Ruan Yan was about to start dropping little pearls again.
Whimpering, he burrowed into Jiang Tingnan’s arms and tipped his head up to kiss his chin. “Husband, you’re so good to me. When you’re old I’ll push your wheelchair.”
“……”
Whatever else could be said, the little brat had finally settled down.
Jiang Tingnan let out a breath at last and had only just lain down with him in his arms when Ruan Yan rolled straight back up, staring at him with two big round eyes. “Husband, you won’t do yourself an injury holding it in, will you? Don’t let it turn out that by the time you’re rich, it won’t boot up anymore.”
Jiang Tingnan kept his eyes closed, feeling he hadn’t even the strength left to get angry.
His voice came out level. “Are you going to sleep or not?”
That sounded faintly dangerous, like the warning sign of a spanking to come.
Ruan Yan took the hint and quickly lay back down. “Sleeping, sleeping, sleeping.”
……
Before he knew it, the weekend had come around at last. Jiang Tingnan had the day off, and the day before, Ruan Yan had counted through the loose change in his wallet, thinking happily that he could take Jiang Tingnan to the mall and buy him a set of clothes.
At present Jiang Tingnan had only two tank tops to alternate between, both washed nearly to rags. But Ruan Yan found one quite comfortable as pajamas and had simply requisitioned it.
With no work to go to, Ruan Yan naturally lounged in bed, until Jiang Tingnan hauled him bodily out of the covers, carried him off to wash and eat, and fed him half a small bowl of congee with his eyes still shut, at which point Ruan Yan came a little way back to consciousness.
After the meal, Jiang Tingnan pushed the phone into his hands.
“It’s your little sister’s birthday today. Give her a call.”
Ruan Yan blinked. “You remember even that?”
It wasn’t entirely his fault. Before his rebirth, Ruan Han had more or less settled abroad, and being such a carefree soul from one day to the next, he forgot things like this easily.
But if he forgot, Jiang Tingnan never did. The man always took caring for everything connected to the person he loved to its furthest extreme, and every year on Ruan Han’s birthday he had his secretary wire over a sum of money.
There was no money now, but a phone call was still called for.
Yawning as he dialed, Ruan Yan called Ruan Han, his tone thoroughly perfunctory. “Happy birthday. When your big brother’s rich I’ll buy you a luxury car.”
Ruan Han was even less polite. “Thanks. First thing in the morning and I’m already full from the pie in the sky you’re serving.”
The two siblings rambled about this and that and soon hung up.
Jiang Tingnan came back with some cut fruit and saw that Ruan Yan had already ended the call. “Did you ask how Mom’s health is? Her knees are bad. Tell her she can put a hot towel on them at night.”
One look at the blank expression on Ruan Yan’s face told him he hadn’t.
Jiang Tingnan felt a little helpless, but on second thought let it go. He was there to handle household matters like these, so why should Ruan Yan have to trouble himself over them.
Ruan Yan gave a light huff. “Anyone who didn’t know would think you were Mom’s second son.”
Jiang Tingnan said it as a plain matter of fact. “I’m your man, so how am I not Mom’s son.”
Ruan Yan kicked off a slipper and planted his foot on Jiang Tingnan’s thigh, asking deliberately, “Then what do I call you? Husband, or big brother?”
Jiang Tingnan took the chance to catch the foot and put the slipper back on for him. “You don’t need to call me anything. How about I call you ancestor.”
“Hey, that makes me sound old.” Ruan Yan grinned.
Once his shoes were on, he lunged forward and jumped onto Jiang Tingnan. Caught off guard, Jiang Tingnan still got his hands under Ruan Yan’s bottom on pure instinct, afraid he’d fall, and scolded him mildly with a frown. “Slow down. What if you hurt yourself.”
Ruan Yan threw an arm into the air. “Onward! Shopping!”
He remembered how, back when Jiang Tingnan was courting him, the man had loved springing these “little touches” that left a person completely at a loss.
The holiday bonus, for example. Every other colleague’s red envelope held shopping vouchers. Ruan Yan opened his happily, and out fell a black card with no spending limit.
It frightened him so badly that he clutched the card all morning and didn’t even dare go to the bathroom.
At noon he crept up the stairs to the top floor and sneaked toward the president’s office like a burglar.
First he checked left and right for anyone about, then darted through the door and slipped inside.
Jiang Tingnan had long since laid the food out on the table.
Made specially by the household chef and brought over by the driver ten minutes before the lunch break, the dishes were still steaming, every one of them something Ruan Yan liked, with freshly pressed juice beside them.
The moment Ruan Yan came in, a smile surfaced in Jiang Tingnan’s eyes and he strode over, instinctively reaching to gather him up, but Ruan Yan kept his face stiff and held the card out.
Jiang Tingnan’s movement stopped.
“Jiang Tingnan, please don’t do this, suddenly giving me a card and everything……” Ruan Yan pouted. “It’s frightening.”
Jiang Tingnan was silent a moment. “What’s wrong? Do you not like black?”
Ruan Yan, “……”
“It’s too valuable.”
Jiang Tingnan’s brow eased a little. He took the card, and in the same motion tucked it into Ruan Yan’s pocket.
“It’s only a card. The PIN is your birthday. Buy whatever you like.”
Ruan Yan discovered that talking to this man was purely a waste of breath.
He glared at him, fuming.
Whereupon Jiang Tingnan looked at him for a few seconds and said in a low voice, “Don’t act cute.”
Ruan Yan was out of moves.
Jiang Tingnan led him further in by the hand. “The chef made an extra dish today, tea tree mushroom and old duck soup. Have plenty of it, all right?”
What the man had been fantasizing about was holding Ruan Yan and feeding him, but Ruan Yan wouldn’t agree to that under any circumstances, so Jiang Tingnan settled for the next best thing and sat across from him, where it was easy to put food in his bowl.
He watched Ruan Yan’s cheeks puff out as he chewed, still fussy enough to pick out the carrots, which soon formed a little pile on the table.
The corner of Jiang Tingnan’s mouth curved and he couldn’t help saying quietly, “Yan Yan is so cute, he even picks at his food.”
!!!
The memory made Ruan Yan furious.
Jiang Tingnan was carrying him properly on his back and walking out when his scalp suddenly stung, Ruan Yan yanking at his hair again.
“When you were chasing me you called me cute for being a picky eater.” Ruan Yan said indignantly, “Now all you do is lecture me! Sure enough, once a man has something he stops treasuring it.”
Jiang Tingnan paused.
What to do.
What could he say to soothe his wife?
He apologized on instinct. “I’m sorry, baby. My head was clouded with love back then. I won’t do it again.”
Ruan Yan’s eyes went wide. “Jiang Tingnan, what are you saying? You don’t want to stay together, is that it? You’ve got no love for me now?”
“No, baby, I said it wrong……”
When Lin Dong came out, what he saw was Ruan Yan riding on Jiang Tingnan’s back with a ferocious expression, slapping the man’s head one blow after another as though it were an Ansai waist drum, and with a fairly strong sense of rhythm at that.
Last time he’d heard Ruan Yan say “husband” he’d assumed he misheard, but now, seeing how intimate the two of them were……
He clutched his chest, very nearly unable to draw breath.
Just as he was about to speak, he saw Jiang Tingnan, apparently unable to bear the beating any longer, pick up his pace and head for the exit.
But Ruan Yan was riding steady on his back. Where exactly did he think he could hide?
Ruan Yan furiously landed a few more slaps.
“Jiang Tingnan! Run again, I dare you!”
By the time they reached the mall, Jiang Tingnan was one step short of a concussion.
Ruan Yan very magnanimously let him off, hopped down from his back and stuck out a hand. “Rub it for me, quick. Your head is far too hard.”
Jiang Tingnan kneaded his palm and scolded him quietly. “Little brat.”
This was the nearest mall to the construction site, nothing at all like the high end malls Ruan Yan used to frequent before his rebirth. There were no famous luxury labels inside. Ruan Yan looked around, and the most famous name in the building was probably the KFC downstairs.
But that was fine too, and suited their present finances perfectly.
Ruan Yan looked around left and right, then pulled Jiang Tingnan into a menswear shop.
Jiang Tingnan had a look and frowned. “Baby, I don’t think this style suits you.”
“It’s for you. It’s not as if I’m short of clothes.”
Jiang Tingnan’s frown deepened. “I don’t want them.”
There wasn’t much money in his pocket to begin with, so when buying anything, he naturally had to prioritize his wife. He could wear anything at all, but he had to dress his wife up beautifully.
Jiang Tingnan repeated it emphatically. “I’m buying them for you!”