Chapter 07: “He has a bad temper.”

Jiang Yao is the youngest in the family, born with a bit of a golden spoon in his nature. After growing up through various bumps and scrapes, he gradually smoothed out some of his edges. Now, without much effort, he can pretend to be a mature adult.

However, some memories related to Duan Zhuxian seem to never grow up, always bringing back the fresh and impulsive emotions of his teenage years whenever he recalled them.

As the street scenes outside the car window receded into a blur, Jiang Yao curled his fingers, then resting them against his temple. He stared blankly outside for a while with worriedly looks on his face.

When his feeling of annoyance had subsided slightly, he received a friend request notification.

He clicked to accept, and the person on the other side quickly introduced themselves: [Hello Mr. Jiang, my surname is Lin, I am Mr. Duan’s personal assistant.]

Jiang Yao raised his eyebrows slightly and paused before he asked: [Why did you add me?]

Assistant Lin replied : [It was Mr. Duan’s instruction.]

Seeing that Jiang Yao didn’t reply for a while, Assistant Lin added: [Could you please accommodate this request, Mr. Jiang? (crying emoji) x3]

Looking at the three uniformly crying emojis, Jiang Yao squinted his eyes slightly, and imagining the other person’s frantic appearance.

Someone like Duan Zhuxian, a natural loner who now became a leader, must also be a dictator, and certainly not kind to his subordinates.

A sense of revolutionary solidarity against a common enemy ignited in Jiang Yao’s heart.

Forget it, keeping him as a mouthpiece also good.

Jiang Yao lowered his eyes, and responded lazily with an “Oh.”

*

On another road, a business car was speeding towards the financial venue in the west of the city, with assistant Lin in the back seat holding his breath and staring at his phone screen with nerves highly tense.

A few minutes earlier, Mr. Duan had given him a WeChat ID and instructed him to find a way to add it.

“He has a bad temper.”

That’s how Mr. Duan had warned him.

Yet, his tone wasn’t the least bit annoyed; instead, there was a hint of indulgence, even his usually cold eyes seemed a bit softer.

Assistant Lin intuitively felt that this person was very important and could not afford any negligence.

So, with a serious and responsible attitude, he asked in advance, “Is this Mr. Jiang your client?”

Mr. Duan spoke calmly, “He’s my fiancé.”

Assistant Lin was startled, the already heavy burden on his shoulders suddenly felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, nearly crushing him.

During the friend request process, Mr. Duan had been resting with his eyes closed, and his index finger tapping slowly on the central armrest. The sound wasn’t loud, but to Assistant Lin, it was like a death knell.

After exchanging a few words with Jiang Yao, Assistant Lin waited anxiously for about ten minutes and tentatively sent a [Thank you for understanding (hands clasped together emoji)] to him, and to his surprise, he wasn’t blocked.

“Mr. Duan, it’s done!” He exclaimed joyfully, and unable to help but sighed, “Mr. Jiang unexpectedly is quite amiable.”

Duan Zhuxian opened his eyes, and his gaze devoid of sleepiness, glanced over the corner of his eyes and stopped on the chat record on Assistant Lin’s phone screen.

Jiang Yao had just sent a message soon after: [It’s okay.]

Quite amiable indeed.

Duan Zhuxian paused, then asked, “Does he fall for this?”

Assistant Lin vaguely uttered an “Uhm,” then he tactically adjusting his glasses, choosing to avoid the question.

When speaking with subordinates, Duan Zhuxian usually expressed himself in statements, and it was rare for Assistant Lin to hear such genuine doubt in his words.

Assistant Lin had a strong feeling that although he had completed the task perfectly, his boss didn’t seem very happy.

*

After the preliminary arrangements for the marriage alliance were settled, Hua Yan quickly injected the first amount of fund into Jiang Li and also transferred experts from the headquarters to assist Jiang Li in smoothing out all the connections.

Most of the worry that enveloped Jiang Qingtian and Yuan Li’s faces disappeared.

The project in Jiang Yao’s hands was also finally restarted.

At the end of last year, he took over from his brother a recently launched music software, to expand the platform’s popularity, Jiang Yao planned to find suitable promoters, but unexpectedly, the company ran into trouble, so the plan was shelved for a long time.

After convening the project team for the morning meeting and setting up the upcoming work schedule, Jiang Yao rolled up his sleeves and walked out of the meeting room, as he passed by the public balcony, he heard someone making a phone call in there.

“The company’s situation has stabilized, there will be no layoffs for now… I’m not lying to you, our Young Leader Jiang Yao personally announced a new project today… Hmm, don’t worry about our mother’s surgery expenses… I’m not tired, you focus on preparing for the postgraduate entrance exam, don’t skip dinner to save money, if you’re short on money, just ask your sister…”

The woman’s voice was hoarse and weary, yet her tone couldn’t hide her excitement, which was moving to hear.

Jiang Yao sighed and continued walking forward.

Not to mention that Jiang Li is the culmination of his parents’ lifelong efforts, just looking at the present, how many people rely on his family’s company to make a living, the screws that fell out of Jiang Li amidst the turmoil, aren’t they a heavy burden on whoever they fall upon?

Marrying someone is like ferrying the masses to salvation.

If I don’t enter hell, who will?

In an instant, Jiang Yao felt a profound sanctity, as if lotuses bloomed with each of his step and his whole being radiating with a Buddha’s light.

Upon returning to his office, Jiang Yao took out his phone and opened the family chat group.

His parents and brother had heatedly exchanged hundreds of messages, mainly revolving around his brother and sister-in-law.

Ever since his brother was forced into an arranged marriage, he and his wife have been quarreling every now and then. His sister-in-law, a decisive female CEO, stormed back to her own home in a fit of anger half a month ago and has not returned since.

His parents criticized his brother in the group chat for not even being able to take care of his own small family, let alone manage the entire enterprise in the future, and ordered his brother to personally apologize and fetch her.

His brother, utterly unconvinced, and argued in the group chat: [For a marriage without an emotional foundation, to maintain such outward decency as I have is already quite difficult, why should I always be the one to back down first?]

In the past, when such things happened, Jiang Yao could tease his brother without worrying about the consequences, but now, seeing all this mess, he couldn’t help feeling a sense of shared sorrow.

He scrolled down for quite a while but didn’t find anything related to him, so he put his phone face down and called his secretary over to report on the meeting summary.

In the afternoon, Jiang Yao met with several big data analysis experts who had come from out of town at the company. In the evening, he took them to the top-floor restaurant of the office building for a quick meal, and took the opportunity to enjoy the urban beauty of Lingbei City.

After finishing the meal, Jiang Yao stretched and walked into the elevator, outside the transparent glass, the world had suddenly turned to evening.

At the moment the sun sank, the pale sky was splashed with various brilliant colors, some of which landed on the unfinished skyscraper opposite, cut into fine golden dust by the construction site’s reflectors, and shimmering as if an inspiration had descended from the sky.

Jiang Yao stood in the elevator, gazing at the pile of exposed rebar and steel. Unconsciously, he added bricks and tiles to them in his mind, the building flesh, until his view was blocked by the surrounding wall.

A ‘ding’ sounded behind him; he had reached the first floor.

After walking out of the building, Jiang Yao didn’t see the car that came to pick him up. There was only a black Bentley that parked arrogantly across the open space.

It’s clearly unfamiliar, yet it’s inexplicably irritating to him.

Jiang Yao glanced several times in that direction. He was just about to take out his phone to call the driver when the back seat window of the Bentley slowly lowered, revealing a face indifferent to worldly concerns.

Putting on such airs, who else could it be if not Duan Zhuxian?

On this rare beautiful sunset evening, it just had to be a narrow road encounter with an adversary.

What a bad luck.

Jiang Yao rolled his eyes dramatically, intending to take a detour, when suddenly he heard Duan Zhuxian call him.

He stopped three meters away, put his hands in his pockets, turned his head and asked, “What’s the matter?”

Duan Zhuxian said, “Get in the car.”

Jiang Yao retorted, “Don’t I have my own car?”

Duan Zhuxian’s expression remained unchanged as he said: “I’ve already spoken to your driver.”

Jiang Yao was stunned for a moment, then laughed at Duan Zhuxian’s presumptuous attitude.

He took a few steps forward, leaned over with one hand on the window sill, then asked the man in a well-ironed suit inside the car, “Which act is Mr. Duan playing this time?”

The beautiful faces that had been tinted by the setting sun suddenly approached without warning, the corners of the young man’s lips hooked a provocative arc, and the refreshing citrus scent followed the tips of his hair blown by the wind, brushing past Duan Zhuxian’s nose.

Duan Zhuxian’s calm eyes flickered slightly, his Adam’s apple moved up and down lightly, as he uttered softly, “My grandfather wants us to move to the northern part of the city tonight.”

Jiang Yao puzzled: “?”

What Duan Zhuxian referred to was the marriage house^[1]婚房(hūnfáng) = Marriage house, In China, the tradition of marriage house has persisted for generations: males (and their families) are expected to provide a marriage house (Hunfang) – a … Continue reading prepared for them by Elder Duan, a garden villa located in the northern part of the city. It is said to be a legacy from the time of the Republic of China, which was nearly turned into a tourist spot by the government back then. Later, Hua Yan invested in building a cluster of villas around it.

He originally thought it was just a decorative gesture to solicit a wedding gift, but he didn’t expect they really planned to keep him in that gilded cage.

Jiang Yao, puzzled, and asked, “The agreement is signed, what’s the old man anxious about?”

Duan Zhuxian’s expression unchanged, pulled up a number on his phone, and handed it to Jiang Yao: “You can ask him yourself.”

Jiang Yao didn’t take it.

In this matter, where neither he nor Duan Zhuxian could gain any advantage, he didn’t suspect that Duan Zhuxian would deceive him.

He said nonchalantly, “Whether I live there or not, the old man wouldn’t know.”

Duan Zhuxian said, “He has plenty of informants.”

Jiang Yao was speechless, his gaze falling on Assistant Lin, who was driving in the front row.

Assistant Lin felt a chill down his spine, as if struck by an arrow from behind.

[Author’s Note]

Xiao Duan’s brief plan: First, put the wife into the sack and then take him away for cohabitation.

Tl’s note: Sorry for the slow update (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠)