Chapter 72: Woof!

    Seeing the jade doll’s big reaction, Jin Jiuchi immediately clung onto the leather seat he was sitting on with the tenacity of an octopus, looking as if he wanted nothing but to merge into one with it. "Nian’er, you promised that you wouldn’t throw me out of the car!!" he cried out, aggrieved.

    "..." Shen Nianzu truly had no idea how to deal with the childish and dramatic man in front of him. He felt like he had exhausted a year’s worth of patience within the past hour of meeting Jin Jiuchi again. If not for his insanely good looks...

    He pinched his brows and said in exasperation, "I won’t throw you out, okay? I won’t! Do you not see that the car is locked now?!"

    How was Jin Jiuchi supposed to know if this was the first time he had ever ridden a private car? However, he could tell that the jade doll was not lying and thus, he finally let go of his grip and sat properly. "Oh..." he peered up at the jade doll hesitantly. "Nian’er, are you angry?"

    "I will not be angry if we can have a serious conversation for a minute," Shen Nianzu replied flatly. He ignored the woeful look Jin Jiuchi gave him and asked in a serious tone, "Did you really come... from the asylum?"

    "Uh-huh," Jin Jiuchi nodded, feeling so nervous that he was going to turn into a tangled ball of nerves. Goodness, what if Nian’er started to shun him after this? He would definitely cry a river of tears if it were to happen! He tried to read Shen Nianzu’s expression to no avail, as he could not even begin to guess what was running through the jade doll’s mind right now.

    On the other hand, a storm of doubt was brewing in Shen Nianzu’s mind. Even though Jin Jiuchi was indeed a little not right in the head, lacked serious common sense, childish, annoying and dramatic, it was not severe enough for him to be locked up in such a place. Shen Nianzu had spent a week closely with Jin Jiuchi in the Cycle and thus he knew that the man’s logic worked fine in normal situations.

    So who the hell had sent him there?

    Strangely displeased, Shen Nianzu continued to ask, "How long have you been there? What’s the name of the asylum? Who sent you there? Your family?"

    Jin Jiuchi’s head was spinning from this barrage of questions but he still tried his best to answer, "Um, I don’t know. I have been there for as long as I could remember. The name... what’s the name again? Why can’t I remember? I can’t recall who sent me there either..."

    "Also," Shen Nianzu recalled the instance where Jin Jiuchi had seemed to recognize the bloody bride’s family back in the Cycle, and he couldn’t help but ask to confirm, "What kind of relationship do you have with the Zhao Family? How do you know that nightmare creature’s surname is Zhao?"

    "Oh, are you talking about Miss Zhao?" Jin Jiuchi’s eyes lit up when they talked about his acquaintance. "It’s because her father, Old Zhao, used to live next door to me in the asylum! We seldom interacted with each other, but I always heard Old Zhao muttering to himself about the ghost marriage in his family. That’s how I came to know that he was supposed to hold a ghost wedding for his daughter! Come to think of it, I missed the chance to ask Miss Zhao why she claimed that her father was dead..."

    The more Jin Jiuchi said, the deeper the frown on Shen Nianzu’s forehead became. Let’s ignore the fact that Jin Jiuchi was held in the same asylum as the nightmare creature’s father for the time being, but how could he talk about that man with such clarity when he could not even remember his own family or what had caused him to land in the asylum?

    This was his own life, no? So how was it possible that he was utterly oblivious to all?!

    Shen Nianzu became even more upset, thinking that Jin Jiuchi was spouting nonsense just to cover up the truth. He turned his gaze to the road, flicked on the signal and started the car again, saying coldly, "If you don’t want to tell me about yourself, then just say so. It would be way better than this flimsy excuse."

    "No, Nian’er!" Shen Nianzu was caught utterly off guard when Jin Jiuchi suddenly engulfed him in a bear hug, almost causing him to lose control of the wheel. "It’s not an excuse. I swear I was telling the truth!"

    "Fuck—!" A curse slipped off Shen Nianzu’s lips when the car swerved dangerously on the road, almost crashing onto the car nearby. He freed one hand to yank on Jin Jiuchi’s hair, but even then, the man’s face remained stuck to the crook of his neck like superglue. "Damn it, you almost got us into an accident! Let me go and sit properly, Jin Jiuchi!"

    "Nooo!" Jin Jiuchi nuzzled his face deeper into the jade doll’s neck and inhaled his alluring scent that smelled a thousand times better than in the Cycle. Moreover, he was inside Shen Nianzu’s car right now, meaning that he was literally surrounded by the scent he liked. Jin Jiuchi was in utter bliss and refused to budge no matter how hard the jade doll yanked on his hair. "Nian’er, I will not let go until you believe me!"

    "I believe you!" Shen Nianzu blurted out at once. Their close proximity was seriously not good for his heart. "I believe you, okay? Now let go of me!"

    Jin Jiuchi did not expect the jade doll to agree so soon. Pouting, he murmured quietly, "Why don’t you think about it some more?"

    Shen Nianzu was so angry that he laughed out loud. Left with no other choice, he could only say, "If you are still not letting go, I will throw you out of the car!"

    The threat worked wonders as Jin Jiuchi immediately loosened his arms and raised his head with an expression akin to a wet puppy being kicked out of the house. Just as Shen Nianzu thought that he could finally relax, Jin Jiuchi suddenly swooped in and bit him right on the neck!

    "Ah—!" Shen Nianzu covered his neck and cast him a furious and disbelieving look. "What was that for?!"

    "Just because," Jin Jiuchi finally eased back and licked the corner of his lips, unable to keep the satisfied grin off his face when he caught sight of the glaring bite mark on the jade doll’s fair and slender neck. "It’s Nian’er’s fault for smelling so good. How do you expect me to resist?"

    "Y–You..." Shen Nianzu stuttered out that one word, blood rushing up to his cheeks. The spot where Jin Jiuchi had just bitten was still throbbing in pain, reminding him of that one occasion in the Cycle where Jin Jiuchi had bitten him so hard until he bled. In a bid to cover the fluster rising in his heart, he spat out, "You’re really a dog!"

    Jin Jiuchi barked happily, "Woof!"

    As they bickered back and forth, the car continued to run through the main road of the city and head toward the mountainous area. It was not until the city’s hustle and bustle receded into a vast expanse of trees and foliages did Jin Jiuchi realize that something was off.

    "Aren’t we buying a phone, Nian’er?" He looked around curiously. "Can we buy a phone at a place like this?"

    Shen Nianzu floored the accelerator harder and drove the car up the mountainous range. "There’s no need to buy a new phone. I have a few spare ones you can use. We just need to go there to retrieve it."

    "Huh? Go where?"

    "My house."

    Jin Jiuchi blinked in surprise as he did not expect the jade doll to bring him home instead. But then before he could open his mouth to ask, a lone building suddenly appeared in his peripheral vision, and he snapped his gaze there.

    "Wow..." He exclaimed softly in awe when the luxurious villa came into sight. It stood tall amidst the expanse of dark forestation around like a sparkling gem exuding dazzling illuminance. Even from such a distance, he could easily perceive the sheer magnificence and opulence of the building enforced with glass walls, with two huge pillars in front.

    Shen Nianzu smoothly stopped the car right in front of the villa and unfastened his seatbelt. "Let’s go," he said to Jin Jiuchi.

    Snapping out of his trance, Jin Jiuchi followed him out of the car, unable to tear his gaze off the breathtaking house. "Nian’er, you are really rich!" He said passionately.

    "Told you so," Shen Nianzu harrumphed.

    The huge double door swung open as they came close. A man in his thirties clad in a formal suit stood behind it, his eyes brightening when he spotted Shen Nianzu. It was none other than the poor assistant who had been busy running errands for his boss since last night, but then when he came here to report, he only found an empty house with the owner and car missing.

    "Young Master Shen, you’re back!"

    "Qing Mo, you—" Shen Nianzu had just taken a step forward when a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around his waist from behind, causing him to fall into a solid and overly warm embrace. De?ja? vu overcame him, and it took him one full second to recall that Jin Jiuchi had also done this back in the Cycle.

    "Nian’er," Jin Jiuchi glared at the unfamiliar man while holding the jade doll close to him in a protective gesture. "Who is he?"

    Assistant Qing’s eyes almost fell off their sockets from the intimate scene in front of him. I–It should be him who asked that. Who the hell was this wild man? And Nian’er? What’s with that sickeningly sweet nickname?!!

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    A/N: everyone, we received another dose of divine and breathtaking art from Ying QAQ asdgfhjak it’s a scene from JJ and SN’s first (real) meeting, and they’re so precious I could die! Please open the comment section and show your love there!