After hastily finishing their game of golf, Zhou Ruo An and Lin Yi escorted Old Master Jin back home. The old man remained silent the entire ride, only solemnly announcing at the very end that he wished to give Lin Yi a book.
How Teenagers Should Establish a Proper View of Love.
Holding the book in his hands, Lin Yi opened his mouth several times before finally managing a strained thank-you.
Zhou Ruo An crouched beside Lin Yi’s car laughing so hard his shoulders shook. Lin Yi walked over and lightly smacked the top of his head with the book. After glancing around the empty street, he bent down and kissed the smiling corner of Zhou Ruo An’s lips.
Suddenly, loud crashing noises echoed from the dim stairwell. Zhou Ruo An immediately shoved him away. “Did the old man fall?”
He hurried into the building. Not long after, he emerged swinging a cane in his hand, all traces of worry gone from his face. Leaning lazily against the building entrance, he half-smiled and said, “Stop kissing people whenever you feel like it. You scared the old man so badly he ran back inside without even taking his cane.”
Lin Yi laughed too. Lowering his head, he opened the book and appeared to seriously read a few lines before commenting, “Not bad. We should both read it sometime.”
“Thanks, but no thanks.” Zhou Ruo An walked down the steps, passing by Lin Yi. “I’m leaving. I really have things to do and can’t stay any longer.”
As they brushed past each other, Lin Yi caught hold of his wrist.
Just as Zhou Ruo An was about to get annoyed, Lin Yi opened the car door and tossed the book inside. “Where are you going? I’ll drive you.”
Zhou Ruo An did not argue. Carrying the cane, he got into the car while Lin Yi circled around to the driver’s seat. Leaning across, he reached over to fasten the passenger seatbelt for him.
Zhou Ruo An leaned backward to avoid him. “I can do it myself.”
“Don’t move.” Lin Yi’s warm body pressed close, almost as if he were enclosing Zhou Ruo An in his arms. “The book says you should show moderate affection to the person you like.”
At such close range, Zhou Ruo An could smell Lin Yi’s scent—the most ordinary soap fragrance, mingling with the faint ink smell of the new book, slowly wrapping itself around him.
“I got interrupted while kissing you just now.”
“So?”
Lin Yi lowered his head and kissed him again, lightly biting his lips. Perhaps because they had kissed too many times over the past three days, Zhou Ruo An instinctively slipped into that familiar obedient mode. He parted his lips and offered up the softest, sweetest part of himself.
The kiss was deep and forceful. Zhou Ruo An could only tilt his head back and endure the strong, unquestionable taking.
Through these endless kisses, he seemed to have gained some unpleasant new understanding of himself. His throat was shallow, making him swallow constantly; the roof of his mouth was absurdly sensitive, and even the slightest scrape would send shivers racing through him.
A terrible realization. Zhou Ruo An would rather know nothing about himself at all.
Kissing until breathlessness was an extremely time-consuming process, yet Lin Yi never tired of it. When the long plundering finally ended, Zhou Ruo An gasped desperately for air, taking several hurried breaths.
Their foreheads rested together. Lin Yi still seemed unwilling to pull away and casually searched for a topic. “The old man treats you pretty well.”
Zhou Ruo An slowly steadied his breathing and glanced up at him. “Why? Interested in the twenty million now?”
Lin Yi looked at the person inches away from him. “It’s a tempting number. If it were something else, maybe I would’ve agreed.”
“I’m worth more than twenty million?” Zhou Ruo An scoffed. “Brother Lin really is fucking devoted.”
“More or less. Probably more devoted than you think.” His warm palm slid over Zhou Ruo An’s chest through the fabric, his voice filling the car with a trace of gentleness. “Besides, even if I were interested in the deal, nobody could take the old man’s money right under your nose. You protect him fiercely.”
His broad hand squeezed lightly over Zhou Ruo An’s chest through the clothes. “Has anyone ever told you you’re like a hedgehog? Covered in spikes, but soft here.”
Zhou Ruo An glanced down at the hand wandering where it should not and sneered coldly, “Has anyone ever told you there’s something wrong with your head?”
“Yes.” Lin Yi smiled and kissed him again. “You said it three times last year and five times the year before.”
“Do you really have to kiss for all three days? Lin Yi, can’t I take advantage of you even once?”
“No. You can’t.”
This time there was no deep kiss, only soft pecks. Zhou Ruo An gave up resisting altogether, closed his eyes, and let Lin Yi do whatever he wanted.
Though he hated admitting it, Zhou Ruo An knew he actually liked Lin Yi’s gentle kisses a little. The man cupped his face with near-reverence, lowering his gaze from such close range as though he were staring at some treasured object he could not bear to put down.
Treasure.
For someone like Zhou Ruo An, who had practically been discarded into a garbage heap at birth, the word was almost laughably ironic. It did not suit him nearly as well as “filth.” Less crude, perhaps even literary, but peel away the surface and underneath lay the dirtiest core imaginable—perfectly compatible with himself.
The kisses became more frequent, and without realizing it, Zhou Ruo An crossed his legs together.
Just as Lin Yi’s hands began roaming restlessly, someone suddenly pounded hard against the car window.
Both men jumped. Zhou Ruo An shoved Lin Yi away and turned toward the window.
A huge face was pressed flat against the glass, nose squashed, eyes bulging wide, mouth hanging open.
Zhou Ruo An did not recognize the person at first, but Lin Yi clicked his tongue softly.
He lowered the window. The moment the glass slid down, the head nearly fell into the car. Lin Yi shoved it back with one hand and frowned. “Bai Ban? What are you doing here?”
Not yet twenty years old, Bai Ban still had acne all over his face. The pressure of the glass had rubbed his cheeks red. He stammered without really speaking, eyes darting back and forth between Zhou Ruo An and Lin Yi in utter disbelief.
Lin Yi sighed. Raising the window halfway again, he asked, “Didn’t I tell you to stop hanging around debt collectors?”
Bai Ban finally snapped out of his shock and clung to the gap in the window. “I-I… I came nearby with my old crew to collect debts. I wasn’t doing anything, just tagging along for fun. Then I saw your car parked here, so…”
“Go back to the bar. Stop mixing with debt collectors.”
Once the initial embarrassment passed, Zhou Ruo An regained his usual indifferent expression. Naturally, he wanted this filthy little affair between him and Lin Yi to stay buried forever, but now that they had been caught, all he could do was maintain a calm facade. After all, being forced into bed was humiliating enough without making it public.
He sneered. “Weren’t you a debt collector before too? And wasn’t he following you around? The shit stuck to the bottom of your own shoes isn’t even cleaned off yet, and now you’re complaining that other people smell.”
Still trapped in shock, Bai Ban said nothing despite being mocked. Lin Yi, meanwhile, looked as though he were listening to a love confession. His fingers hooked lightly against Zhou Ruo An’s fingertips. “Where should I drop you off?”
Before Zhou Ruo An could answer, angry shouting erupted from behind the car. Bai Ban turned around and immediately tensed up. Clinging to the window, he said anxiously, “Brother, they’re fighting! Those debt collectors used to work under you. Are you gonna do something?”
Lin Yi glanced at the figures reflected in the rearview mirror and pushed open the car door. “I’ll go take a look.” He turned to Zhou Ruo An. “Wait for me. I’ll be quick.”
Bai Ban did not follow. He remained outside the car, nervously rubbing at the seams of his pants while stealing glances into the vehicle.
Zhou Ruo An pulled out a cigarette, stuck it between his lips, and lit it. Lowering the window, he rested his elbow against the frame and flicked ash outside.
The ash landed directly on Bai Ban’s shoe. Zhou Ruo An waved lazily. “Stand farther away.”
Bai Ban responded immediately, then quickly climbed into the back seat instead. Fidgeting awkwardly, he asked, “Uh… so what exactly’s going on between you and my brother?”
Zhou Ruo An laughed around the cigarette. “What could be going on? We’re bros. So what if bros kiss a little?”
Bai Ban choked on his words for a full minute. Rubbing his palms against his knees, he shrank farther into the seat. “That’s nonsense. Bros don’t kiss each other like that…”
Zhou Ruo An removed the cigarette and glanced back at him as though staring at some country bumpkin who had never seen the world. “Why not? If you’re watching videos and get worked up, helping each other out isn’t anything unusual.”
“Huh?” Bai Ban dragged both hands from his chin up over his scalp. “Is that really a thing?”
Zhou Ruo An swallowed down his own bitterness while maintaining that carefree, shameless expression. “Yeah. If your bro has needs, what’s wrong with lending him a kiss?”
Bai Ban’s face turned pale. Hunching his shoulders, he hesitated for a long time before finally whispering, “My relationship with my brother is pretty good too… he won’t start kissing me someday, right?”
Zhou Ruo An burst out laughing. His body shook so hard ash scattered everywhere. Taking the cigarette from his mouth, he turned around to thoroughly inspect Bai Ban from head to toe before saying pleasantly, “Who knows? Maybe next time he’ll kiss you too. He likes biting when he kisses, so you’d better keep your tongue tucked back.”
Bai Ban’s mouth flattened instantly, cheeks sucked inward, face turning even whiter.
Feeling considerably better now, Zhou Ruo An grabbed his cane and pushed open the car door. One hand leaned on the cane while the other held his cigarette. Waving lazily, he said, “Tell your brother time’s up. I won’t be accompanying him any longer.”
…
When Lin Yi returned to the car, Bai Ban visibly trembled.
“Where’s Zhou Ruo An?” Lin Yi asked.
“He left.” Bai Ban tried to remember Zhou Ruo An’s exact words. “He said… something about time being up.”
Lin Yi glanced at the dashboard clock and softly acknowledged it with an “Mm.”
He rolled all the windows up, sealing the car into an enclosed space.
Bai Ban’s teeth chattered. His back nearly bent in half as he curled into the farthest corner of the back seat, lips pressed tightly together in fear.
Lin Yi frowned. “What’s wrong with you? Feeling sick?”
Bai Ban shook his head.
“Can you open the safe where Master Bai keeps his account books?”
“Huh?” Bai Ban barely dared open his mouth. “What?”
“I found out the safe containing Master Bai’s ledgers is in the bedroom of his villa. The security level is extremely high. Can you open it?”
Hearing that, Bai Ban finally relaxed a little and properly spoke. “Master Bai used to work as a bodyguard, so he knows everything about security systems. I can open most safes, but with all the layers of security around his place, there’s no way we can even get close. We can’t pull this off.”
After hearing that, Lin Yi sat upright in silence for a while before murmuring to himself, “It’s not impossible. Whether we can do it or not, we still have to try.”
Futile Devices Scans 
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