Chapter 97: Unchanged

Cheng Ye had no shame, but he did.

Jiang Shi let go and started walking upstairs. Halfway up, he turned back.

He grabbed Cheng Ye and pulled him up. “We need to talk.”

Cheng Ye stumbled after him.

When they reached the sofa, Jiang Shi pushed Cheng Ye down. He sat next to him and, as if to hide his inner turmoil, poured himself a glass of water. He gripped it so tightly that his fingertips turned a pale white.

“Cheng Ye…” Jiang Shi took a sip of water. “Don’t you think we’re not normal?”

“I don’t know if I’m normal, but you’re definitely not. Normal couples aren’t… they aren’t like us.”

Cheng Ye listened to him finish. He reached out and rubbed his knees, brushing off the dust and debris.

“Little Young Master…” he laughed. “After all this time together, I thought you would know what kind of person I am.”

“But Cheng Ye…” Jiang Shi said, “After so long, people should change. We are two separate individuals. You can’t always be like this, right? Look at you now, you’re successful. The twenty thousand you owed me has long been paid off. You’re not anyone’s slave, and you don’t have to depend on anyone to live…”

“Nothing has changed.”

“I have never changed. You think I’m good because I’ve changed, but it’s because I’m good at pretending.”

He lowered his head, his eyes dark and gloomy. For a moment, Jiang Shi seemed to see the same eyes he had seen back in Xiliu Village.

Haunting, like a wolf’s.

A wolf that has its prey in its sights will never let go unless it’s dead.

The haunting light in Cheng Ye’s eyes receded, his shoulders slumped, and his face was swallowed by the shadows of the lights.

“I can only depend on you. Without you, I would die.”

Jiang Shi held the water glass, speechless for a long time.

Cheng Ye knew he had scared him. He wiped his face. “Alright, let’s not talk about this. I’ll go get you some medicine. Take your cold medicine first.”

He stood up, somewhat afraid to look at Jiang Shi’s face, and started walking towards the drawer where the medicine was kept.

After a step and a half, his clothes were tugged from behind, and the remaining half step hung in mid-air.

Jiang Shi’s hands had never done any heavy labor in his life. Coupled with his slender build, his ten fingers were long and thin, not like bamboo joints, but like white jade that would break with the slightest force.

Cheng Ye was held back by two such fingers. His nearly 1.9-meter frame seemed to be frozen in place. He couldn’t move forward, nor did he dare to look back.

Jiang Shi said, “Sit down. I want to talk to you.”

Cheng Ye sat back down next to him.

Jiang Shi curled his legs up on the sofa, hugging a pillow. The scent of jasmine wafted from the nearby aromatherapy diffuser.

“Let me tell you a story from my past.”

“I wasn’t very smart when I was little. I… Song Bo wanted to please others, so he always tried to squeeze into all sorts of banquets. Sometimes, when those rich kids had birthdays, he would make me go and flatter them.”

“Back then, how would I know what it meant to flatter others for my own sake? Song Bo told me to go, and I wanted to make him happy, so I went obediently. They called me the son of a nouveau riche, and I answered obediently. They called me shameless, and I still smiled cheerfully. Later, they even made me act like a dog, bark like a dog…”

Cheng Ye clenched his fists.

Jiang Shi tilted his head to look at him. Seeing him like this, he laughed. “You see, I wanted to please my dad, so I obediently listened to him. In the end, he never praised me once. For my dad, I went to please those people, but they didn’t like me because of my flattery.”

“Cheng Ye, flattery and obedience can’t be exchanged for love.”

“I’m with you because I like you, not because you’re completely… completely… obedient to me…”

At this point, Jiang Shi fell silent.

He felt like he had spent all this time comforting someone, only to end up shooting himself in the foot.

Cheng Ye reached out and ruffled his hair, like he was stroking a gentle, soft cat. “I know what you’re trying to say. I’ll try my best to change.”

Jiang Shi looked at him, feeling that he wouldn’t be so easy to talk to.

Seemingly hurt by his distrustful gaze, Cheng Ye sighed slowly and pulled him into his arms. “Do I have so little credibility in your heart?”

Jiang Shi’s foot rested on his. “Very little. None at all.”

Cheng Ye: “…”

“Alright,” Cheng Ye said. “If it really doesn’t work, you can take me to a psychiatrist. Use whatever hypnosis, electroshock therapy, maybe it’ll cure me.”

Jiang Shi stomped on his foot hard.

Cheng Ye’s expression didn’t change at all. He half-closed his eyes, his voice faint. “If you don’t like it, you say change, and I will definitely change.”

“Young Master has to give me some time.”

Jiang Shi stared at him, only seeing the word “honest” on his face.

No matter how you write the word “honest,” when it comes to Cheng Ye, there’s always a “not” in front of it.

“Then will you still treat me like this next time?”

“I won’t. I’ll try to persuade you first. If you don’t listen, I’ll consider other methods.”

Jiang Shi: “…”

Forget it. As long as he can change. He also reflected on himself. “I was wrong too. I shouldn’t have treated you like that.”

They were a couple. He couldn’t always vent his emotions on Cheng Ye.

“No need.” Cheng Ye buried his head in his shoulder. “I like it when you treat me like that.”

Love, hate, hitting, cursing… he could feel it, hear it, touch it.

The more spoiled Jiang Shi was, the more at ease he felt. Only then would Jiang Shi always need him. Being needed meant he wouldn’t be abandoned.

Love can disappear, but a habit carved into your bones, an addiction, won’t.

Jiang Shi couldn’t see his face, only feeling his head, which was stubbly and pricking his skin, nuzzling against him, occasionally licking him like a dog.

He reached out to push, but couldn’t move him. “Cheng Ye, that’s enough. I’m not saying it, but do you have a thing for…”

“A thing for what?”

“A thing for that S-and-M stuff?”

Cheng Ye laughed. “Then you can just assume I do.”

After a two-second pause, he said, “Master, would you like to discipline me?”

Jiang Shi: “…”

Jiang Shi flicked his hand and laughed. “Alright, then will you listen to Master?”

Cheng Ye hadn’t expected him to say that. His breathing immediately became heavy. He lifted his head and stared at Jiang Shi. “Really?”

The corner of the young man’s eye curved into a seductive arc in the light.

“Of course, it’s real.” He brought his face close to Cheng Ye’s and blew on his Adam’s apple. “Will you listen to Master?”

As if bewitched, Cheng Ye nodded.

Jiang Shi pushed off his shoulder and stood up. “Alright, then Master now commands you, starting today, to sleep in the guest room for a month.”

Cheng Ye: “??”

“Wait…” He stood up. “How can…”

Jiang Shi’s face suddenly turned cold. “What, you’re not going to listen to Master’s words?”

Cheng Ye: “…”

After sleeping in the guest room for less than two days, Jiang Shi had to go back to the set to continue filming.

The new assistant Liu Heping had mentioned also arrived.

The nanny van was parked on the side of the road. Liu Heping was driving in the front, while the two people in the back were staring at each other.

Jiang Shi looked to the left. “Big cousin…”

Gao Xinhe looked to the right. “Little cousin…”

“…”

The two were speechless.

Liu Heping laughed. “You’re relatives? That’s really fate. This young man was originally an intern recruited by the company. The company saw that he was quite meticulous and sent him over to be your assistant.”

Jiang Shi didn’t believe in coincidences. How could Gao Xinhe, who was studying logistics management in a basin area, come to Jiangcheng for an internship, and so coincidentally become his assistant?

With Liu Heping here, Jiang Shi couldn’t speak freely. He took out his phone and sent a message to Gao Xinhe.

[How come you’re here?]

Gao Xinhe was even more confused than he was.

[Damn! I don’t know either.]

[Then how did you end up interning here?]

[Sigh! You know my crappy major. I couldn’t find a suitable job during my internship. Brother Cheng told me there was a place hiring, and he asked if I wanted to go. He said if I did well, he would even make me a full-time employee with social security and a housing fund. When I heard that, I signed up immediately.]

[At first, I thought he was doing me a favor as a brother and letting me work at his company. But then I saw it was for an artist’s assistant intern. I trained there for a long time.]

[I was supposed to have more classes, but then the training staff said I was doing well and made me a full-time employee ahead of schedule.]

[I followed the company’s arrangements and came here.]

Jiang Shi stared at the long string of words on his phone, somewhat dazed.

So Cheng Ye had known all along.

Liu Heping said from the front, “Xinhe, our Jiang Shi has a bad temper and is picky. Please take good care of him.”

Gao Xinhe patted his chest. “Don’t worry, I know him better than you do. Besides Brother Cheng, no one knows how to take care of my little cousin better than me.”

Since he was an acquaintance, Liu Heping was immediately relieved.

At the same time as he felt relieved, a faint doubt arose in his heart.

Was it really such a coincidence? Jiang Shi had just been bullied, and within a few days, someone had gotten revenge for him. He had just needed an assistant, and his cousin had arrived.

But before he could think it through, they arrived at the set.

This time, Jiang Shi could clearly feel that the way others on the set looked at him was different. There was curiosity, there was scrutiny, but as soon as they met his gaze, they would shrink back in fear.

The most obvious change was that everyone had become very afraid of him, both afraid and respectful, terrified of offending him by mistake.

Liu Heping sighed, “So this is the treatment you get when you have backing. It’s satisfying, but for some reason, it feels a bit off. They look at us like we’re some kind of monster.”

Jiang Shi, who was leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed, feigning sleep, heard this and his eyelashes trembled.

Liu Heping continued, “Anyway, you only have a few scenes left to film. Just endure it for two days. I’m telling you, the previous female lead went back and had a high fever, then she quit filming. They re-cast a new female lead. I just don’t know what the new one is like.”

Jiang Shi wasn’t interested in anyone else.

No one on the set dared to give Jiang Shi a hard time. They all prioritized his scenes, and he was done filming in a few days.

Cheng Ye also kept his promise to change. Jiang Shi no longer saw that occasional, faint hint of madness in him. His career was steadily rising, and Cheng Ye’s company was also getting better and better. Everything was developing in a good direction.

Three years was enough for the tallow tree outside the window to grow so large that its leaves almost completely covered the window.

Three years was enough for Cheng Ye to climb to a higher position, and also enough for a strong, healthy middle-aged woman to grow old.

More than once, Jiang Shi had suggested to Jiang Xue that she move to Jiangcheng to live with them, but Jiang Xue couldn’t bear to leave Xiliu Village, her land. She refused to come, no matter what.

But as time went on, he didn’t know if she had come to terms with it or something else, but she finally agreed.

Jiang Shi cleared his schedule for those two days, planning to go back and pick her up.

He had just bought the ticket when Zhang Chi called him.

“Big star Jiang, major news. Huo Ji is back in the country.”

Hearing this name, Jiang Shi was dazed for a long time before he remembered who it was.

Zhang Chi said, “Don’t panic yet. Do you know why he’s back this time?”

“To get married.”

“Huo Ji is getting married.”