Chapter 8 I’m Fine

Chapter 8: I'm Still Alive

Jiang Huaiyu reassured himself that he was just taking his younger brother out to see the world; nothing outrageous had been done.

But when he found Jiang Jiang, who was drunk and giggling happily, a flicker of guilt still shot through his heart.

Jiang Jiang probably... probably hadn't drunk that much, right?

"Jiang Jiang, tell me yourself, how much did you drink?" Jiang Huaijin raised his hand, motioning for Jiang Huaiyu to be quiet.

Jiang Huaiyu had no choice but to shut his mouth, sulking.

Jiang Jiang raised his hands, making two fists and holding them side by side.

Jiang Jiang: oo

Jiang Huaijin frowned, "Are you saying you drank zero glasses?"

Jiang Huaiyu closed his eyes. This was clearly lying through his teeth.

"Heh..."

Jiang Jiang shook his head, preempting his big brother's sarcasm. He took a step forward, swaying twice before regaining his balance. "It was an infinite number of glasses!"

Jiang Huaijin: "..."

Jiang Huaiyu: "..."

So that wasn't 'oo', but '∞'.

"Very good." Jiang Huaijin gave a thin smile.

Jiang Huaiyu couldn't help but shiver involuntarily.

Jiang Jiang, however, seemed completely unaware of the tension. He was still there, giggling foolishly, with a look that said, "I drank a lot, aren't I amazing?"

"I was just showing Jiang Jiang the ropes, and... and it wasn't that bad, right, big brother?" Jiang Huaiyu's voice trailed off as he spoke.

Jiang Huaijin didn't speak. He just turned his laptop towards the two of them and pressed play.

In the video, Jiang Jiang was like a happy little butterfly, towing an expressionless young man through the crowd.

Drinking with this one, drinking with that one.

Seeing the video, Jiang Jiang's eyes lit up, and he blurted out, "Wow, I even have a fancam!"

Jiang Huaiyu covered his face. Was this really the time to talk about that?

Also, who on earth filmed this? He'd better not find out.

"Taking Jiang Jiang to a bar is fine, but you let him get drunk like this." Jiang Huaijin pointed at Jiang Jiang.

Jiang Huaiyu followed the direction of his big brother's finger.

Jiang Jiang reeked of alcohol, swaying left and right. Seeing his big brother extend his hand, he immediately nuzzled his cheek into it.

Jiang Huaijin's finger poked a small dimple in his cheek.

Jiang Jiang grinned at his big brother.

Hehe, hehe.

Seeing him like this, Jiang Huaiyu felt increasingly guilty.

He really had gotten a bit too caught up in chatting with his friends and had paid less attention to Jiang Jiang.

Jiang Huaijin fixed him with a stare, "What if something had happened?"

Jiang Huaiyu didn't dare to look his big brother in the eye.

"Thud."

Both of them looked towards the source of the sound.

Jiang Jiang had somehow crawled under the table and was fiddling with something.

"Crash—"

"Clatter."

"Thump."

Half of the tablecloth was pulled off, and everything on the table fell to the floor.

Jiang Huaijin: "..."

He couldn't help but raise his hand to massage his temples.

"Jiang Huaiyu."

"Yes?"

"You, tidy this up before you turn in. Also, I'm docking one... three months' allowance. Jiang Jiang..." Jiang Huaijin paused, "...one month."

"Big brother..." Jiang Huaiyu tried to protest, but was interrupted by Jiang Jiang's voice.

Upon hearing his big brother call his name, Jiang Jiang immediately crawled out from under the table, nodding happily, "Okay, okay~"

Jiang Huaiyu: "..."

Did you even understand what you're agreeing to?

......

The next morning.

404 kindly didn't wake the hungover Jiang Jiang early for the "Good Morning Road" task, letting him sleep in.

Jiang Jiang climbed out of bed, rubbing his slightly throbbing head.

"Do you remember what you did last night?" 404's voice drifted over.

Jiang Jiang tried hard to recall.

Yesterday, starting from his second drink, he started to black out. He couldn't remember anything after the fourth drink.

He tentatively asked, "What happened?"

"You yesterday..." 404 was momentarily speechless, not knowing where to begin.

Just as 404 was organizing its words, someone knocked on Jiang Jiang's bedroom door.

He dragged himself to the door to open it.

Outside, Jiang Huaiyu was glaring at him with a resentful stare.

Jiang Jiang was the first to notice the dark circles under his second brother’s eyes and asked with concern, “Second Brother, you didn't sleep well last night?”

Jiang Huaiyu didn’t answer his question but instead asked, “Do you remember what you did last night?”

Jiang Jiang was utterly lost.

What exactly did he do last night? Why was everyone asking him that?

“You drank so much at the bar yesterday.” Jiang Huaiyu raised both hands, making two fists and holding them together.

Jiang Jiang: ?

Without explaining further, Jiang Huaiyu continued, “Then you went on stage to sing, and afterward, you ran around the place with Liang Liang, having a blast.”

After saying this, he paused to observe Jiang Jiang’s reaction.

404 jumped in to add, “You also ran into Lu Nanzhou and got fresh with him.”

Jiang Jiang: o_o

“After we got home, we both went to the study for a scolding. You pulled off Big Brother’s tablecloth, and stuff went flying everywhere. It took me an hour to clean it up.” Jiang Huaiyu smiled.

404: “And you? Snoring away.”

“I'd just finally fallen asleep for a few minutes when I heard someone knocking. I opened the door, and there you were, swearing you couldn't find the bathroom and demanding I take you.”

404: “You bothered your second brother three times in one night.”

Jiang Jiang: o_o.

Jiang Huaiyu pointed at his dark circles. “Got anything to say for yourself?”

Jiang Jiang gave his second brother a pitiful look, opening his mouth to apologize. “Second bro... burp.”

A cloud of boozy breath hit him.

Jiang Huaiyu: ...

He wordlessly pinched his little brother’s mouth shut.

From the side, Jiang Jiang looked like a little duck with its beak clamped shut.

“Alright, no need to say anything. Go wash up.” After saying this, Jiang Huaiyu turned and walked away.

He'd only gone a couple steps before turning back, folded his arms, and looked back at Jiang Jiang. “Oh, by the way, your allowance for next month is gone.”

Jiang Jiang: ?

“Wait...”

“Regarding the allowance, Big Brother has the final say.” Jiang Huaiyu didn’t give him a chance to ask further and made a quick exit.

......

Sunshine, white clouds, blue sky, green trees, and the young man lying in the rocking chair on the balcony, swaying back and forth—this scene was like a painting, pleasing to the eye.

“Ah! The sun! It feels so good shining on me!”

The birds in the trees in the yard were startled and took off in every direction.

The balcony door next door swished open.

“Jiang Jiang...”

The ghostly voice startled Jiang Jiang.

He sprang up from the rocking chair and only then saw his second brother’s head sticking out from next door's balcony.

“Hey, Second Brother!”

Jiang Huaiyu: ...

He'd just dozed off, trying to catch up on sleep, when Jiang Jiang woke him up again. He was in a bad mood.

“I'd be a lot better if you were quiet.”

“Okay.” Jiang Jiang made a gesture of zipping his mouth shut and lay back down in the rocking chair.

The chair kept on rocking.

“Sigh... sigh... sigh...”

His allowance...

“404, doesn’t your system have any rewards or something?”

“Not at the moment, but if you don’t complete tasks, you can pick your way to die.”

“Then can money crush me to death?” Jiang Jiang’s voice was lazy, completely unfazed by the threat.

404: ...

404: “If you complete the tasks properly, I’ll put in a request to the main system for rewards.”

Jiang Jiang rolled over and sat up from the lounge chair. “I want a billion.”

404 said kindly, “It'll happen. All in good time.”

Jiang Jiang eagerly opened the “Current Progress” interface.

Loading...

Closed it.

This system is really hard to use.

“Don’t complain about me in your head. I can hear you.” 404 politely reminded him.

This system is really hard to use!!!

404: ...

“Just tell me directly—did the impression value go up?” Jiang Jiang asked curiously.

He had taken advantage of Lu Nanzhou yesterday, so it should have gone up a bit, right?

“No.”

Speaking of this, 404 also thought it was odd. Logically, the numbers should have gone up, but overnight, there was still no change.

Jiang Jiang wasn't convinced. He narrowed his eyes, "Is your intel lagging again?"

"Well... that's hard to say." 404 paused, "Why don't you get closer to him so I can run a scan?"

Jiang Jiang lay back in the rocking chair.

*Sigh.*

*Sigh.*

Jiang Jiang sat on the bench by the river.

It was the same bench as last time.

And the man was the same one, too.

The dog was also the same familiar beagle.

Woof woof woof!

Bi's friend! Bi is here!

A tri-colored shadow dashed toward Jiang Jiang, yanking Lu Nanzhou along so that he stumbled several steps.

The man and the dog stopped in front of Jiang Jiang.

"Hi~" Jiang Jiang raised a hand like a paw, "Brother, what a coincidence."

Same person, same lines.

The corner of Lu Nanzhou's mouth twitched slightly, "Indeed... quite a coincidence."

He still hadn't figured out why this youngest son of the Jiang family kept pretending to run into him.

As for why he knew it was an act? The performance was simply too ham-fisted.

Was it possible he had a crush on him?

Lu Nanzhou frowned, looking at Jiang Jiang.

Hmm, he is kinda cute, though.

But... he wasn't interested in dating.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have preferred raising a beagle over going on blind dates.

Bi's bark interrupted Lu Nanzhou's thoughts. He turned to look.

Woof!

Let's play!

Xiao Lv gestured playfully toward Jiang Jiang.

Oh right, and this dog.

Lu Nanzhou couldn't understand why Jiang Jiang was so attractive to Xiao Lv. He had never seen his dog like someone this much.

"He seems to really like me," Jiang Jiang said while petting the dog's head.

Lu Nanzhou looked at Xiao Lv. He couldn't exactly deny it.

"Can I play with him?" Jiang Jiang asked, already squatting down.

Lu Nanzhou: "...Sure."

Good, that'll wear Xiao Lv out.

"Check quickly!" Jiang Jiang reminded 404 in his mind while playing with the dog.

"Checking, checking."

Jiang Jiang played with Xiao Lv, the two of them circling around Lu Nanzhou.

Lu Nanzhou was currently on a call with his assistant, his attention fully on the conversation.

He didn't notice that as Jiang Jiang and Xiao Lv circled around him, the leash had wrapped around his legs several times.

"Oops." Jiang Jiang tripped over a loose paving stone and fell toward Lu Nanzhou.

Lu Nanzhou instinctively reached out, stepping forward to catch Jiang Jiang.

But...

He looked down. Something was restraining his legs.

His body instantly lost balance. As he fell, he saw the dog leash tangled around his legs.

The two crashed into each other, tumbling into a heap.

Lu Nanzhou's phone also rolled several times. Hearing something wrong, his assistant asked with concern, "President Lu? What happened?"

"Hello? President Lu, can you hear me?"

"Hello?"

President Lu had no time to reply at the moment.

Lu Nanzhou propped himself up and looked down at one of the culprits beneath him.

Jiang Jiang: @_@

"..."

He stood up with a smile, patted the dust off his clothes, picked up his spiderweb-cracked phone, and replied, "I'm alive. Something came up here. Let's talk later."

"Okay, President Lu."

Lu Nanzhou hung up and looked at Jiang Jiang, who was still dazed on the ground.

He sighed helplessly and reached out to pull him up.

Jiang Jiang recovered on the bench for a moment, looked at the equally disheveled Lu Nanzhou, and scratched his head sheepishly, "S-sorry."

As if remembering something, he suddenly started rummaging through his pockets.

He had passed by a pet store yesterday and bought a little bib for Xiao Lv.

Lu Nanzhou watched him rummage around.

He pulled out two walnuts.

He pulled out a few candies.

He pulled out his ID card.

He pulled out a handful of sunflower seeds.

He pulled...

"Ah! Here it is!" Jiang Jiang pulled out a cute little pink bib and looked at Lu Nanzhou. "It's for Little Lv!"

Huh?

Calling me?

Little Lv's paws made a "tap-tap-tap" sound on the ground as he walked over to Jiang Jiang, tilting his head.

Jiang Jiang took the opportunity to put the bib on Little Lv and couldn't help but pick up the dog to admire the look.

So cute! My taste is really good.

"Look!" Jiang Jiang turned the dog around and held him out to Lu Nanzhou, wanting to show off the little bib he bought.

However, after being picked up, Little Lv kept frantically looking back at him for some reason.

Thus, Lu Nanzhou got a big slap in the face from the dog's wildly flapping ear.

......

Jiang Jiang sheepishly took the dog back.

Lu Nanzhou took a deep breath.

He was just fine.

"I... I'll walk the dog for you!" Jiang Jiang tried to make it up to him.

Jiang Jiang walked the dog, almost fell, and was hoisted up by the helpful Lu Nanzhou.

Jiang Jiang walked the dog, almost fell, and was hoisted up by the helpful Lu Nanzhou.

Jiang Jiang walked the dog, almost fell, and was hoisted up by the helpful Lu Nanzhou.

Lu Nanzhou smiled.

He had strength to spare.

"Ring-ring-ring, ring-ring-ring."

The alarm Lu Nanzhou set for the end of the walk rang.

He let out an uncharacteristic sigh of relief.

Finally, it was over.

Author's Note:

----------------------

Lu Nanzhou: First time feeling time pass so slowly [wiped out]