Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Jiang Cheng was completely shocked for five full seconds. Only when Shang Zenian extended his tongue and licked the edge of his lips did he snap out of his total shock, pushing him away forcefully.

He pushed with great force, catching Shang Zenian off guard and making him stagger. Jiang Cheng ignored him, taking the chance to turn and run.

Shang Zenian: "......?"

Jiang Cheng didn’t care whether Chen Pingye saw him or not. He ran head down toward the Chen residence, ignoring Shang Zenian’s calls from behind. The small door was conveniently open, so he dashed straight in and slammed it shut behind him.

Master Shang, getting a faceful of dust from the door: "............"

He can really run!

Shang Zenian touched his nose. Instead of knocking and drawing attention, he leaned against the wall, pulled out his phone, and opened WeChat.

Jiang Cheng sprinted all the way home. By this hour, his grandfather had already gone to bed. Only the servants were tidying up in the living room. Seeing him breathing hard with an unusual redness on his face, the servant quickly asked, "Miss, did something happen?"

Jiang Cheng just shook his head, signaling that nothing was wrong.

The servant knew he had been out with Master Shang, so it was unlikely anything serious had occurred. She asked again, "Have you had dinner? Should I have the kitchen prepare something for you?"

Jiang Cheng waved her off and turned to run upstairs.

Once inside his room, he shut the door and leaned against it, gasping for air.

He lifted his hand and wiped his mouth a few times with the back of it, on the verge of crying but no tears came.

He had actually been kissed by a man—his first kiss, stolen without warning by Shang Zenian.

What a pervert! He just wants my body!

Just then, his phone buzzed. Jiang Cheng calmed down for a moment, unlocked it, and saw it was Shang Zenian, as expected.

Shang Zenian: Why did you run?

Shang Zenian: Don’t you like me kissing you?

Obviously—if I liked it, I would have kissed you back instead of running away.

Get some self-awareness and break off the engagement, dude!

A hundred grand, a hundred grand, a hundred grand.

All for a hundred grand.

Chen Yin: T-T That was too fast. I’m not ready for it yet.

Shang Zenian leaned against the wall outside the Chen residence. Under the streetlight, his tall and straight figure cast a long shadow.

He found her message a bit funny.

Shang Zenian: Fast? Not really.

For other couples, they'd already be booking a hotel room by now.

Chen Yin: It’s fast! We’ve only been together for less than a week! Other couples haven’t even held hands yet, and you’ve already kissed me!

Shang Zenian: ......

What so-called pure romance doesn't even hold hands after a whole week!

Chen Yin: Can I have some time to get used to this?

Since he had already won her heart, Shang Zenian didn’t want to push her.

Shang Zenian: Alright, I'll be pretty busy over the next few days, so I won’t have much time. You can take your time.

Jiang Cheng’s eyes lit up. Ha, being busy is good! That cut down the tough month ahead by a chunk.

His previous gloom instantly lifted. After ending the chat with Shang Zenian, he switched WeChat to his own account to see if anyone had messaged him.

After replying to his childhood friend He Jun, he noticed their class group chat was buzzing. He clicked in and saw that some early admission results had come out. Five classmates had applied for early admission, and two of them hadn’t been accepted, making everyone worried about whether they would also get in.

Regular admission results still needed about ten more days. Jiang Cheng wasn’t worried—he was a sure lock for Yanshan University. The only thing he lacked was tuition and living expenses.

Shang Zenian was indeed busy these days. He rarely even messaged Jiang Cheng. Apparently, his father had assigned him a project, and it was now at a critical stage. Jiang Cheng didn’t understand the details, but he hoped Shang Zenian would stay as busy as possible—busy for a whole month, even! He wouldn’t mind at all!

For the next few days, Jiang Cheng happily stuck to his simple two-point routine.

Teacher Su taught him voice feminization. After about ten days of learning, he could finally say "Grandpa" in a fully feminine voice. In fact, he could manage simple words and short sentences without any flaws and could have basic conversations.

Chen Pingzhou was overjoyed when he heard the news. After Jiang Cheng got together with Shang Zenian, it brought huge benefits to Chen Pingzhou’s power struggle. Chen Yin had no parents, so Chen Pingzhou, as her uncle, was her closest relative and the biggest beneficiary of this marriage.

Thus, even a slight shift in Jiang Cheng and Shang Zenian’s relationship was enough to win over the wavering elders and shareholders to Chen Pingzhou’s side.

Lately, Chen Pingzhou had been increasingly influential in the company. He was feeling very proud—the 210,000 yuan he'd spent on Jiang Cheng was totally worth it!

The only pity was that Jiang Cheng was a man. If he were a woman, Chen Pingzhou would have simply played along and accepted him as Chen Yin outright.

But there was no helping that. The only remaining variable was the old man. So, if Jiang Cheng could speak and call him "Grandpa," pleasing him thoroughly, that would be another huge advantage.

That day, after finishing his lessons, Jiang Cheng bought a pot of blooming moth orchids on the way home. When he arrived, the old man happened to be sitting under the tree shade in the courtyard, listening to the radio. Since returning from the hospital last time, the old man could no longer stand and had become even more frail—like a delicate bubble that any breeze could pop.

Apart from resting and taking medication, his only joy was sitting in the courtyard filled with his favorite flowers and plants, watching the servants tend to them, or breathing in the garden’s fragrance while listening to the radio.

When the old man saw him, he brightened up a bit. "Little Yin’er, you’re back."

Jiang Cheng ran over and held up the pot of moth orchids in front of him.

"Grandpa, look!"

The old man’s half-closed eyes flew open. Even the caregiver beside him was startled: "Miss, you spoke!"

Having been through something similar before, Jiang Cheng knew how to react.

He put on a shocked expression, holding the flowerpot with one hand while covering his mouth with the other, staring wide-eyed at the old man and then at the caregiver.

The old man was as excited as when Jiang Cheng first arrived. He asked the caregiver to help him sit up and looked at Jiang Cheng with hope: "What did you just call me? Say it again!"

Jiang Cheng slowly lowered his hand from his mouth, meeting the old man’s cloudy eyes. He opened his mouth, and under the old man’s hopeful gaze, let out two words: "Grandpa."

"Ah, ah, good child," the old man said, a happy smile spreading across his face, though his eyes reddened slightly. He raised his dry, trembling hand and wiped the corner of his eye. "Such a good granddaughter you are. Hearing you call me that, I can die a happy man."

Jiang Cheng set down the flowerpot, crouched in front of the old man, and grabbed his hand, shaking his head to show he didn't want him to die.

The old man raised his other hand and patted Jiang Cheng on the head. "Say a few more words for your grandpa."

Jiang Cheng could handle simple conversations, but Teacher Su said that, as a beginner, it was best not to talk too much to avoid straining his voice, so he should take it slow. So he shook his head to indicate he couldn’t speak.

Just that one "Grandpa" was enough to make the old man happy.

"It's okay, no rush. Take your time. Slow and steady. Just being able to speak is a good start."

His ability to speak was a great joy, and soon the whole Chen family knew. No surprise there, but what was unexpected was that in the evening, Shang’s mother video-called him directly.

Jiang Cheng was in his room. He checked to make sure he wouldn't give away his gender before answering.

"Xiao Yin, I heard you've started talking—is that true?"

Jiang Cheng nodded. The news spread way too fast.

"That's wonderful! Say 'Aunt Fang' for me, I haven't heard your voice yet!"

Shang's mother was very kind, and Jiang Cheng had a good impression of her, so he decided to humor her.

Just as he opened his mouth to say 'Aunt', he heard on her end in the background the faint voice of a servant: "Open the door quickly, the young master is back!"

"..." Jiang Cheng pretended he couldn't make a sound, then looked disappointed and typed a message to her on WeChat.

Chen Yin: Sorry, Aunt Fang, I can’t say it.

Seeing his expression, Shang’s mother looked at him with concern and quickly said, "It's okay, it's okay. If you can't say it, no big deal. Being able to speak is already a good start; you'll gradually be able to say it. There's nothing to be sorry about."

Jiang Cheng nodded.

At that moment, Shang Zenian appeared in the video. He had just come back from the company, wearing a black shirt and trousers, looking dignified and cold, exuding an aloof, unapproachable aura.

He glanced at the screen in Shang’s mother’s hands, and Jiang Cheng instinctively ducked out of the camera view.

Shang’s mother had likely been focused entirely on Jiang Cheng earlier, so it was only then that she noticed Shang Zenian’s return.

"Oh, look who's back! Did you know your fiancée has started talking and called out to her grandpa?"

Shang Zenian had been busy with work all day and hadn’t heard about it. He walked over and casually took the phone from Shang’s mother.

His face appeared on the screen, already softened into the familiar, approachable expression he used around Jiang Cheng.

"You've spoken again?"

Jiang Cheng nodded.

Shang’s mother noticed his choice of words: "Again?"

"Yeah," Master Shang said lightly, "she started talking when we went to the beach a few days ago. It's nothing special, right, Yin Yin?"

Jiang Cheng: "..."

Shang’s mother found it amusing; it felt like her son was puffing up with pride.

She never expected her usually cool son to be so head-over-heels in love.

After a bit of chatting, Shang Zenian saw that Jiang Cheng had switched the camera to the back, not letting him see, and he was both annoyed and amused.

"I'll be free in a couple of days. Come over for dinner at my place?"

Now that they were boyfriend and girlfriend, Jiang Cheng knew there was no avoiding it. He figured having dinner at Shang's house might be better—with his parents and the servants around, it would be less awkward than being alone together. So he immediately nodded and typed 'Okay'.

Two days flew by in the blink of an eye.

That day, Jiang Cheng made a point of wearing the bracelet Shang Zenian had given him. He still had a piano lesson in the morning, and when class ended at noon, it was Shang Zenian himself who came to pick him up. Seeing the bracelet on his hand, Master Shang was very pleased, took his hand and admired it for a moment.

"Not bad. This bracelet is barely good enough for your hand."

Jiang Cheng: "..."

That was too much flattery; he himself was worth less than the bracelet.

"Come on, get in the car." After not seeing each other for a few days, Shang Zenian only gave his hand a brief, restrained hold before opening the car door for him to get in.

Jiang Cheng thought it would be a long drive, but surprisingly, from the moment the car started until they arrived at the Shang residence, it took only three minutes.

Jiang Cheng looked at Shang Zenian in shock.

Seeing his dazed, bewildered expression, Shang Zenian couldn’t help but ruffle his hair.

"You didn't realize this piano shop is right outside my house, did you?"

Jiang Cheng: "..."

He really didn’t.

These people from the Chen family had sold him out way too easily, pushing him straight into Shang Zenian’s arms.

He suspected that even if he hadn’t accepted Chen Pingzhou’s request to agree to date him, with this setup, he probably wouldn’t have escaped this fate. Without that hundred thousand yuan, he would have ended up getting kissed and hugged by Shang Zenian for free anyway.

That would have been a total loss!

Luckily, he was smart (about the money)!

When they arrived at the Shang residence, Jiang Cheng realized something was off. After entering, he finally figured out what it was.

"Why is no one at your house?"

"My parents went out to celebrate their wedding anniversary, and the servants have the day off," the bad guy showed his true colors. "Today, it's just the two of us."

Jiang Cheng: "................"

Author’s note:

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