Returning to his room, Yan Hang finally remembered the messages Lin Yi had sent him.
[I miss you.]
[I want to see you.]
[Can we video chat tonight?]
He was the eldest son of the family, carrying high expectations placed upon him since childhood.
Yet no matter how hard he tried or how well he did, his stern parents could always point out his flaws and shortcomings.
He was like a tightly wound spring, continuously stretched and twanging under intense pressure, pushing his body and mind to their absolute limits.
Lin Yi’s gentleness and tolerance allowed him to find a moment of peace amidst such oppressive surroundings; when he was tired, Lin Yi would massage him and soothe his fatigue, and when he was irritated, Lin Yi was willing to be his punching bag to let him vent his stifled anger.
That was why he liked Lin Yi.
Yan Hang locked the door from the inside, sank his body into the sofa, and placed a video call to Lin Yi.
Lin Yi and his family of five were gathered around the dining table in the living room, eating. The square wooden dining table was crowded and messy.
The evening news was playing on the television, and his father and older brother, holding their rice bowls while eating, sprayed bits of food and rice as they pontificated and critiqued current economic policies and the international situation.
That narrow-minded mindset and unjustified sense of superiority filled Lin Yi with disgust.
Right at that moment, his phone rang.
Instantly dropping his chopsticks, he returned to his room, locked the door, quickly tidied up the clothes hanging on the radiator, straightened his bed, and only then tapped to accept the video call.
“President Yan!”
The second the video connected, Lin Yi immediately changed his expression.
His face blossomed with pleasant surprise, his eyes shone brightly, and the corners of his lips curved upward to display a pitiful, obedient, and well-behaved look of someone who had been left out in the cold for a long time yet didn’t dare to urge him.
“Are you done with work? Are you tired?”
“I am a bit tired.”
Yan Hang slumped against the sofa, completely drained of strength.
Without needing him to proactively start the conversation, Lin Yi would soothe him.
“Off work already? Stretch your shoulders and practice the neck and shoulder exercises from the video I sent you, and your eyes too you look at the computer for too long every day, so you must use a warm compress before going to sleep tonight…”
As he spoke, Lin Yi quietly observed Yan Hang’s surrounding environment.
He was in a room, but it wasn’t the master bedroom.
Judging by the luxurious decor style, it should still be the Yan family residence.
Could it be a guest room?
Did Yan Hang make Jiang Yun stay in the master bedroom while he slept in the guest room?
“Yeah, if only you were by my side.”
Hearing Lin Yi’s soft and caring words, Yan Hang relaxed and closed his eyes.
During the period when Lin Yi worked as his secretary, he would always gently massage his shoulders and knead the acupoints around his eyes whenever he was tired, and it always felt very comforting.
“You’ll still have to wait a bit longer for me. My mom, she… well, never mind.”
Lin Yi said, “Seeing you under so much pressure breaks my heart. If you’re too exhausted… why don’t I earn money to support you in the future?”
Yan Hang chuckled softly, “You support me?”
Unhappily, Lin Yi huffed, “Afraid I can’t afford to feed you? As long as there’s a place to sleep and three meals a day, being happy together is enough. In the small town where my family lives, a few thousand yuan a month is enough to live a relaxed and cozy life with zero pressure.”
“Wake up in the morning to the sound of birds and the fragrance of flowers, go jogging and walking along the mountain roads, tend to flowers and plants and grow some vegetables and fruits during the day, and at night we can watch the stars and moon on a quiet, deserted hillside…”
Just listening to it made Yan Hang feel free and carefree.
His mother said Lin Yi was of unknown background and harbored impure motives.
Yet in his eyes, Lin Yi had no extravagant desires, never coveted the Yan family’s wealth, and only wished him well.
He was very obedient, very easy to provide for, and made him want to keep him close by, holding him tightly in his arms whenever he was tired.
Through the video, Lin Yi caught the longing in Yan Hang’s eyes and murmured softly, “Do you miss me?”
“I do.”
Yan Hang opened his eyes and saw Lin Yi lying across the bed in the video, his loose top pulled open intentionally or unintentionally to reveal the smooth, bony expanse of his chest beneath his neck.
Gazing deeply at Yan Hang, Lin Yi whispered, “Yan Hang, what I like is you. As long as I can be with you, I don’t care about anything else. So don’t push yourself too hard, it breaks my heart…”
Yan Hang’s eyes darkened as he drew a deep breath. All his irritation vanished, replaced entirely by the intense desire to pull the obedient and soft Lin Yi into his arms.
“Be a good boy, go take a bath first…”
“Huh?”
Slightly blushing, the Lin Yi in the video nodded obediently: “…Okay.”
Another early morning.
Uncle Zhao was applying fresh medicine to the wound on Yan Chi’s head, coaxing him, “Second Young Master, breakfast is all prepared.”
Yan Chi hadn’t slept well all night, and his mood was even more gloomy and terrible.
“Where’s my brother?”
“The Eldest Young Master went to the company early in the morning.”
“Then… what about him? Did he tell you to come get me?”
Who?
The housekeeper was momentarily stunned before replying, “Young Master Jiang is already having his meal. If you go downstairs now, you can eat together with Young Master Jiang.”
“Not going!”
Yesterday, Jiang Yun had been the one to hit him first, but it was also Jiang Yun who had brought over a dozen people to forcefully rescue him from Sheng Yan’s grip.
A teenager’s pride and awkwardness left him clueless about what expression to wear when facing Jiang Yun.
If Jiang Yun came over to call him down for breakfast, he would… he would let bygones be bygones.
Seeing that he couldn’t be persuaded, the housekeeper had no choice but to go downstairs and report to Jiang Yun, “The Second Young Master is unwilling to come down for breakfast. Would you mind persuading him?”
“He’s not a child; when he gets hungry, he’ll come down and eat by himself.”
Without even lifting his head, Jiang Yun used his fair, slender fingertips to hold a delicate ceramic spoon, savoring the fine, soft, and savory seafood porridge.
It tasted wonderful.
Ever since his rebirth, he paid special attention to preserving his health.
No matter how busy he was, he had to eat breakfast, and furthermore, the Yan family’s breakfast was lavish and nutritious.
“Uncle Zhao, Yan Chi eats and drinks at home every day and gets chauffeured to and from school, so he doesn’t need fifty thousand in pocket money. Starting next month, give him one thousand yuan a month. That way, he won’t be running off to entertainment clubs and stirring up trouble.”
One thousand yuan!
The housekeeper was so shocked he almost cried out.
“Keep the remaining forty-nine thousand under your custody, but without my permission, you aren’t allowed to give him an extra cent. This way, the money will accumulate month by month, and by the time he gets into university, he’ll have saved over a million. When that time comes, if his character has improved, hand all of this money over to him together. If it hasn’t improved…”
Jiang Yun let out a cold snort.
The housekeeper understood Jiang Yun’s intent.
In order to keep the Second Young Master in check, he would only receive one thousand yuan in monthly living expenses.
And to prevent the Yan family members from suspecting that Jiang Yun had pocketed the Second Young Master’s living expenses himself, the remainder would be left with him, the housekeeper, to safeguard.
He, this housekeeper, had finally been dragged forcibly into the struggles within this wealthy family.
Yet he didn’t dare disobey Jiang Yun, because the authority over the Yan family’s finances rested in Jiang Yun’s hands, and his monthly salary depended entirely on Jiang Yun issuing it.
“Understood, it’s just… I’m afraid the Second Young Master might kick up a huge fuss…”
“Let him make a fuss. If Mother asks about it, tell her I was the one who ordered it.”
The housekeeper: …
Just as he was about to say something more, Jiang Yun’s phone rang—it was a call from Xu Chen.
“Xiaoyun, that matter you had me investigate regarding Xianglanhai and Sheng Yan… I’m afraid I won’t be able to handle it.”
Jiang Yun put down his soup spoon. “Why?”
“Young Master Zhou came by just now, and he said I don’t have the authority to pull the surveillance footage of Xianglanhai in private.”
“Young Master Zhou?”
Thinking for a moment, Jiang Yun’s expression turned chillingly cold. “My cousin? Zhou Yue?”
“Yes.”
Jiang Yun reined in the sudden surge of disgust, suppressing his chest, which heaved with anger.
The Zhou family was his mother’s maiden family a pack of white-eyed wolves who had latched onto the Jiang family like vampires under the guise of relatives. Knowing he wouldn’t have children, they were simply waiting for the Jiang family to have no heirs so they could seize all of its assets.
During the Jiang family’s heyday, they had fawned shamelessly over his father and mother, transferring the vast majority of the Jiang family’s assets into the Zhou family’s name.
They lived in the Jiang family’s old residence worth tens of millions, drove the luxury cars his father had gifted him, and spent astronomical sums embezzled from Dingjiang, living quite comfortably indeed.
In his past life, after the Jiang family fell from grace, he had no choice but to seek help and borrow money from the Zhou family.
Yet his maternal aunt had dismissed him like a beggar by transferring five thousand yuan, then blocked him, leaving him and his parents to sicken and die out on the streets.
“On what grounds does he say that?”
Hearing Jiang Yun’s displeasure, Xu Chen lowered his voice and explained, “Young Master Zhou just said that he will be the General Manager of Dingjiang Property Management from now on, and all work related to Dingjiang falls under his jurisdiction, meaning even I can only take orders from him.”
“Didn’t Dad give that position to you?”
Xu Chen replied, “Xiaoyun, don’t be angry. I’m not complaining to you, but after all, he is your cousin, and Uncle Jiang giving him that position is only right.”
“Brother Chen, do you listen to me, or do you listen to Zhou Yue?”
“Of course I listen to you.”
“Good.”
Jiang Yun said, “Right now, take your men and chase Zhou Yue out of Dingjiang. If he refuses to leave, beat him out.”
“Huh?”
Jiang Yun: “You heard me, just do as I say.”
Xu Chen was so startled he couldn’t speak properly: “Wh-Wh-Why, why is that?”
Jiang Yun: “Because I know the greed of the Zhou family. Seeing that I have no heirs, they want to nibble away at the Jiang family’s assets piece by piece. I didn’t understand before, so I didn’t care. But this time, I will never let the Zhou family take even a single cent belonging to the Jiang family.”
Hearing this, Xu Chen felt a chill run through him.
In truth, he had long found Zhou Yue unpleasing to the eye, but he had refrained from speaking out of deference to the fact that Zhou Yue was Jiang Yun’s cousin.
Now, hearing Jiang Yun explain the Zhou family’s intentions in such a cold and heavy tone, his accumulated anger instantly erupted.
“To what extent should we beat him?”
Jiang Yun: “As long as you don’t beat him to death!”
Watching the poised and noble Young Master Yun, and listening to that calm and chilling decree As long as you don’t beat him to death the housekeeper didn’t dare utter a single word of the advice he had previously prepared to urge him toward reconciling with the Second Young Master.
Thinking to himself: It’s over, the Yan family is never going to have a peaceful day again.