Before he knew it, Gao Sijin had lived in Tsukiyuki Rio’s temporary palace for seven days.
During this time, Gao Sijin hadn’t shown any obvious signs of rebellion, because he understood that resistance would only bring stricter shackles.
Due to his recent good behavior, his permitted range of activity gradually expanded from indoors to outdoors. He could even stroll around the Tsukiyuki Family’s winery, golf course, tennis court, and other places. The maids also no longer forced Gao Sijin to take the body-weakening pills every morning. One thing remained unchanged, however: no matter where Gao Sijin went, Yu Qingxue was always right behind him, never leaving his side for a moment, constantly on alert for any chance he might try to escape.
There was one thing Gao Sijin had to admit: Yu Qingxue’s presence helped him kill a lot of tedious time in the temporary palace. Yu Qingxue played all sorts of games with him to pass the time, and she even specially collected interesting manga and light novels for him, buying limited edition figurines to cheer him up.
“Speaking of which, how did you know I wanted the Formidable figurine?”
“Is it really that hard to guess? You stayed on the Formidable figurine page for a full three minutes. Naturally, you wanted it.” Yu Qingxue smiled smugly, then stuffed the figurine into Gao Sijin’s hands. “Besides, what man doesn’t like big breasts? Come to think of it, my chest seems pretty big too. Want me to cosplay as Formidable for you?”
“You don’t need to cosplay at all, Qingxue. You’re already an ugly, lazy fat dinosaur,” Gao Sijin retorted sarcastically.
“I’ll give you a chance to reorganize your sentence. You’ve got guts, say that again. Speaking of which, I was just thinking about practicing my cross armbar, something I haven’t done in a while.” Yu Qingxue cracked her knuckles, a gentle smile on her face.
“Fine, I take back what I said.”
“Smart kid, you know what’s good for you.”
Gao Sijin still hadn’t forgiven Yu Qingxue for her deceit. Yet within the temporary palace, compared to the other maids, Yu Qingxue’s way of interacting with him was the most unique.
The vibe of their conversations didn’t feel like a master-servant relationship at all. Instead, it gave off a sense of equality and closeness.
The other maids were completely different. Most of them maintained a considerable degree of respect and distance toward Gao Sijin. Furthermore, they were entirely unfamiliar with ACGN culture and basically couldn’t get any of the references Gao Sijin made.
Gao Sijin originally thought he was someone who would rather be alone than settle, but he discovered that loneliness actually varies drastically from person to person. He didn’t like being solitary, so when Yu Qingxue came to him, he didn’t stubbornly push her away.
“Want to play some games together?”
After lunch, as the other maids were clearing the tableware, Yu Qingxue came to Gao Sijin’s side.
“I don’t play games with people who betray me,” Gao Sijin said, quite tsundere.
Although Gao Sijin said this every time, Yu Qingxue would invariably grab his hand and forcibly drag him to the room afterward.
Today, as always, Yu Qingxue was so forceful that Gao Sijin simply couldn’t refuse.
“Today, I’m definitely going to reach the King rank.”
“Just watch and see if I throw the game or not.”
“Just watch and see if I beat you up or not.”
This kind of dialogue only happened with Yu Qingxue. If it were any other maid, they would never talk back to Gao Sijin. They were very obedient to him, and as long as Gao Sijin showed no intention of running away, they were like cold, reliable robots.
Only Yu Qingxue would casually threaten Gao Sijin with physical violence.
Two hours later, as the rank-up emblem appeared on the screen, Yu Qingxue shot to her feet excitedly.
“We are the champions!”
Gao Sijin still deliberately wore a cold expression.
He absolutely would not give Yu Qingxue a pleasant look.
Just thinking about how she had approached him with ulterior motives back then, toying with his feelings, filled Gao Sijin’s heart with an indescribable fury.
But then, a soft sensation pressed against Gao Sijin’s body. Yu Qingxue hugged him tightly.
“Awesome, Master, we got another King Rank account.”
“What are you doing?”
“Just a hug, why are you so stingy?”
“Can you pay some attention? Who wants to hug you?”
Gao Sijin struggled to break free from Yu Qingxue’s embrace, his expression a mix of shame and anger.
Yu Qingxue completely ignored Gao Sijin’s disgusted and disdainful look, even gently kissing the side of his face with her lips.
“Aren’t you afraid Tsukiyuki Rio will throw you into Tokyo Bay to feed the fish?”
“I didn’t kiss you on the mouth. As long as it’s not on the mouth, it’s no problem. Kissing on the cheek is a form of etiquette abroad, you know. And I’m happy right now, who cares about all that?”
“Don’t you have a ton of King Rank accounts?” Gao Sijin frowned. “Is it really worth being that happy?”
“Of course it is. This is an account I climbed to King rank on while duo-queuing with you. Being able to reach King while duo-queuing with a big actor like you is just too touching. Solo-queuing to King is like climbing Mount Emei—the scenery along the way is beautiful, but there’s no real challenge. Climbing to King while duo-queuing with you feels like scaling Mount Qomolangma. The blood and tears involved… it’s not something outsiders can easily understand.”
“Hmph, spare me that act. Do you think the relationship between us can go back to how it was?”
Actually, Gao Sijin could tell that the reason Yu Qingxue was so ecstatic was that she was trying every possible way to cheer him up.
And he also felt that Yu Qingxue wasn’t actually as ecstatic as she was acting. She was just using the game victory as an excuse to get handsy.
“I’m tired. I played games with you today too, so can you let me off now?”
“Fine, take your afternoon nap then. I won’t bother you.”
Gao Sijin slowly lay down on the bed in Yu Qingxue’s room. Nowadays, after finishing their daily games, he would rest here for a while.
In the evening, he would go to the study Tsukiyuki Rio had prepared for him to write.
Over the course of this week, Gao Sijin had maintained a high-intensity writing pace almost every day. He had thought that writing more each day would make the story become crude and poorly crafted. But in reality, when Gao Sijin finished writing a story in one go, he felt it read much more smoothly and coherently than when he wrote just four thousand words a day. His typing speed had also improved slightly.
However, ten thousand words a day was still a bit too much. The life of house arrest was gradually draining his wellspring of inspiration. Unbeknownst to him, another “tally” mark had appeared on his inner thigh.
Fortunately, compared to the first night, Tsukiyuki Rio was now much gentler with Gao Sijin.
Lying on Yu Qingxue’s bed, thinking about the plot for tonight’s writing session, Gao Sijin slowly closed his eyes, drifting freely in that romantic world of swords and magic.
He had once dreamed of becoming a full-time author. That dream had now come true, but at the cost of his virginity and his freedom.
Should he just sink into this abyss, becoming the Young Lady Tsukiyuki’s exclusive plaything?
Absolutely not! Sooner or later, he would definitely escape!
