Part 4
“It feels like Jiang Shulu is setting him up, but he got hit with a straight ball. What’s with the landing? Why are their hands holding so tightly?!”
Unfortunately, the live broadcast has ended, and the guests are preparing to leave for their next destination.
It’s the last night. Tang Mian played all day and went to bed early with Yao Xuan Yu.
Yao Lixin is still on a long phone call, sitting on the steps, looking very girlish, playing with her hair.
Jiang Shulu is dealing with messages from his assistant. His freedom comes at a price.
For example, the numerous documents that require his personal attention, such as the upcoming 7th birthday celebration for his grandfather, Jiang Mingxun.
And then there’s the matter that even Yao Lixin is concerned about: rumors that his family has chosen a beautiful, unmarried wife for him.
No one remembers Jiang Shulu’s name before he became Jiang Shulu.
He was just a child struggling to survive in the margins with his mother.
He had to learn to cook early, go to school alone, silently clean up after himself in the evenings, and wipe his mother’s face.
The smell of alcohol permeated the room. The woman, deprived of love, had sunk into the world of fleeting pleasures.
Yet, even in her drunken haze, she would recall the man who had made her promises.
The pregnancy was an accident.
Raising the child was a conscious decision. She hadn’t even considered providing him with anything special, just muddling through life.
She called him Xiao Chou (Little Worry), because this child had caused her much worry.
So much worry that she cut ties with her family, becoming a rootless weed, barely making a living with her child, unable to give him the normal life a child deserves.
The crew removed all the equipment, leaving Tang Yue feeling slightly lost. He glanced at Jiang Shulu standing nearby, about to say something, when Liu Xicháo called.
Liu Xicháo asked Tang Yue: “Off air?”
Tang Yue hummed in response.
Liu Xicháo didn’t ask what he’d been doing for the past five years.
Just like any casual conversation during those three years, Liu Xicháo asked: “What does your son like? I’ll bring him something.”
Tang Yue: “He likes chatting with people.”
Liu Xicháo: “That’s not like you, you don’t even want to chat with me.”
Tang Yue: “I do want to.”
Liu Xicháo: “What’s going on between you and the captain?”
He asked as naturally as “What did you have for dinner?”, making Tang Yue pause for a moment.
Tang Yue: “I accidentally slept with him.”
The wind outside was cold, Tang Yue shivered and heard Liu Xicháo utter a “Whoa.”
Liu Xicháo: “When did that happen?! I thought about so many things, I never imagined that you guys were secretly…”
Even the silver-tongued Liu Xicháo felt his scalp tingle.
He took a deep breath: “Don’t you think you’re being too direct?”
Liu Xicháo: “Who initiated it? Wait…no…were you willing?”
This question reveals whose side Liu Xicháo is on. Even as Jiang Shulu’s “little aunt,” he still finds Jiang Shulu inscrutable and Tang Yue incredibly easy to take advantage of.
Tang Yue: “I, I was willing.”
Liu Xicháo closed his eyes: “Jiang Shulu, that bastard.”
Tang Yue: “Ah?”
He explained several times that it wasn’t what Liu Xicháo thought, but the other seemed unwilling to listen.
He simply believed Jiang Shulu was scheming and had coveted their youngest member for a long time, relentlessly badmouthing Jiang Shulu for several minutes on the phone.
Finally remembering Tang Yue’s assumption of a relationship between himself and Jiang Shulu, he snorted.
Liu Xicháo: “Impressive, so you thought there was something between me and Jiang Shulu? Little Yue, your imagination is quite wild!”
Tang Yue kept his hands in his pockets.
From behind, he looked tall and thin, but he had shed the thinness of his younger years.
Tang Yue hummed: “Because I’ve seen you and Brother Shulu together many times…”
He paused: “Before, when you were discussing business at the company, you were kissing in the stairwell.”
Tang Yue hadn’t even told Jiang Shulu about this.
Now, while on the phone with Liu Xicháo, he heard Jiang He’s voice in the background.
The man’s voice was weak, probably from drinking, and he was being scolded by Liu Xicháo.
Tang Yue thought: I didn’t expect Third Brother to be so fierce.
At this moment, Liu Xicháo put the gift he was bringing for Tang Yue into his suitcase and said to Jiang He outside: “Didn’t we make out in the company stairwell?”
The man with the center-parted hair: “How would I know?”
Liu Xicháo: “Then I’m not accompanying you to shower later.”
Tang Yue: …
Is this something I should be hearing?
But he was also curious, he didn’t expect Liu Xicháo’s relationship to be like this.
The book described Liu Xicháo’s humble beginnings, receiving long-term financial support from the Jiang family, later debuting as an idol, and forming a group with Jiang Shulu; they seem like a perfect match.
But after Tang Yue became the last member of Away, after three years of interaction, Liu Xicháo didn’t seem gentle, only gentle in public.
This older brother even had a bit of a temper.
Tang Yue reasonably suspected this was a plot point in the romance,
Proving Liu Xicháo could be gentle for love, perhaps that’s the type Jiang Shulu liked.
It turned out that Liu Xicháo wasn’t gentle in his actual relationship, his voice sounded a bit sharp, with a hint of eroticism in his threats, making Tang Yue feel a surge of envious fantasies.
Jiang He: “Who’s accompanying who?”
Tang Yue heard a chuckle, then the sound of approaching footsteps, followed by a clear, mature voice: “You were the one who held me down and kissed me, you even bit my lip.”
“Your kissing technique is terrible.”
Tang Yue covered his face, unsure whether to hang up, feeling like he was eavesdropping.
Just then, Jiang Shulu finished his messages and came over. Seeing Tang Yue covering his face and leaning against the railing, he asked what was wrong.
Tang Yue: “Nothing.”
Jiang Shulu: “Who were you talking to?”
Based on his observations over the past few days, saying Tang Yue had no social life would be an understatement; he practically had no social interaction whatsoever.
His WeChat account was only created on the day he arrived here. For five years, he had mainly relied on text messages and phone calls, living like someone cut off from the internet.
No wonder he mistakenly believed there was something between him and Liu Xicháo.
Tang Yue: “It was Third… Captain, why are you smoking?”
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