Chapter 14: Defending Ye Lian

Ye Lian’s etiquette was impeccable as he called out to the woman, “Mother.”

A bit of moisture from the rain the day before yesterday still lingered, not fully evaporated by the sun, steaming into the air and making people’s eyes water. Ye Lan said, “You’ve been settling down in Pine City for so long and never once came to visit. I thought you’d forgotten you even had a mother.” Her tone seemed reproachful, but if one listened carefully, they could catch the faint tremble hidden in her words.

Ye Lian curved his eyes slightly. “Ye Lian wouldn’t dare.”

The cat-form Jiang Xiaoyu was held in Ye Lian’s arms, staring unabashedly at the two of them. His own family had never been harmonious, so he naturally didn’t sense anything off in the atmosphere between this mother and son.

Ye Lan silently gazed at her tall son before her. After more than thirty years of separation, the time they’d spent together was far too short. Her eyes reddened slightly. When she spotted the little black cat in Ye Lian’s arms, she steadied her emotions and asked, “When did you get a cat?”

“Not long ago.” Ye Lian’s palm gently stroked the fluffy cat head in his arms before suddenly asking, “Would you like to hold him? He’s pretty well-behaved, doesn’t bite.”

Chen Yiqu, following behind, said nothing about this ‘well-behaved’ and ‘doesn’t bite’ business, but he was happy to help ease the tension between them and chimed in, “Yeah, smarter than most people even.”

Hearing this, Jiang Xiaoyu felt a pang of guilt and didn’t dare move his limbs.

Ye Lan reached out to take the cat Ye Lian offered. The moment their palms touched, a surge of impulse welled up in her heart—she wanted so badly to pat the back of her son’s hand to show affection—but reason suppressed her emotions, and in the end, she didn’t.

“Go see the Old Madam. Be respectful.” Lest that old hag find something to gossip about.

“Yes.” Ye Lian pinched Jiang Xiaoyu’s ear. “Don’t run off. Wait for Uncle to come pick you up.”

The expression and tone Ye Lian used were gentle, like a father sending his child to kindergarten for the first time. Listening to his instructions, Jiang Xiaoyu felt a strange sensation well up in his heart. He lowered his head, convinced there must be something wrong with his body—otherwise, why would even the fur on his ear tips start to feel faintly hot…

Ye Lan watched the scene before her in surprise. Her family had tiger genes passed down through generations; anyone possessed by a tiger’s spirit would make even ferocious beasts tremble on all fours, let alone a cat. Yet this cat dared to stay in Ye Lian’s arms?

“Is it like that Husky?” she asked Chen Yiqu, who stood guard nearby. The meaning in her flowing gaze was clear: Is this cat as brainless as that Husky? Can’t it sense Ye Lian’s pressure?

Chen Yiqu’s smile was utterly sincere. “Its brain isn’t the biggest, but Young Master likes it.”

Hadn’t he just called the cat smart, and now its brain was no good? A trace of confusion lingered in Ye Lan’s heart, but it passed quickly. She put it aside, smiling as she pointed teasingly at Chen Yiqu from afar. “You’re one to talk. If he won’t come, how come you haven’t visited in all this time either?” The Chen family had served the Ye family for generations, and Chen Yiqu had watched her grow up—he could be considered half a big brother. Her tone naturally carried some intimacy.

“Young Master lives too far away. These old bones of mine can’t make the trip.”

“The Ye Residence has plenty of servants. Just call a few over—they could carry you if they had to.”

The two bantered as they crossed the courtyard. Jiang Xiaoyu was uncomfortable being held but didn’t dare squirm on a woman’s body, so he could only tense up with his paws gripping her arm, lifting his feet like he was doing pull-ups on a bar—far more exhausting.

“Rest here a bit. Lunch is still a ways off.” Ye Lan sat down in the pavilion, placing the cat nearby and instructing the servants to prepare some food. Then she said, “How have things been lately?”

“All good.” Chen Yiqu nodded, knowing what she wanted to ask. “Young Master is doing well too.”

“Ye Lian…” She paused. “Has he found someone he likes?”

Jiang Xiaoyu had been about to sneak away, but at these words, his paws froze inexplicably, and he quietly sat back down, perking his ears to eavesdrop.

Chen Yiqu took the tea from a servant and waved them off before replying, “Not yet.”

“Sigh.” Ye Lan sighed. “He’s so old already, and not even one person who’s caught his eye?”

Children and grandchildren have their own fortunes—why meddle? But Chen Yiqu couldn’t say that. He comforted her. “Once he meets someone he likes, it’ll happen in a night.”

“Likes?” Ye Lan snorted coldly. “How much is ‘like’ really worth? Better to quickly find someone to marry and have a child—that’s the real priority.”

Chen Yiqu poured her a cup of tea. “Living just for the sake of a child? What’s the difference in picking anyone at random?”

With no one around, Ye Lan felt a bit regretful about her own words and silently sipped her tea.

“Besides, there’s still Second Master, isn’t there? If you really want a grandchild, just have Second Master pop one out.”

“Ji Wangan is Ji Wangan, and Ye Lian is Ye Lian. How can you compare them? Ji Wangan living carefreely his whole life is no issue, but Ye Lian—”

“Hey, hey.” Chen Yiqu cut her off. “I don’t like hearing that. They’re both your sons, Madam—how can you be so biased toward Second Master?”

Ye Lan’s expression darkened. “How can the two of them even be mentioned in the same breath?”

Listening to them, Jiang Xiaoyu started muttering inwardly. He’d thought Ye Lian and Ji Wangan were cousins or something, but they were actually from the same mother? Impossible to tell—not just in looks, but their temperaments were worlds apart.

And why did one have the Ye surname and the other Ji? He recalled Ji Wangan’s words back then: ‘I can’t stomach the Ye family’s whole rigid routine.’ Why such distance from his mother’s family? No matter if the Ye family was at its peak with overwhelming power or now in low profile, with such deep roots, that attitude didn’t make sense.

Jiang Xiaoyu had a inexplicable fondness for Ye Lian—perhaps from his own biases, and he knew that wasn’t great. But seeing Ye Lian’s mother talk about him like this made him uncomfortable. Recalling the string of illustrious achievements in Ye Lian’s profile, he couldn’t help lifting his head and retorting, “Ye Lian really can’t be compared to Ji Wangan. Even setting aside family background, Ye Lian is still a dragon among men.”

As for Ji Wangan? He twitched his whiskers. “Ji Wangan? Nearly thirty years old and never held a proper job a single day—it’s him who can’t compare to Ye Lian!” Who knows, maybe even a criminal! Jiang Xiaoyu fumed inwardly.

Ye Lan couldn’t understand cat speech, but seeing the cat meowing loudly like it was angry, she asked, “Is it hungry? Why’s it meowing so loudly?”

Jiang Xiaoyu snapped back to reality, clamping his mouth shut and not daring to meow again. Just as he worried he’d upset her, a magnetic and pleasant voice rang out leisurely: “Maybe it’s hot.”

Ye Lian had somehow produced a folding fan, holding it in one hand. He sat beside Ye Lan, scooped up Jiang Xiaoyu with his other arm to nestle him in the crook of it, and gently fanned with the other hand, sending cool breezes to Jiang Xiaoyu.

“Already seen the Old Madam?” Ye Lan poured a cup of water and handed it to Ye Lian. “If it’s hot, head back to the room.” The Ji Residence was old with heritage protections, so it couldn’t be renovated much, and the courtyard outside was inevitably sweltering.

Ye Lian didn’t answer, instead lowering his head to ask Jiang Xiaoyu’s opinion. “Baby, are you hot? Want to go somewhere with AC?”

Jiang Xiaoyu couldn’t shake his head and turned into a clam in Ye Lian’s arm crook.

“Looks like he doesn’t want to.” Ye Lian answered himself.

Chen Yiqu had already withdrawn the moment Ye Lian spoke, leaving only mother and son in the pavilion—plus one inconsequential cat.

In the moment of quiet intimacy, Ye Lan’s gaze fell on her son now and then as she asked, “The Old Madam didn’t give you trouble, did she?”

“How could she trouble me?” Ye Lian hooked the corner of his mouth. “After all, I bear the Ye surname.”

“You’re blaming me.”

Jiang Xiaoyu looked at Ye Lan’s downcast lashes—her features were practically carved from the same mold as Ye Lian’s—and he couldn’t help meowing, “You look just like your mom.”

Ye Lian pinched the little cat’s paw and replied to her, “I don’t blame you.”

But Ye Lan wouldn’t hear it, her eyes reddening. “When you were born, you were already like that. I had no choice but to send you to the Ye Residence for your uncle to raise.”

Like what? Jiang Xiaoyu tilted his head, his serious thinking expression making Ye Lian chuckle. “Mom, I know.”

That one “Mom” turned Ye Lan’s eyes fully red. She took a deep breath, forcing her emotions steady. “I have things to handle. You go rest in your room too.”

After Ye Lan left, Ye Lian set Jiang Xiaoyu on the table and offered his own teacup. “Want some water?”

Jiang Xiaoyu was indeed thirsty. He tested the temperature with his tongue tip, then lowered his head to drink.

Ye Lian propped his chin with one hand and fanned lightly with the other, his gaze like silk wrapping around the little black cat before him, a doting fondness in his eyes that even he himself hadn’t noticed.

At first, it was just amusing—this bold thing daring to approach him, looks perfectly to his taste. Cold on the surface, but a little teasing made it embarrassed and shy. After a few interactions, curiosity sparked about his contradictory nature.

Not to mention how he’d just stood up for him—adorably to the bone, joyfully to the heart.

Jiang Xiaoyu drank a few laps and looked up, straight into the man’s deep eyes. The man twirled a plain handkerchief between his slender fingers and said to him, “Come here, wipe your mouth.”

Jiang Xiaoyu paused, then stretched his head over.

“Good boy.” Ye Lian chuckled softly.

After leaving the pavilion, Jiang Xiaoyu followed Ye Lian toward the room. This old Western-style mansion had a ring-shaped layout overall—the front guest areas connected to the Central Garden, and further back were the living quarters.

Entering the room, even though the window had long been opened for ventilation, the air still carried a stale, musty smell from prolonged vacancy.

“We’ll have lunch in the front hall at noon. If you don’t like the food delivered by the servants, I’ll take you out to eat later.”

He said this and turned to leave. As he reached the door, he looked back and added, “Oh right, that Little White Dog lives in Ji Wangan’s room. How about I send you up there to play with it?”

Ji Wangan’s room? Jiang Xiaoyu’s ears suddenly perked up, his emerald-like eyes lighting up brightly. “Thank you for cooperating with the officer’s investigation!”

Ye Lian smiled but said nothing.