CH 95

498

The ward fell into a dead silence.

Shi Jin stared at the file, Lian Jun stared at him, and neither of them spoke.

After a long moment, Shi Jin’s gaze left the file and moved to Lian Jun’s face, accompanied by an ingratiating smile.

Expressionless, Lian Jun tugged at his cheek. “You should solve your own problems,” he said.

“But I’m just a kid who’s only graduated from high school not long ago. I really don’t have the ability to solve a Ruixing-level problem by myself…” Shi Jin pulled the age card without a hint of shame. He moved closer to Lian Jun. “You’re such a powerful man, you must be able to help me…” he flattered.

Lian Jun’s face remained blank, but the fingers pinching Shi Jin’s cheek loosened.

Shi Jin immediately stuck to him like an octopus and, like a crafty concubine seducing a debauched emperor, he took Lian Jun’s hand and placed it on himself. The implications were extremely straightforward, and the degree of shamelessness was unspeakable.

“Where did you learn tricks like this?” Lian Jun naturally took advantage of the opportunity to hug him, still expressionless.

“Auntie Lu taught me—she said you like this kind of thing,” Shi Jin lied without batting an eyelid.

Lian Jun gave him a profound look and snuck a hand under the hem of his pajama shirt. His voice was full of meaning when he said, “I do like it.”

Huh?

Shi Jin froze and looked down at the groping hand. He was just trying to tease Lian Jun, how come things seemed to be getting serious? This was a hospital, there were a lot of people passing by outside, and someone could come in at any time. It wasn’t the right time or place to do anything…

…Was what he thought, but he didn’t take Lian Jun’s hand out of his clothes. On the contrary, his own hands stuck close to Lian Jun’s body and reached for his belt.

Lian Jun didn’t stop it, but the hand he’d placed on Shi Jin didn’t move any further. Instead, he said, “The fundamentals of company management were taught to me by Mr. Feng. Prepare yourself—once you’re better, you’ll be right back to attending Mr. Feng’s classes.”

“…Huh?” Shi Jin froze, his hands freezing where they were fumbling over the belt.

“At present, Shi Weichong is the one who’s most familiar with Ruixing’s affairs. You can give him some directions and leave the handling of general matters to him, and keep Ruixing in a stable situation. We’ll start by teaching you how to deal with simple and trivial matters first. Ruixing is your family’s business after all, you should know this much at least,” Lian Jun explained, then pinched Shi Jin’s waist. “You learn fast, I believe in you.”

But I don’t believe in myself!

Shi Jin opened his mouth and wanted to cry out, but his fake howl was suppressed by Lian Jun’s waist-massaging skill.

“Actually I have my own selfish motives for making you learn,” Lian Jun murmured, stroking his waist again. “Shi Jin, I hope you’ll be able to help me.”

“Help you?” Stunned, Shi Jin instantly snapped out of his playful mood. Frowning, he asked, “Are you in trouble?”

Lian Jun shook his head at first, but then seemed to think of something and nodded. He pulled his hand out of Shi Jin’s pajamas, then helped make them tidy. Letting him take a seat, he explained, “I didn’t tell you before, but even though we kept your ‘kidnapping’ quiet, this is B city after all—even the slightest disturbance will be noticed. Now, a week after the incident, the news about the ‘conflict’ between Annihilation and Tarantula should already be known in the underworld. The next month or two should go something like this: the major organizations doubting the authenticity of the news—investigating and confirming the information—feeling out Tarantula’s attitude—starting to have thoughts about Annihilation—trying to form an alliance with Tarantula—beginning to conduct small-scale harassments towards Annihilation, and trying to check how far along the transformation is.

After that, the harassment will slowly escalate, and in the end, the situation will develop to the point of all the major organizations banding together to deal with Annihilation. As such, we have only half a year at most to focus on the transformation.”

As he listened, Shi Jin’s expression grew serious. Filled with remorse, he said, “So it’s all because of… Never mind, there’s no point in saying that now. How can I help you?”

Lian Jun was very satisfied that Shi Jin could always grasp the key points quickly without getting too caught up in things that had already happened. Taking the teenager’s hand, he smiled and said, “The greatest help you can give me will be you holding power over Ruixing.”

Shi Jin was taken aback, then the realization hit him. “You want to use Ruixing to speed up the transformation?”

“No, I won’t let your business be tainted by association with the underworld,” Lian Jun shook his head. Squeezing his hand, he went on, “I’m hoping that Ruixing will be able to step forward and accept some of the businesses that have been successfully transformed.”

Shi Jin felt that something wasn’t quite right. “Wait, rather than me helping you, that’s just you sending me money, isn’t it?” he asked with a frown. A business that had been successfully transformed was a clean and honest business—in other words, it was something valuable that came with no strings attached.

“I’m not giving you money, I’m giving you financial control over our common property,” Lian Jun corrected him, kissing the back of his hand. “Transferring out some of Annihilation’s businesses is also part of the transformation. Once I get rid of that burden, my movement won’t be so restricted because I won’t have to worry about protecting them. Moreover, even if Annihilation loses everything during the oncoming conflict, at least whatever you hold will be safe. So you have to study hard—if you don’t take good care of them, we might have to drink the northwest wind.”

Shi Jin was dumbfounded. How did things suddenly turn out like this?! If this was how it was, he had to learn even if it killed him.

Seeing his expression, Lian Jun added, “In fact, I was originally planning to commission a middleman to set up a new enterprise. It would slowly take over the businesses that had been transformed, and help them be rid of their relationship with Annihilation. But now that time is running short, I have no choice but to use big businesses that already exist to cut down on preparation time. At present, Ruixing is the best option, but if you feel like it’s too much, I’ll look for other…”

“No! It’s safer to use Ruixing. Could it be even half as convenient to use another big business as it would be to use Ruixing? Not to mention, the security and confidentiality would definitely be a lot worse,” Shi Jin interrupted him at once. He gave the matter serious consideration, and said, “Learning business management is fine, I’ll give it my best, but I’ll need to discuss this whole thing with Shi Weichong. After all, Ruixing belongs to him—even if he said he’s giving it back to me, that doesn’t mean it’s really mine. As a matter of fact, I don’t have any right to take what belongs to the Shi family… Anyway, I will try my best, but you should be prepared…”

“Shi Weichong has already talked to me about that. He said that if you want, he can help you continue to manage Ruixing, but he will never again accept ownership of Ruixing in his lifetime,” Lian Jun interrupted him in turn. He motioned to the file on his lap. “He knew you wanted to give Ruixing back to him, so he gave this document to me, hoping that I could convince you to change your mind.”

“……”

Shi Jin’s eyebrows knitted. “But Ruixing, I really don’t want to…” Let’s put aside all the trouble with managing it for now—the first problem was his identity. Although this body belonged to a son of the Shi family, the soul inside did not; from where he stood, he felt he had no right to become Ruixing’s owner. Earlier, he’d accepted it because he didn’t want to antagonize Shi Weichong while Xu Jie still hadn’t been dealt with, but as a result, he found himself riding a tiger.

Seeing his lover’s reluctance, Lian Jun raised a hand to press on the bridge of his nose. “I promised Shi Weichong I would help him persuade you to take Ruixing.”

Shi Jin looked up at him, thinking back on the earlier part of their conversation. “Because Ruixing is needed for Annihilation’s transformation?” He was caught in a dilemma. This was the first time Lian Jun had asked him for help. Refusing him just because of some scruples that no one else could understand…

Xiao Si couldn’t stand seeing him so entangled any longer. It began, < JinJin, actually, you can accept Ruixing. It… >

“Yes and no—the main reason is that I want you to have more bargaining chips,” Lian Jun replied, unwittingly speaking over Xiao Si. He caressed Shi Jin’s face, letting out a soft sigh. “Every human has selfish motives, and so do I. Soon, Annihilation will find itself in the center of a storm. It will be the biggest conflict we’ve ever faced and one with only one ending: all the major organizations going down together and disappearing from the pages of history. Both during and after the conflict, I and the people around me will be targeted, either by other organizations or by the authorities. Gua One and the others have the strength and experience; they’ve been with me for many years, and their way out was arranged long ago. You are different—you haven’t been following me for long and what’s more, you have a unique relationship with me. I have to take special considerations for you.”

Shi Jin’s attention was focused on Lian Jun’s explanation; he didn’t hear Xiao Si’s words at all. He soon realized Lian Jun’s intentions and said with a dark face, “You think that once I’m the boss of Ruxing, the officials won’t dare to touch me, right? You said that you wanted to use Ruixing for Annihilation’s transformation, but that was a lie to persuade me—with how meticulous you are, how could you not have made backup plans? Are you planning to give me all your property and then sacrifice yourself?”

“Of course not.” Seeing him getting more and more worked up, Lian Jun hurried to take his hand and squeezed it soothingly. “I have to take care of you, of course I’m not planning on dying. As a matter of fact, there’s another reason for doing things this way: in case the authorities are still unwilling to let me go when everything is over, you’ll have enough power that, this time, you can protect me. Shi Jin, I’ll never leave you without your permission. I refuse to let you go.”

Shi Jin watched him in silence. He knew that everything his lover said sounded reasonable, but intuition kept telling him that he was falling into a trap. “I can’t help but feel like you’re lying to me,” he said in a low voice.

“If I wanted to deceive you, I wouldn’t have told you my plans. Don’t you trust me, Shi Jin?” Lian Jun asked earnestly, meeting his gaze.

Shi Jin looked at the perfectly handsome face in front of him, giving up—no, of course he trusted him, and he was pretty sure that with Lian Jun’s intelligence, if Lian Jun really wanted to deceive him, he wouldn’t even notice.

Actually, he’d been persuaded. Lian Jun was right when he said that it was only when he had enough power could he protect others. All along, it had been Lian Jun protecting him—he also wanted to protect Lian Jun.

In the face of his lover’s safety, all those tangles hidden in his heart were like a delicate piece of paper that could be broken with the poke of a finger and thrown away at any time.

“I can accept Ruixing for the time being,” he said, grabbing Lian Jun’s hand and squeezing hard. “But I’ll definitely return it to Shi Weichong in the end. After everything is done with and we’re safe, you should separate your businesses from Ruixing’s banner. It’s better for them not to be tied to it.”

With Shi Jin’s compromising, Lian Jun leaned over to hug him. “Yes, when everything is finished, of course we’ll separate from Ruixing,” he said, stroking his back.

We, us, ours—you sure are keeping up the sweet talk, aren’t you?

Stifling a sigh, Shi Jin returned his hug. “In any case, even if Shi Weichong has already spoken about this with you, I still have to talk to him and ask him what he thinks about using Ruixing to help Annihilation to transform.”

“Yes, of course,” Lian Jun replied in a tone conveying that it was only natural for him to listen to Shi Jin on this matter.

Shi Jin felt like his lover was too smart and too cunning. With the way Shi Weichong’s mind was at the moment, he would definitely give his unconditional agreement to anything Shi Jin asked of him, and might even start helping out even more actively.

Lian Jun must have figured that out long ago. Shi Jin was destined to be persuaded from the very beginning of the conversation.

If you’re seeing this notice, you’re reading this chapter on pirate site – the original translator of Death Progress Bar is Betwixted Translations.

Just as Shi Jin expected, when Shi Weichong heard that Shi Jin wanted to use Ruixing as an umbrella to bring part of Annihiliation’s businesses that were already “clean” out into the light, he didn’t show any opposition. Instead, he began to act as if he really was a professional manager Shi Jin had hired, offering his analyses and advice on decisions.

Shi Jin didn’t dare let Shi Weichong work all day since his brother was supposed to be recuperating. He tried to talk only a little bit about work every day, so that he would have something to do but would spend most of the day resting, keeping him from being both too bored and too tired.

After two days of this kind of life, Lian Jun arranged for a doctor to give Shi Jin a detailed examination. Once they had confirmed his full recovery, he was discharged and allowed to go back to the club.

During this period, Shi Jin’s other brothers took turns to visit him. Probably noticing that Shi Jin was not in a high mood, they tried to avoid mentioning anything to do with family matters and only chatted about daily affairs. Li Jiuzheng had told them about Shi Weichong’s psychological problems and Shi Jin forcing him to take a prolonged vacation, but no one said anything about it. Truthfully, there were too many revelations and too many things going on recently; they needed some time to digest.

When Shi Jin was discharged from the hospital, they parted in tacit agreement, each returning to their own life. And Shi Jin made the painful discovery that from then on, their “concern and love” would bombard his mobile phone. Apparently, they’d decided to discard their bias and prejudices overnight, and really wanted to learn how to get along with their siblings… And the person to bear the brunt of this was Shi Jin, as they seemed to treat him as a training dummy.

His phone vibrated frequently. One time, it was Li Jiuzheng’s conjecture about Shi Jin’s unexplained high fever and sore throat. A moment later, Xiang Aoting sent a summary of the training Shi Jin was about to face and urged him to take care of his health. Rong Zhouzhong’s “little bastard” message would be followed by Fei Yujing’s text with an offer to help make Shi Jin’s takeover of Ruixing painless. In addition to all that, Shi Weichong would send ideas about how Ruixing could take in one or another of Annihilation’s businesses without giving outsiders cause for suspicion.

Everyone took great care with their choice of words; even Rong Zhouzhong’s “little bastard” messages were quite cautious. This made it hard for Shi Jin to give them the cold shoulder.

It was just that this much of “concern and love” was a little overwhelming. In a last-ditch attempt to get back some peace and quiet, he sent out a group text: [I’m busy studying how to manage Ruixing, don’t disturb me.]

A moment later, five messages came in. Roughly: [Xiao Jin has grown up, big brother is happy]; [You can ask me if you have any questions]; [You, studying? No way]; [Remember to alternate work with rest and take care of your body]; [If you get tired of studying, you can come to Rongcheng for a rest].

So did these people not understand the words “Don’t disturb me”?

Shi Jin threw his phone aside with disgust. He looked at the time, picked up his tablet with resignation, and made a video call to Mr. Feng to start his online class.

Lian Jun watched Shi Jin’s actions out of the corner of his eye as he went through and signed the documents that Shi Weichong’s trusted confidant had delivered.

Shi Jin taking over Ruixing was a secret. Shi Weichong was still the president on the surface, except that he was presently on leave and would only make the most important decisions about the company’s affairs. All the more trivial matters would be handled by Shi Weichong’s confidant, the current vice-president of Ruixing.

Of course, the people behind the vice-president were actually Lian Jun and Shi Jin, the latter of whom was learning how to manage a company.

In addition to that, Shi Jin also developed a new hobby—recording the value of Lian Jun’s progress bar every day. Last time, he’d been really surprised by the decline of Lian Jun’s progress bar. He secretly hoped that the surprise would continue, but to his disappointment, Lian Jun’s progress bar hadn’t budged since then.

“Is it because he was taking care of me in the hospital? He was tired and it delayed his recuperation?” Shi Jin wondered, feeling guilty.

Xiao Si was actually nervous too, but it still reassured him, < No! When nursing someone to health, it’s always the hardest in the beginning. Once every aspect of his body’s data reaches a balanced value, Darling’s progress bar will start to fall quickly! >

It seemed reasonable, so Shi Jin suppressed his anxiety and decided to continue observing for a few more days.

Lian Jun had noticed that recently, Shi Jin often peeked at him with a strange expression, and the way his gaze swept him up and down seemed to be full of meaning. He counted the days since the last time they were intimate, and a realization dawned upon him.

After all, Shi Jin was still young, and they had just been through a not-very-pleasant conversation. Perhaps something needed to be done to ease their relationship…

When Lian Jun caught Shi Jin sneaking a glance at him again, he put down the document and looked at the teenager, who had withdrawn his gaze in the meantime and was acting as if nothing had happened. “Today, let’s have an early dinner. I want to go to bed early today,” he said.

Hmm, rest early?

Shi Jin’s ears pricked up immediately. Wondering if Lian Jun had gotten worn out from working these past few days, he nodded busily. “Okay, let’s rest early today!” The beginning of health was proper sleep!

So eager?

Lian Jun’s eyes flashed at Shi Jin’s earnest appearance, and the corners of his mouth rose.

That day, the two had dinner at an earlier hour than usual, then immediately went back to their room.

They were already ready for sleep before 8 p.m.. Once they were in bed, Shi Jin sat up and touched Lian Jun’s legs—a relaxing massage before bed would help improve sleep quality.

But Lian Jun misunderstood his meaning. At Shi Jin’s touch, he bent his knees so that the robe would slide down, then beckoned to him: “Come here.”

“Yes?” Puzzled, Shi Jin obediently came closer.

Lian Jun grabbed his arms and pushed him down, pressing him under himself, then lowered his head to kiss him.

Shi Jin’s eyes widened in surprise, but then he felt Lian Jun’s excitement. Understanding in an instant, he threw his arms around his lover’s back and closed his eyes—so this was what Lian Jun meant by “rest”. Well, it could help the body to relieve stress, which was conducive to recuperation, so there was no problem.

As expected, he really was anxious. Feeling the “impatient” hands on his waist, Lian Jun deepened the kiss and touched the hem of Shi Jin’s pajamas.

Xiao Si: < ...Gwack. >

Startled, Shi Jin accidentally bit Lian Jun’s tongue and hurriedly pulled away. Face dark, he “turned off” the progress bars in his mind before reaching for Lian Jun’s robe—he’d almost forgotten about the little voyeur.

“I know, don’t worry.” Lian Jun stroked Shi Jin’s waist in reassurance, not minding his bitten tongue.

Huh? Know what?

Confused, Shi Jin opened his mouth to ask but right at that moment, one of his sensitive points was teased and hot blood rushed into his brain, wiping his mind blank in an instant.

After a night without dreams, Shi Jin woke up early. Finding that Lian Jun had already gotten up, he lounged, indolent, in bed, waiting for the confusion of sleep to disappear. He stretched lazily and activated the progress bars, yawning as he asked, “How is Lian Jun’s progress bar—”

< Ah ah aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh—! > Xiao Si shrieked.

Fully awake all at once, Shi Jin raised a hand to rub his aching head. “I thought you were used to it already. It’s not even every night…”

< That’s not it! > Xiao Si was so excited its voice broke. < JinJin! Darling’s progress bar is down again, to 498! It’s down another point! >

“What?!” Shi Jin hurriedly looked at Lian Jun’s progress bar in his mind. After checking and double-checking that it had really dropped to 498, he exhaled loudly and punched the mattress in delight. “That damn bar has finally moved again! Is it because I helped Lian Jun relax last night?”

< How did you help him relax? > Xiao Si asked eagerly.

“I just used—” Shi Jin began, but thankfully caught himself in time. “You want to be locked in the small black room again?” he threatened. Putting a stop to his chat with the system, he got up, took a quick shower, and ran to the study. Once there, his eyes swept over Lian Jun’s body like searchlights.

Lian Jun quite enjoyed his lover looking at him like a dog watching a piece of meat, but it didn’t show on his face. He put down the document he was reading and asked, “What do you want to have for breakfast?”

“Anything is fine,” Shi Jin replied distractedly. Seeing that Lian Jun was not busy, he rushed over to touch his chest, squeezed his arm, and tried to lift his robe to take a look at his legs.

“Don’t mess around. Have breakfast first.” Lian Jun grabbed his hand, thinking his lover had ‘intentions’ again.

All of Shi Jin’s attention was on his legs. He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but he felt like Lian Jun’s leg muscles were a bit more robust than before. Unable to contain his joy, he planted a kiss on his boyfriend’s cheek. “I’m not messing around. You haven’t done your morning exercise yet—can I accompany you?”

Lian Jun felt his happiness, and even if he didn’t know what had made Shi Jin so happy, it caused his mood to improve as well. “Okay,” he replied, returning the kiss.

Shi Jin was extremely enthusiastic during that day’s workout. He quickly finished his training assignment and rushed to Lian Jun’s training room to watch him exercise.

Lian Jun had already completed the first stage of the exercise plan and was now transitioning to the second stage; his exercises changed from walking as he held the bar to walking fast and without support. He also started on preliminary medication treatment.

While Lian Jun went to take a shower after he finished, Shi Jin approached Uncle Long. “Jun-shao is already taking medicine—does that mean you’re about to start getting rid of the toxin?” he asked expectantly.

Uncle Long glanced at his over-excited appearance and poured cold water on him. “That’s still a long way off. The medicine Jun-shao is taking now has nothing to do with detoxification, it’s just drugs to relieve pain so he can exercise more easily. You thought the treatment would be so easy?”

Oh, so it’s like this.

Shi Jin’s expression crumbled, but he asked relentlessly, “Then, if Jun-shao continues to exercise and strengthen his body according to the preliminary treatment plan, how long will it take before he’s well enough for the real treatment?”

“For the treatment to be both safe and painless, he needs to recuperate for at least half a year. If he wants it to begin as soon as possible, three months are enough,” Uncle Long estimated, then frowned. “Jun-shao will definitely choose the latter… You young people are always too impatient—the most important thing is for the treatment to be as thorough and safe as possible, isn’t that obvious?” He closed the exercise record book he was holding, put it away, and left the training room, shaking his head.

Half a year? Isn’t that when the conflict in the underworld is predicted to break out?

Shi Jin stood there, stunned, his good mood disappearing like a popped soap bubble.

Uncle Long wasn’t wrong—with Lian Jun’s character, he was highly likely to choose the quick treatment and take the drugs to clear away the toxin as soon as his body reached the required standard. But doing things that way was bound to carry risks… He looked in the direction of the bathroom and frowned deeply.