Chapter 58: World Collapsing – Jiang Yan’s Unknown Other Side
After going at it all night the previous night, and again tonight, Jiang Yunian really couldn’t take it anymore. Jiang Yan considered his body and only did it twice, but it was enough to torment the person thoroughly.
Jiang Yunian curled up in his arms and slept for a while. Unknown how much time passed, he was disturbed by the harsh light of the phone screen on the pillow. He opened his eyes groggily and rubbed his sore eyes. The wall clock was almost pointing to midnight.
“Still not sleeping?” Jiang Yunianâs voice carried heavy sleepiness, subconsciously rubbing against the heat source beside him.
Jiang Yan was looking down at his phone. The eerie blue light reflected on his sharp profile, looking slightly cold. Hearing the voice, he tossed the phone casually onto the bed. He turned on his side, slender fingers with thin calluses pinching the soft flesh of Jiang Yunianâs sleep-flushed cheek, brushing away the residual tears at the corner of his eye. His voice carried a trace of post-coital laziness: “Ge should exercise, begging for mercy so many times.”
“Mn?”
Jiang Yunianâs cheek puffed slightly from the pinch. He didn’t resist, just relying on him to hug his lean waist back. He murmured, “Then… you aren’t angry anymore?”
Jiang Yan didn’t expect him to still be thinking about this matter; his heart moved slightly.
It seems Ge really cares about me.
He hooked his lips, placing a comforting kiss on his sweaty temple. “Ge is the most important person to me, how could I bear to be?”
“No matter what, I will forgive Ge.”
Jiang Yunian opened his clear eyes, like a small animal being groomed. “Really… the most important?”
“You have no rival.”
The little bit of uneasiness in Jiang Yunianâs heart was instantly washed away by sweetness. He curved his eyes, rubbing against his embrace with satisfaction.
Jiang Yan held him, his large palm rubbing the back of his head, but his gaze went past him, cast toward the heavy night outside the window, becoming complicated and deep. “If… Ge found out I lied to you, would you forgive me too?”
“Lied to me?” Jiang Yunian said blankly. “What can you lie to me about?”
“I’m saying if.”
“Of course, you are also my most important person…” Jiang Yunian paused, cheeks slightly red, but his tone was firm. “Families don’t hold grudges overnight.”
“Family…” Jiang Yan repeated in a low voice. The complexity in his eyes finally turned into a craving bordering on greed, his arms tightening. “Then let’s never separate, okay?”
“Mn, never separate.” Jiang Yunianâs voice gradually lowered, rolling up a thread of drowsiness. “Don’t want to separate…”
Before closing his eyes, inside his hazy thoughts, Jiang Yunian thought: It’s almost New Year’s. This winter, I’m no longer lonely and alone…
Listening to the steady breathing of the person in his arms, Jiang Yanâs eyes settled down completely. He lowered his head, kissed his smooth forehead again, picked up his phone, and quietly got up.
Tianshan Renjian (Heaven on Earth).
Grandfather and grandson sat facing each other, the atmosphere heavier each time.
“Today is your father’s death anniversary,” Qi Nanshan spoke slowly, fatigue showing between his brows. “It’s been ten years. Won’t you go take a look?”
He stared at this face that was identical to his deceased son, his eyes complicated. If not for that tragedy ten years ago, the one sitting in this position now should be the heir he had personally cultivated.
If not for that woman, his son wouldn’t have done stupid things, and he wouldn’t be a white-haired man sending off a black-haired man.
Jiang Yan leaned lazily against the back of the chair, eyes lowered, thick eyelashes covering the undercurrent in his eyes. Hearing the words “Death Anniversary,” his eyelid twitched almost imperceptibly.
Qi Nanshan seemed not to see, speaking of the past on his own. Old people start reminiscing about the past, chatting about his naughtiness when he was small, then speaking of his father. “You had a very excellent father. It’s just his temper was impulsive and stubborn, that’s why he fell for your mother… that crazy woman.”
The words “Crazy Woman” pierced ruthlessly into Jiang Yanâs eardrums. His fist quietly clenched under the table.
“I warned him long ago that woman wasn’t proper. He wouldn’t listen to me. He had big ideas, actually hiding it from me to get the marriage certificate, gave birth to you, and even locked you mother and son up…”
“Don’t blame him, he loved you.” He paused, sighing heavily. “You should rejoice that your life is big (lucky). Your mother had mental illness, even wanting to take you together… just to take revenge on him…”
Jiang Yanâs clenched fist creaked, his whole body emitting a terrifying hostility. The dimness before his eyes twisted instantly, gradually replaced by biting cold rain and roaring thunder…
Wet, cold rain lashed against his body. The half-grown boy was hugged tightly in the arms of a thin, pale woman, standing on the protective railing of the roof. The wind howled, rolling up the woman’s soaked hem and long hair, revealing her face that was once beautiful but now bloodless and written with despair.
Beneath his feet was a black hole swallowed by the rainstorm and night, bottomless.
“Mommy, no… I don’t want to die, I’m scared…” The boy trembled like a fallen leaf in the wind. His small arms hugged the woman’s neck tightly, rain mixed with tears flowing into his mouth, whimpering ceaselessly.
The woman’s eyes were hollow, having completely lost her mind. “Baby, don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid… It’ll be fine once we jump… This way we can be together forever… forever…”
“Boohoo, no Mommy, I beg you, put me down…” The boy cried and begged, trying to wake up his mother’s reason. “Want to be with Mommy… don’t want to die…”
Perhaps the son’s crying penetrated the barrier in her heart; a faint clarity appeared in the woman’s dull eyes. Looking at his stubborn small face, the tears burst instantly. “Baby… I’m sorry… I’m sorry to you… I can’t do it…
“My whole life has been ruined by them… Sorry… Sorry…”
She apologized and repented in the boy’s ear over and over, holding him very tight, as if saying a final goodbye.
“It’s okay Mommy, let’s run away! Don’t want him! We’ll hide far away, hide where they can’t find us…”
Before the words fell, a massive force suddenly threw him out of his mother’s embrace.
“Ah…”
The world spun. The boy’s body was pushed down, thrown onto the slippery terrace. Ignoring the pain, he looked up in terror…
Only to see that figure, thin as a skeleton, climb over the railing without hesitation and leap!
“Mommy! No…”
The boy erupted with a heart-tearing scream, crawling and scrambling to the high railing, watching helplessly as his mother’s body plummeted rapidly in the wind and rain, bit by bit, thoroughly swallowed by the abyss.
In that moment, the deafening thunder, the icy rain, the bottomless darkness, and his mother’s final desperate gaze were deeply branded into his young soul like the most vicious curse, becoming a demon in his heart he couldn’t shake off in this life.
“Fortunately…” Qi Nanshanâs voice, carrying relief, pulled him back to reality. “She still had a bit of conscience, letting you survive.”
“Conscience?” Jiang Yan suddenly looked up, his eyes like sharp blades sweeping straight over, suppressed to the extreme. “She wasn’t sick. You people are the ones who are sick!”
Qi Nanshan was awed by the hatred in his eyes and suddenly fell silent. Facing this mixed kid covered in thorns, he felt powerless.
Jiang Yan had no intention of reminiscing with him. Since there was no official business to discuss, there was no need to stay. As he turned, a heavy voice came from behind.
“Wait.”
Jiang Yan didn’t return all night again.
Which time is this?
Feeling the empty spot beside him, Jiang Yunian always felt something was missing in his heart. He asked Jiang Yan, and the reason given was immutable: the hotel needed manpower at night, rotating shifts, busy. But this busyness was too strange. There are no shifts that require transferring someone temporarily without a schedule, having to sneak out in the middle of the night while he slept?
Haunting like a ghost.
Something’s wrong.
When school let out, the weather changed suddenly and it started to pour. Dark clouds pressed down heavily, strong winds rolled up fallen leaves, and bean-sized raindrops smashed down, forming a vast white curtain of rain accompanied by a few peals of thunder.
Jiang Yunian stood at the entrance of the teaching building, looking at the pouring rain, feeling anxious. He didn’t bring an umbrella. Perhaps Jiang Yan brought one; holding onto a faint hope, he called him.
“Du… du… du…”
Inside the receiver was a long busy tone. Once, twice… no one answered. Just as Jiang Yunian prepared to send him a WeChat message, a brilliant car silhouette suddenly drove up from not far away, breaking through the rain curtain to stop steadily in front of him.
The window rolled down, revealing Zhou Shuâs familiar handsome face.
“Get in.”
Jiang Yunian paused, looking at him confusedly. Under the other’s urging gaze, he braved the rain to open the passenger door. However, a sharp gaze suddenly struck down from above his head, forcing his hand to pause. He closed the car door awkwardly and went around to the back.
Just as he sat inside, a pack of tissues was thrown onto his lap from the front seat. Jiang Yunian whispered thanks, pulling out tissues to carefully wipe the rain off his hair and clothes. The car started, driving out of the school gate, but the direction wasn’t the way home.
“Where are you taking me?” Jiang Yunian looked at the strange street scenery outside the window and couldn’t help asking.
Zhou Shu looked straight ahead. “He asked me to pick you up.”
This “He” was self-evident. A trace of doubt rose in Jiang Yunianâs heart. Before, Zhou Shu sending a special car to pick up and drop off Jiang Yan already made him feel flattered. Now Zhou Shu actually drove personally to pick him up. One had to know, Zhou Shu was the heir of the Zhou Hang Group. Usually, many people flattered and coaxed him; how could it be someone else’s turn to ride in his car? Let alone treating the man as a driver.
This treatment was something ordinary people simply didn’t dare to imagine.
Jiang Yunian let his thoughts run wild, a strange feeling rising in his heart, vaguely feeling an unknown unease.
This was too unusual.
The inside of the car fell into silence. Jiang Yunian was like a frightened quail, not daring to touch anything randomly, sitting properly in the back seat. The car drove through the storm, wipers swinging madly. He looked at the world distorted by the rain outside the window, his heart drumming along. His hands on his knees twisted back and forth.
When the car drove into Fanying Street, flashing with neon lights and looking deserted due to the storm, Jiang Yunian opened his mouth dryly, “You… you won’t do anything… to Jiang Yan, right?”
So love the house, love the crow (love me because of him)?
Zhou Shu glanced at him through the rearview mirror, face full of speechlessness and disdain, ignoring him.
The car stopped at the entrance of Tianshan Renjian. Zhou Shu turned off the engine, tossed the keys to the parking valet, and signaled Jiang Yunian to follow. The two walked into the slightly empty lobby, crossed the familiar corridor, and bumped into He Qing.
Seeing Jiang Yunian, He Qing was surprised: “Here to find Jiang Yan?”
Jiang Yunian nodded: “Mn, where is he?”
He Qing pointed to the second private room diagonally opposite: “Over there, the one you went to last time.”
“Ah?” Jiang Yunian froze: “We?”
He didn’t remember coming here with Jiang Yan.
“That night of the gathering with Xuezhang,” He Qing thought he was embarrassed. “Relax, no one was peeking at what he abducted you inside to do. Hurry and take the person away; drinking like that, shouting your name the whole time.”
Jiang Yunianâs pupils contracted slightly: “What did you say? You saw…”
The blood gradually faded from his face. He looked up in disbelief, then concealed it: “You saw wrong, right?”
Jiang Yan did come that day, but he left early. He Qing seeing him here, it wasn’t strange to mistake the IG who abducted him for Jiang Yan. Jiang Yunian was almost scared into a cold sweat. He forced a smile that didn’t look like a smile. He opened his mouth wanting to correct something, but being dragged into a black room by a stranger and forcibly kissedâhe couldn’t say such a thing in front of people no matter what.
He must have mistaken the person!
Perhaps it was certainty in his heart, or deliberately not wanting to mention it, his disordered thoughts naturally ignored the doubts he had about Chen Zhixian and the IG in the black room when they first caught Chen Zhixian. If Chen Zhixian and Jiang Yan were put together now, no one would think they were the same person.
He Qing wasn’t blind; naturally, he wouldn’t confuse people with such a huge gap in height and body type.
“Otherwise? You have another boyfriend?” He Qing looked at the person beside him. “That day he wore all black, drinking with Zhou Shu. I bumped into him hugging you inside just as I came out. You guys really don’t avoid people at all.”
He looked at Jiang Yunianâs face, as if he didn’t believe it, adding, “Black windbreaker, zipper pulled to the top, same height. Could there be someone else?”
Even clearly describing the clothes and height, matching so perfectly…
He Qing saw his silence and keenly sensed something different. “You wouldn’t… really think it was someone else, right?”
“…”
Jiang Yunian felt as if his throat was strangled, unable to make a sound of rebuttal. The scene before his eyes gradually became nothingness, the world collapsing…
He Qing saw his pale face and immediately realized the situation wasn’t simple.
Did I really hit the mark? Connecting it to the fact that guests here indeed didn’t behave after getting drunkâeven he himself had been harassed quite a bitâHe Qingâs brows furrowed. He exchanged a glance with Zhou Shu, catching a trace of playful “you caused trouble” in the other’s eyes.
“Are you okay?” He Qing hesitated, supporting Jiang Yunianâs crumbling body. “Do you want to… find security to check the surveillance?”
Jiang Yunianâs shoulder trembled at the touch, suddenly shaking off his hand. He looked up dully, tiny lights flashing in his eyes, teeth chattering slightly.
He Qing waved in front of him before he snapped out of it. His unfocused gaze focused on their faces, then he closed his eyes forcefully. When he opened them again, the emotions in his eyes were suppressed.
“No need.”
When he said these two words, his mind flashed back to that pitch-black private room. That man tormented him and then ruthlessly discarded him. When leaving, a thin ray of light briefly shone on the shoes on his feet…
This forgotten detail, at this moment, was like a lethal boomerang, piercing ruthlessly into his heart.
He didn’t look at He Qing and Zhou Shu anymore, his gaze turning to the closed door oppositeâthe entrance that was like a nightmare to him. He took a deep breath and walked over holding onto the last trace of fantasy.
He Qing looked at his appearance and felt it wasn’t as calm as it appeared on the surface. He wanted to say something but was stopped by Zhou Shu raising a hand.
Jiang Yunian never thought he would step foot here again. His fingers touched the cold, hard door handle, trembling slightly from the cold.
Inside the private room was no longer the pitch-black darkness where one couldn’t see their fingers, but it was equally oppressive. Only a weak halo of light hit the center of the drinking table. The table was piled with empty wine bottles, some broken on the floor. The air was filled with a strong, pungent smell of alcohol, muddy and unbearable.
On the sofa not touched by the light, a familiar figure leaned half-reclined.
That person was drunk quite badly, the back of his head tilting back weakly. The light flooding in from the doorway made him close his eyes tightly in displeasure, his head tilting down, letting out a murmur.
“Ge…”
Jiang Yunian stood blankly at the door, looking at this Jiang Yan he had never seen before.
Decadent, disheveled, lifeless.
He thought Jiang Yan didn’t drink because he hated it, so he restrained himself with the same requirement. It turned out… there was such an unknown side.
The scene before him impacted his brain, turning it blank. Jiang Yunian subconsciously turned his head to look at the door.
Zhou Shu leaned against the door frame, arms crossed, shrugging with no expression.
“Don’t look at me, at most I poured a few glasses.” His gaze swept over Jiang Yan. “He’s in a bad mood, calling your name the whole time. Watch over him a bit; there’s a car at the entrance.”
Finished speaking, he didn’t look one more time. He wrapped his arm around He Qingâs slender waist, turned, and left, incidentally closing the door for them.
Translatorâs Note: The puzzle pieces finally click. The shoes! It’s always the shoes. The confrontation is imminent.
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