Although Jiang Beiyuan said that he would be away for two days, he returned home within a day in the end.
This proved that everything changes when a man has a woman in his heart.
Before he was married, he had no worries. He could fly off anywhere without luggage. Asking him to stay out for a conference for a week was not an issue for him.
But now, he could no longer do that. Even a day felt long to him.
After he finished with the tasks at hand, he took the earliest flight back home.
The one to fetch him from the airport was Xu Kuangjie again.
This time around, it was Jiang Beiyuan who called his buddy.
As he sat in the passenger's seat, he could hear his buddy sighing away while driving.
Cocking an eyebrow, he glanced at the driver and asked, "Was Niannian in trouble?"
"Oh, please, why are you thinking of your wife all the time? Can't I sigh for myself?"
He did not inquire further and merely stared straight ahead. With his hand propping his temple, he looked casual and bored.
His friend started to murmur to himself as he drove on. "It's my cousin. This young brat can't forget his high school crush since he returned from abroad. He wants to confess his feelings to her but she's already married. This isn't a big deal except that he actually said that his — competitor — looks — better — than — me!"
To him, this was something not to be tolerated.
He absolutely could not tolerate this!
"And so?"
Jiang Beiyuan's voice was deep and unmodulated, but at the very least, it proved that he was listening.
"Well, of course I'm gonna meet that fella to teach him what handsome means!"
Somehow, this seemed to jerk his memory. Glancing sideways, the man asked his buddy with narrowed eyes, "Your cousin… what's his name?"
"He Huaiguang. What do you think of the name? It sounds good, right? I gave him that name! He was born in Huainan, and I hope he'll be a beacon of light for Huainan."
"Oh~"
He dragged the tone of his acknowledgment as he quickly retracted his gaze and looked ahead. His lips had curled into a mischievous smile by now.
After a while, he suddenly spouted enigmatically, "Who knows, the other party may be more handsome than you."
"Chey, how do you know when you haven't met him?! Me, I have the macho sort of good looks. Who knows, that fella may turn out to be a gigolo. As you know, in this current era, the young ladies all love the sissy types!"
"Sissy?"
The smile on his lips did not wane and, in fact, he looked gentler than ever.
His buddy was too focused on the road to notice the exceptional smile he was wearing on his face.
The car was about to round a corner when the man beside him suggested leisurely, "Let's not go to the hospital yet. How about we take a look at Niannian's shop first?"
"Good idea. I want to go and meet that sissy!"
He was full of enmity as he spouted the word "sissy."
For some reason, he could feel an eerie eminence next to him, so eerie that it made him tremble.
Still, it did not cross his mind to check out the man beside him. There were too many vehicles on the road and he had to concentrate on getting both of them to their destination…
...
At Yan Nian's shop.
It was toward the end of May and into the early June period. The iris she planted had bloomed finally into beautiful bundles of intersecting purplish-white colors.
Among all the flowers, iris was one of the flowering plants she liked.
It belonged to the May season. When it bloomed, it gave off a soft and delightful scent, unlike rose and peony with their overpowering smell. On Ding Baoyi's birthday, she had specially crafted a bottle of iris-scented perfume for her as a present.
At this moment, she was squatting on the floor, her face brimming with gladness as she reached out to touch the petals gently.
"Hey, He Huaiguang, look at this iris. Isn't it beautiful?"
The man standing beside her sized her up instead.
She was wearing a light yellow dress today with her hair up in a bun, revealing her fair, clear neck and shoulders.
From his angle, he could see her exquisite profile. She had always been beautiful. When she was young, she was like a raw and unpolished jade. Now she had grown up to become even more iridescent.
"Eh, it's beautiful."
You are prettier than the flower, he added in his heart.
Kacha—
Something broke outside the shop.