Before Shi Jing could ask what was wrong, music suddenly filled the air around them.
The wedding had begun.
No matter how much Shi Jing joked around with Ms. Ye, this was still the first wedding of her life.
Objectively speaking, Ye Zhenzhen was a very beautiful woman.
Normally, she wore her long wavy hair loose over her shoulders and favored dresses with low necklines that showcased feminine charm to its fullest extent.
Today, however, she wore a formal wedding gown.
Compared to her usual style, it was even somewhat conservative.
Her hair was pinned up neatly beneath a white veil.
As she walked in from outside, moving gracefully down the aisle, she was breathtakingly beautiful.
Shi Jing wasn’t particularly familiar with Zhou Mengshu.
After taking several photos of Ms. Ye with his phone, he stared at them for quite a while before editing the pictures and removing the man standing beside her.
That old bastard didn’t deserve to appear in his photo album.
Jiang Yu lowered his head and looked at him.
“Your mom is very beautiful.”
Shi Jing continued editing the photos seriously.
“Of course she is.”
After the wedding ended, Li Nanxun suggested that the three brothers spend some time together.
Shi Jing rejected him without leaving any room for discussion.
In his opinion, he had absolutely nothing to do with the Zhou Family.
As he was about to leave, Jiang Yu called out to him again.
Standing in front of a chair, Jiang Yu’s suit accentuated his broad shoulders and narrow waist.
The magnificent yet chaotic scene behind him only served to highlight his strikingly handsome face.
His expression appeared somewhat cold, but there was a certain weight in his gaze.
“See you when school starts.”
After dealing with the wedding arrangements, Chen Xiaorong hurriedly drove to the residential complex where Shi Jing lived.
Ever since childhood, Shi Jing had been something of a troublemaker.
He wasn’t especially close to Ye Zhenzhen, either.
Ms. Ye had gone through countless boyfriends.
She usually lived at her boyfriend’s place, and whenever a relationship ended, she simply found another one.
She rarely came home.
Every ten days or half a month, she would return briefly to check whether her son was still alive.
Most of the time, Shi Jing lived alone.
Chen Xiaorong had a key to Shi Jing’s apartment.
The moment he pushed the door open, he found the place empty.
The only one home was Shi Jing’s “biological son,” who was lying inside the turtle tank on the coffee table.
The little turtle slowly crawled forward a bit.
After noticing Chen Xiaorong entering, it immediately stopped moving and remained where it was.
Putting the takeout food he had brought onto the coffee table, Chen Xiaorong walked to the guest bedroom and knocked on the door.
Half a minute later, a young man opened it while rubbing his messy hair.
“Why are you here?”
Chen Xiaorong let out a whistle.
“Those dark circles under your eyes are pretty serious.”
Shi Jing ignored the comment.
Wearing slippers, he walked into the living room, opened his suitcase, and pulled out an empty plastic water bottle.
“Here.”
The corner of Chen Xiaorong’s mouth twitched.
Looking at the bottle being handed to him, he asked,
“What is this?”
“A gift for you.”
Shi Jing raised an eyebrow and added,
“Authentic Australian air.”
Chen Xiaorong: “…”
Suppressing the urge to slap him to death, he gritted his teeth.
“Eat your dinner.”
Shi Jing really was hungry.
He had barely eaten anything at the wedding.
Sitting on a small stool, he picked up a piece of cauliflower with his chopsticks and held it in front of his son first.
Separated by a layer of glass, he said affectionately,
“Son, you get the first bite.”
Chen Xiaorong: “…”
He fell silent.
He began wondering whether Ye Zhenzhen had eaten something wrong while pregnant.
Then he reflected on whether he had somehow neglected the kid all these years.
A perfectly normal person had somehow become insane.
When Shi Jing was almost done eating, Chen Xiaorong cleared his throat.
“Since you’ve been admitted to Lan University, your mom prepared a gift for you.”
Shi Jing froze.
“A gift? A house or a sports car?”
He was only joking.
Both he and Ms. Ye were dirt poor.
The only valuable things they possessed were this old apartment and himself.
Even his trip to Australia had been funded by years of saved scholarship money and competition prizes.
Slowly, Chen Xiaorong pulled a set of car keys from his pocket.
Standing before Shi Jing, he snapped his fingers.
“You guessed right.”
Shi Jing: “…”
Chen Xiaorong added,
“A green Ferrari.”
Shi Jing sucked in a sharp breath.
His first reaction was:
“You and my mom robbed a bank?”
Chen Xiaorong clicked his tongue.
“Watch your mouth. This is the bride price your Uncle Zhou gave.”
Shi Jing’s expression changed instantly.
“I don’t want it!”
Turning his head away, he refused to even spare the keys a glance.
Chen Xiaorong sighed.
“Little Jing, just take it. It’ll put your mother at ease.”
The moment Ye Zhenzhen was mentioned, Shi Jing turned back around.
“Does my mom actually like that old man, or is she just after his money?”
Chen Xiaorong asked,
“What do you think?”
“Stop being mysterious.”
“He was your mother’s first love.”
Chen Xiaorong paused.
“It happened back when they were students. Even I was shocked when I found out.”
Shi Jing fell silent for a while.
“I understand.”
After sitting for another ten minutes, Chen Xiaorong stood up to leave.
“I should get going. Xiao Zhao is waiting for me at home.”
Holding the bottle of authentic Australian air that Shi Jing had given him, Chen Xiaorong walked toward the entrance to change his shoes.
He wasn’t particularly tall and had a slender frame.
His face was beautiful and delicate to the point where the distinction between masculine and feminine seemed blurred.
Shi Jing could still remember his childhood.
Back when his grandparents were still alive, Ye Zhenzhen occasionally took him back to their hometown.
It was a small village beside a lake.
The elderly villagers often said:
“A man with feminine features is destined to suffer misfortune.”
…
“Brother Xiaorong.”
Shi Jing suddenly called out to him.
“Don’t forget to give the bottle to Brother Xiao Zhao.”
Chen Zhao was Chen Xiaorong’s biological younger brother.
He was around twenty-three years old now.
He had once been a basketball player, but a car accident several years earlier had resulted in an amputation.
Now he was bedridden and unable to walk.
Without turning around, Chen Xiaorong raised the bottle and waved it.
After finishing his meal, Shi Jing fed some turtle food to his son, yawned, and returned to his room for another nap.
When he woke up again, night had already fallen.
Picking up his phone from beside his pillow, he saw that it was seven-thirty in the evening.
The air conditioner was old and emitted a constant humming noise while operating.
The window hadn’t been closed completely.
A narrow gap remained, allowing the sounds of children playing outside to drift into the room.
“One, two, three—don’t move!”
“You’re cheating!”
“I’m not cheating!”
Shi Jing sat up and switched on the bedside lamp before picking up his phone.
After unlocking it, he aimlessly swiped through a few screens, unsure what he wanted to open.
Shi Jing’s social life was terrible.
He had fewer than twenty friends on WeChat.
As for QQ, he couldn’t even remember the password anymore.
Having nothing better to do, he opened Weibo.
The moment he checked the trending topics, Jiang Yu’s name was sitting firmly at number one.
#JiangYuAppearsAtCangheInternationalAirport#
Had the entertainment industry been this peaceful lately?
Were all the young actresses and popular idols behaving themselves now?
How had an eighteenth-tier internet celebrity managed to take first place on the trending list?
Shi Jing silently complained in his mind.
Yet his finger moved on its own and tapped the topic.
Entertainment Goblin: Latest candid photos of Jiang Yu have arrived.
The attached images showed Jiang Yu leaving the airport and getting picked up by a sports car.
Jiang Yu wore a black face mask.
The mask rested against the bridge of his straight nose, while dark hair partially covered his forehead.
A sporty crossbody bag hung behind his waist, subtly outlining his slim figure and emphasizing his clean, upright build.
One hand rested on the car door.
Someone had apparently called his name, because he turned around and glanced back.
His eyes were long and narrow.
His gaze was bright and clear.
More beautiful than spring itself.
Setting aside that perpetually sour expression that looked as though someone owed him eight million yuan, he undeniably had the fresh and youthful aura of a college student.