The next day.
Shen Zhinian had classes all day.
Bo Chengjing arrived in Jiangcheng by the afternoon.
Shen Zhinian originally wanted to skip his classes, but Bo Chengjing warned him that if he dared to play truant, he would break his legs.
To avoid making Bo Chengjing angry again, Shen Zhinian obediently shuttled between various teaching buildings all day, sticking it out until his very last class.
With just two minutes left before the end-of-class bell, Shen Zhinian closed his textbook.
Looking at him, Ye Qinghe asked, “Not going back to the dorm tonight?”
“Yeah,” Shen Zhinian replied.
“Hiss!” Ye Qinghe drew in a breath, smiling as he looked at him. “Is someone waiting for you?”
Shen Zhinian glanced at him without any excess expression on his face. “My older brother is coming to pick me up.”
Ye Qinghe raised an eyebrow, paused for a moment, and then said, “The way you look… it doesn’t look like your older brother is picking you up, it looks like your boyfriend is.”
Right then, the end-of-class bell rang. Seeing the teacher close the book and announce the end of class, Shen Zhinian stood up and gave Ye Qinghe a light smack on the back. “Talk nonsense again, and I’ll make sure your girlfriend never sees you again.”
Ye Qinghe chuckled and stood up, walking out alongside him.
Stepping out of the teaching building, Shen Zhinian spotted Bo Chengjing.
He was standing beneath a streetlamp, lowering his head to look at his mobile phone.
He was still dressed in a black suit with an avant-garde, irregular cut.
Even while looking down at his phone, passing students couldn’t help but have their attention drawn to him.
Walking up to him, Shen Zhinian reached out and pressed the lock button on Bo Chengjing’s phone.
Bo Chengjing raised his eyes to look at him and smiled. “I saw you a while ago.”
Shen Zhinian smiled too.
Ye Qinghe had come out with Shen Zhinian. He originally planned to leave directly, but since he was already here, it felt a bit impolite not to say hello. Standing behind Shen Zhinian, he offered, “Hello, I’m Zhinian’s roommate.”
“Hello,” Bo Chengjing said, looking at him. “Care to join us for dinner?”
“No thanks.” Ye Qinghe could tell this person’s status was definitely extraordinary, and the aura was simply too overwhelming. “I already have plans.”
Bo Chengjing nodded. “Then some other time.”
“Alright.” After acknowledging, Ye Qinghe looked at Shen Zhinian.
Shen Zhinian made a throat-slitting gesture at him, warning him not to talk nonsense again.
With a chuckle, Ye Qinghe left.
Bo Chengjing remarked, “You two get along well.”
“It’s alright,” Shen Zhinian said. “Let’s go home to eat.”
“Mhm.”
Back in the car, after driving for a short distance, Shen Zhinian remained silent, turning his head to look at Bo Chengjing every now and then.
Bo Chengjing said, “Did you get possessed by a bobblehead?”
Shen Zhinian replied, “Can’t I take a look?”
“Sure,” Bo Chengjing said. “Go ahead and look.”
Shen Zhinian turned his head and stared for a while before asking, “Brother.”
“Hmm?”
“Are you still angry?” Shen Zhinian asked.
“What do you think?” Bo Chengjing countered with a question.
“I don’t know,” Shen Zhinian said. “It’s just that even when you’re angry, you’re still very good to me, it’s just that you look like you don’t want to talk to me much. But right now I’m a bit sensitive, and I feel like you’re still mad.”
“No,” Bo Chengjing said. “I haven’t been angry at all.”
He truly hadn’t been angry.
With Shen Zhinian, over all these years, the number of times he had actually gotten angry at him could be counted on one hand.
He just didn’t know how to face him.
Even though Shen Zhinian had forgotten those events.
Brother, how wonderful it would be if you were an omega.
Or if I were an omega.
What did these two sentences imply?
He didn’t dare to think too deeply about it.
After all, when Shen Zhinian was sober, he had never expressed himself this way.
Nor had he ever displayed any thoughts or feelings of the sort.
“I just had work-related business trips,” Bo Chengjing said.
Shen Zhinian reluctantly believed him.
The school was very close to the villa, and they arrived shortly after.
The housekeeper was just preparing to make dinner, so Shen Zhinian went to his room first to change into casual home clothes.
When he came back downstairs, Bo Chengjing was standing by the floor-to-ceiling window on the first floor making a phone call.
It didn’t sound like work matters. As Shen Zhinian drew closer intending to listen in more closely, Bo Chengjing finished his call, turned around, and spotted him right away.
Shen Zhinian’s steps came to a halt as he stared at him.
The stern severity in Bo Chengjing’s eyes hadn’t completely faded yet. He paused slightly upon seeing him, and only then did his brows and eyes soften.
“What’s wrong?” Shen Zhinian asked. “Did something happen?”
Bo Chengjing fell silent for a moment before asking, “Have you noticed anything unusual around you lately?”
Shen Zhinian thought about it seriously and asked, “You?”
Bo Chengjing tapped him lightly on the head with a curled finger.
Coughing lightly, Shen Zhinian asked, “Which aspect are you talking about? For instance…”
“Has anyone been following you?” Bo Chengjing asked.
“No.” Shen Zhinian shook his head, then immediately reacted. “You mean Li Song’s laboratory?”
Bo Chengjing nodded.
Shen Zhinian froze for a moment, frowning. “Didn’t you destroy it, and weren’t all the participants arrested? How are there still stragglers?”
When Shen Zhinian was a little child, he had been sold to this very laboratory.
Bo Chengjing shook his head. “All participants were completely arrested, and the news was completely sealed off. No one slipped through the net.”
His tone was extremely definitive.
Shen Zhinian felt there wouldn’t be any either. Bo Chengjing had always been cautious in his actions; with a matter like this, he would definitely be even more meticulous and careful.
It was impossible for anyone to have been missed.
“Did you receive some kind of news just now?” Shen Zhinian asked.
Bo Chengjing said, “Zhichu received an anonymous letter over there, with zero information inside except for the laboratory’s logo.”
Xia Zhichu, a female alpha, helped Bo Chengjing manage affairs abroad.
Shen Zhinian’s expression sank.
Bo Chengjing instructed, “Pay more attention to your surroundings lately. If you notice anything strange, call the bodyguards first. When going to distant places, remember to bring people with you.”
The bodyguards wouldn’t spy on Shen Zhinian, but as long as he wasn’t going too far away, they would stay within the surrounding perimeter of his active area.
Shen Zhinian acknowledged the warning, but a sense of unease suddenly crept into his heart. “Brother, you should be careful too. I’m afraid they…”
“Mhm,” Bo Chengjing said. “I’ll be careful as well.”
After dinner.
Bo Chengjing went to the study to handle work.
Shen Zhinian wandered around the courtyard for a bit, fed some food to the fish in the lotus pond, then fed the ones in the living room fish tank, before heading upstairs with his laptop and slipping into Bo Chengjing’s study.
Bo Chengjing glanced up at him. “Got homework?”
“Yeah.” Shen Zhinian sat down beside him.
Right next to Bo Chengjing’s chair, an empty chair was always reserved for him. Clearing off a section of his desk, Bo Chengjing made some space for him.
Shen Zhinian opened his laptop, turned it on, wiped the screen clean, connected an external keyboard, and tapped out two lines of code.
And then he took out his phone to log into a game, put on his headphones, and started gaming.
By the time Bo Chengjing finished signing all his documents, Shen Zhinian was still gaming, getting more and more invested the longer he played.
Finally, growing tired of playing, he stretched his legs, pushed his chair back, and stretched lazily.
While stretching, he happened to look at the back of Bo Chengjing’s head.
It was round.
Shen Zhinian raised an eyebrow and prepared to sit up straight and pull his chair back when he suddenly spotted a tooth mark on the back of Bo Chengjing’s neck.
He froze abruptly.