"Hey, hey, hey," the driver prevaricated, "Alright, Young Master, we'll be there right away."

Saying this, he discreetly glanced at the rearview mirror and immediately slowed down.

As an experienced driver who had worked for the Xie Family for many years, he had figured out the situation by now—Young Master Xie was groaning about being dizzy and having a headache, claiming it hurt terribly but refusing to buy medicine. He wasn't truly unwell at all; he was just flirting with his new little boyfriend. The two of them were being all sticky and sweet in the backseat, playing some ambiguous game of "let me lie on your lap" and "lie down if you want to." The driver didn't even dare to take another look in the rearview mirror, silently stepping on the brakes.

Late at night, Jiang City shed its daytime clamor and settled into complete silence. The lanes were deserted, with barely a car to be seen for miles. The driver leisurely cruised along the streets of Jiang City, practically turning it into a vacation drive. Only after quite a while did he pull up downstairs at the hotel.

A hotel staff member stepped forward to open the car door. Xie Yu sat up from Shen Ci's lap and knocked on the System: 'Is the intimate contact mission complete? How much longer?'

System: "Twenty minutes left."

Xie Yu clicked his tongue.

He had been clinging to him the entire way; he couldn't give up halfway. He'd have to cling a bit longer after returning to the hotel tonight.

Xie Yu looked inside the car: "Teaching Assistant Shen, come down."

The school was long closed by this time. If Shen Ci went back, the dorm auntie would definitely curse him out in anger. Besides, given Xie Yu's persona, it was impossible to let him run away now. Thus, Shen Ci naturally followed him upstairs.

The night was late and the dew was heavy; it was quite cold outside. Xie Yu entered the room and then went into the bathroom to draw a bath.

The hotel's bathtub had a comfortable curve and a moderate water flow. Leaning against the backrest offered a perfect view of the city skyline. At night, illuminated by the neon lights, it had a rather charming atmosphere. Ever since checking in, Xie Yu had fallen in love with taking baths.

Hearing the sound of running water, Shen Ci knew the bathtub was being filled. He rubbed his fingertips together, feeling slightly nervous.

In truth, he had never expected to emerge unscathed from Xie Yu.

Xie Yu had secured his grandmother's experimental medical treatment qualifications. That drug was basically not tested domestically, and spots were hyped up to exorbitant prices on the black market. It was incredibly expensive, far beyond the reach of a poor student like him. Based on the principle of equivalent exchange, Shen Ci was willing to pay the price.

However, Young Master Xie was of noble and wealthy status. Shen Ci knew clearly in his heart that he had no capital to exchange with Xie Yu. His only reliance was that his face was quite good-looking and his figure wasn't bad. As long as Xie Yu didn't trample his dignity into the mud and didn't play those degrading games that could leave permanent damage, Shen Ci would have no complaints.

Steam covered the bathroom walls. The frosted glass door became even more blurred, obscuring Xie Yu's tall figure in the mist. Without realizing it, Shen Ci had been watching for quite a while.

He slightly closed his eyes, thinking to himself: 'If today, if today...'

If today Xie Yu wanted him to fulfill his obligations, he would cooperate.

Before he could agonize over it any further, three minutes later, Xie Yu pushed the door open and came out.

His clothes were perfectly intact. Shuffling in the hotel slippers, he padded from the bathroom to the wardrobe. Under Shen Ci's watchful gaze, he dug out a bottle of essential oil and then, still in his slippers, padded right back.

Shen Ci was stunned: "You?"

Xie Yu was stopped by his call and turned back: "Hmm?"

Feeling awkward for stopping him inexplicably and not knowing what to say, Shen Ci asked dryly: "Are you going to shower first?"

"Ah, yes." Xie Yu paused. "I've already drawn the water, so I'll wash first. I'll draw yours later."

Saying that, he padded back to the bathroom and clicked the door shut.

Shen Ci: "..."

Looking at the bathroom door, his ears completely burned up.

Heaven have mercy, the original owner might have played wild, but that was the original owner. Xie Yu genuinely had no idea what top-tier rich kids liked to play, nor did he know that the hotel bathtub could actually fit two people. He lacked that awareness; he had just drank alcohol, his shirt reeked of booze, and he was dizzy, so he just wanted to quickly take a bath and sleep.

The pitter-patter of water came from the bathroom. Twenty minutes later, after Xie Yu finished a comfortable soak, he considerately drained the water and drew a fresh tub for Shen Ci before calling him over to bathe.

Unable to articulate his feelings, Shen Ci closed the bathroom door and stepped into the water.

The warm water enveloped his skin. Previously, when Shen Ci lived with his grandmother in their hometown, the old house lacked a water heater for a long time, relying on a wood-fired stove. It was only after poverty alleviation efforts that they could shower frequently. Being submerged in hot water like this was a novel and very comfortable experience.

After drying his body, he stepped out of the bathtub, wrapped himself tightly in a bathrobe, and gently pushed open the door.

The main lights were already off. There was a mound of blankets on the bed; Xie Yu had gone to sleep.

Shen Ci's expression was strange, unsure if he should feel relieved or what. He sat on the edge of the bed. A meter away, Xie Yu lay on his side, his face hidden in heavy shadows. His brow ridge was like the moon, his nose bridge handsome and straight. He slept peacefully and quietly, not bearing the slightest resemblance to the rumors.

Xie Yu only felt someone sitting on the edge of the bed without moving. With his eyes closed, he patted the space beside him: "What are you looking at? Come up."

Shen Ci paused, then climbed onto the bed.

He lay flat stiffly on the edge, close enough to fall off if he turned over. However, Xie Yu patted the spot next to him like a boss: "Why are you sleeping so far away? Come here."

There was still twenty minutes of physical contact left.

Shen Ci slightly shifted his body, moving a bit closer.

Xie Yu reached back and pulled him over.

He only hugged him, doing nothing else. He rested his chin on Shen Ci's shoulder, while his hands hung properly at his sides. Like a large cat, he found a comfortable spot to nestle in and then stopped moving.

He was so close that his breath puffed behind Shen Ci's ear. It was hot and a bit ticklish. Shen Ci's previously relaxed body tensed up again, and he shifted uncomfortably.

Xie Yu was too sleepy to open his eyes: "Don't move. Let me hug you for twenty minutes."

Only twenty minutes left.

Maintaining this posture, he fell straight asleep.

Early the next morning, by the time Xie Yu was washing up, Shen Ci had already returned to school.

Xie Yu's driver had brought him back. He first returned to his dorm to change into clean clothes and grab his work badge before heading to the laboratory.

Standing in front of the lab doors, Shen Ci glanced at his watch. It was just past seven-thirty. Li Yue hadn't arrived yet, but Han Yunyun was already there. She clearly wasn't working. Sitting at her workstation, she was looking at something unknown, beaming with joy and trembling with excitement, even occasionally pounding the desk.

Han Yunyun was so engrossed that she didn't even notice Shen Ci coming in. It wasn't until Shen Ci walked past behind her that she jumped in fright. First, she reached out to press the power button, but in her haste, missed it. Then, she stood up in a flurry, using her body to block the screen. Her large movements directly knocked over the milk tea next to her.

Shen Ci knew Han Yunyun liked reading strange things and had no intention of prying into her privacy. He helped right the spilled milk tea, pulled out two tissues, and handed them over. Just as he was about to tell her to be careful, his gaze inadvertently swept across the screen and suddenly stopped.

Han Yunyun was reading a novel, and not a serious one at that. At a glance, Shen Ci saw a familiar term: Safe Word.

He lowered his eyes.

Han Yunyun turned around guiltily, blocking the screen even more tightly, and smiled awkwardly at Shen Ci: "Senior, Senior Shen hahaha, you're here so early today, Senior Shen."

Shen Ci hummed in acknowledgment, lowering his eyes to wipe the desk. He swept all the spilled milk tea into the trash can, then sat down at his workstation.

Han Yunyun sat down with lightning speed, closed the novel, and opened her work page, but she couldn't take in a single word. She only used her peripheral vision to secretly peek at her senior's expression.

Shen Ci had been working properly, but seeing her acting all sneaky and glancing his way over a dozen times in just a few minutes, he asked out of the blue: "What does Safe Word mean?"

Han Yunyun: "!!!"

She almost jumped up from her workstation, staring at her senior's profile in doubt and shock. Seeing him quietly typing on the computer, his exposed profile cold and calm, as if he was just asking casually and didn't know the specific meaning, she finally let out two awkward laughs and made something up: "Uh, how should I put it, it's, it's a little game between couples. You can understand it as, um, a nickname with a special meaning..."

As Han Yunyun spoke, she felt more and more guilty, and her voice grew softer and softer, almost burying her head in her chest. Because of this, she didn't see her frost-like senior suddenly pause his fingers. His white jade-like fingertips rested on the keyboard, motionless for a long time.

A moment later, Shen Ci continued writing his report. His expression was as cold as ever, and his typing frequency hadn't changed. He only asked: "What kind of special meaning?"

Han Yunyun: "..."

She sized Shen Ci up suspiciously. Seeing her senior looking as usual, as if making idle chat, she slightly relaxed and continued her fabrication: "Um, it's a term of endearment between couples, it might have a special meaning... For example, in the one I'm reading, the Safe Word is 'coffee'. It means one of the partners is a barista, and their personality is like coffee, bitter yet aromatic. Um, when the other partner hears this word, they can't help but feel tender affection. Like that."

Shen Ci seemed somewhat interested: "Can any word be used as a Safe Word?"

Han Yunyun: "I guess so. As long as both parties agree on a word with a special meaning, anything can be a Safe Word."

Shen Ci glanced at Han Yunyun's desk, asking casually: "Like 'milk tea', for example? What meaning could that have?"

Han Yunyun spouted nonsense with her eyes closed: "Uh, maybe that one partner is sweet, soft, and very cute?"

Shen Ci looked at the desktop: "Pothos?"

Han Yunyun: "Vibrant, full of greenery, making one feel relaxed just by looking at it, I guess."

Shen Ci glanced out the window: "Fir?"

Han Yunyun was getting more and more adept at this. She thought her senior just didn't want to work and was looking for a chat, so her fabrications grew increasingly confident: "Tall and straight, unafraid of wind and rain, enduring in silence yet reliable."

Shen Ci paused slightly.

His gaze fell upon the decorative Porcelain vase at the corner of Han Yunyun's desk.

There was a word pressed against his tongue, pressed so affectionately and gently, just like a lover's murmur. Shen Ci's gaze steadily focused on the computer screen, his expression calm and attentive, yet his index finger unconsciously clicked the mouse. As his lips parted, they actually trembled slightly.

"...What about Porcelain?"

Han Yunyun didn't notice anything unusual at all. She had fully gotten into the zone, talking glibly with an academic and rigorous attitude: "I think it means treasured, precious, but also very fragile, requiring careful love and protection."

After she finished speaking, she waited for her senior to ask the next question. However, no one spoke. When she looked up, Shen Ci was staring at the computer screen, his pitch-black eyes lowered, not knowing what he was thinking about.

The computer screen was stopped at the thesis title page. The bold black font was rigid and dull, but it was as if her senior was mesmerized by that line of text, not scrolling the mouse at all.

Han Yunyun asked carefully: "Senior Shen? Senior, are you spacing out?"

"No..." Shen Ci hid his expression and smiled slightly: "Just brainstorming my thesis."

Every noun on the screen was incredibly familiar, yet none of it entered his brain. His thoughts felt entangled by something, turning into a chaotic mess.

There was a glass of water on the desk. Shen Ci gazed at his reflection in the water, repeatedly chewing over those few words, before unnaturally curling the corners of his lips, revealing a mocking smile akin to self-deprecation.

He silently watched his reflection in the water, thinking to himself: 'Such a bland, uninteresting person, so hollowed out inside that a few drops of alcohol could land him in the hospital—is he really worth Young Master Xie's careful love and protection?'

The young man in the water was pale and thin. His face was indeed good-looking, but it was only good-looking and nothing more. If Shen Ci picked at it, he could find many flaws. His features often carried a tired look; they weren't striking enough. It was as if his body had been hollowed out by years of accumulated poverty. Combined with his faded, washed-out clothes and lack of grooming, if Xie Yu picked based on looks, he could find dozens or even hundreds of people far more glamorous.

Leaving those aside, Shen Ci knew how he had roughly grown up, completely different from the precious young lord Xie Yu. When Xie Yu was surrounded by people, wearing hundreds of different outfits a year without repeating, he was washing clothes in the river during the freezing winter until his knuckles were covered in chilblains. When Xie Yu was nitpicking over truffles and caviar, he was calculating how many bowls of noodles the thirty yuan on his campus card could buy... To an inexperienced young master like Xie Yu, he was nothing more than a somewhat pretty toy. But, treasured? Precious?

Who would treasure an easily obtainable doll? Who would find a plaything—whose lifelong food expenses amounted to less than one of the young master's meals—precious?

Fragile? In need of protection?

Shen Ci only found it ridiculous.

From the moment he signed the agreement with Xie Yu, Shen Ci knew what the young master wanted to play. It was nothing more than having seen too many soft, submissive youths, so he picked someone with tough bones to abuse, occasionally changing his taste.

But...

But up until now, Xie Yu hadn't laid a single finger on him.

Although he considered himself a plaything, Xie Yu's treatment of him truly didn't resemble the treatment of a plaything.

When He Zhiyuan threw a cocktail party, Shen Ci said he wouldn't go, so he didn't. Even after blatantly slighting Young Master Xie's pride, Xie Yu hadn't said a single extra word. During the banquet on the ship, when Shen Ci said the Safe Word halfway through, Xie Yu had directly taken him away without asking any questions. Even down to all the details over the past few days, whether it was the towel handed to him in the car after the rain, or the milk that night...

Shen Ci was somewhat dazed for a moment. Bit by bit, incident by incident, the way Xie Yu treated him had never involved any humiliation or belittlement. At most, there had been some harmless teasing.

But compared to that spot worth millions, what did this teasing amount to?

Young Master Xie had a notorious reputation, having degraded an unknown number of people. He was famous for his violent temper. They had even signed an agreement like that, with humiliation written between every line. When Xie Yu had people press him into going to the hospital for a medical checkup, he had made it perfectly clear—he was just missing a punching bag to abuse and vent his anger on. But...

But why hadn't he ever laid a hand on him since?

Shen Ci couldn't figure it out.

Right at that moment, the main door beeped. Li Yue came in from outside, carrying breakfast and greeting the two of them one by one: "Senior Shen, Junior Han."

Shen Ci withdrew his thoughts and gave a slight nod.

Li Yue handed the breakfast he bought for Han Yunyun to her, then delivered a notice from the Student Affairs Department to Shen Ci: "Perfect timing, Senior. There's a volunteer activity this afternoon. Don't forget."

Shen Ci gathered his thoughts and nodded: "Alright."