Chapter 66#

Li Meng got off the plane, hailed a taxi, and went straight to his grandparents’ house. Father Jiang and Mother Jiang were so happy to see their golden grandson that their mouths were crooked from smiling. They kept giving him candy, and Father Jiang even took him around to visit neighbors, wishing he could announce Li Meng’s glorious deed of being the runner-up in the Huashuo Cup to the whole world.

Jiang Qin and Jin Yan arrived late that night. After landing, they didn’t disturb the elderly but quietly booked a room at a hotel.

Jin Yan gritted his teeth at Fang Yuan, and even disliked the place City S—in his opinion, Jiang Qin’s act of visiting Fang Yuan in the hospital was simply cuckolding him. To express his anger at being cuckolded, Jin Yan unreasonably dragged Jiang Qin to roll on the hotel bed all night, and forced him to say a lot of messy things in bed.

As a result, when Jiang Qin remembered it while brushing his teeth the next morning, anger rose from his heart and evil grew from his gall. He dragged Jin Yan from the breakfast table into the bathroom and beat him up. This directly led to Jin Yan having a band-aid on his forehead and suspicious red marks under his nose when they set off for the Jiang family’s house.

Last time Jiang Qin was hospitalized for a gunshot wound and hurriedly returned to City H from the hospital, Mother Jiang was already full of anger. At that time, Jiang Qin promised to come back to see her soon, but immediately after, Jin Yan was arrested, and he went into the detention center. After tossing and turning for a long time, summer was already over.

Mother Jiang’s belly full of anger had developed into deep resentment: “Why did you come back? Just pretend you don’t have parents! It’s the same whether you have them or not anyway!”

Jiang Qin stood obediently and took the scolding, like a well-behaved elementary school student. Jin Yan, on the other hand, had a warm smile on his face, moving boxes of gifts inside one by one.

Father Jiang didn’t like Jin Yan at first sight. Before he could scold him, Jin Yan stuffed two cartons of Chunghwa cigarettes into his hands, and then desperately winked at Li Meng to go up and act coquettishly to divert attention. Who knew that as soon as Li Meng saw his daddy, the tsundere gene inherited from Jiang Qin in his bones immediately flared up. He shook his two little legs, snorted coldly, and turned his face away pretending not to see.

Jin Yan was instantly furious, thinking, “Little brat! If I can’t handle your mom, can’t I handle you?!” The monthly double pocket money is cancelled immediately! Also, snack allowance, treat allowance, “can’t sleep in the middle of the night and eat chocolate with the little sheep” allowance (what is this?), etc., are all cancelled!

But hitting a child in front of others is unwise. After all, the father-in-law and mother-in-law have high attack and high HP, so it is very necessary to invite the Li Xiaomeng artifact to issue a shocking ultimate move.

So Jin Yan smiled kindly, took out a huge chocolate ball from the gift bag, and waved seductively at Li Xiaomeng.

Li Meng’s eyeballs stopped moving on the spot.

His head turned with the huge round ball about ten centimeters in diameter, swallowed his saliva, and suddenly stood up and said angrily: “—Grandpa!”

Father Jiang: “Ah?”

“Don’t make it difficult for my mom anymore! It’s not easy for my mom either! Look, he brought us so many gifts from far away, just let him into our house quickly!”

Father Jiang: “…”

Jin Yan: “…”

Li Meng hugged Jin Yan’s thigh with one paw, and stretched the other paw to reach for the chocolate ball, his mouth as sweet as honey: “Mommy, come in and sit down to rest! I’ll help you pour water! I’ll help you get the chocolate!”

Daughter-in-law Jin suddenly wanted to grab Li Meng and beat him up, and also wanted to hang Li Meng up and smash his head against the floor; these two impulses mixed together, making him instantly extremely conflicted.

Father Jiang opened his mouth, but the words to scold Jin Yan didn’t come out in the end. He slapped the sofa armrest fiercely, sighed, and went back to the study to write calligraphy. Li Meng happily pulled Jin Yan to sit on the sofa, holding the chocolate ball like a treasure, and ran to ask Mother Jiang: “Grandma, can I treat you to chocolate? Have you ever seen such a big chocolate ball before?”

Mother Jiang was enjoying scolding her son, but being interrupted by her golden grandson, she couldn’t catch her breath. She had to spit at Jiang Qin angrily, turned around and hugged Li Meng with teary eyes: “My grandson is still the best. Xiao Meng be good, grandma won’t eat, grandma will go to the kitchen to cook for you!”

Li Meng said “Oh yeah”, peeled the wrapper and licked it himself.

Actually, the size of the chocolate has no effect on the taste, but for a child like Li Meng whose psychological age is still at the fifth-grade level, all snacks that are larger than common sense are rare. When he had no snacks to eat and was bored, he started to wonder if Jin Yan was his biological father; once he had something to eat, he immediately forgot that little entanglement.

Jiang Qin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, while Jin Yan’s teeth were itching.

Thanks to the credit of little student Li Xiaomeng’s gag, although Mother Jiang was reluctant and Father Jiang looked pale, Jin Yan stayed for dinner after all.

This was simply a major event worth recording in history. Jin Yan has known Jiang Qin since he was seven years old, and now it has been thirty years. Today is the first time he sat at the same dinner table with the Jiang family.

During the meal, Jin Yan was particularly attentive, constantly picking up food for Mother Jiang. Mother Jiang couldn’t refuse the hospitality and was forced to eat twice as much as usual. She finally managed to ask in the interval of chewing: “What happened to you guys in City H in the first half of the year? Why did I hear that you were investigated by the police and even arrested to manage the detention center?”

Before Jin Yan could speak, Jiang Qin said lightly: “I went in, I was framed. Dad should know that the re-election in our province in the first half of the year involved a lot of inside stories, right? Fang Yuan was also investigated. Fortunately, he helped me mediate, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to get out so quickly.”

Father Jiang and Mother Jiang were confused and asked suspiciously: “Framed you for what? And what does this have to do with Fang Yuan?”

“Accounting matters… How can a financial person not leave any handle? If they insist on investigating, everyone has problems.” Jiang Qin paused and said with a solemn expression: “Fang Yuan’s problem is big. It is said that he made mistakes in administration and lifestyle. I don’t know the details very well, and I dare not ask more… Sigh, has aunt told you about it?”

“No, your cousin refused to tell the family—”

“Sigh, I knew it was like this.” The painful expression on Jiang Qin’s face was particularly deep: “Lifestyle problems are most based on rumors. It’s too hurtful to talk about, and the reputation is not good. It is understandable that Fang Yuan doesn’t want to tell his family.”

Mother Jiang asked in shock: “Is it that serious?!”

Jiang Qin nodded silently. After a while, as if suddenly remembering something, he said seriously: “Since Fang Yuan refuses to say, you must not ask! This matter is silent in City S. As long as you ask, Fang Yuan will immediately know that I said something in front of you. He stumbled so badly on this matter. At that time, he might become angry from embarrassment and blame me for gossiping behind his back. How can I get along with him on the surface?”

Mother Jiang originally had doubts about her son being framed and imprisoned, and wanted to go to Fang Yuan to find out the news. Hearing this, she was immediately terrified: “This makes sense! Fang Yuan’s parents worry about his affairs. What’s the point of us rushing forward?”

Father Jiang still had doubts: “But the matter of you being arrested to manage the detention center, exactly…”

“It’s all small things, it’s passed. I didn’t suffer much in the detention center, thanks to Fang Yuan.” Jiang Qin paused and said seriously: “It’s a pity you can’t go thank him. I’ll go see him privately.”

Father Jiang wanted to say something else, but Mother Jiang made the final decision: “This is very correct. If we get involved, he might think we are inquiring behind his back, which would be awkward!”

Jin Yan secretly buried his face behind the rice bowl, laughing so hard that his shoulders shrugged, and as a result, he was stomped fiercely by Jiang Qin under the table; what was more infuriating was that immediately after, Li Xiaomeng also followed suit and stomped on him, bullying others by relying on powerful connections.

“But it’s okay for us adults to pretend not to know, you can’t show nothing,” Mother Jiang said earnestly: “You are all only children, and cousins should support each other even more. How about this, take some gifts to the hospital to see him this afternoon, and by the way, enlighten him well!”

Jin Yan lost his voice: “Hey, no!”

Predictably, his opinion was ignored. Jiang Qin asked naturally: “Where is the hospital address?”

“Oh, just tell the taxi driver to go to the inpatient department of the Provincial Hospital. I’ll write the ward number on a note later, don’t get it wrong.”

Jiang Qin easily solved the potential exposure crisis and logically arranged the itinerary to visit Fang Yuan, then lowered his head to eat with peace of mind. Jin Yan scratched his ears and cheeks restlessly, constantly wondering what his mother-in-law meant. Did she want to matchmake Jiang Qin and Fang Yuan? Damn, how can that mistress Fang be worthy of my wise, divine, and pure wife! Castrate him, decisively castrate him!

The murderous CEO Jin failed to follow to the hospital and was forcibly detained in the kitchen by Mother Jiang to peel potatoes in the afternoon.

Jiang Qin wore a light gray T-shirt and washed white jeans, looking fresh and gentle like an eighteen-year-old college student, carrying a fruit basket and leisurely going out to see Fang Yuan. CEO Jin lay on the window sill, gritting his teeth and watching, wishing he could hold Fang Yuan’s neck in his hand and cut it clean with one knife.

However, he only thought about it. As soon as he heard footsteps outside the kitchen, he immediately lowered his head and held the potato, acting virtuous. Father Jiang passed by and saw the entertainment industry CEO with a net worth of millions sitting in his kitchen peeling potatoes with a diligent smile like a little wife on his face, and instantly felt every tooth in his two rows aching.

Fang Yuan lived in a single ward of the Provincial Hospital. It is said that a room is hard to find at present. The neighbors next door either have money at home or have some connections.

Jiang Qin had to register before entering. The receptionist nurse called the internal line and asked sweetly: “Mr. Fang, a gentleman surnamed Jiang wants to see you. Is it convenient for you to receive him now?”

Not knowing what was said on the other side, the nurse looked at the register: “Jiang Qin… his name is Jiang Qin.”

She put down the phone and smiled: “Mr. Fang invites you in.”

Jiang Qin gently pushed open the door of the ward. Fang Yuan had his back to him, standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window bathed in sunlight.

The ward walls were covered with beige wallpaper, and a large bouquet of lilies was placed at the head of the bed. There was a faint fragrance in the air, not the usual smell of disinfectant in the hospital. Opposite the hospital bed were a TV and stereo. It didn’t look like a ward, but rather like a nursing home for a retired cadre.

Jiang Qin casually put the fruit basket on the bed and asked with a smile: “Are you here to recover from illness or for a vacation?”

“I’m not sick at all, the cold was cured long ago.” Fang Yuan turned back and shrugged, saying: “It’s just that after you made a scene in court, I lost all face, so I’m hiding here for a while to avoid the limelight. How about you?”

Jiang Qin didn’t answer, just looked at him with a slight smile.

His expression was very peaceful, without any hint of showing off, giving charity, or being smug. If an uninformed outsider saw it, they might think that the two were very close friends, without even a little discord.

Fang Yuan suddenly had a somewhat absurd feeling, as if the thrilling open strife and veiled struggle back then had all become harmless jokes between friends, instantly becoming insignificant.

“I heard from my mom that you were sick, so I wanted to come to City S to see you. It just so happens that I’m quite free recently. The case is closed, and I have nothing to do at home all day… Do you want a banana?”

Fang Yuan nodded, and Jiang Qin threw a banana to him, then took an apple himself and bit into it with a crunch.

“So, you were really miserable because of me later?”

Fang Yuan paused in his action of peeling the banana, “—Actually, it was okay. It was just that I was too arrogant at the time and felt ashamed.”

“I was the one who got beaten, and you felt ashamed?”

Fang Yuan laughed.

He didn’t want to tell Jiang Qin that when he was transferred back to City S, that video was already known to everyone in the special investigation team. As Jin Yan’s legal spouse, Jiang Qin’s sexual orientation needed no concealment. But for him, a social elite for more than thirty years, to coerce and force a same-sex relative with blood ties really shocked many people.

Fang Yuan had been a top student since childhood, a “Three Good Student” every year in elementary school, qualified as a national second-level athlete in middle school, and shone in student union activities in his first year of university. He never lacked admirers wherever he went. Too smooth a life developed his extremely sharp personality. His style of handling cases was also resolute and thorough, and many low-level police officers in the public security system were afraid when they heard his name.

If that video hadn’t clearly captured the process of Jiang Qin fighting back and resisting, if this matter had blown up, everyone would have thought that Jiang Qin had privately seduced Fang Yuan to pry for information.

So when he returned to City S, he was under great pressure. The attitude of the superiors towards him had been unclear. He didn’t know whether they would abandon or protect him.

At that time, he was under great psychological pressure, not only from shame and frustration but also from a little imperceptible unwillingness towards Jiang Qin.

Fang Yuan had had girlfriends in his early years, but unfortunately, he had high standards and was arrogant, always finding fault with the women. He finally found someone who met the conditions, but later it didn’t work out due to various problems.

After that, he also opened his mind and gradually became willful in his private life. Although he couldn’t be said to be very dissolute, he never settled down.

His feelings for Jiang Qin this time, although including various complex and dark factors, were generally relatively serious. Jiang Qin was a figure on the stage and had a bit of hidden “housewife” attribute, which met Fang Yuan’s requirements for a perfect partner. He once thought that as long as he made a move, dealing with Jin Yan would be a piece of cake, and Jiang Qin would be easily captured.

Who knew that before Jin Yan could react, Jiang Qin slapped him back cleanly.

Jiang Qin had surpassed him since they were teenagers. After so many years of being down and out, Fang Yuan thought he was now standing at a height where he could look down on him, but who knew he was still surpassed.

Jiang Qin’s slap hit more than just his face; it simply made him vomit blood.

“I’m relieved to know you’re fine. I expected no one could do anything to you, after all, uncle is still in that position.” Jiang Qin threw away the fruit core, wiped his hands and said: “Jin Yan’s case is also closed now. I hope he will behave himself in the future and not get involved in any messy things… After all, being caught between you two makes it hard for me to be a person.”

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell others about those things with the guy named Zhao?”

“Manslaughter is never as ugly as molesting a cousin. Besides, Fang Yuan, I’m a person who mixes in the business circle. If it really doesn’t work, I’ll hide behind Jin Yan, and even if the sky falls, it won’t hit me. And you, if you tell my story, aren’t you afraid that in a fit of rage, I’ll fight to the death and we’ll both be ruined?”

“…” Fang Yuan was silent for a while, then suddenly asked: “Is Jin Yan very good to you?”

“Yes.”

“Then what am I in your eyes?”

When he asked this, his expression was calm. Jiang Qin looked at him for a while before saying: “You are too paranoid.”

“…I’m paranoid?!”

“You think too highly of yourself. Victory must always be yours, justice must always stand on your side, the person you want to catch must be unforgivable, the person you want to love must love you… This is very annoying.”

“So you hate me?”

Jiang Qin paused and said: “No.”

They looked at each other for a long time. Fang Yuan walked around the hospital bed to him and said coldly: “I don’t believe it. What exactly do you want to do by coming to see me?”

Sunlight poured into the ward from outside the window. Jiang Qin narrowed his eyes slightly, and the downward curve of his eyelashes was clearly visible. The two stood face to face like this until for a moment Fang Yuan suddenly had the urge to stop seeking this answer. Just as he wanted to say forget it, pretend I didn’t ask, Jiang Qin slowly said: “I don’t know… I just subconsciously wanted to see if I could help you with anything.”

Fang Yuan was slightly surprised, and after a while, he hesitated: “Jiang Qin… can I ask you a question?”

“Hmm?”

“That time at Shi Xing Entertainment… did you still hate me afterwards?”

Jiang Qin revealed an almost imperceptible smile.

“I haven’t felt anything for a long time. Do you still hate me for testifying against you in court?”

“…I don’t feel anything either.”

“So, hearing that you were sick, I just came to see you.”

Actually, this is already the best relationship between the two besides being lovers. Except for his biological parents and Fang Yuan, Jiang Qin would not rush to visit overnight after hearing that a relative was sick; except for Jiang Qin, Fang Yuan would not easily spare anyone who hindered his career.

There had been so much deception and utilization between them, but when the storm subsided and they gazed at each other again, all the rifts disappeared instantly; that was the effect of unbreakable blood ties.

Fang Yuan sighed and lowered his head. After a few seconds, he felt Jiang Qin gently touch his hair and say: “Thank you for your liking, I’m sorry.”

“…Hmm, it’s okay.”

On the street outside the hospital, traffic was heavy. The setting sun reflected several times on the glass walls of the city buildings, passed through the treetops, and slanted onto the road. Jin Yan stood under the traffic light with a cigarette in his mouth, looking down to count ants for a while, then looking up at his watch, his eyebrows knitted into an irritable knot.

Jiang Qin sneaked up behind him. Before he could scare him, Jin Yan turned around abruptly and said angrily: “Why did it take so long!”

“Hey!” Jiang Qin was startled himself: “Why are you so fierce! Who let you sneak out? Are the potatoes in my kitchen peeled?!”

“If I didn’t come over, would I just watch you sneak out to have an affair with that guy named Fang? Let me tell you, the potato skins were peeled long ago. Mother-in-law said I could come out and do whatever I want after repairing the air conditioner!”

“Who is your mother-in-law? Do you have a mother-in-law? That is your mother-in-law (husband’s mother)!”

“Mother your head, come home with hubby to live a married life. Hey, you waiting for the car—! Here’s a hundred yuan, give this taxi to me…”

Bandit Jin triumphantly held his wife under his arm, like a big bad wolf with a little lamb in his mouth, running back to the den impatiently to gnaw slowly. Poor Tsundere Jiang was dragged along bumping and stumbling, having to protect his glasses from falling off and keep his balance so as not to fall. When getting into the car, he almost bumped his head on Jin Yan’s butt.

On the other side of City S, Mother Jiang finished cooking, looked at the clock, and flew into a rage: “Where did they go wild? It’s almost dinner time and they’re still not home?!”

Li Xiaomeng immediately wagged his tail to please her: “Coming back soon, Daddy and Mommy are coming back soon.”

The setting sun gradually set from one end of the city. Countless vehicles and pedestrians gathered on the road, heading home from all directions. The hometown they fled in panic more than ten years ago was now bathed in the golden-red afterglow, opening its gentle embrace to the wanderers.

Night fell in the distance, and countless families turned on their lights. Looking down from above City S, it looked like a boundless vast river in the night.

And the light belonging to Jin Yan and Jiang Qin was flickering with weak and warm light on the land where the afterglow and the night met, silently waiting for them to return home from afar.