Chapter 65: Jiang Liannan
Old Wu was all smiles, which made for complicated feelings.
All of a sudden, Fu Changyin felt that Old Wu and Lao Si were half a catty, eight taels, neither had any right to call the other out.
One had strung along his own brother for over a decade, never refusing, never committing, and never taking responsibility. The other had gotten with his brother’s son and still wouldn’t back off after getting caught.
Was being their brother difficult?
Simply too difficult.
Although Fu Changyin kept threatening that if Jiang Liannan didn’t break up with Chen Can he’d tattle to Old Wu, when it really came to the moment of choice, he wasn’t certain he’d speak up.
Mainly because all along everyone knew their Lao Si had such a hard time these years and it was all Old Wu’s doing.
So yes, Lao Si getting with Chen Can was wrong, but Old Wu had no one to blame.
Call it heaven’s long view: retribution doesn’t fail to come, it just wasn’t time yet.
“Wu-ge…” Su Ye’s voice drifted over. Like Jiang Liannan, she called him Wu-ge. “Lunch is ready. Let everyone come eat.”
“Alright, got it.” Chen Wuhou answered, then turned to his two brothers. “Come on, let’s eat.”
“Sure!” Feng Mantang volunteered, “I’ll go upstairs and call Lao Si and the eldest nephew.”
“Don’t.” Fu Changyin stopped him. “I’ll go.” He stood. If loudmouthed Old Second saw something he shouldn’t and blurted it out, they’d be finished.
“It should be me.” Su Ye smiled gently. “Wu-ge, bring Second and Third Brother in to sit. I’ll go call them.”
She turned and went upstairs. Four months along and still light on her feet.
“Uh…” Fu Changyin frowned, but Chen Wuhou hooked an arm around his shoulder and steered him to the dining room.
“Go, go, let Su Ye handle it.” One arm around each brother, Old Wu beamed. “How about a little wine today?”
“Nope, we drove ourselves,” Feng Mantang waved him off and sat. “Old Yin, what’s with you? You look spaced out.”
“It’s nothing.” Fu Changyin shook his head at once.
Upstairs, Su Ye reached the door to her stepson’s room. She heard… suspicious sounds. She lowered the hand preparing to knock and pressed her ear to the door to listen.
“In a few days you’ll start school. What am I supposed to do then?” That was Jiang Liannan’s voice. “Are we not going to see each other for a long time?”
“How could that be?” Li Dong’s voice was unbelievably gentle. “I probably won’t choose to live on campus.” Su Ye had never received such gentle treatment.
“Then you’ll rent a place?” Jiang’s tone went syrupy sweet, totally unlike usual. “Can-can, how about I buy you an apartment near campus…”
Su Ye’s heart jerked.
“Buy an apartment?” Li Dong sounded hesitant.
“Yeah, and put both our names on it,” Jiang said, making Su Ye slap a hand over her mouth. “I want our names printed together on the deed. Doesn’t that mean something?”
“Haha,” Li Dong said. “Works for me. I’ll check how much private cash I’ve got and buy with you.” If both names were on it, Uncle couldn’t be the only one paying.
“Okay, we’ll do what you say.” Jiang’s delight bubbled over.
Su Ye couldn’t listen anymore. She was also afraid to keep the men downstairs waiting. “Fourth Brother, Chen Can, time to eat.”
“Coming,” they answered.
The door opened. Li Dong’s tall frame filled the doorway. “Thanks for the trouble.” Behind him, Jiang’s eyes were still a touch heated, but he no longer looked like he’d been acting spoiled with Li Dong just now.
“It’s nothing.” Flustered, Su Ye turned and led the way.
Jiang Liannan had no feelings about Su Ye. Right now, he fundamentally had no mind to think about Chen Wuhou’s broken affairs. His heart and eyes were full of the little boyfriend in front with whom he was getting hot and heavy.
After all, he had desperately loved Chen Wuhou for over ten years. Only recently did he learn what romance tasted like.
But the more he thought, the more panicky he got. The age gap lay on his chest like a stone he couldn’t breathe under.
“Can-can.” The more he worried, the less settled he felt. “Hey…” He couldn’t help tugging Li Dong’s sleeve from behind.
“Be good.” Li Dong looked back and soothed him.
Su Ye, ears keen and eyes scheming, strained to listen.
“There are a few good complexes near Z University…” Jiang kept whispering, voice very small.
Su Ye couldn’t hear clearly but was unwilling to give up.
“Don’t talk.” Li Dong raised his voice to normal. “Watch the stairs.” He’d clearly noticed someone ahead eavesdropping.
Startled by the warning, Su Ye missed a step.
“Ah—” She pitched forward. In a flash, her left hand grabbed Li Dong’s shirt.
“Can-can!” Jiang yelled as he watched the two of them tumble down the stairs.
Li Dong reacted fast. After two rolls, he caught a railing with one hand and snagged Su Ye’s dress strap with the other.
Rrrip, the flimsy cotton strap snapped, and Su Ye kept rolling.
“Can-can…” Jiang saw only Li Dong. He ran down and hauled him up. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”
“I’m fine.” Li Dong bared his teeth and looked at the pregnant woman below. “Get the car!” Even with the mid-stair catch, Su Ye hadn’t landed light.
“What happened?” The racket brought the three men from the dining room.
“Su Ye?” Chen Wuhou ran over. “An ambulance, call an ambulance!”
“The child... Brother Wu, quickly save the child...” Su Ye lay on the ground, expression twisted in pain.
“I-I, I’ll call r-right now…” Hands shaking, Feng Mantang dialed 120.
“We can’t wait.” Li Dong said, “We’ll drive her. Uncle already went for the car.” He limped down the last steps, left ankle throbbing every time it touched down.
“Can-can!” Old Wu looked at his son. “How did Su Ye fall?” Even as he asked, suspicion scorched through him: had Jiang done something?
“She must’ve missed a step,” Li Dong said, then snapped, “Dad, this isn’t the time. Pick her up and get her to the hospital.”
“Right, Old Wu, the baby comes first.” Feng Mantang was spinning in place.
“Here, together.” Fu Changyin didn’t care about formalities. He bent and lifted Su Ye’s legs.
Feng Mantang grabbed her hips. The three of them got her into the car, Old Wu climbing into the back to brace her.
“Drive!” Old Wu barked.
“Can-can’s almost here. Wait for him,” Jiang said, eyes glued to his limping husband. He barely spared Su Ye a glance.
“Okay, go.” Li Dong slipped into the passenger seat.
“How’s your leg?” Jiang’s worry spiked as he floored it. “Did you twist it?”
“Yeah. Twisted it.” Li Dong hissed through his teeth.
“Faster!” In back, Old Wu was livid. His wife was cramping and Jiang was obsessing over his son’s ankle. Wasn’t the priority obvious?
“I’m already at max.” Jiang rolled his eyes. “You want faster? Drive it yourself.”
“You!” Old Wu gaped. He could hardly believe Jiang was talking back to him.
“Say less,” Li Dong cut in.
“…,” Jiang obediently closed his mouth.
“Wu-ge…” Su Ye whimpered, clutching her belly.
At that, Old Wu had no mind for Jiang and his infuriating son. “What is it, does it hurt a lot?”
He checked for bleeding at once.
Li Dong grabbing Su Ye’s shoulder strap on the stairs was very important. Without that moment of cushioning, Su Ye might already be bleeding rivers now instead of simply having the pregnancy disturbed.
Their car led. Feng and Fu’s cars followed.
“Heaven help,” Feng Mantang scrubbed his face. “Please let mother and child be safe.” The big guy felt a storm brewing and didn’t have words for it.
“Dear god,” Fu Changyin felt ice-cold. “Old Wu’s family this time… sigh…” Even if Jiang hadn’t caused the tumble, it would be tied to him. If their affair with Chen Can blew too… all hell would break loose.
At the hospital, Feng and Fu were still on their way. Li Dong couldn’t move easily. “Uncle, go help.”
“Mm.” Jiang jumped out, helped Old Wu haul Su Ye in.
Doctors and nurses pulled over a hospital bed and in three moves sent Su Ye into the emergency room to begin emergency treatment.
Catching his breath, Jiang turned to run.
“Where are you going?” Old Wu asked.
“Didn’t you see Can-can twist his ankle?” Jiang bristled. “Stay here with your wife. I’m taking him to get checked.”
“Hey…” Old Wu frowned. A strange feeling circled in his heart.
Jiang shouldn’t be this good to Chen Can. Not this good.
“Can-can?” Jiang spotted his limping boyfriend in the lobby and ran to him. “Come on, lean on me. Let’s check that ankle.”
“No need. Just a twist.” Li Dong slung an arm over Jiang’s shoulders. “Help me to the ER doors. I need to say something to my dad.”
At the ER, Old Wu was pacing, eyes locked on the door.
Li Dong didn’t believe he loved Su Ye that much. She was probably a case of a woman made precious by a child.
“Dad,” Li Dong called. “Since we’re here, do you want to get a paternity test?”
“…,” Old Wu turned and took in his son balancing on one foot. A prickle of guilt. “How’s the ankle? Why aren’t you with a doctor?”
He didn’t answer the test directly.
“It’s nothing serious.” Li Dong sat. “Don’t overthink the fall. Neither of us touched her. It was an accident.”
Then he frowned. “We’ve got cameras at home, right? If you’re doubtful, check them later.”
“You make it sound too heavy.” Old Wu said, “How would I distrust you two?” The mention of cameras jogged his memory.
Where there are cameras, lies don’t get far.
“Then about the paternity test…”
“Alright, I’ll arrange it.” He nodded.
Watching his son, he felt the boy had grown and complicated. Not the simple kid he’d been.
Bringing it up again and again only meant the eldest feared a little brother would fight him for inheritance.
Old Wu thought, it’s impossible that I’ll only have one child. Even if it’s not the one in Su Ye’s belly, there’ll be others.
The firstborn’s heart is narrow. He can’t even tolerate a much younger brother.
A bit later, Feng and Fu arrived. “Old Wu, how is it?”
“Still in emergency.” Old Wu paced outside. “Old Feng, Old Yin, go on back. You’re just wasting time here. Having Lao Si and Can-can here is enough”
Feng considered it since sister-in-law was in the ER and there wasn’t much he could do anyway. “Alright, I won’t be polite. Call me if anything happens.”
“Sure,” Old Wu said. “Old Yin, you too.”
“Huh?” Fu jerked and deliberately didn’t look at the nephew and brother lined up on the bench. “Oh. I’ll head back.”
But worry gnawed at him, leaving three dangerously entangled people here.
“Uncle Yin, Uncle Feng, get home safe,” Li Dong waved.
“Mm…” As soon as Fu left, he pulled out his phone and DM’d Jiang.
“Tell me the truth, are you two together again?!” Under Old Wu’s nose, sitting shoulder to shoulder. Practically kissing in public!
Jiang: “Third Brother, please, I’m begging you. About me and Can-can, turn a blind eye. Don’t interfere, okay?”
Fu: “You dmbss. Keep playing like this and you’ll wreck yourself sooner or later!”
Pig-brained Old Fourth. Throwing himself at a fire he knows will burn him.
Jiang: “…”
Fu: “You’re a grown man. Can you restrain yourself and do what you’re supposed to do?” Pushing forty and nothing to your name, always living in fantasies.
Was Old Wu someone he should’ve loved?
Was Chen Can someone he should love now?
Jiang: “You can scold me. You’re right.” The first half of his life had clearly been fed to dogs, living very unsuccessfully. “But I don’t have restraint. I like him.”
Fu: “Bullsh**!”
Fu: “Don’t restrain yourself then. Give it a few years, or not even that. When this blows up, or Can-can dumps you, you’ll learn what ‘die’ means.”
Jiang could lose face. The Jiang family still had face to lose.
The Jiangs and Chens had been family friends for generations. The relationship had to go on. Of course their elders needed face.
Jiang: “Can-can won’t dump me.” He didn’t have the guts to back that up, but he refused to admit his panic to Fu.
Fu: “Keep daydreaming. When Can-can’s in his prime, you’ll already be in your fifties and sixties, Jiang Liannan.”
Expect a man in his prime to tend an old man? Use your toes and think.
“What are you looking at?” Li Dong noticed Jiang’s change in expression and leaned over.
“Nothing.” Jiang flinched away.
Head bowed, his eyes were red.
“Let me see.” Li Dong took the phone.
A quick scan, and his brows drew together. He tapped, created a tiny group chat with himself, Jiang, and Fu.
Chen Can: “Uncle Yin, don’t try to scare Uncle Nan with age. It’s not that fatal.”
The open declaration scared Jiang silly. He hurried to DM Fu: “Second Brother, don’t tell Can-can how old I am.”
Fu wanted to kneel from sheer exasperation. “You can’t even admit your age. Where do you find the confidence to think you can last?”
He wrote in the small group: “Can-can, do you know how old your Uncle Nan is? How can you say age isn’t a problem? Can you really take care of him into old age?”
Jiang flipped his phone face down on his knee, shoulders shaking. He didn’t dare look.
Chen Can: “I know. He’s thirty-five. When I’m thirty, he’ll be forty-five. When I’m forty, he’ll be fifty-five. I know all of it.”
Fu sat in his car, stunned. “That only makes you sound more glib. I don’t believe you’ll still feel the same at forty.”
Right now he couldn’t even tell how much the nephew felt for Old Fourth.
Chen Can: “I know nothing I say will convince you, Uncle Yin. Unless twenty years from now I’m still with him.”
Fu: “At least you understand. Your statuses are too sensitive. The age gap’s too big. No one around you will support this.”
Jiang steeled himself and peeked at the screen.
Reading Li Dong’s lines, he clenched the phone in a white-knuckled grip, but couldn’t bring himself to look at the man beside him.
Chen Can: “Then they won’t support us. In the days to come, Uncle will have me. That’s enough.”
The chat ended. Jiang’s fingers trembled uncontrollably, no matter how he tried to stop them.
“Hand,” Li Dong said quietly, glancing down.
“It’s fine.” Jiang forced a goofy smile. “It’ll stop on its own in a bit.”
About half an hour later, the ER doors opened and Su Ye was wheeled out.
“Doctor, how is she?” Old Wu stepped up.
“Stable for now. She needs to be admitted for observation,” the doctor said.
Then they escorted Su Ye to a private room.
Li Dong’s ankle wasn’t good, and Uncle was miles away in his head. He sighed. “Dad, since she’s out of danger, Uncle and I will head home. If you need anything, call us.”
“Alright.” With Su Ye safe, Old Wu finally relaxed a fraction. “I’ve got it here. Get that ankle looked at. Don’t ignore it.”
“Mm.” Li Dong gave Uncle’s butt a pinch, cueing him to say goodbye.
“Wu-ge, I’ll see Can-can home,” Jiang said with righteous gravity, shamelessly glued to his man while he was off his feet.
“Go.” Old Wu looked from him to Su Ye and chose to sit by his wife. That was his wife and child. Jiang had always been just a beautiful view.
Suddenly, he remembered his son’s suggestion. “Su-su, lie back and rest. I’ll go ask the doctor a few things.” He stepped out and found her attending physician.
Pale and exhausted, Su Ye dozed for a while. When she woke, a nurse came to draw amniotic fluid for testing.
“Nurse, what test is that?” she asked.
“Routine examination,” the nurse said.
Old Wu returned with two middle-aged caregivers. “Su-su, you’re awake?” He motioned at the women. “They’ll look after you.”
“And you?” she asked softly.
“I’ll stay with you too,” he said, heart softening as he sat. “I’ll go home tonight.”
He’d never truly loved Su Ye, but she was young and pretty. He knew he wasn’t a man who could love someone with his whole heart.
A man still needs a home in the end. Marrying Su Ye was the best choice.
“Mm…” Su Ye bit her lip. “Wu-ge, I fell today because I wasn’t careful. But…”
“Hold on, I need to take this.” He saw it was his son and picked up immediately. “Can-can, what is it?”
“Dad, my ankle’s twisted and I can’t get around,” Li Dong said. “I’m going to stay at Uncle Nan’s for a few days so he can help me out.”
“Won’t that be too much trouble?” Old Wu frowned. “Your uncle’s warm-hearted, but there’s still the old man at home. It’s not good to impose.”
“Uncle says it’s fine,” Li Dong said.
“Then…” Old Wu thought it over and said, “Make sure you remember your uncle’s kindness.” He still assumed Old Fourth hadn’t given up on him and was now making a play at his son.
He’d often thought, if he didn’t so deeply dislike a man’s backside, maybe he’d have given in to Lao Si long ago.
“Wu-ge…” Su Ye asked, “do you know Fourth Brother likes Chen Can?”
“Huh?” For a moment Old Wu didn’t react. Lao Si liked Can-can?
Impossible.
She was too young to see who Lao Si really liked. Hadn’t seen that what Laosi liked was precisely the man before her eyes, loving for over ten years, unable to shake off even if you tried.
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