GBT Chapter 34
by Volare“If you dare to run out of the hospital, I’ll break your legs,” Qi Yi Liao said lightly.
Third Brother was in low spirits, in a bad mood, and impatient. Zhang Zhen had just realized this when he suddenly remembered his brother revealing that Xiao Ji had only stayed at Lanmo Mansion for a few minutes last night. He furrowed his brow. If Xiao Ji wasn’t effective, then they would have to find someone else.
It was hard to find someone, increasingly hard.
Should he let Jiang Yan try again? After all, he had been by Third Brother’s side the longest.
Zhang Zhen tentatively suggested, “Third Brother, I know my own body very well. I don’t need to be hospitalized. Just let me out of the hospital. I’ll go to South City to find Jiang Yan for you.”
There was no sound.
Zhang Zhen looked at his phone, which showed the call was still connected. He asked strangely, “Hello? Third Brother?”
What was wrong with Third Brother?
Nothing was wrong with his Third Brother, except there was a butt on his leg.
Round, and very fleshy.
Like a little peach.
That was Qi Yi Liao’s first impression. Nothing else registered. His mental state was extremely chaotic, and his reactions were half a beat slower than usual.
Shen Ji on the other side didn’t move either. He was also stunned.
The only one who was clear-headed was the man in the suit, who exclaimed inwardly. What kind of earth-shattering, torrential, thunderous scene was this?
Run!
He didn’t dare watch this joke.
Otherwise, even if Master Qi showed mercy, Director Shen would kill him to silence him.
The man in the suit tiptoed away.
Jiao Bai was still sitting on Qi Yi Liao’s lap with his back to him. He thought, “Heh heh, as long as I’m not embarrassed, the one who’s embarrassed is…”
No one.
No one is embarrassed for me.
Then I’ll just have to bear it myself.
Jiao Bai, who was so embarrassed he wanted to die, wriggled his butt, leaned his upper body forward, and grabbed the edge of the table with both hands to have some resistance if Qi Yi Liao tried to push him off. He took a breath, picked up Qi Yi Liao’s untouched fried egg, and stuffed it all, the entire thing, into his mouth.
[Warning, the task is to eat the egg, not swallow it! Please follow the task rules!]
So Jiao Bai twisted his face and chewed slowly.
“Bang—”
The old wooden chair crashed to the ground. Shen Ji, in a fit of rage, pulled out his belt and swung it toward the source of his anger.
Qi Yi Liao’s dormant nerve endings were jolted by the loud noise, and he woke up a little. He lowered the hand propping up his head, placed it on the shoulder of the person on his lap, and tried to push him aside.
He didn’t budge.
The hand on Jiao Bai’s shoulder didn’t increase in strength. It was still a restrained, gentlemanly force, but he felt a surge of bloody energy. Even when Shen Ji stepped on his neck, trying to eliminate him as a heretic, it wasn’t this intense.
Jiao Bai believed that if Qi Yi Liao pushed again, he would not only be pushed away and fall to the ground, but he would also hit his head.
Jiao Bai panicked.
In his panic, his mind went blank, and he subconsciously started reciting the Great Compassion Mantra.
Once, Jiao Bai saw the main character shou in a comic reciting the Great Compassion Mantra for his deceased loved ones, and he learned it. He could recite it fluently backwards.
That level of proficiency was mixed with an emotion that was just as instinctive.
—The Buddhist scriptures were wrapped in genuine feelings.
Jiao Bai was sitting with his back to him, so he didn’t know that the corners of Qi Yi Liao’s bloodshot eyes suddenly twitched, and a strange, chilling light surged in his eyes.
The fried egg was already finished, and three minutes hadn’t passed.
Jiao Bai kept reciting the Great Compassion Mantra. The muscles of the legs under his butt were well-behaved and not aggressive, but they made him feel like he was sitting on pins and needles. Besides not being pushed away by Qi Yi Liao, he couldn’t be hit by Shen Ji during the task.
But Shen Ji had already raised the belt in his hand, his forearm bulging with terrifying veins.
Jiao Bai looked at Shen Ji’s contorted face, and without thinking, tears welled up in his eyes: Old Shen Dog, if you hit me, my mission will fail, and I’ll die.
The assistant didn’t say he couldn’t cry.
Jiao Bai’s tears flowed fiercely. He wasn’t faking it; he was truly grieved and indignant.
This was the second time Shen Ji had seen the little dog cry. Unlike the time in the rented house, he wasn’t in pain, but scared, pleading.
Last night, he had seduced Old Chu in front of him. Now, he was sitting on A Liao’s lap in front of him, repeatedly challenging his bottom line. Now he knew to be afraid?
If he was afraid, why didn’t he get up?
Shen Ji was furious, and the force of the belt became even more vicious.
“Shen Ji!” Seeing the belt about to strike his face, Jiao Bai stopped reciting the Great Compassion Mantra and shouted hoarsely.
Shen Ji’s arm wielding the belt froze.
The force and direction of the belt were affected by this, and it barely grazed Jiao Bai’s eyelid, not hitting him.
[Player Jiao Bai’s second mandatory task has been completed.]
Jiao Bai quickly got up from Qi Yi Liao’s lap. His movements were so violent that his ribs hurt, and he gasped repeatedly, almost unable to stand.
At the same time, Shen Ji swung the belt again. This time, he didn’t hesitate at the last moment like before. It was ruthless and fierce, striking Jiao Bai’s arm directly. He cried out in pain and staggered, falling onto Qi Yi Liao.
Shen Ji was about to swing the belt again, but Qi Yi Liao stopped him and said, “Old Shen, ask him questions first.”
“Ask questions?” Shen Ji looked at his old friend of many years, who was as tall as him and, for the first time, showed him a sharp, cold expression. “What does it have to do with you if I teach my little dog a lesson?”
These words were full of provocation, anger, disdain, and even hostility. None of them should appear between this pair of friends.
Qi Yi Liao frowned.
Shen Ji slammed the belt hard on the dining table, causing a series of alarming clangs.
The exquisite tableware was scattered, some falling to the ground and shattering.
Cold, white light shone down, reflecting the opposing figures of the leaders of the South Shen and West Qi families on the fragments.
“He’s being cheap, what about you?” Shen Ji pulled Jiao Bai, who was still being supported by Qi Yi Liao, toward him, pinching his chin and questioning Qi Yi Liao, “You just let him sit on your lap?”
Qi Yi Liao’s temperament had been within his control all these years. A small accident occurred last night, and now this incident was undoubtedly adding fuel to the fire. He glanced at the child who was about to faint and said to his old friend, “Calm down.”
Qi Yi Liao, who said these words, had eyes that were redder than Shen Ji’s due to his own reasons, so he wasn’t very persuasive.
However, his posture was indeed calm.
Shen Ji threw the person in his arms away and coldly yelled at his old friend, “What did you say to me at Lan Yi Zhai?”
Qi Yi Liao pinched his throbbing temples and lowered his voice, “I have no interest in him.”
He felt that this situation was absurd, so to reassure the seriously abnormal Old Shen, he emphasized, “Not now, not in the future, never will, okay?”
Shen Ji found it amusing to hear this. Besides amusement, he also felt a kind of anger and helplessness that some secret had been discovered. His chest heaved violently: “You don’t need to make such a vow to deal with me. He’s just a dog. When I’m tired of playing with him, you can have him.”
Qi Yi Liao sat back in his chair: “Old Shen, you’re not in the right state. I advise you to calm down and not do something you’ll regret.”
“Regret?” Shen Ji’s throat tightened, his face full of arrogance. “I never regret anything.”
Jiao Bai’s consciousness was drifting. He was about to die when he suddenly received a slap.
In all his life, only his aunt had hit him twice, and he had later found opportunities to retaliate.
His aunt was a woman, untrained, and didn’t exercise. Her strength was not on the same level as that of a ruthless, well-trained, muscular man who exercised regularly.
That slap numbed half of Jiao Bai’s face, and his vision went black. His jaw was trembling. During his time imprisoned at Shang Ming Yuan, he had deliberately not trimmed his nails neatly. At this moment, he clutched the edge of the table, his nails turning up, drawing blood, which, along with the blood from the corner of his mouth, overflowed.
Jiao Bai was numb with pain. He calmly glanced at Shen Ji.
Shen Ji suddenly sobered up. All the anger seemed to be tightly covered, burning in his veins. The look he had seen during the car accident was like a handful of snow to him—not large, not heavy, not cold, just surprising.
At this moment, the young man looked at him the same way as that time, except it was like a snow-capped mountain pressing on his heart, suddenly freezing it.
Jiao Bai had severe dermatitis, and he couldn’t be exposed to direct sunlight. His skin was almost transparently white and very fragile.
After Shen Ji slapped him, the handprint on half of his face was shocking.
But he didn’t look the least bit pained or resentful, nor did he seem embarrassed or helpless. He just looked at Shen Ji like that, his eyelashes still bearing traces of tears.
Shen Ji looked at Jiao Bai across his old friend. His breathing deepened, and after a few moments, he looked away.
Pikachu shrank his entire body and didn’t dare to raise his head.
The white cat slightly raised its neck, which was constricted by thin wire, and half-closed its golden eyes, as if watching a farce.
It was indeed a farce.
The scene unfolding before him seemed to carry a voice, a voice that said in Jiao Bai’s ear,
—The moment you stepped into this dog-blood comic, you became part of the dog-blood.
Jiao Bai laughed. A part of the dog-blood, huh?
Alright, I get it. I’m going to spill dog-blood too, so let’s spill it, damn it.
He spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, supported himself on the table, and slowly straightened up. His legs shook, unable to support him, and he collapsed to the ground.
That sound was nothing compared to the chair falling, but Shen Ji’s hand, which still seemed to be stained with Jiao Bai’s body temperature, trembled. He had slapped him without thinking, and now too many emotions were crashing into his heart. His self-defense system instantly opened, prompting him to take half a step back and turn to leave without looking back.
He strode away, his broad back somewhat panicked.
Qi Yi Liao looked at the chaotic restaurant, then lowered his head to gaze at the child, who was clearly covered in old and new wounds and in a difficult situation with no chance of winning, but was still full of vitality. He leaned back slightly against the chair and tapped the table with his fingers for a while, not knowing what he was thinking.
Two or three minutes later, a forefinger pressed the button at the corner of the table.
Aunt Liu, who had heard the commotion and waited around the corner for half a day, went over as soon as she received the instruction. She picked up the person on the ground without any effort.
This body was too light.
Aunt Liu couldn’t fathom the thoughts of the person in the chair: “Sir, this…”
Qi Yi Liao didn’t say anything.
So Aunt Liu held her breath and didn’t make a sound.
After an unknown amount of time, a indifferent voice rang out in front of the dining table: “Put him in the guest room, call the doctor, and notify his master of the examination results.”
Jiao Bai fainted from the pain. He didn’t stay unconscious for long before waking up.
The first thing he did upon waking up was check his activity level.
Upon checking, Jiao Bai cursed loudly. Shen Ji’s activity level had dropped from 49.7 to 40. He blinked, and it dropped another 2.6.
The straight decline in activity indicated that Shen Ji was maintaining his inner order.
Shen Ji seemed to realize that something was about to escape his control, which was something a high-ranking person would never allow. So he took measures.
He was self-cleansing his sexual interest in Jiao Bai.
Jiao Bai coldly stared at the old thing’s activity level. He would see how low the other party’s activity level with him would drop.
Soon, Shen Ji’s activity level dropped to 1.3 and stopped.
This meant that he had cut off all the variables that were affecting his life trajectory, sorted out his emotions, and restored himself to his usual cold-blooded ruthlessness.
Jiao Bai wasn’t at all alarmed. He was very confident and calm.
Even though he himself couldn’t figure out why he was sure that Shen Ji’s activity level would rise again, and soon.
Jiao Bai looked at Qi Yi Liao, who was ranked first. His activity level had changed from 0 to 2.9.
This increase made Jiao Bai very happy and surprised. He had thought it would only be 0.001.
It definitely wasn’t his butt that had worked.
It must have been the Great Compassion Mantra.
For more factors, Jiao Bai would have to wait for Qi Yi Liao to come to him for an explanation.
Jiao Bai lay in bed, counting the crimes Shen Ji had committed against him. He found that there were too many to count, so he just wrote down the physical injuries he had suffered.
First, he had kicked his legs, forcing him to kneel, serve him by putting on his shoes, and press on his injured coccyx. Then, after he broke his ribs, he had picked him up, dragged him to the ground, all the way to the door, and dragged him downstairs.
Later, he stepped on his neck, pulled his hair, and threw him.
And today,
He had whipped him with a belt and slapped him.
Shen Ji was dead.
Jiao Bai thought that the old thing was a dead man to him.
“You damn wait for me!” He would repay them one by one, doubled, no, tenfold.
Jiao Bai’s brain was congested, and his breathing was rapid. Now he hoped that Shen Er’an would follow the original plot and become a slag gong.
Because only when Shen Er’an seized power and rose to the top would Shen Ji’s ending be like that in the comic.
—In middle age, he would fall ill and be unable to get out of bed, with no one to bring him water, eking out the rest of his life.
With the reminder that a friend was online, Qi Yi Liao knocked on the door and walked in.
Jiao Bai breathed a sigh of relief. There was still the step of knocking on the door, indicating that Qi Yi Liao was still in okay condition. At least better than he was this morning.
Sure enough, the bloodshot in Qi Yi Liao’s eyes had faded a lot. He had just taken a shower and hadn’t dried himself much. Water was dripping from his temples and hair. The gray bathrobe was a bit damp, vaguely outlining his lean physique, but it gave people a strong sense of abstinence.
He looked somewhat like he did at Di Ye at that time.
Qi Yi Liao only took a few steps closer, and Jiao Bai felt a chill from him. Jiao Bai suspected that he had taken a cold shower, and for a long time.
His hands, hanging at his sides, were pale from being soaked in cold water and were a bit wrinkled.
Qi Yi Liao didn’t get close to the bed. He stopped a little distance away: “Xiao Bai, can you talk?”
Jiao Bai’s voice was very dry: “Yes.”
There was no hint of coercion in Qi Yi Liao’s tone: “Explain your behavior this morning.”
Jiao Bai hesitated: “Director Qi, do you believe in ghosts and gods?”
Qi Yi Liao didn’t change at all.
However, the white cat opened its eyes.
He believed it!
Jiao Bai carefully controlled his facial expressions. He had made the right move, and it wasn’t a random one. He had guessed that way based on the meditation room, the Diamond Sutra, the cemetery, the cold ancient castle, and the unpredictable, perverted homeowner. He was definitely taking a gamble.
“I didn’t know what I was doing at all.” Jiao Bai recalled as he spoke, making a confused and frightened look. “I might have been…” He looked at Qi Yi Liao and said the three words with difficulty, “Possessed by an evil spirit.”
Qi Yi Liao grabbed his wet hair and spoke in a tone like he was concerned about a child’s studies: “Possessed by an evil spirit?”
“Yeah.” Jiao Bai swallowed. “There’s a rumor in my hometown that if a person is physically weak, they will be possessed by dirty things.”
His face was very pale, and so were his lips. “When Director Shen grabbed the belt to hit me, I had just regained consciousness. At that time, my body couldn’t move, and my mind was a mess. I cried and shouted his name, and when I regained control of my body, I realized that I was sitting on your lap and seemed to have eaten your egg. I immediately left you.”
“I’m sorry, Director Qi. I don’t know why this happened.” Jiao Bai was very embarrassed and flustered. “I’ve never encountered this kind of thing before.”
In other words, this only happened after he came here, and it had something to do with his home’s feng shui.
As for what relationship, he could figure it out himself.
After Jiao Bai finished speaking, he lowered his eyes and waited for the result. He didn’t know if Qi Yi Liao believed it, but he certainly didn’t.
He never thought he was an actor.
Because actors had to have a strong enough sense of conviction, and he didn’t.
If he didn’t believe it himself, how could others believe it?
The room was silent.
Jiao Bai lifted his eyelids to look at the white cat. Its head seemed to have stretched forward, staring straight at him.
Qi Yi Liao believed it again?!!!
Jiao Bai turned his head to look at the cat master. Qi Yi Liao was still standing in place, his wet hair was a bit messy from being grabbed, and water marks ran down his brow bones to his jaw, falling on his slightly moving Adam’s apple. His deep gray eyes were half-closed, and the whole person was like a corpse sinking into the deep sea, silent.
Everything seemed eerie and dangerous.
Jiao Bai took a small breath. This was a bit different from what he had imagined after seeing the white cat’s reaction.
He couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
Jiao Bai knew that Qi Yi Liao was looking at him, just like the white cat.
Even if the other party didn’t raise his eyes.
At this moment, Qi Yi Liao walked step by step to the bed and straightened the blanket: “Then how do you feel now?”
Jiao Bai said, “Just tired. I feel like I have a bit of neurasthenia.”
“Neurasthenia,” Qi Yi Liao leaned over, looked at him for a moment, and said gently, “I’ll call a psychiatrist over to see you this afternoon.”
Jiao Bai was very calm. Let him see. Could a psychiatrist tell that he was a soul from another world?
“Old Shen has left for South City. I can’t ask too much about your matter with him,” Qi Yi Liao said. “You handle it yourself.”
Jiao Bai closed his eyes, looking like he was very powerless with the current situation. As long as he didn’t rush, the one who would be anxious was the old dog.
A drop of cold liquid fell on Jiao Bai’s face. Before he could open his eyes, he heard a voice, “Who taught you that version of the Great Compassion Mantra?”
“What Great Compassion Mantra?” Jiao Bai asked blankly. He was possessed by an evil spirit at the time, so he didn’t know.
By the way, from what Qi Yi Liao meant, there were many versions of the Great Compassion Mantra. The version he recited interested the other party, so he gave him an activity level of 2.9?
A few more drops of water fell from Qi Yi Liao’s hair, which he casually wiped away. Under his eyelids was the child’s face, which was still very swollen, and his hand was pressed on the blanket.
It was thin and white, with needles stuck in the back of his hand. The skin in that area was blue and purple. There were red lines in several of the upturned nails on his five fingers. The sleeves were rolled up a bit, revealing a small strip of bloodstains from being whipped by the belt.
Qi Yi Liao’s lips, which lacked warmth, twitched extremely subtly.
Jiao Bai pulled the sleeve of that hand down, seemingly feeling embarrassed.
Qi Yi Liao didn’t seem to care about Jiao Bai’s small movements. He turned his head and glanced at the IV drip: “Xiao Bai, the doctor said you can’t move for the time being. I’ll take care of you here. After half a month, we’ll see what Old Shen says.”
Jiao Bai pursed his lips: “Thank you.” He knew his body, and he really couldn’t move.
“Press the bell if you need anything.” Qi Yi Liao went out, closing the door behind him. The warmth in his eyes disappeared instantly when he saw the figure at the end of the corridor.
Zhang Zhen pushed his wheelchair over. A circle of gauze was wrapped around his head, and there were some scars on his face. A layer of stubble had grown on his chin. His gaze was very firm, and he was clearly prepared to be scolded.
During the phone call this morning, he had heard the commotion on Third Brother’s side but couldn’t figure out what was going on. Aunt Liu didn’t reveal anything when he called her. He looked for Chen Yiming, but the other party simply didn’t answer.
Zhang Zhen endured until noon and, with the help of his two brothers, left the hospital and came here.
“Third Brother, let me ask before you scold me.” Zhang Zhen didn’t push the wheelchair over, keeping a safe distance. “Why did you quarrel with Director Shen this morning?”
Qi Yi Liao was noncommittal: “We didn’t quarrel.”
Zhang Zhen thought, that was enough.
Director Shen and Third Brother had been friends for so many years. When had he ever become so angry and confrontational with Third Brother?
Zhang Zhen sorted out what he had heard. Director Shen’s little dog had been cheap, sitting on Third Brother’s lap. That little dog seemed to have called Director Shen by his first name.
Director Shen was unreasonably unprecedented and had lost his mind. He was so angry that he forced Third Brother to make those ridiculous promises.
Third Brother was also a little abnormal. He had forgotten to hang up the phone and only hung up later.
Zhang Zhen didn’t know what happened after that.
Seeing that Third Brother seemed to have heard something, he turned and walked toward the room he had just come out of. He curiously pushed his wheelchair closer.
Jiao Bai was lying in bed, recalling the most dog-blooded, abusive, and tragic comics he had ever read, silently shedding tears. He was venting his negative emotions. He would be fine after crying.
When the friend online reminder rang, he was truly sad and couldn’t control his emotions.
So when the door was opened from the outside and two friends came in, they saw his face covered in snot and tears.
Jiao Bai: “…”
He had escaped social death this morning, but now he couldn’t escape it and died on the spot.
A storm raged in Zhang Zhen’s heart. He recognized the youth on the bed, who was crying very ugly and had a very swollen face, without much effort and guessed that the other party was Director Shen’s little dog, Wang something.
Because in all his life, only one person had ever called him “little brother.”
Hadn’t the Shen family thrown this person away like trash a few months ago and picked Qi family’s youngest child? How did the head of the family pick him back up?
And give him special treatment.
Director Shen had actually brought him when he came from South City, even bringing him when he came to Third Brother’s house. He was even angry with Third Brother for his sake.
This was too…
Zhang Zhen couldn’t think of an accurate word to describe it. It was too shocking.
“A Zhen.”
Zhang Zhen heard Third Brother’s call. He thought Third Brother wanted him to notify Aunt Liu to throw out the person who was crying and dirty.
Zhang Zhen was about to go find Aunt Liu when he heard Third Brother say,
“Give him a tissue.”