CHAPTER 40 part 1
When Jiang Shulu said that, the hand Tang Yue was using to stroke his hair paused.
“A secret?” Tang Yue asked.
Jiang Shulu hummed in agreement.
Although the old house in the fishing village was far from luxurious, the bedding was surprisingly comfortable, all thanks to the sponsors the production team had worked with.
Perhaps because the bed was so soft, it felt as though they were sinking into a tender embrace, their breaths intertwining, making Tang Yue’s thoughts sluggish. His hand moved from Jiang Shulu’s hair to his forehead, then down to cup his face.
“Shulu-ge, are you not from this world?”
He frowned. “Are you a transmigrator?”
The room was dimly lit, the live stream long since over. It was so quiet you could only hear the wind outside the window. The sound of the distant tide, broken by the wind, was gentle by the time it reached them.
“Then how old are you, Shulu-ge? Have you lived for hundreds of years?”
“What did you do before?”
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
His questions came one after another, leaving Jiang Shulu both bewildered and amused.
He had no idea how much Tang Yue had extrapolated from that one sentence. His tone was a little vexed, and he didn’t even realize his brow was furrowed.
“What are you thinking about?”
The man let out a low chuckle, pulling him closer into his arms, his fingers slipping between Tang Yue’s. “You really have read too many novels. Manager Lin was right, you look expressionless, but your mind is a whirlwind.”
Tang Yue’s heart pounded from his own bold guess. He gasped for air, looking up at Jiang Shulu in a daze. “Am I wrong? ‘Not being Jiang Shulu before the age of seven’ doesn’t mean that?”
Jiang Shulu pressed his forehead against Tang Yue’s. “Of course, it doesn’t mean that.”
Perhaps it was the dead of night, but their closeness turned the ambiguity into a burning fire. At least, Tang Yue loved the feeling of their skin touching like this.
He rubbed his cheek against Jiang Shulu’s shoulder. “Then what does it mean? Did you change your name?”
Tang Yue’s hand flipped over to grasp Jiang Shulu’s. He squeezed hard, as if trying to embed himself into the other’s body.
“I did.”
He didn’t know what clicked in Tang Yue’s mind, but he asked, “Your WeChat name? I used to think it was the first letter of Third Brother’s name, ‘Chao’.”
Jiang Shulu was a little troubled. “Why am I always deeply tied to someone else in your mind? Xiao Yue, you’re so cruel.”
Tang Yue gave a fake cough. “So what was your name before, Shulu-ge?”
Jiang Shulu took his hand and wrote in his palm, stroke by stroke.
It tickled so much Tang Yue wanted to pull his hand back, but his heart sank with the character, filled with sadness.
How could it be the character for “sorrow” (ζ, chΓ³u)? It sounded so unhappy.
“So you’re Xiao Chou.”
Jiang Shulu hummed in agreement.
Tang Yue closed his eyes, inhaling Jiang Shulu’s scent, wishing he could wrap himself around the other man.
He had always thought he was fine sleeping alone.
On Planet 9787, the years of growing up alone after his parents passed away, and the single dorm room after transmigrating to this world.
But it’s hard to change human nature. Tang Mian had grown up in his arms, and the child had even complained that his father was clingy.
But he didn’t know that his father’s clinginess was restrained in front of him. Right now, it felt to Jiang Shulu like being entangled by a vine, a caress that was like a wildfire, making him want to do much more.
Jiang Shulu chuckled. “How did you suddenly become so smart?”
“You’re calling me stupid again.”
“That’s calling you stupid? I’m so wronged.”
Speaking of the past, Jiang Shulu’s tone wasn’t so heavy. He just felt the tightness of their embrace and said, “I used to take my mother’s surname.”
“Isn’t Mrs. Jiang’s surname Zhu?”
“My birth mother’s surname is Zhou.”
At the mention of Mrs. Jiang, Tang Yue still felt annoyed and complained in a small voice, “She’s really fierce.”
“You’ve only met once, haven’t you? How was she fierce to you?”
“Even though she was smiling, I didn’t feel any gentleness from her. Not like you.”
Perhaps feeling that such a comparison made Jiang Shulu seem less impressive, Tang Yue added, “Shulu-ge is the best.”
“Not that good.”
He asked, “Xiao Yue, do I make you feel like you have to be very guarded?”
Tang Yue hummed. “I don’t like your family. But we’re dating now, so we don’t have to think about that much, right?”
His shallow breaths sprayed against the side of Jiang Shulu’s neck, almost scalding away the shell of aloofness Jiang Shulu had worn for years.
“That’s for me to consider. And there are many things I haven’t told you yet.”
“I have things too.”
“Besides Xiao Mie, is there anything else?”
“If it’s about your sister Liang Yi, I’ve had some contact with her.”
Tang Yue let out an “ah.” “When? Sister Yi never told me.”
“Work-related. But you probably didn’t want to hear any news about me these past few years, right?”
This period was enough for Jiang Shulu to figure out how to deal with Tang Yue.
Tang Yue responded to softness, not hardness, but to a delicate degree. It required direct questioning, but not too much tenderness.
Adding a little weakness and grievance was the best way. This was something Tang Mian had taught Jiang Shulu.
As expected, Tang Yue got anxious and immediately explained, “That’s because I thought you… you were already married.”
He was so anxious he subconsciously fidgeted with his hands again. His other hand didn’t know where it had landed on Jiang Shulu, drawing a muffled groan from the man. Tang Yue apologized again and was about to rub it for him, but was pressed back down.
The blanket fell over their heads. Jiang Shulu was a little helpless. “I only want to marry you.”
“Including the so-called fiancΓ©e the internet is talking about, there will be none.”
He held Tang Yue tightly, so tightly that Tang Yue wanted to bite his ear.
“Then what was your name before? Where did you live if not with the Jiang family? Was your father a scumbag?”
After asking, he felt it was impolite and said sorry.
“He is.”
“Then what about your birth mother? I thought it was strange how you and Mrs. Jiang got along before.”
The mother in Tang Yue’s memory was very gentle. Even when she smiled, it wouldn’t be like Mrs. Jiang’s, where the smile didn’t reach her eyes, and there was even a hint of disgust when she turned her head.
And Jiang Shulu seemed too respectful.
That time, after Tang Yue went back, he even described his feelings to Liu Xichao.
βIt’s a bit like the queen and her child in the TV series you’ve been watching recently, Third Brother.
Liu Xichao let out an “oh.” βWell, she’s not the birth mother, after all. He was adopted. The queen’s biological child died a long time ago.
Now Tang Yue asked, “But everyone says you’re the only heir. You weren’t brought in to replace the previous one, were you?”
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