Hearing that, Jiang Yun pressed his brow in exasperation. "Honey, if I hadn't taken you off the market back then, with your emotional intelligence... you'd have stayed single."
Xiang Xinlan reached out to pinch Jiang Yun's waist. "You'd have stayed single! If you hadn't pestered me nonstop and played all those coy little games, would I have turned down the campus heartthrob to be with you?"
Jiang Yun was quite calculating. He replied, "That campus heartthrob who pursued you apparently went to prison for stealing the year before last. He's selling pork head meat at the market now, isn't he?"
Xiang Xinlan rolled her eyes, then remembered something and asked, "That boy named Xiao Cheng-you met him today. What did you think?"
Jiang Yun's expression instantly darkened. "My son, the Jiang Family's heir-Jiang Yuan's marriage... isn't something he can recklessly do whatever he likes with!!"
Xiang Xinlan asked, "Have you heard of Gunpowder Smoke CP?"
"Gunpowder Smoke?"
Xiang Xinlan nodded and opened Weibo to show Jiang Yun. "Gunpowder Smoke CP is Jiang Yuan and that Xiao Cheng. They've already recklessly done whatever they liked plenty of times."
Jiang Yun took the phone, frowned after reading, and asked Xiang Xinlan, "And what kind of nonsense is this Weibo username of yours?"
Xiang Xinlan realized what he meant, and a flicker of embarrassment crossed her face.
Her Weibo username was...
-[Mommy is locking Gunpowder Smoke CP together for good]
Xiang Xinlan didn't dare tell Jiang Yun.
She had also used Jiang Yun's phone number to register an alternate Weibo account to boost Gunpowder Smoke CP's rankings.
The alternate account's Weibo username was...
-[Daddy is locking Gunpowder Smoke CP together for good]
Xiang Xinlan coughed. Afraid Jiang Yun would ask more questions, she hurriedly changed the subject. "When you called Jiang Yuan just now, what did he say over the phone?"
Jiang Yun gritted his teeth. "Xiao Cheng answered. He called your son... hubby."
After Jiang Yun's call ended.
Xiao Cheng clung groggily to Jiang Chiyan like an octopus, and couldn't be pried off.
Jiang Chiyan finally managed to park outside his private villa.
When it was time to get out...
Xiao Cheng dug his fingertips tightly into the seat belt buckle. "I don't want to get out."
Jiang Chiyan touched the bite marks on his neck, quickly healed them with his healing ability, then asked Xiao Cheng, "Why won't you get out?"
Xiao Cheng's eyes were dazed as he said tearfully, "Vampires can't go into sunlight. They'll die in the light!"
Jiang Chiyan said nothing. He picked up the jacket on the car seat and draped it over Xiao Cheng's head.
"Waaah-" Xiao Cheng struggled.
Jiang Chiyan hauled Xiao Cheng out of the car, then bent down, hoisted him over his shoulder, and carried him all the way into the villa.
Jiang Chiyan tossed Xiao Cheng onto the couch.
Their wrists were still handcuffed together. The powerful momentum pulled Jiang Chiyan off balance, and he nearly fell onto the couch.
Jiang Chiyan pinched Xiao Cheng's cheek. "Where's the key to the handcuffs?"
Xiao Cheng blinked blankly, then shook his head and grinned, revealing eight teeth. "There's no key."
Jiang Chiyan had quite a headache.
After drinking blood, Xiao Cheng wasn't quite right in the head.
Afraid the metal grooves inside the handcuffs were too sharp and would chafe Xiao Cheng's wrist, he took Xiao Cheng's hand and interlaced their fingers. "Come with me."
Jiang Chiyan went to the kitchen and cooked a pot of dried noodles. He was so hungry that he simply added a little salt, without even putting in any greens or a poached egg.
Once the noodles were ready, Jiang Chiyan asked Xiao Cheng, "Want some?"
Xiao Cheng brought his face close to the pot, sniffed, and shook his head. "The noodles don't smell as good as you, or taste as good as you."
Jiang Chiyan didn't want to talk to him. With his right wrist cuffed, he held the chopsticks in his left hand and ate four bowls of noodles in one go.
Jiang Chiyan's movements with the chopsticks in his left hand were smooth and graceful, without the slightest awkwardness.
After eating, he hadn't even had time to wash the dishes before Xiao Cheng dragged him into the bedroom.
Pain in his wrist woke Xiao Cheng.
His wrist had been cuffed to Jiang Chiyan's for several hours without being released, leaving it painfully numb.
Xiao Cheng slowly opened his eyes and found himself held possessively in Jiang Chiyan's arms.
Jiang Chiyan's warm breath brushed his ear, heating even the base of Xiao Cheng's ear pink.
Jiang Chiyan was sleeping deeply and hadn't woken yet.
Xiao Cheng hurriedly lifted the blanket covering them and checked. Their shirts and trousers were still perfectly in place.
Xiao Cheng breathed a sigh of relief.
Something complicated flashed in his eyes; whether it was disappointment or something else was unclear.
As he found the key and unlocked the handcuffs...
Jiang Chiyan woke, his pitch-black eyes fixed straight on him.
Xiao Cheng shrank back and asked a little awkwardly, "What are you doing?"
Jiang Chiyan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "What am I doing?"
"Mr. Xiao, who was pulling on my belt last night and refusing to let go?"
"..."
"Mr. Xiao, and who was squeezing my neck last night, saying it felt nice and that he wanted to keep me hidden away for himself forever?"
Jiang Chiyan pointed to the finger marks on his neck.
Last night, Xiao Cheng had reached out and gripped Jiang Chiyan's neck, slowly tightening his five fingers.
He had controlled his strength very well.
It had left Jiang Chiyan feeling slightly oxygen-deprived without actually hurting him.
After hearing Jiang Chiyan's words...
Xiao Cheng was stunned.
He swallowed, pointing at Jiang Chiyan and then at himself. "Last night, I..."
Jiang Chiyan nodded. "Best Actor Xiao, you touched everywhere you should and shouldn't have. Shouldn't you let me take responsibility for you?"
Xiao Cheng's mind went blank. Led along by Jiang Chiyan, he nodded instinctively.
The corners of Jiang Chiyan's lips slowly lifted.
But Xiao Cheng suddenly thought of something and said rather stiffly, "You don't need to take responsibility."
The smile faded from Jiang Chiyan's lips, and his beautiful, alluring foxlike eyes narrowed. "What did you say? I don't need to take responsibility? Then who do you want to take responsibility?"
Xiao Cheng said nothing.
Jiang Yun's words were like a thorn piercing the most vulnerable part of Xiao Cheng's heart.
-[Jiang Yuan has many friends, but... friends from different social levels certainly move in different circles.]
-[Perhaps that's what being well-matched in family background means.]
Xiao Cheng's expression shifted slightly.
Six years ago, when eighteen-year-old Xiao Cheng and nineteen-year-old Jiang Chiyan were together...
Jiang Yun had sent his secretary to deliver a message to Xiao Cheng.
Back then, what Jiang Yun had told Xiao Cheng was...
-[Jiang Yuan won't be with a man.]
-[If you don't know when to back off, I'll have no choice but to destroy his future, clip his wings, and force him to come crawling back to inherit the family business.]
-[Think carefully about whether you want to keep being with him.]
So six years ago, Xiao Cheng had broken up with Jiang Chiyan.
Thinking about those past events, Xiao Cheng was somewhat dazed.
A powerful force on his chin made him lift his head and look at Jiang Chiyan's handsome face looming close in his vision.
Jiang Chiyan demanded, stressing each word, "Did someone say something to you?"
Xiao Cheng moved his lips but said nothing.
He couldn't bring himself to talk about an elder behind his back or tell tales.
Jiang Chiyan's gaze darkened. He pulled his phone from his pocket and was about to make a call.
Xiao Cheng panicked. "What are you going to do?"
Jiang Chiyan radiated hostility as he answered without looking up, "Find out which fool with a death wish has been running his mouth in front of you."
A death wish...
Xiao Cheng coughed. "Well, don't say that... Be polite. A little more polite."
That's your fucking father, too.
Jiang Chiyan looked up. Hearing Xiao Cheng defend someone else, he was so angry that he gave a cold laugh. "Once I find out, I'll break his legs, then buy him a gold-trimmed wheelchair. Is that polite enough?"
Seeing Jiang Chiyan about to call his subordinate, Xiao Cheng hurriedly grabbed his cuff. "No one's been running their mouth. I went to see Uncle Jiang yesterday..."