Rebirth: Different Way

Chapters 96-98 – incest warning (Ah Ji x Ah Cheng)

Three months passed since the fire in the Shen family’s house. In the first few days, both the media and the public were full of rumours about the fire, but after all the relevant people refused to be interviewed, and after all the inside information about the fire was covered up tightly by the concerned parties, the public finally lost interest and soon the topic of the Shen family’s fire was lost under all kinds of sensational or curious news.

Along with the memories of the fire, the Shen family also disappeared from the public eye. Not long after the fire, the results of the investigation into Shen Rong’s drug trafficking were finalised, and Shen Rong was sentenced to 20 years in prison after the evidence of drug trafficking was confirmed. Shen Ji hated Shen Rong for addicting Shen Cheng to drugs, and Li Mingxuan witnessed Shen Rong trying to push Shen Xi to the fire, but it didn’t matter who of them was behind Shen Rong’s sentence or if both of them had taken action. While Shen Rong was sentenced, Shen Dehan was sent by Shen Bixue to the best sanatorium in Zhongjing. Perhaps as a result of inhaling too much smoke during the fire, Shen Dehan’s nerves were severely damaged and his memory was lost. He didn’t recognise anyone and didn’t even remember who he was.

After Shen Dehan was settled, Shen Ji took Shen Cheng and moved out of the suburban villa and into an apartment in the city. After sorting out the remaining assets of the Shen family, Shen Ji decisively sold off several properties and some antique jewellery that the Shen family owned, cashing in a large sum of money. Part of this money was used to pay for Shen Dehan’s recuperation expenses, part was left to Shen Xi, and the remainder was used by Shen Ji to start a small trading company.

As for Shen Ji, the embarrassing past of the Shen family, the bankruptcy of Shen Group and other things certainly made him sad, but he did not have much time to be sentimental. He was not alone, he still had Shen Cheng behind him and he needed to uphold the Shen family as soon as possible. With this in mind, and with Shen Ji’s hard work and the help of the Li family, the company soon got on track and won a big contract a few days ago. This contract was too important to Shen Ji, as with the completion of this contract, the company’s scale could be doubled. Shen Ji had to fight with all his energy and worked day and night with his staff for several days, finally reaching an agreement with the other party on all the details of the contract.

“Happy cooperation, Miss Chen!”

Sitting opposite Shen Ji was the project leader of the partner company, and also the daughter of Chen Group’s owner, Chen Jie. Chen Group was not a local consortium in Zhongjing. It had previously been developing in the South Island and this was the first time it tried to expand to the North.

“Happy cooperation, Mr. Shen!”

Chen Jie smiled and looked at Shen Ji. She had heard of Shen Ji’s name before; the heir of the Shen family in Zhongjing, handsome and outstanding yet clean. One Shen Ji and one Li Mingxuan were the perfect marriage objects in the eyes of all the families in Zhongjing, but unfortunately neither of them had any intention of getting married. Chen Jie’s eyes flickered; her family had been forcing her to get married. If it was before, she would not have thought about Shen Ji, as the Chen family was not high enough to reach the Shen family. But now that Shen Group was bankrupt, if Shen Ji wanted to revive the Shen family as soon as possible, a helpful wife would be a good choice. And with Shen Ji’s ability, Chen Jie was sure she would quickly gain a firm foothold in the family and take the reins of the Chen family. In Chen Jie’s mind, whether it was for her or Shen Ji, it would be a mutually beneficial arrangement.

With these thoughts in mind, Chen Jie was already inviting with a smile, “I heard that there is a good Western restaurant not far from here, I wonder if Mr. Shen would be willing to accompany me?”

Shen Ji was startled and his brow furrowed slightly. He had been so busy in the past few days, so he deliberately mentioned to Shen Cheng that he would return early after completing the contract today. Frankly speaking, Shen Jie did not want to go, but looking at Chen Jie’s smile, he had to nod and agree. Chen Jie was a big client of the company and at this time, at the beginning of the cooperation, he had no way to refuse the other party’s goodwill.

Shen Ji’s consent made the smile on Chen Jie’s face even brighter, and she had more confidence in the idea in her mind.

It was ten o’clock in the evening and Shen Ji had not yet returned home.

Shen Cheng walked around the living room irritably; on the dining table not far away were several dishes that had already gone cold. Where the hell was Shen Ji? No one answered the phone in the company, and She Ji’s mobile phone was turned off. When Shen Cheng thought that Shen Ji had originally said he would be back early today but he hadn’t shown up until now, Shen Cheng became more and more annoyed.

In order to celebrate the successful signing of the contract, he even learned to cook a few dishes following the TV show, just to give Shen Ji a surprise, but now where the hell had he gone?

Little by little, time passed and there was still no sign of Shen Ji coming back. Shen Cheng was starving, but he had no appetite for the dishes on the table. He tossed all the dishes into the trash can and swore that he would never do anything stupid like this again.

Shen Cheng actually couldn’t tell why he was so irritated. Was it because Shen Ji had promised him but broke the promise or was it because Shen Ji was not around?

Ever since Shen Cheng started rehab a few months ago, Shen Ji had taken control of his life with an extremely forceful attitude. He had restricted Shen Cheng’s freedom, limited his use of money and cut off all his external interactions. During the days of detoxification in the villa, he lived under Shen Ji’s eyes 24 hours a day. Whether he was eating, sleeping or even bathing, he never left Shen Ji’s sight. This situation got better only when Shen Group went bankrupt and Shen Ji moved here with him. Of course, it was not that Shen Ji gave him freedom, but Shen Ji could not be by his side 24 hours a day like before because he was busy with the establishment of the company. But even so, Shen Cheng was still living under Shen Ji’s control. He was not allowed to surf the Internet, he was not allowed to go out at will, and he was not allowed to have any contact with the outside world except for a limited number of people. His daily entertainment was watching television or occasionally going for a walk in the nearby park accompanied by his bodyguard who lived next door.

If at first Shen Cheng was extremely uncomfortable with this kind of life, as time passed, he became accustomed to it. Unconsciously, his discontent and fear of Shen Ji had turned into dependence.

Shen Cheng thought irritably that in the past he relied on Shen Ji because he was arrogant and reckless, because he knew that no matter what he did, Shen Ji would take care of it for him. But that dependence was different from his current dependence, and what exactly was different, Shen Cheng could not figure out, even though he always felt that it was something right before his eyes.

Shen Cheng’s cranky thoughts did not last long when the sound of a faint voice came from outside the door. As soon as Shen Cheng heard it, he knew it was Shen Ji who had come back. The first thing Shen Ji did when he came back was to talk to his bodyguard about Shen Cheng’s movements for the day. Shen Cheng haphazardly turned on the TV and pretended to watch it carefully, but his ears were perked up, listening for movement at the door.

What Shen Ji saw when he entered the apartment was the familiar figure in the living room and the fatigue in his eyes dissipated, a faint smile appearing instead.

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“Ah Cheng, why are you still awake?”

Shen Cheng turned his head impatiently, “It’s only eleven o’clock, who would go to bed so early, can’t you see I’m watching TV in fascination?”

Shen Ji’s eyes fell on the screen and he raised an eyebrow, “Since when are you so interested in cartoons, how come I didn’t know you liked watching ‘Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf’?”

“……!” Shen Cheng choked. He just casually turned on the TV, his whole mind was on Shen Ji, how could he notice what was on the screen?

Shen Ji chuckled, Shen Cheng became angry with embarrassment, and simply changed the subject, “Big Brother, why did you come back so late? The phone hasn’t been working either!”

Shen Cheng’s question seemed to make Shen Ji think of something. A trace of thoughtfulness flashed in his eyes, but his expression did not change, “I accompanied a client to have a meal, and my phone happened to run out of battery.” A faint smell of perfume came from Shen Ji’s body as he walked up to Shen Cheng’s side. This smell was very familiar; Shen Cheng used to smell it on his female companions when he was fooling around. It was a very famous perfume that many women liked.

When Shen Cheng smelled this fragrance, he didn’t know why an evil fire suddenly rose up from the bottom of his heart. Thinking about what Shen Ji had just said about accompanying a client to dinner, he became more and more irritable, grunted heavily and stood up abruptly, “I’m going to bed.”

Shen Cheng’s mood change was so sudden that Shen Ji looked at Shen Cheng’s back in confusion and only reacted when Shen Cheng slammed the bedroom door heavily.

“Ah Cheng!” Shen Ji quickly chased after him. The bedroom door was locked from the inside; Shen Ji frowned and quickly returned to the living room to find the key. By the time he opened the bedroom door, Shen Cheng seemed to have guessed he was coming. A single person wrapped up in a blanket occupied the whole big bed, looking at Shen Ji provocatively.

A hint of indulgence flashed in Shen Ji’s eyes as he sat down on the edge of the bed, “What’s the matter? Is it boring to stay inside, do you want the bodyguard to accompany you around the district tomorrow?”

Shen Cheng also knew that his temper just now was too inexplicable. Hearing Shen Ji say this, he took the opportunity to make conditions, “I want to go shopping.”

“No way!” Shen Ji flatly refused.

“Why?” Shen Cheng violently pushed away the blanket and sat up, “Even if you’re in prison, there is still time to go out and have a breath of fresh air, am I not just addicted to drugs? Before it was a villa, now it’s an apartment, you lock me up at home every day, no internet access, no contact with outsiders, even the bodyguard can’t talk to me, how long do you want to keep me locked up for? I said I’ve gotten clean and will never do drugs again, even if you’re my big brother, you can’t control my life like this.”

Shen Cheng glared fiercely at Shen Ji. These words were all from his heart. At the beginning when he was locked up by Shen Ji, he wanted to shout out loudly at Shen Ji like he did just now every day, but he didn’t have the courage. By now, he had actually not thought about doing this for a long time, and he did not know why he suddenly said these words today.

Shen Cheng vaguely felt that the reason he hadn’t thought about this for so long was probably because when he was locked up by Shen Ji, Shen Ji was by his side 24 hours a day, seemingly locked up with him. But now Shen Ji had left him behind and had contact with the outside world, while he was still locked up here. So he was unhappy, he was angry, he wanted to express his demands.

While Shen Cheng glared angrily at Shen Ji, Shen Ji’s eyes moved a little from Shen Cheng’s face to his body. Because he was going to sleep, Shen Cheng was not wearing anything but a pair of underwear. Perhaps it was the after-effects of drug addiction, but Shen Cheng was much thinner and weaker than before, and coupled with being locked up at home every day, his skin looked even paler. Against the dark blue bed sheet underneath, he looked like an unusually fragile beauty.

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Shen Ji’s eyes became opaque. He had to admit that this body was very attractive to him, or perhaps it had nothing to do with the body, but with the person. He wanted to keep this person by his side, to control his life, he wanted to be the only one in this person’s world, and there could be no one else.

Shen Ji did not know when he had started to develop this strong desire for control over Shen Cheng. If at first he had locked Shen Cheng in the villa and controlled his entire life for the purpose of detoxification, then in the process of Shen Cheng’s initial fierce resistance turning to accepting this kind of life little by little, Shen Ji gradually couldn’t tell what exactly he felt.

Shen Ji knew that he had been used to controlling Shen Cheng’s life since he was a child, and after his mother entrusted him with Shen Cheng on her deathbed, he had consciously placed Shen Cheng into his own protective sphere. From childhood to adulthood, Shen Cheng’s life was controlled by him, he dictated what school Shen Cheng went to, he dictated what courses Shen Cheng took, he even gave up going to school abroad in order to watch over Shen Cheng. Until Shen Cheng graduated from university, he strictly required Shen Cheng to be home by 12 p.m.

After Shen Cheng graduated from university, Shen Ji learnt to gradually loosen his grip on Shen Cheng. He no longer restricted his return time and no longer cared about Shen Cheng’s friends. He always thought that he was not controlling Shen Cheng’s life, he was just a strict elder brother. But after he forced Shen Cheng to quit drugs, he realised that his strong desire to control Shen Cheng was too abnormal. Only in the past it had been hidden under the name of brotherly discipline, but now that he had justified reasons to control Shen Cheng, he seemed to be unable to suppress that strong desire.

Shen Ji’s gaze was so aggressive that Shen Cheng thought he had infuriated Shen Ji, and his original anger was immediately extinguished. He looked at Shen Ji dumbly and said flatteringly, “Big Brother, I was wrong, I know you are doing it for my own good, I shouldn’t have argued with you.”

This call of “Big Brother” made Shen Ji come back to his senses. Slowly reaching out to touch Shen Cheng’s head, Shen Ji lowered his eyes, “Go to bed early, tomorrow I will take you shopping.”

“Really?” This was definitely an unexpected joy for Shen Cheng.

Shen Ji nodded.

Shen Cheng lay down on the bed contentedly and patted his side smoothly, “Big Brother, I’ve reserved a place for you, hurry up, take a shower and go to bed.”

Because at the beginning of the detoxification process, whenever Shen Cheng was in pain, Shen Ji would hold him in his arms and gently soothe him, Shen Cheng had already gotten used to Shen Ji sleeping with him, and this habit was retained until now.

Shen Ji’s eyes flickered over Shen Cheng’s body once again and he gave a low “en”.