Chapter 124: You Didn’t Like Me Before
Ji Shuohan turned his head to look and immediately hurried over.
“I’m so sorry!” Zhou Ziyu hadn’t expected Ye Zhile to not even know basic self-defense; one punch had landed right on his face, knocking him down. Seeing Ji Shuohan’s hostile expression and Ye Zhile’s swollen cheek, Zhou Ziyu finally felt afraid.
“Zhile.” Ji Shuohan helped him up and lifted his face to check. His lip had caught against his teeth and was bleeding slightly. Ye Zhile pushed his hand away. “I’m fine.”
However, Ji Shuohan looked at Zhou Ziyu with displeasure, his brow furrowed. “Your Zhou family must be very idle. He said he didn’t know how to box. Is there a hole in your head or something?”
“Leader.” Ye Zhile quickly pulled at him.
Zhou Ziyu was too scared to speak after being scolded. Zhou Zixuan hurried forward. “I’m so sorry, so sorry. My brother was being immature, but he definitely didn’t do it on purpose. Please, don’t think too much of it.”
“I’m sorry,” Zhou Ziyu said quickly.
“It’s fine.” Ye Zhile waved it off. He grabbed Ji Shuohan’s hand. “I’m a little hungry.”
Ji Shuohan’s brow remained tightly knit, but his movements were very gentle as he removed Ye Zhile’s gloves.
After the two left, Zhou Zixuan, frustrated by his brother’s failure, scolded Zhou Ziyu. “What are you doing?! I’m warning you! I don’t care how he’s getting in your way during the internship! Just don’t you dare offend him!”
Zhou Ziyu gave a light snort, defiant. “How was I supposed to know he didn’t even know self-defense? I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“Cut it out. Don’t think I don’t know what you were thinking. You must be thrilled you got to punch him.” Zhou Zixuan knew his brother’s competitive nature; he heard someone else had higher grades and acted fine on the outside, but was fuming at home.
Zhou Ziyu fell silent.
Ye Zhile had a cut on the inside of his lip and couldn’t eat spicy food; he could only have some porridge. He had planned to eat out, but now they had to go home for porridge.
“Stop being angry…” Ye Zhile hugged his waist to act spoiled. The Omega’s face was covered in ointment, looking fair and flushed. Ji Shuohan’s brow smoothed out as he leaned down to kiss his lips. “I’m not angry, but you can’t do this next time. He just wanted to find a sense of superiority over you. If he didn’t do it on purpose, would he have hit you that hard? Your face is swollen and your lip is cut.”
The more Ji Shuohan spoke, the angrier he got, his eyes full of heartache. He felt his little grown-up was too naive.
“Mhm, mhm.” Ye Zhile nodded, adopting an “I’ll listen to you” attitude. “I’ll listen to the Leader.”
“Silly.” Ji Shuohan tapped his nose. Ye Zhile didn’t argue, just smiled, though it hurt his lip.
Since the holiday was followed by the weekend, Ye Zhile rested at home the next day as well. He sat in the garden with Dudu, soaking up the sun, while the gardener trimming the plants made Dudu giggle.
Ye Zhile bounced Dudu on his lap using his little hands, but before long, the nanny came to take him for a feeding.
In the study, Ye Zhile was watching videos while Ji Shuohan worked beside him. After a short while, Ji Shuohan tilted his chin up. “Let me see your mouth.”
Ye Zhile opened his mouth. Ji Shuohan checked it. “Much better.”
Ji Shuohan applied more ointment for him, and by the next day, it was almost fully healed.
When Ye Zhile arrived at the company building, he naturally gave Ji Shuohan a kiss. “See you tonight, Leader.”
“See you tonight.”
Internship work could be incredibly busy when tasks were assigned, with scripts to write at a frantic pace, but it could also be very relaxed. Like today, there wasn’t much to do, so Ye Zhile spent his time chatting with You Xun.
It wasn’t until the afternoon that Rong Laoshi arrived to assign a task.
“Everyone, check the group messages. The company has posted a task for you; this is an opportunity for your work as interns to be published.”
The group buzzed with excitement.
“Published? For real?”
“Everyone can see our work?”
“Quiet down,” Rong Laoshi said. “This opportunity isn’t available to everyone. Each group only has one slot. This piece will test your logical thinking, writing ability, and layout skills. Only the piece the company deems the most outstanding will be published.”
Upon hearing this, everyone lost heart again.
“Huh? Only one piece? That’s too hard.”
“Then the winner will just be chosen from the top three: Ye Zhile, Zhou Ziyu, or Lin Xu.”
“Heavens, will they even give us a chance to survive…”
“The subject of the piece you need to draft this time is Colonel Wessel. You need to learn about him before you can write it.” Rong Laoshi said. “The deadline is one week, by Sunday at midnight.”
Once the task was assigned, Ye Zhile searched for the man on his computer when he got home, but the information available was sparse. He had to go through books in the study to find the “Imperial Biographies of Famous Figures”.
“What are you looking for?” Ji Shuohan entered and saw Ye Zhile seriously flipping through books.
“I want to find information on someone.” Ye Zhile turned his head. “Is it okay if I touch your books, Leader?”
“It’s fine,” Ji Shuohan chuckled. “You could touch ‘me’ and it would be fine too.”
Ye Zhile glanced at him. “You’re getting more and more improper.”
Ji Shuohan patted his head. “Who are you looking for? I’ll help you.”
“Colonel Wessel. The company wants us to write a piece based on him.” As soon as Ye Zhile finished speaking, he saw a look of confusion on Ji Shuohan’s face. “Colonel Wessel?”
Ye Zhile nodded. “Do you know him, Leader?”
“Not only do I know him, I’m very familiar with him.” Ji Shuohan raised an eyebrow. “You’ve come to the right person.”
Ye Zhile’s curiosity was piqued. Before he could even ask, Ji Shuohan said, “He was my instructor at the military training school.”
Ye Zhile had a realization. “The person you went to pay respects to that time?”
Ji Shuohan said, “He was the instructor who led me from the moment I entered military school. He was a great hero of the Empire, but unfortunately, he passed away early, which is why most of you haven’t heard much about him.”
Colonel Wessel was of mixed race; his father was from Planet Bitter, and his mother was from the Empire. His mother was also an officer. After growing up in the Empire, he naturally joined the Imperial army. He was exceptionally capable and became the chief instructor in his twenties, becoming Ji Shuohan’s instructor. Later, he unfortunately died in a war at the age of thirty. He was very young, so not many people remembered him.
Hearing Ji Shuohan’s words, Ye Zhile felt both excited and a bit sad. “Was he married?”
“No, but he had a lover.” A flash of sorrow crossed Ji Shuohan’s eyes. “However, his lover also sacrificed their life alongside him. Colonel Wessel was not only my instructor but also like an elder brother to me. I was seven when I entered military school, and he led me every step of the way.”
“That’s such a shame.” After his lament, Ye Zhile asked, “So, you liked Alphas because of your instructor?”
“…” Ji Shuohan looked at Ye Zhile in alarm, afraid he would misunderstand. “I didn’t like Colonel Wessel; we had a brotherhood. I only like you.”
Ye Zhile was amused by his panicked expression. “I mean, was it because Colonel Wessel was so good to you and you admired his charisma that you wanted to find an Alpha later on?”
“In the past… there was a little bit of that, but I haven’t had that thought since marrying you.” Ji Shuohan pulled him onto his lap. “As long as it’s you, anything is fine.”
Ye Zhile laughed, and Ji Shuohan looked at him. “Don’t overthink things, and don’t be secretly sad.”
Ye Zhile immediately changed his expression, looking at Ji Shuohan with a piteous gaze. “I would be sad… you didn’t like me before…”
“Baby…” Ji Shuohan’s heart ached terribly. “I was wrong. Don’t be sad anymore.”
Ye Zhile suppressed a laugh. “Fine, then I’ll forgive you.”
Ji Shuohan knew he wasn’t truly sad, but seeing that aggrieved expression reminded him of the pain he’d caused before, and he was filled with regret.
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