Chapter 03.2

The Jiang family originally did hardware business in a small southern city. Twenty years ago, when the first wave of the internet hit, the couple, with keen eyes, immediately sought a ship ticket, boarded the ship of the times, and moved to Lingbei City, establishing Jiang Li Technology with all their assets.

However, since the beginning of this year, Jiang Li, this big ship, has sailed into the reef area due to certain policy reasons. The shareholders have been in constant disagreement, with one meeting after another, and now even the investment partners have started to consider withdrawing their investments.

In such a situation, it’s usually necessary to find a reliable partner as a backer, and marriage is a simple and straightforward solution.

His elder brother, Jiang Chen, is two years older than him. Two years ago, he had already married the daughter of the Meng family group, which was also a business marriage.

Jiang Chen had been making a fuss about it for a long time, and even questioned his parents whether they would be willing to send him to marry someone if he were the younger brother.

It’s not surprising that Jiang Chen was so outspoken, as from a young age, Jiang Qingtian and Yuan Li had indeed favored Jiang Yao a little more, no matter what mistakes he made, they never scolded or beat him, and were always gentle with him, which was in stark contrast to how Jiang Chen was raised.

Jiang Chen had been jealous of this many times, and had even secretly told Jiang Yao that he suspected he was an adopted child.

At first, Jiang Yao was proud of being favored by his parents, but as he grew older, he increasingly felt that his parents were being overly cautious with him, and it made him feel alienated.

For example, now his brother could be pushed out by his parents in the name of family dedication to take on responsibilities, but why couldn’t he?

They even used the word “burden” so impersonally…

Isn’t he also a member of this family?

Moreover, getting married is not a one-time deal, if it doesn’t work out in the future, they can still get divorced. The urgent task now is to help the family get through the difficult times.

With a surge of determination, Jiang Yao pushed open the door and entered.

“Dad, Mom, don’t worry, I can get married too.”

In front of the spacious desk, the composed-looking woman and the man with a kind expression both turned towards the door.

Yuan Li didn’t expect that Jiang Yao had heard everything. She reined in the aura she had just had while talking to her husband, and with some difficulty, she said, “Yao Yao, the other person is a boy.”

Jiang Yao nodded, “Mm, I heard.”

Jiang Qingtian, sitting on the sofa, put down the teacup in his hand, looked up at Jiang Yao, and said in a gentle tone, “This is your lifelong matter. Mom and Dad have no right to advocate for you, let alone force you to do anything.”

Surrounded by his parents’ accommodating gaze, Jiang Yao’s hot-bloodedness gradually subsided, and he realized that he might have acted a bit impulsively.

The taste of today’s defeat had seriously damaged his self-esteem, and his mind was still in a mess, always wanting to prove something.

Although his current life pursuit did not include “falling in love”, and he also took marriage quite lightly, after all, it was a decision that concerned his own and even his family’s future, so he couldn’t just rely on hot-bloodedness and a sense of responsibility.

After pondering for a moment, he still left some leeway, “Let’s meet the person first, and then we can talk about it again if we don’t think it’s suitable.”

*

Before going to bed, Jiang Yao spent a long time mentally preparing himself, but when he walked into the bathroom, he still froze in front of the mirror.

Jiang Yao has been learning martial arts since he was 9 years old. Despite his pale skin and slender build, he is still full of strength, like a bamboo shoot breaking through the soil, and is not the type to be easily bullied.

However, at this moment, his body seems to have experienced some bullying.

Even his knees are a bit bruised.

When he woke up in the hotel, the sunlight was blocked by the thick curtains, and the room was very dark.

Plus, he was too panicked at that time, so after putting on his clothes, he fled the hotel without even bothering to carefully check himself.

“Damn that bastard Duan Zhuxian!!”

Jiang Yao couldn’t hold back, cursing out loud, and simply tilted his head back, not wanting to look at those marks, and then turned on the shower, letting the water flow over his body.

After the first round of foam rinsed off, he reapplied the shower gel several times, as if he had obsessive-compulsive disorder and a cleaning fetish.

At the moment he lost consciousness last night, his memory was filled with wetness, wrapped in sweat, as if he was drowning.

But when he woke up, he didn’t feel dirty, indicating that someone had helped clean him up.

Thinking about Duan Zhuxian saying he had applied medicine for him, an uncontrollable image emerged in Jiang Yao’s mind – Duan Zhuxian standing by the bed, gradually applying the ointment…

He couldn’t help but let out a “sigh”, and the sudden surge of heat from within burned his cheeks all the way to his ears.

He lowered the water temperature, but still couldn’t relieve the waves of heat rising on his face.

This bath, Jiang Yao took for a full hour, alternating between hot and cold water, his skin reddened from scrubbing.

When he lay in bed, he always felt a lingering smell on his body, like the scent of some kind of beast that wasn’t washed off properly.

Last night, he didn’t turn on the lights all night, the surroundings were so dark as if he were dreaming. Only a blurry night light shook at a high frequency, unable to tell if it was the light moving or his field of vision.

His night vision was poor, so when he couldn’t see clearly, his other senses became particularly sharp.

In a drunken haze, he could smell a certain unmistakable scent on Duan Zhuxian’s body, crisp yet dangerous. Every inhalation could trigger a heartbeat.

Like standing on the edge of a cliff, surrounded by the night on a high-latitude snowfield, making a wrong step is like falling into an abyss…

Due to exhaustion, Jiang Yao quickly fell asleep, but his sleep was not peaceful. The bizarre and heavy dreams were as heavy as lead, with a madman chasing him in the dream.

The man hooked his neck from behind and psychotically pierced the fabric of his pants with a knife tip. He turned around in fright, only to see the madman with Duan Zhuxian’s face.

The next morning, Jiang Yao yawned continuously as he got out of bed.

Shortly after arriving at the company, he met with a business partner, and then he got busy with work.

Jiang Yao was used to being an optimistic person, and he was best at self-adjustment, rarely staying in a depressed and receding state for a long time.

After immersing himself in work, he gradually revived.

As for the absurdity that night, he just treated it as being bitten by a dog.

He didn’t even need to get the rabies vaccine, it was no big deal.

His current priority is to settle down and establish a career, to reach the peak of his life.

Who has time to care about Duan Zhuxian, the guy he already kicked out of the big picture of his life?

【Author’s Note】

The big picture of life: Is that so? (Turns around and takes out a small segment)