CH 27

Without “Uncle Li,” there would still be various daughters, nieces, and cousins from the families of “Uncle Wang,” “Uncle Liu,” and so on.

As long as Ji Yao’s parents’ goals weren’t achieved, there would always be countless traps waiting for him in the future.

Ji Yao knew that if he wanted to completely escape these troubles, he needed a definitive solution.

Ji Yao had about half a year left until graduation, and his parents probably heard the news that he had finished his thesis and chose to confront him at this time.

After that night, Jiang Heng didn’t call again. He just sent a “Good morning” message before heading to work the next morning, as per usual.

Seeing that Jiang Heng didn’t bring up the topic of returning home, Ji Yao felt a bit less pressured, and he sent a few emojis in response, indicating that he might be busy for a while.

Jiang Heng didn’t say much, just told him to take care of himself.

Ji Yao appreciated his lack of further questioning. At least at this point, Jiang Heng’s usual thoughtfulness and accommodation gave him some breathing room.

Following his parents’ wishes, Ji Yao temporarily moved back home and played the role of their good son.

Ji Yao knew where his parents’ concerns lay. For them, the worst fear was that their son might be gay. All he had to do was prove that he wasn’t gay, and his parents would naturally start doubting the authenticity of the rumors.

Ji Yao had never been in a relationship at school and didn’t quite understand how these rumors spread to his parents. Nevertheless, he secretly observed for a few days and the only thing he could be sure of was that his parents had no evidence and couldn’t be certain whether the rumors were true or false.

So, while they felt miserable, they had no confidence to confront him about it. They could only pick on him about unrelated matters from time to time, while trying to quickly arrange his marriage.

This wasn’t difficult for Ji Yao to handle. He had been through these situations countless times since he was young. Since the rebellious factor started growing inside him, he learned how to comply on the surface while resisting secretly.

Ji Yao knew that to deal with his parents, all he had to do was give them what they wanted, show them what they wanted to see. As for the truth, no one really cared.

Once he got past this hurdle, he just needed to be a bit more cautious and hide more carefully, and no one would know.

He compromised, yielded, and let his parents achieve their goals. This matter could end easily. Ji’s parents would get a well-behaved son, and Ji Yao would get peace and tranquility.

He had done this many times before, and this time was no different.

However, he was so busy dealing with his parents at home that he somewhat neglected Jiang Heng.

At first, they met once a week, but the time spent together wasn’t long, and they mostly met outside. Ji Yao had his own concerns, and he hadn’t noticed that Jiang Heng seemed to be getting quieter during their time together.

Gradually, their meetings became rushed and perfunctory. At first, they met once a week, then it became once every ten days.

Ji Yao had so many trivial matters to handle that he didn’t realize what was missing until he felt something was off in his life. By the time he realized it, it had been four days since he last spoke to Jiang Heng.

The most recent message on WeChat was from four days ago. They had casually chatted about school-related matters, but then one of them got busy, and the conversation abruptly ended with a “Wait for me” message, with no follow-up.

This was rare. Since Ji Yao and Jiang Heng started their relationship, Jiang Heng rarely disappeared without saying a word. His phone was always accessible, even when he was busy, he would still find time to exchange a few words with Ji Yao, sometimes just a simple “Good morning” or “Good night,” sometimes about work or things happening in his life.

To have gone more than three days without a message, Ji Yao had never experienced that before.

However, with the approach of the New Year, everything was piling up, and Ji Yao didn’t think too much about it. He felt that the law firm was swamped with work and Jiang Heng probably couldn’t find time.

Ji Yao fiddled with his phone and stared at the profile picture on WeChat. He felt a bit guilty, more or less.

He had been so busy lately, busy to the point where he didn’t even fulfill the promised “conditions” to compensate Jiang Heng, let alone spend quality time together.

This relationship had come to this point, and it felt a bit absurd, Ji Yao thought.

Fortunately, during the month Ji Yao spent at home, his efforts to appease his parents had yielded results. His parents were slowly starting to believe that he wasn’t a rebellious homosexual. Their control over him wasn’t as strict as before.

His mother, in particular, seemed more relaxed. Sometimes, she even urged him to go out and have fun, not to stay cooped up at home all the time.

Approaching Christmas, shops’ windows were already adorned with stickers of Santa Claus and colorful lights. Tall Christmas trees stood in front of malls, and promotional signs for Christmas lucky draws had been put up.

Ji Yao flipped through his chat history with Jiang Heng, noticing that their frequency of communication had significantly decreased over the past month. They hadn’t even mentioned celebrating their birthdays.

Ji Yao’s birthday was half a month before Jiang Heng’s, conveniently falling on Christmas Day. So, they had decided to celebrate together on that day, every year.

Christmas was just two days away. After dinner, Ji Yao came up with a random excuse to go out, planning to surprise Jiang Heng when he returned from work.

He first went to pick up the cake, then took a taxi to the place where he and Jiang Heng lived. On the way, he sent Jiang Heng a WeChat message, telling him to come home earlier if he was working late.

Jiang Heng didn’t reply, Ji Yao wasn’t sure if he hadn’t seen the message or if he was busy.

Ji Yao hadn’t been home for a while. He felt a bit nervous as he climbed the stairs and kept feeling for his keys several times. In the end, he just clenched the keys in his hand.

He rehearsed what he wanted to say in his mind, planning to pamper Jiang Heng a bit during this opportunity and then engage in passionate intimacy to make up for the physical affection he owed him.

Ji Yao had planned it all out, but as soon as he opened the door, he saw a pair of relatively new white sneakers at the entrance.

The sneakers were casually thrown on the floor and were adorned with intricate and extravagant hand-painted patterns, clearly not Jiang Heng’s style.

And they weren’t even his size.

Ji Yao furrowed his brows slightly and entered the apartment. He saw the bathroom light was on, steam forming on the frosted glass, outlining a blurry figure.

The bedroom door was open, and Jiang Heng, wearing only a thin pajama, was leaning against the bed. He seemed to have heard the door and turned his head towards it.

Ji Yao clearly saw that Jiang Heng’s gaze momentarily froze as he looked at him, as if he hadn’t expected Ji Yao to appear at this moment.

Ji Yao’s heart stung at that instant of Jiang Heng’s raised eyebrows. Suddenly, he felt that his previous guilt was all a joke. While he was busy dealing with his parents and thinking about how to compensate Jiang Heng, Jiang Heng had been messing around.

True, Ji Yao thought, he didn’t need me to make it up to him. He could easily find entertainment.

“I don’t do threesomes, you know? Did you plan this without telling me?” The stranger’s words brought Ji Yao back to reality.

Ji Yao’s gaze moved from the stranger to Jiang Heng, and he smiled coolly, letting out a faint chuckle.

Jiang Heng finally snapped out of his daze, and he smiled meaningfully, reaching for his cigarette pack, lighting one and taking a drag. Then, he gestured towards the stranger, “You can leave now.”

“What? Seriously?” The stranger was displeased. “So, I took a shower for nothing—”

He seemed like he wanted to say more, but Jiang Heng’s suddenly cold gaze intimidated him. He grumbled a couple of words and hurriedly went to the bathroom to change, leaving a trail of wet footprints behind him.

The door opened and closed, and Ji Yao’s control over his patience finally snapped. He tossed the cake box aside.

“Is there something you want to say?” Ji Yao asked.

“I have nothing to say.” Jiang Heng replied.

“To be honest, some things don’t need to be so ugly.” Ji Yao’s lips curled in a cold smile. A blazing fire was burning within him, consuming his reason. “You could have told me earlier, and we could have parted ways peacefully instead of me worrying day and night about what to do in the future.”

“What should we do in the future?” Jiang Heng smiled ambiguously.

He lifted the covers and got out of bed, walking barefoot to stand in front of Ji Yao. Without a word, he reached into Ji Yao’s pocket and pulled out his wallet and pulled out a thin folded paper.

Ji Yao’s expression changed noticeably. It turned rather unpleasant.

Jiang Heng didn’t even look at the paper, as if he knew exactly what was written on it. He casually flicked it, unfolding it and holding it up for Ji Yao to see.

The receipt was printed with pale blue text, and the words “Wedding Banquet Pre-order” at the top were enlarged, making them particularly conspicuous.

At the bottom of the document, the names of Ji Yao and another unfamiliar person were signed, and beside it, the hotel had stamped a “May You Have a Happy Marriage” seal in an elegant font.

“…How did you find out?” After a moment, Ji Yao asked.

“Coincidentally, a friend of mine is familiar with this hotel.” Jiang Heng’s lips curled into a knowing smile. “I found out the second time you went with your ‘mother-in-law’ to check out the venue.”

Ji Yao suddenly felt a pang of pain. His chest tightened, and the fire within him seemed to be extinguished by a bucket of ice water, leaving only a choking smoke.

He subconsciously wanted to say something, but when the words reached his lips, he couldn’t utter them.

“I know about your family.” Jiang Heng said. “Every family has its own problems. It’s normal.”

“You can compromise forever, always giving in.” Jiang Heng stared into Ji Yao’s eyes, enunciating each word deliberately. “But I won’t tolerate it anymore.”