Xiao Cheng mouthed back, "Stop it. There are people everywhere."
Then he quickly looked away.
Someone worked up the courage to ask Xiao Cheng, "Teacher Xiao Cheng, did you and Lawyer Jiang come together?"
Jiang Shun answered for him. "I invited both of them."
Few people knew that Jiang Chiyan was the Jiang Family's fifth young master.
Jiang Shun knew.
Jiang Chiyan did not want to be associated with the name Jiang Yuan.
So Jiang Shun deliberately concealed his identity for him.
After speaking, Jiang Shun looked at Xiao Cheng and handed him a glass of wine. "Can we talk in private?"
Jiang Chiyan frowned. "What are you up to?"
Jiang Shun rolled his eyes at him. "I'm borrowing your Best Actor Xiao for five minutes. I'll give him back. I don't swallow people whole."
Jiang Chiyan nodded.
He took out his spare phone and set a five-minute countdown.
Then he shoved it into Xiao Cheng's trouser pocket.
"Five minutes. Remember to come back." Jiang Chiyan's voice was low, husky, and magnetic. "My third brother's a scumbag. I'm afraid my little darling will pick up his bad habits, so I have to keep a tight rein on him."
"Get lost." Xiao Cheng gave him a light shove.
Then.
Xiao Cheng followed Jiang Shun to the crystal champagne table nearby.
Jiang Shun got straight to the point. "I'll be blunt. Is there still something standing between you and Jiang Chiyan?"
Jiang Shun was a seasoned scumbag.
He could tell at a glance...
Xiao Cheng and Jiang Chiyan were close, but a faint, almost imperceptible barrier stood between them.
A flicker of surprise crossed Xiao Cheng's eyes.
He took a sip of red wine. "Shun... Third Brother, did Jiang Chiyan tell you?"
Jiang Shun shook his head. "Intuition."
"You two probably haven't made your relationship official yet."
"Jiang Chiyan confessed to you, but you didn't say yes. Or rather, you don't want to date."
"May I ask why?"
Jiang Shun hit the nail on the head.
His eyes were sharper than a viper's.
Xiao Cheng stopped hiding it. "It's not that I don't want to. I'm afraid."
"Afraid?"
"Yes. Afraid of hurting him," Xiao Cheng said.
Afraid that once they made their relationship official, he would no longer be able to suppress the desire for control and possession deep inside him.
That he would be unable to stop himself from imprisoning Jiang Chiyan.
Locking him away somewhere with no one else but him.
For the rest of their lives.
Together until their hair turned white.
So...
Until he cured his inner demons.
He would not say yes to Jiang Chiyan.
Catching the dejection in Xiao Cheng's eyes, Jiang Shun did not press him.
Everyone had a few things they did not want to talk about.
Jiang Shun touched the ring on his ring finger.
Two letters were engraved on the outside of the band: YX.
The Chinese characters engraved inside read: Yun Xing.
Seeing what Jiang Shun was doing, Xiao Cheng paused. "That ring..."
Jiang Shun looked up. "What about it?"
Xiao Cheng shook his head. "My studio signed an actress two years ago. She seems to have a similar one. Maybe I'm remembering wrong."
Jiang Shun's breath caught, and he abruptly seized Xiao Cheng's wrist. "Two years ago... What's her name?"
Xiao Cheng said, "Shen Yunxing."
Jiang Shun, usually so composed and reserved, staggered.
He lost his usual reason and calm.
Yun Xing... Shen Yunxing...
With trembling fingers, Jiang Shun typed Shen Yunxing into Baidu's search bar.
Search-
The photo on Baidu Encyclopedia showed a completely unfamiliar face.
In that instant.
Jiang Shun could not tell whether he felt disappointed or relieved.
Just then, the phone in Xiao Cheng's pocket rang.
It was the phone Jiang Chiyan had set a five-minute countdown on.
The five minutes were up.
Jiang Shun waved weakly at him. "Go have fun with Chiyan."
Xiao Cheng nodded.
He pulled the phone out of his pocket and swiped to turn off the alarm.
Jiang Chiyan's spare phone had no lock-screen passcode.
Click-
The phone unlocked.
The screen happened to be on WeChat.
Jiang Chiyan's alternate WeChat account had no friends at all, but it had a very long display name.
ID: Every Moment I write for you is a confession of love.
The words "confession of love" stirred something in Xiao Cheng's eyes.
His DNA stirred too.
As though possessed, he did the most ill-mannered thing he had ever done in his life.
Without Jiang Chiyan's permission.
He opened that alternate account's Moments.
Jiang Chiyan's main account barely had any Moments posts in an entire year, and all of them were promotional posts for his law firm.
But this alternate account had plenty of posts.
[Even if we haven't made things official, I'm taking Xiao Cheng to meet my third brother. I have to tell them he's the one I want to provide for. I'm working hard to win him over.]
[My heart aches for him.]
[I regret joining Xiao Cheng's solo-fan group. I wonder if he minds sleeping with a fan.]
[It was Xiao Cheng's first kiss too!!!!!!!]
[Xiao Cheng, if you don't want to date, we can go straight to getting married.]
[I'm sincere... I want to treat you well.]
[I dreamed you locked me up and held me captive. It was pretty exciting. Want to try a little dark room with me?]
[When I'm drunk, even my dreams are full of you.]
[Xiao Cheng, I'm pretty envious of those actresses who promote themselves as a couple with you.]
[I want to request Wang Xi's "Coward" and sing it to you.]
[I'm depressed. You're my medicine.]
[Come back.]
[Xiao Cheng, I can't make you stay.]
Xiao Cheng read from top to bottom.
So the timeline ran backward.
2015.10-2021.9
Six whole years.
Their love was a journey toward each other.
He wanted to imprison Jiang Chiyan and do this and that to him.
Jiang Chiyan said he was willing to be imprisoned by him, his love deep and without regret.
Xiao Cheng lowered his eyes and suddenly smiled.
His disgust and hatred toward that inner demon of his...
Faded away.
The phone suddenly rang, startling him.
It was Jiang Chiyan calling.
Xiao Cheng answered and heard Jiang Chiyan's slightly displeased voice. "Where are you?"
"You're already three minutes and twenty-eight seconds late."
"Mr. Xiao, you're not punctual."
Xiao Cheng asked in return, "Where are you?"
Jiang Chiyan froze, then sent Xiao Cheng his location on WeChat.
Xiao Cheng glanced at the WeChat location and told Jiang Chiyan, "There's a five-star hotel five hundred meters northeast of you. Go to that hotel."
Jiang Chiyan was utterly baffled.
But, following the principle of listening to his wife.
He went anyway.
When Jiang Chiyan arrived, he spotted Xiao Cheng in the hotel lobby at once.
Xiao Cheng had his face thoroughly covered and was saying something to the receptionist.
Jiang Chiyan approached, a little puzzled, and heard Xiao Cheng's voice.
"I'd like a room."
"The most expensive one. Yes, the presidential suite."
"Prepare some roses, along with red wine and Western food. No violinist."
"Is the bathtub big enough? The kind that fits two people."