Chapter 12: Now That’s More Like It

Jiang Cheng stepped into the infirmary and the scene that greeted him was Ji Jinghang carrying Ji Shuyi in his arms, princess-style. The girl had white bandages wrapped around her elbows and knees, her face pale and weak, but her eyes were thoroughly red-rimmed, looking wet as if she had just cried. She nestled obediently and softly in her brother’s arms, a stark contrast to her usual self in front of him. She resembled the her from his dream that day; her aggrieved appearance stirred discomfort in his heart.

In her hands, she clutched a stuffed doll. It wasn’t some cute little animal or the like, but a Qitian Dasheng (Great Sage Equaling Heaven, i.e., the Monkey King) doll, which was rather novel.

Sunlight blazed harshly at the entrance, and a black-clad bodyguard promptly raised a black umbrella to shield them from the sun.

Ji Shuyi didn’t see him. Only after the girl was carried into the black Rolls-Royce parked at the entrance and the car drove off into the distance did Jiang Cheng slowly withdraw his gaze.

“What’s wrong? Not seeing the doctor?” Chen Xingyi, who had just entered the infirmary, watched Jiang Cheng turn around and leave without even seeing the doctor.

Filled with gloom, Jiang Cheng nonchalantly tossed back a sentence without much emotion: “Cured.”

Chen Xingyi: “…”

Did he really think no one noticed the emotional fluctuations when he saw Ji Shuyi?

Stubborn as a mule!

That night, Jiang Cheng pushed his black Bugatti to its limit on the empty mountain road. The screech of tires against the pavement echoed from time to time in the silent night.

Like a swift dark shadow, he raced wildly beneath the night sky.

He left Chen Xingyi in his silver Lamborghini a lap behind. By the time Chen Xingyi caught up, Jiang Cheng had already parked and lit a cigarette, taking several drags in a row and exhaling smoke rings. The smoke was hazy, as if even his heart was blurred…

His skin was cold and pale. His hands, with their distinct knuckles, were slender and beautiful. The faintly bulging blue veins exuded a sense of strength. The hand holding the cigarette rested casually on the car window, exposed to the outside. The ember glowed on and off in the wind. He flicked his finger, and fine ash fell…

The scene at the foot of this desolate mountain possessed a mysterious, cold, and reckless, bewitching allure.

Chen Xingyi approached with a mischievous, eager-to-watch-the-show grin: “Yo, I’ve really lived long enough to see this. Our fearless Jiang Shao is feeling sentimental here?”

Jiang Cheng impatiently flicked the burning cigarette butt at him. In the instant Chen Xingyi dodged, he heard the other man’s cold, reckless, and impatient voice:

“Believe it or not, I’ll run you over with my car!”

“Believe, believe, believe…” Chen Xingyi chuckled wryly. “Is there anything you wouldn’t dare to do? Heh… Except maybe dare to admit you like someone’s little auntie (young woman)…”

Boom—

The roar of a car accelerating abruptly cut off Chen Xingyi’s words. Then, his terrified scream echoed through the night sky. Jiang Cheng had truly started the car and was recklessly charging at Chen Xingyi, who was frantically fleeing down the road, calling for help:

“Holy crap! You’re really doing it… No, no, no…”

“Holy crap! Cheng-ge, I was wrong…”

“Can’t run anymore, can’t run anymore! You’re a beast! So heartless!”

…

Only after chasing Chen Xingyi to the point of utter exhaustion, where he bent over with his hands on his knees, gasping for breath, did he stop.

However, Jiang Cheng could silence Chen Xingyi’s mouth, but for the first time, he found he couldn’t control his own brain, couldn’t dispel the images of Ji Shuyi fainting and being carried out of the infirmary that appeared in his mind again and again.

It seemed that unless he bullied her, his mood wasn’t cheerful enough. Yet seeing her in that pitiful state made him even more annoyed.

He thought, perhaps his current life was too leisurely. After all, he used to balance his studies while helping his father travel north and south to find his older sister, and he participated in his father’s efforts to cleanse the Jiang family’s power base in just a few short years, often so busy that he didn’t even have time to sleep. Ji Shuyi just happened to appear when everything in his life had settled down, conveniently becoming his amusement to pass the time.

He thought, it must be like this. She was just a source of amusement for him to pass the time.

The next morning, Jiang Cheng received a call from his father, Jiang Yuhuai.

Jiang Yuhuai said, “A’Cheng, Dad just took over a bar in the south of the city. When you’re not busy with your studies, drop by the bar and let the people there get to know you. These will all be yours in the future. I need to take your sister back to the ancient castle base in England. It’ll probably take about a month. Also, that limited-edition motorcycle you’ve been eyeing has been released today. I’ve already had someone airlift it back to the country for you. These years, you’ve worked hard traveling everywhere with Dad, and it’s delayed your best years. Now Dad has finally gotten his wish, and everything is stable. In the future, Dad will protect you and your sister and let you enjoy life…”

Finally, Jiang Cheng offered his sincere concern: “Then Dad and older sister, please be careful on the road. If anything happens, A’Cheng is ready to serve at any time.”

He was rebellious and untamable in nature, arrogant and reckless, but he held this father in unique respect and devotion because Jiang Yuhuai had given him a new life, given him everything, allowing him to rise from having nothing to standing at the pinnacle of life.

In the following period, Jiang Cheng didn’t see Ji Shuyi again.

During the day, he was a top student in the law department;

At night, he was the wicked young master everyone in the bar had to respectfully call ‘Jiang Shao’ (Young Master Jiang).

It was also during that time that Jiang Cheng became even more convinced that Ji Shuyi was just a diversion to relieve the boredom of his short, uninteresting life because he had completely thrown her to the back of his mind after not seeing her for just a few days.

The bar was noisy, the lights flashed, and various men and women were dancing closely in the center of the dance floor.

“Old Song, you know what? Our Cheng-shao has been acting strangely lately,” Chen Xingyi said with a playful smile, raising his chin toward Song Yu, who was sitting at the open bar. “That guy is probably in love with a girl, but he won’t admit it!”

“Oh? Which girl?” Song Yu asked in surprise and curiosity. “How far has it progressed?”

Chen Xingyi shrugged with a smile: “No progress. He bullies her every time they meet. He’s even bullied the poor girl until she cried.”

“Cried?” Song Yu immediately shook his head dismissively and said, “Then maybe it’s not love, just that he finds her annoying. After all, you also know that this Great Devil King doesn’t discriminate when it comes to people he dislikes, regardless of gender, and he certainly won’t show any tenderness or pity.”

“It’s definitely love!” Chen Xingyi said with complete disagreement. “That’s not how he acts when he dislikes someone!”

As the two were talking, they saw Jiang Cheng, who had finished his inspection of the area, walking over toward them with his hands in his pockets.

Tonight, Jiang Cheng was wearing a loose black shirt, with several buttons casually undone, vaguely revealing his collarbones and chest. Walking through this passionately inflated bar, he seemed excessively sexy, and this sexiness, enhanced by his wicked, mixed-race face, added a kind of mysterious allure. Moreover, the tattoo on his neck made him seem as if he had come from the dark depths, and his whole person was very much like a vampire earl from ancient legends. His unique aura attracted many gazes with every step he took.

At this time, a bold girl, holding a wine glass, came forward with a flattering and coquettish voice and called out, “Jiang-shao~”

However, Jiang Cheng, when the girl was one step away, ruthlessly threw out a single word: “Scram.”

He had seen all kinds of people and could tell the purpose of the person in front of him with one glance. He couldn’t be bothered to pay attention.

Chen Xingyi, who had witnessed everything, burst out laughing. “See? That’s how our Great Devil King acts when he doesn’t like someone!”