Chapter 27: The Small-Time Star and His Short-Tempered Sugar Daddy (Part XXVII)
When Fang Yinnian got down from the vanity counter, his legs were still numb and somewhat weak.
Leaning against the counter, he watched Xiao Ji turn on the faucet, wash his hands nonchalantly, and meticulously wipe each finger clean with a thick paper towel. For the first time, he felt a sense of shame over such matters.
“Do you have to wipe your hands like that?” he asked, the tips of his ears red.
Xiao Ji threw the used paper towel into the wastebasket, helped Fang Yinnian tuck his messy shirt back in, fastened his belt buckle, and buttoned his collar. Only after personally tidying Fang Yinnian up did he pinch his waist:
“I’ll go out first. Take a moment to recover, don’t take too long.”
With that, he opened the bathroom door and walked out first.
Because this residence had both front and back courtyards, and the doors were divided into front and side doors, Xiao Ji went directly from the bathroom through the side door to the backyard.
He sat on the steps, just took out a cigarette and held it in his mouth, with one arm resting on his knee. Just as he turned over his palm, looking at his fingers and thinking about the expression on Fang Yinnian’s face when he was flustered just now, a round little brown shrike fluttered down from the roof.
Impartially, it landed right in Xiao Ji’s palm.
Four eyes met. Xiao Ji placed the shrike on the ground.
The little shrike spun around twice on the spot. When it spread its wings, only the right wing fully extended, while the left wing seemed ineffective, drooping limply.
Xiao Ji took the cigarette down, stuffed it into his pocket, reached out to tug at the shrike’s right wing, then tugged at its left wing. Not surprisingly, the left wing was likely broken.
He pushed the bird’s butt with his index finger, shoving the bird away. “Go away.”
The shrike tumbled over from his push and started playing dead on the ground.
Xiao Ji looked at the shrike lying on the ground, his thoughts suddenly returning to a long time ago. When he fought the Phoenix for the first time, he had also broken the Phoenix’s left wing.
But the Phoenix had a stubborn temper. Instead of lying on the ground playing dead, he backhandedly stabbed the sharp spur of his right wing into Xiao Ji’s chest.
Xiao Ji stared at the shrike for a while, reached out again, grabbed it back, and covered it in his palm.
The shrike wanted to struggle at first, but all things have spirits. After realizing that Xiao Ji seemed to be helping it, the whole bird became well-behaved, only staring at Xiao Ji with two round little bean eyes.
After a short while, Xiao Ji placed the shrike on the ground again, tugged at its left wing, and said to it, “Fly.”
The shrike spread its wings, flew two circles above Xiao Ji’s head, then landed back on his shoulder and pecked Xiao Ji’s cheek with its beak.
Rarely approached so intimately by a small animal, Xiao Ji touched the little bird’s head with his index finger and asked it:
“Hungry?”
The shrike tilted its head.
Xiao Ji then got up and walked toward the small greenhouse not far away. On the fence outside the greenhouse, he locked onto a coin-sized black spider curled up in the center of a web.
Both the shrike and Xiao Ji’s gazes fell on the spider. Xiao Ji asked the shrike, “Snack, want it?”
The shrike shuffled its two little bird legs, seeming somewhat expectant.
Xiao Ji reached out, pinched the spider from the web, and brought it to the shrike’s beak.
“Go on. Stay away from me; I don’t have time to take care of you.”
It was unclear if the shrike understood, but holding that brandishing big spider in its beak, it flew back to the roof. It seemed quite intelligent.
“Who are you talking to?”
A male voice came from behind Xiao Ji.
Xiao Ji turned around and met Cheng Nuo’s gaze.
Cheng Nuo’s attention had been on Xiao Ji all along; he noticed when Xiao Ji went to the bathroom.
But soon, Fang Yinnian also went in that direction.
Cheng Nuo actually really wanted to find a suitable opportunity to record their illicit affair and expose it, but for now, this little matter was completely insufficient to shake Fang Yinnian’s foundation. Exposing it too early would do him no good either.
After a while, Fang Yinnian came back, but Xiao Ji was nowhere to be seen.
Cheng Nuo even asked Fang Yinnian, “Where’s Xiao Ji?”
Fang Yinnian looked baffled. “Do I have to watch Xiao Ji when I relieve myself?”
Lie, sitting aside, interjected, “The side door to the backyard is also over there. Xiao Ji might have gone out.”
Cheng Nuo didn’t make a sound. He just stood up, pretending to want to check out the backyard, intending to see what the hell Xiao Ji had been doing for so long.
As a result, as soon as he arrived, he heard Xiao Ji say, “Stay away from me; I don’t have time to take care of you.”
“Are you on the phone?” Seeing Xiao Ji didn’t answer, Cheng Nuo asked again.
Xiao Ji shook his head. “If I say I saw a person just now, would you believe it?”
Cheng Nuo was stunned. He looked around first. Only after confirming there was no third person in the backyard besides him and Xiao Ji did he frown and say:
“Who?”
Xiao Ji stared at Cheng Nuo and suddenly grinned. “She said her name is Cui Ying.”
Cheng Nuo froze. A chill rushed from the soles of his feet straight to his brain, instantly making his hair stand on end.
This was a grudge between Cheng Nuo’s family and Fang Yinnian’s family from years ago.
The Fang family made their fortune abroad in those years doing business on the edge of a knife. Cheng Nuo’s original surname was Cui, and the Cui family were considered subordinates of the Fang family.
But ultimately, because of interests, Cheng Nuo’s father betrayed Old Master Fang.
The two families fought a bloody battle back then. The Cui family should have won, but just when Cheng Nuo’s father set the final trap to put Old Master Fang to death, Cui Ying, who had always admired Old Master Fang, betrayed her own brother at the last moment.
The Cui family lost everything. Cheng Nuo’s father flew into a rage at Cui Ying and slapped her hard twice.
As a result, that night, Cui Ying hanged herself at home.
Cheng Nuo was young at that time. The state of Cui Ying’s death became a lingering shadow over his entire childhood.
Later, the Cui family suffered retaliation. Knowing he couldn’t escape death, Cheng Nuo’s father secretly had someone send Cheng Nuo away, changing his name and surname, until now.
These matters were absolute secrets.
Back then, Fang Yinnian was still an infant and didn’t even know who Cui Ying was. The Fang family went legit and reached back into the country to leave a pure land for Fang Yinnian. Unless someone was crazy, they would absolutely never mention these things to Fang Yinnian.
So many years had passed; there was no reason for Xiao Ji to know Cui Ying.
Cheng Nuo’s back bristled with cold sweat. It took him a long time to recover, denying it to the death: “What ghost talk are you spouting?”
Xiao Ji rarely smiled.
His facial expressions were always limited, but at this moment, a smile hung on the corner of his mouth. Hearing this, he added:
“When seeing a human, speak human language. When seeing a ghost, of course, one must speak ghost language.”
Only after saying this did he restrain his smile, brush past Cheng Nuo, and walk into the house.
“Wait,” Cheng Nuo shouted.
Xiao Ji turned back, waiting for him to speak.
Cheng Nuo’s Adam’s apple moved. “The matter between you and me is written off…”
“There wasn’t really anything between you and me to begin with, was there?”
Xiao Ji interrupted Cheng Nuo, looking puzzled:
“Great Film Emperor Cheng, what are you afraid of?”
Recommended Reads
![Enemies on a Narrow Road [Esports]](https://beereads.space/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/enemies-on-a-narrow-road-214x300.jpg)
