Chapter 63

Chapter 63

"063"

Xiao Mian was staying in the guest bedroom. It wasn't big, but it did have a sofa. The moment he walked in, he said without ceremony, "You sleep on the sofa."

He walked deeper into the room and got no response from Lu Ao. He turned around—Lu Ao had already made it to the sofa without a word, completely ignoring him.

That was the third time tonight?

Xiao Mian couldn't believe it. In the past, no one dared to ignore him except Xiao Lancui. Now there was a second one.

Xiao Mian was pissed. This guy crashes in his room and still acts all high and mighty, like he's the damn emperor!

He marched over to grab Lu Ao by the shoulder. "I said—"

"Get lost." Lu Ao's voice was deep and cold. He caught Xiao Mian's hand and shoved it away, then lay back on the sofa in his clothes, pulling out his phone and scrolling.

The cold white glow of the phone lit up his face, making his features seem even colder.

Xiao Mian's heart skipped a beat again. He was instinctively scared of Lu Ao.

Was the guy schizophrenic?

In front of his brother, he acted like a total angel. But behind the scenes, he was like a lone wolf.

Xiao Mian's mouth fell open.

It hit him!

Lu Ao was a genuine psycho!

You can't mess with that!

Xiao Mian quickly scurried back to the bed. Glancing sideways at Lu Ao, who was still glued to his phone and ignoring him, he whipped out his phone and texted Xiao Lancui: "Bro, he's seriously crazy! Watch out!"

When Xiao Lancui got Xiao Mian's text, he was in the middle of replying to Lu Ao on WeChat.

In the chat box—

"Brother, I'm going to sleep now [cute] Here's a photo!"

"Why are you sleeping on the sofa?"

"Only you like me, brother. No one else would want to share a bed with me."

"I'll give Xiao Mian a call."

"No need. I don't really want to share a bed with your brother anyway [sweat]"

Xiao Mian's text notification popped up.

Xiao Lancui swiped it away and went back to replying to Lu Ao, "Then get some sleep. No need to reply."

Whether it was from all the commotion or Lu Ao's arrival, Xiao Lancui finally felt sleepy. He set down his phone and drifted off.

He was a light sleeper. Half-asleep, he felt his phone vibrate once.

Figuring it might be Lu Ao, he reached over and grabbed it.

It was a message from an unknown number.

"Cut the crap. Stay in line and stop messing with Xiao Anfeng. You'll get every cent you're owed. Cause more trouble, and I swear you'll end up with nothing."

No surprise there—a warning text from Xiao Liqin.

Half an hour earlier, Xiao Lancui had gotten a video from the private investigator.

Afraid of being spotted, the investigator kept the camera at a distance, so the conversation between Xiao Anfeng and Xiao Liqin couldn't be heard, but seeing Xiao Anfeng crying while Xiao Liqin held him tightly basically confirmed the gist of it.

One was in anguish and despair, the other was softly comforting him.

Then Xiao Anfeng cried himself to exhaustion, and Xiao Liqin carried him on his back into the Yujing Garden apartment.

And, "what a coincidence," they ran into Cheng Peng in the elevator lobby.

Once they were inside, the investigator didn't dare follow too closely, only managing to snap one photo from a distance.

Xiao Lancui was pretty much certain that Cheng Peng had to be connected to Xiao Liqin. He just needed the final piece of evidence—meeting that agent tomorrow would give him the answer.

Xiao Lancui deleted Xiao Liqin's text.

He glanced at the time: 2:12 AM.

Xiao Liqin had probably sent the warning text right after coaxing Xiao Anfeng to sleep.

Xiao Lancui never let things slide. He first called Xiao Anfeng.

Xiao Anfeng never turned off his phone—he was waiting for Xiao Jingli to reach out.

The phone rang twice, and Xiao Anfeng picked up. His voice was hoarse as hell—the aftermath of crying his eyes out.

"What now?"

Xiao Lancui could picture Xiao Anfeng gripping his phone with both hands right now.

Xiao Lancui said coolly, "Nothing. Can't sleep, just checking if you're still awake."

"You're crazy!" Xiao Anfeng lost it. "I've got nothing left. I lost. I can never beat you. Are you still not happy?!"

Through the receiver came knocking sounds, along with Xiao Liqin's frantic voice, "An Feng, open the door! Hurry!"

Xiao Lancui was pleased. He hung up.

No one gets to sleep tonight.

With his sleep broken, Xiao Lancui found it hard to doze off again. He opened WeChat—true to his word, Lu Ao hadn't replied.

On nights when he couldn't sleep, Xiao Lancui would get up and read. But this was an unfamiliar place, and he had no books here. He tossed and turned a couple of times, then finally got up.

He turned up the desk lamp, propped a pillow behind his back, grabbed his phone and opened a browser, planning to look up books on quantum mechanics to kill time.

Suddenly, the page showed "You might want to search for"—

"Lu Ao X Xiao Zixian 'Forced Psycho' 'Pure Smut' TXT"

In the age of big data, Xiao Lancui wasn't surprised to see his and Lu Ao's names together—he'd searched for Lu Ao videos not long ago.

But his name paired with Lu Ao's, plus "forced psycho" and "pure smut"—that part, he didn't get.

Xiao Lancui clicked on the entry, a download link popped up, and he clicked it.

It downloaded instantly, and Xiao Lancui opened the document.

The first sentence made Xiao Lancui's brows furrow.

"Your Majesty, please spare your subject, I can't take it... sob sob..."

In the dimly lit grand hall, a man's suppressed cries mingled with the endless jingling of bells.

Delicate handcuffs of pure gold locked two slender, pale wrists, quickly rubbing faint pink marks. Xiao Zixian, completely naked, was pinned to the dragon couch by the young emperor. His slender waist was easily gripped by a broad hand, while Lu Ao nibbled gently on that translucent earlobe, his voice hypnotic.

"Beloved Minister, say you love me, and I'll untie the bells so you can come."

"No..." Xiao Zixian bit his reddened lips until they bled, tears welling in his dark eyes. His delicate hands tugged at the chain, clattering loudly, as he climbed onto Lu Ao's broad, sturdy back...

210,000 words remaining."

Xiao Lancui turned off his phone, face dark.

What the hell is this garbage!

Didn't Lu Ao burn all records of him? How did this survive—

Xiao Lancui quickly calmed down. The wording was clearly modern, not some slanderous piece from the Dali era.

He turned his phone back on, quickly closed the story out, and searched for his and Lu Ao's names on the web.

Sure enough, a bunch of pages popped up.

He read through them all, and his face barely regained some color.

He'd gotten it wrong.

So these things were called fanfiction, and the writers were called historical fangirls. As the name suggested, they were fans of historical figures who wrote stories.

They'd pair up historical figures they liked and write stories about them.

It was probably because that professor's public lecture mentioned Xiao Zixian's existence that a bunch of fangirls who shipped Lu Ao and Xiao Zixian had popped up online recently.

Besides the story he'd accidentally downloaded, there were tons more fanfics and fanart of him and Lu Ao.

There was even a whole forum dedicated to them.

Since it was all made up by later generations—

He couldn't really be mad.

Xiao Lancui had no heart for reading anymore. He tossed his phone aside and lay down to rest, but as soon as he closed his eyes, the words he'd just read came flooding back.

"Beloved Minister, do you know that yours... is sweet?"

"..."

Xiao Lancui sat up again, for the first time feeling like he was sitting on pins and needles.

Buzz buzz.

His phone suddenly buzzed twice on the carpet.

Xiao Lancui's heart jumped right along with it. He stared at the phone, feeling like it was some kind of fierce beast, and didn't move for a long while.

After a moment, he reached down to pick it up. The screen was lit up, not with the document, but with a bouncing Pomeranian.

It was a WeChat message from Lu Ao.

Xiao Lancui watched the screen go dark, his sweaty face staring back at him in the black glass.

So he'd broken out in a cold sweat.

Xiao Lancui threw off the covers, went to the bathroom to splash water on his face a couple of times, and looked up at himself in the mirror.

His face was flushed with a faint, angry red, looking almost healthier than his usual sickly pallor.

He turned off the faucet, but those horrifying words still wouldn't leave his head. He paced back and forth, and it was only after half an hour that he went back to bed, picking up his phone again and opening his chat with Lu Ao.

"Bro, your room light's been on for a while."

"Did you have a nightmare or something?"

The guest room was right next door. Xiao Lancui thought of something, walked over to the balcony, slid the door open, and stepped out. The cold wind whipped the young man's black hair every which way.

Xiao Lancui thought, inappropriately, Lu Ao's hair grows fast.

From the balcony next door, Lu Ao spoke first, "Brother, get back inside!"

Xiao Lancui's loungewear was thin, and he'd only just realized how cold it was. But with the cold wind blowing, his stifled mood started to lift.

Looking at the guy about a meter away, he asked, "Have you been here the whole time?"

He'd turned the light up an hour ago.

Lu Ao didn't nod, just urged Xiao Lancui, "It's cold outside, brother, you should go back in."

Xiao Lancui countered, "Aren't you cold?"

Lu Ao shook his head sincerely, "I'm hot."

Xiao Lancui nodded, "Right, you're tough. Wait."

He went back inside. His down jacket was downstairs, so he grabbed a blanket of some unknown fleece, wrapped it around himself, and returned to the balcony.

Seeing him wrapped in the blanket, Lu Ao stopped urging him. He leaned on the railing with both hands, leaning his upper body toward Xiao Lancui, and asked in a low voice, "Brother, weren't you asleep? Did a nightmare keep you up?"

Xiao Lancui thought about it... that story was pretty much a nightmare.

He nodded, also leaning on the railing with one hand, watching the snow fluttering outside, his long lashes blinking in irritation.

Lu Ao asked, "What kind of nightmare? The really scary kind?"

Xiao Lancui nodded again. It was really scary—how could it write about him and Lu Ao... He thought of those explicit words again, his throat dry and itchy, and he coughed softly.

Lu Ao panicked, "Brother, you should go back inside, you'll freeze."

Xiao Lancui thought, freezing would be better than... whatever else being ruined.

Xiao Lancui coughed until his face was a deep red. Before he could reply to Lu Ao, he suddenly heard a rush of wind. Before his eyes, Lu Ao had jumped over from the adjacent balcony. As soon as he landed, he wrapped a long arm around Xiao Lancui's shoulder and hurried him back into the warm room.

It all happened too fast. Xiao Lancui only stopped coughing once inside, frowning as he scolded him, "Are you crazy! What if you fell..."

"I won't die from a fall; it's only the second floor." Lu Ao brushed it off, pulling the blanket tighter around him and rubbing his hands on it to warm them, asking quickly, "Still feeling bad?"

Xiao Lancui wasn't feeling bad; he was just... He shook his head slightly, trying to shake those words out of his head, and replied to Lu Ao, "I'm good now, not feeling bad anymore."

Only then did Lu Ao let him go, but his eyes still scanned his face, his whole face scrunched up. "Your face is red in a weird way, or—"

"Seriously, I'm fine." Xiao Lancui couldn't explain the reason for his flushed face.

He wasn't sick or cold; it was from reading that fanfic about him and Lu Ao.

If it were anything else, it'd be fine, but it had to be...

Xiao Lancui suddenly realized that the person in front of him was also named Lu Ao.

Those written words suddenly felt way too vivid.

"..." Xiao Lancui closed his eyes. "Go back, I need to rest."

"Bro—"

"Go back." Xiao Lancui said slowly and deliberately. "I don't want to say it a third time."

In the darkness, he soon heard the door close. Only then did Xiao Lancui open his eyes, and his first move was to dim the light.

His second move was to delete that document.

He forced his eyes shut and eventually drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, he was awakened by knocking on the door.

Opening it, Xiao Mian grabbed his arm and headed downstairs. "Quick, quick, Xiao Jingli is here!"