RBNR Ch25: He is the most unlucky one

Qin Bao had stayed abroad for just a few days, finding only brief moments of joy, but upon leaving, his negative emotions had only multiplied instead of fading.

Because he had experienced heartbreak—the very first heartbreak of his life, and a one-sided one at that.

With three negative buffs stacked on him, he truly wanted to lock away his heart and freeze his emotions, becoming a cold-blooded assassin devoid of sentiment. Wearing a cold face, he boarded the plane; with an icy expression, he hailed a cab. The taxi driver found him familiar and originally wanted to chat, but was subdued by his low-pressure gloom and could only bury his head and focus on driving.

Unfortunately, running away can work for a moment, but not for a lifetime.

The moment he switched back to his old phone number, missed call alert messages from the carrier poured in one after another. Apart from those from his family, the most frequent calls came from an unfamiliar number—one he knew belonged to Feng Chengyu.

First, he stopped by SISI. His contract was nearing its expiration date, and Brother Lu wanted him to review the new terms.

A few days ago abroad, he had mentioned this to An Qingyan, who suggested that if he intended to continue developing on the runway, he could consider renewing with SISI. As a renowned domestic modeling agency, SISI could offer the best support to keep Qin Bao shining; and of course, as SISI’s most lucrative model currently, Qin Bao’s treatment was more than a few tiers higher than before.

The contract terms were largely similar to the past, but the document was noticeably thicker, as an artist management agreement had been appended to the back. Likely recognizing Qin Bao’s market value and anticipating his access to broader resources in the future, SISI had specifically drafted this management contract for him.

Skimming through it gave Qin Bao a headache.

Brother Lu said hurriedly, “Too complicated, right? There’s so much here you won’t be able to finish reading it anytime soon. You can take it home and read it slowly. The company has also arranged a lawyer for you, but if you don’t feel at ease, you can find your own lawyer outside to look it over.”

Qin Bao shoved the contract into his bag: “En. I’ll take off then.”

Brother Lu walked Qin Bao out, feeling bewildered along the way. In the other models’ Flow posts, this kid had looked perfectly happy—splurging on shopping sprees, splashing around at pool parties. People online were all saying Qin Bao had dashed abroad to continue his birthday celebrations, so why did he return with such a bitter gourd of a face?

Ms. Rong’s red sports car was already parked outside. The last time she had come here was to drop Qin Bao off when he signed his very first contract; in the blink of an eye, five years had passed.

Qin Bao pulled open the passenger door and slid in. After uttering a greeting and fastening his seatbelt, he didn’t say another word.

Ms. Rong asked gently, “Why are you angry with Mama too?”

The car soon merged into the flow of traffic. Qin Bao kept his eyes fixed forward. He was always one to speak his mind directly; looking like this, he had definitely suffered some grievance.

“I’m not,” he replied.

Anger was anger, but he would still answer Ms. Rong properly.

Ms. Rong asked patiently once more, “Tell me, how did Chengyu provoke you? Making you so furious you threw away his clothes and ran off abroad.”

“Who said he provoked me? It has nothing to do with him at all,” Qin Bao muttered. “I just happened to have work over there, and wanted to get some peace and clear my head while I was at it. As for the clothes… why would I keep a stranger’s clothes instead of tossing them?”

Ms. Rong shot him an affectionate, chiding glance: “Stop speaking like a child.”

“…”

Qin Bao couldn’t be bothered to respond and looked away.

Ms. Rong, however, continued, “Since you two are together, there will inevitably be friction. You must express yourselves promptly and adapt to each other, unlike your father and me, where suppressed grievances turned into an incurable ailment, ultimately ending in divorce.”

Qin Bao couldn’t help but retort, “How can we compare to you two?”

At least his parents had dated freely and came together out of love.

Ms. Rong merely smiled without answering.

Qin Bao realized his mistake instantly. Just now, a slip of the tongue had made him say “we,” as if he had tacitly acknowledged something. He immediately followed up, “I’m not even close with him. Why would I need to adapt to him?”

Ms. Rong: “If you don’t adapt now, it will be inappropriate to start pointing out each other’s flaws once you get married in the future.”

The word “married” struck Qin Bao’s raw nerve, causing his voice to spike sharply: “I will never marry him!”

Ms. Rong soothed, “You’re still young right now. I’m talking about the future.”

Qin Bao said coldly, “It has nothing to do with being young or not. I’ll put my words right here: if there’s ever a day I truly get married, it’s impossible for it to be with him. None of you need to make your wishful calculations. Even if I slept with him for a night, so what? It was purely physical needs, just fooling around. For any adult, that’s completely normal. If you want a political marriage, arrange whoever you want with whoever you want, but don’t even think about targeting me.”

Qin Bao was acting like a bristling hedgehog, his reaction excessively volatile.

Hearing him speak without restraint like this, Ms. Rong furrowed her brows deeply: “What kind of nonsense is that? What do you mean, ‘just fooling around’?”

“I’ve already told Feng Chengyu the exact same words. He understands what they mean,” Qin Bao said. “Don’t mention him in front of me from now on.”

Ms. Rong pulled the car over to the curb.

She was not a woman of rigid thinking. She accepted Qin Bao not marrying, and accepted Qin Bao choosing a different path in life. If he truly developed an irreconcilable rift with Feng Chengyu, she would support a breakup as well, but she could not accept Qin Bao becoming someone who treated feelings so flippantly.

“What exactly happened?” Ms. Rong asked with deep concern. “Weren’t you… very fond of Chengyu before?”

The first time he had asked her to buy such an expensive item was just to have the exact same watch as Feng Chengyu. When he ran away from home, he sought Feng Chengyu’s help, and the two frequently exchanged gifts on ordinary days. On his birthday, anyone could see the sparks flying between them.

“I was fond of him?” Qin Bao asked back. “Did he say that?”

Ms. Rong shook her head: “No, I saw it myself.”

The car was stopped, yet Qin Bao failed to calm down: “I never liked him. Stop making wild guesses.”

If Feng Chengyu hadn’t dangled the hook first, would he have fallen for it? To think that in the beginning, he had found Feng Chengyu intensely annoying!

The other man had stood aloof as an onlooker, merely reaching out casually to scatter bait from an elusive distance, and a foolish fish like him couldn’t wait to bite the hook.

He stared at his mother, uttering every syllable with deliberate weight: “Mom, I’ll say it one more time. I will not marry Feng Chengyu. I don’t care what he’s thinking, either. If he wants a political marriage, let him seek better prospects elsewhere. All of you should give up on this idea as soon as possible.”

Having said his piece, he pushed open the car door and stepped out, completely tuning out Ms. Rong’s calls behind him.

Qin Bao had originally planned to stay with Ms. Rong for a few days. Although she had moved back to his maternal grandfather’s place after the divorce, his grandfather was away recently, leaving only her and his grandmother at home.

With this blowup, that destination was off the table as well.

At the thought of returning home, where the old master and Mr. Qin would inevitably deliver the same lecture, he had zero desire to go back.

Shan Yiming wasn’t around, Tu Yisen had left too, and he wanted to see Feng Chu least of all.

He considered buying a ticket straight to Qinan to find Xu Tangzhou; he even pulled out his phone, but dismissed the idea just as quickly. With both school and family burdens, Xu Tangzhou was already struggling to manage his own life.

Remembering how he had texted Xu Tangzhou that day, full of bubbling joy to share news about Feng Chengyu, only for everything to turn upside down in the blink of an eye…

Who on earth would be foolish enough to sleep with their arranged marriage partner?

Even though he was an adult now and could choose any hotel across the capital, compared to running away last time, Qin Bao inexplicably felt he had nowhere left to turn.

Still, having worked for a few years, he had at least made some fair-weather friends.

He randomly contacted a few acquaintances. Hearing that he was organizing the gathering, they naturally hit it off immediately.

Someone mentioned that a new specialty lounge club had opened recently, featuring live boxing matches every night, and suggested hanging out there. Qin Bao was no stranger to parties, but due to age restrictions, he had never been to that kind of bar before, so he took the recommendation.

Most of the clientele frequenting such establishments were people of status. Qin Bao and his group lined up to get stamped on the back of their hands, receiving masks after entering. Heading down to the second basement level, they were stopped once more.

This time, the staff distributed bite-inhibitors to the accompanying Alphas, while Omegas like Qin Bao were handed neck collars.

Qin Bao complained, “Is there any need to be this dramatic?”

Someone behind him chuckled, “Little guy, is this your first time in a place like this?”

It was an Alpha who hadn’t put on his mask yet, acting greasy enough to give Qin Bao goosebumps. But since Qin Bao was wearing his own mask, he had no fear of being recognized and retorted, “What first time? I’ve just never seen such cheap collars.”

That person turned out to be a staff member too. Hearing this, he remarked, “Cheap? Guess I’ll have to give feedback to the boss. Thanks for the heads-up.”

Once they reached their booth, a friend accompanying them whispered to Qin Bao, “This place was opened by the young master of Sufeng. Boasting luxury and high-end exclusivity, claiming to have spent millions hiring renowned designers to build it. You saying their gear is cheap—he’d be depressed to death if he heard.”

Qin Bao: “What young master?”

The background sounded quite impressive.

“The eldest son Director Zou had late in life, that’s what people outside call him,” the friend said. “By the way, he’s fairly young, seems to attend the same school as you. You might’ve heard his name—Zou Jiudong.”

Qin Bao: “…”

The friend leaned in close and whispered, “He usually hangs out here every night, but stopped showing up recently out of nowhere. Word is he offended some big shot… Rumor has it he offended Minister Qin from the Ministry of Commerce.”

Before Qin Bao could swallow his mouthful of alcohol, he nearly choked to death: “…”

Several spotlights suddenly flared, illuminating the previously dim ring.

Right after, several Betas dressed in bunny-girl outfits took the stage, each sexier than the last, transforming the boxing ring into a dance floor. They began with a few magic tricks—white doves from top hats, leaping through flaming hoops—putting on a splendid show. Qin Bao wanted to clap, but the applause below was sparse, as if the regulars were already used to it.

Soon, several Alphas stepped up.

Muscles coiled, clad only in briefs, with shiny oil rubbed across their tan skin, they easily scooped up the bunny girls from behind by the waist.

Hormones surged through the roof. Finally, cheers and wolf-whistles erupted below the stage; even Qin Bao felt his face heating up just watching.

The bunny girls were lifted onto the muscular men’s shoulders, kicking off a new dance routine. With the arrival of a tall female Alpha clad in a bikini and wielding a leather whip, the opening act finally reached its climax.

They were pushing the boundaries of explicit performance.

The bunny girls vanished, and the muscular men formed a line. The sharp cracks of the whip snapping through the air made one’s scalp tingle.

Roughly understanding what kind of venue this was, Qin Bao raised his glass and took a sip of liquor to steady his nerves.

Glancing around, the place was practically packed to capacity. Everyone wore masks, but beneath them shone pairs of feverish, stimulated eyes.

This made Qin Bao, who felt deeply out of place, look like an anomaly.

Unfortunately, it was too late to regret coming.

When the opening show ended, the brutally visceral match that followed was what truly triggered Qin Bao’s intense nausea.

The house had set up a lavish bounty, and after the fighters were introduced, spectators could place bets freely.

Qin Bao had originally assumed it was an exhibition bout stopping at points, but the degree of gore far exceeded his imagination. For the prize money, the fighters were practically tearing into their opponents with lethal disregard for their own lives.

One bloody, mangled fighter was dragged off, and another stepped up. The crowd’s roars grew increasingly frantic; the friends accompanying Qin Bao were slamming the tabletop so hard it nearly splintered.

Suddenly, the music cut off abruptly, and floodlights blasted across the entire club.

Before the crowd could grasp what was happening, the fighters in the ring, eyes reddened with battle fury, traded blows in the sudden silence where only the sickening sounds of bursting flesh and snapping bones could be heard.

Bang—

A referee fired a shot. A man stood atop a drinking table: “The 13th Precinct of the Capital Police has received a report of illicit gatherings conducting pornographic and violent activities in a public venue. We are now carrying out an inspection in accordance with the law. Nobody move. Follow the officers’ instructions and form a single line, remove your masks, and submit to questioning.”

The entire room went slack-jawed. Some even assumed it was a newly added interactive segment from the club, only waking from the dream when uniformed officers appeared one after another.

“Fuck, what shit luck,” a friend beside him cursed. “What day is this? Did I step out without checking the almanac today?”

Another friend was practically paralyzed with panic: “Taking off my mask is worse than killing me. If word gets out, how am I supposed to work… You think if I run right now, they’ll execute me on the spot?”

“It’s not that serious. We were just watching, which isn’t a crime. At most, we’ll get a verbal reprimand or a minor administrative penalty. Can you guys stop being so cowardly?”

Qin Bao: “……………”

It’s extremely serious!

The chief of the 13th Precinct was a friend of Mr. Qin’s! If his family found out about this, his legs would be broken in minutes!

He was the unluckiest one here! He clearly just wanted to relax; why did he have to follow these people looking for bizarre novelties! Wouldn’t ordering a feast and playing video games in a luxury hotel have been ten times better!

Qin Bao wanted to die on the spot. Falling into line with the group, he even mapped out several escape routes in his mind.

Those ahead were called one by one to remove their masks and present their IDs, with quiet whimpers of pleading and admissions of guilt rippling through the crowd from time to time.

Aside from police officers, personnel from other departments seemed to be present as well. Qin Bao casually glanced over, only to freeze on the spot as though struck by lightning.

Among the crowd was an intimately familiar silhouette; he almost thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.

Yet the moment that man turned his head, Qin Bao would recognize that stern, cold profile even if it were burned to ashes—

It was Feng Chengyu.

Feng Chengyu was still clad in a black overcoat, but his aura appeared far sharper than a few days prior. He seemed to be in a foul mood; that face, handsome enough to trend on social media, looked completely frozen over, dragging the surrounding temperature down by several icy degrees.

One by one…

It was Qin Bao’s turn.

Biting the bullet, he stepped forward, calculating in his mind that an unexpected encounter meant nothing. If his family was bound to find out he was fooling around here anyway, adding one Feng Chengyu to the mix wouldn’t make a difference.

“You. Take off the mask, show your ID.”

The officer beside Feng Chengyu, responsible for the check, said to Qin Bao.

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Author’s note:

Xiao Bao is an expert at provoking Brother Feng step by step until he turns completely dark.