Chapter 3 "It's not like I can't get married."
It was not until Jiang Yao got into a taxi and disappeared in the traffic that Duan Zhuxian got into his own car. The consideration and caution hidden in his eyes relaxed a little bit.
Sitting in the back seat, he opened the door and lit a cigarette.
Just now, Jiang Yao was smoking fiercely in front of him, his soft and wet lips repeatedly wrapped around the cigarette holder. When he lowered his eyes and exhaled smoke, he made deliberate and impatient panting sounds, one after another.
He was a little addicted.
When the cigarette was half burned, Duan Zhuxian took out his cell phone and opened the album. The latest photo was of Jiang Yao drinking.
I slowly flipped through a few pictures, and the protagonist was Jiang Yao in all of them.
Before rushing to the company to preside over an emergency meeting in the morning, he deliberately left someone waiting at the hotel to report to him on Jiang Yao's movements at any time.
These photos were taken at the club a few hours ago.
Under the dim and ambiguous atmosphere lights in the booth area, Jiang Yao sat there alone, wearing an ill-fitting black shirt.
Even the bold red highlights at the ends of her hair looked dull and lifeless.
In his impression, Jiang Yao was like a proud red fox. No matter whether he won or lost, he could not hide his arrogance and rarely showed such a hesitant and fragile expression.
The only two similar memories he had were when Jiang Yao was outside the school gate ten years ago. He asked him with a look of frustration why he had confiscated his love letter, and then he rushed over with red eyes and punched him.
Another time was last night.
Jiang Yao rushed into his room and pounced on him, drunk, until he pinned her under him.
Later, the reluctance on that beautiful face gradually turned into blur, and the resistance and counterattack gradually turned into unconscious compliance, but nothing worked. Because she didn't absorb enough, her wet eyes were filled with unspeakable desire...
The last wisp of smoke rose and shattered.
Duan Zhuxian snuffed out his unburned cigarette, closed the car door, and said to the driver, "Drive."
The driver asked, "Mr. Duan, are you going back to your residence?"
Duan Zhuxian: "Go to the company."
At this moment, the car's navigation system announced the time: 22:00.
The driver started the car. Although he was not surprised by the destination, he still felt a little curious.
As the youngest senior executive of Huayan Group, Mr. Duan is leading the team to expand the territory in a bold manner in order to win the support of the team members as soon as possible after taking office. Every minute and every second is precisely allocated in the schedule. He is simply a complete workaholic.
It is rare to suddenly drop work and run to a club full of debauchery like today.
He thought that after working non-stop for so long, Mr. Duan was finally willing to give himself a break, become a young person again, and enjoy himself. However, he didn't expect that after the break, he still had to go back to the company to work overtime.
*
Today is Sunday, at the end of the weekend, people have retreated to their own territories, and taxis are driving faster and faster.
Jiang Yao pressed his face against the open car window, unable to open his eyes because of the howling night wind.
The driver kindly reminded: "Handsome guy, if you get drunk and get into a cold wind, you'll have a headache the next day."
"I'm not drunk."
Jiang Yao subconsciously retorted, but was choked by the cold air and retracted his head while coughing.
The driver smiled and didn't intend to argue with the passenger. He just slowed down slightly. He was a little worried that the other party would vomit in his car.
More than ten minutes ago, Jiang Yao stopped a car at the door of the club. His steps were hurried and unsteady, and his eyes, nose and cheeks were all red.
From the driver's point of view, it was the most obvious sign of drunkenness.
Otherwise, how could a grown man cry in the street?
The phone in my pocket vibrated.
Jiang Yao rubbed his stiff face, opened WeChat, and replied to the work message sent by his subordinates. Then he received a voice message from his childhood friend Chen Yiqi, asking him to go to the Moments to help like the post to show support.
He opened his Moments and saw the latest post was a photo his brother posted of him having dinner with his parents.
The three of them were hugging each other with their arms around each other's shoulders, filling the screen so full that no one else could fit in. It was so warm and cozy.
In the comment section, a friend of his brother wrote: [The power of genetics is too strong! You are simply the sum of your parents.]
The taxi drove into the double-roundabout road section and turned around. Jiang Yao stared at his phone for a while, feeling a little dizzy.
It's strange to say, he has never looked like his family members since he was a child, and it can even be said that they are the opposite.
When the four of them go out together, outsiders can usually tell at a glance that his brother is his parents' child, but they always have a moment's hesitation about his identity.
A few minutes later, Jiang Yao forgot about liking Chen Yiqi's post. After liking his brother's post, he directly closed WeChat.
Maybe it was because he had talked too much with that bastard Duan Zhuxian, but he suddenly felt a little stuffy in his chest.
After returning home, Jiang Yao rushed into the room on the second floor, changed his clothes quickly, threw the black shirt on the ground, stomped on it a few times, then crumpled it up and stuffed it into the trash can.
He had been drinking to drown his sorrows today and was already starving. Unfortunately, the nanny was on leave, so he had to go into the kitchen and find some fast food to fill his stomach.
When he came back and passed by the study, Jiang Yao heard his parents talking through the half-open door and mentioned his name.
He stopped and eavesdropped for a while, and found that his parents were actually discussing arranging a marriage for him.
Yuan Li clearly disagreed. Her voice came through the crack in the door, resounding, "Yaoyao has her own life. She shouldn't be dragged down by this, and she has no obligation to sacrifice her future."
Jiang Qingtian was silent for a long time, then sighed: "Well, you're right. If it really doesn't work, let's think of another way."
Jiang Yao stood at the door, frowning slightly.
The Jiang family originally ran a hardware business in a small southern city. Twenty years ago, when the first wave of the Internet hit, the couple had a keen eye and immediately asked for tickets to board the ship of the times. They brought all their assets to Lingbei City to settle down and founded Jiangli Technology.
However, since the beginning of this year, Jiangli, the big ship, has sailed into the reef area due to certain policy reasons. Shareholders have been in constant disagreement, with large meetings followed by small meetings. Now even the cooperative investors are thinking of jumping ship and withdrawing their investment.
In this situation, one usually has to find a reliable partner to rely on, and marriage is a simple and crude way to do it.
Jiang Yao's brother Jiang Chen is two years older than him. Two years ago, he married the daughter of the Meng Group. It was also a business marriage.
Jiang Chen made a fuss for a long time and even asked his parents whether they would be willing to send him to marry if it was his younger brother.
It's no wonder that Jiang Chen spoke without thinking. From childhood to adulthood, Jiang Qingtian and Yuan Li were indeed more accommodating to Jiang Yao. No matter what mistakes he made, they never beat or scolded him, and were always kind to him, which was in stark contrast to Jiang Chen, who was raised under the stick.
Jiang Chen had been jealous many times because of this kind of thing, and even secretly told Jiang Yao that he suspected that he was picked up.
At first, Jiang Yao was proud of being favored by his parents, but as he grew older, he felt more and more that his parents seemed to be too cautious with him, and instead there was a sense of distance between him and them.
For example, now, his brother can be pushed out to take responsibilities by his parents without any hesitation on the grounds of dedication to the family, so why can't he?
Even using such an unfamiliar word as "burden"...
Isn't he part of this family?
Besides, marriage is not a one-time deal. You can always get divorced if you can't live together anymore. The most urgent thing is to help the family get through the difficulties first.
A surge of blood rushed to his head, and Jiang Yao pushed the door open and walked in.
"Dad, Mom, don't make it difficult for me. It's not like I can't get married."
In front of the large desk, a capable-looking woman and a blessed-looking man both looked towards the door.
Yuan Li didn't expect Jiang Yaoquan to hear it. She suppressed the aura she had just used when talking to her husband and said with some difficulty: "Yaoyao, the other party is a boy."
Jiang Yao nodded: "Yes, I heard it."
Jiang Qingtian, who was sitting on the sofa, put down the teacup in his hand, looked up at Jiang Yao, and said in a kind tone: "This is your own lifelong event. Mom and Dad have no right to make decisions for you, and they will not force you to do anything."
Surrounded by his parents' indulgent gazes, Jiang Yao's blood slowly boiled over and he realized that he seemed a little impulsive.
The sudden defeat he suffered today severely damaged his self-esteem. His mind was still in a mess and he always wanted to prove something.
Although he does not have the option of "romance" in his current life pursuits and does not take marriage seriously, it is a decision that concerns himself and his family after all, and cannot be made based solely on passion and sense of responsibility.
He pondered for a moment, then left some wiggle room: "Let's meet the person first. If you feel it's not suitable, we can discuss it later."
*
Before going to bed, Jiang Yao prepared himself mentally for a long time before walking into the bathroom, but he still stood in front of the mirror in a daze.
Jiang Yao started learning martial arts at the age of nine. Despite his fair skin and thin build, he is still full of strength, like a bamboo emerging from the ground, and is definitely not the type to be bullied.
However, at this moment, this body seemed to have experienced bullying.
Even my knees were a little blue.
When I woke up in the hotel, the sunlight was blocked by the heavy curtains and the room was very dark.
In addition, he was so panicked at the time that he put on his clothes and fled the hotel in a hurry without even bothering to check himself carefully.
"Duan Zhuxian, that damned bastard!!"
Jiang Yao couldn't help but curse out loud. He simply tilted his neck back to avoid looking at the marks, turned on the shower head, and let the water wash over him.
After rinsing off the first layer of foam, he reapplied shower gel several times, as if he had obsessive-compulsive disorder and mysophobia.
The moment he lost consciousness last night, his memory was filled with dampness, wrapped in sweat, as if he was drowning.
But after waking up, he didn't feel dirty, which showed that someone had helped him clean up.
Thinking of Duan Zhuxian saying that he had given him medicine, Jiang Yao's mind uncontrollably emerged with a picture -
Duan Zhuxian stood by the bed, applying the ointment evenly to him bit by bit...
Jiang Yao couldn't help but let out a "fuck" sound. The sudden surge of heat stung his cheeks from the inside out, burning all the way to his ears.
He lowered the water temperature, but it still failed to relieve the heat rising on his face.
Jiang Yao took this bath for a full hour, alternating between hot and cold water, and rubbed his skin red.
When he lay in bed, he always felt that there was a smell on his body that had not been washed off, like the smell of some kind of beast.
He hadn't turned on the headlights the entire night before, and it was so dark all around that it felt like he was dreaming. There was only a blurry night light that was shaking at a high frequency. He couldn't tell whether it was the light that was moving, or his vision.
His night vision was poor, and when he couldn't see clearly, his other senses became extra sharp.
In his drunken state, he could smell a certain scent on Duan Zhuxian that was hard to ignore. It was clear and dangerous, and every time he inhaled it, it would set his heart racing.
It was like standing on the edge of a cliff, enveloped by the blanket of night on a high-altitude snowy plain. One wrong step would lead to a bottomless abyss...
Exhausted, Jiang Yao fell asleep quickly, but his sleep was not very restful. The bizarre dream was as heavy as a block of lead, and in the dream he was being chased by a madman.
The man hooked his neck from behind and, like a pervert, used the tip of the knife to tear the fabric of his trousers at the back. He turned around in fear and saw that the madman had the face of Duan Zhuxian.
The next morning, Jiang Yao got up yawning.
Not long after arriving at the company, he met with a partner and then got busy.
Jiang Yao has always been an optimist and is best at self-regulation. He rarely stays in a depressed state for a long time.
After devoting myself to work, I gradually recovered.
As for the absurdity of that night, just treat it as being bitten by a dog.
You don't even need to get a rabies shot, it's no big deal.
His top priority now is to start a family and reach the peak of his life.
Who has time to care about Duan Zhuxian, the guy who was kicked out of his life a long time ago?
【Author’s words】
Big Picture of Life: Really? (Turning around and pulling out a short paragraph)
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