Yan Sui pressed his forehead against Meng Ting’s, still adjusting his breathing. Meng Ting was afraid Yan Sui wouldn’t understand what he was asking, so he immediately asked again.
“Do you like it when I kiss you like this?”
It had been a somewhat reckless kiss, with a few close calls where Yan Sui nearly bit him. A kiss that could be described as thrilling.
Yan Sui looked at Meng Ting, his lips curving into a smile, and nodded firmly. “I like it.”
The kiss had been a bit too thrilling, but the person kissing him was someone he adored.
Meng Ting nodded, then pecked Yan Sui’s cheek again, clearly pleased with the answer. He pulled back the blanket. “Come on, let’s lie down together and sleep.”
The kiss had stirred some heat in Yan Sui, but it wasn’t to the point where he needed to take another cold shower.
He got up, took off his coat, and changed into soft pajamas that wouldn’t irritate Meng Ting’s wounds. Then he lay down on the other side of the bed.
Meng Ting actually wanted to move closer, but while getting up wasn’t a problem for his injury, moving around carelessly could risk reopening the wound.
“Come over here…”
Meng Ting turned his head slightly, his eyes looking over, he was just about to take his hands out from under the blanket to pull Yan Sui closer.
However, Yan Sui had just barely lain down and hadn’t even had time to do anything else. Sensing the urgency of the person beside him, he immediately moved over.
He kept moving until they were pressed tightly together, and only when Meng Ting was satisfied did Yan Sui stop.
Meng Ting tilted her head and rubbed her arm against Yan Sui’s, no longer speaking. He occasionally looked up at Yan Sui to see if he was trying to fall asleep.
Yan Sui had been somewhat tired earlier, but after coming back and taking a shower, half of that fatigue had dissipated. And after that passionate kiss, there was hardly any left.
He turned to the side, his hand gently patting the blanket on Meng Ting’s shoulder, one pat after another. Half an hour passed, and Meng Ting, who had just woken up, was coaxed into a drowsy state by the rhythmic patting. He squinted his eyes and mumbled, “You’re patting me to sleep again. What do you want to do?”
Yan Sui’s hand paused mid-pat, his gaze sweeping over Meng Ting’s sleepy and slightly frustrated expression. With a helpless sigh, he stopped patting and pulled Meng Ting closer into his embrace. “I’m not trying to do anything. I just want to coax you.”
He was afraid that Meng Ting would have trouble sleeping because of the pain from the injury. He wasn’t sure if his comforting would help Meng Ting feel any better, but it was the only thing he could do for Meng Ting at the moment.
“Oh,” Meng Ting replied, leaning his head closer to Yan Sui.
“Are you troubled by something, so you can’t sleep?”
Yan Sui found it almost impossible to lie to Meng Ting, and there was no need to lie either. He replied softly, “A little bit.”
He Wan and Xiao Zi were insignificant to Yan Sui. It was the people behind them that he needed to focus all his efforts on dealing with next.
“Then what should we do?” Meng Ting’s voice carried a hint of worry. He had endured the agony of sleeplessness for over a month, and he knew exactly how unbearable it could be. He didn’t want Yan Sui to go through the same thing.
“No need to…” Before Yan Sui could finish saying ‘worry’, Meng Ting’s hand had already slipped into the pants of his pajamas, heading straight for its target.
Meng Ting raised his eyes to look at Yan Sui and said in a serious tone, “Close your eyes!”
“No need,” Yan Sui repeated again. How could he let Meng Ting, who was still injured, do this for him? That would be utterly outrageous.
“Be good, close your eyes,” Meng Ting saw that serious approach didn’t work, so he immediately softened his voice to coax the person, “It’s fine if it’s just with my hands.”
“Close your eyes, close your eyes…” Meng Ting continued to emphasize. If Yan Sui didn’t close his eyes, after he had helped him relax, what was he supposed to do if he still couldn’t sleep? Meng Ting couldn’t think of any other solution.
Yan Sui’s hand landed on Meng Ting’s wrist, intending to pull it away, but his body was much more honest than he was.
The hand with the long, thin scar was quite distinctive. With just one touch, Yan Sui’s reaction was immediate, and there was no need for Meng Ting to do much to provoke him.
Yan Sui turned his head and met Meng Ting’s gaze, and their hearts raced at the same time.
Meng Ting blinked, and Yan Sui leaned in, kissing him. This kiss was different from the previous one where Meng Ting had taken the lead, reckless and unrestrained. This time, with Yan Sui in control, the kiss was tender yet carried an irresistible dominance, reaching straight to the heart, leaving one’s mind swaying.
Meng Ting endured Yan Sui’s kiss while also trying to continue the movements of his hand, which was no small challenge for him.
For Yan Sui, it was the same. Meng Ting’s hands… no, it should be Meng Ting himself who had an increasingly strong attraction for him. He didn’t even need to be provoked; just a meeting of their eyes was enough to stir his emotions, making him want to kiss and completely possess the other person.
According to reason, they should have long since passed the honeymoon phase, but this feeling only grows stronger by the day, completely beyond Yan Sui’s subjective control.
Yan Sui’s lips parted, and he pressed his cheek against Meng Ting’s neck. Following what Meng Ting had repeatedly emphasized, he closed his eyes, using senses other than sight to feel Meng Ting, to feel his affection for him.
His heartbeat quickened, and the heat from his body seemed to pour out uncontrollably, his low gasps occasionally escaping from his throat.
Listening to this, Meng Ting’s ears turned red, his cheeks flushed, and his neck reddened as well. But at the same time, he also worked harder.
It seemed that all the strength he had regained from sleeping so much earlier was now completely spent on Yan Sui. He withdrew his hand, closed his eyes, and lay there panting, though this time it was from exhaustion.
Yan Sui got up, first cleaning Meng Ting’s hand, then went to the bathroom to tidy himself up before returning to lie down. The person who had been so enthusiastic and setting fires everywhere earlier was now almost completely asleep.
But as he drifted off, he still managed to mumble a reminder to Yan Sui, “Yan Sui, sleep.”
“Alright, goodnight,” Yan Sui responded, turning to his side and pulling the person into his embrace once more. He tilted his head to kiss Meng Ting’s forehead before lying back down and closing his eyes. However, after all that had happened, Yan Sui couldn’t think of anything else and as Meng Ting had hoped, he soon fell asleep.
***
For the next few days, Yan Sui didn’t go to the company. Even if there were matters to attend to, he would only briefly go to the study to make a phone call or meet with Wang Feng and others who came to the Yan residence. The rest of the time, as he had promised Meng Ting, he stayed by his side, watching over him and waiting for him to recover.
Meng Ting still struggled with taking his medication, but he was strong and determined, never once vomiting the medicine. Although Yan Sui was distressed, he no longer showed his panic and sorrow. On the other hand, Yan Manjia and Nanny Wang couldn’t bear to see Meng Ting like this at all. If they happened to witness it, their eyes would be red for the entire day.
Yan Sui came out of the room and gestured for Nanny Wang to go in. Meng Ting had taken his medicine, and part of his energy had been drained, so Yan Sui had coaxed him back to sleep.
“I’m going to the study. I’ll be back soon.”
“Alright,” Nanny Wang replied softly and quietly entered the room.
Yan Sui took the phone into the study and dialed back the missed call, “Granduncle[mfn]舅爺爺 (jiù yé ye): father’s maternal uncle; granduncle; great-uncle (paternal grandmother’s brother); (dated, honorific) brother of one’s master’s paternal grandmother, mother or wife; (dialectal) maternal uncle (mother’s brother); (Xi’an Mandarin, Dungan) maternal grandfather; mother’s father.[/mfn].”
The ‘Granduncle’ that Yan Sui called was the current patriarch of the Xu family in Licheng, Xu Shumin, who was also the elder brother of his grandmother, Xu Shuyin. Yan Sui was not unfamiliar with him; before Yan Sui turned eighteen, he would spend half a month every summer vacation in Licheng, during which time he would follow Xu Shumin and learn from him.
It could be said that Yan Sui’s current competence was due to several factors; on the one hand, it was his own talent, on the other hand, it was the teachings of Xu Shuyin and Old Master Yan, and also the guidance of Xu Shumin. Not to mention the close familial ties between the two families, just the fact that Xu Shumin had taught Yan Sui for so many years meant he had a teacher’s grace towards Yan Sui.
“Do you know why I called you?” Xu Shumin’s voice sounded quite refined, like a true Confucian scholar from an ancient scholarly family, polite and courteous, but at the same time, one could not deny the power in his words.
“I know,” Yan Sui was clear about what he had done, and even if Xu Shumin hadn’t called, he would have contacted him.
“Why target the Yán family[mfn]闫家 (Yán jiā): T/N: Similar to Yan Sui’s Yan family, 晏家 (Yàn jiā), different in hanzi character & tones. I’m not sure how to show the difference of the two family in English, but for now, I’ll use Chinese pinyin for the second Yán family. If anyone have better idea, I’m open to suggestions. Thank you![/mfn]?”
The Yán family was not one of the prominent family in Haicheng; its roots were in Licheng, and it was the most illustrious family there besides the Xu family. In recent years, there had even been talk that the four top aristocratic families might become five, with the additional one referring to the Yán family of Licheng.
But the reason Xu Shumin made this call was because Yan Sui’s actions in the past few were clearly aimed at dealing with the Yán family.
Apart from being a very powerful family in recent years, the Yán family had once been a subsidiary family of the Xu family in Licheng. The current patriarch of the Yán family was Xu Shumin’s childhood friend, and he grew up with Yan Sui’s grandmother Xu Shuyin. The two families have a very close relationship.
When Yan Sui went to the Xu family in Licheng, he also met the patriarch of the Yán family, Yán Yunsheng, under Xu Shumin’s guidance. A seemingly quite low-key family patriarch, but under his leadership, the Yán family had developed far beyond his father’s and grandfather’s generations, showing that his abilities were not as low-key as they seemed.
“Granduncle should already know about the matters in Haicheng,” Yan Sui maintained the respect that should be in his tone, but in fact, his expression showed no signs of fluctuation. He looked out at the lawn outside the window, his eyes narrowing slightly, “The one who bought the stocks from He Wan was the Yán family.”
“Back then when I took over the Yan family, it was also the Yán family that secretly stirred up the collateral branches,” If Yan Sui hadn’t been capable enough at that time, the Yan family would not be what it is today, and the four top aristocratic families might still be four, but the Yan family of Haicheng would not be among them.
Xu Shumin was silent for a long time on the other end, as if he had also thought of something, but he did not say anything more to Yan Sui, only a very simple sentence before hanging up the phone.
“I understand.”
But that was all Yan Sui needed from him. He did not need him to betray his childhood friend and long-time companion to help him; he just needed him to remain neutral.
As for why Yán Yunsheng would act against the Yan family, it was easy to guess. From a family perspective, the Yán family, or even any family with some qualifications, would want to rise to the next level, and annexing the Yan family would clearly help achieve that goal.
From an emotional perspective, Yan Sui’s grandfather had taken away Yán Yunsheng’s childhood sweetheart.
But after all these years, they had each married and had children. Even if there had been hatred in the past, Yán Yunsheng wouldn’t have gone to such extremes. What truly drove him to act so ruthlessly was still self-interest.
The surnames Yan and Yán sounded quite similar, but why couldn’t it be Yán?
This was probably the greatest obsession of Yán Yunsheng, the patriarch of the Yán family. Of course, it wasn’t easy for Yan Sui to investigate him.
[dropdown title=”List of Idiom in Chapter 072.1″]
所剩無幾 (suǒ shèng wú jǐ): not much is left; little remains; there is not much left.輕手輕腳 (qīng shǒu qīng jiǎo): (to move or do sth) softly and quietly (idiom); move cautiously/gently/quietly/softly; steal past; make one’s way carefully; hands and feet move very lightly so that there is no sound.
青梅竹馬 (qīng méi zhú mǎ): 青梅竹馬 (qīng méi zhú mǎ): lit. green plums and a bamboo horse (idiom); fig. a girl and a boy playing innocently together; childhood sweethearts; a couple who grew up as childhood friends; a man and a woman who had an innocent affection for each other in childhood; from a poem by Tang dynasty poet Li Bai: 妾髮初覆額，折花門前劇。郎騎竹馬來，繞床弄青梅。同居長干里，兩小無嫌猜。十四為君婦，羞顏未嘗開。, My hair had hardly covered my forehead, I was picking flowers, playing by my door. When you, my lover, on a bamboo horse, came trotting in circles and throwing green plums. We lived near together on a lane in Ch’ang-kan, both of us young and happy-hearted. At fourteen I became your wife, so bashful that I dared not smile. […] The same poem was also the source of the idiom 兩小無猜 (liǎng xiǎo wú cāi), which has a very similar meaning.
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