“What else could it be? You have hands like iron palms; who could take that? Do not let me catch a break, or I will definitely get my revenge!”
Even if he wanted revenge, he could not hit Chen Zhiyan; otherwise, he would feel the pain too. That left only one option: he would make Chen Zhiyan look like a fool.
The sound of Jiang Yu grinding his teeth reached Chen Zhiyan’s ears, sending a chill down his spine. Chen Zhiyan looked up calmly and said with certainty, “You slept in my bed this afternoon.”
“No, I have never liked lying in other people’s beds.”
“You threw the bedding into the washing machine but did not press the start button. You tossed your underwear in there too. I have told you many times that underwear cannot be washed with other clothes. If there is a next time, I will throw everything away.”
“You poured in too much detergent. The foam almost flooded the laundry room. I spent half an hour cleaning it up.”
“Do you have anything else to say for yourself?”
After hearing this, Jiang Yu’s momentum completely collapsed. He muttered softly, “My butt hurts.”
“You deserve it.”
About ten minutes later, Chen Zhiyan was nearly asleep when he was awakened by Jiang Yu struggling in his arms. As soon as he let go, he was hit by a heavy weight as Jiang Yu climbed onto him.
“My butt hurts. Go find some medicine,” Jiang Yu urged. “Hurry up.”
Chen Zhiyan told Jiang Yu to close his eyes, turned on the light, and went down to find the medical kit. When Jiang Yu removed his clothing, Chen Zhiyan saw purple bruises marking the area where he had been hit. There were also marks near the small of his back, likely from a previous bump. He frowned and clicked his tongue. “Your skin is really tender.”
Jiang Yu lay on the bed, opening his mouth to snap at Chen Zhiyan, but he swallowed his words. He was afraid Chen Zhiyan would use too much force while applying the medicine. By the time it was finished, his eyes were watery again, looking incredibly aggrieved.
He did not dare mention the bed again, nor did he act arrogant. He just stared at Chen Zhiyan without speaking, trying to make him feel guilty so he would stop being mean or kick him out. Otherwise, the beating would have been for nothing.
At two in the morning, Jiang Yu went to the restroom. When he returned, he flopped onto the bed. He was a restless sleeper, but since the two beds were pushed together and huge, he did not have to worry about rolling onto the floor. He was so reckless that he woke up the next morning in Chen Zhiyan’s arms.
He kicked Chen Zhiyan awake and went to the restroom to relieve himself first. If Chen Zhiyan went first, Jiang Yu was afraid he would not be able to hold it and would wet the bed, which would be a massive embarrassment.
When he came back out, Chen Zhiyan had already pulled back the blankets to let them air out and was using an electric mite remover to vacuum the dust. Usually, he only had to clean one bed, but starting today, there were two.
It was a significant increase in his workload out of nowhere.
Jiang Yu was brushing his teeth and limped out, saying indistinctly, “You are so hardworking, Chen Zhiyan. Whoever marries you in the future will be lucky.”
“I said that wrong. Whoever you marry will be lucky.”
Was there a difference?
Chen Zhiyan finished making both beds. Seeing there were no urine stains on the toilet seat, he praised Jiang Yu for being sensible enough to wipe it. Jiang Yu snapped irritably, “Any person with basic manners would do that!”
After brushing his teeth, Jiang Yu began washing his face. He complained that Chen Zhiyan’s facial cleanser was bad, the toner was bad, the cream was bad, and even the sunscreen was the worst he had ever used!
“Did I force you to use them?”
“Why are you so angry so early in the morning?” Jiang Yu knitted his brows and looked up. Seeing a bruise on Chen Zhiyan’s collarbone, he pressed it with a cold smirk. “Who kissed you?”
Chen Zhiyan used his fingertip to push Jiang Yu’s hand away. “A puppy.”
“Heh, I have seen people who are not picky, but I have never seen someone who cannot distinguish between humans and animals.” Jiang Yu gritted his teeth. “Who actually kissed you?”
“What does it have to do with you?”
“It has nothing to do with me, of course. I just want to know who the hell was blind enough to get involved with you.”
“I told you it was a dog. It had so much strength; I wonder if the dog’s head hurts.”
“Dog’s head? Damn it! Chen Zhiyan, you are the one with a dog’s head! Not only do you have a dog’s head, but you also have a dog’s face and a dog’s butt!”
They left the room and went downstairs for breakfast. Mu Chuxia noticed Jiang Yu limping and asked what was wrong. Jiang Yu said he bumped his butt last night. Mu Chuxia nodded, but then she saw the mark on Chen Zhiyan’s collarbone. For a moment, she could not make a sound. Remembering the noisy commotion upstairs the previous night, her eyes slowly widened as she looked back and forth between the two. “You? You two.”
Jiang Yu, oblivious, took the milk from in front of Chen Zhiyan and drank it.
Chen Zhiyan, who already understood what his mother meant: “…”
“Mrs. Mu, stop reading so many novels.”
“Ahem. Then what happened to you?”
“I accidentally bumped it.”
“Such a coincidence?”
After breakfast, they went to school. Chen Zhiyan drove while Jiang Yu hitched a ride. Jiang Yu flattened the back seat and lay there sleeping and playing on his phone. By the second day, the back seat was piled with snacks and a thin blanket.
On the third day, Lin Jingyao was allowed to go home, but he had to rest and could not go to school. He sent a sixty-second voice message to Jiang Yu saying his leg was itchy and he wondered if he had lice.
Jiang Yu replied, “Shh, be smart and do not tell everyone. If there really are lice, you can sneakily give yourself an extra meal tonight.”
“Brother, has anyone ever told you that you are truly wicked?”
“Wicked? I actually quite like that word. Keep the compliments coming next time.”
On the fourth day, Jiang Yu moved all the dolls from the guest room onto the bed, along with his own from home. He claimed he needed to hold them to sleep, but in reality, he wanted to throw them at Chen Zhiyan or scare him.
When Mu Chuxia passed by the door, she thought she had traveled to another dimension. After all, this did not match Chen Zhiyan’s personality at all, nor did it fit the room’s decor.
“Jiang Yu, throw your dolls out.”
“Do not be so jealous, young man.” Jiang Yu frowned with inner conflict, then finally hung a tiny keychain on Chen Zhiyan’s bedside table. “There, now you have one too.”
Chen Zhiyan said coldly, “Sleeping with dolls at night makes it easy to—”
“I am not listening to your nonsense.”
Mu Chuxia placed a fruit plate on the table with a smile. Seeing Jiang Yu kneeling among a pile of dolls, arguing with Chen Zhiyan with his neck stiff, she found it delightful. She could not help but laugh and fed Jiang Yu a piece of cantaloupe. “Sooth your throat.”
Then she fed a piece of watermelon to Chen Zhiyan. “You soothe your throat too.”
Chen Zhiyan did not eat it because the fork had just touched Jiang Yu’s mouth, and he found it distasteful.
Mu Chuxia turned her wrist and fed it to Jiang Yu instead. “Actually, I think these dolls are quite cute.”
Hearing this, Jiang Yu nodded in agreement like a chick pecking at grain.
Chen Zhiyan was speechless.
Cute?
The one with several scars sewn onto its face was called cute?
The one with its eyeballs falling out was called cute?