Chapter 68: Jiang Liannan
With a loud clang, the ashtray bounced off the bed, tumbled across the floor, and finally stopped by Jiang Liannan’s pale feet.
It all happened too fast. He went from terrified to furious in a breath.
That was an ashtray, it could kill someone if it hit. If his boyfriend hadn’t moved so fast, his skull would already be cracked open.
“F*ck your grandfather, Chen Wuhou!” Jiang Liannan snapped.
Li Dong helped him up and, hearing that, almost slipped, “…” Even now, the big uncle was fiercer than usual.
“I’ll f*ck YOUR grandfather!” Chen Wuhou shoved up his sleeves and charged, eyes like he would swallow Jiang Liannan alive. “You actually messed with my son? I treated you like a brother, and you went after my son?”
“Pah.” From behind his boyfriend’s back, Jiang Liannan stuck his head out. “Did you ever treat me like a brother?”
He hid squarely behind Li Dong’s protection, yanking his robe tight until only his head showed.
“Jiang, if you’ve got the guts, stand up,” Chen Wuhou said.
“I don’t need guts, so I’m not standing up.” Jiang Liannan bundled himself even tighter.
“I’m gonna explode,” seeing him like this, Chen Wuhou wanted to beat the sh*t out of him, but he couldn’t get past Li Dong. “Chen Can, get out of the way!” He jabbed a finger at Li Dong’s nose.
“No.” Li Dong said, “One thing at a time. You can be mad, but you don’t get to hit people.”
“Who’s in charge, you or me? I’ll hit him if I want.” He shoved Li Dong’s shoulder.
Li Dong stood square and steady, not moving an inch.
“Unfilial brat!” Rage flushed up, and Chen Wuhou’s palm whipped up for a slap.
“You think I’ll stand here and let you?” Li Dong caught his wrist. “There’s only one outcome. Either you accept that we’re together, or you live your life without me. Pretend you never had this son.”
“You dare…” Chen Wuhou froze.
“What don’t I dare?” Li Dong’s said coldly. “All these years, with you or without you, my life’s been the same. Worst case, I stop being a Chen.”
“Right, Can-can can take my surname,” Jiang Liannan put a knife in at just the right time. “I’m gay, I won’t have kids anyway. Everything I own will be Can-can’s. He doesn’t need the Chen family’s pocket change.”
“Shut your filthy mouth!” Chen Wuhou wished he could tear Jiang Liannan’s cheap mouth to shreds.
“Uncle Lian is right. I’ll do just fine without you.” Li Dong looked at him. “If I feel like it, maybe I’ll find a surrogate someday for the Chen line. If I don’t, the Chen family ends with me.”
“You…” Shock, fury, absolute refusal tangled on his face. Simply outrageous!
Was Chen Can even his son anymore?
Not close to his own father, yet so close to someone else.
“He’s your uncle,” Chen Wuhou pointed at Jiang Liannan. “How can you be with him? Do you even know what kind of person he is?”
A fickle, vindictive, rotten old man with a black heart, how could Chen Can even stomach him?
“You want to say he loved you for ten plus years?” Li Dong tipped his head. “If that’s your only angle to attack him, it’s pathetic. You’re attacking yourself.”
“I…” The retort died.
“When are you going to admit you’re not half as righteous as you think?” Li Dong held his gaze. “That’s feedback from your kid. You can refuse it, but you’ll lose your kid.”
Chen Wuhou pressed his lips tight, face ashen.
“You grew up, your wings hardened,” he said. “But your idea’s laughable. You think you can keep living like a young master if you leave the Chen family…”
“Why not?” Jiang Liannan cut in. “I can transfer everything under my name to Can-can right now, and I mean it.” Including the seventy million he’d lent Chen Wuhou and only recently got back. He could keep none of it and give it all to his boyfriend.
“Jiang Liannan!” Chen Wuhou pointed at him. “Don’t think I don’t see your revenge. If you’ve got any shame left, cut it off now, don’t drag the Jiang family’s name through the mud.”
An uncle shamelessly glued to his brother’s son, if that got out, would Jiang Liannan still have any face?
“What’s ‘face’ worth?” Jiang Liannan hugged his man’s waist. “Hmph.”
“!!” Fury spiked, and Chen Wuhou lunged again to kill this shameless old fox. “Get away from my son!”
“Hey.” Li Dong seized his wrist. “Stop. You don’t get to hit people.”
If strength alone meant you could do whatever you wanted, then Chen Wuhou was in trouble.
“Can-can, don’t let him fool you,” Chen Wuhou glared. “You think he loves you? He only wants revenge.”
“F*ck your grandfather’s dog fart,” Jiang Liannan poked his head out again. “Quit flattering yourself, Chen Wuhou. I love Can-can. I love him, love him, love him—”
“That’s enough.” Before the uncle made him burst a blood vessel, Li Dong scooped up his clothes. “We’re all too heated. Let’s cool down and talk later about whether I stay a Chen or switch to Jiang.”
It was his son who was killing him, not Jiang Liannan.
“You think that threatens me?”
No way. The doctor only said his sperm quality was low, not that he’d never have more kids.
“You don’t have to be threatened. You can just watch us ride off into the sunset.” Li Dong took the clothes Lian-shu had gathered and pulled them on with crisp efficiency.
“I’ll pass,” Jiang Liannan cinched his robe. “I’m not changing in front of him.”
“Didn’t you used to like him quite a bit?” Li Dong pinched his cheek.
“Don’t bring that up. My heart’s full of you now.” Jiang Liannan said.
Li Dong bundled up his uncle’s clothes in one arm and wrapped the other around him. “Dad, we’re heading out. Call me when you think there’s something worth talking about.”
After they left, Chen Wuhou kicked the swivel chair. It skidded and clattered across the floor.
“Your dad’s scary.” Jiang Liannan patted his chest, white as a sheet.
“Then let’s go.” Li Dong pulled him along faster and got them out of the house.
Once in his boyfriend’s car, Jiang Liannan immediately felt safe again. “I was scared to death,” he said, equal parts shaken and starry-eyed. “But you were amazing.”
He’d seen it clearly when Chen Wuhou shoved, and his own dear husband hadn’t even budged.
“It’s not that I’m amazing,” Li Dong said like nothing had happened. “He’s just that bad.”
Jiang Liannan was struck by how handsome that was. He nestled in the passenger seat, obsessively looking at Li Dong. This impossibly young man, head to toe, inside and out, hit every last one of a little shou’s soft spots.
Sticking to someone this manly, he felt himself getting clingier and softer by the day. He wanted Li Dong to hold him in his hand, no, keep him in his mouth.
“How’s it feel riding home in just a bathrobe?” Li Dong asked.
“Ahem. How about you focus on driving?” Lian-shu stretched, long white legs flashing into view.
“….” Seductive. Too cute, though. Li Dong couldn’t help running a hand over that thigh.
“Pervert.” Lian-shu tugged the robe down over his legs, which only made his little scented shoulders peek out instead.
“Saucy uncle, I’ll f*ck you to tears when we get back,” Li Dong said.
The uncle’s little tactics succeeded. Beaming, the big uncle picked up his charging phone.
Given the scare and the whiplash triumph, he needed to vent somewhere. First stop, the closest insider: Lao San, Fu Changyin. Their three-man mini-group chat was still alive.
Using, whether on purpose or not, Li Dong’s account, he typed: “Third Bro, Wuhou already found out about me and Can-can.”
Chen Can: “Oops, wrong account, my bad.”
Fu Changyin had no time for Lao Si’s showboating. “!!” Found out, that was it then. “Are you hurt? At the hospital?”
Jiang Liannan: “No.” Swapping back to his own account. “He tried to hit me but Can-can stopped him.” A husband who would break with his clan rather than let him be touched. Where could he ever find another like that? “Guess how we got caught?”
Fu Changyin: “He saw you two outside?”
What rotten luck, though he had warned them. Keep this up and you’d be found sooner or later.
Jiang Liannan: “Nope. Discovered rolling in the sheets at his house.”
Fu Changyin: “[sweating emoji]”
Jiang Liannan: “He kicked the door in and grabbed an ashtray to smash me.” Deep breath. “I froze, thank god Can-can reacted and pulled me clear.”
Otherwise, his head would’ve been split open on the spot.
Fu Changyin: “As long as you’re not hurt…” But damn it, you did that in the man’s house. Weren’t you asking to be brained with an ashtray, Lao Si? If I had a son and you did that, I’d throw one too.
Jiang Liannan: “Sigh, was so scared at the time. Still shaken now.”
Fu Changyin: “What happened after? Are you still together now?” Old Wu wasn’t someone you could face down so easily.
Jiang Liannan: “Did you know he got divorced?” He tossed the Su Ye green-hat story onto the table. “The kid isn’t his.”
Fu Changyin: “What?” Thirty years of brotherhood and Old Wu had a day like this?
Jiang Liannan: “He picked Can-can up from my place yesterday. Today Can-can said fine, he’ll take my surname if it comes to that. No big deal.”
Honestly, at the time he was so moved that his liver trembled.
Lao San went quiet. The data dump was too much.
If Lao Si wasn’t lying, the high-flying Old Wu had suddenly become the loser of the decade. In one sweep he got cucked by a young wife, his long-suffering admirer flipped to his son, the wife and baby turned into a stain, the admirer changed targets, and the twenty-year-old son he’d finally raised ended up with his brother and ex-admirer?
Calculate Old Wu’s psychological shadow: Definitely massive.
Jiang Liannan: “Believe what you want. My partner from now on is Can-can. My dad knows, he’s very satisfied. Yesterday when Wuhou came to get Can-can, my dad tore into him.”
Fu Changyin: “Uncle Jiang dotes on you.” If the old man hadn’t, they wouldn’t have this Lao Si today.
Jiang Liannan: “We’ll treat everyone to dinner soon and talk it through, so things aren’t awkward later.” If they really broke, choosing sides would be hell, and Lao Er (Second Brother), Lao San wouldn’t know where to stand.
Fu Changyin typed an OK, then wiped his face in real life. He had one question. Knowing Old Wu had just been hit from every angle, should they all pretend ignorance and quietly await the memo?
Back at the Jiang house, Li Dong parked and told the big uncle to hop out.
“I’m dressed like this and you won’t carry me?” Jiang Liannan sat tight and refused to budge.
“You’re just missing underwear, not a leg.” Li Dong grumbled, then gave in, got out, opened the door, and offered an arm. “Out.”
Lian-shu pouted, unbuckled, and slid out.
Li Dong hugged the bundle of clothes. He clutched Li Dong’s shirt. One in front, one behind, they went inside.
At this hour the old man wasn’t in the living room. Aunt Qiu peeked out from the kitchen. “Back already, gentlemen?” Her hands were pale with flour. “Hungry? There’s food.”
“Thanks, Aunt Qiu.” Li Dong said. “Not yet. Maybe around four or five.”
He tugged Lian-shu upstairs in a hurry.
“What’s the rush?” Jiang Liannan still hadn’t forgiven him for not carrying him.
“You spent the whole ride teasing me. You think you don’t have to make good?” Li Dong pushed him through the door, tossed the clothes aside, and said, “Get on the bed. Your husband’s about to f*ck you.”
Jiang Liannan pressed his lips together, holding back a sweet little grin as he pounced on the bed.
Aaaaaaah! Bliss~
The battle interrupted at noon and resumed over an hour later with still-fierce firepower.
By a bit past five, Li Dong let the limp fish go, went to the kitchen, and brought food upstairs.
“I’m scared,” Jiang Liannan said, burying his face in the pillow. “What’ll I do without you in the future?” The world would collapse.
“If you’ve got time to mope, you’ve got time for dumplings.” Li Dong blew one cool and waited until the big uncle sat up.
“Thanks, Can-can.” Lian-shu took the dumpling off his chopsticks, eating primly. “If I’m hungry there’s food, if I’m lonely there’s someone, if my body’s on fire there’s someone to hold me. That’s my dream life.”
“Same.” Li Dong said.
He picked up a dumpling and ate it. Tasted good.
“Then I’m jealous,” Jiang Liannan said, looking at him.
“Hm?” Li Dong held up another dumpling.
“I only got this at thirty-five.” He tilted his head and caught it. “You’re twenty, and you already have it.”
And your partner is a gorgeous, adorable great beauty. Count your luck.
“Oh. Eat.” Li-Straight-Man Dong was never built for long feelings talks with little shous.
“Ah.” Lian-shu blinked. “You start school tomorrow.”
Freshly minted freshman. After finishing summer vacation’s last day, facing opening ceremony.
Despite all his worlds, this was his first time doing student life. Thinking about going back to classes made Li Dong’s scalp prickle a little.
“Can-can, over here.” In a casual outfit and a sun visor, the big uncle blended right in with the campus crowd.
Li Dong squeezed out from the crowd, two bottles of water in hand. Walking to the tree shade, he gave the uncle one bottle. “Bad news.”
He’d just learned from classmates that first-semester freshmen had to live in the dorms to “experience campus life.” Headache rule.
“Can you handle communal living?” First reaction wasn’t disappointment but worry that his pampered husband might not manage dorm life.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
Unless the roommates were truly ridiculous, it’d be fine.
“Then I’ll prep your dorm kit.” Jiang Liannan said to Li Dong’s surprise, the big uncle accepted it calmly.
“If you’re cool leaving Grandpa alone, come here on weekends.” Li Dong said.
“Okay.” He hustled to buy what Li Dong needed and had it all delivered.
Their place near campus had been lightly set up. It was livable now, and he’d gradually make it perfect.
By mid-afternoon they’d found the dorm and dropped the stuff.
With few students checked in, the big uncle rumbled, “Find a time to treat your roommates to dinner. Be friendly, don’t ignore people.”
“Do I seem like that type?” Li Dong thought, none of this needed saying.
“I just don’t want you losing out, I worry,” he said.
“Where to now?” Li Dong asked. “Your place or our place?”
“Either.” He left campus with him, a little deflated.
Li Dong sighed. So this was how the man looked when he was sad.
“My heart feels hollow,” that night in their place, curled on the bed, he said, “If only you could graduate faster.”
People have to do what their age calls for, and that was that.
Li Dong didn’t care much about the diploma, but you couldn’t just drop out.
“Dummy.” He ruffled his hair. “Wherever I go, my heart’s with you.”
After a century plus of life experience, Li Dong’s sweet-talk skill tree was maxed. If he wanted to coax someone, he never failed.
“That’s all I needed.” The big uncle nuzzled him. “I’m just afraid you’re too outstanding and will attract birds and butterflies.”
Then he’d pick someone newer and fresher, and he’d have nowhere to cry.
The next day was the opening ceremony. After going in the morning, afternoon was free time.
When Li Dong left in the morning, the big uncle was still asleep. When he came back at noon, the big uncle had just crawled out of bed.
“So, feels the same as usual?” Li Dong crouched and smiled up at him.
Jiang Liannan smiled back, sweet as cotton candy.
Life, how could it be this beautiful.
“Go wash up, I’m taking you to lunch.” Li Dong stood, fished out his buzzing phone, and took the call by the window.
“Can-can,” came Chen Wuhou’s voice. “You start school today, right?”
“Mm. Surprised you remembered.”
“…” A pause. “Let’s talk.”
“Sure.” Li Dong looked out the window. “Tonight then? Call the uncles too, let’s have witnesses.”
“It’s not that I won’t,” Chen Wuhou said. “But you know you two will break up sooner or later.” Before that happens, keeping it private is best. No need to parade it and get laughed at.
“I thought you’d come because you’d thought it through,” Li Dong said. “Either we don’t talk, or we get everyone in one room and lay it out. You three have been brothers for 30-40 years. No one’s truly outside of it and hiding it from anyone is bad.”
“Fine, fine, we’ll do it your way.” He was confident they’d split.
Three to five years, seven to eight at most.
By then Old Four would be older and faded. He didn’t believe Chen Can would stay with an old man.
Now was the time to humor his son, not fight him. He’d figured that out.
“Alright, I’ll notify the uncles,” Li Dong said. “Seven p.m., XX Restaurant.”
In the “Brothers Chat” WeChat group:
Jiang Liannan: “@everyone Dinner at XX Restaurant at 7 tonight, free to come if you can. If not, we’ll reschedule.”
Feng Mantang: “Lao Si, why the sudden treat?”
After that fleeting meet at Old Wu’s place, he didn’t know how Old Four was holding up. Was he crying himself to sleep?
Jiang Liannan: “I’m with Old Wu’s Can-can, and we’ve decided to build a life together. We should talk it out openly.”
“Oh…” Feng Mantang reread twice. “What?”
Old, gay, Four, with Old Wu’s twenty-year-old Can, building a life? Did I hear that right?
“You you you you…” Straight-as-a-stick Lao Er couldn’t process the blast of info. In his mind, Jiang Liannan became some perverted old man eating tender grass. He didn’t even want to talk. He immediately called Lao San to complain, “Old Three, get in the group chat and look at what Old Four’s done.”
“What’d he do?” Fu Changyin asked, slow on the uptake.
Feng Mantang: “Blahblahblahblahblah…” He rattled off the list of Lao Si’s “crimes,” righteous and steaming. “How can he?” and “Why aren’t you surprised?”
Old Three: “…” It was hard to pretend shock when you already knew. And how was he supposed to explain he’d known and said nothing?
Damn it. All Lao Si’s fault.
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