After the Fake Young Master Ran Away with His Child, the Villain Went Crazy - Chapter 17

Jing Ruan did not know that the glass in Yan Yi He’s bedroom was one-way. The people standing inside could see everything outside clearly, while the people outside could not see inside.

The situation here was the same.

Yan Yi He pushed him to the sofa, bent down, lifted him out of the wheelchair, and carried him to sit by the sofa. Then he removed both their masks.

Yan Yi He walked to the coffee table and made tea with hot water. He lowered his head and used tweezers to take tea leaves from a bamboo tube, first rinsing the leaves once with hot water before properly brewing the tea.

Jing Ruan felt that watching him do all this was extremely pleasing to the eye. Mainly, Mr. Yan was truly very good-looking. From head to toe, he carried an air of nobility, like a refined young nobleman from ancient books.

After the tea was ready, Yan Yi He handed him a cup.

Jing Ruan accepted the teacup, blew on the heat, and drank the tea in one mouthful. He did not taste anything in particular. He only felt that the water was a little hot.

Yan Yi He did not mind his cow-like way of drinking. He merely held his teacup and sat back on the sofa, supporting the cup with his fingers as he took a shallow sip.

Yan Yi He put down the teacup. Both his hands rested on the back of the sofa, and he directly propped his feet on the coffee table, as if he had suddenly become a different person.

His shoes knocked over the teapot and cups on the coffee table. Tea flowed across the tabletop, still giving off wisps of heat. Yan Yi He tilted his head and looked at the startled Jing Ruan.

“Come here.”

Yan Yi He said with a smile.

Ignoring the wounds on his feet, Jing Ruan hurriedly crawled over from the other end of the sofa. He crawled to Yan Yi He’s side and sat down. Yan Yi He’s right arm smoothly wrapped around him.

Yan Yi He’s body was very warm. Jing Ruan’s heart was unsettled. From the extremely strict inspections along the way here, this place definitely was not somewhere good.

Jing Ruan thought, Yan Yi He wouldn’t sell him off, would he?

Thinking this, Jing Ruan could not help gripping the corner of Yan Yi He’s clothes tightly. In his heart, he began wondering how he could escape if he really ended up locked in this place.

Yan Yi He watched Jing Ruan’s eyes dart around nonstop, his fingers clutching Yan Yi He’s clothes until the fabric wrinkled. Yan Yi He pinched Jing Ruan’s chin with his left hand and let out a mocking laugh.

“Even a server here is smarter and more sensible than you. No one wants to buy you.”

“Besides, this place is so tightly guarded that even a mosquito couldn’t fly in.”

Yan Yi He laughed at his wild imagination.

Jing Ruan’s thoughts had been exposed, and his face went red, then white. His expression was terribly awkward, but the hand gripping Yan Yi He’s clothes still did not loosen.

Yan Yi He released him and indicated for Jing Ruan to sit in his arms.

Jing Ruan slowly sat on his lap. Yan Yi He held him in his arms, like he was holding some large pet. Jing Ruan could feel that when Yan Yi He held him, his mood clearly improved for an instant.

“Little mouse, I brought you to see a new place.”

Jing Ruan seemed to glimpse a tiny bit of Yan Yi He’s true face beneath the mask. Right now, he was completely like a different person. His joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness seemed to have become a little more obvious. Another thing was that Yan Yi He’s whole person had become extremely sharp.

Jing Ruan did not dare provoke him and leaned against his arms.

The first warm-up performance began below the observation room. It was a boxing match. Before the match started, the two boxers signed life-and-death agreements in front of everyone.

The match began. The people below the observation room frantically threw wealth and valuables upward. In this place, money was only a number, an object. It had become something used to heighten the excitement.

“What are you afraid of? Everyone here came for something they wanted. Before entering, they had already prepared themselves mentally for everything.”

“Whether they live, die, get hurt, or become disabled.”

Jing Ruan’s heart felt as if it were standing at the edge of a cliff. He thought he was not afraid of the performance below. Jing Ruan, who had lived in the Lower Fifth District, had seen bloodier things than this. What he was afraid of was the person in front of him.

Yan Yi He smiled as he discerned the look in Jing Ruan’s eyes. He found very obvious fear in them. He reached out his right hand and loosely gripped Jing Ruan’s throat.

“Are you afraid of me?”

“Jing Ruan, you shouldn’t be afraid of me. I’m the one who gave you everything.”

Yan Yi He tightened his hold on Jing Ruan’s neck and pulled them closer together. Then Yan Yi He lightly kissed Jing Ruan on the lips.

After the kiss, Yan Yi He held Jing Ruan. Jing Ruan’s whole body was embedded in his arms. His heart abruptly stopped for a moment, and then he heard it begin beating faster.

It was from fear.

Yan Yi He placed his right hand over Jing Ruan’s heart.

His palm felt the vividness of life.

Yan Yi He turned Jing Ruan’s body around, making him look outside.

The performance below had already ended, and the auction began.

The auction prices made Jing Ruan’s eyes widen.

“This place is the cradle of greed and desire. Anything can be sold here, as long as someone is willing to buy it. This place does not sell contraband. It sells things one level higher. As long as you want it, it can be delivered to you reasonably and legally.”

Yan Yi He tapped Jing Ruan’s head.

“Humans have physical and spiritual needs.”

“Things on a higher level are spiritual needs. These things are very difficult to create, and every person’s needs are different. Moreover, you have to make sure they don’t realize they are already inside it.”

Yan Yi He explained to Jing Ruan gently.

Jing Ruan did not understand what spiritual needs meant, or what exactly people needed. It made the people below bid so wildly. The signs held by the people on stage were written with words he did not recognize.

Seeing his gaze fixed on the signs, Yan Yi He explained for him.

“Those are encrypted characters. They do not belong to any language in the world. Only people who come here can understand what is written on them.”

The person conducting the auction onstage wore a fox mask. Jing Ruan watched for a long time. He pointed at the sign that person held, tilted his head, and asked Yan Yi He what was written on the sign—in other words, what was being auctioned.

“Intelligence.”

Yan Yi He said.

Jing Ruan was utterly shocked. How could that kind of thing be sold?

Wasn’t a person’s intelligence already fixed from birth? Could there really be something that changed one’s intelligence?

If there was, Jing Ruan wanted it too.

Yan Yi He smiled and did not directly explain how it worked. Instead, he reached out and set the teacups and teapot on the table upright again, then poured a cup of tea with one hand.

There was still a little tea left in the teapot. The cup had only less than half a cup of tea. Yan Yi He hooked his fingers around the bottom of the cup and pressed it to Jing Ruan’s lips, signaling for him to open his mouth and drink.

The tea had long since gone cold. Jing Ruan opened his mouth. After the tea cooled, it did not taste good. Jing Ruan did not like drinking tea. He only felt it carried a bitter flavor.

Seeing that he had finished drinking, Yan Yi He threw away the teacup.

The teacup fell onto the carpet.

Yan Yi He leaned closer and kissed Jing Ruan. This time was different from the light kisses before. Jing Ruan felt Yan Yi He use the tip of his tongue to pry open his lips and teeth.

“The emperor’s new clothes, except there are no children and no ministers. There are only people praising the emperor, supporting him onto the throne, and calling him unparalleled in ruling the country.”

Yan Yi He did not say what happened after that.

Jing Ruan could clearly hear the sound of their breathing mingling. The bitter taste in his mouth was searched out and swallowed by the other person.

Jing Ruan could feel that Yan Yi He was unusually excited and pleased.

No matter when or where, Yan Yi He’s body always carried the scent of sandalwood. Jing Ruan was kissed until he lacked oxygen, and even his breathing became uneven. He reached out and pushed Yan Yi He’s shoulder, asking him to let go.

Yan Yi He followed his strength and released him.

He looked at the person on the sofa.

After being released, the person lying on his back on the sofa had messy clothes. His chest rose and fell rapidly, and his lips were red, moist, and glistening.

The gaze he directed at Yan Yi He was dazed and misty.

A strange emotion abruptly surged into Yan Yi He’s heart. It was very unfamiliar, but the feeling was not repulsive.

When he tried to catch that emotion, it had already flashed past and disappeared.

After the auction ended, Yan Yi He took him out of the observation room. He pushed Jing Ruan away through another route, taking the elevator straight up to the surface.

When the elevator doors opened, there was a stone cave outside.

The cave was uneven and full of pits. From the look of it, it did not seem like a path people often walked. After exiting the elevator, Yan Yi He bent down and lifted Jing Ruan into his arms, carrying him forward.

The stone cave extended in all directions. Yan Yi He seemed to have walked through it many times. His steps did not falter in the slightest. Holding Jing Ruan, he did not hesitate, turning left and right as he passed one fork after another.

Only at the very end did Jing Ruan finally see the place ahead filled with light. Yan Yi He carried him toward it. Once they arrived, Yan Yi He set him down.

Jing Ruan was placed on a stone stool. There was a stone table and two stone stools here. A chessboard was carved into the stone table, and a black and white chess container sat on top of it.

Yan Yi He looked down below. The distant scenery was fully visible.

Jing Ruan also turned to look, only then discovering that from here, he could see most of the entire forest. He saw those people emerging from all directions. After they came out, vehicles picked them up and took them away.

The people who came out were no longer wearing masks.

Yan Yi He took a pair of binoculars down from the nearby stone wall and tossed it into Jing Ruan’s arms. Jing Ruan held the binoculars and looked through them.

Only through the binoculars did Jing Ruan see clearly that there were quite a few disguised people hidden in the trees in the forest. If he had not been standing high up and looking through binoculars, then someone inside the forest would have had a very hard time noticing their camouflage.

Yan Yi He watched for only a short while before sitting across from the stone table. He placed both the black and white chess containers before him and, as before, played against himself with his left and right hands.

Jing Ruan held the binoculars and looked for a long time, until all those people had left and not a single person came out of the forest anymore.

Jing Ruan put down the binoculars and rested his hands outside the lines of the chessboard, watching Yan Yi He play chess. A thought suddenly appeared in Jing Ruan’s mind.

Why had Yan Yi He chosen him?

He clearly had so many people following him, and he had endless wealth, power, and status. If he wanted someone, who could he not find?

That was what Jing Ruan thought, and that was what he asked.

Yan Yi He’s chess game was interrupted, but he did not show the slightest annoyance. His mood today was very good.

“Jing Ruan, among all the people at the banquet, I chose you at first glance. When I said I was interested in you, I wasn’t merely saying it.”

Jing Ruan looked into Yan Yi He’s eyes. When he said those words, his tone was so sincere that Jing Ruan felt as though he truly was different from everyone else, a treasure hidden beneath the dirt that someone with a discerning eye had discovered.

No one had ever used such a plain, straightforward tone to tell him he was unique, as if the other party had brushed away the dust and cowardice he had always worn and discovered the precious part of him.

After Jing Ruan heard this, his eyes shone like stars.

The corners of his lips lifted uncontrollably. Joy spread from the bottom of his heart. The fear he had felt toward Yan Yi He just now vanished completely, turning into fondness and worship for him.

In the distance, the setting sun slowly sank. Rosy clouds spread across the whole sky. Jing Ruan had never felt that looking at scenery could be such a meaningful thing. He was so, so happy inside.

Jing Ruan rested his head on the back of his hand and tilted his head, looking at Yan Yi He seriously. The person across from him was extremely focused on playing chess.

Suddenly, Jing Ruan said softly,

“Mr. Yan, the sunset glow is so beautiful.”

Yan Yi He understood the unspoken meaning in his words.

He lifted his head and looked at him with a smile.

Jing Ruan only felt that this scene seemed to be carved into his mind, surpassing the sunset glow just now, surpassing the happiness he had just felt.

His heart was beating so fast.