Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Ling Sheng knew Jiang Chen was a little angry when he came to find him. But Jiang Chen said they should go find Wu Xia together, as there were some things he wanted to confirm with Wu Xia before dealing with the matter. Ling Sheng couldn’t blame him. Jiang Chen was afraid of passing his cold to Ling Sheng and didn’t dare to kiss him, so he rubbed his nose against his face.

They arrived just as the takeout they had ordered arrived. Ling Sheng guessed correctly; Wu Xia had only eaten a bowl of plain noodles for dinner. So, he pulled him to eat with them again.

“Wang Zhiqi has committed too many offenses: gambling, extortion, and the amount involved is as high as two hundred thousand. If you really sue him, it will definitely be more than three years, but the other party is a gambler, and you probably won’t be able to get your money back.”

Speaking of his profession, Jiang Chen’s gaze became serious, with a maturity that didn’t belong to his age. He analyzed the current advantages and disadvantages. Ling Sheng sat quietly on the side listening, occasionally asking a question or two. Ling Sheng usually had to deal with the company’s legal department and knew a thing or two about these matters. During their discussion, Wu Xia basically couldn’t interject, and some of it he didn’t even understand.

“The most important thing is what outcome you want,” Jiang Chen said, looking at Wu Xia.

Wu Xia didn’t know much else; he just wanted to live a peaceful life: “I just want him to stop coming to me. I don’t have any money to give him.”

“Don’t you want to get back the money you gave him before?” Jiang Chen asked him.

The light in Wu Xia’s eyes dimmed. He sat there with drooping shoulders, his gaze also lowered: “Didn’t you say I can’t get it back? If I can’t get it back, as long as he doesn’t harass me anymore, doesn’t let the videos spread, doesn’t let these things get out, I’ll just consider the money as the price I paid.”

He just wanted to settle the matter peacefully. This period of time was the darkest time of his life. He was constantly shrouded in this dark cloud, with thunder rumbling in his ears day and night, making it almost impossible for him to get a good night’s sleep.

The thought of those videos being released, and everyone seeing his shameful state, made him feel suffocated, even wanting to die.

He could slowly earn the money back, slowly repay it. He didn’t have much material desire; he just wanted a peaceful life.

“Are you sure he recorded videos?” Jiang Chen asked him, “Then why didn’t he say it at the beginning, and only mentioned it later when he was pressuring you?”

Wu Xia nodded, saying embarrassedly: “He showed me… a little bit.”

Jiang Chen couldn’t help but ask: “Why did you allow him to record those videos at the time?”

Wu Xia hurriedly shook his head, saying frantically: “He secretly filmed them. I didn’t know at all.”

Jiang Chen looked at him for a while before saying: “Then I understand. I’ll think about it again. Did he contact you today?”

Wu Xia hurriedly took out his phone. Wang Zhiqi had sent him a message on WeChat, asking him why he wasn’t home. If he wanted to hide, he should think about the consequences. Wu Xia said he was going back to his hometown to borrow money. Wang Zhiqi said he would only give him a week to come up with thirty thousand, otherwise, he would send the videos to all the owner groups in the surrounding communities.

This was what Wu Xia feared the most. He replied with three “okay”s.

Looking so humble.

Jiang Chen originally wanted to remind him, but after a second thought, he decided against it. This way, it wouldn’t expose their plan.

After chatting for a while, Jiang Chen and Ling Sheng prepared to go back. Before leaving, Wu Xia called out to Ling Sheng again. He was very embarrassed, pinching his sleeves, and asked in a low voice: “Brother Sheng, can I… cook here? Ordering takeout is too expensive. I want to buy a pot, buy some noodles or something. I’ll clean everything up and won’t dirty your kitchen!”

He was now in debt for over ten thousand. He had never owed anyone even ten yuan since he was a child. He had taken a week’s leave from the pet store, and he might have to live here for a month after that. He wanted to save as much money as possible.

Ling Sheng had never cooked before, and there wasn’t even a pot in the kitchen, but he couldn’t go back to his place. Wang Zhiqi might be waiting for him there at any time. Ling Sheng thought for a while and said: “I need to go to the company to work overtime tomorrow. I’ll pick you up the day after tomorrow, and we’ll go shopping together. Anyway, I’ll need them later too.”

Wu Xia nodded hurriedly, looking at Ling Sheng gratefully, thanking him repeatedly.

When the two returned to Jiang Chen’s place, it was already 10:30. Ling Sheng gave Jiang Chen his medicine as soon as they entered, poured him warm water, and Jiang Chen obediently took the medicine.

He also gave him the thermometer. Although Jiang Chen felt that he no longer had a fever, he still took it and put it in his clothes.

“Actually, there’s something I didn’t say to him just now,” Jiang Chen said, hugging Ling Sheng and resting his head on his shoulder: “If it’s extortion, Wang Zhiqi could be sentenced to more than three years based on the amount he swindled from Wu Xia. But he has Wu Xia’s videos in his hand. If they break up, he might just release the videos. Even if you add a charge of spreading pornography, it won’t add much to his sentence, and Wu Xia seems to be more afraid of that.”

Wang Zhiqi was easy to deal with; extortion and gambling were enough to make him suffer, but the problem was that he had that video in his hand, and Wu Xia was more afraid of the video being leaked than whether Wang Zhiqi could be punished or the money could be recovered.

You can’t expect a gambler who raises funds through extortion to have much morality or conscience.

If the money couldn’t be recovered and he lost all his dignity, Wu Xia would probably become withdrawn, given his personality.

Ling Sheng also thought of this. Wu Xia was a very timid person. When he was with him, he was only twenty-three, very naive. He once said that if it weren’t for him, he might never have had a relationship, and he would never marry a girl to deceive her.

Jiang Chen took out his thermometer, raised his hand to look at it under the light. Ling Sheng came back to his senses and took it from his hand.

The temperature had returned to normal. Ling Sheng reached out to take the thermometer box on the coffee table, but Jiang Chen’s arm wrapped around him, preventing him from moving.

“Hmm?” Ling Sheng turned his head to look at him.

Although Jiang Chen was unwilling, he still asked him: “Were you thinking about Wu Xia just now?”

Ling Sheng smiled: “Yes, didn’t you bring it up first?”

Jiang Chen wanted to kiss him, but he was afraid of passing on his cold to him, so he could only hug him and prevent him from moving.

Ling Sheng kissed his forehead, looking at his childish appearance now, and thinking about his calm and professional aura in front of Wu Xia just now, he seemed to be able to see Jiang Chen three years from now, five years from now.

Professional, calm, clear logic, sharp thinking. That Jiang Chen would definitely be more charming than he is now. Just thinking about it, he felt a surge of heat in his chest.

He probably didn’t know that during his speech, he had looked at him and been lost in thought several times.

Jiang Chen hugged him, feeling very unbalanced. A beautiful cohabitation life had begun, but he couldn’t even kiss him because of his cold. What was going on?

“The fever is gone, but the cold hasn’t completely healed. Go to sleep first,” Ling Sheng coaxed him.

Jiang Chen rubbed against him unhappily, and finally let go of him, thinking that he had to go to the company tomorrow morning.

Early Sunday morning, the two went out to eat something and then went to Ling Sheng’s place to pick up Wu Xia.

Wu Xia had gotten up early and was cleaning. He was a little surprised to see them coming so early. Ling Sheng brought him breakfast. Wu Xia hadn’t eaten breakfast, as expected, and finished it very gratefully. Then, he wouldn’t let them lift a finger, cleaning up the rest of the mess himself. They ate something downstairs at noon, and then the group drove to the supermarket.

Wu Xia usually preferred to go to the farmer’s market, where the vegetables were fresh and cheap. He rarely went to the supermarket. But Ling Sheng brought him directly to the supermarket. Since there wasn’t even a rice cooker at home, there were many things they needed to buy today.

Jiang Chen didn’t understand these things. He picked the brands that his family usually used. His family had good upbringing and didn’t have the habit of wasting, but due to their family background, they paid more attention to quality, so the things he picked weren’t cheap. Wu Xia, on the other hand, preferred affordable things. The two of them picked up a pot at the same time and looked at Ling Sheng to let him choose. In the end, Ling Sheng chose the one in Jiang Chen’s hand.

“We use this everyday, and it touches our mouth. It’s better to choose something of better quality,” Ling Sheng comforted Wu Xia: “You’re better at picking vegetables, you can pick them later.”

Jiang Chen enjoyed Ling Sheng showing favoritism towards him in front of Wu Xia, so he didn’t argue about picking vegetables.

“We’ll eat dinner together, we can make a few more dishes,” Ling Sheng saw that Wu Xia had only picked some vegetables, and pushed another shopping cart over: “Let’s go over there and take a look, pick some beef.”

Jiang Chen liked to eat beef, so he dragged Ling Sheng over to look at the beef.

In the end, they also got prawns, a chicken, and some pork.

“This is too much, the three of us can’t finish it,” Jiang Chen said, watching Ling Sheng put things into the shopping cart. Although he didn’t care about the price, he didn’t have the habit of wasting.

Ling Sheng glanced at Wu Xia, who was weighing the vegetables over there: “Given Xia’s current situation, he wouldn’t usually be willing to buy so much. Putting more in the refrigerator will allow him to cook and eat.”

Ling Sheng’s most considerate trait was that he always took care of other people’s feelings. If he directly gave Wu Xia money, he wouldn’t want it. If he said he was buying it for him, he would also refuse. But buying more and putting it in the refrigerator would allow him to eat it because he wouldn’t want to waste it.

This consideration would make anyone feel comfortable, but putting it on an ex-boyfriend, the current boyfriend would definitely not feel comfortable.

Jiang Chen’s joyful mood suddenly fell back down, and he didn’t even like the chicken in the shopping cart anymore.

It wasn’t appropriate to make any intimate gestures in public. Ling Sheng thought for a moment and said: “I feel guilty towards Wu Xia, and I also treat him as a friend. He’s encountering difficulties now, so I definitely won’t stand idly by, but it’s limited to that.”

Of course, Jiang Chen knew. Who wouldn’t want to monopolize all of their lover’s favor?

Wu Xia bought the groceries and pushed the cart over. As soon as Wu Xia saw the things in their cart, he said they had bought too much. Ling Sheng only said that he might often come back to eat in the future, so they should put them in the refrigerator first.

Wu Xia was even happier when he heard that he would come back often.

After going back, it was only four o’clock, and Wu Xia had already started preparing. He first sorted all the things and put them into the kitchen and refrigerator, then cleaned the chicken and put it into the casserole to simmer chicken soup. While the chicken soup was simmering, he took care of the other ingredients, slicing and marinating the meat, and picking and washing all the vegetables, ready to be cooked.

The two of them seemed more like guests in this house.

Jiang Chen looked at his busy figure, as virtuous as a housewife. Thinking that Ling Sheng and Wu Xia had also lived together like a married couple, the sourness in his heart kept bubbling up, and he ran to the kitchen to help.