The Little Crybaby Continues to Court Death as a Cannon Fodder - Chapter 18

Chapter 18

As he kept scolding, Yu Qing started feeling aggrieved all over again.

He couldn’t understand how Xi Yue, who had always been so obedient, suddenly turned out like this. It was like raising a well-behaved puppy that always seemed submissive—only to suddenly realize that a puppy is still an animal, and it can bite its owner hard enough to cause pain.

This discrepancy left Yu Qing feeling the sting of betrayal. He stood there alone, his long lashes fluttering and his gaze guarded. He looked panicked, as if the world were ending; any slight movement from Xi Yue would trigger a sharp reaction.

Xi Yue stopped exactly one meter away from him. He asked quietly, “Are we still going to the snack street tonight?”

A flicker of joy lit up Yu Qing’s eyes. The resentment accumulated in his heart vanished instantly at the mention of the “snack street.” This time, without waiting for Xi Yue to approach, he trotted over to him and asked suspiciously, “Can you really take me?”

“Really.”

“You won’t lie to me like last time?”

Xi Yue said, “I won’t.”

Yu Qing’s shoulders relaxed a bit out of excitement, only to tense up again at Xi Yue’s next words: “However—”

“If you don’t spend the night with President Lu, we can go to the snack street.” Xi Yue lowered his eyes, casting a dark, heavy shadow over his gaze.

“I’m going, I’m going!” Yu Qing nodded repeatedly.

Xi Yue lifted his eyes slightly. “You’re not spending the night with President Lu?”

Yu Qing found the question bizarre. “Why would I spend the night with him? I want to go to the snack street!”

After speaking, he realized his reaction was too enthusiastic, so he pulled a cold face again and ordered icily, “You must take me this time. No lying allowed.”

The moment Xi Yue moved a step, Yu Qing firmly grabbed his arm. He looked up with a fierce expression, as if he would pounce and bite him if he dared to break his word again.

Feeling the soft touch against his arm, Xi Yue used his other hand to tilt Yu Qing’s chin up, earning a glare of dissatisfaction.

“Young Master, would you like to wash your face?” The hand moved from his chin to cup his face. Xi Yue’s thumb brushed over the still-damp corners of Yu Qing’s eyes, his voice turning strangely soft. “Your eyes are all red from crying.”

Yu Qing froze, then jerked his head away, stubbornly insisting, “I wasn’t crying.”

…

Offices like this usually had an attached lounge with a soft bed and spare clothes in the closet. Yu Qing only borrowed the bathroom to take a shower; as for clean clothes, he sent Xi Yue to a nearby mall to buy them.

The moment he took his clothes off, 556 screamed: 【Bao, are you okay!?】

“What could possibly be wrong with me?”

556 hesitated: 【Xi Yue was… crouched there for so long. He didn’t do anything to you, did he?】

Mentioning this made Yu Qing angry again. He threw his clothes into the hamper with force and snapped, “Where were you? Do you know how scared I was after being bitten by that snake!”

556 cried out in defense: 【I wanted to say something! But our system has regulations. Once a protagonist engages in over-the-limit intimate behavior, we must auto-block. We can’t peek into their private lives.】

In fact, 556 was puzzled. When Yu Qing was first bitten, no “intimate behavior” had occurred yet. But as soon as 556 tried to speak, he received an internal warning about voyeurism.

The system had been forced into silence, watching Xi Yue scan Yu Qing from top to bottom with an incredibly predatory gaze. To 556, that look carried a bone-chilling horror.

Then 556 remembered another condition that triggered the warning. Systems are AI; human emotions are just pre-written code to them. When a human’s emotion reaches a certain threshold—even if they don’t act on it—the system may judge the “behavior” based on the intensity of the urge.

If Xi Yue’s desire at that moment was as intense as the act of making love, the system would categorize it as a sexual encounter based on the emotional concentration.

But Xi Yue’s face had been so calm… he didn’t look like he was drowning in lust at all.

556 asked worriedly, 【After Xi Yue opened his mouth for you, was everything really okay? He didn’t do anything else?】

With the promise of the snack street as compensation, Yu Qing had completely forgotten Xi Yue’s insolence. In his eyes, Xi Yue was back to being a well-behaved little pet.

He snorted. “What could he do to me? He listens to me. Besides, I’m not an idiot!”

【I’m just worried Xi Yue might have fallen for you!】 556 said righteously. 【Bao is so beautiful, your butt is so round and soft, who wouldn’t be tempted? Let me touch—】

“Stop being a pervert!”

Yu Qing bathed while scolding the system. Afterward, he put on a disposable bathrobe and said seriously, “I know what you’re worried about. Xi Yue is the protagonist, he’s gay, maybe he’ll like me. But I’m very alert!”

“It’s impossible for him to like me. I’m so mean to him.”

556 had a realization. So that’s it! Yu Qing’s attitude toward Xi Yue was especially harsh. 556 thought he was just being a bully, but it turned out Yu Qing was intentionally being “bad” to nip any romantic feelings in the bud.

If it were anyone else, the system wouldn’t worry about the protagonist falling for a host, but this host was… special. Yu Qing was pampered, arrogant, and temperamental, but he was also incredibly pure. His rare beauty made his bad temper seem charming—even dangerously attractive.

556 understood how Xi Yue felt. Being scolded by Yu Qing didn’t feel like an insult; it felt like a spoiled kitten demanding to be coaxed.

As 556 was thinking this, he went silent again.

The “alert” Yu Qing, who just said he was being careful, was now rolling around on the bed in a loose bathrobe. When the door opened, he stopped slowly. He lay on his stomach, propping his chin in his hands. His face was flushed pink from the hot bath, and his delicate feet swung idly in the air, unaware that the robe had hiked up to his thighs.

He didn’t look alert at all. Because he was lying face down, his back curved naturally into a slender waist, and the transition to his rounded hips was a hook for the eyes.

Xi Yue sat on the edge of the bed. He picked up a mini crab-roe bun from a takeout box, touched it to his own lips to check the temperature, and then fed it to Yu Qing.

Yu Qing’s brow furrowed with habitual distaste, but the aroma was too much. He reluctantly opened his mouth. The soup exploded on his tongue—perfect temperature, fresh flavor. It was an indescribable bliss.

Yu Qing didn’t know how to describe it, so he used body language. He rolled twice on the bed, sat up on his knees with a glowing face and bright eyes, and exclaimed, “Delicious!”

Then, he tilted his head back and opened his mouth, waiting for the next bite. He was completely unaware that his robe was slipping, exposing a snowy-white shoulder.

“Young Master, after you finish, shall we meet President Lu?” Xi Yue said. “It’s time to go.”

Yu Qing swallowed the last bite slowly, then ran to wash up without a word before diving back under the covers and pulling them over his head.

“Tell Lu Feng I’m taking a nap. If he wants to go to the springs, he waits.” He paused and sneered, “If he can’t wait, he can get lost.”

…

Meanwhile, in the outer office.

From the moment Yu Qing started throwing things, Lu Feng had closed the door. The rumors were right; the Young Master was indeed a spoiled brat. To be this arrogant on his turf, in his office!

Lu Feng composed himself and looked up coldly. His staff immediately stopped eavesdropping and stared at their screens, their keyboards clacking furiously. He felt a bit embarrassed for being seen in such a state by his subordinates, but after walking a few steps, he felt absurd.

This is my company! Why should I listen to Yu Qing and leave my own office?

But returning now would make him look like he cared too much. Thinking of that flushed, moist face made him feel irritable again. He tugged his tie and hurried to a desk, elbowing the surface and staring at a monitor.

Sure enough, after he left, Yu Qing and that “wild man” were doing something… “scandalous.”

On the monitor, Yu Qing’s face was flushed, his lips red as if painted with rouge. His half-closed eyes were filled with a misty haze. The sight was so beautiful it was almost eerie.

The heat in Lu Feng’s chest grew stronger. He didn’t look away, instead reaching out to turn the AC down. His intense gaze looked as if it wanted to dive through the screen and into reality.

Xi Yue’s head was buried out of sight. It was clear he was a cunning man who knew where the cameras were and how to create blind spots. No matter how much Lu Feng stared, he couldn’t see what they were doing. He could only see Yu Qing’s profile—the tense line of his jaw and the slightly red, wet corners of his eyes.

Just as Lu Feng was getting lost in the sight, his secretary knocked. He scrambled to close the video and sat up straight.

The secretary gave a professional smile. “President Lu, Young Master Yu is in your lounge. He just bathed and is preparing for a nap. The hot spring trip will have to be delayed; I’ve already contacted the resort.”

A nap? Lu Feng checked the time—it was nearly 4:00 PM. “A nap now?”

“Yes, now.”

“He didn’t say anything else?”

Seeing the secretary hesitate, Lu Feng knew there was more. “Spit it out. What else did he say?”

“He said… if you want to soak in the springs, you wait. If you can’t wait, you can get lost.”

“…”

Lu Feng said, “You may leave.”

The office returned to silence. The tall man slumped back into his chair, slowly spinning it in a circle. After a while, a light chuckle escaped him.

Good, very good.

He had intentionally made Yu Qing wait, and now Yu Qing was returning the favor. He really wouldn’t take a single loss.

But why sleep in my bed? The lounge was his private space. Thinking of Yu Qing sleeping in a bed filled with his scent made him feel restless again.

Whatever. Let him sleep. I won’t lower myself to his level.

…

While Yu Qing slept, the Yu family’s medical team quietly entered the room to check the snake bite. The wound was only the size of a pinprick, but they dared not be careless. They finally concluded that his health was fine.

Xi Yue watched from the side. He was the one who knew the truth and the one who had been in “intimate contact” with the wound. The snake was non-venomous and tiny; if you looked away for a second, you couldn’t even find the bite. Ordinary people would just disinfect it and move on.

But they treated it like a national emergency, whispering solemnly about case studies and reports.

“The Chairman values this incident highly.” “You summarize the data; you, collect similar cases.” “The new physical report is coming out soon. We need to discuss how to report this.”

…Wasn’t this a bit much?

Xi Yue realized that in families like this, the health of the heir was paramount. Every day, he had to summarize Yu Qing’s day, his diet, his mood, and anything that caught his eye. If Yu Qing looked at a shop window too long, or ate one bite less than the previous meal, it had to be recorded.

Similarly, Yu Qing was forbidden from touching anything they deemed unsafe. Like the snack street.

Knowing he wanted to go, Elder Yu had already sent people to replace the vendors and food in the snack street with “safe” alternatives, using lies to satisfy Yu Qing’s expectations.

Xi Yue could feel the love and protection surrounding Yu Qing, but it was also suffocating.

The medical team finished up and left. Not long after, Yu Qing slowly woke up. His face was full of groggy confusion, as if he didn’t quite know who or where he was.

Xi Yue walked over, and Yu Qing reflexively held out his arms. He was picked up and carried to the bathroom to wash. Even with a fuzzy head, Yu Qing didn’t forget to mumble about the hot springs and the snack street.

He whispered, “Don’t lie to me again. I hate people who lie.”