Chapter 15

Chapter 15

On the first day of their marriage, Jiang Yicen ate breakfast that Nan Shuyi had personally cooked. Nan Shuyi didn't even ask him to do the dishes—simply put them in the dishwasher.

When Jiang Yicen was at the Jiang family home, he spent every day learning to adapt to the new society and never had a chance to explore the Jiang family kitchen. Seeing Nan Shuyi's dishwasher, he thought to himself how advanced technology had become—even washing dishes didn't require human hands anymore.

At noon, Nan Shuyi took him back to the Nan family home for lunch. This was a wedding tradition for the Nan family: the newlyweds had to eat with the family the next day and meet the relatives.

As soon as they entered, Nan Anru gave Jiang Yicen a big red envelope. Worried that Nan Shuyi might be displeased, he didn't ask his current wife to give Jiang Yicen a red envelope; instead, he had Yao Mengxun prepare a wedding gift for them.

Today was just a simple family dinner for the five of them. Nan Shuyi had a younger brother who was only in first grade, still at a mischievous age, but faced with his older brother, the little guy behaved himself and didn't dare misbehave.

Nan Shuqi was very curious about Jiang Yicen, knowing that his brother had married a male spouse.

Jiang Yicen was a bit anxious about whether the child would understand, but nowadays children are exposed to a vast amount of modern information, and Nan Shuqi didn't think it was strange at all.

He graciously accepted the gift from Jiang Yicen.

Nan Shuqi was more interested in the gift from his new brother-in-law and exclaimed, "Wow! This is a blind box figure I've been trying to get but never could—it's already out of print! Big bro, you're amazing!"

Jiang Yicen didn't expect to hear a new term from Nan Shuqi either. It seemed that in this era, even children couldn't be underestimated—they might even know more than he did.

In fact, the gift was prepared by Nan Shuyi. He had no idea where to buy it or what the origin or background of this figurine was.

But this also showed, on the flip side, that Nan Shuyi cared about his younger brother, willing to spend time buying his favorite blind box figure—actually, a collectible.

Nan Shuqi was bouncing with excitement over a set of blind boxes, completely unable to resist opening them: "I want to open them, I want to open them! Hope there's a hidden one!"

Jiang Yicen was also quite interested in blind boxes, but it was almost mealtime, and Yao Mengxun stopped Nan Shuqi.

"Open them after eating. No rush."

"Ah, but I want to open them now, Mom." He pouted to Yao Mengxun.

Seeing that Jiang Yicen was also interested, his gaze fixed on the blind boxes, Nan Shuyi whispered to him, "Do you like this blind box set?"

"I'm curious what he'll get." Jiang Yicen avoided directly saying whether he liked it or not. He hadn't seen the box cover before, but now he noticed familiar drawings on it. He didn't understand the concept of blind boxes, but he recognized Mickey Mouse. In his time, they had cartoons, but he had never seen this form of blind box sales. He was quite intrigued.

Nan Shuyi said to Yao Mengxun, "We ate breakfast late and aren't hungry yet. Let him open them first before eating."

Since Nan Shuyi had said so, Yao Mengxun had nothing more to add. She was also happy to see Nan Shuyi being kind to Nan Shuqi and hoped the brothers would grow closer.

"Yay, yay, yay!" With his big brother's permission, Nan Shuqi began opening his blind box set.

Jiang Yicen watched with great interest. Nan Shuyi seemed to notice that he didn't know the origin of these blind boxes, so he started explaining to him.

"This is a figurine set co-branded by Disney and another brand. It was released last year, only one batch was released, and was a limited edition in China."

At that moment, Nan Shuqi was about to open them, and he asked Yao Mengxun to record a video for him.

Jiang Yicen watched as he opened one after another. When he reached the sixth blind box without finding the hidden figure, the little guy was pretty disappointed, but his mood only lasted until they sat down to eat.

Nan Shuyi: "Want to try? I'll buy a set for you later."

Jiang Yicen shook his head: "Opening blind boxes is about gambling and luck; it can make people addicted."

He used to have a Mickey Mouse stuffed toy his second brother had given him. He treasured it and kept it at home. Over the years, it was probably lost in the war. Later, when Lincheng fell, he never had a chance to go to the theater to watch cartoons again.

He never expected that more than eighty years later, he would hear the name "Mickey Mouse" again. It felt as if the two timelines had somehow connected again, and he had found proof of his own existence.

Dinner at the Nan family was relatively relaxed. With Nan Shuqi chattering away, the atmosphere was pleasant.

Nan Anru was very satisfied with Jiang Yicen and even personally opened a good bottle of wine. The conversation was about everyday family matters. Compared to Jiang Gongming, he was a very different kind of father.

Jiang Gongming liked to lecture people at the dinner table. Every time Jiang Yicen ate with him, he had no appetite. With Nan Anru, however, it was much more relaxed. He was very warm and even used serving chopsticks to put a chicken leg on Jiang Yicen's plate.

Jiang Yicen: "Thank you, Uncle."

Nan Anru: "The youngest in our family always gets the chicken leg. I rarely had any when I was young—I had two younger brothers, and the chicken legs always went to them."

Jiang Yicen: "Then you eat it, Uncle."

Nan Anru placed a chicken leg on Nan Shuqi's plate: "Now I just like watching you young people eat."

Nan Anru was not only different from Jiang Gongming but also different from Jiang Yicen's own father. His father wasn't a strict parent in the traditional sense—he would bring gifts when returning from a long trip—but he would never personally put food on his children's plates. It seemed Nan Shuyi had a pretty decent father.

However, Jiang Yicen, who always adhered to dining etiquette, had never eaten such a large chicken leg in front of others. It wasn't a drumstick but the flat (drumette) part, shaped like a pistol and as big as one.

Since an elder had given it to him, he couldn't refuse, and not finishing it would be impolite. Jiang Yicen looked to Nan Shuyi for help.

Nan Shuyi was just picking up some vegetables and didn't see his desperate glance.

With no way out, Jiang Yicen had to first set the chicken leg on the ceramic plate in front of him and pick up some other dishes.

What to do?

Would he really have to pick it up and eat it with his hands?

Back in times of famine, he would gnaw it any way he could, but that era was gone. He still had to maintain dining etiquette.

Jiang Yicen changed his strategy. He decided to have a few more drinks with Nan Anru. Maybe if he got drunk, he would forget about the uneaten chicken leg.

Completely unaware that Jiang Yicen was scheming to avoid the chicken leg, Nan Shuyi grew suspicious. Yesterday he was helping you fend off drinks, and today, he was toasting his father. Did he forget that he was his husband?

Nan Shuyi didn't know Jiang Yicen's alcohol tolerance, but he couldn't let him go overboard.

He looked at his father discontentedly: "Why are you two drinking so much? Don't you have enough to drink at home?"

Nan Anru: "I'm happy today. What's wrong with a little drinking?"

Yao Mengxun was afraid the father and son would start arguing: "Oh, we've made so many good dishes today. If we just drink and not eat, we'll waste this wonderful table of food. These are all fresh seasonal vegetables from spring. Old Nan, you've got high blood pressure. Drink in moderation, okay?"

Jiang Yicen knew what high blood pressure was—it wasn't a good thing. He immediately put down his glass.

That plan wasn't going to work. He had to turn to Nan Shuyi for help again. Just then, Nan Anru turned sideways to talk to Yao Mengxun.

Jiang Yicen nudged Nan Shuyi with his elbow and whispered, "Could you please eat this chicken leg for me?"

Nan Shuyi figured out why he had been toasting his father and laughed: "What do I get out of it if I help you?"

Jiang Yicen thought about his upcoming job: "I'll give you my first month's salary."

Nan Shuyi thought to himself: He sure knows how to bribe people. "What kind of salary could you possibly give me?" As he spoke, he picked up the chicken leg from Jiang Yicen's plate and put it into his own bowl.

Jiang Yicen: "I don't know, but I can give you all of it, okay?"

Jiang Yicen thought to himself that his first month's salary wouldn't be his, but handing his pay over to his wife seemed right. His father had always given all his money to his mother for the household. Thinking like that made him feel better—it made sense.

Nan Shuyi started eating the chicken leg. It was tender and juicy, and tasted pretty good.

Nan Anru finished talking to Yao Mengxun and turned his head to see his eldest son, who had always found eating chicken legs too much trouble since childhood, digging into a big chicken leg.

Huh, so he does like chicken legs after all.

Nan Anru didn't call him out on it. He was happy that his son had never expressed any dissatisfaction with this marriage; he was pretty darn pleased.

After finishing lunch, Nan Shuyi and Jiang Yicen went home.

Jiang Yicen tended to get sleepy after drinking. He had been fighting sleep the whole ride home. Once home, Nan Shuyi saw that he was almost falling asleep while walking and couldn't help telling him to just hit the sack.

Jiang Yicen headed to his room to crash for a bit.

Nan Shuyi continued with his own work. After sitting for about ten minutes, the phone that Jiang Yicen had left on the counter without taking upstairs started buzzing.

Why didn't he take it up?

Seriously, who doesn't keep their phone on them these days? He hadn't brought it when they left in the morning either. Nan Shuyi had to remind him before he went back to grab it. The phone hadn't even been charged; he heard the phone's low-battery shutdown sound in the car, so later he charged it for him in the car.

Jiang Yicen was probably sleeping soundly. Nan Shuyi glanced at the caller ID.

It was Jiang Yiting.

He answered for him without hesitation: "Jiang Yiting, what's up?"

Jiang Yiting paused briefly, recognizing from the voice that it wasn't Jiang Yicen: "Why is it you? Where's Jiang Yicen?"

Nan Shuyi: "He's sleeping."

Jiang Yiting, as if something occurred to him, said with mixed emotions: "You..."

Nan Shuyi couldn't be bothered with his stammering: "Just tell me. I'll relay it to Yicen."

Jiang Yiting: "Tell him to report to the company's marketing department tomorrow."

Nan Shuyi was pissed off at Jiang Yiting's attitude toward Jiang Yicen: "Are you giving orders to me or to him?"

Jiang Yiting: "He has no work experience. My dad wants him to start learning the ropes in the company."

Nan Shuyi: "He's not going."

Jiang Yiting: "Whether he goes or not, you can't make the decision for him."

Nan Shuyi: "Wrong. I absolutely can. Besides, you don't really want him to work at Jiangda. Otherwise, he wouldn't still be sitting at home since coming back."

Jiangda is a total shitshow inside. Jiang Yicen was sent abroad as a child and has severe PTSD. If he's under Jiang Yiting's thumb, he'd be eaten alive. He was indeed rejecting Jiang Yiting on behalf of Jiang Yicen, without even asking Jiang Yicen—he just wanted to do what felt right in the moment. Now that Jiang Yicen was under his protection, he wanted to stand up for him.

Jiang Yiting couldn't deny what Nan Shuyi said. He indeed didn't want Jiang Yicen to enter Jiangda, because he'd known since he was a kid that the only heirs to Jiangda were him and Jiang Yifeng. Jiangda was the life's work of Jiang Gongming and his birth mother; it could not fall into the hands of a half-brother. He wasn't even willing to let Jiang Yicen have a piece of the pie.

Initially, he had planned to just stick Jiang Yicen in the logistics department of a subsidiary, where he could do whatever he wanted, since it wouldn't touch the core business. If he didn't go, even better—saves a lot of trouble.

Nan Shuyi continued: "He hasn't received a single share of your Jiangda, not even a company was given to him. Those cars and houses are pocket change compared to what you and Jiang Yifeng get as allowance. I hope you can convey my thoughts to your father: I get why you didn't give me any shares, but you can't shortchange him. Besides, Nanyuan's investment can still be withdrawn."

When the soft approach failed, he went hardball. Nanyuan's investment was the weakest point of Jiang Gongming and Jiang Yiting.

Jiang Yiting: "I understand. I'll pass along your message to my father. We will not treat Yicen unfairly."

Nan Shuyi spoke for Nan Anru. Since Nan Shuyi had intervened, Jiang Yiting would definitely give him face. Even though Nan Shuyi hadn't officially joined Nanyuan yet, everyone knew how protective Nan Anru was of this son. The future heir of Nanyuan would only be Nan Shuyi, and only Nan Shuyi, because his younger brother was too young—by the time he was groomed, Nan Anru would be nearly eighty.

At this moment, Nan Shuyi curled his lips. They called him "Yicen" when he was convenient, and "Jiang Yicen" when he wasn't. They're all sly foxes, so why play dumb?

After this phone call ended, he pondered: rather than letting Jiang Yicen enter a den of wolves, it would be better to keep him under our own people's nose. He didn't need to make big bucks; peace and happiness would be enough.

He proactively called his father. Nan Anru was shocked but thrilled and then agreed to the request he made.

When Jiang Yicen woke up in the evening, he packed his luggage and went downstairs to get water from the fridge.

Nan Shuyi walked toward the water dispenser and said to him: "I've found you a pretty good position."

Jiang Yicen followed behind him, wanting to get some water: "What?"

Nan Shuyi took a bottle of cola from the fridge and handed it to Jiang Yicen: "I talked to my dad. You'll report directly to the marketing center at Nanyuan headquarters on Monday. In the future, you can be responsible for liaising with Jiangda projects."

Jiang Yicen stared blankly and forgot to take the cola. "What?"

Nanyuan Group headquarters marketing center? What does that do?

He only felt darkness before his eyes, as if the sky was falling.

He hadn't had time to learn the necessary skills. Wouldn't going to work like that cause trouble for Nanyuan?

Nan Shuyi opened the cola and handed it to Jiang Yicen. Seeing that he didn't take it, he turned around, took a glass, poured the cola into it, and even added a few ice cubes.

He placed the iced cola into Jiang Yicen's hand: "Tsk, so happy you're speechless, huh?"

Jiang Yicen, not caring about propriety, drank more than half of it in one go: "..."

It's said that modern shopping has a seven-day no-reason return policy. Does marriage have one?