Chapter 74
Not long after the article was published, the police traced Zhou Qiong through the internet and arrested him.
When they showed up, Zhou Qiong was still fiercely arguing with netizens online.
One second he was hammering away at his keyboard; the next, a pair of icy silver handcuffs had clicked around his wrists.
The moment Zhou Qiong saw the police, his legs went weak. It was as if all the bones in them had vanished. He was so frightened he could barely even stand.
A police officer said, “You have been reported on suspicion of criminal activity. You are now under arrest on charges including theft of another person’s property, spreading false articles online to defame others, illegal financial transactions, and academic fraud.”
Zhou Qiong’s voice shook as he continued trying to defend himself. “Officer, there must be some mistake. I didn’t break the law. I really didn’t break the law.”
Every criminal says that they didn’t break the law. The police escorted him into the patrol car.
After Zhou Qiong was arrested, the graduation paper he had published, along with all his previous data materials, was taken down in full. Everything was returned to its rightful owner. Once the true author revised the work and restored the correct authorship, it would be republished, and the honor that belonged to the original author would finally be returned.
At the same time, the local police bureau in Shenzhen received a notice from the capital. It was an interprovincial case, and the suspect needed to be escorted to the capital for trial. As soon as the local police received the task, they dispatched officers immediately.
At 2:20 p.m., the police knocked on the door of the rental unit where Li Ruling lived.
The one who opened the door was her fifteen-year-old son, Liu Muyang.
It was an old, shabby apartment building. The corridor reeked of dust and that stale odor that came from a place no one had cleaned in ages. The air was damp too, and some corners of the wall were already coated in moss.
Liu Muyang looked at the police standing outside and had no idea what was happening.
Nervous and cautious, he asked, “May I ask what this is about?”
One of the officers said, “Is Li Ruling here?”
Li Ruling was in the kitchen kneading dough. Hearing the door open, she craned her neck and called out, “Yangyang, who is it?”
The police were asking for his mother right away. Liu Muyang’s heart began to pound. He had no idea why.
The moment they heard Li Ruling’s voice from inside, several police officers asked Liu Muyang to step aside and walked straight in.
Li Ruling had just come out of the kitchen to see who had arrived when several officers in uniform came toward her.
Her heart lurched, and she instinctively took a few steps back.
She had already guessed why the police had come for her.
Liu Muyang ran in after them. Seeing his mother’s face change color, fear welled up inside him. “Mom, what’s wrong? What happened?”
Why were there so many police officers in their house?
The police showed their credentials. “Li Ruling, you are suspected of illegal transactions, spreading false statements to slander and defame others, and disturbing public order. You are under arrest.”
Li Ruling’s face turned deathly pale. In a single second, all the color vanished from her lips.
When she saw the officers approaching with handcuffs, she panicked and stumbled backward. “That’s not it, please listen to me. It’s not what you think.”
Seeing that she refused to cooperate, the police pinned her down and forcibly cuffed her.
Liu Muyang rushed forward and grabbed Li Ruling’s arm, unwilling to let the police take her away.
“Mom, what’s happening? Don’t take my mom away!”
“Officer, my mom wouldn’t do anything bad. Please let her go.”
Li Ruling’s arms were locked by the police as they forced her toward the door. Turning back, she said to Liu Muyang, “Yangyang, go stay at Grandma’s for a few days first.”
Then she begged the police desperately. “Officer, could you please give me a few more days? My son has less than five days before his high school entrance exam. Could you please not arrest me right now? I promise, once my son finishes his exam, I’ll go to the police station and turn myself in.”
The law made no allowance for sentiment. Besides, the moment Li Ruling broke the law, she had already shifted the pain onto someone else.
“If you didn’t break the law, we’ll naturally release you. For now, cooperate with the investigation.”
The police paid no attention to her pleading and forced her into the patrol car.
Liu Muyang ran out of the building after the car, tears streaming down his face as he chased it.
He was on the verge of emotional collapse. When he was little, his father had gone to prison for fraud and still had not been released. Now his mother had also been taken away.
How was he supposed to live on his own? How was he supposed to keep going?
—
At four in the afternoon, the police station was packed with people. There were too many individuals involved, and the case itself was too large, extending all the way to bribery of officials and harboring fugitives. They had been busy all afternoon and still had not even made it halfway through the case.
By around four o’clock, it was about time to eat. A large group of people had missed lunch entirely. The officers told everyone to go eat first, since there were plenty of small restaurants nearby, and come back afterward.
Xia Fengsheng had been the first to give his statement, but because Zhou Qiong’s and Li Ruling’s cases were also involved, there was more he had to cooperate with than the others.
He walked out of the police station planning to grab a quick bite with Qin Buming and the rest, only to see Shi Ye’s car parked by the roadside.
The same Xia Fengsheng who had been French-kissing him that morning: …
He had thought they would not see each other for a few days after that, to give him some time to process things.
Who knew they would run into each other again that very afternoon.
Xia Fengsheng said a few words to Qin Buming and the others, then got into Shi Ye’s car.
For Xia Fengsheng’s comfort, Shi Ye had not driven his sports car this time, but switched to a roomier vehicle instead.
As soon as Xia Fengsheng got in, Shi Ye took out the meal he had brought for him.
For a moment, neither of them looked at the other.
When they could not see each other, they missed each other. But now that they could see each other, they did not dare.
Xia Fengsheng stared fixedly at the insulated container. “Thank you.”
Shi Ye blushed and looked out the window. “You’re welcome.”
The atmosphere inside the car turned subtly strange. Xia Fengsheng unscrewed the lid and began eating out of the container in his arms.
Shi Ye had made plenty—three dishes and a soup, with a heaping bowl of rice too.
Though Xia Fengsheng looked slender and tall, he actually had quite the appetite.
After all, he was someone who had managed to finish a double-portion bowl of ramen in twenty minutes. The shop had called it a double portion, but the actual amount had been even more than that.
Once Xia Fengsheng finished eating, he wiped the corner of his mouth with a wet tissue. After drinking some water, he prepared to get out of the car.
At that moment, Shi Ye stopped him.
“Xia Fengsheng.”
Xia Fengsheng: ?
He turned back, only to be pulled into a scorching embrace.
Shi Ye wrapped him tightly in his arms.
“Good luck.”
Xia Fengsheng froze for a few seconds, then relaxed in his arms and closed his eyes in quiet ease.
“Mm.”
At some point, he had stopped being alone in this world.
After Xia Fengsheng finished eating, he went back into the station. Before he left, he told Shi Ye that he probably would not be able to go home for the next few days and would be staying at a nearby hotel instead.
Shi Ye promptly picked out a nearby luxury hotel, booked a suite, and sent him the room number so he could go straight there when he was done at the station that night.
Back inside the station, Xia Fengsheng learned that Li Ruling was already on her way to the capital under police escort.
After hearing the news, his expression did not change. There in the police station, he contacted his attorney.
The entire way to the capital, Li Ruling cried until her eyes were swollen shut. Overnight, she seemed to have aged ten years. The black roots of her hair had even begun to yellow and turn white.
She kept begging the officers, “I really know I was wrong. I never thought it would become this serious. Officer, please let me go. My son is only fifteen. His father went in a few years ago and still hasn’t come out. He can’t lose his mother too.”
She repeated that line over and over the entire way.
The police were sick of hearing it. Since she clearly had not rested at all during the trip, one of them finally snapped, “If your child loses his mother, isn’t that because you broke the law yourself? We’re just doing our job. You admitted you did something wrong, and now you want people to pity you.”
“How exactly am I supposed to pity you? You’ve been repeating the same thing the whole way. Can you stop talking already?”
Now she knew regret, but where had that been when she was breaking the law in the first place? Sometimes the police truly did not understand these criminals. When they were committing crimes, every last one of them acted like monsters. But the moment they were caught, they all uniformly put on pitiful, miserable expressions.
As though the victim somehow deserved it. Truly hypocritical.
Li Ruling wept bitterly. Back when Xia Fengsheng had exposed the scam, the house had never ended up in their hands. Because of the fraud, Xia Fengsheng had turned around and sued Liu Changhao, sending him to prison.
After Liu Changhao went in, the family lost its main source of income. Li Ruling was in poor health and could not do hard labor, so she could only take on odd jobs and struggle to raise Liu Muyang. She usually worked in a supermarket, but the pay was meager. Every month she still had to pay rent and cover Liu Muyang’s food expenses.
At the end of each month, there was barely anything left.
Life was painfully tight, and she had no savings at all. So when Yang Liwan offered her one million yuan to do something for him, she agreed without hesitation.
That was one million yuan.
After Liu Changhao went to prison, she had never seen Xia Fengsheng again, and Xia Fengsheng had never returned to Shenzhen.
Naturally, Li Ruling had long forgotten the promise she once made.
For the second time, she had betrayed him.
Now the million was gone, and she was facing prison as well.
Liu Muyang’s high school entrance exam was just around the corner. If this affected him and he performed badly, if he could not get into high school, then his whole life would be ruined.
His grandmother was currently being supported by Liu Changhao’s brother. If Liu Muyang went to live with her, he would effectively be living under someone else’s roof. If he did poorly on his entrance exam, there was no way the family would pay for him to repeat the year.
Li Ruling was consumed by worry and tears. Then she suddenly thought of Xia Fengsheng. She could beg Xia Fengsheng. That child cared about old ties—he would never really let her go to prison.
If she just begged him, that child would surely show mercy. Maybe he would not press charges and would settle privately instead. Then she would not have to go to jail.
Back then, things had been too vicious, and that was why Xia Fengsheng had grown hateful enough to send Liu Changhao to prison.
But she was Xia Fengsheng’s mother. As long as they met face to face and Xia Fengsheng saw her in this state, he surely would not bear to let her go to prison.
So the moment she arrived in the capital, Li Ruling began yelling and demanding to see Xia Fengsheng, acting almost crazed.
“I want to see my son! My son is Xia Fengsheng!”
“I want to see him!”
Yet instead, she was taken straight to the station and locked up, and Xia Fengsheng never appeared.
The one who appeared before her instead was Xia Fengsheng’s attorney.
Gripping the bars of her cell, Li Ruling was on the edge of a breakdown. Xia Fengsheng was her last hope. Her voice had been hoarse from screaming all the way there, now sounding like a torn gong. “Where’s Fengsheng? I want to see Fengsheng.”
The lawyer said, “I will be communicating with you regarding the case. My client will not be meeting with you.”
In other words, Xia Fengsheng did not want to see her.
Nor did he want to have anything to do with her ever again.
An attorney acting on his behalf was enough. There was no need for them to meet again.
In this lifetime, Xia Fengsheng did not want to see her again.
Li Ruling was struck as if by a bolt from the blue. She tried to squeeze herself through the bars. “I’m his mother! Is he really so heartless that he wants me to go to prison? I’m in poor health—can he really bear it?”
The lawyer smiled faintly. “Ms. Li, weren’t you also ruthless enough to spread rumors and slander Mr. Xia, despite being his mother?”
“It’s perfectly normal that he doesn’t want to see you. Toward you, he has already been more than benevolent.”
Back then, Xia Fengsheng had exhausted everything to save Li Ruling’s life, just as Li Ruling had once given life to him.
There was no longer any debt left between them. And if there was, then it was Li Ruling who owed him.
Li Ruling began trembling violently all over. No, she did not want to go to prison. If she went to prison, what would happen to Liu Muyang?
He still had his entrance exam ahead of him. He had grown up without a father, and now Liu Changhao still had not come out. If she went in too—
What would happen to her child?
She suddenly dropped to her knees and began begging desperately.
The lawyer did not spare her another glance and turned to leave the detention center.
Behind him came heart-rending cries—
“Let me out! I don’t want to go to prison!”
“I don’t want to go to prison!”
—
That night, after a full day of work, Xia Fengsheng finally returned to the hotel.
Hearing the sound, Shi Ye came out of the room toweling his hair dry. He had just showered, and he carried the fresh, clean scent of body wash.
“How did it go? Smoothly?”
Xia Fengsheng nodded. Everything had gone fairly smoothly. The politician behind Yang Liwan had already been removed from office and criminally detained, and one former student after another was going to the station to provide evidence of the pressure Yang Liwan had put them under.
Yang Liwan was truly finished this time.
Looking at Shi Ye standing there with damp hair, Xia Fengsheng narrowed his eyes slightly.
Beneath the bathrobe was a vigorous, powerful male body. Shi Ye’s arms were strong enough to carry him all the way from the mountaintop down the mountain.
After Xia Fengsheng had showered, Shi Ye pulled him into bed and held him in his arms.
So much had happened in a single day. This was exactly the kind of time when someone needed the comfort of an embrace from their lover.
Lying in bed, Shi Ye kept smoothing a hand over Xia Fengsheng’s hair.
“Go to sleep.”
Xia Fengsheng, whose face was currently pressed against Shi Ye’s chest: …
He was not sleepy at all. The fact that they had tongue-kissed earlier that day still made being alone together feel awkward.
This could not go on.
Xia Fengsheng propped himself up. “Shi Ye.”
Shi Ye opened his eyes and blinked up at Xia Fengsheng hovering over him.
What was it?
The next second, Xia Fengsheng said, “Open your mouth.”
Shi Ye: !
The taste of what they had done that morning had been pretty good. If they kissed like that while stuffing in the egg later, it would definitely feel amazing.
Xia Fengsheng’s gaze swept down briefly at the gap in Shi Ye’s robe collar before returning to his face.
Shi Ye swallowed and then slowly parted his lips.
Xia Fengsheng lowered his head and pushed his soft red tongue inside, stirring gently. He did not know whether this was the right way to do it, only that it felt good.
Before long, as he kept moving his tongue, his hand also slid around to the back and grabbed Shi Ye’s ass.
“Mmh…” Xia Fengsheng closed his eyes and let out a satisfied nasal sound. Between them filled the wet, sticky noises of kissing.
Shi Ye was consumed by desire. He suddenly tightened both arms around Xia Fengsheng.
It felt too good, really too good—so good and so intense. Instinctively, he began sucking on Xia Fengsheng’s tongue.
“Mm… mm…” He sucked and hummed, completely unable to control himself.
Imitating him, he also started squeezing Xia Fengsheng’s ass.
“Ha…” By the time they finally pulled apart, they were both nearly breathless from lack of oxygen. Shi Ye had completely lost all reason and no longer knew how to stop.
Xia Fengsheng felt so good that even his body and toes were trembling with excitement. Seeing Shi Ye lean in for more, he raised a hand to block him. “Don’t get slutty.”
Shi Ye’s face was flushed bright red. “More.”
He wanted more. It felt so good, so good it was like he was ascending to heaven.
He had never known kissing could be like this.
Xia Fengsheng said, “Later, once I’m done being busy, I’ll spend proper time with you.”
Shi Ye was clearly dissatisfied.
Then Xia Fengsheng laughed softly and whispered into his ear, “When the time comes, we’ll do this while kissing and stuffing the egg in.”
—
After another week of busy work at the police station, the things requiring his cooperation finally came to an end.
Yang Liwan was formally charged with bribing officials, academic fraud, stealing the fruits of others’ labor, illegal transactions, and more.
One charge after another piled up, and all of them only added to the prison sentence waiting for him.
Zhou Qiong, Li Ruling, and the housekeeper had all been criminally detained as well.
Once Yang Liwan’s crimes were confirmed, he was expelled from the Party and dismissed by Beijing University, which suspended and terminated him in full. In an instant, his whole world came crashing down.
The graduate students under him were reassigned to new supervisors so they could continue their studies.
The academic journals he had previously published were taken down, and the work was returned to the people who had truly created it.
The moment the whole group came out of the station after handling everything, some of them were so overwhelmed that they burst into tears of joy right there on the street.
“Holy shit! We actually did it—waaaaaah!”
Two streams of tears shot straight out of his eyes like laser beams.
Only they themselves knew just how hard and terrifying this whole road had been.
The moment each of them stepped forward, they had already accepted the possibility of failure.
Anyone looking at a bunch of students taking on a powerful and well-connected associate professor would have thought they had no chance at all. They themselves had thought the same.
They stood up because they no longer wanted to be oppressed. They no longer wanted to hand over their hard work to others.
More than anyone, they wanted to stand in the sunlight.
And the outcome had not betrayed them. The road they had walked had not been in vain.
Messages had already come through from Beijing University about them being assigned new supervisors. After the pitch-black storm, dawn had finally come.
The day they left the police station was blessed with beautiful weather. The sky was a brilliant blue.
Now that their effort to expose everything had ended in complete success, they decided to celebrate properly.
Qin Buming looked up luxury hotels and finally booked a private room at a five-star one.
Though the Dawn Studio had only existed for half a year, every project they took was a major one.
Relying on their astonishing professionalism and ability, they had already become rising young names in the industry.
After the Yang Liwan incident, their reputation would only rise further.
In the hotel private room, everyone had opened wine, but Xia Fengsheng did not drink.
He sat elegantly in his chair, watching the revelry before him, politely declining the drinks offered by the people around him.
Tonight, he intended to go home sober.
After several rounds of wine, once they had mostly finished eating, everyone decided to head to KTV.
Xia Fengsheng picked up his coat and stood.
“I won’t be going. Have fun tonight, everyone.”
Then he took out a card and handed it to Zhan Shengyao. “I’ll pay the bill tonight.”
Zhan Shengyao looked up at him with a meaningful expression. “Mm~ Why are you in such a rush to leave? Is someone waiting for you at home?”
On Xia Fengsheng’s refined, fox-like face, a smile curved.
He was going home to be a pervert.
Tonight, he intended to spend a passionate night.
He had been busy these past days, and Shi Ye had happened to be busy with work too, so the only time they had seen each other had been at night when they slept.
Earlier in the afternoon, Shi Ye had told him his work was finished, and Xia Fengsheng wanted to get home early.
Apparently everyone had guessed what he was eager to get home for, because they immediately started hooting and teasing.
“Fengsheng, why are you leaving so early?”
“Fengsheng, won’t you stay a little longer? We can’t bear to part with you, ducky.”
“Xiaosheng, how are we supposed to live without you? Don’t go.”
Xia Fengsheng smiled, put on his coat, and glanced back at them before leaving.
“Everyone, excuse me.”
He walked out of the private room and into the night, while behind him came sounds like the world had gone back to prehistoric times.
A chorus of monkey-like noises rang out.
“Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh!”
“Fengsheng, we really do have to thank you! Without you, there’d be no today!”
“Fengsheng!”
Xia Fengsheng stepped out from the loud gratitude and into the night. The darkness only deepened the mysterious quality of his features, making him look like some noble count from an ancient castle.
He called a car to go home, and when they passed a flower shop, he told the driver to pull over.
The flower shop was still open. The blooms outside were lit by the glow from inside the shop, as though they were waiting for the nightingale from a story.
Xia Fengsheng walked in and asked for a bouquet of blazing red roses.
The shopkeeper’s eyes lit up when she saw him. In a familiar tone, she said,
“Handsome, you’re here again. Is this for your lover too?”
“Mm.”
The shopkeeper pulled out a card for him. “What are you writing this time?”
Did he need help? She spent plenty of time online and had collected all sorts of love lines.
Xia Fengsheng uncapped the pen. “I already know what to write this time.”
The pen moved across the card in a flowing hand.
“Wishing us a blazing-hot night.”
—
At the same time, Shi Ye stood in the walk-in closet with only a bath towel wrapped around his lower body, unsure how exactly he should dress himself.
The fullness of his muscles was on full display—broad shoulders, powerful back, wrists long enough to reach past his crotch, clearly defined abs, and strong, taut thighs.
With his back to the mirror, the exquisite, sexy lines of his back stretched with wild, unrestrained energy beneath wheat-colored skin bursting with hormones.
He had just showered and was still damp. He lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck as he stared at the clothes in the closet, unsure what to wear.
In the end, his gaze landed on the large box stuffed with the things the adult shop had once sent over. Ever since he had moved it back here, he had never opened it again.
He opened the box, rummaged through the mosaic-blurred contents, then tied something around his neck.
After paying for the roses, Xia Fengsheng returned home.
The moment he opened the door and stepped into the entryway, Shi Ye heard him and came out from the living room.
He knew what was going to happen tonight and had prepared everything in advance while waiting for Xia Fengsheng to come back.
There was already a whole pile of oil waiting on the bed for them.
It seemed that being a VIP customer at an adult shop did have its perks after all. Anything useful had been packed up and sent over.
Aside from the towel around his waist, the only thing Shi Ye wore was the collar circling his beautifully shaped neck. His body looked as perfect as a sculpture, powerful and sexy as he stood there.
Xia Fengsheng, meanwhile, was dressed in a sharply cut suit and carrying roses. In the night, he looked especially captivating—broad-shouldered, long-legged, every line of his body perfectly outlined by the formalwear. His upturned eyes carried a vampire’s kind of allure as he loosened his tie with his fingers.
“You slutty little dog, your husband’s home.”
Shi Ye looked down at Xia Fengsheng holding the roses, his face flushed with excitement to the extreme, his tongue passing slowly over his lips.
Tonight, I’ll show you who the husband is.
Xia Fengsheng had hurried home through wind and dust. Neither of them could wait any longer, so they immediately started right there in the entryway.
And then—
Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang…………
