ASFSODS 57

Facing Jin Ge’s “my son has rebelled and broken my heart” look, Wen Chi braced himself and nodded. “Vegetarian.”

“Straighten your tongue and talk to me properly.” Jin-ge instinctively glared at Wen Chi like he used to, then remembered Wen Chi was injured now. He gave a light cough and turned to Jiang Siheng. “Teacher Jiang, here’s the thing, Wen Chi’s injuries won’t heal any time soon. You’re so busy, you surely don’t have the time.”

Jiang Siheng waited for Jin Ge to finish before replying calmly, “I don’t have any work lined up. I’m on vacation.”

That single sentence neatly dismissed Jin Ge’s long speech.

Jin Ge: “…”

From the side, Sang Sang murmured, “Jin Ge, did you forget that time you went to Xiao Chi Ge’s place to cook for him, and nearly sent him to the hospital instead?”

“That was an accident!” Jin Ge’s face flushed red as he turned to Wen Chi. “Really going to his place?”

Wen Chi enunciated clearly, “Yes.”

While Jiang Siheng went to handle Wen Chi’s discharge papers, Jin Ge stepped out onto the balcony to call another agent he was close with, Old Chen, asking him to come back and continue his vacation. Inside the room, only Sang Sang and Wen Chi were left.

“Xiao Chi Ge, can I gossip a bit?” Sang Sang tiptoed over and sat beside him, her face radiating pure gossip energy.

Wen Chi kept his head down, scrolling on his phone. At her words, he hummed in response. “What do you want to gossip about?”

Sang Sang cleared her throat. “When I came over this morning, I saw Teacher Jiang holding you while you slept.”

Wen Chi’s typing hand paused.

“So you two are…” Sang Sang curled both thumbs inward and tapped them together. “Together now?”

Wen Chi locked his phone, met her gaze, and smiled. “No.”

“Huh?? But didn’t you two…”

Following her train of thought, Wen Chi fell into contemplation. They had kissed, they had hugged… their relationship seemed no longer just a simple senior-junior or close friend thing in the entertainment industry. But he honestly didn’t know how to define what they had now.

“I don’t know,” he said.

—

From Nanhui City to Linquan City, the plane landed at three in the afternoon.

Jiang Siheng’s home was in a high-end complex in Linquan City’s center. It was one apartment per floor with excellent privacy. Hands in his pockets, Wen Chi remembered overhearing a security guard earlier saying that as long as Jiang Siheng was here, not a single stranger would be allowed inside.

Jiang Siheng lived on the 23rd floor. When Wen Chi stepped out of the elevator, he glanced around curiously. “Teacher Jiang, you have to swipe a card just to take the elevator here?”

“Mm. It’s safer this way.”

Jiang Siheng pulled out a brand-new pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet. They were a bit large, and when Wen Chi slipped them on, there was still space at the back. He trailed along after Jiang Siheng into the kitchen. “Teacher Jiang, can I take a shower?”

“You can, but don’t wash your hair,” Jiang Siheng replied.

“Mm-hmm, okay.” Wen Chi had been wanting to shower for a while. He had already changed clothes, but without a proper wash, he still felt off.

The guest room was even bigger than Wen Chi’s bedroom, but it felt empty and lifeless with so few things in it. Jiang Siheng led him into the bathroom, dry and wet areas separated, but the shelves were bare. No body wash, no shampoo, no towels, no toiletries at all. Jiang Siheng stared at the empty bathroom in silence.

Standing beside him, Wen Chi almost laughed but held it in, lips twitching. “What do we do, Teacher Jiang? There’s no body wash.”

Expressionless, Jiang Siheng took Wen Chi by the hand and led him into his own bedroom. Unlike the rest of the apartment, this room at least felt lived in. “Shower here first. I’ll go to the supermarket downstairs later.”

“Alright.”

Jiang Siheng explained to Wen Chi how to turn on the hot water, which bottles were the body wash and shampoo, and reminded him once more not to secretly wash his hair before leaving.

Wen Chi set his clothes on the rack. The bathroom was spotless. Even though he knew Jiang Siheng rarely stayed at his Linquan City place, it still felt like he could catch his scent lingering in the air.

While the boy was showering in his room, Jiang Siheng stepped out to the balcony off the living room to take a call. “Mom.”

“Oh? How come you’re free to answer me so quickly today? Don’t you need to be looking after your little boyfriend?” Cheng Yazhe asked in surprise.

“Is there something you need?” Jiang Siheng ignored his mother’s teasing and got straight to the point.

Cheng Yazhe wasn’t about to waste such a rare opportunity to tease her son. “I saw it, you know. Those girls online are all saying you and Xiao Chi are together, right? So did feelings grow between you during the show? And just now, when I called him your little boyfriend, you didn’t even deny it.”

She waited with a smile for his reply, but after several seconds of silence, she thought he had hung up. Checking the screen, the call was still connected.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Having been pursued herself, she guessed at a certain possibility and tested carefully, “Don’t tell me… that kid turned you down?”

Jiang Siheng had just been lost in thought. At her words, he sighed helplessly. “No.”

Cheng Yazhe perked up again. “Then he agreed? I have a daughter-in-law?”

Jiang Siheng’s next words, “Also no”, poured a bucket of cold water over her excitement. For once, the man who had always been independent and never sought his parents’ help admitted a problem. “I haven’t confessed to him.”

“What?”

Jiang Siheng turned slightly, his gaze drifting toward his bedroom. “I kissed him last night.”

Cheng Yazhe: “?!”

“And I held him while we slept,” Jiang Siheng added after a pause.

Cheng Yazhe: “?!!”

Far away in another country, Father Jiang, Jiang Lixiao, noticed his wife’s shocked expression during the call and put down his newspaper. “What’s going on?”

Cheng Yazhe ignored him, went to sit on the sofa, her face serious as she spoke to her son in a heavy tone. “Xiao Heng, you can’t be a scumbag.”

At that, Jiang Lixiao’s expression instantly turned stern. “What scumbag?”

Hearing his father’s voice through the phone, Jiang Siheng said helplessly, “There’s no scum, Mom, don’t say nonsense.”

Cheng Yazhe did trust her son’s character. If he were truly a scumbag, he wouldn’t have gone from high school until now without ever dating. But still, kissing someone, holding them to sleep, and then not taking responsibility wasn’t right either.

“Xiao Heng, if you really like him, you need to act in a way that makes him believe in you and feel safe with you. Even though Xiao Chi is a boy, having no after-sales service like this really isn’t okay.”

At the words “after-sales service,” Jiang Siheng’s eyelid twitched. Then he heard her continue, “Here’s what, we’ll be back in the country in a while. When that time comes, why don’t we meet Xiao Chi?”

“We’ll talk about it then.”

He heard the bedroom door open, turned his head, and saw Wen Chi padding out in slippers, freshly showered. “I have to go, something came up.”

“Hey, you—” Before she could finish, the line went dead. Cheng Yazhe stared at the ended call screen, then looked at her husband with concern. “Old Jiang, I think we should move our return up a bit.”

Wen Chi, done showering, saw Jiang Siheng still on the balcony with his phone, so he kicked off his slippers and sat on the sofa, idly taking in the apartment’s layout and style. He hadn’t looked around much before Jiang Siheng came over and sat beside him.

Realizing how close they were, Wen Chi belatedly noted that this was the first time he and Jiang Siheng were alone in the same place outside of filming. It was just the two of them.

“What do you want for dinner?” Jiang Siheng asked.

Wen Chi’s eyes lit up. “I get to choose?” He had assumed he would be stuck with bland, nutritional meals.

“You can, but it has to be light.”

“…Fine.” Better than nothing. Wen Chi asked again, “Are you cooking?”

Although he had been living alone since school, his cooking skills had never improved. Jiang Siheng was silent for a few seconds. “If you want to eat something I make, I can cook for you.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Now Wen Chi fell silent, but thinking “Teacher Jiang is forever the best,” he nodded. “Okay.”

Jiang Siheng checked his watch. It was still early enough to get ingredients from the supermarket. “Then wait here at home. You can watch TV. There’s a computer in the study, the password’s my birthday.”

Wen Chi nodded. “Okay.”

He was so obedient that Jiang Siheng didn’t want him out of his sight. If only Wen Chi could shrink down, he thought, then he could keep him in his pocket and take him everywhere.

Jiang Siheng changed clothes before heading out, putting on a mask and hat. Even though the complex had its own convenience store, he still took precautions for privacy.

As soon as he stepped out of the elevator, his phone rang. Glancing at the caller ID, the smile in his eyes, put there by Wen Chi, faded from the corners.

“Young Master, I’ve found the information you asked for…”

Jiang Siheng stood still, his expression growing colder with every word from the other end of the line, a storm brewing in his eyes. After a long moment, the voice on the phone fell silent. Jiang let out a quiet breath. “Send it all to my email.”

“Alright.”

“Wait.” Jiang suddenly thought of something. “Send it tonight. Don’t send it now.”

“Okay.”

He hung up and headed toward the supermarket, phone in hand.

Meanwhile, Wen Chi, alone in the apartment, wasn’t watching TV or using the computer. He was smiling into a video call with his mother. “So Dad lost to Tao Ge at chess again?”

“Exactly. He’s terrible at chess, yet still insists on dragging Xiao Tao to play with him. I saw Xiao Tao yawning several times halfway through,” Lin Huixiu said helplessly.

Wen Chi chuckled a few times.

Noticing the unfamiliar layout behind him, Lin Huixiu asked, “Are you out somewhere? Working?”

“No, I’m at a friend’s place.”

“Oh, a friend’s house.” Someone on her end called for her, and she quickly said, “I’ll have Xiao Tao send the package over later. I’m hanging up now, remember to take care of yourself.”

“I know.”

When the video call ended, Wen Chi exhaled in relief. When his mother’s call first came through, he’d nearly died of fright, thinking she might know about his fight.

【Tao Ge: Still the same address?】

【Tao Ge: Wen Chi, you’re something else. If you’re not rescuing people, you’re fighting. Are you in the entertainment industry, joining the police, or becoming a gangster?】

【Tao Ge: So why did you fight?】

Looking at the WeChat messages from his neighbor Tao Ge, Wen Chi lowered his gaze slightly and typed: 【Tao Ge, could you help me look after my parents for a while?】

【Tao Ge: …】

【Tao Ge: You’re so annoying.】

Seeing those two replies, Wen Chi’s eyes curved in a smile again.