“Rong Ning, you old bastard! Hurry up, I’m freezing to death!”
Rong Ning’s thoughts were interrupted by the voice coming from the master bedroom’s bathroom.
He put the mask back in its original place, closed the drawer, and left.
One day, Rong Ning left home early and happened to bump into Jiang Mohan when he arrived at the company.
“President Jiang.” Rong Ning didn’t knock, walking straight into Jiang Mohan’s office and sitting sideways on his desk to ask half-jokingly, “Not going out to run business today?”
Jiang Mohan leaned back in his chair with his hands crossed over his lower abdomen, lowering his eyelids to look at Rong Ning. His expression looked somewhat exhausted. “I’m heading out soon.”
“Jiang Mohan!” Rong Ning hopped down from the edge of the desk, staring at him angrily. “Are you trying to kill yourself?!”
“Come here.” Jiang Mohan curled the corners of his lips slightly, beckoning Rong Ning over. His tone carried a hint of dominance, and his voice was extremely hoarse.
“What?” Rong Ning walked around the corner of the desk and stopped half a meter away from him. Before he could even stand steady, his body suddenly swayed and his waist was pulled tight, caught by Jiang Mohan’s arm.
“You are you playing the hooligan?!” Rong Ning twisted his waist hard, flailing and swatting at the man’s arm. “Let go!”
Jiang Mohan applied a bit more force with his arm, pressing his head straight against Rong Ning’s chest. “A’ning, hearing you care like this means I don’t feel tired at all anymore.”
“Who—who cares about you?! You’re being narcissistic!” Rong Ning rolled his eyes, pressed his lips into a line, and pinched Jiang Mohan’s forearm regardless of the consequences.
As if completely devoid of feeling, Jiang Mohan showed no reaction at all, letting out a muffled chuckle. “A’ning is caring, though.”
Rong Ning bit his lower lip, closed his eyes tight, calmed down for a moment, and then slowly opened them again, chanting mentally: Jiang Mohan is straight, Jiang Mohan doesn’t like me…
“Stop hiding from me, alright?” Jiang Mohan hugged him and gave him a gentle sway. His tone was low yet soft, as if the words had been repeatedly polished on the tip of his tongue.
If this kept up, it was going to be a full-scale public execution on the spot.
“Are you drunk?!” Rong Ning pushed hard against Jiang Mohan’s head, anxious and nervous. “Get up!”
“Promise me, and I’ll let go right away.” Jiang Mohan kept his head lowered, pressed tightly against Rong Ning’s chest while his arms tightened around him even further.
Out of options, Rong Ning compromised helplessly. “Fine, fine, fine, I promise. I won’t hide from you anymore.” He would just switch to fleeing in broad daylight instead.
Jiang Mohan let out a muffled laugh, his tone much lighter than before. “A’ning is so good…”
The moment the arm loosened, Rong Ning slipped away instantly.
Returning to his office, Rong Ning locked the door from the inside, chugged a glass of water straight down, and sat in his chair panting heavily.
He lowered his gaze to take a quick look and cursed, “You’re so useless!”
Rong Ning felt like his reaction to seeing Jiang Mohan was a bit over the top, was he abnormal?
He hurriedly pulled out his phone and searched the internet for answers.
The moment he hit search, the page was flooded with doctor and hospital recommendations, along with several short video links.
The video links flashed wildly on the screen. Rong Ning’s finger hovered in mid-air, gritting his teeth as he didn’t dare click them.
Clicking them would make him a bit too perverted.
After exiting the webpage, Rong Ning opened a social media app he hadn’t used in a long time and posted a thread using a burner account.
Title: Is having too strong of a physical reaction when seeing someone you like normal? Urgent, urgent, urgent!
He wasn’t a top!
He didn’t type that part out, though.
Once posted, Rong Ning waited eagerly for netizens to reply.
In less than two minutes, there were already over a dozen messages.
[Netizen 1]: You are deeply in love, congratulations on getting the key to love. [Netizen 2]: Good, good, good, I love this kind, everyone upvote it! [Netizen 3]: Don’t hold back, just go for it.
The netizen replies were more eye-searing than the last, and lacking in any real substance, so Rong Ning scrolled past them quickly.
[Netizen N+1]: Come over and let me examine you to see if it’s normal?
Huh? Hold on…
This comment stood out among the crowd, mainly because the username sounded serious.
He quickly scrolled back up, his finger pausing to reply beneath that specific comment.
[Eight Winters Roar]: Are you a doctor? [Serious Psychological Expert]: Yes, the original poster can completely trust me. [Eight Winters Roar]: My imaginary target is a man… I am a… is there any hope for me? [Serious Psychological Expert]: Understandable, liking someone has nothing to do with gender.
Rong Ning was almost moved to tears, this doctor was simply a little angel sent from heaven!
[Serious Psychological Expert]: You are a man first, and a bottom second. This kind of reaction is normal.
Rong Ning had expressed himself quite cryptically, but the doctor guessed it right away, looking very much like a skilled and experienced medical professional.
[Serious Psychological Expert]: Still, you should elaborate on your symptoms so I can make an accurate judgment.
Reliable!
Rong Ning organized his thoughts and was just about to reply when a WeChat message suddenly popped up.
[Liang Chen]: Ask me about this kind of thing. I’ve been there, I have experience. [Rong Ning]: [Question Mark] [Liang Chen]: The post you just made, about the physical reaction thing. [Rong Ning]: Fuck! How do you know?! [Liang Chen]: You used this exact same account when you asked for those herbal medicine remedies back then, forgot?
Rong Ning remembered now. It was the burner account he had used to add Dr. Liang the year he first returned to China.
Liang Chen had been introduced to Rong Ning by Jiang Mohan, and because of his exceptional medical skills, he had become Rong Ning’s exclusive doctor.
Could Jiang Mohan know about this account too, then?
[Rong Ning]: Consider what I said as farting, goodbye.
After replying on WeChat, Rong Ning jumped straight back to the social media app and deleted the post.
Good thing it had only been about ten minutes, so the impact was minimal.
[Liang Chen]: Don’t be like that. We can spar sometime, I have experience, really. Your sister-in-law doesn’t lie. [Rong Ning]: Gun!
Closing his phone, Rong Ning pulled at his hair in vexation and stayed holed up in his office for the entire morning.
He instructed Qin Yu not to knock on his door for no reason, and to give him a heads-up if Jiang Mohan left.
At 12:00 PM, the door to Rong Ning’s office was wide open. With the big boss away, the vice president had a strong sense of a monkey reigning as king.
“Qin Yu!” Rong Ning called to his assistant, lowering his voice. “Keep an eye on President Jiang’s whereabouts for me during this period and report to me at any time.”
Qin Yu looked at Rong Ning in surprise. “You want me to be an undercover agent?”
“Tsk, why make it sound so harsh? Isn’t paying attention to the company big boss’s movements something a vice president is supposed to do?”
“Then why don’t you just go with him?”
“No way!” Rong Ning rejected the idea flatly, then squeezed out a bizarre smile. “My body and mind are both a bit warped lately, so it’s best not to get close to him.”
“Oh…” Qin Yu nodded with a look of half-understanding. “Then I’ll just network more with Assistant Zhang.”
“That’s the spirit, you catch on fast.”
Rong Ning glanced at the time and grabbed his jacket. “Alright, you keep an eye out, I’m heading out first.”
“Goodbye, President Rong. I’ll WeChat you if there’s any news from President Jiang.”
“Okay.”
On his way back to the apartment, Rong Ning called the electronic lock customer service, but the other party told him the task had already been completed.
“What? It’s already installed?”
Customer Service: “Yes, sir. Our records show that another aftermarket team has already completed the installation.”
Rong Ning scratched his head, completely baffled. “I haven’t registered my fingerprint yet, how do I get in?”
Customer Service: “This door lock supports both passwords and fingerprints. The initial password is 12345678#, and then you can register your fingerprint.”
“Mhm, got it.”
At the apartment door, Rong Ning stared at his newly replaced door lock, feeling a bit strange.
Are customer service teams this proactive nowadays?
Before he even arrived, the lock was already installed.
Following the steps provided by customer service, Rong Ning reset the password and registered his fingerprint. No matter what, he wouldn’t have to worry about forgetting his password anymore.
He tested the passcode lock back and forth a few times before feeling reassured enough to enter.
He collapsed straight onto the sofa, completely lacking any desire to get up.
His own home really was the best.
He lay down and ended up falling asleep.
In the middle of the night, he vaguely heard some movement outside, likely the sound of the opposite door opening. Rong Ning waited for the sound of it closing, but didn’t hear it after quite a while.
Half-asleep, he walked to the door and looked out through his own peephole. Jiang Mohan’s apartment door was left ajar, and it was pitch black inside.
Huh? Did his place get burglarized?
Karma coming around so fast!
Rong Ning stared at the opposite door like this, wanting to see what valuables the thief would steal. His eyes grew sore, yet nobody came out.
So clumsy! Rong Ning was dying to rush over and help.
After waiting another ten minutes, there was still no movement.
He couldn’t bear it anymore.
Rong Ning pushed open the door, crossed over in two steps, and poked his head into the dark room.
It was pitch black without a single sound, looking nothing like a place with a burglar.
He reached out and turned on the living room lights. The room instantly brightened, and a slender figure abruptly barged into Rong Ning’s line of sight.
“Ah!”