Su Yiran saw that Ting-ge wasn’t speaking and didn’t know what he was thinking about. He seemed a bit down, so Su Yiran reached up and lightly tapped Ting-ge’s forehead.
“Hey, what are you thinking about? Hurry up and unlock me.”

Gu Yuanting instinctively covered his forehead, then looked up at Ranran, only to see Ranran pursing his lips in a smile. His brows and eyes curved gently, a small dimple appearing on his right cheek. He even shook his wrist at him, smiling as he urged, “Come on.”

Gu Yuanting stared at Ranran’s smiling face, momentarily dazed, almost unable to believe it.

This scene was completely different from what he had imagined. Ranran wasn’t angry, wasn’t ignoring him—he was still talking to him as usual, even smiling at him.

“What are you spacing out for? Hurry up and unlock it.” Su Yiran, seeing Ting-ge in a daze, shook his wrist at him again.

Gu Yuanting pressed his lips together and looked at Ranran’s wrist. The black chain was tightly locked around his fair wrist, creating a fragile contrast that made one want to destroy and possess it.

Thinking of last night’s events, Gu Yuanting’s heart became restless. His gaze fixed on Ranran’s bound wrist, his Adam’s apple bobbed, and his eyes darkened, thoughts running wild. He took Ranran’s hand and kissed his fingers.

Unlock it…? No.

After last night’s madness, he was clear-headed again. He knew Ranran hadn’t yet realized that he wasn’t the original person, but since Ranran had found those books, given his intelligence and familiarity with both the original and himself, it wouldn’t take long before he figured it out.

Since things had already come to this, he might as well… go all the way.

If Ranran wasn’t angry now, then he probably wouldn’t be angry in the future and they could live together happily, right? Gu Yuanting began to overreach in his thinking.

Su Yiran could see Ting-ge wasn’t going to unlock him. His temple twitched, and he pulled his hand back from Gu Yuanting’s grip.

Gu Yuanting was still entertaining greedy thoughts when suddenly his palm was empty, and his heart felt hollow. He wanted to grab Ranran’s hand again, but Ranran had already hidden both hands behind his back, not letting him touch.

With his palms empty, those greedy thoughts became like mist—intangible, impossible to realize. When he saw the smile disappear from Ranran’s face, replaced by a stern expression, Gu Yuanting became flustered and at a loss.

Su Yiran asked seriously, “Where did you get these things? Why did you suddenly take them out yesterday? You scared me. When did you secretly start collecting this kind of stuff?”
He was, of course, referring to the chains and handcuffs locking his wrists and ankles.

Facing Ranran’s questioning, Gu Yuanting didn’t dare speak. He lowered his head in panic.

“Was this premeditated? Since when?” Su Yiran asked suspiciously.

Gu Yuanting kept his head down, silent.

Seeing Ting-ge looking guilty, Su Yiran’s brow twitched. He pressed on, “Who taught you this? Now you’ve really achieved something—you’ve learned to play at imprisonment. What exactly do you want to do? Do you know this is illegal? Before I get angry, hurry up and unlock me.”

Gu Yuanting didn’t dare argue back. He stayed silent—and didn’t unlock him.

“…”

Su Yiran was getting annoyed. He was a bit exasperated; after all his talking, Ting-ge neither responded nor acted. He thought for a moment, then stopped speaking, instead sorting through his thoughts, trying to figure out how this had all happened.

Last night, while Ting-ge was taking a shower, he went into the study, opened the locked bookcase, and found a few books Ting-ge had been reading. While he was flipping through them, Ting-ge came out of the shower and caught him. After that… things went wrong.

Su Yiran recalled how Ting-ge had looked at that moment and felt distressed. Thinking of the books’ contents—parallel worlds, string theory, life sciences, mysticism, feudal superstition—what could be the connection?

Ting-ge seemed terrified of him discovering the secret hidden within, which had triggered such an extreme reaction and made him want to imprison him in the room, unable to go anywhere.

What was this secret? It must be the key to Gu Yuanting’s psychological problem.

A flood of thoughts flashed through Su Yiran’s mind. He felt he was close to grasping the crux of it, but there was still a thin veil keeping him from the truth—just one step away from breaking through.

When Gu Yuanting didn’t hear Ranran speaking for a long while, he couldn’t help sneaking a glance at him. Ranran was looking down at the cuffs on his wrists, deep in thought, not sparing him a glance or saying a word.

“…”

Gu Yuanting felt a wave of sorrow and heartache. So, they had finally come to this?

He stood, staggered slightly, and slowly picked up the empty porridge bowl from the nightstand. In a low voice, he said, “I… I’ll go wash the bowl.”

His voice was so soft that Su Yiran, immersed in his thoughts and trying to grasp the elusive key, didn’t hear it.

Ranran didn’t respond. Feeling dejected, Gu Yuanting left with the bowl, as usual locking the door behind him.

Su Yiran was no longer angry at Ting-ge at all. He felt this might be an opportunity—one that could help cure Ting-ge’s illness. But he still couldn’t quite grasp the key point. He decided he should tell Dr. Sun about the situation.

Looking around for his phone, he planned to contact Dr. Sun, but after searching the bed, nightstand, and desk, he found no trace of it.

Where was his phone? Realization hit him, and he was speechless for a moment before sitting on the bed to wait for Ting-ge.

Before long, the lock clicked, and Gu Yuanting came back in holding a fruit plate with neatly cut apple and cantaloupe.

“Ting-ge, where’s my phone?” Su Yiran asked immediately.

Gu Yuanting froze. “I… I don’t know.”

“Impossible. Did you hide it? Give it to me.”

Gu Yuanting stayed silent, walked over with the fruit plate, and speared a piece of apple to feed him, changing the subject. “Just cut it—try some? Sweet and crisp.”

Su Yiran didn’t take the apple. It was obvious Ting-ge had hidden his phone and didn’t intend to return it, cutting him off from the outside world.

Well, if he could go so far as to play imprisonment, hiding his phone to cut off contact wasn’t surprising…

But this wouldn’t do. Su Yiran frowned. He had to use some strong medicine—make Ting-ge unlock him and return the phone. He needed to contact Dr. Sun as soon as possible.

With that in mind, he turned his head away from the apple, lay back under the covers without a word, closed his eyes, and acted like he didn’t want to speak to Gu Yuanting anymore.

Gu Yuanting froze for a moment, the hand holding the apple trembling in midair. After a long pause, he slowly pulled it back.

Looking at Ranran with his eyes closed, ignoring him completely, Gu Yuanting tried tentatively, “Ranran, have some fruit. Apple, cantaloupe—your favorites.”

Hearing Ting-ge’s cautious tone made Su Yiran’s heart ache, but for the sake of the bigger picture, he had to steel himself. He stayed motionless, unresponsive.

Gu Yuanting stood stiffly with the fruit plate. He had expected this outcome and thought he was prepared, but when it truly happened, he realized he had overestimated himself.

Imprisoning Ranran… was nothing like he had imagined. Last night had brought him a brief thrill, but now, with Ranran simply ignoring him, he felt only unbearable pain.

Listless, Gu Yuanting set the fruit plate aside. He looked at Ranran for a while before lifting the blanket and crawling into bed. He wanted to hold him and kiss him deeply, but as soon as he got under the covers, Ranran turned away and moved further to the other side, his back to him, putting as much distance as possible between them.

Looking at Ranran’s distant back, Gu Yuanting suddenly felt as if he couldn’t breathe. His chest rose and fell sharply twice, his eyes reddening. Then, in a sudden motion, he threw back the blanket, sat up, grabbed Ranran’s shoulder, and kissed him fiercely—pressing him down beneath him…