Their night of pleasure resulted in suffering the next day, though the only one to suffer was Hao Ritian. He lay in bed watching Li Yi's face, which was emanating satisfaction despite its obvious lack of expression. He had the urge to tickle him.
Aware of Hao Ritian's gaze, Li Yi, who'd just finished readying himself, half-kneeled on the bed and bent down to kiss him on the corner of his lips. "You're not getting up?"
Hao Ritian closed his eyes in pain. He must be brain damaged from all the fucking—why did this simple action feel so sexy?
He grabbed the man's face and unhesitatingly bit his lips. When he was done, he released the man's lips then pulled the blanket up, his sullen appearance making it clear he had no intention of getting up.
Li Yi didn't mind and gently patted him over the blanket. "Rest for a while more as I prepare breakfast. When it's ready, I'll come and call you."
Hao Ritian had already become a lump and wouldn't even respond. In addition to being active until late last night, they'd drunk a lot of alcohol. Now, he had a small headache. He convinced himself that this was the price of eating meat.
As the footfalls gradually faded away, Hao Ritian drifted off to sleep again. The next time he woke up, he felt similar to a first-class disabled person—he didn't do anything. Li Yi assisted with dressing him, washed his face, and carried him downstairs. When he deposited Hao Ritian in front of the dining table, he even considerately asked him, "Do you want me to feed you?"
Despite the obvious fact that he'd tricked Li Yi into serving him, Li Yi readily took on the task and derived pleasure from it as well. Hao Ritian felt like he'd once again lost this time.
"No! Need!" This was the extent of his limit. He couldn't accept being spoon-fed.
Upon closer look, the breakfast, albeit simple, had been very carefully prepared. The congee had been simmered into soft and sticky rice, saturating the air with its light fragrance. Coupled with a few side dishes and the small and adorable steamed dumplings, it all looked homey and mouth-watering.
Hao Ritian scooped up a spoonful of congee and blew on it before eating. His eyes couldn't help but narrow. To tell the truth, this congee was really to his taste. He looked at Li Yi. "How come you can cook like this?"
No wonder his nap was so long; the steamed buns alone would've taken a while to make. It was kind of Li Yi to so patiently mould them. When he imagined Li Yi standing in the kitchen and carefully moulding the steamed buns while wearing an apron, Hao Ritian actually found it cute. Too bad he didn't get to see it in person.
Li Yi slowly picked up a steamed bun and ate it. Hearing Hao Ritian's question, his expression remained unchanged as he answered, "What's so hard about it? I lived alone during university, so I specifically learnt to cook for myself."
Of course, he left out the fact that he attached great importance to personal space and didn't like to be disturbed. He didn't even like inviting housekeeper aunties as he felt like his personal space would be encroached on, and that the presence they left behind would discomfort him.
Not only would people familiar with him find it inconceivable that he'd brought Hao Ritian to his private apartment so soon, even he himself was rather amazed when he reflected on it. But, in addition to not being annoyed when he'd taken Hao Ritian home, he also felt like having another person in the room was very pleasant, as if they should be together.
He never bothered with problems he couldn't wrap his head around and just followed his feelings.
He paused after speaking, then looked meaningfully at Hao Ritian. "Of course, I only cooked for myself in the past, but I'm happy to cook for one more from now on."
Hao Ritian met his meaningful gaze. He ate his food heartily, and even deliberately made noises. Then, he raised his eyebrows and asked with an inscrutable expression, "Oh? Who?"
Li Yi averted his eyes, and didn't answer him. He picked up a few of the side dishes from the plate in front of him, his movements incomparably natural.
He didn't need to answer this question when the other person clearly knew the answer.
Hao Ritian wasn't disappointed over failing to tease Li Yi. They had time aplenty. Hadn't he seen this man's controlled expression stained by desire last night? He was sure he would see more expressions later on.
Henceforth, the two of them started to live together with ease. However, their cohabitation didn't mean that Hao Ritian could ignore everything. Quite the opposite. Hao Ritian still had one final matter to attend to, which was the clothing stores Yu Hao's mother had left behind.
Back when the married couple had taken Yu Hao on a trip after his college entrance exams, Yu Hao's father had just completed a big project, thus there weren't any problems to follow up. On top of that, the clothing stores had someone in charge of them, so usually, when Yu Hao's mother took time off, it didn't cause any inconvenience. But who would've thought that the last time she took time off, she'd never return?
Now that the chain of stores had fallen into Hao Ritian's hands, he had no choice but to sort it out. Regardless of whether he shut it down or continued the operations, he had to find a solution.
After learning of Hao Ritian's thoughts, Li Yi had a serious chat with him.
"You have two more months before you start school. You won't have the energy to manage the businesses then, so do you want to sell the shops directly or continue operations?"
Yu Hao's mother had relied solely on several clothing shops to attain her abundant wealth. Besides three shops which were situated in high-end markets, she owned the rest. They had all been bought and not rented. Even the smallest shop was at least 300 square meters, and the largest was around 500 square meters.
By owning many shops in such an expensive area, one could live their days doing nothing but collecting rent, not to mention the market value of those shops was worth tens of millions of dollars.
He had to admit, Yu Hao's mom was really capable!
But when he heard Li Yi's question, Hao Ritian's first reaction was—are you yanking my chain? Why the fuck do I still have to go to school?
Upon careful reflection, he hadn't been able to shed his student identity since the first world. He'd needed to stay in school for a long time in every world. How torturous!
"What is it? Is something wrong?" Li Yi noticed his rather pained expression and he frowned. Quite calmly, he made a proposal, "Whether you continue operations or sell the shops, I'll help you no matter what you decide. Since you won't be able to manage the stores yourself if you attend school, I can help you find the right manager. Still, it would be more convenient to sell them, and I promise that you won't suffer a loss. Your mother's stores do very well, so it should be quite easy to get done. That being said, it's fine to follow your heart."
Hao Ritian: Thank you very much. It's a pity our brain circuits aren't on the same wavelength.
Even so, he couldn't disregard Li Yi's good intentions. For that reason, he decided to go to school. This wouldn't stump him.
As soon as that idea had formed, the system spoke in his mind, "Host, did you forget you can depart from this world and head off to the next mission world so long as you've completed your task?
Hao Ritian, "…"
He didn't forget, he just wasn't thinking of leaving right now!
But on consideration, his mission in this world really was completed. Regardless of main task or the branch task, he'd fucking completed them all!
Hao Ritian was suddenly speechless. Hadn't he completed this mission too quickly? If he added up the time from the beginning to end, half a month hadn't even passed, okay?!
According to the evaluation method, he should get the highest grade in this world, right?!
Despite the numerous thoughts swirling in his mind, when he communicated with the system, he said, "Is it a must for me to head to the next world now?"
System, "It isn't a must, but the course of Yu Hao's fate has already been successfully altered. Even if Host wants to stay, at most you can only stay until Zheng Yue is released from prison. It would be considered observing firsthand the downfall of the man who'd caused Yu Hao harm. However, Host can't live Yu Hao's life for him. If Host chooses to linger, the evaluation grade will drop. I advise that Host departs from this world as soon as possible."
Hao Ritian got the drift, then said, "That's good. I choose to stay until Zheng Yue is released."
System, "…"
Everything it just said was for nothing, wasn't it?!
Nevertheless, without violating fundamental principles, as a system, it could only give suggestions to its host; it didn't have the rights to take matters into its own hands and make decisions for him. So, even if it wanted to leave, so long as the host didn't want to, it had no way to go about it.
When it came to such a wayward host, its only choice was to endure.
In Hao Ritian's view, simply completing the mission was enough. He didn't particularly care about the evaluation grade. Besides enabling the system with a small function, the evaluation grade didn't provide any additional benefits for him. Since he'd decided to get together with Li Yi, it was only natural that he take as much responsibility as he was able to.
His lack of response made Li Yi assume he was still contemplating so he didn't rush him. Once Hao Ritian finished negotiating with the system, he swiftly made a decision. "I want to pass the businesses to someone else, and charge rent on the shops themselves according to the normal standard."
Be it his point of view or Yu Hao's, there were no plans to continue operating the clothing business. Yu Hao's mother's clothing business mainly catered to women. If the business was left to him, he'd need a while to familiarise himself with the business before getting to work, but Yu Hao would be utterly unsuited to this course of action.
It was better to sell the business. The deposit alone would cover a lifetime of food and drink expenses for Yu Hao without worry, and add in a high monthly rental income, one could call Yu Hao a wealthy man in name and in fact. With this wealth, Yu Hao could follow his dreams, doing what he liked when Hao Ritian left.
Yu Hao's personality wasn't suited to conducting business anyways.
"Good." Li Yi approved of Hao Ritian's decision, or rather, he preferred that Hao Ritian choose this course of action. "Since it's decided, I'll find someone to help you estimate the price of selling those shops. The estimation can be completed quickly, but it might take a while to find someone to take over the shops."
Yu Hao's mother had a total of eight shops. Each was settled in a prime location and received good business, however they weren't cheap and not everyone could afford them.
Hao Ritian replied, "No problem."
In any case, he wasn't short of nor in urgent need of money.
Li Yi was delighted by Hao Ritian's wholehearted confidence in him. Thus, the matter was settled.
...
"Why has His Majesty disappeared? Has some traitor assassinated him? I haven't seen him in so long. I don't care how you do it, but you must compensate for My Majesty!" While Wei An might've been frightened when Hao Ritian almost kissed him and had slightly avoided him ever since, after a few days of his absence, he was immediately apprehensive.
Hence, Wei Jing became Wei An's sandbag.
But then again, the punches Wei An made with his little fists weren't painful, so they were more like love punches to Wei Jing.
Wei Jing promptly grabbed ahold of Wei An's hands. "Wifey, you have to believe me, I really don't know where His Majesty's gone."
Wei An didn't react to being addressed as 'Wifey', he simply whimpered, "His Majesty must think I'm awful at being a steward and doesn't want me anymore. "Waaaahh…"
"Who said they don't want you?" A familiar voice stopped Wei An's crying in its tracks and caused Wei An to turn his head. Look at that, His Majesty's come back!
His crying soon turned into a smile. Subconsciously, Wei An wanted to run towards Hao Ritian to embrace him after their long separation, but Wei Jing was hugging him too tightly for him to get free.
Hao Ritian had come to the hospital again after telling Li Yi that he'd sell the shops. He came as an ordinary person this time instead of as a patient.
Most of the hospital staff were aware of his ordeal and felt both sympathetic and sorry for him, hence his unexpected but large welcome during his return to the hospital, especially by the nurse who'd been responsible for him together with Zheng Yue at the beginning. She'd even gone out of her way to cheer him on, which made him not know whether to laugh or cry.
The reason for his return was naturally Wei An. Maybe it was because they had a connection, but during his stay at the hospital, he'd felt the urge to take the young man under his wings. After all, he was so obedient and happy to serve that, no matter the reason or sentiment, he couldn't leave Wei An.
As it happened, the second he returned, it was to witness Wei An argue with Wei Jing, and about the reason for his disappearance, no less. He felt correct in returning.
—He found it inconceivable that a day had come when he'd worry about another person.
"What, did you miss Zhen while he was gone?" He said as he strolled to the bedside and sat down. No new patients had been added to Ward 502 since he'd left, so it still had the familiar trio.
Wei An and Wei Jing were still drama queens while Tang Bao still had no sense of existence. It was great; things were still running in their familiar pattern.
Wei An was extremely cooperative. "Yes, I missed you to death, Your Majesty! Where did you go? Why didn't you take me with you? Did I do something wrong? Tell me and I'll change!"
Wei Jing's complexion became slightly unpleasant. He wasn't happy that his wifey was so fond of someone else.
Hao Ritian glanced at Wei Jing, before saying to Wei An and Tang Bao, "You two head out first. Move around outside or stand by the door, just don't wander too far. Zhen has a matter to discuss with Guard Wei. It'll be quick."
While Tang Bao had remained as obedient as before, Wei An was somewhat discontent. The second His Majesty returned, he wanted to discuss matters not with him, his steward, but rather with Wei Jing. His position was being robbed. Nevertheless, his habit of doing what he was told won out in the end, though of course that didn't stop him from giving Wei Jing the stink eye before he left.
Wei Jing, "…"
He was hit while lying down!
Once the pair left, Hao Ritian asked the system to help him temporarily block the surveillance system within the ward, then smiled enigmatically at Wei Jing. "President Wei, how long are you planning to stay here?"
Wei Jing had a look of bewilderment on his face, as if he didn't understand.
Hao Ritian waved his hand. "Quit pretending, it's fine. I've temporarily blocked the surveillance camera. You can speak your mind, no need to act in front of me."
Quick as lightning, the expression on Wei Jing's face changed from blank to sharp, his eyes piercing. No trace of foolishness could be seen, he clearly couldn't be more normal—not just normal, but extremely powerful as well.
He regarded Hao Ritian for a long moment but couldn't pick anything out, which was unusual for Wei Jing. It was also incredibly skilful of Hao Ritian to have seen through his disguise. He looked at Hao Ritian and asked in a deep voice, "When did you figure it out? Or were you acting too?"
This could be taken as an admission of his sanity. However, moments after he finished speaking, he dismissed his previous guess. His situation differed from the man in front of him. He couldn't possibly have been acting. Besides, he'd been present during Yu Hao's sudden relapse and it hadn't seemed fake. There was no way Yu Hao could've faked the way he looked then—like he'd lost his mind. If he could actually fake that then Wei Jing would admit his defeat.
Hao Ritian scoffed. When did he figure it out?
He'd known not long after he crossed over.
It was only natural for him to have the system scan the life stories of the people he would share a ward with. Who knew he'd discover some interesting things in this inspection?
Wei Jing came from a wealthy family which had descended into chaos in the wake of the sudden demise of its leader, Old Master Wei. During this key period, an issue had appeared with the mental health of Wei Jing, one of the successors, and he was admitted into a psychiatric hospital. This came as such a great relief to his brothers, who'd been fighting with him for the right of succession, that they'd nearly celebrated with firecrackers.
But in fact, Wei Jing's personality was a bit crazy. The reason he'd entered the hospital was, firstly, because he considered the Wei family's organisation to be troublesome and had no desire to manage it. He already had his own business, and its development was no worse than the Wei family's. Besides, he was still the absolute decision-maker in the family.
Secondly, he wanted to experience life in a psychiatric hospital until the power struggle amidst the Wei family ended.
Due to these simple and whimsical reasons, he'd temporarily delegated his work to his associates and subordinates, then moved into the hospital without another word. No matter how much his associates and subordinates stomped their feet outside the hospital, Wei Jing stood his ground and was very capricious.
After learning the inside story, Wei Jing had certainly gained Hao Ritian's admiration. He found his temper quite appealing. The two of them were crazy to their bones and, to some extent, were like two peas in a pod.
Still, Wei Jing's sudden entanglement with Wei An wasn't in his expectations.
"How I know isn't your concern. I'm telling you this only because I want to ask what your intentions with Wei An are. If you simply want to have fun, you should stop here and now. I'll take him away from the hospital, help him recover, and arrange a suitable job for him." Hao Ritian watched Wei Jing impassively, and bluntly stated his plans.
This arrangement was brought on by his and Wei An's connection.
Their conversation had already gone on for so long, to act dumb would be unreasonable. Wei Jing let loose his natural disposition and his crazy personality began to show. He smirked devilishly, his expression wild as he spoke, "Don't worry about it. My wife is naturally my responsibility."
Hao Ritian wasn't too surprised and nodded. "Since you already have a plan, I won't interfere."
"But—" All of a sudden, the air around him shifted and brimmed with intimidation. "I suggest you look into the reason why Wei An's psyche is messed up. He isn't someone you can play with. If you're not determined to be with him, don't tease him as you like."
He didn't look at Wei Jing's face, which had taken on a thoughtful look, once he'd finished saying his piece. He clapped his hands to indicate to the others outside that they could come in and, at the same time, he asked the system to remove the screen over the surveillance camera.
The door opened and the first to walk in was Wei An. As soon as he entered, he looked between Hao Ritian and Wei Jing curiously and couldn't stop himself from asking, "Your Majesty, what were you discussing with him?"
Truthfully, if not for the fact that his head had a slight problem which caused him to be disconnected with reality, Wei An didn't resemble someone with a mental issue, but simply a somewhat curious and innocent young man.
Before Hao Ritian could say anything, Wei Jing pulled Wei An into his arms, cupped his face, and kissed him. He tricked him with a straight face, "His Majesty has gifted you to me. You're my wife from now on."
Wei An: …
"How disgusting. His Majesty is watching, pay attention." Wei An bashfully stole a glance at Hao Ritian, then punched Wei Jing as he mumblingly complained.
Of course, if one ignored the bashful and sheepish expression he wore as he complained, it might've been more convincing. On the average man, such an expression might've been quite effeminate, but Wei An was a pretty boy and his coyness wasn't deliberate. The expression was natural on his face and not at all annoying. On the contrary, it was extremely endearing.
Hao Ritian, "…"
He seemed to have made a mistake. Wei An, who used to practically cry for his parents when Wei Jing closed in on him, now looked bashful. He suddenly felt like a busybody who'd ended up stuffed with a mouthful of dog food for his troubles.
Out of sight, out of mind. He turned his focus on Tang Bao. He hadn't ignored Tang Bao because of his low sense of existence. On the contrary, he'd also made an arrangement for him, but they'd have to take this a step at a time. Ultimately, he couldn't be certain Tang Bao would find his arrangement suitable.
Someone knocked on the door three times before entering.
Though, Li Yi didn't actually enter, he just stood by the door as he asked Hao Ritian, "How is it going?"
Hao Ritian stood from the side of the bed and answered as he walked towards him, "We're good now."
Now that everything had been handled, he naturally had no intention of staying. Seeing that Hao Ritian was about to leave, Wei An hurriedly released Wei Jing to tug at his sleeve. Pitifully, he asked, "Where are you going, Your Majesty? Aren't you going to take me with you?"
The veins in Wei Jing's forehead jumped and he agilely caught Wei An back. "His Majesty has matters to attend to. We can go look for His Majesty when he needs us, okay?"
However, inwardly, he was thinking—stay away from my wifey in the future! Let's hope we don't see each other again!
When Wei An continued to stare reluctantly at Hao Ritian, he flicked Wei An's forehead. "Listen to Guard Wei when Zhen isn't here, got it?"
Meanwhile, Li Yi's gaze lingered on Wei Jing for a moment. He'd noticed something was wrong due to Wei Jing's change in expression and reaction a second ago. Still, when he looked back at Hao Ritian, he stayed silent. Li Yi wasn't an inflexible man. Since Wei Jing hadn't affected the hospital in any way, it wasn't difficult to turn a blind eye every once in a while.
Hao Ritian promptly departed with Li Yi.
On the day after they left, the person who'd delivered Wei Jing to the hospital at the beginning returned to pick him up. While only one man had been sent into the hospital, the subordinate returned with three, one of which was even the Boss's wife! The subordinate was confused as well. He inwardly speculated—had the Boss's purpose for entering the hospital been to find a wife?
After all, with his Boss's personality, he would easily do that.
As for Wei An and Tang Bao, the two who'd been taken away from the hospital as extras—Wei An's family no longer showed interest in him and had begun to feel dissatisfied with shouldering his high hospitalisation fees. Naturally, they couldn't be more eager when someone conveniently wanted to discharge him from the hospital, so how could they refuse?
On the contrary, it was discharging Tang Bao that faced more twists and turns. Tang Bao was different from the other three in Ward 502. He'd never suffered trauma, but had instead been born mentally impaired. Rather than say he was mentally ill, it was better to say he was slow and dim, his behaviour unable to keep up with his peers. While his family might've sent him to the psychiatric hospital because they didn't want to deal with him, they still raised a few questions when strangers wanted to discharge him.
In the end, Wei Jing's people showed up to negotiate with Tang Bao's family. It was unknown what they did, but the family had finally agreed. They wouldn't concern themselves with Tang Bao from now on.
At this point, all four patients from Ward 502 had successfully been discharged.
***