Liu Zhen came in carrying a bag of apples.
“Where’s your sister? Isn’t she back yet?”
When there was still no answer after quite a while, Liu Zhen finished changing her shoes and looked up to find Ruan Yan standing there rather absently, his expression somewhat unnatural.
“What’s the matter with you? Sulking because I asked you to wash a few bowls?”
She turned to glance into the kitchen, and her eyes widened in shock.
Never mind the bowls being washed, the table had been wiped and the floor swept. The whole place was spotless, with bright windows and clean floors.
Liu Zhen’s expression turned grave, and she looked back at Ruan Yan seriously. “Is there something you need to tell me? Be honest with me. Have you gone and got into debt out there?”
Ruan Yan, “……”
He came back to himself and fought down the urge to roll his eyes. “What are you talking about? I show a bit of filial devotion for once and give the house a clean, and that’s not allowed?”
Liu Zhen was about to say something more, but Ruan Yan was already ducking toward his room with a hand over his head. “All right, all right, I’ve been driving all day to get home, and I’m dead tired. Mom, I’m going to sleep.”
The bedroom door shut with a bang. Ruan Yan pressed himself against it, listening at the crack for any sound outside, then quietly locked the door from inside.
With all that done, he breathed out in relief, turned around, and walked straight into Jiang Tingnan’s chest.
So hard.
Ruan Yan’s nose stung and he nearly burst into tears.
“呜……”
Jiang Tingnan hurriedly rubbed the spot for him.
“How is it this hard.” Ruan Yan took his temper out on Jiang Tingnan’s chest, grabbing a handful of it. “A man with a wife and you still dare have a chest this hard?”
Jiang Tingnan paid no attention to his nonsense, catching his wrist instead and bringing it to his lips for a kiss. “I’ve had a look. Your place is on the second floor, so I can slide down the pipe.”
“Are you insane?!!” Ruan Yan’s eyes went round. “The second floor can still kill a person.”
“It won’t. Don’t worry, baby.”
Jiang Tingnan felt that staying here was genuinely improper. If Liu Zhen were to find out, there was no telling what a terrible impression it would leave.
He still wanted it the way it had gone in their last life: the motorcade pulling into the courtyard, himself calling formally at the door, every fund and stock and property and bank card in his name laid out across a table. That was Jiang Tingnan’s sincerity, and his explanation to Liu Zhen, proof that he was capable of taking care of Ruan Yan for a lifetime.
Not like this, utterly penniless and awkwardly cornered inside a bedroom.
Married for years, Ruan Yan knew what Jiang Tingnan was thinking from one glance, and slowly dangled the bait. “Oh, so you’d rather go and sleep in some cold inn than hold your sweet-smelling wife while sleeping.”
Jiang Tingnan gritted his teeth. “It isn’t that, baby, I……”
“Haven’t you always wanted to see the room I grew up in?” Ruan Yan slowed his voice, letting it turn enticing. “Well, this is it. And this bed is the one I’ve slept in since I was little.”
In three or four years this place would be torn down for redevelopment.
After they married, Jiang Tingnan had said more than once how much he regretted never seeing his wife’s childhood bedroom.
Sure enough, Jiang Tingnan’s throat bobbed, very visibly.
Having dangled the hook long enough, Ruan Yan sighed. “Never mind. Husband, go if you want to go.”
There was no going anywhere now.
Jiang Tingnan crossed the room in a few strides, wrapped one arm around Ruan Yan, hoisted him over his shoulder, and tossed him onto the bed.
Ruan Yan giggled. “Jiang Tingnan, could you show a little backbone? Two sentences and you’re hooked.”
What use was backbone in front of his wife.
Jiang Tingnan lowered his head and buried it in the crook of Ruan Yan’s neck, breathing in several times, his voice muffled. “Baby smells so good.”
Ruan Yan blinked and said softly, on purpose, “Husband, you said before that the construction site environment was bad, but what about now? Do you want to lie here with me, on this bed I’ve slept in since I was small, and we……”
Jiang Tingnan’s breathing grew heavier by degrees.
Ruan Yan slid a hand up under the hem of his shirt and traced circles over his abs, calling out “Husband” in a small voice, deliberately pursing his lips at Jiang Tingnan in a clear demand for a kiss.
If Jiang Tingnan held out any longer, he would be an inhuman person.
He let out several heavy breaths and was just lowering his head to kiss him when a burst of urgent knocking came from outside.
“Brother!! Open up!!”
Jiang Tingnan froze.
Ruan Yan closed his eyes.
A minute later, he went to the door with a face like thunder. Ruan Han was still pounding away at it when it suddenly swung open, revealing her brother’s darkly menacing expression.
“Knock, knock, knock, what are you knocking for!” She’d knocked all their happiness in bed right out of them, was what.
Ruan Han wasn’t the least bit afraid of her brother. She let out a snort of laughter and raised the shoes slightly. “Brother, are these your shoes?”
Dangling from her fingers was a pair of sneakers washed pale with wear.
Ruan Yan’s eyes went wide and he snatched them away. “You, you, you……”
Ruan Han didn’t wait for him to finish, shoving the door hard and walking into the room.
……
The three of them looked at one another.
Ruan Han sat in the room’s one chair, chin lifted, scrutinizing Jiang Tingnan across from her. “Tell me, you’re my brother’s partner?”
Before Jiang Tingnan could speak, Ruan Yan cut in quickly. “That’s right, and he’s starting university soon too, and he’s building his own business, he’s incredibly capable. In the future, he’ll be buying houses and cars by the catty.”
Ruan Han gave her brother the sort of look reserved for the mentally deficient.
A three-year-old wouldn’t swallow such an empty promise, and her brother had actually believed it. How had someone with that IQ passed the university entrance exams?
Ruan Yan was about to add another line or two when Jiang Tingnan pressed him back down.
“I’ll treat Ruan Yan well.”
That was all Jiang Tingnan said.
He looked at Ruan Han quietly, his expression entirely serious.
Ruan Han paused, and it was a long moment before she huffed and turned her head away. “My brother’s silly and foolish. Don’t you bully him.”
Ruan Yan shot to his feet. “Don’t you use this as an excuse to insult me, I’m warning you, I can hear exactly what you’re……”
He was pressed back down by Jiang Tingnan again.
Jiang Tingnan took Ruan Yan’s hand. “I know.”
Ruan Yan’s head whipped round instantly, his attention diverted, guns now trained on Jiang Tingnan. “You know what? You know I’m silly and foolish?”
Ruan Han was, after all, a seasoned reader of novels. Her seriousness lasted all of two seconds before her eyes started to shine. “Can I ship you two? The size difference between you is far too adorable. Brother Jiang, can you pick my brother up with one arm?”
“……”
Ruan Yan’s shout rang through the room. “Ruan Han!! Get out!!”
Kicked out by her brother, Ruan Han pulled a face. “Miser.”
After an interruption like that, neither of them was in the mood any longer.
They fell into bed and spent another chaste night.
Jiang Tingnan was more than satisfied regardless. The mere thought that this was the bed Yan Yan had slept in for so many years made his whole body grow feverish with excitement.
He sniffed the quilt, sniffed the pillow. All of it smelled of his wife.
For the first time, Jiang Tingnan felt there were advantages to being reborn.
Ruan Yan had only just started to drift off when he heard the sniffing beside him. He opened his eyes and mumbled, “Husband, what are you sniffing at?”
The next second, Jiang Tingnan reached out and pulled him in tight. He leaned close and caught the tip of Ruan Yan’s ear between his teeth, unwilling to use any force, licking at it in small, careful licks.
He could not speak at all.
He was dazed by the fragrance.