YMW CH 40

Monster

In the blink of an eye, the monthly exams arrived.

Since Lu Wang had skipped the last exam, he was automatically assigned to the last seat in the last exam room. Meanwhile, Cen Wu—who ranked dead last in the entire grade—sat right in front of him.

At Huaijing No. 1 High School, students were seated according to their grades, from highest to lowest. Weekly tests didn’t count toward this ranking.

Xie Guilan sat in the very first seat of the very first exam room.

Cen Wu: “…”

The gap between people was greater than the gap between a human and a dog.

The two exam rooms were far apart, and Cen Wu had assumed he wouldn’t see Xie Guilan for the next few days. But just as he took his seat, he saw Xie Guilan walking past his exam room.

The entire classroom erupted in hushed gasps.

“Holy crap, am I seeing things?! Does this mean I’m about to have a miraculous turnaround in this exam?!”

“What’s a straight-A student doing here?”

“Brother Xie! My one and only god! Bless me!”

Huaijing No. 1 High School was an elite institution with intense competition. Even the underachievers had more pride than students from other schools. The last exam room was the lowest of the low, a place students from the higher-ranked rooms avoided unless absolutely necessary.

To make it even more absurd, the first eight exam rooms were all on the first floor, while Cen Wu’s was on the third. There was no way Xie Guilan had just “happened” to pass by. Anyone would be shocked.

Cen Wu, lying on his desk, blinked in confusion. Then, pointing at himself for confirmation, he realized—Xie Guilan was here for him.

There were still thirty minutes before the exam started. Cen Wu hurriedly got up and ran outside.

“You… why are you here?” He rushed out the back door.

Xie Guilan handed him a piece of paper. It had everything—from required classical Chinese passages to math and science formulas, a few example problems, and even an English essay template.

Cen Wu hesitated, sneakily covering the paper as if afraid of being caught. He whispered, “Isn’t… isn’t this kind of bad? What if I copy it and get caught?”

Xie Guilan was such an idiot. If he was going to give him a cheat sheet, at least he should’ve changed the handwriting. His script was bold and powerful, naturally elegant without even trying. Any teacher would recognize it at a glance.

“…” Xie Guilan lowered his gaze, a mix of emotions flashing in his dark eyes. He opened his mouth as if about to say something cruel but ultimately held back. His voice was quiet, carrying a rare hint of patience. “Young master, I meant for you to review it before the exam.”

Cen Wu: “…”

“Oh.” His face turned bright red. “Oh… oh.”

Xie Guilan, still uncharacteristically gentle, lowered his head and said, “I’ll come pick you up after the exam.”

Cen Wu was too flustered to even wonder why Xie Guilan was picking him up. He just nodded wildly before rushing back inside.

Technically, students were allowed to review before the exam. But in the last exam room, most had already given up, so hardly anyone bothered. With his review materials spread out, Cen Wu was a rare sight.

In his past life, he had been a renowned director in Berlin, so his Chinese scores weren’t bad, and his English was solid. Still, by the end of the day, he was completely stunned—Xie Guilan had predicted both essay topics with eerie accuracy.

The next morning was the math exam. The second-to-last big problem—one he usually couldn’t solve past the first step—turned out to be identical to the example problem Xie Guilan had given him.

Xie Guilan hadn’t written much on that paper, worried he wouldn’t remember too much. But every single thing on it appeared on the exam.

By the time he finished his last subject, Cen Wu was in a daze.

He really wanted to date Xie Guilan.

Wouldn’t that mean he could trick him into handing over all his study materials?

With ten minutes left before the exam ended, Cen Wu had already finished checking his answers. His thoughts began to wander. Next up was the sports festival, then the school anniversary gala, and right after that—exam results and parent-teacher meetings.

The principal had promised that if their scores were decent, they’d be allowed an autumn trip. On top of that, Song Lingwei’s surgery was coming up, which meant Xie Guilan probably wouldn’t have time to return to the Xie family estate.

For the past few days, Xie Shangjing hadn’t come looking for him, but Cen Wu knew that wouldn’t last. And there was also Xie Mingcheng—who was probably at odds with the Cen family now.

Xie Mingcheng was an arrogant man. His own son had gotten into trouble in a competition, and he hadn’t lifted a finger to help. But the Cen family had interfered—he would see that as an insult. While his influence in Huaijing wasn’t as deep as the Cen family’s, he wouldn’t dare provoke them directly. But he could certainly take it out on Xie Guilan.

At sunset, the final exam bell rang. Students poured out of the classrooms in a chaotic stampede. The next two weeks were practically a vacation, and the entire school erupted into celebratory howls.

Against the backdrop of the descending dusk, Xie Guilan leaned lazily against the railing, a bag slung over his shoulder. In one hand, he held a cup of lychee soda; in the other, his school jacket.

Cen Wu ran over, and Xie Guilan reached out, taking his bag and handing him the drink.

Cen Wu: “…”

Something felt off.

He just couldn’t put his finger on what.

“T-Thanks,” he murmured, biting down on the straw and taking a sip.

Xie Guilan said nothing. Cen Wu tugged at the hem of his jacket.

Adam’s apple shifting slightly, Xie Guilan finally lost his patience. His voice was low and restrained. “Speak properly. Don’t act cute.”

Cen Wu: “…”

Who’s acting cute? Your whole family acts cute.

Xie Guilan was tall and lean, his school jacket draped loosely over his frame. There was a sharp, unrestrained air about him, the confidence of a boy growing into his own—yet his deep-set features made him seem cold, almost indifferent.

Cen Wu hesitated before reaching out, fingers curling around Xie Guilan’s wrist with a slight shake. “Xie… Xie Guilan, if… if I ever lied to you… would you be mad?”

For a second, Xie Guilan’s body stiffened, a strange numbness spreading through him at the light touch. But he hadn’t completely lost his mind yet. Dropping his gaze slightly, his pitch-black peach blossom eyes studied Cen Wu, his tone lazy. “Depends.”

Anything else, fine. As long as Cen Wu wasn’t secretly running off to grope some other guy’s abs, he wouldn’t care. He didn’t have that kind of fetish.

Cen Wu hesitated, then clamped his mouth shut.

He had been thinking—if Xie Guilan no longer hated him, he’d go take a DNA test, send the results to his parents, and disappear overnight.

But he didn’t dare bet on it.

This guy was perfectly capable of murder.

In the original novel, Huaijing was a dark, lawless place, almost like the Kowloon Walled City. Centered around Blue Night, this whole area was known among the underworld as “the Underground City”—a place of gambling, drug trafficking, and brutal turf wars. It was a world of predator and prey.

And Xie Guilan’s hands weren’t exactly clean.

Cen Wu worried about Xie Shangjing making trouble for him, but not too much—because deep down, Xie Shangjing feared him.

The Xie patriarch had fathered more than one illegitimate child over the years. He had always loved pitting them against each other.

And Xie Shangjing had quietly eliminated quite a few of them already.

He and Xie Guilan had a subtle kind of cooperation—if Xie Guilan sensed that someone posed a serious threat, he would step in to help.

After all, having too many children in the Xie family wasn’t good for Xie Guilan either. If someone more suitable than Song Lingwei appeared, someone who could be used to spite Zhou Li, Xie Mingcheng might just replace her.

He didn’t want to stay in the Xie family, but he had to admit—Song Lingwei relied on Xie Mingcheng to keep herself alive.

Xie Shangjing wouldn’t go as far as to kill them. Unborn ones could still be aborted. As for those who were born, he would find a way to send them away.

This was what he feared the most. The women he had driven away sometimes refused to give up, bringing their children back to find Father Xie. But those whom Xie Guilan dealt with… never appeared again.

He knew they weren’t dead. But vanishing like that—what difference was there from being dead?

He had tried more than once to have Xie Guilan killed, yet he never succeeded. Every time he hired someone, they ended up so terrified they never dared to contact him again.

But he never knew what exactly Xie Guilan had done.

Xie Shangjing had originally hoped the protagonist would kill Xie Guilan. He thought the protagonist loved him deeply. And if he loved him so much, why couldn’t he help him eliminate this trouble?

But the protagonist wanted Xie Guilan dead even more than he did, yet he didn’t dare do it himself. He was afraid the Cen family would find out something. So he, too, was waiting for Xie Shangjing to make the first move. In the end, neither of them did anything.

“Young Master,” Xie Guilan pinched Cen Wu’s soft cheek and lowered his head to ask, “What did you lie to me about?”

Cen Wu’s curled lashes trembled, his eyes misty as he looked up at him with an almost fawning expression. “N-nothing…”

Xie Guilan simply stared at him in silence. His dark eyes were cold and deep, his tall figure casting a shadow over him. Cen Wu’s back was damp with sweat, his eyes welling with moisture. Only then did Xie Guilan finally let go, his fingertip brushing against Cen Wu’s damp lashes.

“You… you’re so mean.” Cen Wu’s voice trembled as well, his eyes red with a hint of grievance.

Xie Guilan’s heart softened in an instant. He grabbed Cen Wu’s hand and pressed it against his own cheek, rubbing against it as he said, “I’m sorry.”

Cen Wu, emboldened again, squeezed Xie Guilan’s cheek. Seeing that Xie Guilan wasn’t angry, he lowered his head and stepped on Xie Guilan’s foot. Xie Guilan even leaned in voluntarily to let him.

“No matter how I step… it’s fine?” Cen Wu mumbled.

Xie Guilan lowered his gaze, the corners of his crimson lips curling in a way that carried an ambiguous undertone. “Where do you want to step?”

Cen Wu didn’t get it—what else could he step on? He stomped on Xie Guilan’s foot again, feeling satisfied, but then quickly ran forward a few steps, afraid of Xie Guilan retaliating. Then he stopped and turned to wait for him.

Neither he nor Xie Guilan had signed up for any events in the school sports meet. He was too socially anxious to appear in front of people, and Xie Guilan had to take Song Lingwei for a check-up—her surgery was in a few days.

On the first day of the sports meet, Xie Guilan didn’t even come to school but sent him a message of his own accord.

【Xie Guilan: At the hospital.】

Cen Wu had actually always wanted Xie Guilan to inform him of his whereabouts. That way, if something happened, he would at least know in time. But now that Xie Guilan really did, it felt… strange.

What was this about?

He felt like his relationship with Xie Guilan wasn’t normal at all.

That night, Xie Guilan messaged him again, asking if the sports meet had ended and if he had gotten home.

Cen Wu was helping his classmates move equipment, so he hadn’t responded yet. Meanwhile, Xie Guilan put down his phone and went to do laundry.

When he came out, he saw Song Lingwei gripping his phone tightly, her eyes red. Xie Guilan’s expression instantly darkened.

Song Lingwei was breathing heavily. She grabbed the phone and hurled it at him, then picked up the nurse’s tray nearby and threw it at him as well.

A long gash appeared on Xie Guilan’s arm, blood trickling down his pale fingers.

“You’re insane, Xie Guilan,” Song Lingwei’s hair was disheveled as she glared at him with hatred. “Do you think you’re worthy of climbing up to the Cen family?!”

Last night, she had received a message from Xie Shangjing, a cryptic sentence telling her to keep an eye on her son.

She hadn’t understood at first, until just now when Xie Guilan’s phone suddenly vibrated. On impulse, she picked it up—and saw a message.

The contact name was Wu Wu.

When she gave birth, the doctor had told her that her body was too weak—she would never be able to have another child. At first, she had treated Xie Guilan as her own.

She knew Xie Guilan well. She had never seen him act so intimately toward anyone before, let alone use a nickname.

Xie Guilan didn’t care about her opinion, which was why he hadn’t been on guard. That’s how she managed to see the message.

The phone shattered into pieces. Xie Guilan’s face was dark, but this time, Song Lingwei wasn’t afraid of him.

“You’re insane,” she kept muttering, her voice filled with a deranged fury. “You want to kill me…”

Every time Xie Guilan came to the hospital, he was always injured. She knew Cen Wu had beaten him but had never asked or interfered. She even wished Cen Wu would hate Xie Guilan, that the Cen family would stay away from him.

Only then could her son remain in the Cen family. One day, when Cen Wu had money or took over the company, she would claim him back. Cen Wu would surely want her.

She was his real mother. She had endured so much for his future. Cen Wu wouldn’t abandon her.

She couldn’t let Xie Guilan ruin everything.

“You want to kill me.” Song Lingwei grabbed Xie Guilan and shoved him, hitting him wildly. She picked up the nurse’s scissors and stabbed him, blood seeping through his school uniform. Yet she still wasn’t satisfied and raised her hand to slap him.

But this time, Xie Guilan blocked it with a cold expression.

Her voice trembled. “What did I ever do to you, that you have to ruin me like this?!”

She had once treated him as her own child. It was all Xie Guilan’s fault—he was a monster.

He had destroyed everything.

“You think the Cen family will still accept you once they know what you’ve done?” Song Lingwei’s face was pale, her lips trembling as she glared at him. “You monster.”

Xie Guilan hadn’t reacted much to her blows before, but now, his head suddenly lifted.

His pitch-black eyes were filled with a violent, terrifying rage—thick and suffocating, making it hard to even breathe.

The old lady in the neighboring hospital bed was still there, as was the nurse. At first, the nurse tried to stop Song Lingwei from hitting someone, but seeing that she even dared to throw a knife at Xie Guilan, they didn’t dare intervene.

Even the old lady felt that Song Lingwei’s words were too harsh. Xie Guilan had taken such good care of her and sacrificed so much for her—calling her own son a monster was just too cruel.

“Xiao Xie…” she tried to call out to Xie Guilan.

But he said nothing. He casually wiped the blood from his hand, picked up his shattered phone, and left the hospital.

Cen Wu had replied to Xie Guilan’s message earlier, but after getting home, he didn’t receive a response. At Xie Guilan’s speed of replying, he could get dumped two hundred times a day in a relationship.

At first, he didn’t think much of it—things were probably busy at the hospital. But after waiting for over an hour, he started to worry.

Throwing on a coat, he was about to head to the hospital when, at the entrance of the villa, he caught a glimpse of a small flicker of fire in the dark.

Xie Guilan was biting a cigarette, his chiseled face faintly illuminated by the ember. When he looked up and saw Cen Wu, he immediately snuffed it out.

“I… I don’t mind,” Cen Wu said.

In his past life, he smoked a lot. On set, regardless of gender, almost everyone smoked.

Even so, Xie Guilan still put it out, his voice slightly hoarse. “Young Master.”

“Why are you… here?” Cen Wu walked over. Xie Guilan had been waiting outside for who knew how long—his wrists were ice-cold. Cen Wu grabbed him and pulled him inside. “Come in first.”

Before coming over, Xie Guilan had changed jackets, so Cen Wu didn’t see the blood on him. Xie Guilan hesitated for a moment and said, “Young Master, I won’t go in. My phone’s broken—I just wanted to let you know.”

He was afraid Cen Wu would worry if he couldn’t reach him, so he came over. But when he arrived, it was already late, and he wasn’t sure if Cen Wu was asleep, so he hadn’t rung the doorbell.

Cen Wu refused to let him leave. He held onto Xie Guilan’s wrists with both hands and even threatened to squat down to the ground, as if he wouldn’t let go unless Xie Guilan agreed to come inside.

Xie Guilan: “…”

Here he goes again.

But he really couldn’t resist this.

With no other choice, Xie Guilan followed him inside. Only then did Cen Wu curve his eyes into a smile, as if just seeing him made him happy.

Cen Wu was too thin, his frame draped in an oversized coat, making him look even more fragile and empty, pale and delicate.

Xie Guilan thought he was such an idiot. What kind of fool brings a monster home?

Cen Wu shouldn’t like him.

He would regret it.

“Here,” Cen Wu pulled out some of Cen Xiao’s pajamas and handed them to Xie Guilan. “Wear… wear this.”

It was still that indecent pajama set. Cen Wu had never returned it to Cen Xiao, keeping it in his room just in case Xie Guilan ever came over again.

It was already eleven at night. Xie Guilan took a quick shower and came back out.

Cen Wu noticed that he still tied a knot in the drawstring of his pajama pants, like he was on guard against something—but this time, it wasn’t a dead knot.

His defenses had loosened a little.

Cen Wu still had unfinished homework. Since Xie Guilan didn’t bring his backpack, he simply sat beside him, watching him work and helping to check his answers.

At one point, he even went out to heat up a glass of milk for him.

Late at night, Guan Xingxue came home. The company’s bidding process was keeping her busy, and she had only stopped by to grab some documents before heading back out. When she noticed someone in the kitchen, she absentmindedly said, “Xiao Xiao, pour Mom a glass of water.”

But when the figure turned around, she froze for a moment. “Xiao Xie?”

“President Guan,” Xie Guilan poured her a glass of water. “Sorry, I might have disturbed you tonight.”

Guan Xingxue didn’t mind him staying over. After all, Xie Guilan’s grades were excellent. She and Cen Junshan didn’t pressure Cen Wu to achieve high scores, but having a child who excelled academically still made parents happy.

Besides, Cen Wu was always going on about him, constantly in her ear, brainwashing her about how amazing Xie Guilan was, how he was the one who had taught him everything.

How could there be anyone better than Xie Guilan?

Xie Guilan was the best person in the world.

She half-believed it, successfully brainwashed to some extent—at least, she wasn’t as hostile toward Xie Guilan as Cen Xiao was.

Carrying the glass of milk, Xie Guilan headed back to the bedroom. Guan Xingxue watched his retreating figure.

Now that she thought about it, he didn’t really resemble Cen Xiao.

She wasn’t sure why she had mistaken them.

Hearing Guan Xingxue return, Cen Wu crept to the second-floor railing, crouching as he secretly peeked down. He saw her talking to Xie Guilan and also caught the way she looked at him.

He watched in silence for a while, until his legs went numb from crouching, then quietly returned to his room.

Cen Wu picked up his phone, typing in a few numbers, but nothing came up. After all, this was a different world now.

After his parents passed away, he never deactivated their accounts. His parents had been busy with filming, rarely home when he was little, so he had been raised by his grandfather or a nanny.

His mother had worried that he would miss them, but since they were often too busy to reply to messages or take calls, she had set up an automated response for him:

【Mom is here.】

Cen Wu lowered his eyes, his pale face shrouded in dim light. No messages popped up in the chatbox. The grand estate was cold and empty in the dead of night, though the stars here seemed particularly abundant.

He could never go home again. But Xie Guilan still could.

After Guan Xingxue left, Xie Guilan returned with the milk, only to find Cen Wu curled up alone under the blanket. He handed him the glass, but Cen Wu suddenly didn’t feel like drinking it anymore.

He never liked milk. It was the original host who had wanted to grow taller, so he drank a glass every night. Cen Wu had been careful not to slip up, eating only the foods the original host liked.

Pressing his lips together, Cen Wu said, “I don’t want it.”

He had made Xie Guilan warm it up, only to refuse to drink it now—acting like a little troublemaker.

After saying that, he hesitated, then reached out to take the glass, but Xie Guilan stopped him, moving it just out of reach. “If you don’t want it, don’t drink it.”

“Are you sulking again?” Xie Guilan’s dark, fox-like eyes drooped slightly, teasing him in a not-so-serious tone. “Want me to let you step on me again?”

“…” Cen Wu’s face heated up. This made it sound like he had some weird stepping-on-people fetish. He stammered, “N-no, I don’t.”

But he suddenly stuttered, accidentally biting his own tongue. A sharp, metallic taste spread in his mouth, and he winced from the pain.

“Let me see.” Xie Guilan pressed his fingertip against Cen Wu’s lower lip.

Cen Wu obediently parted his lips. Xie Guilan’s fingers were long and slender, easily reaching the back of his tongue. The inside of his mouth was soft and flushed, and though he had bitten down, the wound wasn’t deep. But Xie Guilan didn’t pull his hand away. Cen Wu felt saliva trickling out uncontrollably, and shame flooded him. His cheeks turned red, his eyes misting up, brimming with unshed tears.

Xie Guilan was toying with his tongue. His sharp, handsome features were shadowed with something unreadable, but his gaze remained locked on Cen Wu, watching his every reaction, careful not to push him too far.

Cen Wu’s mind was a chaotic mess. He had no idea how things had ended up like this. To be honest, Xie Guilan’s mental state was even more unpredictable than Lu Wang’s—there was no way for him to guess what Xie Guilan was thinking.

His soft tongue instinctively tried to move, but Xie Guilan’s fingers still pressed down against it. Any slight movement felt like he was… licking Xie Guilan’s fingers.

If it were anyone else, not only would he refuse, but he’d bite down without hesitation. But now, his sharp teeth merely grazed Xie Guilan’s knuckles, hesitating to sink in.

Cen Wu’s usually pale face was now flushed. His throat trembled with a soft, barely audible whimper. Only then did Xie Guilan let go. He cupped Cen Wu’s face, gently wiping away the tears and saliva.

Through his blurred vision, Cen Wu noticed that at some point, he had been gripping Xie Guilan’s sleepwear so tightly that the fabric had wrinkled. The loosely tied waistband had shifted slightly, exposing the defined contours of his abdomen.

Xie Guilan hooked a finger under Cen Wu’s, his voice low and teasing. “Still want to touch?”

“N-no, no,” Cen Wu jolted like a startled cat, his entire body stiffening. This was too weird. Too much. He couldn’t handle it. His voice trembled as he stammered, “L-let’s do something else.”

“……” Xie Guilan paused.

He was afraid that if he kept his distance too much, Cen Wu would lose interest in him. But this… this was too fast. He wasn’t ready. After all, he had never done anything like this with anyone before.

Song Lingwei had been married. When she was with her ex-husband, she had worked as a prostitute for a while. Xie Guilan knew she often went out late at night, only to hand over the money the next morning.

He had seen it countless times at Blue Night.

Something too easy to obtain would inevitably be discarded.

“……” Xie Guilan had been ready to refuse. But when he met Cen Wu’s eager, expectant gaze, he sighed inwardly. Fine. At worst, he’d just let himself be deceived. His voice was hoarse as he asked, “What do you want to do?”

He had already prepared himself for the worst.

And yet—

One minute later.

He was sitting at the desk, staring at a newly opened stack of practice exams.

Xie Guilan: “……”

“Young Master,” his expression was blank. “You wanted to do test papers?”

Cen Wu was confused. If they weren’t doing test papers, then what were they supposed to be doing? He proudly pointed at them, as if presenting some grand treasure. “These are secret exams. Very hard to g-get… If you finish them all, you’ll be the top student again.”

“……” Xie Guilan ground his teeth for a moment, then finally said, “Fine.”