TAO | Chapter 102

Wei Xiaochi mumbled an explanation, “It was just sitting there on the bed, so I opened it and took a look…”

“Did I say you could talk?!” Jiang Zhan snapped, slamming the album shut and turning his back to sulk at the head of the bed.

Glancing at the fuming alpha, Wei Xiaochi rubbed his forehead.

If Jiang Zhan wasn’t so mad, he might’ve genuinely believed that the so-called “little girl” named Jiang Lanlan was Jiang Zhan’s twin sister or something—because they looked way too alike, and the photo had that vintage vibe.

Last time when Jiang Tang made a teasing comment about Jiang Lanlan at school, Jiang Zhan had flipped out just like now.

So Wei Xiaochi could pretty much confirm it—the “Jiang Lanlan” in the dress was Jiang Zhan himself.

Jiang Zhan’s ears suddenly twitched. He whipped around to see the little Omega hanging his head, shoulders shaking slightly.

“What are you laughing at?” Jiang Zhan was losing it. “I said no laughing!”

“You hear me?” He grabbed both of Wei Xiaochi’s cheeks.

Wei Xiaochi was forced to look up, and the laughter in his eyes was instantly exposed.

“No laughing! No. Laughing!” Jiang Zhan growled through clenched teeth, squeezing his cheeks harder until Wei Xiaochi’s mouth turned into a little duck beak.

Wei Xiaochi’s eyes crinkled at the corners as he looked at the embarrassed, furious Jiang Zhan. The curve at the corners of his mouth refused to go down. He couldn’t help but ask, “Why… why were you called Jiang Lanlan?”

He had originally wanted to ask why Jiang Zhan wore a dress, but based on what he knew of Jiang Zhan, asking that directly would’ve sent him through the roof.

Jiang Zhan suddenly lowered his head and bonked his forehead against Wei Xiaochi’s. “I told you to shut up!”

Their heads knocked hard enough that Wei Xiaochi’s forehead turned red. That alone showed just how pissed the alpha was.

Wei Xiaochi didn’t dare ask any more questions, but he still couldn’t hide the amusement in his eyes. It rippled out, and a bit of mist even gathered at the corners of his eyes.

Jiang Zhan was fuming and sulking again, turning away from Wei Xiaochi completely.

Wei Xiaochi rubbed his forehead, leaned over a little, and stole a glance at Jiang Zhan’s expression. “Actually… you looked kinda cute.”

Jiang Zhan shot him a death glare and growled through gritted teeth, “You still dare to talk?!”

Wei Xiaochi lowered his gaze and shook his head, suppressing a laugh. “Okay, okay, I won’t say anything. Don’t be mad.”

Jiang Zhan’s chest heaved a couple of times. After stewing a bit, he finally found a way to justify himself and muttered with a scowl, “Jiang Tang tricked me into wearing it. I didn’t volunteer.”

Wei Xiaochi’s curiosity was piqued. “Why did she want you to wear it? Was it for some kind of performance?”

In the photo, not only was Jiang Zhan wearing a dress, he even had light makeup on, and the dress style was super unique.

Jiang Zhan explained begrudgingly, “It was her college graduation project. She was short one model.”

Even though Jiang Zhan didn’t explain clearly, Wei Xiaochi still pieced it together.

Jiang Tang must’ve majored in fashion design in college. Her graduation project was probably children’s clothing. Maybe a little girl model bailed last minute, so Jiang Zhan got roped in.

So “Jiang Lanlan” was his stage name?

There was even a photo in the album where Jiang Zhan wore a super fairy-like dress, expression totally grumpy, holding a trophy. The name tag on his outfit said “Jiang Lanlan.”

Jiang Zhan ground his teeth. “I helped her back then, and she turned around and sold me out.”

Obviously, the album had been placed on the bed by Jiang Tang—clearly meant for Wei Xiaochi to see this blackmail material.

The more Jiang Zhan thought about it, the angrier he got. He started pulling photos out of the album, about to rip them to shreds—only for Wei Xiaochi to stop him just in time.

Wei Xiaochi quickly snatched it back. Seeing Jiang Zhan glaring like he was about to breathe fire, he awkwardly coughed and said, “Don’t tear them up. There’s this saying back in my hometown—it’s bad luck to rip photos.” He tried to sound very serious. “Really.”

“What kind of bad luck?” Jiang Zhan reached out, still stubborn. “Give it here, I wanna see just how bad it is.”

Wei Xiaochi hugged the album and turned his body, using his elbow to block. “The elders say tearing up photos brings bloodshed.”

Jiang Zhan sneered, pressing up behind him and trying to pry his arms open. “Superstition. Today I’m gonna break through all these ridiculous superstitions.”

Wei Xiaochi’s arms were slowly being pried open. The album was about to be exposed. In a panic, he started rambling nonsense.

“It’s really unlucky. Not just bloodshed—your luck will tank, your career will be full of setbacks, your family life will fall apart…”

As soon as he heard “family life will fall apart,” Jiang Zhan’s brows twitched. He let go of Wei Xiaochi’s hands. “Where’d you even hear all that?”

Wei Xiaochi was sweating bullets. Seeing that Jiang Zhan finally stopped, he wiped his forehead with relief.

Jiang Zhan shot him a disgruntled look, then turned around and sat back on the bed, facing away again.

Taking the opportunity, Wei Xiaochi dashed out, found a safer spot to stash the photo album, and came back to the master bedroom—only to find the alpha still sulking.

He hesitated at the door for a bit, then slowly walked over and sat next to Jiang Zhan.

“So… what does your sister do now? Is she a designer?” Wei Xiaochi asked, just to break the silence.

Jiang Zhan tossed back three words, stiff as ever: “More or less.”

Then added, “Anyway, she’s in the fashion industry.”

After graduation, Jiang Tang had been an assistant to the chief editor at a famous fashion magazine. She gave up a chance to go full-time after her internship and quit to become a fashion buyer. Later, she started her own public account.

She caught on early to the rise of internet culture and sensed the decline of traditional fashion media. So she jumped into online media and rode the first wave of success.

Now she owned her own company, launched her own fashion brand, and was popular in socialite circles. She even did co-branded collections with big-name labels, pulling in lots of attention.

Wei Xiaochi pressed his lips together, then hesitantly asked, “What about your parents? Are they… both really busy?”

He rarely heard Jiang Zhan mention them. Even after knowing him for so long, Jiang Zhan’s parents were always absent. From the way Aunt Zhou occasionally spoke, it sounded like the couple had been like that for years.

If this had been before, Wei Xiaochi wouldn’t have asked. He didn’t think it was necessary.

But now, his thoughts had changed. He wanted to really understand Jiang Zhan’s family.

Jiang Zhan glanced at him, then finally turned to face him, sitting eye-to-eye, though his face still looked grumpy.

“My dad’s just a regular soldier. My mom runs a private aerospace company,” he said in a muffled voice.

Wei Xiaochi blinked. Did he hear that right? He paused, then asked for confirmation.

“You mean… like an airline, or aerospace?”

Jiang Zhan replied in an offhand tone, “Aerospace. We help some small countries launch satellites. Oh, and we handle supply missions for our national space station, plus rocket recovery.”

Wei Xiaochi’s mouth fell open, staring at Jiang Zhan in a daze. He couldn’t make a sound.

He’d known Jiang Zhan came from a good family—but this kind of good? This was next-level, downright shocking.

Their country only had one private aerospace company, worth over a hundred billion. Just recently, it had gone viral for helping the space agency recover a rocket using new tech. The stock price hit the ceiling.

The company’s CEO was super low-key. They always had a spokesperson handle media stuff.

Wei Xiaochi spoke with difficulty. “Xu Kangcheng… what’s your relation to him?”

Jiang Zhan: “He’s my great-grandpa on my mom’s side. My mom’s grandpa.”

Wei Xiaochi’s brain short-circuited. Everything felt surreal, like he was dreaming.

Xu Kangcheng was a name found in Chinese class, history books, and physics textbooks.

To Wei Xiaochi, that man was a distant historical legend. And now someone told him he was dating his great-grandson?

Was there anything more dreamlike than this?

The first time Wei Xiaochi learned about Xu Kangcheng was in his elementary school history book—it said he was the Father of Spaceflight, the pioneer of the country’s aerospace program.

The Xu family started in textiles, then moved into coal mining and became the richest family in the country.

Due to historical reasons, their country was once in a dire state—weak and constantly under attack.

As a teenager, Xu Kangcheng studied abroad and deeply understood the importance of education. Under the alias Peter Xu, he donated to top overseas universities, with one condition: members of the Xu clan could study there.

At the time, their country was under international sanctions, so Xu Kangcheng used this method to get countless students abroad, pretending to be Xu family members.

He donated to over twenty universities and sent hundreds of students overseas.

Back then, communication tech was poor, so the schools didn’t realize they weren’t actually Xu family.

These students returned home and made huge contributions in their fields—any one of them could’ve ended up in a textbook.

Xu Kangcheng had a passion for astronomy from a young age. He founded the country’s first astronomy company—a full decade before the national space agency.

His son, Xu Zhe, followed in his footsteps and became the first to launch a human-made rocket into space.

If Xu Kangcheng was the Father of Spaceflight, then Xu Zhe was the founder of modern aerospace in their country, helping it reach world-leading status.

After the successful launch, Xu Zhe shared the patents with the country for free and helped the space agency through its toughest times.

To honor their immense contributions, when both men passed away, their funerals were held at the national level, their caskets draped in the flag.

To this day, Xu Wenyi’s company still works closely with the government.

The company operates in a very special way—protected and heavily supported by the state. The government even owns shares. All of this was because of the Xu family’s contributions.

—

Wei Xiaochi just couldn’t associate Jiang Zhan with “great-grandson of Xu Kangcheng.” It was just too surreal.

Still struggling to wrap his head around it, he blurted out a dumb question:

“Your sister’s not going into aerospace… so… what about the company?”

Jiang Zhan shot him a look. “It’s not some family business. We don’t have to inherit it.”

Then he narrowed his eyes. “And what’s that supposed to mean, huh? What are you implying, leaving your sentence hanging like that?”

Wei Xiaochi: …Because your grades suck, and you have nothing to do with aerospace.

Of course, he couldn’t say that out loud.

He averted his eyes and mumbled, “N-nothing.”