Chapter 24
After saying that, Liang Jinyi opened the car door and got out.
Two minutes later, Liang Jinyi opened the door beside the driver’s seat. Jiang Mi lifted his forehead, which was covered in cold sweat, and tried hard to maintain his composure. “The designated driver… came that fast?”
Liang Jinyi said coldly, “There’s no designated driver.”
Jiang Mi endured the pain and looked at him in confusion.
Liang Jinyi said irritably, “There’s a taxi. We’re going to the hospital.”
Forty minutes later, in the infusion room of the emergency department of a top-tier hospital closest to A University.
The nurse hooked Jiang Mi up to an IV. Jiang Mi frowned, closed his eyes, and leaned against the plastic bench with a pale face as he received the infusion. After two hours on the IV, the obvious discomfort in his stomach disappeared, and Jiang Mi recovered some energy as well.
Jiang Mi opened his eyes and happened to meet Liang Jinyi’s gaze, which had been fixed on him. But the moment their eyes met, Liang Jinyi withdrew his gaze with a dark face.
“Jinyi, were you worried about me?”
At first, Jiang Mi had been too uncomfortable and had only wanted to rest with his eyes closed. Now that his body felt better, he was in the mood to talk to Little Brother.
Liang Jinyi stood up and turned to walk outside.
Jiang Mi hurriedly said, “Jinyi, where are you going?”
Without looking back, Liang Jinyi said, “Home.”
Jiang Mi looked at his departing back and smiled bitterly in helplessness. He closed his eyes again and rested.
Until two minutes later, Jiang Mi heard footsteps sound beside him. Jiang Mi opened his eyes, then saw a nurse smile at him and point at his IV bottle, saying it was almost finished. His little brother had called her over to remove the needle for him.
Hearing this, Jiang Mi’s gaze moved back and landed on the black-clothed youth standing beside the nurse. Seeing him look over, the youth crossed his arms and turned his face away unhappily.
Jiang Mi curved his lips in a very good mood and politely thanked the nurse.
Jiang Mi’s gastritis was an old problem, caused by years of irregular eating abroad. After the infusion finished and the needle was removed, Jiang Mi took his medicine and could leave the hospital.
Jiang Mi and Liang Jinyi walked out of the hospital together.
Jiang Mi’s body was much more comfortable than it had been two hours ago, but his stomach still felt faintly unwell. So although the car was still parked at the gate of A University, he was too lazy to go get it now and called a taxi at the hospital entrance.
After he and Liang Jinyi got into the taxi, Jiang Mi told the driver the location of the Liang family villa.
The moment his words fell, Liang Jinyi’s cold voice followed right after. “Driver, go to Qiuxin Garden on Hongfeng Road.”
The driver turned around and looked at the two people in the back seat with an inquiring gaze, not knowing where exactly he should go.
The corners of Jiang Mi’s lips showed a faint, barely perceptible smile. “Listen to my little brother. Go to Qiuxin Garden on Hongfeng Road.”
“Got it,” the driver said readily.
At noon, Bei City wasn’t congested, and the road was smooth the whole way. More than half an hour later, the taxi arrived at the entrance of Qiuxin Garden.
After Jiang Mi paid the fare, he opened the car door and got out. But after he got out, Little Brother remained sitting behind the front passenger seat with no intention of getting out with him.
Jiang Mi said gently, “Little Brother, aren’t you getting out?”
Liang Jinyi lifted his eyes and looked at him expressionlessly.
Jiang Mi pressed a hand to his stomach and pretended to worry. “It’ll still take several minutes to walk to my house. What if my stomach gets uncomfortable again on the way?”
Liang Jinyi stared at Jiang Mi without blinking for several seconds. Then he turned his head, pulled open the other side’s car door forcefully, and got out with a cold face.
Seeing this, Jiang Mi’s eyes curved slightly.
After the taxi driver left, Jiang Mi walked into Qiuxin Garden. Qiuxin Garden was a townhouse villa community. Compared to ordinary high-rise residential communities, its population density was very low.
After walking a few steps, Jiang Mi saw that there was no one coming and going around them. He stopped and turned back to look at Little Brother, who was two steps away from him.
“What are you looking at?” Liang Jinyi had already walked ahead of Jiang Mi. Seeing Jiang Mi still frozen in place and staring at him, he asked coldly.
Jiang Mi said calmly, “Little Brother, let’s have a proper talk, okay?”
He walked to Liang Jinyi’s side. The last time he and Liang Jinyi had met was during the winter break of Liang Jinyi’s third year of middle school, when Liang Jinyi went to Country U to visit him. That meeting had been four months after the previous time he had seen Little Brother, and he had discovered then that Little Brother had clearly shot up quite a bit. He had reached Jiang Mi’s mouth.
And this time, after returning to China, Little Brother had grown even taller, even two or three centimeters taller than him.
“You’ve grown very fast these past two years.” Jiang Mi frowned slightly. “But if you develop too quickly in a short period of time, it’s easy to experience growing pains. Jinyi, have you had any pain these past two years?”
Jiang Mi asked with concern in his expression.
Liang Jinyi had thought he was going to say something about forgiving him again. He hadn’t expected Jiang Mi to say this instead. His step forward immediately paused, and he turned his head to stare at Jiang Mi.
Seeing Liang Jinyi’s gaze land on him, Jiang Mi cleared his throat again and said warmly, “Jinyi, although apologies are quite useless, I still have to apologize to you again. Those two years, I gave you hope again and again, yet broke my promises again and again. It was my fault.”
Eleven years had passed. Of course, Jiang Mi was clearly different from when Liang Jinyi had first seen him. The youthfulness and childishness on his face had faded, and his temperament had become mature and steady. However, his gaze was still very gentle.
Just like when Liang Jinyi had been sitting on the ground and first saw him. The golden afternoon sunlight had poured down from behind him. He had bent slightly, lowered his eyes, and looked at Liang Jinyi with a smile, just as gentle as now.
Liang Jinyi wanted to sneer and turn a blind eye to Jiang Mi’s apology, but at that moment, Jiang Mi spoke again.
“Jinyi, I promise you that in the future, anything I promise you, I will definitely do my best to fulfill.”
“Do your best?” Liang Jinyi instantly became unhappy. “What do you mean, do your best?”
“It means that unless I encounter a force majeure, I’ll definitely do it.”
Liang Jinyi pressed, “Force majeure? What counts as force majeure?”
Jiang Mi explained, “For example, if I promise you I’ll return to China today, but today there’s a violent storm and the airline cancels the flight, so I can only change to the next day. That would be force majeure.”
Liang Jinyi stared at Jiang Mi’s somewhat pale face for a few seconds. After dozens of seconds of silence, he suddenly gritted his teeth and said, “Jiang Mi, you’d better keep your word this time.”
Joy appeared in Jiang Mi’s expression, and he promised, “Brother will definitely keep his word this time.”
Liang Jinyi crossed his arms and glanced at him a few more times before finally lifting his feet and walking toward the Jiang house.
Seeing this, Jiang Mi quickly followed.
A few minutes later, Jiang Mi arrived at the Jiang family villa. Seeing that Liang Jinyi had no intention of following him inside, Jiang Mi turned his head and said gently, “Jinyi, come in. I have something to give you.”
Liang Jinyi’s dark eyes looked at Jiang Mi for several seconds before he stepped inside.
Jiang’s father and mother had gone to the factory to work overtime today, so there was no one else at home. Jiang Mi told Liang Jinyi to sit for a while, and he went upstairs to get something for him.
Liang Jinyi glanced at the Jiang family living room, then followed Jiang Mi upstairs.
Jiang Mi walked a few steps up to the second floor. Hearing footsteps behind him, he turned his head and saw Little Brother following him up too. He silently laughed a few times.
Very soon, the two arrived at Jiang Mi’s bedroom. Liang Jinyi’s gaze circled around Jiang Mi’s room. Seeing that photos of him and Jiang Mi were still placed on Jiang Mi’s desk and bedside table, Liang Jinyi finally sat down on the edge of his bed in satisfaction.
Jiang Mi opened the wardrobe. Half a minute later, he took out the black-wrapped gift from the bottom layer of the wardrobe and handed it to Liang Jinyi, who was sitting at the head of his bed. “Little Brother, can you accept this today?”
He added, “I had to work for half a month straight before finally getting one day off. I spent the whole day at the mall choosing this seventeenth birthday gift for you.”
**
An hour later, Liang Jinyi carried his seventeenth birthday gift and left Jiang Mi’s house.
After Liang Jinyi left, Jiang Mi finally put down a major worry on his mind. Relaxed, Jiang Mi stretched, went to the bathroom to take a shower, then went to bed for a nap. He truly hadn’t slept well last night.
Just after waking up, Jiang Mi’s phone rang. He yawned and answered the call, only to hear Liang Xuping’s teasing voice.
“You made up with Little Brother?”
Jiang Mi curved his lips slightly. “Your news is quite well-informed.”
Liang Xuping laughed. “Hahaha, I saw Little Brother come back with a new schoolbag today.”
“Fuck, Jiang Mi, can you have a little creativity when giving gifts? You’ve been giving schoolbags for more than ten years.”
Jiang Mi replied, “This year is the last year too. Next year, Little Brother will be an adult, so I can’t give him schoolbags anymore.”
Speaking of this, Jiang Mi felt a bit troubled. What should he give Little Brother next year?
After the two chatted for a few more sentences, they hung up. Jiang Mi was about to get out of bed when he suddenly noticed that someone had sent him a WeChat message more than ten minutes ago.
Jiang Mi opened that WeChat avatar and saw that the youth who had blocked him for over a year had not only unblocked him, but had also sent him a new message fifteen minutes earlier.
The new message was a picture.
A black backpack with a simple, neat design. The bag was slightly bulging, as if books had already been placed inside.
The corners of Jiang Mi’s lips curved lightly.
Liang Xuping said he had no creativity, giving Liang Jinyi a schoolbag every year. But the day Jiang Mi had given Liang Jinyi his second schoolbag when he was about to enter first grade, he had promised Liang Jinyi that from then on, every birthday, he would give him a schoolbag. Because that way, Liang Jinyi could always carry the schoolbag Brother gave him to school.
Over the next few days, Jiang Mi mainly kept his family company and dealt with some everyday trivial matters. However, some relatively big things did happen, just not in the Jiang family, but in the Liang family.
On Monday, Liang Hong returned from his business trip. That very afternoon, Liang Xuping handed in his resignation. After Liang Hong asked with a dark face what Liang Xuping was trying to do, Liang Xuping expressed his unwillingness to continue working at Liang Group, and Liang Hong lost his temper on the spot.
He hadn’t required Liang Xuping to work at the company, but for nearly ten years, Liang Xuping had gone to work diligently and conscientiously. Liang Hong had thought this kid actually quite wanted to inherit the family business, and he had painstakingly cultivated him for so many years. Now Liang Xuping had suddenly dropped everything and refused to continue, making years of his effort go to waste.
“Actually, don’t be fooled by the fact that my dad is usually pretty pleasant toward you. But look at how Liang Jinyi goes crazy at the drop of a hat. I think he probably inherited a bit of that from him. Anyway, I’ve already been kicked out of the house. He said that if I’m nearly thirty and want to pursue freedom, fine, but I shouldn’t ask him for a single cent in the future.”
That night, after returning home, Liang Xuping packed his things and rolled out of the Liang family’s old residence.
Jiang Mi stood on the balcony answering Liang Xuping’s call. “Sure. If you can’t survive, come find me. I’ll make sure you have enough steamed buns.”
“Fuck, Lawyer Jiang, Great Lawyer Jiang. With your seven-figure annual salary, you’re only giving me steamed buns?” Liang Xuping was shocked.
“You don’t like steamed buns? Cabbage buns are fine too,” Jiang Mi said.
Liang Xuping laughingly cursed him a few times.
Jiang Mi was only joking with Liang Xuping. Even if Uncle Liang didn’t give Liang Xuping money, the inheritance left by Liang Xuping’s mother, the fixed annual fund dividends, and his savings over the years were all amounts ordinary people could never hope to catch up to.
“What do you plan to do next?” Jiang Mi asked.
“I’ll go out and travel first. These past few years, I’ve spent all my time sitting in an office. I haven’t properly seen the great rivers and mountains of the motherland,” Liang Xuping said.
“Okay,” Jiang Mi replied.
Liang Xuping had always been decisive in his actions. On Monday night, he told Jiang Mi he wanted to travel. By Tuesday afternoon, he had bought a train ticket and left Bei City.
After leaving, he didn’t forget to call Jiang Mi. “Now that I, the biological older brother, am gone, Little Brother is in your hands from now on.”
“Do you even need to say that? Am I not his biological older brother?”
The Jiang family had come today to accompany Jiang Mi to his new home for a housewarming meal. The large family was chatting noisily and happily in the living room, so Jiang Mi could only go to the balcony to answer the phone.
“Haha, I forgot. You’re the biological older brother, an even more biological older brother than me.” After Liang Xuping finished speaking, he suddenly said, “The scenery outside this train is fucking beautiful. Hanging up first.”
After saying that, Liang Xuping decisively hung up.
Jiang Mi shook his head helplessly.
Once Tuesday passed, it was Wednesday, and this was also the last day of Jiang Mi’s vacation. He had promised his senior that he had to go to the firm for work tomorrow.
At five-thirty in the afternoon, Jiang Mi took his car keys and went out.
At five forty-five, after more than half the people in the classroom had left, Liang Jinyi and Zhu Yurui went downstairs and walked toward the school gate.
After taking about a dozen steps out of the school gate, Liang Jinyi saw a familiar car. He narrowed his eyes, carried his schoolbag, and strode over.
Seeing Liang Jinyi walk over, Jiang Mi lowered the half-lowered car window completely. He leaned his head out slightly and said to Liang Jinyi with curved lips, “Little Brother, get in.”
Zhu Yurui was following beside Liang Jinyi. Hearing this sentence, he glanced at the man inside the car window and couldn’t help exclaiming “wow” in his heart.
As expected of the school grass’s older brother. If he were a few years younger, he would probably also be the school grass.
Seeing this classmate’s gaze resting on him the whole time, Jiang Mi looked at him in confusion.
Zhu Yurui coughed twice and hurriedly introduced himself. “Hello, Brother. I’m Liang Jinyi’s good friend. My name is Zhu Yurui.”
“Hello,” Jiang Mi said warmly. Then he added enthusiastically, “Come play at my house with Jinyi when you have time.”
Zhu Yurui thought, What kind of relative is this brother to Liang Jinyi? He’s actually this gentle. At the same time, he answered, “Okay, okay. Thank you, Brother.”
Liang Jinyi had already opened the front passenger door and sat inside. Seeing Jiang Mi and Zhu Yurui chatting endlessly, he leaned his head toward the driver’s seat. With Liang Jinyi’s head leaning over, Jiang Mi could only lean back.
Liang Jinyi said, “All right, hurry up and go. If your family’s driver doesn’t see you, he’ll think you did something wrong again.”
“I’m going, I’m going,” Zhu Yurui hurriedly said.
After Zhu Yurui left, Liang Jinyi sat up straight and indicated for Jiang Mi to drive.
Jiang Mi started the engine.
Two minutes later, when Liang Jinyi saw Jiang Mi turn right, while returning to the Liang house should require turning left, he asked Jiang Mi, who was driving, “Are we eating outside tonight?”
Jiang Mi gave an “Mm,” then said with a smile, “But before that, I’ll take you somewhere first.”
Somewhere?
“Where?” Liang Jinyi asked.
“I’m taking you to recognize Brother’s new home.” After saying that, Jiang Mi drove the car into the Shimao Tingfang residential community in front of them.
Three minutes later, the elevator arrived on the twenty-eighth floor. Jiang Mi wore a snow-white shirt, the cuffs gathered at his wrist bones. While taking the keys from his pants pocket, he turned slightly and asked Little Brother, “Isn’t it very close to your school? Three or four minutes by car, and only about twenty minutes on foot.”
After saying this, he used the key to open the door and gestured for Little Brother to enter with him.
This apartment had been purchased when Jiang Mi was in university. When Jiang Mi was little, Jiang’s father and mother had tried other businesses but had always failed. Only after Jiang Mi graduated elementary school, when the two of them opened that small mechanical parts manufacturing factory, did their financial situation improve. After Jiang Mi entered high school, Jiang’s father and mother had an income of nearly a million yuan every year. During those years, housing prices continuously rose. Once the Jiang family had money, naturally, they bought property.
So when Jiang Mi was a sophomore, they bought this apartment. Of course, Jiang’s father and mother also had two other apartments, but this one was very close to Jiang Mi’s workplace. It was only a dozen minutes by car. Although during morning and evening rush hours, there would definitely be some traffic and the actual time would exceed ten minutes, under normal circumstances, the commute could be kept within half an hour.
After Liang Jinyi finished looking around the layout of the apartment, Jiang Mi said gently to him, “Jinyi, from now on, whenever you want to come over, you can come over anytime.”
Hearing this, Liang Jinyi walked to Jiang Mi’s side and unceremoniously stretched his hand out to him.
Jiang Mi: “?”
Liang Jinyi lowered his eyes slightly, his dark pupils reflecting Jiang Mi’s handsome, graceful figure. He said lazily, “Brother, weren’t you the one who said I can come over whenever I want? Where’s the key?”
