Pampered by Short-Lived Bigshot

Chapter 1752: Little Ones Extra (25): Moon Gazing, Intimacy, Taking You to See the Stars

After Jiang Ruan finished keeping the old lady company, she happily ran over to Taotao, reached out, and wrapped her arms around her from behind. "Sis."

"Mm." Taotao wasn’t a kid anymore, she had to act like an older sister sometimes. She patted the back of Jiang Ruan’s hand, pulled her over to sit beside her. "How’s school lately?"

"Pretty good." Jiang Ruan said as she winked at Jiang Sese. The sisters usually got along great; if she hadn’t gone to Nanjiang for school, they basically would have met up every week. "Sis, another day do you wanna go..."

With one look at her eyes, Taotao knew exactly what she was up to.

She glanced at Jiang Chengsi from the corner of her eye. "You’re not afraid of getting caught by your fourth uncle?"

"It’s fine, my dad’s super busy, he’s got plans over National Day too."

Speaking of which, it’s kind of karma...

Jiang Chengsi had never taught his daughter how to play with cars, but when Taotao was very little, he planted that seed in her. All of Jiang Ruan’s skills, she learned from Taotao.

All the kids knew about this, they just never told the adults at home.

So to this day Jiang Chengsi still had no idea his own daughter could handle cars, and even street-race!

Taotao heard this and nodded in agreement.

Lately Jiang Ruan had been driven crazy by Yan Chi, all frazzled and irritated, and she just wanted to go out and drive to blow off some steam.

"Then can I come stay with you in a couple of days?"

"Sure, I happen to be on leave right now."

"I knew you’re the best to me." Jiang Ruan leaned on Taotao’s shoulder, the two sisters all cozy and affectionate.

But as soon as Jiang Ruan’s gaze brushed past Jiang Mutang, she instantly wilted a bit.

She kept feeling like he could see right through what she was thinking.

It was a big holiday; Jiang Mutang’s mind wasn’t that heavy, and no one was staring at him all day. It was just that this little younger cousin’s eyes kept dodging whenever she saw him, which made him curious. This girl—did she sneak off and do something bad again?

**

As soon as night fell, the whole big family gathered around the table to eat. Jiang Jinsang was just about to call their second youngest over to sit by him, when that little brat suddenly darted off and squeezed in next to Jiang Wenyan.

"Cousin, can we sit together?"

Jiang Wenyan only smiled.

Everyone could only sigh that he really was Jiang Wenyan’s little lackey.

When a family eats together, the topics are usually work, the kids’ studies and so on. This year was a bit special.

A few days ago at Yan’s Jewelry’s exhibition, that third young master of the Fu Family confessed in public, making a huge splash in Beijing. The old lady looked at Jiang Wenyan. "Jiangjiang..."

"Great-grandma."

Jiang Wenyan was already working now; usually at home, only the old lady still called him by his childhood nickname.

"Did you hear about that Fu Family boy confessing in public?"

The moment the old lady said this, everyone understood what she meant and all turned curious eyes on Jiang Wenyan.

Anything about romance, there are always plenty of people wanting to gossip.

"Yeah, I heard."

If the Fu Family and the Jing Family were to marry into each other, the impact on the Beijing circle would be huge. There’s no way Jiang Wenyan wouldn’t know.

"That kid seems younger than you, right? Didn’t expect he’s already seeing someone. What about you? Anything going on?" The old lady was quite straightforward. frⅇe

Jiang Wenyan just gave a faint smile. "Great-grandma, relationships should go with the flow. If there’s news I’ll let you know."

"I’m not trying to rush you, I just hope you pick up the pace a bit. Don’t wait till your younger brothers and sisters are all dating and you’re still all alone..."

Everyone held back their laughter. How is this not rushing?

But what the old lady said successfully shifted everyone’s attention to their own kids, especially those already working or in college. They were all grilled one by one, and Jiang Ruan was no exception.

Facing her father’s questions, Jiang Ruan only gave a guilty little smile. "N-no, nothing."

"You’re still a student. You should put your studies first, understand?" Jiang Chengsi solemnly admonished.

He was so serious and proper that it made everyone laugh.

Actually, his daughter was already in college; Jiang Chengsi didn’t oppose her dating. It’s just that whenever he thought about his daughter getting "rooted around" by someone else’s pig, and he didn’t even know if it was a white pig, a black pig, or a spotted pig, he couldn’t help feeling that no one was good enough for his girl. Better to keep her by his side.

"Dad, in a couple of days, can I go stay with Sis for a bit?" Jiang Ruan usually called Taotao "Sis" and Jiang Sese "Second Sis."

After Taotao started working, she moved out, and currently lived alone, closer to the police bureau where she worked.

"Sure." Jiang Chengsi nodded his agreement.

Sisterly affection was a good thing; it wasn’t like they’d stir up any big trouble, so he didn’t object.

**

After dinner, the full moon was already hanging high in the sky. The elders sat together chatting, and the kids couldn’t sit still anymore, especially Jiang Jinsang’s second child and the twin brothers—finally on vacation, all they could think about was going out to play.

"Then I’ll take them out for a bit," Jiang Wenyan said outright.

"Don’t stay out too late," Jiang Yanting reminded him.

"I know, I’ll send them home later."

With someone keeping an eye on them, the parents relaxed. The group took two cars and set off.

Word was there was a light show at the Forbidden City tonight; by the time they got there, there was no good spot left to be found.

They heard there was a place out in the Beijing suburbs that was especially good for moon viewing, so the whole group grandly headed out there. Watching the moon was just an excuse; really, it was about everyone having fun together. Jiang Ruan posted plenty of photos to her Moments.

There were also group photos of them in there, guys and girls both, which made Yan Chi’s eyes burn with envy as he scrolled.

When she was with him, he’d never seen her smile that happily.

Beijing isn’t that big, and with the obvious landmarks in Jiang Ruan’s photos, Yan Chi drove off without a sound. Right now, his sister’s whole family was focused on that nephew of his who had so high-profilely announced his relationship, and had no mind to spare for him. His departure didn’t attract anyone’s attention.

Jiang Ruan had no idea Yan Chi had come. She found a spot, did a bit of photo editing, and then borrowed someone’s equipment to look at the moon.

It was quite open here, very suitable for moon viewing. Some people had come specifically with high-magnification telescopes set up. When she asked to borrow one, they were generous about it.

Under a multi-power telescope, the moon you see is very different from what you see with the naked eye.

Jiang Ruan was absorbed in looking when something bumped her back, she didn’t know what, and the lens that had just been focused on the moon was knocked off target.

She frowned slightly. This kind of telescope was obviously very precise and expensive just from looking at it, and since she didn’t know how to adjust it, she didn’t dare mess with it. She was just about to turn and look for the telescope’s owner.

Before she’d even turned back, a familiar voice suddenly sounded by her ear...

The voice was low and warm, wrapping around her. The autumn night wind was chilly, but his breath was hot, almost pressed against her ear.

It beat and pounded at her eardrums, hot enough to scorch.

"What’s wrong? Can’t see the moon anymore?"

Jiang Ruan stiffly turned her head. Yan Chi was wearing a black trench coat tonight, his head tilted as he looked at her...

There was wind in his eyes, the kind that burned.

"You... how are you..." Jiang Ruan instinctively glanced around and was startled to realize that her brothers and sisters were all gone. She had no idea where they’d gone off to.

"Let me take a look." Yan Chi leaned in toward the telescope. Jiang Ruan instinctively tried to step aside, but Yan Chi came in from behind, almost pinning her between the telescope and his body. With nowhere to escape from that confinement, she could only angle herself slightly to let him look through the telescope.

Yan Chi looked for a moment, adjusted something she couldn’t see, then motioned for her to look again.

Jiang Ruan leaned toward the eyepiece—the moon really reappeared. The corners of her lips lifted slightly. "It’s really back. Just now it clearly was still..."

Carried away for a moment, Jiang Ruan flashed Yan Chi a brilliant smile. Then she realized she might’ve been a bit too excited, her cheeks flushing. She cleared her throat softly and went back to looking at the moon through the lens.

"Actually you can get it even clearer."

"Hm?" Jiang Ruan had no knowledge at all about this kind of precision telescope.

All she felt was that he came in even closer from behind, his fingers seeming to adjust something. Their bodies weren’t quite touching, but their clothes brushed faintly. That intimate sensation already made her heart pound to the point of suffocation.

His breath felt like it carried hot wind...

Seeping into every crack, making her whole body tremble.

"Does it look clearer like this?" That deep voice came from just above her head, covering her, reverberating through her limbs and bones.

"Mm." Jiang Ruan nodded. The moon in the eyepiece was indeed growing sharper, but she could also feel her face getting redder and redder...

She wished she could bury her whole face inside the eyepiece, yet her burning ears were impossible to hide.

The autumn wind blew past, and her whole body started to feel hot and flushed again.

"Do you like looking at the moon?" Yan Chi finished adjusting the lens and drew his body back slightly, though he was still very close to her.

It was like even his voice could reverberate against her back and then slam into her heart.

Tingly and numb, making her face heat and her heart race.

"Mm." She did her best to calm herself down.

"Do you like looking at the stars?"

"They’re okay."

Jiang Ruan felt miserable. She was clearly forcing herself to be calm, but whenever she ran into him, her breathing and heartbeat went out of rhythm every single time, completely beyond her control.

Even when she spoke, she felt like her voice was trembling with nervousness.

"Then next time we’re back in Nanjiang, I’ll take you out to sea to watch the stars."

Jiang Ruan felt like she was going to die all over again, her cheeks flushed, her heart pounding in waves.