Shoutout to Alinaza for the commission!
Getting out of Han Xiao’s car, Jiang Se looked up and immediately saw Jiang Ye standing under the streetlamp.
The teenager was holding an umbrella, staring at her pitifully, like a large, downcast dog.
Jiang Se opened her umbrella and walked over, deliberately poking the injury on his face with her finger: “Didn’t I tell you to go home and put on medicine? What? The wound doesn’t hurt?”
Jiang Ye awkwardly turned his head away: “Doesn’t hurt.”
His injuries actually weren’t serious, just some scrapes, but they still hurt. Only, for a teenage boy at this age, saying it hurts seems shamefully embarrassing. No matter how painful, he’d grit his teeth and say it doesn’t hurt.
“Then let me make it hurt.”
So Jiang Se changed poking to pinching, using real force to tear open again the cut at the corner of his lips that had just healed.
Fresh blood gushed out, and Jiang Ye finally couldn’t hold back a hiss.
Jiang Se let go of him, her face still showing no expression.
“When you don’t even have a single card in your hand, the best way is to hand the matter over to the people with the ability to handle it like the police. Jiang Ye, foolish showing-off only ruins things, what use does it have?”
Hearing this, Jiang Ye pressed his lips together, the face hidden in the backlight holding a bit of stubbornness.
But he knew Jiang Se was doing it for his good.
“Second Sis, don’t get involved in Cao Liang’s matter. I can handle it myself. You don’t go… asking those people for help.”
Jiang Ye understood Jiang Se’s situation now.
He didn’t want her to lower her head and beg someone because of him.
“How will you handle it? By crippling a hand?” Jiang Se’s gaze dropped, glancing at Jiang Ye’s hand that had been burned by a cigarette, “If crippling a hand can make you fix your impulsiveness, then cripple it. Crippling a hand today is better than losing a life tomorrow. If I hadn’t run into Han Xiao earlier, I wouldn’t have gone into the club to find you at all. Jiang Ye, remember this, if there’s a next time, no one will go in to save you.”
“Don’t worry, next time I’d rather cripple my hand than have you go ask anyone!” Jiang Ye took a breath, neck stiff, “If my hand’s crippled, I’ll just go to university properly. I can still earn money in the future. Anyway, you don’t have to wrong yourself.”
On the teenager’s injured face was a stubbornness not fearing mutual destruction. Looking at his messy face, Jiang Se felt a resonance in her bones.
That kind of stubbornness that wants mutual destruction, she, too, had once had it.
Perhaps because of that resonance, or perhaps because even at this moment the boy still didn’t want her to go beg someone.
Jiang Se softened her tone: “There are many ways to solve something. Unless you’ve reached the point of absolute necessity, don’t choose the method that hurts you the most.”
She lifted the umbrella in her hand slightly, the darkness in her eyes holding a convincing firmness: “I never beg anyone, and I won’t beg anyone because of your and Cao Liang’s matter. Now, tell me clearly, why did you break Cao Liang’s hand in the first place?”
The grudge between Jiang Ye and Cao Liang began when Jiang Ye smashed Cao Liang’s hand bones.
The boy who had sworn he’d earn big money for her and Jiang Tang shouldn’t have been someone this impulsive or brainless.
Jiang Se needed to know the reason.
Jiang Ye’s expression darkened at some thought, falling into silent refusal.
Not until the scab at the corner of his lips dried again did he tug at it slightly, speaking in a low voice: “I can tell you, but you have to promise me not to let Big Sis know about what happened between me and Cao Liang.”
…
By the time they reached Liyuan Street, it was already close to nine.
The lights in the yard weren’t on, at this time, Yu Shiying and Jiang Chuan naturally hadn’t returned yet.
Jiang Se took out her key, ready to open the door, when suddenly someone darted out from the shadow of the nearby tree.
“Jiang Ye!”
Her hand shook. She turned her head and saw a pretty girl with ear-length short hair.
The girl stared at Jiang Ye without blinking, her eyes gradually reddening.
Seeing the girl’s eyes turn red, Jiang Ye clenched his jaw, a rare sight, and said, “What are you crying for, it didn’t even hurt that much.”
Jiang Se didn’t need to ask to know, this must be that “Keaiduo*.”
* ke ai = cute; duo = more
She shot Jiang Ye a glance, then after opening the door went straight inside the house, sending Xu Zhou a WeChat message: 【Zhouzhou, help me with something.】
—
The rain in Tongcheng fell for the entire night.
Standing in the bitter wind and rain for over twenty minutes, Han Xiao sneezed all the way as he drove back to the financial district.
Once home, he didn’t even change his clothes before immediately dialing Lu Huaiyan: “Bro, what did Jiang Se say to you?”
Lu Huaiyan was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking at the night view of Beicheng. Hearing this, he said: “Too free? Did you finish reading the contract for next week’s negotiation with the Cao family?”
Han Xiao instantly begged for mercy: “Aiya bro, I’m just a wastrel, can you not bring up that contract stuff? Let Assistant Li handle that. I really do have something I want to discuss with you. My mom’s been urging me to get married lately. The blind dates she arranged for me are lined up all the way till next year.”
He cleared his throat, trying to make his tone sound serious: “Bro, what do you think of Jiang Se?”
Han Xiao was normally wild, so when saying this, he deliberately lowered his voice, afraid his brother would think he was joking again.
“Didn’t her engagement with that illegitimate son of the Fu family fall apart? The Cen family doesn’t acknowledge her now either. I’m guessing she definitely wants to return to Beicheng. Marrying me suits her just fine.” Han Xiao shrugged. “And as for me, instead of marrying some high-born ancestor who’ll control me every day, I’d rather marry someone fun.”
Although the Han family couldn’t compare to the Fu family, they were still a wealthy family in Beicheng. Most importantly, Han Xiao wasn’t some illegitimate son who couldn’t be shown in public.
To Jiang Se, who had lost the Cen family as a backer, Han Xiao considered himself the best option she could find.
“Jiang Se must’ve looked for you because of Cao Liang’s matter, right. Bro, how about letting me handle it?” Han Xiao chuckled, “If the person we ran into today had been Cao Xun, I definitely wouldn’t try to take the spotlight. But that brat Cao Liang, I can still deal with him. A little punk whose hair hasn’t even grown out yet, send him a good car, then have Jiang Se’s little brother hand him a glass of apology wine, and that’s that.”
From childhood, Lu Huaiyan knew exactly what kind of creature his little brother was.
He also knew the real purpose of this phone call.
He said in a tone hard to read: “She didn’t come to me to resolve Cao Liang’s issue. She came to discuss a deal.”
“A deal?” Han Xiao let out an “Ah?”
“What deal?”
“Don’t know. But this deal is probably meant to save that glass of apology wine her brother’s supposed to hand to Cao Liang.” Lu Huaiyan swirled the wine glass; the amber liquid rocked lightly, reflecting the man’s cold brows and eyes. “Han Xiao, you’ve also mistaken something.”
Han Xiao was confused: “What did I mistake?”
“It isn’t the Cen family that doesn’t want her. It’s she who doesn’t want the Cen family. So Han Xiao—” Lu Huaiyan paused, the floor-to-ceiling window reflecting his indifferent lips, “a girl who can give up even the Cen family, unless you replace your core, she won’t look at you.”
“……”
After hanging up, Lu Huaiyan drained the wine in his glass in one go, turned, and walked into the bathroom.
The sound of water pattered, white steam filling the space.
Half an hour later, the man came out with a towel around his lean waist, wet hair dripping water down his skin. The droplets slid past his prominent Adam’s apple, along the mermaid line of his torso, disappearing into the towel.
Lu Huaiyan took a cigarette from the pack, bit it between his teeth, and lifted his eyes toward the window.
No rain in Beicheng.
In the empty night sky, only a thin crescent moon hung alone, cold and solitary.
He didn’t know why, but he suddenly thought of Jiang Se’s face in the car when her smile faded, and that gentle yet indifferent—
“Chairman Lu, let’s discuss a deal.”
A deal?
Lu Huaiyan thumbed the wheel of his lighter, lowering his head to gather the flame. At the moment the cigarette lit, he narrowed his eyes.
Chairman Lu of the negotiation table never loses. She really wanted to negotiate a deal with him?
—
Jiang Se only received the information Xu Zhou sent two days later.
The file listed, in painstaking detail, the pasts of both Cao Xun and his fiancée Jian Ruyi.
Cao Xun was twenty-seven this year. He and Jian Ruyi got engaged four years ago.
The two had never gotten along. Although the elders on both sides forcibly pressed their heads together to get engaged, only a handful of close friends knew of it.
After the engagement, each of them played their own games, each wilder than the other.
Jian Ruyi had dated singers, film emperors, and models, more than one could count on ten fingers. Cao Xun was no better; the number of young lovers he had in private could fill several mahjong tables.
Jiang Tang had been in a relationship with Cao Xun three years ago.
They dated for two years and broke up a year ago.
Later, because of the film-city project, Cao Xun came to Tongcheng, and Cao Liang transferred to the high school Jiang Ye attended.
Cao Liang was one grade lower than Jiang Ye. The conflict between the two started because of one sentence from Cao Liang.
“That beast pointed at one of Big Sis’s dance videos and said Big Sis was a worn-out shoe his older brother got bored of playing with.”
Everyone at Tongcheng No. 1 High knew Jiang Tang was Jiang Ye’s older sister. That remark spread to Jiang Ye by the end of that same day. Jiang Ye went to confront Cao Liang, and the two boys ended up in a fight.
Jiang Ye inherited Jiang Chuan’s physique and skills; without much effort, he broke one of Cao Liang’s hands.
From then on, a grudge was formed. Cao Liang was a sinister one, afraid of causing too much trouble and being sent abroad by his grandfather, so he always waited for chances to retaliate secretly.
If he couldn’t catch Jiang Ye, he’d go after the girls who had been rumored to be involved with Jiang Ye.
The Chen Liyin from a few days ago was Jiang Ye’s deskmate in his third year of high school.
Jiang Se leaned her head back against the sofa, eyes closed, her mind running fast.
If Jiang Ye hadn’t confessed, she would never have imagined this matter could be tied to the gentle and quiet Jiang Tang.
Jiang Se had no intention of dragging Jiang Tang into this.
From both what she knew about Jiang Tang and the information she’d gathered, when Jiang Tang was with Cao Xun, she had absolutely no idea he had a fiancée.
In that romance, she was both the deceived and the victim.
Why should a victim live under the shadow of these rotten things?
Jiang Se entered the room and rummaged through her luggage, taking out a USB drive from a box.
The silver-gray USB spun a few rounds on her fingertips. She opened her computer and was about to insert the USB when suddenly a text message popped up on her phone.
【Time, place.】
As if guessing Jiang Se didn’t have his number in her phone, the message specially included a signature: 【Lu Huaiyan】.
This was letting her decide the location.
Jiang Se searched her mind, then replied with a place: 【No.163 Financial Street, Friday 3 PM】
—
No.163 Financial Street was a Japanese teahouse, only one block away from the Hongding Club.
Lu Huaiyan arrived before 3 PM.
A young attendant dressed in a kimono bowed and led the way. The paper lattice door slid open slowly. The girl sitting on the tatami turned her head to look.
She wore a pale green floral balloon dress. Her thick, fluffy long hair was tied in a fishtail braid, loosely hanging over her shoulder. Her fair, delicate earlobes wore two glossy pearl earrings. Her misty eyes were like two lakes deep with ink.
For a moment, Lu Huaiyan thought of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring.
His thoughts hazed for just that instant before he shifted his gaze away, raised his hand, and checked his watch: “You came early, it’s only 2:40 now.”
Jiang Se smiled: “Chairman Lu, didn’t you also come early?”
Lu Huaiyan walked over and sat on the tatami opposite her across a low tea table.
Tea utensils were set on the table. On Jiang Se’s side sat a black tea bowl holding half a bowl of bluish-green tea.
Jiang Se asked him: “Matcha, do you want some?”
Lu Huaiyan didn’t care what he drank, and nodded: “Sure.”
Making authentic matcha wasn’t difficult; the challenge was in the graceful flow of making the tea.
Lu Huaiyan lifted his eyes to watch Jiang Se.
The girl calmly and unhurriedly sifted the powder, fetched water, and stirred the liquid.
Every movement was pleasing to the eye.
Over twenty years of upbringing were etched into her bones, unchanged by surname or environment.
Jiang Se met the man’s heavy gaze and pushed the tea bowl over. Her slender, fair fingers, contrasted by the black bowl, looked like white jade.
The two sipped tea slowly, as if this meeting was not for a deal, but for catching up.
When the tea was finished, Jiang Se took out a recorder and said: “Let me play a clip for you first.”
She pressed play. A static electric “crackle” filled the ears, followed by a soft, charming female voice.
“When will you fulfill what you promised me?”
“Stop giving me empty promises!”
“Little Xuan is also your son, and will call you dad sooner or later. If you don’t act, the entire Lu family will be taken away by that little devil Lu Huaiyan. How will you face Little Xuan then and tell him you’re his dad?”
Jiang Se paused the recording here.
The woman’s voice was familiar to both Lu Huaiyan and Jiang Se.
— Lu Huaiyan’s stepmother Hu Yuping.
The “Little Xuan” the woman mentioned was Lu Huaiyan’s half-brother Lu Huaxuan.
Of course, from the recording, the so-called “half-brother” status was questionable.
Jiang Se put the recorder back into her bag and looked up at Lu Huaiyan.
From hearing the recording until it was paused, his expression remained faint, as if the one being schemed against wasn’t him.
“Don’t want to know who your stepmother was talking to?”
Lu Huaiyan casually stroked the tea bowl. Hearing Jiang Se’s words, his fingers moved away from the bowl. He asked quietly: “Where did you get this recording?”
“I recorded it myself, just,” Jiang Se smiled gracefully, “a coincidence.”
Lu Huaiyan said “Hmm”: “The ‘coincidence’ you met at Lu’s 80th anniversary banquet a year ago?”
Jiang Se: “…” He actually guessed right.
“Looks like I was right.” The man looked at Jiang Se, a trace of interest flashing through his sharp brows. Then he asked, “Jiang Se, what did you originally plan to do with this recording?”
—
Han Xiao: Once, I also had a girl I wanted to pursue.
Xia Xia: Huh? Really? What happened then?
Han Xiao: Then you made her my sister-in-law 【grind knife eagerly.jpg】
