see if Pei Yi is awake?”

As soon as he spoke, the office door was pushed in unexpectedly.

Bo Yueming glanced over subconsciously, and a trace of displeasure welled up in his eyes hidden under the glasses.

Lin Zhong, who was about to get up and go out, reacted. “Mr. Bo, it’s the First Young Master.”

Hearing this address, Bo Guancheng sneered in displeasure. “Even if I’m not working in the group, the subsidiary company is still under the management of our main branch, yet I can’t even get the address ‘Boss Cheng’ from you?”

Encountering his wrath, Lin Zhong paused.

Bo Yueming said calmly, “Lin Zhong, you leave first.”

“Yes.”

Lin Zhong passed Bo Guancheng.

The latter approached the sofa step by step, and took a seat across from Bo Yueming without waiting to be greeted. “I really underestimated you. Your acting skills aren’t bad.”

Bo Yueming seemed to have guessed this would happen long ago, and picked up his coffee without haste. “Why don’t I seem to have seen your name on the list? Oh, that’s right, there’s a statement on the official website.”

Bo Guancheng recalled the public statement of his dismissal, and gritted his teeth. “Bo Yueming, you are the one who should have been removed from today’s shareholder list, not me!”

He thought he could rely on the old lady’s favor, conceal the news of her life or death, and join hands with the second branch again to control Bo Group every step of the way?

In his dreams!

Bo Guancheng took off his glasses, and also removed his mask of hypocritical agreeableness he always wore, revealing his original viciousness and hatred—

“You’re just a stray dog the old lady brought in from outside. What right do you have to be equal to me and the main branch?”

Splash!

Bo Yueming suddenly flicked the coffee cup in his hand, and all of the liquid in the cup was poured onto Bo Guancheng’s face and clothes without falling to the ground!

“…….”

Bo Guancheng’s expression changed at once. He hadn’t expected Bo Yueming to do such a thing.

Bo Yueming set the coffee cup down firmly. This was a trick he had learned from his little lover.

It was enough to vent his anger.

He lay down the eviction notice without a change of expression, “The general shareholder meeting is about to start. If you have time to sit and chat with me, how about cleaning yourself up?”

Bo Yueming was fuming with anger, but before he could refute, Lin Zhong knocked on the door and walked in.

They made eye contact.

Bo Guancheng caught the uncontrolled panic in the assistant’s eyes, and immediately felt that he was standing at the stage where the balance shifted toward victory. “I hope you can still laugh later.”

Just wait and see!

Once this person had a weakness, they were bound to succeed in a big way!

With this vague sentence, Bo Guancheng got up and left. At the same time, Lin Zhong hastily locked the office door.

Bo Yueming noticed his assistant’s abnormality. “What has happened?”

“Mr. Bo! I called Uncle Kai, but he didn’t answer. But just now I suddenly received an anonymous text message from an encrypted number—”

“The other party said that Little Sir is in their hands, and they will call to confirm in three minutes.”

Because of the urgency and importance of this matter, Lin Zhong had rushed back to the office in a hurry.

“What?!”

Bo Yueming’s breathing became disordered.

The call came in just as his voice fell, still an encrypted string of numbers from an unknown location.

Lin Zhong immediately passed the phone over. “Mr. Bo! Here!”

Bo Yueming suppressed his surging emotions and pressed the button to connect. At the same time, he didn’t forget to turn on the recording. “Hello?”

A hoarse voice came from the other end. “Give the phone to Bo Yueming!”

Bo Yueming got right to the point. “This is he. Where is Pei Yi?”

The other party laughed, full of malice. “He’s tied up, and his ticket might be up at any time. So, troubling Boss Bo to cooperate with us.”

“Of course, to cooperate in good faith, I’ll let Boss Bo inspect the goods first.” 

After he said this, there was a commotion on the other end of the line. “Come on! Say a few words!”

“Wu.”

A wordless whimper sounded. 

Bo Yueming recognized it right away. His hand gripped the phone with such force that his veins bulged, and an incoherent cry echoed in his ears.

It was Pei Yi’s voice, but not the way Pei Yi should be with him.

His lover was still maintaining his “foolish” appearance in front of them? And they hadn’t found out yet?

Having quickly confirmed this point, Bo Yueming said simply and firmly, “Turn on the video. I want to talk to him in person to confirm his safety.”

The person on the other end didn’t comply. “Boss Bo, aren’t you pushing your limits?”

Bo Yueming’s next request was louder, mixed with a trace of hostility. “I said, turn on the video, otherwise don’t even think about negotiating terms with me.”

“…….”

The kidnapper on the other end hesitated for a few seconds, then finally agreed with a curse.

The video was delayed for a moment, and then Pei Yi’s figure appeared on-screen—

The temperature was cold enough to snow, and the other party only wore a not-very-thick sweater. His eye sockets were red, and so was the frozen tip of his nose.

Bo Yueming gritted his teeth to keep his expression from fluctuating too much.

This group of people intended to use Pei Yi to manipulate him, and the more he showed excessive concern now, the more the losses would outweigh the gains.

The phone was briefly handed to Pei Yi.

“Fool, say a few words, hurry up!”

Probably because they thought Pei Yi was a fool who couldn’t accommodate to the circumstances, the kidnappers had only tied his hands crudely in front of him. 

Pei Yi struggled to catch the phone with both hands. When he saw Bo Yueming clearly on the screen, he at once vividly expressed his grievance and fear, calling out tearfully.

“Not Er-ge, want Brother!”

“Pei Yi?”

“Go home! I….don’t like it…..here.” Pei Yi took the opportunity to change the camera’s viewpoint slightly, but he couldn’t be too obvious due to the people behind him. “Worn out….more worn out than last time.”

Bo Yueming’s screen continued to record his lover’s message, and he cooperated sincerely, “It’s okay, don’t be afraid.”

Facing the three pairs of eyes in front of him, Pei Yi seemed unable to listen to Bo Yueming’s comfort, and continued to talk nonsense. “T-twenty minutes, pick me up, Big Brother, I want my Big Brother, I want…..”

“Enough!”

The leader smoking a cigarette snatched the cell phone away. “You really can’t stop?”

The video was interrupted for a moment.

The leader took over speaking, and said, “Boss Bo, can we talk about cooperation? You had better withdraw immediately from today’s shareholder meeting. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee that something won’t happen to this little fool.”

Bo Yueming interrupted in a firm voice, “Tell Bo Guancheng for me that what I hate most in life is being threatened. Don’t even think about it.”

At the critical moment of the general shareholders’ meeting, who else could attack Pei Yi by his side other than the rotten, stinking main branch of the Bo family?

The other party clearly heard Bo Yueming’s unwillingness to bend, and there was a hint of ruthlessness in his hoarse voice, “Believe it or not, I’ll kill the hostage now!”

Kill the hostage?

Bo Yueming’s brow twitched slightly, and he was forced to gamble with his heart. “Okay, ah, you want to give it a shot? If you intend to do this, I’ll call the police right now.”

A suffocating silence permeated the air, and Bo Yueming eventually won the gamble.

The kidnapper took a step back and changed up his words. “Just keep your mouth shut at the shareholders’ meeting, and in two hours, I’ll give you a ransom amount.”

Bo Yueming knew when to throw in the towel. He agreed.

The phone quickly cut off on the other end, leaving only the indifferent sound of a dial tone.

Lin Zhong didn’t expect that Bo Guancheng would use such tactics. “Mr. Bo, the shareholders’ meeting is about to begin. What should we do now?”

Was it necessary to follow Bo Guancheng’s arrangements and withdraw from the shareholders’ meeting or remain mute the whole time? To allow them to kick him out of his position?

Bo Yueming put down the phone as if he had lost his strength, but forced himself to rally his spirits and calm down. “It’s useless to panic now. We can’t be left to their mercy.”

His lover was so clever and trusted him so calmly, he couldn’t let him down!

In his mind, Bo Yueming stripped away the “foolish” words Pei Yi had said and sorted out the truly usable information, then quickly dialed Qin Yishun’s number.

. . . . . . .

In a dark, damp little rental house.

Pei Yi feigned terror and curled up trembling in a corner, trying to relax the vigilance of the other three as much as possible.

The words “kill the hostage” sounded scary on the phone just now, but it was clearly just a threat.

Pei Yi could tell that the leading kidnapper wanted to play both sides—

On the one hand, he took Bo Guancheng’s money and remotely helped him get a handle on Bo Yueming at the shareholders’ meeting. And on the other hand, he wanted to use the kidnapping to pry a ransom out of Bo Yueming.

Before the conclusion of the shareholders’ meeting, and before any abrupt changes occurred, it was impossible for his life to be in danger for the time being.

Pei Yi had already hidden some general information in his nonsense just now—

12:50 was the last time he saw at home, and 1:25 was the time he saw on the kidnapper’s phone.

Leaving aside the miscellaneous things that happened before and after, the time it took to transfer him from the villa to this place was at a conservative estimate only about twenty minutes.

The place he was staying now was even more worn out than the old house they trapped Lin Na in last time, plus they hadn’t changed vehicles halfway, and there were surveillance cameras at the gate of the manor and along the road—

The old house twenty minutes away from the manor could be found with a bit of investigating.

The reason Pei Yi kept yelling for his “Big Brother” in the video was because Qin Yishun’s company was the largest risk management firm in China.

Besides the police, they had a special emergency system for this kind of situation.

And another important reason was that he knew the importance of this shareholders’ meeting to Bo Yueming and Old Mrs. Bo! It was the best time to deal with Cheng Yangshan and the main branch of the Bo family!

If Bo Yueming rushed out to find him and rescue him right now, wouldn’t that make it clear that he had cast aside the shareholder meeting?

No!

Bo Guancheng and the others must not be allowed to succeed, otherwise they would only become more difficult to deal with in the future!

Pei Yi knew that Bo Yueming must be very anxious for him at this time. This was enough. Before reinforcements arrived, he believed that he had the ability to protect himself, and even find the right time to escape!

Pei Yi was in a predicament, but his heart was filled with love and trust. He secretly observed the nearby kidnappers with peerless determination—

Forget being a fucking weakness.

He would never become a burden for Bo Yueming!

---

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Chapter Seventy <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Seventy-Two

This Many-Color festival was held by the common people themselves. A bowl of meat in the east and a pot of wine in the west were all placed on the long tables along both sides of the street. There were so many beautiful things for everyone to choose from, among them a dessert made of fermented roses, which was soft and sweet. Liu Xian’an especially liked it, but the little ones in the city also liked it very much and all crowded in front of the stall, clamoring for the old lady to pick a big one for themselves.

The old lady was getting on in years, and her eyesight was blurry. She couldn’t remember things, and didn’t even recognize His Royal Highness Xiao Wang. Seeing that the other party was tall enough to block the light, she sent him to line up at the back of the line and turned the small stove to cook slowly. When others saw this scene, they were startled and hurried forward to warn the old lady, but Liang Shu stopped them.

“There is no harm.” He smiled, “The lady can cook slowly, I’ll wait.”

The first pot of steaming cakes was baked, and was soon looted by the little dolls without leaving even a crumb for His Royal Highness Xiao Wang. Liu Xian’an stood under a nearby tree and waited for him, dozing off, but didn’t see him coming back. He was so sleepy that he yawned, but there were people coming and going around him and he couldn’t sleep, so he had to walk around to wake up. He bought two tamarind cakes as he went, took a bite, and almost lost his teeth.

“Miracle Doctor Liu, Miracle Doctor Liu!” Someone next to him suddenly called out in a crisp voice, and then a rattle drum was handed over before him with colorful and jubilant patterns painted on it. Liu Xian’an received it, and before he had time to give thanks, the other party had already run away with a giggle. She was a girl of sixteen or seventeen years old. Liang Shu had just come over with a big bag of cakes when he saw this scene, so he stood to the side with a sour face and cough cough’d to announce his arrival.

Liu Xian’an ignored this demonstration and just handed him the rattle drum, wiped his hands, and ate a piece of cake with a bamboo stick. Liang Shu coughed for a long time without getting a response, then hooked his hairband with a finger and said with dissatisfaction: “How little time have I been away?”

“I didn’t realize what it was.” Liu Xian’an was not interested in rattle drums when he was a child, let alone when he grew up, and didn’t care to take a second look at it. Liang Shu, on the other hand, held it in his hand for a while, and from the color to the feel and sound, he picked out the faults inside and out.

Liu Xian’an couldn’t stand the noise, so he grabbed a piece of cake and stuffed it into the other’s mouth in order to have a moment of peace. The two of them squeezed together on the narrow road and walked slowly. Because Liang Shu had ordered in advance that the common people did not need to be too formal, everyone just greeted them with a smile and yelled for the people in front to stand aside so that the prince and Doctor Liu could go first.

As for the specific name of Miracle Doctor Liu, some people thought that it was Liu Xian’an, because that was what the guards of Xiao Wang Palace said, but others insisted that it must be Liu Xianche who was just using Liu Xian’an’s name. The reason was very good — Second Young Master Liu was well-known all over the nation for being lazy, ah. He ate and slept all day long, and even tried to commit suicide when he had to write. How could he go out as a doctor? So everyone was arguing and debating about this matter, but no result was achieved, and the more they argued, the more confused they became.

Liu Xian’an didn’t care much about these things, and just said to Liang Shu: “If the two people who planned the kidnapping last time hear the news and think that Elder Brother is really in Huaizhen City and run to capture him again, they’ll find that it is still me.”

“If they are willing to throw themselves into a trap, that will work out just fine. We won’t have to go to the mountains to catch them in the future,“ Liang Shu said. “However, according to the message left by A-Yue, Liu Hengchang seems to have gained their full trust. Feng Xiaojin’s health has also improved, and they shouldn’t need another doctor anytime soon.”

“A-Chang’s medical skills are very good. On this topic, we haven’t seen Cheng-guniang for a long time.” Liu Xian’an asked, “Where is she now?”

“She was covertly protecting Liu Chang before, and now she is rushing to the Southwest garrison camp.” Liang Shu said, “You can see her in a few days.”

The two wandered around the city for the whole afternoon, and had dinner at a restaurant before returning to the government office under the silver-white moonlight. Liu Xian’an was so tired that he could barely walk. His legs and waist were sore, so he immediately lay flat on the bed after entering the room. A-Ning nimbly stuffed a hard jade pillow under his waist and said: “I thought the young master would come back, so I cooked some hot soup.”

“The prince forbade me to come back.” Liu Xian’an frowned and slowly changed his posture. “He said the sun was good today, and I needed to get more sun.”

A-Ning immediately suggested that this matter should be noted down and saved for the next time he wrote a family letter. The Village Master would definitely have a great impression of the prince. Liu Xian’an gave a perfunctory “en,” and pressed his waist with one hand, rubbing it slowly. A-Ning packed his luggage at the table for a while, then picked up the rattle drum beside him and asked: “Do you still want this thing, Young Master?”

“No.”

A-Ning put it next to the lamp and turned around to continue his work. The translucent surface of the drum revealed delicate textures in the candlelight. Liu Xian’an lay there senselessly and stared at it for a while. He was originally letting his mind wander boundlessly, but then vaguely felt that something was wrong.

As for what it was…..Liu Xian’an abruptly sat up straight: “Go ask the prince to come over.”

A-Ning tactfully reminded him: “But the prince just left, and the tea is not even cold yet.” By his estimation, even if this could be done, it would be too unreserved, right?

Liu Xian’an hurriedly put on his shoes: “There is something wrong with this rattle drum.”

As for the specific problem, when Liang Shu and Gao Lin rushed over, Liu Xian’an had already dismantled the drum into eight pieces, all of the parts laid out neatly on the table. One of the drum heads was rolled up. The totem of the Baifu Sect was painted on the back, but because the front of the drum was also covered with five colors of oil paint, neither of them noticed it during the day.

“Don’t touch it.” Liu Xian’an blocked Liang Shu’s hand and said, “It’s made of human skin.”

Gao Lin got a chill: “These dirty things, how can such unlucky curses be cast on people when the city is celebrating?”

Liang Shu had only seen the other party’s back in the afternoon, and Liu Xian’an didn’t pay attention to the woman’s specific appearance. The guards went out to inquire around, but everyone said they didn’t know who it was. It was normal for nearby villagers to come to the city and participate in the Many-Color Festival, so no one paid special attention to her.

She was just an ordinary woman who came with the crowd and left with the crowd.

Liang Shu’s expression was a bit ugly. The rattle drum from this evil cult was obviously a provocation from the Baifu sect to him. In broad daylight, in front of the whole city, just so unscrupulous, coming and going freely. And Huaizhen City was only the northernmost of the thirty-six cities in the Southwest, so the arrogance of the cult could be seen.

Liu Xian’an removed his gloves and asked A-Ning to go to the kitchen to make a pot of soothing tea. Gao Lin had initially wanted to comfort his prince with a few more words, but before his seat was warm, he seemed to be redundant, so he got up and slipped away.

Only two people were left in the room.

Liu Xian’an said: “I’ve read many books on cults before, and this is just a few tricks back and forth. Because they must enshrine something that no one has heard of before as the supreme god, in order to convince the common people, most of them resort to intimidation and curses in the early stages. This rattle is the same old business.”

Liang Shu gripped his hand with a sigh and said: “It is my lingering fear. Seeing hundreds of jubilant people in the market today, I lowered my vigilance and let you stand alone under the tree. This shouldn’t have happened.”

“I also have hidden weapons for self-defense.” Liu Xian’an patted his waist. “Since being kidnapped, my father asked my uncle to prepare this when I went out this time.” As he spoke, he took out a small box. “Elder Brother poisoned all the hidden weapons in it. A person will die upon contact with these.”

Die upon contact. Liang Shu stopped his hand and asked in disbelief: “Such a dangerous thing, you intend to use it yourself?”

Liu Xian’an  put it back: “Of course. Not only that, but I have also improved the mechanism. Before, I could only shoot eight needles at a time, but now I can shoot eighty-eight.”

Liang Shu couldn’t laugh or cry upon hearing this, and pointed at his waist: “This thing……hiss, forget it, just take it with you. I will find a safer one for you later.”

Liu Xian’an felt that this was already safe for him, but didn’t want to dismantle the mechanism box and explain it in detail. It would be too cumbersome, so he changed the topic and asked: “What time do we leave tomorrow morning?”

“We’ll wait until you wake up before leaving.” Liang Shu pulled him to sit on his lap. “Don’t move, I’ll hold you for a while.”

Liu Xian’an wrapped his arms around his shoulders and patted his back, saying: “In fact, I’m not so helpless. The prince need not be so worried.”

“Don’t you lack the strength to truss a chicken?” Liang Shu poked his leg with a finger.

The poke evoked the soreness from walking all day, and Liu Xian’an gasped. He instinctively tried to escape, but Liang Shu grabbed him and buried his head in his chest, laughing for a while. Liu Xian’an was quite depressed to be laughed at, and wanted to argue that not being able to walk did not mean that he couldn’t protect himself. Liang Shu stopped laughing, and hugged him tightly again, saying in a low voice: “Going South, just stay by my side and don’t go far. The people of the Baifu Sect must have their eyes on you now, and will not let go of any opportunity. I will also send someone to protect A-Ning.”

“Okay,” Liu Xian’an agreed. “I will always follow the prince.”

These seven words sounded very pleasing to the ear, so Liang Shu grabbed him and kissed him. A-Ning walked to the door with the teapot and immediately turned around, almost hitting a pillar. Liang Shu called for him to stop and released the person in his arms, saying: “I’ll go to Gao Lin first. You should rest earlier.”

Liu Xian’an nodded and watched Liang Shu leave the small courtyard. A-Ning was shocked at seeing such a scene for the first time, and stood there holding his breath. He almost forgot to breathe again, and blushed for a long time before saying: “Young Master, why didn’t you close the door?”

Liu Xian’an said: “I didn’t care.”

A-Ning felt that this answer was simply unacceptable, so he asked: “But I still must serve the young master in the future. When the prince is here, can I just not enter the door?”

Liu Xian’an was indifferent to this matter, as he led an idle life. Come in if you want, the prince doesn’t care anyway.

A-Ning imagined the scene for a moment, and said with a serious expression: “……Never mind, then I still won’t come in.”

---

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Chapter Sixty-Eight << Table of Contents >> Chapter Seventy

T/N: Thank you to Attica for the Kofi! I hope you enjoy the double update!

Liu Xian’an stopped what he was doing and asked: “How can I be called proper?”

Liang Shu pondered, then at least the three books and six rituals will be required, ba.^[1] But then he thought about it again. According to how lazy the other party was, if he saw that the process was so cumbersome and simply ran away, wouldn’t the losses outweigh the gains? So now he didn’t want books, didn’t want rituals, and didn’t even want propriety anymore — having said that, which brain-addled person in this world would pay attention to propriety with his sweetheart?

Matters of love were unclear, messy, and tangled. He cleared his throat and pointed to the pot: “It smells like it’s burning.”

Liu Xian’an lowered his head and continued to stir. His winter clothes were cumbersome, and inconvenient for his work. His arms became sore after a few strokes. Liang Shu raised his foot and stepped across the threshold, saying that he wanted to help, but he didn’t take the rolling stick. Instead, he encircled him from behind with an ambiguous posture and leaned in slightly. Wrapping his hand around the other party’s palm, he slowly rested his chin on his shoulder.

It was a vivid display of what it meant to see a beauty and have one’s bones become soft, unable to stand still.

Second Young Master Liu didn’t respond. He looked the same as usual, just fine, but there was a bit of redness slowly spreading upward from the base of his ears. Liang Shu looked at it for a while, and then suddenly grabbed that red patch with his teeth. Liu Xian’an’s spine went numb instantly, and he shuddered. The rolling pin in his hand was almost tossed into the pot, but Liang Shu caught it in time. Throwing the stick onto the stove casually, he took advantage of the moment to wrap that thin waist in his arms. Liu Xian’an just felt that his whole body was being lifted up, and the ceiling spun. Before he could react, there was a wet, hot touch against his lips.

Liang Shu pressed the man against the wall, lowered his head, and kissed him tenderly. A forty-eight-thousand year old Sleeping Immortal was kissed into a wooden statue. It stood to reason that he had done the same thing in his dreams, and was not completely inexperienced, but reality was far more detailed than the dream. What could be obscured by the white mist in his dreams was clearly magnified in this kitchen, and Liang Shu whispered in his ear: “Open your mouth.”

Liu Xian’an closed his eyes, a thousand lingering poems flashing through his mind. He didn’t know when it started, but once it did, even the mythological birds in his mind soared up to 90,000 li, completely uncontrollable.

Liang Shu felt that the person in his arms had already been kissed boneless by him. Like a piece of honey wrapped in water, it was so sweet that he couldn’t stay still, so he lowered his head to lick and bite the other party’s white collarbones. Halfway through the biting, Liu Xian’an couldn’t take it anymore and pushed him away and cough cough cough’d, bending over. A-Ning also rushed over from outside, calling anxiously as he ran: “Young Master, Young Master, what’s wrong, is it the fire?”

“……..”

It wasn’t the fire, but the rock sugar in the pot was boiled into mush, which choked A-Ning from outside in the courtyard. And His Royal Highness Xiao Wang’s thoughts were still wholeheartedly lingering on the beauty’s fragrant neck. What could be said, love was deeply rooted.

A-Ning quickly brought the big, smoking iron pot to the courtyard and then extinguished the stove. Without a change of expression, Liang Shu tugged Liu Xian’an, turned around, and left the back courtyard. The two walked hurriedly to leave the scene as soon as possible, then each looked at the other with a smile. Liu Xian’an said: “Now the prince doesn’t have any hawthorn cakes. Take the medicine, ba.”

“I’ll take it.” Liang Shu grabbed his waist and pulled him to stand in front of him. “As long as it is given by you, I will take poison.”

Liu Xian’an really took out a pill from his sleeve.

Without further ado, Liang Shu leaned down and took it into his mouth. There was a milky flavor, so he leaned forward again and forcibly licked a bit of it into the mouth of his sweetheart. Seeing that the sweet thing had not fully melted, he looked at Liu Xian’an and said: “When the matter in the Southwest is resolved, I will return to Wangcheng and ask Emperor Brother for permission to come to Baihe Mountain Village and propose marriage.”

Liu Xian’an nodded: “All right.”

As for when the Emperor heard that his younger brother was going to marry a young master of Baihe Mountain Village instead of the young lady, and when the Village Master discovered that there was no need for his daughter to marry, but his son was going to accept the marriage, how shocking, calamitous, and thunderous it would be was not a question for a young couple in love to consider. Liang Shu thought that his Emperor Brother should be able to bear it quite well, while Liu Xian’an thought that his father and elder brother should be fine. His mother and sister might take it a little worse, but it would not be a big problem.

The two held hands and returned to their residence together.

And that was how such a large matter was settled.

The suspicion of Huaizhen City being haunted had been completely blown away. Although the facts behind it were a bit heavy, at least Yu Manor had been entirely wiped out. The new magistrate was still on his way, so Liang Shu ordered Tong Ou to stay in Huaizhen City as a temporary substitute. The common people were in discussion about holding another Many-Color Festival. All the old decorations by the river had been demolished and replaced by newly made colorful woven ropes. Illuminated by the winter sun, the colors were bright and splendorous.

Tong Ou cremated Wan Yuan’s remains and planned to take them elsewhere for burial.

A-Ning asked: “Will they be buried on the mountain where Commander Tong is stationed?”

Liu Xian’an shook his head: “I don’t know, there may be another place with beautiful mountains and rivers that only he knows about.”

The Baifu religion was rampant, and congregations spread everywhere like locusts. Soldiers like Tong Ou had always been thorns in the flesh of this cult. Not only did they wish to kill him, but they also wished to kill his parents, relatives, and friends, in order to establish their prestige. If Wan Yuan’s remains were buried outside the city, they would be exhumed and thrown away within ten days.

A-Ning sighed: “It’s really despicable.”

“That is why the prince had to travel thousands of li to come here.” Liu Xian’an patted his head and turned to go out. “Let’s go outside and have a look, ba.”

A-Ning trotted to keep up: “Young Master, why are you free to be with me today?”

Liu Xian’an replied: Because the prince is busy.

A-Ning asked again: “Did the prince really say that he would go to Baihe Mountain Village to propose marriage?”

Liu Xian’an’s brow smoothed out: “Yes.’

“The Master will definitely be furious.”

“Not so, my father is not that fragile. He even dares to scalp other people.”

“It’s not the same.”

“What is the difference?”

“In any case, I still think the young master needs to soften the blow first.”

“But I already praised the prince a lot in the letters before.”

“Not enough.”

Liu Xian’an listened to his suggestion: “All right, then I won’t go out right now.”

He didn’t go out, but returned to his residence and continued to write letters home.

A-Ning ground ink at the table. Although he didn’t have much experience in this field, he was very clever and knew that this sort of thing had to be established starting with the goodwill of the elders.

“This is to let the Master, Madam, and First Young Master feel that, in fact, the prince is not that fierce. He will not kill people at every turn, and is actually very gentle and polite, and is especially kind to us.”

Liu Xian’an embellished the matter of the quilt, and besides the quilt, he also gave him other gifts, including a pillow, a cloak, a dagger, and a blanket made of tiger skin, all of which he liked very much. Even writing wasn’t enough, so he drew the gifts one by one — so that his father could feel his love more intuitively.

A-Ning wrinkled his nose: “It doesn’t need to be so detailed. I don’t think it can be written like this. It will make the young master look more and more lazy under the prince’s wilfulness, and the Master wants to the young master to be more diligent.”

Liu Xian’an sighed, my father is really troublesome.

He said: “I’m too lazy to write.”

A-Ning saw through him at a glance: “If you’re too lazy to write, why are you still holding the brush?” In normal times, he likely would have already run to the bed and lay down.

Liu Xian’an explained patiently: “I’m too lazy to write, but I still have to write.” Because if he didn’t write, His Royal Highness Xiao Wang would be disliked.

A-Ning smiled and moved on: “Young Master, write as I say, I know what the Master likes to hear. En…..say that the prince urges the young master to get up and study every day, and also asks the military doctor to discuss medicine with the young master every day. The young master is forced to eat five colors of vegetables every day, and is not allowed to lie down immediately after eating, and must walk outside for half an hour before returning home.”

Liu Xian’an imagined these events and sucked in a breath on the spot. A-Ning quickly saw this, and grabbed him by the shoulders: “Don’t lie down, it’s not true!”

It wasn’t true, but it was really scary. While writing, Liu Xian’an said: “Have you noticed, although my father speaks righteously, he is actually the pickiest eater in Baihe Mountain Village.”

A-Ning hehe’d: “We know, but no one dares say it.”

Liu Xian’an also smiled for a moment, and then felt homesick. Thinking of his brother and sister, as well as his own comfortable waterside pavilion, he wrote another page of carefully worded concern. After writing it, he handed it over to A-Ning and asked him to find a post station to mail it, then climbed into bed and stared blankly at the backs of his eyelids for a while.

Then he felt a tickle on his cheek.

Liang Shu kissed him twice, halfway crouched beside the bed, and brushed his fingertips through the black hair lying across his cheeks: “Get up.”

Liu Xian’an didn’t have to think about it. He just opened his eyes a little and asked: “The prince has finished his business?”

“Nearly. I wanted to come and have lunch with you.” Liang Shu picked him up and held him in his arms. “I met A-Ning on the street, and he said that you were not in a good mood when you wrote the letter and that you were homesick.”

Liu Xian’an said: “It’s almost the New Year.”

“Time really flies fast.” Liang Shu asked, “You spent the New Year at home before?”

“Yes.” Liu Xian’an said, “I stay home to observe the New Year, but my father and the others often can’t make it back, and are delayed while practicing medicine somewhere.”

“Then treat this as you practicing medicine outside this year.” Liang Shu coaxed him seriously, “Curing this lord’s love sickness.”

This disease did not sound serious, but there was indeed only one person in the world who could cure it, so Liu Xian’an sat up a little and invited him: “If nothing happens at the border in the future, why doesn’t the prince come back with me to Baihe Mountain Village to celebrate the New Year with me?”

Liang Shu didn’t hesitate: Okay, ah.

Liu Xian’an asked again: “Will the Emperor agree?”

Liang Shu boasted shamelessly: “Emperor Brother will not be concerned with me. Every year on the first day of the new year when the courtiers meet, I cause a couple old fellows to lose their heads with anger. He thinks I’m troublesome and an eyesore, so it will be a great achievement for Baihe Mountain Village to accept me.”

Liu Xian’an was doubtful: “Really?”

“Really.” Liang Shu regarded him with a sincere attitude. “Could it be that you think I’m not disagreeable enough?”

Liu Xian’an thought of those sages who were forced to get in line in the Three Thousand Worlds, and immediately nodded. It was true.

“Thus, you must take me in.” Liang Shu stood up with the man in his arms and walked out contentedly. “Let’s go eat first.”

Liu Xian’an looked around and asked in surprise: “Is that Lieutenant General Gao in the distance? Why is he standing there motionless?”

Liang Shu was entirely disinterested: “Perhaps he took the wrong medicine. Don’t worry about him.”

Lieutenant General Gao was in a dilemma at this time.

It was fine before, but now that the prince was proud and triumphant, could he still avoid a scene like this where one person was walking with the other in his arms?

---

[1] The three books and six rituals (三书六礼) are old marriage customs that cover the entire marriage process. ⮐

---

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Chapter Sixty-Seven << Table of Contents >> Chapter Sixty-Nine

There was a rush of heat inside the car.

Pei Yi fell into the hot kiss, his consciousness like a kite without a frame, flung limply into the clouds, tumbling and spinning.

And Bo Yueming’s hands gripping his waist was the only thread controlling his direction.

Bo Yueming heard his barely audible moan, and their breaths entangled, hot and passionate.

Redness spread from the corners of his eyes, staining his cheeks and ears, burning all the way down.

The fierceness began all the more wanton over time, and a sense of suffocation suddenly surged up. Pei Yi put his arms around Bo Yueming’s shoulders, and didn’t know whether to pull him close or release him.

Anxiety pressed on his nerves, and he was like a fish that had been dried up by the heat.

“Er, Er-ge……”

The voice that just came out was swallowed again.

There was no telling how long it took before Pei Yi’s oxygen-starved brain stopped buzzing.

His eyes were watery, and he stared at the person in front of him with unfocused bewilderment, the low sound of his breathing very pleasant to the ear.

Looking at the person in his arms, Bo Yueming resisted the urge to kiss him again, and reached out to touch the tips of his eyes.

“Little Sir, who is the one kissed to tears?”

“……”

It took a few seconds for Pei Yi to react.

Unwilling to admit defeat like this, Pei Yi tilted his head back slightly and suddenly put his lips around Bo Yueming’s fingertips, biting him lightly as if in punishment.

The tips of his teeth touched soft fingertips, bringing a light tingling like an electric current.

Bo Yueming’s eyes darkened a bit, and instead of pulling away, he pressed down slightly with his fingers as if to provoke and punish, letting people’s imaginations run wild.

“Mmm.”

Pei Yi whimpered a little and quickly let go. Conscious of his big defeat, he avoided Bo Yueming’s gaze.

He put his face on his lover’s shoulder, in a bad mood, and wiped the mist from the corners of his eyes. “You kissed me for too long.”

“Was it not you who swore you were going to kiss me to tears tonight?”

Bo Yueming tilted his head and kissed his red ear. “Little Sir, didn’t I cooperate with you just now?”

He usually looked serious and called him by his full name, but at times like this, it was either “Kitten” or “Little Sir,” which particularly touched the bottom of his heart.

Pei Yi just barely resisted his temptation, and murmured, “It’s still numb.”

Bo Yueming changed his method, and smoothed down his kitten’s fur. “But you’ve improved a lot recently.”

Pei Yi was induced into a good mood by him, and said with a voice muffled by the material of the other’s shirt, “What improvement?”

Bo Yueming answered teasingly, “Isn’t there no altitude sickness tonight?”

“…….”

Pei Yi recalled how foolish he acted after the first confession and kiss, and his face grew hot again—

Of course he knew his own “position” in this relationship, and admitted it in his heart but was stubborn with his mouth.

In terms of height, stature, and kissing skills, he was not as good as Bo Yueming. In any case, no matter how he thought about it, he felt that it was impossible to suppress him in reverse in this life.

Pei Yi gave in to reality, and couldn’t help but call out, “Er-ge.”

Bo Yueming encircled him again. “En? What is it?”

“Although we haven’t been dating for long,” Pei Yi said cautiously, “Don’t you want to try it with me?”

“…….”

Bo Yueming’s breathing was inadvertently disturbed. He motioned for his lover to look at him again and said, “You really want to?”

Pei Yi was uncomfortably hot. “I, I just think we should sooner or later, and……”

Bo Yueming lightly rubbed the tip of his nose. “And what?”

Pei Yi asked uncertainly, “And on the premise of mutual respect and mutual liking, it’s actually normal for couples to do this kind of thing, isn’t it?”

He wasn’t too conservative, but he also wasn’t wildly uninhibited.

Pei Yi thought that as long as it was based on liking and respect, and as long as he protected himself sufficiently, it wasn’t impossible for it to happen naturally.

“Er-ge, I actually don’t have much experience.” Pei Yi surreptitiously confirmed his thoughts, shy but straightforward, “But I would like to learn to kiss, and slowly accumulate experience with you in every way.”

Bo Yueming was defeated by his frankness. His lover seemed to be like this all the time—

Whether he was dealing with work and life or a romantic relationship, he would always think clearly and not carelessly hesitate.

Pei Yi looked at him and added, “By the way, there’s one more thing.”

Bo Yueming asked with a smile, “What is it?”

Pei Yi told him earnestly, “I used to have a pessimistic view toward relationships, but now that I’ve decided, I want to be with you.”

“Whether the process is good or bad, whatever the outcome is, I’m ready to deal with it. I hope you won’t feel too burdened in this relationship, okay?”

Pei Yi still remembered last time when Bo Yueming apologized after he relieved him with his hand.

Looking back now, that was not what he wanted to see.

Bo Yueming met Pei Yi’s sincere gaze and lightly kissed the tip of his nose, not denying it. “I’m really afraid that the process will make you feel uncomfortable.”

“You have an honest attitude toward me, and I have my respect for you.”

Bo Yueming didn’t feel any burden in this relationship that had just begun, but on the contrary, he really enjoyed the earnest and clumsy liking of his kitten.

“That……”

Pei Yi hesitated to speak.

Bo Yueming understood his lover’s unspoken hesitation, and leaned closer to his ear to answer, “I also want to, I really want to, but the timing was wrong, so I could only wait.”

Pei Yi didn’t understand for a moment. “Huh? Why?”

Bo Yueming asked back, “Haven’t you been really busy lately?”

Pei Yi nodded. “Of course. The Last Fog is launching soon.”

Bo Yueming nodded, hinting meaningfully, “Little Sir, I feared you would be late for work the next day.”

“……”

Pei Yi suddenly understood the huge amount of information in those words, and the heat that had just subsided surged up again.

Bo Yueming caught a glimpse of the figure approaching outside the car window, and kissed his lover’s earlobe again. “Lao Fu is back, do you want to continue sitting on my lap?”

Pei Yi suddenly jumped up and sat back in his seat, but he was still a step too late—

Opening the car door, Lao Fu caught Pei Yi sitting down at the last second and said unsurely, “Little Sir, are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” Pei Yi stubbornly opened the car window. “It’s, it’s rather hot.”

“……”

In the middle of winter? It was very hot?

Could it be that he came back at the wrong time and interrupted Mr. Bo and Little Sir’s good deeds?

Lao Fu stopped where he was, thinking, should he find an excuse to go out for a while?

Bo Yueming said calmly, “Lao Fu, is your child all right?”

“She’s fine, she’s getting an injection now,” Lao Fu replied briefly, not wanting to delay his own work. “Mr. Bo, shall we return now?”

“En.”

Having confirmed his boss’s opinion, Lao Fu quickly got in the car and started it, driving away.

Bo Yueming watched Pei Yi being blown by the wind for a minute or two before saying seriously, “Pei Yi, roll up the window, be careful not to catch a cold.”

“Oh.”

Pei Yi had stabilized his temperature, and obeyed honestly.

He glanced guiltily at Lao Fu in the front seat, and planned to talk about a serious topic to ease the lingering feelings in his heart. “Er-ge, is the Old Madam better?”

“En, her situation has stabilized.”

Bo Yueming saw through Pei Yi’s small considerations, but was still willing to share this serious matter with him.

“I said before that it was the wrong time, and there are also reasons for this.”

“Ah?”

Pei Yi was taken aback for the moment. 

Bo Yueming pointed out in a low voice, “The old lady still hasn’t recovered her health, but she still has her vigorous temper, and she can’t put up with a certain person anymore.”

Pei Yi’s eyes lit up at once. “The Old Madam really wants to do something to him?”

Him?

Bo Yueming raised his eyebrows slightly and said, “To them.”

Over the years, Old Mrs. Bo had treated everyone in the Bo family fairly, but received very different treatment in return.

She had always been the most clear-headed and independent strong woman, and after this incident, those with malicious intentions could no longer use “family affection as an excuse.”

Bo Yueming said cryptically, “It’s not convenient for Grandma to come out now. She asked me to help make arrangements in secret, and when the time is right, someone will naturally fall.”

Pei Yi heard his deep meaning, and couldn’t help but ask, “When is the right time?”

Bo Yueming said, “The general shareholder meeting.”

Every year around New Year’s Day, Bo Group would hold a year-end general shareholder meeting, at which time almost all the shareholders, large and small, would attend.

With more people and enough grandeur, it would make a good show.

Pei Yi thought of what Cheng Yangshan had done during this period of time, and a trace of anticipation flickered in his eyes. “It’s a pity I’m not a Bo Group shareholder, and can only rely on you to relay the story to me.”

He was an outsider, after all, and should not get involved with such a serious occasion as a shareholder meeting.

Bo Yueming understood his lover’s melon-eating curiosity, and thought to himself, “I have shares in Bo Group. Although they aren’t many, I’m still a shareholder no matter the size.”

“If you want to go, I can speak with Grandma, and use my…..”

Pei Yi understood BoYueming’s unfinished meaning, and stopped him with a smile. “Don’t bother.”

“Just to let me watch a show, you’ll give me such lucrative shares? Even if you’re willing to give them, I don’t want them.”

He didn’t stay with Bo Yueming for the Bo family’s property and shares in Bo Group.

Pei Yi looked at his always excellent lover and cleared his throat, not to be outdone. “Bo Yueming, don’t forget, I also have a game studio!”

Bo Yueming cooperated, “En, it’s time to start calling you ‘Little Boss Yi.’”

Pei Yi corrected, “Remove the ‘little,’ Pear Garden is the only ‘little.’”

Hearing Pei Yi’s strange competitiveness, Bo Yueming pampered him, “Okay.”

“By the way, are you still going to keep your eyes a secret?” Pei Yi thought of this important matter, and complained, “My brother found us out today.”

Bo Yueming was helpless. “Your brother is a retired special forces soldier, after all, so if we wanted to hide from him, we would have to put in all our energy.”

In the hospital corridor today, his thoughts were all on Pei Yi, and he had probably leaked a clue to Qin Yishun in a moment of inattention.

“Anyway, there’s only half a month left before the shareholders meeting, so I’ll let it take its course.” Bo Yueming picked up the guide glasses off the front shelf and rubbed the edges of the frame.

The figure he noticed outside the parking lot not long ago appeared in his mind, and he had already quietly cast the bait. “I’ve only leaked a few weaknesses. Perhaps they can force out some people with extreme ambition.”

Pei Yi felt that there was some sort of deep meaning in his words, but before he could discern them carefully, Bo Yueming asked, “What about you?”

“Me?”

Pei Yi considered the current situation—

The group of people who already knew the truth were people he trusted, and he was also going to take the time to explain to Shu Wan and Pei Yuan.

As for whether outsiders knew, it really didn’t matter to him. On the contrary, he had been relying on “playing the fool” to go outside for a long time, which was still very convenient at times.

Pei Yi came back to his senses and gave the same answer, “I’ll also let it take its course.”

“All right.”

. . . . . . .

At night.

The door to the villa’s study shut heavily.

Bo Guancheng walked quickly to the mahogany desk and looked at Old Mr. Bo and Bo Lihui. “Grandpa, Dad, I just got some news—”

“Bo Yueming’s eyes have probably improved!”

Bo Lihui’s expression changed when he heard this. “What?!”

Bo Yueming had to rely on his assistant to help him commute to and get off work every day, and he still wore those lousy glasses on his face. How could he have improved?

Cheng Yangshan frowned, and asked calmly, “Guancheng, speak clearly, where did you hear that?”

Bo Guancheng said bluntly, “Young Master Pei told me.”

“Pei Huan?”

“En, he called me just now and said that he saw Bo Yueming return to the car alone without any help. The guide glasses were in his hand, and he didn’t wear them at all!”

It was their carelessness!

Bo Yueming was playing them all!

Cheng Yangshan and Bo Lihui exchanged glances, and the latter panicked first. “Dad, what should we do now?”

“Guancheng was sabotaged and can’t return to the firm for the time being. If we let the other shareholders and employees know that Bo Yueming’s eyes have healed, won’t they be completely partial to him?”

Looking at the entire Bo Group, who didn’t know that Bo Yueming was trained by Old Mrs. Bo herself?

Even when Old Mrs. Bo’s accident had just happened, there were rumors and gossip that—

Bo Yueming would become the new leader of Bo Group!

It was only because Bo Yueming’s eyes were injured that the main branch took the lead first.

But ever since Bo Yueming won the Wencheng project and returned, the advantages their main branch were able to take were less and less, and on the contrary, the advantages Bo Yueming and Bo Jiao teamed up to get for the second branch were more and more.

Bo Yueming’s temperament was cold and calm as he advised on projects, and Bo Jiao’s temperament was explosive as she actively confronted everyone.

The brother and sister pair maintained their positions of chief and deputy general managers, and simply didn’t take him seriously as the chairman!

Bo Guancheng said bluntly, “Grandpa, we can’t wait any longer. We must take advantage of this year’s shareholder meeting to completely drive Bo Yueming out of the group!”

Even if it was through coercive means and strategic decisions, in this world, the winner was king!

Cheng Yangshan naturally understood this truth, but there was still one last trace of hesitation in his heart. “But with your grandma’s situation……”

“Grandpa, Bo Yueming hasn’t let us see Grandma for a long time. How do you know he isn’t hiding the truth?”

Old Mrs. Bo hadn’t been seen for almost eight or nine months, and outsiders had no way of knowing whether she was dead or alive. If they wanted to know, didn’t they have to rely on a family member to announce it personally?

Bo Yueming was likely hiding like this because Old Mrs. Bo’s condition was not good, and he was afraid of outsiders finding out that his only backer had disappeared.

“Grandpa, you and Grandma are legally husband and wife, and what’s hers is yours! We’re family too!”

Bo Guancheng bit out that last string of words hard, and they directly hit Cheng Yangshan’s last line of defense.

How could Cheng Yangshan fail to hear his grandson’s deep meaning?

The complex expression in his eyes changed again and again, and in the end, he ruthlessly made up his mind. “Okay!”

After waiting for so many years, he couldn’t wait any longer!

The night scenery was immersed in a chill.

Bo Guancheng finished discussing with Cheng Yangshan and Bo Lihui, and returned to his bedroom. He picked out a bottle of strong whiskey, unscrewed the bottle cap, and took two gulps.

The resentment accumulating in his heart all this time burned fiercely with the scorching spirits, and it was only at this moment that he found a breakthrough. 

First, he was detained for ten days, and after finally leaving the police station, he found out that that night—

The news of him soliciting prostitutes had quickly spread on the internet, and it was even widely circulated among the wealthy families in the Imperial Capital. He had become a proverbial joke overnight.

Without the position of general manager, he had even lost his most precious reputation, forced to sit on the pedestal of moral shame with nowhere to go.

This was all because of Bo Yueming!

Even though Old Mr. Bo had been persuaded to remove Bo Yueming at the general shareholder meeting, Bo Guancheng still couldn’t feel at ease when he thought about the latter’s cunning tricks.

He took a couple more sips of alcohol, and a figure inadvertently appeared in his mind.

“…….”

The silence swept in evil thoughts.

The gloomy light in Bo Guancheng’s eyes suddenly condensed. He picked up his phone and searched through it, quickly dialing a series of unremarkable numbers.

. . . . . . .

A week later, at YWY Studios.

Pei Yi, Li Yuan, and a group of staff sat around the meeting room, staring at the test data portrayed on the projector. 

After nearly four months of preparation, version 1.0 of The Last Fog had officially launched!

The game adopted a bi-directional mode of single-player gameplay + overall rankings on the network. On the basis of maintaining the original game worldview, the gameplay was simplified to the mode of card collection and card battles, which was easy to understand and maximized the age range of players.

And the most ingenious point was—

The art team, led by Lou Yang, had created more than forty character images for NPCs, as well as two different card face modes, the regular version and the Q version.

That is to say, once the player completed one “card-collecting mode,” they could also save and start another set of card-collecting.

The game was officially launched the previous Friday, and the weekend was the peak traffic period. For this reason, Pei Yi, Li Yuan, and GM discussed and doled out marketing and publicity expenses wisely—

They bought hot searches on all major social platforms, and added a link to a gameplay assistant. Even without downloading it or logging in to an account, gamers could experience the trial game for half an hour.

At this moment, Pei Yi stared at the real-time data on the interface, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly—

Less than six days after its launch, the popularity of The Last Fog continued to rise.

The number of active users on Friday had remained at 500,000, rising steadily to 2 million and 4.8 million on Saturday and Sunday! 

At its highest peak, it reached 5 million, with a retention rate of active users the next day reaching as high as 80 percent!

During these three working days, although the number of active users would decrease, the average value still stabilized overnight.

Seeing this string of data, Li Yuan also let out a sigh of relief. “The increase in this wave of data is pretty good.”

Although it wasn’t a blockbuster game, it was strong enough.

For the Dawn Games that Li Yuan struggled to maintain the past few years, their most popular game barely reached one million players, which lasted for less than half a month before dropping again and again.

“About 60 percent of the source of new users is through shared links, and 40 percent is from searches.” Xiang Nansheng analyzed the data. “The marketing links we invested in are useful.”

When Pei Yi heard that the results were similar to what he had expected, he nodded slightly. “Pear Garden, you and GM’s operations manager should connect again. The online link marketing of the past two weeks cannot be stopped.”

It should be known that there were countless single-player games in the Chinese market right now—

Some well-constructed original games might disappear as soon as they were launched, with the number of daily users only in the two or three digits, a complete loss.

There were also some games that plagiarized foreign ideas at low cost, but made a lot of money with their unrestrained marketing.

Pei Yi believed in the wise saying that “quality goods need no advertising,” but he also understood that in this era of “site traffic wins,” they couldn’t just rely on the quality of the game itself.

Li Yuan nodded.

Another staff member of the operations team said, “Mr. Yi, some advertising media have said they want to add game advertisements. According to the number of active users playing our game…..”

If an advertisement was inserted each time a player failed to domesticate a mutant organism with their cards, they could watch the ad in order to get a free retry. 

That was an extra 1.5 million per day in ad revenue alone!

“Ads should be in moderation, as long as the basic income is guaranteed.”

“Our ‘Last Fog’ is not a short-term profitable game. If we want to go long-term, the most important thing is to increase users’ interest in the game.”

Pei Yi didn’t plan to put in too many spam advertisements. When he was in the real world, the game studio he ran at the beginning did a wave of online evaluations—

The majority of players indicated that if they saw the same ad more than five times, or if it was longer than thirty seconds, their interest in the game dropped.

Li Yuan understood Pei Yi’s concerns, and suggested, “Different ads can be placed on different user levels, with the overall number of ads within five times, and players can be given the opportunity to restart for free?”

Lou Yang followed up with a suggestion, “If the user stays for more than twenty minutes, thirty minutes, an hour, or two hours, can we distribute blind box cards that have been ‘tamed?’”

This was in order to prolong the time that users voluntarily stayed on the game interface.

As the technical director, Xiang Nansheng gave it some thought. “It wouldn’t be difficult. The program update can be completed by Friday.”

Pei Yi tapped the tip of his pen lightly and agreed.

Whether it was Li Yuan, Lou Yang, or Xian Nansheng, any one of them was sufficient alone!

Sure enough, meeting like-minded people to create games and start a business was a truly relaxed and enjoyable thing.

The first meeting after the game launched went well.

Pei Yi had initially disapproved of “overtime,” but now that the game had just launched, they must race against time for heat. 

The core members worked continuously for two days before launching the new functions ahead of the next weekend rush.

As partners, Pei Yi and Li Yuan specially ordered dinner on Friday night as a treat to reward all the studio staff.

Once the hustle and bustle at the dinner table started, there was no escape. Although Pei Yi tried his best to push it away, he still couldn’t avoid being given some alcohol.

When he got back to the car, drunkenness already suffused his face.

Lao Fu was concerned. “Little Sir, are you all right?”

Pei Yi fastened his seatbelt in a silent and well-behaved manner, and said with the last trace of reason he had left, “Go home, find Er-ge.”

Bo Yueming had been busy these two days with the year-end project summary and the preparations for the shareholder meeting, and was also exhausted. Pei Yi had deliberately prevented his lover from coming to pick him up after work tonight. 

Half an hour later, the car drove smoothly to Bo Manor.

Lao Fu glanced through the rearview window at the drowsy Pei Yi, and said carefully, “Little Sir, we’re almost there. 

“Hm?”

Pei Yi opened his eyes in a daze and glanced out the car window, then frowned uncertainly—

There seemed to be someone around the corner?

The car stopped at the garage of the independent villa.

Pei Yi was still immersed in his uncertainty, and Bo Yueming, who had been waiting outside the garage for a long time, took the initiative to open the door. 

Their gazes met.

“You drank?”

“En?”

Pei Yi’s wandering thoughts were pulled back, and seeing the handsome face in front of him, he laughed dizzily. 

“Er-ge, I’m back!”

Saying this, he moved directly from the seat into Bo Yueming’s arms and lingered there.

Seeing Pei Yi’s appearance, Bo Yueming knew that he was quite drunk.

He easily lifted his lover into his arms, intending to take him directly back to the master bedroom. “Was the dinner party just to fill you with wine? Does your stomach feel uncomfortable?”

“Do you want to eat something more?”

Pei Yi obediently put his arms around Bo Yueming’s shoulders, and his thoughts shifted again.

Taking advantage of his drunkenness, he said with presumptuous bravado, “Ah! I’ll eat you!”

---

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Chapter Sixty-Nine <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Seventy-One

Yu Cong cried and howled in the back courtyard for three days, causing the whole city to shudder, thinking that he was undergoing some kind of inhuman torture. As a result, on the day of the interrogation and beheading, they heard him at a close distance yelling about how he still wanted to marry a girl, and were stunned. Mou Cuihua was the first to scold: “Look at yourself and how old you are, how shameless are you?”

The rest of the common people also scolded him one after another, and remembering that their children once kicked the shuttlecock with this old lunatic, it raised the hair on the backs of their necks. Those who had lost a child in their home wanted to cut him to pieces. The scene was in chaos, with rotten vegetables and rotten eggs flying all over the sky. It took a lot of effort for the officers and soldiers to put him on the chopping block just now.

Liang Shu appointed Tong Ou to be the executioner, and took Liu Xian’an to a restaurant in the east of the city to eat steamed glutinous rice with flower sauce. The boss was cooking for a prince for the first time in his life. While the dishes were still turning in the pot, he was already thinking about how he would brag to others in the future, and was so happy that he couldn’t close his mouth. Liang Shu looked at him with a smile: “What, did something good happen at home?”

The boss just hehehe’d, rubbing his hands without knowing how to answer. He had also worked as a cook in the Southwest Garrison military camp for three months last year and had heard a lot about His Royal Highness Xiao Wang. Unexpectedly, he turned around and saw the real person, so he was naturally happy. Besides that, there was a young man with the appearance of an immortal at his side, who looked even more pleasing to the eye, so he pressed a bowl of rice hard with the rice spoon and greeted honestly: “The two distinguished guests should eat more, it’s not enough.”

Liu Xian’an was unprepared, and almost failed to hold onto the hot bowl. Liang Shu quickly took it, and after setting it down, he took his hand and blew on his red fingers. This series of movements could be described as natural and flowing, and his eyes were even more focused. Even the most flirtatious and frivolous gentleman in the dream city of Wangcheng might not be able to act this overly romantic, so the feelings must truly come from the heart. When the heart was moved, there were some things that didn’t need to be learned.

“Does it hurt?” Liang Shu asked.

The boss stood beside him, looking dumbfounded. How could he hurt his hand while holding a bowl?

The proprietress emerged from the back kitchen, took hold of his ear, and pulled him away.

Liu Xian’an said first: “Not really.” And after speaking, he added: “A little bit.”

Not letting go, Liang Shu continued to hold his fingertips, and only used his other hand to fill the table with food and wine, busy all over. Liu Xian’an didn’t pull his hand away either. Anyway, he was quite proficient with using his left hand to hold chopsticks. The glutinous rice was sweet, but no matter how sweet it was, it couldn’t be sweeter than this ambiguous atmosphere. It was so ambiguous that even the rough, upright boss couldn’t bear to look at it anymore. He served the food like a thief, running away after putting it down.

The two of them had their own dreams, but the endings were equally unspeakable. Liang Shu practiced martial arts all year round and was full of vigor. At this time, enveloped by the scent of Liu Xian’an’s medicinal fragrance, he uncontrollably remembered the nephrite jade in the hot springs and felt that he must get married immediately, he would die if he didn’t marry.

Liu Xian’an asked: “Why did the prince stop eating?”

Liang Shu immediately strove for greater benefits and made up a disease for himself: “I have no appetite.”

Liu Xian’an tested his pulse, and Liang Shu also acted weak in cooperation. He couldn’t get sick when he was in the Northwest military camp, and couldn’t get sick when he was in the dream capital of Wangcheng, but at this time in the Southwest, he couldn’t keep from getting sick. After all, no matter how powerful the general was, he wasn’t made of steel, was he? When Zhao Xiaomao was sick, he cried so loudly that the entire palace could hear it, very annoying. But in the end, he managed to earn a lot of sweets and rattles, which showed that feigning illness was truly effective, not to mention that his sweetheart was a doctor.

If not for the troubles in the Southwest, His Royal Highness Xiao Wang almost wanted to find a bed and lie comfortably in it for half a month, enjoying the feeling of being cared for.

Liu Xian’an felt that Liang Shu was fine, and since he had no appetite, there was no need to eat the glutinous rice. He asked the boss to distribute the untouched meal to the common people in the neighborhood, and went to the pharmacy opposite to pick up some appetizing dried fruits and sour grass, preparing to take them back and soak them in water.

He didn’t ask the pharmacy clerk to pack the medicines, but stood by the counter and weighed them slowly. Sunlight penetrated into the room and scattered across him softly. Liang Shu leaned against the door to watch. Watching and watching, he felt that time seemed to stop at this moment, so he raised the corners of his mouth a bit and walked up to rest a hand on his shoulder, asking: “Why must I take so much medicine?”

“What sort of medicine are hawthorn chips?” Liu Xian’an said, “If the prince still finds them bothersome, you can leave them alone. I’ll make some hawthorne cakes, which are also appetizing.”

His words were slow and easy, and the pharmacy clerk was full of admiration. As expected from a genius doctor of Baihe Mountain Village, how could other doctors compare to his gentleness and patience? Anyway, if he were in charge and heard that a patient even found hawthorne slices unpalatable, he would definitely reprimand him to such an extent that he wouldn’t even dare to breathe. How could he make hawthorn cakes? Was this something a doctor should do?

Liu Xian’an did what should be done. After returning to the manor, he went to the kitchen and got busy. Not long after, A-Ning also came to help. Recently, he had been looking after Xiao Hua. Seeing that the young master was making cakes, he said: “Then put in more ingredients, ba, I’ll take some to Commander Tong and Aunt Liu.”

While speaking, he took out a large pot of rock sugar from the cabinet, and was about to pour it into the pot. Liu Xian’an blocked it: “No, if you want hawthorn cakes, go to the street and buy them yourself. This belongs to the prince.”

A-Ning: “…….”

Liu Xian’an explained further: “I’ve adjusted it according to the prince’s body, and it won’t be suitable for everyone. How is Xiao Hua today?”

“Very good.” A-Ning put the rock sugar back. “I heard Commander Tong say that the prince asked him to take Aunt Liu’s family with him to live in the military camp from now on.”

Liu Xian’an nodded: “It is good to live in the military camp. One reason is for safety, so as not to be retaliated against by the Baifu Sect in the future. After all, Yin Die and Yu Cong’s crimes were exposed this time, and Liu Meng was involved, so there is a possibility that he will be targeted. A second reason is that Aunt Liu is reluctant to part with Xiao Hua, and if she goes to the military camp, the family of three can still work.”

“It is very suitable.” A-Ning helped to light the fire, and then asked in a whisper, “How have you and the prince been these two days?”

Liu Xian’an replied: I think the prince is treating me differently.

A-Ning quickly warned: “These sorts of words don’t need to be said in such a loud voice!”

Liu Xian’an lowered his voice and repeated again: “I think the prince is treating me differently.”

After repeating it, he specifically emphasized that it was not the prince in the Three Thousand Worlds, but the prince in reality.

As for the prince in the Three Thousand Worlds, he had not been idle recently. Ever since he had that misty dream, he had become even more of a self-styled master, and often took a sword to educate those white-bearded old men when he had nothing to do. This made Second Young Master Liu feel sorry for his friends, and also thought to have a good talk with the prince, but it didn’t work out, mainly because he didn’t choose the right place to talk — His Royal Highness Xiao Wang was naked to the waist, leaning back to soak in the hot spring pool. Half impatient and half lazy, he said, “En.” 

Second Young Master Liu said: “Then let me make a list for you, ba. They are all in relatively good physical fitness, and are less likely to be scared sick. You can also carry a sword, but it is best not to pull it out. Will you remember?”

Endless pampering.

A-Ning said: “His Royal Highness Xiao Wang.”

Liu Xian’an said: “Right, I’m talking about His Royal Highness Xiao Wang.”

“Cough, cough!” A-Ning said through his teeth, “Young Master, His Royal Highness Xiao Wang is here.”

Liu Xian’an froze, and put the lid back on without incident.

Liang Shu had finished talking about their next steps with Gao Lin, and turned around to look for Liu Xian’an again, a vivid interpretation of what it meant to be in love for the first time – wishing he could stick to his sweetheart for half a day. A-Ning tactfully backed out, and Liang Shu asked: “What were you talking about?”

Liu Xian’an was perfunctory: “Nothing.”

Liang Shu pinched the back of his neck in dissatisfaction: “He lies without batting an eye.”

He had just come in from outside, and his hands were still very cold. Liu Xian’an was compelled to shrink to the side, but couldn’t get away for a long time, so he had to say: “We were talking about Liu Meng. A-Ning said that the prince will arrange for him to serve as an errand boy in the Southwest Garrison.”

“Yes.” Liang Shu retracted his hand. “He is a native, skilled, bold, and careful, and his character is also good. Being the leader of a juggling troupe is really a waste of talent. By throwing him into the military camp to gain experience, and being led by Ku You personally, he may be entrusted with more important tasks in the future.”

Ku You was the overall commander of the Southwest Garrison, and Liang Shu’s former subordinate. Liu Xian’an had also heard many legends about this person along the way. Perhaps because of the evil practices at the Southwest border, the legends were all about going against those evil practices. Others said that his ancestors were wizards for generations, and his eyes were either golden or silver. In short, one might not be able to find two normal black eyes in his entire family.

“Is it true?” Liu Xian’an asked. “White hair and golden eyes?”

Liang Shu nodded: “It’s true. His hair was caused by poisoning, but the color of his eyes is natural, and they look very different from those of ordinary people. Because of this, there are still many people in the court who write letters saying that with such a strange and ominous appearance, it will be difficult for him to shoulder the responsibility of leading the army.”

Finally, Liang Yu had thrown down an angry sentence: “This minister was born with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and truly looks joyous and auspicious. Since this is the case, why don’t you go to the Southwest instead.”

After he finished speaking, without waiting for others to dissuade him, he immediately ordered a eunuch to prepare a carriage, and sent him away with a wave. It was said that he had not yet been allowed back.

Liu Xian’an said: “The Emperor is an interesting person.”

Liang Shu smiled: “Emperor Brother is indeed very different from me. He is somewhat…..”

Somewhat underhanded. If Liang Shu’s cruelty and violence were exposed on the outside, then the Emperor of Dayan’s darkness was hidden deep in his bones, and often a word thrown out in a neutral manner could choke most of the civil and military officials to death. With such a pair of brothers at the head of the nation, the common people would not suffer, but there were some old ministers who complained from time to time, saying that they were so angry that their hearts hurt.

They were angry, but Liang Yu was not angry, and would ask the eunuchs to send some pork head meat and fruit wine, beating gongs and drums to march around most of the royal city. It could be seen that the common people sighed for the hard work of the ministers, and also for the kindness of the Emperor. Liang Shu said: “Emperor Brother was born to sit in that position, and all the officials’ hearts and minds combined don’t add up to half of his.”

“And the prince?” Liu Xian’an asked. “What about your heart and mind?”

“They don’t amount to much, I’m easy to coax.” Liang Shu leaned on the stove and said, seemingly casual, “If you don’t believe me, try it. Just one sentence, and I will go home with you.”

In a word, His Royal Highness Xiao Wang could be captured. There was nothing more advantageous than this in the world.

Liu Xian’an said: “Then go, ba.”

Liang Shu took back what he said: “What is this sentence, there are clearly only three words. There should be at least two more coaxing words, right?”

Liu Xian’an took out a rolling stick: “Won’t coax.”

Liang Shu ducked back: “If you won’t coax, then you won’t coax, why do you have to beat me?”

Liu Xian’an smiled while stirring the hawthorn water in the pot with the rolling stick, and looked at him: “Then will you follow me?”

Liang Shu cleared his throat: “You want to abduct me in such an improper manner?”

How should he put it, he was entranced by desire, but his reason was still there, and he still remembered to fight for a name for himself.

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Chapter Sixty-Six << Table of Contents >> Chapter Sixty-Eight