That Little Brat Was Still Too Green to Take Me On

The opportunity finally came on the afternoon of the fourth day.

Shen Wangjing was still out in the fields. Jiang Xun, probably bored out of his mind, wandered alone to the little shop at the village entrance.

He fished a crumpled small-denomination bill he had wheedled out of the production crew from his pocket, bought a soda, and leaned beneath the old locust tree, tipping his head back to drink.

His Adam's apple bobbed, his lips reddened a little from the cold soda, and sunlight filtered through the leaves onto his slightly narrowed eyes.

Zhao Pengfei hid behind a pile of firewood beside the shop, clenching his fists until his knuckles cracked.

For the past three days, he had cursed Jiang Xun even in his dreams. Now his enemy stood barely ten paces away, alone and completely unguarded. He could finally-

Jiang Xun finished his soda, tossed the empty bottle into the recycling bin, wiped the corner of his mouth, and stretched lazily.

The hem of his T-shirt rode up, exposing a sliver of waist so pale it reflected the light, along with a bruise that had yet to fade.

Zhao Pengfei's gaze stuck to that strip of waist, and his mind buzzed.

He spun around, slamming his back against the woodpile, his heart pounding.

"Who's there?" Jiang Xun tilted his head and glanced over.

Zhao Pengfei held his breath, curling up against the woodpile, his heart racing as though it would leap out of his throat.

Jiang Xun waited a moment. Hearing nothing, he slipped his hands into his pockets and ambled back.

Only after that retreating figure rounded the bend in the dirt road did Zhao Pengfei dare gulp down air.

He looked down at his hands, which were still trembling.

Fuck, had he lost his mind? That little bastard was a guy!

Capital City, the Jiang family villa.

By his third day with the Jiang family, Shen Yuxing had learned everyone's routine inside out.

Liu Wanying went out for beauty treatments at nine every morning and returned at eleven. From two to four every afternoon, she napped in her bedroom without fail.

Jiang Yu generally stayed in bed all morning, then spent the afternoon fooling around in the gaming room with his disreputable friends until dinner.

Jiang Yanchu's schedule was the most regular. He left at seven in the morning for school or his internship at the family company, returning at seven or eight in the evening, occasionally later.

Shen Yuxing committed all this information to memory, calculating every window of time precisely.

After dinner that day, instead of going straight to the study as he had the previous few days, Jiang Yanchu sat on the living room sofa scrolling through his phone, his brows tightly furrowed.

On the screen was his chat with Jiang Xun. He had sent a long string of messages, but there were no replies, not even a punctuation mark.

He exited the chat and opened a preview clip released by the production team of Metamorphosis.

The barrage of on-screen comments overwhelmingly called Jiang Xun a violent, ill-mannered brute, with the occasional "I feel so bad for the stepmom" or "Poor Jiang Yu" floating past.

Jiang Yanchu slammed his phone facedown onto the sofa's armrest.

Shen Yuxing approached the living room carrying a glass of warm water and gently set it on the coffee table.

"Brother Yanchu," he said, twisting his hands in front of his shirt hem. "Have some water."

Without even looking up, Jiang Yanchu gave a perfunctory hum.

Shen Yuxing stood there for a moment, scuffed his toe against the floor, and cautiously added, "Brother Yanchu, are you... upset?"

"It's nothing." Jiang Yanchu picked up the glass and took a sip, his gaze never leaving his phone screen. "Go get some rest."

Shen Yuxing's lips moved, but he swallowed the words he had rehearsed several times, already on the tip of his tongue.

He nodded and turned upstairs, his footsteps light. At the turn in the staircase, he glanced back-

Jiang Yanchu's brows were drawn even tighter than before. He had picked up his phone again, his finger swiping across the screen fast and hard.

Jiang Yanchu watched those preview clips over and over several times before finally getting up and heading upstairs, his expression cold.

Liu Wanying was sitting at her bedroom vanity, removing her earrings. Seeing Jiang Yanchu push the door open in the mirror, she asked with a smile, "Yan Chu, why are you still awake?"

"Have you seen how Jiang Xun is doing over there?" Jiang Yanchu remained in the doorway, gripping his phone tightly.

Liu Wanying did not pause for an instant as she removed her other earring. "The director called me and said Xiao Xun was adjusting quite well. He's behaving much better than he does at home. See? Sending him to the countryside to endure a little hardship does help."

"Helps?" Jiang Yanchu turned his phone around, its screen frozen on that bowl of vegetable porridge so thin you could see the bottom.

"Just three bowls of watery porridge for a meal, and that mud-brick house isn't even as big as our storage room. He's still growing at his age-"

"Yan Chu." Liu Wanying placed her earrings in her jewelry box and interrupted him with a smile. "Resources are limited in the countryside. This is exactly the sort of family the production team chose. Your brother grew up in an orphanage. What hardship hasn't he endured? This is nothing to him."

"I'm going to Shiban Village tomorrow."

"No." Liu Wanying's tone remained gentle, but the word landed firmly and precisely, as though she had prepared the answer long ago.

"Why not? My own brother was sent to a place like that. What's wrong with going to see him?"

"The show has its rules." Liu Wanying rose, walked over to him, and reached up to straighten his collar.

"Family members aren't allowed to visit during filming. It's in the contract. If you go, you'll disrupt filming, and that won't be good for Jiang Xun either."

Jiang Yanchu stepped back. "Then bring him home."

"Thirty days. Not a day less." Liu Wanying withdrew her hand, her smile fading a little. "Your father signed it. Your father agreed to this arrangement. If you object, wait until he gets back."

Jiang Yanchu's jaw tightened.

His father was away on business in Germany, with no definite return date. By the time he came back, it would be far too late.

"Then I'll contact the production team myself."

"Yan Chu." Liu Wanying's voice finally grew stern. "Do you think I'm deliberately trying to hurt Jiang Xun because I'm his stepmother?"

"I admit I don't like that child." She took a deep breath, her eyes reddening just the right amount.

"You saw for yourself what a mess he made of this family after he came back. But whatever else he is, he's a child of the Jiang family. No matter how much I dislike him, I wouldn't hurt him. Sending him on the show was meant to correct those bad habits of his. If you insist on thinking I have malicious intentions, there's nothing more I can say."

Only then did Jiang Yanchu belatedly realize something: in this house, as long as Jiang Changping and Jiang Huaixiao were absent, Liu Wanying had the final say.

He was a student who had not even graduated. Against this woman, he could barely make a ripple.

With nothing left to say, Jiang Yanchu turned and left.

As soon as he was far enough away, Liu Wanying's gentle, virtuous mask shattered completely.

She reclined on the chaise longue, picked up a glass of red wine with one hand, and called her close friend with the other.

"Exactly. I finally got that little brat out of here. With him in this house, I couldn't even sleep soundly."

Her friend's laughter came through the phone. "How are you going to explain it to Changping? When he comes home and finds out you sent his youngest son away, won't he turn on you?"

"Why would he? I'm doing this for his son's own good. Some experience in the countryside, a little hardship, learning some manners-who wouldn't say I'm a magnanimous stepmother?"

Liu Wanying sipped her wine, the curve at the corner of her eye like a sharp scimitar.

"Besides, I have an old acquaintance on the production team. I expect he'll be trending for all the wrong reasons in another couple of days. Once public opinion takes off and the whole internet knows the Jiang family brought home a violent brute-even if Changping feels sorry for him, will he dare speak up for him?"

"Wanying, you really are something."

"That little brat is still too green to take me on." Liu Wanying set her wineglass on the bedside table and yawned elegantly.

"I'm hanging up. I need my beauty sleep. There's a country boy staying here now, too. The moment I leave my bedroom, there are cameras everywhere, and I still have to deal with him in the evening. It's exhausting."

That old acquaintance on the production team had sent her a message just that afternoon.

[It's done.]

Liu Wanying gently placed her phone on the bedside table and closed her eyes amid the fragrance filling the room. The smile on her lips lingered for a long time.