The unattainable beauty was driven to depravity and madness by a wicked seed.

I'm going crazy.

Lu Sui clenched his fingers, leaving deep marks, and lowered his eyes, his voice trembling, "You are a student sponsored by Lu Huai Ren."

"Hmm." Shen Qinghuai didn't know why he suddenly brought this up, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing much."

That is to confirm that what Lu Huai-ren said was true.

In a private room in the cafeteria, Chen Jingmo was reading fanfiction written by Jiang Xiu. Jiang Xiu stood opposite him, suddenly feeling the awkwardness of his own essay being read by his parents. "Brother Chen..."

"Um?"

"Why don't you go home and look at it later?"

Chen Jingmo said, "That works too."

Jiang Xiu breathed a sigh of relief, pulled out a chair, sat down, and rubbed the back of his head. "How did you guys get to know Xiang Xun?"

"You know him too?"

"We went to the same school. He was quite a popular guy, with many people pursuing him, but I never saw him date anyone. Many people said he was gay."

Chen Jingmo's words sounded displeased. "So what if he's gay?"

Seeing his reaction, Jiang Xiu said, "Brother Chen, you don't actually like guys, do you? You were laughing so hard while reading fanfiction earlier, especially about the man from last time—"

"Then why do you still write fanfiction about us every day? Are you gay too?" Chen Jingmo calmly retorted.

"Uh, well, I don't know." Jiang Xiu leaned on the table with his elbow. "Did Boss and Senior Shen have a fight? He wouldn't even take the snacks I offered him, and he even said I was pitying him."

"They did have a fight," Chen Jingmo said. "Lu Sui has a terrible temper, is stubborn and inflexible—no, why the hell am I telling you all this? You can't help anyway."

"Come on, I won't gossip to others. Besides, I often write about arguments in my fanfiction..." Jiang Xiu stammered, because the arguments in his fanfiction always ended up as, cough.

Seeing Jiang Xiu like this, Chen Jingmo slammed his fist on the table, "What kind of nonsense is going on in your head all day long! It's terrifying to be around you!"

Lu Sui was led out of the garage by Shen Qinghuai's hand. He struggled for a moment, then Shen Qinghuai said, "You don't want me to hold your hand, so you want me to make our relationship public?"

Sensing Lu Sui's honesty, Shen Qinghuai felt a surge of anger. "Just get used to it first. After a while, we'll go public with our relationship. You're my boyfriend, Shen Qinghuai. Even if he wants to be a mistress, he'll have to get my permission."

But Shen Qinghuai would absolutely not allow it.

"The other woman"

"That guy clearly has a crush on you, you should stay away from him."

Lu Sui wanted to say that this was just like him and Wen Chengyu, but he was too lazy to speak. He felt uncomfortable with the temperature of Shen Qinghuai's hand, uncomfortable with his back view, uncomfortable with everything.

After school in the afternoon, Shen Qinghuai had Jiang Xiu drag Lu Sui downstairs from his classroom. After picking her up, he held her hand and wouldn't let go until he put her in the car, locked the door, and asked, "Do you still want to eat grilled rice cakes? Let's go buy some."

"In no mood."

Shen Qinghuai pursed his lips, his tone softening and gentle, "So, what would you like to eat?"

"I don't want to eat."

Lu Sui's usually aloof and world-weary face was now filled with indifference, as if he didn't want to talk to Shen Qinghuai anymore. Shen Qinghuai leaned over to fasten Lu Sui's seatbelt, and Lu Sui tilted his head back to create some distance. Shen Qinghuai gently kissed his ear, "Be good."

"Naughty."

He has never been well-behaved.

Shen Qinghuai ruffled Lu Sui's hair. "If you're not good, you're not good."

As long as we don't break up.

But Lu Sui's behavior gave him a bad feeling and made him very anxious, so he couldn't wait to let everyone know about their relationship.

Shen Qinghuai took Lu Sui to the market, holding hands the whole way and tying their wrists together with ties. They discussed what to eat for dinner like an ordinary couple. Even when others saw them, they still held hands. However, Shen Qinghuai mostly talked to himself while Lu Sui remained silent. Although he didn't say anything, he seemed to be staring at Shen Qinghuai the whole time.

"You mentioned last time that you wanted to eat abalone and king crab. They should sell them over there. Let's go check."

"I don't want to eat." Lu Sui finally spoke, but still stood still. Even so, Shen Qinghuai laughed. "What about the squid? Do you want some? I'll make you teppanyaki."

Lu Sui looked at Shen Qinghuai's slightly curved eyes, took a step closer to him, and said in a slightly hoarse voice, "Egg tarts, small cakes, roses."

"Okay, we'll go buy some later. Do you want some squid?"

"In no mood."

Lu Sui said he didn't want to, so Shen Qinghuai didn't force him. He took Lu Sui to buy the things he had said he wanted to eat earlier, and bought a single rose from the flower shop. He had originally wanted to buy Lu Sui a bouquet, but Lu Sui didn't want it, so he only wanted one.

Back home, Shen Qinghuai opened the box and fed Lu Sui cake. Lu Sui didn't refuse, so Shen Qinghuai leaned in and kissed him on the lips. "Are you happy?"

"……Um."

"I'll be happy if you talk to me nicely."

It was nine o'clock. Lu Sui had already finished showering and was drinking water outside. Shen Qinghuai had just hung up Lu Sui's underwear to dry when he saw him standing by the table. He walked over, hugged him from behind, took the cup from his hand, and drank it all in one gulp. "It's time to sleep, baby."

"Go sleep in the guest room."

Shen Qinghuai swallowed hard, remembering how Lu Sui had started paying attention to him that afternoon, saying, "I'll sleep in the guest room tonight, and I'll sleep with you again tomorrow, okay?"

"Not really."

"That's not really possible... Could we do it as soon as possible? I'm afraid you'll kick off the covers in the middle of the night if we don't sleep together."

I'm worried that Lu Sui doesn't sleep well and might catch a cold, which would be very uncomfortable for him.

I'm afraid Lu Sui will have nightmares and cry without anyone to comfort him.

I was afraid that Lu Sui would be scared sleeping alone in the room.

"There is air conditioning."

Shen Qinghuai didn't say anything more. He wanted to kiss Lu Sui, but Lu Sui dodged slightly. He stood on tiptoe and kissed Shen Qinghuai's face, lightly touching his lips and then biting his collarbone. The series of actions made Shen Qinghuai chuckle and feel a little overwhelmed. He carried Lu Sui back to the bedroom and said before leaving, "Little Bao, see you tomorrow morning."

Lu Sui watched him close the door.

The next day.

Shen Qinghuai woke up to the noise outside. He checked his phone and saw that it was already 10 o'clock. Chen Ziqiu had sent him a message saying that the paper had been published and several big names in the medical field were coming to bail him out that afternoon. He told him to get ready and that Chen had also wired him a large sum of money, all earned from writing the paper, a full two million.

Shen Qinghuai reread the message, rubbed his sore brow, and subconsciously looked to his side. Not seeing anyone, he felt a little nervous.

She then realized that she and Lu Sui had slept in separate rooms the night before.

Shen Qinghuai threw off the covers and got out of bed, pulling back the curtains. He felt a dull ache in his temples, a feeling that seemed familiar.

He looked around outside but didn't see Lu Sui. He then knocked on the bedroom door, but there was no response after a few knocks. He gripped the doorknob and, surprisingly, opened the door easily. The room was dark.

Shen Qinghuai drew back the curtains; the blankets on the bed were completely flat. "Xiao Bao?"

No one answered.

The feeling that something was wrong finally came to mind. Shen Qinghuai went to the bathroom and the toilet, searching the entire house, but there was no trace of Lu Sui. He opened his phone again, and the two words "Xiao Bao" were very conspicuous under many messages.

He opened it, and at the very bottom of the chat page were only two words, sent by Lu Sui—

separate.