Chapter 7
“Don’t you like Brother kissing you?” Jiang Mi asked softly.
But the moment his voice fell, the child’s fervent kisses landed on the side of his face.
Mwah, mwah, mwah.
It was as if Liang Jinyi wanted to cover Jiang Mi’s entire face in marks that belonged to him.
“All right, Liang Puppy.” Jiang Mi laughed and held Liang Jinyi a little farther away.
Just then, rustling sounds came from downstairs. Jiang Mi raised a hand and wiped away the damp traces Liang Jinyi had left on his face, then instructed him, “Brother’s parents seem to be back. Brother will go take a look. Be good.”
Jiang Mi walked out. He had just been about to go downstairs when, sure enough, he saw his mother coming up.
Liu Qin was holding a paper bag in her hand. Seeing that Jiang Mi had changed into pajamas, she lifted the bag and said, “On the way home just now, we passed by a clothing store. Isn’t Jinyi sleeping over at our house tonight? I bought him a set of pajamas.”
Jiang Mi said, “Uncle Lin already sent over his toiletries and pajamas.”
Liu Qin immediately felt regretful.
Jiang Mi reached out. “Mom, what kind of pajamas did you buy?”
Liu Qin handed the bag to Jiang Mi. Jiang Mi took it and opened it, only to find an especially adorable dinosaur onesie inside. There was even a little green tail on the back of the pajamas, and the hood of the dinosaur pajamas had two pointed green ears.
Liu Qin was very excited. “When I drove past the display window, I saw this outfit and thought it would suit Jinyi perfectly. He’s so good-looking. He’ll definitely look very well-behaved in it.”
Jiang Mi felt exactly the same.
So he took the little dinosaur onesie back to his room.
When Liang Jinyi saw Jiang Mi return, he knelt on Jiang Mi’s bed, his eyes becoming excited.
Jiang Mi held up the dinosaur pajamas and said, “Jinyi, shall we change into another outfit?”
Liang Jinyi didn’t care what clothes he wore. Seeing Brother suggest changing clothes, he immediately nodded and said, “Okay.”
Very soon, Jiang Mi took off the pajamas Liang Jinyi was wearing and changed him into the little dinosaur onesie his mother had bought.
Liang Jinyi had never worn a onesie before, especially not clothes with a tail. After his small body was wrapped up inside the fluffy pajamas, he looked a little dazed all over and stared blankly at Jiang Mi.
Jiang Mi smiled and pulled the hood of the pajamas over his head.
And Ms. Liu Qin, watching this scene—watching the beautiful child in fluffy plush pajamas dazing in the arms of a handsome, refined teenager—couldn’t hold back. She took the first photo of Jiang Mi and Liang Jinyi’s lives together.
With Jiang Mi keeping him company, Liang Jinyi spent an evening and morning at the Jiang house so happily he forgot all about going home.
At ten o’clock in the morning, the Liang family car came to pick Liang Jinyi up and stopped at the entrance of Jiang Mi’s residential complex.
Jiang Mi carried Liang Jinyi over. But when he tried to put Liang Jinyi into the car, Liang Jinyi tightened both arms around his neck and refused to let go.
“Jinyi, what did you promise Brother last night?” Jiang Mi’s voice deepened slightly.
Liang Jinyi’s body trembled. Unwillingly, he let go of Jiang Mi, his beautiful ragdoll-cat-like eyes full of reluctance as he looked at him.
Liang Xuping stood beside the car door and told Uncle Lin to hurry up and drive, to take Liang Jinyi home. Then he turned to ask Jiang Mi, “Are we going to buy Zhang Rui’s gift now?”
Liang Xuping wasn’t going home with Uncle Lin. Today was their friend Zhang Rui’s birthday. They had a good relationship with Zhang Rui, and Zhang Rui had invited them last week to have lunch together this Sunday. Before lunch, the two of them had planned to buy a birthday gift first.
“Mm. We’ll buy it now, then head to the barbecue place. The timing should be just right.” Jiang Mi had already prepared to go out directly.
“Okay,” Liang Xuping said.
Uncle Lin had just fastened Liang Jinyi’s seat belt and was about to close the car door when Liang Jinyi suddenly poked his head out from beside him.
“Brother, you’re not going… to school?”
Jiang Mi explained, “Brother is going to eat with some friends now.”
Liang Jinyi struggled against the seat belt and reached out to Jiang Mi again. “Brother, take me… with you.”
What an invincible clingy spirit, Jiang Mi thought inwardly.
“Didn’t you promise Brother yesterday that you’d obediently go home this morning?”
“But Brother… still isn’t… going to school.” Liang Jinyi had his own logic.
Jiang Mi was thinking about how to dispel Liang Jinyi’s desire to follow him when Liang Jinyi seemed to sense that Brother didn’t really want to bring him along.
His little head moved slightly, and he looked toward his biological older brother from the same father. For the first time in his life, he made a request of him.
“Brother, I want… to go… with you.”
Liang Xuping: “…”
Liang Xuping, being begged pitifully by his own little brother: “…………”
**
Uncle Lin changed the plan.
Liang Xuping and Jiang Mi were going to their friend’s place and hadn’t intended to have Uncle Lin drive them. The two of them had planned to take a taxi. But since Liang Jinyi insisted on following them, Uncle Lin could only drive all three of them directly to the destination.
The place they were eating at was a shopping center not far from school. Liang Xuping and Jiang Mi were both carrying their schoolbags, planning to go to an internet café for a few hours after lunch before heading directly to school.
After arriving at the shopping center, Jiang Mi and Liang Xuping first walked around and each bought Zhang Rui a birthday gift. Only then did Jiang Mi take Liang Jinyi’s hand and walk toward the self-service barbecue restaurant not far away.
Zhang Rui was the PE representative of their class. He was warm, straightforward, and had a very good social circle. Today, from their own class alone, he had invited nearly twenty classmates, as well as about ten boys from other classes.
Jiang Mi didn’t arrive particularly early. At the very least, the several tables were already occupied by more than ten familiar faces.
Lu Chenghe sat in front of Jiang Mi in class and was also fairly close to him. Seeing Jiang Mi walk over holding a little dumpling’s hand, he exclaimed, “Fuck, Liang Xuping, your little brother is this good-looking?”
Liang Xuping had just called Zhang Rui earlier, and they had all heard it, so they knew Liang Xuping would be bringing his little brother along.
Liang Jinyi’s beauty wasn’t subtle or understated. It was the kind of beauty that struck people directly. His eyelashes were so thick they looked like they had been drawn stroke by stroke with a fine brush, and his eyes were bright and black, like black grapes soaked in spring water.
Some of the girls already liked children to begin with, and the sight of Liang Jinyi made their affection overflow even more.
Lin Ke’er crouched in front of Liang Jinyi and spoke in her gentlest voice. “Little brother, will you let Jiejie hold you?”
Liang Jinyi glanced at her indifferently. Then his gaze landed on Jiang Mi, and he said softly, “Brother, hold me.”
Liang Xuping crossed his arms and said, “He only wants Jiang Mi to hold him. Give up.”
Jiang Mi carried Liang Jinyi over to sit on the sofa, then asked Lu Chenghe, “Where’s Zhang Rui?”
One of the boys answered, “He went out just now to pick up his wife.”
Liang Jinyi sat obediently beside Jiang Mi. Yesterday, he had heard Brother’s father call his mother “wife,” and today he heard those two words he didn’t understand again. His eyelids lifted, and his tone was filled with curiosity.
“Brother, what… is a wife?”
Lu Chenghe also quite liked children. He happened to be sitting on the other side of the corner from Liang Jinyi, and hearing this, he explained on Jiang Mi’s behalf, “A wife is someone who eats with you, sleeps with you, and stays with you all the time.”
Then he teased Liang Jinyi, “What about you, little brother? Do you want to find a wife too?”
Liang Xuping had brought a camera today. He quite liked taking photos, and since it was Zhang Rui’s birthday, he planned to take a few pictures, develop them, and give them to him as a keepsake. Two girls saw that he had a camera and asked him to take some pretty photos for them.
Hearing Lu Chenghe’s words, he turned around, picked up a peanut from the nearest table, and threw it at Lu Chenghe.
“Fuck, Lu Chenghe, my brother only just turned six. What are you teaching him?”
However, the moment Liang Xuping finished speaking, Liang Jinyi’s clear voice rang out, carrying a few traces of impatience.
“Want. Want to find… a wife.”
He turned his little head, stared at Jiang Mi with sparkling eyes, and said, “Brother, be my… wife.”
Jiang Mi’s hand, which had been reaching for a cup of water, froze. He glared at Lu Chenghe in annoyance, then patiently said to Liang Jinyi, “Brother is a boy. I can’t be your wife.”
Liang Jinyi’s big eyes filled with confusion. “Why… can’t boys?”
Lu Chenghe had started this topic, so Jiang Mi handed the cleanup to him.
“Lu Chenghe, you explain.”
Lu Chenghe thought for a moment about how to say it. “Because the law says boys can only marry girls, so boys can’t be boys’ wives.”
Liang Jinyi asked, “What… is law?”
Lu Chenghe racked his brains. “It’s the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China…”
Realizing that his wording was getting more and more obscure, and that a five- or six-year-old child would never understand it, Lu Chenghe simply tossed the problem back to Jiang Mi.
“Top Student, just be his wife for a while. Anyway, he’ll forget about it in a bit.”
Hearing this person say that he would forget Brother was his wife, Liang Jinyi immediately frowned and emphasized, “Won’t forget.”
Then he stared at Jiang Mi and said, “Brother, my wife. Forever.”
Jiang Mi: “…”
Amused, Jiang Mi pinched Liang Jinyi’s round little face.
“Brother can’t be your wife because you’re too young. Six-year-old children can’t have wives.”
“Then how old… can have… a wife?” Liang Jinyi asked eagerly.
“Eighteen, I guess,” Jiang Mi said.
Liang Jinyi hurriedly said, “Then when… I’m eighteen… Brother, be my wife.”
Jiang Mi didn’t think the eighteen-year-old Liang Jinyi would ever remember a joke he had said when he was six, so he casually agreed.
“Sure.”
Author’s Note
Happy Qixi Festival. Mwah, mwah, mwah.
