Chapter 66: Jiang Liannan
As a young woman just over twenty facing a forty-year-old man, his mindset was most likely treating her as a child.
“Really.” Su Ye tugged Chen Wuhou’s sleeve. “When I went upstairs to call them for lunch, I accidentally overheard them being all lovey-dovey, and Fourth Brother even said he was going to buy Chen Can an apartment.”
Well, there it was.
Jiang Liannan wanted to please Chen Can, hurrying to buy him a place. What was so strange about that?
“Su-su, don’t overthink it.” Chen Wuhou wrapped his young wife’s fingers in his palm. “Old Fourth has always been good to Can-can. Don’t worry, he isn’t that kind of person.”
Lao Si had liked Chen Wuhou for years, but he didn’t believe for a second that Su Ye knew, and he certainly wasn’t about to tell her.
In his mind, Su Ye was a simple, straightforward, gentle girl.
“Wu-ge…” Su Ye fumed inside, but he flatly wouldn’t believe her. For now, she had no way around it.
Over at the Jiang household.
Just this morning he’d heard a bombshell. Not even 24 hours later, his son brought back the eldest grandson of an old family friend.
Old Mr. Jiang clutched his birdcage, completely at a loss.
“Dad, put the bird down.” Jiang Liannan hurried up the hall with Li Dong’s luggage. “Help me hold Can-can. He twisted his ankle.”
“No need.” Li Dong looked up at the elder. “Hello, Grandpa Jiang, I’m Chen Can.”
He stopped beside a chair to steady himself. His smile was pure sunshine.
“Mm.” Old Mr. Jiang nodded.
He’d known of Chen Can for years. Every time he phoned the boy’s grandfather, the old friend couldn’t go three sentences without praising that grandson, good at this, excellent at that.
“Dad, this is Can-can.” Jiang rushed up, saw his husband was alright, and exhaled. “He sprained his ankle. He’ll stay with us a few days.”
“Sorry to intrude,” Li Dong said, extra polite. He couldn’t have imagined Uncle would tell the old man something this explosive.
“No… no trouble at all,” said Old Mr. Jiang. “We’ve got plenty of spare rooms. Take your pick.” In his heart: heavens above, we’re finished, old Chen will cut my boy to pieces.
“For convenience, I’ll have him sleep in my room.” Jiang steered Li Dong toward the stairs. “Dad, go walk your bird. Don’t worry about us.”
Wait, that’s not right.
Unfilial son! Is that how you talk about walking birds?
By the time the old man snapped back, the pair had vanished upstairs.
Going upstairs was hard work. Li Dong didn’t dare put weight on the injured ankle, half his weight leaning into Uncle’s shoulder. “Am I heavy? Too much?”
“What do you think?” Jiang looked him over. “I may not be as tall and brawny as you, but I’m still a towering gentleman.”
“Good grief.” Li Dong snorted. “I think you misunderstand ‘towering.’”
“What? I’m 180cm, okay?” Jiang pouted, then got him safely onto the bedroom sofa.
Honestly speaking, he had strength and height. What he lacked was… machismo.
Nothing to be done. He’d been pampered since childhood, soft inside and out. Hmph.
“Your room’s… actually cool-toned.” Li Dong glanced around.
“What, you thought I liked rainbow clown colors?” Jiang set him down and turned to take in the space. “I’m not like those low-rent chicks.”
He was gay and sure, a little flashy at heart, but the low-key kind. Day-to-day, he refused eye-searing colors and cuts. At most, in winter, a spicy inner layer, where no one could see.
Living with family, he didn’t even dare buy thongs.
Every time the little shous in his circle posted their fun underwear, his old heart got itchy, then he pressed it back down. One, no one to appreciate it. Two, the old man at home would have a fit.
“Oh.” Li Dong nodded. “So your taste really is ‘elder aesthetics.’”
Jiang snatched a throw pillow and hurled it at him. “Who’s an elder? What’s that supposed to mean?” Since getting with Li Dong, he’d hated the word old like poison.
From anyone’s mouth it stung, let alone hearing it from Li Dong. Tears, incoming.
“I’m kidding.” Li Dong caught the feather-soft pillow. “If I cared that you’re thirty-five, I wouldn’t be here.”
The air suddenly quieted.
“How do you know I’m thirty-five?” Jiang sat on the bed, angling toward him. “I thought you didn’t.”
“I remember hearing about you when I was a kid,” Li Dong said. “You’d already graduated college back then.” Do the math, if not forty, then thirty-five.
“So the second time you asked my age, you already knew?” Jiang’s old face went awkward. At the same time, he felt inexplicably sweet and wanted to laugh.
Yes, he’d worried and fretted, but this boyfriend a good dozen years younger was unexpectedly steady, the kind that made him feel he’d met the right person.
“You haven’t had lunch.” Jiang sprang up. “I’ll have Aunt Qiu make something. Wait here.”
He floated downstairs looking radiant and handsome. “Aunt Qiu, can you whip up some lunch for me and Can-can? And… do we have any marrow-bone soup?”
“Of course,” Aunt Qiu said. “The old master’s got osteoporosis. I stew bones three times a week.” Then, “You’re not young either. Drink more. Calcium.”
“Ahem.” Jiang ladled a big sea-bowl full and carried it upstairs.
“Smells great.” Ravenous, Li Dong took the chopsticks and dug in. “Here, try a bite.” He gave Uncle a chunk of fall-apart meat.
“Thanks, hubby…” Uncle said dead-serious, ears flushing red.
Li Dong said nothing, just pinched his chin and went right on eating.
“Don’t worry about my dad,” Jiang blurted. “I already told him about us.”
Pfft! Li Dong choked. “Cough, cough, cough…”
Bone broth sprayed all over Jiang’s face. He grimaced, yanked tissues to wipe down. “Can-can, do you have any idea how greasy this soup is?” He couldn’t take it and quickly got up to shower.
…Damn it.
What kind of male lead shou have we encountered exactly?
Li Dong finally understood why Jiang Liannan developed this personality. The biggest reason was his growth environment was very naive and sweet.
Fifteen minutes later, Jiang came back scented and fresh.
He carefully arranged the bathroom. “Can-can, wait for me a sec.”
Li Dong soaked in the bathtub, watching the uncle run in and out. “…”
Full of ambiance, Uncle returned with two glasses of red. “Shame there’s no bar at home, or I’d mix you something nice.” Cheeks pink, robe fluttering, like a maiden in spring.
“Sit here.” Li Dong patted the tub’s edge, lifted his glass to clink. Handsome and languid, he could stop a heart.
“I missed you…” Jiang leaned in helplessly, resting his forehead to his boyfriend’s.
“Aren’t I right in front of you?” Li Dong’s palm slid under the robe, stirring a whole pool of spring water.
Before finishing one glass of red wine, their battlefield had already transferred elsewhere.
With Li Dong’s ankle out of commission, Uncle took the lead all night.
He worked very hard to prove his stamina, that age wasn’t dragging him down in bed.
As for what to do after fifty or sixty years old, Jiang Liannan like an ostrich buried his head in the sand, unwilling to think carefully.
“Mm…”
Anyway, right now he was very happy. Happier than he’d ever been.
“Dumb Uncle Nan…” Let’s just say, he was very uninhibited.
“Can-can…” he whimpered. “Husband…” Very stimulating, you know?
The first night he’d coaxed his boyfriend into a little stay-over, Jiang didn’t sleep a wink, buoyed by little thrills and flutters.
He kissed Li Dong’s face, then his shoulder. Touch here for a bit, touch there for a bit.
Sweet and a little lonely, he pulled out his phone to stir the pot.
On XX Gay Forum, the famous ID who’d pined after a straight guy for over a decade posted at midnight.
Title: “Can’t sleep lying next to my husband, so here I am.”
Body: “It’s annoying. Anyone else have this issue? Your other half is too outstanding, and you constantly get a crisis of confidence, like the whole world’s trying to steal your man.”
User A: “OP posting at midnight, but the content… emmmmm.”
User B: “Help, the dog-food smell is choking me. What are we, the husband-less, supposed to do?”
If-You-Come-Back replied to B: “Be patient. The one meant for you will show up sooner or later.” Uncle waited thirty-five years, waiting so much youth.
User C: “As someone with a hubby, I don’t worry. After all, I’m only twenty. My person is in his thirties. Even dumping him, I wouldn’t worry about finding a good hubby.”
If-You-Come-Back: “…” Tsk. People like that shouldn’t come out just to be KY.
User D: “Been used to OP venting bile forever. Suddenly feeding dog food feels surreal.”
If-You-Come-Back: “Give it time, you’ll get used to it, kekeke.”
He scrolled half the night, slept in the back half, and couldn’t get up in the morning.
Leaning on a cane Uncle bought for the old master, promptly rejected and shelved, Li Dong hobbled downstairs for breakfast.
“Grandpa Jiang.” In the dining room he found the old man with his paper. “You’re up early.”
“Mm.” The old man folded the paper. “Sit.”
Not seeing his family’s brat, he nudged his reading glasses up. “Where’s A-Nan?”
“Uncle Nan’s still asleep.” Li Dong awkwardly sat.
“Then I’ll be blunt.” The old man put the paper aside. “You and A-Nan together only leads to one outcome. Your father and your grandfather won’t agree.”
Li Dong waited quietly for what followed.
“I’ll give you two choices,” said the old man. “First, break up with A-Nan and don’t see each other again. Second, stay with him and be ready to break with the Chen family.”
And not just Chen Can himself. The Jiangs would need to be ready to break with the Chens too.
For his son’s willfulness, was it worth it?
To answer roundaboutly, back then if Chen Wuhou had even a trace of liking for Jiang Liannan, Old Master Jiang had the ability to get the person into his own family.
Finally heaven had eyes. One old one ran away, another young one came.
Although the challenge difficulty was higher than the last, the success rate of return was also very high.
“Pick one,” the old man asked. “Which is it?”
“The second,” Li Dong said, after a show of thinking.
“You’ve thought it through?” The old man was startled. His gaze changed. “You know what you’d be giving up for A-Nan. That would be your family, status, and wealth. You don’t care about any of that?”
If Li Dong had snapped yes, the old man wouldn’t have been pleased either.
“Of course I care,” Li Dong said. “I also care about Uncle Nan. If I have to choose, I’ll give up status and wealth.”
Old Master Jiang believed these words. Having lived most of his life, his pair of eyes had seen thousands upon thousands of people. He truly hadn’t seen someone like Li Dong, whose whole body emanated charm transcending his age, making people’s hearts pleased and delighted.
“Chen Can, you’ve got guts.” He nodded repeatedly. “More spine than your dad. I believe you’ll outdo him.”
“Honored that Grandpa Jiang thinks so,” Li Dong said. “I’ll do my best.” He wasn’t the type to scheme, but to give the person beside him a better life, he would.
“That’s wrong.” The old man shook his head. “I’m A-Nan’s father. You’re with him and you call me Grandpa? The seniority’s a mess.”
“Uh…” Li Dong thought, hasn’t seniority been a mess from the start?
At the hospital, Su Ye was out of danger. After two days, she wanted to be discharged.
Chen Wuhou was busy and ran to work first thing Monday morning.
“Wu-ge,” she called him, “the doctor says the baby’s stable. I really want to leave the hospital. Is that okay?”
“Mm, if…” He suddenly remembered the pending test and switched mid-sentence. “No. Stay a couple more days, just in case.”
Li Dong’s nudge had left him uneasy. What if the child really wasn’t his…
“Okay.” Su Ye took it as concern.
He hung up and immediately called the hospital. “Dr. Wang, how’s the paternity result?”
“Mr. Chen, I was just about to call,” Dr. Wang said. “It’s better if you come in and see for yourself.”
Chen’s phone slipped from his hand. His heart went ice-cold.
Wiping sweat from his brow, he rushed to the hospital.
“Mr. Chen,” Dr. Wang produced the report, “we worked overtime and ran it carefully. Based on the results, there’s a 90% chance the child isn’t yours.”
No one hangs their hopes on the other ten percent.
“Btch…” Chen glared at the report, shaking with rage. “Fcking btch!” He slammed the door and stormed for the ward.
“Sir! Mr. Chen!” Dr. Wang called. “Please calm down!”
Although being cuckolded would make anyone angry, doing something irrational would be wrong. This was a civilized society after all.
“Doctor,” a nurse whispered, nervous, “should we call the police?” What if the man got so angry he caused a death?
That would be two lives.
“My head hurts. Quick, call over a few tall, strong doctors to help,” Dr. Wang said. “I’ll go check first.”
Su Ye was sipping water and reading when Chen burst in, flinging a sheet of paper at her chest.
“Ah!” She shrieked.
“Btch!” he roared. “Look at your ‘good work’!”
“Wu-ge…” She picked it up and saw “paternity test.” “…,” and promptly fainted.
“Fck!” Chen raged. Now he didn’t even have anyone conscious to vent at. “Btch, btch, btch!”
The two caregivers shook like leaves. Good heavens, this man was so terrifying! Like he wanted to kill someone.
Dr. Wang arrived to find the heroine smart enough to pass out. He had to admire it. No wonder she’d dared to cheat, truly built different.
“Damn it!” Chen kicked the bed and strode out to the door, calling his lawyer. “I want a divorce. Draft the paperwork. Now!”
That b*tch Su Ye shouldn’t think of getting a single cent.
He hung up and went back in. “Su Ye! I don’t care if you’re really out or faking. I’ll say it once. You dared play me, Chen Wuhou, like this. Just wait to spend the rest of your life living the good life!”
Su Ye curled under the blanket and shivered. If time could return to the day Chen Wuhou discovered the pregnancy, she definitely wouldn’t dare say this child was his.
But there were no ifs in the world. She not only told Chen Wuhou the child was his, but she also even married Chen Wuhou, vainly hoping to live the life of a wealthy family’s wife.
Whether she liked it or not, time forced her to wake.
“Finally willing to open your eyes?” Chen’s gaze could eat. “Lawyer, have her sign.”
They dropped the divorce agreement in front of her. She wasn’t even given time to read it before being forced to sign.
“Boss, she’s signed.” The lawyer delivered the good news.
“Mm.” Chen’s eyes went black and cold. He didn’t want to look at the woman again in this life. “We’re done.”
He left the hospital in a foul mood. He didn’t want to go to the company, and he didn’t want to go back to an empty house.
“Boss, where to?” the driver asked carefully.
“Cat Ears,” Chen said after a beat.
“Got it.”
The driver remembered: long ago, the boss dropped by Cat Ears now and then.
In the last year or two, he’d hardly gone at all.
Even in daylight, there were guests. The front-desk girl didn’t recognize Chen. He hadn’t been in ages, and she’d only worked there half a year.
“Welcome.” Still, this uncle was handsome. She snuck an extra look.
“Is your boss in?” Chen frowned. No matter how many times he came, he never liked the vibe at Cat Ears.
The moment he thought about the clientele being all gay, his hackles rose.
“Uh, our boss isn’t in today.” She thought, another guy fantasizing about our boss.
Chen said nothing and walked straight to the private room.
“It’s Mr. Chen…” The manager spotted him, hurriedly sent staff to tidy the room, and asked what he’d like to drink.
No one outranked this man in the boss’s heart. He always had to be hosted right.
“Lao Si?” Chen called Jiang. “I’m at your bar. Come have a drink with me?”
In the Jiang household study.
Jiang stared at his phone. “Wu-ge?” He was in the study with his husband, reading. “How come you suddenly want to drink at my place?”
In his experience, Chen wouldn’t step into Cat Ears for no reason, let alone ask personally for company.
“Sigh…” Chen said, “I got divorced.”
Jiang slapped a hand over his mouth to swallow his shout. “So sudden?” Two days ago they’d said the baby was stable.
“Hard to explain on the phone,” said Chen. “If you’re free, come. If not, I’ll call Old Feng.”
Saying this was just polite words. Chen Wuhou didn’t believe Jiang Liannan would refuse his summons.
“Oh.” Jiang said, “Then go find Brother Man. I’m really not free.” His husband was right there listening, and had hauled him onto his lap with a look that asked, Well?
Jiang pointed at the phone and made an annoyed face.
“…Not free?” Chen’s brows crashed.
“Right.” So many days and not one call to ask about his own son’s ankle. Jiang was deeply disappointed. “Can-can’s foot is much better. He starts school the day after tomorrow. I’m keeping him company while he studies.”
“You’re busy studying with Can-can?” In the past, Chen wouldn’t have thought twice. But fresh from being cheated on, he suddenly doubted every admirer. Was their “love” real?
Jiang being so good to Chen Can, was it really to please him?
He remembered Su Ye’s words and wore an expression of disbelief. Then his face deteriorated to Ganges-mud levels of ugly.
“Impossible!” He hung up and strode out. “To the Jiang house!”
All along the way, he carefully recalled the details of Chen Can and Jiang Liannan getting along but discovered he fundamentally hadn’t paid much attention to these two people.
First, Chen Can had only been back in the country for a short ten-plus days. The number of times he and Jiang Liannan met was at most not more than ten times.
Second, Chen Wuhou was certain that at least on the wedding day, Jiang Liannan still loved him.
Unless Jiang Liannan was fickle and deliberately took revenge, how could he possibly fall for Chen Can so quickly?
At that, Chen laughed in fury. “Lao Si, oh Lao Si, this time you’ve really gone too far. How can I continue tolerating you?”
Author’s Note:
Naïve-and-Adorable-Lian-Shu: “We might’ve met fewer than ten times, but we’ve rolled in bed more than that!”
【This little segment is almost at its end. In the next one, I’ll write a shou who’s a truly wicked, irredeemable villain~~ Time to pamper Dong-ge a bit.】
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