Chapter 10: Because I Missed You
Jiang Linmu and Song Lingchen pounced forward with rare synchronization. One pinned down Jiang Qing’s hand reaching for the suona, while the other quickly snatched the suona and hid it behind his back.
Still in shock, the two exchanged a glance, both seeing the same terror in each other’s eyes—the scene of Jiang Qing’s whim to practice the suona last time was still vivid in their minds. That piece of Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix, which sounded like it could bridge the realms of the living and the dead, almost made the neighbors band together to petition to have their house listed as an intangible cultural heritage protection unit.
“Brother, calm down! Everything is negotiable!” Jiang Linmu tightly hugged Jiang Qing’s arm.
“Right, right, right, Qingqing, we civilized people don’t use this!” Song Lingchen echoed while hurriedly fishing for something in his bag. “Look what I brought you!”
As if terrified that being a second slower would make Jiang Qing change his mind, he hurriedly pulled out an exquisitely packaged box and stuffed it into Jiang Qing’s hands.
Jiang Qing took it and opened it, discovering it was a bracelet.
The silver chain body was slender, the style simple and elegant, gleaming with a delicate luster under the light.
“Cough,” Song Lingchen rubbed his nose, his tone carrying a barely noticeable anticipation, “Saw it and felt it suited you well, so I bought it.”
Jiang Linmu also leaned in. Seeing it was a bracelet, he immediately wanted to habitually pick it apart.
“Brother, why does this bracelet look so much like a women’s style?”
The moment his words fell, Jiang Qing had already carefully undone the clasp.
Under the slightly surprised gazes of Song Lingchen and Jiang Linmu, he meticulously put the bracelet on his left wrist, adjusted the tightness, and then seriously fastened the clasp.
“It looks very nice.”
This overly solemn reaction left Jiang Linmu, who was originally ready to watch a good show, stunned, and also somewhat surprised Song Lingchen.
Jiang Qing raised his head, his gaze landing on Song Lingchen:
“Thank you, I like it very much.”
Song Lingchen’s lips couldn’t help but curl upwards, and in turn, even the eyesore Jiang Linmu beside him looked a bit more pleasing to the eye.
Jiang Linmu looked at his brother’s serious expression, which was noticeably different from usual, then looked at Song Lingchen’s smug face, and a sour feeling he couldn’t quite articulate welled up inside him.
He grabbed the throw pillow on the sofa that Jiang Qing frequently used, but this time not to throw it at Song Lingchen. Instead, he hugged it tightly in his arms and squeezed it as if venting his anger, his tone stiff:
“It’s just a bracelet… what’s so great about it!”
“Brother, I’ll buy you hundreds, thousands of them!! Even better looking than this one!!!”
Song Lingchen was in a great mood right now and too lazy to bicker with him. He just cast a light glance at him and leisurely said:
“Little Mumu, this is what you don’t understand. For gifts, what matters is the thought, not the quantity. Right, Qingqing?”
Jiang Qing didn’t look at Song Lingchen; his gaze landed on Jiang Linmu’s face, which looked on the verge of crying from anger.
“No need. One is enough.”
He paused, then added: “I like every single thing you’ve given me.”
Jiang Linmu was stunned. That wave of sourness and indignance in his heart actually miraculously dissipated by more than half because of this sentence, though he still stubbornly refused to yield verbally:
“That, that’s different…”
Song Lingchen watched this scene of deep brotherly affection before him. That bit of smugness in his heart reigned itself in a little, sensibly choosing not to add fuel to the fire.
“You still haven’t said it, why did you come so suddenly?” Jiang Qing turned his head to look at him.
The smile on Song Lingchen’s face deepened a few degrees. Half-jokingly, he dragged out his tone: “Of course it’s because—I missed you.”
The air in the living room stagnated for a moment.
Jiang Qing hadn’t shown any reaction yet, but Jiang Linmu beside him flared up first. He squeezed the throw pillow in his arms out of shape, loudly accusing:
“Song Lingchen, have you no shame! You can actually say such things out loud!”
Song Lingchen innocently spread his hands, but his gaze remained glued to Jiang Qing as he smilingly asked back: “I miss my best brother, is there any problem with that? Right, Qingqing?”
Jiang Qing cast a flat glance at Song Lingchen and very naturally changed the subject:
“Have you eaten?”
Song Lingchen went with the flow, immediately stepping down the stairs provided. He rubbed his belly, his tone carrying a bit of grievance:
“Not yet, I came straight here as soon as I got off the plane. I’m so hungry my chest is stuck to my back.” As he spoke, he looked meaningfully towards the kitchen, “How about… I taste your cooking?”
The moment his words fell, Jiang Linmu abruptly stood up, as if he had found some way to defend his sovereignty, loudly announcing:
“Dream on! My brother won’t cook for you! I’ll do it!”
After saying that, without waiting for the two to react, he aggressively rushed towards the kitchen.
For the time being, only Jiang Qing and Song Lingchen were left in the living room.
Song Lingchen watched Jiang Linmu’s disappearing back at the kitchen doorway, thoughtfully stroking his chin: “Little Mumu is still as energetic as ever.”
Jiang Qing didn’t reply. He hesitated for a moment, but still couldn’t help opening his mouth:
“This time you came back, how long do you plan to stay?”
Hearing this, Song Lingchen deliberately put on a melancholic and affectionate look and sighed:
“Sigh, not long. Just finish this most important matter of seeing you and then I’ll leave.” He paused, his gaze glued to Jiang Qing’s face, drawing out his tone, “Can’t help it, burdened with ten thousand daily affairs… but don’t be afraid, Qingqing, you will always be number one in my heart.”
Before his words even finished dropping, Jiang Qing expressionlessly raised his leg and kicked his calf, neither light nor heavy.
“Speak human.”
Song Lingchen hissed from being kicked. That little bit of feigned affectionate expression on his face instantly collapsed. Rubbing the kicked spot, he smiled while baring his teeth:
“Ouch, Qingqing, why are you so violent now!” He saw Jiang Qing still looking at him flatly and knew he couldn’t fool around anymore, only then restraining his joking demeanor:
“Alright, alright, not messing around anymore. This time I’m really back. There’s an important matter over here, I reckon I’ll have to stay for a very long time. From now on…” The corners of his mouth uncontrollably rose again, his eyes shining brightly, “…I can be permanently stationed here, swaying in front of your eyes every day. Don’t find me annoying.”
After saying that, he carefully observed Jiang Qing’s reaction.
After listening, Jiang Qing just lightly gave an “En,” indicating he understood.
Song Lingchen was just about to say something else when he heard Jiang Qing flatly add another sentence:
“That’s pretty good.”
Just these simple two words made Song Lingchen’s heart instantly fall back into a solid place, as if being gently bumped by something, rippling a wave of warmth.
Just as he wanted to push his luck and say some more cheesy words, Jiang Linmu’s resonant shout suddenly came from the kitchen:
“Brother! Ignore that guy surnamed Song! The noodles will be ready immediately, it’s your favorite Tomato Beef Brisket Noodles!” Accompanying it was the commotion of pots and pans being deliberately knocked around. The noise was comparable to Jiang Qing’s Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix that could connect phone lines between the Yin and Yang realms.
Song Lingchen felt that these two brothers could totally go be sleep-aid streamers.
As for exactly how they put people to sleep, don’t worry about it.
Translator’s Note:
- Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix (百鳥朝鳳): An incredibly famous and famously loud traditional Chinese piece played entirely on the suona. The boys are basically traumatized!
- Speak human (說人話): A common phrase used to tell someone to drop their dramatic, nonsensical, or cheesy act and just speak normally. Our Qingqing has zero patience for the melodramatics!
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