Futile Devices Scans

Xue Bao Tian heard the sound of a hand clenching, the joints cracking loudly, and when he looked toward the person beside him, sure enough, his face was as dark as water.

Leaning beside the door, Xue Bao Tian said lazily, “I’ve been busy all day. I don’t have time to watch the two of you act all lovey-dovey and go through mountains of knives and seas of fire. All of you, get the fuck out.”

He glanced again at the strong muscles beneath Yan Ye’s clothes, feeling a little heated. He had originally wanted to half-resist and half-go along with it, trick him upstairs, then slaughter him at night and eat the meat, but unexpectedly, with Tong Yan stirring things up, this matter could only fall through.

He unlocked the door with his fingerprint. As he entered, he waved with an air of carefree ease, then pulled the door shut behind him, only for it not to close.

A large palm pushed the door open. Yan Ye poked his head in and held out the phone flashing the three large characters “Lin Zhi Yi” in front of Xue Bao Tian.

“Master Xue said he would help me get justice.”

Xue Bao Tian looked at that name for a while, then took the phone. With a flick of his fingertip, he slid to answer the call.

Lin Zhi Yi’s businesslike voice came from the other end. “There’s an impromptu dinner banquet tonight. Accompany me there.”

“What’s so interesting about a dinner banquet?” Xue Bao Tian’s gaze flickered faintly, carrying malice. “We’re one short for mahjong. Is General Manager Lin coming?”

Dinner was zhajiangmian. Xue Bao Tian had ordered takeout.

Elio’s Notes: Zhajiangmian is noodles served with a thick, savory fried bean sauce, usually made with fermented soybean paste and minced meat, then mixed with vegetables like cucumber.

Tong Yan had no place to put his skills to use, so he held his bowl of noodles and asked, “Earlier this evening, why did you send a message saying you were going to kill me?”

Xue Bao Tian choked.

At this moment, Yan Ye, who had not said a word since entering the room, pushed away his own bowl of noodles and pulled over the one Xue Bao Tian had not finished, saying lightly, “Does he need a reason to want to kill someone?”

Xue Bao Tian clicked his tongue. No matter which direction one listened from, this sentence sounded fucking tea-like. Which search engine had Yan Ye, this little idiot, learned that from?

Tong Yan set down his bowl of noodles, his expression earnest and sincere. “If I don’t make it clear, am I supposed to upset him again next time?”

Fuck, headache.

Xue Bao Tian shrank backward and let the two of them pair green tea with black tea. Holding a cigarette between his lips, he looked at the more-than-half-full bowl of noodles Tong Yan had left, wondering in his heart: was this really a top? Eating this little, once he took off his pants, would he fucking have any strength?

The doorbell interrupted Xue Bao Tian’s wildly galloping thoughts. Lin Zhi Yi had arrived quite quickly. After entering and figuring out the layout, he looked toward the kitchen. “No food?”

Xue Bao Tian lifted his chin toward the takeout boxes in the trash can. “We just finished eating. General Manager Lin hasn’t eaten yet?”

Lin Zhi Yi held a smile on his lips, looking somewhat displeased. “It was Vice President Xue who asked me to push aside a dinner banquet and come here to make up the missing fourth for mahjong.”

Hearing this, Xue Bao Tian seemed to come to a sudden realization. “General Manager Lin is the only son in your family, right?”

Lin Zhi Yi knew he had no good intentions and gave a soft “Mm.” “And?”

“I said we were one short. I didn’t say we’d be responsible for General Manager Lin’s meal. With that level of comprehension, you can still take over the family business? If you’re not a calf, then what are you?” Xue Bao Tian sighed. “Old Master Lin doesn’t have it easy either.”

Having been thoroughly cursed both openly and covertly, Lin Zhi Yi laughed from anger. He sat down at the square table. “Didn’t Vice President Xue say we were playing cards? Come on, then.”

Xue Bao Tian glanced at Yan Ye. “Do you know how to play?”

Yan Ye said, “My master used to drag me over to make up the numbers.”

Xue Bao Tian looked toward Tong Yan again.

Tong Yan said, “I often play with my mother during New Year.”

“That’ll do.” Xue Bao Tian sat down at the mahjong table. “Let’s start.”

As Lin Zhi Yi unbuttoned his suit jacket, he asked, “How are we playing? If we’re just wearing down our fingers for nothing, it’ll be boring.”

Pushing the mahjong tiles on the table, Xue Bao Tian smiled sinisterly. “General Manager Lin, there’s been a strict crackdown recently, so we won’t touch money. Let’s switch to another way of playing. We’ll win the things on each other’s bodies. Expensive or cheap doesn’t matter; if it’s something you carry with you, then it’s something cherished. If you lose, you hand over one item you’re carrying. Whoever loses everything first, this round breaks up.”

Yan Ye and Tong Yan both followed Xue Bao Tian’s lead, so naturally they had no objections. Lin Zhi Yi hesitated for a moment, then also smiled and nodded. “That’s rather novel. Let’s do it that way.”

After building the wall, the four of them each drew thirteen tiles. Tong Yan was the dealer and played one first.

The turns passed in order, pongs, chows, kongs, and discards going around the table. Xue Bao Tian won the first hand and went out.

He leaned back against the chair, smiling without quite smiling, and dragged out the words. “Thanks for letting me win.”

Tong Yan felt through all his pockets, took out a fountain pen, and placed it in front of Xue Bao Tian. “The one I use most comfortably. Bao… Tian can use it to write me letters in the future.”

Xue Bao Tian cursed, “Fuck,” his face darkening. “Even if the emperor’s imperial brush were placed here with me, I’d only use it as a cat teaser.”

Yan Ye tossed a lighter onto the table. The words printed on the plastic shell were still faintly visible: Such-and-Such Grand Hotel.

Xue Bao Tian scoffed. “You really can’t have any expectations for a construction worker like you.”

His mocking gaze shifted toward Lin Zhi Yi. “General Manager Lin should at least have something good, right?”

Lin Zhi Yi had planned to attend a banquet tonight, so both what he wore and what he had on were extremely particular. He could not dig out any little trinkets from his pockets, so he could only remove a ring from his finger and place it in the center of the mahjong table.

Xue Bao Tian merely glanced at it, then used Tong Yan’s pen to hook it toward the corner of the table without much interest. “Continue.”

As a second-generation wastrel, Xue Bao Tian could be considered a benchmark. During his extremely long years of being useless, he had mastered eating, drinking, gambling, and pleasure of every sort.

His mind was quick, he knew how to calculate, and naturally, he played mahjong well. On top of that, he had learned a few underhanded tricks that could not be shown in public, so dealing with a few rookies was naturally no problem.

The second hand was also won by him.

Tong Yan handed over another pen, a red-and-blue mechanical pencil. Looking at it, Xue Bao Tian chuckled. “If I overthink this even a little, Teacher Tong starts sounding indecent.”

Blushing, Tong Yan explained, “Those of us who do auditing always need red-and-blue pencils for annotations. I’m used to it, so I always carry one with me.”

Yan Ye did not carry many things on him. After searching through all his pockets, he only found a pack of cigarettes. He pulled out two at once and put them in his mouth, stretched out his arm to retrieve the lighter from earlier, and lit both cigarettes together. With his mouth filled with smoke, he gave one to Xue Bao Tian.

The corner of Xue Bao Tian’s mouth, which had been hooked up all this time, slowly fell. With a cold expression, he accepted the cigarette.

Lin Zhi Yi, on the other hand, happily watched the entertainment and said with a smile, “General Manager Yan, if you don’t have anything left to give next time, you can just take off your clothes. Everyone in this room is half-gay, half-not. I’m sure they’d all be interested.”

Xue Bao Tian pushed the tiles arranged in front of him, his narrow eyes lifting slightly. “It’s your turn to put something down, General Manager Lin.”

After weighing it for quite a while, Lin Zhi Yi took off the decorative necklace around his neck and tossed it to Xue Bao Tian.

In the third round, Xue Bao Tian was careless for a moment and let Tong Yan win a hand. He returned one pen, while Lin Zhi Yi took off another necklace. “Layering. It’s fashionable.”

Holding the cigarette between his teeth, Xue Bao Tian muttered softly, “So fucking girly.”

This time, however, it was Yan Ye who delayed without making a move. His pockets were empty, and he had nothing left to give.

Tong Yan pushed down the tiles standing in front of him. His gaze swept over the man opposite him and noticed the black cord around his neck. He asked, “Is that a pendant?”

Yan Ye touched his chest through his clothes. “Not this.”

Xue Bao Tian’s brow twitched slightly, and he looked away. In the room, only he knew that what Yan Ye wore on his chest was a plain black jade safety plaque, something that man had shamelessly begged away from him. Afterward, Yan Ye had kept wearing it against his chest and seemed never to have taken it off.

Back when the two of them were in bed, that jade plaque, carrying Yan Ye’s body heat, would often fall against his back. That warm, smooth touch felt like another hand stroking him.

That plain safety plaque had been steeped in the sweat of both of them mingled together. Both front and back had once received their heated kisses. It had been warmed by Yan Ye’s body heat and had also drawn warmth from Xue Bao Tian’s chest.

Yet now it had become the only thing on Yan Ye’s body that could be handed over.

“Why don’t we…” Xue Bao Tian had barely let his voice leak out when there was a sharp smack against the table, and something hard in texture was thrown down.

“Take this. But Brother Tong should be careful when touching it. This dagger is incomparably sharp and extremely bloodthirsty.”

An exquisite dagger lay horizontally in the center of the table. It was pitch-black all over, without the slightest decoration, yet its cold hardness was frightening.

Xue Bao Tian looked toward Yan Ye. Seeing that there was no ripple in the depths of his eyes and that he remained as steady as an old hound, he relaxed and called for them to build the wall again. After that, he swept through all directions, winning three hands in a row. After winning Tong Yan’s “brush, ink, paper, and inkstone” and Yan Ye’s “swords, halberds, hooks, and forks” cleanly away, he looked leisurely at Lin Zhi Yi across from him.

“General Manager Lin, what else do you have on you?”

Lin Zhi Yi had lost every expensive accessory on his body, and now only the famous watch on his wrist remained. Smiling, he took it off and placed it in front of Xue Bao Tian. “Vice President Xue, I came here on an empty stomach, and in such a short while, you’ve won a million or so from me. Why do I feel like I’ve fallen into a pit?”

Using Tong Yan’s pen to hook Lin Zhi Yi’s million-yuan diamond watch, Xue Bao Tian tossed it without hesitation into the kitten’s nest by his foot.

“My cat likes to listen to a little ticking when it sleeps. A watch is just right. I’ll thank General Manager Lin on its behalf.” He stirred the tiles. “It wouldn’t be right to keep General Manager Lin hungry the whole time. But right now, the only things at home are cat food and instant noodles. General Manager Lin has such a delicate, precious body that I’m afraid neither is suitable.”

“Instant noodles are suitable.” Lin Zhi Yi did not mind. “I’ll trouble Vice President Xue, then.”

Xue Bao Tian was in a good mood, so he lazily got up to make instant noodles. Tong Yan followed to help. Yan Ye sat on the chair, his gaze deep, the dagger confiscated by Tong Yan flipping up and down between his fingers.

Lin Zhi Yi picked out the four “Fa Cai” tiles and stacked them by his hand, then glanced toward the figure in the kitchen. “Xue Bao Tian is venting anger on your behalf?”

Then he asked, “Have you won him over?”

“Not yet.”

“Then good things are near.” Lin Zhi Yi smacked his lips. “Yan Ye, I’ve only just realized that I seem to have misjudged you. You’re much more calculating than I imagined.”

He looked at Yan Ye’s gaze as it turned toward him and said with a smile, “You used me to make Xue Bao Tian jealous. If it succeeded, naturally that would be good. Even if it didn’t succeed, afterward you could still sell a little misery. With Xue Bao Tian’s personality, he would naturally feel sorry for you. Then if you demonized me a little more and made yourself look a little more pitiful, wouldn’t he start protecting you?”

Yan Ye smiled and refuted, “I admit to everything else, but General Manager Lin really doesn’t need to be demonized.”

Lin Zhi Yi rubbed a tile with the pad of his finger, slowly sliding from top to bottom, then turned it over and placed it on the table, guessing, “Three Wan.”

Having guessed correctly, he proudly picked up the previous topic. “I’m very satisfied with your professional abilities, and I sincerely hope our cooperation can continue.”

Yan Ye put away the dagger and replied gently, “The bodyguard I replaced myself with also has very good professional abilities. General Manager Lin can rest assured.”

Lin Zhi Yi shrugged. “All right. Since you’ve already decided, what else can I say?”

As soon as his words fell, Xue Bao Tian came out carrying the instant noodles, while Tong Yan following behind him was stopped by Yan Ye, who had risen from his chair.

“Talk for a moment?” he said.

Xue Bao Tian cast the two of them a glance, but it was only a glance. The next moment, he withdrew his gaze, walked a few steps, and placed the instant noodles in front of Lin Zhi Yi.

Lin Zhi Yi had more entertainment to watch. He lifted a chopstickful of noodles to let them cool and incited Xue Bao Tian. “You’re not going to go manage that? Aren’t you afraid the two of them will start fighting?”

Holding a cigarette between his teeth, Xue Bao Tian collected the mahjong tiles. “With Yan Ye’s cowardly virtue, unless the other side punches him three times first, he won’t even fight back.” Then, as though suddenly thinking of something, he laughed. “Unless Tong Yan’s mouth gets cheap.”

Lin Zhi Yi slurped up the noodles and complained, “You won so much from me, and you won’t even add an egg?”

He put the four “Fa Cai” tiles into the box for Xue Bao Tian, then picked up two more chopstickfuls of noodles to finish the bottom. After that, he pushed the bowl away and said with no lack of smugness, “Vice President Xue still doesn’t know, does he? In order to stay in Yancheng and accompany you, Yan Ye replaced himself as my bodyguard. Since he violated the contract, he has to compensate me. Adding and subtracting what you won from me today, I still come out ahead.”

“Fuck!” Xue Bao Tian’s face instantly darkened. His arrogant momentum from the whole night had been drenched over the head with a basin of cold water by that little idiot Yan Ye. He turned to look at the tall figure on the terrace and cursed inwardly, “A man one meter ninety tall, filled with water up to one meter eighty-five, and that little bit of brain left is fucking packed full of romance.”

At this moment, on the terrace, Yan Ye and Tong Yan stood facing each other.

“What? Are you warning me not to approach Xue Bao Tian? Not to pursue him?” Tong Yan asked first.

Yan Ye’s voice was deep and calm, without anger. “Xue Bao Tian is very good. It isn’t strange that someone would pursue him. If Brother Tong pursues him, I don’t have any reason to oppose it either. But I hope you handle your relationship with Sheng Yu properly before making any further plans.”

Tong Yan furrowed his brows. “I’ve already broken up with Sheng Yu. We have no relationship at all.”

“Then why is Sheng Yu still following, monitoring, and wiretapping you?”

“What?!” Tong Yan’s expression changed abruptly. “You’re saying he’s been surveilling me this whole time?!”

“I don’t know what exactly is going on between the two of you,” Yan Ye warned, “but you can’t bring trouble to Xue Bao Tian.”

Tong Yan was silent for a moment, then nodded. “I’ll handle everything properly.”

He walked around Yan Ye and left the terrace, then solemnly placed the two pens on the table into Xue Bao Tian’s hand. “When I come back, I’ll pursue you properly.”

Xue Bao Tian looked utterly blank. “Huh?”

Seeing this, Lin Zhi Yi also rose to leave. Xue Bao Tian was quite pleased, and the way he looked at Yan Ye was a little like a scheming wolf grandmother.

Who would have expected that Yan Ye would also pack up his things and follow them out the door? Before leaving, he pressed a kiss onto Xue Bao Tian’s forehead.

With deep feeling, he said, “Two Hundred, I’ll pursue you properly.”

The door slowly closed. Xue Bao Tian stood where he was, and after a long while, he cursed, “Damn it, which one of you is fucking pursuing me properly?!”

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