Choose Me This Time - Chapter 2

I ignored Pei Lang.

Behind him, Bai Chuan slowly opened his eyes. A pair of serpentine pupils regarded me with cold indifference.

I held his gaze and promised with absolute conviction, “Come with me. I’ll cure you.”

Bai Chuan’s bloodless lips pressed into a thin line. Bracing his arms against the floor, he crawled toward me with determination.

He stopped at my feet and looked steadily up at me.

I crouched and touched his face. “I’m taking you home.”

Pei Lang rushed forward and seized my hand. “Choose me! You’re supposed to choose me! He’s almost dead—what do you want with him?”

That confirmed it.

Pei Lang had been reborn too.

Before I could lose my temper, Bai Chuan frowned. His bloodstained tail coiled around Pei Lang and flung him away with one vicious snap.

Pei Lang slammed hard into the wall.

Bai Chuan’s gaze turned savage. “Come near her again, and I’ll kill you.”

The sight of Pei Lang clutching his chest filled me with delight. In a splendid mood, I pinched Bai Chuan’s cheek.

“Impressive.”

Bai Chuan’s lashes quivered, and he quickly lowered his eyes.

After Father paid, he had each of us take our chosen beastkin home.

Left behind in the cage, Pei Lang kept shouting my name. I looked at the bodyguard beside me with feigned annoyance.

“He’s so noisy.”

The bodyguard understood at once. “I know what to do.”

My lips curved.

Any beastkin not purchased at the black market was sent to perform in the beast-fighting arena. That place was hell on earth.

I could hardly wait.

My good mood lasted all the way home.

Since beastkin would eventually become our mates, Father spared no expense on their upbringing. Manuals and medicinal supplies poured into my room in an endless stream.

Bai Chuan’s injuries were not severe, but his congenital illness slowed his recovery.

That only made me more curious about how he had survived the arena in my previous life.

Perhaps my stare was too blatant, because Bai Chuan’s face gradually turned red.

“M-Master, do you have any orders?”

I arched a brow at the address.

I had indulged Pei Lang too much in my previous life. He had always called me directly by name.

Being called “Master” had a certain charm.

I tossed the medicine to him. “Apply it yourself.”

Bai Chuan caught it and nodded obediently.

After a few days of care, he could maintain his human form again and had shot up in height.

Beastkin really did grow quickly.

One day, Father came to tell me that a beastkin with extraordinary medical skill had recently arrived in the city. She was one of the merfolk.

Her name was Meng Xi, and she could treat both beastkin and humans.

Father told me to take Bai Chuan to see her.

Merfolk were born with powerful healing abilities. Whether the affliction was mental or physical, a patient treated by their hands could be restored to health.

Father turned to leave as soon as he finished, so I hurriedly asked the question that had been troubling me.

“Father, beastkin and humans aren’t equals. Why does our family insist that we take beastkin as mates?”

Father sighed. “Cheng Yi, remember this: no one can rival the loyalty of a beastkin.”

“Whether you can make one loyal to you depends entirely on your own ability.”

He waved a hand and said no more.

Of course I knew how rare a beastkin’s loyalty was.

But in a world like this, how could loyalty be so easily won?

Wasn’t the family gambling with our lives?

Only after Father disappeared from view did I turn back, call Bai Chuan from my room, and take him to Meng Xi.

This was Bai Chuan’s first time outside, and he seemed fascinated by everything on the street.

“Master, what’s that?”

“Ice cream.”

I bought him one.

“Master, what’s that?”

“An amusement park.”

“Master…”

I was starting to lose patience. “I’ll teach you to read when we get home. Then you’ll know.”

“All right.”

Bai Chuan’s eyes curved with his smile as he followed close behind me.

I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. He ate the ice cream absently, clearly disliking it, while his gaze darted rapidly over our surroundings.

A crack had appeared in the careful disguise he had maintained all along.

He did not trust or depend on me nearly as much as he pretended. He was wary of me.

He might even intend to use me.

Well. What else should I have expected from him?

We soon reached the place Father had mentioned.

I had imagined a glittering high-rise. After all, humans both feared and respected capable beastkin.

Instead, I found an utterly ordinary little courtyard. If it had not been packed with people, I would never have believed we had the right place.

When we entered, I saw Pei Lang.

He rested weakly in a girl’s arms, drawing more breaths out than in.

As if sensing me, Pei Lang opened his eyes and spotted me at once.

That single look brimmed with grievance.

He forced himself upright in the girl’s arms and gazed at me eagerly, his eyes red at the corners.

The next second, a hand covered my eyes, cutting off our stare.

Bai Chuan’s cold voice carried a trace of anger. “Don’t look at him. Shameless fox.”

I laughed and pulled his hand away.

“Go get in line.”

Of course I knew Pei Lang was using his fox enchantment.

But he could no longer bewitch me. First, I felt nothing for him but hatred and suspicion. Second, his enchantment was still immature.

Bai Chuan studied me doubtfully for another moment before finally going to join the line.

I found a shaded spot to rest, took out my phone, and asked my bodyguard what had happened to Pei Lang.

He replied almost immediately. On Pei Lang’s first day in the arena, he had charmed a girl into taking a fancy to him. Her father was one of Father’s business partners, and her name was Tang Xue.

When the black market saw how determined Tang Xue was to buy him, they deliberately raised the price. She did not have enough money and had gone home for several days to gather it.

During that time, at my bodyguard’s prompting, nearly every beastkin Pei Lang faced had been exceptionally vicious.

Tang Xue returned just as he was on the brink of death and bought him.

I understood. His grave wounds must have been why she had brought him here for treatment.

I gave Tang Xue a closer look. Her rosy face was pure and sweet, without the slightest hint of cunning.

No wonder Pei Lang had captivated her.

He truly would never change.