Chapter 24: Strictly Controlled by the Husband

Facts proved that pressing one’s face against chest muscles and receiving a long, tight hug could also give the brain a rather happy sense of fullness.

Lin Jiangye was in an excellent mood. Even though Yu Wangxiao soon silently returned to the bathroom once more, he remained cheerful. He could even calmly return to the sofa and continue enjoying the animal world program.

Some things that were very difficult to say aloud, once spoken clearly, would allow this relationship to develop even more smoothly. Lin Jiangye knew very well in his heart that the connection between them was already completely different from before, and it would inevitably become even closer.

In Lin Jiangye’s view, Yu Wangxiao could finally be defined as a true “one of his own.”

Even if Yu Wangxiao wanted to cut off this connection, he would not allow it.

A sense of belonging.

After coming to this world, this was the first time he had developed such a strong sense of belonging.

Lin Jiangye finally fully understood the meaning behind this phrase. For some reason, he felt the ease of a stone settling to the ground.

What was even luckier was that Yu Wangxiao did not dislike his behavior. Or rather, he had never disliked it. Other humans would probably be very afraid. After all, not everyone was willing to share a room with someone who developed an appetite toward them…

“What are we eating for lunch?”

Lin Jiangye was hungry again. He directly asked while hugging Yu Wangxiao’s arm, and by the way, leaned closer to smell the comfortable scent of shower gel on him.

Now he was hungry openly and confidently, without hiding it at all.

“Lamb hotpot,” Yu Wangxiao answered gently. With one hand, he tidied the wrinkles at his shirt collar, letting Lin Jiangye hold his arm and knead it back and forth.

He seemed to have quickly adjusted his state completely. There was no stiffness from being tightly hugged, and he looked as calm and unruffled as usual.

“Is it tasty? I don’t think I’ve ever eaten lamb.” Lin Jiangye was full of enthusiasm.

“The taste is not bad. It’s medicinal cuisine, from a restaurant opened by Director Li. Very suitable for your current malnourished state.” Yu Wangxiao held his hand in return, openly interlocking their fingers.

“…Mm, I am indeed malnourished.”

Lin Jiangye sighed. There was no helping it. Favorability was rising too fast, and no matter how much he ate, he could not keep up with the speed of growth.

Perhaps human eyes could not see it, but Lin Jiangye knew very clearly in his heart—this body was undergoing some subtle qualitative changes.

The first change had appeared in the composition of his bone marrow. Recently, he had even discovered that his pores had become much smaller, and his hair was growing faster and faster. Every two days, it needed to be trimmed slightly.

The cells and muscle tissue belonging to the original owner were gradually being repaired and replaced by more flexible, stronger tissue, bit by bit becoming increasingly familiar, increasingly like the body he had once possessed.

Lin Jiangye did not reject this change. Instead, he felt at ease. A body created purely from his own energy was the flesh and blood that truly belonged to him. At least he would not have to worry about being unable to support high-intensity divine power usage in the future and inexplicably exploding to death.

Only the original owner’s spinal cord had been deliberately left behind, temporarily stored separately in his abdomen. Lin Jiangye had secretly ordered a grave for the original owner, planning to take it out and bury it once he could fully recover, then erect a tombstone as a beacon.

Because he had not eaten the original owner’s soul. After their brief emergency exchange, he had allowed it to dissipate and leave on its own. Now it should still be wandering in the void.

And a soul wandering in the void, if one day it truly awakened and wanted to return home, could only rely on this method to locate the rough direction of this world. Of course, according to Lin Jiangye’s research, incense, memorial tablets, and sacrificial items should be able to produce similar effects too, mainly relying on the memories and longing of the living.

There were not many people in this world who would worship the original owner, so he could only do it himself.

He had not discussed this matter with Yu Wangxiao, because Yu Wangxiao did not seem to like that Lin Jiangye very much. At first, Lin Jiangye had wanted to imitate the original owner, but that had caused Yu Wangxiao’s initial favorability toward him to drop into the negatives… But it did not matter. The private exchange between him and the original owner was actually not very suitable for others to know. This was basic courtesy.

Everyone had their own little secrets. Yu Wangxiao should also have many.

***

“This is too delicious! Can we eat hotpot every day from now on?”

“No. You’ll get tired of it.”

“How is this spicy dipping sauce mixed? It smells so good. It tastes especially good with yam…”

“Slow down. Be careful not to choke.”

Lin Jiangye ate an entire pot of rice, plus half a pot of clear lamb medicinal soup, as well as the spicy lamb offal stew that had been added because there was not enough food. If he had not deliberately left some for Yu Wangxiao, he could have eaten everything on the table clean.

There were only the two of them in the quiet private room, but not only the servers who occasionally came in to refill the tea, even Yu Wangxiao’s expression gradually became subtle.

“I was only away on a business trip for less than a week. When did you become this able to eat?” Yu Wangxiao could not help asking, really somewhat amused and helpless.

Lin Jiangye touched his still-flat abdomen. Feeling that he had finally, rarely eaten his fill once, he comfortably spread himself out on the chair, even his voice becoming lazy. “Just these past few days… Sorry, actually, I secretly ordered a lot of takeout behind Uncle Chen’s back.”

Yu Wangxiao frowned slightly. “If it isn’t enough, just say so. The chef arranged for you serves only you. He has plenty of time. Don’t casually order takeout anymore, alright? It has no nutrition.”

“Okay.” Lin Jiangye honestly answered, but his eyes could not help constantly glancing toward Yu Wangxiao’s collar.

The band-aid near his collarbone was now completely hidden by his neat shirt, so no matter who looked, they could not see that there were still deep bite marks there.

Compared with Yu Wangxiao freshly out of the shower at Longjing Bay, the Yu Wangxiao now dressed in an everyday suit, meticulous from head to toe, truly had an entirely different temperament.

Lin Jiangye did not know what the aura of a person in power was, but he felt this difference was very interesting. Although Yu Wangxiao’s attitude at this moment was equally gentle, the curve at the corners of his lips when he smiled was not the same… In short, there was definitely a tiny difference of a few millimeters.

A tiny difference, a great sense of distance.

This subtle sense of distance could briefly suppress Lin Jiangye’s appetite, which occasionally bounced up, allowing his attention to return to serious matters.

He poured himself a cup of hot tea and also poured one for Yu Wangxiao. “Shall we talk? We haven’t finished talking.”

Yu Wangxiao lightly curved his lips and accepted the teacup. “I’d be very happy to.”

Lin Jiangye lowered his voice. “Then, are you reborn?”

Yu Wangxiao’s movement of drinking tea paused. “…So direct. Mm, I am.”

“Who caused your car accident in your previous life?”

“Actually, that point is no longer important. But if you want to know…” Yu Wangxiao’s smile remained, without the slightest intention of holding a grudge. “Everyone who could profit from Yu Corporation’s split participated.”

“What do you mean it’s not important! I want to hear all of it.” Lin Jiangye glared at him, dissatisfied, and poked his face.

Under the threat of continuous face-poking attacks, Yu Wangxiao unhurriedly explained many details.

He was in quite a good mood, but Lin Jiangye was very unhappy listening. Because Yu Wangxiao’s summary was extremely precise—everyone who could profit from Yu Corporation’s split had participated.

Some people were responsible for bribing the driver and the housekeeper of the Yu family old residence. Some were responsible for specifically arranging skilled workers to secretly tamper with the car during regular maintenance. In the later inspection, there were problems with the radar, engine, and brake pads.

Even the gasoline had been replaced with inferior diesel. The edge of the fuel tank cap had even been stuffed with flammable matches. As long as there was the slightest fuel leak when the vehicle collided, the entire car would instantly become a sea of fire.

According to He Chen’s investigation, on that Mid-Autumn night, the road down the mountain from the old residence was also wrong. It had actually been maliciously paved with wet asphalt, and the color was very hidden.

Unfortunately, the most fatal point was that A City was very dry in autumn. So every evening, there would be a water-spraying truck passing through that stretch of road at a fixed time to water the shrubs and plants on both sides.

Then inevitably, the road surface itself would also be wetted.

Wet asphalt plus a thin layer of clear water, meeting four clean tires… even if the brake pads had no failure, there would still be a serious crisis of wild skidding.

The killing trap designed for Yu Wangxiao was interlocked layer by layer, and the very first ring, the most critical step, was actually to lure Yu Wangxiao out of the old residence.

“Do you still remember when we first met, in the study, the matter He Chen mentioned?” Yu Wangxiao smiled and suddenly asked.

By the time he said this, the tea in Yu Wangxiao’s hand had already gone cold, while Lin Jiangye had already drunk three or four cups. The aged dark tea had a mellow sweetness in its aftertaste, but it still could not solve the inexplicable dryness in his throat.

Bursts of nervousness and astonishment rose in Lin Jiangye’s heart. He had always known that Yu Wangxiao had been killed by enemies, but he truly had not expected that the so-called “accidental tragedy” brushed over in one line in the original book actually had so many complicated details and inside stories.

Someone had actually been willing to use every method to design things to this extent just to kill Yu Wangxiao.

He poured another cup of tea and picked up the spoon to ladle himself a full bowl of soup.

The dishes on the table had not yet been cleared away. There was already not much lamb left in the pot of bubbling lamb soup. Fortunately, the clear soup tasted very good too, and the more it cooked, the better it became, with a rather refreshing, fresh-sweet aroma.

The hot lamb soup entered his stomach. Lin Jiangye tried hard to remain calm and finally answered, “Mm, He Chen mentioned a processing factory in North City. It seemed like something had happened. But at the time, you didn’t deal with it yourself. You told him to negotiate by phone first and not rush directly to the airport…”

Halfway through speaking, Lin Jiangye suddenly realized something and hurriedly confirmed with Yu Wangxiao. “In your previous life, it was because something happened at this processing factory and you needed to personally go to North City to handle it that you suddenly left in the middle of the night on Mid-Autumn?”

Yu Wangxiao nodded slightly, somewhat emotional. “It was a fire, plus an accidental leak of high-risk chemical raw materials. The news was about to become impossible to suppress. He Chen had personally followed that cooperation for an entire year, and seeing it about to fail at the last step, the victims’ compensation and aid also needed someone to come forward and handle it.

“Logically speaking, I had to personally go to North City.”

Not only that, to ensure Yu Wangxiao would definitely leave, ten minutes after the fire accident happened, two workers from the processing factory suddenly started a livestream. They bought a great deal of traffic at any cost and began crying loudly.

They tearfully complained that they had been tragically scammed by fellow villagers and pulled into a black factory that exploited labor and had no safety guarantees. They even directly named and said that a certain “President Yu” usually loved choosing concubines and especially preferred young, simple boys and girls. Therefore, many employees’ family members in the processing factory had suffered harm, with nowhere to ask for help…

One could imagine how chaotic that Mid-Autumn night in the previous life had been. With the slightest negligence, fatal danger would come crashing head-on.

Therefore, in this life, Yu Wangxiao had consciously taken preventive measures and strengthened risk control. The chemical raw materials were transported away in advance, and the fire was quickly extinguished at the first moment. That was why he could leisurely watch romance movies all night in the old residence.

As for the two workers who had started the livestream, Yu Wangxiao had not dismissed them in advance. He only let He Chen trace things to the source. The person who had bribed the two of them was one of the Gu family eldest son’s lovers.

The evidence chain broke at her. It was very difficult to investigate further. That lover was pushed out lightly to take all the blame.

A few days ago, during the preliminary trial, she even took the initiative to accept a reporter’s interview. Facing the camera, she directly accused Yu Wangxiao of improper conduct and persecuting innocent young boys and girls, begging the judge to give her justice.

Of course, even when this news was reported, it did not cause much splash. For Yu Corporation, it was only a common minor trouble, and naturally, there were specialized people to resolve it.

Yu Wangxiao had not planned to say this at all, but seeing Lin Jiangye’s absorbed and worried gaze… he still said it. Gaining sympathy was not a method he used often, but he could not help wanting to try it.

Lin Jiangye really fell for this tactic and was rather indignant. “Isn’t this rumor a bit too inexplicable? It’s complete nonsense. Your private life has always been this clean. Who would believe it?”

“In our line, there are actually many people who aren’t clean. They’ve been dirty for a long time, so I’m afraid they will never believe that I can remain pure in this position.”

Yu Wangxiao shook his head as he spoke, then helplessly continued, “Rather than believing I really am not interested in many things, they’re more willing to guess that my crimes are hidden too well, or perhaps… that I’m psychologically abnormal and secretly like some disgraceful things.”

Lin Jiangye seriously listened to the end and gradually became thoughtful. “They’re so bad. But, it’s actually normal for others to guess that you’re abnormal. Sometimes, you really are a little abnormal.”

“Mm?”

“…Although I completely don’t care, you can’t deny that you’re abnormal, right?” Lin Jiangye paused, but remained righteous.

In the past, he had lacked social experience and had not yet realized what it meant to be frequently monitored and located in real time. But by now, the Lin Jiangye who studied seriously and improved every day had already grown.

He had figured it out. Yu Wangxiao’s behavior undoubtedly had problems. It was abnormal.

Yu Wangxiao’s smile was warm as he unhurriedly counterattacked softly. “Tuantuan, today you ate four people’s worth of lamb hotpot. At home, you bit me and wanted to drink my blood.”

“You clearly like me doing that. You even got hard.” Lin Jiangye did not feel guilty at all. Instead, his momentum grew even stronger.

Humans could use language and expressions to deceive people, but the pink favorability bar that rose would not lie!

Yu Wangxiao was silent for dozens of seconds, and the discomfort in his eyes was rather obvious. He was actually a very polite person, at least much more polite than Lin Jiangye.

But this good quality of excellent manners would, at certain times, become an obvious weakness—when arguing, he could not fully let himself go.

He truly found it difficult to get used to Lin Jiangye’s overly direct words. Even his breathing grew a little heavier. Rubbing his temple, he admitted in a low voice, “…Mm, I’m abnormal.”

“Isn’t it nice to be a little honest? When you were younger, you were fierce and scary. Now, you always wear a mask in front of people. Doesn’t it get tiring?” Lin Jiangye poked his arm. “I know you need to maintain your image, but there’s no need for that in front of me, because I lack all simple moral concepts.”

“Wait. Who told you I was fierce and scary when I was young?” Yu Wangxiao suddenly curved his lips, his smile and tone extremely gentle.

He smiled beautifully, but it was a little chilling, instantly reversing the previously stronger-and-weaker momentum. For some reason, Lin Jiangye could sense wisps of coldness seeping from around Yu Wangxiao.

“Cough… hear me out.” Out of loyalty, Lin Jiangye temporarily did not plan to sell out Gu Jiu’an. He calmly changed the topic. “If I want to judge you, there are only two standards. First, your behavior doesn’t obstruct me from achieving my goal. Second, your behavior benefits both of us. As long as either condition is met, I think you’re especially, especially good.”

“Are your requirements a little too low?”

“Are they?” Lin Jiangye paused.

Yu Wangxiao looked at him and said seriously, “What I can give you is more than this, so I hope you can be a little greedier. In this world, there are many people who can meet your current standards.”

“But there’s only one you in the world. Other than you, who else can understand me? You are the only exception.” Lin Jiangye also became a little more serious. “For example, Yu Lin’s money and my dad’s money, I can spend them recklessly without any burden, because I don’t care about them. But the money you give me can’t be wasted. I saved all my salary. In the future, I’ll buy you a gift.”

He was serious. To deal with the little things Yu Lin had given the original owner, Lin Jiangye had looked up the prices of all kinds of luxury goods. As a result, by some strange chance, he had taken a liking to a platinum watch worth more than ten million.

He felt it suited Yu Wangxiao very much, because something this expensive would easily look fake on someone else’s wrist, but when Yu Wangxiao wore it, it would be just right.

When the suit cuff was slightly pulled, revealing a small section of his distinct-boned wrist, that watch warmed by body temperature would only become one of the delicious ornaments.

But Lin Jiangye really could not afford it right now, and at present, he did not even qualify to become a high-level VIP customer. If he did not contact He Chen or Chen Ming, he could not even find a channel to secretly place an order.

The road of saving money was long and difficult.

“No.”

However, just as Lin Jiangye was secretly motivating himself, Yu Wangxiao suddenly spoke two words in a firm tone.

Lin Jiangye came back to himself. “Mm? What’s not allowed?”

Yu Wangxiao was expressionless. “From now on, you can only spend my money.”

“But…”

“How much of the money other people gave you is left? Hand it all over to me.”

A very strange request. Especially when this request came from the chairman of Yu Corporation himself.

But Yu Wangxiao’s cold face was truly too rare. He narrowed his eyes slightly and stared over. His pitch-black pupils were half-hidden by lashes like crow feathers, covering all softness and false warmth, leaving only icy dissatisfaction.

Especially beautiful.

Lin Jiangye felt this was a good thing. It showed that Yu Wangxiao had taken his earlier words to heart, which was why he could now act like a beautiful mint soft serve. Even angry, he was this good-looking.

As Lin Jiangye secretly made reckless claims in his heart, he happily took out his phone and transferred all his loose balance to Yu Wangxiao, then softly added, “Yu Lin also gave me two bank cards before…”

“Break the cards.”

“Oh.”