Beijing’s Jiang Family
The house had been in chaos that morning because of Jiang Zhaolin’s incident. The old lady was so angry that she hadn’t eaten lunch, and she only perked up upon hearing that Shen Zhixian and Taotao would be coming over in the evening.
Tang Wan had taken a short nap after lunch, planning to notify Jiang Jinsang before she went downstairs. Usually at this ti, he would be reading, so she didn’t think much of it and simply moved aside the cabinet that separated the two rooms. She wasn’t expecting Jiang Chengsi to be there too, with his back to her.
A broad, red line stretched from top to bottom, a dozen centiters long.
It lay heavily on his back, quite a shocking sight.
What was even more jarring were the crisscrossing scars over his body, and a sinister, stitched wound on the side of his lower back. The suturing was rough, causing the scar to heal poorly.
"Sorry, I...", Tang Wan hadn’t expected him to be there.
"You ca at the right ti, help get the tissues," Jiang Jinsang was applying dicine to him.
"Jiang Xiaowu, could you be a bit gentler?"
"You’re afraid of pain?"
"This isn’t flesh, you know!"
"Then why didn’t you duck at that ti?"
"How was I supposed to know he’d hit from behind? He actually played dirty. Otherwise, do you think I would have taken a hit for no reason? I’m not stupid."
What Jiang Chengsi said afterwards about enduring it because Jiang Zhaolin was his father was complete nonsense.
With his temperant, if he had known about the sneak attack, how could he have just stood there and taken that hit?
"You should’ve known better than to run back then; you wouldn’t be welcod. And yet you ran back. Isn’t that just asking for trouble?" Jiang Jinsang chuckled softly.
"Should have just taken out the photo of eldest brother; otherwise, I wouldn’t have bothered going back."
...
As Tang Wan listened to their conversation, she understood that the injuries were caused by Jiang Zhaolin. Standing to the side, she occasionally helped out, applied the ointnt properly, and waited for it to be absorbed. Then Jiang Chengsi put his clothes back on and went to the fiberglass edge, "Lord Wansui, let’s go, I’ll take you to bask in the sun."
Lord Wansui: Don’t touch !
But being a tortoise, he had no way out, slow to run and unable to evade.
"Don’t move around too much with your injury," Jiang Jinsang warned him.
"Nosy," Jiang Chengsi retorted, picking up Lord Wansui’s little shell and walking out.
Tang Wan helped to pack up the dicine box, "The injuries on fourth brother’s back..."
"He’s a professional motorcyclist, and he also raced cars for a while. With such dangerous sports, how could he not have been injured? There was one ti he had an accident and nearly lost his life, lying in bed for half the year in a cast," Jiang Jinsang said with a resigned smile. "He went through a phase where he was so wild, he seed to have a death wish."
"Did grandma not intervene?" It was apparent that the old lady was very fond of Jiang Chengsi.
"After eldest cousin left, he changed a lot. Grandma was afraid he’d do sothing rash. His racing was just a way to vent. She tried to persuade him a couple of tis but then let him be. He wasn’t at all careful with his own body."
"And what about you?" Tang Wan asked him in return.
"?"
"Uncle Zhou ntioned surgery; what are your thoughts? Are you going to go through with it?"
Jiang Jinsang’s head started to ache.
"Still have the nerve to talk about others!"
Was he... being chastised by his wife?
"You can’t completely trust what Uncle Zhou says. I think I’ve been feeling quite well lately, it’s not like I absolutely have to have the surgery." No one wanted to place themselves on an operating table and be cut open.
"Don’t trust his opinion, but should I trust yours?" Tang Wan was nearly saying: I can’t entirely trust the words of a sickly person.
"After all, Uncle Zhou is a doctor; he won’t harm you. You should really consider the surgery. Since he’s recomnded it, he must have his reasons. And with the way your illness keeps recurring, I’ve seen you in bad shape too many tis..."
Tang Wan continued to prattle on as she packed the dicine box.
She felt a light tap on her shoulder and turned slightly to find Jiang Jinsang drawing her into his arms. Tang Wan stumbled into him, her balance unsteady, her hands instinctively wrapping around his neck.
Her body temperature was sowhat lower compared to the warmth inside his room, her cool hands pressed against his neck as she took shallow breaths.
His look was a mix of anger and reproach, which stirred sothing deep within Jiang Jinsang.
"Does it still hurt?" Jiang Jinsang looked at her, his throat dry and ticklish, and he swallowed a couple of tis.
"It still feels a bit sore."
"I’ll give it a rub later."
They had known each other for so long; Tang Wan had a clear idea of what was on Jiang Jinsang’s mind. Even though she knew he was simring inside, she deliberately tightened her arms around his neck, leaning her whole body against him...
The closeness was seamless, making one’s heart quiver.
Jiang Jinsang was a normal man with thoughts stirring within him. Her deliberate intimacy was challenging for him to resist, "Wanwan?"
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