Sui Yuye finally broke free, but Qi Shengxian grabbed him again, pinning his hands above his head as he leaned in closer. “Why are you looking at me like that? I don’t like it.”
Qi Shengxian let out a helpless laugh. “Really, have you forgotten, Brother? When we were kids, you said it yourself—I’m the most important person to you, yours alone. So why are you pushing me away now?”
“Quit your bodyguard job. Let me take care of you instead. I’ll give you anything you want. Would you still want to leave me then? Brother, do you really have the heart to do it?” Qi Shengxian’s voice grew softer:
“You only have me left.”
“Qi Shengqian!!”
Qi Shengxian froze, instinctively loosening his grip.
Sui Yuye slapped him. Qi Shengxian’s head turned to the side, his cheek instantly reddening, his light-colored eyelashes trembling faintly.
“I may only have you left, but that doesn’t mean you’re all I can have! Even without you, Sui Yuye can still live freely and happily! Am I some fragile person?! Can I not survive without you?!” Sui Yuye grabbed him by the collar and shoved him away forcefully.
“Brother! Where are you going?” Qi Shengxian grabbed his arm.
“Slap!!”
Sui Yuye struck him again.
“These two slaps are payback for those two commands earlier.” Sui Yuye glared coldly. “Get lost. Before I calm down, reflect on yourself properly.”
He turned to leave, but suddenly, his body was pulled into an embrace.
“Brother, don’t go… Brother, don’t leave me… I’m sorry, I know I was wrong…” Qi Shengxian buried his face against Sui Yuye’s neck and shoulder. As Sui Yuye struggled, he suddenly felt a damp warmth on his shoulder.
Qi Shengxian was crying.
Sui Yuye’s movements stilled.
Over the past ten years, he had rarely laid a hand on Qi Shengxian, at most resorting to verbal reprimands. Because Sui Yuye remembered—he was the one who had picked up the frail, pitiful boy and brought him home. He was Qi Shengxian’s only support.
Once you bring someone home, you’re responsible for them till the end. He gave Qi Shengxian the best he could offer, unable to bear seeing him suffer even the slightest hardship.
Qi Shengxian was sensitive to pain by nature.
So Sui Yuye held back his strength.
He reached out and wiped Qi Shengxian’s tears gently, but as Qi Shengxian tried to grasp his hand, he pulled away and left.
Traveling abroad alone didn’t seem so bad after all.
He should get used to life without Qi Shengxian.
Qi Shengxian watched the figure disappear through the doorway, tears streaming from his eyes, yet his face wore a twisted, cold smile—devoid of any sorrow.
She was right—some instincts shouldn’t be suppressed.
As long as he had the person, why care about their heart?
His phone rang again. Sui Yuye glanced at it—fucking Shao Jinghe calling again. Doesn’t this guy have a job? He’d already ignored over a dozen calls today.
Blocking him was useless—Shao Jinghe would just switch numbers to harass him.
Just as he was leaving the mall after buying some candy, Sui Yuye was drawn to a display window of an accessories shop.
His gaze lingered on a necklace for a few seconds before shifting to the logo above the shop entrance. Upon seeing it, Sui Yuye was somewhat surprised.
A men’s accessories store under the Crown Family.
His phone rang again. Thinking it was Shao Jinghe once more, he checked—it wasn’t.
While answering the call, his eyes remained fixed on the display window. After a brief conversation, Sui Yuye replied, “I have time.”
Hanging up, Sui Yuye stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment before walking into the store. “Wrap up the item in the display window by the entrance for me.”
Auction venue.
“Shouldn’t your assistant be handling the bidding? Why did you come in person?” Sui Yuye followed behind Mian Guanfei.
Mian Guanfei yawned, as if just waking up: “Brought you here to see if there’s anything you like.”
Sui Yuye: ?
He propped his chin on his hand, watching the expensive jewelry and antiques pass before his eyes one by one, so bored he began to drift off. But the host suddenly raised his voice, snapping him out of his drowsiness.
“Next up is an ancient bracelet from the fourteenth-century nobility, lost by the Qi family for nearly seven hundred years.”
Sui Yuye lifted his face from his hand, his expression shifting.
Something from the Sheng Xian family ended up here?
After the host’s long-winded introduction, the starting bid was set at ten million, with increments no less than one million. Watching the numbers climb on the screen, Sui Yuye thought, Damn, that’s really valuable.
“Thirty million.”
A familiar voice sounded beside him. Sui Yuye turned his head in shock.
After the backstage handover, Sui Yuye checked the time on his phone. He needed to head over to Fu E Fu Zhong.
Jiao Shu sent a message: 【Are you sure you want to go? I have a bad feeling about this.】
Sui Yuye: 【They’ll be fine with me protecting them.】
Jiao Shu: 【I’m talking about you, damn it! I just woke up from a nap and dreamed you fell down the stairs! Broke your leg! And then some guy kidnapped you and locked you up!!】
“What are you looking at?” Mian Guanfei suddenly asked.
Sui Yuye didn’t get to see Jiao Shu’s message and put away his phone. “Nothing. Should we head out now? I have to go. Got work tonight.”
Mian Guanfei picked up the ancient bracelet and held it out to him.
Sui Yuye was taken aback: “Why are you giving it to me?”
“Didn’t you want it?”
“? I never said I wanted it.” This spendthrift.
“But out of everything we saw, this was the only thing you showed interest in.”
Sui Yuye was speechless. So his surprised expression had been noticed, and that was interpreted as wanting it?
He rubbed his forehead and waved a hand. “You misunderstood. I don’t want it. Keep it for yourself, or resell it if you want.”
A thirty-million item—even if he sold himself piece by piece, he wouldn’t make a fraction of that.
Mian Guanfei didn’t take it back. Instead, he walked toward him. Sui Yuye immediately hid his hands behind his back. “I really don’t want it. What kind of man wears a bracelet?”
“It’s an ankle bracelet.”
Sui Yuye felt a tight grip around his waist as he was lifted off the ground, his feet dangling. “Wait! I don’t need an ankle bracelet either!”
He was thrown onto the sofa. Just as he tried to get up, his ankle was grabbed. The sensation made him uncomfortable all over, and he instinctively struggled. But the gloved fingers pressed against the protruding bone of his ankle, and the bracelet was quickly fastened.
The foreign object on his left foot immediately sent a chill down Sui Yuye’s spine.
The bracelet had weight but wasn’t heavy. Yet, as it pressed against his skin and swayed, rubbing against the bone, it gave him a feeling of being controlled.
“Are you crazy? What man wears an ankle bracelet? I’m not a woman.” He tried to remove it but couldn’t find where to unfasten it.
The black thin sock hugged his slender ankle, already fragile-looking, now adorned with something solid, making it seem as though the bone could snap with the slightest pressure.
The pant leg could just barely cover it, but once he sat down or lifted his leg, that spot would be exposed—as if saying to others—
Look here.
Full of provocation and implication.
Mian Guanfei’s eyes darkened. The ankle bracelet suited Sui Yuye even better than he’d imagined. And with just a chain added, it could be used to leash him.
“How do you take this off?” Sui Yuye looked up and asked.
“Weren’t you paying attention to the introduction earlier?”
“What?”
“The inner clasp is one-way; once fastened, it can’t be undone unless broken.”
Sui Yuye’s fingers were still picking at the smooth surface of the bracelet. “…Can’t be undone? Then you…”
So Mian Guanfei knew full well that once this thing was put on, it couldn’t be taken off—and still forced it onto him??
How am I supposed to wear thermal pants in winter then? Won’t the bracelet just bunch up?