Ch 21: How To Be A Good Lackey

Shao Ye felt completely numb, as if his brain and body had both been hollowed out by Xi Guanming just now. He dressed mechanically, got out of bed to wash up, didn’t say a word to Xi Guanming, and pushed the door open to leave the dorm.

His steps felt light and unsteady as he drifted into the classroom like he was sleepwalking, arriving right as the bell rang.

He lay face-down on his desk, propping his textbook up to hide his head. He didn’t hear a single word the teacher said at the front of the room—but that wasn’t unusual. He rarely paid attention in class anyway.

The images replayed uncontrollably in his mind. What he could see hadn’t actually been excessive—what crossed the line had all happened under the blanket. He remembered the feeling clearly: Xi Guanming’s slightly cool fingers slowly tightening, far more pleasurable than anything he’d ever done himself.

Wait, wait, wait—he couldn’t keep thinking about this!

But…

How could the president act so calm about it? Could it be that this wasn’t his first time doing something like that?

Impossible. Absolutely impossible!

Before he knew it, the class had ended. Usually, even during the short ten-minute break, Shao Ye would run downstairs to get some fresh air. But today, he stayed glued to his seat.

His desk mate gave him a strange look and asked, “Why is your face so red? Are you sick? Got a fever?”

Shao Ye lifted his head. Facing his desk mate, he opened his mouth as if to say something—but after a long pause, he only let out a sigh.

His desk mate reached out to feel his forehead, but Shao Ye dodged him. The desk mate pulled his hand back and asked again, “What’s wrong with you?”

Shao Ye cleared his throat and said, “If… a guy did something to you… would that be normal?”

“Did what to me?” his desk mate asked, completely confused.

Seriously, could you not leave out the key part of the question?

“Did what to me”—give me a million dollars, or give me a slap? That’s a pretty big difference.

“Did to you…”

Shao Ye opened his mouth, but the rest of the sentence wouldn’t come out. In the end, he waved his hand. “Forget it. It’s nothing.”

Looks like he’d have to figure this out on his own.

His desk mate was speechless. He’d been left hanging with curiosity and got nothing in return.

“You sure you don’t have a fever?” he asked again, still uneasy. Shao Ye was definitely acting strange today.

Shao Ye waved him off. “No, no. Go do your thing.”

“If you’re not sick, then go downstairs and train! Everyone in our class is waiting for you!” his desk mate urged.

Shao Ye: “…”

Right—he’d forgotten. They had relay practice today.

The school was worried about rain, so they had swapped the schedule: the sports meet would be held first, followed by the arts festival. Translated on Hololo novels. After that, students would get a long break.

With the fun days approaching, most students at Golden Laburnum had no interest in studying. They were either preparing to shine at the sports meet or planning something flashy for the arts festival.

Since the sports meet had been moved up by three days, training became more intense. Shao Ye ran during the day, rehearsed the play at night, and had far less free time than before. Even when Jiang Yan started attracting a swarm of admirers again, he had no time to deal with it—and honestly, no desire to.

Because whenever he had even a moment of free time, those scenes from that morning would flash through his mind again.

He couldn’t make sense of it. What exactly did the president mean by it? Was it some kind of reward for doing a good job as a subordinate?

But… had he really done that well?

Was it something just for him, or did everyone get treated like this?

The more he thought, the more confused he became. His mind wouldn’t stop spinning. During rehearsal that night, he forgot his lines several times.

The class monitor sighed heavily from below the stage, rolling up her script and tapping it loudly on the table. “Brother Ye, my dear brother, you don’t want to end up as a mute witch, do you?”

The arts rep chimed in, “Mute might be too much for him. In his current state, he can barely play a vegetable.”

Shao Ye apologized repeatedly, saying he had something on his mind.

“What are you thinking about? Fell in love?” the class monitor asked eagerly.

The arts rep shot that down immediately. “When would he have time to fall in love? The moment he has free time, he runs to the student union.”

The class monitor rolled her eyes. “Then maybe he’s in love with the president?”

The arts rep thought about it seriously. “That… actually seems possible. So the president is like… a maid?”

The class monitor said thoughtfully, “Given our school’s situation, probably a male servant.”

The arts rep corrected her, “Wrong. With our school’s situation, he’d at least be a nobleman.”

They were laughing among themselves, but when they looked up again, they saw Shao Ye’s face had turned as red as if he were about to boil.

Unable to endure the girls’ interrogation, Shao Ye bolted before rehearsal even ended.

On the way back to the dorm, he kept thinking about what he should say when he saw the president. Should he ask about what happened that morning, or pretend nothing had happened?

Before he figured it out, he was already standing outside the dorm room. He lingered in the hallway for a long time, working himself up mentally, until he received a message from Xi Guanming: “How long are you going to stand outside?”

Only then did he have no choice but to push the door open.

Inside, Xi Guanming was sitting in a chair, head lowered, reading a document. He didn’t look up when Shao Ye entered.

Shao Ye wanted to act just as indifferent, but his body betrayed him. The moment he stepped inside, his eyes drifted uncontrollably to Xi Guanming’s right hand holding the papers.

Those fingers were pale and slender, like a perfect work of art. Before this, Shao Ye had never imagined those hands could do something like that to him. Just thinking about it now made his spine tingle.

He swallowed hard and forced himself to look away—only to notice that the bed he had broken last night was still collapsed.

Shao Ye walked around it, confirming he wasn’t mistaken. Translated on Hololo novels. When Xi Guanming finally put down his papers, Shao Ye pointed at the bed and asked, “President, didn’t the school send someone to fix it?”

Xi Guanming followed his gesture and said, “No. Did you call someone?”

Shao Ye scratched the back of his head, puzzled. “Yeah, I did. They said they’d come today.”

“Maybe something came up and they forgot,” Xi Guanming said.

Shao Ye nodded, not suspecting anything. “I’ll remind them tomorrow. I’ll sleep on the floor tonight.”

Xi Guanming raised an eyebrow and asked, “What? Do you dislike it?”

“No, no,” Shao Ye quickly denied. If he got saddled with that accusation, his career as a lackey would be over on the spot.

“Then why do you want to sleep on the floor?”

“I just… well… I was worried I might crowd you, President.” Shao Ye widened his eyes, trying to make his sincerity look more convincing.

His acting skills probably only worked when playing a plant or a corpse. Xi Guanming found it amusing and couldn’t help but laugh. “No. I think this bed is just right for two people.”

“Oh, okay.” After saying that, Shao Ye pressed his lips together and asked quietly, “President, about this morning…”

Xi Guanming didn’t play dumb. He asked directly, “What about this morning? Were you uncomfortable?”

Shao Ye was a bit stunned. How could the president be this calm about it?

Well… no wonder he could be president.

“…It felt good, but why did you do that?” Shao Ye had held this question in all day and finally asked it.

Xi Guanming apologized, “Sorry. You were too cute at the time. I couldn’t hold back.”

“Huh?” Shao Ye stood there, not quite understanding.

This wasn’t the first time Xi Guanming had called him cute, but Shao Ye had never felt that word had anything to do with him.

What part of him was cute?

“Like you are right now,” Xi Guanming said.

There he went again!

Shao Ye’s face burned red. His hands clenched into fists, not knowing where to put them.

Xi Guanming continued, “Even cuter.”

Shao Ye didn’t understand why he kept saying that. His eyes darted everywhere, not daring to look at him.

Xi Guanming leaned back slightly against the chair, relaxed, one hand resting on the cabinet beside him, fingers tapping lightly as he asked, “So, do you mind?”

Mind what?

Shao Ye felt like his brain was overheating. Should he say he minded or not?

If he said he minded, would the president get angry? Would that count as lying?

If he said he didn’t mind… well, that didn’t seem like a problem. It seemed like they both enjoyed it. Even if he didn’t quite know what exactly the president enjoyed, it could still be considered a win-win.

Using his not-so-sharp brain, Shao Ye weighed the pros and cons. He vaguely sensed something was off about this situation, but couldn’t figure out what or why.

A man helping another man with this kind of thing was a bit strange, but not outrageously so. Maybe the president just had this preference? As someone striving to be a top-tier subordinate, he should be understanding and willing to make sacrifices.

And… it actually felt pretty good.

Shao Ye hesitated, “I don’t mind… I guess.”

“Then come here and let me help you again?” Xi Guanming beckoned him over with a smile.

Shao Ye’s expression froze. He hadn’t expected that after “sacrificing” himself once in the morning, he’d have to do it again at night. Fortunately, his body was strong enough to handle it. Though he said, “That’s not a good idea,” his body still walked stiffly toward Xi Guanming.

Xi Guanming lowered his hand, leaning on the cabinet as he laughed uncontrollably. After laughing, he said, “I was joking.”

Shao Ye: “?”

He stopped abruptly, looking at Xi Guanming with clear accusation for the first time, mixed with a bit of grievance.

Seeing this, Xi Guanming wiped the smile from his lips, sat upright, and said in a tempting tone, “But if you want it now, that’s not impossible either.”

---

Author’s note:

[What exactly did the president do to No. 6? It’s bad enough they won’t show it, now we can’t even hear it?]

: Chilling. True chilling isn’t loud arguing… I forgot the rest

: Go read some fanfiction. A big creator just posted fan art of No. 6 in a qipao, super spicy

: It really is spicy, I want to send it to the president

: If the president wants to see it, he can just make No. 6 wear it. No. 6 definitely wouldn’t refuse

: Why do creators always write tragic endings? It makes my heart go cold

: Any completed recs?

: Growing Pains, Stockholm, Gone Love, Dangerous Parasite, Inferior Love

: I like Dangerous Parasite

: Is that the one where No. 6 returns to reality and finds all his appliances acting weird?

: Yes! Love the android chapter

: Someone even drew illustrations for it

: extremely abstract rough sketch of a robot dog pulling a cart.jpg

: Stop! Friendly fire! Don’t post that!

: My eyes!!!

: Offering money for a pair of eyes that haven’t seen this

: Does that artist take commissions? I’ll pay 3000… and then report it

: I read a 600k-word explicit fic last week. The whole story was about No. 6 going home with the president and getting bullied by the president’s family. Kneeling punishment by the grandfather during the day, by the president at night, enduring everything silently, then losing a child after being pushed down the stairs, only for the president to find out at the end. One satisfying chapter and it ended. I couldn’t relate at all. If it were really No. 6, he’d punch the guy to the underworld and then complain to the president

: There’s even a child?!

: It’s that kind of trope

: And you still finished it? Respect

: The smut was well-written though…

: Too out-of-character, I can’t handle it

: Breaking characterization is a dealbreaker

: +1

: +2

: +10086

: You guys are ridiculous. You all say it’s unacceptable, but when I checked my DMs, I had 999+ people asking me for links

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