Futile Devices Scans

“Brother’s husband?” Yan Ye repeated after him. “What does that mean?”

“Exactly, what does that mean?” Xue Bao Tian pressed both arms against his legs, his gaze heavy and full of warning. “Feng’er, explain it.”

Feng Jia’s mouth tasted bitter and his scalp prickled. He could not figure out what was going on, but he had always been good at reading the room. Was this… no confession yet, or had it failed? Either way, that “brother’s husband” had been too reckless. Watching Xue Bao Tian’s expression, he explained cautiously, “Brother’s husband… kung fu. I was talking about skill. Brother Xue once praised you to me and said your skills were good, right, Brother Xue?”

Xue Bao Tian held the cigarette in his mouth and gave a muffled “Mm,” putting on an air of going along with it. “That happened.”

Yan Ye’s gaze drifted lightly across the two of them as he pressed, “Which skills of mine did he praise?”

“Fuck.” Xue Bao Tian viciously crushed the cigarette into the ashtray, stood up, and pulled a long face. “Let’s break it up. I’m fucking tired.”

The woman beside him stood up with him, leaning softly against him. Xue Bao Tian looped an arm around her slender waist, then looked back at Yan Ye, who was still sitting on the sofa, and said flatly, “General Manager Yan, let’s talk alone for a moment.”

Outside the club was a health-preservation corridor. Xue Bao Tian patted the woman’s ass twice. “Go to the car first.”

Once the woman walked away with swaying grace, he heard the low voice behind him. “Master Xue can still get it up for women?”

Fuck, Xue Bao Tian cursed silently, but when he turned around, he was smiling. “How about I arrange for General Manager Yan to watch live?”

Yan Ye looked back at him in silence. Their gazes met, both pairs of eyes filled with a pulling force. Someone else came out of the club, drunken noise drawing closer from a distance. The two of them looked away at the same time, and Yan Ye asked gently, “What did Master Xue want to say to me?”

They walked a little deeper inside. Xue Bao Tian went to look for a cigarette again, but Yan Ye pressed lightly on his wrist and somehow produced a lollipop from somewhere. “Eat this. It’ll curb the craving.”

Xue Bao Tian blocked it with his hand. “Mind your own fucking business.”

Yan Ye did not say anything more. He tore off the wrapper and pushed the candy against Xue Bao Tian’s lips. Xue Bao Tian’s expression instantly turned cold and sharp. Just as the curse was about to leave his mouth, his lips parted, and the candy was pushed against his teeth.

In the dim light, Xue Bao Tian met Yan Ye’s deep eyes reflecting a faint glow. Grinding his teeth, he thought it over, then opened his mouth with a resentful expression and took the candy.

Hooking it with the tip of his tongue, he pushed the candy ball to one side, making one cheek bulge into a round little bump. He sat down on the bench, watching the colorful neon lights shifting along the outside of the club building, and asked quietly, “Did you suffer inside?”

Yan Ye looked at the top of Xue Bao Tian’s head and said slowly, “It was all right. Not unbearable.”

“The documents Yanyue needed you to handle over the past few months, my secretary forwarded them all to you, right?”

“He did. Thank you, Master Xue, for holding things up for me during this time and not letting Sheng Yu stir up any trouble.”

Xue Bao Tian gave a light scoff. “If he wanted to stir up trouble under my nose, he’d need the ability first. At the start, he even said I had no authority to interfere in Yanyue’s business. Fuck. I’m still listed as your assistant, aren’t I? I’ve got money now, and I’ve got status too. Who dares challenge me?”

Sitting beside Xue Bao Tian, Yan Ye showed his first smile of the night. “Even when Master Xue had no money and no status, very few people dared challenge you. That mouth alone was enough for anyone to suffer.”

Xue Bao Tian clicked his tongue. “Stop grinning like that. You spent a few months in detention, so there’ll definitely be plenty of gossip when you go back. Those people will use this as ammunition too. Keep your back straight, and don’t bother hiding your edge or biding your time. Master Xue is standing behind you now. You’re not someone without backing anymore.”

The smile in Yan Ye’s eyes deepened. “Understood. Thank you, Master Xue, for protecting me.”

Xue Bao Tian turned his head in the opposite direction, his tone somewhat cool. “The person you should thank also includes Lin Zhi Yi. He’s decent enough. Even after you went in, he didn’t withdraw the contract. He even strongly supported General Manager Yan during the meeting. You picked a pretty good person to like.”

He pushed the candy from one side of his mouth to the other, tasting it. There was not much sweetness. “Pay more attention to company matters from now on. Don’t walk around with a head on your shoulders while thinking only about those below-the-waist matters all day.”

He stood and brushed off the hem of his clothes. “I’ll have my assistant send you back.” Then he waved lazily. “I’m leaving.”

“Xue Bao Tian.” An unhurried voice came from behind him.

The person who had just taken a few steps paused, then turned around impatiently. “What now?”

Yan Ye also stood up and asked the same question as before. “What skills of mine did you tell that person were impressive?”

Pinching the lollipop stick between his fingertips, Xue Bao Tian dragged the candy ball, now smaller by a circle, out of his mouth and looked at Yan Ye as though he were looking at an idiot. “Do you not know what kind of person you are? What the fuck else could I have said? Your skills in bed?”

With a flick of his fingers, he sent the lollipop into the trash can by the roadside and said with disgust, “Contact me less when there’s nothing important in the future. Your brain is like the hidden storage space on some loser’s computer, filled with nothing but fucking pornographic trash.”

He turned and walked away. Just then, the driver happened to bring the car over as well, and the gorgeous, charming woman leaned against the car window and waved at Xue Bao Tian.

He pulled open the car door, got in, held the woman against him, and hooked a finger, but the car door did not close.

The handle on the outside of the car door was seized by a large hand and pulled open. Yan Ye leaned down, staring at the man who had just gotten into the car, and said in a deep, slow voice, “Today is March 10th. I’m twenty-two.”

Xue Bao Tian’s pupils trembled. Memories he did not want to recall came rushing back all at once, and his face instantly burned. The once-numbing, warm, soft sensation on his neck made his mind go hazy again—the small border town, the swaying bamboo sea, that late night when someone had held him as he sat on a windowsill only a palm’s width wide, with endless scenery and the height of the second floor behind him, and Yan Ye in front of him, scorching like a blazing fire.

“Don’t be afraid. Trust me. I won’t let you get hurt. Relax. Let me in.”

That night, Xue Bao Tian seemed to feel that he was a graceful bamboo stalk, or a stretch of wind whose origin could not be traced, or perhaps a piece of cloud hanging from a bamboo leaf. When Yan Ye looked out through that window, he himself was Yan Ye’s finest scenery.

He remembered Yan Ye’s almost devout kisses, remembered his sigh-like low murmurs, remembered broad palms repeatedly kneading along the curve of his waist. Yan Ye had once said that this soft, resilient section had been his first stirring of desire, that the moment he touched it, he wanted to see it submit—fragile yet unwilling, suited to being ravaged.

Fuck.

Amid the rhythm that tightened and slowed by turns, Yan Ye had kissed his way upward. His neck was wet, surely layered with red marks and bite marks. The tingling numbness ran from his spine all the way to the tip of his heart, driving a person mad.

Yan Ye kissed the corner of his lips, his low, hoarse voice carrying undisguised envy. “Two Hundred, I haven’t celebrated a birthday in many years.”

That day, they had just eaten at Zhao Xiao Quan’s birthday banquet. Xue Bao Tian, whose mind had been short-circuiting, regained a little clarity only after being kissed. He pulled Yan Ye over and kissed him back, raising his eyes with arrogant disdain as he said, “When’s your birthday? Master Xue will give you a proper one.”

Endless longing scattered through the gentle kiss. “March 10th. Two Hundred, you have to remember.”

“Xue Bao Tian, today is March 10th. You said you would remember.”

Yan Ye was not stained with desire now, but his voice was even lower and hoarser than it had been that night. Xue Bao Tian met those eyes shrouded in darkness and put the cigarette into his mouth.

“I remember now. Master Xue said he’d give you a proper one.” He patted the woman beside him and ordered in a careless tone, “Go. Give General Manager Yan a birthday blessing.”

The woman looked back and forth between the two men inside and outside the car, smiled in agreement, then got out of the car in a graceful, seductive sway from the other side. Circling around to Yan Ye, she said sweetly, “Happy birthday, General Manager Yan.”

Xue Bao Tian laughed and cursed, “Fuck. You think our General Manager Yan is that easy to satisfy? Do something special.”

The woman hesitated for a moment, glanced around, then threw away all sense of shame and began singing and dancing while waving her hands from side to side. “The sword rises with the grudges of the jianghu, sleeves sweep across the bright moon; west wind, fallen leaves, withered flowers, I rest on blade and sword and cannot sleep; you are but a passing guest of mountains and rivers, yet always sigh over the pain of parting; temples white as frost, one cup of fierce wine…”

Xue Bao Tian choked on a mouthful of smoke until he coughed, but he could not help laughing too. He lazily clapped a few times, then put on a hooligan’s air and was about to whistle. Just as his fingers touched his mouth, Yan Ye grabbed them and yanked them down. The tall man leaned down again, his gaze sharp and his expression dark.

Xue Bao Tian withdrew his smile, took a drag from the cigarette, then tapped off the ash before lifting his eyelids. “What, General Manager Yan isn’t satisfied? Do you want Master Xue to dance for you personally?”

Yan Ye held the car door, almost his entire upper body pressing into the car. His tone remained unhurried, yet it was also filled with threat and pressure. “Xue Bao Tian, you know I don’t like forcing others, but what you owe me has to be repaid.”

“What I owe you?” Xue Bao Tian straightened his back without yielding at all, the distance between them only an inch or so. “I paid back the money I owed you. You helped me catch someone, and I fucking slept with you. I got impulsive and beat someone until his bones broke, and you took the blame for me and sat in detention, but I also helped you keep your position in the company, even secured your territory for you. Yan Ye, what does Xue Bao Tian still owe you? I don’t owe you anything. From today on, the two of us are completely and thoroughly even!”

He shoved Yan Ye outward. “Go find whoever the fuck you want to celebrate your birthday with. It has nothing to do with me!”

A coldness suddenly rose in Yan Ye’s eyes, sharp enough to intimidate. His temples pulsed, and his words were no longer a still pool of water; beneath the calm surface, hidden whirlpools and undercurrents were slowly surging.

“In the detention center, for three months, I spent a month and a half not getting enough to eat. I cleaned toilets for a month, and only when new people came in did someone take my place. In the middle of the night, someone once covered my mouth and nose with a soaked towel. I also went into solitary confinement in place of the inmate boss. At one meter ninety, I curled up inside for two days, and when I came out, I could barely walk.”

Xue Bao Tian’s hand trembled, and the cigarette ash burned him. He hurriedly shoved the cigarette into his mouth. “But you just said… it was all right.”

Seeing Yan Ye silently look at him, Xue Bao Tian suddenly became furious. “Yan Ye, what happened to all your skills? You just fucking let them bully you like that inside?”

“I resisted. The first time I beat them up, everyone in the cell collectively lodged false accusations against me. There are rules everywhere. Outside has its rules, and inside has its rules. Some rules can’t be ignored. I didn’t want my sentence extended. I wanted to come out and celebrate my birthday.”

Yan Ye’s eyes dimmed, seeming to carry a trace of sadness that was difficult to detect. “Xue Bao Tian, we can’t be even. You owe me.”

One lowered his eyes while the other looked up. In that long, quiet gaze, Xue Bao Tian seemed to forget how to breathe. His fingertips curled slightly. He did not know how he managed to say the words, but he heard his own voice.

“How do you want to celebrate your birthday?”

Yan Ye released the hand that had been gripping the car door tightly and reached little by little toward Xue Bao Tian’s face. “I want…”

“Eat cake, blow out candles, make a wish?” Xue Bao Tian said before that hand could touch him. “What wish? To end up happily with the person you like, live together as a loving couple, and have two kids in three years?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Between you and Lin Zhi Yi, who’s giving birth? You both look fucking average. Two negatives make a pit. Just thinking about it hurts my eyes.”

Shoving Yan Ye out of the car, Xue Bao Tian closed the door and locked it.

“Drive,” he instructed the driver, then dug out his wallet and tossed it to the woman. “Not bad dancing. Take however much you want.”

Only after the flashy car had driven out of sight did the man, who had been standing there silently the entire time, take out his phone and make a call.

“There’s a woman by Xue Bao Tian’s side. Tie her up tomorrow and bring her in. I have a few things to ask her.”

Zhou Yi Ming wailed, “Boss, did coming out of detention make you this violent? We run a legitimate business!”

“No matter what method you use, get the truth out of her.”

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