Chapter 77: Accident
Chapter 77: Chapter 77: Accident
"Sis, aren’t you going to wait for Brother-in-law—I mean, for Brother?"
Lin Yanwan pretended not to hear, instead pulling her sister’s hand and walking even faster.
Watching his girlfriend and her little sister quickly depart, Jiang Xia was dumbfounded. ’Don’t forget there’s still someone here! Take me with you!’
"Mom, uh, you’re busy, so I’ll get going," Jiang Xia said, awkwardly scratching his neck.
"Hurry up and scram. Don’t embarrass me here."
The corner of Xia Shanshan’s eye twitched. Quite a few people had seen the little incident. It wasn’t exactly a mortifying scandal, but with all the kids getting out of school, it wasn’t good to hold everyone up.
"You got it, I’m scramming!" Jiang Xia bolted without a moment’s hesitation.
Watching her son’s flustered retreat, Xia Shanshan felt an inexplicable urge to laugh. In the past, he wouldn’t come to visit her at school even once a year.
’Now that he’s dating, he comes to see me at least once a month. His real reason is to pick up his girlfriend’s sister, of course, but close enough, I guess you could say he’s coming to see me.’
’If you put it that way, does that mean I should be thanking Yanwan?’
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Jiang Xia sprinted after them and was suddenly stopped by a call from his girlfriend, who was standing under a nearby tree.
"Brother-in-law, I knew you’d catch up!" Lin Xiaoman chirped, running over to link her arm with his.
He panted, lightly tapping Xiao Man on the head. "You little rascal," he grumbled playfully. "You really put me on the spot today."
His sister-in-law covered her head, looking wronged. "Boo hoo... Brother-in-law, Xiao Man didn’t mean to."
"Alright, alright, I’m not blaming you. I know you didn’t mean to."
Jiang Xia sighed. ’In the end, I only have myself to blame. Xiao Man is still little; how would she understand all these adult subtleties? If I hadn’t put her up to calling me Brother-in-law in the first place, this whole mess today wouldn’t have happened.’
"Hehe, I knew you were the best, Brother-in-law!" Lin Xiaoman swung his arm happily and asked, "So from now on, should I call you Brother-in-law or Brother?"
"Call him Brother, of course!" Lin Yanwan cut in suddenly.
’This form of address has already caused too many misunderstandings. The last thing I want is for Xiao Man to cluelessly call Jiang Xia ’Brother-in-law’ in front of my parents someday.’
’If that happened, I’d be so embarrassed I’d want to dig a hole with my toes and crawl into it.’
’Besides, we’re not even married yet!’
’It’s too soon for him to be called ’Brother-in-law’.’
"You should listen to your sister," Jiang Xia said, stroking his sister-in-law’s head with a resigned sigh.
’So what if my mom knows? It’s better than having my parents constantly reminded that their son is dating someone.’
"Oh, okay!"
"Xiao Man, want some ice cream? I’ll treat you," he said with a small smile.
"I do!"
"What about you? What do you want?" Jiang Xia asked, looking at his girlfriend.
Lin Yanwan thought for a moment, then said, "A pudding pop. They’re cheap and good."
It really was a hot day. Jiang Xia was already starting to sweat just from that short run earlier.
Holding his sister-in-law’s hand, he walked into a shop on the side of the street. He spent one yuan on two pudding pops, while Xiao Man waited for the clerk to prepare her ice cream cone.
As the crispy cone was filled with soft-serve, his sister-in-law’s eyes sparkled. Holding it with both hands, she would only take the tiniest of licks, the joy in her eyes unmistakable.
"Is it good?"
"It’s delicious! Thanks, Brother-in-law!"
"It’s Brother," Lin Yanwan couldn’t help but remind her, eating her own pudding pop.
"Sis’s mom and dad aren’t here, and Brother-in-law’s mom and dad aren’t here either. So even if I call you Brother-in-law, nobody will know," Lin Xiaoman said with great seriousness, taking a small lick of her ice cream.
Jiang Xia gave her a mental thumbs-up. ’This ice cream was totally worth it,’ he thought. ’My little sister-in-law is pretty sharp, huh?’
Lin Yanwan was speechless. ’That’s not what being precocious is for!’
The two sisters shared a parasol. Eating his pudding pop, Jiang Xia no longer felt the heat. The three of them ambled back home, where Lin Xiaoman dutifully went to her room to start her homework. In the blink of an eye, the two of them were alone in the living room again.
"Alright, it’s getting late. You should head home," Lin Yanwan prompted.
"In such a hurry to get rid of me?" Jiang Xia downed a large glass of water.
Blushing, Lin Yanwan shook her head slightly. "I can’t focus on my voice work when you’re here."
"You could just say I’m distracting you from your work." He leaned in cheekily. "So I’m that captivating, am I?"
"Shameless."
Lin Yanwan turned her head away and said, not meaning a word of it, "It’s just annoying seeing you loiter around."
Suppressing a smile, he said, "Fine, I won’t loiter. You do your thing, and I’ll just look at you. That way, we won’t be bothering each other."
"Who did you say you were looking at?" she asked, her eyes widening.
"Of course I’m looking at my beautiful, gorgeous wife. I could eat three bowls of rice just looking at your back!" Jiang Xia said with a straight face.
"Say one more ridiculous thing and I’ll hit you!" she threatened, feigning anger and raising her fist.
"Go ahead."
Jiang Xia grabbed her hand and planted a kiss on her delicate fist. "Every time you hit me, I’ll kiss you."
"Could you be any more shameless?"
"I can."
With utter shamelessness, he pulled her into his embrace, whispering against her cheek, "Baby, let’s just take a break today."
"What about Cat and Mouse?"
"Not today."
’Besides, voice work is much faster than animation production. There’s no need for her to wear herself out like this.’
"What kind of boss acts like you? Look at all those companies from your past life. Didn’t every single one of them want their employees working 996 or even 007 schedules?"
Lin Yanwan grumbled quietly but settled into his lap, no longer struggling.
"I’d work anyone to the bone before I’d do it to you," Jiang Xia said softly, taking her hand and placing it on his cheek. "Didn’t Old Wang and Shen Ying say it? You’re the lady boss of Qitian Animation."
Her lips parted as if to speak, but the words caught in her throat. She couldn’t say anything, simply letting Jiang Xia hold her quietly.
"Baby."
"What?"
"I want to kiss you."
"Don’t. Xiao Man’s home."
She hadn’t forgotten the little ’accident’ in the kitchen last time. She tried to struggle free, but Jiang Xia held her wrist fast. In the ensuing struggle, they lost their footing and tumbled onto the sofa together.
Afraid she’d get hurt, Jiang Xia wrapped an arm around her waist and twisted. Just like during the earthquake, he acted on reflex, using his body to cushion her fall.
Lin Yanwan landed on top of him, her hands instinctively wrapping around his neck. Her hair cascaded down, veiling half of his face.
Their eyes met. They could feel each other’s warm, humid breath against their skin, and their own breathing began to quicken.
Like two opposing magnets, Jiang Xia closed his eyes and leaned in slowly, pressing a gentle but firm kiss to her pink, supple lips.