On his knees, begging

The man in the car was startled by the sudden glance in his direction and dove toward the passenger seat.

His heart pounded. Holy shit, had the second Ji son spotted him?

Only after a long while did he shakily crane his neck up. Once he got a clear look, his body went rigid-

Shit, the second Ji son had slipped away!

Meanwhile, Ji Ting walked into a pharmacy. After buying some medicine, he did not return to the hotel, but stood alone by the roadside, lost in thought.

Last night, "Ji Ting" had gotten completely drunk because he had wanted to take the protagonist bottom away from Sea City, only to be flatly rejected. Devastated, he had drowned his sorrows in alcohol.

In the original novel, to manufacture a clichéd romantic showdown, those all-powerful tops had somehow failed to locate the protagonist bottom, yet remained convinced that Ji Ting knew something about his whereabouts. So they had taken turns coming after him.

... In other words, as long as Ji Ting refused to reveal the protagonist bottom's whereabouts, these tops would keep harassing him against his will.

Top number three, Ji Yanzhi, had already proved that point. The man sent by top number two was waiting for him in that car.

Ji Ting lowered his eyes impassively, looking first at the medicine he had bought, then at his own hands.

He had already decided to look out for himself. He might as well pass this hot potato to someone else sooner rather than later.

A few minutes later, Ji Ting returned to the mouth of the alley and walked straight up to the minivan.

He raised his hand and knocked twice on the window. A good ten-odd seconds passed before the glass slowly lowered.

The man revealed only his forehead and eyes. "I don't know you. What do you want?"

His response was practically an admission of guilt. Ji Ting raised his right hand, a slip of paper held between two slender fingers. "The person Lu Yanchu is looking for is here."

The man panicked and began to stammer. "Wh-what Lu Yanchu? You..."

Before he could finish, Ji Ting slipped the paper through the gap in the window. "Go report back. Stop following me."

Ji Ting turned and left. Only after he disappeared through the hotel entrance did the man snap out of his daze.

He grabbed the slip of paper from his lap and unfolded it. An address in Sea City was written on it.

Not daring to delay, he hurriedly pulled out his phone.

"Yanchu, the second Ji son... he actually gave me the address outright."

Seven thirty that evening.

With half an hour left before Ji Yanzhi's deadline, Ji Ting returned to the family residence.

But the person he saw upon entering was not the older brother who had threatened him that morning. It was another middle-aged man.

The man seemed to have been waiting for a long time. He immediately stood when he heard someone return, only to glare at Ji Ting when he saw who it was. "Why are you the one coming back?"

It was a strange question, as though Ji Ting had no business appearing in the Ji family home.

Ji Ting's gaze swept across the man's face, and he greeted him evenly. "Uncle."

"Don't call me your uncle. As if you're worthy!" The man looked at him with disgust. "Look at you, skulking around like some wretched ghost all day. You're an embarrassment. Don't tell anyone your surname is Ji when you go out. Spare the family the disgrace!"

Ji Ting had no desire to argue with him and turned toward the stairs.

Watching him walk away, the man let out a derisive snort. "A bastard is still a bastard. Just as meek and spineless as that homewrecker mother of yours. Neither of you is fit to be seen in decent company."

Ji Ting's foot paused on the step. He seemed to turn his head slightly, but soon continued upstairs.

The original owner's room was on the third floor. After entering, Ji Ting did not look around, but sat down at the desk.

Two hours passed in a flash. Ji Ting stopped typing and quietly studied the text on the screen.

The major incident Ji Yanzhi had rushed back to the company to handle that day was the discovery of a large quantity of smuggled goods by customs at the Ji Corporation's logistics subsidiary.

And the masterminds behind it were none other than that "uncle" downstairs and his son.

In the original plot, Ji Yanzhi had gotten them out of trouble out of consideration for their family ties. He had never imagined that this one act of leniency would one day nearly ruin half the Ji Corporation.

If he warned Ji Yanzhi in advance...

Ji Ting shook his head. Rather than have Ji Yanzhi sneer at him and call him crazy, he would be better off compiling the evidence himself and handing it to the police.

With that thought, he closed the laptop and moved the mouse to the exact center of the mouse pad.

Today's work was done. It was time for bed.

Just as Ji Ting entered the bathroom, a servant opened the front door downstairs.

Ji Yanzhi stepped into the entrance hall. On his way back, he had already asked the butler and learned that Ji Ting had returned, so his expression was even colder as he entered.

But before he could see Ji Ting, another figure rushed out as he walked into the living room.

Ji Liping choked up the moment he spoke. "Yanzhi, you have to save Rui this time!"

Ji Yanzhi glanced at him, but said nothing, stepping past him into the living room.

Ji Liping followed him to the sofa, tears and snot streaming down his flushed face. "I know he made a terrible mistake this time, but someone put him up to it! If those people hadn't kept sweet-talking him, he'd never have dared do anything illegal!"

"Yanzhi, consider this your uncle begging you. If you won't do it for him, do it for me. Once your cousin gets out, I'll break both his legs and keep a proper watch on him."

Faced with Ji Liping's desperate pleas, Ji Yanzhi remained unmoved, his expression as cold as ice.

His dark eyes settled on the man, and he asked just one question. "Did you know beforehand that Ji Rui was smuggling goods?"

Seeing Ji Liping suddenly stiffen, Ji Yanzhi was about to sneer when a familiar voice reached his ears.

[The doctor said my stereotyped behaviors were getting worse, but now... something seems to have changed.]

[For instance, I seem to be able to set the toothbrush down with its head pointing left.]

Recognizing Ji Ting's voice, Ji Yanzhi gritted his teeth and looked toward the third floor.

[It still makes me a little anxious. Better turn it back to the right.]

[Hmm... try the left again?]

Ji Yanzhi's long fingers began to curl into a fist as he forced himself to ignore Ji Ting.

He silently fought against the voice in his head. Unexpectedly, his silence frightened Ji Liping so badly that his legs trembled, and he began pleading for all he was worth.

"It's all my fault, every bit of it! Yanzhi, as long as you agree to save Rui, I'll do anything you ask!"

Ji Yanzhi frowned and was about to speak when Ji Ting's voice rang out again. [Yes, third experiment on the effects of OCD: the toothbrush head can point left.]

Was he ever going to stop fussing over that stupid toothbrush?

A surge of inexplicable fury shot straight to Ji Yanzhi's head. Barely half a minute later, he flung open a certain bathroom door with a bang.

Ji Ting, standing at the sink, jumped and stared at him in surprise.

Ji Yanzhi's chest heaved. He strode forward, snatched that damned toothbrush from Ji Ting's hand, and broke it in two with a snap.

He flung its "remains" into the bathtub. "If you're not going to sleep, get out!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Ji Yanzhi noticed that Ji Ting's gaze had grown considerably more guarded. He even silently stepped back to put some distance between them.

An inexplicable pang of guilt welled up in his chest. Only then did Ji Yanzhi realize that his behavior seemed... far too strange.

Ji Ting had merely been thinking to himself in his own room, not deliberately trying to disturb him.

Ji Yanzhi flexed his fingers. He was about to find some excuse to explain himself when he heard Ji Ting's voice again-

[Ji Yanzhi is volatile, short-tempered, and prone to violence. Possibly an endocrine disorder, or schizophrenia.]

Schizophrenia.

That one word struck like a mighty swing of a bat, knocking Ji Yanzhi's tiny shred of remorse clean out of existence.

He stepped toward Ji Ting, smiling instead of showing his anger. "Since you're so full of energy, it seems you don't need to sleep."

"I..."

Before Ji Ting could finish, Ji Yanzhi clamped a hand around his wrist and forcibly dragged him out of the bathroom.

The brothers had just left the room when a cry suddenly rang out downstairs. "What? Ten years-?!"

Ji Yanzhi glanced toward the first floor and saw that Ji Liping had taken a call from someone.

He withdrew his gaze and ordered Ji Ting coldly, "Watch that mouth of yours in a minute. Not a single word."

Ji Ting's brow furrowed slightly. He found Ji Yanzhi contradictory. If he did not want to hear him speak, he could simply leave him in his room. Why insist on bringing him along?

During the time it took them to descend the stairs, whatever else the person on the phone had said left Ji Liping deathly pale and barely able to stand.

The moment he saw them come down, he dropped to his knees before Ji Yanzhi with a thud, disregarding Ji Ting's presence entirely.

Although Ji Yanzhi was the head of the Ji Corporation, seeing his own uncle kneel before him so heavily and without hesitation still stunned him for a moment.

"Yanzhi, please save Rui! The lawyer said... said the amount involved is too large. He'll get at least ten years!"

Ji Yanzhi's brow tightened. Just as he was about to speak, he heard the person beside him remark evenly-

[Those are good-quality knee pads. No wonder kneeling comes so easily.]