Chapter 10: Potential Rival — “Ge has a girlfriend, so he doesn’t want me anymore…”
The dull elective class finally ended. Jiang Yunian checked his phone and found that Jiang Yan had sent him another message, saying he wanted to go home together with him and prepare dinner, and should be arriving downstairs soon.
Thinking about it, he had been busy with part-time jobs these days and inevitably neglected Jiang Yan. He didn’t know if he had made any friends at school. With his withdrawn personality, it was probably difficult.
He replied with an “Okay.” He slung his backpack over his shoulder and prepared to go downstairs. Just as he reached the stairwell, Hao Meng called, her tone revealing unconcealable excitement.
Last week, the first video they shot unexpectedly became a small hit. The sales of the dress skyrocketed, and it even attracted many cooperation invitations from advertisers.
Hao Meng said on the other end, “The senior is so happy she’s overjoyed! She sent a big red envelope and is treating us to a food stall feast to celebrate! I’m already at the place, hurry over!”
Before Jiang Yunian could respond, a familiar figure walked up the stairs. Jiang Yan stood there, as if he didn’t see that he was on the phone, his voice a bit muffled: “Ge, are you leaving with someone else again?”
Clearly expressionless, but those eyes looking straight at Jiang Yunian looked very aggrieved, “You haven’t accompanied me for several days.”
It made one’s heart tighten.
For the first time, Jiang Yunian realized that having a clingy younger brother had become a sweet burden.
Recently, he had been leaving early and returning late, leaving Jiang Yan alone at home. Even when they met occasionally at night, they couldn’t say much. Jiang Yan tried to find him at school several times, but the timing was always off. The number of rejections was indeed a bit too many.
Thinking of this, a part of Jiang Yunian’s heart collapsed.
On the other end of the phone, Hao Meng was still asking, “Who is talking?”
“Ah, that… I was just about to go home…” Jiang Yunian pinched Jiang Yan’s hand soothingly and said to the phone, “How about… we reschedule for another day?”
“Hm? Didn’t you say you were free tonight?”
This afternoon, Hao Meng chatted with him about work and said she had a surprise to tell him, but it would be a bit later. However, halfway through the chat, someone called her, and she went to busy herself with other things, so he only found out now.
“Ah, I forgot! I thought I told you about dinner tonight. What should we do? I’m already here and even ordered your favorite crayfish. Staying at home alone is boring anyway, how about… do me the honor?”
He’s not alone now.
On one side were Jiang Yan’s resentful eyes, and on the other was a friend’s invitation. Jiang Yunian fell into a dilemma.
Jiang Yan lowered his eyes and said sensibly, “It’s okay, Ge. You go, I won’t starve to death.”
The guilt in Jiang Yunian’s heart grew heavier. Just as he was about to refuse, Hao Meng’s voice followed the scent and arrived.
“Is there someone next to you? Male or female, is he handsome? Why not come together, it’s just adding a pair of chopsticks.”
Jiang Yunian looked at Jiang Yan eagerly, asking for his opinion.
Hearing the strange female voice, Jiang Yan had a plan in his heart and nodded, “I’ll listen to Ge’s arrangement.”
Jiang Yunian felt as if he had been granted amnesty and quickly agreed.
After hanging up the phone, he secretly sent a WeChat message to Hao Meng, telling her to be careful with her words later, especially to keep his part-time job a secret.
At this moment, Jiang Yan’s lukewarm voice sounded in his ear, “Was that Ge’s girlfriend just now?”
Jiang Yunian almost typed the wrong character and silently turned off his phone to look over. He hadn’t even held a girl’s hand, nor chatted much, so he didn’t know how he came to this conclusion. He scratched his face, “I don’t have a girlfriend…”
Jiang Yan’s gaze approached: “Does Ge like her?”
Jiang Yunian shook his head. He and Hao Meng were just ordinary classmates. They had known each other for a long time, so their relationship was relatively good.
Jiang Yan didn’t quite agree with this rhetoric, and was even a bit relentless, “Then does Ge have a girl he likes?”
“Having a good impression counts too.”
This topic made Jiang Yunian inexplicably feel a burst of shyness. His voice unconsciously lowered, mumbling vaguely, “I… I haven’t known many girls… Good impression? Seems… not for now either.”
Jiang Yan stared at his slightly reddened ear tips, wanting to ask about boys? But thinking of Jiang Yunian’s Weibo bio, he forcibly swallowed it back and changed it to an unreasonable request: “Ge, don’t like them.”
Like me.
Jiang Yunian let out a confused “Ah?”
Jiang Yan lowered his eyelashes, somewhat desolate, “Ge has a girlfriend, so he doesn’t want me anymore.”
So he was worried about this.
Jiang Yunian couldn’t help but laugh. How could that be? This isn’t conflicting at all. How can I not want my brother just because I have a girlfriend?
Jiang Yan stared at him fixedly and didn’t say anything more.
What he wanted was never a “brother.” He wanted Jiang Yunian’s everything, whether spirit or body. It didn’t matter if his Ge didn’t understand now; he had plenty of time and plenty of ways to make his dear brother understand that he could only be his.
The food stall was smoky and noisy. Hao Meng saw Jiang Yan following behind Jiang Yunian from a distance, her eyes went straight. She poked Jiang Yunian with her elbow, “You call this just okay?”
He’s simply walking hormones, okay?
Jiang Yan wore a simple black outfit, which set off his tall and upright figure. Although his face was slightly pale, those eyes were purely black. A few strands of broken hair hung casually in front of his eyes, revealing a bit of laziness, looking truly pleasing to the eye.
Jiang Yunian only then realized that he was wearing the set he bought today. He hadn’t seen him wear it for a long time, so he thought he didn’t like it. Seeing Hao Meng’s stunned look at this moment, a small sense of pride welled up in his heart. He tried hard to suppress the corners of his mouth, “Low profile.”
After a simple introduction, Hao Meng quickly tidied her hair and greeted Jiang Yan reservedly: “You are really good-looking.”
Jiang Yan just nodded slightly, speaking very little.
The three took their seats, but there were only three sets of bowls and chopsticks on the table. Jiang Yunian looked around and asked, “Where is He Qing? Hasn’t he come yet?”
Mentioning He Qing, the reserve on Hao Meng’s face vanished completely. She rolled her eyes greatly, “Don’t mention it. He agreed to come, but turned around and was abducted by his boyfriend with a phone call, saying something about not feeling well and needing his care… Tsk, sounds fake. Scheming stinky man!”
She changed the subject and said radiantly, “But, Young Master Zhou is generous enough. He said this meal is on him, and he also said he would give us membership cards for Heaven on Earth! Hey, let me tell you, I only found out today that Heaven on Earth is an industry of Zhou Xing! I always thought it was opened by some local tycoon!”
However, as the leader of the entertainment service industry in the neighboring Pingjing City, it was not surprising for Zhou Xing to open high-end clubs in this city.
Saying this, Hao Meng realized she hadn’t ordered many dishes yet, so she stopped talking and pulled Jiang Yunian to sit next to her. This was the last empty table, and sitting on the side of the aisle made it less likely for her to be bumped by passersby.
“Quick! Knowing you love crayfish, I’ve already ordered it. You guys order whatever else you want. Since it doesn’t cost money anyway, we must slaughter him fiercely tonight!”
Having said that, eating others’ food made one soft-mouthed. Jiang Yunian didn’t dare to order too expensive ones, only ordered two dishes, and then handed the menu to Jiang Yan. Jiang Yan looked at the greasy menu, feeling a bit disgusted, and casually ordered a cucumber salad that Jiang Yunian loved to eat.
Not long after, all the dishes were served. Jiang Yunian and Hao Meng chatted about interesting things in high school and university while eating, making eyes at each other. Their relationship was so good that they were almost hooking shoulders and backs. The surrounding noise seemed to be isolated by them.
Under the table, Jiang Yan’s thumb pinched into the tiger’s mouth unhurriedly, his fingernails grinding red marks on the skin.
He sipped water and listened calmly.
Speaking of the past, Hao Meng was lamenting: “High school deskmate and university classmate, who can be more fated than us?”
Saying this, she blinked at Jiang Yan, mimicking lines from a movie: “Since you call him Ge, you should also call me Sister.”
Jiang Yan pulled the corner of his mouth lightly and didn’t accept this advantage.
Hao Meng praised him for being handsome and said many little girls must be chasing him. Jiang Yan said no and led the conversation back, saying Hao Meng had a good personality and there should be more people who liked her.
Hao Meng pretended to be shy: “I’ve been solo since birth for nineteen years, still a yellow flower maiden!”
Jiang Yunian had a low laughing point and burst out laughing.
“Is that so?” Jiang Yan chuckled lightly, “Doesn’t look like it.”
“Of course! Is this young lady so easy to get? Crooked melons and cracked dates aren’t worthy of me!”
Hao Meng was flattered into floating and said everything she knew. After a few rounds, Jiang Yan confirmed that the two indeed did not have intimacy beyond friends. The tense hand under the table quietly loosened, and he smoothly picked up a piece of meat for his Ge.
Jiang Yunian didn’t eat it, but looked at him weirdly instead. When Jiang Yan first arrived, neighbors talked to him, and he was like a block of wood, answering one sentence for every ten questions, not caring if he was treated as a fool. Now facing Hao Meng, although he didn’t say much, every sentence was guiding, unusually enthusiastic.
Jiang Yunian remembered Jiang Yan’s sentence “Ge has a girlfriend, so he doesn’t want me anymore.” It sounded incredible at the time, but now that he thought about it, there was an indescribable strangeness in his heart.
Why is he not afraid when meeting Hao Meng now?
While eating, the large TV screen on the wall suddenly broadcast entertainment news:
“Qi Liangji, the new CEO of Qi Sheng Group, announced the convening of a shareholders’ meeting… Chairman Qi Nanshan confirmed absence from the meeting…”
In the noise, someone shouted loudly: “Doesn’t Old Master Qi still have a grandson? Isn’t he the heir? Why change people?”
Jiang Yan slowly raised his eyes, his expression calm.
Jiang Yunian had little interest in wealthy gossip. He had heard a little about Qi Sheng. He heard that Old Qi was highly respected, engaged in industry when young, and enthusiastic about public welfare in his later years. The Nanshan Library of the school was donated and built by him. However, he hadn’t heard of any grandson of Old Qi, so he asked casually.
“Seems to be called something… Oh right, Qi Yan! The name is quite like your brother’s, just don’t know if he is as handsome.” Hao Meng rolled her eyes and lowered her voice mysteriously, “But I heard, that grandson seems to be impotent.”
“Cough…!”
Jiang Yan choked on a mouthful of water and coughed muffledly.
“Slow down.” Jiang Yunian hurriedly patted his back. Jiang Yan waved his hand, signaling he was fine.
Jiang Yunian continued to eat, chewing while saying: “You even know this?”
Hao Meng raised her chin proudly: “The senior told me… Paparazzi squatted on him eight hundred times, never photographed him with any woman! Netizens say he has no interest in women, mostly true!”
For a top rich N-generation to have no woman around him, unless there was another hidden story.
Jiang Yunian replied casually: “Maybe he doesn’t like girls.”
The person beside him paused and looked at him. Hao Meng thought the same as him, “Haha, maybe!”
“…”
Then they chatted a bit more. Having eaten almost enough, Hao Meng got up to go to the restroom and asked them to watch her bag. Once she left, the surroundings instantly quieted down a lot.
Seeing Jiang Yan silent, guessing he felt bored, Jiang Yunian laughed dryly twice, trying to ease the atmosphere: “Her senior’s friend works in the media, telling her even this, don’t know if it’s true or false…”
“False.” Jiang Yan’s voice was not loud, but categorical.
Jiang Yunian was stunned, “How do you know?”
Jiang Yan looked up, looking at him deeply, “You can ask him.”
Jiang Yunian let out an “Ah,” just speaking casually, why go ask…
Jiang Yan’s tone was certain, “Ge will know in the future.”
Why should he know, and… asking such a question is weirdly awkward.
Jiang Yunian touched his forehead blankly, then touched his own, “No fever either…”
When Hao Meng came back, the brothers had already put down their chopsticks. Jiang Yan was playing with his Ge’s wrist intermittently, pinching it from time to time. He was like this while eating, sitting close to his brother, constantly picking up food for him. Jiang Yunian looked accustomed to it, not rejecting but enjoying it quite a bit.
If not for being brothers, this clinginess…
Hao Meng shook her head. Really looking at people with rotten eyes seeing gay.
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