That night, Li Zhenruo really dreamt that he was spanking Li Zhenran’s ass.

       It was not just like taking off his pants and slapping a few times with the palm of his hand. But in a dimly lit room, as if to enforce the house rule, he made Li Zhenran lie on his back on a bench with his trousers down to reveal his firm and shiny buttocks, and then he took a long whip. He swung it in the air and made a whistling sound, and then aimed the whip heavily at Li Zhenran.

       At the same time as the whip was struck, Li Zhenruo also woke up. He sat up abruptly from the bed, pulled the quilt away with a dark face and glanced at himself.

       Next to him, Feng Junyuan turned over and asked vaguely, “What’s wrong?”

       Li Zhenruo said softly, “It’s okay, you can continue to sleep.”

       Having this strange dream didn’t make him feel any better, but Li Zhenruo thought that Xia Hongshen was right, why should he punish himself at this time? Isn’t Li Zhenran the one who should be punished?

       It was raining outside, probably since last night. The rain dripped on the tiles of the old house, ticking everywhere, and the air was filled with damp and cold smells.

       It was almost dawn, and Li Zhenruo felt that he was wide awake and no longer drowsy.

       He began to seriously consider what he should do next if Shen Luming really wasn’t going to take his body back.

       Of course, he couldn’t just stick to Xia Hongshen and the others like that. Not to mention that his master was poor as hell himself and had such a big family.

       So he had to continue his cultivation training and had to go to work to earn money. It was best to save enough capital first and then develop slowly, he was still very young, wasn’t he?

       Before he knew it, it was dawn. Li Zhenruo saw that Feng Junyuan was still sleeping soundly next to him, and sat on the bed without moving.

       After a while, someone knocked lightly on the door outside.

       Li Zhenruo got out of bed and went to open the door. He saw Song Jun standing at the door, and whispered to him, “Someone is looking for you.”

       “Looking for me?” Li Zhenruo heard the words and looked into the corridor. In fact, his first reaction was that Li Zhenran came to him.

       Song Jun shook his head and said to him, “This way.” Then he motioned for Li Zhenruo to follow him.

       Li Zhenruo then followed Song Jun through the corridor and into his and Xia Hongshen’s room across the hall.

       The room was very warm, Xia Hongshen lay lazily on the bed and did not want to get up.

       Song Jun went to the window and lifted the curtain, asking Li Zhenruo to look through.

       Li Zhenruo approached and saw a man standing on the opposite side of the path downstairs. The man was wearing a black suit, wrapped in a long black trench coat, holding an umbrella in his hand, and he was slender.

       Song Jun whispered, “I saw him when I woke up in the morning. I don’t know when he came.”

       Although his face was covered by an umbrella, Li Zhenruo could recognize that it was Li Zhenran.

       Because it was raining a bit heavily, half of Li Zhenran’s sleeves were already wet by the rain, and the legs of his trousers were also wetly wrapped around his legs.

       Song Jun said, “Bitter meat plan1the trick of injuring oneself to gain the enemy’s confidence.”

       Li Zhenruo couldn’t help laughing when he heard the words.

       Xia Hongshen was lying on the bed and said in a muffled voice, “Come here, apprentice.”

       “Master,” Li Zhenruo went to Xia Hongshen’s bedside well-mannerly.

       Xia Hongshen stretched out his finger and pointed at him, “I told you, spank him, if not, slap his face, let him suffer the lesson he deserves.”

       “But Master,” Li Zhenruo said, “The problem between me and him is not something that can be solved by punishing him. The biggest problem between us now was about trust. I don’t doubt that he loves me, I just doubt that every word he says to me is true.”

       Xia Hongshen said, “Then teach him enough lessons so that he will never dare to lie to you again.”

       Li Zhenruo was quiet for a while, then stood up and went back to the window, looking at Li Zhenran downstairs.

       Song Jun went out to wash in the water room.

       Li Zhenruo took his mobile phone and called Li Zhenran.

       The call was quickly connected, and the receiver was full of background sounds of raindrops falling on the ground. Li Zhenran said, “Zhenruo?”

       Li Zhenruo said, “What are you doing here?”

       When he heard this, Li Zhenran raised his head and looked towards the window on the second floor, and saw Li Zhenruo who was standing by the window on the phone.

       His deep voice came through the receiver, “Did you go to see the person surnamed Shen?”

       Li Zhenruo said blankly, “Are you monitoring me?”

       Li Zhenran said to him, “I  said I had someone watching him.”

       Li Zhenruo was silent for a while and replied, “Yes, I went to see him.”

       “Why do you want to see him?”

       Li Zhenruo said, “I was going to return my body to him.”

       Li Zhenran’s eyes suddenly became sharp, and even through the rainy sky, Li Zhenruo could still see clearly.

       “Have you made up your mind?” Li Zhenran asked him.

       “Well,” Li Zhenruo said, “I’ve thought about it, and we’re waiting for the right moment. I’ll give my body back to him, then I’ll go to the Naihe Bridge and drink a bowl of Granny Meng’s soup and forget about you when I go to my next life.2Naihe Bridge is a place where people must pass through reincarnation in Chinese folk mythology. There will be an elderly female deity called Old lady Meng by the Naihe Bridge who will give each ghost a bowl of soup to forget the memory of the past life

       Li Zhenran said, “I don’t agree.”

       Li Zhenruo breathed out slowly, “You can’t control everything, right? Things have always gotten out of hand once or twice, like when Li Zhentai got someone to kill me, or when I chose to leave you now. You go to all the trouble to calculate, and maybe the result you get in the end won’t be the one you want.”

       “Zhenruo—”

       Li Zhenruo didn’t listen to him and chose to hang up the phone.

       Li Zhenran still held the phone to his ear, looked up at him and didn’t leave.

       Li Zhenruo closed the curtain silently, then turned to Xia Hongshen and said, “I want to put on a show for Li Zhenran to watch.”

       Xia Hongshen sat beside the bed and yawned.

       Li Zhenruo said, “I want to trick Li Zhenran into thinking that I have returned my body to Shen Luming.”

       At this time, Song Jun happened to come in from outside, and after hearing Li Zhenruo’s words, he couldn’t help but sigh, “It’s so cruel.”

       Li Zhenruo was a little exasperated, “I was much more gentle with him than he was with me.”

       Xia Hongshen said to Song Jun, “Let them toss and turn, it’s none of your business.”

       Song Jun nodded hurriedly and silently went to pack up the things he needed for today’s class.

       Xia Hongshen said, “If you really fooled him, he will definitely suffer.”

       “Master,” Li Zhenruo said, “You may think I’m good for nothing if I say it. The reason why I went to Shen Luming last night and offered to return my body to him was that I was beginning to feel scared of Li Zhenran and I couldn’t figure out what he was thinking.”

       Xia Hongshen then asked him, “Have you calmed down now?”

       Li Zhenruo nodded, “I thought about it for a long time. If I continue to maintain my fear and distrust of him, then we will definitely have no way to go on.”

       Song Jun couldn’t help but ask, “Then do you still want to continue to be with him?”

       Li Zhenruo was silent for a moment and said, “If I’m not afraid anymore.”

       Xia Hongshen got out of bed wearing a piece of clothing, “Fear is because you are not strong enough.”

       Li Zhenruo looked at him.

       Xia Hongshen said, “In every sense, you are not strong enough.”

       Li Zhenruo couldn’t help looking back at the window, through the curtains, he didn’t know if Li Zhenran was still there, but Xia Hongshen was right, he was not strong enough, so he feared the other person.

       In this relationship, he was just putting himself in the position of the weaker one, but who loved whom more and who was more afraid of whose departure?

       Suddenly, he was a little glad that Shen Luming had rejected him last night when he was at his most impulsive, otherwise when he really stepped on the Naihe Bridge, would he not be able to help regret it.

       Li Zhenran didn’t stay at the school building for too long, because there was a meeting in Yunlin in the morning.

       Yunlin’s recent conferences had continued, mainly due to the adjustment of the upper management and the large-scale personnel changes after Li Zhenran took over.

       However, during today’s meeting, everyone could see that Li Zhenran was not in high spirits.

       Li Zhenzi sat next to him and occasionally glanced up at Li Zhenran, seeing him sitting in a large office chair, leaning back, elbows propped up on the armrest, holding a pen in one hand, his gaze falling on the information in front of him, but his expression seemed inattentive.

       After the speaker reported the content, he fell silent and waited for Li Zhenran’s opinion.

       Li Zhenran didn’t speak for a while.

       Li Zhenzi put his hand to his mouth and coughed softly.

       Li Zhenran then raised his head and said, “Continue.”

       So the next person went on to report.

       Suddenly, Li Zhenran’s cell phone rang, and the person preparing to report stopped again.

       Li Zhenran answered the phone in front of the entire conference room. After listening to the person on the other side with a blank face, he only said coldly, “Keep an eye on him.” Then he hung up the phone and threw it on the table to let them continue.

       At the end of the meeting, Li Zhenran directly picked up the stack of documents in front of him and walked out.

       Li Zhenzi was pulled by a department manager and said a few words, and then he hurriedly followed Li Zhenran’s office. When he wanted to knock on the door to go in, he heard that there seemed to be a phone call inside.

       He put his head on the door and wanted to eavesdrop. Hua Yibang looked a little embarrassed and said, “This is not quite appropriate, is it?”

       “Shh—” Li Zhenzi put his index finger on his lips.

       It was a pity that the door was well soundproofed. Li Zhenzi eavesdropped for a long time and couldn’t hear anything.

       Suddenly, Li Zhenran pulled the door open from the inside.

       Li Zhenzi was startled, stood up straight and pretended to be knocking on the door.

       Li Zhenran ignored him and said directly to Hua Yibang, “I have to go out for something.”

       Hua Yibang heard the words, “Then I will ask the driver to prepare the car.”

       Li Zhenran said, “No, I’ll drive by myself.” He put on his jacket and walked outside.

       Li Zhenzi was still limping, but he tried his best to catch up and asked, “Second brother, where are you going?”

       Li Zhenran pressed the elevator and told him, “It’s none of your business.”

       The elevator was on the twenty-third floor, and the elevator door opened quickly.

       Li Zhenzi followed Li Zhenran into the elevator, “What’s wrong? I didn’t see your cat last night, did it run away from home?”

       Li Zhenran ignored him. When the elevator went down to the basement floor, and the doors opened, Li Zhenzhi was about to follow him out, and Li Zhenran suddenly turned around and punched Li Zhenzi in the lower abdomen and said, “Don’t follow me.”

       Li Zhenzi bent down from the pain groaned and said, “Do you have to be that ruthless…”

       Li Zhenran received a call from the person he arranged beside Shen Luming, telling him that Li Zhenruo went to Shen Luming again, and this time it was very clear that he would return his body to Shen Luming.

       On the way, Li Zhenran drove furiously and ran two red lights. He didn’t know if the so-called handing over the body was that simple, but he knew that Li Zhenruo’s so-called master didn’t seem to be that simple.

       Having seen a cat become a human, he dare not say anything in the world was impossible.

       After driving the car to the school and parked on the side of the road, Li Zhenran got out of the car and ran into the adjacent teaching building, anxiously waiting for the elevator to sit on the top floor of the teaching building, then turned to the stairs and ran to the roof.

       Li Zhenran suddenly pushed open the roof door and saw a person standing outside while the other two were lying on the ground.

       It was still raining, and everyone on the rooftop was soaked by the rain.

       Li Zhenran walked in the direction where Li Zhenruo was lying.

       Xia Hongshen, who was standing beside him, said to him, “You are late, he has already returned his body.”

       Li Zhenran paused after hearing the words and asked, “What about him?”

       Xia Hongshen looked at the sky, “A wisp of a soul, it should have been reincarnated long ago.”

       As soon as he finished speaking, Li Zhenruo on the ground shrank his limbs and turned back into a cat, but still lay unconscious.


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