First World: You will never be alone when l am here

As soon as the servants dispersed and the culprit serving his sentence, Qie Ranzhe kowtowed in front of the Lin couple with a pleading look in his eyes. For now, this was the only way he could stall for time till he was powerful enough to protect Lin Jingxie. He could only appeal to their good nature and convince them to drop the idea.

Stooping so low with his forehead touching the floor, he spoke in a sincere calm voice, "Madam Lin l understand your concern for Lin Jingxie and only wish the best for him but please reconsider your decision. With such great role models at home who demonstrate what love should be like how can he settle for anything less than that?"

He spoke with a glib tongue battering up the couple while tipping the scale in his favour with minimum effort. Lin Mingxu was stunned speechless by Qie Ranzhe's actions, he was surely a thorn in his eye painfully digging deeper each time he tried to uproot it.

"l know you want to protect him from vile women in the capital when he goes to take the imperial exam which I completely understand. I will take full responsibility and make sure no unapproved personnel will get in contact with him as l plan on joining the guild stationed in the capital. It would be my pleasure to watch him for you before you migrate to the capital. Hopefully, this would put your mind to ease," he sincerely spoke while hiding a sly grin.

This would be verbal consent to eliminate his love rivals and completely monopolizing Lin Jingxie. Jolie who was enjoying the show swore in excitement applauding its ruthless boss, 'Now that's how you fuckin do business,' it said cheering him on with dollar signs in its eyes.

Lin Mingxu quickly refuted but soon shut his mouth when Madam Lin glared at him with the corner of her eye. 'Isn't this sending the defenceless little lamb into lion's den?' thought Lin Mingxu tightly clenching his fist feeling disappointed with himself.

"Okay, auntie would have to trouble you then. Keep him away from those cougars otherwise how will I ever face the ancestors," she said with her husband nodding in agreement. He would agree to anything right now just to end this conversation and move on. With Madam Lin pacified and both parties reaching a mutual agreement, Qie Ranzhe finally rose from the ground following the Lin couple out of the study.

He suddenly stopped when he reached the door turning to face Lin Mingxu following behind him and only spoke when he was sure the pair was gone. "Brother-in-law some friendly advice. Stop interfering with my fuckin business. If you keep forcing my hand l would have to retaliate and stop playing nice," he said in a gentle tone with a hint of crazy that was barely noticeable if he weren't paying attention.

Qie Ranzhe harshly patted Lin Mingxu's face twice like a bully threatening his lackey to behave before turning on his heel walking away. "This was you being fuckin nice? Such a white-eyed wolf" said Lin Mingxu while watching Qie Ranzhe's disappearing figure. Only when he was sure Qie Ranzhe was gone did he finally relax steading his frightened body against the door with his hand on his chest.

Meanwhile, Wen Qinxi was kneeling in the main hall blowing fast short breathes towards the essence stick trying to shorten the time span of the punishment. It seemed to be working with essence stick glowing an amber-red colour with a steady stream of smoke rising from the tip. His lips arched upwards presenting a thrilled smile but that smile soon fell when the guard came and replaced the essence stick saying, "Young Master please don't make trouble otherwise I will get punished too."

Wen Qinxi gawped at him with an ugly expression thinking, 'Isn't it just the two of us, how would she know unless if you snitch?' He completely dropped the idea with his eyes fixed on the essence stick as though trying to use some inner force to help it burn faster. Just when he thought he was going to die of boredom, Jolie made an appearance offering a range of series to watch so as to pass time.

'Haaa, Jolie you are a lifesaver. One action series please," he said glazing through the available genres but all of the genres except one suddenly turned grey meaning not available. 'What happened to the other genres? Why are they not working?' he asked staring at the drama genre illuminating a green light. He wasn't a fan of anything that wasn't action but now was forced to watch this to pass time.

'Don't blame me, the fuckin internet is slow,' said Jolie making up some lame excuse that Wen Qinxi obviously didn't believe.

'HAHAHAHAHA! You think I am so fuckin stupid, don't you? I work for GameX so don't you dare lie to me,' replied Wen Qinxi as the drama genre opened but everything else was also grey except for one series. 'Huh and in here its only one series. Jolie if you wanted me to watch this drama why didn't you just say so from the beginning?' he asked angrily wishing he could knock some sense into this ungodly system.

'No, the WiFi is lagging,' lied the shameless system while starting the series.

Wen Qinxi scoffed while rebuking it, 'Liar you are obviously connected to a fibre circuit you little rascal.' He didn't know why Jolie picked this series but soon found out how tragic and sad it was. There was neither face slapping nor hero saving the damsel in distress only endless heart-wrenching abuse of the female. Wen Qinxi couldn't hold back the tears streaming down his face while whining, 'Jolie, why did you have to pick such a sad movie? Do you like seeing me miserable?"

Such is the scene Qie Ranzhe walked into. Lin Jingxie was kneeling with his shoulders trembling while wiping away the tears streaming down his face. Qie Ranzhe felt a piercing pain at the pit of his stomach, his chest heavy feeling suffocated as overwhelming despair took hold of him. He didn't like seeing Lin Jingxie cry, he didn't want Lin Jingxie to cry and so he knelt down beside him and embraced him gently rubbing his back to coax him.

Wen Qinxi was caught by surprise with his face planted on Qie Ranzhe's chest thinking, 'What the fuck?' Jolie had already switched off the series and vanished into thin air celebrating its victory leaving behind a confused Wen Qinxi. "Shhh it's okay, I am here for you. You will never be alone while I am here for you." Wen Qinxi tried to free himself but the embrace only got tighter with the scent of plumeria assaulting his nose causing him to feel dizzy with his heart palpitating like it does when he rides a rollercoaster.

'He should stop using Madam Lin's fragrance bars, is he trying to choke me to death?' thought Wen Qinxi as he stopped struggling. Seeing that the boy in his arms had finally relaxed no longer rejecting his touch, Qie Ranzhe smiled and unconsciously kissed the top of his head while gently patting his back. Wen Qinxi stiffened cursing like a sailor as the system hurriedly censored him.

'F@#%%&^@@@#$##$@%$#@%@#$@#$#@$#$@#$#@!' swore the vulgar nerd to high heaven.