Pretend to be crazy - Chapter 73

Shen Yan closed his eyes.

He opened his eyes.

He understood everything.

“Did you buy breakfast?” he asked calmly.

Ruan Zhixian: “Bought it.”

“Hangover cure?”

“Bought it.”

Shen Yan slowly said, “Oh,” and glanced at him. Ruan got the hint and stepped aside to let him out.

Leaving the master bedroom, right next to it on the right was the bathroom. Shen Yan faced the three people in the living room, their eyes practically wanting to tear him apart. He pretended not to see them and began his new day.

Entering the bathroom, just as he was about to close the door, a small robot at shin height ran over and wedged itself in the door gap.

The little robot looked up at him, smiling happily:

“Yan Yan, you can’t close the door.”

Shen Yan poked it. “Afraid I’ll run away?”

The robot nodded.

Shen Yan sighed helplessly, raised his hand to the glaring trio, and said, “How to run? Teach me, little Blaze.”

Little Blaze: “Yan Yan, you can’t close the door.”

Shen Yan stared at Little Blaze for a few seconds, then opened the door wide.

So be it.

He viciously shoved a toothbrush into his mouth, cutting his usual brushing time in half.

By the time he sat down at the table, he was fully awake.

To his right was Warren, to his left Falson, and directly opposite was Blaze.

Ruan Zhixian wandered about and stood behind him, resting on the chair’s back, lightly fiddling with the edge, making a “click-click” sound.

On the table were cold soy milk and youtiao (fried dough sticks). Shen Yan opened the bag, steam inside had made them soggy.

He really didn’t have much appetite.

He put down the fried dough sticks and scanned their faces, sighing.

“So quiet. Long time no see. I thought you’d have a lot to say to me.”

Warren: “Explanations.”

Shen Yan turned to him, puzzled. “What explanations?”

Warren clenched his fists, his eyes bloodshot, tense like he was about to explode.

“You clearly told me…” he stopped abruptly.

Shen Yan looked at him calmly, quietly listening.

Warren gritted his teeth.

Shen Yan’s lies were like a knife disguised in sweet words, harmless on the surface but extremely sharp. When hurt, the pain was unconscious; once Shen Yan left and the truth came out, looking down on it—

The heart was full of holes, cold wind blowing through, unable to heal.

At first, he couldn’t believe Shen Yan would just leave him behind. Seeing Blaze and Falaon restless, he pretended to comfort them, while secretly thinking, “Soon, soon, Shen Yan will come back. He’ll come back to take me away.”

When Ruan Zhixian sent him a video of Shen Yan chatting happily with others at Red Star, he finally woke from Shen Yan’s fabricated dream.

He stared at the man he had hated for 547 days—the liar—and, like a baby learning to speak, struggled to say: “You clearly told me you’d take me away.”

Before Shen Yan could respond, Falson burst out laughing.

“No way, this is the big secret you’ve been hiding?”

Warren grabbed an empty chair and threw it at him.

The chair’s wide surface area made it hard to dodge. Falson slipped off the seat like an eel, landing on all fours, then crawled to Shen Yan’s feet and hugged him closely.

Shen Yan wore loose pajamas; his pants had wide cuffs. Falson reached from underneath, grabbing Shen Yan’s knees apart, one on each side.

He knelt between his spread legs and smiled: “Mom, Warren is scary. Can I sit here?”

Shen Yan wanted to close his legs—this posture felt awkward.

And judging by Falson’s behavior, it seemed he wanted to do more than just touch his knees.

But when he started to move his legs together, Falson suddenly applied pressure, causing sharp pain in the knees.

Looking at Falson’s still very obedient face, with smiling, bent eyes, he asked: “Is that okay?”

Balancing severity and leniency, he thought for a few seconds, patted Falson’s head, and said calmly: “Okay.”

Falson’s smile froze.

Though Shen Yan agreed, he showed no happiness, instead repeating: “Really?”

Shen Yan: “If I tell you to scram, will you scram?”

Only then did Falson show some smile, rolled up Shen Yan’s pant cuffs above his knees, then brought the legs he had just separated back together tightly, hugging him, pressing his body close and rubbing slowly.

“No… ah… I like Mom…”

Falson blushed, stuck out a little tongue, licking Shen Yan’s leg provocatively.

The fabric on the thigh got wet from his licking, and his breathing through his nose carried a deliberately seductive tone.

“Mom, I’m an adult now.” He hinted strongly: “We can do a lot of fun things—very fun.”

Shen Yan: …

He looked up at Warren.

Warren’s face was stern. Unlike before, he didn’t grab Falson and hit him for such outrageous behavior. Instead, after meeting Shen Yan’s gaze, he curled a mocking smile.

“Stop pretending. I won’t pity you anymore.”

Shen Yan said nothing and lowered his eyes. Falson’s licking deepened, wet traces increasing. When Shen Yan gently stopped him, he proudly smiled and stuck his tongue out at him.

Shen Yan leisurely stuffed a napkin into his mouth and asked Warren, “Okay, Warren, how are you going to get back at me, the liar?”

Warren was prepared. His lips parted excitedly, staring sharply at Shen Yan, hatred stabbing like a knife.

“Revenge isn’t the goal, Shen Yan. Making you regret it is.”

“I will make you regret being a liar.”

“So scary,” Shen Yan sighed. “I already regret it.”

Warren sneered mysteriously.

The napkins in Shen Yan’s hand were all stuffed in. Falson stared at him with a red face, eyes wide, mouth open. Shen Yan’s slippers had been taken off and thrown aside by Falson, so Shen Yan could clearly feel another person’s heat—warmer than average body temperature—on his foot.

He pulled out the napkin he had just stuffed into Falson’s mouth. As soon as he did, Falson started biting Shen Yan’s thigh restlessly.

Shen Yan patted his head and calmly asked, “What about you? How will you get back at me?”

Falson frowned, blinked, his pale eyes behind messy hair reflected Shen Yan’s indifferent expression. His eyes quickly turned red, as if deeply wronged.

“Revenge? Mom, why use such a cold word?”

His head buried between Shen Yan’s legs, rubbing gently. His nose smelled Shen Yan’s warm scent—so nice, so liked. He sniffed deeply, letting the warm scent flow through his completely mechanical body.

“What is hate? I don’t know. Shen Yan, I love you so much.”

After saying this, he rubbed faster, eyes closed tightly.

“Very much, love you—”

He pushed hard twice, tensed his body, then let out a long sigh.

Under Shen Yan’s completely drained gaze, Falson smiled foolishly.

“Sorry, I like you too much, I can’t help it.”

Perhaps having reached a breaking point, Shen Yan was strangely calm. He looked toward the last person who hadn’t yet spoken.

“Blaze.”

Shen Yan only said his name.

Blaze half-turned his body, fingers playing with a sleek, shimmering lighter.

Opening the lid made a crisp “ding” sound, and the blue flame crackled loudly.

He just placed the lighter on the table.

The flame burned a hole in the tablecloth. The hole quickly spread, igniting the poor-quality table. Soon after, the cheap table itself caught fire.

He showed little expression and said, “Don’t look at me, I’m irrelevant.”

Shen Yan averted his gaze.

On the TV, their prison break news was still babbling on. It was a recorded broadcast; the host kept repeating the basic info about them. Photos from their incarceration slowly flashed on the screen.

The host’s mouth moved, opening and closing. At first, Shen Yan could still catch what she said, but soon the sounds became muffled, distorted, and unintelligible.

He sighed and asked symbolically, “Red Star has Red Star laws. Aren’t you afraid of being caught?”

Warren laughed loudly, pointing at himself on the TV. He said he would kill every single Red Star person who dared to come arrest him.

Falson didn’t reply. He was curled up under Shen Yan’s feet. The flames were almost reaching the top of his head. He trembled in fear but showed no intention of leaving, still tightly hugging Shen Yan’s leg, silently begging Shen Yan to save him.

Blaze looked past the flames toward Shen Yan, lightly curling the corners of his mouth into a smirk.

Ruan Zhixian hugged Shen Yan from behind and kissed his temple.

“Bro.”

“How do you want to escape this time?”

Shen Yan closed his eyes and revealed a peaceful smile.

“Not escaping.”

“Like the excitement.”

After saying this, his vision darkened, and Ruan Zhixian knocked him out.

When he woke up, unsurprisingly, he found himself locked in a small dark room.

A real ‘small dark room.’

Eyes open or closed, it was like being blind.

He groped to move his body, raised his arm, and heard a rattling sound from his left arm.

Touching it, ha! It was handcuffs and chains.

He grabbed the chain connecting the handcuffs and pulled hard. After sensing the general direction of the other end, he groped toward it.

The chain was thick. Though it was nothing for Warren and the others, whose wrists were as thick as babies’, Shen Yan was an unmodified ordinary human. Rough force was useless; he could only try to dig at the source.

He disliked being locked up.

It reminded him of some unpleasant memories.

The bed was small. He quickly felt the bed edge. Reaching his arm down to measure the height, he just barely touched the floor.

It was like a Japanese tatami mat structure.

Shen Yan flipped down from the bed. The surroundings were very empty. Carefully groping around, he followed the chain’s direction and slowly reached the wall.

Leaning against it, he felt the wall with his fingers. Soft, fluffy, his fingers sank into the plush fibers. It was warm.

What’s this for? Afraid he’d bash his head to death?

A little underestimation of him.

He wrapped the iron chain around his hand twice, located the chain’s end on the wall, and slammed down with all his strength.

Clang!

The friction of iron on iron sparked a brief flash.

In that fleeting moment of light, his sharp peripheral vision caught a ghost-like figure.

He paused, turned his head, adjusted his gaze, and struck again.

Clang!

This time he saw clearly.

Ruan Zhixian was crouching beside him in the dark, resting his chin on his hand, watching him with interest.