With a cold gaze, A-Xing looked down at the three bugs writhing on the ground in pain, and said, “If there is a next time, I do not mind torturing you thoroughly before sending you to the Imperial Prison.”
With that, A-Xing kicked one of the men and turned to walk outside.
Near the mouth of the alley, A-Xing caught sight of a familiar figure.
There was a warm yellow light at the entrance of the alley, and outside, a bustling, noisy crowd milled about. Yet A-Xing felt that this moment was exceptionally quiet, so quiet that he could clearly hear the sound of his own heartbeat speeding up.
It was—his Lord!
Gu Qingze was wearing a well-fitted, straight-cut suit with one hand in his pocket. Facing the soft, warm glow, he saw a person walking slowly out of the dark alley.
To be precise, a bug.
A-Xing stopped at a short distance from Gu Qingze, his face turning pale. Such a brutal scene just now must certainly have been witnessed by his Lord.
Logically speaking, a female who had already married should not act like this; he had broken the rules.
Thinking of this, A-Xing wanted to drop to his knees and beg for mercy with a pale face.
Gu Qingze had been keeping an eye on A-Xing’s movements. The moment he saw the subtle bend in the other’s knees, he instantly guessed what he was about to do, causing his eyelids to twitch.
“Stand straight!”
Why on earth was he always trying to kneel? With so many people around, anyone who didn’t know better would think he was abusing his partner! If he didn’t stop him, given how much those gossipy people loved drama, there was a good chance he would end up trending online by tonight!
Startled by the sudden voice, A-Xing stayed rooted to the spot, not daring to look at Gu Qingze, and simply kept his head bowed, staring at his own toes.
He murmured softly, “Lord, I am sorry…”
Gu Qingze sighed, taking a step forward until there was only a single step left between him and A-Xing.
“Lift your head and look at me.”
Gu Qingze was half a head taller than A-Xing, with a clean height of 192 centimeters.
A-Xing slowly raised his head, meeting Gu Qingze’s emotionless gaze. His eyelashes fluttered slightly, and he felt the urge to lower his head again.
However, his movement was stopped by Gu Qingze.
Gu Qingze gently lifted A-Xing’s chin with his hand, their eyes locking onto each other.
A-Xing looked at Gu Qingze, his heartstrings trembling as he softly whispered “Lord” once more.
Deep inside, the little cartoon version of Gu Qingze was doing backflips. No way, who can handle a situation like this? Gu Qingze felt like a sinner right now, a sinner who had seduced an amnesiac youth!
Gu Qingze mentally berated himself, but on the surface, not a single trace of it showed.
“Why are you apologizing? You did very well just then; I saw it.”
Gu Qingze remembered that in that book, according to the world’s worldview regarding the insect race, females were supposed to be very humble and submissive beings.
That was why A-Xing would drop to his knees and plead for mercy whenever anything went wrong. But the old dynasty had fallen ages ago, and Gu Qingze had no such weird fetishes; he figured he needed to reshape the guy’s mindset.
Complimenting him more definitely could not be wrong.
Sure enough, upon hearing those words, A-Xing’s initially dim purple eyes instantly lit up. His eyes curved slightly, and the way he looked at Gu Qingze lost much of its timidity. “R, Really, Lord?”
Meeting A-Xing’s sparkling eyes, Gu Qingze’s tone involuntarily softened. “Mhm. People who commit crimes under the pretense of someone’s appearance and attire are just scumbags with nothing but sexual desires and no humanity. You did very well. It is getting late, so stay at my place tonight.”
Gu Qingze hadn’t expected himself to say such a long speech, nor had he expected to grow soft-hearted. Normally, he spoke as little as possible; after all, he was the boss, and his subordinates had to take cues from his expressions.
“Does this mean the Lord is not sending me away?” A-Xing’s eyes seemed even brighter than before, the purple irises glowing with brilliant radiance as if they held swirling specks of starlight.
“Mhm.”
The moment those words fell, Gu Qingze saw A-Xing smile. It was completely unexpected, feeling like fireworks bursting in his mind. His heart rate began to pick up, and it took Gu Qingze a good long while to snap out of it. “L, Let’s go.”
With that, he turned and walked away without waiting for A-Xing.
A-Xing blinked, watching his Lord’s steadily quickening pace, and followed after him with a smile in his eyes.
This Lord was completely different from the Lords in his own understanding. He felt that the man was wonderful; although Gu Qingze looked fierce, ever since he woke up, he had never truly abandoned him.
No wonder his pre-amnesia self had chosen to marry him.
His taste was truly wonderful!
As the two walked side by side, their striking appearances caught the attention of many passersby. Quite a few people pulled out their phones to take pictures, and a few even picked out background music for a video, but within seconds of posting it to the platform, it got taken down for suspected policy violations.
Those few people were baffled. Unwilling to give up, they clicked post again, but after a long while, it still gathered zero views. Realizing something, they immediately looked up toward Gu Qingze’s direction, their eyes lighting up like twin lightbulbs. Holy crap, we ran into a bigshot!
When Gu Qingze had first walked in, he hadn’t noticed this many gazes, but now that he did, his brow furrowed tighter and tighter. With this massive group of people surrounding him as if he were some kind of tourist attraction, what was he, a monkey in a zoo?
Gu Qingze disliked this kind of atmosphere and quickened his pace a little.
Yet a moment later, A-Xing, who had been trailing closely behind him, suddenly tugged at the corner of his jacket.
“Lord, wait a moment.”
Gu Qingze turned around with a frown. “Speak.”
Seeing Gu Qingze’s expression, A-Xing curled his fingertips slightly and asked in a small voice, “Lord, do you have star coins?”
What the heck?
Gu Qingze’s brow tightened further. Suddenly, text from the book surfaced in his mind, with star coins corresponding to money.
Though he didn’t understand why A-Xing was asking this, Gu Qingze still nodded. “I do.”
What a joke. Could a domineering CEO possibly be broke? Money was just a string of numbers in his eyes.
Hearing this, A-Xing looked at Gu Qingze with sparkling eyes. “I just bought that bug’s barbecue, but I didn’t have any star coins. I want to pay him.”
Gu Qingze’s motion of taking the black card out of his wallet paused, and he silently put it back.
Fine. The only things in his wallet were cards, and a roadside stall like this probably didn’t take card payments.
Gu Qingze pulled out his phone directly. Just as he was about to hand it to A-Xing, he saw the other’s clear, innocent gaze, pulled his hand back, and asked in a flat tone, “Where?”
Hearing this, A-Xing immediately stepped forward to lead the way.
The stall owner spotted A-Xing from afar. “Oh my, handsome, you’re back again? And you brought another handsome guy with you! Sister’s barbecue here is insanely delicious, what would you like?”
The owner seemed to have completely forgotten about A-Xing’s earlier lack of funds and remained as enthusiastic as ever.
“Hello, I am here to pay.”
A-Xing looked at Gu Qingze, who was standing nearby, with starry eyes.
With stern brows and a cold tone, Gu Qingze asked, “I’ll pay for what he just ate. How much?”
The owner’s gaze lingered between the two for a brief moment before her smile deepened. “Just three dollars, consider it my treat, handsome! It’s just a skewer, drop by more often when you have time, handsome!”
Gu Qingze’s fingers froze on the digits of the payment interface. He looked suspiciously at the sizzling, oil-dripping skewers in the owner’s hand. Just… three dollars?
The CEO felt his worldview wobbling a bit. His fingers couldn’t help themselves, and he accidentally added three extra zeros when typing the amount.