The first thing Chen Youzai felt when he came to was pain. Blinking, he discovered Mother Chen smacking him over the head with the sole of a shoe while shouting, “The college entrance exam is almost here and you’re still playing games! Do you plan to live on air after this?”
Chen Youzai lowered his head and saw that the laptop on the desk had been exposed. Its back was covered with the jacket of an English textbook, so when it was open it looked as though he were studying.
Yep. That really does sound like me. Chen Youzai could not help laughing twice.
“You’re still laughing!” Mother Chen unleashed another thunderous smack, grinding her teeth. “There’s only one week left before the exam and you’re acting like nothing matters. Every other parent I know is desperately trying to calm their children down and tell them not to be nervous. You’re the opposite. You sit here eating and drinking like an idiot. How did I give birth to someone this carefree?”
Chen Youzai’s expression changed. “Mom, what did you say? The exam is in one week?”
That question seemed to charge Mother Chen with fresh energy. Her thick fingers seized Chen Youzai’s ear and pulled hard.
Chen Youzai squealed like a trapped mouse, hopping around in pain while begging for mercy. At the same time he kept thinking about how badly timed his return was. Why had he come back right before the college entrance exam? A few days later would have been better.
Wait. Why the college entrance exam? He had only been in his second year of high school when he left. Trembling, Chen Youzai looked at Mother Chen, swallowed, and cautiously asked, “Mom… did I skip a grade?”
“Skip your head!” Mother Chen’s palm came down like a storm. With one smack, Chen Youzai nearly forgot to breathe.
Right, the calendar. Chen Youzai scrambled over to the laptop and checked the date in the lower-right corner. The sight almost made him collapse into the chair.
More than one year and two months had passed.
Had that single blink of crossing between worlds really consumed a whole year? Going there and coming back made two trips, which meant the journey alone had somehow eaten up around half a year.
Chen Youzai looked up at Mother Chen. Apart from a slightly different hairstyle, she looked the same as ever. He scanned the room. More posters of beautiful women had appeared on the walls, while the desk remained a chaotic mess. The hair gel he had used more than a year ago was still there, though it had been abandoned halfway through and replaced with a more expensive styling product.
Mother Chen grumbled several more lines. Chen Youzai looked up and said, “Mom, I’ll study properly. Confiscate this laptop for me.”
Mother Chen froze, visibly stunned, and examined him from head to toe.
Chen Youzai smiled, closed the laptop, placed it in her hands, and lowered his head to study. Before closing it, he had noticed several chat icons flashing on the screen.
Right. I used to pretend to be handsome men online and chat up girls, Chen Youzai reminded himself.
Mother Chen muttered something else before swaying out of the room.
Chen Youzai quietly studied the notebook in his hands. It was packed with classroom notes. The funniest part was that his handwriting had always been so messy that no one but him could read it. Now even he could not understand it.
He picked up several textbooks and flipped through them. Much of the material looked like scripture written in another language. Sighing, Chen Youzai raised his head and nearly jumped out of his skin when he noticed half of Mother Chen’s face pressed against the glass door.
“Just try sneaking around and doing something bad!”
Chen Youzai lowered his head with a racing heart. Even after being “away” so long, his instinctive fear of Mother Chen remained. Yet because he had not seen her for so long, the behavior that once annoyed him now felt strangely welcome.
After studying all morning without absorbing much, Chen Youzai was pushed off to school in the afternoon. He had no idea which books he needed, so he simply crammed the entire mountain from his desk into his bag and trudged toward school with it swinging behind him.
“Hey… isn’t that our school heartthrob…”
“Hahaha…”
Mocking voices followed him along the road. At the school gate, one boy even kicked Chen Youzai’s bag. It was already overloaded, and the kick tore it open. Books spilled noisily all over the ground.
The sight triggered a wave of jeering. Several boys around the one who had kicked him rushed over and began stomping on the books. In an instant, the school gate became chaotic.
“Come stomp the caveman’s books! Guaranteed admission to a top university!”
They behaved as though it were some kind of celebration, all wearing wildly arrogant expressions. Even students who did not know Chen Youzai joined in as they passed, stepping on a book and laughing theatrically before running away.
In the past, Chen Youzai would have thought the people doing this looked cool. If he had not been the target, he might even have copied them, adding one swaggering stomp of his own before walking off.
But now they all just looked unbelievably stupid. Chen Youzai frowned and watched without moving.
The ringleader became angry, walked over, punched Chen Youzai in the chest, and cursed, “What the fuck, you got a problem?”
Clouds gathered across Chen Youzai’s face. The boys deliberately kept saying vicious things, clearly hoping he would swing first so they could beat him without worrying about consequences and vent all the frustration they had been carrying around.
Suddenly Chen Youzai’s fist slammed into the boy’s stomach. The entire school gate went silent.
“Fuck! You got a death wish?” The boy rushed forward and kicked Chen Youzai hard in the stomach.
Chen Youzai staggered but barely felt pain. Had he been beaten so often in Qinyi Courtyard that a kick like this now felt like a tickle? When the boy charged again, Chen Youzai instinctively extended two fingers and jabbed at his chest.
Whether by luck or because Chen Youzai really had learned enough accuracy, the strike actually froze the boy in place. Chen Youzai kicked him back, sat on top of him, and began punching him repeatedly in the face.
The boy had probably never imagined that the person he constantly called useless would someday pin him to the ground. His eyes widened like bells, but he could not move. His mouth opened and closed without producing a word.
“Did the school heartthrob finally snap…” someone muttered. Everyone stood around staring.
Once the boy’s friends recovered, they rushed Chen Youzai together. No matter how nimble his fingers were, he had no chance to use the technique against so many people at once. Hands and feet came from every direction, and someone even spat in his face.
The commotion drew the school director, who had been patrolling the grounds. The moment he approached, the group scattered. The boy on the ground was carried away by his friends, leaving Chen Youzai alone where the crowd had been.
Chen Youzai wiped his face and looked up. The director stared expressionlessly, dropped a single sentence, and walked away with his hands behind his back.
“Come to my office.”
Chen Youzai gathered the books from the ground and brushed off the dirt. When he tried putting them back into his bag, he realized the bag was ruined. Spotting a supermarket nearby, he ran over and bought several plastic bags. The store was crowded, so he had to wait quite a while.
When he finally walked back outside and looked toward the school gate, he froze in the middle of the road.
Every book was gone. Even the torn backpack had vanished. Looking toward the distance, Chen Youzai saw a vehicle marked “Waste Collection” turning the corner.
Qinyi Courtyard.
Mu Xueshi opened his eyes. He had no idea how long he had slept this time. Outside, night had fallen completely. The empty room carried the lingering smell of blood and intimacy. Mu Xueshi’s senses were sharp enough, and his body hurt enough, that he knew very well what had happened before he lost consciousness.
Disgusting… Mu Xueshi looked at the bruises and marks covering him, a cold smile at his lips. Should I take these with me into the underworld, or erase them before I go?
If I take them with me, what expression would that person wear when he sees them?
“Grand Tutor Mu, your son fell in love with his own father, only to be violated by his own elder brother…” Mu Xueshi repeated the words to himself, a bleak smile in his eyes.
Broken pieces of a teacup still littered the floor. One sharp fragment would have been enough to injure the places he felt had been defiled, but he could not move at all.
Perhaps this is fate. Mu Xueshi slowly closed his eyes.
The door opened softly. The Third Prince stood there, killing intent spilling from the corners of his eyes.
Something struck Mu Xueshi’s mouth and forced it open. A thin cut appeared along his tongue, and blood slowly ran toward the corner of his lips.
“Since when did a little coward so afraid of death learn to think about killing himself?” The Third Prince walked to the bed and looked down at him.
Mu Xueshi swallowed the small mouthful of blood as though nothing had happened.
The Third Prince’s brow moved slightly. In a soft voice he said, “Whatever you do, your servants will accompany you…”
Two people were pushed through the doorway. Qing Ya and Qing Zhu collapsed to their knees, faces pale and bodies trembling violently.
The Third Prince held Mu Xueshi close and gently turned his head so that he had to look at the two maids who had once laughed and played with him.
The maids caught the Third Prince’s gaze, opened their mouths automatically, and held small knives near themselves, clearly under orders to imitate the harm Mu Xueshi had contemplated.
The Third Prince waited for some reaction. Even the slightest frown would have been enough for him to stop.
Yet even as Qing Ya and Qing Zhu cried and carried out part of the punishment, Mu Xueshi’s expression did not change. Their muffled sobs filled the floor, and the hurt in their eyes when they looked at Mu Xueshi was unmistakable.
Only after the two were removed did the Third Prince lower his gaze. The person in his arms remained calm and distant, as though even their deaths would have nothing to do with him.