Jiang Huaijin genuinely thought he must have done something truly wicked in his previous life to end up with a younger brother like this.
Malicious and selfish, he had caused trouble in the short time Jiang Huaijin had been away.
Who knew whom he had offended this time to get himself locked in a room with snakes?
It didn't matter whom he offended, as long as he didn't drag the Jiang Family down with him.
Watching Jiang Xun huddle in the corner of the bed, trembling nonstop, Jiang Huaijin felt little sympathy. He lowered his voice and said sternly, "Get down yourself."
Jiang Xun's legs really had gone weak with fear. Terrified that another slick, slimy snake would emerge from under the bed, he looked pleadingly at Jiang Huaijin and said in a trembling voice, "Help me, bro."
Seeing him like this, Jiang Huaijin let out a barely audible scoff. "Go home right now. Stop embarrassing yourself here."
With that, he turned and left, completely unmoved by Jiang Xun's show of weakness.
Jiang Xun wasn't particularly surprised. The Jiang Family's entrenched impression of the body's original owner couldn't change overnight.
If someone hates me, that's obviously their problem. What the hell does it have to do with me?
Jiang Xun shrugged it off.
He took quite a while to recover, but didn't dare linger any longer. He climbed off the bed on shaky legs and left, bracing himself against the wall.
The banquet was boring, and Jiang Xun had no intention of returning.
He took the elevator straight down to the ground floor, then slowly made his way to the road outside the hotel, planning to book a ride back to the villa.
Only to find that his phone had run out of battery and shut down.
Jiang Xun emptied his pockets and came up with just two one-yuan coins and two chocolates he had casually taken from the banquet table.
What else could I do? Take the bus.
The original owner was a rich young master, for crying out loud. How had he fallen this low?
Grumbling inwardly, Jiang Xun was about to head to the bus stop across the street when a black Bentley suddenly pulled up in front of him. The last five digits of its license plate were 11111.
Well, damn.
Then the front passenger window slowly rolled down, revealing Ye Jing's strikingly beautiful face in the dim night.
Resting her arm casually on the window frame, she gave Jiang Xun a friendly smile. "Hey, kid. Why are you standing here alone?"
The interior lights were on. With a casual glance, Jiang Xun spotted Fu Yanli in the driver's seat, the man's profile sharply defined and flawless.
Jiang Xun looked away and gave Ye Jing a shy smile. Though they had only met once, there was nothing reserved about his tone. "Auntie, I'm going home."
Ye Jing's voice held a smile. "Where's your family's driver? Didn't he come to pick you up?"
"Nope."
"Hop in. We'll drop you off on the way."
Jiang Xun raised a hand to rub the back of his head. "Oh, I couldn't possibly impose."
Despite saying that, he had already reached out to open the rear door, slipped smoothly inside, and fastened his seat belt.
He sat perfectly straight with both hands resting obediently on his thighs, looking just like an elementary school student. "Thank you, Uncle and Auntie."
"You're welcome. Where do you live?"
Jiang Xun gave her an address.
Ye Jing turned to Fu Yanli. "Yanli, let's go."
Fu Yanli murmured an acknowledgment, his gaze drifting briefly to the rearview mirror. The younger man in the back was still sitting primly.
He looked away and started the car.
Fu Yanli drove with remarkable steadiness, just like the impression he gave people.
Jiang Xun gradually relaxed his upright posture and leaned back against the seat, idly watching the nighttime scenery flash past outside.
Silence settled over the car for a while.
Fu Yanli focused on driving without saying a word. Ye Jing was messaging someone on her phone and seemed to be in a good mood.
After finishing her messages, she started chatting with Jiang Xun in the back again. She found the younger man rather entertaining.
"Hey, kid. I still don't know your name."
Jiang Xun straightened up again and answered obediently, "Auntie, my name is Jiang Xun. Xun as in 'to search.'"
Ye Jing said, "Jiang Xun... Why did you leave so early instead of staying at the banquet?"
Jiang Xun answered honestly, "My brother thought I was embarrassing the Jiang Family, so he told me to go home first."
His tone was casual, with neither disappointment nor anger, so breezy that he seemed not to care at all.
Ye Jing was a little surprised. City A's upper-class circle was neither particularly large nor particularly small, and everyone had long since heard about the Jiang Family's switched-at-birth affair.
Ye Jing didn't ask any further questions. She simply smiled and said, "I think you're very cute."
Then she turned to Fu Yanli beside her. "Don't you agree, Yanli?"
Fu Yanli kept his eyes on the road and gave only a quiet murmur of agreement. Apart from that incidental glance in the rearview mirror, he hadn't paid any more attention to the back seat.
Big shots really do have a different presence, Jiang Xun marveled inwardly.
The car moved smoothly through the nighttime traffic as Ye Jing continued talking to her husband in the front. "Let's have dinner at Mom and Dad's tomorrow. I brought them some gifts, too."
Fu Yanli said, "All right."
Ye Jing said, "I'll probably finish work around five tomorrow afternoon."
Fu Yanli murmured an acknowledgment, then said evenly, "Message me beforehand. I'll pick you up."
Jiang Xun listened absently to their conversation from the back seat, his gaze fixed on the night outside. Without realizing it, he started chewing on the knuckle of his index finger again.
He thought about his mission while also plotting how to get revenge on Ji Yuntian.
A little over twenty minutes later, the black Bentley stopped outside the Jiang Family's villa.
"We're here."
Jiang Xun unfastened his seat belt. Before getting out, he took the two chocolates from the banquet out of his pocket, leaned forward, and rested a hand on the back of the passenger seat. He offered one to Ye Jing, his eyes beneath his bangs curving with his smile.
"Auntie, thanks for bringing me home. Here's your fare."
Ye Jing accepted the chocolate with a smile and teased, "One chocolate isn't enough."
"I'll bring you a whole sack next time."
Then Jiang Xun extended his index finger and tentatively poked Fu Yanli in the back, saying softly, "Uncle, this one's for you."
At that, Fu Yanli finally turned to glance at Jiang Xun. He accepted the neatly wrapped chocolate and said, "Thank you."
Jiang Xun smiled at him again, then opened the door and got out, standing beside the car to wave goodbye.
Only after the black Bentley receded into the distance and disappeared around the corner did Jiang Xun let out a sigh and turn toward the villa.
Jiang Shiyuan and the others hadn't returned yet, though a servant was still cleaning inside.
The servant was a live-in housekeeper whom everyone called Liu Ma.
Liu Ma was in her forties and had worked for the Jiang Family for over a decade. Having watched Jiang Zixing grow up, she naturally had a special affection for him. In private, she was never particularly pleasant to Jiang Xun, who had appeared out of nowhere and spent all his time making trouble for Jiang Zixing.
When she saw Jiang Xun return, she simply kept her head down and continued mopping without greeting him.
Jiang Xun had only eaten two slices of cake that evening, so as he passed, he said, "Liu Ma, I'm a little hungry. Make me a bowl of noodles with two eggs."
Liu Ma kept mopping without even looking up. She was clearly doing it on purpose.