PBMM CH13

This was the last night they would spend in this rural mountain village. Although he couldn’t see anything, lying against the man’s broad chest, He Qing felt his entire being settle into peace.

So when the man’s kisses fell upon his cheeks like a gentle drizzle, he merely held the man’s arm tightly in shy modesty, quietly accepting his advances.

His clothes were removed. Looking down at the teenager bashfully awaiting his touch, Lin Cheng leaned in.

[System, Golden Millet Dream.]

[Yes, Host.]

He Qing wrapped his arms around the man’s firm, muscular arms with a touch of regret. Honestly, he quite liked him, but what could he do when this was merely a mission?

He really felt a little conflicted~

As the man’s kisses showered down densely, He Qing, while enjoying it, felt something was slightly off. After the two became thoroughly entangled, he began to panic a little, right up until their grand, harmonious consummation was completely fulfilled—at which point the eyes beneath his eye mask snapped wide open.

[What is going on? We did it for real? System!! Did you use the Golden Millet Dream or not?]

No response.

And so, for the very first time, He Qing spent a night being flipped back and forth like a pancake.

——

[I am like a broken ragdoll that has been completely ruined, collapsing on the bed aching all over and barely clinging to life. That heartless man vanished without a trace after using me up…]

[Host, the system detects that your mental fluctuations are exceptionally thrilled.]

Unforgivingly exposed by the system, He Qing still maintained his ‘too weak to get out of bed’ posture, sprawled on the mattress: [What happened last night? Where did you run off to, and why didn’t the Golden Millet Dream work?]

[Due to unknown reasons, the Golden Millet Dream was ineffective,] the system replied with utter bluntness. [Due to censored, harmonized content last night, the system automatically entered the dark room.]

Before He Qing could say another word, it added directly: [Although the Golden Millet Dream was ineffective, the deducted points will not be refunded by the system.]

Seeing the system act so shameless, He Qing knew he wouldn’t get anything useful out of it, and he couldn’t be bothered to waste his breath. Recalling last night’s fierce battle, he licked his lips with a hint of relish.

This Lin Cheng really suited his tastes. What a pity.

Lin Cheng carried a bowl of porridge in through the door, only to see the teenager, hearing the noise, cautiously prop himself up. With his gauze-covered face turning toward him, he called out softly and bashfully, “A-Chi, you’re back.”

Hearing that name, Lin Cheng’s steps paused for a brief second, but he quickly walked over carrying the bowl of porridge as if nothing were amiss. Sitting down by the bedside, the man naturally brushed his lips against the boy’s cheek and carefully fed him the porridge.

With a rosy complexion, the obedient teenager finished the porridge and asked somewhat reluctantly, “A-Chi, do we have to go back?”

These past few days had been the happiest days of his life since birth. Even though he couldn’t see anything, having A-Chi by his side made him feel truly blissful.

The man stroked his head. Seeing the intimate marks peeking out from the teenager’s beautiful collarbones, his distinctively-knuckled large hand couldn’t resist gently grazing over them. Suddenly having his collarbone touched, the sensitive He Qing shrank back a bit, murmuring bashfully, “It tickles…”

His shy reaction caused the man’s gaze to darken. He couldn’t resist leaning down to mingle his breath with the teenager’s.

He Qing submissively accepted it. Although he was always easily embarrassed, this was his lover after all. His arms held the man dependently, his nose filled with the floral fragrance of lavender, with a faint trace of tobacco smoke lightly tingeing the air, intoxicating anyone who smelled it.

Wait!

Tobacco smoke?

He Qing’s body froze violently. A-Chi hated the smell of smoke; he would never smoke!

The person on top was still pressing down, kissing him wantonly. With trembling hands, He Qing tore off the eye mask.

Sensing something wrong with the person beneath him, Lin Cheng lifted his head, only to see the teenager staring at him in disbelief, his face draining of color in an instant.

“A-Qing…” He reached out, wanting to stroke the boy’s pale face.

“Don’t touch me!!”

The usually docile teenager suddenly whipped his head away, his watery eyes glaring at him with panic and hatred. “Get off me!! Get away!!”

The sweetness in the air vanished completely. He Qing’s lips trembled uncontrollably, and the corners of his eyes were rimmed in red, yet he stubbornly refused to show any weakness. Tears swirled in his eyes, refusing to fall. His misty eyes frantically searched the room: “Where is A-Chi? Where did you hide A-Chi! A-Chi!! A-Chi!!!”

His heart felt as if it were being pricked by countless needles. Lin Cheng’s fists clenched tightly, and he spoke the cruel truth: “There is no Lin Chi. There never was from the start.”

Looking at the instantly stunned boy, he said in a cold voice, “These past few days, it has always been me.”

Looking at the dazed teenager, even knowing He Qing couldn’t possibly accept him, a tiny sliver of hope still lingered in Lin Cheng’s heart. He looked at the boy almost pleadingly, his deep, magnetic voice—so completely different from Lin Chi’s—trembling slightly: “A-Qing… weren’t you very happy these past few days? You said that being with me made you feel so blissful, so glad. You even said… that you loved me…”

Ignoring the teenager’s frantic struggles, under He Qing’s panicked gaze, he grasped his hands tightly, trying to convince him: “I will love you, dote on you, A-Qing…”

“Get away from me!!!” The teenager’s voice cracked. He wildly shook off those hands, his gaze at the man full of loathing: “You make me sick!!”

The person he loved had always been A-Chi. This man had merely deceived him. He had to escape! He had to go find A-Chi!!

Watching the panicked teenager scramble to get out of bed, the expression on Lin Cheng’s face chilled. Dispensing with his pleading demeanor, he sat up rigid and straight. “I make you sick? Then do you know who sent you into the bed of someone as sickening as me?”

He Qing’s movements froze. He looked back in disbelief. A cruel arc curved at the corner of Lin Cheng’s lips as he enunciated each word: “It was Lin Chi.”

“I traded thirty percent of the company shares to get you from his hands.”

The blood in He Qing’s entire body turned to ice.

He felt himself trapped in a warm embrace, while the man’s magnetic voice whispered like a demon by his ear, “He never loved you at all. He will marry someone else, he will abandon you.”

“If he loved you, how could he ever give you up?”

“…No… I don’t believe you… A-Chi, A-Chi would never…” He Qing desperately wanted to believe Lin Chi, but scene after scene from before the surgery flashed through his mind. Everything he had never thought deeply about now lay bare before him: the secret gesture that was supposed to belong only to the two of them, Lin Chi’s sudden surgery, and… the gaze Lin Chi directed at him before the operation.

Back then, He Qing thought it was worry, but looking back now, it was clearly guilt!

Even with everything laid bare before him with nowhere to hide, He Qing was still unwilling to believe it. His lips were ghastly pale, trembling violently: “I don’t believe it… I don’t believe it…”

“A-Chi said he loved me… He said he would bring me happiness, that he’d stay by my side forever… You’re lying to me, you’re making all of this up to deceive me…”

The teenager’s mental state was bordering on complete collapse. Lin Cheng soothingly patted his back, yet the words coming from his mouth cruelly severed every last shred of hope: “He lied to you. He never loved you at all. For just a handful of company shares, Lin Chi abandoned you without a second thought. Today is the day of his engagement. He will walk hand-in-hand through life with another woman…”

Feeling warm tears soak through his sleeve, Lin Cheng inhaled the boy’s fragrant hair in satisfaction, his voice impossibly gentle: “If A-Qing doesn’t believe it, then how about I take you to see for yourself?”

“Let’s go see Lin Chi’s engagement banquet, okay?”