Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Jiang Yicen also had a pretty eventful weekend. Last night, he experienced modern nightlife once again. When both his mental and material needs were met, he felt especially good mentally. He woke up early and even managed to run for half an hour on the treadmill.

However, when he came out after taking a shower, the master bedroom door was still tightly shut, and Nan Shuyi hadn't gotten up.

He said yesterday that he needed to go back to Nanyuan for a meeting today. As time was ticking away, Jiang Yicen couldn't wait for Nan Shuyi to get up and make breakfast for him, so he went to the kitchen himself. At least now, through observation, he knew how to use the stove, fry an egg, steam some dumplings that the auntie had prepared in advance and put in the fridge, and try to make two glasses of juice?

He felt that he should learn these skills so that when he lived alone in the future, he wouldn't need to rely on others.

In fact, he still overestimated himself.

Modern technology is indeed very convenient, but he couldn't handle it with the same ease as Nan Shuyi.

The steamed dumplings came out dry and flat, with the meat stuck to the plate. They fell apart at the slightest touch, as if they had been torn apart.

The juice that should have been poured gracefully into the glass refused to come out at all. What went wrong exactly?

Jiang Yicen spent a while, but everything was inedible.

Forget it, maybe he'd skip breakfast. He really wasn't suited for kitchen work.

He silently closed the glass door of the Chinese kitchen, ignoring the mess inside, and decided to let the auntie clean it up.

But he had been busy in there for over half an hour, and why hadn't Nan Shuyi gotten up?

Jiang Yicen went upstairs and knocked on his door. He knocked three times, but there was no response for a long time.

Had he left early?

But Nan Shuyi never locked his bedroom door when he was home. He had never felt the need to guard against him, and they hadn't had a fight.

Jiang Yicen went back downstairs and checked the car keys hanging at the entrance. The keys and shoes hadn't been moved, so he was still at home. He had heard some noise while half-asleep last night. Could it be that he had something to deal with late at night, making him go to bed too late?

Jiang Yicen went upstairs again and continued knocking on Nan Shuyi's door, but still no response.

He stood at the door for a while, a bit worried that Nan Shuyi might be sick and unable to get up.

But he didn't know where the key to the room was.

Just as he was at a loss for what to do, he remembered that the shared walk-in closet connected the two rooms.

Regardless of manners or whether it was rude, the person's well-being came first.

He entered the walk-in closet from his own room.

The two of them rarely ran into each other in the walk-in closet. Jiang Yicen felt it was a shared space, open in nature. He always picked out his clothes for the next day in advance and changed in his own room.

He pushed open the door leading to the master bedroom.

The blackout curtains in the room were very effective, making it quite dark. Jiang Yicen used the light filtering in through the gaps to see the shape of a person under the covers.

Nan Shuyi didn't toss and turn much when sleeping, but he had a habit of hugging a pillow or the blanket. Back when the guest room wasn't ready, Jiang Yicen hadn't noticed this habit when they slept in the same bed. Now, however, he was hugging a pillow. Asleep, Nan Shuyi's face had less of the sharpness it had when his eyes were open, making him look much softer. His unkempt hair drooped, making him look very different from his usual self, like a big brother from next door.

Nan Shuyi's breathing was even, indicating deep sleep. The lower half of his body was covered by the newly changed dark blue spring quilt, but his waist was bare, revealing his well-built physique. Jiang Yicen felt a bit envious. In both lives, he had never managed to achieve such clearly defined muscles. Of course, he had a lean build with some muscle, but not as pronounced as Nan Shuyi's.

Jiang Yicen looked Nan Shuyi up and down, his face slowly heating up. He averted his gaze before starting to wake him up.

He called out in a low voice, "Brother Shuyi, time to get up."

Probably because his voice wasn't loud enough, after calling out twice, there was no reaction from Nan Shuyi.

Jiang Yicen couldn't bring himself to yell, so he simply pushed Nan Shuyi's thigh through the blanket.

"Brother Shuyi, wake up."

This time, Nan Shuyi finally reacted a bit, but he was still groggy. He thought he was dreaming and closed his eyes again. Then he heard Jiang Yicen's voice turn more urgent, not gentle at all — this shouldn't be happening in his dream.

"Brother Shuyi, wake up!"

Jiang Yicen didn't know why he was so sleepy today. Had he gone to bed very late last night?

In a hurry, he smacked his thigh: "Nan Shuyi, stop sleeping. Don't you have to go back to Nanyuan for a meeting this morning?"

If it weren't for the meeting at Nanyuan, he might not have insisted on waking Nan Shuyi up.

Nan Shuyi was jolted awake by the smack. His thigh felt strong and a bit numb — the force was really not light.

He rubbed his eyes and said groggily, "Is it that late?"

Jiang Yicen found Nan Shuyi, who clearly hadn't had enough sleep, quite amusing.

"Yeah, you'll be late for the meeting."

Only then did Nan Shuyi get out of bed, ready to take a shower to wake up as usual.

However, as he pulled the blanket away, he felt a slight chill on his lower abdomen...

He looked down and quickly pulled the blanket back up, covering his forehead and muttering a curse: "Shit!"

Jiang Yicen was speechless. Well, even though it was just a glance, it was, um, really something. "You, you go wash up first. I'll wait for you downstairs so we can go to the company together."

He stepped back, turned, and returned to his room along the same path, his steps a bit wobbly.

After returning to his room, Jiang Yicen felt his whole body burning up. He went into the bathroom to wash his face and saw himself in the mirror — his face was bright red.

It wasn't him who had been seen, so why was he blushing so shamefully?

So there were differences between men too.

Although his second brother had taken him to a cabaret to see the world, he had just sat there drinking. When a famous female singer at the time sat next to him, he maintained a proper social distance based on the principle of "no physical contact between men and women." His second brother even made fun of him for being too stiff. Of course, he rarely hung out with men shoulder to shoulder either. By nature, he always maintained decorum with everyone, let alone being "exposed" with a man.

He took a deep breath and calmed down in his room for a few minutes before going downstairs.

Ten minutes later, Nan Shuyi came out of the room looking refreshed, his hair still slightly damp. He saw Jiang Yicen sitting upright waiting for him and couldn't help but remember what had just happened. What he had hurried to cover up wasn't being seen nude, but rather a man's natural morning reaction.

If Zhou Yi had seen it, he would have been proud, but facing Jiang Yicen, it wasn't shyness — it was an instinctive unease.

Jiang Yicen asked him, "Did you have something to deal with last night? I heard you go downstairs."

Nan Shuyi nodded absently. "Yeah, did it wake you up?"

Jiang Yicen: "No, I happened to go to the bathroom last night and heard it."

Nan Shuyi: "Mm, something came up."

Yeah, he actually had something last night, and it was quite significant.

In fact, he went to bed at his usual time, but tossed and turned, unable to sleep, his body unusually hot. After rolling around in bed for a while, he suddenly remembered eating four big oysters at dinner. As a young man full of energy with nowhere to release it, he ended up going for a night run outside for an hour. After returning, he took a cold shower, relieved himself, and only then felt a bit drowsy—by which point it was already the early hours of the morning. He probably didn't fully fall asleep until nearly dawn.

All because of those four big oysters!

On the way to the company, traffic was stuck during rush hour. Nan Shuyi noticed Jiang Yicen sitting calmly, his face still pale and glowing, flawless, showing no signs of insomnia.

Nan Shuyi couldn't hold back and asked, "You didn't have any trouble sleeping last night?"

Jiang Yicen paused. "No, I didn't," he said, quickly catching on. "You had trouble sleeping last night?"

Nan Shuyi cleared his throat. "Yeah, a little."

He couldn't keep going; otherwise, Jiang Yicen would guess.

Jiang Yicen wasn't so much curious as he was worried about his health. "Why couldn't you sleep?"

Nan Shuyi came up with an excuse. "Maybe it's because the weather is getting hot. I'll change the sheets and pillowcases when I get home."

Jiang Yicen checked the weather every night before bed to plan his outfit for the next day. Last night, the temperature had dropped several degrees.

He wondered what the real reason was for Nan Shuyi's insomnia. Nan Shuyi seemed to be hiding something. Could it be about the restaurant? That wasn't impossible—when you've got something on your mind, it's easy to lose sleep.

"I see," Jiang Yicen said, not thinking much of it.

Nan Shuyi felt relieved that he hadn't pressed further.

Before reaching the company, Nan Shuyi parked in front of a lavishly decorated bakery and bought some food to tide them over.

Before leaving the house, he'd deliberately gone to the kitchen fridge to grab a snack for the road, only to find it a mess. He immediately knew what Jiang Yicen had been up to.

Jiang Yicen got a bottle of milk, a sandwich, and a brownie smaller than his palm.

Nan Shuyi said, "Have this for now. I'll take you out for something else at noon."

Jiang Yicen nodded. He wasn't picky. "Mm."

Having lived through times without food, he cherished every bite he got.

He got out of the car first when they arrived at the company.

Thousands of people worked at Nanyuan Group, and Nan Shuyi rarely came here. He often switched cars, so few people recognized his ride, and no one recognized Jiang Yicen getting out of his car.

After arriving at his desk, Jiang Yicen first dealt with his simple breakfast. The sandwich from that convenience store bakery was actually pretty good.

Jiajia arrived at the company right on time. Just as she put down her backpack covered in ugly dolls, she spotted Jiang Yicen's sandwich and milk bottle packaging.

Jiajia's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Holy crap, Yicen, your breakfast has style! How much—I mean, what does this breakfast taste like?"

Wasn't this the top luxury bakery that was all the rage online—the one called the Hermès of bread, selling croissants for ninety-nine yuan, milk for one hundred ninety-nine, and a small cake for two hundred eighty-eight?

Jiang Yicen was used to his lovely colleagues by now. He found the girl's little catchphrases trendy.

Nan Shuyi had bought the breakfast, so Jiang Yicen didn't know the price.

He told Jiajia, "It tastes pretty good. I know where the store is. If you like it, you can go with your friends sometime."

Jiajia shook her head vigorously. "No, no thanks. Not my thing."

She'd really seen it all today—so someone really could spend six hundred yuan on a single breakfast!

No wait, where did this rich young master come from? So low-key!

Jiang Yicen said, "That's too bad. The sandwich is really good."

Jiajia wept inwardly and secretly checked the price of that bakery's sandwich. Holy mackerel—a hundred forty-eight yuan each.

Was this breakfast? This was eating 0.1 grams of gold. She wasn't worthy of it!

For Jiang Yicen, the breakfast thing was just a minor little episode.

That morning, Jin Huanxin called him into the office, telling him to follow up on the candy marketing plan and giving him another project—though this one gave him two weeks to work on it.

Suddenly, his workload increased, and Jin Huanxin's attitude toward him had also changed significantly, shedding his previous passive-aggressive tone and bossiness. This was the best state Jiang Yicen could hope for—no need for bosses and employees to fight tooth and nail; why not just get along?

After he joined various department work groups, his workload and the amount of communication grew, and he began to encounter more new things. The plan was written under Nan Shuyi's guidance, but when it came to implementing it in the department, he kept running into new terms—learning and working at the same time, busy as a bee.

Around noon, he finally had a moment to rest and drink some water.

Coming back from the break room, he noticed the seat to his right had been empty all morning—in fact, it was completely cleaned out.

Jiang Yicen asked Jiajia, "Did Tan Ping take the day off?"

Jiajia said, "You haven't heard?"

Jiang Yicen: "Know what?"

Jiajia shared a little gossip with him: "He got transferred to a branch office. I heard ninety percent of the employees there are relatives of the management."

Jiang Yicen, who had gotten in as a relative of the leadership himself, was speechless.

But he was a relative of the company's leadership, not the branch's—the term "leadership" meant something different here.

He knew Tan Ping was Jin Huanxin's scapegoat. Jiang Yicen didn't know who came up with that clever idea, but under current labor laws, directly firing someone might require severance pay, but there were a hundred ways to get someone to quit on their own.

Whether in the Republic of China era or modern times, in places full of relatives, the real work always fell on the regular staff. If someone had the ability to find a better job, they wouldn't end up stuck in a place like that. Compared to directly firing someone, this method was definitely top-notch.

Around noon, Jiang Yicen saw Nan Shuyi walk into the office with his laptop and head into Jin Huanxin's office.

Five minutes later, Jin Huanxin came out personally to arrange a desk for him.

Nan Shuyi pointed to the empty spot next to Jiang Yicen. "No need to look elsewhere. Isn't this seat free? I'll sit here."

Jiang Yicen, who had been about to lean back and rest in his chair, immediately sat up straight.

He looked at Nan Shuyi in disbelief. How did he end up in the marketing department? He'd previously heard that Nan Shuyi's father wanted him to learn more about management by rotating through different departments.

Jiajia and Dabing were also a bit stunned. What the...?

What did this mean?

The Young Master was coming to their department to keep an eye on things?

Nan Shuyi smiled at them and said, "Just temporary work. I won't come often, so don't feel pressured."

Jiajia stammered, "No, no, it's just surprising. Please, have a seat, have a seat!" She was so flustered that she stuttered. She'd only ever seen people like him on social media, and now here he was in the flesh!

Their department now had one more incredibly handsome guy.

"I have an online meeting, so I'll go in first." Jin Huanxin dared not neglect Nan Shuyi, nor did he dare to say much. He went straight back to his office and didn't come out again.

At noon, Nan Shuyi, since he was new to the company, invited colleagues who were on good terms with Jiang Yicen to have lunch together.

"How about we all have lunch together? My treat."

"Great, great! Thank you, Young Master." Jiajia and Dabing, along with a few other colleagues, happily agreed. The Young Master from Nanyuan was treating them to lunch—this was something to brag about for a lifetime!

Jiang Yicen: "..." He found it a bit amusing.

The four of them went to a Thai restaurant in a mall near the company for lunch. As soon as they sat down, Jiang Yicen heard Nan Shuyi sneeze a few times while turning sideways.

While the other colleagues were discussing what to order, he quietly asked Nan Shuyi, "Do you have a cold?"

Nan Shuyi said, sounding a bit stuffy, "Mm, seems like it."

Jiang Yicen's mind raced, and he immediately figured out why Nan Shuyi had been acting weird last night. He might not get feelings, but he knew his food's properties and effects.

Jiang Yicen pressed his hand to the corner of his mouth and asked, "Was it the oysters?"

Nan Shuyi averted his gaze awkwardly: "..." This isn't the time to play detective!