A day later, Zhong Hai, returning from Japan, welcomed another rare family reunion.
His eldest son Meng Huai was still in military uniform, his expression remaining silently cold as ever, only staring at the food before him, chewing slowly and carefully.
His second son Zhong Jing was also in a poor mood today, or rather, severely distracted.
"Tomorrow is your grandfather's death anniversary. The ancestral grave is in the countryside—the whole family will go to pay respects."
No matter how much he usually let his two sons do as they pleased, when it came to important family matters, Zhong Hai could still be firm, making arrangements without question.
Meng Huai stopped his chopsticks, looked up briefly, then continued eating silently. No objection meant agreement.
"Sigh! Son, your father is talking to you!"
Seeing her son still lost in thought, his mother hurried over to pat his shoulder lightly and touched his forehead: "You're not sick. Jing, what's wrong with you today?"
"Ah? Yes!"
Only then did Zhong Jing snap back to reality, looking blankly at his family around the dining table. Several seconds later, he finally understood the situation and nodded embarrassedly.
The TV embedded in the dining room wall was currently broadcasting C City local news—a police commendation ceremony for cracking down on drug trafficking gangs was being reported. The incident that occurred on Yushui Street half a month ago had already spread throughout the city.
"Sigh, it's been spreading among my friends for days. These days, some young people just won't behave. They could do anything, but instead they seek thrills through drugs, harming others and themselves." Hearing the series of statistics in the news report, the wealthy lady patted her chest with a face full of regret. "I heard there was even a woman among them who, when her drug addiction kicked in, bit her own husband to death. What a sin!”
"By the way, son, you must never touch those things!"
Suddenly thinking of something, the wealthy lady urgently spoke to her biological son, afraid her precious child might also get involved with such things.
"If he dares touch them, I'll be the first to break his dog legs!"
At this moment, Meng Huai suddenly raised his head, staring at his half-brother. His cold gaze made even Zhong Jing feel a chill down his back.
"Hmph, it's more important for him to mind his own hands and feet. When I came back today, I heard about it... In the future, don't go bothering the group's female employees for no reason... I'm planning to transfer that Assistant Tian to the logistics department at the production base."
Zhong Hai had finished eating and now picked up a newspaper, flipping through it while reminding his second son: "You're grown up now. If you really think someone is suitable, then date her properly."
Zhong Jing's face reddened slightly. Not daring to argue back, he quickly lowered his head and pretended to drink soup.
Meng Huai put down his chopsticks with a trace of disgust and left the dining room without saying goodbye.
"Hehe, my son is so excellent, of course he attracts people! But Jing'er, mama has to speak seriously—it's fine to play around and have some acquaintances, but never bring that kind of woman home! Understand!"
"Oh..."
Zhong Jing wore a dejected expression, not knowing how to handle his parents' alternating bombardment.
"By the way, I heard from people in the administrative center that you came to group headquarters yesterday looking for me to check some materials? Your firm's business?" Zhong Hai put down the newspaper and removed his glasses, somewhat pleased. "Tell me about it—maybe I can give you some advice."
There's a chance! Zhong Jing quickly threw down his napkin and earnestly told the entire fabricated story with embellishments.
"Cooperation with a small agricultural company... what can you accomplish with a budget of a few million?"
Zhong Hai frowned, repeatedly searching his memory for the small ventures from the early development period, looking troubled: "In earlier years, the group also did some cooperative research and development on animal pharmaceutical preparations, but these all had long cycles and considerable costs. Some cooperation projects were almost successful but were abandoned halfway due to funding issues."
"Could we introduce the early suspended projects to my client and continue them? It would be like bringing dead wood back to life?" Zhong Jing stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"Back then, the group's framework had just been established, and information management was relatively backward. Many materials are still on paper. I'll give the information center a heads up later—whatever you need, they'll cooperate."
Although a few million in business was better than nothing for the current group, Zhong Hai was still prepared to help his son: "If you can revive some projects, regardless of size, I'll count it as you making something of yourself!"
Zhong Jing was secretly delighted—the weight on his heart finally lifted, but another inexplicable worry quietly surfaced.
He raised his wine glass, toasted his father Zhong Hai slightly, then drank it all in one gulp. This scene of father and son working together in business made the wealthy lady, who couldn't get a word in, beam with joy.
...
Organizing their new home took much longer than expected, lasting a full three days.
Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao bustled about, and only after thoroughly cleaning the courtyard house with its three-bedroom, one-living-room layout, properly arranging all the packed items large and small, and going out to purchase many household goods, did they finally finish by Tuesday evening.
For some reason, during dinner, Jiang Yan felt her body had an indescribable strangeness. It wasn't like blood thirst, nor like being stimulated by other Blood Clan auras—in any case, she couldn't pinpoint exactly what was uncomfortable.
Coincidentally, Jiang Yao was also somewhat absent-minded. When the two compared their feelings, they were surprisingly similar.
Even more puzzling was that no matter how they suppressed their pheromone release, it still felt like it was leaking everywhere.
Although the release fluctuation intensity was within safe ranges, it was very uncomfortable. What kind of strange reaction was this?
"Sis, do you think it could be because of this old house? I heard this was originally Sister Xiao Min's ancestral home, and the elderly person only passed away recently. According to what I read online, could it be that the deceased elder's soul is restless..."
After washing, Jiang Yao walked into the master bedroom holding a dry towel, drying her beautiful light golden long hair, looking all mystical.
"Nonsense, what have you been reading online..."
Jiang Yan grabbed her bath towel and nightgown and headed toward the living room, pointing toward the small courtyard: "Before bed, remember to collect the clothes we hung out to dry. Fold them and put them in your wardrobe. It's only been how long, and your housekeeping is already a mess."
If not for the blood type issue, Xiao Yao probably wouldn't be suitable as a soldier at all. From childhood, he was forgetful, lacked perseverance, was resistant to strangers, yet overly dependent on familiar people... In the bathroom, Jiang Yan, having just removed her clothes, immediately noticed Jiang Yao's underwear hanging on the rack. Feeling both helpless and embarrassed, she once again gave Jiang Yao's living habits a poor rating.
Jiang Yan had long been accustomed to cold showers. Without the stifling steam in the bathroom, even the full-length mirror on one side was crystal clear, reflecting a graceful and beautiful young girl's body.
This was probably the first time bathing in a bathroom with a mirror, and the first time seeing the full view of her own body from a third-person perspective.
She glanced casually a few times and quickly looked away, then gradually became transfixed.
Jiang Yan reached out her hand, and the black-haired girl in the mirror also reached out her hand, unambiguously proving the reality of the girl before the mirror.
Sister Wan and Sister Xiao Min had both spotted something amiss with her at first glance. Are women's intuition really that terrifying?
Recalling the first meeting with Sister Xiao Min a few days ago, those deep, ice-clear eyes seemed to see through her instantly.
She thought that over these two months, her behavior had eliminated obvious visual differences from those women on TV and in online videos, but why did those two women still see so many flaws?
The more Jiang Yan thought about it, the more incredible it seemed. Lost in thought, several minutes passed before she realized she hadn't even washed her hair yet!
...
Drying her hair, Jiang Yan returned to the master bedroom to find Jiang Yao holding her phone, leaning against the headboard and having a great time.
"Xiao Yao, your bedroom is over there. Now that we have two bedrooms, we don't need to sleep in the same bed."
Jiang Yan walked to the bedside and patted Jiang Yao's shoulder with a serious expression: "In the bathroom, I washed your underwear for you. If there's a next time, I'll throw it outside the door!"
"Ah? Separate beds?" Jiang Yao was startled and slowly sat up straight. It seemed that sleeping in the same bed for over two months had become a habit. "Actually, it doesn't really matter. When we were in school, we still slept together."
"That was because conditions at the welfare home were poor—only the older girls had single beds... Why are we even talking about this! Get up quickly, go to your room, don't dawdle!"
Jiang Yan felt she was almost led astray by the other and immediately put on a cold face, directly pulling Jiang Yao off the bed.
"You're the older brother, you're bigger, fine then, separate it is!"
Jiang Yao pouted, shuffling in her slippers, and left the master bedroom. Soon they heard the secondary bedroom door close.
Sigh, this Xiao Yao... Lying on the spacious bed, Jiang Yan spread her arms wide and suddenly felt a bit unaccustomed—that girl's body was sprawled out, not even reaching the edges of the bed.
She picked up her phone, planning to search online for information about the place where she would work tomorrow to see if there was any public information she could learn about in advance.
Not knowing how much time had passed, a figure appeared in her peripheral vision. Jiang Yan looked up to find Jiang Yao standing beside the bed again, holding her blanket.
"What are you doing? Do you need me to coax you?"
Jiang Yan put down her phone irritably, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked at Jiang Yao, not knowing what trouble she was about to cause.
"That... sis... I want to drink blood..."
Jiang Yao grinned mischievously, even putting on a coy act, her cheeks slightly flushed.
"Blood thirst? Want to drink blood? With that coy look, I thought you wanted to drink milk!"
Jiang Yan helplessly sat up and reached into the bedside drawer to look for a small knife and cup.
This cold joke completely stumped Jiang Yao, and more than ten minutes later, she slunk back to her own room.