Chapter 21: Hungry Wolf — Either Lie on Your Stomach or Sit Face-to-Face in My Lap…
Jiang Yunian’s face was still flushed when he returned, forced to lie on his stomach across Jiang Yan’s lap to read.
Jiang Yan claimed this position was more comfortable, offering a choice: either this or sitting face-to-face in his lap like this morning.
Jiang Yunian surrendered and chose the former; at least it was slightly less embarrassing.
The evening news played on the TV. Jiang Yunian rested his chin in his hand, staring at the words in the book, his mind wandering.
Suddenly, a finger hooked his waistband, brushing against the skin of his lower back. Jiang Yunian jolted and covered the spot.
“Wh-what are you doing now?”
Jiang Yan’s finger remained hooked at the edge of the waistband, his expression perfectly calm. “You haven’t applied the medicine yet.”
It was one thing to have his butt looked at while groggy in the morning, but being fully awake now, he felt incredibly ashamed. He insisted he could do it himself and propped his leg up to climb off, but the hand on his waist easily pressed him back down.
“Ngh!”
Not allowing any struggle, his pants were deftly pulled down. The bruise on his rear was darker than in the morning, though fortunately, the swelling had subsided. Jiang Yan used the pads of his fingers to massage the area around the injury with slight pressure, relieving the tension. Then, he picked up the ointment. “Lift it higher.”
Jiang Yunian’s ears and cheeks turned a deep red, and he buried his face into the sofa, too ashamed to look at anyone.
The next second, the soft flesh at the edge of the bruise was smacked—neither lightly nor heavily—as if in warning.
If he didn’t move, his rear would remain exposed to the bright light. Jiang Yan’s authoritarian nature was on full display in matters like this. If he didn’t obey, he wouldn’t be getting down.
Jiang Yunian dawdled, then bent his knees, sinking his lower abdomen to gently arch the injured area upward.
The cold ointment was applied, causing a slight tremor beneath his palm—just like its owner, shy and timid.
Jiang Yan curled his lips slightly, in no rush as he methodically applied the medicine, asking, “What were you thinking about just now?”
Jiang Yunian pricked up his ears in a daze, hearing him comment on his lack of focus while reading.
His attention gradually shifted away from what was happening behind him, and the shame receded slightly. After hesitating for a moment, Jiang Yunian told him about Zhang Hao.
The Hehai Scholarship was established by Elder He, the founder of He Qing Hai Yan. After the company went bankrupt, the foundation was the only legacy left for his grandson. The prize money was substantial, and competition was fierce, with only one spot per major per grade—its difficulty comparable to the National Scholarship.
To win, one needed to be in the top 10% for both grades and comprehensive assessment, have no failed courses or disciplinary records, and demonstrate financial difficulty.
There was no doubt Jiang Yunian met the criteria, but Zhang Hao’s words that afternoon suggested he was determined to win. This worried Jiang Yunian. Leaving grades aside, regarding “financial difficulty,” Zhang Hao loved trendy brands and used the newest iPhone—clearly not fitting the criteria.
Since he was so certain, Jiang Yunian thought about it and could only find one reason: the Department Head was his aunt.
“Just report him and get him expelled,” Jiang Yan said indifferently.
“Expelled?”
Jiang Yunian was startled. He hadn’t expected those words to come from Jiang Yan’s mouth; the casual way he said those two words sent a chill down his spine.
He only wanted fair competition; he didn’t want to drive anyone out of school. Besides, without evidence, who would believe him? It was hard to say if Zhang Hao would be expelled; he might even get accused of making false charges himself.
“Ge wants to rely on ability,” Jiang Yan pressed firmly on his lumbar dimples, “but others might not think the same way.”
Jiang Yunian fell silent. This was just his speculation; he had no evidence, so everything was passive until the results came out. Maybe he was overthinking it; hadn’t he won the department’s first-class scholarship this time? Maybe Zhang Hao was just trying to scare him.
Naturally, Jiang Yan didn’t care about that amount of money; it was something he could solve with a snap of his fingers. Compared to that, he was more concerned about his Ge’s butt.
When the medicine was finally applied after much dawdling, Jiang Yan asked, still unsatisfied, if he wanted a massage?
“N-no need.”
His face, which had just cooled down, heated up again. Jiang Yunian covered his rear as he rose to his knees, hurriedly pulled up his pants, and stumbled back to his room, not forgetting to lock the door tight.
Jiang Yan: “…”
Was he some kind of hungry wolf?
He lowered his head to glance at the lingering warmth on his hand. Maybe he really was.
In the middle of the night, Jiang Yunian woke up needing to pee. Just as he walked into the living room, he seemed to hear the sound of the front door gently closing. Walking over to look, he found the door wasn’t shut tight, a sliver of weak moonlight leaking in from the darkness.
After using the toilet, he knocked on Jiang Yan’s door; sure enough, no one was inside.
So late, where did he go again?
It seemed Auntie Wang was right; Jiang Yan really liked sneaking out in the middle of the night.
Was that “female deskmate” in a bad mood all the time, needing his company every night?
That excuse didn’t hold water with him. He didn’t want to think the worst of Jiang Yan, nor did he want to interfere too much, but he was afraid Jiang Yan was making “friends” he shouldn’t and getting led astray behind his back.
After thinking about it, he sent him a message.
[Come home early. You are not allowed to do bad things. (Serious Cat Sticker)]
Fang Xiaolin took the stage with the HIV prevention brochures to announce the lecture on Friday night. There were five spots per class, first come, first served.
There were very few volunteers for such a boring lecture. “If no one signs up, I’ll draw student numbers randomly.”
Saying that, she walked off the podium, her gaze sweeping over the “brothers” in the back row. For once, Jiang Yan hadn’t skipped class. She took a deep breath and walked over.
“Student Jiang, are you interested in participating?” Fang Xiaolin felt very unsure when she spoke. Jiang Yan was famously difficult—he didn’t socialize, didn’t participate in activities, and even skipped classes openly. Because the Zhou Xing Group had donated a building, the school administration dared not make a sound. Since a transfer student wouldn’t stay long anyway, they simply turned a blind eye.
But Fang Xiaolin didn’t know that; she just wanted to talk to him more.
“Not going.”
As if he didn’t want to waste time, or perhaps really didn’t want to get close to her—even a little bit—Jiang Yan appeared very cold. In fact, he was like this to everyone. She thought that since she was the girl who spoke to him the most in class, he would give her some face. Being rejected so directly was awkward and a bit frustrating.
“Are you really not going? I signed up too. The visiting expert is a classmate of my father’s, and the book he wrote is very meaningful. I wanted to be a volunteer myself—to serve and earn extra credits—but unfortunately, the spots were full.”
Beside him, Zhou Shu, who was busy harassing someone on his phone, couldn’t help but sneer. “Him, serving others? It’s more like others serving him.”
Fang Xiaolin blushed and tried to explain that wasn’t what she meant, but no one cared what she meant. Disappointed, she put down the brochure and said to Jiang Yan, “Then think about it.”
She knew in her heart that this brochure would likely end up in the trash can, same as flyers handed out on the roadside. But the other party was even less considerate than she thought; just as she turned around, Jiang Yan pinched the piece of paper, ready to throw it away.
“Wait.”
Fang Xiaolin turned back. Seeing his movement, she thought he found her in the way or wanted her to take it back, so she wasn’t particularly happy to be stopped.
“I’ll go.”
At first, she thought she heard wrong. It wasn’t until Jiang Yan scanned a line of small print at the bottom of the brochure and confirmed the name of the staff member that she realized he meant he agreed.
“O-Okay!” Fang Xiaolin was afraid he would regret it. “Then shall we add each other on WeChat? I’ll call you when it’s time!”
Jiang Yan committed the time and place to memory and said indifferently, “I’ll go by myself.”
Fang Xiaolin awkwardly withdrew her phone. “Alright… see you then.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Zhou Shu casting a playful look her way. She rarely interacted with such rich playboys and knew she couldn’t handle them. From the few words exchanged between him and Jiang Yan, she learned he had a rather disobedient lover, so she didn’t pay him much attention. However, thinking it wasn’t good to favor one over the other, she asked him out of politeness. As expected, she received a “no time” and didn’t press further.
On the other side, Jiang Yunian was notified to go put up posters. Hao Meng thoughtfully gave him the weekend off, postponing the shoot. That was good; after finishing his tutoring on the weekend, he would still have time to go to the library.
On the night of the lecture, the entrance to the lecture hall was crowded.
Two girls stood on tiptoes looking inside. One of them summoned her courage and reached out to tug at the sleeve of the boy next to her.
“Hey, handsome guy, excuse me, is Senior Jiang Yunian inside?”
Jiang Yan frowned, shifting his sleeve away without a trace. Hearing that name, his expression turned grave, filled with scrutinizing wariness.
“What do you want with him?”
The girl read from his eyes that he wasn’t easy to get along with and shrank back timidly. “We’re his juniors. We accidentally missed the registration and wanted to ask him to take us in. Is he…”
“Not here.”
The girl stuck her tongue out at his tall, cold back. “If you won’t, you won’t. Why lie? His name is clearly on the brochure!”
“You really can’t judge a book by its cover. What a waste of such a handsome face!”
Her companion told her to say less; with so many people around, it wasn’t worth it. Saying that, she stopped a passerby. This time, she didn’t tug at anyone’s clothes.
She had a good eye; the person she stopped was the event photographer, He Qing, who was obviously easier to talk to than a certain someone. “He should be in there, but you’ll have to find the person in charge to get in.”
He pointed to Zhang Hao, who was communicating with the head of the Propaganda Department.
“Okay, thank you!”
He Qing nodded and left.
“Wow! We really came to the right place this time. Caught two handsome guys in one go!”
“Hmph, no matter how handsome they are, they can’t compare to Senior Jiang. I won’t have a change of heart!”
Inside the lecture hall, Jiang Yunian was assigned by Zhang Hao to distribute condoms. Based on the principle of voluntary collection, some curiously took a pack, but more people walked past quickly with flushed faces, occasionally casting obscure glances.
The event was about to start. The host gave an opening speech, followed by the expert’s address.
Zhang Hao paced over with his arms crossed, glanced at the nearly empty bag, and said nothing.
Jiang Yunian looked around and asked why he didn’t see the President.
Zhang Hao sneered, “He’s busy with the National Scholarship. Does he need to come personally for such a small scene?”
Jiang Yunian: “…”
“Give me one.”
A familiar voice rang out. Jiang Yunian looked up, somewhat astonished. Why was Jiang Yan here?
He had a strange look on his face. “What do you want this for?”
Jiang Yan calmly asked back, “I can’t take one?”
“What’s with the nonsense! Asking such idiotic questions?” Zhang Hao interrupted impatiently, grabbing a few more boxes of condoms from the bag and stuffing them into the other’s hands. “Here, take them.”
Jiang Yan weighed the boxes in his hand; the size was obviously wrong. Jiang Yunian noticed it too. It wasn’t appropriate to say it openly in front of others, so he secretly fished out two large sizes to swap with him. Jiang Yan opened his hand, letting him switch them out, looking at him with an inscrutable expression.
“Next, we will randomly draw a student…” The host’s resonant voice spread throughout the lecture hall. At the same time, He Qing, carrying the camera, inadvertently swept the lens across the distribution table.
The figures of the three people were instantly magnified on the big screen.
“God! So handsome ahhh…”
“Who is that next to Senior Jiang? Why is he so handsome too?!”
“What are they doing? Two guys holding hands?”
Carrying the equipment, He Qing saw the side profile on the big screen that shouldn’t have been there and was slightly stunned.
Qi Yan?
Why was he here?
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