Jiang Xun's attention was entirely on Chu Xingye, so he failed to notice a familiar car parked across the street.
Chu Xingye was tall and long-legged, and he strode so quickly that he looked as if a debt collector were chasing him. Jiang Xun had to jog to keep up.
"Slow down, Brother Xingye. I can barely keep up."
Chu Xingye silently cursed the little shorty, but his steps slowed despite himself. Only after Jiang Xun caught up did he cross the street and stop in front of the black Bentley.
Jiang Xun followed a few steps behind. He had just said "Brother Xingye" when the Bentley's driver-side window slowly lowered, revealing Fu Yanli's impeccable face, composed and mature.
Jiang Xun froze for a moment and swallowed everything else he had been about to say.
He rubbed the tip of his nose and smiled. "Uncle, what are you doing here?"
"We're going to my grandparents' for dinner. Uncle came to pick me up." It was Chu Xingye who spoke. He glanced sideways at the little shorty beside him and, for some reason, blurted out, "Want to come?"
"Oh?" Jiang Xun pressed his lips together, surprise and shyness dancing across his expressive face.
Fu Yanli rested one hand on the steering wheel and tapped it with his fingertips, his calm gaze fixed on the person outside the window.
Jiang Xun looked bashful. "Meeting the family already?"
A vein twitched at Chu Xingye's temple. He knew nothing good would come out of this guy's mouth.
He gave a short laugh and coldly spat out, "Like hell."
Jiang Xun's expression went blank. "Oh. I'll get going, then."
Chu Xingye glanced at the boy standing across the street and silently cursed him for refusing to go away.
He grabbed Jiang Xun's arm, opened the rear door, and shoved him inside.
Then he went around to the other side, opened the door, and sat beside Jiang Xun.
"Uncle, sorry for the trouble, but could you take Jiang Xun back to the apartment first?"
Fu Yanli said nothing and started the car.
A second before pulling away, he glanced through the window toward the other side of the street, seemingly by chance.
It was the boy Jiang Xun had rescued in the alley last time.
And then there was the Ji Family's young master, not to mention his own nephew...
Fu Yanli raised the window without a change in expression and turned the wheel one-handed, steering right.
Jiang Xun hugged his schoolbag and glanced at the man in front, thinking that the big idiot Chu Xingye had made his uncle play chauffeur again.
His gaze lingered involuntarily on Fu Yanli's hand on the steering wheel. His fingers were long and slender, his knuckles defined and strong, the veins on the back of his hand clearly visible.
He had long thought Fu Yanli looked good driving one-handed. His free right hand could even hold... his wife's hand?
Wouldn't that break traffic laws?
Realizing where his mind had wandered, Jiang Xun let out a quiet laugh.
The laugh sounded rather abrupt in the silent car.
Chu Xingye shot him a puzzled look. "What are you laughing at?"
"Nothing. I was just thinking..." Jiang Xun paused, leaned closer with his head tilted, and stared at Chu Xingye's face. He blinked, then suddenly said, "Brother Xingye, how dare you be this good-looking?"
Chu Xingye reacted as if something had stung him, abruptly pushing Jiang Xun's face away.
"Shut up."
Young Master Chu pressed his lips tightly together, his handsome face rigid, but the tips of his pale ears quietly turned red.
Jiang Xun caught every bit of his reaction. Tsk. His mouth was the only tough thing about him.
Hugging his schoolbag, Jiang Xun behaved himself and stayed quiet for two minutes. Then he scooted closer to Chu Xingye again and tilted his head, briefly resting it on his shoulder.
"Brother Xingye, nothing matters more than us building a happy life together."
"..." This time, not only Chu Xingye's ears but even his neck turned red.
He whispered through gritted teeth into Jiang Xun's left ear, "My uncle's right here. Keep flirting and I'll throw you out the window."
Naturally, Jiang Xun could not hear what Chu Xingye said, but he could guess.
He sat up straight and drew a hand across his mouth, miming zipping it shut.
Today's KPI was complete.
Silence settled over the car again.
Fu Yanli shifted his peripheral gaze away from the rearview mirror, his thin lips pressing together slightly.
His hand tightened on the steering wheel, then relaxed. At his side, he rubbed the thumb and forefinger of his right hand together a few times, unreadable emotions hidden in eyes as still as a lake.
Meanwhile, Bai Lian stood where he was, watching the direction in which the Bentley had disappeared. After standing expressionlessly for a while, he turned and left.
Before long, the black Bentley stopped outside the apartment building.
Jiang Xun got out and waved goodbye to Chu Xingye and Fu Yanli, then turned and headed inside.
Fu Yanli turned the car around and drove away again.
In the back seat, Chu Xingye watched Jiang Xun's receding figure from a distance, only looking away after a while.
He hunched forward, propped his cheeks in his hands, and sighed softly.
"Uncle, that little shorty is so annoying. Why does he like me so much? He's driving me crazy."
"And he's completely shameless all day, saying things like... ugh, I'm too embarrassed to repeat them."
"Uncle, can't you give me some advice?"
Fu Yanli turned the steering wheel, his eyes deep beneath his thin eyelids. His voice emerged without much emotion. "Be quiet."
Chu Xingye shut his mouth and scratched the back of his neck, wondering whether his uncle was in a bad mood.
Did he have a fight with Aunt?
That evening, Jiang Xun leisurely soaked in the large tub in his en suite bathroom for over half an hour, so comfortable that he nearly fell asleep.
After his bath, he put on a sheet mask, sat at the desk beside his bed, and turned on his computer. Then he took the battered, yellowed diary belonging to the body's original owner out of a drawer.
Jiang Xun opened the diary and wrote in it, imitating the original owner's handwriting while chewing his pen cap in thought.
He figured he would need to find an opportunity to let the Jiang Family discover it.
Halfway through the entry, two knocks suddenly sounded outside.
Jiang Xun closed the diary. "Who is it?"
A familiar low, resonant voice came from outside. "It's me."
"May I come in?"
Fu Yanli was back.
"Oh," Jiang Xun said. At the crucial moment, his mouth once again refused to obey his brain, and he blurted out, "Come in."
The door was ajar. Jiang Xun had forgotten to close it after going out to get water earlier.
Only after receiving permission did Fu Yanli push the door open and enter, immediately spotting the young man sitting at the desk.
He wore beige, long-sleeved pajamas printed with cartoon puppies, a sheet mask on his face, and a headband to keep his bangs from getting wet. The headband had two cartoon cat ears.
Deng Shu had bought the pajamas, and the headband had been a free gift from the seller when Jiang Xun bought sheet masks online. Childish as it was, he might as well use it.
A hint of amusement seemed to touch Fu Yanli's handsome, mature features at the sight of Jiang Xun, but his steps did not falter as he walked straight over to him.
Jiang Xun snapped out of his regret and peeled off the mask as he stood, explaining somewhat awkwardly, "The weather's dry in winter. This is for hydration."
"Did you need something, Uncle?"
Fu Yanli's gaze swept over Jiang Xun's face.
His headband held his bangs back, exposing his entire small face.
With the mask freshly removed, his skin was still moist and glistening, looking dewy.
It certainly was hydrating.
Fu Yanli handed Jiang Xun the paper bag he was carrying.
"Xingye's mother made these desserts herself. She asked me to bring some back for you to try."
Chu Xingye's mother was Fu Yanli's older sister, Fu Sang.
What she had actually said was to bring them back for her future daughter-in-law to try.
Flattered, Jiang Xun took the bag. "That's so kind of her."
Fu Yanli said nothing, staring at the cat ears on his headband. They looked very soft.
The fingers of the man's right hand shifted lightly at his side as he took a step forward, moving closer.
A faint scent of osmanthus drifted into his nose. It came from Jiang Xun, who had just taken a bath and casually tossed in an osmanthus-scented bath bomb.
Jiang Xun was looking down into the bag, which held several neatly packaged little cakes.
When he raised his head, he was caught off guard by how close Fu Yanli stood-barely ten centimeters away, close enough that he could almost feel his presence against him.
He instinctively stepped back half a pace and forced a smile. "Uncle, did you... need anything else?"
As though unaware of the distance between them, Fu Yanli wore a serene expression and asked with the ordinary concern of an elder for a younger relative, "I haven't asked you yet. Are you settling in well here?"
"Yes, very well." Jiang Xun spoke faster, wanting only to end the conversation as soon as possible. "You've been very good to me. You've made this place feel as warm as home."
His pajamas were loose and buttoned, with a small stretch of collarbone showing at the neckline.
Fu Yanli lowered his eyes slightly. His alluring Adam's apple shifted almost imperceptibly, and his voice carried an inexplicable rasp. "Good."
"If you need anything, you can come to me."
"Okay, I will."
Fu Yanli looked away, his gaze passing over Jiang Xun and unobtrusively sweeping across the battered diary lying closed on the desk, then the lit computer screen.
A video was paused on it, titled "Lip-reading tutorial."
Lip-reading...
With his back against the hard desk and both hands braced on its edge, Jiang Xun forced himself to say, "It's getting late. You should wash up and get some rest too, Uncle."
Fu Yanli withdrew his gaze and stepped back, putting some distance between them. "Mm. You should get some rest too."
Then he suddenly raised his hand and casually brushed his fingertips over the cat ears on Jiang Xun's head. Before the young man could react, he lowered his hand, said good night, and turned to leave.
Fu Yanli's gaze swept over the cabinet nearby. The watch that had once been displayed there like a shrine offering was gone.
Jiang Xun stood rooted to the spot, watching the man's tall figure leave the room and close the door.
Only after a long while did he sit down and reach up to fiddle with the cat ears on his headband.
Fu Yanli touched them just now, didn't he?
Jiang Xun swallowed and licked his dry lips, pressing a hand to his racing heart.
Fu Yanli had been so strange tonight, suddenly showing concern for him and standing so close.
Had he noticed something unusual about me? Was he testing me?
That had to be it.