Chapter 62

Chapter 62

Jiang Chen returned to his apartment at Fu Jiang Garden, and Jiang Jian was indeed waiting for him outside the door. He had wondered on the way if his brother was tricking him, but then he thought, since he was already tricked out, he would just have to deal with it.

Once inside, the apartment’s heating wasn’t on, and it was clean and tidy, not like someone lived there. After all, Jiang Chen had only come back once in the past week or so, and that was just to pack some clothes to wear to Ling Sheng’s place.

Jiang Chen went to boil some water, poured two cups, and placed them on the coffee table. Only after he sat down on the sofa did Jiang Jian speak, “How long has it been?”

He smelled strongly of smoke; he must have smoked a lot today.

Jiang Chen didn’t answer immediately but asked, “When did you find out?”

Jiang Jian had always been quite tolerant of him, but at this moment, his eyebrows were stern, and his black eyes, similar to Jiang Chen’s, held restrained anger. He looked at Jiang Chen with a sharp gaze like a sword: “Answer my question first.”

Seeing that his brother was genuinely angry, Jiang Chen answered honestly and fearlessly, “About half a year.”

Jiang Jian’s body twitched, as if he wanted to stand up but restrained himself. He felt in his coat pocket, but his cigarettes were finished, and he hadn’t bought new ones. In the end, he could only pick up the water glass on the coffee table and try to take a sip, but it scalded his mouth.

“I’ll get you some cold water.” Jiang Chen was about to get up, but Jiang Jian directly pressed his shoulder, pushing him back onto the sofa.

Jiang Chen had no choice but to sit back down.

Jiang Jian pondered for a moment and finally suppressed his anger. He knew very well that the most important thing now was to solve the problem: “Ling Sheng is gay, you’re not.”

“I am now,” Jiang Chen said.

“Who chased who?”

“I chased him. When Peiya was interning at Eternity, I went to deliver something to her and fell in love with him in the elevator at first sight, and then I pursued him.”

Jiang Jian was rendered speechless with anger. After a long while, he said, “You went to his company to be a model to chase him?”

“Yes.” Jiang Chen directly admitted, “I don’t have any plans to enter the entertainment industry anyway.”

Jiang Chen’s admission was too straightforward, his words too frank, which made Jiang Jian momentarily doubtful. Jiang Chen had never been in a relationship from childhood to adulthood. During his adolescence, he had even asked him if there was any girl he liked, and he only said no. He only thought his younger brother was a late bloomer and had high standards. How could he have a boyfriend in his first relationship?

Could he really be a deeply closeted gay man?

Jiang Jian quickly shook off these chaotic thoughts in his head and said, “How long do you plan to hide it from us? If Mom and Dad find out, they definitely won’t be able to accept it right away.”

Jiang Chen’s eyes lit up: “So, you accept it?”

Jiang Jian pursed his lips and smacked him on the head: “If I can’t accept it, will you break up?”

Jiang Jian had been in the workplace for many years and had some experience and tolerance. Moreover, he understood his younger brother’s character; he wouldn’t start a relationship casually, especially one that had lasted for half a year. He was serious, but that didn’t mean he could accept him bringing a man home so quickly.

What’s more, there were still his parents to consider.

He needed to think more and investigate Ling Sheng. After all, their family background was special.

Jiang Chen said without hesitation, “No breakup. I won’t break up no matter who can’t accept it. I originally wanted to be honest with you from the beginning, but Ling Sheng wouldn’t let me. He was afraid I was just acting on impulse and that I would regret it and have no way out. I finally made him feel at ease, so it’s useless for anyone to try to persuade me at this time.”

This surprised Jiang Jian a bit: “He doesn’t let you come out of the closet?”

Jiang Chen naturally couldn’t tell Jiang Jian about Ling Sheng’s private affairs, but he simply said, “Yes, he said he wanted to leave me a way out.”

Jiang Jian’s goodwill towards Ling Sheng increased a bit, thinking that Ling Sheng was several years older than Jiang Chen and indeed had more mature ideas. He nodded and said, “What he said is not wrong.”

“What’s not wrong!” Jiang Chen was a little anxious: “He’s looking at houses now. Once he buys a house, I’ll take him home to see Mom and Dad. Since you know in advance, then good, when Dad…”

“I won’t help you say good things,” Jiang Jian directly refused.

Jiang Chen smiled and bumped him with his shoulder: “It’s useless to say good things. When Dad starts hitting me, just block him a bit, especially the face. If it gets injured, Ling Sheng will feel sorry for me.”

Jiang Jian directly pushed him away. They were clearly discussing the issue of coming out, such a serious moment, and he could still stuff dog food into it.

Was this still his clueless brother?

Once Jiang Chen started talking about Ling Sheng, he couldn’t stop. After all, he had been holding it in since he hadn’t come out. Fang Xing had also been particularly busy recently, resigning and preparing to move. Xu Peiya was interested in listening, but she always asked explicit questions, which he didn’t want to share with her. Now that there was finally someone who could listen to him, he couldn’t wait to share everything.

“We’ve already selected three sets, and we’re planning to look at them again next week and choose one from them. Because I said I wanted to live in a small villa with a big yard, he really chose according to my preferences. And then we’re planning to raise a dog. I originally wanted to raise three, but I might not have that much time to take care of them, so we’ve tentatively decided to raise one first. Ling Sheng’s cooking is very delicious. You’ll have a chance to try it next time, but don’t come too often. After all, he’s usually very busy with work, and he still wants to rest more on the weekends…”

“Stop.” Jiang Jian interrupted: “I don’t want to hear your dating details. Before Mom and Dad know and accept it, you honestly come back to live. It’s not like you don’t have your own house.”

Hearing this, Jiang Chen asked, “Did you check my surveillance?”

Jiang Jian glanced at him: “Yesterday, your sister-in-law said she made dumplings at home and asked me to send some over, saying you’ve been too busy studying recently and eating takeout isn’t good. Sometimes, if you’re hungry at night, you can cook some yourself. When I came, I happened to meet the cleaning lady. She asked me why you haven’t come back to school yet. I asked her, and she told me that no one has been living in this apartment recently.”

The cleaning lady said that if he wasn’t living there, he should say something. They had come to clean twice, but nothing in the apartment had been touched; no one was living there at all. If he wasn’t living there recently, he could tell them so as not to waste money.

But Jiang Chen hadn’t gone back to live there, and unless there was something special, he wouldn’t be gone for more than a week. So, he asked his assistant to check and found that he had been at Shengshi Mingyuan recently. So, he checked and found that Ling Sheng was also in that community. Combining that with his sudden act of going to Eternity as a model, his intuition told him that things weren’t simple. One try and he found out.

Jiang Chen originally wanted to say that you didn’t know, but he thought it over and decided it was fine. Since he was going to come out of the closet anyway, it was good that his brother knew first.

“Don’t rush this matter. I need to think about it carefully.” Jiang Jian had come over after seeing the information his assistant had sent today. He himself was a bit impulsive. After talking with Jiang Chen and knowing Ling Sheng’s plans and attitude, he felt much more relieved, but he didn’t forget to warn him: “Restrain yourself. These few days, I will give you video calls every day. If you can’t sleep well here, go back to Mom and Dad’s to sleep.”

Jiang Chen still wanted to fight for it. After all, he had been clinging to Ling Sheng tightly recently, but Jiang Jian gave him a look, and he didn’t dare say anything. In the end, he sent him out the door before calling Ling Sheng to tell him about today’s events.

After listening, Ling Sheng smiled instead: “Your family is better than I imagined.”

Jiang Chen didn’t think so. He lay on the bed and looked at him: “If they were good, they would let me go to your place. I don’t want to live here.”

“Then go home and live with your parents?” Ling Sheng asked with a smile.

Jiang Chen shook his head: “No, no, no, I want to go to your place.”

In the end, Jiang Chen still couldn’t disobey his brother’s words. After all, having one more person meant one more source of strength. A brief separation was so that he could bring Ling Sheng home as soon as possible.

Soon, it was February 14, the day of He Xiaoyun’s engagement banquet.

Jiang Chen was very resentful because it was his and Ling Sheng’s first Valentine’s Day, but they couldn’t be alone because of He Xiaoyun. But when he thought that He Xiaoyun was engaged and wouldn’t harass them anymore in the future, he felt relieved. After all, they could still spend many Valentine’s Days in the future.

And when the day actually arrived, Jiang Chen was very grateful because he had been asked by his brother to live separately from Ling Sheng and had been kept under watch. He hadn’t had a chance to find Ling Sheng, and his parents would be attending He Xiaoyun’s engagement banquet with him and his brother, and Ling Sheng would naturally go too. With such a long banquet, he could always find a chance to be alone.

This time, Jiang City’s project could reach cooperation with the He family, it can be said that the Jiang family pushed the He family at the most critical time. At that time, more than He’s met the conditions, and other competitors were actually quite comparable in strength. The final choice of the He family was also because Grandpa Jiang pushed it, so this time He Xiaoyun’s engagement banquet, the Jiang family naturally also received the invitation, Grandpa Jiang did not come because of physical reasons, but the Jiang family naturally came.

The engagement banquet was arranged in the largest hotel in Jiang City. The chandeliers in the banquet hall were colorful and glittering. Almost all the famous people in Jiang City came, with fragrant clothes and cloud temples, toasting and drinking. He Xiaoyun wore a black suit embroidered with dark gold patterns, and under the light, you could see the faint golden light flowing. At first glance, you would know it was Eternity’s haute couture. Beside him was a woman wearing a burgundy cheongsam, with her hair up and wearing Chinese-style makeup, looking gentle, dignified, and a bit pampered.

They had already seen them when they came in. Jiang Jian had been keeping him by his side, so Jiang Chen didn’t have time to find Ling Sheng or ask He Xiaoyun. At this time, seeing a boy eating dessert at the dessert table over there, his eyes lit up, and he said to Jiang Jian, “Brother, my classmates are here. I’ll go say hello to them.”

Jiang Chen followed his gaze and saw Lu Sheng and Yan Huan.

He knew the relationship between the two. Jiang Chen had mentioned it to him before. He didn’t feel anything before, but now that he knew his younger brother had a boyfriend, he couldn’t look at the two so calmly.

But since Lu Sheng was there, it wouldn’t be anything for Jiang Chen to say hello, so he only instructed, “I know what you’re thinking. Don’t run around. Come back quickly.”

Jiang Chen nodded and walked over there.

Yan Huan was eating the dessert on the table. Seeing Jiang Chen, he smiled at him: “Brother Chen.”

Lu Sheng used to have a deep distrust of Jiang Chen, but since he and Ling Sheng got together, he wasn’t so resistant.

Lu Sheng looked at him and said, “Why didn’t you bring a partner?”

Jiang Chen sighed very lightly: “Looking for one.”

Lu Sheng reached out and wiped a bit of cream from the corner of Yan Huan’s mouth with his fingertip, casually saying, “President He said there’s also someone alone in the lounge. He asked us to take a look when we have time and keep him company.”

Jiang Chen instantly understood what he meant. Lu Sheng reached out and touched Yan Huan’s waist and said, “Let’s go over there.”

Saying that, he took Yan Huan and walked directly towards Jiang Jian, who had been looking over here.

Yan Huan winked at Jiang Chen and, after walking over, also reached out and made a “Ye” sign behind his back.