LWDC Chapter 44

Chapter 44 – Staying Behind

Chapter 44 – Staying Behind

Chapter 44 – Staying Behind

In the end, Ning Fei didn’t leave and temporarily stayed behind.

Looking back on it himself, he felt that this decision was made rather haphazardly. It wasn’t that he was moved by Duan Yunhong’s confession of “accompanying you until you die,” because after Duan Yunhong said it, he added a disclaimer, saying that it was just a possibility.

Ning Fei hadn’t heard him being so stubbornly defensive in a long time, and he was immediately amused: “No need to explain, I know you’re just saying it for fun. Even if you accompany an ordinary person until their birth, aging, illness, and death, it may not be that serious. People like us can extend our lifespan to an endless future as long as we don’t court death. To you, an ordinary person’s life is just a grain of sand in a long river. How could you really care about a grain of sand? It’s just a bit of flavoring in your memory.”

Duan Yunhong’s expression didn’t seem to agree with this statement, but Ning Fei waited for him to refute, and he didn’t really say anything.

The two went back to the topic of Ning Fei leaving.

After all, at this point, how could Ning Fei not guess that the current difficult situation was Duan Yunhong’s doing? Staying here would not just be a few days of casual rest, but rather watching Duan Yunhong twist the story day by day. What was the difference between that and being directly mocked by Duan Yunhong?

Ning Fei only wanted to know one answer now: “Did you collude with Chong Lin? Did you have him trick me into coming here?”

Duan Yunhong didn’t answer directly, he only said, “You’re so smart, why don’t you guess?”

“Guess my ass!” What was the difference between this and admitting it? Ning Fei sneered: “I don’t know what price he asked of you, but you were clearly tricked, because I’m leaving now.”

“You’re leaving?” Duan Yunhong stared at him, “Aren’t you the awesome debt collector Ning Fei? Aren’t you going to use your eighteen kinds of skills to collect your debt? Are you giving up so easily?”

“I was just asked to assist, essentially it’s still his job.” Ning Fei raised an eyebrow, “Do you think I can’t see the strangeness of this place? I just learned the situation and decided to give up. This isn’t my task, there’s no need to waste my energy for him. The reason I haven’t left immediately is because I originally wanted to be lazy and rest here for a few days, sleeping all day long. But now you’re clearly planning to make me uncomfortable, why would I stay here to let you abuse me? Am I stupid?”

Duan Yunhong frowned and stared at him.

“What, could it be that you painstakingly set up this scheme just to find me, but now you’re upset because I’m not taking the bait?” Ning Fei raised his still-bound hand, patted Duan Yunhong’s face, and said mockingly, “Duan Yunhong, don’t think too highly of yourself. Next time, when the conditions are equal, if I’m happy, I’ll play with you slowly. See you later.”

“…Wait!”

Duan Yunhong suddenly grabbed his hand and said coldly: “Anyway, you want to rest and sleep, isn’t sleeping the same wherever you sleep?”

Ning Fei was stunned for a second before he realized the true meaning of his words: “Are you deaf? Didn’t you hear what I just said? What am I staying here for? To be tied to the bed every day, waiting for you to play with me and mock me?”

Duan Yunhong said: “I can untie you.”

Ning Fei couldn’t understand this man’s thinking: “And then what? Listen to you talk about how Dong Lingyan is messing around with those two women, live-streaming their wedding, and using that to laugh at my incompetence?”

“I’m not that bored.” Duan Yunhong said coldly, “What is Dong Lingyan? A guy who is blinded by lust. Now that things have reached this point, I’m too lazy to pay attention to him.”

“Then why are you keeping me here?” Ning Fei thought about it and there was only one possibility: “Ah, for that, right?”

As he spoke, his gaze drifted downwards. Duan Yunhong was stared at by him, grabbed his chin and lifted his face up: “Why is your mind always filled with this kind of garbage!”

“You’re talking about me? Look at how I’m tied up, isn’t it just to make it easier for you to touch me? And weren’t you just about to force yourself on me without saying a word?” Ning Fei gave a “heh” and said sarcastically, “Besides this, I really can’t think of any other reason you’d keep me here. You know I’m a debt collector and you still say I tricked you, you can’t possibly still want to say those nonsense words, right?”

After a pause, Ning Fei couldn’t help but tease: “Actually, you can’t blame me for always thinking this way, I really enjoy sleeping with you. I was originally hoping to save enough points to go back and play with you… but now it seems there’s no need.”

This time it was Duan Yunhong’s turn to be stunned.

“You… wanted to go back and find me?”

“It’s a vacation, shouldn’t I look for something I enjoy?” Ning Fei didn’t think there was anything shameful in admitting this, “But the nature of it would probably be similar to your planned fling.”

“I already said it wasn’t… tsk, I can’t reason with you, forget it.” As Duan Yunhong spoke, he really untied the ropes and chains on Ning Fei’s hands and feet. “If you want to lie down, just lie here. There are servants in the courtyard, just say something before leaving the mansion. Anything else is up to you.”

“…Huh?” Ning Fei felt that this turn of events was abrupt and inexplicable, and said in surprise, “I didn’t say I was staying!”

“You said you wanted to lie down for a few days, and you also said you wanted to sleep with me.” Duan Yunhong’s hand propped up beside his head, and he looked down at him, “Isn’t staying here the best choice?”

“That’s what I said, but…”

“If you really want to run, then run, but I don’t know why you’d want to run. Are you afraid of me?” Duan Yunhong got up and straightened his clothes. “I have things to do, I’ll come find you later.”

After speaking, Duan Yunhong didn’t wait for Ning Fei’s answer and really turned around and left.

Ning Fei: “…Hey!”

–What is this, so sure I’ll stay?

–And weren’t you just rushing over to mess with me for “that,” now you’re saying you have things to do and you have to leave? Don’t tell me you’re lying to me?

*

In the end, Ning Fei stayed.

Well, definitely not because of that sentence “Are you afraid of me.”

He got up and tidied himself up, and first circled around the room. The setup was much better than the guest room in the Prince’s mansion, and the wooden fragrance that always lingered in the tip of the nose could explain everything. When he reached the door, he pulled it open and it really wasn’t locked.

Outside the doorway, a little girl and a little boy were sitting. They should be the servants Duan Yunhong mentioned. Seeing Ning Fei open the door and come out, the two immediately stood up: “Greetings, Young Master.”

Ning Fei wasn’t pretentious and nodded, then asked the two their names and ages. The little girl said her name was Hong Lian and she was fourteen years old. The boy was a little older, sixteen years old, and his name was Ding He. Although they were not old, they were considered “old-timers” in the General’s mansion and were very familiar with the situation in the mansion.

Ning Fei also asked about the time, and Ding He said it was almost You time (5-7 PM).

–I had lunch and drinks, so I wasn’t knocked out for that long.

Ning Fei calculated in his heart, and then asked Ding He to walk around the mansion with him. There was no way, the three-day guide determined that the internal situation of the General’s mansion was not something that a “general guest” should know, and Ning Fei couldn’t get any useful information, so he could only find someone else to guide him.

Before leaving the courtyard, Ning Fei looked at the sky and asked, “What time does the General’s mansion have dinner?”

“Generally, dinner is served after half of You time, sometimes it depends on the General’s instructions, either earlier or later.” Ding He replied, “If the Young Master wants to eat now, there is a cook in the courtyard’s small kitchen, I’ll go and tell her to make it first.”

Ning Fei was a little puzzled: “This courtyard has a small stove? And it’s actually lit?”

Ding He replied straightforwardly: “The Young Master is an honored guest. The General ordered that whatever the Young Master wants to eat should be made as much as possible, and if it can’t be made, buy it from outside. There must be no negligence.”

Hearing this, Ning Fei inexplicably remembered bringing takeout to Duan Yunhong’s house in the past. Duan Yunhong complained about it, but he didn’t stop Ning Fei from eating, and he even let Ning Fei stuff the leftovers into his refrigerator.

–What exactly does Duan Yunhong want to do by catching me?

This question, let alone Ning Fei couldn’t figure it out, it was estimated that Duan Yunhong couldn’t explain it for a while either. Fortunately, Ning Fei wasn’t a person who was stuck on one thing, so if he couldn’t figure it out, he wouldn’t think about it for now, and he led Ding He from inside the courtyard to outside the courtyard.

And after this walk, without Ding He having to introduce it in detail, Ning Fei himself realized that the courtyard he was arranged in was very strange.

Although the General’s mansion was quite large, it wasn’t luxurious everywhere, but rather had a refined style. Besides Duan Yunhong’s main courtyard, the largest and best was the courtyard of the old lady from back then, but the old lady had passed away for many years, and that courtyard had long been empty. After that, it was Ning Fei’s courtyard.

There were two similar courtyards, but only Ning Fei’s was inhabited. Ding He also said that this courtyard was actually equipped with eight servants, but General Duan said that there was no need for everyone to crowd in front of Ning Fei, so he appointed the most clever Hong Lian and Ding He to guard the door.

The more Ning Fei listened, the more he felt that this was still the forced cohabitation routine!

Moreover, two good courtyards, it really seemed like the living arrangements for the main wife and children…

He couldn’t help but ask: “Where do the other young masters, or rather, the other young masters, live?”

Ding He didn’t understand for a moment: “Young masters? The General hasn’t married yet, there are no young masters in the mansion. There are also no other young masters, but there are some of the General’s deputies who often come during the day, but they only occasionally stay over, and they only stay for a day or two.”

Ning Fei saw that this kid was dazed, so he simply asked directly: “I’m not talking about children and guests, I’m talking about your General not being married, so there should be concubines, entertainers, and the like, right? Otherwise, where does he go to relieve boredom at night?”

Ding He understood this time and was immediately blushed by Ning Fei’s straightforwardness. But he still tried to calm down and replied: “There are no such masters in the mansion either…”

“Hmm?” Ning Fei was a little disbelieving, “Really?”

“Really.” Ding He hesitated for a moment, but still added in a low voice, “Young Master Ning is still the first one to move in…”

–Dragged in is more like it.

Ning Fei complained in his heart, but he didn’t ask any more questions. He was too lazy to explore how these servants viewed the relationship between himself and Duan Yunhong, he was just curious, how did Duan Yunhong usually solve that problem? This person had high standards in that regard and was a little bit of a neat freak. He’s been in this world for at least a year, wouldn’t he find someone stable to play with? If he went to brothels or found the kind of people provided in the camp… Duan Yunhong didn’t seem like the kind of person who would participate in the “sharing economy.”

But even if Ning Fei dared to ask these questions, Ding He might not dare to answer. He wouldn’t make things difficult for the kid.

After walking around the General’s mansion, Ning Fei didn’t run into many people, and this walk ended. Ding He also explained that when the General left, the other soldiers would also leave, so it seemed like there were few people. Usually when the General was there, the mansion was quite lively.

Ning Fei pondered the picture of a group of big men gathered together, all of whom were middle-aged and had figures that were exercised all year round… Staying to watch seemed like a good idea.

He returned to the courtyard and saw that it was already evening, so he told Ding He to prepare dinner. However, as soon as he finished speaking, Hong Lian came over and said: “Young Master Ning, just now the General sent a message, asking the Young Master to go to his courtyard and wait for him to come back and have dinner together.”

These words sounded like a great general’s grace to others, but to Ning Fei, they had a different meaning.

–This person, is still obsessed with making me his subordinate, right?

——————–

The ancient times are fictional! Don’t pursue the settings!