Non-Humans Want to Fall in Love Too [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 24

The Ji family was large, and during lunch, the long dining table was completely full. Shi Yan and a group of small children were called in to wash their hands for the meal. Ji Shijin pursed his lips as he took a warm towel from a servant to wipe the four paws of the little fox.

Ji Shijin’s mother truly liked the little fox; she specifically arranged Shi Yan’s seat between herself and Ji Shijin. Shi Yan sat expressionlessly and upright in a chair resembling a high chair, with Ji Shijin on his left and the enthusiastic mother on his right.

Ji Shijin quietly tugged the tip of the fox’s tail and whispered, “I am sorry. If you do not like this, you can leave first. I will bring your food to the room for you.”

Shi Yan replied via telepathy, “There is no need. As long as your family is happy.”

Ji Shijin paused while putting down the towel. Because of Shi Yan’s words, a delicate ripple formed in his heart.

Unaware of their private conversation, the mother kept her eyes fixed on the little fox after sitting down. The more she looked, the more she liked him. She could not help but ask her son, “A Jin, can Mother pet him?”

“He does not like being touched by people.” As soon as the words left his mouth, Ji Shijin received a telepathic message from Shi Yan and changed his tune. “Mom, you can try. If he is unwilling, he will move away on his own.”

“Really?” The mother reached out and gently stroked the little fox’s back. Seeing that Shi Yan truly did not move away, the smile in her eyes deepened. “It seems he has accepted me.”

Ji Shijin watched Shi Yan, who looked slightly stiff but remained motionless under his mother’s hand, and a faint smile spread across his lips.

Shi Yan’s lunch had been specially ordered by the mother after consulting Ji Shijin. Although the flavors were light, the ingredients were of the highest freshness.

After lunch, the children began to show signs of fatigue. There were many empty rooms in the villa, so the father had the servants arrange rooms for them all to take a nap.

Ji Shijin spoke with his parents for a while before taking Shi Yan back to his own room.

The east side of the second floor was Ji Shijin’s suite. Pushing open the heavy doors revealed a fully functional area with a separate study and bathroom. Most notable were the handrails seen everywhere, positioned at a height specifically for Ji Shijin’s use while in a wheelchair.

Shi Yan took everything in. When Ji Shijin locked the door, Shi Yan jumped off his lap and transformed back into his human form upon landing.

Returning to Shi Yan’s presence, Ji Shijin’s expression relaxed naturally, and the lines of his profile softened. Although he knew the room was well soundproofed, Ji Shijin acted like a teenager secretly bringing a partner home, not daring to make any loud noise out of a sense of “guilty conscience.”

He controlled his wheelchair to move toward the bedside, looked at the man, and said softly, “Do you want to nap for a while?”

The children were all resting, and the vast Ji estate had fallen silent. Aside from sleeping, it was not a suitable time for other activities.

Shi Yan turned back to look at him. “Are you sleepy?”

Ji Shijin usually did not feel tired after a full day of work; how could he be sleepy now? He shook his head. “I am not sleepy.”

“Then, could you introduce your room to me?” Shi Yan toyed with a small, exquisite ornament on the desk, asking with interest.

Ji Shijin was stunned for a moment. “Of course.”

His life during his student years had been quite dull. Before the accident, he was no different from any other child receiving an elite education. He went to school every day, did his homework at this desk, felt troubled by difficult problems, and fought through the early hours of the morning before exams.

However, after his legs became paralyzed, he did not leave the house for several years. He hired private tutors for his lessons in this study. Occasionally, he would look through the study window, which offered a great view, to watch his peers running freely on the grass outside.

Ji Shijin spoke of these things in a lighthearted, storytelling tone, failing to notice Shi Yan’s silence.

“Later, I accepted my situation and chose to return to society, entering the classroom like other peers.”

His voice stopped abruptly as he was picked up.

Shi Yan lifted him onto the desk and silenced his words with a shallow kiss. After they separated, Shi Yan looked down at him, his deep gaze almost searching into the depths of his soul.

Ji Shijin went silent.

He finally perceived the slight resistance Shi Yan was expressing; Shi Yan was unwilling to let him reopen his past scars just to tell a story to his lover.

He gazed deeply at Shi Yan, unaware that his eyes had reached a point of obsession, as if he might kneel in the next moment to piously swear his loyalty to a deity.

Shi Yan averted his gaze, suddenly feeling that Ji Shijin was a bit “mad.”

It was not a rebound of long-repressed emotions, but a desire for control and possessiveness that seeped from his bones. He would rather hurt himself a thousand times to make an enemy lose eight hundred, all to achieve his goals.

Such extreme and paranoid feelings were not good; they could lead one to make wrong choices or even lose what they desired. However, Shi Yan did not bring it up, nor did he wish to correct him. He knew he held the rope that tethered Ji Shijin’s sanity; letting go could lead to eternal damnation.

But the other end of the rope was not just in his hand; it was also tied around Shi Yan’s own neck.

Shi Yan opened himself completely to Ji Shijin, acting as both a sedative to soothe him and a safety net for his madness.

“Sigh.”

A faint, almost silent sigh reached Ji Shijin’s ear. He came back to his senses and saw Shi Yan pulling an old certificate out of a drawer. The white paper had turned slightly yellow, showing the marks of age.

“It has your name on it,” Shi Yan redirected Ji Shijin’s attention to the item in his hand. “Looking at the date, this certificate is from over ten years ago.”

Ji Shijin had long forgotten that a certificate had been left here. Curious, he took it, and his ears turned completely red once he saw the words clearly.

“Gold Award for the Family Creative Origami Competition. Winner: Ji Shijin.”

The certificate was printed, but the award name and the winner were handwritten. The handwriting had become blurred over the years, but the content was still legible.

“This is not a real certificate.” Ji Shijin quickly folded the thin sheet of paper and hid his hands behind his back. “Do not look at it.”

Shi Yan leaned over and embraced him, intercepting the hand trying to hide the evidence, and pulled the paper from his tense fingertips.

Ji Shijin closed his eyes, resignedly burying his face in the crook of Shi Yan’s neck.

The man’s low, sexy voice carried a faint smile as it vibrated by his ear: “A Gold Award winner for an origami competition. How impressive.”

Knowing it was a tease, Ji Shijin still found it hard to face. He indignantly gripped Shi Yan’s clothes, creating wrinkles, his fingertips trembling slightly.

As if unaware of the protest, Shi Yan read on, word by word: “The paper airplane made by little Shijin, which could fly twenty meters, far surpassed others in this competition and won”

“Shi Yan” Ji Shijin pressed his head against Shi Yan’s shoulder, his voice muffled. “Please, stop reading.”

The voice awakened Ji Shijin’s memories. He was only seven or eight years old then, an age of being lively and active. When his parents saw him tinkering with paper airplanes at home, they enthusiastically joined him for a competition.

The result was naturally his victory; the parents had let him win by a mile. Finally, they had smilingly presented him with this award. Now that this memory had been dug up and the joke of a certificate had been seen by Shi Yan, Ji Shijin only wanted time to flow backward so he could hide the evidence where no one could find it.

Seeing that he was almost teasing the man to tears, Shi Yan stopped immediately. He folded the certificate back along its creases and tucked it into Ji Shijin’s hand.

“I will not tease you anymore, alright?”

Ji Shijin opened the drawer, which was filled with discarded papers. He had no idea how Shi Yan had found this specific certificate among the pile of useless scrap. He turned everything over and placed the certificate at the very bottom, covering it tightly with scrap paper so not a single gap remained.

Shi Yan watched his movements silently. When Ji Shijin closed the drawer, Shi Yan leaned in and pressed a kiss to his brow, gentle and solemn. This kiss was unlike previous ones; the location was so special that it gave Ji Shijin the illusion of being cherished, a warmth so deep he felt like crying.

Shi Yan sighed softly, held him tighter, and leaned down to kiss away the “pearls” falling from the corners of his eyes. His heart softened completely.

Ji Shijin said nothing, silently tightening his arms to embed himself into Shi Yan’s embrace without a single gap. He closed his eyes.

After a long time, he gathered his emotions until they were flawless. On the surface, he looked no different from his usual self. No one mentioned the previous topic again. Ji Shijin shifted his gaze and said, “I will be away from the company for six months and need someone to take charge. I want to ask my father to manage it for me for a while.”

Shi Yan had no objections. “Good.”

After going to the bathroom to wash his face, Ji Shijin said to Shi Yan before leaving the room, “Wait for me here. I can go by myself.”

Shi Yan gave him a deep look but did not refuse, stepping aside to hide where he could not be seen from the door. Ji Shijin opened the door, stepped out, and turned back to close it tightly.

The parents did not have the habit of napping. According to Ji Shijin’s knowledge of them, they should be in the study playing chess or reading.

He knocked on the study door. After two seconds of silence, the door opened. When the father saw it was Ji Shijin waiting outside, a flash of surprise crossed his face, and he quickly stepped aside to let him in.

“Did you come to see your mother and me for something?” The father had been exceptionally handsome in his youth, but having sat as the CEO of the Ji Group for so long, he appeared naturally authoritative. His expression only softened when facing his wife and son.

He let Ji Shijin in, then re-closed the door and sat back by the window. He had been playing chess with the mother and had been interrupted at the height of the game by Ji Shijin’s knock.

Disregarding the half-finished game, the father walked quickly to the water dispenser, poured a cup of water, and brought it over. He brushed the chess pieces aside and placed the cup on the cleared space.

The mother watched her husband busying himself with a smile, having no intention of helping. Instead, she teased her son, “Look at your father. I have been here playing chess with him for half the day, yet he did not think to brew a cup of tea for me. But as soon as his son arrives, he becomes diligent.”

The father gave her a helpless look. “You were the one who said you did not want tea because you ate too much for lunch.”

Ji Shijin watched the two of them seemingly complaining but actually flirting, and the corner of his mouth hooked up slightly.

The mother smiled and glanced at the father, then turned to her son. “What is it? Is there something that must be said right now?”

They knew Ji Shijin well. If it were a small matter, there would be no need to consult them. The fact that their son appeared hesitant from the moment he entered indicated it was not a simple issue.

Hearing this, Ji Shijin’s expression grew somber. He lowered his gaze to think about how to start. Seeing him like this, the parents also put aside their playful thoughts and grew serious.

“Son, if you have any difficulties, just say it. Father will definitely find a way to resolve it for you,” the father said sternly.

The mother echoed, “Yes, A Jin, has something happened? Is it company business? Let your father step in and settle it for you. Our family does not believe in letting children suffer. If there are difficulties at work, tell your parents.”

Ji Shijin looked up at his worried parents and spoke hoarsely, “I may need to leave for a period of time.”

“Leave? Where to?” The mother did not react for a moment. “Is it a business trip?”

“No.” Ji Shijin shook his head and spoke all at once. “I am going overseas with Shi Yan to an international medical research team to treat my legs. The team’s research project is closed-door. It will take about six months.”

The two elders, stunned by these words, were silent for a moment as they tried to process it. The father reacted first, his brow furrowed deeply. “Is this credible? Besides, no problems were found with your legs. This”

Ji Shijin looked at him, his gaze shifting slightly. He could not tell them that Shi Yan was a demon, and the injury on his legs was not ordinary; if left too long, it would be life-threatening. There was truly no time to waste. Otherwise, he would have slowly informed them to let them be mentally prepared.

“In short, the research direction of that medical team happens to match my condition. If successful, my legs will no longer worsen, and my health might even improve.” Ji Shijin paused, then dropped a bombshell. “I went for a checkup recently, and the results”

He stopped there, causing both parents to look at him nervously.

Ji Shijin closed his eyes, his voice raspy: “My physical organs are gradually weakening. The change is small, but the speed is fast. If there is no intervention, it might not even be ten years”

Clang!

The chess piece in the mother’s hand fell to the floor.

The study door opened and closed. Two hours passed, and from the outside, it remained silent. It was unclear if the soundproofing was too good or if the people inside had remained quiet the entire time.

Shi Yan closed his eyes, using his demonic energy to perceive the movements at the study door, yet he did not take a single step forward. Since Ji Shijin had left him alone in the room, it was clear he did not want Shi Yan to know what would happen in the study. Shi Yan respected his wishes and did not eavesdrop.

The clock hands ticked by. After an unknown amount of time, Shi Yan suddenly opened his eyes.

61 popped out noiselessly and asked in a small voice, “Host, how are things over there?”

The corner of Shi Yan’s mouth hooked up slightly. Before he could answer 61, he heard the sound of the doorknob turning. 61 quickly dove back into the system space.

The door unlocked, and Ji Shijin pushed it open. Seeing the man sitting calmly on his bed, he quickly suppressed his fatigue and offered a reassuring smile.

“I have settled it with them. Father will help manage the company for six months. At the same time, news will be spread to the outside that my physical condition has changed and I have gone to Country Y for confidential treatment.”

“Shi Yan” Ji Shijin’s eyes were shimmering, as if stars were flickering within them, “you said you would take me to see the demon territory.”

Shi Yan looked at the person who had moved his heart for the first time. His gaze was gentle and deep as he reached out his hand and pulled the man into his arms.

Ji Shijin heard his firm promise.

“Whatever you want, I will give to you.”