Chapter 11: Don’t Move

At this moment, Song Jingyao truly wanted to beat Liang Ming to death and then dig a hole to bury him in.

That idiot’s voice had been so loud he practically saved them the trouble of using speakerphone.

Was he afraid Shen Xiuzhu wouldn’t hear clearly enough or something?

From high school until now, after being legitimately controlled by Shen Xiuzhu for so many years, Song Jingyao had practically developed a conditioned reflex.

Sometimes whenever he planned to do something bad outside, he always felt like there was a gaze watching him from behind.

And getting caught red-handed like this?

His legs were practically weak from fear.

Song Jingyao sat at the head of the bed, completely forgetting about hiding the BL manga now.

The current situation was way more dangerous.

Suppressing his voice, Shen Xiuzhu spoke furiously.

“You skipped work just to hire escorts? Impressive. And what was that about ‘all the losses count as mine’? You’re really generous, huh? Must like that guy a lot.”

He was so angry that he barely even knew what he was saying anymore.

Every sentence reeked of jealousy.

He had practically transformed into a living lemon spirit, wildly envious that someone else could get physically close to Song Jingyao.

That Song Jingyao would smile at them and speak gently to them.

Unlike with him, where Song Jingyao argued against every single thing he said.

Meanwhile, although Song Jingyao hadn’t actually done anything excessive, merely hiring escorts already made him feel guilty enough.

He was panicking too hard to notice anything strange about Shen Xiuzhu’s tone.

All he could think was that the male protagonist’s obsession with cleanliness and desire for control had gone into overdrive and he was seconds away from being murdered.

Shen Xiuzhu really had clenched his fists tightly.

He was furious enough that smoke practically threatened to rise from his head.

But he forcefully suppressed the violent emotions churning inside him, afraid he might do something he’d regret.

Unfortunately, just as he glanced sideways, he noticed something on the back of Song Jingyao’s neck.

There were obvious red marks there.

Shen Xiuzhu’s eyes widened instantly.

Even the corners of his eyes reddened with anger.

He abruptly raised his hand and pressed against Song Jingyao’s neck — more precisely, the red marks there.

“You let him kiss you?!”

Song Jingyao didn’t hear clearly.

All he felt was pain on his neck, and he immediately assumed Shen Xiuzhu had gone crazy with rage and was about to beat him up.

Terrified, he scrambled backward while clutching his neck in disbelief.

“Holy shit! I just hired an escort! Do you seriously have to be this violent?!”

It wasn’t that Song Jingyao was randomly suspecting Shen Xiuzhu.

He knew the plot.

Although Shen Xiuzhu appeared refined and elegant in public, his emotions were actually extremely intense.

When he loved the heroine, he wanted to treasure her in the palm of his hand possessively.

And whenever he dealt with business rivals or cannon-fodder characters, his methods were ruthless without the slightest softness.

Besides, Song Jingyao vaguely remembered reading CEO novels before where cannon fodder characters who dared steal the male protagonist’s woman usually ended up bankrupt at best.

That was already considered socially harmonious.

In other novels?

Some were literally murdered by assassins hired by the CEO.

As though CEOs ruled the world and could casually ignore the law.

Even more absurdly, he once read a CEO novel where the protagonist could literally control wind and rain.

Literal wind and rain.

Whenever the domineering CEO became unhappy, thunder and lightning would strike dramatically from the sky and kill cannon fodder characters on the spot.

At that point, wasn’t he basically no longer human?

Shouldn’t he just switch genres and go cultivate immortality instead?!

Song Jingyao was suddenly yanked forward by his collar and dragged forcefully in front of Shen Xiuzhu.

A cold gaze looked down at him, making his scalp tingle numb.

Then came Shen Xiuzhu’s almost interrogative voice.

“Look for yourself.”

Look?

Look at what?

Song Jingyao looked utterly confused.

He also realized Shen Xiuzhu wasn’t trying to hit him after all.

He just seemed strangely fixated on something.

Following the position Shen Xiuzhu had touched earlier… Song Jingyao obviously couldn’t see the back of his own neck, but when he touched it himself, it felt hot and itchy.

A bad feeling suddenly rose inside him.

He lowered his head and discovered a huge area beneath his neck had turned red, covered in dense little spots.

It was hot and itchy.

Then something clicked in his head.

He hurriedly picked up his phone and called Liang Ming back.

While waiting for the call to connect, Shen Xiuzhu kept pressing and rubbing the back of Song Jingyao’s neck with noticeable force, as though those red marks offended him deeply and he wanted to erase them.

Shen Xiuzhu’s body temperature had always been slightly colder than average.

Meanwhile, Song Jingyao’s entire body felt overheated.

The cool fingers resting against the back of his neck honestly felt… pretty nice.

Song Jingyao couldn’t help letting out a small sound.

He even had the urge to squirm and make Shen Xiuzhu rub somewhere else instead.

If Shen Xiuzhu could scratch the itch for him, that would be even better.

The itching was becoming unbearable, like countless ants biting around his neck.

It was driving him insane.

The moment the call connected, Song Jingyao immediately asked, “Was there mango in the alcohol tonight?!”

Liang Ming sounded like he was still drunk and partying too hard for his brain to function properly.

After a long pause, he finally answered slowly in confusion.

“How would I know? Didn’t you order the drinks yourself, Brother Yao?”

Song Jingyao covered his forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

At this point, the answer was basically confirmed.

He was allergic to mangoes.

As long as he consumed anything containing mango, his body would overheat, his skin would turn red, swollen, and itchy.

And the more he consumed, the worse the reaction became.

After hanging up the phone, perhaps because he had now consciously realized what was happening, Song Jingyao suddenly felt even itchier than before.

Unable to resist, he lifted his hand to scratch.

“You’re having an allergic reaction?” Shen Xiuzhu frowned.

The terrifying anger from earlier instantly vanished, replaced entirely with concern.

He grabbed Song Jingyao’s hand to stop him.

“Don’t scratch. I’m taking you to the hospital.”

“f*ck, it’s itchy as hell! I seriously want to peel my skin off!” Song Jingyao snapped irritably.

He yanked his collar wider open, exposing large patches of flushed skin.

His face was also bright red and slightly swollen.

At that moment, Shen Xiuzhu became infinitely patient.

He soothed Song Jingyao gently and brought him to the hospital.

Because Song Jingyao’s allergic reaction to mango was relatively severe and he had already developed a fever, the doctors kept him overnight for observation just in case.

Song Jingyao lay on the hospital bed after receiving an injection.

The redness and swelling had improved somewhat, but medicine wasn’t magic.

There was no way it would disappear instantly.

His skin was still visibly red and covered with tiny bumps.

Hot.

And itchy.

Distractedly, Song Jingyao thought back to how quickly his body had heated up while reading the BL manga earlier.

So it had actually been because of the allergic reaction.

With such an intense response, he had genuinely thought he was that desperate and horny.

Scared him to death.

Luckily, this whole incident had successfully diverted Shen Xiuzhu’s attention.

Otherwise, with how terrible Song Jingyao had been at hiding things, he would have been exposed in seconds.

f*ck, it was so itchy.

Even though the doctor specifically warned him not to scratch…

He seriously couldn’t endure it anymore.

Under the blanket, Song Jingyao’s hand began moving restlessly toward his collarbone.

Just as he was about to scratch forcefully, Shen Xiuzhu — who had been watching him the entire time — immediately caught his hand.

“You’re not allowed to scratch.”

His tone left no room for negotiation.

Already irritated and spoiled rotten as a pampered young master, Song Jingyao’s temper instantly flared up.

“Not allowed, not allowed! That’s all you ever say! I’m uncomfortable as hell. If you won’t let me scratch myself, then f*cking scratch it for me yourself!”

He was only lashing out because he felt miserable.

He didn’t actually expect Shen Xiuzhu to help him scratch anything.

Honestly, he mostly just wanted Shen Xiuzhu to go away and stop interfering.

Shen Xiuzhu meant well, but when someone felt this uncomfortable, who had the patience to listen to reason?

The fact that Song Jingyao wasn’t throwing objects at people already showed restraint.

“Okay. I’ll help you.”

A calm voice sounded above him.

Song Jingyao froze for a second before he could react.

Then a pair of hands pinned him gently against the hospital bed while the buttons of his shirt were swiftly undone.

Cool fingers lightly brushed across the bumps on his neck.

“Mmh…”

The temperature difference between Shen Xiuzhu’s fingers and his overheated skin created an obvious cooling effect.

Song Jingyao couldn’t stop himself from letting out a soft sound of comfort.

His expression relaxed unconsciously, resembling a cat enjoying being scratched beneath the chin.

But Song Jingyao wasn’t actually a cat.

Even if it felt good, he couldn’t degrade himself this much by letting Shen Xiuzhu scratch his itchiness for him.

What if Shen Xiuzhu accidentally gave him an erection from this?!

“Let go of me! I don’t need your help! I’ll scratch myself!”

Song Jingyao immediately started twisting around and struggling like a fish flopping violently on a chopping board.

But Shen Xiuzhu casually held down his restless shoulder with one hand and flipped him over.

His palm pressed firmly against Song Jingyao’s back.

Effortlessly, he pinned Song Jingyao face-down onto the hospital bed until he couldn’t move.

Only his legs kept kicking around uselessly while he shouted threats about punching Shen Xiuzhu’s face until girls stopped liking him anymore.

Song Jingyao was genuinely angry.

He had absolutely no way of dealing with Shen Xiuzhu’s ridiculous strength.

Wasn’t this guy just an office-working CEO?

How the hell did he still have time to work out enough to become stronger than him?

This wasn’t scientific at all.

The protagonist halo was way too unfair.

Since most of the buttons had already been undone, once Song Jingyao was flipped face-down, Shen Xiuzhu simply tugged the back of his shirt downward.

The clothing immediately slid off dramatically, exposing a huge stretch of reddened back.

A chill spread across Song Jingyao’s spine.

His upper body was practically half naked now.

He was completely dumbfounded.

Wasn’t he just scratching an itch?

How had this idiot Shen Xiuzhu somehow managed to make it feel like he was about to get assaulted instead?

This situation was way too weird.

For absolutely no reason at all, Song Jingyao suddenly felt an intense sense of danger from the universe’s ultimate straight male protagonist.

His scalp tingled numbly.

Then, in the next second, cool fingers brushed gently against the back of his neck once more.

Cooler than before.

And slightly slippery too.

Strangely enough, it immediately eased the unbearable itching.

Behind him, Shen Xiuzhu spoke softly.

“The doctor prescribed ointment to stop the itching. So don’t move around anymore.”

Tormented half-crazy by the itchiness, Song Jingyao failed to notice the subtle change in Shen Xiuzhu’s voice.

It had become low and hoarse, wrapped in an indescribably intimate tenderness.

Gentle enough to practically drip with warmth.