J: Come pick me up quickly. I am too drunk and I want to go home to sleep.
CZY: I am not going.
J: Oh, you will come.
CZY: …
Lin Jingyao caught a glimpse of the screen and asked Jiang Yu, “Is Brother Chen really coming?”
“My word is law. I dare him to try not coming.” Jiang Yu spoke with decreasing confidence, even guiltily tapping his phone case as he dialed Chen Zhiyan’s number.
It rang for a long time, but the other party did not answer.
Losing face, Jiang Yu leaned back against the chair. “Damn it, Xiao Linzi, go open another bottle of good wine for me. I am not leaving tonight.”
“Brother, if you keep drinking, you will get alcohol poisoning.”
“Then let it be. Holy—!”
Jiang Yu was suddenly drained of strength by a sharp pain in his knees. His phone dropped onto the sofa. He froze for a few seconds before abruptly pulling his knees up and clutching them. He was in so much pain that he could not speak for a long while, not even daring to breathe too deeply.
What was going on?
Could he have actually encountered a ghost?
But he had not picked up anything suspicious, nor had he visited any bad places.
“Xiao Linzi.” Jiang Yu’s voice began to tremble.
“What is it, brother? Do your knees hurt?”
“Yes, they suddenly started hurting. What is the reason for this?”
Lin Jingyao rubbed his chin. “Uh… it should be growing pains.”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yu was no longer afraid. He rubbed his knees and put his legs down, looking at Lin Jingyao with a mocking smirk. “I am already 1.8 meters tall and can still grow. Xiao Linzi, you are a year younger than me; why are you still only 1.73 meters?”
Men always have a strange obsession with their height.
Lin Jingyao bristled. “What do you mean 1.73? I am 1.736 meters! And that is my bare height. Once I put on shoes, I will be 1.8 meters!”
“What kind of shoes? Stilettos?”
“…”
Lin Jingyao felt deflated. He slumped to the side and grabbed a throw pillow to hug. “Brother, you cannot talk about me like that.”
“Fine.” Jiang Yu took his unopened strawberry milk, tucked away his phone, and beckoned Lin Jingyao over. When the younger man approached, Jiang Yu leaned on his shoulder for support and walked out.
“Where are we going?”
“Taking a taxi back.”
“Did you not say you were sleeping here?”
“There are no pillows or quilts. Do you think you can sleep comfortably?”
“…”
Jiang Yu’s phone kept ringing, but he was too lazy to take it out. When he reached the door and met Chen Zhiyan’s gaze, his first reaction was to show off to Lin Jingyao. “See? Did I not tell you he would come to pick me up?”
“…I never said I did not believe you.”
Jiang Yu was the living definition of burning bridges and using people only when needed. Now that he saw Chen Zhiyan, he left Lin Jingyao behind without even a backward glance. He tottered toward Chen Zhiyan and bumped his head against the man’s shoulder. “Did you not say you were not coming to pick me up?”
Chen Zhiyan frowned and pushed Jiang Yu’s arm away, but Jiang Yu was like a boneless heap, pressing his entire weight onto Chen’s hand. “Stand up straight.”
“Are you blind? I have no strength, so how can I stand up straight?” Since Jiang Yu had been drinking, his face was flushed, and even the corners of his eyes were tinted a beautiful crimson. His voice was no longer sharp like it was during the day; instead, it was softer, similar to how he acted when he was being spoiled with Mu Chuxia and Chu Qizi. If one ignored the profanity, it sounded even more like he was acting spoiled.
“Did I force you to drink?” Chen Zhiyan suddenly let go, letting Jiang Yu collapse against him.
Due to the height difference, Jiang Yu’s mouth slammed into Chen Zhiyan’s collarbone, causing his teeth to dig into the inside of his lip. It did not bleed, but there would likely be a bruise. The pain made his tears well up, and more importantly, his own collarbone felt a bit sore.
A bizarre thought flashed through his mind, but it vanished the next second when he saw Fang Li rushing toward them.
Jiang Yu pushed Chen Zhiyan to the left. Chen Zhiyan, not knowing why, was forced backward and his foot tripped on a step. He used his arm to protect Jiang Yu, but before he could speak, he was sprayed with an unknown liquid by Fang Li.
Some landed on Jiang Yu’s forehead. He stood on his tiptoes and was immediately sprayed across the face. “You—!”
He hurled the milk bottle in his hand at Fang Li, slid both hands under the hem of Chen Zhiyan’s shirt to wipe his face and hair, and then walked up to Fang Li and slapped her.
Slap.
Fang Li’s eyes instantly filled with tears from the pain. Clutching her stomach, she laughed eerily and said it was an aphrodisiac. She claimed that Jiang Yu would soon be in a pathetic state, and since he refused to be the father of her child, he deserved it.
Lin Jingyao had been pushed down while trying to pull Fang Li away, hitting his knee on a ledge. He was still lying on the ground, but upon hearing this, he immediately called the police.
The police arrived quickly. Fang Li would not stop screaming and was taken away after a preliminary diagnosis of mental illness. However, this matter would not end here. Neither Jiang Yu nor Chen Zhiyan were people to be trifled with.
Chen Zhiyan’s car was parked right at the entrance. He pulled Jiang Yu up and shoved him into the back seat. When they arrived at the hospital entrance, he tied the only jacket in the car around his own waist. “Get out.”
“I am not getting out,” Jiang Yu said. “You are only covering yourself, what about me?”
“I will carry you. Hurry up.”
Jiang Yu shook his head like a rattle. “No!”
Chen Zhiyan said, “Then I will go in and get the injection myself. You can just endure it.”
Jiang Yu called him ungrateful, but within thirty seconds, he became so hot that he started pulling at his own clothes. Chen Zhiyan, with a cold expression, picked him up and held him close.
They were face to face.
He pulled Jiang Yu higher in his arms, glanced down, then untied his jacket and wrapped it around Jiang Yu’s lower back. Even though it was mid-summer and Jiang Yu was sweating profusely, he leaned on Chen Zhiyan’s shoulder and accused him of trying to murder him.
Chen Zhiyan: …
He should not have come to pick Jiang Yu up.
There would not be a next time.
After the injection, Chen Zhiyan took Jiang Yu back to his room. The smell of alcohol on Jiang Yu was truly unpleasant. Chen Zhiyan did not want to ruin the carpet, so he dropped him directly onto the floor and warned him not to get on the bed before taking his clothes and heading to the shower.
Jiang Yu cursed Chen Zhiyan for having no sense of tenderness toward others. All the anger he could not release earlier was now directed at him. He only stopped when he was tired of shouting. He whimpered for a long time, covering his face while muttering that he had completely humiliated himself today.
He sat up from the floor, went to Chen Zhiyan’s wardrobe to find some clothes, and took a T-shirt and shorts to go to the other bathroom to wash up. He was hesitating over whether to… when a sudden wave of sensation hit him.