Don’t Be a Kept Man

Chapter 116: He Has a High Aspiration, But He Also Has Someone He Wants to Hold Hands And Be With

There weren’t a lot of things that Wen Chuo had, especially considering how his room was a bit on the small side as each household layout was a bit different.
So in the end, it was decided that he would be the one to move in with Bai Yang, and he went to find San-shen to end his lease.

There would never be a lack of renters for an apartment, so when he leaves, naturally there would be someone else lined up to rent his place.
San-shen casually asked, 

“Where are you moving to? There’s no other place that’s as cheap as mine.”

Wen Chuo gave her a random excuse, 

“Bai Yang’s.
After all, we both live by ourselves and living together can ease up on rent.”

In San-shen’s eyes, Bai Yang was a small pitiful child, being squeezed out of his worth until there was nothing left.
Hearing his reply, she didn’t know what she should say, and she patted her dress, furrowing her eyebrows as she said, 

“Don’t bully him, especially considering how you both have grown up here together from such a young age.
Has Bai Yang agreed?”

All the neighbours around here were quite nice and looked out for each other, in some sort of fashion.
He pushed up his glasses and smiled along, 

“He has agreed.
If he didn’t, I can’t force him to otherwise.
I’ll be moving and emptying out the apartment for you today.”

San-shen sighed and then nodded her head before leaving.

There were only that few staff at the restaurant, so there wasn’t really a rotation for holidays.
In the bright and early morning, Bai Yang had gone to work, leaving his key with Wen Chuo for him to move in by himself.

There weren’t a lot of things.
Besides clothes, it was all daily necessities.
Textbooks and notebooks had already been sold off by Wen Chuo as wasted materials.
So for what was left, he used only one big bag to stuff all the clothes in and then also quickly packed up his toiletries and rolled up his bedding.
Without much luggage, he went to move into the unit opposite of him.

The closet was a normal size, but Bai Yang had very little clothes, they didn’t occupy much space.
It was all folded neatly and organized, silently sitting in their corners.
Compared to Wen Chuo, who had so many strange outfits that even a couple bags couldn’t fit all of it, it was a very sharp contrast between their two stacks of clothing.

He knelt in front of the closet and sighed before finally trying to tackle the dreaded challenge of organizing his clothes.
He scanned across the available space when his eyes caught sight of a shoebox tucked inside.
His pinky casually lifted it up to see what was inside, and he froze upon seeing what was in it.

Inside was a stack of awards from the olden days, about thirty or so certificates, with only one person’s name on them.
But the papers had been torn apart by someone and someone else seemed to have taped them all back together.

They were all Wen Chuo’s.

Many years ago, when Liu Ruo Qing was still alive, she had always repeated one thing over and over into his ear: 

“……You are the oldest child of the Wen family, and the inheritor of the Wen family.
Study well and don’t let your mother be embarrassed.
The difficulty we face now is only temporary.
In the future, they will regret it, and they will come and take you back.”

Wen Chuo believed in those words like they were gospel, so he had never ever complained or bemoaned, no matter how poor or how hard it got.
But when Liu Ruo Qing died that day, the belief that had always been structurally integral to his whole being had suddenly all but collapsed into rubble……

Liu Ruo Qing’s illness had made her so thin and skinny like a pile of sticks.
Her hair, due to a lack of maintenance had been all messed up and it stuck to her face as she kept coughing and coughing, even vomiting up blood.
The air in the room was filled with a thick stench of blood through her coughs and random bursts of laughter.
This kind of her was very unfamiliar and strange to Wen Chuo, and he stood a couple steps away, not daring to step forward.

But then, on that day, Liu Ruo Qing had turned to her side as she lay on the bed.
She gave a smile at Wen Chuo, and when she spoke, her voice sounded so empty it was terrifying, 

“Ah-Chen…… don’t wait anymore……”

“They will not come back for you……just be like this…..here……be a normal man……forget everything from the past……”

She was almost at death’s door, about to be released from this earthly plane, and then just like that, so easily, told her only son to accept everything.

For what?

Why?

Wen Chuo couldn’t clearly recall what he had felt then.
But towards Liu Ruo Qing, towards the Wen family, his heart is full of and brimming with hatred.
He couldn’t do anything to Liu Ruo Qing, so he went and broke everything that he could at home.
Those awards and certificates, in his eyes, had all turned into a stinging and mocking joke.

Wen Chuo didn’t want to return home, so he took some money and went for a trip to Z City.
His heart was in a state of unending denial, but yet on that day, the Wen Family had welcomed into its arms a new head wife.
The woman was a well known celebrity, so their marriage made the headlines on all the newspapers and news.

Wen Chuo didn’t even need to go to the Wen family to hear this.
One foot into Z City, and news of it already surrounded him.
They were figureless and invisible, but they were like a mountain so high it was insurmountable, separating him and the Wen family.

To learn how to be good took many years, but to learn how to be bad, it only took a moment’s time.

Wen Chuo didn’t know how he survived that period of time.
Probably, drinking and fighting at bars.
However quick pain and dopamine filled, however he went to find it.
Whether it was to take revenge on others or towards himself, who knows.

He didn’t even need to think to know that all these awards and certificates must have been gathered and taped back up by Bai Yang.
Wen Chuo shook his head.
He put back the contents and then stuffed the shoebox all the way under the bed.

When it was lunch time, Bai Yang came back home.
The moment he opened the door, he could hear Wen Chuo playing video games.
His click-clacking on the keyboard was echoing nonstop through the room as he spoke to his teammates through his earphones.
With his eyebrows scrunched up and his voice a bit serious and sombre, he said, 

“Number 6, don’t wander out.
Follow behind…..
The back of the boulder has an exit, but only three people can pass.
Number 2 and 3, block, number 5 and 6 rush over……”

He was entirely focused on his game, never sensing that there was someone behind him.
Bai Yang gave him a glance before he slowly walked  into the bedroom.
He found a lot of things that didn’t belong to him scattered around and his bed was piled up with clothes.
Some were folded, but the rest were still bunched up in a mess.

The end of the beginner level will open up a secret treasure area that will randomly give out equipment.
Wen Chuo had only unpacked about half his luggage when his teammates called him to get online.
A group of newbies wanted to get past the starting area, and one successful run could net him about 300 or more.
And only after a few times did they finally have the whole group pass together.

Newbies weren’t the easiest to lead and only after looking for a few days did he finally gather a group of people.
After they passed, Wen Chuo went offline.
His eyes were all hazy and he took off his headphones to check his bank account.
The moment he turned around was when he finally discovered Bai Yang in the bedroom.

“Bai Yang!”

Wen Chuo slowly and quietly walked closer, purposefully trying to scare him by yelling his name out loud at the last second.
The individual in question wasn’t moved at all and only responded by grabbing onto Wen Chuo’s wrist and pointing at the pile of messy clothes on the bed to mean that he should clean up his mess.

“Ah oh, I’ll do it in a bit……”

Wen Chuo obviously looked like he didn’t want to move, lazily sitting down on the side of the bed.
If it was not for the pile of clothes behind him, he would have most likely slipped into sleep.
Bai Yang had an obsessive-compulsive disorder, and stubbornness was etched into his personality.
Seeing this, his eyes dimmed, and he reached over to pull him up.

“I don’t want to fold.”

Wen Chuo was too used to procrastinating, and he purposefully went up against Bai Yang.
If he didn’t bully him at least once per day, his heart wouldn’t feel so good.
He moved his left leg and Bai Yang tripped, stumbling right into his embrace.

“What are you in a rush for, look, tripped like a dog and you’re going to end up with a pile of shit on your face.”

Wen Chuo wrapped him into his embrace, and his warm lips touched Bai Yang’s tiny, clean earlobe and then lightly bit down before letting him go.

Bai Yang seemed to have gotten used to his senseless intimacy and he blinked, feeling that his heart was beating a bit too fast.
He slowly climbed back up, standing straight.

Wen Chuo only smiled at him, bringing an elegant air to him with his glasses, but his slightly hooked up mouth let others sense that he was not as harmless as he looked on the surface.

He grabbed a piece of clothing, folded it, and put it aside.
Seeing this, Bai Yang rubbed his blushing ears and then sat on the edge of the bed to help him.
He was quite slow, had always seemed to be slower than others by half a beat, as he folded each piece of clothing without a single wrinkle in sight.

Wen Chuo glanced at him, 

“Did you eat yet?”

Bai Yang thought about it and then slowly shook his head.
He stacked the folded clothing together and put them in the closet.
When he found that the spot where the shoebox used to be was just all empty space now, he looked all over, eyes tinged with his usual confusion.

Wen Chuo didn’t even lift up his head to say, 

“Under the bed.”

Bai Yang twisted his head to look down at the deep void under the bed and then retracted back his gaze.
He went to prepare instead to go out and buy some groceries, which was a special event that only happened when Wen Chuo was here; usually, by himself, he only ate steamed buns.

The mess on the bed had already been cleaned up, and Wen Chuo patted a pillow, staring at Bai Yang’s silent shadow.
He went forward to pick up the person in the doorway and lifted him back to the bed, 

“I’ve already ordered takeout.
No need to buy groceries.”

Wen Chuo was tall and Bai Yang, in his embrace, was like a beautiful puppet doll.
When he had his head lowered and not making a peep, he was so obedient and soft; it was no wonder those thugs always liked to bully him.

<< Jue Jing >> was split into twelve areas.
Each area had their own chart and one overall chart, which were based on win rate and progress in passing the levels.
At the top, the number one was the gaming directory’s most popular female gamer, Wan Ye.
She had already passed to the sixth level, entering the Hell of Lava stage.
Still, she had not completely passed the stage yet, having been stuck on this level for the past two days.

Wen Chuo has a second account that he’d use to help newbies pass the levels to earn money, and on his main account, he chased after the highest-level players, and by now he had already increased his level to be part of the top 100 in the overall chart, and his all-green battle records were insane to look at.
It was eye-catching that he had not suffered a single loss, and it labeled him to be a very good newbie on the rise.

The top 50 or so in the charts were all familiar god-tier gamers, so it was pretty much impossible to buy an account of that rank.
Other gamers began to set their eyes on the last page’s ID.
Yesterday, someone had asked to buy his account for a high price, but Wen Chuo didn’t sell it.
Whatever he was scheming up, no one knew.

“Come sit here.
I’ll teach you how to work the computer.”

Wen Chuo dragged Bai Yang over to his lap and then downloaded an entertainment app, teaching him how to search for the TV shows he wanted to watch, 

“This is pause…..this is to shrink…..this is to close…..did you understand all that?”

Bai Yang nodded his head, silently looking at him.

Wen Chuo had stayed at home these past few days, and so he was a bit pale, but his face still looked as handsome as ever.
His serious thinking face, the more one looked at him, the more one could fall into a trap.
Wen Chuo felt Bai Yang’s gaze and he suddenly chuckled, pointing at his own face, 

“Kiss me.”

Bai Yang shook his head.

Wen Chuo pouted, 

“Then I’ll kiss you?”

Bai Yang nodded his head.

Wen Chuo raised his eyebrow, suddenly feeling interested.
He first kissed Bai Yang on the chin and then asked, 

“What if I want to embrace you, to do something more?”

Bai Yang didn’t make a sound, as if no matter what Wen Chuo would do to him, he would allow it.
He lowered his head, his fingers touching here and there and then leaned into Wen Chuo’s embrace.
His youthful skinny figure would always bring along that clean scent.

Suddenly, in that moment, Wen Chuo seemed to have opened up and glimpsed a glint of beauty.
He caressed Bai Yang’s neck and then lightly bit down on his collarbone.
He switched to suck, and Bai Yang’s breathing started to get heavier, perhaps from pain or from happiness.
He slightly lifted his head, tightly grasping onto Wen Chuo’s back and then pushed him away.

Wen Chuo opened his eyes, his breathing a bit irregular.

Bai Yang slowly pushed off from his body and then covered the mark on his collarbone, walking to the entrance to open the door and grab the takeout.

Wen Chuo: “……”

Bai Yang put the takeout on the computer desk.
Just as he opened the packaging, Wen Chuo came over to hug him around the waist, a bit unwilling to let it go and pressed him against the window to continue what he was doing before.

Bai Yang paused and put down his chopsticks, letting him kiss however he wanted.

But Wen Chuo only kissed twice before stopping.
He stroked over Bai Yang’s flat stomach and asked, 

“Are you hungry?”

Bai Yang nodded his head and then shook his head, lowering his eyes and not making a sound.

Wen Chuo silently hugged him and forcefully calmed his irregular breathing.
He pulled over a chair to eat, 

“You want to become a cultivating master? How are you not hungry.”

There was no high-end food here, so even a western restaurant wasn’t that great.
Wen Chuo ordered Bai Yang a tomato and beef rice and also a slice of strawberry cake, adding on a cup of milk tea.
For himself, he ordered a bowl of tomato sauce noodles.

Bai Yang had never eaten such things before, but there wasn’t much difference compared to steam buns.
He still ate, head lowered, shrinking into himself, but Wen Chuo found that he seemed to like eating strawberry cake.
He reached over and wiped the whipped cream on the corner of his mouth.

“Is it good?”

Bai Yang lifted his eyes and then nodded.
He fed him a spoonful, with the big and only strawberry that was on the cake.

Wen Chuo opened his mouth to eat it and then leaned over to kiss him.
He ruffled Bai Yang’s hair, 

“Bai Yang, I’ll bring you to better places in the future.”

Wen Chuo had never wanted to stay in this rundown, broken and poor place in his previous life, and he still didn’t in this life.

But a second chance at life, this time, he’ll bring him with him.