CA | Chapter 15

◎Kids really were clingy. (V announcement)◎

Over the past two days, Ning Jia had become much livelier. She stuck to Shen Yicheng like glue, never leaving his side. He had suggested taking her to an exhibition several times before, but she had turned him down every time. This time, though, Ning Jia nodded again and again, pulled on a black leather mini skirt, and went with him.

The exhibition mostly featured jade jewelry that had been around for years, concentrated mainly from the Republican era. It was the private collection of the owner, who had borrowed one of Shen Yicheng’s exhibition halls, probably with the intention of selling off some of it.

Only high-tier members of the circle were allowed in. There were no docents, and the atmosphere was quiet. Now and then, a guide would answer a visitor’s questions. Ning Jia looped her arm through Shen Yicheng’s and started with the first exhibit, then finally stopped in her tracks before a pair of white jade teardrop earrings. Shen Yicheng had someone open the display case and let Ning Jia sit to the side while they brought the earrings over.

The people around them were not very familiar with scenes like this. Although Shen Yicheng had had female companions before, standing by his side already counted as being in the closest possible position, let alone having the Young Master Shen actually take something out for someone to try on. Seeing that the girl beside him, Ning Jia, was so young, they could not tell whether he had simply changed tastes, and they began whispering among themselves with tacit understanding.

Ning Jia felt the silence become a little awkward. The pair of earrings lay in her palm, and Shen Yicheng sat beside her, telling her to touch them with her hand and study their material carefully with her eyes.

Ning Jia did not know jade, only felt that the quality was good. Leaning into his arms, she examined them with full concentration. Shen Yicheng’s breath brushed her ear. “What do you think?”

“They’re pretty.” Ning Jia put the earrings back.

Shen Yicheng asked, “You don’t want them?”

Ning Jia shook her head. “Buy them for me again when I turn forty, Uncle.”

He laughed. “These suit your temperament better than those tacky diamonds of yours.”

Ning Jia was deeply displeased. “How can you say my diamonds are tacky?”

“You’re hopeless.”

Ning Jia climbed off him, grabbed her bag strap, and ran ahead. She kept looking at the exhibits, while Shen Yicheng slipped one hand into his pocket and followed behind her. Ning Jia stopped again in front of a row of jade bracelets.

These pieces were said to be the relics of a Qing dynasty noblewoman. Through turbulent times, most of them had somehow been preserved. Still, all the items in this one exhibition hall together probably amounted to only the capacity of a five-layered vanity box.

Behind the final string necklace was a blurred photo of the owner. She wore a loose magua, her figure hidden until only a single stretch of dark ink remained, but her expression was serene. Her head was adorned with pearls and jade, and she wore a gemstone ring on her hand. Ning Jia studied it for a long time. Shen Yicheng stood beside her and asked, “What are you looking at?”

Ning Jia said, “She looks like she lived in comfort and luxury. She probably didn’t suffer much, right?”

“She fled to the United States during the war,” Shen Yicheng explained to her. “So all of this stayed behind.”

“I see.”

Ning Jia linked her arm through his and asked, “Do you have any plans after this?”

“Drinking.”

She should have expected that already.

Ning Jia tightened her arm around him. “A business dinner? Can I go with you?”

Shen Yicheng said, “As long as you don’t mind the noise.”

His two assistants were waiting at the entrance and helped press the elevator for him. Once Ning Jia reached the underground parking lot, she could not help reaching for his fingers. She noticed the surprised looks on the assistants’ faces. Of course, she also could not ignore the glances people in the exhibition hall had given them. Maybe she just wanted to imply that their relationship was not ordinary. Anyway, Shen Yicheng had not said anything.

Shen Yicheng tightened his hand around hers, sent her into the back seat, then leaned by the car door to take a call. When he finished, he got in beside her. Ning Jia slid under his arm and lay across his waist. Shen Yicheng looked down. “No exhibits interested you? Bored?”

Ning Jia raised a hand. “That bloodstone ring seemed pretty good.”

Shen Yicheng was about to call her tacky again, but Ning Jia immediately covered his mouth with her hand, pinching his lips between two fingers. Shen Yicheng murmured, “I don’t eat hands.”

Ning Jia’s ears heated up. She was flexible when she needed to be, so she took his hand and held it to her lips. “I do.”

Shen Yicheng ran his fingers through her hair. Her lipstick stained his fingers sticky and glossy. Ning Jia kissed his hand inside and out. When they were almost at their destination, she took out her own lipstick to touch up her makeup, then casually wiped his hand clean, as though he were the packaging from fried chicken she had already finished eating.

They went to a high-end club, and Ning Jia was covered with his suit jacket. The moment she walked in, she received an enthusiastic welcome.

The people in the noisy club were still the same crowd from earlier. Unlike the quiet exhibition, it seemed that only in a place like this did people show their true colors.

Ning Jia entered the private room. Shen Yicheng first instructed them to bring up a meal, then followed her in. Billiards, mahjong, karaoke. Ning Jia’s brows twitched. She turned her head to him and said, “Elegant Uncle Shen, this isn’t tacky?”

He smiled. “We can’t conduct every bit of business on a golf course.”

The main seat in the booth was left for him. The foxes and dogs who filled the room crowded around Shen Yicheng like hungry wolves pouncing on prey. Only when they got closer did they see clearly that there was a tiny Ning Jia standing beside him.

“Oh? Changed your taste?” the ringleader said first. “Used to be tall girls with big waves.”

Ning Jia shot him a glance. Shen Yicheng offered no explanation. He put his arm around her and sat down. Ning Jia felt like an accessory, able only to lean against his shoulder. She did not know what to say, and even less what to do.

Only when the menu was placed in front of her, full of wines and liquors in dazzling variety, did Shen Yicheng tell her to order.

Ning Jia looked up at the number of people, then estimated their identities and placed the order. After that, she lay back in his arms.

The people around them gradually began talking about the exhibition from earlier. There were businessmen here, and there were also people who understood jade. A cigarette was handed between Shen Yicheng’s fingers. He brought it to his lips. Ning Jia felt a plume of smoke rise above her head, and soon she was surrounded by the smell of tobacco.

Ning Jia’s meal arrived. She held it and ate quietly beside him, ears pricked to listen. Although she could not really understand most of it, she could still make out the recent sales conditions. The current trends, the direction of the market, all of it leaked out between their toasts and banter.

Ning Jia ate dryly and went to the table for a drink. She picked up Shen Yicheng’s wineglass and drank whatever was inside. It burned so hard it nearly brought tears to her eyes. Shen Yicheng did not notice, and when he reached for the glass again, he saw a ring of lipstick on the rim. The glass inside was already empty.

Someone beside him immediately handed him a new glass, and someone else refilled it for him. Shen Yicheng held the glass under the mouth of the bottle and, using the lipstick print on the rim, drank it dry.

The two people who had hurried to pour him drinks exchanged looks. Shen Yicheng took a few sips, then leaned close to her ear and asked, “Are you full? Is your stomach cold?”

Ning Jia nodded, then shook her head. She took the cigarette from his hand and stubbed it out at once.

Shen Yicheng did not seem angry. He put an arm around her waist. Ning Jia slipped her hand inside his clothes and fell asleep with her head covered. It looked like she had gotten a little drunk.

After the talks were more or less over, Shen Yicheng glanced at his watch. It was ten at night. Ning Jia was already asleep to the point of forgetting the world around her. Seeing that things were wrapping up, everyone stood to see him off. Shen Yicheng shook the person in his arms awake. Ning Jia smacked her lips, opened her eyes, and saw everyone staring straight at her. She sobered instantly.

She stood up, pulled Shen Yicheng’s jacket close around her, and held his arm with one hand as she went out with him. Ning Jia leaned against the back seat. Once he got in, she climbed onto his lap and asked, “Did I embarrass you?”

Shen Yicheng said, “No. Sleep.”

The wine had been chosen well, and he had not asked her to do anything. What she could hear and what she could learn were all her own things, and had nothing to do with him. As for embarrassment, Ning Jia was not yet old enough to embarrass him.

Ning Jia’s eyelids were fighting to stay open. She lightly kissed his side profile, then rested in the crook of his neck and closed her eyes to sleep. Even drunk, Ning Jia was not noisy. She was obedient and well-behaved, and even slept obediently. Shen Yicheng tightened his hold on her, and she would even nuzzle closer into his arms.

A lovable little cling-on.

“Go buy some stomach medicine.”

The assistant answered and, once they reached the pharmacy, placed the usual stomach medicine in the back seat. After they got home, he unloaded the things from the car and set them on the dining table. Shen Yicheng got out first and did not wake her. Instead, he supported her thigh and shoulder and carried her inside.

Ning Jia was jostled half awake and murmured groggily, “Uncle.”

Shen Yicheng patted her with practiced ease, a technique he had picked up while coaxing his nephew Shen Zhi before.

The assistants saw him carrying an adult without looking the least bit tired, and hurriedly slipped back out of the house. Today, Ning Jia had been very cooperative and had not made a scene with stomach pain. She slept until the sun was high overhead, and when she woke, she searched the whole house for him.

Shen Yicheng was in the studio drawing. He had barely sketched out a rough outline when that life-or-death call of “Uncle, Uncle” rang beside his ear. Shen Yicheng slid open the studio door, and Ning Jia quickly walked over and tucked herself into his arms.

Shen Yicheng told her to sit nearby. Either learn or play. Ning Jia sat for five minutes, then plopped her bottom onto his lap. In the middle of summer, she did not seem to mind how hot and stifling it was.

Shen Yicheng held a brush in one hand and was outlining with meticulous strokes. It was the painting of a reclining lotus beauty. Ning Jia looped her arms around his neck and asked, “Then just paint me instead.”

Shen Yicheng lifted a brow, his gaze lingering on several points. Ning Jia clutched her chest and stammered, “I can still grow.”

The original reclining lotus beauty was plump and full-bodied. Ning Jia, though spoiled and pampered, looked undernourished, clearly not fitting the requirements of the work.

At midday, Aunt Zhang came over to cook. Ning Jia jumped out of his arms and went to the kitchen to join the fun. When Aunt Zhang saw her following every move of hers like a searchlight, she said awkwardly, “Miss, am I doing something wrong?”

“No, no. I want to learn how to cook.”

Aunt Zhang laughed. “Oh, what’s there to learn? Just tell me what you want to eat.”

Ning Jia shook her head. “Cooking is a survival skill.”

Aunt Zhang could not figure out what kind of survival pressure a young lady like her could possibly have that required her to learn survival skills herself.

But Ning Jia was not causing trouble either, so Aunt Zhang let her watch as she pleased.

By now, Ning Jia could already recognize some ingredients at a glance and knew how to handle them. She would even practice from time to time. Before Aunt Zhang came, she had also learned to make rice.

Once Shen Yicheng started carving, he became so engrossed he forgot to eat or sleep. Ning Jia carried a bowl of food over. Shen Yicheng glanced at her once from the corner of his eye, only to see the next second that the bowl had been brought to his mouth.

She was holding it up to feed him, so Shen Yicheng had no choice but to set down what he was doing. He ate an awkward bite, then took the bowl and spoon, had a few casual bites, and put them aside to continue.

Ning Jia then brought him a fruit salad. He opened his mouth and ate it. The rest could not be poured back, so Ning Jia stuffed it into her own mouth.

By evening, Ning Jia was pouring him some red wine while she sat nearby in a rocking chair reading. Shen Yicheng had never been served like this before. Seeing that he was almost done carving, he told her to go back and sleep.

Ning Jia wrapped her arms around the back of his neck from behind and buried herself in his hair. Her pale pink strands fell down all around them, and her whole body carried the damp fragrance of just having bathed. Shen Yicheng tightened his palm around her arm and coaxed her, “Clingy. You can’t sleep on your own?”

Ning Jia rubbed against his ear stickily. “I can’t sleep. I want to eat Uncle’s hand.”

“Your face is getting thicker and thicker.”

Shen Yicheng set down his tools. She practically tied herself to his waist, following him even when he went to wash his hands. Shen Yicheng pinched the back of her neck and threw her back onto the bed. By the time he came out of the shower, Ning Jia was half asleep, half awake. She rolled once into his arms, found his hand, and stuffed it into her mouth.

Shen Yicheng felt that in less than three days, he would be driven crazy and throw Ning Jia outside to fend for herself. But as time went on, he realized that he had long since grown used to this strange relationship, and to her moist lips and tongue.

Ning Jia did not bring up kissing again. Her chatter now had a new topic, their trip to Italy.

Author’s Note:

The next chapter will be V! There will be kissing!!!!

I’m also pre-releasing my upcoming novels, *I’ve Always Been Here*, a sweet entertainment-industry crush story, and *After Transmigrating into a Rich Family Supporting Character, I Blew Up Across the Internet*, a爽文-style power fantasy. If you’re interested, please save them! Thanks!

At midnight, I’ll release two chapters totaling 13,000 words. Until the new bracket schedule starts, updates will still go up at 12:00 a.m. On Saturday, because I need ranking placement, I’ll update right on time at 35:00! Then updates will return to normal. Thanks for everyone’s support, and please support the original version! There will be little red packets as a gift!! 😀 Thanks again for everyone’s love!!!