Shen Ci's skin tone was naturally a cool white. Now experiencing hypoglycemia, even his lips had lost their color, making him look like a paper figurine.

Lin Yin felt a bit sympathetic. "There's still a while before dinner, so it might be a bit hard to endure. Right, do you know Young Master Xie's rules for bringing people into the circle?"

When these second-generation heirs hung out together, they never ate at normal hours. They would always play until eight or nine o'clock before leisurely strolling back to the city. If it was someone brought along for the first time, they had to drink first. Back when Lin Yin first met Xie Yu and the others, she was forced to chug three bottles, and that was already going easy on her because she was a girl.

Shen Ci asked, "What rules?"

"Drinking, drinking a lot of alcohol. For baijiu, you have to start with at least eight taels." Lin Yin whispered, "On the way back, try to find a way to eat something to pad your stomach, otherwise, you'll drink until your stomach perforates."

Shen Ci, however, said, "I'm not participating."

Lin Yin's eyes widened. "You're not participating?"

Shen Ci simply replied, "I have a meeting tonight, it's not within the scope of the contract."

In the agreement, the original owner had agreed not to interfere with Shen Ci's academic activities. If Shen Ci had a meeting, he could leave at any time.

When Xie Yu saw this stipulation back then, he also found it very strange. Given the original owner's arrogant and domineering personality, this wasn't his style. For this reason, he even deliberately flipped through the novel. The original text's description was:

"Eldest Young Master Xie was tired of keeping frail canaries. They were beautiful but uninteresting. He now wanted to change his tastes and keep someone with a stiff backbone who wouldn't yield easily, preferably someone who had achieved something in their field. Cool and indifferent in the laboratory, commanding everyone's attention on the podium, yet having to beg for mercy with red eyes on his bed—only by grinding them down like this would it be interesting."

At the time, Xie Yu smacked his lips and thought, 'Plays pretty kinky.'

"This... this, will Young Master Xie agree to this?" Lin Yin hesitated for a moment. She had never seen someone like Shen Ci in the circle. After thinking it over, she still advised, "You know Young Master Xie better than I do. If you don't go this time, you'll have to go next time. Next time Young Master Xie forces you to drink, he'll force you even harder."

It was hard to say if it would even be just forcing drinks.

Shen Ci shook his head and merely said, "I know what I'm doing."

It wasn't that he didn't know the consequences, but ever since signing the contract, all his time was held in Xie Yu's hands. Like a puppet manipulated at will, only this tiny bit of freedom rewarded through the gaps of the young master's fingers allowed him to eke out a living.

At this moment, a burst of cheers erupted on the track. The last few cars crossed the finish line, the large central screen flickered a few times, and the names of the top three were highlighted in bold red. The host raised the microphone to congratulate the champion, runner-up, and second runner-up of the race.

Beside the large screen was a smaller screen showing the scores of the other contestants. Xie Yu took a look; he, who had abandoned the race midway to take a beauty for a stroll, had gloriously won last place. He Zhiyuan was a bit above him, in seventh to last place.

Xie Yu didn't mind much and clapped perfunctorily. From afar, he saw He Zhiyuan coming down from the track with a dark face. Throwing his helmet onto the ground, he sat down next to Zhou Yang, panting, and cursed, "Damn it, a bunch of blind bastards, trying so hard to overtake me, they squeezed me all the way into the side lane!"

Zhou Yang patted He Zhiyuan. "Condition issue, it's normal."

"Bullshit, I think the referee is blind too!"

He Zhiyuan couldn't swallow this anger and sat on the side cursing. Zhou Yang comforted him, "How about this, let's find a place to drink tonight and chug a few bottles?"

He Zhiyuan brushed him off. "What's there to chug?"

Zhou Yang: "Not chugging? I just got my hands on a few bottles of Rémy Martin, fifty-year-old premium stuff."

He Zhiyuan's expression was unhappy, but he didn't have many hobbies, his favorite being the contents of a cup. Hearing that there was good wine, he nodded. "Alright, same old place. Should we call a few more people we get along with to keep us company?"

He looked up and asked Xie Yu, "Young Master Xie, what do you say?"

When he said this, although He Zhiyuan addressed Xie Yu, his gaze was directed towards Shen Ci. He looked the person up and down, his stare quite explicit, as if he wanted to strip him out of his covering clothes.

According to the rules at their table, it wasn't good to go all the way with the "boyfriends or girlfriends" brought by brothers, but copping a feel was still acceptable.

Shen Ci remained expressionless, but Lin Yin shrank back a bit, not daring to speak.

"Sure." Xie Yu was originally sitting at the very front in a daze, his mind wandering thousands of miles away. Suddenly called out, he casually pulled out two blades of grass from the cement gap and said, "Let's go."

If his fair-weather friends extended an invitation and he didn't agree, his character setting would collapse.

He Zhiyuan said, "Alright, then let's head back to the city."

The three of them stood up. He Zhiyuan and Zhou Yang went down first, while Xie Yu fell a step behind, leisurely sauntering after them, planning to wait for Shen Ci to come up together. As a result, after waiting a while without seeing anyone, he turned around, only to see Shen Ci still standing ramrod straight in his original spot. His white shirt wrapped his slender body, lean and upright.

Xie Yu raised an eyebrow. "Teaching Assistant Shen?"

Shen Ci looked at him. "I'm not going tonight."

Xie Yu: "Hmm?"

Shen Ci's fingers gathered into fists inside his sleeves. He looked at Xie Yu on eye level and stiffly repeated, "I have a meeting tonight, I won't go to the drinking party."

As soon as the words fell, everyone looked towards him.

Lin Yin jumped in fright. "Are you crazy? You can't say that!"

She had never seen someone as reckless with their life as Shen Ci, and immediately advised in a low voice: "You won't gain anything good by making Young Master Xie lose face in front of his friends like this. If you don't want to get beaten tonight, apologize immediately!"

Shen Ci did not speak.

If he knew how to apologize, he wouldn't have been tortured into severe depression in the later stages of the novel without even being willing to say a soft word to beg the original owner.

Xie Yu didn't have much of a reaction. He merely glanced at him, turned around to head down, and said, "Come down, we'll talk about this in the car."

He slowly and leisurely sauntered to the parking lot, pulled open the car door, and sat inside. Outside the car, Lin Yin looked at Shen Ci with some sympathy, shook her head with a sigh, and got into He Zhiyuan's car. Zhou Yang fastened his helmet and also cast a glance at Shen Ci, as if to say 'you're on your own'.

Shen Ci grasped the handle. In the reflection of the glass car window, his face was pale, and his lips were also white; his appearance was truly quite miserable.

Xie Yu unlocked the car door. "Get in."

Shen Ci lowered his eyelids and sat in the car.

With a click, the car doors locked.

Xie Yu's car was a business-class Bentley. The car doors were reinforced with thick steel plates, and the windows used explosion-proof glass. Once the locks fell, the inside of the car was like an isolated island cut off from the rest of the world.

Shen Ci pulled over the seatbelt with one hand. The four-finger-wide belt bound his body, wrapping across his waist and abdomen, almost as if he had put a chain on himself and tied himself up.

Xie Yu started the engine and reversed the car. He didn't turn on the stereo. The interior was terrifyingly quiet, with only the slight noise of the steering wheel turning. In this death-like silence, Shen Ci spoke again: "I'm not going tonight."

He lowered his eyes to look at the car window, his hands hidden in his sleeves, his back taut like a bow.

Xie Yu let out a "hmm" and lazily said, "If you're not going, then don't. I'm not going either."

Shen Ci paused in surprise.

He paused for two seconds before turning his head to look at Xie Yu. The young master was reversing the car, the joints of the hand gripping the steering wheel distinctly visible. He tilted his head to assess the road conditions behind them. The dim, yellowish light of the parking lot piled onto his handsome and sharp facial features, casting fragmented specks of light on the turns of his brow ridge and nasal bone, sparse and stark like the rugged strokes of regular script calligraphy.

It truly was an outstanding outer appearance.

Shen Ci hesitated for a moment. "You..."

Xie Yu: "Hmm?"

Shen Ci turned his head away. "...Nothing."

Xie Yu gave a half-smile. "I happen to be busy tonight, and you are too, so let it be. But if you don't come next time..."

He paused for a moment, dragging out his tone, "I wouldn't know the consequences."

Shen Ci's back instantly tensed up, and then forced himself to relax. "...Mm."

Xie Yu nodded.

It wasn't that he had suddenly gone crazy; this sentence was a plot line that he had to say.

In the original text, when Shen Ci refused to attend the drinking party, the original owner was very unhappy and tormented the person right there in the car, leaving behind a large patch of mosaics.

The mosaics weren't the problem; the problem was that scattered plotlines were mixed within the mosaics, and these nonsensical plotlines were all things Xie Yu needed to act out.

Earlier, taking advantage of the break at the racetrack, Xie Yu had skimmed ten lines at a glance and finished reading the required performance content. He read it with a suspicious expression and twitching eyebrows, unable to help but ask the System: "Is this part in the car what I think it means?"

The System said coolly: "An abusive smut novel, what else do you think it could mean?"

Xie Yu: "..."

The time he remained silent was too long. The System leaned closer: "Is it very hard to act out? The parts that aren't mosaiced out are all normal plotlines."

Xie Yu raised an eyebrow. "All normal plotlines?"

He pointed it out to the System: "This 'Young Master Xie was seen letting out a laugh, reaching over, and pressing Shen Ci's entire person into his arms', this is a normal plotline?"

The System: "It's, it's okay, right."

Xie Yu: "Then what about this one? 'Xie Yu pinched Shen Ci's jaw with one hand, forced him to open his mouth, and ordered, 'Lick''? Is this normal?"

The System: "..."

It said tactfully: "Host, in a smut novel, this couldn't be more normal."

In short, this nonsensical plotline lasted for over a chapter. Later, it was only because Xie Yuanshan called to ask his son to come home for dinner, saying he had something to discuss, that it was finally dropped.

While Xie Yu was still pondering how to act out the nonsensical plot, three honks sounded from the entrance.

He Zhiyuan rolled down his car window and leaned out his body: "Young Master Xie, what are you doing? Why aren't you going?"

Xie Yu made a 'coming right up' gesture, closed the plot window, and drove the car onto the mountain road.

At this time, dusk was gathering, approaching sunset. The cold mechanical voice of the navigation system echoed inside the car windows. The scent of the mountain forest outside seeped in through the window gaps, mixing with the smell of leather and cologne, as well as a faint scent of honeylocust soap.

The stereo in the car was turned on. Xie Yu casually selected a radio station, playing a soothing concerto. The deep and gentle tone of the cello, paired with the spacious seats of the luxury car, made it so comfortable that it made one want to sleep.

Xie Yu had long arms and long legs; slouching in the seat didn't affect his ability to watch the road and step on the clutch. His sitting posture was lazy and unrestrained, lacking any proper form. Shen Ci, on the contrary, sat quietly upright, his neck hanging in a perfect curve, looking like a well-bred young master from a classical novel. Such a posture shouldn't be sitting in Young Master Xie's luxury car with the identity of a pet, but rather in a laboratory, a teaching building, or a study room in the library.

Xie Yu drove while appraising him.

Xie Yu had never been a good student. When he was in high school, he happened to hit a long rebellious phase, being a problem youth who sat in the back row, while Shen Ci seemed like the unsmiling class monitor or academic committee member in the front row.

A bad student facing a good student always had a strange mentality—disdain mixed with envy, and jealousy driven by vanity. If Xie Yu had met Shen Ci in high school, he inevitably would have snatched his eraser, copied his homework, and bullied him mildly.

But now, Shen Ci had really become his agreement partner, bullied to the point of merely being able to sit here, letting others mold and flatten him at will. He actually felt a bit guilty and didn't dare to look much longer.

No one spoke along the way.

The car traveled for more than twenty kilometers and reached the fork of the ring expressway. Further ahead was the main urban area. Xie Yu told Li Yang and He Zhiyuan in the group chat that he had something going on tonight and wasn't going. Amidst the pleas and wails of his fair-weather friends, he turned the steering wheel and got off the expressway.

He adjusted the navigation destination: "Teaching Assistant Shen, drop you off at the entrance of the lab? ...Teaching Assistant Shen?"

"Okay." Shen Ci was half a beat slow before he lowered his eyelashes. "Sorry, I zoned out a bit."

Hesitating for a moment, he added, "Thank you."

Xie Yu looked at him through the rearview mirror. "You're not in a good state?"

From the moment he got in the car, Shen Ci had closed his eyes, almost sleeping heavily the whole way.

Shen Ci shook his head. "No."

Just hypoglycemia.

Although he felt a bit dizzy, it wasn't unbearable. Shen Ci raised his hand to glance at his watch. At this time, there was still an hour before the meeting started, enough time for him to go to the cafeteria and eat a bowl of plain noodles.

A University was located in the suburbs of Jiang City, not far from here. The car drove for less than ten minutes before arriving at the bottom of the laboratory building.

Xie Yu braked and came to a steady stop. "Teaching Assistant Shen, take care, I won't see you out."

He looked at Shen Ci, resting one hand on the cushion, let out a teasing laugh, and read another novel line: "I'll let it go this time. For the next gathering, Teaching Assistant Shen must accompany me to play nicely."

The System popped out silently: "You're just going to let him go like this?"

Xie Yu: "What else?"

The System reminded him: "You still have several lines you haven't said."

The fluorescent blue screen floated in mid-air. The novel turned to the corresponding page, with several lines marked with a red background, bright red and eye-catching.

Xie Yu said lazily, "I can't bring myself to say it, so I won't. Anyway, as long as the plot conformity is at 50%, that's fine, right?"

Saying so, Xie Yu pressed the button to open the door, and the car door unlocked. Shen Ci grabbed the handle and pushed it outwards. The damp and cold air instantly flooded into the car seat. The noisy voices of men and women on campus reached his ears; girls walked past the small path holding milk tea, boys made plans to go to the internet cafe to surf the web. And as he unbuckled his seatbelt, for a moment, he actually felt an illusion of being a lifetime apart.

Just like that, he was out?

Shen Ci turned his head, wanting to say thank you. In the instant he half-straightened his body, his face paled, and immediately he felt dizzy and his head spun. The aftereffects of hypoglycemia compounded with sitting for a long time made his legs go soft. Before he even had time to react, he leaned against the cushion and fell back down.

"Hey, you?!"

Xie Yu was already planning to close the car door and leave. Shen Ci unexpectedly collapsed towards his side, so he hurriedly raised his hand to support the person. Shen Ci's consciousness was groggy, and upon being scooped up by his reaching hand, he crashed stiffly into Xie Yu's arms.

Xie Yu: "..."

Although his family background was impoverished, Shen Ci paid great attention to his appearance. His head rested on Xie Yu's shoulder, his hair brushing against his neck, and the skin of his cheek rubbing past the tip of his nose. Xie Yu could smell the scent of old-fashioned soap and detergent. It wasn't some custom-blended fragrance; it was the kind of old domestic brand preferred by the grandmother generation, bearing the bitter scent of Chinese medicine mugwort. It wasn't premium, but it was very clean.

The System said flatly: "Congratulations to the host, the main plotline 'Xie Yu reached over and pressed Shen Ci's entire person into his arms' has been completed."

Xie Yu said angrily: "Fuck, is this the time to say this? Navigate to the school hospital for me!"

The System said coolly: "Rest assured, Host, the protagonist of an abusive novel doesn't get into accidents so easily. He just has hypoglycemia, leave him be for ten minutes and he'll be fine."

...Hypoglycemia?

Xie Yu was thoughtful. He wrapped one arm around Shen Ci and dug out a handful of lollipops used for quitting smoking from his pocket. He tore off the wrapper in a few swift motions and pressed the candy against Shen Ci's lips. He then paused, thinking that saving the person was paramount, so he pinched his jaw with one hand and shoved the candy inside.

The System read in a monotone voice: "Congratulations to the host, 'Xie Yu pinched Shen Ci's jaw with one hand, forcing him to open his mouth' has been completed."

The veins on Xie Yu's forehead throbbed wildly. "Shut up!"

Shen Ci wasn't completely without sensation. After a bout of dizziness, his perception gradually returned. He understood the feeling of hypoglycemia very well and didn't panic. He just rested for a moment, then propped up his body, wanting to sit up.

Immediately after, something was stuffed in.

The System thoughtfully highlighted the completed parts in green. Now, only the last spot of red remained in the entire chapter.

Xie Yu glanced at the screen and said guiltily: "Um, to replenish your blood sugar, lick... take a lick, it's sweet."

Shen Ci hadn't completely sobered up yet. He groggily curled his tongue and, true to his word, took a lick and held the candy in his mouth.

Amidst his confusion, only the body's instinctive thought remained.

—It really is very sweet.