Chapter 154
Chapter 154
Qiao Yu stared at the severed finger in the box. There was a small, light-brown scar on the pad.
He had left that mark himself when he and Yanan were fooling around and he accidentally stabbed him with a compass. This was Yanan’s finger!
His mind went blank for an instant, then fury surged through him. “Fuck! You have a death wish!”
He lunged forward to attack, but Qian Lao Qi grabbed him and dragged him behind his back.
Before Qian Lao Qi could speak, Zheng Laohu stared at Qiao Yu and sneered. “Your little lackey has no manners. Aren’t you embarrassed to bring him out in public?”
Qian Lao Qi fell silent for a moment. Then, without warning, he released Qiao Yu, snatched up a beer bottle, and rushed forward. He smashed it over Zheng Laohu’s head.
“My lackeys are mine to discipline. I don’t need you pointing fingers, much less doing it for me! Consider that payback for the severed finger.”
It all happened too suddenly. Everyone in the room was stunned, Qiao Yu included.
Zheng Laohu clutched his head and looked up. Blood ran down past the corner of his eye, making his glare all the more vicious.
“Qian Lao Qi, you have a death wish!”
And just like that, an all-out brawl erupted.
Qiao Yu pulled out his dictionary and knocked down the first man who charged him with a single blow. “Idiot!”
The man clutched his head and glared just like Zheng Laohu. When he saw the book in Qiao Yu’s hand, disbelief flashed through his eyes.
The two sides fought savagely. Several guests had even stopped outside the door to watch the spectacle.
Something suddenly flashed in Qiao Yu’s eyes. When he opened them again, he caught a glint of cold steel stabbing toward him from the corner of his vision. He froze in place as if struck by a binding spell.
Just as the sharp knife was about to pierce the space between his brows, a figure rushed over and yanked him aside.
With a sickening squelch, the blade sank straight into Qian Lao Qi’s heart.
The tall figure shielding Qiao Yu went rigid, then slowly turned his head.
The few seconds it took him to fall seemed to stretch endlessly.
Qiao Yu’s pupils widened little by little. It was as if someone had muted every sound around him. The riotous colored lights dissolved into a bewildering blackness that swelled, threatening to swallow him whole.
“Sev…” Qiao Yu’s lips trembled ceaselessly. It took him a long time to recover his voice. “Seventh Brother…”
“Ah! Someone’s been killed!”
A guest peering through the window in the door suddenly screamed, throwing the entire karaoke club into chaos.
Police sirens followed soon afterward. Amid the confusion, someone grabbed Qiao Yu’s icy hand and led him out through the crowd.
By the time he returned to his senses, he was sitting in a police station, having already finished giving his statement.
He did not even know what he had said. A young officer standing outside waved to him. “Someone came to bail you out. You can leave now. If anyone retaliates against you, call the police immediately. And don’t seek revenge in private, understood?”
Qiao Yu nodded. It felt as if all the strength had been drained from him, and every step forward was a struggle.
When he walked out of the police station, he saw a slender figure standing outside.
The young man stood by the roadside. The afterglow of sunset stretched his shadow long across the ground, lending him an inexplicable air of loneliness and desolation.
Qiao Yu glanced at him, his voice numb. “How much was it? I’ll pay you back.”
Shang Yan shook his head. “No need. It was nothing.”
At that, Qiao Yu turned and walked away, only to have his wrist seized.
In the confusion earlier, it seemed to have been this hand that led him out of the noisy private room…
But he had no mind to care about that now. He shook off Shang Yan’s hand and tried to leave.
The other boy stubbornly followed and caught his wrist again. “Qiao Yu, where are you going?”
There was nothing wrong with the question, but it ignited Qiao Yu’s temper all the same. He struggled and shouted, “None of your business!”
Shang Yan’s calm expression stiffened for an instant, but he persisted. “Do you even have anywhere to go right now?”
“That’s got nothing to do with you.”
“Qiao Yu!”
No one knew where such a slender boy found so much strength. No matter how Qiao Yu struggled, he could not break free. In the end, his eyes reddened, and he started kicking Shang Yan.
“Who asked you to interfere? Who the hell do you think you are?!”
On the third kick, Shang Yan caught his ankle and gave it a hard pull.
Qiao Yu instantly lost his balance and pitched helplessly toward him. His wrist and ankle were finally freed, only for Shang Yan to wrap his arms tightly around his body the next second.
Grinding his teeth, Qiao Yu reached out. Just as his hands were about to close around Shang Yan’s neck, that clear, springlike voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.
“Qiao Yu, let yourself cry.”
There was a soothing quality to his voice that drew out all the grievance and helplessness buried in Qiao Yu’s heart.
At last, the hands hovering behind Shang Yan’s neck fell limply to Qiao Yu’s sides. The boy’s muffled sobs sounded on the empty street.
Each broken breath was like a knife slicing through their skin and plunging into their hearts…
That knife shredded the warmth Qiao Yu had fought so hard to find, leaving it in tattered pieces.
The memory receded like a sudden tide. An indescribable sorrow flooded Qiao Yu’s chest, leaving him in no mood to fool around with Shang Yan. He wriggled out of the man’s embrace and buried himself beneath the covers.
“I’m sleepy.” His voice was muffled, making it impossible to tell whether the cause was fatigue or something else.
Shang Yan lowered his eyes. His long lashes cast dim shadows beneath the amber light. Silently, he lay down beside Qiao Yu, covered those strikingly beautiful eyes with his forearm, and said softly, “Go to sleep.”
Qiao Yu turned his head beneath the covers and stared at him without expression. “Go sleep in the living room.”
Shang Yan revealed one eye from beneath his arm, seemingly full of innocence. “Don’t worry. I won’t do anything. We’ll just sleep.”
Half of Qiao Yu’s gloom vanished on the spot. He ground his teeth. “…Who taught you that classic scumbag line?”
Shang Yan chuckled. “Don’t ask. You know what they say-lie down with dogs and you’ll rise with fleas.”
“You’re the dog!”
Shang Yan was speechless.
When Qiao Yu woke, he felt as though his hands and feet had been tied. He could not move.
He opened his eyes impatiently. Instead of the morning sun, he found a lock of long black hair draped across his face, tickling his skin.
His memories woke as slowly as his body. Yesterday, that dog Shang Yan had shamelessly insisted on holding him while they slept. Qiao Yu had been too tired to struggle, so after a token resistance, they ended up tangled together.
Sleeping together was one thing, but wasn’t Shang Yan holding him a little too tightly?
And there was something else…
“Shang Yan!”
The man behind him hummed softly but did not move.
Qiao Yu clicked his tongue. “Stop pressing that thing against me.”
Shang Yan buried his face in the crook of Qiao Yu’s neck instead and tightened his arms. His laughter carried a warm breath that made Qiao Yu’s neck tingle.
“Let go already. Why are you acting so horny first thing in the morning?”
Shang Yan still refused to release him. In the same position, he kissed the tip of Qiao Yu’s ear and muttered, “I’m not acting horny. I just want to rub against you.”
Qiao Yu drew a deep breath. In the end, he could not hold back and roared, “…Get the hell off me!”
And so a new day began with a furious shout.