CH 2

Ch. 02 Nice to touch.

Young Master Shi’s voice was not loud, even quite calm, but the DJ had just turned off all the background music because Young Master Jian was talking to someone.

So at this moment, the whole hall was extraordinarily quiet.

Everyone present heard the voice of Second Young Master Shi.

For a while, everyone reacted differently, with almost everyone trying to restrain their expressions, make them look even more weird.

Especially those who came for the sake of Second Young Master Shi, their expressions were even more weird.

Rumors say that this Jian Ren plays people to death, but this time they saw it with their own eyes, it seems that it was the second young master was playing with the other?

Those people who were used to holding Jian Ren on a high pedestal no longer had any kind of mood to watch the play, they were all shell shocked.

No, wasn’t it said that the second young master Shi is infatuated with young master Jian?

Why now…

But the most embarrassing thing was that while they looked at each other, a loud bang came from the door.

Someone turned to look and saw that the door of the hall was wide open, and a group of at least a dozen people in elaborate costumes stood at the door holding musical instruments.

The leader looked a little embarrassed, as he smiled apologetically, and hurriedly urged the team members to quickly pick up the metal tuning fork that fell from their hands.

It was the band who was invited to the birthday party, who arrived at this time and immediately witnessed the scene just now.

“…”

There was an eerie silence in the hall, and everyone couldn’t help but look at Jian Ren.

Jian Ren’s expression changed as soon as he heard that sentence, and his face became ashen with anger.

He is someone who is very arrogant and proud down to his bones and the most unbearable thing for a person like him is to lose face, not to mention in front of so many people!

Jian Ren’s veins on the back of his hand turned blue and looked as if they would burst out at any time. He was almost about to have a seizure on the spot, but his eyes accidentally got a glimpse of something that made him pause.

It was the diamond buttons on the second young master Shi’s white down jacket.

The bar was dimly lit, but those few light-colored buttons still reflected a little green light.

Jian Ren’s pupils shrank.

“Forest of Dreams”.

——That is a full set of diamond jewelry that was just sold at Christie’s in the Capital for a sky-high price of 20 million!

Natural colored diamonds are extremely rare, and are the highest-priced diamonds at auctions around the world, not to mention the highest vivid-colored diamonds.

During the auction that day, many VIP-level old customers made bids, but in the end, this item was taken by an anonymous guest.

Who would have thought that this set of high-priced diamond accessories would appear on a winter coat that the second young master of the Shi family used as a causal wear.

They were used as an inconspicuous decoration.

Green diamonds symbolize health and safety.

It is evident how much the Shi family dotes on this youngest son.

Jian Ren, who recognized the high-priced diamond jewelry, instantly restrained himself and forced himself to calm down.

He has to rely on Shi family to turn over.

After calming down, Jian Ren also realized the new problem.

Young Master Shi is someone who has not yet seen the world, how could he suddenly change his mind?

Eighty percent of this sentence was probably taught by someone else, the purpose must be to test him.

Thinking of this, Jian Ren suddenly sneered.

“Don’t provoke me in such a childish way.”

Jian Ren raised his eyebrows and finally opened his mouth.

Those pitch-black pupils stared at the boy in front of him, his voice low and cold.

“I won’t fall for this, Second Young Master Shi.”

After speaking coldly, Jian Ren turned around and clapped towards the band at the door, and announced coldly, “Come in, let’s start.”

Then he directly ignored second young master Shi.

The people who were afraid to even breath loudly finally breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Jian Ren respond like this.

Looking at this, young master Jian must still have the upper hand!

They relaxed, and curiously watched the reaction of the second young master Shi who had been defeated by young master Jian.

But the young master didn’t seem to feel the loss of being left behind, as he just found a single booth and sat down, that too far away from Jian Ren’s position.

The hall started buzzing again, the band was in place and the music was turned up.

Jian Ren had also invited a famous host to join the show. The lights flickered and the atmosphere rose, making people involuntarily follow the music and enter the rhythm.

Under the dim light, there were still all kinds of eyes looking at the lonely young master Shi.

The heater in the hall was fully turned on, and there were many people around, making the atmosphere a little stuffy. Young Master Shi took off his heavy outer coat, revealing his inner clothes.

In the bar, that too at night, the guests were dressed in a more flamboyant fashion, one could see leather and flesh-colored clothes adorned white flowers everywhere, which were looking particularly dazzling.

Shi Qingning was the only one who wore an apricot-colored cashmere sweater underneath the white down jacket, which gently wrapped his soft silhouette.

As the lights flashed, the boy’s short and soft hair reflected a golden warm color.

It was as if the loud and noisy music suddenly receded around him, leaving only the slender silhouette in the eyes of those who looked towards him.

He was the most eye-catching person that night.

If it was someone else, it will be out of place for them to dress up that way in a bar or a nightclub, but Young Master Shi made everyone around act as a background foil for him.

He didn’t make any movements, even his expression was calm, but those soft and warm eyes made people feel warm from the bottom of their hearts, and they couldn’t help but take another look.

But those who looked closely soon discovered new clues.

Young Master Shi was not only wearing a cashmere sweater, but also a silk shirt and a high-neck fleece, which was wrapped layer by layer around his body.

But even when he is dressed like this, he does not look bloated at all. On the contrary, the warm fleece clothes make him look thinner and slender.

Shi Qingning’s wrist that was exposed outside the cuff was extremely thin, with two shallow dimples sunken above his wrist bone, light blue blood vessels clearly exposed from the thin and extremely pale skin, with a needle still attached on the back of his left hand.

People who saw that, their breath immediately hitched, and their hearts suddenly felt as if it was squeezed by someone.

Jian Ren in the distance also saw the needle, and the little anger left in his chest disappeared.

Only a touch of unfamiliar sweetness remained.

He came to his birthday party without even taking the needle out.

Sure enough, he really loved him to death.

Shi Qingning didn’t know what the others were thinking. He was sorting out his thoughts and thinking about who the original version of Jian Ren’s low-end version might be.

But just as he started to think about it, the piercing pain from the back of his head struck again.

It was the same dizziness and pain when he had a nosebleed in front of his mother before.

Shi Qingning could only hold down his forehead and temporarily stop his thoughts.

Obviously, the memory area of the brain of this body has been greatly stimulated, and even recalling the memories can only be done passively.

Even Shi Qingning’s own memory has become hazy, so much that he can’t even recall where he read the novel or what the plot was.

Shi Qingning tapped his fingertips, intending to wait for this too weak body to recover before making plans.

Just as he was thinking, a waiter with a tray approached.

“Which one do you need?”

The wine glasses on the tray have been taken away by the other guests, and the remaining ones are all colorful mixed-color liquids.

It was naturally impossible for Shi Qingning to touch them.

“No, just give me a glass of mint water.”

With this weak body, Shi Qingning didn’t plan to drink anything outside, but since he was thinking about something, he habitually ordered mint water.

Before long, the waiter brought a glass of mint water.

Shi Qingning said, “Thank you.”

The waiter probably didn’t expect the other party to be so gentle, so he froze for a moment before smiling and replying, “You’re welcome, take it slow.”

He put the cup down, turned around and just walked a few steps, when a sudden force pushed him and slammed him directly into the wall.

“What are you doing?”

A red-haired man with narrow eyes grabbed the collar of the waiter. Although his voice was soft, his expression looked very sullen.

“Do you come to work here just to seduce customers?”

The waiter hurriedly shook his head, but before he could say anything, he was picked up and once again slammed against the wall, this time making a loud “bang!”

The sound was very obvious, even in the loud music, causing many people to look at them.

The waiter became speechless because of the pain, and was being scolded by the red hair at the same time.

“You bastard. Who are you smiling at?”

The movement here attracted a lot of attention, and when the red hair saw it, he looked around, raised his hand and pointed to Shi Qingning not far away.

“That one belongs to our brother Jian.”

“You… stay away from him!”

The surrounding noise was suppressed by his words, and everyone become silent.

Only then did the red hair curl his lips, revealing a satisfied smile.

This trick is called ‘swearing of ownership’ and they have used it many times in the past.

In the past, there were people who had been chasing after Jian Ren for a long time. Ultimately they were discouraged by his indifference and wanted to give up.

Although this ‘swearing of ownership’ made those people blush, but they felt that although Jian Ren looked cold on the surface, they had gained the approval of his friends, so Jian Ren possibly likes them too.

Such a strategy, which contrasts between hot and cold, with it’s effects being so excellent, who can remain unaffected till the end?

It was the same this time, but it was the first time that Hong Mao had used this trick so early.

After all, this young master is the one most recognized by young master Jian, and given what happened before, they decided to get to work.

The few people next to Hong Mao also echoed after him, they were all Jian Ren’s younger brothers, continuing their so called ‘swearing of ownership’ to the people around them.

“Listen to me clearly, don’t even show your face in front of Brother Jian’s person even if you know each other!”

When one of the young master next to him who wanted to make friends with Shi Qingning heard this, he could not help frowning secretly.

Does this mean that no one is allowed to approach Shi Qingning?

The innocently implicated waiter was even more unlucky.

“And you waiter, ah, your manners are no good, go, quickly call the manager and get him to deduct his salary!”

“Or, just get him fired!”

The younger brothers continued to shout, while not forgetting to observe Shi Qingning’s expression.

They had tried this trick before and expected the other party to readily fall for it.

And sure enough, second young master Shi’s eyes were completely focused on them, as he raised his eyebrows slightly.

It’s just that expression, it doesn’t look like that of joy and happiness that the younger brothers expected.

It’s like, he is looking at someone stupid.

Shi Qingning sighed, thinking that he has never seen such a pure-bred idiot. But thinking that this is in place with the most dog-blood novels, it is not so difficult to understand.

Shi Qingning tapped the wristband on his wrist, and the smart screen lit up to send a message. Not long after, a man in a black suit came over.

Hong Mao and a few others were used to being arrogant, and now that they had just finished giving their warning, they naturally refused to let anyone approach Shi Qingning. They immediately blocked him and started pushing the person.

“Who are you, didn’t you hear me when I said that no one is allowed to get close? Are you deaf… ah!!”

Before Hong Mao finished speaking, his arm was caught by the bodyguard, and without any warning was twisted back and pinned behind his back.

There was another loud sound of “Bang!”, after which Hong Mao’s screams stopped abruptly.

He hit the wall where the waiter had just been slammed.

That too facing the wall.

Others couldn’t help but feel a pain in their faces when they saw it, and the remaining few younger brothers were even more frightened and forgot to respond for a while.

The bodyguard, who didn’t give them a second look from the beginning to the end, directly walked to Shi Qingning’s side, leaned over and said respectfully.

“Second Young Master.”

Hearing that the crowd immediately reacted.

This is the person brought by Shi Qingning.

Then they saw that second young master Shi didn’t even give the red-haired man another glance but instead seriously discussed something with the bodyguard.

“Brother Sun, the temperature of the water that brother just sent is good. I want to give him a tip.”

The bodyguard immediately responded, “Okay, how much?”

Shi Qingning thought for a while and asked, “How much does the rabies vaccine cost?”

A little smile appeared in the eyes of the bodyguard who had always been unsmiling, but he still answered calmly.

“The total price of the three doses needed is roughly within a thousand yuan.”

Shi Qingning touched his chin.

This slightly mature and prudent action was made by him against that very obedient face, making the bodyguard want to fondle his hair.

Shi Qingning asked, “Getting a rabies vaccine after being bitten by a dog is useful, right?”

Finally someone next to him couldn’t help it and laughed out loud.

“Puchi”

This is clearly saying that the red-haired person and his lackeys are dogs.

It’s a cultural insult.

Done without using any swear words.

The bodyguard looked serious as he answered, “Yes.”

“Then a thousand.” Shi Qingning nodded and said to the waiter not far away, “You have worked hard, this can be counted as being injured while working.”

The waiter took the tip in a daze, and left while being accompanied by another bodyguard who appeared at an unknown time.

The few younger brothers left looked as if their faces were slapped red and swollen, so much that the people around almost couldn’t hold their laughter.

Hong Mao was knocked into half-daze, and finally left in embarrassment with the help of a few people. The rest of the younger brothers didn’t dare to look at Jian Ren’s expression in the distance, because of which they didn’t realize that there was not much anger on Jian Ren’s face at this time.

On the contrary, it had a rare sense of playfulness.

When there was a commotion going on here, Jian Ren’s eyes were on Shi Qingning from beginning to the end.

Seeing the boy’s reaction, he was even more interested.

It felt like a young kitten that had always been playing in the palms of his hands, suddenly learned how to bear it’s teeth.

A sharp-toothed little thing.

Jian Ren laughed lightly.

Interesting.

Shi Qingning didn’t know what Jian Ren was thinking.

Fortunately, he didn’t know, otherwise he would have spit out all the mint water that he finally drank.

Jian Ren’s younger brothers didn’t dare to make a sound. The people who watched the good show maintained their polite expressions, and the hall was filled with faint atmosphere of embarrassment for a while.

There were two accidents in a row, and it took a bit of effort for even the experienced host to bring the scene back to life.

Fortunately, the birthday party finally started, and as it went on, the scene became much more orderly.

Several invited bands played in sequence, and the venue was full of excitement.

The full volume music made everyone feel as if they were in the middle of the stage performing. This effect was absolutely magnificent, but it will inevitably have an impact on Shi Qingning’s weak body.

The bodyguard standing next to the single booth was always paying attention to the situation of the young master besides him. Although they were still some distance away from the dance floor in the middle, it was still too noisy.

Young Master Shi’s eyes have been going all over the place. He doesn’t know what he is looking at. As soon as he frowned, the bodyguard immediately leaned over, “Are you feeling uncomfortable?”

Shi Qingning returned to his senses and shook his head. Just as he was about to speak, his voice was overshadowed by the host who suddenly came on stage in the distance.

“Thank you for the wonderful performance of the NM band! Next, let’s invite today’s birthday star-“

The ear-piercing stereo sound was like a rippling water wave spreading across the whole bar, as the chase lights [1] hit the stage along with the sound waves.

Standing there was Jian Ren, who was wearing a black turtleneck and sleeveless leather jacket. He was holding a platinum-gold lacquered guitar and looking down at the audience.

The dazzling light fell on the man, and the strong muscle lines on his two arms became more and more obvious.

There was a small exclamation from the audience.

The host continued to introduce with a smile, “Everyone knows that Young Master Jian is a talented student from the Alliston School of Music. He usually does not take the stage easily. Today let’s take the advantage of this birthday party to have the honor to hear him play in person.”

“This is a song personally composed by Young Master Jian, called—”

“New Life.” Jian Ren’s cold voice cut off the host’s words.

Those silent black eyes looked down at the stage. The man’s voice still cold as usual.

“To celebrate my birthday today.”

Jian Ren paused for a moment before speaking meaningfully.

“And to give it to someone.”

Everyone listened with bated breath, just waiting for a name.

But Jian Ren just stopped there, flicked his fingertips, and started playing directly.

“Ding—”

He knows.

Jian Ren raised the corners of his lips.

As long as he didn’t complete the sentence, it will be more appealing to people’s hearts, itching to speculate his remaining words.

The music suddenly started, and across the crowd, Jian Ren’s eyes fell directly on the boy sitting alone on the booth in the distance——

There, second young master Shi was also looking at him.

Jian Ren clearly knew the other party’s intentions, and every move of Shi Qingning deepened the realisation of how much the other party liked him.

Jian Ren still remembers that when the two met for the first time, it was a piece of music that attracted the attention of second young master Shi.

He seemed to love the way Jian Ren played music. At that time, it was just a few tunes played by Jian Ren, which attracted all of his attention.

Now he personally wrote a song for him, and according to him, Shi Qingning will definitely be surprised and moved.

Sure enough, from the first sound of the guitar, young master Shi has been watching the him intently.

Jian Ren did not show anything on his face, but he was extremely happy in his heart.

He never thought that the music, which he was forced to study, will now play such a big role.

The Jian family is a wealthy family in the Capital. The family has a big business and many children. In the generation of Jian Ren alone, counting all the branches of the main house, there are more than 20 people.

They fought so hard just to win the favor of Old Master Jian. And Jian Ren was one of those defeated and kicked out of the Capital.

But among so many juniors, there is only one person who is favored by Old Master Jian.

That man was even a few years younger than Jian Ren, but Jian Ren’s treatment was vastly different from his.

Just because the man could play a few songs and was repeatedly praised by the old man, Jian Ren was forced by his parents to learn music.

Jian Ren has been brooding over this matter since then, but he did not expect that one day the same music would come in such a good use.

With the Shi family’s funds and status in Haicheng, he will definitely be able to make everyone look up to him when he returns to the Capital.

Jian Ren thought about it, feeling more and more lucky. His movements became more and more wanton and, and he even jumped off the high stage with one step, and strode into the crowd amid the exclamations of the crowd.

People swayed wildly with the music, and the atmosphere rose to the highest level.

In the end, Jian Ren ended the song with a perfect portamento [2].

The crowd cheered and clapped. While panting Jian Ren ignored the smiling faces who came up to him to congratulate him and instead shook his sweaty forehead, as he passed through the crowd that automatically made space for him, and went straight towards Second Young Master Shi.

The eyes of everyone in the hall turned.

Jian Ren raised his head, with water droplets dripping from his sweaty forehead, making him look extra sensual.

He raised the corners of his lips, his slightly hoarse voice sounding magnetic.

“Do you understand my ‘heart’?”

The young master in front of him sat on the booth and looked up at him obediently. His expression and posture made Jian Ren feel his throat becoming even more hoarse.

The young master’s voice was as soft as ever.

“I don’t understand.”

He said.

“But I heard a wrong note in the song.”

“…”

The smile on Jian Ren’s face instantly solidified.

The crowded hall fell into a momentary silence at the same time.

Only Young Master Shi still looked as usual, as he raised his hand and rubbed his ears.

When Shi Qingning heard Jian Ren playing the guitar, he realized that Jian Ren’s ability to play music was very similar to that person.

But Jian Ren was obviously playing it half-heartedly, and the music school is probably also a hoax. Shi Qingning listened to the whole song carefully, but the sound of the music was so bad that Shi Qingning wasn’t able to recall anything at all [3].

Also made his ears suffer.

Others didn’t have Shi Qingning’s indifferent mentality, and the host even had a stiff face, and said with a dry smile.

“This, did this little gentleman hear it wrong? This is an original song by Sir Jian…”

Shi Qingning didn’t even lift his eyes.

“Starting from the sixth beat, it is a melody from “Croatian Rhapsody” [4], which is directly copied and used.”

“So he played it wrong.”

“Enough!”

Jian Ren’s face was blue and white, and in front of everyone, his expression finally turned cold.

“What exactly do you want to do by doing this?”

Shi Qingning straightened his sleeves and stood up, showing no regrets for his previous behavior.

“I want to go back.”

He really intends to go, because he found out that he can’t get useful information here.

This scumbag is full of scattered pieces of information, and now that he has spent almost the same amount of time as the other guests in the hall, Shi Qingning, just surveyed all of them, and no one made him feel familiar, one who could be of any help to him.

Besides, he has just been discharged from the hospital today, so it is better to go back to rest early than to stay in this smoky place.

Shi Qingning’s tone was too indifferent, and Jian Ren suddenly had an ominous premonition.

He even began to suspect that the other party was really going to leave, and subconsciously wanted to take a step forward.

But before he could move, the tall and powerful bodyguard next to Shi Qingning had already turned his head, and his sharp-edged eyes stabbed straight at Jian Ren.

That line of sight made Jian Ren feel that if it weren’t for the public, he might really have been cut alive by this bodyguard.

“No, I’m sorry…”

Just when the situation was in a deadlocked, a chubby middle-aged man with the appearance of a manager finally squeezed in from behind the crowd, and kept apologizing while wiping away his sweat.

“I’m sorry, sorry for causing trouble to the two of you.”

The middle-aged manager was called when the waiter had an accident, and only now did he get the opportunity to speak up. He knew the background of the guests in front of him, and he couldn’t afford to offend either of them.

Things were really messed up, and he still wanted to continue operating the bar in the future.

So in a hurry, the manager quickly came forward to smooth things out.

“You two, don’t be impatient, I’m really sorry, it was the kid who was in charge of bringing the guitar tonight who made a mistake and delayed the young master’s performance. It’s the one by the wall!”

The manager said and pointed into the distance, and pushed the pot [5] directly to the new staff member.

He remembered that the young man had just been brought to the backstage tonight. He seemed to be a helper, and looked easy to deal with later.

“He brought the wrong guitar, I’m so sorry, we’ll deal with it right away…”

The manager was still making up excuses, but the beam of light in the hall spun, and one of them swept across the wall, finally illuminating the face of the young boy beside the wall.

As soon as that face appeared in its entirety, the light in everyone’s field of vision dimmed.

It was as if time had suddenly slowed down, with traces of astonishment clearly visible on many faces.

The light beam moved away in an instant, and the young man disappeared into the surrounding darkness again.

But that unforgettable face continued to linger in front of everyone’s eyes.

Many people looked as if they were in a daze, and turned to look at Shi Qingning’s face, only to finally feel a sense of reality after seeing it.

They can’t believe that they had seen two peerless faces in one night.

Most of the people in the hall were stunned by the beauty one after another, only Jian Ren, who was blocked by the manager, didn’t look at the wall the first time.

He knew that the manager was looking for an excuse for him, and as he was going to stay in Haicheng in the future, Jian Ren was willing to give this much face to the other party, and he was also too lazy to care about a little helper.

It was only because so many people looked at the wall that Jian Ren raised his head and glanced at that place in random.

But the next second, his pupils shrank, as he kept staring at that figure.

Jian Ren slowly narrowed his eyes.

Long hair?

He let out a low, cold voice.

“Your mother [6], laozi [7] is most disgusted with these long-haired men.”

After scolding, Jian Ren roughly pushed aside the crowd and walked towards the young man.

Shi Qingning also saw the man by the wall.

The moment the light swept across, he happened to see the other party’s face clearly.

With just that one glance, a loud bang exploded in Shi Qingning’s ear.

For a moment, Shi Qingning even felt as if he was being hit by an invisible force, and his consciousness was instantly blasted out of his body.

What pulled him back to his senses was the sharp throbbing pain at the corner of his forehead, and the sore itching at the tip of his nose.

Having experienced a nosebleed when he first woke up, Shi Qingning touched his nose and mouth subconsciously.

There was indeed fresh blood in the palm of his hand.

Shi Qingning calmed down, and skillfully took out the nasal hemostatic plug from his pocket and stuffed it in.

He was used to it and didn’t feel anything, but he made the bodyguard beside him tense.

“You have a nosebleed again?”

The bodyguard frowned and asked in a low voice.

“Do you want to go back? Is your heart uncomfortable?”

Shi Qingning shook his head and casually gave a reason, “It’s okay, it’s just a beauty.”

Bodyguard: “…”

Thinking of the young master’s previous obsession with Jian Ren of the same sex, the bodyguard couldn’t help but give birth to another kind of worry.

Shi Qingning pressed his forehead with his knuckles and looked up at the wall.

The light over there was still dim, and the young man’s face was hidden in the dimness, and his expression could not be seen clearly.

But Shi Qingning had already harvested enough.

While digesting this wave of pain, he also received information that poured into his mind.

Much more memory than when he saw Jian Ren.

That’s right, Shi Qingning noticed the young man at first sight.

This is the person that Jian Ren looks like.

It’s just that Shi Qingning thought in the wrong direction before. He perceived the existence of this person, not because of how much he influences Young Master Shi.

But because he is the protagonist of the novel.

Bai Yexi.

Shi Qingning had seen the film when it was made, so when he saw the protagonist’s face, he recalled a lot of things, such as the main storyline of the novel.

This is a downright shitty novel.

Young Master Shi was just an unknown little supporting role in the book, who met a big idiot like Jian Ren.

But the miserable experience of the protagonist is even more than a hundred times than that of second young master Shi’s.

The novel seems to have poured all the dog-blood on this person without any care. It is absolutely illogical and unscrupulous.

A disaster like today has long been a common occurrence for the protagonist.

The light beams were turned off, and the surrounding lights were turned on in the hall, so the figures of the people beside the wall were fully revealed.

Although the place was very crowded but the protagonist was able to easily stand out, making him became everyone’s absolute focus.

Shi Qingning also saw him at the first glance.

After taking a closer look, he remembered that the protagonist, Bai Yexi, had long hair that was extremely rare among boys.

There was a lot of noise and whispering, and Jian Ren with a gloomy face was walking towards the wall. Obviously at such a tense and noisy moment, for no reason, an untimely thought suddenly popped into Shi Qingning’s mind.

He didn’t notice it when he read the novel and saw the movie before.

Shi Qingning didn’t realize it until he saw it for real.

——That dark black, iconic long hair that belongs to Bai Yexi alone.

…seems nice to touch?

___________________________________

T/N: A small heads-up…

As most of the chapters of this novel are quite long, almost double of what I usually translate (some are even triple), from next chapter onwards I’ll be splitting up chapters whose word-count exceeds 7000 Chinese characters which is roughly around 4500-5000 English words.

For reference, the first chapter had 8049 Chinese characters and this second chapter has 7744 Chinese characters.

P.S. The word-count data is from jjwxc.

Thank you for your understanding (⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠)