Chapter 58

Chapter 58

Chapter 58

Jiang Chen had been staying at Ling Sheng’s place recently. During the day, when Ling Sheng went to work, he would either find Fang Xing or ask Xie Kun to help walk the dog. In the evenings, he himself would get “walked.”

Ling Sheng asked him if he wanted to go back home for a few days. Jiang Chen knew he should, but he had reverted to how he felt when he first met Ling Sheng, unable to control himself.

His brother smelled so good, he couldn’t help but want to stick to him and never leave.

Ling Sheng said he was making him abstain, but he couldn’t resist Jiang Chen’s teasing and seduction either. Often, they would just be kissing in bed, and then he would start using his hands himself. Jiang Chen had also figured out the trick: he would only say he wanted to kiss, without specifying where, until Ling Sheng could only gasp weakly, watching Jiang Chen raise his hips, and then they would naturally become entangled again.

That feeling was magical and wonderful.

It wasn’t just a physical union, but also a sense of security and satisfaction he had never experienced before.

It wasn’t until the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month that Jiang’s mother called and asked him when he was planning to come home. Jiang Chen knew he couldn’t delay it any longer. After having dinner with Ling Sheng that evening, he reluctantly went home.

Eternity had a holiday on the evening of the twenty-eighth. On the twenty-ninth, Ling Sheng drove back to his hometown. His home was also in Jiang City, just in another district. His mother, who often traveled abroad, had finally returned. They didn’t contact each other often. Ling’s mother was a very free-spirited person. Since divorcing her previous husband, she hadn’t remarried. After Ling Sheng’s career became stable, she also quit her job. While working, she also did some small financial investments, had some savings of her own, and usually liked to travel around.

When Ling Sheng returned home, Jiang’s mother had already cleaned the house. The house was given by the government after the reconstruction of the old city, an apartment of about one hundred square meters, with a bit of money as compensation. Ling Sheng didn’t want any of it and left it all to Ling’s mother.

When Ling’s mother saw him return, she looked at his face, full of smiles, for a while and said, “It seems like there’s good news this year.”

Ling Sheng smiled and didn’t deny it.

Ling’s mother hardly interfered with her son’s private affairs. When Ling Sheng knelt in front of her and came out to her, she was silent for a long time and only said, “Nothing else matters. You just need to be responsible for your own choices.”

Over the years, she had never seen Ling Sheng bring anyone home, nor had she heard him mention dating. At first, she was a little anxious, but later she thought that she had been single for almost her entire life, so she took a more indifferent view on this.

On New Year’s Eve, Ling Sheng and Ling’s mother cooked together. Although there were only two of them, they still made ten dishes, but the portions were consciously reduced. After all the dishes were on the table, Ling Sheng picked up his phone and took a picture to send to Jiang Chen.

Ling’s mother watched his actions and said with a smile while setting out the bowls and chopsticks, “Sending it to your boyfriend?”

The feeling of the term “boyfriend” coming from his own mother’s mouth was completely different from hearing it from others. Ling Sheng was rarely embarrassed, but he nodded generously: “Yeah, he likes me sending him messages.”

“So clingy?”

Ling Sheng’s phone had been almost constantly in his hand these days. In the past, during the New Year, he hardly looked at it and didn’t like sending group New Year’s greetings. At most, he would chat with Coco a few times, and other New Year’s messages would be replied to in the afternoon of the first day of the new year.

Jiang Chen was also constantly looking at his phone. When he saw the picture Ling Sheng sent, he replied with an emoji of a big dog eating a meat bone: 【I want to eat it next time too.】

Ling Sheng looked at the drooling big dog gnawing on a bone on the screen, his eyes filled with smiles, and replied: 【I’ll take you home for New Year’s next year.】

Jiang Chen then sent several emojis of a big dog wagging its tail in a row.

In the evening, Jiang Chen sent him a short video.

It was him and Jiang Jian setting off fireworks with their little nephew. They were setting up various fireworks in a designated area. The sparks from the three waterfall fireworks in the front were almost two meters high, and starlight-like sparks flew out and fell like flowing water. There was cheers all around. After the waterfall fireworks were finished, a tall figure darted over. Ling Sheng immediately recognized that it was Jiang Chen.

He was wrapped in a down jacket, wearing a beanie, squatting there and lighting a string of “little bees.” They pulled out the fuses and gathered them together, lighting them together. As the sparks ignited, he immediately turned back, his smile bright and enthusiastic. He walked to the camera, took the phone, and aimed it at the fireworks in front. The four little bees spun together, emitting a vortex-like bright spark on the ground.

Then the camera shook for a moment, and then the camera turned, Jiang Chen’s enlarged face appeared in the lens, next to a milky, dazed little toddler. Jiang Chen held the phone to the camera and muttered to himself: “Mom and Dad have gone to set off fireworks, and Youyou can only play with his uncle, poor Youbao.”

Adults would unconsciously change their tone when talking to children, sounding like they were acting cute. He seemed to realize it himself after speaking, so he smiled, and then looked at the camera, very seriously and happily saying: “Baby, Happy New Year.”

“Who are you calling baby!”

It seemed to be Jiang Jian’s voice.

Jiang Chen glanced at the camera and said with a smile: “Of course it’s Youbao, who else could it be.”

The video ended here. Ling Sheng clicked play again, repeatedly watching Jiang Chen’s face appear in the lens, hearing Ling’s mother calling him before exiting the playback. After thinking for a moment, he put his hand on the phone again, bringing it close, and said gently: “Baby, Happy New Year.”

Ling’s mother called him to the sofa. The Spring Festival Gala was on TV. Ling’s mother patted the seat next to her, asking him to sit down, so Ling Sheng sat down.

Although Ling’s mother didn’t interfere in his private affairs, how could she not ask about her son’s lifelong happiness, regardless of whether it was with a man or a woman. After Ling Sheng sat down, Ling’s mother looked at him with a smile, without saying anything.

Ling Sheng smiled and said: “He’s younger than me, still in school, a student at H University, and will be starting graduate school next year. We’ve been dating for almost half a year, and our relationship is very stable.”

“Still in school?” Ling’s mother frowned slightly. She really didn’t expect her son to find someone so young.

Ling Sheng was very calm: “Yeah, he has a very calm personality, and I like him very much too.”

Ling Sheng had always been very reassuring these years. Ling’s mother didn’t doubt his taste, but asked: “Does his family know about you two?”

Ling Sheng told the truth: “Not yet. We plan to come out to his parents after the New Year, so the elders can have a good New Year first.”

Ling Sheng’s family only had him and his mother. They didn’t have the custom of staying up all night on New Year’s Eve. After returning to his room and looking at his phone, Jiang Chen had already replied to him with a series of big dog emojis, saying he was staying up all night with his family.

Since he was with his family, Ling Sheng didn’t send him any more messages.

Over there, Jiang Chen couldn’t stop smiling after hearing the words “Baby, Happy New Year.” Jiang Jian brought his wife and children back, and the family celebrated the New Year together. Jiang Chen took his phone and sent a series of emojis, saying he was staying up all night with his family.

Jiang Jian looked at his brother smiling like that, thoughtfully.

He had asked someone to investigate before, because it wasn’t a big deal, he was just curious, so he simply checked to see if he had been in contact with any women recently. He didn’t find anything. Jiang Chen didn’t interact much with He Xiaoyun, and there wasn’t much contact other than that walk on campus, and the two didn’t have any mutual friends, so he didn’t ask any more questions, but his recent behavior was indeed abnormal.

First, he couldn’t be found at all during the holiday. When he came home, he was always on his phone, smiling foolishly, with a set of big dog acting cute emojis. Did he think his brother was blind, unable to see through all this?

He understood his brother. A straight steel man, acting cute would never appear on him.

It looked like he was in love, but he didn’t have any evidence.

Moreover, the family wasn’t so old-fashioned. He was a senior, so there was no need to hide a relationship.

He handed the child to his wife, and while Jiang Chen went upstairs, he followed him: “Xiao Chen.”

When Jiang Chen turned around and saw Jiang Jian, his first reaction was to put his phone in his pocket. Jiang Jian was who he was. He noticed this seemingly casual but representative of concealment little action, but didn’t call him out, just smiled and said: “Let’s talk.”

Jiang Chen didn’t know what he suddenly wanted to talk about, but seeing his brother’s posture, it seemed like he had something to say, so he could only take him back to his room.

The brothers hadn’t had a heart-to-heart talk for a long time. After all, they were adults. Jiang Jian sat in the chair, leaning against the back, in a very casual posture: “I feel like you’ve been in a good mood recently.”

Jiang Chen thought of the reason for his good mood, and his mood got even better: “Yeah, it’s the New Year, of course I’m in a good mood.”

Jiang Jian nodded: “I see you taking pictures and videos every day recently, why haven’t I seen you post them on WeChat Moments?”

He wasn’t doing it to post on WeChat Moments. Jiang Chen replied: “Didn’t Dad say excessive showing off isn’t a good thing? I’ll post them together in a couple of days.”

Jiang Jian seemed to just be casually chatting with him. When Jiang Chen slowly relaxed, he said casually: “Your girlfriend must be very clingy.”

“Not…” Jiang Chen made an emergency turn, breaking out in a cold sweat on his forehead: “I don’t have a girlfriend yet, what nonsense are you talking about, bro.”

Jiang Jian made it clear and didn’t beat around the bush with him anymore: “Not coming home during the holiday, always looking at your phone when you’re home, smiling foolishly while looking at your phone, and a set of big dog acting cute emojis. Do you think your brother is blind and can’t see that?”

Jiang Chen thought he was hiding it well, but he didn’t expect to be exposed in front of his brother long ago. But he didn’t dare to tell the truth for a while, so he could only purse his lips and say: “I really don’t have a girlfriend.”

It was a boyfriend.

Jiang Jian didn’t think too much about it, only assuming that his brother hadn’t won the person over yet, and asked him: “The other person doesn’t agree?”

They agreed, but wasn’t he afraid that you guys wouldn’t agree?

Jiang Chen really wanted to come out using this topic, but he had promised Ling Sheng to wait until after the New Year to say it. He held back, and in the end, he could only say with a guilty conscience and euphemistically: “Bro, anyway, I really don’t have a girlfriend, don’t ask.”

After all, he was such a big person, just starting to fall in love, and it looked like he was still pursuing the person. Jiang Jian didn’t force him, only thinking about seeing what the situation was after the New Year, so he just said: “Just be careful, if you really start dating, don’t bully them.”

Bully? He wouldn’t dare.

Except for one situation.

Jiang Chen felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He glanced at it, almost undisguisedly shooing him away: “Bro, go keep my sister-in-law company, I’ll stay alone for a while and then come down.”

Jiang Jian found it funny, gave him a glare, and left.