MTLY | Chapter 21

◎Two-Faced Dog.◎

Li Yiliang felt that this couldn’t really be blamed on him for making too much of a fuss.

Ever since something had happened to Jiang Yan, this studio in the Jiang family home had practically become a forbidden zone. Aside from Han Jingjing, this was Li Yiliang’s first time seeing an outsider in here.

As for why Han Jingjing was allowed in and out of the studio, it was only because she had that childhood sweetheart connection with Jiang Yan. Even he, Li Yiliang, Jiang Yu’s good brother, a proper Qin De art student, and a future nationally treasured painter, wasn’t qualified to go in and paint there.

And yet, something he couldn’t do, Song Tinghuan had done.

Could it be that this junior had extraordinary talent when it came to painting?

Li Yiliang remembered Song Tinghuan looking through *Art Appreciation* at the library last time, even chatting with him about Fara.

“I get it now.”

Song Tinghuan, sitting on the single sofa: “?”

Jiang Yu was on the phone. Li Yiliang looked at Song Tinghuan with the air of someone who had seen through everything, “Junior, are you really amazing at painting? Really gifted?”

Song Tinghuan blinked. Jiang Yu had just said that too. What was going on with everybody?

“Are you preparing for an exam? Which direction are you studying, traditional Chinese painting or Western painting?”

Song Tinghuan answered honestly, “I’ve only studied basic sketching.”

“?” Li Yiliang didn’t believe it. “Then that rainbow you drew just now was clearly really good.”

“Oh, Jiang Yu taught me how to draw that.” Song Tinghuan changed to a more careful explanation. In fact, Jiang Yu had been holding her hand while drawing it.

Li Yiliang looked as if he’d been struck by lightning. “What the hell?”

“Jiang Yu… taught me.”

“That bastard can teach people how to draw???”

“…”

The moment Li Yiliang finished speaking, a cushion flew over and smacked the back of his head. Jiang Yu had already finished his call. “Go to the hospital and keep an eye on Han Jingjing.”

“Why don’t you go yourself?”

“I can’t bear to look.”

“…”

Song Tinghuan was completely lost. “Is someone… sick?”

Li Yiliang froze and looked at Jiang Yu. “You didn’t tell Junior?”

Jiang Yu didn’t answer. He frowned, lowered his head, and replied to messages. Seeing Song Tinghuan looking so bewildered, Li Yiliang cleared his throat and suddenly sat up straight, solemn as if he were about to give a lecture. “Well, the thing is, this is how it goes.”

Song Tinghuan: “…”

“Quit acting crazy. Hurry up and go to the hospital. Tell Han Jingjing that if she dares to do that kind of thing to my brother again, then she can forget about ever stepping into his room again.”

“She really kissed Brother Yan?”

Song Tinghuan: “?!!!”

Noticing the shock all over Song Tinghuan’s face, Jiang Yu clicked his tongue. “Bullsh… What are you saying? Can’t you see there’s a kid here?”

“Huh?” Li Yiliang was a little confused.

Song Tinghuan: “…”

Li Yiliang went to the hospital, and only Song Tinghuan and Jiang Yu were left in the villa. Song Tinghuan was still trapped in the huge shock of “she really kissed Brother Yan.”

The “Brother Yan” they were talking about must be Jiang Yan, whose name was signed on the painting. As for this “she,” based on the context, it seemed to be Han Jingjing.

So that rumor from last time, about Han Jingjing sneaking a kiss, was actually Han Jingjing sneaking a kiss on Jiang Yan?

“Song Tingting-”

Song Tinghuan jolted back to her senses and saw Jiang Yu frowning at her.

This girl had no idea what she was spacing out about. He had already called her three times.

“What do you want for lunch?”

Song Tinghuan remembered her original plan. “Oh, I made plans to go to the bookstore with a classmate. I’m having lunch with her.”

“A boy?”

“Huh?” Song Tinghuan didn’t know why Jiang Yu asked that, so she answered honestly, “A girl.”

Jiang Yu slowly twirled his phone. “Mm. I’m going out for a bit this afternoon. Come back early.”

Song Tinghuan: “…?”

As if he thought he hadn’t made himself clear enough, Jiang Yu added, “Before six.”

“Oh.”

*

Song Tinghuan hadn’t actually arranged to meet any classmate, but Guan Linlin was free all weekend and took the initiative to ask her to go study at the bookstore.

Two total beginners sat there clutching their workbooks, both at a complete loss. Guan Linlin bit her pen and sighed. “I wish I were as amazing as Senior Han.”

“Han Shuming?”

“Mm.”

Song Tinghuan’s impression of Han Shuming was still stuck on the image of him doing problems on a basketball court. Thinking of Guan Linlin saying he’d already been admitted without taking the exam, Song Tinghuan sighed too. Right now, the only hurdle in front of her was the monthly exam. Not long after that, there was still the great mountain of the college entrance exam.

“Want to grab dinner together, then keep studying here?” Guan Linlin asked.

Song Tinghuan shook her head. “Jiang Yu told me to go home early.”

“?” Guan Linlin gave Song Tinghuan a slightly suggestive look. “He’s already giving you a curfew?”

Song Tinghuan: “?”

Seeing how blank she looked, Guan Linlin didn’t tease her any further. She just bit her pen and drifted into a daze. After a while, she nudged Song Tinghuan. “Ear, look, isn’t that Liang Shiyi?”

Song Tinghuan followed Guan Linlin’s gaze, and it really was Liang Shiyi. Liang Shiyi clearly saw them too, nodded at Song Tinghuan, and walked over.

And so the original two-person study session turned into three people, with Liang Shiyi automatically taking on the role of half-day tutor for the two first-year juniors.

Around four in the afternoon, Liang Shiyi was called away by a phone call. Before he left, he told Song Tinghuan to come to his house for a meal when she had time. The last time he’d gone back and mentioned her, his mother had been talking about it for a long time.

Song Tinghuan agreed politely. After Liang Shiyi left, Guan Linlin flopped onto the table again. “Why are there so many top students at Qin De? Why can’t I be one of them?”

Thinking of another Qin De legend, Guan Linlin sighed again. “Fine, they’re smart enough already, but they’re also freaking handsome. That’s just too much. Compared with them, it really feels like I was sent to this world just to make up the numbers.”

Song Tinghuan: “…”

Liang Shiyi really was amazing. Guan Linlin said his grades had never dropped out of the top three in the grade. And Jiang Yu, even though he looked like he didn’t like studying at all, his grades… might not be great either, but when she thought about that whole studio full of paintings, and the instruments piled in the corner…

Song Tinghuan felt like she might have been sent to this world just to make up the numbers too.

Remembering Jiang Yu’s instructions, Song Tinghuan walked out of the bookstore exactly at five-thirty. But just after she got on the bus, she received a call from Jiang Yu.

“Where are you?”

“On the bus.”

“Mm. I might not be able to make it back for the time being. Can you handle dinner yourself?”

“Yes.” Song Tinghuan paused. In the receiver, she could hear background noise. “Is the family of the patient in 303 here?”

Her heart tightened. She asked instinctively, “You’re at the hospital?”

“Mm.”

The hospital.

No wonder his voice sounded so muffled.

The Third Jiangbei Hospital was a little far away, and it wasn’t even on the route for this bus. Song Tinghuan transferred buses once, and by the time she reached the hospital, it was almost seven.

The ICU at Third Hospital was divided into two types. One of them was in a separate building. When Song Tinghuan went up to the third floor, she saw Jiang Yu on a bench in the corridor.

The boy was bent over, elbows propped on his knees. His black T-shirt clung to the line of his back. There weren’t many people in the corridor. Nurses and doctors passed by occasionally, voices sparse and low, and he sat there in complete silence.

Song Tinghuan walked over carefully. When she came upstairs just now, she had overheard a doctor talking with a family member. It was roughly that the patient had already been unconscious for seven or eight years, and whether he could wake up again depended entirely on fate.

Song Tinghuan’s fingertips tightened around the strap of her backpack. Even though she still didn’t know the cause of everything, she already had a vague guess.

In Jiang Yu’s line of sight appeared the tip of a round white shoe. The girl was wearing jeans and a simple white T-shirt.

He pulled at the corner of his lips. “Why did you run all the way here across most of Jiangbei? Have you eaten?”

Song Tinghuan bit her lip. She didn’t know why she’d rushed over either, but when she heard Jiang Yu say he was at the hospital, that kind of tension and worry that rose from deep in her bones took over completely. She hadn’t thought about anything else. She just wanted to come and take a look.

“I’m not hungry.”

The words had barely left her mouth when her stomach let out a very uncooperative growl.

Song Tinghuan: “…”

Jiang Yu gave a soft laugh, the curve of his lips barely held in place. He stood up. “Come on, I’ll take you to eat.”

“I really…”

But a hand was already resting on the back of her head. Jiang Yu lightly pressed her forward, his cool, hoarse voice carrying a trace of fatigue. “Keep me company and eat a little.”

The two of them found a convenience store. Song Tinghuan bought a rice ball, Jiang Yu grabbed a bottle of ice water, then, after Song Tinghuan insisted, bought the same kind of rice ball too.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the city was gradually swallowed by night. As the lights came on, neon shimmered over the flow of traffic.

The two of them sat on the high stools by the window. Song Tinghuan listened to the boy beside her speak in a low, rough voice, and it was as if a door had suddenly opened before her, letting her accidentally step into another world.

“The doctor said my brother is showing signs of waking up.”

Song Tinghuan’s heart tightened. It really was exactly what she had guessed.

Jiang Yan, Jiang Yu’s older brother, was the vegetative patient in the ICU at Third Jiangbei Hospital.

Song Tinghuan wasn’t very good at comforting people. She bit the soft flesh of her lower lip. “Then… that’s a good thing.”

“Mm.”

Jiang Yu fell silent. Song Tinghuan quietly bit her rice ball. The surroundings were especially still. Separated by a glass window was the noisy night, but it seemed to have nothing to do with them.

Silently, Song Tinghuan pieced together a story that wasn’t quite complete.

That studio outsiders were not allowed to enter.

The Jiang family never hired a live-in maid.

The paintings bearing Jiang Yan’s name.

And the argument between Meng Shutang and a strange man last time.

…

“Can’t figure it out?”

Jiang Yu suddenly spoke. Song Tinghuan nearly choked on a mouthful of rice ball. She puffed out her cheeks, and a watery sheen crept into her soft dark eyes.

Was it that obvious?

He always seemed to be able to guess what she was thinking.

Since the person involved had already seen through her, Song Tinghuan didn’t keep struggling with it. She swallowed the rice ball in her mouth and chose her words carefully. “Ah Yan… how did Brother Yan…”

“Car accident, on the way to the airport. My dad died in that one too.”

Just three simple sentences, and Song Tinghuan was thrown into a huge shock.

How could Jiang Songyun…

Before coming to the Jiang family, Song Mingcheng had never mentioned Jiang Songyun. She had always thought Jiang Songyun was simply busy with work and not at home, after all, the longest business trip Song Mingcheng had ever taken before had lasted a full three months.

But she never expected Jiang Songyun to actually…

No wonder she always felt there was a silent grief in Meng Shutang. Was that also why Meng Shutang relied on Jiang Yu so much?

Thinking of Meng Shutang’s loss of control that day, Song Tinghuan didn’t dare think any deeper.

Jiang Yu couldn’t go anywhere. He could only stay in Jiangbei.

Song Tinghuan didn’t really know how to continue the conversation.

After a long while, she finally said, “Han Jingjing said he paints really well.”

Jiang Yu let out a light scoff. “What about him does she think is bad?”

After a long time, the boy’s gaze sank again, landing in the distance like it had no focus at all, the pitch-black depths of his eyes reflecting the city’s neon and glassy lights.

“Mm, he’s a very outstanding person.”

Song Tinghuan could sense Jiang Yu’s low mood, but she didn’t know how to comfort him. She could only say softly, “You’re really outstanding too. You guys… are all amazing.”

Jiang Yu turned his head slightly to look at the girl’s puffed-up cheeks. For a moment, he even wanted to reach out and pinch them. So white, so soft, they had to feel really good.

Jiang Yu withdrew his gaze and looked out through the floor-to-ceiling glass again. “Don’t look at me like I’m some poor wretch.”

Song Tinghuan: “…”

Was this the final stubbornness of the arrogant king?

Song Tinghuan pressed her lips together. When had she ever pitied him? She just thought he didn’t seem to be in a good mood and wanted to comfort him a little. After a while, Song Tinghuan quietly fished a piece of fruit candy out of her bag. Pink wrapper, peach flavor.

She held the candy and gently pushed it in front of Jiang Yu. “Have some candy.”

Afraid Jiang Yu would say something else in his arrogant-king style, Song Tinghuan hurriedly added on her own, “I really like this candy. Whenever I’m in a bad mood, I eat it. It works really well. You… should try it.”

By the end, even Song Tinghuan was a little unsure. Jiang Yu didn’t exactly look like the kind of person who would use fruit candy to cheer himself up.

The boy lowered his eyes and looked at the pale pink glass wrapper on the table. The candy looked a little familiar.

Oh, Meng Shutang used to like eating it too.

When Meng Shutang was young, her princess syndrome was still very bad. Whatever she liked, she wanted everyone else to like too. So his and Jiang Yan’s clothes and bags were always full of this kind of fruit candy.

Jiang Yu picked up the candy. Through the blazing lights outside the window, the pink glass wrapper turned shimmering and bright.

“You like this candy?”

Song Tinghuan nodded, her eyes curving as she softly mm-ed.

“The first time I ever had this candy, I was crying my eyes out. I cried so hard I was completely miserable, and in the end it was still…” Song Tinghuan paused, skipping over Liang Shiyi’s name, “…a big brother who gave it to me.”

A vague image almost immediately surfaced in Jiang Yu’s mind. It was from too long ago. He couldn’t remember it very clearly anymore. All he could recall was a brat who kept crying and crying, snot nearly running into his mouth, making his head ache with how noisy he was.

Later, he took a candy out of his clothes pocket…

He didn’t remember who he gave it to, but Jiang Yu was sure it wasn’t a girl.

Hearing the girl vividly describe her crying, Jiang Yu gave a light scoff. “And you’re proud of that?”

Song Tinghuan said, “I was only four or five then.”

Unconvinced, she was just about to argue when Jiang Yu had already unwrapped the candy, his fair fingers pinching the pink hard candy.

The moment the sweet peach flavor spread between his teeth and lips, Jiang Yu frowned slightly.

Too sweet. He didn’t like it at all.

Song Tinghuan looked over with anticipation. “How is it? Isn’t it really good? It might be a little sweet at first, but slowly the fruit flavor takes over, and then your whole mouth tastes like peach.”

Maybe it was just psychological, but Jiang Yu really did feel the sweetness in his mouth fade a lot, replaced by a fresh, sweet fruit fragrance.

It smelled a little like Song Tinghuan.

Song Tinghuan watched his expression closely. “Right?”

After a moment, Jiang Yu finally gave a soft mm. “Yeah, it’s not bad.”

Song Tinghuan’s eyes curved, the smile in her soft dark pupils deepening.

Across the floor-to-ceiling glass, Li Yiliang and Han Jingjing stood at the street corner, staring at each other.

Li Yiliang looked dumbfounded. “Jiang Yu is… eating candy? Isn’t he someone who never touches anything sweet???”

Han Jingjing: “Heh.”

Author’s Note:

There’s a second update today, around six this afternoon~

A little red envelope~~