Fu Yu looked at Ji Chenxi and said calmly, “Secretary Li is applying for Ruan Luo’s readmission to the Juilliard School. That’s where his dream began.”
Before Ji Chenxi could even speak, Song Qi froze.
Seeing Ji Chenxi about to blurt something out, Song Qi reached out to stop him and looked up at Fu Yu. “You’re trying to… rebuild Ruan Luo’s connection to this world. Am I right, Fu Yu?”
For once, Song Qi didn’t call Fu Yu “Boss.”
After asking, he stared wide-eyed at Fu Yu under the flashing, multicolored spotlights.
Fu Yu’s face remained grim, his somber expression completely at odds with the decadent, glittering surroundings, betraying a heavy heart.
He looked at Song Qi but said nothing.
Song Qi’s expression finally softened. “You’re afraid that when he wakes up, he won’t be able to bear a world falling apart around him. So, before he regains his memories, you want to piece together everything he’s lost, bit by bit, and give it all back to him as a gift, so he’ll be reluctant to leave. Is that it?”
Song Qi paused for a moment, then added softly, “At the very least… you want him to be reluctant to leave his grandfather, reluctant to leave his dreams. You want to use these things to keep him in this world. Am I right?”
Ji Chenxi, sprawled on the sofa with his head tilted back, took a swig of Louis XIV champagne. “Go on, piece it together! We’ll even hand you the glue!”
Song Qi glared at Ji Chenxi, about to say more, but Fu Yu stopped him.
Fu Yu glanced down at his black-framed Graf watch and said in a deep voice, “I have to go.”
Song Qi asked instinctively, “Is it because of Ruan Luo? Does he have a curfew now?”
Ji Chenxi stood up from the sofa and went to open the door for Fu Yu, chattering as he did, “What do you know? Fu Yu’s kid can’t be left alone!”
Song Qi: “…”
Fu Yu nodded approvingly at Ji Chenxi.
Just as his long legs were stepping out the door, Song Qi suddenly called out to him.
Fu Yu frowned slightly. “Don’t get sentimental. We’re not a good match.”
Song Qi spread his hands. “I’m not trying to keep you… I just remembered something I need to confess.”
Song Qi ducked slightly behind the door, pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, and said politely, “That Special Grade Inhibitor for Alphas. From now on, you only need one shot a week.”
Fu Yu: “?”
Song Qi continued pushing up his glasses. “I was screwing with you before. That stuff won’t kill you, it just messes with your head. I couldn’t beat you in a fight, so I had to use this method to vent for Ruan Luo… Hey, gotta say, you held back really well. You truly are top-tier!”
With a thud, he locked the door from the inside.
Fu Yu’s cold, deep voice came through the gap in the door: “Your year-end bonus is gone.”
9:00 PM, Fu Residence.
Ruan Luo was playing with the cat on the balcony of Fu Yu’s bedroom. At first, the cat had been shy, but after being washed clean and fluffy, its mischievous nature began to emerge.
After Ruan Luo fed it a can of cat food, the cat, full and satisfied, found the balcony too small for its ambitions.
It started by tentatively exploring, trotting from the balcony to the bedside in Fu Yu’s room. It stretched out its paws, trying to climb onto the bed.
Ruan Luo hesitated for a moment before walking over and crouching down to pick it up.
But the cat struggled in his arms, leaped down, and bolted toward the ajar bedroom door.
By the time Ruan Luo followed, the cat had already nudged the door open with its head and was peeking out into the hallway.
“Come back~” Ruan Luo called softly.
But the cat ignored him completely.
Ruan Luo grew anxious and followed it out.
His breath was slightly uneven, tinged with a hint of apprehension. “Be good, come back to me. Fu Yu will be angry.”
Ruan Luo chased the cat into the corridor and watched as it swaggered downstairs.
He followed it down.
When they reached the first-floor hall, a maid saw Ruan Luo and hurried over to check if he needed any help. But the butler stopped her. “Forgot again? Give him space. Do not disturb. Observe silently.”
The maid let out a soft “Oh,” and murmured, “I’m sorry, I forgot in the heat of the moment. It’s just that Mr. Ruan seemed to be in such a hurry.”
Butler Ji replied to the maid, “Go back to your duties. I’ll go check on him.”
With that, he watched Ruan Luo’s retreating figure as he chased the kitten out of the hall, then followed at a respectful distance, keeping his head down.
Ruan Luo chased after the cat, calling it “Kitty” one moment and “Good Boy” the next, trying every trick in the book. He only regretted not taking advantage of Fu Yu’s good mood when he’d brought the cat back to give it a proper name. Now, he didn’t even know what to call it.
Stepping onto the damp bluestone pavers after the rain, Ruan Luo followed the cat into the villa’s garden.
The night sky was washed clean, and the air was crisp and fresh. A damp chill greeted him, making him shiver.
He had taken off his jacket to bathe the cat in the bathroom earlier and hadn’t put it back on before coming outside. After a few gusts of cool wind, his hands and feet were already numb with cold.
“Kitty, come here~” Ruan Luo breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the kitten stop to groom itself in front of a bed of Prickly Magnolias. He slowly walked toward it.
The cat seemed tired and unwilling to move any further. Seeing Ruan Luo approach to catch it, it let out a soft, milky “Meow” and allowed him to scoop it into his arms.
Ruan Luo lowered his head to inhale the sweet scent of the kitten’s fluffy fur, a faint smile touching his lips.
As he lifted his face to carry the cat away, his gaze froze on a silver chain draped over the fence outside the Prickly Magnolia garden.
His pupils constricted sharply, as if he had just seen a venomous snake baring its fangs. He recoiled in sudden panic, his entire body trembling uncontrollably.
He clutched the kitten in his arms with a death grip, unaware that his breathing had grown shallow and erratic.
The wind died down, the cat’s meows faded into silence, and Ruan Luo felt as if he had gone momentarily blind.
Countless unfamiliar yet hauntingly familiar emotions and images… like flashes of lightning, they burst through his mind, fragment by fragment.
Silver chains…
A frigid, sealed room…
Absolute darkness…
“No…” Ruan Luo turned and fled in panic, his limbs turning to jelly. He stumbled, nearly falling into the Prickly Magnolia garden.
He reached out to steady himself, grasping at something unseen. Though he regained his balance, his palm was left a bloody, mangled mess.
The pain slowly brought his consciousness back.
He heard a meow and felt the cat licking the blood from his hand.
Ruan Luo’s fleeing steps halted again. He stared down at the blood on his hand as a few more icy commands hissed past his ear:
“Submit to me, or go to hell.”
“Go to hell…”
A sudden, inexplicable wave of world-weariness seized Ruan Luo’s heart, suffocating his breath.
Ruan Luo gasped softly, “No submission… go to hell… I’ll go to hell…”
He stared blankly at the blood on his hand, completely lost.
“Meow~” The soft warmth of the kitten’s tongue licked the bloody scratches on Ruan Luo’s palm.
“Meow~” After cleaning the wound, the kitten tilted its head and cautiously licked Ruan Luo’s face.
Perhaps it was the kitten’s pleading meows, or perhaps the faint warmth of its tongue, but a flicker of light pierced through the darkness of Ruan Luo’s consciousness.
Ruan Luo snapped back to his senses, as if jolted awake from a terrible nightmare, the lingering terror still clinging to his emotions. He hugged the kitten tighter, a low sound, much like the kitten’s own, escaping his throat.
Fear seized him. He stumbled backward, clutching the cat.
What just happened? What was I doing? Did I see a hallucination? A storm raged in his mind.
Ruan Luo stared at the chain on the flowerbed, his body still trembling. He didn’t even dare turn his back to flee. Somehow, he felt that if he did, the chain would seize his ankle the moment he wasn’t looking and drag him down into the earth…
Just as he took two more steps back, he suddenly collided with a solid wall of a person.
Ruan Luo spun around to find a tall figure looming over him.
The man radiated a warmth that felt truly human.
Fu Yu reached out to steady Ruan Luo, then timely let go. He looked down at him with deep concern, his dark eyes seeming to pierce right through him.
He didn’t ask why Ruan Luo was here or what had happened. Instead, he simply took off his own warm overcoat and draped it over Ruan Luo’s shoulders.
His voice was low and husky, kept extremely soft as if afraid of startling someone. “The garden is damp. Come play here during the day. For now, come upstairs with me to rest, alright?”