After Bai Jiao went to enjoy a comfortable, leisurely soak in the bathtub, he returned to find that Bai Jingzhuo had stopped twisting around. Instead, he was now hugging Bai Jiao’s quilt and rubbing his face against it repeatedly.
By this time, night had completely fallen. The soft, luminous moonlight cast a hazy glow over the room, lending the entire space a dreamlike quality. Bai Jiao thought that if he ignored Bai Jingzhuo’s strange behavior, the scene was actually rather beautiful and cozy. After all, this was the room he had had remodeled according to his own design plans after arriving in this world.
Standing at the foot of the bed, Bai Jiao decided to wake Bai Jingzhuo up first, lest the other man rub his carefully selected silk quilt to pieces.
In the dream, Bai Jingzhuo had already been tormented to the point of utter exhaustion. He desperately wanted to escape, but the Bai Jiao in his dream suddenly grabbed him by the ankle.
The cool sensation against his skin jolted him awake.
Bai Jingzhuo opened his eyes, only to unexpectedly find himself staring straight into a pair of long, clear, and lustrous phoenix eyes.
The scenes from his dream surfaced one after another in his mind, leaving him completely incapable of thinking clearly. His gaze instinctively shifted downward, avoiding direct eye contact.
One slender hand was wrapped around his ankle, holding it with neither excessive force nor particular gentleness. Even in the darkness, he could make out the clearly defined knuckles of that hand. The sight overlapped abruptly with the intimate, ambiguous scenes from his dream.
His heartbeat overlapped with them, too, pounding so violently that it seemed to reverberate through his entire body like the thunderous beating of a drum.
In an instant, his mind turned completely blank. He could not even move.
Bai Jiao tilted his head slightly, utterly unable to understand what was wrong with him. His forehead hair swayed gently with the movement, concealing the cool, indifferent look in his eyes.
This little softie looked as though he had slept himself stupid.
Bai Jiao wanted to sleep. He had absolutely no interest in what Bai Jingzhuo might be thinking, so he simply exerted a little force and pulled him closer.
The distance between them suddenly shrank, dragging Bai Jingzhuo straight out of his dazed state and back into reality.
“Move a little to the side.”
Bai Jiao patted his waist, signaling for him to make some room.
It was only after doing so that Bai Jiao discovered just how slender Bai Jingzhuo’s waist was. It was so narrow that he could not resist reaching out to pinch it again, thinking to himself that with just a little more force, he could probably snap it in two.
The moment he felt a touch identical to the one in his dream, Bai Jingzhuo’s waist immediately went limp. His body sank into the soft mattress, and he instinctively grabbed Bai Jiao’s arm.
What met his palm was a firm, solid muscle, something he would never have guessed existed beneath Bai Jiao’s outwardly delicate appearance. It was vastly different from the dazzling white light he had encountered in his dream.
Without thinking, he imitated Bai Jiao’s actions and gave the other man’s arm a small squeeze as well. He could feel the immense strength hidden beneath those remarkably resilient muscles.
However, in the very next second, Bai Jiao seized his wrist tightly.
Bai Jiao’s grip was so powerful that it felt as though he were about to crush Bai Jingzhuo’s already slender and fragile wrist to pieces. But when he noticed Bai Jingzhuo’s eyes suddenly reddening from the pain, he released his hold and spoke in a cold, indifferent voice.
“Don’t go around pinching me.”
The pain was so intense that tears sprang involuntarily into Bai Jingzhuo’s eyes. Yet the moment he heard Bai Jiao’s words, he became so angry that even those tears seemed to retreat.
“So you’re allowed to pinch me, but I’m not allowed to pinch you?”
His voice was filled with grievances he could no longer contain. However, Bai Jiao could not detect even the slightest trace of anger in it.
“Mm.”
Bai Jiao did not think there was anything wrong with his behavior. If anyone else had dared to pinch him, their hand would have been crushed to pieces long ago.
【Host, you really are being a hypocrite.】886 lodged its protest.
“I’m not.” Bai Jiao blinked innocently. “I’m worried that I might lose control for a moment and crush his entire body to pieces. Clearly, I’m doing this for his own good.”
In Bai Jingzhuo’s case, this was indeed a double standard. At the same time, it was also true that Bai Jiao was doing it for his own good.
Bai Jiao had spent far too long fighting for survival in worlds filled with danger. Some of the instincts he had developed to keep himself alive were impossible to suppress. Even when he pinched Bai Jingzhuo, beneath his curiosity and mischievous amusement lay a deep, scrutinizing assessment accompanied by an underlying malice.
This malice was not directed at Bai Jingzhuo alone. It was aimed at this entire world.
“You…” Bai Jingzhuo was so infuriated that he did not even know what to say.
And yet Bai Jiao continued blinking at him innocently, looking as though he genuinely could not understand what he had done wrong.
“Then you’re not allowed to pinch me, either.”
After thinking for a long time, Bai Jingzhuo could only manage to squeeze out this one retort.
Of course, Bai Jiao had absolutely no intention of listening to him. He shifted Bai Jingzhuo a little farther to the side, gave him another pinch, and completely ignored the furious look in his eyes.
Then he settled down comfortably and went to sleep.
As long as Bai Jingzhuo did not exert any force against him and merely touched him lightly, Bai Jiao’s body would not react too excessively.
When Bai Jingzhuo saw him lying down beside him, he was so shocked that he no longer knew whether he should bring up the matter of Bai Jiao pinching him or ask why Bai Jiao was sleeping here in the first place.
While he was still caught up in this brief moment of indecision, the steady sound of breathing came from beside him. Bai Jiao lay completely motionless, clearly already fast asleep.
Bai Jingzhuo: “…”
He was so angry that he could not fall asleep. Even the ambiguous fragments from his earlier dream were completely forgotten.
Bai Jingzhuo rejected his previous conclusion that Bai Jiao was actually a decent person.
This man was clearly nothing more than an unreasonable rogue!
……
The following morning.
The golden sun slowly rose over the eastern side of the bustling metropolis, climbing higher until it hung above the treetops. Its faint rays spilled across the room, casting elongated, undulating shadows over the bed.
Bai Jiao slept until he naturally woke up. He instinctively sat up, but then remembered that there was no danger in this world and promptly lay back down again. He turned over, intending to continue sleeping, only to come face to face with Bai Jingzhuo, whose resentment seemed almost capable of blotting out the sky.
Bai Jingzhuo was curled up on the beanbag sofa with his knees drawn to his chest. His eyes were wide open and fixed intently on Bai Jiao, while faint dark circles had appeared beneath them. His expression was so haggard that he looked as though he had not slept for the entire night. The resentment radiating from him was only marginally weaker than that of a vengeful ghost who had died an unjust death.
“Good morning.”
Having slept well, Bai Jiao was naturally in a good mood. He even raised his hand and waved at Bai Jingzhuo in greeting.
“It’s not good at all.” Bai Jingzhuo stared at him resentfully before finally asking the question he had wanted to ask the previous night. “Why were you sleeping here?”
“This is my room. If I don’t sleep here, where else am I supposed to sleep?” Bai Jiao found the question utterly baffling.
“…Didn’t you say you were giving this room to me?”
“That’s right.” Half of Bai Jiao’s face remained buried in the quilt, leaving only his bright, gentle eyes visible, their corners naturally curving upward. “We’ll live together. Isn’t that wonderful?”
“You… I…”
“Do you dislike me?” Bai Jiao asked in return.
“No.” Bai Jingzhuo denied it without even thinking.
“Then what’s the problem?”
Bai Jiao sat up and stretched lazily before getting out of bed to wash up, his perfectly styled hair not even a little disheveled.
By the time Bai Jingzhuo finally reacted, Bai Jiao had already finished washing up and gone downstairs for breakfast. The room was now empty, and the warm, comforting atmosphere created by its carefully arranged furnishings seemed to have mysteriously dissipated, leaving behind nothing but an overwhelming sense of loneliness.
Bai Jingzhuo: “…”
He had actually been fooled by Bai Jiao again.
….
“Young Master, the master and madam had an important business partnership to attend to this morning. They left at eight last night and arrived in Guangzhou at half past midnight today. They left instructions for you to rest at home and take good care of yourself during this period. Once they have finished their work, they will return immediately to keep you company.”
The butler, Li Lang, was dressed in a dark colored tailcoat. Standing respectfully beside Bai Jiao, he relayed the message left behind by the Bai couple.
Bai Jiao was completely unconcerned. He responded with a vague “Mm” and continued enjoying his breakfast at an unhurried pace.
“The eldest young master of the Shen family came at seven this morning to deliver an invitation to a banquet. He specifically asked that you honor him with your presence. The banquet is scheduled for five o’clock this afternoon.”
“Decline it.”
“The young master of the Ren family has invited you to go horseback racing in Macau at three o’clock this afternoon.”
“I’m not going.”
“The Jian family…”
“Cancel all my appointments during the holidays.” Bai Jiao put down his chopsticks, interrupting the butler before he could finish speaking. “Have the car prepared. I’ll be going out shortly. At two this afternoon, have the bespoke tailor I usually use come over to take Bai Jingzhuo’s measurements. The stylist should arrive at two thirty, the doctor at three thirty, and the nutritionist at four. Before school starts, I want to see him transformed into an entirely different person.”
A flicker of astonishment passed through Butler Li Lang’s eyes, though he made no visible change to his expression. He answered respectfully, “Yes, Young Master.”
“Arrange a few private tutors for him as well. His grades can’t be too poor, either.”
In the original novel, Bai Jingzhuo was an exceptionally intelligent student who consistently ranked first in his grade in every examination. However, having suddenly transferred from an ordinary high school in a small county to a prestigious private school for the wealthy, where the teaching resources were far superior, he would inevitably struggle to keep up with the pace of his new school at first.
It was already the second semester of his final year of high school. Students preparing to study abroad had long since stopped attending classes. Even when they did show up, they spent their time playing around instead of participating in examinations.
This left only the students who were fiercely competing for their scores in the national college entrance examination. The atmosphere was practically a hell level difficulty setting, with everyone pushing themselves to the limit, competing until they were utterly exhausted.
Bai Jiao himself was also among the students preparing to study abroad. The original host had already received an offer from Stanford during the first semester of his final year of high school and was simply waiting for September to arrive so that he could enroll.
He remembered that the bullying Bai Jingzhuo endured had grown increasingly severe after Bai Jiao left the country to study abroad. Among those who went the furthest, the most notorious was none other than the eldest young master of the Shen family, Shen Jin, whom the butler had just mentioned.
The man was exactly as his name suggested: genuinely unhinged. He had come up with some ridiculous substitute lover drama, and he was also the original novel’s male lead gong.
Li Lang silently committed Bai Jiao’s instructions to memory. Noticing that Bai Jiao had not eaten very much and seemed ready to get up, he advised, “Young Master, the kitchen has prepared tremella soup for you. It will be brought out shortly. Why don’t you eat a little more?”
Bai Jiao lifted his chin and looked at Li Lang’s reasonably handsome face. Unfortunately, the butler wore his hair slicked straight back, and he did not possess much of an imposing presence. Instead, his appearance gave off an old fashioned, prematurely aged air.
Li Lang bent forward slightly to meet Bai Jiao’s gaze, looking down at him in a deferential manner. The loyalty in his eyes was mixed with a few traces of something more unusual.
Bai Jiao curled his fingers and lightly tapped the tabletop twice. His face remained completely expressionless as he regarded the butler, looking as though he were contemplating something.
He had almost forgotten.
This was another lunatic.
In the original novel, after the original host left the country, Li Lang had constantly made things difficult for Bai Jingzhuo at home. Even the incident the previous day, when Bai Jingzhuo had been left barefoot, had been his doing.
Li Lang felt a chill run down his spine under Bai Jiao’s gaze. The overwhelming pressure was so intense that his legs almost gave way, making it difficult for him to remain standing steadily.
It was only when Bai Jiao caught sight of Bai Jingzhuo coming downstairs out of the corner of his eye that he immediately shifted his attention elsewhere.
“Brother, come over and have breakfast.”
He smiled at Bai Jingzhuo with an innocent, harmless expression. The cold, oppressive atmosphere surrounding him instantly melted away, allowing Li Lang to finally breathe again.
The butler decided that what he had experienced just now must have been an illusion. How could the usually kind and approachable Young Master Bai Jiao possibly possess such an intimidating aura? The only reasonable explanation was that the central air conditioning had been set far too low.
Bai Jingzhuo was momentarily dazzled by Bai Jiao’s smile. He quickly looked away and pretended to be busy with something before asking, “Where are Mom and Dad?”
“They’ve gone on a business trip. For the time being, there will only be the two of us at home.”
Bai Jiao propped his cheek on one hand and tilted his head as he looked at Bai Jingzhuo. He kicked the chair beside him out from under the table, then grabbed Bai Jingzhuo by the wrist and pulled him down into the seat next to his own.
“From now on, this will be your seat.”
Bai Jiao even pushed all the pastries on the table toward Bai Jingzhuo, having thoughtfully prepared the cutlery for him as well. It was a level of attentiveness he had never shown anyone else before. Even Li Lang, who was standing nearby, was left staring in astonishment.
He had been off duty the previous day, so he had no idea what exactly had happened in the Bai household.
“…Thank you.”
Bai Jingzhuo lowered his head and began eating. However, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Bai Jiao was facing him the entire time, his attention seemingly fixed on him.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” Being stared at like this made Bai Jingzhuo’s face grow increasingly hot, and his heartbeat thundered so loudly that it seemed to reverberate in his ears.
“I finished eating a long time ago.”
Bai Jiao picked up a pale white handkerchief and gently wiped the corner of Bai Jingzhuo’s mouth, studying his reaction as he did so.
“…” Bai Jingzhuo’s entire body stiffened, and the tips of his ears turned bright red.
“Don’t just sit there in a daze. Hurry up and eat.” Bai Jiao stared curiously at his thoroughly flushed face, then reached out and gave his cheek a pinch. “After you finish eating, I’ll take you to the shopping mall to buy some clothes.”
Bai Jingzhuo’s face was soft and tender, and it felt much better to pinch than before.
The only problem was that his skin felt a little too hot to the touch. Could he have a fever?