Pampered by Short-Lived Bigshot

Chapter 1582: Chapter 917: The Ill-Fated Bond Between Xie Duo and the Jiang Family—Toxicity Runs in Both Brothers and Fathers (Part 2)

Aquarium, Orca Performance Theater

The two children sat together, discussing the upcoming show, while Jiang Jinsang and Tang Wan observed the people in front of them, two rows away.

Xie Duo didn’t seem to notice them.

Tang Wan was very certain that they came together, Xie Duo even very gentlemanly let her take the seat first.

But after they sat down for such a long time, they hardly communicated at all, with no interaction whatsoever, completely unlike acquaintances, not like they were on a date.

Jiang Jinsang glanced at Tang Wan, doubting if she got it wrong.

And at this time, with five minutes left before the performance, Tang Wan handed the umbrella to Jiang Xiaowai, pointing towards Xie Duo’s position, "Take the umbrella over there."

"Why?" Jiang Xiaowai was puzzled.

"That’s brother Xie Duo, he didn’t bring an umbrella."

"Brother Xie Duo?" Naturally, Jiang Xiaowai called him based on Jiangjiang’s ranking, and upon hearing it was an acquaintance, he was quite excited, hugging the umbrella and heading out.

Tang Wan was very certain he hadn’t prepared any waterproof gear.

...

Jiang Xiaowai cautiously moved over, apologizing to passing brothers, sisters, uncles, and aunts, before reaching Xie Duo’s side.

By this time, almost everyone was seated. Although there was some noise inside the theater, there were no movements, and when Jiang Xiaowai moved over, Xie Duo caught sight of him out of the corner of his eye and froze.

"Brother, it really is you."

Xie Duo: "..."

His mind was full of:

Am I still asleep? Who am I? Where am I?

Am I seeing things? Why am I seeing him?

And the girl next to him also tilted her head to evaluate Jiang Xiaowai.

"Hello, sister."

"Hello."

Compared to Xie Duo’s shocked embarrassment, the girl was rather poised, smiling at him.

"You... why are you here?" Xie Duo instinctively glanced around and then spotted the Jiang Jinsang couple not far behind him, as if struck by lightning.

Previously, he heard from his aunt that they went to Nanjiang for Qixi, even leaving the kids with Jiang Shiyi, and had not returned yet.

When did they get back?

Beijing is so big, and the aquarium isn’t small either, what kind of fate is this to run into them here.

Eyes met, Jiang Jinsang waved at him, smiling particularly teasingly.

Finding Xie Duo in such a place was truly unusual.

At his age, unless accompanied by children, even for a date, choosing an aquarium seemed somewhat odd. Xie Duo exuded an elite aura, logically...

It’s more fitting to visit something like a science museum or planetarium.

Jiang Xiaowai handed him the umbrella, "This is from mom for you."

Xie Duo took the umbrella, paused, but Jiang Xiaowai was already saying goodbye to them, then bid farewell again.

"Brother Xie Duo came to have fun at the aquarium too." Jiang Xiaowai got more excited meeting an acquaintance.

"Yes." Tang Wan adjusted her son’s raincoat.

"The sister beside him is so pretty and gentle."

Tang Wan glanced at Jiang Jinsang with a smile.

The couple exchanged looks across the space:

There’s definitely something going on.

Obviously, Xie Duo hadn’t prepared any homework, holding the umbrella, initially not understanding what to do, until the orca performance started, and he realized the purpose of the umbrella...

He acted quickly, promptly opening the umbrella, and very gentlemanly shielded the person beside him from the splashes.

Sharing an umbrella inevitably brought them closer, and since they were a bit unfamiliar and reserved, once the umbrella closed, they separated again.

"Thank you," said the girl in thanks.

"You’re welcome." Xie Duo hadn’t known about this part of the performance, the surrounding cheers and applause were resounding.

Half of his clothes were already soaked, and most embarrassingly, during the half-hour performance, he could distinctly feel two eyes on his back, following him.

He didn’t even need to guess who it was.

What kind of fate was it that allowed them to meet?

Just because of the Jiang Family, his status was lowered to dust, and now he ran into the Jiang Family again...

Could they give him a break?

He wasn’t in the mood to watch the performance at all, feeling unbelievably embarrassed.

**

The show ended, of course, Xie Duo couldn’t leave directly with his companion without greeting Jiang Jinsang and his family.

"What a coincidence, meeting here," Jiang Jinsang said with a smile.

The girl next to Xie Duo looked unfamiliar to Jiang Jinsang, who must have never seen her before, but she might have known them from the internet or television and had already greeted, "Mr. Jiang, Mrs. Jiang."

"Hello." Tang Wan smiled at him, the two kids beside her stared at her intently as well.

Xie Duo’s marriage situation had been a long-standing issue, not only was the Xie Family worried, but even Jiang’s grandmother occasionally mentioned it, so seeing a girl next to him, even the children got interested.

Facing the teasing gaze from two adults and two kids, Xie Duo felt his scalp tingle but could only bite the bullet and introduce them:

"This is Miss Yuan, my... friend."

"A surprise meeting is better than a planned one. Earlier, I saw there’s a resting area on the second floor. If you don’t have other plans, how about sitting there for a bit?" Jiang Jinsang took the initiative to speak.

"Brother, let’s go——" Jiang Xiaowai pulled on Xie Duo.

Since they had helped Xie Duo, refusing would be impolite, and with Jiang Xiaowai’s encouragement, it was even harder to reject.

Xie Duo looked at the person beside him, feeling she didn’t seem to have any discomfort or uneasiness, nodded in agreement.

Xie Duo and Jiang Jinsang had to keep an eye on the two kids, walking behind, while Tang Wan and Miss Yuan chatted up front, with the specific conversation out of earshot for him.

"Weren’t you supposed to be in Nanjiang? When did you return to Beijing?" Xie Duo broke the silence.

Jiang Jinsang’s expression was as if he had seen the legendary rare sight, how novel.

"Would you believe I’ve only been in Beijing for four or five hours before I ran into you?" Jiang Jinsang laughed, "Truly destined."

Xie Duo forced a smile:

I’ve got a disastrous connection with you two brothers!

"Really just friends?" Jiang Jinsang was genuinely curious.

"Arranged date."

"You actually agreed to come back for a date?"

"Isn’t summer vacation almost over? I planned to come back and see Jiangjiang and Taotao, as you know, all these years, my grandfather has been so anxious, and squeezed into such a short time, he even arranged a date for me." Xie Duo also felt helpless.

"Meeting at the aquarium?"

"Her family lives nearby, and maybe she thought with a crowd at the aquarium, it wouldn’t be so awkward."

"First time meeting?"

"Yes!"

That’s why Xie Duo felt frustrated.

Arranged dates were awkward enough... and what a coincidence to run into Jiang Jinsang.

Jiang Jinsang laughed, "That girl’s quite nice, surely Old Xie’s got a good eye, your marriage has even been talked about by my grandmother by now."

"Actually, it’s also possible to meet someone suitable through a date, if she seems nice, you can take your time to get to know her."

"With your dating habits, you usually just meet and go, but you’re willing to stay to watch a show?"

Xie Duo just wanted to cover his mouth:

Can you please stop talking!

He must have owed something to these two brothers in a past life, he went toe to toe with Jiang Yanting during school, ended up with him becoming his uncle, his rank suppressed, even a blind date could lead to a run-in with his brother.

...

Xie Duo originally thought running into the Jiang family today meant disaster.

Going on a blind date with someone unfamiliar and having them around would only add to the chaos, and Jiang Jinsang was always one to enjoy the show.

When they reached the aquarium’s resting area, aside from providing tables and chairs, there was also a sale of snacks and drinks around. Jiang Jinsang and Xie Duo bought some items, but Tang Wan and Miss Yuan seemed to have a good conversation, and they didn’t stay long, saying the kids wanted to see the penguins next, and left soon.

"Goodbye brother, sister." Jiang Xiaowai waved holding some snacks, and kept winking at Xie Duo.

Everyone knew he didn’t have a partner even kids were aware.

Before leaving, the little guy even gave him a gesture for good luck, which made him feel headachy.

The Jiang family indeed was toxic, even the children were intimidating.

Jiang Jinsang purely felt there might be potential, given Xie Duo’s dating habits, if he wasn’t interested, he would definitely find an excuse to leave, work is so busy, where would he find time to watch an orca show.

He probably found it decent, which was why he was willing to spend more time.

After watching the show, they probably intended to leave, Jiang Jinsang merely wanted to create more opportunities by saying hello, after ordering a bunch of food and drinks, they had to sit in the rest area for a while.

"I find that girl quite lovely, but it depends if Xie Duo likes her." Tang Wan said with a smile, "They came for a date? Meeting at an aquarium? It’s unusual, usually it’s cafes or restaurants, isn’t it?"

"They said it’s close to her home, and relationships are something he needs to handle himself."

Jiang Jinsang was still thinking about Jiang Zhaolin’s matter.

If he’s just watching the kids, that’s nothing, the fear is of him causing some mischief, adults might manage, but the kids are young after all.