Chapter 4

Little dolls were afraid of pain too.

People thought little dolls did not fear pain and had no emotions only because no one had ever asked them.

They had human emotions, too. Like newborn babies, they simply needed adults to guide them slowly.

Qi Chao cursed under his breath.

But he did not know who he was cursing.

Lan Luo still wore that smiling expression, as if nothing could ever touch his heart.

Qi Chao held the doll's cheeks between his palms and rubbed hard, squishing his soft little face into a funny grimace.

Seeing Lan Luo look at him in confusion, Qi Chao lowered his hands and looked at him seriously with dark brown eyes. "Lan Luo, if you don't want to smile, you don't have to."

Lan Luo seemed somewhat confused by those words. His gaze turned blank, as though he could not understand what his master was saying. Somewhere Qi Chao could not see, his fingertips began picking at the sofa again.

Qi Chao explained seriously, "Your previous master was trash. He deserved to die. You need to remember that hitting someone is wrong in itself. You don't need to hide your pain. If anyone hits you, no matter who it is, you can fight back. You don't need to put up with it."

As he spoke, he saw the confusion in Lan Luo's eyes and realized that his words might have been a little difficult for the doll to understand.

As Little One's guardian now, Qi Chao had the responsibility to teach Lan Luo these things, but he was not in a hurry for the little doll to understand them right away.

At the very least, until Lan Luo truly learned to love himself, Qi Chao would stay with the little doll as he grew up.

Qi Chao scratched his slightly curly hair, took a drink of water to wet his throat, then looked up at the time. Eleven o'clock.

"Little One, are you sleepy?" Qi Chao remembered that dolls did not need rest, but after consuming Energy Stones, they would sleep for a while to digest the energy.

Did that count as sleeping?

"Sleepy." Lan Luo's eyes curved into crescents. As for whether he was truly sleepy, only he himself knew.

Hearing that answer, Qi Chao suddenly remembered that there was not even a separate bedroom for the little doll in this house.

Before, the little doll had slept in a pitch-black storage room like cargo. Later, when the original owner became fond of the doll, he locked him in a cage.

Both options were fucking awful. Qi Chao could not understand it. There were so many rooms in the original owner's villa, so why could he not give the little doll one?

"Alright, let's go upstairs and pick you a room." As Qi Chao spoke, he turned slightly sideways and waited for Lan Luo to follow.

Lan Luo obediently followed. He only came up to Qi Chao's waist and walked more slowly. Looking at the top of the little doll's head, Qi Chao felt an inexplicable itch in his hands.

After reaching the second floor, Qi Chao checked every room one by one and could not help sighing. Rich people really were different; every room was outrageously luxurious.

The styles just did not suit the little doll very well. When he had the chance later, he could redecorate according to Lan Luo's preferences.

Lan Luo was a very obedient child. He had no objections no matter which room he stayed in. In other words, even if Qi Chao made him continue sleeping in a cage or storage room, he would not have objected.

Qi Chao decided to have Lan Luo stay in the room next to his own.

Once the bed had been made, Qi Chao looked at the little doll, who was still wearing his white suit, and suddenly remembered that Lan Luo seemed to have only this one outfit.

Fuck! Why had the original owner not bought the little doll any clothes? Even pajamas would have been fine!

Qi Chao once again doubted whether the original owner truly deserved his identity as a handsome, rich young master.

It was too late to say anything now. Qi Chao could only let the little doll sleep like this for one night.

Lan Luo seemed sleepy too, and his reactions had become a little slow. Qi Chao hurriedly got the child into bed. Only after seeing him obediently pull up the blanket did he turn off the lights and leave.

The original owner rarely stayed at the villa and spent most of his time at the old residence. Qi Chao entered the master bedroom and looked around, finding only a few necessities.

Qi Chao had not rested since transmigrating. His mind was still buzzing with energy, but his body had already begun signaling exhaustion, and his eyelids were fighting each other.

Standing in the bathroom, he splashed his face with cold water. Looking at the black-haired man in the mirror, he could not help leaning closer for a careful look.

He looked very much like the original owner. However, to make him resemble the original owner more closely, the system had made minor adjustments. Qi Chao had always lived rough and had done plenty of dirty, exhausting work in the past, so his skin had never been this refined. He truly could not compare to the young master who had grown up with a golden spoon in his mouth.

Qi Chao snorted and tossed the towel onto the rack. It would have been nice if the man had not been so awful.

He yawned, forcing his eyes open as he picked out several outfits and several pounds of High-Grade Energy Stones for the little doll. Only then did he crawl into bed. Qi Chao had always fallen asleep easily, and he was truly exhausted today. Within a minute of lying down, he was dead asleep.

Who knew how much time passed. Breathing in the room was soft, the night deepened, shadows of clouds drifted, and cold moonlight shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows and thin curtains onto the second person in the room.

Terrifyingly, that person was crouching beside Qi Chao's pillow, yet Qi Chao had not noticed a thing.

Under the moonlight, his golden hair seemed to glow, while his blue eyes held an inorganic coldness. He was clearly the little doll, Lan Luo.

The doors and windows were tightly locked. No one knew how he had gotten in.

As long as Qi Chao turned over, he would discover someone beside him. Unfortunately, he had always slept very properly.

Lan Luo crouched on the bed and held out his hand, gesturing over Qi Chao's heart as though choosing where to strike.

Today's master was especially irritating.

And especially baffling.

Lan Luo gazed coldly at the man on the bed.

He remembered Qi Chao calling himself Dad.

A shadow flashed through Lan Luo's eyes as he closed them.

It was not time yet.

He could not kill him.

Big Brother would be angry.

Father would too.

A light breeze brushed past, leaving Qi Chao alone in the room.

Along with the system, which had just returned to check in and happened to witness this scene.

System: ...I was terrified at the time.

Chapter 4

At six the next morning, Qi Chao woke up in bed with bleary eyes and messy hair. He clearly had not slept enough.

[Good morning, Host.]

The electronic voice suddenly sounded.

No matter how sleepy Qi Chao was, that woke him up. He was a little surprised. The system had only left yesterday—why was it back so soon?