HOYSE CHAPTER 17

Chapter 17 — How Does He Even Have the Nerve?

Rong Jing’s cool detached face finally cracked a little.

Who could have seen that coming.

“What’s with that face? Does my name offend you?” Wu Fuyu was very touchy about his own name.

“Isn’t there a saying? The more someone lacks, the more they show off,” Rong Jing said, sharp as a needle.

Wu Fuyu’s stare could kill. Like hell he could not hear it. Rong Jing was calling his family uncultured.

“Do not think that just because you are Brother Xie’s little brother I cannot deal with you!” F***, this is still infuriating!

Rong Jing’s confidence had nothing to do with backing. He simply could not stand by and watch. That boy had almost been murdered.

All because someone was drooling over his body.

As long as he was human, he could not look the other way.

He had learned to fight to protect himself and those who needed it. Not throwing punches at random did not mean he could not throw them at all.

With or without Xie Ling here, he would have done the same.

As for why he remembered the name Wu Fuyu, it was mostly because readers under this very novel loved to pun it as “Five Blessings Fish.”

According to the author, it really was a good name. Each character carried a nice meaning, and together it was the Wu family’s wish for their heir: five blessings with surplus year after year.

The author even called it main-character treatment, her personal naming highlight.

It was a lot to take in. Rong Jing felt like he had when he first crossed over, a little dazed. He probably needed to cool his head.

No, what he needed was to run an SCL-90 right now.

His internal CPU could not process that much input at once, so he put it aside. More importantly, he realized that whether it was him or Xie Ling, in this book they barely had any presence, at least not enough to stick in memory.

He had a hunch this was important, something that decided fate.

By ordinary story logic, a novel revolves around a handful of leads. If this world was that novel made real, it might still obey certain rules. He did not know whether his being here counted as breaking them.

One thing he could say for sure: authors are rarely kind to side characters.

No one knew why Rong Jing suddenly paused, like a bucket of clarity had been dumped over his head and something unpleasant clicked.

His face went a little ashen. He stared at the splashing water where the blond thug was still flailing.

“Rong Jing, let him go first!” Wu Fuyu yelped. He is going to die!

You are the devil here, you know that?

The shout snapped Rong Jing back. He looked down at the yellow-haired Alpha still thrashing hard. The guy’s breath-holding was impressive. Looked like this pack of second-generation princelings all learned, maybe even specialized in diving.

“Whether I let go or not depends on the victim.” Rong Jing thought for a beat, then asked Gu Xi, who was still at war with himself, “You decide. If you say let him go, I will.”

He gave the wolfish Wu Fuyu a faint little smile that seemed to say: take one step closer and I might really crush him.

Bluff or not, Wu Fuyu could tell Rong Jing would do it.

Rong Jing, inwardly: No, this is acting.

Wu Fuyu shot a look at the equally stunned Xie Ling. You are not going to stop your brother?

Xie Ling stayed cold and silent. He figured his brother knew where the line was.

Are all Xie men lunatics?

And you still think we were bullying your brother? Look at him. Built like iron. Who could bully that?

Gu Xi still had not thrown off the Alpha-scented suit jacket. Fighting the rejection crawling over his skin, he kept it on. Looking at the blond still thrashing brought back that edge-of-death feeling. Of course he did not want to let it go.

He stared at the man under the water as if returning every ounce of pain just suffered.

Then his lashes lowered, hiding the chill completely.

He had come in on a temp pass under a fake name. If someone died here, it would drag Rong Jing down with it.

Wrapped in Rong Jing’s jacket, Gu Xi felt a thread of warmth in the cold night.

He stood and met Rong Jing’s eyes. “Let him go. It is enough.”

Rong Jing moved his foot and, with one hand, hauled the yellow-haired man up out of the pool like a dead mutt.

Everyone stared. The guy was around 170 jin, and water weight made him even heavier. What kind of monster strength did Rong Jing have?

Rong Jing knew first aid. Before Wu Fuyu and the others could even call an ambulance, he had started chest compressions.

After a dozen pumps the blond coughed up a mouthful of water, then several more, then lay there barely breathing, eyes fixed on the sky.

So many stars tonight.

And in front of those stars was Rong Jing’s face.

He froze in terror.

Rong Jing gave him a slow, mild smile. “Relax. I counted the time. I was not going to let you die.”

He had not counted anything. He had been too busy marveling at the author.

The blond did not believe him. In his eyes this soft-spoken Rong Jing was scarier than Xie Ling.

“Ever tasted the edge of death?”

Violent nodding.

“Fun?”

Since Wu Fuyu had called this a game, Rong Jing returned the favor in kind.

Most of the time he left people a way out, but it depended. Some were beyond saving, took courtesy as weakness. With those, better to put the boot down.

It depended on the person. He was very reasonable that way.

Wu Fuyu had just come closer when he heard Rong Jing’s words and felt like every one of them was aimed at him.

“I prefer peace,” Rong Jing added. “If I can solve things without violence, all the better. I am sure you understand.”

The blond’s face turned all colors. He nodded stiffly.

Rong Jing let him go, and only then did the onlookers rush in to prop up the man who had left half his soul in the water.

As for the youth in his suit jacket, at some point he had slipped away. Only faint wet tracks remained.

Rong Jing had not done this for thanks. Since the kid had escaped those claws, he hoped the rest of his night would be better. No more rotten luck.

“Done showing off?” Xie Ling’s face was cloud-black as he grabbed his brother and hauled him away, scolding.

Rong Jing gave an embarrassed but polite smile and blinked innocently at him.

Watching the Xie brothers leave, Wu Fuyu realized it had been a long, long time since someone his own age made him feel this much pressure and provocation.

It made him angry and sets his blood on fire.

Every cell roared and boiled.

That was the Wu family gene. They could play as wild as anyone, but when it came to business, they flipped faces faster than anyone.

“Go find out who that server is. I want everything on him.”

“Crown Prince, you are interested in a waiter?”

“Was not. Now… just find him.”

You think you got away and that is that? The good part comes later.

By now the brothers had gone a long way.

“Pretty pleased with yourself,” Xie Ling said with a bite.

Rong Jing went meek again in front of him. “I would not dare, big brother.”

“Hah. So you do remember I am your big brother. I thought you had forgotten.” Seeing his brother unharmed loosened something in Xie Ling’s chest, but he knew tonight was not over. Wu Fuyu was a patient hunter. Up ahead the main hall was nearly full. “Father wants you to sit with Aunt Han in the dressing room. She is nervous. Go now. Do not argue with her again.”

He glanced once more at this suddenly well-behaved sibling. Was the kid split-brained? The before-and-after swing was huge.

Looking like this, how was he supposed to keep scolding him.

“We will settle this later.” Xie Ling strode into the ballroom with Zhou Xiang.

He had been away too long. For a host, that was rude and wrong.

Every family has its own hard chapter. Sigh.

Rong Jing rubbed his temples. He had not sorted that info-dump yet.

Later. First, check on the original owner’s mother. It had to be faced.

Even if she might see through him. Blade in or blade out, either way it was a blade. He would walk straight at it.

He went upstairs to the dressing room from memory. The door was not fully closed.

“Ah…” A breathy, ambiguous sound drifted out.

Uh… what?

His hand on the knob paused.

Inside, a man’s rough breathing tangled with quick, urgent gasps. Heat climbed Rong Jing’s face in a rush, like a shrimp dropped in boiling water.

The man mid-thrust sensed someone outside the door.

He drawled lazily, “Who is it?”

Not a hint of guilty panic.

“It is me, Rong Jing. I will come back later.” Then Rong Jing fled as if something lit a fire under his feet. 

The man chuckled and gave the woman beneath him a rough squeeze. “Your son is grown and still this shy?”

The woman was older but her charms remained.

“He is still young,” she said, bashful. Letting her son hear this was a bit too much even for her.

“Young what. He is out of college. Is he proud of being a little virgin? How does he even have the nerve? I will send an Omega to him later so he can finally get some.”

Hurrying downstairs, Rong Jing pressed a hand to his burning face, feeling like he might split at the seams.

So the original owner’s stepfather really was a human engine. Reputation well earned.

What he did not know yet was that later that night, a very large scare would be waiting in his bed.

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