He’s So Sweet After Class

When they returned to the Jiang family’s home, their New Year’s Eve dinner was almost prepared. The dining room’s long table was covered with all kinds of dishes that looked not only hearty, but delicious. For the first time, Mo Lingqiu could tell at a glance that the family’s chef had outstanding skills. 

“Are all these people in your family not going home for New Years?” Mo Lingqiu asked softly.

The Jiang family had quite a few servants: the gardener, responsible for the large lawn; the chef, responsible for cooking; and the housekeeper, Uncle Yu. In addition to the usual hourly workers, there were four or five people who lived in the house on a fixed basis. 

“They’re not going home. They’re all orphans,” Jiang Chenming explained. “My father invested in several orphanages. My father has funded many children from the moment they entered the orphanage and throughout their schooling. After they graduate, they can choose their own employment, but many of them come to my house to apply for a job.”

Mo Lingqiu could probably guess at the reason why those people came looking for jobs. They either wanted to repay the kindness or they knew that the salary for Jiang family workers was generally higher—just the two drivers had a five figure monthly salary. The housekeeper, Uncle Yu, had been with the family for decades. His monthly salary definitely pushed him towards the wealthy class, as opposed to employees of ordinary businesses. 

“My dad also chooses people. He arranges for the ones who don’t get accepted at the house to work at the company, if they have good qualifications.” Jiang Chenming thought for a second. “My secretary that you met today was raised in an orphanage.”

“That’s very good.”

The most taboo thing a rich person could do was keep only money in their eyes and turn away from other important things. As a wealthy man, Jiang Chenming’s father, Jiang Zhongzhen, would still put his constant everyday flow of money to good use and help those in need. When those people grew up, most of them would certainly appreciate Jiang Zhongzhen’s contributions and return it wholeheartedly. Even though it wasn’t all one hundred percent of them, it was enough. 

“There are a lot of people at my family’s company who come from orphanages, and I consider them close friends, too.” Jiang Chenming was quite satisfied that the company was formed that way. 

“En.” Mo Lingqiu could completely understand.

“Come and eat.” Chen Shan came out of her room, saw that the New Year’s Eve dinner was ready, and called everyone to come and eat.

It was a day for all the members of the Jiang family to sit around the table for a meal. Mo Lingqiu and Jiang Chenming sat on the right side, Jiang Junshen sat next to Jiang Chenming, and Jiang Zhongzhen and Chen Shan naturally sat in the main seats. The rest of the seats were taken up by Uncle Yu and the others. 

While Mo Lingqiu ate, he took some time to carefully observe everyone. The masters of the Jiang family didn’t put on airs and the servants weren’t nervous either. The two groups had the most equal relationship he had ever seen. 

“Uncle Yu, the kid you mentioned last time… Is he still in A City these days?” Since Jiang Chenming already had a partner, and had even brought him home, Chen Shan had been thinking about Jiang Junshen’s love life. 

“Yes.” Uncle Yu nodded. “He’s living at the house he rented.”

“It’s too sad to be alone during New Years. What about asking him to come over and play tomorrow?” Chen Shan asked, glancing at Jiang Junshen who had buried his head in his rice. 

“Can, ah… Should I ask Eldest Young Mas…” Uncle Yu wanted to ask whether Jiang Junshen agreed or not. After all, they hadn’t even mentioned it to him before. 

Jiang Chenming could sense something fishy in her words. “Mom, who are you talking about?”

“Your Uncle Yu went out on business and met a child. He was struggling alone, working hard, relying on his own ability to get into University A’s law department, the same school as you,” Chen Shan explained. “We feel that he’s suitable. Isn’t your brother still single? We thought about introducing him to your brother to see if they work out.” 

Jiang Junshen stopped moving and expressionlessly raised his head from his rice. “No need.” 

Uncle Yu and Chen Shan were stunned—especially Chen Shan. “You’re always alone and that’s no good. Or do you already have someone you like?”

“En.” Jiang Junshen said in acknowledgement before going back to eating. 

Next to him, Jiang Chenming and Mo Lingqiu exchanged glances, tacitly understanding the meaning of his reply. 

Uncle Yu’s eyes lit up. He had only wanted to introduce Jiang Junshen to someone suitable to make him less lonely. Now that he had someone he liked, and didn’t need his introduction, wasn’t that better? 

“The person Eldest Young Master likes is definitely a good person.”

Hearing Uncle Yu stick up for him, Jiang Junshen’s cold expression showed a hint of relaxation.

Chen Shan asked him, “Who is it?”

“We’ll talk about it later.” Things weren’t even starting to take shape yet; Jiang Junshen didn’t want to say anything too soon. 

When Chen Shan didn’t receive an answer to her question, she looked at Jiang Chenming. “Who does your brother like?” 

Jiang Chenming knew, of course, but he kept his mouth shut. “I don’t know. I only just found out about this because he mentioned it.” 

Feeling Chen Shan’s gaze on him, Mo Lingqiu quickly shook his head, covering up his nervousness with an expressionless face. 

“Leave the child’s affairs to the child himself,” Jiang Zhongzhen said, interrupting Chen Shan. “It’s New Year’s , let’s change the topic.”

“What do you want to talk about?” Chen Shan didn’t believe that he could come up with a good topic of conversation.

Jiang Zhongzhen opened his mouth and asked about work. “How are things going at the company these days?” 

Jiang Junshen was interested. “I dealt with some things a little bit this afternoon and I’ll be able to finish in about a week or so, when I return after the New Year.” 

“En, you’re quite efficient.” Jiang Zhongzhen was quite satisfied. “The company was just established. Don’t rush. What should be slowed down should still be slowed down.” 

“I understand.”

The father and son duo happily chatted about work. Chen Shan rolled her eyes, knowing that those two workaholics couldn’t talk about anything else. Although she also liked to work, that didn’t mean that she was happy to talk about it during New Year’s Eve.

Chen Shan simply looked at Mo Lingqiu. “When do Lingqiu and our Chenming plan to get a marriage certificate?”

A trace of panic flashed in Mo Lingqiu’s eyes. He reflexively looked at Jiang Chenming. 

Jiang Chenming rushed forward to save the day. “Mom, we’ll only talk about this after I graduate.”

“You guys aren’t young anymore. Get a certificate. The wedding ceremony can take place later.”

“I want to wait until I graduate and my job is stable. But if Teacher Mo wants to hurry up and cling onto me, I’ll be happy to go with him to get the certificate.” Jiang Chenming winked at Mo Lingqiu as he said the latter half of his sentence. 

Mo Lingqiu’s face flushed red and the leg placed under the table gently bumped his leg. “I’m not in a hurry.”

“Pick a good day and tell us in advance.”

“We know,” Jiang Chenming answered. He turned on the TV and tuned it to the Chinese New Year gala. 

Soon, both Jiang Zhongzhen, who was talking about work, and Chen Shan, who had been pushing for a blind date and a marriage, were drawn away from Jiang Junshen and Jiang Chenming’s affairs.

After eating the New Year’s Eve dinner, Jiang Chenming and Mo Lingqiu went back to their room to put on thick down jackets.

“Let’s go.” When Jiang Chenming had come back that evening, he had said that he wanted to take Mo Lingqiu somewhere. 

“Is it far?” Mo Lingqiu asked casually.

“Not as far as eloping.”

Mo Lingqiu glared at Jiang Chenming and followed him out of the house.

Riding into the night, Mo Lingqiu walked along the path on the lawn towards the back of the villa, following Jiang Chenming’s lead. After walking for about ten minutes, a shimmering lake appeared in front of him. 

“This is the place I used to come to when I was a kid.” Jiang Chenming pointed to a tree not too far away. “I even used to have a tent pitched there.” 

“For a picnic?” That was the only thing Mo Lingqiu could think of.

“To get away from home.”

“…Ah?” Mo Lingqiu thought he had heard wrong.

“To run away from home. When my parents fought when I was younger, I would run away from home.” Jiang Chenming himself felt strange. “At the time, I thought leaving the house meant being away from it, and I like it here as well. So I set up a tent.” 

Mo Lingqiu looked back at the large villa behind him, with its still visible lights and silhouette, and then looked at the shimmering lake. The corners of his mouth curled up. “You were a little silly.” 

Jiang Chenming never thought that Mo Lingqiu would laugh at his childhood embarrassment. He stared at his faint smile and fell into a trance.

When he noticed his stare, Mo Lingqiu’s face started to burn and he turned his head away. “What did you bring me here to see?” 

“Here you are.” Jiang Chenming fished out a box from his pocket like he was doing a magic trick.

Under the moonlight, Mo Lingqiu could only see that it was a silver square box that looked like an ornament. “What is this?” 

“A necklace,” Jiang Chenming said as he opened the box. Inside the box lay a silver necklace with a pendant carrying three hollow English letters. 

Mo Lingqiu tried to take a good look at it with the moonlight. A JCM with a circle of diamonds on the letters. 

“The initials are mine and I had them custom made.” Jiang Chenming raised his hand. “I’ll help you put it on.”

Mo Lingqiu stood still and obediently let Jiang Chenming put the necklace on him.

“This is a New Year’s gift for you.” When Jiang Chenming finished, he smiled and kissed the necklace, as if he had carved himself into Mo Lingqiu’s heart. 

“I didn’t prepare a New Year’s gift.” Mo Lingqiu touched the necklace and was a bit overwhelmed.

He was older than Jiang Chenming. He didn’t know how to get romantic, and he didn’t understand its twists and turns, so he didn’t even think of preparing a gift for the New Year. Now that he had received the gift, he was a bit regretful and ashamed. The thought, What should I give him in return, kept swirling around in his mind. 

“It’s okay. You’re my best New Year’s gift.” Jiang Chenming took Mo Lingqiu into his arms. “Teacher Mo, I’m glad I met you this year.”

Mo Lingqiu leaned on his shoulder and could smell the faint bitter almond of his pheromones. At first, he had found the scent strange, but now that he was used to smelling it, he liked it. 

“Teacher Mo, happy New Year.” Jiang Chenming laughed. “I hope I can quickly get the company’s work in order and marry you after graduation this year.” 

“There are quite a lot of things you want to do.” Mo Lingqiu’s tone was overflowing with smiles. 

Jiang Chenming nodded. “Of course, because the things I want are mostly related to you, I need to think about them more. Teacher Mo, you…”

Halfway through Jiang Chenming’s sentence, something soft suddenly touched the corner of his lips. Frozen in place, he stared at the person being held in his arms.

The tip of his nose was red and his eyes were shimmering. “Jiang Chenming, Happy New Year.”