Chapter 32 "It's worth all your years..."
After finally pushing the bullying man away, Jiang Yao immediately used the front camera of her phone to check her neck. Sure enough, a purple-red spot with bloodshot appeared on her cold white skin, like a mark.
He wanted to call Duan Zhuxian a dog, but when he caught a glimpse of the same tooth marks on Duan Zhuxian's Adam's apple, he couldn't say the curse anymore. After holding it in for a long time, he gave Duan Zhuxian the middle finger as he walked away.
It was getting late. Jiang Yao stood at the door of two bedrooms side by side, thinking for a long time, and finally stepped into Duan Zhuxian's bedroom.
Duan Zhuxian was still taking a shower. Jiang Yao crawled into bed, opened several mainstream social platforms, and looked at the popularity of the new music software "Ledong" he took over.
Since Huayan invested in Jiangli, after several rounds of laying out marketing channels, recruiting musicians, and cooperating with short video platforms, Ledong is no longer the small platform that no one cared about a few months ago.
Jiang Yao admired his work for a while, then began to feel sleepy. The bed beside him suddenly sank a few centimeters, and a voice whispered in his ear: "Are you free next Saturday?"
Jiang Yao closed his eyes and uttered "hmm" in a daze.
Duan Zhuxian said: "Lend me your time."
Jiang Yao said, "It's up to you."
Someone probably wanted to sleep with him again, so she asked for his consent according to the three rules they had agreed upon before, and even borrowed money from him, making such a low-class thing seem so legitimate.
Duan Zhuxian smiled and said, "I'll take you to see my grandpa on Saturday."
A few seconds later, Jiang Yao suddenly opened his eyes and turned over: "See grandpa?"
Duan Zhuxian nodded.
Remembering the flurry of events when he met Old Man Duan, Jiang Yao immediately made up an excuse: "I remembered I had an appointment with my brother on Saturday."
Duan Zhuxian raised an eyebrow. "Your brother is leading a team-building event abroad next Saturday. How can we arrange it?"
Jiang Yao: "?"
How did Duan Zhuxian know something that he didn't even know?
As if seeing through Jiang Yao's doubts, Duan Zhuxian said, "The last time your brother came to visit us, we exchanged contact information. The state where he was organizing a team building happened to be where I was studying abroad, and he asked me to recommend some suitable tourist attractions."
Jiang Yao was shocked.
These two actually got together behind his back!
His brother had clearly told him last time to be careful of Duan Zhuxian.
Feeling strangely betrayed, Jiang Yao snorted indifferently, "You're quite resourceful. You were able to deal with someone as stubborn as my brother."
Duan Zhuxian said, "It's okay. He just happened to mention some things about your childhood, and he got excited and started chatting with me."
Jiang Yao immediately sat up, his face full of alertness: "What did he say about me?"
If Jiang Chen dares to spread rumors about him, he will be dead!
"Some everyday little things," Duan Zhuxian said. "For example, there was a period in high school when you had a target with my name on it at the end of your bed. You would poke at it until it was unrecognizable, then replace it with another one and keep poking."
Jiang Yao raised his chin provocatively: "You asked for it. Who told you to be so hateful back then?"
Although it’s not much better now.
"Yeah." Duan Zhuxian didn't comment. He looked at Jiang Yao with a smile on his lips. "I was just thinking that when you put me across from your bed, the first person you thought of every day when you opened your eyes was me. You thought of me when you were getting dressed, and you thought of me when you were washing up."
Jiang Yao: "..."
Duan Zhuxian was not wrong in what he said. When he was most resistant to Duan Zhuxian, the first thing he did after waking up every day was not to breathe, but to think about what posture he could use to hate Duan Zhuxian that day.
But why does it sound so awkward when it comes from Duan Zhuxian's mouth?
Duan Zhuxian stared at the tips of Jiang Yao's ears, which were blushing unnoticed, and asked him, "Don't you want to see my grandpa?"
Jiang Yao said honestly: "Not really."
He had a natural resistance to Duan Zhuxian's family, always feeling that those hypocritical people were seriously incompatible with his aura.
Duan Zhuxian said: "He is different from my grandfather, you two should be able to get along well."
After a long silence, Jiang Yao asked, "Is it your grandfather's request again this time?"
Duan Zhuxian said: "He won't force the younger generation to do anything, it's just that I want him to meet you."
Perhaps it was because Duan Zhuxian's expression was too serious when he said the second half of the sentence. Jiang Yao was slightly stunned and missed the best opportunity to refuse again. Duan Zhuxian took the opportunity to instigate and stimulate him a few times, and finally he agreed reluctantly.
Before going to sleep, Duan Zhuxian glanced at the man curled up in the quilt beside him, habitually wrapping himself up like a small hill, and said softly: "My grandfather has no business dealings with Hua Yan and Jiang Li. He is one of the few people I can call family."
The little hill moved and wrapped tighter.
Jiang Yao knew that these were Duan Zhuxian's words to comfort him, but he couldn't sleep after hearing them.
At night, Duan Zhuxian turned over and vaguely felt the light emanating from Jiang Yao's side. He opened his eyes quietly and saw Jiang Yao holding his phone with his back to him, typing a line of words in the search bar -
What to wear when meeting your parents.
After reading many netizens' answers, Jiang Yao took out the memo and carefully wrote down "decent", "simple", "well-behaved"... several keywords that are completely opposite to his daily style.
Suddenly, an arm tightly wrapped around his waist from behind. Jiang Yao was startled and quickly stuffed his phone into the pillow.
He held his breath and waited stiffly for a long time. Feeling that the attacking arm was quite obedient, he slowly turned over and, with the dim light of the night light, got closer to observe Duan Zhuxian's face until he confirmed that the other party's eyes were closed and his breathing was quite even.
Fortunately, no one was discovered.
Jiang Yao breathed a sigh of relief and fell asleep in a face-to-face position.
The man next to him closed his eyes, with the corners of his lips slightly raised.
*
Saturday is here again.
Early in the morning, Jiang Yao stood in front of the mirror and fixed his messy hair. He sprayed it with styling spray several times before it was smoothed down. He was so angry that he started to curse Duan Zhuxian in his heart again.
I don't know what's wrong with Duan Zhuxian. When going to bed, he especially likes to pull his hair, especially the highlighted hair at the back of his head, which stands up like a turkey feather. It's so stupid.
Hearing the noise behind him, Jiang Yao saw in the mirror that the culprit was wearing light grey casual clothes and walking towards him leisurely.
Receiving his sharp eyes, the other party raised his eyebrows in confusion.
Jiang Yao said with a straight face, "Three rules to follow, and one more: Don't pull my hair from now on."
Duan Zhuxian paused and said, "I'll try my best."
He really did prefer Jiang Yao's hair, especially when he was holding her from behind. He liked to see Jiang Yao raise her head as he pulled her, her neck straight, her Adam's apple trembling, ready for him to kill her.
In the mirror, the man's eyes behind him gradually became unclear, which Jiang Yao automatically interpreted as a hidden sinister intention.
"I think you are jealous of my natural thick hair and want to pull it out of me." Jiang Yao muttered unhappily.
An hour later, Jiang Yao finally changed his clothes and walked out of the cloakroom.
Duan Zhuxian, who was sitting on the sofa, closed his laptop and paused when he looked up.
The man in front of him was wearing a ginger-colored sweater, black casual pants, and a standard white shirt underneath. Apart from that, he had no extra accessories. He even took off the silver rattlesnake chain he usually wore around his neck. His outfit was much more simple than the one he had worn on the day of the blind date.
As far as I can remember, Jiang Yao prefers a high-profile and eye-catching style of dressing. Half of his wardrobe is made up of red trendy brands, and the clothes he wore today were obviously newly bought.
He rarely saw Jiang Yao dressed so neatly. With her fair face, she looked so tender that it seemed as if water could be squeezed out of her.
Jiang Yao pulled his collar and walked towards Duan Zhuxian awkwardly.
"Duan Zhuxian, how about I wear a hat later?"
Duan Zhuxian said: "No, the hairstyle is good."
Jiang Yao touched the back of his head and said, "I'm afraid my red hair will scare the old man."
"My grandfather is a painter and has a very open mind." Duan Zhuxian stood up and put his arm around Jiang Yao's shoulder, patting him. "Relax, don't be nervous."
Jiang Yao suddenly broke free from Duan Zhuxian's arm, turned his face away, and said in a rough voice: "Who the hell is nervous..."
After hesitating for a while, Jiang Yao finally decided not to wear a hat.
In fact, Mr. Duan was right, he was indeed nervous for a long time.
But it was different from the nervousness he felt when he met Grandpa Duan Zhuxian before. At that time, he was shouldering the important task of arranging a marriage, and he was afraid that Old Duan would be dissatisfied with him, which would affect Jiang Li's future. His identity was more like a surrendered partner.
It was all Duan Zhuxian's fault for saying that his grandfather was not a family member...
He had never thought that someone like him, who felt good about himself and was used to doing things his own way, would actually worry about the day when someone would look down on him.
*
Duan Zhuxian's grandfather's residence is located next to an artificial lake on the outskirts of the city, where there are green mountains and clear waters and beautiful scenery.
After arriving at the place, the nanny kindly invited the two into the house.
"The old man went fishing and should be back soon." She said, looking at Jiang Yao, "This is Young Master Jiang, right?"
Jiang Yao nodded.
Duan Zhuxian introduced: "This is Aunt Wang."
Jiang Yao said hello.
Aunt Wang smiled and said, "I've been working here for more than ten years."
Jiang Yao asked, "So you watched Duan Zhuxian grow up?"
Aunt Wang said, "I guess so. When I came here, Zhuxian was just over ten years old. He often came to visit Grandpa."
Jiang Yao understood. No wonder she looked at Duan Zhuxian as if he were her own child.
On the way in, Aunt Wang's eyes moved back and forth between Jiang Yao and Duan Zhuxian, and her expression became more and more loving.
Jiang Yao knew that he was quite popular among the aunties because of his good looks, but he was still a little confused by her eager gaze.
He was about to ask Aunt Wang if she had anything to say when he heard her say, "Young Master Jiang, seeing is believing."
"Bai Wen?" Jiang Yao extracted the key words from it and also heard the emotion in Aunt Wang's words.
Aunt Wang was about to speak when Duan Zhuxian interrupted her: "Aunt Wang, go and do your work first. I'll take Jiang Yao for a walk."
Aunt Wang was stunned for a moment, thought of something, pursed her lips, smiled and left.
Jiang Yao asked Duan Zhuxian, "What did Aunt Wang mean by 'hundreds of stories'? Has she heard of me before?"
Duan Zhuxian said: "I don't know, maybe she's not good at Chinese and uses words incorrectly."
Jiang Yao narrowed his eyes, feeling that Duan Zhuxian was just being perfunctory.
He was still wondering what "seeing is believing" meant when he followed Duan Zhuxian into the living room and was caught off guard by the huge portrait on the wall.
The European woman in the painting has her eyebrows slightly lowered and is reading a picture album in her hand. Her outline is somewhat similar to Duan Zhuxian.
"That's my grandmother. She's been dead for twenty years."
Duan Zhuxian's voice rang in his ears. Jiang Yao raised his head and looked into those blue eyes as clear as the sea. His heart couldn't help but tremble.
The indescribable beauty of the person in the painting will probably make every passerby lose their mind for a moment. Even the delicate wrinkles at the corners of the eyes seem to be a testament to the existence of beauty that cannot be defeated by time, just like the wrinkles on the petals of hibiscus, which are part of the beauty.
Duan Zhuxian's European ancestry comes from her.
This suddenly reminded Jiang Yao that he seemed to have never heard of Duan Zhuxian's mother.
"Where's your mother?"
While sitting on the sofa waiting for Grandpa Duan Zhuxian, Jiang Yao finally asked the question that he had been holding back for a long time.
Seeing Duan Zhuxian's expression slightly frozen, Jiang Yao quickly waved his hand: "If you don't want to talk about it, forget it. I was just asking casually. Do you think I farted?"
Duan Zhuxian said, "She is recuperating in Australia."
Jiang Yao was startled and asked quickly, "What's the illness? Is it serious?"
Duan Zhuxian handed Jiang Yao a glass of water and said, "It's a chronic kidney disease. There are studies specifically targeting this condition."
Jiang Yao asked, "Does she know that you are married?"
"She knows." Duan Zhuxian paused for a moment, "but it's not convenient for her to return to China to attend the wedding, so she sent a video some time ago, hoping that we will be happy and lasting."
Jiang Yao frowned: "Why didn't you tell me?"
Duan Zhuxian heard this and his gaze shifted slightly, looking away from Jiang Yao.
In his opinion, these eight words were not like a blessing to Jiang Yao, but more like a cage, binding Jiang Yao and his mortal enemy together forever.
But he said, "Forgot."
Jiang Yao rolled his eyes, slammed his teacup down on the table, and said righteously, "After all, it's a blessing for both of us, and you're keeping it all to yourself. There has to be a limit to selfishness, right?"
A hint of surprise flashed in Duan Zhuxian's eyes: "You want to see it?"
Jiang Yao: "Nonsense."
Duan Zhuxian took out his cell phone, opened a video and put it in front of Jiang Yao.
It starts with the scenery outside the window, then the scene changes and a mixed-race woman appears.
Jiang Yao couldn't help but sigh silently. He finally knew where Duan Zhuxian's face, the face of a blue-eyed man who brings disaster, came from. With a fairy grandmother and a fairy mother, even if his father's genes were not good, they could be saved.
The content of the video was just as Duan Zhuxian said, a blessing for their marriage, and Jiang Yao's name was specifically mentioned.
Duan's mother's voice was gentle and pleasant. Although a little weak, it had a unique appeal, allowing Jiang Yao to conclude what a cultured and charming woman she was. However, because of the power of the Duan family, she was unable to accompany Duan Zhuxian in his growth.
If his mother was around, would Duan Zhuxian be influenced and shed some of his aloofness and disguise?
"I have prepared gifts for you. I will send someone to deliver them to you on your wedding day."
Having said that, she paused and a relieved smile appeared on her face.
"Xiao Xian, do you know? When I heard that you were going to marry Xiao Jiang, Mom was sincerely happy for you. It's worth all your years..."
Snap——
The screen went black, and the following words were abruptly cut off by Duan Zhuxian.
Jiang Yao:?
He looked up at Duan Zhuxian.
Then, in Duan Zhuxian's unfathomable eyes, he caught a glimpse of a rare and suspicious panic.
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