38: Bred Greedy Thoughts
The Ke residence.
After hanging up, Madam Ke went upstairs to do her skincare.
Ke Minghuai had been out purchasing instruments for his experiments. Passing by the mall, he picked out another gift for Shen Jin.
He actually prepared gifts long ago, but this time, his leaving without a word really had wronged the youth. You could never have too many gifts.
When Ke Minghuai got home, he heard from the butler about the call looking for him. He went straight upstairs to find Madam Ke.
“When I wasn’t here, that’s how you spoke to Xiao Jin?” Since it was Shen Jin’s matter, why did she use that kind of tone?
Mother Ke hadn’t expected Ke Minghuai to come back and use such a questioning tone toward her.
The smile on her face faded, and her feelings toward Shen Jin grew even worse.
All these years, whether in public or in front of her son, she’d always been polite to Shen Jin. You couldn’t say she’d treated him harshly.
At first, she wanted a docile, obedient daughter-in-law. Shen family survived only because of the Ke family’s support, so they had no backing to stir up trouble. On top of that, Shen Jin wasn’t valued in the Shen family, which made him easy to control, and he was a high-level Omega. Her son didn’t dislike him either. She truly had been satisfied with this fiancée.
However, the premise for all of that was that Shen Jin was an Omega.
Besides, these many years, Shen Jin had grown more and more perfunctory toward her. Later on, if it wasn’t a holiday, he almost never came to the Ke residence.
He wasn’t filial enough to her as a future mother-in-law, and with relatives constantly saying they weren’t well-matched, her dissatisfaction piled up over time.
Madam Ke said, “Listen to my explanation!”
Ke Minghuai said, “Fine. Explain.”
In the end, Madam Ke couldn’t explain much at all. She could only change the subject. “When I went to the Camellia gathering, plenty of families showed me photos of their Omegas. It’s not like no one is better than Shen Jin. You’re not absolutely set on him, are you?”
Ke Minghuai hadn’t expected that even his mother would think that way.
Bitterness spilled at the corner of his mouth. “If even you think that, then it’s no wonder he wanted to break the engagement.”
Ke Minghuai didn’t blame her outright, but Madam Ke still felt like he was blaming her.
It was too late for talk like this now. What he cared about more was what that phone call had been about. “What exactly did the caller say?”
Madam Ke replied, “I didn’t hear clearly either. It sounded like something happened to him.”
*
It was already past lights-out. Going back to the dorm at this hour meant clearing obstacle after obstacle, so after a quick discussion, the two of them decided to go back to Qian Kun’s place and stay the night.
After parking, they entered the elevator. In the reflection off the mirrored wall, Qian Kun saw Shen Jin’s brows twisted into a tight knot.
Shen Jin was thinking that maybe he was too easy to talk into things.
At the very least, he should’ve acted a little more reserved. How could he agree the moment Qian Kun asked? Wouldn’t that make him look kind of… frivolous?
Back at the apartment, Qian Kun took an iced drink from the fridge and twisted the cap open, only to find Shen Jin giving him a pointed, meaningful look.
How was he this cute?
Qian Kun signaled with his eyes toward the room-temperature juice on the coffee table.
Shen Jin tried to reason with him. “It’s fine to drink a little once in a while.”
Qian Kun nodded. “Sure.” Then he closed the fridge door.
Shen Jin: “…”
“What were you thinking about just now?” Qian Kun couldn’t guess, so he asked directly.
“I was thinking about how to thank you,” Shen Jin said. When Qian Kun looked over, Shen Jin didn’t want him to see his real thoughts. His speech sped up, cold and clipped like ice smoothed by ocean currents. “Didn’t you say last time, if I want to thank you, then I could… use my bo—”
“I thought it over carefully. I can.”
After that cut-off, Shen Jin trailed off.
That line had only been something Qian Kun tossed out to tease him. Shen Jin was too indifferent, so Qian Kun wanted to inject some liveliness into him. Who would’ve thought Shen Jin would actually keep it in mind?
Hearing Shen Jin say it now, Qian Kun turned his head away.
With one hand braced against the table, heat surged up his chest. A fine, prickling sensation clogged his throat, colliding with the water he just swallowed until it sparked a fierce urge to cough.
He coughed a few times. Without thinking, Qian Kun knew he probably misunderstood again.
Yet he still couldn’t stop his heart from racing harder.
When Shen Jin saw he was fine, his expression turned solemn. “For the rest of this semester, you can order me around. Errands, buying things, taking notes… anything.”
Like he was trying to hide something, Qian Kun hurried off to set up a guest room for Shen Jin and tossed a line over his shoulder. “We’ll talk later.”
His back was already gone from sight.
Shen Jin picked up a can of drink at random and murmured quietly, “I’m not joking.”
Qian Kun adjusted the air conditioner and got a voice call from Shen Xie’an. The moment he accepted, anxious words burst out from the other side. “Handsome-ge, I’m at your school gate!! Where’s my brother? Did you find him?”
Qian Kun walked out, intending to let Shen Jin take the call. Instead, he found the person who’d been on the sofa looking dazed and bleary-eyed.
Qian Kun’s eyelid twitched hard. He looked at the can still in Shen Jin’s hand.
Damn it.
His tone didn’t change at all. “Your brother’s asleep. When he wakes up, I’ll have him call you back. I’ll send someone to take you home now. Be good. Omegas shouldn’t go home alone.”
Qian Kun ended the call. When Shen Jin was about to topple over, Qian Kun hesitated for a moment before sitting beside him.
Lowering his head, his gaze heavy, watching the oblivious person drift closer.
One second. Two seconds.
Tap. Shen Jin’s head slowly came to rest against Qian Kun’s arm.
Qian Kun’s lashes trembled. He didn’t move. He waited for Shen Jin to shove him away.
Shen Jin was highly sensitive to unfamiliar presence. The moment something felt off, he’d usually wake up automatically.
Qian Kun waited and waited.
However, minutes passed, and Shen Jin only leaned there quietly.
He didn’t push me away.
…
After a long while, Qian Kun took the can from Shen Jin’s hand and noticed the small print on it.
Fruit liquor.
And not the low-alcohol kind either.
He didn’t come here often. At most, it was a place he used when he couldn’t be bothered going home. Aside from the cleaning auntie, only his mother came by sometimes. It was probably something she’d stocked for herself.
This kind of fruit liquor tasted good, like fruit juice, but the aftereffect hit hard. If Shen Jin hadn’t drunk it before and had no tolerance, he’d get drunk easily.
Shen Jin wasn’t completely asleep. He frowned, puzzled that what he was leaning on wasn’t the soft sofa. He pinched the firm muscle in front of him and mumbled, “Hard.”
“Stop touching.” Qian Kun tried ignoring the restlessness in his heart. “I’ll take you to the room?”
“Then will you stay with me?”
Their eyes met.
Qian Kun said slowly, “I won’t.”
After getting his answer, Shen Jin nodded. He stopped hiding how much he liked Qian Kun’s scent, that clean stream-and-woods smell. He nuzzled lightly.
Because Shen Jin kept moving, Qian Kun could only cup the back of his head and hold him still.
They leaned together in silence. Qian Kun lowered his gaze to the soft strands of hair. They brushed his skin like a tiny paintbrush and raised goosebumps all along his arm.
Shen Jin’s eyes were hazy, the corners tinged with faint red. When his lips parted, you could glimpse a flash of deep color inside.
Qian Kun’s breathing caught.
This stolen intimacy bred greedy thoughts in him.
The sensor at his chest burned with a stabbing heat. Qian Kun pressed the power-off button with one hand.
His finger changed direction, slowly caressing Shen Jin’s jaw skin, circling near the lips like a forbidden zone. Movements increasingly faster, as if restraining inner wild thoughts, yet unable to control.
His fingertips finally stopped at the pale pink corner of Shen Jin’s mouth.
Qian Kun lowered his head. Desire rolled in his eyes, a violent tide strong enough to destroy everything.
Just as he was about to touch him, the faint scent of fruit liquor hit him like cold water and cut everything short.
Qian Kun snapped awake, as if struck with sudden clarity. Seeing Shen Jin held in his arms, clueless and defenseless, the desire drained away in an instant.
What the hell was he doing?
Was he an animal?
Disgust churning in his chest, Qian Kun scooped Shen Jin up in one motion.
“Pardon the offense.”
He quickly walked toward the guest bedroom, placing Shen Jin on the bed, covering him with a blanket. Seeing Shen Jin’s breathing was steady, cheeks pink and puffy, without looking more, he directly closed the guest room door.
Qian Kun covered his face with both hands and cursed under his breath.
He pulled out a suppressant cigarette. Not long after, smoke curled in the air, and through it you could make out the calmness returning to his eyes.
A phone ringtone in the living room snapped his thoughts apart. He stubbed the cigarette out.
It was Shen Jin’s phone, the one Qian Kun had picked up outside the ninth-floor restroom door. He brought it back and put it on the charger in the living room. Now it had automatically powered on.
The caller ID note read: Ke Minghuai.
After Ke Minghuai came back and realized all contact methods had been deleted, he said that even if they broke the engagement, they still had a childhood bond. Deleting him outright was too hurtful.
So Shen Jin had added him again, but every note was just the person’s real name.
That name, Ke Minghuai, constantly reminded Qian Kun of what he was doing.
All of this was stolen.
He was the most despicable one.
Qian Kun’s deep, light-brown eyes closed slowly as he answered the call.
Ke Minghuai’s voice came through the earpiece. Even though they often met in competitions before, this was their first phone call.
Qian Kun glanced at the time on the wall. It had been nearly six hours since Shen Jin had been locked in.
A nameless rage, like a beast lying in wait for ages, stirred, ready to strike.
“As his fiancé, you answer quickly,” Qian Kun said coldly, his first words pure mockery.
It was a voice Ke Minghuai found strangely familiar.
Ke Minghuai remembered that Shen Jin didn’t like letting others know about their relationship. So whoever this was, it was probably someone Shen Jin knew well.
Ke Minghuai asked, “Where is he now?”
“Safe.” Qian Kun thought of Shen Jin curled in that corner, and his voice chilled even further. “You have a treasure everyone else dreams of, and you don’t care. He’s a person. He gets scared. He feels cold. He feels warmth. Do you think he’s a robot?”
Qian Kun slammed his fist into the wall. He faintly heard the person inside turn over, and he moved farther away.
Ke Minghuai had never been lectured like this in his life, especially not by someone who sounded like they were coveting Shen Jin. The gentleness in his eyes vanished. “This is between me and him. Who are you to lecture me?”
As expected, the other side fell silent.
Both of them knew exactly what to say to stab where it hurt most.
Ke Minghuai said evenly, “Do you know what people like you are called? A homewrecker. A third party.”
*
Shen Jin slept deeply. He felt like he was a ball of light sinking without end.
Facing Zhao Haotian head-on today, then successfully making sure he couldn’t turn the tables, seemed to unlock some kind of trigger.
Under the alcohol’s influence, Shen Jin’s thoughts sank further and further.
A memory that had been sealed airtight suddenly cracked.
Fragments slipped across his mind like broken glass.
He dreamed of someone who looked exactly like him, also named [Shen Jin]. That [he] was arrogant and spoiled. Because of [his] looks, [he] was highly sought after. [He] had a perfect fiancé, and the two of them were a famous couple at school.
Yet because [he] always wanted more outstanding Alphas around [him], [he] frequently went on dates with other Alphas behind [his] fiancé’s back.
[His] fiancé didn’t blame [him]. He endured it in silence.
Later, [he] received retribution. [He] differentiated into a Beta. [His] fiancé had already had enough, and with family pressure, the engagement was broken. However, [he] didn’t become despondent because of it. Instead, [he] found that after differentiating, [his] scent became even more alluring.
As long as an Alpha stayed near [him], the Alpha’s irritability would be soothed, and the stronger the Alpha, the more comfortable they felt around [him].
Who would’ve thought that after the broken engagement, the future [his] pursuers only multiplied? One “little black room” scenario after another. In the end, unable to endure it, [he] developed depression, fell from a height, and died by suicide.
This was the plot of a novel. The novel had become reality. Because this character never formed into a true living person, it dragged him, a lonely wandering soul, in to fill the role. From infancy onward, it was him. Only he had lost his memory halfway through.
These memories had always belonged to Shen Jin, but until the trigger arrived, they’d been locked deep down.
Shen Jin had no proof, yet he knew, as if guided by fate, that his existence was what created this world, and that his Shen Jin was nothing like the original plot’s Shen Jin.
It took Shen Jin a long time to accept things. Now, suddenly regaining a portion of it left him feeling like he was trapped in an illusion.
However, the dream’s content matched everything he’d experienced perfectly.
The only difference was that he wasn’t the [original owner].
He’d long integrated into this world, no way to purely regard it as transmigration into a book.
For him, even if this was a story world, he was still living for real.
What tortured him even more was that these few fragments clearly suggested that he was cannon fodder in the story, not even a real supporting character.
If what he remembered was true, then his “physique” would soon appear, and then those pursuers would come. Right?
Shen Jin jolted awake.
He stared at unfamiliar furnishings around him, blank for a moment, then slowly remembered that he seemed to be at Qian Kun’s place.
His head ached like needles were stabbing into it. He swayed his way into the living room and saw a tall back in an apron.
The boy wore a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up, exposing long, strong arms. He was making soup.
Qian Kun turned around and saw that Shen Jin still hadn’t fully come back to himself. “Go wash up. Then come out and drink hangover soup.”
Only then did Shen Jin’s mind snap into place. His face flushed and he hurried into the washroom.
In the mirror, he saw his wrinkled collar and messy hair. He covered his face, mortified, and let out a small, miserable groan. “Ugh…”
After a while, he got his emotions under control, quickly washed up, fixed his clothes and hair, and only after confirming he looked just as cold and ruthless as usual did he return to the living room.
Qian Kun had already brought out a pot of hangover soup and poured him a bowl. The milky-white broth was thick and fragrant. There were stewed white radish chunks so soft they were almost falling apart, plus chopped scallions. Simple, but rich enough to make you hungry again.
“Yesterday I think I accidentally drank fruit liquor…” Shen Jin said. He’d thought it was just a drink. By the time he realized, it was too late.
Qian Kun was untying his apron with his back turned, voice indifferent. “Mm. I didn’t look closely, and I didn’t remind you.”
“It’s not your fault.”
Shen Jin didn’t like taking out his feelings on others. His mood had been a mess at the time, and he hadn’t checked what he was drinking.
His throat was a little hoarse. He was about to drink the soup when he was stopped.
“Drink the warm water by your hand first. Clean your system in the morning.”
Only when Qian Kun sat down did Shen Jin feel even more awkward. He cleared his throat. “Did I… make a drunken scene yesterday?”
“It was fine. You fell asleep quickly.”
Very obedient. Obedient enough to make your chest hurt.
“Did I walk myself back to bed?” Shen Jin asked. Was he really that automatic?
“I carried you.”
Shen Jin jerked his head up. Qian Kun looked back as well.
After a long pause, Shen Jin said he understood. “Oh.”
Calm down. Calm down. It wasn’t the first time, if the bathroom collision counted.
Qian Kun explained, “You couldn’t walk on your own then.”
Shen Jin gave a small nod.
The atmosphere at the table fell quiet again.
“What time did you get up?” Shen Jin asked, chewing the soft radish as a mess of emotions grew in his chest.
Honestly, earlier, when he saw Qian Kun’s back in the morning, the tension in his heart had loosened all at once.
That kind of trust formed without you noticing.
Qian Kun spooned him another bite and said, “Half an hour earlier than you. Does your head still hurt?”
Shen Jin shook his head, then nodded. He decided not to lie.
“If you feel bad, I’ll help you take leave today.”
“After the soup, it’s a lot better. No need.”
“When we pass a convenience store later, remind me to buy some hangover candy.”
The conversation ended, and silence returned.
Today, Qian Kun was a little cold.
It looked like yesterday, yet also like something had changed.
This kind of sudden coldness had happened once a few days ago too.
Shen Jin drank slowly. The warmth of the soup finally made his thoughts feel grounded.
Staring at the steaming bowl, he recalled everything from the dream.
He pinched his cheek hard.
Qian Kun looked at him strangely, and Shen Jin lowered his head like nothing happened.
It was real.
Now his lost memories had recovered a small portion.
How had he, a drifting soul from another world, even come here?
He still had no memory of that. Maybe because all his memories from birth belonged to this world, he identified with it more than anything else.
As for the “cannon fodder” plot, he seemed to have already walked most of it. Engagement, broken engagement, being treated like a curse… it all matched the original story closely.
In reality, aside from himself, everyone around him had the exact same personality as in the dream, which only strengthened the idea.
If it was truly a story world, then he might soon have to face one “pervert” after another.
Most frightening of all, those perverts had only been blurry faces in the dream. He had no clue who they were.
How was he supposed to guard against that?
When there was still an engagement, it could block some of it. At worst, he could make it public. At least those people would hesitate.
However, the engagement was gone now. The simplest solution was to find a tool boyfriend, preferably someone scary enough to frighten off perverts.
Wait.
Didn’t a pervert get scared off yesterday?
Shen Jin suddenly looked at Qian Kun, who was checking his phone. His eyes blinked.
Qian Kun: ?
Author’s Note:
Qian Qian: Why is he looking at me like that? That’s the sound of his heart fluttering.
.
Shen Jin is starting to remember he’s inside a novel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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