Chapter 41
Jiang Mi laughed. “Do you really need to remind me of that? Haven’t I known for a long time?”
Liang Jinyi said, “Since Brother already knows…”
The corner of his lips curved upward, and he reached out to tickle the soft flesh at Jiang Mi’s waist.
“Jinyi!” Jiang Mi hurriedly backed away.
The two of them fooled around in the hot spring for more than ten minutes. Only when Liang Jinyi finally seemed to tire did he suddenly pull away from Jiang Mi and spare his breathless Brother.
They soaked in the hot springs on and off for more than an hour. Afterward, Jiang Mi and Liang Jinyi showered, then went for the massage service they had booked in advance.
At six in the evening, everyone from Zhuosi Law Firm gathered at the hotel’s upscale buffet restaurant for dinner.
Jiang Mi thought the langoustines were firm and delicious. After eating two, he got up to fetch a few more.
He walked over to the serving station and had just reached for the tongs when another hand reached out at the same time and touched them.
Jiang Mi turned his head.
The moment their eyes met, surprise and delight flashed in the other man’s eyes.
“Jiang Mi.”
Jiang Mi froze for a moment. “Yu Shi.”
Yu Shi couldn’t help smiling. He glanced around the restaurant and said with genuine amazement, “I really didn’t expect to run into you here. I was actually planning to contact you on Monday.”
“By the way, you haven’t changed your contact information in China, have you?” Yu Shi asked.
Jiang Mi shook his head. “No. Why were you suddenly planning to contact me?”
“Didn’t you return to China and open a law firm? It just so happens that a friend of mine is planning to take his company public. He asked whether I knew any reliable lawyers I could recommend, and I immediately thought of our Lawyer Jiang,” Yu Shi said.
“Are you here today for a vacation?” Perhaps because he had run into an old acquaintance he hadn’t seen in years, Yu Shi was visibly excited.
“Company team-building trip,” Jiang Mi replied.
Yu Shi chuckled. “Not me. I finally had some free time, so I brought my younger brother and sister out to have some fun.”
Just as Yu Shi finished speaking, a girl called out, “Brother!”
Yu Shi answered, “Coming!”
Then he looked back at Jiang Mi and said gently, “Well then… Jiang Mi, I’ll contact you in a couple of days.”
Jiang Mi was always friendly toward people who could introduce clients to him.
“Sure. Go ahead.”
After Yu Shi left, Jiang Mi picked up the tongs and placed several langoustines on his plate. Just as he was about to return to the table, he saw Liang Jinyi walking toward him.
“Why did you come over, Jinyi?”
Liang Jinyi naturally took the plate from Jiang Mi’s hand.
“Of course it’s because my Brother was gone too long, and I missed him.”
Then Liang Jinyi stared at the retreating figure of the man from earlier and pressed, “Brother, who was that man you were talking to just now? What were you talking about?”
As they spoke, the two returned to the table.
Jiang Mi pulled out his chair and sat down. “He was a schoolmate of mine when I was in graduate school.”
“Were you catching up just now? Is that why you talked for so long?” Liang Jinyi asked.
“More or less. He said a friend of his is planning to take his company public, so he wants to introduce us.”
“He really only wants to introduce a client to you?”
Jiang Mi and the others were seated at a four-person table by the window, with Gu Yuan sitting across from Jiang Mi.
Although Gu Yuan had graduated several years before Jiang Mi, he had stayed in U Country for two extra years. When Chinese students several years below him held gatherings, he sometimes attended, so he also knew Yu Shi, though they weren’t close.
Hearing Jiang Mi’s explanation, Gu Yuan spoke with a meaningful undertone.
Jiang Mi put on a pair of gloves and lazily began peeling a langoustine.
“What else would it be? When there’s a good opportunity like this, of course you think of your fellow schoolmates.”
Gu Yuan gave a meaningful laugh. “Our Lawyer Jiang is absolutely right.”
“Brother Gu.” Liang Jinyi narrowed his eyes slightly and said keenly, “I feel like there’s more to what you’re saying.”
He thought for a moment.
“Did that man have some kind of conflict with my Brother before?”
Jiang Mi gave Gu Yuan a pointed look.
Gu Yuan felt that although he could be unreliable at times, the kid was still a minor. It was better not to involve an underage boy in adult matters.
“No. I was just lamenting the unfairness of it all. We’re all schoolmates, and I’m even his senior, so why didn’t he think of me when such a good opportunity came up? Clearly, our Lawyer Jiang is simply too charming.”
Jiang Mi smiled. “Senior, if you were his junior instead, maybe he would have thought of you.”
The group chatted for a while before Jiang Mi changed the subject.
After dinner, it was still fairly early.
The area around the hot spring resort had actually become quite commercialized, with two nearby streets designed in an antique style.
The streets were filled with places to eat, drink, and have fun. Everyone had also heard that a well-known band would be performing at a bar that evening, so almost all the firm’s employees wanted to go watch.
Jiang Mi had brought his little brother along, and deep down, he still held some traditional views. He didn’t want to take a minor somewhere crowded with all sorts of people.
So he said goodbye to the coworkers heading to the bar and took his little brother shopping instead.
There were many stores along the streets selling all kinds of things—traditional costumes, dolls, painted crafts, and more.
After walking through one entire street, the two entered a jewelry shop that sold a wide variety of accessories.
Jiang Mi had no interest in such things. After looking around once, he was ready to leave.
But Liang Jinyi picked up a ring and asked, “Brother, does this look good?”
The ring was made of silver and carved into the shapes of two locust trees intertwined tightly together. It looked simple and ancient, yet still had a refined texture.
“It’s pretty nice,” Jiang Mi said. “Do you want it?”
Liang Jinyi hummed and said yes.
Then he added, “Brother should buy one too.”
Jiang Mi had no interest in accessories and had never been fond of wearing jewelry.
But after saying that, Liang Jinyi immediately began enthusiastically choosing one for him. Jiang Mi had always indulged Liang Jinyi and saw no reason to dampen his little brother’s mood over something so minor.
He laughed. “All right.”
A few minutes later, Liang Jinyi finally chose a ring for Jiang Mi.
The jewelry in this shop was delicately crafted. The ring Liang Jinyi selected for Jiang Mi was made of silver twisted into fine strands, with several threads symbolizing hair tightly wound and fused together.
Jiang Mi accepted it.
He couldn’t really say whether he liked or disliked it, but seeing how much Liang Jinyi seemed to like it for him made him feel the ring was rather nice after all.
“All right. This one, then.”
The two went to the counter to pay.
After Jiang Mi completed the payment, he turned his head and saw Liang Jinyi sliding the ring onto his well-defined ring finger.
Jiang Mi looked slightly surprised.
“Jinyi, you’re wearing it on your ring finger?”
“Can’t I?” Liang Jinyi raised his left hand and waved it in front of Jiang Mi. “Brother, I want to wear this ring on my ring finger.”
Jiang Mi thought about it and figured kids these days weren’t particularly bound by old conventions.
He laughed.
“All right, all right. If you want to wear it on your ring finger, then wear it there.”
With that, he put his own ring into his coat pocket and gestured for Liang Jinyi to leave with him.
“Brother, aren’t you going to wear yours?” Liang Jinyi asked as he followed beside him.
Before Jiang Mi could answer, Liang Jinyi started pestering him in a clingy voice.
“Brother, just put it on.”
Jiang Mi had never been able to resist Liang Jinyi’s persistence.
He could only say, “Fine,” take the ring back out, and slide it onto his middle finger.
Seeing that Jiang Mi had put it on his middle finger, Liang Jinyi let out a faint sigh of disappointment.
“What’s wrong, Jinyi?” Jiang Mi asked.
“Nothing. Brother, let’s go look around up ahead,” Liang Jinyi said.
The two spent more than two hours browsing every shop worth visiting on the two streets before Jiang Mi finally took Liang Jinyi back to the hotel.
After swiping their key card and entering the room, Jiang Mi had just taken off his coat when the phone he had tossed onto the bed suddenly rang.
He picked it up and saw a number he hadn’t seen in years.
After a moment of silence, Jiang Mi smiled and answered.
The instant the call connected, Yu Shi’s excited voice came through the speaker.
“Jiang Mi, what a coincidence! That good friend of mine is at the hot spring resort today too. When he heard you were here, he said he wanted to meet you right away. Are you free now? I’ll find a quiet lounge and introduce the two of you.”
Jiang Mi’s career had only just gotten started. Naturally, he wouldn’t refuse such a good opportunity.
He readily replied, “Sure.”
“Is Ski okay?” Yu Shi asked. “It’s a quiet lounge and there usually aren’t many people.”
“Sure,” Jiang Mi said.
After agreeing to meet at Ski in twenty minutes, Jiang Mi ended the call.
The moment he hung up, the young man’s slightly husky voice sounded in front of him.
Liang Jinyi frowned slightly. “Brother, did someone ask you out?”
Jiang Mi picked up his coat. “That schoolmate I ran into tonight. His friend whose company is planning to go public is also staying at the hot spring resort. He said he wants to meet me, so I’m going over to talk with him.”
Then Jiang Mi asked with concern, “Jinyi, you’ll be okay staying in the hotel by yourself for an hour or two, right?”
Although Liang Jinyi didn’t want Jiang Mi to leave, he knew how career-driven Jiang Mi was. He wasn’t completely unreasonable either. He knew when he could cling to Jiang Mi and when he needed to give him some freedom.
He hummed and replied, “Of course.”
Jiang Mi always had plenty to worry about. “If you’re not sleepy yet, you can go downstairs and have some fun. This hotel has a lot of recreational facilities. There’s also a boxing gym, snooker, and bowling.”
It wasn’t even ten yet. Little Liang Jinyi had always been full of energy, so there was no way he would be able to sleep this early.
“I know, Brother,” Liang Jinyi said.
After giving him all his reminders and deciding there was nothing else left to say, Jiang Mi put on his coat and hurried out.
A little over ten minutes later, Jiang Mi arrived at the lounge Yu Shi had mentioned.
The moment he walked in, he spotted Yu Shi sitting in a corner. Beside him was an unfamiliar middle-aged man.
With a warm smile on his face, Jiang Mi strode over and greeted Yu Shi first.
Yu Shi introduced him. “Brother Wang, this is Lawyer Jiang Mi, the person I mentioned to you.”
Brother Wang smiled. “Lawyer Jiang, I know who you are. Last year, when Country A and Country D took their trade dispute to the international court, you were one of the lawyers who represented Country A, weren’t you?”
Brother Wang sighed admiringly. “I only knew you were exceptionally capable. I didn’t expect you to be so extraordinarily handsome too.”
Jiang Mi was thoroughly accustomed to socializing in the business world. But seeing that Brother Wang’s praise was genuinely sincere, his own pleasantries naturally became more heartfelt as well.
While Jiang Mi chatted with Brother Wang, Liang Jinyi was left with nothing to do after Jiang Mi departed.
He admired the ring Jiang Mi had bought him for a while, but eventually still grew bored and took out his phone to play games.
He played until eleven, but Jiang Mi still hadn’t returned.
Liang Jinyi decided he would wash up first and then continue waiting for him.
Just then, someone rang the doorbell.
Liang Jinyi strode over and opened the door.
When he saw who it was, a hint of disappointment entered his eyes.
“Brother Gu, why are you here?”
“Where’s your brother?” Gu Yuan craned his neck and peered into the room.
“He went out,” Liang Jinyi replied.
“Went out? Where?” Gu Yuan pressed.
Liang Jinyi told him the truth. “His schoolmate asked him to meet a client. He left before ten.”
“His schoolmate?” Gu Yuan thought of the person they had met at dinner. “Yu Shi?”
Liang Jinyi hummed.
The moment he did, the young man standing behind Gu Yuan raised an eyebrow.
“Gu Yuan, is the Yu Shi you’re talking about the one who chased Jiang Mi for a whole year when he was in graduate school? They’re still in contact?”
Liang Jinyi’s brows shot up.
He stared at the unfamiliar young man, his tone turning cold.
“What did you say?”
—
Jiang Mi and Brother Wang had a very pleasant conversation.
Brother Wang had originally wanted to talk with him for a while longer, but he had come on this trip with his wife and children. At eleven, his four-year-old daughter began repeatedly calling him and asking when he would be coming back.
Brother Wang was utterly helpless against the little girl’s soft, childish voice and persistent questioning. In the end, he could only smile and tell Jiang Mi that he would visit their firm on a weekday so they could discuss things in detail.
Then he left early.
After Brother Wang departed, only Jiang Mi and Yu Shi remained in the secluded corner.
Yu Shi had just introduced a client to him, and Jiang Mi was genuinely grateful.
After thinking for a moment, he asked, “I heard you were seeing someone last year. How did that go?”
Yu Shi was handsome, but unlike Jiang Mi’s refined good looks, Yu Shi’s features had the deep, sculpted quality of someone of mixed heritage.
That was probably because his mother was from Xinjiang.
Yu Shi took a sip of the tequila he hadn’t finished earlier and sighed.
“We broke up. Right after the New Year.”
Then he asked Jiang Mi, “What about you? Don’t tell me you’re still single.”
Jiang Mi leaned lazily back against the seat, looking helpless.
“I’ve been busy. Didn’t I just open a law firm?”
Yu Shi and Jiang Mi had gone to U University in the same year.
They studied different majors, so they had first gotten to know each other through student gatherings.
Their undergraduate universities had been right next to each other. They were both from Bei City and shared several hobbies, so they naturally became two of the closest people among that group of international students.
As they spent more time together, Yu Shi unsurprisingly fell for Jiang Mi.
Yu Shi was gay. Although Jiang Mi had said he wasn’t, Yu Shi had grown up as one of those exceptionally favored and successful people. He had even pursued straight men who said they weren’t gay before—and had successfully won one over.
So naturally, he decided to pursue Jiang Mi.
But after more than a year, Jiang Mi’s heart remained as hard as iron. Yu Shi failed to move him in the slightest.
And the friendship they had once shared eventually vanished because of Yu Shi’s impulsive pursuit.
Although Yu Shi was proud and confident, he was no obsessive. After pursuing Jiang Mi for a year and receiving nothing but the same indifference from him, Yu Shi had no choice but to give up.
Before returning to China, he asked Jiang Mi out for a meal and asked whether they could still be friends in the future. Jiang Mi replied that they could.
Still, their relationship never returned to what it had once been. They merely exchanged greetings during the New Year.
Three or four years had passed, and Yu Shi believed he had completely gotten over Jiang Mi. But now, seeing Jiang Mi’s delicate, refined features beneath the warm orange-white light, Yu Shi’s Adam’s apple bobbed twice. He stared at Jiang Mi and said hoarsely, “Jiang…”
He had barely gotten out a single syllable when a cry of “Brother” cut him off.
Yu Shi turned his head and looked at the young man who seemed to be walking in his direction.
At the sound of that voice, Jiang Mi also whipped his head around and looked toward its source.
Two seconds later, Liang Jinyi strode up to their table. Jiang Mi exclaimed in surprise, “Jinyi, what are you doing here?”
Liang Jinyi tilted his head and swept a condescending glance over Yu Shi before answering Jiang Mi without a trace of emotion in his eyes. “I couldn’t sleep, so I came to find you.”
With that, Liang Jinyi’s gaze moved between Jiang Mi and Yu Shi before settling on Jiang Mi. “Brother, didn’t you say your former classmate was going to introduce you to a client?”
He smiled, but his expression was somewhat cold.
“Why is it just the two of you?”
Jiang Mi said, “I just finished discussing business with President Wang. He left ahead of us.”
After Jiang Mi finished speaking, Liang Jinyi noticed the extra empty wineglass beside Yu Shi. His expression softened slightly as he sat down beside Jiang Mi and said with a smile, “So that’s how it is.”
Yu Shi looked puzzled. “Jiang Mi, this is…?”
Jiang Mi introduced them. “This is my younger brother, Jinyi.”
Then he said to Jinyi, “Jinyi, this is one of my graduate school classmates. Just call him Brother Yu.”
Liang Jinyi did not call him Brother Yu. Instead, upon hearing the familiar name Jinyi, Yu Shi thought for a moment before suddenly realizing who he was.
“Jiang Mi, is this the younger brother you had to video call at least twice a week when you were studying abroad?”
Liang Jinyi raised an eyebrow and studied Yu Shi as he asked, “You even know about that?”
Yu Shi thought back for a moment. “There were a few weekends when we wanted to go out, remember? Your brother always said he had to video call you and turned us down.”
“Come to think of it, I even saw your photos on your brother’s phone. But you were still a kid back then, so I didn’t recognize you just now.”
After saying this with a smile, Yu Shi held out his hand to Liang Jinyi. “Come on, Jinyi. Nice to meet you.”
Liang Jinyi stared at his outstretched hand for several seconds before lazily extending his own and lightly touching it.
The contact was brief, over almost as soon as it began, carrying an undisguised trace of coldness. Yu Shi froze. Before he could wonder why Liang Jinyi was being so cold toward him, his phone rang.
It was his younger brother calling to urge him to hurry home.
Now that Jiang Mi’s younger brother had arrived, there was no way Yu Shi could continue reminiscing with Jiang Mi. After putting away his phone, he said, “Well then, Jiang Mi, I’ll head back first. Let’s get together another day.”
“Sure. We’ll meet up another day,” Jiang Mi said as he stood.
Yu Shi smiled and nodded at him before getting up and leaving.
But as soon as Yu Shi was gone, Liang Jinyi’s voice rang out. He looked up at Jiang Mi and slowly enunciated each word. “Brother, meet up another day? You’re still going to see him again?”
Jiang Mi sat down beside Liang Jinyi. “He’s an old classmate, isn’t he? Besides, he introduced a client to me. I should at least thank him…”
Before he could finish, Liang Jinyi suddenly leaned toward him. Jiang Mi felt something wet against his neck and frowned. “Jinyi, what are you doing?”
But the moment the words left his mouth, he felt a sharp pain in his neck, as though something had sunk into his flesh.
At that very moment, Yu Shi had reached the other side of the bar’s glass wall. He instinctively glanced back inside.
From where he stood, he had a direct view of Jiang Mi’s table.
In an instant, he saw exactly what Liang Jinyi was doing.
He froze.
Liang Jinyi seemed to sense that someone was watching. He lifted his eyelids slightly, and when he saw that it was Yu Shi, he loosened his hold on Jiang Mi a little. Resting his head against Jiang Mi’s shoulder, he wrapped his left arm around Jiang Mi’s waist and, while blatantly staking his claim, flashed Yu Shi a provocative smile.
Yu Shi was left even more dumbfounded.
Jiang Mi realized that Liang Jinyi had finally let go of his neck. He shoved at him hard and finally managed to push him back a little.
Reaching up to touch his neck, Jiang Mi looked at his fingertips and, sure enough, saw a faint smear of red.
No matter how indulgent Jiang Mi usually was toward Liang Jinyi, even he was a little angry now. “Liang Jinyi, what are you doing?”
Liang Jinyi withdrew his gaze from the person outside the glass wall and looked back at Jiang Mi. When Jiang Mi questioned him, his voice was full of displeasure.
“Brother, I’m angry.”
Angry?
Jiang Mi was so annoyed he laughed. “What are you angry about?”
Liang Jinyi said, “Why didn’t you tell me Yu Shi pursued you? And for an entire year, too.”
Jiang Mi fell silent for a second, then said in amusement, “Jinyi, haven’t you always known that Brother is very popular? So isn’t it perfectly normal for someone to pursue me?”
Liang Jinyi replied, “You’ve also known for a long time that I get jealous easily, haven’t you, Brother?”
Jiang Mi: “…”
Jiang Mi had nothing to say, because Liang Jinyi was telling the truth.
Liang Jinyi had been possessive ever since he was little, so he got jealous very easily. But when Jiang Mi thought about it carefully, he felt that this bad habit could not be blamed entirely on Liang Jinyi. As a child, Liang Jinyi had been obedient and sweet, and Jiang Mi himself had indulged quite a few of his bad habits.
As he was thinking, Jiang Mi felt someone gently touch the side of his neck. Liang Jinyi frowned, his face full of heartache. “Brother, does it hurt?”
Jiang Mi snapped irritably, “How about I bite you and let you find out?”
Liang Jinyi lowered his head and bared his neck. “Go ahead and bite me, Brother.”
Among men, Jiang Mi’s skin was considered fair, yet Liang Jinyi was even paler than him. Under the orange-red light, his skin seemed to glow with a soft sheen.
Jiang Mi reached out and lightly smacked the back of his neck. “How did you know Yu Shi used to pursue me?”
Seeing that Jiang Mi could not bear to bite him—and that even his smack had been so gentle—Liang Jinyi felt satisfied, yet also a little disappointed.
He raised his head and answered, “Brother Gu brought someone over to look for you just now. I said you’d gone to see Yu Shi, and that person immediately asked whether I meant the Yu Shi who used to pursue you. That’s how I found out.”
Jiang Mi looked a little puzzled. “Did Gu Yuan say what that person’s name was?”
Liang Jinyi said, “He called him Zou Cheng. Apparently, he’s Gu Yuan’s junior and your senior. You two used to work at the same company.”
At that, Liang Jinyi sighed. “Brother, why do all you U University alumni like coming to this hot spring resort so much?”
From Liang Jinyi’s description, Jiang Mi more or less figured out who he was talking about. He could not help feeling a little amazed himself. What were the odds of running into two old acquaintances in one day?
“All right, let’s go. It’s almost midnight,” Jiang Mi said.
The two of them stood up. Jiang Mi went to the bar to pay, only to learn that the gentleman who had just left had already settled the bill. He put on his coat and headed toward the bar’s entrance.
The moment he reached the door, Jiang Mi paused.
Looking at Yu Shi, who was standing three steps away, he asked, “Yu Shi, why haven’t you left yet?”
There was a bright streetlamp outside the entrance of SKI. Jiang Mi stood beneath it, the light naturally illuminating his features—and the two fresh bite marks on the fair, slender side of his neck.
Yu Shi could not help glancing sideways at Liang Jinyi.
Meeting Yu Shi’s gaze, Liang Jinyi slipped an arm around Jiang Mi’s shoulders, pulling him firmly into his own space as he smiled and asked the same question Jiang Mi had.
“That’s right, Brother Yu. Why haven’t you left yet?”
Yu Shi casually made up an excuse. “I just took a phone call.”
Then, forcing a complicated smile, he said, “I’ll be going now.”
Jiang Mi smiled and acknowledged him.
—
Twenty minutes later, Jiang Mi and Liang Jinyi returned to the hotel.
Jiang Mi had just called Gu Yuan. Gu Yuan said it was already late and that Zou Cheng had also left his room, so they could all get together tomorrow instead. Since that was the case, Jiang Mi returned to the room with Liang Jinyi.
It was getting late, so Jiang Mi went to the bathroom to wash up first. While doing so, he caught sight of the bite marks on the side of his neck and could not help calling out to Liang Jinyi.
“Jinyi, how am I supposed to go out looking like this tomorrow? If Brother Gu sees the marks on my neck, he might misunderstand and think I went out fooling around tonight.”
Given the location and the bite marks themselves, they really were easy to misunderstand.
Liang Jinyi stood behind Jiang Mi and stared at the marks on his neck for a moment. His eyes curved with pleasure as he said, “Then just tell him you weren’t fooling around. I bit you.”
Jiang Mi touched his neck. Liang Jinyi had not bitten him too deeply. Although the teeth marks were still obvious, they no longer hurt.
“If Brother Gu asks why you bit me, what am I supposed to say?”
Liang Jinyi answered, “Just tell him the truth, Brother. Say that I saw you on a date with someone who used to pursue you, and you even agreed to meet him again. I got jealous, so I bit you and left a mark that belongs to me.”
Jiang Mi froze slightly.
Those words sounded a little… a little ambiguous.
He turned and stared at Liang Jinyi. Liang Jinyi raised his voice slightly and called, “Brother.”
Jiang Mi patted his own head, feeling that those two glasses of alcohol really had left him a little muddled.
If Liang Jinyi’s words had been said between two adults, there might indeed have been something subtly suggestive about them. But his younger brother had always been extremely possessive, and he had said it all with such complete confidence. Clearly, it was nothing more than a child’s intense possessiveness.
“All right, get out. I’m going to take a shower.” Jiang Mi was starting to feel sleepy.
“Okay. I’ll wait outside for you, Brother.”
By the time Jiang Mi and Liang Jinyi had each finished washing up and gotten into bed, it was almost one in the morning. After sleeping with Liang Jinyi for a week, Jiang Mi had already grown accustomed to his overly clingy sleeping posture, so he quickly fell into a deep sleep.
Seeing that Jiang Mi was asleep, Liang Jinyi tightened his arms around him and went back to sleep as well.
Early the next morning, the two of them got up, washed, and headed to the restaurant beside the hotel for breakfast.
Just as they reached the hotel lobby, Liang Jinyi suddenly realized that he had forgotten his phone. Jiang Mi waited for him in the lobby while Liang Jinyi went back upstairs to get it.
As Jiang Mi was waiting, he suddenly spotted a familiar figure.
“Yu Shi.”
Yu Shi saw Jiang Mi as well. He stopped and called his name, then his gaze fell on the side of Jiang Mi’s neck. After hesitating for a long moment, he finally could not help asking, “That Band-Aid on your neck…”
Jiang Mi raised a hand and touched the side of his neck.
When he woke up that morning, the bite marks were still clearly visible. After thinking it over, he decided he could not exactly go out with obvious bite marks on his neck. He could explain to Gu Yuan that his younger brother had bitten him, but he could not possibly explain it to every employee at the company. So Jiang Mi had simply covered the marks with a Band-Aid.
Now that Yu Shi had asked, Jiang Mi gave the excuse he had already prepared.
“Oh, I accidentally bumped into something last night.”
Yu Shi was silent for a moment before saying directly, “I saw it last night.”
Before Jiang Mi could ask what he meant, Yu Shi said with a complicated look in his eyes, “Jinyi bit you.”
Jiang Mi froze. Just as he was about to explain on Jinyi’s behalf, Yu Shi took a deep breath.
“Jiang Mi, I thought about it all night. There are a few things I feel I have to say.”
Jiang Mi asked, “What?”
Yu Shi took a moment to organize his thoughts.
“Don’t you think Jinyi’s feelings for you are different from the way an ordinary younger brother feels about his older brother?”
Yu Shi continued, “I have younger brothers too. More than one, in fact, and I’m very close to all of them. But none of them would ever bite me on the neck. You know as well as I do that it’s a… very possessive, marking kind of gesture.”
“Your brother knows I like you, doesn’t he? The way he looked at me was full of warning. And right in front of both of us, he made absolutely no attempt to hide the fact that he considers you his.”
Yu Shi frowned and voiced a suspicion he did not want to believe, yet could not deny.
“I think he probably… likes you. A different kind of liking. The kind that’s completely possessive and excludes everyone else.”
Jiang Mi froze for a moment. Once he realized what kind of “liking” Yu Shi meant, he first found it amusing, then helplessly explained on Jinyi’s behalf.
“Yu Shi, you don’t understand. Jinyi has always been different from ordinary kids. He’s been extremely possessive since he was little, and he often does things other children wouldn’t.”
Yu Shi shook his head, refusing to accept Jiang Mi’s explanation. He stared at him and said firmly, “Jiang Mi, I have feelings for you, so I’m pretty sensitive about this sort of thing. I could clearly sense it from your brother…”
“The scent of a love rival.”
