Ye Zhineng: The Feeling of a Racing Heart

Chapter 40

The four of them stood in the corridor.

After leaving Jiang Ying, Cao Xi had kept her head lowered, revealing a pointed chin made more prominent by her thinness. She was so quiet, it was as though she had lost the ability to speak.

The brightly lit walls around them peeled away in flakes like scraps of wastepaper, exposing the filthy blackness underneath.

Ye Nanxun felt as if he had returned to his previous life at the He Household.

But back then, unlike now, he had not been dressed elegantly, standing upright in a brightly lit hallway as an invited guest at the He family's young lady's birthday party.

He had merely been an "object" deprived of freedom, dressed in filthy, disordered clothes and bound by hard, icy chains in a dark, damp basement—an "object" imprisoned by He Yiming and the others.

He had not been the only such "object." In that pitch-black basement, quiet sobbing had continued without end, day and night.

The omega imprisoned with him then had been named Cao Xi.

[I was tricked here by my advisor. He has extensive connections and a great deal of influence. I had no way out...]

[I thought that as long as I... as long as I met those demands of his, it would be enough. I never expected to be locked in here.]

[You can't get out. He ruined my glands doing experiments on me, and my body is failing too.]

[I don't want to die. I just wanted to graduate and find a stable job. What am I supposed to do? If my mother can't find me, what will she do...]

[If only... if only I hadn't agreed to go with Jiang Ying to Miss He's birthday party that day...]

His heart gave a faint twitch. The darkness receded like the tide, and bright lights enveloped his body.

"Professor Jiang," Ye Nanxun said.

Jiang Ying maintained a courteous smile. "Professor Ye, would you like to come in? Xi is here too."

Ye Zhineng spoke up. "Professor Jiang, Xiaoxun is my cousin. I'll take care of him."

Ye Zhineng was hardly polite toward Jiang Ying. He stepped forward to shield Ye Nanxun, his stance clearly protective.

"Mm, Xi and I are quite engrossed." Jiang Ying swept Ye Zhineng a bland glance, a faint, wintry chill showing at the narrow corners of his eyes.

Jiang Ying and Cao Xi entered the room. Ye Zhineng immediately turned to grab Ye Nanxun's arm. "Xiaoxun, do you know Jiang Ying?"

Ye Nanxun took two steps forward, and Ye Zhineng grasped at empty air, failing to touch his arm.

Still stunned, he heard Ye Nanxun say, "We both work at the Scientific Research Institute. You could say we're colleagues."

Ye Zhineng's voice rose. "You work at the Scientific Research Institute? Didn't you not go to school before?"

"You can study from home too. A lot of schools offer online courses now." Ye Nanxun truly could not be bothered to explain much to Ye Zhineng, so he said perfunctorily, "I have a research project at the Scientific Research Institute. I usually don't have much contact with Professor Jiang."

Suppressing his surprise, Ye Zhineng lowered his voice in a cautionary tone. "Jiang Ying has a good reputation outside, but he's a deeply calculating man, full of bad intentions. Keep an eye on him. Don't get too close to him."

Ye Nanxun found that rather amusing.

Ye Zhineng really did look as though he regarded him as a cousin now.

Still, that did not stop Ye Zhineng from leading Ye Nanxun toward the room full of alphas.

With his hand on the doorknob, Ye Zhineng quietly reminded him, "Don't stray too far once we get in. Don't drink any alcohol or beverages offered by people you don't know."

Ye Nanxun did not reply. Ye Zhineng took it as a sign that he was being obedient.

Before entering, he glanced once more at the back of Ye Nanxun's neck. A pale blue pheromone-blocking patch was stuck to his fair skin.

A question suddenly surfaced in Ye Zhineng's mind. What did Ye Nanxun's pheromones smell like?

As the two heavy, ornate doors were gently pushed open, a chaotic mix of pheromone scents rushed at them. Even Ye Zhineng, a top-tier alpha, instinctively frowned.

He looked back at Ye Nanxun. Ye Nanxun still appeared cool and indifferent, unaffected by the jumble of pheromones.

"Hey, Young Master Ye, who's this?"

The moment Ye Zhineng entered, quite a few people near the door noticed the omega following behind him.

Black hair, snow-pale skin, and a pair of clear, luminous light-green eyes—amid the noisy, gaudy extravagance, he seemed particularly out of place, yet impossible to ignore.

"This is my cousin, Ye Nanxun," Ye Zhineng said. "He's Lan Xue's friend and came for the birthday party."

At those words, many people around them showed disappointment in their eyes, though that did not stop them from approaching with wineglasses to greet him.

But before they had even taken two steps, a tall alpha rudely shoved them aside.

"Well, look who showed up too. Here to play the piano?"

His unserious voice held a teasing chuckle as Zhu Shixin tilted his head and flashed Ye Nanxun a broad grin.

Ye Nanxun acted as if he had not heard him and turned his head to survey the room.

This room was larger than the one full of omegas. The window side connected to a balcony, and the faint sound of water came from outside. There was probably a swimming pool below.

Ye Nanxun did not see Jiang Ying or Cao Xi.

A thin layer of sweat seeped into his palms, and Ye Nanxun looked toward the balcony again.

"Hey, I'm talking to you. Are you deaf?"

Blatantly ignored by Ye Nanxun, Zhu Shixin's expression darkened. He strode over and reached toward Ye Nanxun.

A chill entered Ye Zhineng's brow as he seized Zhu Shixin's hand. "Don't touch him."

Zhu Shixin shot Ye Zhineng a cold glance and was about to speak when a low warning stopped him.

"Zhu Shixin, it's Lan Xue's birthday today."

He Yiming leaned against the balcony railing, his hair damp and a bath towel wrapped around his waist, exposing sharply defined abs. His dark gaze fell on the omega hiding behind Ye Zhineng, then shifted away expressionlessly.

"Tch—"

Zhu Shixin violently shook off Ye Zhineng's hand. His frivolous gaze drifted over Ye Nanxun before he casually grabbed an omega nestled in another alpha's arms and turned to leave.

"Don't be afraid. Zhu Shixin won't dare do anything reckless," Ye Zhineng said as he turned back to comfort him.

Ye Nanxun gave a perfunctory "Mm."

He Yiming, Zhu Shixin, Ye Zhineng, and Jiang Ying were all here.

He had not seen Xu Wenyan.

"Nanxun, do you remember me? I'm really sorry about what happened at the art exhibition last time." A young alpha dressed in luxury hurried over, his eyes full of eagerness.

Ye Nanxun remembered him. "William."

The alpha whose name had been called smiled until his eyes narrowed into slits. He briefly exchanged a glance with Ye Zhineng, then offered to show Ye Nanxun around and assured Ye Zhineng that he would protect him.

William's family owned many art-related businesses in Dream Star, and the gallery they had visited before was merely one of them. Ye Zhineng intended to get involved in those ventures.

Ye Zhineng had only called and brought Ye Nanxun over because he had agreed to William's request. Handing him over to William now meant his task was complete.

Yet when Ye Nanxun's emerald-green eyes looked at him with a trace of innocent inquiry, Ye Zhineng froze for a moment and did not speak.

William urged from the side, "Does Young Master Ye not trust me?"

Ye Zhineng came back to himself and said with a smile, "Xiaoxun, stay with William for now. I'll go get us two drinks."

Ye Nanxun hesitated briefly, then nodded slightly. "All right."

Ye Zhineng wore a smile on his face, but as he turned away, it gradually faded.

He had clearly secured the partnership with William and successfully opened up the Dream Star market, yet he was nowhere near as happy as he had imagined.