Chapter 8: Pitiful? It’s an Act — “Please Me”
Lu Xunye pushed the car door open and popped his umbrella. The moment he stepped out, the taxi sped off in a cloud of smoke, leaving him choking on the exhaust.
Seriously? Was that necessary?
Viewed from the outside, the abandoned Shen family old mansion looked solemn and gloomy. The courtyard was deserted and overgrown with weeds; the solitary manor villa appeared eerie and terrifying amidst the curtain of rain.
A muffled clap of thunder rolled overhead, making the villa look exactly like the set of a horror movie.
Lu Xunye reached out, touching a massive iron lock on the carved iron gates.
It was heavy and cold. There were still scraps of paper and adhesive residue on the lock that hadn’t been fully eroded by the wind and rain. He could vaguely make out the writing on them: official seals.
So, this was the “haunted” Shen family old mansion the driver had talked about.
Time rewind: Noon.
Shen Yunqian had ultimately underestimated the severity of his twisted ankle. After leaving the apartment, he went straight to the hospital, buying a single crutch at a medical supply store on the way.
The examination revealed a mild ligament tear, resulting in a cast. However, while passing by a ward, he heard Si Jinyan’s voice coming from inside.
That voice was too familiar—so familiar it felt carved into his soul, impossible to forget for even a moment.
Shen Yunqian involuntarily stopped, leaning against the wall.
Inside, Si Jinyan, his head wrapped in white bandages and his handsome face bruised, sat on the hospital bed seething with rage. He smashed a water cup and shouted at his assistant.
“I told you to investigate one person and you couldn’t find anything! What are you good for?”
“President Si.” The assistant accepted his outburst, pouring him a fresh glass of water. His expression was placid, showing neither joy nor anger as he explained.
“The spot where you and Young Master Shen parked yesterday was a blind spot for the cameras. The surveillance outside the nearby pharmacy also short-circuited due to the rain and is under repair. Only the surveillance from a nearby shop caught the person who took Young Master Shen away, but it was just a view of his back.”
“I’ve already gone to check other nearby cameras to pull footage from various time slots. There should be results very soon.”
Si Jinyan’s anger subsided slightly. He took the water glass as the assistant continued.
“Additionally, since Little Liu was injured, I let him go back to rest. President Si can be discharged today; there are company contracts that require your attention.”
“Mn.” Si Jinyan took a sip of water to moisten his throat. Thinking of the driver, he paused before saying.
“Let him recover fully before coming back to work. Pay his full salary during his recovery, and give him a bonus.”
The assistant finally offered a faint smile. “Then, on behalf of Little Liu, I thank President Si. I’ll go handle the discharge procedures for you.”
“Ji Huaixu.” Si Jinyan called out to stop him.
His fingertips gripped the cup tightly, his eyes surging with a terrifying ruthlessness that sent shivers down the spine.
“Find that person and hand him over to the police.”
He looked up at Ji Huaixu, giving no explicit instructions, but the implication was clear: “You know what to do.”
Hearing this, Shen Yunqian’s grip on the crutch tightened. With Si Jinyan’s methods, he would likely pin a crime on Lu Xunye, leaving him to rot in prison for a lifetime.
Inside, Ji Huaixu paused, then nodded. “Yes.”
The doorknob turned. Startled, Shen Yunqian straightened up from the wall, intending to turn and leave, but he had neglected the fact that his current condition wouldn’t allow him to move as easily as he thought.
He had just adjusted his crutch when he locked eyes with Ji Huaixu, who was stepping out. His heart beat wildly out of control.
Subconsciously, he grabbed Ji Huaixu’s arm, shaking his head at him pleadingly.
Strange to say, Shen Yunqian had no confidence that Ji Huaixu would be willing to help him cover this up. After all, Ji Huaixu was the most loyal and valued person by Si Jinyan’s side.
Ji Huaixu was surprised for a second. His gaze landed on the redness lingering at the corners of the youth’s eyes from his emotional turmoil, and an inexplicable emotion flashed through his eyes.
Seeing someone paused at the door, Si Jinyan called out, “Is someone outside?”
Shen Yunqian’s grip on Ji Huaixu’s arm tightened.
Hearing the voice, Ji Huaixu snapped out of his daze. He looked at Shen Yunqian, opening his lips as if to speak.
Shen Yunqian resigned himself to fate, letting go of his hand and lowering his head, only to hear the voice above him speak unhurriedly.
“No one. Just checking a message on my phone. President Si, please organize your clothes; I’ll go handle the paperwork.”
Then, without waiting for his boss’s reply, he locked the door behind him.
Shen Yunqian looked up at him in disbelief.
Ji Huaixu withdrew his gaze from the cast on Shen’s ankle, fixing his eyes back on Shen Yunqian’s face, and asked softly, “Does Young Master Shen need me to arrange a ride for you?”
Shen Yunqian shook his head vigorously. He said, “…Thank you.”
Ji Huaixu returned a gentle, polite smile.
Evening
Si Family Villa
Thinking of that file, Shen Yunqian looked past the majestic carved openwork iron gates toward the interior, his gaze growing colder.
He dug his nails into his palm, clenching his fist, then released it after a long while.
Somehow, a childhood scene suddenly floated before his eyes.
The voice of his mother echoed in his ears, giving him kind advice when he was eight years old and had caused a friend to get injured in a fight.
“Xiao Qian, Mom is telling you, people must know gratitude. Doing business requires integrity, and being a person requires loyalty, but even more so, the courage to admit mistakes and a grateful heart.”
The middle-aged woman spoke patiently and persuasively. “Your friend got hurt saving you. What should you do?”
His stubborn self reluctantly apologized on the surface: “Sorry, okay? Thanks for saving me.”
In reality, while his mother wasn’t looking, he leaned close to the other boy and whispered, “Don’t get cocky. If you hadn’t dragged me down this time, I definitely could have beaten them.”
Shen Yunqian thought back on it now—he had really needed a beating back then. It had been so long, he had forgotten what that little savior, whom he had actually dragged down, looked like.
He only remembered the boy was half a head shorter than him and had moved away or something shortly after; they never met again.
Snapping out of the memory, Shen Yunqian looked at the main gate again, enunciating each syllable: “Si. Jin. Yan…”
At the entrance, the security guard opened the gate respectfully despite his complex expression. “President Si hasn’t returned yet. Young Master Shen, please go in and wait.”
Shen Yunqian nodded.
In the blink of an eye, it was 10 PM. The sound of a car engine came from downstairs; Si Jinyan had returned.
A moment later, the main hall door opened. Si Jinyan immediately spotted Shen Yunqian sitting on the sofa.
He walked over mockingly. “You didn’t want to come? You thought my place was a nest of snakes and bugs, preferring suicide over staying? Why are you here today?”
“Done experiencing ‘life’? Or do you miss the carefree days of the Shen family young master, running out of money and coming to find me?”
Every word stabbed at the heart, yet the layers of white bandages on his head added a touch of comedy, making his words seem like a joke.
Shen Yunqian clenched his hands, looking up at him in a show of weakness. “Can you let him go?”
He lowered his eyes. “You know who I’m talking about.”
“Heh. I wondered why you came here. So you want something.”
As he spoke, Si Jinyan had already walked to his side.
He looked down at the youth condescendingly, forcing his chin up. “What? Your new paramour?”
“You don’t need to make it sound so ugly.”
Shen Yunqian lifted his eyelids, staring back quietly. “I just don’t want anyone to suffer your retaliation because of me. This is between you and me; there’s no need to involve others.”
“The look in your eyes right now is truly…” Si Jinyan narrowed his eyes in disgust, increasing the pressure with his fingers, “…unpleasant.”
He suddenly lowered his head, closing in. “Was I too lenient with you in the basement those two years? Did you forget so quickly how you’re supposed to look when you see me?”
Hearing this, Shen Yunqian’s face went ghastly pale, as if enveloped by boundless cold.
The old scars on his body seemed to sting, burning like fire, impossible to ignore, reminding him every second of what he had endured.
His shoulders trembled uncontrollably, and he dared not look Si Jinyan in the eye again.
Satisfied, Si Jinyan threw his face aside and glanced at the servants in the hall who were bowing their heads, pretending to be deaf. “You all, leave.”
In the split second the man turned his head, the fear on Shen Yunqian’s face vanished completely. He pressed his tongue against his cheek, his gaze locking onto Si Jinyan’s fragile neck like a venomous snake.
Si Jinyan felt a chill on his back but didn’t dwell on it. Once everyone left and the door was closed, he strode over and sat on the leather sofa opposite the tea table. He glanced sideways; Shen Yunqian was back to that timid appearance.
Seeing the formerly arrogant person looking so humble, Si Jinyan felt irritated and instantly lost interest. After a silence, he spoke.
“If you want me to let him go, there has to be a gesture. He smashed me up like this; as the victim, shouldn’t I call the police?”
Si Jinyan had fainted cleanly at the time, so he had no idea how he had been knocked out.
And since Shen Yunqian had been lying on the ground half-dead in the distance, he naturally didn’t suspect him.
The once expertly pampered, incredibly noble, and arrogant Shen family young master.
At eighteen, on the very day he became an adult, his parents died, the family business went bankrupt, and his brother went missing in a plane crash. Then, he was locked up like an animal by a man he met for the first time, who used “past events” Shen didn’t remember as a reason to “discipline” him.
Shen Yunqian didn’t know how much torture he had endured in that dark basement over those two years.
But what Si Jinyan wanted was to grind down his spirit, to make him kneel and beg for mercy, to wag his tail and plead for pity like a dog.
Dignity? That was lost the moment the Shen family declared bankruptcy, or rather, the moment he met Si Jinyan…
During the long silence, Si Jinyan maintained his lazy posture, absentmindedly toying with the ring on his index finger.
“I was bored and checked the flight info from back then. Your brother never boarded that plane. Where do you think he is now?”
He looked up and asked “kindly,” “Need me to help you find him?”
If the previous words were sarcasm, this was a blatant threat.
The fact that Si Jinyan was willing to mention this meant he not only had a lead but had already sent people to look.
Shen Yunqian’s knuckles slowly tightened until they turned white.
He stood up, enduring the agonizing pain in his ankle. He walked slowly, pretending to be steady, and stopped in front of the man. He bent his knees slightly, only to be stopped by a leather shoe pressing against his knee.
“Kneeling lacks novelty.”
Shen Yunqian’s throat tightened. It felt like a sharp blade was churning inside; every word he spoke was bloody. He struggled to articulate: “What do you want?”
Si Jinyan’s contemptuous gaze swept him up and down. “Please me.”
Shen Yunqian knew exactly what he meant by “please.”
In those two years, Si Jinyan had brought home countless lovers. Time and time again, he had put a shackle as thick as an arm around Shen Yunqian’s neck, gagged him, and forced him to watch from the shadows as they entangled in the sheets, watch how they pleased Si Jinyan. Every time, he retched until his stomach hurt.
Shen Yunqian truly didn’t understand. Didn’t Si Jinyan have someone he loved? Why could he be so promiscuous? Everyone said Shen was a substitute for Si Jinyan’s “White Moonlight.”
Did he like him? No. Si Jinyan loathed him, hated him, so much that he had to wipe his hands immediately after touching him.
Yet, he constantly brainwashed Shen Yunqian into believing they were in love. It was because Shen Yunqian’s parents had designed the plot that killed his mother.
But because the murderers died in a car accident—too clean a death—Si Jinyan had nowhere to vent his hatred, so he locked Shen up.
Si Jinyan truly hated Shen Yunqian to the extreme, as he claimed, which was why he had never touched him.
And now… Shen Yunqian’s expression turned ugly as he turned to leave.
A cold voice came from behind him, sounding like it wanted to flay him alive, instantly snapping his rationality back.
“Lu Xunye. A simp who only knows how to flirt with minor female celebrities. A slob who stays at home writing things that can’t see the light of day to make a living.”
“You were once the Young Master of the Shen family; how did you fall so low as to know this kind of person?”
Recommended Reads
