Chapter 32

Is kissing him a good idea?

As soon as Jiang Minghua finished speaking, Han Yunchu, who had been drinking with his head tilted back, suddenly froze. His Adam's apple bobbed, and he spat out the wine he hadn't yet swallowed, a few drops even splashing onto his own sleeve. He coughed violently, his fair ears turning red rapidly, the redness spreading all the way to the side of his neck.

He suddenly turned his head, his puppy eyes wide open, staring at Jiang Minghua with disbelief and full of defensiveness. But beneath that defensiveness, there seemed to be a hidden panic of wanting to speak but being too shy to do so.

"You...you better not do anything reckless!" His voice was hoarse from coughing, and his body involuntarily leaned back, trying to create some distance.

Han Yun Chu's current state of embarrassment and helplessness instantly ignited Jiang Ming Hua's impulse to give it a try, even if it meant going all in.

"Reckless behavior?" Jiang Minghua's lips curled into a slightly roguish smile, a resolute glint in her eyes. Without further hesitation, she leaned forward abruptly!

The movement was so fast that it left only a blur.

One hand braced against the back of the chair beside Han Yunchu, trapping him between the high chair and her body; the other hand, with irresistible force, gripped his chin the moment he tried to turn his head away.

Han Yun Chu was completely taken aback when she actually attacked him—no, attacked him verbally! His pupils constricted, and he instinctively tried to break free, only to find that the fingers gripping his chin were unusually strong.

The next second, Jiang Minghua's face loomed large in front of him, carrying her unique fragrance, and she fiercely pressed her lips against his!

"Ugh—!"

It wasn't a gentle touch; it was more like a plunder carrying the meaning of punishment and declaration. The moment their lips touched, their bodies stiffened for a split second. Jiang Minghua could clearly feel the lingering cool scent of alcohol on Han Yunchu's lips, and the instantaneous breath he held.

Jiang Minghua thought about how she had tried to coax Han Yun Chu for a long time, but he ignored her, so she took revenge and bit his lower lip lightly.

Han Yunchu groaned. After the initial shock, he suddenly loosened his grip on the back of the chair and hugged Jiang Minghua instead.

The club fell silent instantly, with only the sound of their rapid, intertwined breathing remaining.

After a long while, when her lungs were almost out of oxygen, Jiang Minghua ended the kiss first.

She pulled back abruptly, her chest rising and falling slightly with her rapid breathing. The impulse that had been lingering in her heart returned to reason as the kiss ended.

However, as soon as she stepped back a few inches, Han Yun Chu instinctively chased after her again.

He still unconsciously held her waist with one hand, while his other hand eagerly rose to cup her cheek, trying to recapture that softness and warmth. His puppy eyes were now veiled with a mist of emotion, the corners of his eyes reddening, filled with an unfulfilled longing.

Jiang Minghua turned her head away to avoid his pursuing lips.

She raised her hand, pressing her fingertips against his chest as he leaned in, creating an overly intimate distance between them. The dazed look in her eyes had faded, replaced by their usual clarity.

"Are you still angry?" she asked, her voice still slightly hoarse from the kiss, but her tone had calmed down.

Han Yun Chu froze, Zhui Kong's lips hovering not far from her cheek, his warm breath brushing against her earlobe. He looked at her profile as she quickly calmed down, the surging desire in his eyes slowly settling, replaced by a complex mix of frustration and resignation.

He didn't force her in the end, and following her leaning force, slowly rested his forehead on her shoulder, as if letting down his guard. His deep voice came through, muffled, carrying a hint of barely perceptible grievance and stubbornness:

"gas."

After a pause, he continued in a low voice, "But I don't want to ask what happened between you and Xie Yan."

He looked up, gazing intently at her.

"Ah Hua, you kissed me, so I'm yours now. Don't get close to Xie Yan anymore."

Seeing that Han Yun Chu had really been coaxed, Jiang Ming Hua gave Jiang Ming Jia a thumbs up from afar, "Awesome, it really works."

After leaving the club, Xie Yan didn't go straight back to Jiang Minghua's place. Instead, he went to the orphanage on the outskirts of the city where he and his younger brother had stayed. Sure enough, under a withered old locust tree in the backyard, he found his younger brother, Xie Mo, squatting there, drawing and writing on the ground with a twig.

When Xie Mo saw his brother, his dim eyes lit up for a moment, but then became timid again. He couldn't speak, but he could express his dependence and unease with his eyes.

Xie Yan crouched down, gently embraced his younger brother's frail body, and whispered something in his ear. Xie Mo was initially bewildered, but then, seeing the determination and pleading in his brother's eyes, he slowly nodded.

When Jiang Minghua returned home after coaxing Han Yunchu, she saw Xie Yan and Xie Mo sitting side by side outside the villa gate, like two small animals that had been soaked by the rain and had nowhere to go.

Xie Yan lowered his head, his bangs obscuring his eyes, while Xie Mo clung tightly to his brother, his face pale, his eyes filled with fear and unease about the unfamiliar environment.

Hearing footsteps, Xie Yan looked up, his beautiful eyes still red and swollen. He pulled his younger brother to his feet, his voice barely audible:

“Minghua, we have nowhere to go. The Xie family doesn’t want us anymore. I don’t want to be experimented on anymore.”

Jiang Minghua's heart clenched instantly. Especially when she saw the new wound on his arm, her face darkened completely.

"What happened to your arm?" She stepped forward and, without a word, rolled up his sleeve. His forearm was wrapped in gauze, but traces of blood could still be seen at the edges, along with some old, faint scars around it.

Xie Yan recoiled as if burned, his eyes darting around, his lips trembling: "N-nothing... I just accidentally scratched myself..."

"Is it the Xie family?" Jiang Minghua's voice was as cold as ice. She immediately thought of Xie Yan's experience as an experimental subject, her eyes narrowing slightly. Perhaps she should consider directly acquiring that damned Xie's Biotechnology Company and crushing it from the root.

"Come in." She suppressed her surging emotions, opened the door, and let the two brothers in.

Han Yun Chu, who had been observing coldly, followed him in. Seeing this scene, especially Jiang Ming Hua's anxious attitude towards Xie Yan's arm wound, he rolled his eyes impatiently and let out a barely audible snort. A self-inflicted injury ploy, enough already.

After settling the still-shaken Xie Mo, Jiang Minghua brought out the first-aid kit, intending to re-treat Xie Yan's wounds. Xie Yan obediently reached out his hand, his eyes still red, like a cat waiting for its owner to comfort him.

Just then, Han Yun Chu suddenly walked a few steps to Jiang Ming Hua, extended his arm, and spoke in a stiff tone with an awkward air:

"I'm injured too, please bandage me up."

Jiang Minghua was taken aback. Looking down, she saw a fresh, shallow but noticeable scratch on Han Yun Chu's strong forearm, the blood just beginning to congeal. The scratch bore a subtle resemblance to the wound on Xie Yan's arm.

She looked up and met Han Yun Chu's eyes, which were filled with obvious provocation and displeasure. He was glancing sideways at Xie Yan, who was sitting on the sofa, as if to say, "If you can act, why can't I?"

Jiang Minghua instantly understood. Was this guy trying to win favor in such a childish way? Or was he expressing his dissatisfaction and needing a sense of existence?

She was almost laughing in exasperation. But seeing Han Yun Chu's stubborn and awkward expression, as if saying "I'll keep holding it up until you bandage it for me," she sighed, finally picked up a cotton swab, and cleaned his wound with a rather irritable tone, then applied a band-aid.

"Alright, stop making things worse," she said softly.

Han Yunchu received a bandage, albeit a rough one, but his purpose was achieved. He triumphantly raised his chin at Xie Yan, the provocation in his eyes almost tangible.

Xie Yan kept his eyes down the whole time, his long eyelashes casting a shadow under his eyes, obscuring all his true emotions. He seemed completely unaware of Han Yun Chu's provocation, simply letting Jiang Ming Hua re-bandage his arm.

Night was falling.

Han Yun Chu felt frustrated and childish about coming back today, and prepared to leave. He walked to the door, but found that Xie Yan and Xie Mo showed no sign of leaving.

"Aren't you leaving?" He raised an eyebrow and asked Xie Yan in an unfriendly tone.

Xie Yan raised her eyelids, glanced at him, and then quickly lowered her head again. Her voice was soft, but clear enough:

"Minghua agreed to let us stay here temporarily."

Han Yunchu suddenly turned her head to look at Jiang Minghua.

Jiang Minghua rubbed her temples and nodded:

"Okay, let them stay here first."

Seeing Han Yun Chu's face darken instantly, she added,

"There are many guest rooms."

Han Yun Chu's chest heaved violently. He glared at Xie Yan, who remained meek and submissive, which only fueled his anger.

"Fine, very well!" He practically gritted his teeth as he uttered those three words, then slammed the door shut again, making an even bigger fuss than before.

late at night.

Jiang Minghua rubbed her temples, remembering how sullen Han Yunchu looked when he left earlier that day, and still picked up her phone to send him a message:

Don't worry, they're staying in the guest rooms.

The message showed that it was sent successfully. She waited for a while but didn't receive a reply. Thinking that he was probably still angry, she put down her phone and went to sleep.

Unbeknownst to her, after she fell asleep, a silent figure slipped into her room. Xie Yan picked up her phone from the bedside table, found Han Yun Chu's contact information, and promptly blacklisted the number. Having done this, he gently placed the phone back where it belonged, and as he had entered, quietly left the room and returned to his guest room.

Meanwhile, in the private studio on the top floor of the Han family villa, the lights were as bright as day. Han Yun Chu, wearing work pants stained with paint, was furiously smearing paint on an abstract canvas that had just been laid down, the brush scraping against the canvas with a harsh sound. He saw the special notification sound on his phone; it was Jiang Ming Hua. The frustration in his heart instantly dissipated, even replaced by a hint of smugness.

But he deliberately held back from replying immediately, until the painting was almost finished, then he put down his paintbrush, grabbed his phone, and typed rapidly, with a hint of playful complaint:

【You only remember me now? I thought you only had eyes for your poor, crying little thing. My hand hurts, it'll need a few kisses to feel better~】

The instant the send button is pressed—

A glaring red exclamation mark popped up on the screen, along with a cold system message:

[Message not sent successfully. Please add the recipient as a friend first.]

Han Yun Chu's smile froze instantly.

His pupils contracted sharply, he exited, reopened the chat window, and sent the message again.

The same red exclamation mark, the same prompt.

He got blocked?!

Han Yun Chu gripped his phone tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force. He stared intently at the screen, as if he wanted to burn through the red marker. The warmth and smugness he had felt upon receiving the message vanished completely.

He almost instinctively wanted to call and confront them, but his finger hovered in mid-air, and he forcibly restrained himself. He was almost certain that this was the work of that insidious Xie Yan!

With nowhere to vent his anger, he whirled around, his gaze falling on the nascent painting on the easel—the chaotic colors and brushstrokes mirroring his current mood. He grabbed a metal palette knife used for scraping paint and slashed it fiercely across his canvas!

"Sizzle—"

A long, jagged gash was ripped open in the canvas, revealing the underlying paint and canvas fibers swirling up. He continued to slash haphazardly, destroying the scene before him, paint splattering all over his hands, mingling with the fine streaks of blood seeping from the freshly congealed wounds on his arms, making him look utterly wretched.

That night, Han Yun Chu threw down his palette knife, slumped onto the paint-splattered floor, leaned against the ruined painting, and stared blankly at the ceiling. Anger, resentment, and the stinging pain of being blocked tormented him repeatedly.

The next morning, Han Yun Chu, sporting dark circles under his eyes and exuding a gloomy aura, stormed into Jiang Ming Hua's villa. He hadn't slept all night, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. The resentment and anger of being blocked were burning away his reason; he had to get to the bottom of this!

Jiang Minghua had just gotten up and was having breakfast when she saw Han Yun Chu burst in, her face ashen and ready to devour someone. She raised an eyebrow in surprise. Xie Yan, who was sitting quietly next to her drinking porridge, shrank back as if startled, glanced timidly at Han Yun Chu, and quickly lowered her head again, eating her food in small bites, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible.

"Jiang Minghua!" Han Yun Chu strode to the dining table and slammed her phone down on it. The screen was still displaying the chat box with the red exclamation mark.

"What do you mean? You blocked me after sending me the message last night? Are you playing me for a fool?!"

His voice was hoarse from anger and lack of sleep, and the bloodshot veins in his eyes were clearly visible.

Jiang Minghua was taken aback by his sudden question, put down her milk glass, and frowned:

"Han Yun Chu, what's wrong with you so early in the morning? When did I block you?"

"You're still pretending?" Han Yun Chu was so angry she almost laughed, pointing at her phone. "Look for yourself! Messages won't send! What else could it be but being blocked? Is my phone broken?!"

Seeing his confident and aggrieved expression, which seemed to be a mixture of grievance and anger, it didn't seem like he was making it up entirely. Jiang Minghua picked up her phone with some skepticism, unlocked it, and opened her chat with Han Yunchu.

The interface is normal. The last message she sent last night was: "Don't worry, they're staying in the guest room." Scrolling up, the previous chat history is also there, and there's nothing unusual.

She even quickly typed a period and sent it in front of Han Yun Chu.

The message was sent instantly.

Jiang Minghua turned her phone screen towards Han Yunchu, her tone already showing obvious impatience and coldness:

"Han Yun Chu, look carefully. I didn't block you. Your phone is malfunctioning, or you were so angry last night that you were hallucinating. Don't come here and cause trouble. I'm busy and don't have time to play these childish games with you."

Han Yunchu stared dumbfounded at Jiang Minghua's phone, then quickly picked up his own phone to check repeatedly. The damned red exclamation mark was gone! The chat interface was back to normal! It was as if everything that had made him angry all night was just an absurd nightmare!

"No...impossible! I clearly..."

In Jiang Minghua's eyes, he was just someone who would cause trouble for no reason and make a fuss over nothing!

Xie Yan looked up at the opportune moment and whispered, "Han, are you too tired? Why don't you go and rest for a bit...?"

"Shut up!" Han Yun Chu glared fiercely at Xie Yan.

Xie Yan immediately looked as if she had been frightened, her eyes reddening, and she looked at Jiang Minghua with tears welling up in her eyes.

Jiang Minghua's expression grew even colder: "Han Yunchu!"

Looking at Jiang Minghua's distrustful eyes and Xie Yan's feigned pitifulness, Han Yun Chu felt a surge of resentment. He opened his mouth, but found himself unable to say anything. He had no evidence to prove that he had been blocked last night!

He clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging deep into his palms. He glanced at Jiang Minghua, his eyes filled with anger at being misunderstood and unspeakable grievance.

He ultimately said nothing, abruptly turned around, and slammed the door shut as he left, carrying an even heavier atmosphere than when he arrived.

After he left, Xie Yan cautiously approached Jiang Minghua and whispered, "Minghua, don't be angry. He's probably just too concerned about you."

Jiang Minghua rubbed her temples and didn't say anything. Men really can't be coaxed.

Unbeknownst to anyone, just before dawn, when Xie Yan anticipated that Jiang Minghua would soon wake up, he once again quietly sneaked into the master bedroom, picked up her phone, and silently removed the number he had blocked from his blacklist.

He couldn't risk Jiang Minghua discovering his underhanded actions; that would ruin his fragile and pitiful image. Making Han Yunchu suffer for one night was enough.

Watching Han Yun Chu leave in anger and grievance, Xie Yan lowered his eyes, concealing the fleeting smugness deep within them.

Since that incident of being blocked, Xie Yan, though living under Jiang Minghua's protection, felt his jealousy growing at an unprecedented rate. He keenly sensed that although Han Yun Chu was scolded by Jiang Minghua for being unreasonable, Han Yun Chu still stayed by Jiang Minghua's side, their familiar, intimate, and playful interactions driving him insane with jealousy.

He began to compare himself to Han Yunchu in every way.

Han Yunchu and Jiang Minghua were in the same class. Jiang Minghua understood all the theoretical knowledge he talked about, unlike him who still hadn't learned pinyin and whose English wasn't as fluent as Han Yunchu's.

"Take a break, take it slow." Jiang Minghua would occasionally see him struggling with his books in the corner of the study and would casually offer a word of comfort.

What was originally a well-intentioned concern sounded more like pity for his incompetence to Xie Yan. Once, he struggled to write a character he couldn't get right, his fingertips turning white and beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Overwhelmed by frustration and long-suppressed emotions, he finally broke free, and tears fell in large drops onto his exercise book without warning, blurring the ink.

He frantically tried to wipe it with the back of his hand, but the more he wiped, the dirtier it became. Like a child who had done something wrong, his shoulders trembled slightly, and he wept silently. Why couldn't he even do something so simple right? He barely knew any words, like an illiterate man—how could he be worthy to stand beside her?

However, the deeper stimulus came from Jiang Minghua's concern for Wen Chuqing.

Wen Chuqing's educational live streams were going smoothly, and Jiang Minghua invested a lot of energy and resources in them. The two often talked on the phone for a long time, their words filled with undisguised appreciation and support. Xie Yan hid in a corner, watching the light in Jiang Minghua's eyes when she talked about Wen Chuqing—a look of equality and even expectation that was completely different from when she was with him.

He even secretly counted how long Jiang Minghua stared at Wen Chuqing's face, and he discovered that Jiang Minghua was particularly concerned about Wen Chuqing's face.

If he gets plastic surgery to look like Wen Chuqing, will Jiang Minghua's gaze linger on him for longer?

Once this idea takes root, it quickly sprouts and grows in a twisted way.

He developed an almost pathological jealousy of everyone around Jiang Minghua who could attract her attention. Everything and everyone that could occupy her mind made him feel a sense of marginalization, panic, and a gnawing bitterness.