Chapter 25: Sweet Candy and the Meaning of “Daddy”

Officially published on Jinjiang.

“Wow, what are you all doing gathered at the study do—?”

Before Lu Yubai could finish speaking, Mu Jingyi covered his eyes with one hand and pushed him out the door.

“Yubai, go mind your own business.”

He glanced at Pei Yu, who was standing at the doorway watching the show, and shot him a warning look.

“You’re not allowed to look either.”

That alpha’s possessiveness was not to be underestimated.

He forcefully drove the other two alphas away from the door, refusing to let them see such a tempting little kitty.

Pei Yu smiled without saying anything.

He patted Mu Jingyi on the shoulder, walked past him, grabbed the hand of the culprit little fox, and dragged him away from the scene.

“Aren’t you going to thank me?”

The pink-haired fox tilted his head and smiled as he passed by Mu Jingyi.

“You alphas—Yubai’s a blockhead, Professor Pei’s a blockhead, and President Mu is the biggest blockhead of all. My method works…”

Before he could finish, Pei Yu covered his mouth and dragged him away without another word.

Mu Jingyi sighed quietly.

He shut the study door tightly and even locked it.

“Kitty, don’t listen to his nonsense. That fox and my friend didn’t meet through any proper channel.”

At some point, Mu Jingyi had grasped one end of the red silk ribbon.

Even as he spoke, he had no intention of letting go.

Ning Jiu lowered his eyes to his hands and tilted his head innocently.

“Doesn’t Daddy like it?”

Perhaps the fox had really taught him seriously.

Or perhaps Ning Jiu was truly learning with sincerity.

When the kitty called him “Daddy,” his voice was soft and slightly unstandard in English, making it sound even more clingy.

Compared to calling him “sir,” it carried a bright and obvious seduction.

Mu Jingyi’s throat tightened.

His voice turned hoarse.

“Kitty, don’t call me that…”

His grip on the red ribbon tightened as if trying to restrain the surging emotions within him.

Those two “Daddy” calls had completely struck somewhere deep inside him.

“Why can’t I?”

The kitty stepped closer, shortening the distance.

The ribbon that had been taut bent into an arc.

“Daddy clearly likes it…”

In Mu Jingyi’s eyes, the kitty seemed to be flirting without understanding anything.

That innocent look made him feel guilty no matter what he did, like he was bullying a small kitten.

Although that guilt often made him excited.

He could not deny that he wanted to bully this dangerously probing little cat.

“Do you even know what ‘Daddy’ means? And you’re calling it so casually.”

He lightly tapped Ning Jiu’s nose, making the cat ears flip to the side.

“I know! It means closer than ‘sir.’ I want to be more important than someone who just calls you ‘sir’.”

Ning Jiu repeated the words he had practiced many times in front of Hua Che.

“I’m not satisfied with a relationship where I can only call you ‘sir.’ If you don’t like ‘Daddy,’ then I’ll call you ‘Master.’ Anyway, anyone can call you ‘sir.’ I don’t want to.”

Seeing Mu Jingyi silent, he leaned forward and pressed his chin against his chest.

“Master…”

His bright blue eyes blinked, ears twitching.

He had no technique at all.

It was pure feline instinct.

And that instinct alone was enough to make someone lose their mind.

In the quiet study, Mu Jingyi took a sharp breath.

The “Alpha Ethics and Etiquette” lessons he had memorized could barely restrain his impulses.

If this were not Lu Yubai’s house, he would have already pinned the kitty down.

“Did Hua Che teach you this too?”

Mu Jingyi asked patiently.

“Don’t worry about that. Pick one first.”

For once, the little kitty was stubborn.

Mu Jingyi sighed.

“Even if a little kitty gets tricked by a fox, he wouldn’t know it. I’ll tell you what ‘Daddy’ means and what ‘Master’ means.”

He shed his usual gentle and guiding demeanor.

A dense net of control seemed to form around him as he stepped closer, his gaze lowering with oppressive force.

The kitty retreated step by step until he was pressed against the bookshelf.

“Are you afraid?”

Mu Jingyi braced one hand against the shelf.

He had never shown this side to the kitty before.

Yet he could not bring himself to force someone whose eyes were filled with fear.

He cupped Ning Jiu’s trembling cheek.

“You’re this scared, yet you still act brave without thinking about the consequences.”

His self-control was visible in that moment.

He wanted to hug him.

To kiss him.

To make his kitty fall apart in his arms.

“You won’t hurt me,” Ning Jiu whispered softly.

“So what is Daddy? And what is Master?”

“I would do things you don’t like.”

“How does Daddy know I wouldn’t like it?”

He called “Daddy” again and again.

His pale face flushed pink before anything else.

His cat tail swayed restlessly.

Mu Jingyi leaned in.

He shielded the back of Ning Jiu’s head with his palm so he would not hit the shelf.

He held the kitty’s face and kissed him.

This time, he did not ask for permission.

Even when he felt the hands pushing at his shoulders and the lips trying to avoid him, he still kissed him firmly.

The soft whimper melted into the deep and forceful kiss.

Their lips pressed together.

Without pheromones, everything felt especially clear and sharp.

“Kitty, be good. Open your mouth.”

The suppressant candy Hua Che had given Ning Jiu had not fully melted under his tongue.

He turned his head away, refusing to let Mu Jingyi deepen the kiss.

The resistance only provoked him further.

“If you don’t like it, then don’t call me that again.”

Ning Jiu’s ears perked up in alarm.

He remembered Hua Che’s warning.

He could not be rejected.

Desperate, he wrapped his arms around Mu Jingyi’s neck.

“Don’t… it has to be Daddy. Let me call you Daddy…”

And so Mu Jingyi’s last shred of rationality disappeared.

“Daddy wouldn’t stop just because you ask.”

Daddy would coax.

But Daddy would not stop.

Ning Jiu lifted his chin.

“If it’s Daddy… what would you do?”

He was kissed again before he could say more.

The red ribbon wrapped around Mu Jingyi’s hand.

He pulled the kitty into his arms and kissed him fervently.

The candy melted between them, sweet and warm.

Sugar and the faint taste of blood mingled when the cat’s barbs grazed his tongue.

Sweet and metallic intertwined in their first kiss.

When Mu Jingyi finally pulled away, a thin thread of blood trailed between them.

Ning Jiu collapsed weakly in his arms, breathing hard.

“Sir…” he murmured, stubbornly refusing to say Daddy again.

Mu Jingyi kissed the corner of his tear-wet eyes.

“Why not call me Daddy anymore?”

“Sir went crazy…”

His lips were swollen.

“Your tongue was bleeding and you still wouldn’t stop.”

“If I stop when you call me ‘sir,’ and I don’t stop when you call me ‘Daddy,’ then isn’t that different?”

Mu Jingyi rested his chin on the top of the kitty’s head.

“You’re right. Daddy is closer than sir. Do you want to be close to me?”

“Yes.”

“Then call me Daddy. Daddy will cherish you.”

The kitty finally smiled.

“Hua Che was right. Daddy would agree.”

Mu Jingyi rubbed his head fondly.

“My kitty has really learned to be bad.”

Later, when the door opened, four people stood outside.

The fox, Hua Che, smiled knowingly.

“President Mu, was the candy tasty?”

At dinner, the atmosphere was warm and harmonious.

Ning Jiu felt something crack open inside him.

Friends.

A word he had never thought he would have.

When he left the factory long ago, his body escaped.

But only now did his heart finally break through the invisible walls.

Late at night, beneath Christmas lights, he walked beside Mu Jingyi in the cold air.

“How did today feel?” Mu Jingyi asked.

“Very good. Everyone is nice.”

Mu Jingyi stopped and looked at him.

“I can’t give you back what the world took from you. But I’ll try to give you what I can. Warmth. Food. Connections. I’ll try to be a qualified Daddy.”

Ning Jiu slipped his hand into Mu Jingyi’s coat pocket and held his hand tightly.

“Daddy… the world doesn’t owe me anything.”

He lowered his gaze to the reflection of the streetlight on Mu Jingyi’s shoes.

“From the moment I left the factory and met you, the world stopped owing me anything at all.”