Wang Jingjuan's Gentleness

Li Yang lingered on the phone with Yue Xiaodan for a while longer before the two finally hung up reluctantly.

Back at the table, Li Yang was in high spirits. He raised his glass and shouted at everyone with an air of swagger.

"Boys! Everyone's got one, right? Come on, bottoms up!" After clinking their full glasses of Hops beer, they drained them in one go, carrying themselves with the carefree flair of Liangshan Heroes.

They carried on until late into the night, and the drinking party finally came to an end. The group scattered like birds and beasts, each heading home to find their own mothers. Li Yang ended up thoroughly drunk, but he still had some endurance left. With Xu Rui's arm around his shoulders and his around Xu Rui's, they staggered home together.

Compared with the seasoned Xu Rui, Li Yang had been hit much harder. Xu Rui was barely affected and even escorted Li Yang back into the courtyard.

"Get some rest early, then. I'm heading back. I'll call you for work tomorrow."

The booze breath and foul breath blasting from Xu Rui's mouth made Li Yang's stomach churn. He nearly couldn't hold it in and wanted to let it all out, but he managed to suppress it in front of Xu Rui.

"I'm telling you, fatty, if it's not working, pick someone else. Stop wasting all your effort on Yue Xiaodan. I don't think you two have a chance." Riding the buzz, Li Yang gave Xu Rui some muddled advice.

"I know. My cousin's introducing someone else to me in the next few days. It won't hold up my blind dates. Cast a wide net, and eventually I'll catch one." Xu Rui took it quite well.

He knew Yue Xiaodan wasn't interested in him. Though they were still only ordinary friends, it didn't stop either of them from finding someone suitable.

Yue Xiaodan was merely one of the many girls Xu Rui had gone on blind dates with. There was nothing worth dwelling on.

Hearing what Xu Rui was thinking, Li Yang felt greatly relieved. That way, when everything was laid bare, the guys wouldn't end up on bad terms.

After chatting nonsense for a little longer, the two went home separately.

Li Yang was still worried about Jiang Manman at home. He wondered whether that girl, having skipped dinner, might have starved to death in his room.

So he hurried his pace.

After opening the door, Li Yang took one look and felt much more at ease.

The girl was lying there comfortably, sleeping soundly, while the television was still playing a midnight drama.

The ceiling fan overhead whirred as it blew out cool air, keeping the room pleasantly cool. Jiang Manman wasn't stupid—she knew to cover herself with a thin towel blanket. It had just been kicked aside by her restless legs. Heh, it seemed girls all liked this style in the height of summer. Li Yang had bought Yue Xiaodan the same one in several different colors.

Jiang Manman looked adorable while asleep, her little lips pouting and not a hint of snoring. Li Yang changed into slippers and went to shower, but before leaving, he gently pulled the sheet over Jiang Manman's little belly.

In the bathroom, Li Yang finally couldn't hold it in any longer and vomited violently. The beer in his mouth came pouring down like a waterfall, and before long, his stomach was completely emptied out like a stock market crash.

Feeling much better, Li Yang hummed a tune and sobered up considerably. Luckily, he had only been drinking beer. Compared to the aftereffects of drinking too much baijiu, this was much easier to handle.

Old Dad and Old Mom have probably been asleep for ages!

After drying himself off, Li Yang swayed into his room.

He still wasn't very sleepy. Sitting cross-legged at the head of the bed, enjoying the cool breeze with a few undried droplets still on his bare upper body, Li Yang watched TV. Once his stomach had been emptied, he suddenly felt a little hungry, so he opened the desk drawer and took a look.

He didn't know whether they had been left over from when he had brought Yue Xiaodan home some time ago, but inside were preserved plums, sunflower seeds, crispy rice crackers, and an unopened bottle of iced black tea.

Whenever Li Yang wasn't home, Old Mom often cleaned his room. If there were dirty clothes, she would wash them for him as well.

The snacks in the drawer had probably been put there by Old Mom while she was cleaning.

Li Yang had never really developed a habit of eating snacks since childhood. Besides, boys naturally didn't have girls' fondness for munching.

Ever since Hui Hui had come over, Jiang Manman was now the third girl to have stayed in Li Yang's room.

So snacks were hardly uncommon here. Whenever Hui Hui came over before, she would bring some food with her. She said that if the two of them got tired at night, they could replenish their energy.

Li Yang couldn't be bothered to care. She could do whatever she wanted.

Watching Young Justice Bao in the middle of the night, Li Yang suddenly perked up. He opened the sunflower seeds and cracked them leisurely, then took a sip of iced black tea. It was wonderfully comfortable.

At that moment, Jiang Manman suddenly woke up as well. Rubbing her sleepy little eyes, she spotted Li Yang and immediately pounced onto his back, acting spoiled.

"Have you eaten? Are you hungry?"

Li Yang lightly patted Jiang Manman's cheek and asked in a gentle voice.

"You knew I hadn't eaten, yet you still left me home alone. You're awful, Li Yang." With that, the displeased Jiang Manman wrapped her arms stubbornly around Li Yang's neck, leaned over, and bit him. Of course, she couldn't bear to bite hard. Girls were always sharp-tongued but soft-hearted around the boys they loved. No matter how tough their words were, their bodies honestly revealed what was in their hearts.

Li Yang wasn't afraid at all. He let Jiang Manman mischievously pinch and bite him. No matter how old a woman was, once she got love-struck, both her emotional intelligence and IQ practically dropped to zero...

After fooling around for a while, Li Yang fed her a few sunflower seeds. Only then did Jiang Manman stop making a fuss and, smiling playfully again, ask Li Yang to hold her while they watched the drama together.

Li Yang sat leaning against the headboard, while Jiang Manman lay in his arms. He shelled sunflower seeds for her, gathering them into a little pile before stuffing them all into her mouth at once. That was Jiang Manman's favorite way to eat them.

Li Yang patiently gave Jiang Manman a massage as well. Whenever he was in a good mood, he didn't forget to sneak a little feel of her body. The girl didn't get angry. Instead, she kept giggling from the tickling. After feeding her another mouthful, Li Yang picked up the black tea and took a sip.

"I want some too, darling."

Jiang Manman adorably opened her little mouth, and Li Yang fed her a sip.

"After I left, you didn't eat anything?" Li Yang asked the Temptress in his arms worriedly.

"Of course I ate. I just usually don't eat much at night. You're always making fun of me for being fat. I'm going to lose weight and show you, then we'll see if you still dare laugh at me." As she said this, Jiang Manman pouted again and pinched Li Yang.

"What did you eat?" Li Yang continued asking curiously.

"Guess." Jiang Manman smiled mysteriously.

"Old Mom made noodles for me. I said I wouldn't eat, but Old Mom was so enthusiastic that I reluctantly had a little."

"Hehe, Old Mom's cooking really is good—way better than my mom's." After saying that, Jiang Manman continued lying in Li Yang's arms.

Though Jiang Manman's "our mom" was only a joke to Li Yang, hearing it still made his heart feel warm.

A man's ultimate dream was to imagine, at every moment, that one day...

He could bring home a beautiful, obedient, adorable daughter-in-law to meet his parents.

No matter how shabby his home was or how poor his parents were, the girl would still follow him unwaveringly to the bitter end, bear his children, support her husband and raise their children, grow old with him, never despise any of his flaws, and spend the rest of her life with him.

But that was, after all, a fairy-tale kind of story.

There were almost no girls like that in reality.

That dream was about as likely as spending two yuan on a Super Lotto or Double Color Ball ticket and hitting the first prize with every number exactly right.

"Hehe, didn't Mom ask what our relationship was?" Li Yang asked Jiang Manman teasingly, in a great mood.

"Hmph, you must bring girls home all the time, don't you? I was lying comfortably in bed when Mom just walked right in."

"The way she looked at me was like she was used to it. Otherwise, if it were her first time seeing me, she definitely would've made a huge fuss," Jiang Manman deduced with great experience.

"No way. Only Xiaodan has come over a few times. You're the second," Li Yang said with a cheeky grin.

Young men inevitably had those playboy thoughts stirring around in their heads...

"Hmph! At least you know what's good for you." Jiang Manman cutely waved her little fist, looking exactly like a mistress of the house interrogating her husband after he came home late at night, asking whether he had been fooling around outside.

The two of them spent their brief tender time together like that, watching television and playfully fooling around.

"Darling, I need to use the bathroom." Ever since arriving, Jiang Manman had only used the toilet once near Li Yang's door. She was holding it in so badly now that if she waited any longer, she would probably wet herself.

"It's summer. Go ahead, then. Just do it somewhere in the courtyard," Li Yang teased with a chuckle.

"No, I'm scared." Though she was two years older than Li Yang, Jiang Manman looked no less adorable than Yue Xiaodan when she acted spoiled.

"Fine. I really can't understand you girls. When you were single, you weren't even afraid of rats, but now you scream your heads off from a mosquito bite."

Li Yang had heard that line from the male lead in a TV drama and promptly reused it.

"Hehe, I knew you cared about me." Jiang Manman happily gave Li Yang a fragrant kiss of her own initiative.

"Should I put some clothes on?" Jiang Manman pointed at herself and asked Li Yang. She wasn't the least bit shy in front of him. They were already together, so what was there to care about?

So the two went out into the courtyard like that, and Li Yang suddenly remembered how things had been when he first got close to Yue Xiaodan.

"Go over there. Hurry up, and be careful not to get bitten by mosquitoes." Li Yang pointed toward the vegetable patch with a wicked grin.

At that moment, Jiang Manman could no longer care about a girl's modesty. Wearing the slippers she had come in, she quickly ran over and squatted down.

"Come over here, I'm scared," Jiang Manman said, extending her little hand toward Li Yang with this demand.

"What a hassle." Li Yang sauntered over. Once she was done, he held her hand and led her back into the room.

"Sleep. I'm a little tired." Li Yang yawned and slowly lay down on the bed.

The trash bin was piled high with sunflower seed shells.

"I still want to watch, darling. The murderer in this case hasn't appeared yet." Jiang Manman pointed at the Xiangguo Temple Mystery Case episode of Young Justice Bao and asked softly.

"Then watch it." Li Yang stretched lazily and comfortably, letting Jiang Manman nestle against his chest as she watched the drama. He found it strange that she wasn't scared watching it in the middle of the night. Soon, everything fell quiet, leaving only the faint sound of the television and the ceiling fan whirring endlessly overhead...

Li Yang had no idea when Jiang Manman fell asleep. All he knew was that he slept soundly holding her. Compared to Yue Xiaodan's skinny, frail body, if Li Yang had to put it into words, Jiang Manman and Yue Xiaodan were like two delicious regional cuisines from the north and south of the country, each with its own distinctive flavor.

Jiang Manman also kept her word and did not disturb Li Yang again. She obediently watched until she naturally fell asleep, then comfortably slept in Li Yang's arms until dawn.

After getting ready in the morning, Jiang Manman pestered Li Yang into giving her a beautiful hairstyle and makeup look. After the two ate Mom's breakfast, they each rode off to work.

Mom was quite pleased that Li Yang had brought home another girl of a different type. Getting a wife was like buying something—comparing goods from three different shops was wisdom passed down by the older generation.

In the end, there would definitely be a process of survival of the fittest. He couldn't possibly take them all, and Mom would never allow Li Yang to fool around like that.

Li Yang did not wait for Xu Rui to call him to work. After all, Jiang Manman still needed to go back and change into her professional skirt outfit; the store manager's appearance also represented the employees' image.

After the two returned to Jiang Manman's home and changed clothes, Jiang Manman, dressed to the nines, pulled Li Yang downstairs.

She locked her bike in front of the apartment entrance and had Li Yang take her to the bus stop outside the hospital.

It was usually easy to grab empty seats at the terminal. After Li Yang paid the fare, Jiang Manman took his hand and sat with him in the two-person seats at the back.

It was better for the girl to sit by the window, in case some ill-intentioned bus pervert stood beside her. Among the transportation in every city, buses had the highest chance of perverts appearing.

Li Yang was still quite worried that someone might set their sights on Jiang Manman. After all, this girl had all the qualities to attract swarms of admirers.

"Darling, I want to sleep for a while." Jiang Manman pouted and yawned. Without waiting for Li Yang to respond, she pulled over his arm to use as a pillow, lay in his arms, and began dozing off.

After they reached the stop, the two got off together. "Darling, come with me to Zhou Mountain Park after work tonight. I want to exercise." Jiang Manman reluctantly shook Li Yang's arm as she pleaded with him.

"Alright. I can go climb the mountain for some exercise too..."

"Hehe, wait for me after work. See you then!"

Then Jiang Manman boldly kissed Li Yang goodbye before they parted...

As lunchtime approached, Li Yang received a call from Wang Jingjuan inviting him to eat.

Lao Zhao had gone to Xin'an County again today to make deliveries, so he would not be rushing back and forth at noon.

They generally waited until they had a truckload of appliances for the county before making the trip. Sometimes Lao Zhao would also receive orders at irregular times to deliver goods to the surrounding counties.

Jiamei Appliances had only one large warehouse, located near the Xigong District Longhai Overpass. The transportation links were accessible in every direction, and the location was well chosen. Li Yang had gone there several times to prepare orders for customers picking up their goods themselves.

Li Yang then happily went up to the second floor to greet Xu Rui before heading out to eat on his own.

When he entered the living room, Li Yang immediately saw Wang Jingjuan emerging from the kitchen with a plate of food, dressed in a cool and sexy outfit.

She wore a white camisole on top and black hot pants below, with no stockings on her legs and slippers on her bare feet. She looked exceptionally pleasing to the eye.

"Xiaoyang, sit down quickly. I'll go serve the rice." Wang Jingjuan set down the plate, her smile as lovely as a flower.

Just as Wang Jingjuan was about to turn toward the kitchen, Li Yang pulled her straight into his arms.

Their eyes met, both of them filled with deep affection.

"Not so soon, Juanjuan."

Li Yang directly kissed Wang Jingjuan's rosy, alluring lips...