“Don’t say that! Don’t say such things!”
Jiang Ci was curled up in his arms, tears streaming down his face as he sobbed uncontrollably. His voice was thick with tears as he kept murmuring, “You’re not allowed to die! What am I supposed to do if you die? Ge, I promise I’ll listen to you properly from now on. I swear! I’ll never skip class again and I won’t run off anywhere on my own. Whenever I go out, I’ll make sure I stay with the bodyguards.”
Lu Shiying gently patted his back, a faint smile appearing at the corners of his mouth. “Mm, being obedient is the best thing you can do. Let’s go home. There’s no need to make such a fuss. I’ll take care of this matter.”
Jiang Ci, however, immediately pressed a hand against him, refusing to let him get up. He began rambling beside him like a little adult, his expression unusually serious as he went on and on. “No! Dr. Nie said just now that the wound on your arm was pierced pretty deeply and you pulled the glass shards out yourself without thinking! We still have to wait for the test results. What if there are still fragments left inside your flesh? What are we supposed to do then?”
After listening to him, Lu Shiying had no choice but to sit back down on the bed. “But this shirt has blood all over it. It’s uncomfortable to wear.”
“Then don’t wear it. I’ll help you take it off.” As Jiang Ci spoke, his hands moved swiftly, undoing the buttons of Lu Shiying’s shirt. In just a few quick motions, he had stripped off the bloodstained white dress shirt and casually tossed it to the side.
Lu Shiying, who was now sitting there bare chested and clearly unaccustomed to the situation, remained utterly speechless.
“………………………”
Jiang Ci looked him over from one side to the other. His arm was wrapped in gauze, making it difficult to see the details of the injury. Several small pieces of gauze had been placed over the scratches on his back and shoulders, while a few other wounds had already been treated with medicine and did not require covering. Those areas were only slightly red and swollen.
He leaned over Lu Shiying’s shoulder, then craned his neck to inspect his back carefully, looking over every visible area. Only after confirming that there were no serious injuries did he finally let out a long, relieved breath.
Lu Shiying stared at him as he crawled all over him, moving from one spot to another without the slightest hesitation.
He was already a seventeen year old young man. Was this really appropriate?
He was about to reach the age when he should start dating yet he was still being this intimate with his older brother. Lu Shiying couldn’t help worrying that outsiders might gossip about them if they saw how close they were.
Jiang Ci’s gaze, however, had already drifted back to his body.
His chest muscles were firm and well developed and his abdomen was flat, with eight clearly defined abdominal muscles. His shoulders were broad, his waist narrow and his proportions were well balanced without looking exaggerated. His waist and abdomen appeared solid and powerful, giving off an impression of strength and compact muscle.
Curious, Jiang Ci reached out and touched him.
The muscles beneath his fingertips were firm and hard where they bulged yet they also had a certain supple elasticity. The texture was unexpectedly pleasant to the touch.
“Eh, Ge, your abs are pretty fun to play with. I never noticed them before. Why didn’t you tell me they felt this good?” As he spoke, Jiang Ci’s hand wandered back to Lu Shiying’s chest, touching and squeezing his pectoral muscles without the slightest restraint.
“Wow, they’re fun.”
Lu Shiying: “…”
He raised his hand and smacked the pair of restless little paws.
“Tsk-” Jiang Ci immediately pulled his hand back, hissing softly from the sting. The man fixed him with a cold stare, his expression turning stern. “Didn’t you say before that adults should understand the importance of boundaries?”
“What are you talking about…?” Jiang Ci lowered his head and blew gently on the back of his fair hand, as if soothing the spot that had just been hit. “It’s only private areas that need to be protected. You can’t just let people look at them whenever they want. Your abs don’t count. There’s nothing wrong with touching those.”
Before he had even finished speaking, that small hand reached out again.
This time, Jiang Ci simply sat down beside him and began playing with the man’s abdominal muscles as though he had every right to do so, completely at ease and without a trace of guilt.
Lu Shiying watched him with an icy expression, his gaze growing increasingly stern. After a moment, he asked, “You think my physique is good?”
“Mm, it’s pretty good. You won’t let me train my abs, either. Otherwise, I could work out and build my own and then I could play with them myself.” Jiang Ci answered with complete confidence, as if he had just made an entirely reasonable argument.
“You dare.” Lu Shiying’s voice immediately turned threatening. “You skipped class today, didn’t you? Did you run off to watch a taekwondo competition? Don’t let me catch you going out and doing anything dangerous. Falling down and bleeding isn’t something you can treat as a joke.”
“All right, all right, I know, I know.”
“President Lu, I’ve brought the clothes back.”
Ji Assistant had just stepped out to the shopping mall across the street to buy a fresh set of clothes for him. However, the moment he returned and stepped into the room, he froze.
What greeted his eyes was Lu Shiying sitting on the hospital bed with his upper body completely bare, while Jiang Ci sat cross legged beside him. Both of the younger man’s hands were moving back and forth across Lu Shiying’s chest, occasionally giving his muscles a curious poke or squeeze.
Ji Ancheng’s pupils abruptly widened. He instinctively took two steps backward.
Had he come at the wrong time?
What exactly were these two doing?
Lu Shiying shot him a cold glare. “Bring the clothes over.”
“Oh, oh…” Ji Ancheng hurriedly handed over the clothes yet he couldn’t resist sneaking another glance at the two of them before quickly turning around and rushing out of the room.
Lu Shiying turned and walked into the bathroom, where he changed out of both his trousers and his shirt. After tying his necktie, he was just about to leave when he turned around and discovered Jiang Ci leaning against the doorway, staring at him.
“What are you doing? Who gave you permission to peek?”
Jiang Ci looked him up and down.
At a standard height of one hundred and eighty eight centimeters, Lu Shiying had a tall, straight nose and a pair of phoenix shaped eyes that were slightly narrowed. His features appeared cold and imposing at first glance yet there was an indescribable gentleness hidden beneath them. It was a kind of tenderness he had always reserved for Jiang Ci alone.
Only today had Jiang Ci truly noticed just how good looking his brother was.
His brother was unbelievably handsome. Practically devastatingly handsome.
“Ge, do you know something? I’ve met thousands of classmates in my entire life but I still haven’t seen a single person who’s more handsome than you.”
Lu Shiying finished fastening the buttons on his shirt, picked up his phone and walked outside. “And?”
“Eh? Didn’t you say earlier that you were going to stay here for two hours to observe your condition?”
“No need.”
Jiang Ci followed closely beside him, practically skipping along with a bright smile on his face. Then, as though he had just remembered something important, he added, “You absolutely have to find me a beautiful sister in law in the future. With how good looking the two of you are, you’ll definitely have an incredibly, incredibly adorable baby and when that happens, I’ll be an uncle!”
Lu Shiying’s footsteps suddenly came to a halt.
He turned around to look at Jiang Ci and an inexplicable wave of irritation rose within him.
Why was he looking forward to Lu Shiying getting married?
Had he never considered that once he got married, he would have to take care of his family and raise children? Who would look after Jiang Ci then?
Besides, it wasn’t even certain who would get married first.
There was a chance that, in the future, they would each go their own way and with Jiang Ci’s innocent, slightly foolish personality, he would undoubtedly be deceived by someone, giving away both his heart and his trust without realizing it.
“Once you’re an adult, be careful whenever you go out. Boys need to pay attention to their safety, too. You’re not allowed to stay out all night.”
Jiang Ci didn’t take the warning particularly seriously. In his mind, there was no way some pervert would be interested in him anyway.
Still, he did need to be careful about whether anyone might try to harm him in order to threaten his brother. From now on, he would make sure to behave himself and stay close to the bodyguards.
………
That evening, after darkness had fallen.
Lu Shiying was preparing to take a shower when Jiang Ci suddenly rushed into the bathroom. He insisted on helping Lu Shiying wash, even suggesting that they could sit together in the bathtub just like they had when they were children.
They could face each other and scrub one another’s backs. It would be so much more convenient that way.
Upon hearing this, Lu Shiying raised his hand and gave him a light smack on the butt, immediately driving him out of the bathroom.
“You’re already this grown up and you still want to bathe with your brother…”
Jiang Ci lay sprawled outside the bathroom door, pressing his face against the glass as he raised his voice to remind him, “Ge! You can’t get the wounds wet! Otherwise, they might become inflamed, swell up and start bleeding again. It’ll hurt a lot!”
After shouting his warning, he scratched his head, a strange thought beginning to nag at him.
Shameless?
How was taking a bath together shameless?
He was his younger brother, his closest family member. Why would something like that be considered embarrassing?
Lu Shiying listened to the noisy, incessant shouting coming from outside. Half of his body was still submerged in the bathtub.
The lingering images of the car accident from earlier that day continued to cling to him relentlessly. The sound of the collision, the sharp, piercing crash of shattering glass and the terrified screams of the crowd replayed over and over in his mind. Each repetition stabbed at his temples, leaving them throbbing with pain.
If Jiang Ci could stop going to school and simply remain locked inside the house every day, that would probably be the safest arrangement.
But the moment the thought surfaced, Lu Shiying pushed it aside.
It was unrealistic.
Then what exactly could he do to stop those people from targeting Jiang Ci?
Halfway through his shower, Jiang Ci’s laughter suddenly rang out from outside. It was lively and full of energy, mixed with a whole group of chattering voices. Lu Shiying couldn’t make out what they were making such a commotion about.
Thinking that a guest had arrived, Lu Shiying hurriedly stood up, rinsed the shower gel from his body and pulled on a white set of home clothes. He opened the bathroom door.
Then his entire body froze in the doorway.
Ye Manyu?
What was she doing here?!
“Auntie Man, you have no idea how dangerous it was!” Jiang Ci was in the middle of an animated explanation, waving his hands around as he described the events. “My brother threw one punch and two kicks, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! He beat them until they were running for their lives!”
“But the bodyguard uncles were super impressive, too! There were only two of them against nine people and they still didn’t lose ground! Where in the world did those guys train?”
“Did you take a plane back this afternoon?”
Ye Manyu smiled and gently ruffled his hair. “All right, all right, I understand. Little Ci, you’ve grown quite a bit taller over the past two years.”
Lu Shiying walked over, his cold gaze settling on her.
Ye Manyu was still wearing the white professional skirt suit she had put on for work. Her figure was elegant and she hadn’t even had time to change out of her high heels. Her secretary stood by the entrance holding a briefcase, making it look as though she had rushed straight over from the airport.
When Ye Manyu met his unfamiliar, distant gaze, her expression stiffened slightly. She lowered her head and looked away but then she stepped closer and reached out to grab his arm.
“I heard that someone crashed into your car near the school in broad daylight… The news said you were taken to the ICU for emergency treatment. I was so frightened I nearly lost my mind. I immediately booked a flight and rushed back- ”
Lu Shiying interrupted her with a flat, unexpected response.
“Tomorrow’s news will say that I’m dead.”
Ye Manyu was rendered completely speechless.
Jiang Ci stood to the side, watching the exchange with utter confusion.
In the Lu family, Lu Shiying’s personal affairs were absolutely forbidden topics. Jiang Ci had always assumed that his brother’s distant relationship with their parents was because they had spent so many years away from home.
Lu Shiying walked straight over to the sofa and sat down. He opened his laptop and began speaking without looking up.
“If the news had only said that I suffered some minor injuries, would you have come back?”
Ye Manyu forced a smile and sat down beside him. “Of course I would. Your mother has come back this time and I’m not leaving again for the rest of the year. The person who crashed into you is the young president of the Xie family. That young man is notorious for being reckless and ruthless. Your father was abroad some time ago when our company’s products ran into problems and he was the one working behind the scenes to cause trouble for us. I came back this time specifically to settle the Xie family’s affairs once and for all.”
Lu Shiying gave her a faint, indifferent glance. His voice remained cold and detached.
“I have a way to deal with him. Once I’ve gathered all the evidence, he’s finished. There’s no need for you to come back and interfere.”
Ye Manyu’s gaze dimmed and a distinct trace of loneliness crept into her voice. “I missed your eighteenth birthday ceremony. I wasn’t there for your coming of age celebration. I can’t possibly miss Xiaoci’s eighteenth birthday, too…”
She lowered her head and retrieved a luxurious custom made handbag worth hundreds of thousands from the side. Unzipping the inner compartment, she pulled out a private, top tier black card and gently placed it in front of Lu Shiying.
“There’s three hundred billion in this account. Everything has been properly registered and documented and it’s all liquid funds. You can use the card freely for your everyday expenses. Your birthday is next month, so consider this an early gift. In a few more months, make sure Xiaoci’s coming of age ceremony is arranged beautifully.”
Jiang Ci’s eyes instantly widened.
How much?!
Three hundred billion?!
A birthday present?!
Even if the entire Jiang Corporation were blown to pieces and sold off, it probably couldn’t make up for that amount of money.
Lu Shiying didn’t even spare the black card a glance. He simply closed his laptop, stood up and walked away, heading straight toward the billiards room on the second floor.
Jiang Ci was completely dumbfounded.
He doesn’t want it? He doesn’t even want three hundred billion?!
Ye Manyu picked up the black card and walked over, placing it directly into Jiang Ci’s palm.
“Xiaoci, your brother won’t accept it, so hold on to it for him for now. Give it to him once he’s in a better mood. I’m going to stay at the Lu family’s old residence and tomorrow I’ll officially start working at Zhuoyu Group. It’s ultimately inconvenient for adults and children to live together. You young people need your own space. Both of you can use this money. Auntie Man genuinely considers you her own son, too.”
“Auntie Man… this is too valuable, isn’t it? I’m just…” Jiang Ci lowered his head, his voice growing quieter with every word.
He had only been adopted into the family. His household registration wasn’t even under the family’s name.
Ye Manyu gently rubbed his head. Then, she suddenly lowered her voice and asked a question.
“Xiaoci, suppose that one day your brother stops loving you, or he becomes too busy, with nothing in his mind except work but he still gives you three hundred billion. Between those two things, if you could only choose one, which would you choose?”
Jiang Ci blinked his clear, innocent eyes. Without even needing to think, he answered, “Of course I’d choose my brother! If Ge stopped loving me, I’d be so heartbroken I’d probably die from sadness and even if you gave me three hundred billion… I couldn’t possibly spend it all! As long as I don’t have to worry about food or clothing, that’s enough for me. I just want to be with my brother.”
After hearing his answer, Ye Manyu’s eyes instantly reddened.
Only then did she truly come to her senses.
It turned out that in this world, money really wasn’t everything.
But by now, she had already lost the option of turning back.
“Mm… I’ll head back first.” She walked toward the entrance, then turned around and instructed Old Zhang, “Pay close attention to the people around Shiying. Make sure the bodyguard vehicles follow him closely when he goes to and from work. Something like this must never happen a second time. If you catch the people responsible, punish them severely and make an example of them. Give everyone else who’s watching him a warning.”
Old Zhang nodded solemnly. “Yes, Madam.”
Ye Manyu stepped outside. Her secretary opened the car door and she got in. The Rolls Royce soon drove into the darkness, disappearing along the tree lined road of the villa district.
After all, her return this time seemed to have been for nothing more than personally confirming that her child was safe.
Jiang Ci ran over to Old Zhang and tilted his head back to look at him.
“Uncle Zhang, why did Auntie Man ask me such a strange question? Was it because they’re always too busy to take care of their children, so that’s why she asked me that?”
Old Zhang let out a sigh. His voice concealed a feeling so deeply buried that it was almost impossible to detect.
“This matter cannot be brought up. Young Master, you only need to live happily here. Whatever you do, don’t mention your parents in front of the Young Master. He’ll get angry.”
Before Jiang Ci had come to the Lu family, Lu Shiying’s temper had been unpredictable, changing without warning. If anyone accidentally let something slip, he would immediately lose his temper, smash things and fly into a rage. Everyone throughout the entire villa would be so frightened that they wouldn’t even dare to breathe too loudly.
After Jiang Ci arrived, however, his temperament gradually improved. The days became considerably easier for everyone living in the household, too.
Jiang Ci ran up to the study on the second floor, only to discover that the door was locked from the inside.
He knocked lightly.
“Ge, open the door. It’s me.”
✦ ✧ ✦
Fleurveil
[Translator]
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← PreviousNext →
ChaptersChapter 1 · Even He, an outsider, couldn’t stand itChapter 2 · DaddyChapter 3 · Thank you for the gift!Chapter 4 · Do You want to sleep with your brother?Chapter 5 · Smart BabyChapter 6 · Life in a Wealthy FamilyChapter 7 · Genius BrotherChapter 8 · Brother’s giftChapter 9 · Xiao Ci was injured.Chapter 10 · ThoughtfulChapter 11 · Treat as treasureChapter 12 · Only recognized oneChapter 13 · Lu family coupleChapter 14 · A closed heartChapter 15 · Understanding my brotherChapter 16 · Reluctant to hitChapter 17 · UneasyChapter 18 · PossessiveChapter 19 · Teenage RebelChapter 20 Part 1 · The car accidentChapter 20 Part 2 · The car accidentChapter 20 Part 3 · The car accidentChapter 21 · My heart is racingChapter 22 · Physiological Knowledge