Then I Won't Go

He had not softened his words in the slightest. It was the first time Shi Youxi had encountered someone who dared speak to him like that in the Shi family.

Especially since just yesterday, one of his men had had his leg broken by Shi Junyi and was about to be sent off to clean the elephant enclosure.

For Jiang Qiao to say that was practically a blatant slap in his face.

He grabbed Jiang Qiao by the collar, incredulous. "You dare talk to me like that?!"

Jiang Qiao was already deeply dissatisfied with who he belonged to. His wonderful afternoon mood had been completely ruined, and he had no patience to play Shi Youxi's little game of whether he dared or not.

He said coldly, "Let go."

Shi Youxi refused, snarling, "Jiang Qiao, get this straight! I'm the master!"

Jiang Qiao promptly slung Shi Youxi upside down over his shoulder and strode toward the elevator.

"What are you doing?! Put me down!" Shi Youxi shouted.

Jiang Qiao gave his ass a slap. "Behave yourself. A college student should act like a college student—go back and write your thesis, work on your projects, and stop bothering me."

He pressed the elevator button and took Shi Youxi to the third floor.

After being slapped by Jiang Qiao, Shi Youxi flew into a rage from humiliation. "You're finished, Jiang Qiao! I'll make you pay for this!"

Jiang Qiao's arm clamped around Shi Youxi like a cage, leaving him unable to struggle, and he said viciously, "Fine. Let me see exactly how you plan to make me pay for it."

After being dealt with like that, Shi Youxi suddenly stopped struggling and fell silent.

The Shi family was divided into two halves. The third floor Jiang Qiao had visited before belonged to Shi Jiao's half. After exiting the elevator, he headed straight for the other side of the glass corridor.

Jiang Qiao asked, "Which room?"

Shi Youxi hung headfirst, his face flushed red. "Forward. The half-arched door on the right."

Ignoring the horrified looks from the few servants still working on the third floor, Jiang Qiao pushed the door open and tossed the Shi Youxi slung over his shoulder onto the sofa in his own room.

Shi Youxi stared at Jiang Qiao, face red. He opened his mouth. "Are you crazy?"

Jiang Qiao looked down at Shi Youxi, annoyance evident in his voice. "Don't come looking for trouble with me, and don't think I wouldn't dare lay a hand on you. At worst, you can shoot me dead. But as long as I'm not dead, I'll fight back."

When he was not smiling, the line of his lips was sharp and cold, as though it belonged to a different owner than those peach-blossom eyes that always seemed to carry a smile.

Shi Youxi could tell that Jiang Qiao was not threatening him. He was merely stating a fact.

For some reason, his tongue tied itself into knots. He stammered, "I... I just... I only wanted to take you... away from... from... from Shi Jiao. Why are you reacting so strongly?"

Only after hearing that did Jiang Qiao realize that his reaction had indeed been a little excessive.

So he adjusted his mindset and gave Shi Youxi a gentle, harmless smile, just like when they had first met in the changing room, when he had been selling magazines.

"I'm not going." Jiang Qiao refused, then turned to leave.

Shi Youxi rose onto his knees and grabbed the hem of his clothes. "I can give you money separately!"

Jiang Qiao turned back, only to see that Shi Youxi's eye corners and ears were red, his school uniform shirt hanging loosely on him. He looked strangely awkward.

Jiang Qiao's brows drew together slightly. Suddenly thinking of something, he quietly pulled his clothes free and refused again. "No need."

Then he shut the door behind him and left without looking back.

Fuck.

Jiang Qiao cursed inwardly. Earlier, when Shi Youxi had asked him for—magazines, he had thought Shi Youxi was...

He had never expected him to be...

What someone else was had originally been none of his business, but now he could no longer say that with such certainty.

Whether through surveillance footage or someone's retelling, he could only pray that Shi Junyi would not find out about this scene.

Otherwise, judging by the way he had carried Shi Youxi all the way back to his room, combined with Shi Junyi's suspicious nature, Shi Junyi would definitely misunderstand and think he and Shi Youxi had been involved before.

Otherwise, how could he have handled him so accurately after meeting only twice?

Would Shi Junyi believe him if he said it had been an accident?

Jiang Qiao raked a hand through his hair, thinking what bad luck. The moment he remembered that he had carelessly slapped somewhere he should not have, he regretted it so much he wanted to ascend to heaven on the spot.

Jiang Qiao returned to the dormitory, took off his training clothes, and scrubbed himself several times from head to toe, inside and out.

He had just come out wrapped in a bath towel when he saw Shi Junyi sitting calmly on the sofa, flipping through a magazine.

He wore a black-blue narrow-lapel suit, with a satin shirt in the same color palette beneath it, glowing softly and buttoned neatly all the way to the button beneath his Adam's apple.

If the magazine cover in his hand read xx Finance instead of xx Fusion.

Then he would look even more like a young businessman about to appear on some formal interview program.

Jiang Qiao was surprised. "Why did you suddenly come here?"

Shi Junyi raised his brows and glanced at him.

Jiang Qiao had only casually dried his upper body when he came out, and plenty of water droplets had escaped notice. Once he stopped moving, they slid down the beautiful lines of his muscles, eventually disappearing into the white bath towel.

Shi Junyi said, "An hour ago, I had Chen Sheng come look for you. You weren't here."

Jiang Qiao's heart tightened, but his expression remained calm. "I went to the training ground."

Shi Junyi did not ask further. He only said, "I have a private party to attend. It isn't convenient to bring people with me."

The people who frequently appeared around Shi Junyi—Chen Sheng, Chris, and the others—had long since been thoroughly investigated by anyone with ulterior motives.

It was not that bodyguards could not be brought to private parties, but openly attending a private occasion alongside Shi Junyi like that would inevitably make the host unhappy.

You were a guest on someone else's turf, yet you surrounded yourself so tightly with people. Wasn't that plainly showing that you did not trust them and slapping them in the face?

But if he went completely alone, without anyone at all, and something actually happened, there would not even be anyone to look out for him. Only an idiot would be that unconcerned.

Jiang Qiao understood what Shi Junyi meant. He curled his lips as he looked at Shi Junyi. "What title is big brother planning to give me?"

"Male companion," Shi Junyi said seriously.

A relationship like male companion or female companion sounded terribly ambiguous.

Today, you could be his. Tomorrow, you could be someone else's.

Jiang Qiao was dissatisfied. His clean, slender fingers pressed against the magazine cover, through several thin pages, onto a certain part of Shi Junyi that had already stirred awake, and pressed downward.

"Then I'm not going."

Shi Junyi leaned back slightly and looked up at Jiang Qiao. "What title do you want?"

Jiang Qiao said bluntly, "Boyfriend."

Shi Junyi neither confirmed nor denied it. "Jiang Qiao, no matter how many people in this world know we were together, it will not affect the ending."

The implication was that no matter how Jiang Qiao declared his claim, if one day Shi Junyi no longer wanted to remain entangled with him, there still would be no outcome between them.

No one in this world cared who Shi Junyi had once been with. They only cared who the final winner was.