The “Feeding Game” and a New Task

Shi Ji’s movements stiffened. He looked up at the sound, meeting Li Chen’s eyes. The boy was still chewing, looking like a squirrel with nuts tucked into its cheek pouches.

Seeing Shi Ji look over, Li Chen’s fork froze in mid-air. He even forgot to keep chewing, staring straight at Shi Ji as if waiting for an answer.

Shi Ji set his phone down and leaned back, asking with a half-smile, “Why should I believe you?”

Li Chen’s expression froze.

That was true. Why should Shi Ji believe him?

He only now realized how foolish that question must have sounded to Shi Ji.

“Tch.” The man across from him knit his brows slightly. He straightened his back, resting his interlaced fingers on the table. Emotions swirled behind his lenses—things Li Chen couldn’t begin to decipher. “Don’t tell me that just because you heard Jiang Mo say those things, you actually think we have a ‘good relationship’?”

His tone was as chilling as ever, the light lilt at the end of his sentence carry a hint of mockery. A flare of nameless anger rose in Li Chen’s chest. Jiang Mo had said Shi Ji carried the scent of his pheromones; at first, he thought it had just rubbed off by accident, but then he realized that for an Alpha to notice it, the intensity must have been significant.

But Li Chen had no memory of any intimate contact with Shi Ji. Only that day… He suddenly remembered waking up in Shi Ji’s room one morning, and Shi Ji had smelled of him then.

And the bite mark…

The image of the marks left on the man’s slender, pale neck flashed before Li Chen’s eyes. Driven by a sudden need to confirm something, he stood up abruptly.

The sudden movement startled Shi Ji. He watched as Li Chen’s face darkened, and then, the boy braced one hand on the table and leaned in toward him.

The dining table wasn’t large, barely a meter wide. Shi Ji watched as Li Chen’s face loomed larger and larger until he could see his own reflection in the boy’s eyes. Then, the youth reached out with his other hand and grabbed Shi Ji’s collar, violently yanking open the neatly buttoned neckline.

The buttons couldn’t withstand the brute force and snapped off, scattering onto the floor. The collarbone hidden beneath the cream-colored fabric was deeply recessed. Shi Ji’s eyes widened in shock, his brain temporarily short-circuiting. He didn’t understand the point of Li Chen’s sudden outburst, nor why Li Chen was scanning him like a piece of hardware.

Li Chen’s gaze burned as he stared at Shi Ji’s neck. The place he had bitten before had already healed; there wasn’t a trace left.

His soft fingertips accidentally brushed against the man’s exposed skin, leaving a prominent red mark on the cool, white flesh. Whether intentional or not, the mark sat exactly where the bite had been.

In the next second, Li Chen’s hand was slapped away. Shi Ji snatched his collar back, glaring at him with a face full of fury.

A burning pain radiated from the back of his hand. Li Chen expressionlessly rubbed the reddened skin and said coldly, “It’s gone.”

He sat back down, picked up his fork, and resumed eating.

Shi Ji’s head felt numb. He gripped his collar tightly. For some reason, he didn’t want Li Chen to see the bite mark on the back of his neck.

Although the mark wasn’t obvious and would be hard to spot without a close look, Shi Ji always felt that the mark was inseparable from Li Chen.

He glanced at the top of Li Chen’s fluffy head. The boy didn’t seem to notice his agitation. Shi Ji’s gaze shifted to Li Chen’s reddened knuckles, wondering if he had hit him too hard just now.

Both weighed down by their own thoughts, the two maintained a tacit silence. After a long while, when Li Chen finished eating, he wiped his mouth and asked softly, “When are you going back to the company?”

Shi Ji let out a cold snort and leaned back. “What? Anxious to kick me out?”

Li Chen frowned. He clearly didn’t mean it that way; why did Shi Ji always take it there?

“Stay or go, see if I care,” he huffed, wrinkling his nose.

Shi Ji found Li Chen’s bristling behavior amusing. Then his gaze slid down, landing on the spotless plates. The smile on Shi Ji’s lips vanished instantly. He looked at Li Chen in disbelief. “You… finished it all?”

Li Chen blinked, looking down at the mountain of plates stacked on the table, and pursed his lips without speaking.

Half the table was covered in a small mountain of plates. Except for the salad Li Chen had started with, there wasn’t so much as a drop of sauce left on the others.

“Didn’t you just complain that I ordered too much?” Shi Ji was slightly speechless. Although he had witnessed Li Chen’s staggering appetite over the past few days, today’s spread was several times larger. Li Chen had actually polished it all off!

Li Chen knit his brows in confusion before realizing the implication.

He was being called a glutton.

Li Chen’s cheeks inexplicably heated up.

But to him, any edible food was something that absolutely could not be wasted. After all, as a child, he had often been locked up by Shi Ji and starved for days on end. Once, he had been so hungry he was forced to crouch on the ground and drink stagnant water from a puddle.

Seeing Shi Ji’s look of astonishment, Li Chen grew irritable again.

This pampered young master would never understand his feelings.

At that thought, Li Chen silently clenched his fists. Shi Ji watched as Li Chen’s face went from clear to cloudy; the boy stood up in a fit of rage and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

The deafening crash made Shi Ji’s eardrums ache. He tilted his head in confusion, failing to see how his words had provoked Li Chen.

Truly a prickly little ingrate.

A few days later, Shi Ji finally received a “humanized” task—Find any way possible to advance the relationship between the protagonists.

Shi Ji practically sat up from his “deathbed,” cheering internally for a task that neither damaged his karma nor required him to seek death.

Advancing the romance? Easy. Shi Ji immediately exercised his privileges as the school’s founder. Since Li Chen and Jiang Mo couldn’t be roommates, he made them desk-mates. Not only that, he arranged for them to stand together during the daily morning drills.

Watching the two of them being forced to go in and out together every day, Shi Ji nodded in satisfaction. As a “Matchmaker,” he had finally sorted out this pair of lovebirds.

Shi Ji’s plan was clear: as soon as Li Chen and Jiang Mo were together, he would buy a plane ticket abroad and hide until the plot concluded. He refused to believe he could fail the mission that way.

As he imagined a bright future, a smile unthinkingly spread across his lips.

“…Mr. Shi?”

“Mr. Shi!”

The sudden voice interrupted his thoughts. The teacup in his hand wobbled, and a few drops of hot tea splashed onto his fingers, instantly reddening his fair skin.

The principal, sitting across from him, had sharp eyes. Seeing Shi Ji get burned, he immediately snatched the teacup from his hand, grabbed his fingers, and brought them to his mouth, diligently blowing cool air on them.

The sudden intimacy made Li Chen’s skin crawl with goosebumps. He frowned and pulled his hand back, looking disgusted. “What is the principal doing?”

“Oh, look at me!” The principal slapped his slightly balding forehead. “Mr. Shi was burned, and I just got worried… But, is Mr. Shi alright?”

Shi Ji lowered his lashes as the scorching sunlight filtered through the window, resting on his fingers in warm yellow lines.

“I’m fine.” With that, Shi Ji picked up the teacup again and took a light sip.

The principal watched Shi Ji’s composed expression. The man always maintained that air of nobility, and the eyes hidden behind the lenses made people hesitate to approach him.

“I saw that Mr. Shi seemed to be in a very good mood just now,” the principal spoke cautiously. “Do you think the plan I proposed is good?”

He leaned down slightly, addressing Shi Ji with a humble posture. Shi Ji paused for a few seconds. “What plan?”

“The… the one about clearing that vacant lot on the back hill to build a sports field for the students.” The principal blinked his small eyes, asking hesitantly, “Did Mr. Shi… not hear me?”

Shi Ji lifted his gaze and set down his teacup. The sound of the cup hitting the table was a quiet warning. He curled his lips slightly, the coldness in his eyes deepening. “I naturally have no problem with the principal’s proposal, but… I recall you saying the exact same thing to me last month.”

He had long since seen through the principal’s schemes.

On the surface, it was all “students first” and “doing what’s best for the school,” but in reality, he just wanted to squeeze money out of Shi Ji and line his own pockets.

Shi Ji’s single sentence stripped away his mask. Even without saying it explicitly, the principal understood the meaning immediately. He swallowed hard, cold sweat beading on his forehead, and hastily took a gulp of tea to calm his panicked heart.

“We’ll discuss the sports field later,” Shi Ji said. “In my view, the primary issue right now is the teaching quality.”

The principal nodded in agreement. “Yes, yes, Mr. Shi is right.”

His voice trembled uncontrollably, and he needed several deep breaths to finish a sentence. He changed the subject. “Mr. Shi has stayed at the school for quite a while; do you have any suggestions? Please, feel free to mention them, and we will definitely change!”

The principal laughed awkwardly, patting his chest in a promise. Shi Ji glanced at him and said nonchalantly, “Suggestions?”

He smiled.

“My suggestion is to fire the homeroom teacher of Class 2-3.”

His naturally cool voice circled in the air, and his words made the temperature in the room feel several degrees lower. The principal’s eyes widened in bewilderment. “But… but Teacher Lin is the most outstanding teacher in our high school department.”

“I don’t believe someone who frames a student for no reason can be a good teacher.” Shi Ji arched an eyebrow. “Or does the principal think that the people raised by our Shi family… are just a bunch of low-lifes?”

Upon hearing this, the principal was so terrified he nearly knelt before Shi Ji. “I wouldn’t dare! I wouldn’t dare! Everyone knows the Shi family is full of talent…”

“How about this, Mr. Shi, let’s put the firing aside for a moment. Teacher Lin was just anxious; no matter what, her intentions were good.” The principal paused before continuing, “But she did indeed wrongly accuse Student Li Chen. I will definitely give her a thorough scolding!”

He finished the explanation in one breath, then picked up the teapot to refill Shi Ji’s cup. “Mr. Shi, have some tea, have some tea.”

Shi Ji looked down, staring at the reflection on the surface of the tea.

In the next second, a flurry of hurried footsteps came from outside the office, accompanied by several shouts—

“Someone’s fighting! Someone’s fighting!”

“Li Chen hit someone!!”