HL 43

On the way back, Ying Yusheng’s mood was clearly off.

For some reason, Xu Nanxiao’s right eyelid kept twitching. He thought to himself—was he afraid of Ying Yusheng? Ridiculous. How could that be.

Ying Yusheng’s slender fingers rested on the steering wheel, his knuckles whitening from the slight tension. The car’s speed was steady; lane changes and turns all followed traffic regulations to the letter, with no fault to be found. But it was precisely this excessively rigid “normalcy” that made Xu Nanxiao unconsciously soften even his breathing.

He could almost hear his own heart pounding like a drum, thudding against his eardrums in the deathly silent cabin. That unease he could never quite quell when facing Ying Yusheng was now surging back with even greater intensity.

By the time they both got out of the car, Xu Nanxiao could no longer hold back and directly asked Ying Yusheng: “Hey, are you angry?”

“No, I’m not angry.” Ying Yusheng blinked and said calmly.

They entered the elevator and pressed the button.

Xu Nanxiao shot him a glance and muttered under his breath: “Stop pretending. You are angry.”

“Why would I be angry?” Ying Yusheng suddenly turned his head to look at Xu Nanxiao. “Did you do something that would make me angry?”

Xu Nanxiao felt as if a fishbone were stuck in his throat.

Neither spoke again. They stared at the numbers on the display climbing floor by floor, until the private elevator opened and they walked silently to their front door. Taking advantage of the moment when Ying Yusheng was unlocking the door with his fingerprint, Xu Nanxiao suddenly said in a low voice behind him: “What’s gotten into you? Isn’t that how I always introduce you? You were fine with it before—why are you giving me the cold shoulder this time?”

Ying Yusheng’s hand, pulling at the door, suddenly stopped.

Yes. He asked himself, why should he be upset over such a trivial matter?

It had always been like this before. He had never been upset before.

Besides, a man like Xu Nanxiao, who cared so much about saving face, how could he possibly tell the truth about their relationship in front of an ex-girlfriend?

Xu Nanxiao hadn’t actually done anything wrong. He had never changed.

Then who had?

Seeing Ying Yusheng give no reaction, Xu Nanxiao grew even more flustered and continued making excuses for himself: “Besides, what else was I supposed to say if not roommate? I couldn’t exactly say ‘fuck buddy,’ could I?”

Ying Yusheng’s body stiffened abruptly.

He murmured to himself: “Fuck buddies… Are we fuck buddies?”

“Otherwise?” Xu Nanxiao thought awkwardly. They’d never confirmed they were in a relationship. Not a couple, yet they kissed, they helped each other get off—so weren’t they just fuck buddies?

But in truth, Xu Nanxiao wasn’t ready to develop a proper relationship with anyone either—that was way out of his depth.

Before he finished speaking, his collar was suddenly grabbed by Ying Yusheng. A brute force dragged him stumbling toward the bedroom.

“Wait, let go! Damn it, don’t tear it—this shirt is pretty expensive!”

The next second, his vision flipped, and Xu Nanxiao was thrown onto the bed, with Ying Yusheng immediately pressing down on top of him.

Ever since that day by the pool, Ying Yusheng had been constantly pestering him to help each other out. He was the kind of idiot whose rationality leaked out along with his cum; after resisting a few times to no avail, he let himself indulge in this strange same-sex relationship.

This time was no exception.

Just when he was so high he didn’t even know his own name, Ying Yusheng suddenly reached his hand toward a certain place. Startled, Xu Nanxiao instantly sobered up, kicked Ying Yusheng away, and scrambled back to the head of the bed.

“Whoa, what the hell are you trying to do?!” Xu Nanxiao said, still shaken.

Ying Yusheng rubbed his chest where he’d been kicked, then smiled and grabbed Xu Nanxiao’s ankle, forcefully dragging him back, speaking without room for argument: “Aren’t we fuck buddies? I’m just fulfilling my duties as a fuck buddy now.”

Xu Nanxiao looked at Ying Yusheng’s expression and thought, oh no, this guy is serious.

He knew all too well what kind of donkey dick Ying Yusheng had between his legs. If that thing went in, he’d be either dead or half-crippled.

Seeing Ying Yusheng pinning his legs back and folding him in half, Xu Nanxiao struggled while desperately searching for excuses to stall: “Stop, stop, stop—why do I have to be on the bottom?”

Ying Yusheng had never even questioned that arrangement and was momentarily stunned.

“I don’t want to be on the bottom—I refuse! We can do it, fine, but I’m on top. Otherwise, take it or leave it!”

“…”

“Besides, you have no experience, right? Do you even know how to make a woman feel good? Shouldn’t that be left to someone as battle-hardened as me?”

Ying Yusheng suddenly let out a soft chuckle, which sent a chill down Xu Nanxiao’s spine.

“I almost forgot,” Ying Yusheng said, his eyes narrowing slightly as he repeated, “you really are battle-hardened.”

Damn it, Xu Nanxiao thought to himself. He probably said something wrong again. What was up with Ying Yusheng today—so petty, throwing a fit over every single word.

“Of course, Nan Xiao, I’m not some unreasonable, selfish jerk either.” Ying Yusheng straightened up and said slowly, “How about we make a bet?”

“A bet?”

“Mm. Let me try with my fingers. If you can last fifteen minutes without coming, then I’ll be on the bottom from now on. But if you do come, you can’t bring up switching positions again.”

This bet was hugely favorable to Xu Nanxiao.

He had looked it up online before out of fear, and knew that a man’s first time using that hole wouldn’t be pleasant—if it didn’t hurt like hell, he’d be lucky.

Although Xu Nanxiao really didn’t want someone’s finger up there, better to endure the short pain than suffer a long one. Take this one loss and secure his ass’s safety for the rest of his life.

So Xu Nanxiao agreed without hesitation.

“It’s a deal. Don’t you go back on your word.”

Actually, Xu Nanxiao’s knowledge wasn’t wrong—the first time really was hard to get any sensation through that hole. But that premise only applied to normal men.

And Xu Nanxiao had long since been conditioned countless times under hypnosis by Ying Yusheng; he had already acquired a taste for it and was no longer a normal man.

Xu Nanxiao lay flat on the bed, covering his face with a pillow, feeling like he was about to be tortured, bracing himself to grit his teeth through those fifteen minutes.

At first, he only felt a stretching sensation. Fortunately, it wasn’t too painful—not as agonizing as he’d imagined.

However, when Ying Yusheng’s finger pressed against a small protrusion inside, Xu Nanxiao suddenly felt his brain explode. His vision went white, an overwhelming sour numbness invaded his nerves to the point of pain. His whole body shot up like a fish that had accidentally jumped onto a cutting board, only for Ying Yusheng to forcefully shove him back down.

“Wait, what is that… no, no… don’t touch me! No!” Xu Nanxiao turned to flee, but Ying Yusheng grabbed him by the neck and pinned him heavily against the wall.

“We agreed on fifteen minutes.” Ying Yusheng’s grip didn’t weaken, but his voice by Xu Nanxiao’s ear was as gentle as could be. “Running away is a foul—or are you conceding defeat?”

What was that feeling? He’d never felt anything like it with a woman!

No, no! Ying Yusheng was going to kill him!

Fifteen minutes, fifteen minutes—hold on, he had to hold on! Think of something miserable, quickly—distract himself!

“Ee—! Ugh, uh—no… please… Ying, Yusheng—ah, ah—”

In the end, Xu Nanxiao still crumbled. He never dreamed that his own throat could produce such a high-pitched sound.

…

Fifteen minutes later, Ying Yusheng stopped. He looked down at Xu Nanxiao, who lay in a puddle of his own release, his thighs twitching occasionally, his whole face utterly dazed.

“Mm, fifteen minutes, came three times.” Ying Yusheng wiped his fingers unhurriedly and delivered his verdict with almost cruel finality: “Worthless dick.”

But Xu Nanxiao was already in another world and couldn’t respond to him. Even when his ass was slapped hard, he could only let out a whimper and tremble a few times.

Ying Yusheng was very satisfied with his work. He narrowed his eyes and slowly lay down on Xu Nanxiao’s back, then said lightly, regardless of whether the other could hear him:

“I won the bet, Nan Xiao. From now on, you’ll be a good boy and let me top you.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to go sit in Professor Ying’s office?” his senior fellow disciple asked Lu Yingjie beside him.

Lu Yingjie shook his head expressionlessly and said, “I’ll wait for you out here.”

“All right—” the senior fellow drew out the syllables.

He didn’t know what had happened to Lu Yingjie, but starting from one day, he had suddenly become quiet and withdrawn, and no longer smiled as much as before.

It was as if he had matured overnight.

“I don’t know why you’re angry at Professor Ying. He’s been good to you,” the senior tried to console him. “He guided your top-journal paper step by step. And when you wanted to go abroad, he ran around helping you write recommendation letters. What more could you possibly be dissatisfied with? How many advisors would do that?”

A stifled breath got stuck in Lu Yingjie’s throat, like a rubber band cinched around his windpipe. His chest began to heave slightly, until reason forced it back down.

The person you hate and despise the most is seen as a great paragon of virtue by everyone else. You should be grateful to him, you should obey him—so stop being so unreasonable, all right?

This feeling was more nauseating than swallowing five pounds of flies.

Lu Yingjie had tried to fight back, and over this period, he had indeed found some evidence. But Ying Yusheng was too meticulous—his alibis were interlocking and watertight, making it impossible to find the single definitive piece of proof.

Lu Yingjie had even considered going all in and just stabbing Ying Yusheng to death, using his own life to free Xu Nanxiao.

But if he did that, Xu Nanxiao would only hate him, and would spend his whole life mourning Ying Yusheng.

Lu Yingjie could not tolerate that outcome. He had to make Ying Yusheng lose all standing in Xu Nanxiao’s eyes, utterly disgraced and irredeemable.

As the date for going abroad drew nearer and nearer, he still hadn’t found that crucial breakthrough. And many unconventional methods—like retrieving surveillance footage or tracing financial transactions—despite his family’s wealth, were hard to execute without connections.

He needed someone with more influence to help him. Thinking of this, the heavy stone in Lu Yingjie’s heart grew heavier still.

“Who’s that?” The senior fellow’s words suddenly interrupted Lu Yingjie’s thoughts. He looked up and saw a woman standing at the door of Ying Yusheng’s office.

The woman appeared to be in her fifties, with neat, crisp ear-length hair and an incredibly commanding presence. Behind her followed a young man carrying her bag, presumably an assistant or secretary of some sort.

“Hey, hello there,” the senior fellow stepped forward to greet her. “Are you here to see Professor Ying?”

The woman hesitated slightly, then asked: “Is he… not in?”

“Yeah, the professor had something to do today and went out. He asked us to slip the materials through the crack in his door.”

“When will he be back?”

“We’re not too sure either. May I ask who you are to Professor Ying? We can pass along a message for you.”

The woman was silent for a moment, then finally said, “Never mind. I’ll come back another time.”

With that, she left.

Watching her departing figure, Lu Yingjie felt as though he had seen her somewhere before, but he simply couldn’t recall where.

Just as he thought it might be his imagination, his senior fellow suddenly said: “Don’t you think that woman looks a bit familiar? Like we’ve seen her in the news.”

Lu Yingjie suddenly realized—yes, he’d seen her too. This person was Ying Baiying, the chairman of Qing’an Financial Group.

Immediately, another memory pierced his mind like a sharp knife.

[Why wouldn’t they let you compete in that commercial tournament?! You’re the Boxing King! Everything was settled—why did they suddenly change their minds?!] Lu Yingjie had raised his voice, outraged on Xu Nanxiao’s behalf.

[The person in charge told me in private that someone higher up warned them off.] The ashtray in front of Xu Nanxiao was piled high with cigarette butts. [He said that dead bastard was actually the illegitimate son of a Qing’an Group executive. If that’s true, forget this tournament—from now on, no commercial event, no decent-sized club, would dare take me on.]

Lu Yingjie paused for a moment. [Who’s his father in Qing’an? Would a group executive let his own son do something that dangerous?]

[I think he was probably bullshitting me too.] Xu Nanxiao rubbed his brow in frustration. [But this time I really stepped in it—must have pissed off some big shot.]

Later, Old Liu had sought out Xu Nanxiao, and Xu Nanxiao discovered that Liu Qingyang’s father wasn’t some Qing’an executive at all. So the two had assumed the intel was false and let the matter drop.

But what if the Qing’an executive wasn’t the father, but the mother? Could Ying Baiying be the deceased’s mother? And with the same surname—what was Ying Baiying’s relationship to Ying Yusheng?

Failing to consider this wasn’t because Lu Yingjie discriminated against women’s professional capabilities, but rather because the reproductive costs for men and women are entirely different.

A man could easily and irresponsibly plant his seed because a woman was beautiful. But Ying Baiying, as the de facto chairman of Qing’an, with a husband who was the CEO of Tianming Technology—how could she have borne a child for a nobody boxer?

Furthermore, all the students in the department knew that Professor Ying’s parents were both highly educated intellectuals—how could he have any connection to a business tycoon?

He couldn’t figure it out. He couldn’t figure it out at all.

“What’s wrong? You look terrible,” the senior fellow asked cautiously.

“Sorry, Senior,” Lu Yingjie suddenly turned and sprinted in the direction Ying Baiying had left. “You go on ahead. I’ve got something to do.”