Jiang Jinsang was hospitalized for a check-up, but since the surgery plan was repeatedly delayed, the date for the surgery was also pushed back multiple tis. Before it was finally decided, he had gone ho.
The surgery risk was too high, it could trigger a cascade of complications, and Zhou Zhongqing wanted to eradicate his stubborn illness in one fell swoop. Every ti he looked in the mirror and saw his hair had gone white, he would call and complain that Jiang Jinsang was a mischievous kid, a debt-collecting ghost.
Although Tang Wan hadn’t arrived in Beijing yet, she had sent a lot of stuff over.
The packages were marked as office supplies and personal items, and she had asked Jiang Jinsang to help sort them out. However, one day, he received a package that couldn’t be delivered to the community, so he had to pick it up at the entrance.
"Leave it in the security room—I’ll get it later."
"It’s a valuable item, insured; you should check it in person and sign for it."
Having no choice, Jiang Jinsang had to go personally to the entrance of the community. The box was huge and quite heavy. Upon opening and examining it, he was completely stunned...
Two stones!
And they were wrapped with various types of plastic protective films, presumably the ones Master Qiao had sent during the engagent. But really, sending two stones from so far away and even ensuring them?
"Did you get the stones?" Tang Wan asked when he called her, guessing that the stones had arrived.
"Two big stones, and you even insured them?"
"It was from Master, I couldn’t just throw them away."
Jiang Jinsang didn’t know where to place these two stones; sitting in the living room, they nearly got thrown out as junk by the old grandma. Ultimately, they were moved to the third floor, left for Lord Wansui to use as a fake mountain to climb.
"When are you coming over?" he would ask every two days.
"It might still take a few more days, there’s too much stuff, too ssy." It was almost like moving, she had thought it would take just four to five days to sort everything out, but the reality turned out to be far more complicated than imagined.
After a long silence, Tang Wan half-joked, "Do you miss ?"
"Do you miss ?" His voice was low, deliberately suppressing his emotions.
Tang Wan hesitated; in just a few seconds, it felt like claws were scratching at the bottom of his heart, unbearably agonizing, until at last she softly said:
"Miss... miss you a lot."
Sweet nothings, yet seed as if afraid of being overheard, her voice kept low, like a warm current filling his limbs and bones, leaving only sweetness at the heart.
"Shall I co to you, okay?"
When the atmosphere was great, Tang Wan threw a bucket of cold water on him, "No, take good care of your health, don’t run around."
"Then once I’m healthy, how many kids do you want?"
Ever since the topic of kids had been brought up before, he always ntioned it from ti to ti, but he wasn’t really thinking about kids, obviously pondering sothing else.
And Tang Wan, when she finally ca back, was furious...
She had consulted professionals later; one of the stones was worth at least in the six to seven digits. She had specifically insured it via courier, and you’re using it for turtles to climb?
...
Both Jiang Cuo and Jiang Jiu were almost inseparable from Jiang Jinsang recently, witnessing him talking with Tang Wan on the phone for over an hour, getting a mouthful of dog food.
"I really can’t stand it, the two of them chatted for over an hour of nonsense, and still so enthusiastically," Jiang Cuo was speechless, the conversation had no main point, and yet they could talk for so long.
"It’s not about the content, but about who you’re talking to." Jiang Jiu explained, "It’s not easy in life to find soone who is willing to listen to your ramblings and nonsense."
Jiang Cuo was stunned, "What you just said, sounds exactly like those feel-good articles in public WeChat accounts."
"You also talk nonsense a lot every day."
"I..."
**
When Jiang Jinsang reached the living room, the old lady and Fan Mingyu were sitting together looking at a photo album.
"Xiaowu is here, the photos we took at the Tang Family have all been developed. I plan to enlarge this group photo and fra it." the old lady said while looking at the pictures, especially the ones of Jiangjiang and Taotao at the back, she couldn’t stop smiling, "Look at these funny expressions, how amusing."
"This photo of Taotao is well taken, Xie Duo has really good photography skills, he captured several very good shots," Fan Mingyu praised Xie Duo’s skills.
That day, Xie Duo was nearly driven mad by several families.
Technically, after finishing the group photo, he could have rested a bit, like taking photos of Tang Wan, Jiang Jinsang, even Jiang Chengsi could handle the cara.
...
After a round of complints, Jiang Jinsang threw out a sentence, "Next, we’ll have to trouble Mr. Xie to take a few more photos for us. The capable should do more. It’s going to be tough on you."
With such a respectful attitude, Xie Duo had already been pushed into that position by the Jiang brothers. Even if his arms were sore, he still gritted his teeth and went on.
By the ti they got to photographing Jiangjiang and Taotao, because the two kids were so short, he almost had to lie on the ground to find the right angle.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt sothing was off.
It seed that the three Jiang brothers had set him up without discussing it beforehand.
He only wished he had brothers himself!
At this mont, the old lady was holding a photo album, pointing at a photo, "Xiaowu, this photo of you and Wanwan is so beautiful, just like a portrait."
"We have a busy ti ahead. Xiaowu needs surgery, and once you’ve recovered, we’ll have to start planning for your wedding with Wanwan..."
"It’s just a pity that you two brothers were so stubborn back then, neither of you wanted to find a partner. I was so angry that I donated the keepsake from when your grandfather and I were courting. Now it’s in old Fu’s grandson’s hands, and it’s embarrassing to ask for it back."
The old lady had also been confused by anger back then, and she hadn’t expected that the year after she donated it, both grandsons would find themselves in situations that made it impossible to get it back.
Perhaps thinking of her deceased spouse, her eyes suddenly reddened.
"Grandma, where’s Jiangjiang? He should be back from kindergarten by now, right? Who picked him up today?" Jiang Jinsang imdiately changed the subject; kindergarten had already started, and Jiangjiang had started school a few days ago.
Early on the first day of school, he had pretended to have a stomachache, saying he didn’t want to go, but Jiang Yanting just picked him up and threw him into the car.
But as soon as they reached the kindergarten gate and saw Shen Zhixian with Taotao, he imdiately put on a show of fatherly affection.
The epito of a deadbeat dad.
Though the Xie Family didn’t know about the real relationship between Jiang Yanting and Shen Zhixian, Old Xie really hoped to bring the two together, so he had specifically transferred Taotao to the sa kindergarten as Jiangjiang, hoping that the children would interact more and get along well in the future.
This was originally Jiangjiang’s kindergarten, and on the first day of school, he had patted his chest and assured Jiang Yanting, "Dad, don’t worry, I’ll definitely take care of my sister. I’m the big brother at kindergarten."
Jiang Yanting had a headache; where had he learned that phrase!
"Brother, are you really that amazing?" Taotao was always good at playing along.
"Don’t worry, no one can bully you with here."
"Thank you, brother." Taotao smiled innocently, but inwardly, he treated him like a little fool.
...
Listening to Jiang Jinsang’s inquiry, Fan Mingyu smiled, "Your fourth brother went to pick them up. He said he had promised earlier to take Jiangjiang and Taotao out for fun, and he’ll bring them back each after dinner."
"Fourth brother took them?"
"The kids like him, and it’s not his first ti taking them out, so don’t worry."
Jiang Jinsang scoffed: Where could Jiang Chengsi take them? At this rate, the next generation of the Jiang family will all be crooked sprouts.
**
At this ti, Jiang Chengsi had already picked up the two children. He was driving a car with four wheels; if he had co on a motorcycle wearing leather, the teachers probably wouldn’t have dared to hand over the children to him.
"Uncle Xiaosi, are we going to the racing track today?" Taotao’s eyes sparkled, clearly excited.
"Want to go?" Jiang Chengsi hadn’t expected Taotao to be so interested in racing.
"Yes."
"Jiangjiang, what about you? What do you want to play?"
"I’ll go with what my sister wants," Jiangjiang said, looking down and fiddling with his Rubik’s cube.
"Then let’s head to the track first, and later I’ll take you both for pizza."
Both sets of eyes glead with anticipation.
The track was in the suburbs, and to get there they had to cross half the city and enter the Beijing outskirts, where the road was less crowded. Jiang Chengsi controlled the steering wheel, taking so shortcuts to let the kids have more fun...
His eyes narrowed, glancing through the rearview mirror, he seed to always spot a car following him.
Could it be reporters?
Having his photo taken didn’t matter—he and Qi Zeyan’s affairs had already been twisted into a hundred and eighty different versions around the Beijing circle, and he was too lazy to explain.
However, it was very annoying to be followed like this with children in the car.
His fingers lightly tapped on the steering wheel, a hint of darkness flickering in his eyes—
...
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