Chapter 26
Jiang Mi looked Liang Jinyi over and smiled. “Jinyi, you’re seventeen this year, not seven. The master bedroom bed is only 1.8 meters wide. If two adult men over 1.8 meters tall sleep together, it’ll feel crowded.”
“And you still have class tomorrow, while I have to go to work. Getting proper rest is very important.” Jiang Mi added, “Be good. Sleep in the guest room.”
Liang Jinyi thought about it, then weighed up his and Jiang Mi’s builds. “All right, then.”
He asked Jiang Mi again, “Do you have pajamas, Brother?”
Jiang Mi had moved in two days ago, so naturally, he had brought some clothes over. He nodded. “I do, but they’re ones I’ve worn before.”
“Does Brother think I’d mind that the clothes were worn by you?” Liang Jinyi asked back.
Jiang Mi returned to his bedroom, opened the wardrobe, and found Liang Jinyi a set of dark-blue pure cotton pajamas.
“They should fit you.” Jiang Mi handed the clothes to Liang Jinyi.
Although Liang Jinyi was two or three centimeters taller than him, the pajamas were slightly loose, so they wouldn’t be small on Liang Jinyi.
Liang Jinyi took the pajamas. Feeling the fragrance coming from them, Liang Jinyi stopped. He lowered his head and sniffed them hard with his nose, then raised his head and said to Jiang Mi, who had walked to the bedside, “Brother, your clothes smell so nice. Exactly the same as when I was little.”
“Exactly the same?” It was only a little past ten, and Jiang Mi planned to go to the study and read some materials for a while. He picked up the glasses case on the bedside table, turned around, and said in confusion, “I haven’t used the old shower gel and laundry detergent for years.”
Domestic brands were rarely sold abroad. Jiang Mi wasn’t particular about these things, so he chose some other popular local brands. After returning to China, he hadn’t deliberately bought the brands he used before either, instead switching to new ones. “And what I bought is fragrance-free.”
After saying all this, Jiang Mi was very confused as to why two grown men were standing here discussing whether something smelled fragrant or not. Jiang Mi urged him, “All right, all right. Hurry and go shower. After you shower, sleep early. You still have class tomorrow.”
“Okay, Brother.” Liang Jinyi was very obedient at this time.
Liang Jinyi took the pajamas Jiang Mi had worn and walked out, but after taking two steps, Jiang Mi called him again.
“What else is it, Brother?” Liang Jinyi asked.
Jiang Mi said, “In the future, if you’re coming over, you can send me a message in advance. If some work can be brought home, I can come home and work overtime here.”
Jiang Mi felt some heartache for Liang Jinyi. Father Liang’s concern and care for him couldn’t compare to Liang Xuping’s. Moreover, before he returned to the Liang family, Grandpa Liang and Grandma Liang had already passed away, so he also hadn’t enjoyed the love of grandparents. As for Liang Jinyi’s biological mother, there was even less need to mention her. And now that Liang Xuping had gone off in pursuit of freedom, Liang Jinyi would probably be home alone most of the time.
Although working from home couldn’t really be counted as keeping Liang Jinyi company, it was still better than Jiang Mi working overtime at the firm and leaving him at home alone.
The warm yellow light in the bedroom fell across Jiang Mi’s handsome face. He was wearing a set of gray cotton pajamas, shedding the mature elite air he had when dressed in a suit and leather shoes. He looked gentle and domestic.
Liang Jinyi’s heart felt as if it had been scratched, neither lightly nor heavily, by a cat’s paw. He smiled and answered, “Okay, Brother.”
The next day was Friday. Liang Jinyi didn’t come to Jiang Mi’s home. Liang Hong would be at the old residence that weekend. However, on Sunday, while Jiang Mi was working overtime at the office, Liang Jinyi did come over. He packed some of the things he commonly used and had Uncle Li send him to Shimao Tingfang, turning Jiang Mi’s guest room into his bedroom.
At noon on Tuesday, after Jiang Mi finished lunch, he received a message from Liang Jinyi saying that he was coming over that night. Jiang Mi replied with an okay.
Six in the afternoon was when Hongsi Law Firm got off work. Jiang Mi packed up his things and was preparing to leave when Gu Yuan pushed open the frosted glass door of Jiang Mi’s office. “Lawyer Jiang, help me look over this financial statement…”
Gu Yuan was Jiang Mi’s H University senior and former colleague at the law firm. Since Gu Yuan dared to pull Jiang Mi into starting a firm with him, he naturally had some connections. Over the past few days, he had brought in two cases, both for M&A legal due diligence. Hongsi currently had fewer than ten people on the entire team, and the other party needed the relevant documents and materials urgently, so these past few days, everyone had been working overtime after work—of course, with Jiang Mi being the worst.
However, Gu Yuan wasn’t surprised. Back then, after working at SU for only a year, this junior of his had already been able to take over such a good project. Aside from his intelligence and meticulousness, that sheer drive of his was astonishing.
Moreover, unlike ordinary office workers who felt like overtime would kill them, Gu Yuan felt that most of the time, Jiang Mi enjoyed the happiness and success work brought him.
Seeing Jiang Mi pack up right on time today and prepare to leave, Gu Yuan was somewhat surprised. He stopped calling him Lawyer Jiang and switched to a closer form of address. “Xuedi, you’re leaving work this early today?”
“There’s someone at home today.” After saying this, Jiang Mi gestured for Gu Yuan to give him the statement and asked if he needed it urgently.
“Not urgently.”
“All right, I’ll help you look at it at home.” This statement wasn’t a confidential document and could be taken home.
Seeing Jiang Mi stuff the file into his laptop bag, Gu Yuan raised his brows and teased, “Xuedi, is your girlfriend waiting at home?”
Jiang Mi’s hand froze while putting away the file. He helplessly lifted his head and said with amusement, “I haven’t even been back in China for a month. Where would a girlfriend come from? It’s my little brother waiting at home.”
After learning that he had misunderstood, Gu Yuan said, “All right, then go back early.”
Jiang Mi finished packing and said, “Bye, Great Lawyer Gu.”
Great Lawyer Gu said, “See you tomorrow, Lawyer Jiang.”
Although Jiang Mi went home right after work today, Liang Jinyi got out of school at five-forty. Even if he didn’t ride a bicycle and walked on foot, he would have arrived home a little after six.
The road home for Jiang Mi wasn’t too congested, but by the time he got home, it was nearly six-thirty.
After changing shoes and putting his laptop bag in the study, he asked Liang Jinyi whether he wanted takeout tonight or to eat out.
There were some simple fitness equipment in Jiang Mi’s study. While waiting for Jiang Mi, Liang Jinyi had been bored and played with the bench press rack. He had even taken off his school uniform jacket and was only wearing his short-sleeved school uniform, exposing the firm but not exaggerated, beautiful muscles on his arms.
Hearing Jiang Mi ask this, he got up from the black bench press rack. Because he had just exercised, his breathing was slightly uneven. “Takeout or eating out? Brother, you don’t cook for yourself?”
“Cooking for myself is too troublesome, and what I make doesn’t taste good.” Jiang Mi had never cooked for himself since childhood. When his parents were busy, he went to his grandparents’ house to eat. His grandfather was a chef, so his cooking tasted better than ordinary people’s.
After going abroad to study, he couldn’t get used to foreign food, so Jiang Mi tried cooking a few meals. Then he felt foreign food was actually quite tasty too, and from then on, he gave up struggling.
“So you’ve been eating takeout these past few days?” Liang Jinyi’s breathing gradually calmed. Hearing this, his brows furrowed.
“Not exactly,” Jiang Mi said. “Sometimes I eat simple meals downstairs.”
Jiang Mi asked Liang Jinyi what he wanted to eat tonight after all.
Liang Jinyi stared at Jiang Mi. Jiang Mi wasn’t thin and frail. He had the physique an adult man should have, and because he had the habit of exercising, his whole body was upright and slender. But compared to Liang Jinyi, his build was still slightly smaller by a circle.
Liang Jinyi stared at him and said, “I want to cook for myself.”
Jiang Mi: “?”
Jiang Mi suddenly felt a headache coming on. “Jinyi, if you want to eat home-cooked food, tomorrow I’ll take you to Grandpa Jiang’s place. If you ask me to cook for you, that would be a waste of…”
“I didn’t say I wanted you to cook for me. I’ll do it,” Liang Jinyi interrupted Jiang Mi.
Jiang Mi froze. “You’ll cook? You know how?”
“No.” Liang Jinyi honestly shook his head. Then, without waiting for Jiang Mi to say the next sentence, he added, “But I can start learning how to cook now.”
Jiang Mi thought about it and felt he shouldn’t dampen a child’s enthusiasm. If the child had suddenly become interested in cooking and wanted to try, then let him try. After all, it could also count as a life skill.
“All right. Let’s go downstairs and buy groceries.” Jiang Mi had always been accommodating toward his younger brothers and sisters. Although Liang Jinyi had no blood relation to him, emotionally, he was no different from a brother who was related to him by blood. In fact, because Liang Jinyi had clung to Jiang Mi so much since childhood, to the point where it seemed like he wouldn’t survive without Jiang Mi, Jiang Mi cared for him a little more than he did his blood-related younger siblings.
There was a fresh produce supermarket near the residential community. Jiang Mi didn’t drive. The two walked to the supermarket. Jiang Mi pushed a cart, and Liang Jinyi walked beside him, looking at his phone as he walked. When they reached the fresh produce area of the supermarket, Liang Jinyi put down his phone.
“Decided what to make, Little Brother?” Jiang Mi asked.
Liang Jinyi gave an “Mm” and listed the dishes he had just looked up recipes for. “Tomato scrambled eggs, steamed sea bass, celery stir-fried with shrimp, and winter melon soup with dried shrimp.”
Liang Jinyi said, “These are relatively simple.”
Jiang Mi had made tomato scrambled eggs before. He didn’t think it was very simple. But steamed sea bass seemed quite simple. You just sprinkled some ginger on the sea bass and steamed it.
“All right, then. Let’s buy groceries.”
The two went to buy groceries.
The Jiang family had a custom that when moving into a new home, they had to eat a housewarming meal, meaning relatives and friends gathered together and cooked with the stove in the new home.
When Jiang Mi moved last Monday, Mother Jiang and the others had brought people over to cook a meal, so there was rice, flour, oil, and some common seasonings in the kitchen. These didn’t need to be purchased again.
Following the recipes, after buying the needed ingredients and seasonings, Jiang Mi and Liang Jinyi paid and left.
After returning home, an hour and a half later, Liang Jinyi brought out three dishes and one soup. Jiang Mi first tasted the tomato scrambled eggs. The flavor… was actually pretty good. Although it couldn’t be called sweet and sour, delicious and outstanding, it was still flavorful.
“Brother, how is it?” Liang Jinyi looked at Jiang Mi expectantly.
“Not bad,” Jiang Mi said honestly.
After that, he tasted the steamed sea bass. A worker had helped slaughter the sea bass. After bringing it home, all they had to do was sprinkle salt, spread ginger on it, drizzle it with steamed fish soy sauce, and place it in the steamer for a dozen minutes.
It was Liang Jinyi’s first time cutting vegetables, so the ginger strips he cut were as thick as the roots of the pothos plant on the balcony, but it didn’t affect the fresh and delicious taste of the sea bass.
The winter melon soup with dried shrimp was very simple. Heat the pan, heat the oil, stir-fry the ginger and dried shrimp until fragrant, then add hot water, add winter melon and cook it through, then season with a little salt and white pepper. The difficulty level was very low, and Jinyi made it quite well.
Only the mushroom stir-fried beef was a little tough, and there was also a bit too much salt. But overall, it was a very good dinner, especially since it was little Liang Jinyi’s first time cooking.
Jiang Mi gave him face and ate two large bowls of rice. Liang Jinyi was still developing these past two years, and the portions he cooked weren’t small, but he basically finished everything Jiang Mi didn’t eat.
“I’ll wash the dishes,” Jiang Mi said after Liang Jinyi finished dinner, rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt.
Liang Jinyi didn’t fight Jiang Mi over it. There was a dishwasher in the kitchen, so Jiang Mi only needed to put the bowls and chopsticks inside.
Jiang Mi had just put the dishes into the dishwasher when Liang Jinyi also wiped the kitchen counter clean. At that moment, the Jiang family’s doorbell suddenly rang.
“I’ll go take a look, Brother,” Liang Jinyi said.
Jiang Mi nodded.
A minute later, Jiang Mi washed his hands clean and walked out of the kitchen. Liang Jinyi closed the door, holding a package in his hand. “It’s a same-city courier.”
“Give it to me.” Jiang Mi walked over and took the package.
“What is it? Who sent it to you?” Liang Jinyi pressed.
Jiang Mi opened the paper packaging bag and asked Liang Jinyi, “Do you still remember Sun Tianwang? Liang Xuping and my high school roommate. About the same height as me, a little thinner than me, with very big eyes.”
Liang Jinyi’s memory was also very good, and he had met Jiang Mi’s roommates several times before. Liang Jinyi’s interest in the package diminished a lot. “Him? What did he send you?”
“Groomsman outfit. He’s getting married early next month and asked me to be his groomsman.” At noon today, Sun Tianwang had messaged him asking when he had time to go try on the groomsman outfit. Jiang Mi had been quite busy these days, and Sun Tianwang lived rather far from him. The round-trip drive alone would take three hours. So Sun Tianwang suggested he find a courier tonight to send the outfit over. If there were any ill-fitting parts, Jiang Mi could find a nearby tailor shop to alter it.
As he spoke, Jiang Mi opened the clothing bag, revealing the dark-red satin groomsman outfit inside.
Liang Jinyi froze slightly and asked, “He’s having a Chinese-style wedding?”
“Mm, a Chinese-style wedding.” Sun Tianwang had communicated with Jiang Mi in advance, so naturally, he knew it was a Chinese-style wedding. Under the bright living room lights, Jiang Mi examined the groomsman outfit. After roughly figuring out how it should be worn, he said to Liang Jinyi, “I’ll go try it on.”
Liang Jinyi said okay.
Jiang Mi took the outfit back to his room. It was a dark-red long robe with auspicious cloud patterns, a stand collar, slanted lapel, and frog buttons.
Jiang Mi had never worn this kind of antique-style clothing before. He fiddled with it in his room for quite a while before finally putting it on properly.
There was a bathroom in Jiang Mi’s room, and there was a mirror in the bathroom, but that mirror could only show the upper half of his body. There was, however, a full-length mirror in the entryway. After Jiang Mi straightened the slightly wrinkled sleeves, he opened the door and walked to the entryway to check whether the groomsman outfit had any ill-fitting parts.
While he was still checking, footsteps grew clearer and clearer. Jiang Mi was just about to turn his head and ask Liang Jinyi whether anything looked unsuitable.
Liang Jinyi walked behind him, placed both hands on his shoulders, looked at him in the full-length mirror, and praised softly, “Brother, you’re really beautiful.”
