GBT Chapter 38
by VolareJust as he craned his neck back to look at Qi Yi Liao, he discovered… the white cat had drooping eyelids, its blood-stained mouth slightly open.
“Purr… purr…”
The soft snoring came from its mouth.
Not loud, very quiet.
Like nestling against its owner, so comfortable it was blissful, yet also acting spoiled.
Jiao Bai was shocked. This cat had vomited blood all over the place, and the wire on its neck had already dug deeply into its flesh, how could it still sleep?
A friend’s profile picture reflects their inner thoughts.
The cat’s reaction made Jiao Bai realize that Qi Yi Liao’s mood at this moment must be quite good.
So, Jiao Bai seized the opportunity to bring up a question he had started earlier: “Chairman Qi, why did you want me to read to you in the Buddhist hall?”
Qi Yi Liao’s smiling face was reflected in the elevator door: “That place in the Buddhist hall…”
He drew out his tone, not in a way that would cause impatience, only to arouse curiosity, yet people were also intimidated by his power and presence and didn’t dare urge him.
“It’s conducive to calming the mind and cultivating character, suitable for listening to readings.” Qi Yi Liao made eye contact with the person in bed through the elevator door, amiably explaining the knowledge to him, “Especially at night.”
Jiao Bai: “…”
An extra hand appeared on the bed railing, and as a shadow fell, he saw Qi Yi Liao’s eyes, still tinged with blood, but without so much of a fierce look.
“When Uncle listens to readings, he has a few harmless little quirks, did it scare you?” Qi Yi Liao’s tone was very gentle.
Jiao Bai didn’t speak.
The ruler is a little quirk? Admonishment is a little quirk?
You’re a pervert, you say so. Anyway, I can’t be scared, that’s for sure. Even if I am, I have to hide it and cover it up using acting.
At the same time, I have to let this old pervert know that I’m covering it up.
To satisfy the other party’s thrill as a hunter.
“That’s good then.” A laugh rumbled in Qi Yi Liao’s throat, “Uncle knows, Xiao Bai is different from other children.”
Before the words were finished, he straightened up, pushed the bed out of the elevator, his steps leisurely and elegant: “Read more books, your vocabulary is too small.”
The words “vocabulary” made Jiao Bai think of Jiang Yan. He was distracted, and he didn’t know when the bed had stopped in a corridor that looked a lot like the entrance to an operating room.
Jiao Bai craned his neck and realized that Qi Yi Liao, with both hands on the head of the bed, was looking down at him.
Against the light, his face was dark and cold.
“My vocabulary is small.” Jiao Bai said, ashamed, “I need to read more books.”
Qi Yi Liao continued to walk: “Don’t be discouraged, I’ll teach you once, and you’ll master it. With your learning ability and comprehension, you’ll have a lot of room for improvement. Tomorrow I’ll have Auntie Liu bring you a few books, you can start by looking at those.”
“Okay.”
Jiao Bai slumped, and the lights embedded in the wall above him flashed across his vision, not feeling any warmth at all. Even though he was still covered with a blanket, he still felt cold.
He didn’t know if it was caused by the old injury to his tailbone, but being cold was very uncomfortable.
“You’re recuperating here with me, reading some books can pass the time and also broaden your knowledge.” Qi Yi Liao pushed the bed into the guest room, placing it in its original position, and then didn’t make any more moves or speak.
Like a very patient parent, giving their child enough time to recognize reality.
The white cat was still snoring, indicating that its master’s mood remained the same, with little fluctuation, and hadn’t gone from sunny to cloudy.
A subtle guess popped into Jiao Bai’s mind. The white cat’s threat, warning, tearful pain, and weak cries for help weren’t directed at him, but at everyone.
Everyone who appeared in its master’s world.
It’s just that its master kept it very hidden, and no one else could feel its existence, only Jiao Bai was its master’s friend and saw it.
— It regarded him as a lifeline, its last hope.
Jiao Bai came back to his senses, he pursed his lips, revealing his canine teeth: “Chairman Qi is right.”
Qi Yi Liao’s eyes were a little strange: “Xiao Bai, you’re much more sensible than you were at Di Ye.”
Jiao Bai smiled brightly: “People always have to learn to grow up.”
“Then grow up well. Uncle is looking forward to your performance.” Qi Yi Liao considerately pulled the blanket up for him, “Good night.”
As soon as the door closed, the curve on Jiao Bai’s lips disappeared. A different friend, a different personality, the strategy also had to be adjusted accordingly.
He couldn’t provoke Qi Yi Liao like he did Shen Ji, calling him by name, and showing a body full of thorns when the other approached, stabbing him with a handful of blood.
Scratching and clawing were even more impossible.
He couldn’t even imagine it.
Jiao Bai sorted out the information he had about Qi Yi Liao. Buddhist hall, mother, original English books, reading, ruler, Buddhist scriptures…
These points could be combined into a very cliché and melodramatic plot. Many comics had similar things, which were fun to watch, but couldn’t be internalized or deeply investigated, that would be too tragic.
The distortion of the previous generation, the perversion of the next generation.
Everything has a cause and effect.
It seemed that Qi Yi Liao had become a little bit more transparent.
Not very difficult to deal with.
Jiao Bai was embarrassed to keep bragging about it. Qi Yi Liao wasn’t easy to deal with at all.
Just talking about that thirty-second page, he had only read a little more than half of it, it was too difficult.
Jiao Bai was very worried that in the future, when he was working on Qi Yi Liao’s activity, the entire wall of handwritten copies in various languages on the first floor would appear in his hands.
With English, it was just unfamiliar rare words, he could stumble and mumble in his heart for the others, try to read them out, but French, German, Russian, and so on, in his eyes there was only one word — death.
That wasn’t the scariest thing.
The scariest thing was that Qi Yi Liao would gain some kind of perverted emotion from his reading, wanting him to keep reading, for an hour, two hours. And then, his voice would crack, his voice would become unpleasant, and he would be replaced by Qi Yi Liao, with someone else taking his place.
He hadn’t suffered tonight, but it was hard to say what would happen next time.
The white cat had to be more reliable so he could have a better chance of winning.
He had to read books, but also have a rebellious attitude.
When a cat isn’t hungry, it catches mice not to eat, but just to play.
So, does it prefer those that are scared and can’t move, or those that are lively and jump around, able to dodge and hide?
The activity level gave the answer.
Reading a book increased it by 0.3, now it was 3.2.
Although it was increasing very slowly, at least it was moving forward.
Proving that the method wasn’t wrong.
Jiao Bai tilted his head, burying his face in the soft pillow. Jiang Yan and Xiao Ji had god-like voices, but Qi Yi Liao could get tired of even that…
Relying on his voice alone wouldn’t work. He still had to be prepared for anything.
Jiao Bai fell asleep lost in thought. He had a dream. In the dream, he was holding a book and reading aloud, under his feet were mountains of knives, above his head was a sea of fire, on the left was a ruler, and on the right was a building as tall as a tower made of books.
When he woke up, the room was full of books.
Jiao Bai wasn’t exaggerating at all, there was only enough space to put his feet around the bed.
The caregiver sorted out a stack of books, panting as she said: “Mr. Jiao, there’s a little more outside, I’ll move it all in before I come back to help you get up.”
Jiao Bai: “…”
This is what Qi Yi Liao meant by “a few”???
I’d better keep sleeping, this is a dream within a dream, definitely!
Jiao Bai’s daily routine turned into reading, reading, reading.
The caregiver would come every hour to remind him: “Mr. Jiao, you need to rest for a while to relieve eye strain.”
Jiao Bai checked dictionaries and looked at pronunciations, forget it, tired eyes were tired eyes, his life was important. He was more serious than any stage of his school years, and he tried his best to spell out and memorize anything he didn’t know.
Who would have thought that a normal high school student like him would be so diligent during his recovery?
Perfect score in English, easy.
TOEFL and IELTS, it wasn’t impossible.
A beautiful life, just a dream.
Jiang Yan appeared on the fourth day that Jiao Bai was immersed in his studies. He rarely wasn’t wearing a skirt, but instead was wearing a red coat, his flowing wig scattered in front of him, and he was wearing a pair of not too high, not too low, knee-high leather boots.
“Student Jiao, busy studying.” Jiang Yan wandered through a pile of books, clicking his tongue, “I’ve come at a bad time, disturbing you.”
Jiao Bai threw him a bag of persimmon cakes: “Your kindness in giving me books is unforgettable.”
Jiang Yan caught the persimmon cakes and tossed them onto the books: “Stop being pretentious, be practical, mess with me.”
He smiled unrestrainedly: “I can mess with you too.”
Jiao Bai almost sprayed out the strawberry juice at his mouth. Jiang Yan was taller than him, and had abs, and Jiang Jiang was also quite big, could he really be a top? There was no such setting in the original work.
Jiang Yan squatted by the bed, full of affection: “Are you willing to give me a chance to start over?”
Jiao Bai pushed the hand that he had reached into the blanket out: “Unwilling.”
“Heartless.” Jiang Yan sat on the floor, casually picked up a book and flipped through it.
Jiao Bai put the cup on the small table by the bed: “Why haven’t you come these past few days?”
“Miss me?” Jiang Yan turned his back and leaned against the edge of the bed, “Your Yan-ge is busy.”
Jiao Bai couldn’t see Jiang Yan’s face, he could only hear his voice, and he couldn’t hear anything abnormal, but this in itself was already abnormal.
Jiang Yan never spoke to him with his back turned like this.
Jiao Bai frowned. After that night, Qi Yi Liao would still come to see him, ask about his study progress, but never asked him to go up again.
Qi Yi Liao needed a boy with an excellent voice to stand in the Buddhist hall and recite for him.
The third floor couldn’t be empty.
So, it should be Jiang Yan, who had been placed back by Qi Yi Liao’s side, who went up.
With the extent of Jiang Yan’s flirting with him, if he came to Lanmo Mansion, he wouldn’t have missed the opportunity to see him.
A certain answer was about to emerge.
Jiang Yan couldn’t have been beaten, and was afraid that he would find out, so he didn’t come, right?!
Jiao Bai grabbed Jiang Yan’s long ponytail without using much force: “Have you been coming to Lanmo Mansion every night these past few days?”
Jiang Yan chuckled: “Why are you asking about this, want to steal my business?”
Jiao Bai twitched his lips, Little Chili really didn’t have a serious bone in his body. This kind of person seemed to be open to everything on the outside, but it was actually very difficult to get into their heart.
“A few days ago, Chairman Qi asked me to read to him,” Jiao Bai said, “I almost got beaten.”
Jiang Yan disdainfully said: “So stupid.”
Jiao Bai endured the urge to hit him and continued: “I just want to ask you, when you didn’t know how to do it at the beginning, did you tell him the truth?”
“Tell the truth? What truth, teacher, I don’t know?” Jiang Yan’s two red, very kissable lips opened and closed, “Crazy, who dares to sell their stupidity in front of their sugar daddy, just obediently take the scolding.”
“You told the truth?” He gave Jiao Bai a thumbs up, “A warrior.”
Jiao Bai put his hand on his face and took a deep breath. He said he wasn’t beaten, and instead received Qi Yi Liao’s encouragement, probably because he was the first person who dared to say that.
Honesty was something that Qi Yi Liao found refreshing.
“It seems you have another approach,” Jiang Yan said in an envious tone, “I seem to have already seen you lying on the Forbes rich list.”
Jiao Bai: “… I haven’t received a single cent.”
Jiang Yan sympathetically kissed the back of his hand: “Then you’re really miserable.”
The two looked at each other, and somehow both started laughing.
“I’ve read thousands of books.” Jiang Yan stood up, pointing to the books on the floor, “Not much different from what’s in your room.”
Jiao Bai: “Also Chairman Qi’s books?”
Jiang Yan said with great pain: “Bought with my own money.”
“That guy told me that there are houses of gold in books.” Jiang Yan accidentally kicked over a pile of books, and he bent down to pick them up, “It’s a pity, your Yan-ge’s belly is full of ink, but he’s still a duck.”
Jiao Bai remembered a small detail. The last time Jiang Yan came to his place, he knocked the painting frame askew and left it alone, but it was later straightened by Qi Yi Liao.
This time, Jiang Yan knocked over the books, but immediately tidied them up…
Jiao Bai saw Jiang Yan putting the books back, so he asked something: “Have you read Buddhist scriptures?”
“More interrogation!” Jiang Yan flicked his long ponytail, the quality of the wig was really good, you couldn’t tell it was fake at all, he muttered, “I’m done for, I’m done for, okay, I’ll let you have it this time.”
“I haven’t read them, I’ve only copied them.” Jiang Yan didn’t wait for Jiao Bai to speak, and revealed more, “That guy hasn’t been quite right lately, I’m kicked downstairs after only reading two sentences each time. You have to know that the longest time I read was more than an hour, even Mr. Zhang was surprised. I don’t know who can break my record.”
Speaking of this, Jiang Yan glanced at Jiao Bai, he sadly said: “I thought I could collect my salary from Lanmo Mansion until the end of the year, who knew happiness would be so short-lived, I have to find another patron again.”
Jiao Bai didn’t react.
“Jiao Xiao Bai, are you stupid, I’m saying, this is the last time I’m coming to Lanmo Mansion.” Jiang Yan pinched his face, “I’m here to say goodbye to you, baby.”
Jiao Bai’s heart skipped a beat, damn it, Jiang Yan was re-selected by Qi Yi Liao a second time, and he got tired of him after only a few days, so what was he going to do? His future was uncertain.
“Why are you always looking for a new patron,” Jiao Bai asked, smelling a bloody plot, “Does your family owe a mountain of debt?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Jiang Yan’s chin rested on the blanket at the edge of the bed, “My dad died, my mom ran away with someone, my younger brother is an idiot, and I, as his older brother, have a pile of debts on my head.”
The room became quiet.
Jiang Yan pounded the bed and laughed: “Hahaha, Jiao Xiao Bai, you really…”
Jiao Bai interrupted: “I’ll lend you some.”
Jiang Yan was still maintaining a laughing expression, his red lips wide open, tears of laughter in his eyes, but he didn’t make a sound. It was very comical.
“What?” After a long while, Jiang Yan spoke.
“I said, I’ll lend you some.” Jiao Bai reached out his hand, “Give me your phone, I’ll transfer the money to you.”
Jiang Yan looked at the hand stretched out to him, slender and weak, it would break with a light press, he put his face closer and rubbed it with a smile: “Actually, you just want my phone to do bad things.”
Jiao Bai was too lazy to explain, he took Jiang Yan’s phone and started operating.
Two million went out.
Jiang Yan took back his phone, his tongue swept across the inner wall of his mouth, he put the phone into his coat pocket, smiling especially sweetly, but also couldn’t hide his beauty: “Hubby~”
Jiao Bai was like a heartless scum who only gave money and didn’t give his heart: “Get out, get out, get out.”
He didn’t know what was going on, but Jiao Bai felt that Jiang Yan had something on his mind, and there was an invisible weight pressing down on his shoulders, he blurted out: “I’m lending it to you, you have to pay me back.”
“I’ll pay it back, I must pay it back.” Jiang Yan ruffled Jiao Bai’s hair, “Don’t go to the cemetery in the backyard, we little people, do our own duty, don’t go against those powerful families…”
An extra figure appeared outside the door, Auntie Liu was standing there: “Xiao Jiang, it’s time for you to leave.”
Jiang Yan took back his hand that was placed on Jiao Bai’s head, and before he got up, he said in his ear: “Someday if you go to North City, you can look for… never mind, it’s not certain anyway.”
“Farewell.”
Jiang Yan reached into his collar, pulled something out, and threw it on Jiao Bai’s bed, “May God be with you.”
It was a cross.
It lay on Jiao Bai’s chest, through the gray bedding.
Jiao Bai didn’t care about Auntie Liu’s gaze, he picked up the cross and fiddled with it. Jiao Bai didn’t take to heart the liking and intimacy that Jiang Yan showed, he knew that the other party’s teasing was greater than the truth.
In “Broken Wings,” Jiang Yan was an appendage of various sugar daddies, Shen Ji had touched him, hugged him, kissed him, cursed him, beat him, and then brought him back to keep by his side, but in the end, he lost to the official couple of the story, but he was the most vivid stroke in the comic, even when he died, the last point of his life was flamboyant and intense.
Jiao Bai placed the cross on his pillow and continued to read the book he hadn’t finished reading.
That two million, probably couldn’t compare to the breakup fee that the sugar daddy gave Jiang Yan, it wasn’t even a fraction of it.
But it was still a sum of money.
Two million wasn’t two dollars, it could save lives in critical moments.
Jiao Bai lent Jiang Yan that money just to repay him for giving him those English books, as well as the notes in the books.
That night, Jiao Bai encountered a word that Jiang Yan had annotated, he remembered it, and read it out.
Jiao Bai was a person who clearly distinguished between gratitude and grudges.
He avenged his grudges, and repaid his kindness, living clearly and soberly.
After that day, Jiang Yan really didn’t appear again.
Jiao Bai was prepared to be “invited” to the third floor by Qi Yi Liao in the middle of the night, but he didn’t expect Qi Yi Liao to go abroad for a trip.
Before leaving, Qi Yi Liao brought Jiao Bai a wheelchair, the one that Zhang Zhen sat in.
In the warm winter sun, Qi Yi Liao pushed Jiao Bai to the front yard, letting him be surrounded by flowers that bloomed in all seasons.
Jiao Bai wore a mask and a hat, sitting in a wheelchair, looking at the flowers, looking at the blue sky and white clouds, looking at that elegant and profound man in front of the arch.
Putting everything else aside, Qi Yi Liao didn’t have a predilection for torturing the sick.
“Is the air outside good?” Qi Yi Liao didn’t look at Jiao Bai, he was looking at the small bugs on the gray wall.
“It’s good.” Jiao Bai inhaled and exhaled, “It’s not the same level as inside the house.”
“So you see, health is so important.” Qi Yi Liao chuckled and chatted like they were old friends.
That little bug finally crawled to its little nest.
It was going home.
A hand reached over and pinched it to death.
The very small corpse fell to the ground, how fragile.
Qi Yi Liao looked down for a moment, and his leather shoe kicked a little dirt, burying the small corpse.
But in the next moment, he stepped on it.
The mud and the corpse were all crushed under his shoe.
He wiped his fingers with a handkerchief, his voice both gentle and faint: “You’re recovering very well, you can do some activities next month.”
Jiao Bai knew his situation, and the physical therapist Qi Yi Liao arranged for him was very good.
“Xiao Bai,”
Qi Yi Liao’s voice came from the arch, he said, “Read a few pages of a book for Uncle.”
It was too sudden, Jiao Bai only had time to glance at the white cat hanging by its neck, he hadn’t said anything yet, and Zhang Zhen, who had been standing somewhere, sent the book over, his eyes especially complicated.
“Read carefully.” Zhang Zhen whispered his instructions before leaving, the gauze on his head had already been removed, leaving a scar, the beauty hadn’t been destroyed, but there was more of a rough and ruggedly sexy taste.
As soon as Jiao Bai saw the book, he wanted to turn into a butterfly and fly away.
Damn it, it was Buddhist scriptures.
In the style of copied scriptures.
They were quite old, the paper was yellowing and moldy, and he didn’t know what font it was, it was as if he recognized them all, and also as if he didn’t recognize a single word.
Jiao Bai covered his mouth with his mask, stifling a few curses: “Chairman Qi, I can’t understand a lot of these scriptures.”
“If you don’t understand it at first glance, then look at it a second time, a third time,” Qi Yi Liao stared at the little bugs on the wall, watching it bravely climb down along the cracks in the wall, “Put some effort into it.”
Jiao Bai’s hands, shrinking in the sleeves of his furry pajamas, stretched out a few fingers, pinching the scriptures, flipping through them from front to back, they were all in a child’s handwriting, very similar to the handwritten copies of the English books he had read, like they came from the same person’s pen. But there were also some differences.
The English books seemed to be written a few years later, the scriptures were earlier.
Crooked and clumsy.
Jiao Bai glanced at Qi Yi Liao, but the other party wasn’t holding a ruler. This wasn’t the Buddhist hall, there shouldn’t be any lessons with admonishment.
Jiao Bai looked at Qi Yi Liao’s profile picture.
The white cat had cleaned its whiskers very cleanly at some point, its golden eyes were watching him intently, its expression both aloof and cute.
A gust of wind blew, and the flowers nodded at Jiao Bai, and Jiao Bai began to read the scriptures, he read a few sentences and encountered an uncertain word, reading it out by guessing.
“Zhu.” Qi Yi Liao said.
So Jiao Bai corrected himself and reread: “Yu zhu shan gen wu zeng wu jian.” [In all good roots, there is no increase or decrease.]
Qi Yi Liao couldn’t have memorized all the books he wanted others to read, right? Jiao Bai got goosebumps from this guess.
There was only one scripture reciter and one scripture listener in the front yard garden.
Zhang Zhen and the others were all guarding the perimeter.
“Brother Zhen, I heard that Mr. went abroad because of the news about his older brother’s illegitimate son.” One of the brothers said.
Another brother shouted: “Really? Is he going to bring him back to the Qi family?”
“Who knows.”
“Alright, stop worrying about things that don’t concern you, it’s better to practice a few sets of punches and find a wife.”
The second half of the sentence made a group of big men lose air and become dejected.
Zhang Zhen chewed on the grass: “You say…”
Everyone looked over.
“It’s nothing.” Zhang Zhen ignored his brothers’ complaints, he squatted under the low roof in annoyance, Chen Yiming called him every now and then to ask about Jiao Bai, obviously Shen Dong had never let go.
Then why hasn’t Shen Dong come to take Jiao Bai away? It’s been half a month.
Really, hurry up, okay?
Third Brother’s gaze lingered on Jiao Bai more and more.
What was he going to do?
Third Brother and Shen Dong were best friends, don’t do anything just for a little toy…
A gaze came from the garden, passing through the shrubs and heading all the way forward, leisurely landing on Zhang Zhen’s face. The gaze had already passed by, but then returned.
Zhang Zhen sensed it, and he subconsciously met it.
Having just successfully read a passage of scriptures and received Qi Yi Liao’s praise, Jiao Bai, who was casually glancing around to relax, made eye contact with Zhang Zhen.
Jiao Bai pulled down his mask, slightly raised his chin at Zhang Zhen, smiled, and his eyes were especially bright.
Zhang Zhen turned his head away, putting the half-grass at his lips into his mouth, he raised both arms, his fingers crossed behind his neck, his Adam’s apple bobbed, his neck slightly hot.
See, he was just a restless one.
If this kind of person became an exception and stayed by Third Brother’s side for a long time, then Third Brother wouldn’t lack hats all year round.
And they would all be green.