Chapter 6

If you counted Jiang Chu’s good points on your fingers, you could actually name a few.

The best one of those was that he was reasonable.

Generally speaking, whether it was his own people or outsiders, even his enemies—to take it further, those “archenemies” from school days whom he’d want to throw down with the moment they met… as long as what they said made a little bit of sense, he was willing to think from their perspective.

But today, facing off with Qin Zui, that particular virtue was suddenly failing him.

Qin Zui wouldn’t let him touch him. From the moment he’d met this guy, the most common phrase he’d heard was “Don’t touch me.”

This “Don’t touch me” covered everything—can’t pat his back, can’t punch his arm, can’t put an arm around his shoulder, can’t even poke him in the shoulder blade.

He understood that everyone had their own habits. He himself didn’t like having his head touched. Da Ben didn’t like having his belly patted. Even Zhou Teng had his own thing, not liking being touched on the butt.

But being stared at by Qin Zui with that slightly warning look in his eyes, he felt a certain irrepressible irritation.

Yeah, that was it. Irritation.

Ever since he’d discovered Qin Zui’s allergy, it had been a trip to the hospital for shots, getting medicine, getting tests done. He’d even busted his own lip for no good reason, his chin sticking out like a croissant. And when he tried to show a little concern, he got warned off.

This wasn’t getting himself a little brother.

This was bringing a little empress dowager home. Can’t touch this, can’t touch that.

It wasn’t like Jiang Chu was desperate to touch him or absolutely had to.

But the guy had an allergy, right?

To put it in the worst possible light, if not for the allergy, did a flat-chested, rough-around-the-edges guy really think he was that eager to touch him?

To put it in an even worse light, going back to noon, the person sitting in front of his table, eyes locked on him, shouldn’t have been at his place at all.

Jiang Chu stared back at Qin Zui for a while, then smiled and sat back on the arm of the sofa.

“You don’t spend your free time getting into fights, do you?” he asked, voicing the question he’d held back in the car.

Qin Zui didn’t answer, probably not understanding how the topic had suddenly shifted here. He just kept staring at Jiang Chu.

“You need to understand something now, Little Qin Zui.” Jiang Chu picked up another strand of cold noodles with his chopsticks, completely ignoring the frown Qin Zui made at that address.

“You, living with me now, was a joint decision by your real mom and your stepdad.” Jiang Chu continued slowly and deliberately. “Has nothing to do with whether you’re happy about it or not. The person you’re tied to right now is me.”

“What you did at your own place before, I don’t care about. What you do after you leave my place, I won’t care about either. But right now, you’re under my roof. You had an allergic reaction while you were with me, so I have to take care of you. When I need to touch you, I’m going to touch you. Understand?” he said to Qin Zui.

The look in Qin Zui’s eyes clearly said he didn’t get it. He stared back at Jiang Chu for a moment before his lips parted. “Whatever. Don’t touch me.”

“Oh, I just can’t wait to touch you,” Jiang Chu said, almost laughing in exasperation.

He stood up, put his bowl on the dining table, and looked down at Qin Zui from above.

“Alright,” Jiang Chu raised an eyebrow. “You said you could fight, right? Have a little spar with me. If you can pin me down on that sofa, I’ll call you ‘big brother’ from now on and won’t ever touch you again.”

“But if I end up pinning you down,” Jiang Chu paused, thinking for a moment, “then when your big brother wants to do something to you, you just have to suck it up. Drop all those precious little quirks in front of me. Deal?”

Jiang Chu’s words sounded serious enough. Qin Zui’s gaze sharpened, sliding down to his swollen chin. Then the corner of his mouth twitched, and he slightly lowered his eyelids, looking like he wanted to laugh.

The guy could barely walk straight with that busted chin, and here he was, spouting big talk.

“Watch that expression of yours,” Jiang Chu said, probably guessing what Qin Zui was thinking. He pointed a finger at him. “You in or not?”

Qin Zui slowly got to his feet, scanning the living room. “Here?”

“Isn’t this enough for you? The target is this sofa, anyway. If you can toss me onto the bed in the back, that works too.” Jiang Chu gently nudged Zhou Teng aside with his foot. Zhou Teng flopped onto the floor, unwilling to move, so Qin Zui bent down, grabbed the cat by its armpits, and carried him out of the way.

“Want me to use one hand?” He looked at Jiang Chu’s chin, tilting his head slightly in a deliberate provocation.

Jiang Chu squinted and smiled. “Sure.”

As they began to move, Qin Zui stood squarely in front of Jiang Chu but still felt a bit awkward about actually laying hands on him.

He really did have a strong punch, but he couldn’t go for soft spots like the stomach. If he went higher and smashed Jiang Chu’s nose, drawing blood, then the guy really wouldn’t be able to show his face tomorrow.

Jiang Chu didn’t have so many reservations. He got straight to the practical point. “Fighting means I’m going to have to touch you. Is your back going to be a problem?”

Qin Zui loosened his shoulder blades and grunted in assent.

Jiang Chu nodded. Then, without giving Qin Zui a single moment to react, he hooked his foot between Qin Zui’s legs, grabbed his right arm, twisted it behind his back, and flipped him over.

Qin Zui’s eyes flashed with alarm. Jiang Chu’s strength was surprisingly immense.

He swung his left elbow, aiming for Jiang Chu’s ribs, but Jiang Chu wrapped an arm around him, blocking the strike. Locking Qin Zui’s left arm, he twisted his entire upper body around. At the same time, the knee he had wedged between Qin Zui’s legs shot upward, pressing against his inner thigh and driving him down onto the sofa.

“You said I could use one hand, remember?” Jiang Chu laughed softly into his ear.

Qin Zui’s knee slammed heavily into the sofa. At that moment, if he’d tensed his arm and exerted his strength, he could have thrown Jiang Chu off.

But before he could even gather his strength, Jiang Chu’s hand, still holding his arm, suddenly slid down his spine and kneaded his lower back.

Qin Zui had never lost a fight that quickly.

And the key point was that he was the one who had lost.

With that little move from Jiang Chu, his entire back and waist went numb. Then Jiang Chu, using his knee against his thigh, had him completely pinned face-down on the sofa, looking like a trussed-up pig.

There was even a throw pillow wedged right under his belly.

The whole thing took less than thirty seconds.

Qin Zui struggled twice, his face dark as a thundercloud. Jiang Chu just laughed and didn’t let go. He even swung a leg over and sat down directly on Qin Zui’s butt, flicking his ear as he asked cheerfully, “Had enough?”

Qin Zui’s ears and neck flushed a deep red. He couldn’t bring himself to make a sound.

This was just too fucking pathetic.

Jiang Chu’s irritation was completely gone. He felt like some wicked, oppressive landowner, riding high on his little brother’s ass as he delivered a final verbal jab.

“Sometimes being too protective of something just hands your weak point to someone on a silver platter.” He even tugged at the waistband of Qin Zui’s baggy shorts, making it snap back with a pop. “You’ve got some strength, sure. But I studied martial arts for a few years. Getting pinned by me isn’t anything to be ashamed of.”

Qin Zui closed his eyes and pressed his lips together. When he opened them again, Zhou Teng had somehow jumped up and was squatting in front of his face, head tilted, staring at him.

He couldn’t stand it. He turned his head away and said in a muffled voice to Jiang Chu, “Let me go.”

“Fair play.” Jiang Chu patted Qin Zui’s neck again then reached over to grab the bag of medicine he’d left on the back of the sofa. He opened it, glanced at the contents, squeezed a glob of ointment onto Qin Zui’s back, rubbed his palms together, and started smearing it around haphazardly.

Qin Zui’s body was tense from the back of his neck down to his buttocks. He barely suppressed the urge to arch his back and throw Jiang Chu off, eventually just closing his eyes again, pretending Jiang Chu had already beaten him to death.

Jiang Chu hadn’t actually wanted to really fight Qin Zui from the start. He just pinned him down for the satisfaction of it. After he’d finished applying the medicine, he lifted his leg off Qin Zui and slapped him on the butt. “Get up. The cold noodles were good.”

Qin Zui’s back visibly relaxed with a sigh, but he stayed lying there.

Mad?

Jiang Chu raised an eyebrow and bent down to try and see his expression.

He’d never been around kids. He was an only child, and his cousins were all about the same age, only seen once or twice a year, so he’d never had to take care of anyone.

He was used to messing around with Da Ben and the others. Friends could joke about anything. Only now did it occur to him that he might have gone a little too far.

After all, Qin Zui had just arrived. If he went and tattled to Jiang Liantian, saying his brother had beaten him up on the first day… that wouldn’t sound good.

But just as he leaned his face closer, Qin Zui frowned and turned his head away again.

“Oh.” Jiang Chu smoothed his hand over his head from bottom to top. The feel of the freshly buzzed hair was nice. He couldn’t resist doing it once more, until the words “I’m sick of this” seemed to be practically glowing on the back of Qin Zui’s head.

“What’s this supposed to mean? Having a tantrum?” Jiang Chu observed the small sliver of his face he could still see, still finding it amusing. “Pouting for attention? Do I need to coddle you?”

Qin Zui was speechless.

“Can you just go eat your noodles? There’s more in the pot,” he said, finally turning his head to glare at Jiang Chu, his eyebrows knotted so tightly they could have tied a bow.

“Alright, alright.” Jiang Chu smiled and made a placating gesture, then glanced at the base of Qin Zui’s ear before picking up his bowl and heading into the kitchen to get more noodles.

Hearing Qin Zui get up, he quickly stole a peek. Even though Qin Zui only flashed past him from the sofa to his room, Jiang Chu still caught the important detail—after having his back rubbed with medicine twice, his cheap little brother had pitched a tent under his shorts.

“Huh.” Jiang Chu leaned against the kitchen counter and couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Qin Zui, who was in the middle of closing his door, froze for a second, then stiffly slammed it shut with a bang.

“Damn, what a temper.” Jiang Chu laughed until he could barely stand it. He slurped some noodles and almost choked them back out his nose.

Kids these days. Just rubbing his back could get him fired up.

He shook his head, sneezed, and was still laughing.

Man, was he sensitive.

Jiang Chu was still thinking about this the next day at work. It still cracked him up, and he shared it with Da Ben.

Da Ben laughed even harder. He leaned back in his swivel chair and nearly slid to the floor. He pointed at Jiang Chu’s face, gasping for breath: “And your chin got busted by a punch like that! It’s purple, man.”

“Get lost.” Jiang Chu smiled and rubbed his chin. It was still a bit swollen, but at least it didn’t look like a croissant anymore.

“How old’s that little brother? Bring him out sometime. Da Ben here will treat him to a meal.” Da Ben pushed himself back up in his chair, took a couple of gulps of water, and let out a long breath.

“Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen,” Jiang Chu said, thinking back to the birthday on Qin Zui’s ID card. He’d completely forgotten to ask yesterday amidst all the chaos.

“That makes sense. Even when I was in high school, I could get one just from taking a nap on my desk.” Da Ben reminisced about the past and let out another series of chuckles.

“Right?” Jiang Chu joined him in recalling old times, the two of them laughing like idiots, unable to stop. “Meili caught you sleeping, told you to get up and stand. You refused, and while you were still lying on the desk, you told her, ‘Not convenient.’ She didn’t even get it at first. Then Fang Zi let out a string of funny noises, which pissed her off until she started crying.”

“Oh my god!” Da Ben was dying. “Fang Zi and I both had to write a self-criticism, didn’t we? We had some serious balls back then!”

“You can take yourself out of that picture. Don’t drag me into it.” Jiang Chu slumped back in his chair, waving a hand. He saw Tang Cai poking her head around the door and cleared his throat. “What’s up?”

Tang Cai walked in with her laptop to show Jiang Chu a design draft. Seeing the state of them, she almost didn’t dare come in.

Jiang Chu’s close friends, and even Jiang Chu himself, could now pass for respectable enough folks. But back in school, every single one of them had been bigger show-offs than the next.

When it came to having a thick skin, Qin Zui was way behind his big brother—after setting up that tent on the first night, for almost a whole week, he didn’t want to talk to Jiang Chu.

Every morning Jiang Chu would get up, get ready, and leave for work, while Qin Zui was still asleep in his room.

When he came back in the evening, there would be noodles on the table. Cold noodles, fried noodles, soup noodles, mixed noodles—they were different every day. Zhou Teng also had plenty of food and water and was well taken care of.

Jiang Chu would try to say a few words to him, but Qin Zui would refuse to make a sound whenever possible, maintaining his silent treatment all the way.

He was already quiet enough. Jiang Chu was starting to worry he’d turn into a hermit, staying at home all day like that.

More importantly, he was really, truly, sick of noodles. He felt like even when he blew his nose, he was blowing out noodles now.

“Qin Zui.” He got off work early on Saturday afternoon, with the next day being a day off. He brought home a watermelon. The moment he walked in the door, he cornered Qin Zui in the kitchen, arms crossed.

There were noodles boiling in the pot again, of course.

“Turn off the stove. Your big bro is taking you out to eat.” He used the top of his foot to rub Zhou Teng’s belly, then, being a little shit, straightened his leg and gave Qin Zui’s calf a playful pinch.

Qin Zui had really nice legs. Long, straight, and they looked strong.

Jiang Chu was so busy admiring them that he didn’t notice Qin Zui turning his head to look at him. This time, it was Jiang Chu who was caught off guard. Qin Zui tossed the cooking spoon aside in the pot, grabbed Jiang Chu’s ankle, lifted his leg, and shoved him up against the wall.