Chapter 79

Chapter 79

"What?" Jiang Yicen hadn't even registered the bouquet he'd set aside.

"This? Wang Yujian took me out to dinner today and said it was a thank-you gift."

Nan Shuyi's face fell. "Who gives flowers as a thank-you gift? Don't tell me he showed up in a suit and tie too."

Jiang Yicen took a bite of the sweet honey peach and laughed. "How did you know?"

Nan Shuyi thought, of course he knew—they were both guys, same playbook.

He said flatly, "Throw his flowers away."

Jiang Yicen: "They're such nice flowers. It'd be a shame to toss them."

Nan Shuyi: "Did he get you anything else?"

Jiang Yicen: "He gave me a thank-you gift. I haven't opened it yet."

Nan Shuyi stressed: "That Wang Yujian is gay and up to no good. These celebs are all the same. Don't bother with him next time."

Jiang Yicen: "I just had a casual meal with him."

Nan Shuyi: "So what exactly did he give you as a thank-you gift?"

Jiang Yicen took another bite of the peach. "Let me go check."

Nan Shuyi: "Is the peach sweet?"

These were from Liu Dan—he'd sent over a whole crate.

"Sweet, but I can't finish them all. I had the driver send half home for Shuqi and the others to try."

Nan Shuyi started shaving, but he couldn't take his eyes off that gift.

Jiang Yicen set down the rest of the peach and went to grab the gift.

Nan Shuyi saw the bow on the box and snorted. "A grown man putting a bow on it—how lame." He was doing his best to trash-talk the guy.

Jiang Yicen smirked. He knew Nan Shuyi was getting jealous again.

"Probably the store wrapped it. That's how they come."

He started unwrapping it.

The box was only palm-sized.

Jiang Yicen didn't expect it to be super pricey, but it probably wasn't cheap either, since Wang Yujian was a big star.

Since Nan Shuyi was watching closely, Jiang Yicen kept the camera aimed right at the gift box.

Nan Shuyi didn't look away either. He was set on seeing what that guy had given.

Jiang Yicen opened the box and pulled out a pair of emerald cufflinks.

Nan Shuyi relaxed. "Snap a photo of those cufflinks and send it to me."

Jiang Yicen: "What for?"

Nan Shuyi: "To check the price."

Jiang Yicen laughed. "No need to check the price, right?"

Nan Shuyi: "No, I have to see it."

Jiang Yicen: "Fine, but I'll have to hang up to take a photo."

Nan Shuyi weighed ending the call against getting the photo—he chose not to hang up. Every second of video time was precious, and it wasn't worth losing any over some other guy's gift.

"Then send it after we hang up."

Jiang Yicen set the gift aside and switched topics.

"You don't have to tag along with the delegation today. Why are you up so early?" Jiang Yicen had seen the news—the state leader's visit was only three days, and after that, the leader's other stops wouldn't include the bigwigs.

Nan Shuyi hesitated. "I've got other work today. After the expo, I need to hash out the agency contract with the distributor."

Jiang Yicen really cared about building sales channels for the Yutu brand. Now that it was selling internationally, it proved his sister had been right to push for it back then. Too bad Third Sister lived back in the Republic of China era—if she were around now, she'd have been a big deal.

That said, Jiang Yicen had been home for days, and he missed Nan Shuyi.

"So when are you coming back to Lincheng?"

"Is Master Jiang missing his man?"

"It's Master Nan who misses his man." Jiang Yicen had heard Nan Shuyi tease him so much that he could now fire back.

Nan Shuyi's jealousy instantly melted at those words.

There was never room for anyone else—no one could ever get between them.

Nan Shuyi wanted to say more, but his doorbell rang.

Nan Shuyi started getting dressed. "I'm heading out. You've got work tomorrow, so get some sleep."

Jiang Yicen: "Shuyi, don't forget to eat breakfast."

Nan Shuyi took off his pajamas and noticed Jiang Yicen looking away. "Got it. But aren't you gonna check out your husband's body?"

Jiang Yicen: "Nope."

Nan Shuyi looked down at his abs. "Why not? What's wrong with it?"

Jiang Yicen answered honestly: "If I look, I won't sleep tonight."

Before Nan Shuyi could reply, Jiang Yicen hung up.

Nan Shuyi was stunned. His shy Master Jiang could now talk sweet to him too.

Nan Shuyi pressed a hand to his chest. How was he so cute? He wanted to kiss him breathless.

·

Jiang Yicen's weekend was pretty nice. The next day he had to go back to the office. He'd gradually gotten used to his work life, and he was also working hard to learn new office tools. A lot of these tools were connected—once you got one, you could apply the logic to others—so he picked things up faster and faster.

He'd even found study materials saved on "Jiang Yicen's" computer and bought the matching books online. Whenever he had free time, he studied. A lot of the case studies were super useful for his work. He soaked up new knowledge like a sponge, hungry for more. The Ivy League coursework didn't seem too hard either—his English was decent, and with all the translation tools out there now, understanding wasn't a problem.

Coming out of the meeting room, he started reviewing the new project proposal, adding his own revision comments to the document.

Just as he finished, he got a call from Lu Xiao[Lu Xiao].

Lu Xiao got straight to the point without any pleasantries: "President Jiang, you've really put me in a bind."

Jiang Yicen[Jiang Yicen] replied, "Oh? I thought you'd be thrilled to be on the project team."

Lu Xiao said, "But the way you brought me in, everyone's saying I only got in because I'm Nan Shuyi[Nan Shuyi]'s buddy."

Jiang Yicen chuckled, "You shouldn't let that kind of gossip bother you. Are you confident you can develop the new product I'm looking for?"

Lu Xiao replied, "I don't know about that. The project team's stacked with your brother's guys, so there's no way for me to get anything done."

Jiang Yicen said, "Then figure it out. If my brother's that worried about you, you must have some tricks up your sleeve. I actually checked with Zhicheng about you first—he sang your praises, said you're a real go-getter. Don't make Zhicheng look bad."

Lu Xiao paused for a moment, "Did he really say that?"

Jiang Yicen said, "Yes."

Lu Xiao said, "Alright, I'll get the project handled for you."

Jiang Yicen said, "Thanks, President Lu."

Now that the Jiangnan series project team had an "inside man," he could let Jiang Da[Jiangda] fight his own battles and save himself the trouble.

Just as he was about to get back to work, the front desk buzzed in on the intercom.

"President Jiang, there's a delivery guy downstairs with flowers, saying he needs you to sign for it personally. Do you want to come down, or should I have the assistant bring them up?"

"Flowers?"

"Yes."

"I'll come down to get them."

Jiang Yicen thought it was weird—if the flowers were for him, why didn't they call his cell?

Who would send him flowers?

Jiang Yicen thought of Wang Yujian[Wang Yujian], but there's no way he'd do that—he'd just turned him down over the weekend.

Since it was during work hours, the elevator wasn't crowded, and he made it down to the front desk in no time.

The delivery guy said, "Mr. Jiang[Mr. Jiang], just sign here, please."

Jiang Yicen signed for the bouquet, then carried the flashy red roses upstairs. The bouquet was big and heavy.

He noticed a card tucked in the flowers.

"Tous ces bouquets, azurs, carmins, pourpres, safrans,

Dont l'haleine s'envole en murmurant: Je t'aime!" (Note 1)

—From your most handsome and dashing husband"

Jiang Yicen's eyes crinkled with a smile.

He could practically feel his husband's jealousy, stronger than the scent of the roses.

He murmured the last line of the poem under his breath: "Je t'aime."

Even though he ran into few coworkers on the way back, a guy carrying roses was still a bit of a spectacle. Word had already spread among the people on his floor, and the marketing center's private group chat was blowing up.

-Did you see that? Did you see that? President Jiang just walked in carrying a bouquet of roses!

-Who sent those? So extra.

-Honestly, with President Jiang, it could be anyone. Think it's some rich lady?

-Nah, I don't think so. I've got a feeling it's a guy.

-Could it be his boyfriend?

-Who even knows if he's seeing someone? He's so soft-spoken, I feel like nobody's good enough for him.

-How do you know he's not seeing someone on the down low? He just hasn't said anything.

-Anyone else think President Jiang and the Young Master[Young Master] make a good pair? Every time they're together, it's easy on the eyes.

-But the Young Master's married—don't even go there.

-Cough, just kidding around, don't take it seriously.

Jiang Yicen sent a message to Nan Shuyi.

He'd never missed anyone this much before today. It wasn't like missing family—it was the kind where not seeing him made him restless, unable to sleep, and the highlight of each day was video-calling him, to hear his voice, see him smile, listen to his snarky comments, and watch him try so hard to make him laugh. No matter what side of Nan Shuyi he showed, he loved it.

Today, Nan Shuyi didn't text back right away like he usually did—probably swamped with work again.

With the roses sitting nearby, Jiang Yicen had a productive day and even stayed a bit late.

Just as he was getting ready to head out, his phone rang—it was Jiang Gongming[Jiang Gongming].

Jiang Gongming said in a no-nonsense tone, "I'm downstairs at your office. You're coming home for dinner tonight."

Jiang Yicen wanted to say no, but he agreed anyway.

He told Uncle Chen he was getting in Jiang Gongming's car to head back to the Jiang house.

Nan Shuyi had ordered Uncle Chen to stick with Jiang Yicen no matter where he went.

·

Jiang Yicen sat next to Jiang Gongming, not bothering to look at the scenery. It wasn't nerves or anything—it was just that being stuck in a car with someone he didn't see eye to eye with felt off, especially now that he knew he and Jiang Gongming weren't even blood-related.

He knew why Jiang Gongming had called him over, but the guy kept beating around the bush.

Jiang Gongming was obviously not the type for small talk. He didn't even know what Jiang Yicen liked or what he did in his free time. Even though Jiang Yicen usually tried to be polite, he didn't feel like playing along.

After ten minutes of this painful small talk, Jiang Gongming couldn't take it anymore.

Jiang Gongming said, "Yicen[Yicen], I know you're heading up the Jiangnan project now. Why'd you bring Lu Xiao on board?"

Jiang Yicen said, "Lu Xiao gets things done, and he's got a solid rep."

Jiang Gongming's voice went up a notch, "Then what does that make me, your big brother?"

Jiang Yicen said flatly, "Isn't Lu Xiao your cousin? I don't see the problem—what's wrong with one more person?"

Jiang Gongming choked on his words: "…"

In the past, it was because the future of the Jiang family would be handed to Jiang Yiting, and likewise, he looked down on his youngest son's sexual orientation. But he never expected that someone so unremarkable, someone he treated as a tool, would cause him so much trouble.

Jiang Gongming: "Jiang Yicen, don't play dumb. You've joined Nanyuan, so there's no way you don't know that your eldest brother and Lu Xiao don't get along."

Jiang Yicen replied, "I'm considering things from Nanyuan's perspective. I work for Nanyuan now."

Jiang Gongming: "But your surname is Jiang. You should consider the Jiang family's interests."

Jiang Yicen smiled lightly: "That's rich. The Jiang family has never considered my interests. Now you turn around and ask me to consider the family's interests. So what does Jiangda have to do with me? The future heir could be Jiang Yiting, or even Lu Xiao. I have no shares, and no one has promised me any either. No one pays my salary. What do I owe Jiangda, exactly? Besides, who made me marry Nan Shuyi? Even considering the kindness of raising me from childhood, that debt has been repaid."

Jiang Gongming: "Are you saying you don't care about Jiangda anymore?"

Jiang Yicen: "You're still not getting it. Jiangda has nothing to do with me. I work for Nanyuan now."

Either way, Jiang Gongming had never truly considered him part of the Jiang family.

Jiang Gongming started to lose his temper: "You're going to drive me crazy!"

Jiang Yicen: "Don't get angry. This is already a done deal. Honestly, as someone who was exiled to the US for years, whether Jiangda lives or dies has nothing to do with me. Marrying Nan Shuyi was my way of repaying the kindness you showed in raising me."

Jiang Gongming was furious, but he knew what Jiang Yicen said was true.

Right then, the car pulled into the Jiang residence.

After getting out, he said to the two bodyguards who had come back with him: "Take him to the ancestral hall. Go reflect on your thoughts there. You were born a member of the Jiang family, and you'll die as one. No one is allowed to damage the family's interests. Jiang Yicen, I'll let you out once you come around!"

Surrounded by members of the Jiang family, Jiang Yicen didn't resist. The bodyguards escorted him to the ancestral hall and confiscated his phone.

The last time he'd been there was the night before his wedding, when Jiang Gongming brought the family to pay respects to their ancestors.

On the floor of the ancestral hall were only two hemp prayer cushions, and in front was an offering table with stale fruit and peach pastries.

He knew why Jiang Gongming was doing this—because Nan Shuyi was not in Lincheng, and no one could stick up for him.

But he hadn't expected Jiang Gongming to be such a stubborn patriarchal tyrant. Did he really think locking him up would make him give in?

Well, Jiang Gongming had underestimated him.

He hadn't resisted earlier because he wasn't sure if the two bodyguards' martial arts skills were better than his. Besides, showing weakness first was never a mistake—avoid force if possible. Also, he knew where the Jiang residence had surveillance cameras and where it didn't, and he could even scale the wall to escape.

The only problem was, without his phone, he couldn't contact Uncle Chen.

Jiang Gongming had probably done this kind of thing, locking him up, more than once. Every time, it was only after entering the Jiang residence that he had the bodyguards escort him to the ancestral hall and lock the door.

Jiang Yicen sat on the prayer cushion, looking through the carved wooden window at the scene outside.

The sky hadn't fully darkened yet. He'd just wait a little longer.

·

At seven in the evening, an international flight coming back from the US landed on time.

Nan Shuyi, along with Assistant Tang and others, wheeled their luggage out of customs.

His car was parked in the parking lot, so he drove straight home, while Assistant Tang and the others took cabs back themselves.

After parting ways with them, Nan Shuyi couldn't wait to get home.

He had seen Jiang Yicen's message after landing.

"Cencen: I miss you, sir."

When he got home, he would definitely surprise him.

Nan Shuyi's mind ran through several possible reactions from Jiang Yicen.

He would surely greet him with a passionate, eager deep kiss, right?

No, he was too shy for that. Maybe just a quick peck, but that would be enough.

They would definitely share a bed tonight. The weather was warming up, so he could turn on the air conditioner in advance and sleep in his room. His bed was big enough that it wouldn't be too hot.

He had also bought a gift for Jiang Yicen—much more valuable than the one from that Wang guy, and it suited Jiang Yicen's tastes perfectly. He would surely love it.

Forty minutes later, feeling excited, Nan Shuyi pushed open the door of his home.

However, the house was completely dark, and Jiang Yicen's slippers were still in the shoe cabinet.

He turned on the lights and called out, "Yicen?"