Ji Ling always thought Jin Garden was half a myth—some secret place where only the old master Yan Jisheng lived. But when Yan Yixuan casually called it ‘home,’ Ji Ling was a little thrown off.
“You know how to get there?” Yan Yixuan asked.
Ji Ling shook his head. “Isn’t that what GPS is for? Plus, I’ve got you. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the way home?”
Yan Yixuan didn’t say yes or no—just stayed silent.
Ji Ling didn’t get why they had to be so on-the-dot with timing, always checking the clock like they were trying to hit a secret code, but he didn’t ask.
He went to pull the car around from the parking garage to the hotel entrance, then called out to Yan Yixuan, who was waiting at the door, “Hop in, young master.”
Even the doorman at the front couldn’t help sneaking a glance at them. Yan Yixuan shot Ji Ling a sharp glare.
But he still got in and sat right up front, in the passenger seat.
Ji Ling glanced at him while he buckled up, thinking, ‘This guy used to be the big boss of a whole corporation, and now look at him—reduced to a spoiled rich kid with me as his chauffeur.’
“What’s so funny?” Yan Yixuan asked.
Ji Ling replied, “I was just thinking, if this were back in the day, you’d be one of those tyrant landlords bossing people around.”
Yan Yixuan raised a brow. “And what, you see yourself as the hero who takes me down?”
Ji Ling started the engine, lips twitching as he tried not to laugh. “Who am I to take you down?”
He fired up the GPS and followed the route. It was just about rush hour, so traffic was already starting to clog up. Yan Yixuan sat beside him, watching the stream of cars, then suddenly said, “You know… every time I see you, you’ve changed a little.”
Ji Ling kept his eyes on the road. “Oh? I just changed cars, moved places, bought some new stuff.”
Yan Yixuan didn’t follow up.
Because what he meant wasn’t the outside stuff—it was the ‘vibe’.
More confident. More chill. Like Ji Ling had finally figured out how to ‘just be’. Like nothing could shake him now.
And with that came a kind of pull, a quiet power that made him hard to say no to.
They say your looks reflect your heart. Maybe it was his mindset that had changed—and that change was showing on the outside now, too.
Was it because of work? Had his career made him this way?
That part was weird, too.
Yan Yixuan had never seen anyone rise in their career that fast. And that time in the office—he really thought he had Ji Ling under control. But Ji Ling flipped the game in a second. The guy handled business like a pro—so much so that Yan Yixuan almost thought he was a seasoned veteran.
Everything that had happened between them lately, Ji Ling had been quietly sending him a message.
He wasn’t like anyone else they’d ever had.
He wasn’t some pretty little toy being kept.
“What are you staring at?” Ji Ling’s voice pulled Yan Yixuan out of it—he hadn’t even noticed how long he’d been staring at his profile.
Yan Yixuan quickly looked away and muttered, “Nothing.”
Ji Ling chuckled, “What, was it ‘cause I’m that good-looking?”
Yan Yixuan shot him a look. “Didn’t notice you were good-looking. I just saw the ego, loud and clear.”
Ji Ling grinned. “What’s wrong with being good-looking? You’re good-looking too. A face people instantly like—that’s a weapon too, you know.”
Yan Yixuan paused for a second, then realized—Ji Ling had just complimented his looks. And clearly, really liked them.
He narrowed his eyes. “You’re getting slicker with your words.”
Ji Ling admitted, “I learned it from you.”
They went back and forth like that, casually chatting as the sky started to darken. The sun was already low, hanging heavy in the west. Yan Yixuan checked the time again.
“We’re almost there.”
As they turned onto Zhongchuan Road, traffic thinned out.
This area used to be the high-end part of town back before the founding of the country. Back then, all the big shots and foreigners built European-style villas here. A lot had happened since then, and most of those old buildings didn’t make it—faded away into history.
At one point, the city tried to clean up and restore the area. Houses too far gone were torn down. The ones with unique history or design were mostly turned into shops or museums. Only the Yan family’s Jin Garden was still a private home.
And Jin Garden wasn’t just a single villa. It had a full-blown garden with it, sitting on a surprisingly large chunk of land for the city. Ji Ling did a quick mental estimate of its value—and even he was floored.
As the car moved along Zhongchuan Road, the trees lining both sides turned into rows of French plane trees. It was deep winter now, and even though S City stayed warm and humid year-round, the plane trees had long since dropped every last leaf.
Honestly, these trees weren’t the best fit for a coastal city, but apparently, some rich lady had loved them back in the day, and they just became the trend. They’d taken root here and stood their ground against years of sea winds, and somehow—they were still standing, all these years later.
The bare branches and the narrow, shadowy road suddenly gave Ji Ling a strange, heavy feeling—like time itself was pressing down on him. Even Yan Yixuan, sitting quietly beside him, had gone silent. He just stared out the window, watching the streets he knew so well.
The car rolled forward, and the buildings lining the street—some British, some Russian, some American in style—slipped past in reverse. It was almost dark now, and a few of the old buildings-turned-bars were lighting up their neon signs. The old foreign office buildings had started glowing too, thanks to the city’s neon lights strung up across them. The last bits of sunlight flickered off the glass and walls, blending with all that artificial glow and giving off this surreal, time-warp vibe.
Ji Ling almost reached for his phone to check the calendar—just to be sure what year it was.
“We’re close,” Yan Yixuan said.
His voice was low and soft, like a little hammer tapping gently against Ji Ling’s heart, pulling him out of that time-loop haze.
Ji Ling eased off the gas and crept forward slowly.
As they rounded the corner, the view suddenly opened up.
Right there in front of them was Jin Garden, boxed in by high stone walls.
He could already see a few European-style villas peeking over the top—round domes, white walls, elegant balconies and tiny lattice windows stacked on each floor. The place looked like something straight out of a painting.
Ji Ling had seen plenty of fake European-style designs before, with their try-hard vintage looks and tacky details. He usually found them unbearable.
But this—this wasn’t that.
The sky was sinking into twilight, and the sunset was bleeding out its last bit of warmth. That glow hit the orange rooftops and white walls just right. Plants leaned lazily out from the windowsills. The whole thing looked like a beautiful dream.
“Just stop here.”
Yan Yixuan didn’t want him driving inside. As soon as they passed the bend, he asked him to pull over.
Ji Ling parked and turned to him. “If I had a place like this, I wouldn’t be living in an apartment.”
Yan Yixuan let out a soft laugh, but it was half-hearted. It didn’t come from the heart.
The closer they’d gotten to Jin Garden, the quieter he became. And now that they were here, he was completely silent—clearly lost in his own thoughts.
Ji Ling could tell: this homecoming didn’t exactly feel like a happy one.
He waited, expecting Yan Yixuan to say goodbye and get out, but he just sat there in the passenger seat, not moving. After a while, like he had to force himself, he finally said, “Alright, I’m going.”
Just as he reached for the door handle, a few cars drove up from the opposite direction.
He froze.
Ji Ling looked up and saw them clearly—three cars. The first and last looked like security vehicles, flanking a sleek black one in the middle like they were guarding it.
They headed straight toward them but slowed down right at Jin Garden’s gate. Then, as the iron gate swung open, the three cars smoothly rolled in, disappearing into the elegant, ivy-draped estate.
The warm orange light of dusk, the white European villas, the black luxury cars—everything together felt like a scene out of an old film reel. A little too perfect. A little too unreal.
Ji Ling couldn’t help but glance over at Yan Yixuan, trying to find something grounding—something that made this moment feel real.
But the sunlight coming through the windshield hit Yan Yixuan just right, casting sharp shadows on his face. His features were so defined—cold and beautiful—he didn’t even look real. He sat there like a ghost that had nowhere else to go.
“That was my grandpa.”
Just as Ji Ling thought he’d completely zoned out, Yan Yixuan suddenly spoke.
Ji Ling hesitated. “Your grandpa… isn’t he unwell?”
Everyone in the business world had heard about Yan Jisheng’s health problems.
When that news first broke, Yan Group’s stock had taken a dive. Later, Yan Jisheng came forward himself to explain, and had his grandson Yan Yixuan step in to take charge, just to calm the market down.
“He usually stays in a care facility,” Yan Yixuan said. “But once a month, he has to come home. On that day, all of us are required to come back and have dinner together.”
And just like that, Ji Ling got it. No wonder Yan Yixuan kept checking the time—tonight was family dinner night.
That kind of old-school family tradition? Ji Ling could understand it. The older generation liked to have everyone gathered together under one roof. It made things feel more solid, more alive—like proof the family was still thriving.
“Actually, this rule’s been around since I was a kid. Every so often, no matter where we were, we all had to come home. Just to sit down and eat together.”
There was a weird, hollow chill in Yan Yixuan’s voice when he said that.
“The dinners used to be lively,” he continued.
Ji Ling glanced at him, but what he saw wasn’t fondness or warmth—it was a mocking, distant expression.
“Not like now,” Yan Yixuan said. “Only four people left, and we still have to sit around that huge table, staring at faces we can’t stand, pretending to eat.”
The ‘four people’ were Yan Jisheng, Yan Yixuan, his younger sister Yan Yueshi… and that last one—yeah, that had to be Yan Yili. The ‘face he couldn’t stand.’
Suddenly, it all clicked.
So that’s why Yan Yixuan had been drinking earlier.
The whole ‘family dinner’ thing didn’t warm his heart—it wore him out. And he’d tried to take the edge off with alcohol.
Right now, Yan Yixuan felt distant, cold, almost mechanical. Ji Ling couldn’t figure out how someone like him ended up this way.
He looked up at Jin Garden again. In that split second, the sky went fully dark. The villas lit up—soft, golden lights shining like lighthouses in the night. Warm. Gentle. Glowing.
Such a beautiful home.
And yet it turned Yan Yixuan into this.
“Thanks for the ride,” Yan Yixuan said, polite for once. Then he finally opened the car door and stepped out.
Ji Ling watched his tall, straight silhouette walk away. And suddenly, on impulse, he leaned out the car window and called out:
“Hey! Next time, dinner’s on me.”
The words cut through the cold air like a charm breaking a spell. Yan Yixuan turned back—and for the first time tonight, he smiled.
“Alright. It’s a deal.”
He waved casually and walked into the house.
Ji Ling leaned back in his seat, eyes still on the iron gate that had swallowed him up. Absentmindedly, he rubbed his chin, deep in thought.
Yeah… the Yan family’s situation was definitely more complicated than he’d thought.
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
