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Home/ The Selfish Gene/ Chapter 24 (Part 1)

The Xu family had a wealthy background, and both daughters had received the best education since childhood. Xu Wanyi met Sang Zhengbai during her college years, and the two shared similar interests and soon got together.

Later, when it came to marriage, everything went smoothly. The two elders of the Xu family appreciated Sang Zhengbai’s talent a lot and helped him in his entrepreneurial road.

Xu Wanyi is not the woman behind Sang Zhengbai, she preferred to fight side by side with her husband to overcome difficulties. It can be said that the success of Sang Zhengbai’s career is inseparable from the Xu family and also from Xu Wanyi.

However, as she grew older, having children has become a challenge that Xu Wanyi finally had to face. The health of the second elder of the Xu family, as well as the anxiety brought about by her own age ultimately led her to decide to get pregnant at the age of thirty-five.

Unfortunately, fate is really good at deceiving people, and the luck of the first thirty-five years seems to have been exhausted overnight. Perhaps because of giving birth at an older age, or simply due to bad luck, Xu Wanyi finally failed to get off from the delivery bed. What’s more, misfortunes never came alone, and Sang Zhengbai’s business also encountered problems at this time.

Most of the people in business are a bit superstitious, perhaps this also explains the reason why Sang Zhengbai has never treated me with any mercy or kindness—— he can’t afford to love this child who has been cruel to his parents since the day he was born.

After the nanny abuse incident, Xu Xi realized Sang Zhengbai’s negligence towards me, and she strongly urged her parents to take me into the Xu family to take care of me. The original intention was good, but the result was not as satisfactory.

After experiencing the pain of losing their daughter in middle age, the health of the two elderly people already became much worse than before, and they didn’t have any extra energy to spend on me. Plus… perhaps it’s also because seeing me reminded them of their daughter. As long as I can remember, they always faced me with a sad expression, rarely smiling. Mrs. Xu couldn’t even stay with me for too long without getting sad and shedding tears.

When I was young, where did I understand the twists and turns of the adult world? The more they disliked me, the more I felt that I was not doing well enough. In order to please them, I doubled my efforts to study and participated in various school activities, just to make them look at me more after I achieved good results.

I remember that one year I won the “School Star” award. This award was not only based on usual grades, but also on one’s participation in various school activities. Only one person in each grade can get it, which was very rare. When I won this award at the end of the term, I was so excited that I went straight back to Sang’s house with the certificate. Afterwards, I spent the whole day waiting for Sang Zhengbai to come home.

It was not until late at night that Sang Zhengbai returned home from outside while talking on the phone. I was about to fall asleep when I heard the noise and immediately rushed downstairs, waiting nervously at the entrance.

Holding the certificate tightly in my hand, I summoned the courage to step forward the moment Sang Zhengbai stepped through the door.

“Dad, look, I got the ‘School Star’ award!” I tried my best to restrain my tone as much as possible to appear less arrogant and complacent, but the corners of my lips couldn’t help but curl up.

Sang Zhengbai covered the phone and looked down at me.

“Well, it’s good.” He just glanced at the certificate in my hand and then passed by me, continuing to discuss business with the person on the other end of the phone, “It’s nothing, let’s continue…”

I worked hard for a semester to get this award and waited for him all night, but he didn’t even spare a minute for me.

Perhaps I should be thankful that he didn’t just take a look and leave, but at least rewarded me with three words. But to be honest, at that time, I felt no emotion other than disappointment. Looking at his distant figure, I clearly realized for the first time that there were some things that I couldn’t get no matter how much effort I put in.

The next day, I went back to the Xu family, and was greeted by the same empty and desolate mansion. It was only through the servants that I found out that the two elders of the Xu family had left a few days ago to visit Xu Xi who was studying abroad. They could have told me in advance, but they chose to use the worst way to inform me.

Growing up, I seemed to lack nothing, but also seemed to lack everything, so poor that… I never even had a real “home”.

The Sang family and the Xu family are just two temporary residences for me, no different from my apartment or hotel suite. It’s just like the chicks being hatched and growing up in their nest, but the nest is just a place for the parents to raise them. On the day they leave their nest, they won’t have any nostalgia, nor will they want to go back again.

The bubble house has no curtains, which meant that when the sun rose and the first rays of sunlight shone into the forest, I was destined to wake up in the dazzling sunlight.

Opening my eyes uncomfortably, under the dim light, I immediately saw Ji Chenfeng sitting cross-legged at the end of the bed, facing the direction of the sunrise.

Perhaps that bathrobe got dirty last night and he couldn’t wear it anymore, and he has already changed back into his own clothes. 

Looks like he has probably been awake for a while.

The morning sun was brighter than yesterday’s sunset, rising slowly from the horizon, enveloping his body with a layer of warm yellow light.

I stared at his back for a moment, and sat up from the bed. There was a strange soreness in my thighs, and when I lifted the quilt, the outside of the legs and the area near my waist and hips was covered with bruises that were simply impossible to ignore.

Upon hearing the movement, Ji Chenfeng’s figure moved and he looked back. I put down the quilt as if nothing had happened and gave him a lazy smile.

“Why did you wake up so early?”

He pointed to a tree above our heads: “I woke up when I heard the birds’ chirping.”

When I fell asleep, it seemed that I did hear birds’ chirping, but because my brain was too tired, I didn’t wake up. Thinking about it this way, these stupid birds may also be one of the culprits for my intermittent sleep.

“Didn’t you take it off last night?” I pointed to my ear.

Since he can hear birds, it means that he didn’t remove the cochlear implant when he went to bed last night. But after all, this thing is an electronic device, and wearing it while sleeping, wouldn’t it be uncomfortable?

Ji Chenfeng raised his hand and pressed the black instrument on his ear, explaining: “I brought a spare battery with me, it was full, so I didn’t take it off. I don’t want to… I wouldn’t have been able to hear anything if you had called me.”

My heart suddenly throbbed as if it was about to explode, a feeling I had never felt before, making me wonder if it was a precursor to sudden death.

Fortunately, in the blink of an eye, the terrifying palpitations disappeared, and my heartbeat became normal again, without any trace of the previous confusion.

It must’ve been caused by a lack of sleep. Thinking of this, I silently pressed my chest.  

Looks like it’s time to get a physical examination. Although there is always one trouble after another, I don’t want to die so early.

“Let’s ask the front desk to bring up the breakfast. We’ll go back to the city after eating.” While speaking, I got off the bed and stepped on the carpet with only a shirt on. After looking around, I found my neatly folded remaining clothes on the sofa.

I don’t know about him being a veterinarian or a model, but he is actually quite suitable for being a nanny. 

Can cook, has a higher education, a medical background, and a good temper… There should be a lot of employers who would be interested in such a delightful “little nanny”.

After grabbing my pants, I entered the bathroom under Ji Chenfeng’s gaze.

Taking off my shirt in front of the mirror, I clearly saw the bright red marks on the neck and collarbone.

Looking at the marks, I gradually remembered the scene of last night. Thinking about the previous two “in-depth exchanges”, Ji Chenfeng still maintained a basic gentleman’s demeanour in front of me. But last night, he completely tore off his gentle mask, revealing a rather barbaric beast that suits his outer appearance.

At first, it was fine. In the dark forest, under the bright stars, I enjoyed his service unilaterally, and the experience can even be said to be unparalleled.

It felt so good that I almost knocked off his cochlear implant while I was stroking his cheek and earlobe. 

But as if he had expected it long ago, he grabbed my palm in time and pulled it away from his cheek, placing it on his watery lips.

“Don’t knock it off again…” He gently kissed my fingertips and said in a voice as sticky as honey, “I want to hear your voice, any kind of voice.”

My fingers felt so hot as if they were on fire, and I couldn’t even tell whether that astonishing temperature belonged to me or Ji Chenfeng.

“Go on…” I said in a hoarse voice as I pulled out my fingers and pressed the back of his neck, careful not to touch his ears this time.

My body became slightly hot as I thought of last night, and then looked down at the place that started making trouble again. It would be too troublesome if I keep thinking about it.

I forced myself not to think about it, but maybe the memory of last night is too fresh, even if I blocked it, it can be easily recalled through a simple touch.

As soon as my fingers reached the thighs along the running water, the corresponding memory popped up in my mind.

After enjoying Ji Chenfeng’s service, I originally wanted to lend my hands as I did in the car last time and reciprocate. However, I only managed to touch the corner of his clothes before I was pressed onto the bed by his shoulders.

I thought he was going to do it again, although I felt a bit tired, I didn’t stop him, thinking that I couldn’t be looked down upon in this area. There were no problems with the previous steps, and Ji Chenfeng took good care in all aspects. Except for the strength of his hands that was a bit much sometimes for my thin muscles, there are basically no other faults.

His posture, his long-term performance made me let my guard down, only to see him pushing his luck. Using my hands was already a reward for him, but he dared to think about my legs.

Realizing what he was trying to do by putting my legs together, I subconsciously kicked them.

This posture…..this posture of almost treating me as a woman… made me feel sick and humiliated.

My heart was filled with curses, but my ankle was tightly grabbed by the other party. You don’t know how to dodge other people’s fists during the day, but now you can accurately grab everything.

“Is it not okay?” Kneeling down at the end of bed, Ji Chenfeng looked at me and asked in a normal tone.

Is it not okay?

My chest heaved angrily, thinking that ‘Isn’t that obvious’, but my brain was too damn rational, knowing that if I vehemently refused at this time, then the “strategy” I planned for Ji Chenfeng for so long can basically be declared a failure.

The first time I can still use my discomfort to prevaricate him, but if I reject him like this the second time, he will definitely doubt me, right? Wouldn’t he wonder why I provoked him when I clearly couldn’t accept him?

Fuck! It seems that I have pushed myself into a situation from which there’s no turning back.

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