Chapter 66: Stay, Brother
The two looked at Lin Siwu simultaneously with complex expressions.
Lin Siwu felt a bit creeped out by their gazes and shrank his neck. “…… What? Did I say something wrong?”
“No,” Jiang Qing said, being the first to look away. “Keep playing.”
He paused, adding a sentence as a response to Lin Siyu’s shock—and as a way to seal that “joke.” “I was just speaking offhand; don’t take it to heart. Let’s continue.”
Lin Siyu took a deep breath, forcing himself to suppress his churning emotions. He knew that dwelling on it would only make him lose more composure. His fingertips felt slightly cold, and he worked to keep his voice steady:
“…… Okay. Let’s look at the next item.”
The topic was crudely yanked back onto the right track.
But once some things are pointed out, it’s impossible to pretend they don’t exist.
During the subsequent discussion, Lin Siyu found it difficult to be as fully focused as before. Jiang Qing’s voice, his fingers, his eyes, his movements…
He could even feel that the heat in his ears hadn’t fully subsided.
Lin Siwu sat to the side, looking from one to the other, feeling like there was something in the air he couldn’t quite understand.
His brother seemed a bit uneasy? Qing-ge seemed… to be smiling? Although his mouth hadn’t moved, his eyes looked a bit different?
He scratched his head and decided not to think about it. He only knew that Qing-ge was here and didn’t seem in a rush to leave, and that made him happy!
He sneakily took out his phone, set it to silent, opened the camera, and pressed the shutter on Jiang Qing’s side profile.
Click.
Jiang Qing and Lin Siyu turned to look at him simultaneously.
Lin Siwu’s hand shook, nearly dropping the phone. His face turned beet-red as he stammered: “I… I… I was taking a photo of the… clouds outside! Yeah! Clouds! Today’s clouds are… very special!”
Outside, the sun was shining, and there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky.
Jiang Qing: “……”
Lin Siyu closed his eyes, feeling a headache coming on.
He had a premonition that with Jiang Qing visiting today, the two brothers were going to make every embarrassment of their lives known.
The two went over the specific details of the collaboration again. Their efficiency was quite high, and they soon settled on the main framework and key terms. Lin Siyu truly was the heir the Lin family was grooming; his professional ability was top-notch, his thinking meticulous—aside from occasionally dazing because of an accidental glance or movement from Jiang Qing, his overall performance was perfect.
Jiang Qing also temporarily tossed aside the messy thoughts of “bean sprouts” and “conquest difficulty.”
“The rest are just procedural documents and legal reviews,” Lin Siyu said as he closed the final file. “I’ll have my team send the organized version to you as soon as possible.”
“Mm.” Jiang Qing also put down his pen, stretching his somewhat stiff neck.
He checked the time; it was past 3 PM. If he hurried back now, maybe he could catch a nap?
“Then I’ll be off?”
“So soon?” Lin Siyu blurted out almost instinctively. The moment the words left his mouth, he felt annoyed—it was too obvious. He pursed his lips and immediately tried to fix it:
“I mean… we just settled so many details; maybe some parts need to be confirmed in person? Remote communication might not be as convenient.”
Jiang Qing paused his packing and looked up at him. His tone was calm as he picked up his coat from the sofa armrest. “The important parts are settled. Online communication will be enough.”
Lin Siyu immediately shot a look at Lin Siwu.
Lin Siwu caught it instantly, returning a look that said, “Ge, leave it to me!”
Lin Siyu suddenly had a very bad feeling.
He watched as Lin Siwu lunged forward and grabbed Jiang Qing’s shins!
“Qing-ge! Don’t go!” He looked up, his eyes turning red on command as he spoke with a sob. “I… the reason I secretly took a photo was because I couldn’t bear to see you leave! It’s so rare for you to visit, and I’m so bored home alone. I just wanted a photo to look at!”
“And Qing-ge, didn’t you promise me? That anything was ‘okay’? Then stay and keep me company for a bit, okay…”
Lin Siyu felt his vision go dark and nearly lost his footing, having to grab the desk for support.
Jiang Qing looked down at his “leg ornament” and suddenly decided not to have bean sprouts after all.
Hmm, maybe I should have malatang tonight instead?
Seeing that Jiang Qing hadn’t reacted, Lin Siwu panicked even more.
He couldn’t fail! He gritted his teeth and simply pressed his face against Jiang Qing’s pant leg, rubbing against it. He used the ultimate move he’d used since he was a kid to beg for toys:
“Qing-ge~ Please~ Just for a bit~ I promise I won’t be loud! I can brew tea for you! I’ll brew that… that… that… that Pu’er tea you like! I’ve been learning from videos lately; I’m a pro!”
“Please, you promised me…”
Jiang Qing looked to Lin Siyu for help, only to find Lin Siyu standing by the window, staring deeply at a sky that didn’t have a single cloud, leaving him with the back of a brooding male lead.
“……”
Have I walked into a den of foxes?
Jiang Linmu changed into his clothes and got into his flashy sports car.
Today was a good friend’s birthday. It was said that everyone who attended would get a surprise gift bag. Jiang Linmu had always been fond of excitement—and especially fond of free gifts—so he drove toward the party in high spirits.
The party was held on the top floor of a high-end club, the scene luxurious and the music deafening.
“Hey, come on, Linmu.” Ruan Qinjing hooked his arm around Jiang Linmu’s shoulder and led him inside.
“How many did you invite today?” Jiang Linmu asked as he followed.
“Not many, just a dozen or so.”
Ruan Qinjing.
A young master of the Ruan family.
You might not know him, but you’ve definitely heard of his glorious deeds.
That’s right—the person who asked Jiang Linmu those “presumptuous” and “un-presumptuous” questions was him. As a Ruan master who had tasted Jiang Linmu’s fists three times, he hadn’t learned his lesson at all. Instead, he spent every day cheekily bouncing around Jiang Linmu’s triggers because he knew his good brother wouldn’t beat him to death—he’d at least leave him enough breath to be sent to the hospital.
Thanks, brother. Brothers for life.
My brother leaves me a life; I’ll leave my brother ten thousand gold.
But Ruan Qinjing was also one of the few people Jiang Linmu actually called a friend. Out in public, if Jiang Linmu found someone unpleasant, he’d fight them. You curse me? I hit you. You curse my brother? I hit you until you die. You didn’t curse me? I hit you because I thought you were rolling your eyes just now. What? You say you just had sand in your eye? What’s that to do with me? Do I need a reason to hit you?
Ruan Qinjing was the person beside Jiang Linmu who was responsible for shouting: “Enough, enough, Mu-ge! Enough!”
Of course, he was only responsible for shouting; he wasn’t responsible for pulling him back.
So everyone would see that whenever Jiang Linmu started a fight, there was always a human megaphone NPC nearby, repeating the same few phrases: “Enough, enough, Mu-ge! Enough!” “Mu-ge, stop hitting!”
Occasionally, passers-by who didn’t know what was happening would think some student council officer had come to fill their quota.
Over time, everyone grew used to it.
Whenever Jiang Linmu fought with someone nearby, people would automatically form a circle with a 4-meter radius around the battlefield and shout in a disciplined manner: “Enough, enough, Mu-ge! Enough!” “Mu-ge, stop hitting!” They grew more energetic as they shouted, effectively turning it into a cheerleading chant.
Of course, they were only responsible for shouting; they weren’t responsible for pulling them back.
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