“Didn’t you say you’d gone off-world on business? Why are you suddenly back?”
As she spoke, Jiang Wangyue reached out and pulled him to his feet.
At the mention of it, Lan Xue, who’d risen along with her tug, couldn’t help a flutter of his lashes, then said softly, “I handed it off to someone else. I wanted to come back and keep you company.”
What was this?
Had the scheming big cat turned into a loyal-dog big cat?
Jiang Wangyue gave him a puzzled look.
Lan Xue helped Jiang Wangyue over to the edge of the sofa and sat her down, then strode off to fetch a medical device. Once again he dropped to one knee to tend her wounds.
The cut on her calf wasn’t deep, it was just that the streak of blood looked a little alarming.
More alarming still were the bruised, purple marks on Jiang Wangyue’s wrist, a sight to make the heart clench.
Lan Xue’s grip tightened on the small medical device in his hand, and killing intent flickered through his lowered eyes.
He carefully took hold of Jiang Wangyue’s arm and gently pressed the device against her bruised wrist.
But the instant it touched, Jiang Wangyue sucked in a sharp breath and instinctively flinched back.
It hurt!
Lan Xue pressed his lips together and softened his voice, coaxing, “Female master, just a moment more. Once it’s healed, it won’t hurt anymore.”
His coaxing, the kind you’d use on a child, left Jiang Wangyue a little embarrassed. She hesitated, then held her hand back out to him anyway.
The device wrapped more gently still around her injured wrist, the little pulses of warmth it gave off slowly chasing the pain away.
Jiang Wangyue gazed, lost in thought, at the person kneeling on one knee before her.
Lan Xue’s hair was a little messy, the red marks she’d pinched into his cheek still there, yet he didn’t seem to mind in the slightest, he just cradled her wrist, his expression intent.
Now and then his ears gave a light twitch, and watching them, Jiang Wangyue felt her hands start to itch again.
From this angle, he really did look just like a big cat.
With the wrist treatment done, Lan Xue reached out and gently lifted the pale, slender calf before him, the warmth in his palm pulled Jiang Wangyue back to herself, and she guiltily looked away.
For a moment the only sound in the living room was the two of them breathing.
The device was highly efficient, in a short while it had finished its work.
Feeling Lan Xue’s cool fingertips tap lightly against her calf, Jiang Wangyue shifted a little uncomfortably. “All done?”
Lan Xue nodded and said with a smile, “All done.”
Jiang Wangyue looked down and found that not even the faintest trace was left.
“Try moving your wrist again.”
Jiang Wangyue did as Lan Xue said and worked her wrist, and found that it no longer hurt either.
Interstellar high tech really was something else.
Jiang Wangyue couldn’t help marveling inwardly.
Only once he’d confirmed all her wounds were taken care of did Lan Xue set down the device. He tilted his head up and asked, “Female master, do you know why Tinar came looking to give you trouble?”
Jiang Wangyue gave a light cough. “I reported Night Tryst.”
Lan Xue blinked, and once it sank in he broke into a laugh. “So you were the one who reported Night Tryst, no wonder she flew into such a rage.”
Jiang Wangyue patted the spot on the sofa beside her, beckoning him to sit and explain in detail.
“One moment, please.”
Lan Xue went into the kitchen, and when he came back out he had a glass of juice in his hand.
He handed the juice to Jiang Wangyue, then said in an unhurried voice, “Night Tryst was set up single-handedly by Tinar’s elder brother, Isaac. Some of the deals behind the scenes are tightly bound up with District 13, and the value and profit it brings are just enough to let the run-down Rodriguez family barely keep up the appearance of their former glory. With Night Tryst sealed off for now, things won’t be easy for them.”
At Lan Xue’s mention of District 13, a snatch of the original host’s memory flashed swiftly through Jiang Wangyue’s mind.
Six months ago, Tinar had once taken the original host there. The original host had lost a huge sum of money, and if Su Hui, who’d sensed something was wrong, hadn’t gone in to haul her out, the original host might not have made it back in one piece.
District 13: the most chaotic place on the entire Central Star, sitting on the planet’s outermost rim, a jumble of good and bad where dragons and fish swam together [1] “fish and dragons mixed in together”, a teeming crowd of all sorts, the worthy and the worthless impossible to tell apart jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2723730_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2723730_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. It was home to many off-the-books beastmen with no proof of identity, and it had spawned countless black-market supply chains.
They ignored the law, and feared it even less.
For a female like the original host to fall into their hands, the consequences were too dreadful to imagine.
But after Su Hui hauled her back, what had the original host done?
She’d actually given Su Hui a beating.
Jiang Wangyue clapped a hand to her forehead, unable to stop herself from cursing the original host inwardly.
If that wasn’t repaying kindness with enmity, what was?
Seeing the abrupt change in her expression, Lan Xue couldn’t help a flicker of worry in his eyes.
He brushed the back of his hand lightly against the side of Jiang Wangyue’s face and asked in a low voice, “Female master, are you all right?”
The cool warmth coming off the back of Lan Xue’s hand brought Jiang Wangyue back to herself. “I’m fine. So by what you’re telling me, neither the Rodriguez family nor Tinar is going to let this rest.”
After lowering his hand, Lan Xue absently rubbed the pads of his fingers together, then said with a smile, “Don’t worry. There’s no way they can turn the sky over.” Seeing that Jiang Wangyue was still wearing nothing but a thin little nightdress under her coat, Lan Xue asked, with feigned casualness, “Female master, where’s Ji Li?”
At the mention of Ji Li, Jiang Wangyue’s temper shot up in a flash.
“And who knows which idiot of a superior he’s got, dragging a man who’s still sick off to go work! And him too, he doesn’t know how to say no, not even a little!”
Lan Xue’s lifted hand paused, then came lightly to rest on Jiang Wangyue’s back, the motion gentle as he soothed her.
After grumbling a couple of complaints, Jiang Wangyue stood up. “I’m going to go change. You should get some proper rest too.”
Lan Xue’s eyes curved, and he answered with a smiling “Mm.”
He watched her figure disappear around the bend of the staircase, and only then did the smile slowly fade from his face.
Not a single message had come in on the terminal. Lan Xue stared for a long while at the news screenshot he’d saved that morning, then, expressionless, deleted it.
Since he’d made his choice, he would never regret it.
Lan Xue lowered his eyes and dialed a comm number, arms crossed over his chest, his index finger tapping a steady little rhythm against his arm.
The call was picked up quickly, though the person on the other end seemed rather puzzled as to why Lan Xue would be contacting him.
“You’ve heard about Night Tryst being sealed off, I take it?”
“Of course.”
“Those few channels in District 13, do you want them?”
Su Hui fell silent a moment, then drawled lazily, “For the always-stays-out-of-other-people’s-business Professor Lan to open his mouth, just how did the Rodriguez family offend you?”
The wounds and marks on Jiang Wangyue’s body flashed before Lan Xue’s eyes, and his voice abruptly turned cold. “That’s none of your concern. I’ll have someone tie Isaac down. Whether you can seize the chance to take full control of District 13, that depends on your own ability, Su Hui.”
“All right, then I’ll owe you one.”
The call ended.
Su Hui toyed with the pulse pistol in his hand, lifted his chin, and called over one of his men.
“Go. Look into the Night Tryst business.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jiang Wangyue had no idea at all that Lan Xue had chalked the injuries on her wrist up to Tinar as well. When she came out from her shower, she found she’d received a message.
It was from Mr. Owl.
【Accept this file?】
Jiang Wangyue raised an eyebrow. So this scammer finally couldn’t hold back, and had sent her a phishing link?
References[+]