Chapter 14: Lu Jianglian and Qi Yu Both Have Their Eyes on Jiang Mian

“Are you heading out to meet a friend?” Qi Yu glanced at Jiang Mian’s outfit and asked casually, as though he were simply a stranger making conversation.

Jiang Mian slowly blinked his lashes, then shook his head and answered in a sluggish voice, “I’m not going out to play. I’m going to investigate something very important.”

Qi Yu’s voice was gentle. “Going alone? That’s impressive.”

Jiang Mian remembered that he still had a mission to complete and reluctantly withdrew his hand. “I have to go.”

As he spoke, he took a handful of candies from his little backpack and held them out to Qi Yu. “These are sweet and really tasty. They’re for you.”

His expression was earnest and obedient. “Thank you for letting me pet him.”

Qi Yu accepted the candies from Jiang Mian, his fingertips accidentally brushing against Jiang Mian’s hand.

The soft, delicate sensation made Qi Yu’s fingers curl instinctively.

He suddenly asked, “Do you live around here?”

“Huh?” Jiang Mian didn’t understand and asked blankly, “Why?”

“You gave me too many candies, so let’s exchange contact information. If you want to see Xiaobai, you can come find me.”

Qi Yu’s dark eyes remained fixed on Jiang Mian, as though observing his reaction. “Besides, Xiaobai really likes you. He’ll be very happy to have you come over and play with him.”

As if agreeing with him, Xiaobai wagged his tail so hard it was practically spinning like a propeller.

The moment Jiang Mian heard that he could pet the dog again, he agreed without a second thought.

The two exchanged contact information, and Jiang Mian took one last look at Xiaobai before leaving.

Qi Yu watched his retreating figure, then lowered his head and sniffed his fingertips.

It was as though he could still smell that enticing, sweet fragrance.

‘So stupid. So innocent. He just handed me an opportunity to get close to him.’

He slipped the candies into his pocket, then bent down and picked Xiaobai up before heading home.

Time to give him some extra treats as a reward.

****

Jiang Mian arrived at the milk tea shop and handed out all the little snacks in his backpack to the staff members who usually treated him to food.

“Oh my, you’re such a good boy! You actually brought so many things! Here, was it heavy?” one of the employees asked in surprise.

Jiang Mian shook his head and answered slowly, “I’m very strong. It wasn’t heavy.”

The young woman gave him a thumbs-up. “That’s amazing!”

Another young woman couldn’t resist pinching his soft, dewy cheek and said with a beaming smile, “I’ve wanted to touch them for ages. Your skin is even softer than mine! Mianmian, how do you take care of it? And did you use baby lotion or something? Why does your face smell so nice too?”

Jiang Mian didn’t understand what she was saying, so he simply pursed his lips and smiled.

The young woman beside her exclaimed, “Wow! These snacks look like they’re imported, too. They’re pretty expensive. I wanted to buy them before, but I couldn’t bring myself to spend the money.”

At that moment, Lu Huaijin, who had been silent all this time, suddenly interrupted their laughter. “We have customers.”

Hearing that, the employees stopped fooling around and returned to their respective stations to get back to work.

Lu Huaijin casually glanced at Jiang Mian, who looked as though he’d just been thoroughly manhandled, and clicked his tongue.

Jiang Mian blinked at him in confusion, lowering the hand that had been propping up his cheek.

“What is it?” His cheeks were pink as he looked at Lu Huaijin in bewilderment, his voice soft and delicate.

Lu Huaijin reached out and asked matter-of-factly, “Where’s mine?”

Jiang Mian stuffed the remaining snacks into his hands.

Only then did Lu Huaijin leave, satisfied.

Jiang Mian hugged his little backpack and stared at Lu Huaijin, wondering how he could pry some information out of him today.

Although Lu Huaijin seemed to lie to him all the time.

****

Meanwhile, at the company, Lu Jianglian, who normally worked diligently without ever getting distracted, somehow found himself walking into the lounge.

He stood in front of the mirror and looked at his reflection from side to side, his expression even more serious than it was during meetings.

The man in the mirror wore a white shirt and trousers, with firm muscles, broad shoulders, long legs, handsome features, and remarkably taut-looking skin.

At twenty-nine, maintaining himself in this condition was already quite impressive.

So why had Jiang Mian suddenly seemed to grow tired of him, to the point of not even wanting to accompany him anymore?

‘Has the novelty worn off?’

Still, children were naturally playful, and he ought to understand that.

He was the older one, nine years older than his future wife, so he should be more tolerant.

He ought to reflect on himself and find his own shortcomings.

But what exactly could he do to keep Jiang Mian’s attention?

How could he make Jiang Mian’s gaze remain on him?

Lu Jianglian stood in front of the mirror for several minutes, but whatever he had been thinking about, he clearly hadn’t figured it out.

He picked up his phone and left the company.

It was only three-thirty in the afternoon.

On his way home, Lu Jianglian stopped at a flower shop and bought a bouquet of pink roses.

When he got home, Lu Jianglian discovered that Jiang Mian wasn’t there.

At the milk tea shop, Jiang Mian was drinking his milk tea when his phone vibrated.

He opened it and saw messages from Lu Jianglian, as well as from the owner of the dog he’d met today.

Lu Jianglian: [Baby, did you go out to play? The sun is so strong. Did you bring an umbrella? Didn’t you buy a little fan, Baby? Why didn’t you take it with you?]

Qi Yu: [Xiaobai had so much fun playing with the Frisbee. You can come and play with him next time, too. Picture.jpg]

Jiang Mian slurped up a tapioca pearl and slowly chewed it.

Lu Jianglian knew that Jiang Mian still couldn’t fully recognize all the characters, so he had sent voice messages instead.

After listening to them, Jiang Mian blinked in confusion.

‘Didn’t Lu Jianglian go to work? How does he know I’m not home?’

Jiang Mian wondered about it, then simply asked him.

After replying to Lu Jianglian, he opened his chat with Qi Yu.

He could only recognize a few of the characters in Qi Yu’s message, but that didn’t stop him from looking at the picture and replying with a voice message.

[So cute!]

The moment he sent the reply, another message from Lu Jianglian arrived.

Lu Jianglian: [I left something behind, so I came home to pick up some documents. I happened to notice Baby wasn’t here. So did Baby go out to play? Were you with a good friend? Are you tired? When are you coming back? Do you want me to come pick you up later? Little Dragon Spinning in Circles.jpg]

He had stolen that sticker from Jiang Mian.

If the system were here, it would definitely have complained about Lu Jianglian acting young despite being well past his prime.

Jiang Mian pursed his lips and replied in halting fragments: [I didn’t come out to play, and I’m not tired. I ate a lot. I’ve learned how to take a taxi now. I’ll go back by myself tonight.]

No sooner had he replied to one message than another arrived, keeping Jiang Mian so busy that he barely had time to breathe.

There weren’t many customers at the shop right now, so Lu Huaijin sat beside Jiang Mian to rest.

His hearing was exceptionally sharp.

Although he hadn’t deliberately tried to listen to the voice message Jiang Mian had played, he still heard it.

He asked casually, “Your boyfriend?”

He called him Baby, after all.

What an intimate way to address someone.

He asked about everything, as though he couldn’t wait to find out every detail about the young man’s life.

It was obvious that his possessiveness was strong.

Yet because he had such good manners, he could only pretend to be concerned about the young man.

In reality, he was probably already being eaten alive by jealousy.

‘Can Jiang Mian really handle someone like that?’

Jiang Mian hugged his phone and turned to look at Lu Huaijin, nodding repeatedly.

A man.

A good friend.

Lu Huaijin glanced at the screen of his phone and sneered. “Two boyfriends?”

He had seen Jiang Mian busily switching back and forth between the two chat windows just now.

‘He looks this innocent, but he’s quite adventurous, huh?’

Jiang Mian shook his head. “Only one.”

The other person was someone he’d only met today.

They weren’t friends yet.

Lu Huaijin’s eyes were deeply set, and when his lips pressed into a thin line, there was a hint of menace in his expression. “Only one, or only one for now?”

For some reason, he couldn’t seem to control his temper.

His tone was even colder than usual.

Jiang Mian didn’t understand and shrank his neck slightly. “What are you talking about?”

‘Why did he suddenly become so scary?’

His eyes were clear and bright, making him look like a fluffy little kitten who knew nothing of the world.

Perhaps even if he got angry, all he could do was wave his little paws and pat at someone.

It would have no intimidating effect whatsoever.

Instead, the person would probably just scoop him into their arms and bury their face in his fur, taking advantage of him with several shameless sniffs.

Lu Huaijin tore open the wrapper of the candy Jiang Mian had given him and bit into it with a crisp crunch.

He spoke as though nothing had happened. “Nothing.”

He wasn’t some lovesick fool waiting on the other side of the phone.

So why should he care?

If not for the fact that he was practically grinding his teeth to pieces, his act might actually have been convincing.

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