Futile Devices Scans

For Lan Yin, leaving Yinguo Town—a place where solitude and commotion coexisted—brought a faint reluctance. After all, she had lived here for a long time. She hated the tedious bustle of the city: the footsteps that never stopped, the noise that never stopped, the craving for money that never stopped, and the ugliness that never stopped.

She sat on the steps outside the little shop for a long time. As Ke Bu collected payments, he occasionally glanced toward Lan Yin’s back and quietly spoke to Zhi Li. “Once they remarry, Lan Yin will have to move back in with your father, right?”

“Don’t know.”

“Could you show at least a little enthusiasm toward your parents’ affairs?”

“I never interfere in their relationship,” Zhi Li said faintly. Before Ke Bu could respond, Zhi Li glanced at him. “Of course, I wasn’t mocking you.”

“You were very obviously mocking me. More than ten days have passed since Uncle mentioned remarrying, and there hasn’t been another word about it. With something like this, it’s obviously better to get it done as soon as possible so neither side has the chance to change their mind.”

“If they truly cared about that piece of paper, they wouldn’t have waited until now.”

“Why? Don’t you want it either? It’s clearly something wonderful, something not everyone can have.” Ke Bu looked at Zhi Li in confusion.

Zhi Li remained silent for a long time. He simply left the customers aside and continued drawing. The pencil rubbed against the paper with a faint moan.

“Please don’t suddenly end a conversation while someone is talking to you.” Ke Bu pursed his lips in dissatisfaction and bumped Zhi Li’s shoulder with his elbow. The impact made the pencil in Zhi Li’s hand draw a distorted shape across the paper.

Unlike usual, Zhi Li did not say anything that drove Ke Bu mad. He did not even show an expression.

“Hey!!”

“Can you handle what I’m about to say?”

“What?” Ke Bu knew that regardless of whether he said he could or could not, Zhi Li would say it anyway.

“You’re the only one who cares. Ke Bu, you need to understand that love can sustain a marriage, but marriage cannot hold on to love. Family is important to you, and I have no objection to that. But you shouldn’t fill the empty shell of your family with your own hopes and fantasies.”

Even while saying such things, Zhi Li continued looking at his sketchbook. His tone held no blame, not even emotion. He merely stated the words calmly.

Ke Bu felt a dull ache in his chest. Why did Zhi Li have to bring this up? He clearly knew how Ke Bu would feel, yet he still said it. Ke Bu became irritated. “Why are you suddenly saying all this irrelevant stuff?”

Zhi Li closed the sketchbook, stood, and smacked it against Ke Bu’s head. “Ke Bu, when the time comes, what will you choose?”

After leaving behind that inexplicable question, Zhi Li returned to work.

For no apparent reason, Ke Bu’s hand tightened around the corner of his trousers. The expression that had remained on Zhi Li’s face for that single instant was the same as it had been back then, shortly after the semester began:

Ke Bu carried over the hot drink inside the white plastic bag and lightly touched the cup against the back of Zhi Li’s hand. “This is for you.”

Zhi Li accepted the cup but did not drink it, merely holding it in his hand.

“What are you thinking about?” Ke Bu asked.

“About you and me,” Zhi Li stated calmly. The bag in Ke Bu’s hand swayed slightly.

“You’re saying irresponsible things again. You clearly don’t understand anything, yet you’re always saying things people could misunderstand. Had I not known you for so long…”

“You’re the one who doesn’t understand anything, Ke Bu.” After saying that, Zhi Li returned to his dorm room.

Why had that memory surfaced the moment Ke Bu saw his expression? He watched Zhi Li’s back but could no longer see anything, as though what he had just witnessed had merely been an illusion.

The sound of a sports car interrupted Ke Bu’s thoughts. He hardly needed to turn around to know who it was. Only someone surnamed Zhi would behave so recklessly.

The car door opened, and sure enough, that handsome face entered his sight. Zhi Zuo Si walked up to Lan Yin. Still seated on the steps, Lan Yin raised her head and looked at him. “If you’re coming to pick up someone of my stature, you should at least bring a banner.”

“Who said I came to pick you up?” Zhi Zuo Si said coldly.

At that moment, a bespectacled man stepped out of the car. He appeared to be a secretary—and a male secretary at that. He took a bag of luggage from the trunk. Lan Yin looked somewhat surprised. “Tsk, tsk. Don’t tell me you’re moving here?”

It had only been a joke, but Zhi Zuo Si did not deny it.

“Why?”

“Why ask when you already know? What do you want to hear me say?”

“You owe me several years’ worth of sweet talk,” Lan Yin said without concealing it.

Zhi Zuo Si extended his fingers and brushed them through Lan Yin’s long hair. Those smooth, black strands had been the beginning of everything between them. “I only want to stay in the place you like.”

Lan Yin smiled and wrapped an arm around Zhi Zuo Si’s neck. “Then I’ll forgive you.”

“Go film your television drama somewhere else,” their son said, thoroughly ruining the atmosphere.

Lan Yin ignored him and pressed her lips to Zhi Zuo Si’s. The next second, however, she was pushed away.

Zhi Zuo Si said coldly, “How many did you smoke today?”

“I didn’t smoke any.” Lan Yin lied with her eyes wide open. “Maybe I kissed Ke Bu today and he transferred the smell of cigarettes onto my mouth. You know he’s a heavy smoker.”

“What benefit do you get from framing me?!!”

“It’s perfectly normal for him to deny it.”

“It never happened at all! Zhi Li, look at Lan Yin~~~” Ke Bu had already learned how to complain to him.

Zhi Li glanced at Ke Bu with disdain. “I never expected you to be that kind of person.”

“！！！！！！”

Lan Yin dragged Zhi Zuo Si into the car. “Where are we going for our honeymoon?”

“I don’t recall agreeing to anything of the sort.”

Lan Yin pretended not to hear him. She poked her head out of the car and waved at everyone. “Close the shop. It wasn’t built with my money anyway.”

Ke Bu was shocked by this sudden turn of events. He stretched out a hand and shouted, “Wait! What about our wages?” Was that the only thing he could think of?

“Tch~~ Idiot. You actually believed me? Did you really think I would pay any of you?”

The car drove away, leaving behind not only a group of furious laborers but also the secretary still holding the luggage.

“Are your parents always this casual?”

“Their remarriage is even more irritating than their divorce.”

Chu Hao Yu was one step away from rolling on the ground. “This is outrageous! What did I work so hard for?”

Ke Bu folded his arms and looked at Chu Hao Yu coldly. “Weren’t you only here to stare at breasts on the beach?”

Chu Hao Yu pointed at Ke Bu. “Oh, look at you now. In the end, the money went into your family’s pocket anyway. Zhi Li, you owe us an explanation for this. Don’t think we’re going home empty-handed!!”

Zhi Li shrugged. Only after a long while did he say, “Go see whether there’s anything valuable inside the villa.”

“Is that really okay?”

“It’s not mine anyway.”

This entire family was the same!! As long as something did not belong to them, they would happily sell it out.

Eventually, Su You Yan and the others also left, leaving only Ke Bu and Zhi Li behind. The old villa fell silent, as though everything inside it had been emptied away. Ke Bu looked at Zhi Li resting with his eyes closed on a lounge chair. He stepped forward and sat on the unoccupied portion, his hands placed between his legs. He wanted to ask about what had happened that morning, but he did not know how to begin.

Zhi Li had one hand pillowed behind his head. His blue color-block shirt rested quietly against his well-proportioned figure. Time continued to wear away, yet his beauty remained unchanged.

“Zhi Li, um…”

“Well, I wanted to…”

“It’s about this morning…”

“How should I put it?”

Zhi Li narrowed his eyes and stared at Ke Bu’s face. Supporting his upper body with one hand, he leaned closer. “Ke Bu, do you want me to kiss you?”

“How could you ask such a reserved person like me that kind of question? Obviously, my answer is no.” He certainly became fluent whenever he was avoiding the subject.

Zhi Li lay back down.

Ke Bu stared at him. “I said no, and you really aren’t going to do it? Show me a man’s dominance! When I say no, you should forcefully kiss me.”

“You’re genuinely capable of saying something that shameless aloud.”

“Isn’t my shamelessness what you like about me?”

“Ke Bu, do you want to kiss me?”

“No.” As Ke Bu spoke, he moved closer to Zhi Li.

Zhi Li extended one hand and supported the back of Ke Bu’s head. Their lips met, their burning tongues intertwining amid violent heartbeats and ragged breathing, becoming confused and disordered together…

The room was filled with moonlight and sea breeze. Zhi Li’s fingers slid across Ke Bu with an irresistible seduction and slipped beneath his clothes. The cool touch stimulated every inch of Ke Bu’s skin in the scorching summer heat. He sat astride Zhi Li’s legs and rocked faintly. His clothes were removed and cast into the moonlight. Ke Bu pressed both hands against Zhi Li’s shoulders and bit his lower lip, but he could not hold back his soft moans. “Mm~ Mm~~ Zhi Li~ There~~”

Zhi Li’s lips kissed lightly from behind Ke Bu’s ear to his collarbone and then across his chest. The moist sensation steadily erased his reason. His body was controlled by an uncontrollable need. He wanted more—wanted more of Zhi Li. His breath, his touch, his kisses—Ke Bu wanted all of it.

Zhi Li lifted Ke Bu’s leg and slowly pushed inside, his impatient desire surrounded by Ke Bu’s warmth. Ke Bu could not stop himself from arching his body. “Ahh~~”

Their bodies produced intimate sounds as they collided, making even the surrounding scenery seem shy. Fine beads of sweat evaporated amid the clean scent of laundry detergent clinging to Zhi Li’s shirt. Ke Bu’s fingers clenched the fabric until it wrinkled, and a button came loose and fell onto the floor. One sound was covered by another.

“Zhi Li~~ Mm, mm~~ Too fast~~~ I-I can’t take it~~”

His words were immediately swallowed by lips that gently licked his own, carrying tenderness and dominance as they devoured everything. His body was surrendering, his emotions were surrendering, and the entire world was surrendering—surrendering to everything Zhi Li gave him.

How could he put this sensation into words?

How could he express these feelings?

How could he ever resist this obsession?

His expression, his heart, his lips and teeth—every part of him had betrayed him and surrendered him to Zhi Li.

Zhi Li, his beloved Zhi Li.

Zhi Li.

Call his name once. Call it twice. Keep calling it without end. Speak his name aloud.

Zhi Li, Zhi Li, Zhi Li, Zhi Li, Zhi Li, Zhi Li.

Every page of the novel called Ke Bu was densely filled with his name.

Zhi Li, Zhi Li, Zhi Li, Zhi Li, Zhi Li.

His Zhi Li.

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