The slums of the Lower District were cast in shades of gray sunlight could never pierce through the crooked, narrow alleys between the buildings.
The creak of rusted tin roofs in the wind, the neighbors’ unsightly screaming matches, his father’s drunken curses, his mother’s pleading sobs as she took her beatings together they composed the entirety of Jiang Xinian’s childhood.
“You little debt-collector! It’s all your fault! If I hadn’t been pregnant with you, I could have escaped by now!!”
“He made me take several clients today is he out of money again?!”
“It’s all because I raised you, you little beast! I told you from the start we shouldn’t keep you!”
“Are you going to beat me too someday? Are you going to bleed me dry whenever you lose at the gambling table?!”
“Get out! Get out of my sight!”
After being beaten black and blue, his mother would claw viciously at Jiang Xinian to vent her rage, muttering the same few phrases in a deranged trance before throwing him out the door. From the first time she’d sold him off for a pitifully small sum to be degraded, her illness had only grown worse.
She rarely cried.
When she was beaten, when she took clients, when she cleaned up the wreckage of their home, her expression was usually one of numb, dead silence.
But when she did cry, her soul seemed to briefly return to that pitiful shell of a body.
She would scrub herself clean until her skin was raw with red streaks buy a little snack that children loved with money she’d secretly stashed away, and then crouch in front of Jiang Xinian, watching him eat it all up.
That gentle, lovely face would be streaked with tears as she told him she was sorry in a hoarse voice.
In those bleak memories, the single spot of brightness was a bright-orange kitten Jiang Xinian had dug out beside a trash heap after being thrown out of the house yet again.
Even the filthy clumps of mud stuck to its fur couldn’t hide the kitten’s beautiful color.
He began secretly skimming from his own meager rations to feed the little kitten he hid outside.
Unfortunately, before he could even name it, the cat was discovered.
His mother screamed at him, denouncing his selfishness, and as Jiang Xinian cried out in despair, she dashed the kitten to its death right in front of him.
For the first and only time in his life, he acted on his own will. Wiping his tears, he ran away from home.
But after hiding for just one day, a neighbor found him and gleefully told him his mother was already dead.
It was suicide.
The neighbor said that when Jiang Gaofei came back and found out Jiang Xinian had run away, he beat her, and she couldn’t take it anymore she didn’t want to live.
Five-year-old Jiang Xinian just walked home step by step with a blank, empty expression. He didn’t even attend her funeral later.
Because there was no funeral. Jiang Gaofei had handed her body over as payment to the debt collectors.
Until the very end, Jiang Xinian never knew his mother’s name.
Just like that little kitten.
“Give it a name,” Cen Wan said.
Jiang Xinian snapped back to the present, blinking his dry eyes until they met the bright, glittering gaze before him.
[Task 8: You’ve noticed that since that dinner, Loren hasn’t contacted you at all. In contrast, everyone seems to be hearing Jiang Xinian’s name from Loren’s mouth again.
This must be because Jiang Xinian seduced Loren behind your back and stole Young Master Loren’s attention from you. Tomorrow, Loren will apparently be attending the pool party at the southern castle. You must find a way to make Jiang Xinian utterly humiliate himself in front of Loren.]
[Before 24:00 tomorrow night, make Jiang Xinian fall into the pool in front of Loren and become a ridiculous drowned rat!]
【Mission Success Reward: Survival Time Increased by 24h】
【Mission Failure Penalty: Survival Time Deducted by 48h】
Jiang Xinian was still standing across from her without responding when Cen Wan’s mind rang with the mechanical mission notification.
Wall lamps at the bottom of the pool illuminated the entire expanse of water, while the surface reflected the silhouettes of figures gathered at the pool’s edge. Champagne glasses were raised high, bubbles rising like tiny fireworks, the crisp clinking of glasses and unrestrained laughter swept along by the rhythm of the music.
Loren’s gaze cut through the noisy crowd and landed on that figure entangled with two men.
“Cen Wan, what a coincidence, we meet again.” Jiang Yan smiled, lips curling.
He was dressed more casually today in a black shirt, sleeves rolled carelessly to his elbows, revealing the firm muscles of his forearms as he casually blocked Cen Wan’s path.
“Mm, what a coincidence.” Cen Wan replied with a perfunctory smile, her eyes still darting around looking for F1.
“Do you hate me?”
Jiang Yan asked suddenly, the tall man looking down at Cen Wan with a seemingly dejected expression.
“No? Why would you say that?” Cen Wan blinked, her tone evasive.
“Then why do you never want to talk to me every time I speak to you?”
“Is he obligated to like you?” A voice suddenly cut into the oddly charged atmosphere.
Jiang Xinian’s eyes were dark and cold as he replied icily, stepping in front of Cen Wan.
Jiang Yan hadn’t gotten his answer, and frowned, annoyed at having his conversation inexplicably interrupted.
What’s more, this special-admissions student was acting all familiar with Cen Wan and butting in.
Anyone who didn’t know better would think he was a dog fawning over its master.
Jiang Yan sneered inwardly, too lazy to bother talking to him.
Instead, he turned to look at Cen Wan, his expression darkening:
“If you’re ignoring me”
“Is it because you like his type?”
The disdain in Jiang Yan’s tone was unmistakable; he clearly didn’t consider Jiang Xinian worth anything at all.
“I don’t like anyone.”
“What’s it to you?”
Cen Wan’s denial and Jiang Xinian’s taut voice fell simultaneously.
She stood behind Jiang Xinian and didn’t see how the eyes of the man in front of her stiffened, then abruptly dimmed.
Cen Wan couldn’t understand why they were standing there like idiots debating these pointless topics.
Jiang Yan shot a provocative glance at Jiang Xinian, his tone turning noticeably lighter:
“Then what type do you like?” As he spoke, he shouldered past Jiang Xinian, who was blocking Cen Wan.
Jiang Xinian didn’t turn around, his back to Cen Wan, as if frozen in place for a moment.
Cen Wan frowned in great displeasure:
“We barely know each other. Why are you asking these kinds of questions?”
Jiang Xinian finally turned around at this point, pressing his lips together as he reached to pull Cen Wan away but Jiang Yan also reached out a hand toward her.
“Slap!”
The outstretched hand was smacked away by Jiang Xinian.
“Don’t touch him.” The veins at Jiang Xinian’s temple bulged as he pulled Cen Wan by the shoulder behind him.
The commotion they’d caused had already started drawing stares; the air was thick with scrutinizing gazes.
“Young Master Lu and the others are here!” A chorus of exclamations rose from the crowd.
Cen Wan looked toward the stir in the crowd and immediately locked eyes with F1’s sinister glare fixed on them. She quickly looked away, reassuring herself that she must have seen wrong.
A large group of flamboyantly dressed men and women swarmed over to Loren and his two companions.
Meanwhile, the two over here kept arguing as if they’d heard nothing, only lowering their voices somewhat.
Jiang Yan’s temper flared at being slapped away by Jiang Xinian, and he sneered coldly:
“So you know he doesn’t like you taking your anger out on other people, huh?” The tone was deliberately mocking.
“Cen Wan, you’d better watch out for certain people around you.” Jiang Ye crossed his arms, forcing out a smirk as he met Jiang Xinian’s gloomy gaze.
“Jiang Ye.” Loren’s voice was cold enough to drip water. At some point he had appeared in front of the three who were shoving at each other.
The others had also gathered in a circle to watch the drama, and now their expressions varied.
Jiang Ye froze.
Under the pressure of their stares, he gritted his teeth, lowered his head, and retreated behind Loren.
Loren’s disgust for Cen Wan deepened.
A habitual liar promiscuous and greedy.
So greedy he could never be satisfied, was that it?
Then Loren would make sure he never got what he wanted.
“Jiang Xinian, I remember you.”
Loren gave a soft laugh.
The coldness in his voice was almost imperceptible.
“Could you do me a favor?” Loren lazily bent his wrist, his well-defined fingers precisely finding the watch’s clasp. The metal buckle popped open with a crisp click.
With a slight pressure of his fingertips, the watch worth several hundred million slid down his wrist inch by inch into his right palm. The dial, glinting with cold light, reflected his curling smirk. A flick of his wrist, and a sharp whoosh split the air.
The moment the watch left his hand, it traced a fierce parabola,
Splash.
That priceless, unobtainable luxury watch dropped into the swimming pool, sending up a small ring of ripples.
Gasps of disbelief sounded one after another.
“My watch accidentally fell into the pool. Could you go retrieve it for me?”
“As a reward, once you get it back, the watch is yours.” It was phrased as a request, but the tone brooked no refusal the humiliation was heavy in it.
Cen Wan offered a moment of silent mourning for that watch, which looked expensive at a glance.
Humiliated like this, Jiang Xinian’s face remained unchanged. He said flatly:
“Sorry, I can’t swim.”
Loren’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. He said leisurely, “That’s fine.”
“Cen Wan, could you give him a hand?” Again, not a question.
At being named, Cen Wan’s expression went blank for a moment he never expected the chance to complete his mission would be handed right to him.
He blinked, meeting Jiang Xinian’s cold gaze.
“What does this have to do with him?” Jiang Xinian’s voice was hard, rejecting Loren’s words.
He turned and strode toward the pool.
Seeing the protagonist shou’s steps about to break into a leap, Cen Wan hurriedly sprinted after him.
“Hey, wait”
Hearing his voice, Jiang Xinian stopped at the pool’s edge and turned sideways only to collide with Cen Wan, who, appearing unable to rein in his momentum, was toppling toward him, hands outstretched, face full of terror.
“Careful!” Jiang Xinian shouted sharply.
Cen Wan hadn’t expected that instead of shoving him down into the water, the protagonist shou would catch him in his arms,
Splash!
An enormous roar sent up a wave of white foam, water droplets arcing through the air, scattering down and soaking the ground around the pool.
The surrounding noise fell silent for an instant.
Beneath the surface, the tall man’s calloused palm pressed against the boy’s slender back, the warmth of his palm searing through wet skin into his nerves. Pins and needles mixed with the pool’s coldness, tiny electric currents bursting across every inch of skin where their bodies touched.
He curled in the man’s arms, trembling, eyes squeezed shut, like a pure white jasmine drenched by a rainstorm. The bubbles from the man’s exhale brushed past his reddened ear tips, and the fingers Cen Wan had buried against the man’s shoulder unconsciously tightened.
As he was pulled up through the surface of the water, Cen Wan’s lashes were still beaded with glistening droplets. His soaked white t-shirt clung to his chest, the semi-transparent fabric faintly revealing pale skin beneath so sheer that the two soft pink points could almost be seen, rising and falling with each ragged breath.
He reached up to wipe his face, water sliding down his neck and into his collar, the drenched hem of his shirt lifted and dropped by the current. His dark hair, plastered wet against his forehead, seemed an even deeper shade now, and his lush, vivid features carried an almost soul-stirring allure.
The surroundings abruptly fell into an eerie silence. Even the crowd laughing and playing by the pool held their breath, their gazes drawn as if by invisible threads, staring blankly at that slender figure rising from the water.