Chapter 28

Chapter 28

The bedroom light on the second floor of the villa, near the garden, flicked on and off, and after a moment, came back on.

Lu Tingchao had never developed a sturdy physique since childhood; even the joints of his bones appeared slender.

He struggled for a long time but couldn’t free his hand from Fei Xiuqi’s grasp. Instead, the glistening dampness on his finger joints looked increasingly suggestive under the blend of lamplight and moonlight.

Fei Xiuqi wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling him close: “Lu Tingchao, don’t you understand what you truly want yet?”

The outdoors outside the villa was silent.

Pressed against the man’s chest, Lu Tingchao could even hear Fei Xiuqi’s heartbeat, one beat after another.

Hot and alive.

Lu Tingchao looked up and saw the chiseled profile of Fei Xiuqi, who insisted on holding him, noticed the flickering indicator light of a night-vision camera not far away, and finally caught sight of a sky full of stars.

Only by the seaside could one find such an unbound starry sky.

The night wind sweeping in from the beach was entirely blocked by Fei Xiuqi. In this inescapable, hidden, calm and sheltered, danger-free corner, Lu Tingchao felt a warped sense of safety.

Lu Tingchao suddenly felt that perhaps he was already broken.

Or perhaps.

He had been broken for a long time.

Suddenly, an extremely faint sensation of teeth gently nipping transmitted to the tip of Lu Tingchao’s ear.

Like a needle prick, it made him shudder.

Fei Xiuqi’s voice, however, was deep, like a siren’s call at the heart of the midnight ocean, luring one into drowning.

Fei Xiuqi asked, “Do you like that?”

Lu Tingchao didn’t understand.

Fei Xiuqi chuckled softly: “Or perhaps I should ask… does it feel good, Chao Chao?”

Lu Tingchao froze.

Fei Xiuqi clasped Lu Tingchao’s hand from below, stroked his slightly moist knuckles, and guided his hand backward—a posture of complete possession.

Fei Xiuqi asked, “BB, what do you want?”

An animal instinct made Lu Tingchao instantly alert. He resisted Fei Xiuqi’s movements, struggling to free his hand from his grasp.

Yet he remained encircled by the man’s arms, trapped.

But as Fei Xiuqi took a slight step back, the sea breeze filtered through the gap, brushing against Lu Tingchao’s striking face, lit by both lamp and moonlight.

The wind was cool.

It made Lu Tingchao instinctively shrink backward.

“BB, look.”

Fei Xiuqi held Lu Tingchao effortlessly with one hand while using the other to touch his rosy lip. “You can’t even stand a breeze. Would other men even know?”

The blinking recording light once again caught Lu Tingchao’s eye.

Lu Tingchao turned his face away, evading Fei Xiuqi’s touch. He scowled: “I don’t understand what you’re saying! Get away! I’m going upstairs.”

“It’s alright, BB. I’ll break it down for you.”

Fei Xiuqi leaned in, his breath brushing against Lu Tingchao’s lips. “Take this show, for example. If I weren’t here, you would’ve been pushed around and bullied from the start. Maybe even maliciously edited to become someone else’s patsy…”

Lu Tingchao: “…”

Lu Tingchao tried to shrink back, but there was only a thick wall behind him.

He shot back defiantly: “So what? I’m not afraid.”

Fei Xiuqi seemed to have finally reached his limit. He lowered his head and bit Lu Tingchao’s lip.

“Hiss—”

Lu Tingchao jerked with pain instantly, his eyes reddening. “Fei Xiuqi, you’re insane…”

Fei Xiuqi kissed him again, this time very softly.

Perhaps due to his Western background, Fei Xiuqi sometimes spoke with a directness that was hard to bear.

Like the next moment.

He looked into Lu Tingchao’s eyes: “BB, I want you.”

Lu Tingchao: “…”

Fei Xiuqi’s kissing style was completely different from Mo Lingnan’s. Mo Lingnan always started gently before intensifying, never abruptly, giving Lu Tingchao time to adjust.

Zhuang Ji, on the other hand, was consistently intense, always dominant, though he never bit.

Fei Xiuqi was different.

Lu Tingchao thought Fei Xiuqi was a lunatic.

A lunatic who frightened him a little.

Blustering, Lu Tingchao tried to push Fei Xiuqi away, but his fingers were caught and kissed over and over—

Until his wrist was grasped and pulled back into Fei Xiuqi’s embrace.

Fei Xiuqi asked, “Did I scare you?”

Realizing he couldn’t escape or resist, Lu Tingchao finally submitted.

His lips were still red, his fingers dotted with kiss marks. He obediently let himself be held by the man, his eyes even damp with tears: “…I was wrong, Fei Xiuqi. Please don’t mess with me. I beg you, I’ll never talk back again!”

Fei Xiuqi held Lu Tingchao, lightly stroking his shuddering back.

Lu Tingchao had always only a superficial bravado; beneath it lay a fragile, hollow core.

Afraid Fei Xiuqi would do something crazy in front of the camera, he even fisted the man’s clothes and cautiously said: “And… and the camera is still on.”

Fei Xiuqi took a glance back at the blinking red dot, then turned around and kissed Lu Tingchao: “And?”

Lu Tingchao: "..."

Lu Tingchao rubbed his eyes and shook his head; a tear accidentally rolled down from the corner of his eye.

Fei Xiuqi gently wiped Lu Tingchao's face with extreme tenderness.

His tone was almost doting: "Chao Chao, look, Zhuang Ji has raised you without any ability to survive on your own. Those two years you spent in Hong Kong having Dudou…"

That was the biggest secret of all.

Lu Tingchao's eyes snapped open, panic flickered in his eyes before he bit his lip: "I don't understand…"

"How could you not understand, BB?"

Fei Xiuqi kissed Lu Tingchao's tear-stained face—salty, bitter, yet sweet. "Those two years, you took Zhuang Ji's money and got scammed the moment you stepped out of the airport."

Lu Tingchao didn't remember much about it anymore… but now, as Fei Xiuqi brought it up, he realized he actually remembered everything.

He didn't know his way around Hong Kong, didn't know the cars, didn't know the people.

But he had a lot, a lot of money.

Zhuang Ji had given him so much, more than he could ever spend.

The Lu family taught him arrogance, extravagance, and willfulness.

Zhuang Ji taught him to have everything handed to him and to act without restraint.

But no one ever taught him how to hide his weaknesses, how to hold back, or how to understand that the worst thing is human nature.

"Know what?" Fei Xiuqi hooked a finger under Lu Tingchao's nose. "If Devin hadn't arranged for you to go to Auntie's hospital, you would've been sold to a black clinic by that trafficker after you got out of the car."

Lu Tingchao was stunned: "Devin?"

Fei Xiuqi held him, kissing him over and over: "He sat next to you from takeoff. You called him 'Uncle' over and over, and even told him you were secretly going to Hong Kong to have a baby for your husband, asking him what name would be good for the baby."

Lu Tingchao: "…"

That was definitely something the 22-year-old Chao Chao would do QAQ.

Lu Tingchao was distracted, hung his head dejectedly for a moment before whispering: "Then I… I didn't know either…"

Fei Xiuqi sighed, reached out, and swiveled the recorder's camera away.

Then he wrapped his arms around Lu Tingchao, his palm burning hot as it slipped under the thin T-shirt and pressed against Lu Tingchao's stomach.

Lu Tingchao stiffened all over, struggled a couple of times, then went soft again.

He was still scared, still only tough at home, still shrank back when faced with someone tougher.

The darkness in Fei Xiuqi's eyes almost condensed into a pool of spring water. He stroked Lu Tingchao's stomach, coaxing softly: "Yes, BB, you really had no idea."

Fei Xiuqi pressed close to Lu Tingchao's ear: "You didn't know that any man in this world could get you pregnant again if he took you forcefully enough, didn't know there are many bad people around you, didn't know how to live independently…"

Lu Tingchao was terrified, fear filled his eyes: "No, no babies."

Fei Xiuqi stroked and coaxed him: "Did that wild man from yesterday promise not to get you pregnant either?"

Lu Tingchao: "…"

Lu Tingchao thought of Mo Lingnan again.

Mo Lingnan was very gentle.

Mo Lingnan loved him too.

Lu Tingchao suddenly mustered a bit of courage and pushed Fei Xiuqi's hand away: "He… he wouldn't."

"Zhuang Ji also promised to protect you when he got married," Fei Xiuqi said softly.

Lu Tingchao: "…"

Lu Tingchao fell silent.

"BB, men are very bad." Fei Xiuqi held Lu Tingchao, kissing him repeatedly while filling his ears with bad ideas. "But Devin is different. You should trust him. He helped you from the very beginning."

Lu Tingchao finally vaguely remembered that flight.

He was so rich, and so afraid and guilty someone would notice his bulging belly, that he bought all the first-class tickets—except for one that was already sold.

He remembered being annoyed at the person who'd bought that ticket after boarding, so he played games on his tablet without muting it.

But the man next to him remained completely unfazed, tolerant, reading the newspaper and enduring all of Lu Tingchao's antics.

Eventually, Lu Tingchao wore himself out. He eyed a piece of mousse cake the man had just ordered, wanted to call the flight attendant, but was too embarrassed.

Lu Tingchao was always so conflicted, so awkward and unable to let go.

So he could only keep bothering the man next to him: "...Is that good?"

That person gave him the mousse cake.

And so the journey began.

Lu Tingchao didn't know if Fei Yuncheng was a good person, but he was tired.

He yawned in Fei Xiuqi's arms, rubbed his eyes, and pleaded: "Fei Xiuqi, I don't like Hong Kong, and I don't like you. Let me go, okay?"

"Hong Kong doesn't have winters as cold as North City, and there's no Zhuang Ji or Jiang Rong that you hate." Fei Xiuqi took Lu Tingchao's hand. "It's close to many places. I can take you horse racing, we can see the snow in Hokkaido, the sea in Pattaya, watch animal migrations…"

Lu Tingchao shook his head, putting his lesson to use: "But I like racing on mountain roads, eating hot pot, hanging out in bars, playing pay-to-win games. Fei Xiuqi, I'm a little pony with vulgar tastes."

Fei Xiuqi: "…"

Lu Tingchao finally managed to slip out from Fei Xiuqi's arms. He glanced at the bright moon, thought for a moment, and said: "Fei Xiuqi, after we finish this variety show, let's not stay in touch, okay? Send my regards to Sister Polina."

His expression was sincere, as if he'd finally accomplished something big, and he walked briskly back toward the villa.

But Fei Xiuqi suddenly called out to him.

"But Chao Chao, you don't just need a lot of money—you need a lot of love too."

Lu Tingchao turned around blankly.

"There's nothing in Beicheng."

Fei Xiuqi: "But in Hong Kong, I love you, Polina loves you, and Devin, as a father to us, will love you too."

Fei Xiuqi's eyes were hazy and profound under the streetlight: "We will be a beautiful, whole family. Chao Chao, don’t you want a home?"

Lu Tingchao paused, stunned.

The second-floor window creaked open.

Su Ningyu leaned out from inside, first meeting Fei Xiuqi’s gaze, then indifferently shifting it to Lu Tingchao.

"Teacher Lu."

Su Ningyu’s eyes curved into a smile. "I’ve prepared the bed. You can come back to sleep now."