Stop Eyeing My Pretty Caretaker - Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Since Jian Chen’s vision was obstructed, he could only rely on his sense of hearing and smell to distinguish his surroundings.

Beside his ear, someone was speaking in a voice full of shock, accompanied by a chilling intake of breath: “He’s… he’s Austin Cole…”

Without hesitation or pause, the sound of footsteps slowly approached.

The sound of leather shoes, one step after another.

Even with his eyes closed, Jian Chen could feel a bone-chilling coldness drawing near.

The man didn’t say another word. He was silent as always; it seemed that even if he hadn’t received an answer, he no longer needed one.

He didn’t intend to let these people leave alive Jian Chen could sense that aura.

Jian Chen’s breath hitched slightly because he heard a person’s scream erupt abruptly by his ear, followed by the dull, heavy thud of a body hitting a surface.

After a short while, he smelled blood and heard the sound of breaking bones. Jian Chen secretly broke into a cold sweat for these men. If the fist of the man who had smashed through a solid wood door hit a human body, their soul would probably leave their shell…

Hearing Austin’s short, muffled grunts of exertion, he suddenly felt a bit worried. Could this blood be from Austin?

After all, they were outnumbered. No matter how formidable Austin was, he was still human.

But in fact, Austin didn’t keep him worried for long.

The surroundings gradually grew quiet. Hurried footsteps entered from outside, and the Vice-Executive’s surprised voice rang out nearby: “That, Chief…”

Austin interrupted him. His voice sounded fine, just a bit stiff: “Clear this out.”

Jian Chen swallowed hard.

He believed Austin knew where to draw the line and wouldn’t easily kill people, especially since today was their wedding day.

At the same time, he felt a bit lost. How should he tell Austin… that his younger brother disagreed with the marriage and wanted to kidnap him?

It would be one thing if he was taken alone, but they wanted to steal Dudu too.

From Austin’s perspective, wouldn’t that be “losing both the wife and the soldiers”? Thinking from that perspective, Jian Chen felt the groom was quite pitiful.

Austin’s footsteps stopped. Based on the sound of his last sentence, Jian Chen estimated that they were not far apart—they were likely very close.

He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but Austin’s gaze seemed to rest on him. Jian Chen’s eyelashes trembled; he felt a prickling sensation on his back.

Austin…

Does he think I’m too useless?

Jian Chen sighed laboriously, feeling a bit miserable. Austin likely looked down on his pathetic combat skills; a guy who gets tied up the moment eyes are turned away. Austin might feel no emotion at all, or perhaps he even wanted to find a partner with matching strength.

When a person is deprived of sight and completely restrained, all senses and mental projections are infinitely magnified. Jian Chen was clearly caught in this state.

The next second, Austin moved.

Jian Chen was startled, feeling himself being picked up.

The blindfold wasn’t removed. Jian Chen felt his chin find a support—it seemed to be Austin’s shoulder. Jian Chen leaned against it obediently and didn’t move.

Then his body lowered, but their chests didn’t separate. Jian Chen was surprised; he seemed to be held firmly by Austin, sitting in his lap.

“Are you scared?”

The voice against his ear was still cold and deep, but it was noticeably softened—magnetic and pleasant.

It almost felt like a hallucination of tenderness, but Jian Chen quickly dismissed it, as it didn’t match the habitually cold Austin.

Jian Chen shook his head, paused, and then gave a slight nod.

The movement was very small.

For an ordinary person, this had been a sufficiently soul-stirring day.

“Then let’s calm down for a while.”

Being held by the man, Jian Chen felt his heart beat faster and faster.

Yet, his mind grew strangely peaceful.

“Are we still going to the wedding?” Austin’s voice had no ups or downs, as if he hadn’t spent days painstakingly preparing for it. He added in a low voice: “It can be canceled at any time.”

Jian Chen heard the intent of reassurance in those words.

“I want to go.”

The owner of the embrace paused noticeably.

Jian Chen pursed his lips, his voice soft and warm, like a stray kitten eager to express its opinion: “I want to go. Don’t cancel it.”

The hug seemed to tighten a bit more. Jian Chen blinked and heard Austin’s voice say: “…Okay.”

The wedding was delayed by half an hour and held as scheduled.

Jian Chen remembered that during his sophomore year, he had responded to a national call to participate in a survey about one’s “ideal wedding.” He heard the results would be entered into a matching database. At the time, he filled it out honestly but didn’t think much of it.

But today, as he walked into his own wedding, he was astonished to find

A lawn by the lake, decorated with elegant flowers, a pure white corridor, simple rows of chairs, even the arched gate. On the side were small snacks and a mix of Eastern and Western delicacies, while violinists in black suits played leisurely nearby.

At the very front stood an old priest with a curled mustache a cute yet stable figure.

And standing next to the priest was the tall and handsome Austin.

On the small table at the front, Dudu was wearing the bow tie Jian Chen had tied for him this morning. As soon as the panda saw him, it propped its paws on the table and couldn’t help but let out a soft “ying-ying” cry.

The only difference was that beneath the bow tie lay an inconspicuous small box. Jian Chen realized that it contained the rings for him and Austin.

Everything… was exactly as Jian Chen had once briefly dreamed of and then forgotten.

And this was the surprise Austin had given him.

Jian Chen felt incredibly lucky that he hadn’t impulsively rejected this incomparable wedding—a wedding meant for only one person—back in the waiting room.

After the wedding, Jian Chen returned to the lounge, holding the red panda who was fiddling with its bow tie.

Austin was still hosting guests. Jian Chen took a moment to sneak out and eat some snacks. Looking out the window, he saw that rather than “hosting,” several tall, upright young men were saluting Austin.

Austin still wore that faint, cold expression, seemingly indifferent to everything.

Jian Chen chuckled softly, stuffed the remaining snacks into his mouth, and chewed slowly like a hamster.

For the Vice-Executive, today’s wedding had been a massive disaster.

First, he had to deal with the Thal-star people who had been beaten half to death by the Chief. Then, he had to appease the guests, delay the wedding by thirty minutes, and pay the violinists based on the number of songs played. Afterward, he had to rush back to where the Thal-star people were being held to interrogate them about their purpose—while also uncovering significant secrets from them.

Vice-Officer Yu felt exhausted.

He was more tired than if he had gotten married himself.

Seeing Chief Austin coming out of the banquet hall and heading toward the lounge, Vice-Officer Yu hurried to block his path.

“Chief, I have a report.”

Austin stopped. His gaze fell on Yu, harboring a hint of displeasure he hadn’t even noticed himself.

Yu was stressed, but he took the opportunity to speak: “According to previous intelligence, the Thal-star person Jian Yu is Jian Chen’s younger brother.”

Austin’s breath exhaled slowly and heavily. He mused, speaking slowly without much emotion: “He wanted to take Jian Chen away.”

“Yes.”

Yu said: “It has been confirmed from multiple sources that he injected himself with Dragon Blood genes and successfully integrated them.

That dragon was the one that left with the migration plan years ago. Jian Chen’s research institute also has a dragon—which is that dragon’s cub.

The Thal-star person Jian Yu established his own power and military camp; he is now the supreme leader of Thal.”

“Although he is young, he is a potential threat.” Despite downplaying Jian Yu’s danger verbally, Yu couldn’t hide his worried expression.

The man frowned slightly.

He said: “Earth hasn’t yet developed gene-mixing technology.”

Yu nodded: “That’s why I was looking for you urgently today.”

He pulled a vacuum bag from his inner pocket. Inside the bag was a curved test tube containing a flowing, mysterious blue liquid.

“This was found on the long-haired man who tried to kidnap Mr. Jian Chen. We urgently summoned people from the Academy of Sciences; they confirmed this is a reagent containing White Tiger genes.

Furthermore, it can fuse with human genes without toxicity.

However, the side effects are unknown. Based on the biological activity inside, this reagent has a shelf life of only one day.”

Yu spoke slowly and solemnly: “Chief, you must decide today who will be injected with this reagent.”

Jian Chen finished three small plates of snacks but still hadn’t seen Austin return.

He wiped his hands, picked up the red panda, and kissed its chubby little belly.

Dudu seemed to enjoy it very much, kicking its back legs and letting out a lazy yawn.

After getting his fill of “huffing” the red panda, Jian Chen placed him in the incubator and handed him the rubber duck, whispering: “Dudu, we’re moving to our new home today.”

The little guy naturally didn’t understand what Jian Chen was saying. Once in the incubator with his familiar duck, he lay on his side obediently, feeling quite sleepy.

Jian Chen was nearly dying from the cuteness of his cub.

Instead of Austin, he was met by the Vice-Executive he had seen earlier.

The man was very apologetic and asked: “Mr. Austin is a bit tied up. Mr. Jian, if you’re tired, would you like to go to the new house to rest first?

We will handle the move. If anything is left behind, just let us know.”

Jian Chen was a bit surprised and quickly thanked him: “I can move myself. Could you help me bring Dudu over? Um… it would be best if someone could watch him; if he wakes up and finds no one there, he’ll cry.”

“Of course,” the Vice-Executive said. “I’ll still send people to help you move. They’re just waiting downstairs anyway; it’ll save time.”

Since it was put that way, Jian Chen didn’t refuse again.

After all, moving alone really was exhausting. If he had a physique like Austin’s, Jian Chen might find it much easier.

It was another day of envying his partner’s build.

Outside the protection room, a group of people waited anxiously.

The leading officer paced back and forth, unable to stop himself from asking: “How can we be sure the injection was successful? What if Chief Austin’s life is in danger?”

Yu’s palms were cold: “Don’t ask me, I don’t know. This was the Chief’s decision.”

The person next to him said: “This decision was correct. I heard this reagent is very difficult to fuse with humans; the success rate is only 14%. An ordinary person would bleed from their seven orifices immediately due to rejection.”

The officers fell into a panic, their faces written with worry.

“No… our leader can’t be called a human. He’s a monster. If you inject a monster with a monster’s genes, how could something go wrong?”

That was a fair point.

Suddenly, a violent sound erupted from the protection room.

The force was so intense that the specially reinforced isolation walls cracked, the door frame deformed, and the explosion-proof glass shattered completely. Alarms blared as red and blue warning lights flashed and intertwined.

The officers were knocked to the ground by the shockwave of the blast.

As they wiped glass shards from their faces, their hearts sank. With an explosion of this magnitude inside the room, there was no way a human could survive.

Yu stood up and gathered his courage to walk toward the door.

Then, he saw a tall man sitting by the experimental wall. He had short, silver-grey hair, and his clothes were riddled with tears from the glass shards, yet not a single drop of blood was visible.

The faint blue veins on the man’s body gradually returned to the normal red of human blood after a few seconds. His grey-gold eyes were now entirely a brilliant gold as he slightly raised his head to look at the people entering.

His expression hadn’t changed much, yet something was different.

Because Austin was still alive, the Vice-Executive knew that Austin was no longer the same as other humans.

They had succeeded.

Jian Chen had just finished moving. Panting, he sat at the entryway to change his shoes.

Suddenly, he received a call from Austin.

He tapped to answer. Austin spoke in his usual tone, saying he wouldn’t be coming home and would see him tomorrow.

He didn’t explain the reason, and Jian Chen tilted his head, thinking for a moment before deciding not to press for one.

If it were a reason he needed to know, given Austin’s personality, he would have told him directly.

Jian Chen could understand; the man must be busy.

So he obediently said: “Okay! Don’t work too hard. See you tomorrow.”

The call ended.

Austin sat in the office hall, silently staring at the watch he had just used to communicate.

There were no more abnormalities, but the medical experts didn’t dare to be careless. Dozens of people sat around, monitoring every vital sign of Austin’s every second to prevent any sudden accidents.

Vice-Officer Yu noticed the change in Austin’s expression and asked sensitively and carefully: “Does the Chief have any instructions?”

To his surprise, Austin’s attention wasn’t on him. It was as if he were being ignored while Austin thought about something privately.

The Vice-Executive knew how to read the room, so he shut his mouth and didn’t say more.

“Today is the day Jian Chen and I got married,” Austin said suddenly.

Yu blinked, startled, and replied: “Yes.”

Austin frowned, seemingly a bit displeased.

Yu: “?”

“A husband not going home on his wedding night.”

Austin showed no expression, but his tone didn’t sound like a question, nor was it a monologue; it was an unreadable look. “Should his partner be sad?”

The Vice-Executive was stunned.

Indeed, it was a normal sentence, but coming from the mouth of Austin—who usually seemed to lack any human emotion—it became something shocking and extremely abnormal.

Yu swallowed, suppressing his astonishment, and nodded hesitantly.

He spoke truthfully: “In principle, yes.”

“If he cares about you.”

Austin fell silent again.

A long time later, Austin’s fingertips slowly tapped the edge of the desk. The sound was very small, almost imperceptible. The man’s voice was somewhat muffled and soft: “Then why couldn’t I see that he was sad?”

Vice-Officer Yu: “…Ah, perhaps Mr. Jian is just shy? Even if he’s unwilling in his heart, he might act supportive so as not to worry you.”

Austin was silent for a while, seemingly considering the Vice-Executive’s words.

He said: “I’m going back tonight.”

Yu froze and hurriedly said: “Your condition is unstable. We have medical experts here who can monitor your vitals and safety at any time…”

“Yu, you’re mistaken. This isn’t a request.”

“It’s an order.”

Austin said: “I am informing you. Go prepare the car.”