Chapter 131
Gu Qian’s mind was a mess. He remembered taking the key to his office and never bringing it back.
He had only locked Xiao Xiao up in a moment of panic.
As much as he wanted to do it—to keep Xiao Xiao chained in his house, by his side, forever—he knew he couldn’t.
Not only was it illegal, but it would make Xiao Xiao hate him more, make him afraid, and drive him to the same mental instability that he himself suffered from.
So, no. He couldn’t.
Gu Qian stroked Xiao Xiao’s cheek. “I’ll go get the key right now. You wait for me.”
With that, he was gone.
But Xiao Xiao didn’t want him to go. Suddenly in a strange place, he was terrified. He wanted Gu Qian to stay.
But he had already left. All he could do was curl up on the bed and pull the covers over his head.
He didn’t know how much time passed before he felt the urge to pee. He instinctively got off the bed and ran toward the bathroom.
That’s when he discovered, to his surprise, that the chain was long enough for him to reach the toilet freely.
On his way back, unused to the weight on his ankle, he tripped and fell hard in front of the bed. The sharp pain in his elbow kept him on the floor, unable to get up. He just curled into a ball, crying as he waited for Gu Qian to come back and hold him.
He hated this life, yet he was utterly dependent on it. He wanted to see Gu Qian; he wanted Gu Qian to stay with him.
The two conflicting thoughts warred in his mind, causing him immense pain.
He didn’t know how much time passed. He had drifted into a hazy sleep on the floor when he heard the front door open, followed by voices. He thought it was Gu Qian.
But when he looked up, it wasn’t Gu Qian. It was another alpha.
The man looked familiar, like he’d seen him somewhere before.
After a moment, Xiao Xiao remembered: it was An Le’s alpha bodyguard. They had never really spoken, but they had seen each other many times.
A jolt of fear went through him, and he immediately covered his face, trying to hide. He had never imagined anyone else would see him like this.
He had never imagined he would have to face someone else in this state.
Xiao Xiao was in agony, his sobs suppressed and desperate.
He wanted Gu Qian, but he also wanted to escape this life.
In the end, the desire for freedom won. He lowered his hands, and with a trembling grip, he clutched the leg of Li Jie’s pants. His voice was weak, almost groveling. “Please… save me…”
The alpha saved him.
Xiao Xiao sat in the passenger seat, wrapped in a coat, his gaze dazed and fearful. He couldn’t believe the alpha had actually rescued him.
They weren’t friends, after all. They had only ever met because of An Le, with no private interaction whatsoever.
But this alpha had broken into Gu Qian’s house and saved him.
Having been locked up for so long, Xiao Xiao’s mind had grown sluggish. It took him a while to figure it out: it wasn’t that this alpha had wanted to save him, but that An Le must have asked him to look for him.
And seeing his situation, he had saved him on the side.
But it didn’t matter. As long as someone was willing to save him, that was enough.
Xiao Xiao was in a daze, not even snapping out of it when the car came to a stop.
Li Jie waved a hand in front of his face. “Xiao Xiao, look at me. Hey, look at me. Say something. Did getting locked up really make you stupid?”
Xiao Xiao finally came to his senses and turned to look at Li Jie, but said nothing.
Li Jie had a naturally wicked streak and a roguish air about him. Even though he pitied Xiao Xiao’s situation, he still grinned carelessly. “That’s right, look over here. Still remember who I am?”
Xiao Xiao didn’t hold his laughter against him. The man had saved him; he was already incredibly grateful.
Hearing the question, he instinctively answered, “Li-jie.”
The smile vanished from Li Jie’s face. “Call me Li-ge.”
Xiao Xiao corrected himself. “Li-ge.”
After all this time trying to please Gu Qian, he had grown accustomed to being obedient. Even with someone else, he found it hard to argue or resist.
Li Jie was a little surprised. “This obedient?”
Looks like Gu Qian had his methods.
He hadn’t known this little beta well before, but he knew he had a fiery temper, nothing like the timid, well-behaved person he was now.
Remembering how he’d found him, chained by the ankle and crying for help, a prickle of irritation went through Li Jie.
He ruffled Xiao Xiao’s hair. “Right, being obedient is good,” he said with a grin. “If you’re good, Li-ge will look out for you.”
With that, Li Jie got out of the car, walked around to the passenger side, and opened the door. “Come on,” he said with a smile. “Are you getting out yourself, or do you want me to carry you?”
Xiao Xiao paused, his first instinct to say he wanted to be carried.
But just as he opened his mouth, he remembered this wasn’t Gu Qian. No one else would be so insistent on carrying him.
So, he got out of the car on his own.
Only then did he realize they were in front of a motel.
It looked run-down, the environment exceptionally bad. Xiao Xiao froze, looking instinctively at Li Jie.
Li Jie shrugged. “You should know what kind of person Gu Qian is. If we’re on the run, we can’t use real IDs. This kind of little motel that doesn’t ask for one is perfect.”
Xiao Xiao thought about it and nodded. “Right.”
Li Jie was right. It would be incredibly easy for Gu Qian to find someone, especially if he used his ID to check into a hotel. He’d be caught before the night was over.
No ID was for the best.
Xiao Xiao nodded and followed Li Jie inside.
Li Jie got a room with two beds.
The moment he walked in, Xiao Xiao was hit by a strange, unidentifiable smell.
Away from Gu Qian, he felt an instinctual fear, but he didn’t tell Li Jie. He didn’t want to be a bother.
So, he lay down with a frown and hid under the covers, trying to overcome the fear on his own.
He hadn’t been with Gu Qian like this for too long. If he just gritted his teeth and endured it, he could probably get over it.
But as he shivered under the blanket, Li Jie, lying on the opposite bed, asked, “Not going to take a shower?”
If he remembered correctly, Xiao Xiao probably had some… marks on him. Gu Qian was too domineering; he had left his seed inside Xiao Xiao and hadn’t cleaned him up.
Xiao Xiao instinctively shook his head. “No, it’s okay,” he said softly.
He’d just leave it. He didn’t want to move.
Even if Li Jie thought he was dirty, he didn’t want to move.
After a moment, he thought of something. “Was it Lele who asked you to save me?”
“It was.”
Li Jie smiled. “The boss’s wife was worried about you, but the only person who can order me around is the boss. She begged him to let me check on you, so here I am.”
He knew Xiao Xiao hadn’t been having an easy time, and he knew Gu Qian was a psycho, but he never expected the situation to be this bad—so bad he couldn’t help but feel for him.
Xiao Xiao nodded, then said with a faint attempt at a joke, “Then… Lu Heng must pay you a really high salary.”
Li Jie was taken aback. He hadn’t expected this little beta still had the energy to joke around. Intrigued, he sat up. “He does. The salary is very high. So, want to consider becoming a bodyguard with me?”
Xiao Xiao shook his head. “No.”
With his build, he’d just be a walking punching bag.
No thanks. He’d like to live a few more years.
Li Jie knew he wouldn’t agree; he was just joking. If Xiao Xiao had actually said yes, he wouldn’t have known what to do.
Now, he just smiled. “Do I need to tell the boss’s wife about your situation?”
“No, don’t.”
Xiao Xiao shook his head frantically. “It’s better not to tell him.”
He felt he had let An Le down. After all, An Le had warned him several times that Gu Qian was not a good person, but he had thrown himself at him anyway.
The fact that An Le still remembered to look for him, to save him, was already…
Xiao Xiao lifted a hand to wipe his tears and said no more.
Li Jie could roughly guess what he was thinking. He shrugged and said, “What are you crying for? So you ran into a psycho scumbag. You can start over. There are billions of people in the world. How many are lucky enough to never meet a scumbag?”
Xiao Xiao looked at Li Jie, surprised. In his eyes, Li Jie didn’t seem like the kind of person who would say something like that.
But if he looked closely, he realized that since rescuing him, Li Jie hadn’t even cursed once.
Li Jie: “What are you looking at me for?”
Xiao Xiao shook his head and said nothing.
Other people might have a chance to start over, but he probably didn’t.
It wasn’t as simple as just running into a psycho scumbag. Gu Qian had permanently marked him, and his gland’s secondary development was induced by Gu Qian’s pheromones.
That’s why he was dependent on him, an uncontrollable dependence.
Escaping now had taken all the courage he had.
But what if he ran into Gu Qian again in the future?
What if… what if the heat Gu Qian had talked about actually came?
How would he handle it?
But then again, he had never had a heat before. He didn’t know if Gu Qian was telling the truth or just trying to scare him.
He clenched his jaw and finally nodded. “You’re right.”
No matter what, he had to try first, to see if he could overcome this.
Although he felt scared and insecure in a place without Gu Qian, this little motel, and the roguish Li Jie, also gave him a strange sense of comfort.
He thought he wouldn’t be able to sleep, but after curling up under the covers, he was out like a light.
But he didn’t sleep until morning. He was woken up in the middle of the night by an intense itching.
His body itched all over—his arms, his neck, his stomach, his back. Everything was itching.
He instinctively started scratching, the scratching only making it more urgent, more itchy.
With a click, the lights in the room turned on.
He had woken up Li Jie on the other bed.
Li Jie: “What’s wrong?”
Xiao Xiao sat up, scratching his neck. “I don’t know. I’m just itchy all over.”
Extremely itchy. So itchy he could barely stand it.
Li Jie frowned, immediately getting out of bed and rushing over. He saw that Xiao Xiao’s body was covered in small red bumps.
Li Jie was stunned. “Tsk, this motel is dirty. There are bugs.”
He turned, went back to his bed, and took a tube of medicine out of his backpack. “But it’s nothing serious. A little of this will clear it up. This stuff works well. It repels bugs and soothes the bites. Do you want to put it on yourself, or should I help you?”
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