Chapter 26

After dropping off Qin Qingzhuo at home, Jiang Ji returned to the Honglu Bar. He was carrying a stir-fry he had bought from a roadside stall as he pushed open the door of the bar.

Huang Ying was in the bar today, with her hair dyed in a gradient of blue and green, leaning against the bar chatting with the manager. When she saw Jiang Ji approaching, she waved her arm to him.

Jiang Ji walked over to her and greeted, “Sister Ying.”

“I heard from Xia Qi that you won another game today? Not bad, Jiang Ji. I thought when I asked you to form a band, the best you could do was put together a makeshift one. I didn’t expect you to be so good at picking people.” Huang Ying patted Jiang Ji’s arm lightly. “You have a good eye, young man.”

Jiang Ji smiled lightly, not being too modest. “It’s okay.”

“By the way, you have some fans here to see you,” Huang Ying raised her chin and pointed forward. “Look, there are several pretty girls.”

Following her gaze, Jiang Ji turned his head and glanced at a few girls sitting on the sofa. Some waved and greeted him, while others took out their phones to take pictures of him. The glaring flash caught him off guard, causing him to squint his eyes involuntarily.

Without much expression on his face, he turned back to Huang Ying and said, “I’ll go upstairs first, Sister Ying.”

“Sure.” Huang Ying nodded.

As Jiang Ji reached the corner of the stairs, he looked up and saw that the anti-theft door on the second floor was half open, furrowing his brows.

Since the anti-theft door had been installed, he had told Jiang Bei more than once to lock the door when they returned at night. However, Jiang Bei was always indifferent, never taking his words seriously and leaving the door wide open every night.

With just two steps away from the door, Jiang Ji heard a familiar voice coming from inside, “He’s not going to school anymore, is he?”

His right leg, about to step onto the next stair, froze in place, and Jiang Ji stopped, listening to the sound coming from the second floor.

Jiang Bei seemed to be eating something, mumbling unclearly, “Not going.”

“He sings here every day?”

“Yeah.”

“How long has he been singing? When did you guys come here?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Can I go see his room?”

Jiang Bei didn’t speak for a while, seemingly not intending to answer that question.

“I won’t mess with his stuff, I just want to see…”

Standing on the steps, Jiang Ji took a deep breath. The joy he had just felt dissipated instantly, replaced by an uncontrollable surge of anger that spread through his nerves. He clenched his fists, and veins bulged on the back of his hand. But after a few seconds, he exhaled slowly, trying hard to calm himself down.

He continued up the stairs, pushed open the half-opened anti-theft door, and looked at the man’s back. “What are you going to see in my room? Curious about how I’m doing?”

He saw the man’s slightly bowed back tremble imperceptibly.

Then the man stiffly turned to face him, his gaze somewhat timid. “I… I’ve come back…”

Jiang Ji stood at the doorway, looking at him expressionlessly. “So curious, you haven’t shown your face for ten years. Quite surprising.”

“Jiang Ji, I actually secretly went to see you…” the man stammered.

“Oh, really? Seeing someone helping you pay off your debts, feeling relieved?” Jiang Ji interrupted sarcastically.

The man’s face turned red, he lowered his head, and after a while, he spoke, avoiding Jiang Ji’s gaze, “Jiang Ji, I know you hate me. Can you give me a chance to make it up to you?”

“Make it up?” Jiang Ji scoffed. “How do you plan to make it up? Can you turn back time ten years ago or bring my mom back to life?”

The man opened his mouth but couldn’t say anything.

Jiang Ji looked at him coldly. “Jiang Keyuan, you’re really hypocritical. Ask yourself, can you make it up? You wanted to know how I’m doing, right? Then let me tell you, I dropped out of school, now I’m just a high school dropout. I do whatever it takes to make money, I’m a f*cking scoundrel. Are you satisfied?”

“Do you still want to know how my mom died? How do you think a woman with huge debts and a child to support can live? Hide like you? She wasn’t as cowardly as you, she knew she was sick but worked hard to earn money until she exhausted herself, and her illness couldn’t be cured. In the end, she was afraid of burdening me, so she jumped off the building and killed herself. How about that, Jiang Keyuan? Is this the kind of death you wanted to see?”

Jiang Ji saw tears falling from the man’s eyes, dropping heavily to the ground, forming round water stains.

A nauseating feeling surged from his stomach, and Jiang Ji didn’t hide his disgust. “Get out of here quickly, don’t let me say it again!”

The man wiped his face with his hand, slowly moving towards the door. When he reached Jiang Ji, his steps stopped, and he seemed to want to say something while looking at Jiang Ji. However, whether it was because he saw Jiang Ji’s undisguised disgust or because Jiang Ji angrily told him to “get lost” again, he ultimately didn’t say anything and silently walked down the stairs.

Jiang Ji heard the man’s footsteps getting farther and farther away, eventually drowned out by the music downstairs, until they were no longer audible.

Jiang Bei grabbed potato chips, stuffing them into his mouth one by one, and sneakily glanced at Jiang Ji, as if anticipating that Jiang Ji would come over in a few seconds and throw all these things into the trash can like before.

But Jiang Ji just leaned against the door frame, his head slightly tilted back against it, eyes closed. His Adam’s apple bobbed a few times, his face devoid of disgust or hostility, instead looking somewhat… sad.

Jiang Bei paused her actions with the potato chips. For some reason, she felt that Jiang Ji seemed very upset, even though there was no expression on his face.

She swallowed a large bite of the chips, feeling choked and scratching her throat, but she didn’t go to get water.

She just stood there holding the bag of chips, feeling a bit at a loss—she had never seen Jiang Ji like this before.

She quietly watched Jiang Ji for a while, until he opened his eyes and walked towards her. However, when he reached her, Jiang Ji didn’t aggressively throw away all those things like he used to. Instead, he just looked very tired.

Jiang Bei stole a glance at him, but Jiang Ji didn’t look at her, just went straight to his room.

Compared to the angry Jiang Ji, Jiang Bei felt more afraid of facing this tired-looking Jiang Ji.

She watched as Jiang Ji bent down to put the food he was holding on the coffee table, then watched as he stood up and continued walking towards his room. Just as Jiang Ji was about to step into the room, she suddenly spoke up, “I was wrong.”

This was the first time she had taken the initiative to admit her mistake. She saw Jiang Ji pause his steps, and before entering the room, he dropped a sentence, “Lock the door in the future and don’t bring him up again.” His tone was surprisingly calm, almost devoid of any emotion. After speaking, he walked into the room and closed the door.

TN:

Damn JJ had a miserable past. No wonder he’s so “stingy” ike a threatened wasp. I know she’s only 8 but Jiang Bei irritates the f*ck out of me😭. She has no sense of self-preservation, never listens, is a tiny thief and disrespects the person who takes care of her. I don’t have the level of patience JJ has. That first time he threatened to take he back to wherever, I would have pushed through with it.