HL 47

“…”

“Why are you so afraid of me? You already know everything?”

“…”

“How did you find out?”

“…”

“Never mind, I won’t ask. Feels like the whole world is against me, ganging up to bully a poor little teacher like me.”

Before he finished speaking, Xu Nanxiao’s eyes suddenly flashed with a cold, beast-like gleam. A fierce gust of wind followed his fist as it hurtled straight toward Ying Yusheng’s face. Caught off guard, Ying Yusheng dodged, but his head slammed hard into a decorative painting on the wall.

Though he hadn’t expected Ying Yusheng to be able to keep up with a professional boxer’s reaction speed, Xu Nanxiao didn’t linger in the fight. With a clear goal, he charged toward the stairwell.

Just as one foot crossed into the fire escape, a sharp snap of fingers suddenly echoed through the elevator lobby.

Xu Nanxiao felt his feet go weak, his senses fading instantly, and then his body plummeted, landing with a heavy thud on the floor.

What was happening—he couldn’t move.

Hypnosis? Or had he been drugged?

Xu Nanxiao struggled to prop himself up, telling himself he had to crawl out if necessary!

But the next second, his ankle was seized, and a powerful force began dragging him back inside!

If he was pulled back in, he was done for!

Facing what was about to happen, even the most dangerous matches he’d ever fought hadn’t filled Xu Nanxiao with such terror.

He struggled desperately, clawing at the ground, gripping the doorframe with all his might. But his weakened hands had never been so powerless, and he was forcibly dragged back into the house by Ying Yusheng.

The front door slammed shut.

And throughout it all, the sound of dishes being washed in the kitchen never stopped.

After an unknown amount of time, Xu Nanxiao slowly opened his eyes.

The first thing that came into view was the familiar ceiling.

He felt as though he had just woken from a long, long nightmare. What was the dream about? Why… couldn’t he remember?

Clutching his groggy head, he sat up straight. His head ached as if someone had yanked his nerves apart.

Just then, someone knocked three times on the bedroom door.

Xu Nanxiao frowned. “…Come in?”

Ying Yusheng walked in carrying a tray.

“Still feeling unwell?”

“A bit. What happened to me?” Xu Nanxiao pressed his temples. “Why did I suddenly fall asleep? I don’t remember a thing from last night.”

“You suddenly passed out after dinner—it scared me.” Ying Yusheng blinked, his eyes filled with concern as he tucked the blanket around Xu Nanxiao. “How do you feel now?”

Xu Nanxiao paused, then shook his head.

“Are you hungry? Have something to eat.” Ying Yusheng set the tray on the bedside table.

Xu Nanxiao nodded, belatedly realizing how empty his stomach felt. He turned and saw his favorite candied sweet potato on the tray, but he didn’t pick up his chopsticks right away. Instead, he stared at the dish, lost in thought.

Something was off.

Next to the candied sweet potato should have been shrimp stir-fried with ginkgo nuts…

Wait—why shrimp stir-fried with ginkgo nuts?

His mind suddenly began connecting unrelated things.

Last night I ate too much and threw it all up… then I started packing… then Ying Yusheng caught me… and then…

Xu Nanxiao’s head throbbed unbearably. Fragmented scenes flashed in his mind only to be erased again, the pain forcing him to shut his eyes.

“Nan Xiao, are you okay?” Ying Yusheng immediately grabbed his shoulder, but his hand was violently slapped away.

Xu Nanxiao let out pained murmurs. After a long while, he gradually calmed down. When he looked up again, his eyes were bloodshot, and he growled through gritted teeth: “Ying Yusheng!! You bastard!!”

Xu Nanxiao lunged at him, but a tremendous force yanked him back, sending him sprawling awkwardly onto the bed.

He reached for his neck and realized that at some point, a leather collar had been fastened around it, its other end chained securely to the headboard—like nothing so much as a dog leash.

Ying Yusheng reacted quickly, sidestepping Xu Nanxiao’s attack and retreating to a safe distance.

“It really doesn’t work,” he murmured to himself.

Realizing that hypnosis couldn’t make Xu Nanxiao forget, a flicker of bewilderment passed across Ying Yusheng’s face, but soon it settled back into calm.

Xu Nanxiao found it absurd. It was as if he’d been stabbed and had a bloody, tangled mass ripped out of him. “You’re still trying to hypnotize me?! You’re insane, Ying Yusheng!”

At that, Ying Yusheng looked at him and smiled lightly. “I was wrong, dear… Is it too late to apologize now?”

Hearing that address, Xu Nanxiao froze for a second, then felt a chill run through him, all his hackles rising. His expression darkened as he growled a warning: “Don’t ever call me that disgusting name.”

“Let me go. Take off this dog collar.”

“Take it off!!!”

Ying Yusheng avoided the topic, picked up the spoon from the pork and century-egg congee, and brought it to Xu Nanxiao’s lips. “Don’t say impossible things. You must be hungry, right? You’ve been asleep for a whole day. Even if you want to hit me, you should eat something to regain your strength first.”

Xu Nanxiao knocked the bowl of congee out of his hand. The scalding hot porridge splattered onto Ying Yusheng’s hand, and the ceramic spoon flew off, shattering in two on the floor.

Ying Yusheng’s hand quickly reddened from the burn, but he said nothing—just gently touched the wound, then crouched down to clean up the mess.

“If you don’t want to eat now, you can have some when you’ve calmed down.”

“Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down?” Xu Nanxiao’s voice was shaking. “What a grand revenge drama! What a beautiful misdirection! Watching me run around like a headless chicken over the hooded figure, watching me bend over and offer myself to you—did it make you proud? Finally avenged your brother, didn’t you? Was it fun playing me for a fool? If Lu Yingjie hadn’t given me the evidence, what were you planning to do next? Swallow me whole and be done with it?!”

It seemed Xu Nanxiao already knew about his relationship with Liu Qingyang and had evidence that he was the hooded figure.

At this point, no amount of denial would help.

The worst-case scenario—the one he had tried so hard to avoid by sending himself to the emergency room—had still happened.

Ying Yusheng felt a splitting headache.

Xu Nanxiao was too agitated; now wasn’t the right time for conversation. So Ying Yusheng said, “Get some rest first. I’ll come see you tomorrow. If you don’t want to see me, I’ll have someone else bring your meals later.”

“Tomorrow? And after tomorrow, the day after? And the day after that? How long exactly do you plan to keep me locked up?”

“Until we make up,” Ying Yusheng cut him off.

Xu Nanxiao was stunned.

He rarely described anyone this way, but Ying Yusheng was truly a madman.

“You don’t actually think I can pretend nothing happened and let you keep using me for free, do you?” Xu Nanxiao laughed in disbelief. “Do you really think we can still make up? Let me tell you, Ying Yusheng—there won’t be a tomorrow for us. Not tomorrow, not the day after, not the day after that!”

Xu Nanxiao’s voice rose higher and higher. “If you dare untie me even once, I’ll run as far away as I can! Somewhere you’ll never find me even in your lifetime!”

Before the words had fully left his mouth, the chain on Xu Nanxiao’s collar was yanked violently by an unnatural force. Caught off guard, he collapsed awkwardly onto the bed on all fours—a posture that truly made him look like a dog.

Cursing under his breath, Xu Nanxiao pushed himself up and raised his head, only to find Ying Yusheng looking down at him.

Ying Yusheng’s gaze was somewhat dark, but soon he smiled faintly, melting the darkness away.

“Nan Xiao, there are ways to play this willingly, and ways to play it unwillingly. But either way, you’re the only one who can play with me.”

Ying Yusheng released the chain and gently patted Xu Nanxiao’s head. Xu Nanxiao’s eyes widened, his whole body stiff, unable to move.

He said, “See you tomorrow.”

The next day, the household auntie tendered her resignation, citing that she had no face to keep facing Xu Nanxiao.

Ying Yusheng didn’t press her; he simply told her not to speak of anything and let her go.

The newly hired maid reported to Ying Yusheng that Xu Nanxiao had refused to eat all day. The three meals sat neatly on the bedside table, untouched by chopsticks.

Still throwing a tantrum, it seemed.

Ying Yusheng smiled, his eyes curving. “I’ll take care of it.”

He carried the tray into Xu Nanxiao’s room, already scheming how to make the other yield today.

But the moment the door swung open, his eyes widened slightly—

The bed was empty, and the collar had been broken, its two halves covered in white scratch marks.

Ying Yusheng had tested that collar before—it fit Xu Nanxiao’s neck perfectly without being too tight to hurt. It was hard to imagine that someone who hadn’t eaten for a full day could destroy it with sheer physical strength.

And to leave this room, he would have had to pass through the living room—how had he vanished without a trace?

Ying Yusheng took two steps forward, and just then, he sensed someone behind him. Before he could react, a rope made from bedsheets suddenly looped around his neck.

The tray in Ying Yusheng’s hands clattered to the floor. The sound of shattering porcelain was choked off by the sudden suffocation.

The rough, twisted sheet-rope bit deep into his neck. He instinctively clawed at the binding around his throat, but his fingers met Xu Nanxiao’s long, slender, knuckled digits.

“You…” Ying Yusheng squeezed out through gritted teeth.

He had been too careless—grown accustomed to Xu Nanxiao being a tame little cat before him, forgetting that he had always been a leopard. And when a leopard is cornered, its teeth are its deadliest weapon.

After the initial shock, Ying Yusheng suddenly slammed backward, driving Xu Nanxiao hard against the wall. A grunt came from the body behind him, and the tightening pressure loosened for an instant. In that split second, Ying Yusheng bent his elbow and struck his attacker in the ribs.

Xu Nanxiao gasped in pain but clung on like a madman, refusing to let go. He even used the recoil from the wall to strangle with even greater ferocity. The two staggered and fell from the wall, tumbling into a tangled heap on the floor.

“You forced me into this,” Xu Nanxiao ground out through clenched teeth.

After what felt like an endless struggle, Ying Yusheng’s resistance grew weaker and weaker. Only when Xu Nanxiao felt the arms beneath him go completely limp did he release his grip with trembling hands.

He collapsed to the floor, gasping for air, his lungs burning and his fingers cramping from overexertion. He reached out to check Ying Yusheng’s breath—hah, not dead.

Xu Nanxiao dared not linger. He staggered to his feet, his bare feet padding across the wooden floor, and pushed open the bedroom door.

He was about to be free.

Just past this door.

Never to see Ying Yusheng again.

But the moment he stepped into the living room, Xu Nanxiao’s eyes flew wide open. Because this was not the living room he knew—and on top of that, four or five tall, unfamiliar men were standing there.

Xu Nanxiao finally realized that this was no longer the sprawling flat they had lived in, but some desolate wilderness in an unknown location.

The reason he hadn’t noticed the change was that Ying Yusheng had deliberately arranged the room to look exactly like the familiar space he remembered.

Before he could even speak, those four or five men rushed forward and pinned him to the ground. His cheek pressed against the cold tiles as he struggled fiercely—but even a former Grand Slam champion was no match for so many fists. All he could do was vent his fury through curses.

Then he saw Ying Yusheng walk out of the room, clutching his neck and coughing lightly. A ring of purplish bruises had formed around his throat.

Had he even been faking unconsciousness?!

Xu Nanxiao clenched his teeth.

That old—dog—of—a—bespectacled—bastard!!!

But the next second, he noticed something else. His anger froze, his body went rigid, and even the blood in his veins ran cold. Unable to comprehend the situation, his mind ground to a halt.

He realized that Ying Yusheng was hard beneath his trousers.

Did people get aroused in life-or-death moments? Was his mind even normal?

Realizing what might come next, Xu Nanxiao struggled even more violently, letting out a guttural roar. But against the restraint of four strong men, it was like a mayfly trying to topple a tree.

“Sorry—I must have confused the thrill of near-death with sexual arousal. Don’t worry, it happened before when I did extreme sports too.” Ying Yusheng said with a casual smile, his eyes fixed on Xu Nanxiao like a snake hunting. “Or maybe it’s just that you look too sexy when you’re fierce.”

Xu Nanxiao’s body went rigid, letting Ying Yusheng take his hand and guide it toward that bulging mass.

“You’ll have to take responsibility,” Ying Yusheng said softly.