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Jiang Chijing felt the difference between him and Zheng Mingyi lay in their attitude.

When he held Zheng Mingyi’s little secret, he was unable to find the right frame of mind, thus wasn’t able to pull back before going too far.

A loose tongue could only spell trouble. Just now, if he had stopped after dropping a mention or two of Go, he believed that Zheng Mingyi wouldn’t bring up wanting to view his chat history out of a guilty conscience.

As a result, he ended up playing himself too deep.

In contrast, whether it was the perfume or their addresses, Zheng Mingyi had always drawn back at just the right moment, showing that little bit of tail before immediately hiding it away, never giving Jiang Chijing the chance to catch it.

Jiang Chijing knew that the jig was up. But Zheng Mingyi only said a sentence of ‘that’s not how the game is played’ then turned away from the topic without exposing him, and left the library on the dot as he always did.

So how was the game supposed to be played?

Words half-spoken easily left people hanging in anxiety. Couldn’t Zheng Mingyi just get it out?

Jiang Chijing recalled that Yu Guang once mentioned Go would reply to his private messages. This told him that they had long been in contact online.

He really wanted to ask Zheng Mingyi if Yu Guang went by A-Guang online, if Yu Guang had told Go before that he was a hacker, and if Yu Guang called Go ‘Idol’ in his messages as well.

If that was so, it wasn’t strange for Zheng Mingyi to have recognised this little fanboy of his.

Put together with how Yu Guang called Jiang Chijing ‘Idol’ and Zheng Mingyi having used Jiang Chijing’s computer to log into the forum before…

With that many clues stringing together, it would have been a bit unreasonable for Zheng Mingyi not to see through the ‘false idol’ that was Jiang Chijing.

What a waste of Jiang Chijing’s efforts to pretend that Zheng Mingyi’s account had been stolen just now. In the end, Zheng Mingyi uncovered that this ‘account thief’ was actually him with barely any effort at all.

All right. Perhaps aside from their attitudes, they were also a slight difference in their abilities.

Yu Guang ran from the left side of the library to the right with a mop in hand, going “heave ho, heave ho” as he worked.

Jiang Chijing hadn’t wanted Yu Guang to clean the area at first, but the stinky brat could only blame himself for coming at the wrong time and causing him to lose the only bargaining chip he was holding on to.

“Idol, do you see how clean I’ve mopped the floor?” Oblivious, Yu Guang stood up ramrod-straight, both hands clutching the mop. The expression that he directed to Jiang Chijing was begging for praise.

“Not bad.” Jiang Chijing absently glanced over then back out of the window, contemplating how to close the scene.

“I’d say, Idol,” Yu Guang brought the mop to the front of the office desk. “Are you really in that kind of relationship with Zheng Mingyi? That isn’t your style.”

After being away from prison for three days, Jiang Chijing was curious as to what version of the story of him and Zheng Mingyi had spread. As he raised his glass to drink water, he asked Yu Guang, “What relationship?”

“I heard he sucked you off.”

“Pshh—”

The water that was only just swallowed down almost choked Jiang Chijing to death. Zheng Mingyi did suck him, but it was only on the neck. How did it get turned to that state?

“They’re even saying that the extra time Zheng Mingyi gets for his afternoon break is to service you. The two of you not only do it in the recreation room but also in the library. No wonder you didn’t let me enter your work area; now I know it’s because that’s where you guys sweat it out.” Yu Guang spoke like noses had eyes, just as if it was real.

“Stop, stop, stop.” Jiang Chijing frowned, interrupting Yu Guang. “You’re too young to be talking about ‘doing’ anything.”

“So are you two really doing it?” Yu Guang’s face was conflicted as he asked, “I know that people in 3D (real world) are different from how they are in 2D (online), but Idol, how can you? Zheng Mingyi cheated the common folk of so much money; he’s the enemy of our forum.”

“He’s not an enemy.” Unable to say much more, Jiang Chijing set down his cup. “There’s still some unexplored ground in his case.”

What?” Yu Guang’s ears immediately perked. He inclined forward, sprawling over the office desk to ask, “Was Zheng Mingyi framed?”

Yu Guang was a true-blue conspiracy theorist. The moment that Jiang Chijing revealed a teensy bit of information, he immediately deduced the result, even looking extremely interested.

And for conspiracy theorists, secret information unknown to the public was significantly more credible than information from official channels.

“Anyway, he’s not an enemy,” Jiang Chijing said. “You don’t have to be so hostile to him.”

Not only is he not your enemy, but he’s also your idol.

But these words didn’t leave Jiang Chijing’s tongue.

“I understand, I will listen to Idol.” Yu Guang nodded solemnly. “In that case, it isn’t unacceptable for you to fool around with him; I say this on the behalf of the majority of the forum netizens.”

Jiang Chijing’s lips twitched numbly. “Don’t believe the rumours. I’m not fooling around with him.”

“I put it wrongly; you’re not fooling around.” Yu Guang said seriously. “It’s physical interaction between two adult males.”

Jiang Chijing resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He couldn’t be bothered to discuss this with Yu Guang and said instead, “Are you done cleaning? If you’re done you can leave.”

Yu Guang cackled. “I’ll stay here with Idol for a while longer.”

At the look in Yu Guang’s eyes, Jiang Chijing suddenly felt that something was wrong. He was familiar with this look. It was clearly the look that Yu Guang had once directed at Luo Hai.

“Aren’t you going to look for your Dr. Luo?”

“Nope, Dr. Luo doesn’t need me to sweep his place.”

Jiang Chijing vaguely felt that this trend was slightly dangerous. In the past, Yu Guang couldn’t wait to devote his time to the infirmary all day. Why did he suddenly shift his target to the library now?

If Luo Hai knew this…

Right as Jiang Chijing thought this, someone in a white coat appeared at the library door.

Luo Hai had probably come to chat with Jiang Chijing and didn’t expect to see Yu Guang standing here with a mop. He looked at Yu Guang with surprise. “Why are you here?”

“I’m here to upkeep hygiene standards,” Yu Guang said.

When saying this, Yu Guang’s hands tightly clutched the mop, which showed that, unlike how he was acting, he still cared about what Luo Hai thought.

“You’ve come here to upkeep hygiene?” Luo Hai arched a brow. “Then what about the infirmary?”

“The infirmary…” Yu Guang was hesitant. “Isn’t it enough for you to clean up the infirmary yourself, Dr. Luo?”

A hint of incredulity flashed across Luo Hai’s eyes. He looked at Jiang Chijing and asked, “What kind of spell did you put him under?”

Jiang Chijing was also getting a headache. It really wasn’t as if he was trying to mess with his ex-boyfriend’s love life. But before he could speak, Yu Guang spoke up for him, “Officer Jiang didn’t put me under any spell. I was the one who voluntarily came over to tidy up the place for him.”

“Hurry up and take him away,” Jiang Chijing said to Luo Hai. “Go give him some ideological reformation.”

“That’s a must.” Luo Hai waved to Yu Guang. “Come with me.”

Yu Guang didn’t move, turning grudgingly towards Jiang Chijing instead, reluctant to part.

Luo Hai said more sternly, “Come over!”

Only then did Yu Guang leave, dragging his feet, looking back at Jiang Chijing every three or so steps.

Shit.

Jiang Chijing abruptly found a problem. His idol image couldn’t last for long. Yu Guang would soon notice that he was somewhat different from the way Go was online.

If Yu Guang knew that Zheng Mingyi was Go…

Although it pained Jiang Chijing to admit it, Zheng Mingyi’s appearance and brain were both ‘1’ in a million. also, with the pre-installed idol halo setting that the God of Go had, wouldn’t Yu Guang become even more obsessed with Zheng Mingyi?

> 1 is gay lingo for top in Chinese, 0 is bottom, 0.5 is switch.

Jiang Chijing involuntarily fell into deep thought. For the sake of his bro, Luo Hai, he felt it was better to put preventive measures in place.

Translated on ninetysevenkoi.wordpress

***

Please do not repost or retranslate.

In the afternoon, Zheng Mingyi came to the library as usual. But what was different from the norm was that aside from him, there weren’t any other inmates in the library.

Anyone would find the emptiness of the library abnormal.

“Do inmates have something on today?” Jiang Chijing asked.

“Not that I heard of.”

Zheng Mingyi still sat in the first row nearest the windows. They were facing each other, with less than five metres between them.

Normally, when there weren’t others around in the library, Zheng Mingyi would sit next to Jiang Chijing. It felt odd to be talking to him like this now across such a distance.

“Let me ask you something,” Jiang Chijing said.

“Is it related to weiqi?” Zheng Mingyi said.

Weiqi suddenly popped out of nowhere into the conversation. Jiang Chijing was stunned for a moment before reacting to that weiqi was essentially go; Zheng Mingyi was using this wordplay to bring up the forum.

As expected, this was very much Zheng Mingyi’s playstyle. Whatever he did, he had to go about it in a roundabout way, and it depended on the other party to react in time.

And if you weren’t able to react, you might even get mocked for being ‘stupidly cute’.

“It isn’t,” Jiang Chijing said. “I wanted to ask if you go for people younger than you.”

This question was perhaps better suited for a tender, lovey-dovey atmosphere, but Jiang Chijing’s tone was very calm, just as if he was conducting a psychological assessment, unaffected no matter how Zheng Mingyi answered.

Zheng Mingyi tilted his head in thought before turning the question back to him. “Aren’t you the same age as me?”

Jiang Chijing was instantly weirded out. How did Zheng Mingyi know his age? But on second thought, this was something that could be easily found out by asking a prison guard, so it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise.

“I’m not talking about myself,” Jiang Chijing said. “I’m talking about your little fanboy. He just turned nineteen not too long ago.”

“You mean A-Guang?” Zheng Mingyi asked, amused. “Isn’t he your little fanboy?”

This was Zheng Mingyi’s secondary playstyle—acting blur.

Jiang Chijing leisurely said, “Good. In that case, I’m going to tell him who his idol really is.”

This move was as effective as he thought it would be. Zheng Mingyi was quickly divested of his joking expression to speak in a more normal tone. “What is it with him?”

“He’s a very avid fan of yours.” Jiang Chijing paused. “To be precise, this zeal is for your online handle.”

“You mean, he has intentions…”

Before Zheng Mingyi could finish his words, they suddenly heard footsteps from the library door. Jiang Chijing looked over and saw that around eight well-built prisoners were walking in, faces that didn’t usually appear in the library.

After these people entered the library, they casually kicked the tables and chairs, noisily sitting in the first few rows, just like that, staring straight at Jiang Chijing.

It was only after the last person walked into the library that Jiang Chijing understood what this was about.

It was Old Nine.

He should have made it clear to others that he didn’t want inmates to come to the library, then led his lackeys to barge in, playing hooligans on Jiang Chijing’s turf.

“Afternoon, Officer Jiang.” Old Nine hook a chair over with his foot and sat down on the opposite side of the desk, the legs of the chair scraping the ground shrilly.

“Is there anything?” Jiang Chijing coldly said.

“What else can it be? I’m here to learn.” Old Nine turned his head, pretending to look around curiously. Then, he said in Zheng Mingyi’s direction, “Yo, your riding horse is here too.”

Neither did Jiang Chijing expect that the strawberry incident would actually cement Zheng Mingyi’s status as his horse.

It was quite preposterous. He wondered if this big fierce top would feel aggrieved.

Jiang Chijing unconsciously glanced at Zheng Mingyi, only to see that Zheng Mingyi had suddenly stood up. He walked up to Old Nine, expressionless.

Old Nine’s expression visibly stiffened. His upper body leaned in the opposite direction, his face vigilant as he asked, “What the hell?”

“Good dogs don’t block the road.” Zheng Mingyi’s gaze flicked down, staring at Old Nine past his nose.

To be honest, Zheng Mingyi did look a bit frightening when looking down at people like that.

Because Jiang Chijing knew that Zheng Mingyi would only show such an expression when he was serious. Just like that time when he asked if he could tear off Jiang Chijing’s uniform, his eyes were abstruse and unreadable, which meant that he was seriously entertaining this wild idea in his head.

But Old Nine obviously didn’t receive this danger signal. He gestured all around him. “The library is so big, why must you fucking walk in front of me—”

Old Nine’s words were interrupted by the ear-splitting screech of the chair’s legs scraping against the ground, followed by Old Nine, knocked off-balance, swaying, and stumbling to the ground with a loud crash.

Zheng Mingyi had directly kicked the chair that Old Nine was sitting on a metre away. Old Nine, unable to stop due to inertia, fell down with the chair.

Old Nine’s lackeys immediately stood up, viciously glaring at Zheng Mingyi, causing the library to erupt in noise again.

Disregarding them completely, Zheng Mingyi stepped across Old Nine and walked into the work area, sitting next to Jiang Chijing. He coldly swept a glance at those standing opposite.

His unharrowed manner seemed to read: Touch him if you dare.

Jiang Chijing inclined his head to look at Zheng Mingyi, seated by him, and noticed for the first time that even Zheng Mingyi’s side profile was outrageously attractive.

Although it was a little inappropriate in this tense atmosphere, a thought involuntarily nudged its way into his head.

Why was this bastard guy Zheng Mingyi so goddamn handsome?