CH 55

Despite anticipating his behavior, Xiao Zhenyun still played an exciting poker game with the energetic 1 and 0 in the hourly room. No money was involved; the vice chairman, with a profound sense of legality, resolutely rejected any form of minor gambling, opting only for the punishment of sticking stickers on the loser’s face.

Two hours later, the least skilled player, Fierce 1, had stickers covering nearly every inch of his face. He blew out air, attempting to remove the pieces of paper stuck to his nose. Soft 0 chuckled next to him, jokingly saying that there always seemed to be more 0 and less 1 in this area. The mighty 1, usually very popular in the store, was experiencing embarrassment for the first time.

Fierce 1 was so angry that he ripped off the stickers from his face. With a sexy and bubbly voice, he leaned close to Xiao Zhenyun, saying, “Customer, how about trying our main business? I may not be good at cards, but there are other things … I’m good at.”

Xiao Zhenyun, both losing and winning, had several stickers on his face. He raised his eyes at the right moment. The long and dense eyelashes swept the long paper strip on his forehead as he said, “If you can’t play cards well, what else could you be good at?”

Soft 0 immediately burst into laughter, and Fierce 1, challenged, stood up, determined to show Xiao Zhenyun his remarkable capabilities. Xiao Zhenyun didn’t bother to engage further. Seeing that it was almost time, he packed up and prepared to leave.

“Put away the playing cards. Same time, same place tomorrow. I’ll send you the room number then,” he said nonchalantly.

“Still playing cards?” Soft 0 asked eagerly, “Actually, I also want to show you my professional skills…, especially for someone who looks like you.” He leaned over weakly, his breath sweet, and added, “Contact me privately; I won’t charge you…”

Xiao Zhenyun smiled faintly, and the next day, right on time, he found them for another card game. He continued this for five days straight. Fierce 1, frustrated by his constant losses in the initial days, even brought in other colleagues on the last two days to avenge his previous defeats.

Xiao Zhenyun mainly considered this a rare opportunity, as Si Di was busy with official duties. So, he planned to focus on boosting his performance during this time, resolving the lingering issue thoroughly to avoid future disturbances.  After all, time was precious. Currently, not only did he have to study tirelessly as a teaching assistant in the Tower, but he also had to seize every opportunity to delve into the skills of kidnapping and confinement.

Being a pervert wasn’t an easy task.

Time passed swiftly, and it was soon the day of the confession in the rose garden. As usual, Xiao Nian woke up early to feed the eagle, then urged Xiao Zhenyun to perform well today before going to school. There was only one chance, and he hoped Xiao Zhenyun wouldn’t overturn things once again.

Xiao Zhenyun, still half-asleep, sent a location to Si Chu and then initiated a voice call, telling him to meet at this location at 6 PM.

“Don’t tell Ye Feiran. I have something to discuss with you alone.”

“Why can’t I tell Feiran?” Si Chu, holding a stack of documents, sprinted down the union corridor while answering the communication. Xiao Zhenyun had his excuse ready: “It’s something related to your brother.”

“Can you two lovebirds stop involving me in your affairs?” Dogs can get anxious and jump over walls; surprisingly, Si Chu was also getting annoyed with Xiao Zhenyun. “For the past month, every gift meant for my brother has been sent to me. Feiran has misunderstood several times, suspecting I have someone on the side and I’m using you and my brother as an excuse.”

“…I feel awkward handing them directly to him. It’s little uncle’s first time in such a relationship, and as one gets older, it becomes harder to face these things. Xiao Chu, can’t you understand?” Xiao Zhenyun again used the pre-planned excuse, one that can be used again and again, linking the past and the future. The simulated confession with Si Chu in the evening could be a direct copy: ‘Because I am embarrassed, I will practice with you first.’

“Um…I guess I can understand.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“…,” Si Chu hesitated, “but don’t make me the middleman again. Gifts should be handed directly to the person to show sincerity!”

“It won’t happen again,” Xiao Zhenyun said with a smile. That mission was already accomplished. “So, shall we meet at 6 PM?”

“Sure!”

Just as Si Chu ended the communication, suddenly a man’s voice came from behind him, “Sure what?”

The little dog’s ears perked up in shock as he turned around to see Ye Feiran holding a cup of coffee at the corridor’s corner, frowning and asking, “Who were you talking with? You didn’t even hear my footsteps coming.”

“Li…Little uncle…”

“Really?” Ye Feiran questioned suspiciously.

Because Si Chu had been acting unusually lately, Ye Feiran became increasingly vigilant of his behaviors. He always received many gifts, claiming they were from Xiao Zhenyun for Si Di and asking him to pass them on, a reason that sounded increasingly absurd to Ye Feiran.

“Really,” Si Chu quickly opened the call log, “Look, it’s a call from my little uncle.”

Ye Feiran glanced at it and then asked, “What were you two talking about?”

“…It’s a secret,” Si Chu abruptly closed the terminal, “I have something to do tonight. You go ahead. I won’t be long. I’m going to work now. Bye.”

“Hey!”

While the little dog was caught up in an unjust situation, the main culprit, Xiao Zhenyun, threw off the covers and enjoyed a refreshing nap. Around one in the afternoon, he lazily got up and made himself a bowl of noodles.

After the smart butler took away the dirty bowl, Xiao Zhenyun slowly entered the study, beginning his diligent study on how to become a competent kidnapper. Just at that moment, Si Di, missing for several days, unexpectedly made a voice call, starting with, “Little deer, have you missed me?”

Little…deer…?

Xiao Zhenyun, allergic to romance, sat at the desk and twirled his pen. The corners of his lips were clearly raised, but he insisted on saying, “Not at all.”

Si Di’s voice was obviously filled with a smile, “I asked Tian Lu. Why is it you answering? Little deer, where is the little deer?”

“The little deer accidentally ran into a wall.”

“Hahaha…” Si Di finished laughing and mockingly scolded him, ” You have no conscience, I think about you every day, and you haven’t thought about me.”

“I have, I have.” Xiao Zhenyun deliberately put on a nonchalant tone, “When are you coming back?”

“Um…” Si Di seemed to be moving, his footsteps very audible, and Xiao Jiali’s voice could be faintly heard speaking in the background, “Probably in three… days.”

“Back in three days?” Xiao Zhenyun was surprised. “That’s quite fast. I thought it would take at least five days.”

“Yeah, our whole negotiation team is eager to return,” Si Di turned around, “Xiao Jiali—”

“Here!” Xiao Jiali quickly walked over, looking at the Q version of a deer head on the terminal with excitement, “Is it Mr. Xiao? Mr. Xiao, we’re coming back soon!”

“Yeah,” Xiao Zhenyun felt that Xiao Jiali was more like his son than Xiao Nian, “Nian Nian is taking good care of your eagle.”

“I know, he sends me photos every day.” Xiao Jiali said with a smile, “I bought him a whole row of suitcases filled with specialties. You have it too; Captain Si bought it. He said that later, uh…”

Xiao Zhenyun seemed to hear Xiao Jiali being silenced by having his mouth covered, probably by Si Di, preventing him from continuing whatever embarrassing thing he was about to say. Xiao Jiali obeyed, didn’t repeat it, and wisely kept silent.

Xiao Zhenyun chuckled, his elbow on the desk, leaning slightly forward, “Si Di, if you dare do it, you must be ready to admit it.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Si Di glanced up forward, “Alright, if there’s anything, we’ll talk next time. See you in two days.”

“Yeah,” Xiao Zhenyun completely missed the hints in Si Di’s words. He only focused on squeezing in a quick, “I’ll miss you,” a second before Si Di hung up.

…and then mischievously hung up all the callback requests.

Xiao Jiali watched helplessly as Si Di’s all three communication invitations were rejected, the more he was rejected, the more exaggerated the smile on the silver-haired sentinel’s face became. He couldn’t quite understand why the sentinel in love looked like he had a mental problem. He weakly glanced at the empty ticket gate in front of him and advised, “Captain Si, let’s go. If you keep going like this, the spaceship will leave, and in just over three hours, you’ll be able to meet him, right? Why not say what you want face-to-face?”

“You’re right.” Si Di dragged his suitcase, having not undergone deep mental grooming for a month, he put the electric shock collar back on. It glowed red, jumping slowly, still within a controllable range.

“Tonight, I must let him know the consequences of messing with the Black Wolf’s tail.”

Xiao Jiali: “…” Can I really listen to this?

At 17:15, Xiao Zhenyun left home, accompanied by Xiao Nian. Today’s plot was crucial, and the administrator was worried about letting an unreliable guy like Xiao Zhenyun handle it alone. So, the two of them went together to the Rose Garden. Xiao Nian wouldn’t show himself but would assist remotely.

At 17:45, Si Chu hurriedly finished work and took a taxi to the Rose Garden. Ye Feiran frowned upon seeing the other party’s leaving figure behind the office window. After some thought, he sent a message to Si Di asking for help from Brother Di and informing him that something was wrong with Si Chu recently.

At 18:10, Si Di and Xiao Jiali arrived home. They had planned to give the two at home a surprise but found it empty. Xiao Jiali rushed to check on his precious horned eagle, while Si Di reluctantly put down his luggage, dialed a voice call to Xiao Zhenyun, simultaneously noticing the message from Ye Feiran. Since Xiao Zhenyun didn’t answer the call, he pulled off his clothes and entered Xiao Zhenyun’s room while replying to Ye Feiran.

The unique smell of the guide in the room soothingly calmed Si Di. He opened the bedside table, unexpectedly finding the emergency saliva test strips. Satisfied, Si Di took a shower, replaced the shock collar with a gemstone collar, then rolled onto Xiao Zhenyun’s bed, burying himself in the lingering scent of the guide.

At this moment, Ye Feiran probably felt that typing wasn’t satisfying enough and decided to call, launching into a lengthy vent. Clearly, guides in love faced numerous relationship challenges, and the little peacock had been feeling quite wronged lately.

He began by detailing many specific issues, the typical conflicts that couples encounter during their adjustment period. Si Di, with a good temperament, listened attentively, offering unbiased answers to each concern. Then, Ye Feiran brought up how Si Chu had recently received many gifts, falsely claiming that Xiao Zhenyun had sent them to him, asking him to pass them on to you.

Si Di: “…”

Si Di tentatively asked, “What did he receive?”

Ye Feiran listed a few items, all things he liked. Si Di, somewhat puzzled, said helplessly, “Could it be that Si Chu was telling the truth? Xiao Fei, it’s actually my fault for the whole thing. It’s because of me, that little uncle…”

“What does it have to do with you, big brother? I feel like Si Chu is caring less and less about me,” Ye Feiran was visibly upset, “A few days ago, he promised to go watch the movie premiere together tonight. I reminded him yesterday, but he completely forgot and disappeared right after work for some impromptu appointment.”

Si Di frowned, “Did he mention what he was going to do?”

“He refused to tell me! Said it’s some secret,” Ye Feiran clenched his fists, and his peacock squawked at his side, “In the morning, he got a call from little uncle. Maybe little uncle knows. Could you ask for me, big brother?”

Thinking that Xiao Zhenyun might know while he, as the bonded guide after the engagement, remained clueless, Ye Feiran became even more angry. “I feel like I’m less important to him than little uncle!”

“Don’t talk nonsense,” Si Di, helpless, sat up, poured himself a glass of chilled carbonated drink, and downed it in one go. “What relationship could Si Chu and Xiao Zhenyun have?”

“…,” Ye Feiran seemed to realize his own carelessness, calmed down, and apologized, “Sorry, big brother, I got carried away with my words.”

Si Di smiled and chatted for a bit more. When Ye Feiran expressed his intention to video call Si Chu to question him about where he had gone, the two ended the call.

As Si Di returned to the room to mess with the saliva test strips, a thought suddenly struck him. He remembered a small mechanism above the bottom drawer in Xiao Zhenyun’s bedside table. He found it last time when he was alone in Xiao Zhenyun’s room. Following his professional instincts, he casually touched it and found that the mechanism was connected to a hidden door in Xiao Zhenyun’s bedroom.

On the door was a six-digit password.

He didn’t know why he suddenly recalled this today, and the more he tried not to think about it, the more it bothered him. After waiting for a while, he couldn’t resist pulling open the drawer and manipulating the small mechanism. The wardrobe shook slightly, and the internal partition silently opened. Si Di stood once again in front of the pitch-black door with the password.

Unable to resist, he opened the terminal again, tried a voice call once more, but received no answer. He had no choice but to send a message to Xiao Zhenyun: Where are you? Why aren’t you answering the voice call?

This time, Xiao Zhenyun’s reply came surprisingly quickly: Something came up, I’ll get back to you later.

Accompanying his reply was a message from Ye Feiran: Big brother! Si Chu said he’s with little uncle. I asked him to record a video as proof, and turns out it’s true… Ugh, why didn’t he tell me he’s going out with little uncle? So secretive. He only tells the truth when I get mad. What’s there to hide? I’ve been overthinking the whole day… But I still can’t forgive him for missing the movie. I’m going to give him a good scolding when he comes back!

Si Di lowered his gaze, looking at the holographic screen where Ye Feiran’s tone seemed noticeably lighter. However, he couldn’t seem to relax his own mood.

He stood silently for a moment, then raised his hand and pressed it against the password door. First, he entered Xiao Zhenyun’s birthday—wrong password. With little hope, he entered his own birthday—wrong password.

The password door displayed that today’s error attempts had reached two times, with one last chance. Please enter the password carefully.

Without hesitation, he pressed each digit of the six-digit password.

As long as it’s not this one, Si Di thought. Any password would do, as long as it’s not these six digits.

Please, like countless times before, clearly tell me it’s my overly cautious nature, my possessiveness at play, my groundless suspicions, overthinking…

The last digit fell, and unlike the sharp error prompts from the previous attempts, this time, the hidden door made a crisp click sound as it swung open, revealing a crack leading into darkness.

The author has something to say:

Fierce 1: Playing cards Oo. I’m OOo. Not good at it, Oooo anything else. Ooo… I’m pretty good at that.

Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters.  (๑>ᴗ