The Sickly Beauty is Too Good at Seducing - Chapter 18

Upon hearing his words, Shen Congbai’s first thought was that it was absurd. “I know you don’t like my brother, but you don’t need to invent something so ridiculous to slander him.”

Jiang Yan, however, looked as if he had heard something hilarious. He raised an eyebrow and placed his fingertips on the waistband of Shen Congbai’s pants. Before the boy could react, Jiang Yan slid them straight down to his ankles.

Jiang Yan gently caressed the wound on the boy’s knee, looking regretful. “Young Master, if he were truly as good as you imagine, then why hasn’t he contacted me yet, despite you being in Port A for so long?”

Shen Congbai’s fingers curled slightly. He was in no mood to care about his current state of undress, trying his best to hide the panic in his heart. “I came here in secret. Brother doesn’t know I’m here. He’s probably still busy looking for me…”

“Young Master.” Jiang Yan interrupted him, staring straight into his eyes. Those dark, heavy eyes were like a deep pool, threatening to drown Shen Congbai within them.

He said, “If he really cared about you that much, would that bouquet of tulips have entered your hospital room so easily?”

“…”

Jiang Yan followed up immediately: “Think about it again. I grew up in an orphanage how did I get into that elite private school? And how was it such a coincidence that I became your roommate?”

“Has the Young Master never wondered?”

Shen Congbai’s mind was in a chaotic whirl. He retorted instinctively, “But… but why would Brother do something like that?”

Jiang Yan stroked the boy’s calf, replying nonchalantly, “Because we are ‘scandals.'”

Shen Congbai murmured, “What do you mean?”

“We are ‘scandals.'” Jiang Yan pulled the shivering boy into his arms and let out a heavy sigh. In a place where Shen Congbai couldn’t see, he wore a morbid, sickly smile.

“When he found me, it just so happened to be when Shen Que was succeeding as the head of the family. Young Master, Old Master Shen has always pampered you so much. If he didn’t get rid of you, how could he monopolize all the power for himself?”

Nestled in Jiang Yan’s embrace, Shen Congbai listened to the steady beat of the man’s heart. Suddenly, his muddled thoughts became clear.

He slowly closed his eyes, his voice soft but absolutely certain: “He wouldn’t.”

Shen Que would never do such things to him for the sake of some ridiculous inheritance. Although he had always disliked Shen Que’s possessive control, Shen Congbai had to admit to himself that he also enjoyed being controlled by him.

That realization allowed his heart, which had been anxious due to the exposure of his identity, to settle firmly on the ground. So what if we aren’t blood-related? Shen Que still cares for me and values me just as he always did.

He couldn’t leave Shen Que, and Shen Que couldn’t leave him. This was a tacit understanding and intimacy born from decades of being together; it was a relationship closer than any other. Shen Que could not possibly do such a thing for such a laughable reason.

Shen Congbai said word for word, “I don’t believe you at all.”

The smile on Jiang Yan’s face froze. He stared coldly at Shen Congbai’s face for a moment, then let out a very soft laugh, raising his hand to stroke the boy’s cheek.

His voice was ethereal and weak, like the whispered murmurs of a demon: “Does the Young Master think he understands Shen Que very well?”

Shen Congbai pursed his lips, looking disappointed. “I’ve been with him for over twenty years; of course I understand him. One only needs to feel with their heart to know who treats me better.”

Jiang Yan looked as if he had heard a great joke. “Ha?”

He gripped Shen Congbai’s chin, his face suppressing a thick, dark gloom. “No. You’re the only one without a heart. You treat everyone the same beckoning when you like them and kicking them away when you don’t.”

“Whether it’s me, or the brother you think cares so much about you, or even that Feng Yu you had such a dramatic fling with you’re the same with all of us. You’ve never held a single person in your heart. Shen Congbai, ask yourself: in all these years, who have you ever truly been worthy of?”

Shen Congbai frowned and wrenched his hand away, leaving a suggestive red mark on his chin. He looked at Jiang Yan with utter displeasure. “You don’t need to meddle in my business with them. As for you, I’ve already said I’m giving your identity back, and I’ve apologized. I’ve also been punished because of that bouquet of flowers. What else do you want?”

He looked at Jiang Yan with deep disappointment. “I didn’t come here this time to reconcile with you. I just want you to stop opposing Shen Que. As for us, if you really care that much about what I did to you, then just take my life. I won’t have a single complaint.”

Jiang Yan stared at him fixedly, his jawline tightening with every word the boy spoke. “Do you really think that would make us even? That I would let you go?”

“Even if you die, you can only fall into hell with me. I will not let you go.” He touched Shen Congbai’s eyes, which were filled with a hint of disgust, with an obsessive fascination. “Young Master, I told you once: you are the sun.”

You shone into my dark, damp life, but at the same time, your scorching heat burned my heart into a field of ruins.

But… that’s just how the sun is. No one can live without the sun, and neither can I.

Even if we both end up covered in wounds, we’ll be together in the end, won’t we?

Slap! Shen Congbai suddenly delivered a fierce blow to the man’s face. The force was so great that even he couldn’t believe it; it left a glaring handprint on Jiang Yan’s gorgeous face.

Shen Congbai grit his teeth. “I truly regret ever provoking you back then.”

The expression in Jiang Yan’s eyes was completely hidden by his bangs. He pressed his tongue against the inside of his cheek where he’d been hit, the corners of his mouth curling up. “Is that so?”

Jiang Yan looked at the anklet he was holding and whispered, “What a pity, Young Master. We are destined to be entangled together.”

If I could, I would rather not be some ‘True Young Master.’ I would rather I hadn’t been arranged to get close to you in high school.

In countless early mornings as the sky grew pale, he had thought: If everything were normal, I would have gone to university and built my own career. I would be wearing a suit at some banquet, greeting Shen Congbai with a smile, and then our story would begin.

Perhaps I could have become a very good person.

But fate is a cruel joker. I’m already rotten rotten into a madman.

Jiang Yan snapped back to reality. He stood up slowly, picked up a damp towel, and gently began wiping the filth from Shen Congbai’s face.

Shen Congbai frowned and leaned back, still angry about the slander against Shen Que. “I can do it my— mm!”

He caught a very pungent scent. In the next instant, his vision went black, and his whole body toppled backward, falling limply onto Jiang Yan.

Jiang Yan rubbed his face affectionately against the boy’s, then suddenly lowered his head to bite and tear at his lips frantically. The metallic taste of blood lingered between their teeth until Shen Congbai let out a soft, pained whimper. Only then did Jiang Yan reluctantly let go.

Shen Congbai’s lips were covered in small cuts, possessing an inexplicably broken beauty.

Jiang Yan admired the sight for a long time with lingering interest. Then, with a cold, expressionless face, he took out his phone. The camera captured Shen Congbai’s current appearance perfectly as he slowly dialed Shen Que’s number.