Chapter 44
Jiang Mi’s mind, however, exploded.
He stared at Liang Jinyi in astonishment. Liang Jinyi was also looking down at him, his expression calm—so calm that Jiang Mi could not detect even the slightest hint that he was joking.
“What nonsense are you talking about?” Jiang Mi hurriedly averted his gaze, his throat suddenly dry. “Don’t you still have one more dish to cook? I’m going to wash my hands.”
With that, Jiang Mi strode toward his bedroom. But if one looked closely, they would notice that his retreating figure was far less composed than usual, carrying a trace of panic.
Liang Jinyi curved his lips and turned back toward the kitchen to finish cooking.
He had prepared all the ingredients beforehand and only needed to toss them into the wok. Stir-fried mushrooms were a quick dish.
Three minutes later, Liang Jinyi brought the three dishes and one soup to the dining table. Seeing that Jiang Mi still had not come out of his room, he strode to the bedroom door, bent his fingers slightly, and knocked.
“Brother, dinner’s ready.”
Jiang Mi sat in his chair in silence for a moment before answering from inside, “Okay.”
Normally, whenever Jiang Mi and Liang Jinyi ate together, they would chat. Jiang Mi would ask about Liang Jinyi’s studies, or they would talk about things they were both interested in. Even when they did not speak, the atmosphere was still warm and natural.
Tonight’s dinner was clearly a little unusual.
And yet, the only one acting unusual seemed to be Jiang Mi.
Liang Jinyi even asked with great interest what Jiang Mi wanted for lunch the next day.
“Anything is fine,” Jiang Mi said.
Liang Jinyi lifted his eyes and looked at him for a moment before smiling. “Then I’ll go to the vegetable market tomorrow morning and see what ingredients are freshest.”
Jiang Mi gave another seemingly casual hum of acknowledgment.
After dinner, Jiang Mi washed the dishes as usual.
His home had a dishwasher, and whenever Liang Jinyi used the kitchen, he always left the counters neat and spotless. He even cleaned the wok, spatula, cutting board, and knives and returned them to their proper places. So even when Jiang Mi did not use the dishwasher, cleaning up was still easy.
Sometimes Liang Jinyi would not help him with the dishes. He would simply stand in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room and watch Jiang Mi work.
In the past, Jiang Mi had always been perfectly at ease under Liang Jinyi’s gaze and would even chat with him from time to time.
Tonight, however, that was clearly impossible.
A few minutes later, the kitchen was clean. Jiang Mi washed his hands with soap and returned to his room without looking anywhere else.
After staying in his room for quite a while, Jiang Mi remembered that he still had unfinished work. He sighed, got up, and went to the study.
He entered, closed the door behind him, pulled out the office chair, sat down, and opened his computer.
Then came a soft click from the doorway.
Someone turned the handle and opened the door.
Jiang Mi immediately straightened and turned around.
Liang Jinyi stood in the doorway. Seeing Jiang Mi look at him, he lifted the chemistry textbook in his hand.
“Brother, I came to study.”
Jiang Mi lowered his lashes and said, “Okay.”
Liang Jinyi did not have a fixed place where he studied. Sometimes he studied in his bedroom. Other times, when Jiang Mi was not working overtime and sat in the living room watching television or the news, Liang Jinyi would do his homework at the coffee table.
And whenever Jiang Mi worked late in the study, Liang Jinyi usually studied there as well.
There was one more person living in the apartment than Jiang Mi had originally expected. So back in October of the previous year, he had added another desk to the study.
It stood two meters away from his own desk and had been prepared specifically for Liang Jinyi.
Holding his chemistry textbook, Liang Jinyi went straight to his familiar desk, sat down, opened the book, and lowered his head to read.
Jiang Mi sat up straight, picked up the glasses beside his hand, put them on, opened the document on his computer, and continued working on what he had not finished earlier.
He did not know how much time had passed.
When only the final portion of the document remained, Jiang Mi finally relaxed slightly. He pushed his chair a little farther from the computer to rest his eyes.
And at that moment, he finally noticed a pair of eyes staring fixedly at him.
His movement of leaning back against the office chair abruptly stopped.
After a moment of silence, Jiang Mi raised his eyes and looked diagonally across the room.
Liang Jinyi was not reading.
He was leaning forward against the desk, a smile on his handsome face, his gaze openly fixed on Jiang Mi.
When Jiang Mi looked over, Liang Jinyi’s lips curved again.
“Brother, I like you.”
Jiang Mi gave a seemingly relaxed laugh. “You’ve already said that many times. There’s no need to keep repeating it.”
Liang Jinyi’s lips curved even higher, making the dimple in his cheek more pronounced. Supporting his head with one hand against the solid walnut desk, he said, “Brother, the ‘like’ I meant before and the ‘like’ I mean now are completely different kinds of liking.”
Jiang Mi’s fingers curled slightly.
He forced his gaze back onto the computer screen and pretended to concentrate on his work.
Seeing this, Liang Jinyi chuckled softly. He picked up his chemistry book and stood.
“Brother, I’m going back to my room to sleep.”
As he passed Jiang Mi’s desk, he stopped and said with concern, “Brother, you should go to bed early too.”
Jiang Mi did not look at him. Keeping his eyes on the computer screen, he gave a vague response.
Liang Jinyi’s gaze lingered on him for several seconds before he reluctantly left the study.
The moment Jiang Mi heard the soft click of the study door closing, the tension suddenly drained from his right hand gripping the mouse.
His entire body slumped into the office chair as he stared blankly at the white ceiling.
A few minutes later, he abruptly snapped back to his senses.
He quickly picked up his phone, opened an app, and entered a few keywords.
Half an hour later, looking at the dozen or so books waiting to be shipped, Jiang Mi finally felt his tightly wound body relax slightly.
Jiang Mi normally had a habit of exercising after getting up in the morning.
The next day, however, he did not wake up early to exercise. He stayed in his room until it was time for work, then left for the office.
The items he had bought the night before were eligible for next-day delivery.
A little after ten in the morning, the receptionist knocked on his door and told him that a package had arrived.
Jiang Mi got up and carried the cardboard box of books into his office.
He tore the tape open roughly.
His long fingers rummaged through the box for a while. Among more than a dozen books—Adolescent Personality Development, For Fathers: What Your Adolescent Child Should Know, Adolescent Psychology, A Handbook for Solving Key Adolescent Issues, and others—Jiang Mi scanned the titles several times before pulling out Adolescent Psychology.
He opened it and began reading carefully.
Jiang Mi had a business dinner that evening, so near the end of the workday, he did not go home.
Instead, he left the office with Gu Yuan and headed to the hotel.
Three hours later, Jiang Mi and the group of clients walked out of the hotel. Only after seeing all of them off did Jiang Mi and Gu Yuan slowly make their way toward where their cars were parked.
Beneath the dim streetlights, Gu Yuan turned to glance at Jiang Mi. “Lawyer Jiang, you seemed a little distracted tonight. Usually, you’re full of witty remarks.”
Jiang Mi had only drunk a few glasses during dinner. He raised a hand and rubbed his temples. “I have a bit of a headache.”
Concern entered Gu Yuan’s eyes. “Nothing serious, right?”
Jiang Mi smiled. “Nothing serious. I should be fine after a night’s sleep.”
As they spoke, their designated drivers arrived. Jiang Mi waved at Gu Yuan. “I’m off.”
Half an hour later, the designated driver pulled into the underground parking garage of Jiang Mi’s residential complex.
After saying goodbye to the driver, Jiang Mi remained sitting quietly in the passenger seat.
A while later, he slowly straightened, opened the compartment beneath the center console, and took out a book he had stuffed inside before leaving the office that day.
Jiang Mi switched on the overhead light and lowered his head to read.
He did not know how much time had passed before the sudden vibration of his phone sounded from the center console.
Irritated, Jiang Mi picked it up. When he saw the caller ID, he took a deep breath before answering.
Liang Jinyi’s slightly husky voice came through the speaker.
“Brother, is your business dinner still not over? It’s almost midnight.”
Hearing this, Jiang Mi glanced at his watch and realized that the hour hand really was almost pointing to twelve.
“I’m already back. I’m in the garage. I’ll be upstairs in a minute.”
Liang Jinyi hummed in acknowledgment, then asked, “Brother, did you drink again tonight?”
Jiang Mi found a black plastic bag in the compartment and stuffed the unfinished copy of Adolescent Psychology inside.
“Yeah, a little.”
Liang Jinyi said, “Then I’ll make Brother some honey water. Brother, come upstairs quickly.”
Jiang Mi closed his eyes for a moment. “Okay.”
After hanging up, he took a deep breath before finally opening the car door and heading upstairs from the silent parking garage.
A minute later, Jiang Mi arrived home.
He changed into slippers in the entryway, tightened his grip on the plastic bag in his hand, and slowly walked toward the living room.
The moment he reached it, Liang Jinyi came over carrying a glass of warm honey water.
He looked curiously at the bag in Jiang Mi’s hand. “Brother, what are you carrying?”
“A professional book. I haven’t looked at it in a long time, and I’m getting rusty on some of the legal provisions.”
Jiang Mi answered with apparent calmness, then took the honey water Liang Jinyi handed him.
He had drunk alcohol that evening and then spent two hours in the cold underground parking garage. Whatever his mood might have been, the warm, sweet honey water did make his body feel a little more comfortable.
At that moment, Liang Jinyi stared at him and suddenly said, “Brother, I want some honey water too.”
Jiang Mi said, “Then make yourself a glass.”
There was no need to tell him that.
Liang Jinyi chuckled softly.
“No need. Even if I made another glass, it still wouldn’t be the taste I want.”
After saying that, he looked at Jiang Mi, who was standing right in front of him, his gaze falling on Jiang Mi’s lips, now moistened by the honey water.
Liang Jinyi made no attempt to hide his gaze or restrain himself.
In the house where only the two of them were present, Jiang Mi could even hear the forceful movement of his younger brother’s Adam’s apple as he swallowed.
With a loud clack, Jiang Mi set the glass down on the cabinet and hurriedly said, “I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”
Liang Jinyi’s eyes curved, and there was even a trace of sweetness in his voice.
“Good night, Brother.”
Author’s Note
Since I’m writing an older-bottom/younger-top pairing, how could I not include a straightforward younger lead?!
