Good Person Certification

When they arrived at the isolation room, Pei Qingyu was still asleep.

His handsome face looked pale.

Thick layers of bandages wrapped around the back of his neck.

This time, Sun Mi’s sighing included several curses.

Meanwhile, Teacher Wu obediently sat beside the bed without complaint.

After Sun Mi left to ask the doctor about his condition, Wu Qie once again took out his phone.

The moment he unlocked it, he noticed several unread messages.

This time, however, the sender ID was: [ZHAO]

Wu Qie currently harbored considerable resentment toward the culprit who had effectively invited wolves into his house.

Zhao Guipu had sent him a photo.

Curious, Wu Qie opened it.

Then he felt dizzy.

Because the photo wasn’t of some random stranger.

It was a group photo from that banquet.

Or perhaps taken during it.

In the photo, the mature and handsome Zhao Guipu stood in a suit beside Rhine Visay, Bigitta Visay, and Digert Visay.

The four men were casually clinking glasses in a very businesslike pose.

The photo had arrived fifteen minutes ago.

No accompanying message.

Not a single word.

Wu Qie licked his lips.

A sense of exposed secrets crept over him.

Even though every cell in his brain screamed, Impossible.

He chose to play dumb.¹

[Wu Qie: Mm-hmm. You’re the most handsome one there.]

Flattery never goes out of style.

Even though every sticker in his phone beginning with “Mm-hmm” was normally followed by profanity.

The gentlest one read:

[Mm-hmm, mind your own business.JPG]

Perhaps Mr. Zhao was unusually free today.

Very soon, the chat displayed:

[The other party is typing…]

[ZHAO: Seems you have nothing else you need to tell me.]

Wu Qie imagined himself transforming into a mentally shattered baboon, screaming while throwing his phone into the mountain river.

In reality, he merely adjusted his sitting posture.

His entire face radiated defeat.

And he continued pretending.

[Wu Qie: Hm?]

A while later, the other side sent a video.

Wu Qie froze beside the hospital bed.

He stared at his phone as though Sadako had just crawled out of it.

He didn’t even need to open the video.

Just like that day when he’d only seen the red words PICLINE WARNING at the beginning of countless adult videos…

He had somehow instinctively known he was about to see a heavily censored version of himself.

Zhao Guipu apparently didn’t need to watch him struggle.

The next message arrived immediately.

[ZHAO: You hit pretty hard.]

[ZHAO: Zhao Shu wasn’t the first Alpha you’ve beaten up. That broken finger of Boss Li’s wasn’t undeserved either.]

What does it feel like to have an elder witness footage of you unconscious while being treated like someone’s second wife?

When people reach the limits of emotional collapse, they’re liable to do reckless things.

Expressionless, Wu Qie picked up his phone.

He aimed it at the unconscious Pei Qingyu.

Click.

He snapped a photo and sent it to Zhao Guipu.

Translation:

You’re right. I’m a repeat offender.

This time Zhao Guipu was silent for half a minute.

[ZHAO: You did that too?]

[Wu Qie: …]

This was cowardice.

[Wu Qie: Mm.]

This was courage.

After receiving the simultaneously cowardly and courageous reply, Zhao Guipu simply said:

[ZHAO: Sigh.]

[Wu Qie: …]

[ZHAO: Can you stop sending ellipses?]

[Wu Qie: …QAQ.]

[ZHAO: …]

[ZHAO: Just informing you. I know about it now.]

[ZHAO: It’s fine. Go play.]⁶⁶

After that, Mr. Zhao never started another topic.

Putting away his phone, Wu Qie stared blankly through the hospital window at the bamboo forest rustling in the cold wind.

The room was frighteningly quiet.

His thoughts were a mess.

One moment he wondered how a secret he had hidden for so long had been exposed so easily.

The next moment he worried Zhao Guipu might forward the video to Wu Wenxiong.

If that happened, he could just hang himself on the spot.

He didn’t even dare imagine his mother’s reaction.

She would probably hug him and cry for three days straight.

As for his father…

If Wu Wenxiong learned that his son was a top-tier celebrity in Picline’s district, he would probably be speechless.

He likely wouldn’t say anything.

But apart from Dorota, their household would probably gain three layers of additional security.

The entire mercenary system surrounding their villa in the Golden Triangle might be transplanted directly to Jiangcheng.

His freedom would disappear.

Every evening would come with a curfew stricter than that of a third grader.

Wu Qie painstakingly drafted a long message to Zhao Guipu.

Because he spent so much time wording it, he worried the other side would notice the constantly glowing “typing…” indicator.

He even opened his notes app to compose it.

In the end, he lost all motivation.

Opening WeChat, he simply sent:

[Don’t tell my dad. Please.]

Gone was all courtesy.

Only sincere prayer remained.

Zhao Guipu replied quickly.

Like an emperor approving a rambling memorial from a minister, he casually waved it away.

[Got it.]

The rain stopped for two days.

Wu Qie spent two relatively peaceful days drifting through life in a daze.

On the sixth day of joint training, word spread that Pei Qingyu’s condition had worsened again.

His fever had returned.

Sun Mi was already contacting the Pei family about transferring him elsewhere for treatment.

After breakfast, torrential rain began pouring over the mountains.

The rainfall was absurd.

Visibility beyond three meters was practically zero.

Even the courtyard pond overflowed.

Staff members ran around in raincoats carrying out flood-control efforts.

The rain was so loud that people inside the basketball gym had to shout to hear one another.

After the first round of conditioning exercises, the head coach from Yicheng Affiliated High School finally gave up and announced a rest day.

The students erupted in cheers and scattered.

Returning to his room, Wu Qie found himself with nothing to do.

So he sat beneath the covered corridor leading to his private courtyard and listened to the rain.

Thinking about the Visay brothers.

Thinking about Zhao Guipu.

Thinking that maybe he should spend the rest of his life hiding in this mountain wilderness.

During this time, Sun Mi called.

His tone was furious.

Pei Qingyu had disappeared from the medical isolation room again.

The entire coaching staff was searching for him.

He asked Wu Qie to help.

Teacher Wu lazily agreed.

Out loud he said,

“Don’t worry.”

Inwardly he thought: That brat is seriously annoying.

After hanging up, he remained exactly where he was.

If an S-rank Alpha encountered danger in these mountains, that same danger could probably kill a Beta like him.

Who knew how much time passed.

Eventually, he heard knocking.

At first he thought he was imagining it.

He didn’t move.

Fortunately, whoever stood outside was extremely persistent.

The knocks remained steady and patient.

Never forceful.

Never stopping.

The knocking continued for three or four minutes.

Finally, Wu Qie stood and opened the door.

The moment it swung open, damp air rushed in from the open corridor outside.

And there, standing beyond the threshold, was a tall and bedraggled figure.

The person the entire coaching staff had been desperately searching for had somehow appeared at his door.

Pei Qingyu was soaked from head to toe.

His usually fluffy hair clung to his pale face.

Water dripped from his jawline.

He wore a hoodie and sweatpants.

His expensive limited-edition sneakers were caked in yellow mud.

Through wet black hair plastered over his eyes, Pei Qingyu lowered his head and looked at the black-haired Beta standing inside.

Between them sat a cardboard box.

A cardboard box held in Pei Qingyu’s arms.

About the size of a milk carton box.

When he lifted the lid with one hand, faint kitten cries reached Wu Qie’s ears.

“It’s raining hard.”

“The caretaker said there might be landslides behind the mountain.”

Pei Qingyu was probably still running a fever.

His voice was frighteningly hoarse.

“When I found them…”

“Their temporary nest had already collapsed.”

The kittens were slightly bigger than when Wu Qie had first seen them in the video.

All of them were terribly thin and soaking wet.

Yet they still curiously poked their heads out of the box and tried to climb out.

Just as a little black-and-white kitten was about to complete its jailbreak, the black-haired Beta finally moved.

He pushed the kitten back into the box.

At the same time, he reached out to take the cardboard box from Pei Qingyu.

The Alpha avoided his hand.

Wu Qie raised an eyebrow.

“I rescued these cats.”

“The mountain paths were slippery.”

“I nearly rolled down the slope.”

Pei Qingyu said,

“And I kept my promise and brought them to see you.”

“Does that make me a good person?”

Wu Qie fell silent briefly.

Then he finally said,

“Sun Mi said you still had a fever this morning.”

“How are you now?”

“You really shouldn’t—”

He never finished.

A shadow suddenly descended.

Cold, rain-soaked lips pressed against his own.

Swallowing the rest of his words.

Pei Qingyu was still feverish.

The temperature inside his mouth was abnormally hot.

When his tongue attempted to pry apart Wu Qie’s teeth, the scorching heat sent a shiver down the Beta’s spine.

Between them, a whole box of drenched kittens continued meowing and scrambling about.

Trembling.

Then everything suddenly exploded.

It happened so fast that Wu Qie didn’t even understand what was going on.

He only heard hurried footsteps.

Then Zhao Shu descended from the heavens.

In one motion, he yanked the cardboard box from Pei Qingyu’s arms and securely stuffed it into Wu Qie’s embrace.

Then he turned.

Without hesitation.

A clean hook punch.

Pei Qingyu flew two or three meters away.

There wasn’t the slightest restraint in the blow.

No consideration that the target was a patient.

Or that they had been brothers since childhood.