Chapter 83 - My brother didn’t give you a hard time, did he?
The smile froze on Tang Yuan’s face—such an obvious setup to send her away so they could have a private conversation.
Jiang Zi gently patted her on the head to reassure her. “Go on.”
“Fine,” Tang Yuan replied, looking over at Tang Gu. “Brother, don’t bully my wifey.”
Jiang Zi’s eyes sparkled with amusement. Tang Yuan called her “wifey”—if only it were directed solely at her. Little Tang Yuan had never called her “wifey” before, only “sister.”
With that, Tang Yuan had no choice but to leave to feed the dogs. The kennel was far, taking ten minutes to walk there and another ten to return.
Once Tang Yuan left, Tang Gu dismissed Tang Su, who had been lurking nearby to spy.
Jiang Zi approached Tang Gu and sat down on the sofa, her calm gaze fixed on him, waiting for him to speak.
Tang Gu pulled a paper document out of a gift box. “A share transfer agreement?”
“Mr. Tang, this is a meeting gift,” Jiang Zi said, her tone devoid of emotion. “Ten percent of Qi Yuan’s shares—a gesture of my sincerity.”
“Mr. Tang, you’ve been investigating me for Tang Yuan’s sake, and I understand that. By transferring these shares to you, I aim to prove I’m not after money—only Tang Yuan’s love.”
“I’m not playing around. I’m serious about Tang Yuan and want to spend the rest of my life with her.”
Tang Gu leaned back on the sofa, flipping through the document casually. It was hard to tell if he was really listening to Jiang Zi.
It wasn’t until she spoke again that his fingers suddenly paused, and he looked up at her.
Jiang Zi’s tone was detached. “There’s another reason—Chu Family.”
“I know you brought down Qiao Chu Entertainment, and I also know your next move. I’d be more than happy to assist you, especially since I truly despise Chu Yu.”
Tang Gu’s lips curled into a cold smile. “If I recall correctly, didn’t you have some… romantic entanglement with him?”
Though Tang Yuan had told him that Chu Yu had shamelessly pursued Jiang Zi, Tang Gu was inherently distrustful. After Tang Yuan started dating Jiang Zi, he had dug deeper into her past.
During their university days, Jiang Zi and Chu Yu were indeed close. Whether or not they had a romantic relationship was unclear, but the evidence suggested Jiang Zi had not entirely rejected Chu Yu.
Jiang Zi’s eyes showed undisguised loathing. “Nothing ever happened between us. Believe it or not, from the first time I saw him, I… hated him.” Hated him enough to want to kill him.
But the control of the plot was too strong. She was doomed to fail repeatedly, to the point where she had to resort to self-harm just to stay awake.
Tang Gu suddenly chuckled, the previous tension dissipating as if he had come to accept Jiang Zi—and his mood had noticeably improved.
“I believe you,” he said with a light laugh. “Because I hate him too.”
Even though their families were both influential and had known each other since childhood, Tang Gu’s animosity toward Chu Yu grew stronger as he took control of the Tang family’s finances.
It was an inexplicable aversion, a visceral disgust whenever he saw Chu Yu. Knowing about Chu Yu’s shady dealings only deepened his contempt.
That unreasoning dislike for someone seemed odd, but when applied to Chu Yu, it felt perfectly justified.
Back then, Tang Yuan had been infatuated with Chu Yu, so Tang Gu had kept his personal feelings hidden.
Chu Yu, however, had poor taste and didn’t reciprocate Tang Yuan’s feelings.
Tang Gu stuffed the share transfer agreement back into the gift box, signaling his acceptance. “But I must remind you, Tang Yuan was raised with nothing but love and pampering. She’s quick-tempered, doesn’t like to compromise, and refuses to wrong herself. She’ll admit her mistakes if she realizes she’s in the wrong, but she forgets quickly and rarely learns from them. It’s what people call ‘princess syndrome.'”
At the mention of Tang Yuan, Jiang Zi’s gaze softened. “She’s a princess by nature. I don’t see those as flaws. She shouldn’t have to suffer or wrong herself.”
After finishing their discussion, neither Jiang Zi nor Tang Gu had anything more to say. The silence stretched for nearly ten minutes.
When Tang Yuan returned, she found the two sitting far apart, each on a separate sofa, one looking at a phone and the other at a television, with no interaction whatsoever.
Tang Yuan walked over to Jiang Zi. “Sister, I’m back.”
Tang Gu saw her return and stood up, grabbing the box of wine before heading upstairs, leaving the space for the two of them.
Tang Yuan sat down next to Jiang Zi, looking concerned. “How was it? My brother didn’t give you a hard time, did he?”
Jiang Zi smiled faintly. “Not at all. In fact, he said I could stay here tonight and take my wifey out to live together tomorrow.”
Tang Yuan’s eyes filled with suspicion. “Really? He actually said that?”
Jiang Zi, expression unchanging, nodded with certainty. “Of course.”
Tang Gu’s exact words had been: “I won’t interfere with her love life. If she’s happy with it, that’s all that matters.”
Since Tang Yuan had been the one to suggest living together, her happiness was self-evident. Jiang Zi understood perfectly.
Tang Yuan scratched her head, unable to fathom how a twenty-minute conversation could have led to such an outcome.
While she was lost in thought, Jiang Zi wrapped her arms around her and nuzzled her collarbone. “Wifey, can I sleep in your room tonight? Tomorrow we can pack up and head to Ding Xinghai together.”
“Alright, alright,” Tang Yuan agreed, pushing her away, feeling the burning stares of several pairs of eyes. It was too embarrassing.
Jiang Zi didn’t mind and instead grabbed her hand. “Come on, wifey, show me to the bedroom.”
Tang Yuan led Jiang Zi upstairs. Her room was on the second floor, at the far end of the hall. When they passed the living room, Tang Su’s head popped out of a doorway to observe them, only to be glared at by Tang Yuan until he obediently withdrew.
“My parents have been on a honeymoon for twenty years. Except for the New Year, they’re rarely home. So now it’s just me and Tang Su on the second floor, while my brother lives alone on the third.” Tang Yuan opened the door to her room. “I’ll let them know about my relationship later.”
Standing at the third-floor staircase, Tang Gu only returned to his room when Tang Yuan’s voice was no longer audible.
He thought back to the past.
Tang Gu understood why Chu Yu didn’t like Tang Yuan. Chu Yu had an overwhelming need for control and preferred clingy, dependent women who orbited solely around him.
But Tang Yuan wasn’t like that. When she gave Chu Yu a cake and he threw it away, her first reaction was to curse him out, not swallow her anger and try again.
When Chu Yu publicly humiliated her, calling her an “overly gaudy socialite,” she retorted by mocking his lack of taste instead of feeling hurt and trying to conform to his standards.
Every time Tang Gu thought the matter was over, his stupid little sister would act as if nothing had happened and continue chasing after Chu Yu.
At first, Tang Gu had been perplexed, but over time, he’d grown accustomed to it.
This time, their falling-out seemed so final that it felt like an unexpected gift. In his delight, he couldn’t resist stomping on Chu Yu and wishing him a miserable downfall.
As for Tang Yuan, the person she liked now seemed decent enough.
If she wanted to move out, so be it. She was old enough to choose her own path.
Home was a harbor, not a cage.
Still, he couldn’t help feeling a twinge of reluctance.