Chapter 42
“And besides, you two aren’t even biological brothers,” Yu Shi added.
Yu Shi spoke with such absolute conviction that Jiang Mi almost found himself wavering under his gaze.
He gave a helpless smile. “Yu Shi, you really have misunderstood. If you knew how Jinyi and I got along when he was little, you wouldn’t think that way.”
When Liang Jinyi was young, he had once kicked Liu Peipei to the ground simply because she had said, He’s my brother. Yesterday, in front of Yu Shi, he might indeed have been staking his claim a little, but Jinyi had always been an extremely possessive child.
Yu Shi tried to persuade him a few more times. Seeing that Jiang Mi remained stubbornly unconvinced, he said in a complicated tone, “Jiang Mi, one day, you’ll realize I was telling the truth.”
“All right, I’m going upstairs. See you another time,” Yu Shi said.
Jiang Mi smiled and nodded at him.
Only a few seconds after Yu Shi left, a tall, slender young man appeared beside Jiang Mi. Liang Jinyi watched Yu Shi’s retreating figure and raised an eyebrow.
“Brother, what were you talking to him about again?”
Jiang Mi did not think there was any need to tell Liang Jinyi what Yu Shi had said.
“We just happened to run into each other and exchanged a few words.”
“Come on. Let’s go eat at the restaurant,” Jiang Mi said.
Liang Jinyi had already confirmed that Jiang Mi had no interest whatsoever in Yu Shi. Yu Shi was no match for him at all, so Liang Jinyi no longer paid him much attention. Hearing this, he did not press the matter and obediently agreed.
At the restaurant, Jiang Mi and Liang Jinyi met up with Gu Yuan and Zou Cheng. Zou Cheng was Jiang Mi’s senior from the same program and Gu Yuan’s junior. The three of them had all worked at the same law firm in the past.
Zou Cheng had returned to China for a vacation. The group ate breakfast together and caught up on what had happened in each other’s lives over the past year or so. Afterward, Zou Cheng took his leave to spend time with his parents.
Jiang Mi then took Liang Jinyi to soak in the hot springs again.
After lunch, they walked around some nearby scenic spots, and then it was time to head back to Jing City.
By the time they arrived home, it was almost seven in the evening.
And in the blink of an eye, it was already bedtime.
After washing up, Jiang Mi walked out of the bathroom and saw Liang Jinyi, dressed in pajamas, striding into his bedroom and heading toward his bed with practiced familiarity.
“Jinyi,” Jiang Mi called.
Liang Jinyi turned around.
Jiang Mi said, “Jinyi, you can sleep by yourself tonight, right?”
Jiang Mi did not actually believe what Yu Shi had said, but he did feel that he could not keep indulging Liang Jinyi endlessly like this.
The two of them had spent several years living apart. When Jinyi first returned to China, during September and October, he had not been overly dependent on Jiang Mi. But perhaps because they had been spending more and more time together, Liang Jinyi’s clinginess had gradually started reverting to its old ways.
While showering just now, Jiang Mi had thought about it carefully and decided that this was not a good thing.
At Jiang Mi’s words, Liang Jinyi’s brow twitched. He sat down at the head of Jiang Mi’s bed, his tone full of displeasure.
“Why do I have to sleep by myself again? Brother, haven’t you already gotten used to sleeping with me? Don’t think I haven’t noticed. This past week, the time it takes you to fall asleep has been getting shorter and shorter.”
Jiang Mi walked over to him.
He really wanted to ruffle Liang Jinyi’s hair. His younger brother had probably just washed it too, then carelessly blow-dried it. His black hair fell messily over his brows and eyes, adding a touch of lazy unruliness to his beautiful features.
But thinking of what he was about to say, Jiang Mi decided not to use such a childlike gesture with him.
“You’re already seventeen. It’s time you learned to be independent.”
“All right, go back to your own room and sleep,” Jiang Mi said.
Then he turned and headed toward the other side of the bed, intending to walk around Liang Jinyi and get in.
But he had only taken one step when a pair of long, strong arms reached out from behind, wrapped around his waist, and pulled him backward.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Liang Jinyi held Jiang Mi around the waist and buried his face against the small of Jiang Mi’s back.
“Brother, I want to sleep with you.”
“Brother, just let me sleep with you. I sleep better when I’m with you.”
Jiang Mi had always found it difficult to refuse Liang Jinyi when he pleaded with him, but today, he turned around, pushed the young man’s head away, and firmly refused.
“No. Sleep by yourself.”
As though he had not expected Jiang Mi to be so resolute tonight, Liang Jinyi looked up at him with a complicated, slightly aggrieved expression.
“Brother, you’re so heartless tonight.”
Jiang Mi smiled. “Good that you know.”
With that, he once again told Liang Jinyi to get up and go back to his own room to sleep.
Liang Jinyi stared at Jiang Mi for a few moments. Realizing that Jiang Mi was not going to change his mind, he settled for the next best thing.
“Then tomorrow. I’ll start sleeping by myself tomorrow.”
Hesitation appeared on Jiang Mi’s face.
Liang Jinyi said, “Brother, you wouldn’t really be this heartless to me, would you? I already promised I’ll sleep by myself starting tomorrow.”
Jiang Mi wanted to harden his heart and return the way he and Liang Jinyi interacted to how things had been when Jinyi first came back to China—when his younger brother had been somewhat clingy, but nowhere near as much as he was now.
But in the end, Jiang Mi had always been softhearted when it came to Liang Jinyi.
“All right, then.” Jiang Mi reminded him, “Remember to go back to your own room tomorrow night.”
Liang Jinyi yawned. “Got it, Brother. Can I get into bed now?”
Jiang Mi said yes.
Once Liang Jinyi had climbed into bed and settled down, Jiang Mi got in from the other side. The moment he lay down, his younger brother wrapped his arms around him again.
Thinking that this would be their last night sleeping together, Jiang Mi shifted within Liang Jinyi’s hold until he found a relatively comfortable position, then fell asleep.
Jiang Mi’s sleep quality could not be considered especially good, but it was not bad either. Under normal circumstances, he could sleep straight through until morning. Yet tonight, even in his dreams, he kept feeling as though a pair of eyes were staring fixedly at him.
Jiang Mi woke up in the middle of the night and found Liang Jinyi propped up on one arm, staring at him.
Still only half awake, Jiang Mi’s mind was hazy, so he was not startled. He merely asked in confusion, “Jinyi, what are you looking at?”
Liang Jinyi wrapped an arm around Jiang Mi’s waist and sighed. “When I think about how I don’t know when I’ll get to sleep with Brother again, I can’t bear to fall asleep.”
Jiang Mi found it amusing. “All right, enough. You’re a boy. Why are you so sentimental?”
With that, Jiang Mi closed his eyes and yawned. “Go to sleep. You still have class tomorrow.”
The moment he finished speaking, Jiang Mi drifted back to sleep.
Liang Jinyi lifted his eyelids and stared at Jiang Mi for a long while. Then, suddenly, he carefully loosened his hold, picked up the phone he had placed by the bedside, and took several photos of Jiang Mi before finally wrapping his arms around him again and falling asleep.
After the hot spring trip, Liang Jinyi returned to the life of a high school student—and a particularly busy one preparing for final exams.
They had one more week of classes, and final exams would begin the following week. Once the exams were over, winter break would start.
Liang Jinyi had exams over the next two days. That morning, before leaving home, Jiang Mi told him not to bother cooking dinner that afternoon.
Liang Jinyi refused.
“Brother, I’m happy cooking for you. Besides, I’ve reviewed pretty well. My grades aren’t going to drop just because I cook two meals.”
“All right, then.” Jiang Mi finished putting on his coat by the entrance and said, “I’m heading to work first.”
Normally, Liang Jinyi left home before he did. After all, high school classes started at eight, while Jiang Mi did not have to be at work until nine.
However, high school final exams followed the college entrance examination schedule. Today’s exam started at nine, so Liang Jinyi could leave later.
After leaving home, Jiang Mi headed straight to the company. He spent most of the day busy, and when he finally had a little free time that afternoon, his phone began buzzing.
Seeing the caller ID, Jiang Mi leaned back against his chair and answered.
“Liang Xuping, today—”
“Jiang Mi, I’m boarding in half an hour,” Liang Xuping cut him off impatiently.
“Boarding? Where are you going?” Jiang Mi asked.
“Back to Bei City.”
Jiang Mi was surprised. “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t be back for another week?”
The New Year was approaching, and Liang Xuping had planned to return to Bei City for the holiday.
“The place I originally planned to go is getting hit by heavy rain, and who knows when flights will resume. There happened to be a ticket back to Bei City today, so after thinking about it, I figured I might as well just go home,” Liang Xuping said.
“What time do you arrive? I’ll pick you up.”
In the past, there would never have been any need for Jiang Mi to pick up the eldest young master of the Liang family. But a few months ago, Liang Xuping had been kicked out of the house by his father, so there was no way he would be returning to the Liang family’s old residence today.
“Forget it. I’ll arrive right during evening rush hour. You know what traffic in Bei City is like. I’ll just take a taxi over myself.”
The airport was on the outskirts of the city, and heading out of the city during rush hour could indeed mean getting stuck without moving an inch. Jiang Mi thought it over and agreed.
“Perfect. Jinyi is cooking dinner tonight. You can finally try your younger brother’s cooking.”
“Of course. I’ve never eaten food made by my little brother before.”
The two chatted for a bit. Then a client called Jiang Mi, while Liang Xuping also needed to prepare for boarding, so they ended the call.
Jiang Mi arrived home at six-thirty that evening.
He was useless at cooking and did not particularly like it either. But Jiang Mi was not the kind of person who could sit comfortably on the sofa waiting to be fed. Whenever Liang Jinyi cooked, he would usually wander around the kitchen first to see whether there was anything he could help with.
Only after confirming that there was truly nothing he could do would Jiang Mi leave the kitchen.
Since Liang Xuping was coming over for dinner tonight, Liang Jinyi had only prepared the ingredients and had not started cooking yet. It was not until Liang Xuping said he would arrive in about twenty minutes that Liang Jinyi tied on an apron and went into the kitchen to start stir-frying the dishes.
Just as the five dishes and one soup were finished, Jiang Mi’s doorbell rang.
Jiang Mi first opened the elevator for Liang Xuping, and a minute later, Liang Xuping appeared at the front door.
The moment Jiang Mi saw him, he was startled.
“How did you get so dark?”
Liang Xuping had never been particularly fair-skinned, but he had not looked like he had just crawled out of a coal mine either.
“Didn’t I tell you? I spent more than a month on the plateau,” Liang Xuping said as he dragged his suitcase inside.
Jiang Mi closed the door.
Liang Xuping took off his coat and sweater and walked into the living room. There, he saw Liang Jinyi walking toward him.
He looked Liang Jinyi up and down and exclaimed, “Jinyi, did you get taller again?”
Jiang Mi answered with a smile, “He did. He’s already one meter eighty-nine.”
A few days ago, when they passed a pharmacy, Jiang Mi had asked his younger brother to measure his height, and he really had grown a little taller.
“Not bad, Jiang Mi. You’ve taken pretty good care of our little brother,” Liang Xuping said.
“Jinyi and I take care of each other,” Jiang Mi replied sincerely.
And they truly did. At the very least, on workdays, his younger brother was the one taking care of his dinner.
“I’ll go bring out the food,” Liang Jinyi said. “Everything’s ready.”
“I’ll help you,” Jiang Mi said.
“Me too,” Liang Xuping added.
Jiang Mi said, “Remember to wash your hands.”
“Okay.”
With all three of them pitching in, the five dishes and one soup were soon laid out on the table.
Sitting at the dining table, Liang Xuping looked at the spread of dishes that were enticing in color, aroma, and taste, then glanced at Liang Jinyi. In the end, he still could not help asking, “Jinyi, when did you start liking cooking?”
He had lived with him in the Liang family for more than ten years before, yet he had never noticed Jinyi had such a hobby.
“I started liking it after I moved in with Brother,” Liang Jinyi answered frankly.
Jiang Mi said, “Try it and see if it tastes good.”
“Sure.”
Liang Xuping lowered his head and dug in heartily.
Then he could not stop praising him. Liang Jinyi really was a good cook. There was no way anyone could tell he was a beginner who had only learned to cook a few months ago. Liang Xuping marveled at how talented he was in the kitchen and said that whoever became his girlfriend in the future would be very lucky. Then, remembering that Liang Jinyi was still a minor, he quickly reminded him that he should focus on his studies for now.
Liang Xuping was naturally talkative, and whenever Jiang Mi felt like talking, he could go on endlessly too. The dinner passed in a warm and cheerful atmosphere.
After dinner, Jiang Mi and Liang Jinyi went to the kitchen to wash the dishes. Once they were done, Jiang Mi and Liang Xuping sat in the living room and chatted.
Or rather, Liang Xuping did most of the talking. He simply had too much he wanted to share. There had been countless amusing incidents during his photography journey.
Liang Xuping spoke with great animation, turning even the smallest incident into a dramatic story full of twists and turns. Jiang Mi merely listened, yet he did not feel bored in the slightest. On the contrary, he listened with great interest.
It was only when he suddenly noticed that it was already past eleven, and saw Liang Xuping gulping down water because his throat had gone dry from talking, that Jiang Mi asked, “You’re not going back tonight, right?”
By “going back,” Jiang Mi naturally did not mean returning to the Liang family home, but Liang Xuping’s own apartment.
“You haven’t lived in that place for months either,” Jiang Mi said.
Liang Xuping laughed twice. “I was thinking the same thing.”
Although he had hired someone to clean the place once every two weeks, no one had lived there for several months, so it still needed a proper tidying up.
Now that it had been mentioned, Liang Xuping also began to feel sleepy. He asked Jiang Mi, “So where am I sleeping tonight?”
This was his first time at Jiang Mi’s apartment. He had briefly looked around earlier. Jiang Mi’s place was a large three-bedroom unit: one study, one bedroom for Jiang Mi, and one for Liang Jinyi.
Jiang Mi thought for a second. “You can sleep with me tonight.”
Jiang Mi did not mind squeezing into one bed with a close friend he had not seen in a long time.
Liang Xuping minded even less. Perhaps for the first twenty-odd years of his life, he had been the pampered eldest young master of the Liang family, but on this trip, when accommodations near scenic spots had been limited, he had even slept in communal bunk rooms.
“Sure.”
But the moment the words left his mouth, a young man’s cold voice rang out.
“No.”
Liang Jinyi had been listening to Jiang Mi and Liang Xuping chat while multitasking, wearing an earbud in his left ear and watching cooking tutorials on his phone.
He suddenly looked up and coldly rejected Jiang Mi’s suggestion.
Liang Xuping froze for a moment, then asked, “Then where am I sleeping tonight?”
“You can sleep in my room,” Liang Jinyi said.
“What about you?”
Liang Xuping did not care which one of them he slept with. They were both his brothers.
Liang Jinyi glanced at Jiang Mi and curved his lips slightly.
“I’ll sleep with Brother.”
Jiang Mi was just about to refuse. He had only just successfully gotten Liang Jinyi to sleep in a separate room and had no desire to invite him back into his bed again.
But at that moment, the smile on Liang Jinyi’s face disappeared. Expressionless, he removed his earbud and went to the bathroom to wash up.
Liang Xuping watched Liang Jinyi’s retreating figure and lowered his voice.
Frowning, he said, “Jiang Mi, he seems angry.”
The bedroom door slammed open as Liang Jinyi pushed it hard.
Watching Liang Jinyi disappear into the guest room, Jiang Mi said, “Seems like it.”
Liang Xuping thought for a moment. “It couldn’t be because of what you said just now, could it?”
“What did I say?”
“That you’d sleep with me tonight. Jinyi’s expression changed right after that. He’d been listening pretty happily when I was talking about Mount Huang.”
Jiang Mi rubbed his temple. “Surely not.”
Liang Xuping gave Jiang Mi a sympathetic look.
Liang Jinyi went into the bedroom, grabbed a set of pajamas, then entered the bathroom to wash up.
More than twenty minutes later, when Liang Jinyi came out, Liang Xuping stood up from the sofa, stretched, and said, “I’m going to wash up too. I’m sleepy.”
Jiang Mi agreed.
Then he watched as Liang Jinyi strode straight from the bathroom into Jiang Mi’s bedroom.
Jiang Mi sighed and followed him inside.
“Jinyi, I don’t think I agreed to let you sleep with me.”
Jiang Mi stood in the doorway as he spoke.
Liang Jinyi was sitting at the head of the bed. Hearing this, he raised his head, his voice filled with hostility.
“So how many men have you slept with before?”
Jiang Mi froze for a second.
Liang Jinyi stood up and said aggrievedly, “Brother, I’m sorry. My tone just now wasn’t very good.”
Since Liang Jinyi had apologized, Jiang Mi did not take his previous remark to heart. He was about to have a proper talk with him when Liang Jinyi walked up to him, lowered his lashes, and stared at him.
“But I really am angry. How could you so casually suggest sleeping in the same bed as my brother?”
Jiang Mi sighed, feeling that Liang Jinyi’s possessiveness was becoming almost impossible to handle.
He explained, “There are only two beds in the house. We’re all men. Sleeping in the same bed for one night isn’t a big deal.”
To Jiang Mi, it could hardly have been a smaller matter.
But Liang Jinyi gave a faint laugh.
“We’re all men? Brother, have you forgotten Yu Shi?”
Jiang Mi was surprised. “You can’t possibly think your biological brother likes me, can you?”
Before he even finished the sentence, Jiang Mi himself found the idea amusing.
“Of course he doesn’t like you the way Yu Shi does.”
Liang Jinyi was not so foolish that he could not tell the difference.
He stared at Jiang Mi and said, “But I just don’t like Brother sleeping in the same bed as any man other than me.”
Liang Jinyi’s eyes were dark, and his voice was equally heavy.
“Just thinking about Brother sleeping in the same bed as someone else makes me feel extremely uncomfortable.”
“Extremely uncomfortable.”
Liang Jinyi made no attempt to hide his intense, excessive possessiveness. Jiang Mi looked at the young man before him, his lashes lowered as he pressed Jiang Mi to promise that, from now on, he would never share a bed with anyone but him.
Jiang Mi’s heart suddenly skipped a beat, and for the first time, a trace of doubt arose in his mind.
In a normal relationship between brothers, would a younger brother really care this much about his older brother sharing a bed with a friend?
