Reservoir Dogs chapter 27
Privacy
Just then, Liu Xia’s call came back. The phone rang for a while before Xiao Zhou, still in a daze, woke up and answered with a shout, “Mom.”
It was noisy where Liu Xia was, but the voice coming through the electric current was gentle and cautious, “Zhou Zhou, something just happened and I missed your call, what’s wrong?”
As soon as Xiao Zhou heard his mother’s voice, his heart immediately felt sour. Suppressing his emotions, he said, “Nothing’s wrong, I’m free today and wanted to come see you.” Pausing, he added, “Xiao Ping told me about Dad.”
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone. “What did he say?”
Xiao Zhou bit his lip, his eyes reddening, “He told me about the car accident and the compensation.”
Liu Xia sighed softly, “Don’t think too much about it, it’s nothing to do with you, just an accident. There used to be fortune tellers who said your father’s luck wasn’t too good.”
Xiao Zhou’s throat tightened, “I want to go see Dad.”
Liu Xia said, okay, you should also go burn incense for him.
Xiao Zhou hesitated for a moment, then asked if she knew where Xu Cuiping had gone.
Liu Xia said Xu Cuiping left in a hurry, without even collecting her wages at work. It seems she planned to go elsewhere.
This confirmed Xiao Zhou’s suspicions even more.
Later, Xiao Zhou went to the office to pick up Jiang Chengyuan. On the way, he was angry. He was manipulated to achieve a goal without being informed.
He had thought that revealing those things would benefit Xu Cuiping, and indeed it did. Between the unknown future outcome and the known immediate benefit, Xu Cuiping chose the safer option.
But this was unfair to Xu Juan, even the last person to fight for her rights and seek the truth had given up.
Regardless of which side’s speculation was true, there should always be a chance to uncover the truth, and the matter couldn’t just end ambiguously like this.
The car stopped in the ground parking lot, Xiao Zhou sat in the driver’s seat, staring at the tall building in front of him, the building straight, soaring into the clouds.
He had been very angry before, wanting to confront Jiang Chengyuan, but as time passed, his heated brain slowly cooled down. How should he say it? How to question Jiang Chengyuan? What had Jiang Chengyuan done wrong?
Jiang Chengyuan showed Xu Cuiping the pros and cons, letting her make her own decision, telling her that winning naturally was good, but losing would leave her with nothing. People always seek advantage and avoid harm; no one has the right to demand nobility from others.
Even Xiao Zhou himself had been misled by Jiang Chengyuan’s words, beginning to doubt Xu Cuiping, no wonder she was scared away.
Soon, Jiang Chengyuan walked out of the office building. Xiao Zhou looked over, his eyes serious.
The only thing he did wrong was use him, without his knowledge.
The car sped, and the inside of the car was very quiet.
Occasionally, their eyes would meet in the rearview mirror for a moment.
But Jiang Chengyuan didn’t speak until the two arrived home.
Xiao Zhou changed his shoes and tried hard to act as if nothing had happened, washed his hands clean, then opened the refrigerator and looked through the things inside, restraining himself to ask, “What do you want to eat?”
Jiang Chengyuan, however, came up behind him, “Are you feeling unwell?”
The hand holding the refrigerator door shrank. Xiao Zhou finally couldn’t bear it. Closing the refrigerator door, he turned around, but didn’t expect Jiang Chengyuan to be so close to him. He instinctively stepped back, his back against the metal door.
Jiang Chengyuan lowered his eyes slightly, continuing to ask, “You only went home, why are you in a bad mood?”
Xiao Zhou looked up, his eyelids trembling. In front of him were Jiang Chengyuan’s enlarged, profound features.
Staring so closely, Xiao Zhou was surprised to find that his body involuntarily began to heat up and tremble.
The pheromone attraction between newly bonded AO was like a magnet, stirring up hormones and igniting a deep heat, as addictive as a swaying poppy flower.
Just smelling that scent, even without Jiang Chengyuan touching him, Xiao Zhou found it hard to resist, easily subdued.
After all, humans are animals. They had formed a close bond, creating an invisible link. The body is honest, craving heat, always driven by desire and guided by instinct.
Jiang Chengyuan should have felt the same way. His eyes deepened as he leaned down, lightly sniffing the side of Xiao Zhou’s neck, his nose brushing faintly.
“Why aren’t you talking?”
A hand clasped Xiao Zhou’s narrow waist, easily pulling him from the fridge into an embrace. Their chests pressed together, and hair brushed against cheeks, leaving the scent of men’s styling products, a high-class fragrance, soon overshadowed by Jiang Chengyuan’s own pheromones.
Xiao Zhou’s breathing quickened, and he couldn’t help but close his eyes.
As their bodies touched, he suddenly recalled a somewhat reckless analogy he once made to Ji Yang—a handy and useful sex toy.
He didn’t really have any grounds to criticize or get angry. If to Jiang Chengyuan he was just a tool to be kneaded and molded at will, then how he felt didn’t really matter. When it came to Cuiping, even if Jiang Chengyuan didn’t use him, he would have found another way to achieve his goals. Xiao Zhou was just the most convenient option. He was also too foolish, going along with Jiang Chengyuan’s plan so readily.
What good would it do to fall out with Jiang Chengyuan? Jiang Chengyuan wouldn’t apologize, and life would only get harder for him.
His anger quickly turned into self-blame and sadness. His defiant spirit faded, leaving him feeling powerless.
“You seem very sensitive to emotions.” Xiao Zhou didn’t directly answer Jiang Chengyuan’s question.
The ambiguous atmosphere of their intimate proximity dissipated somewhat as Jiang Chengyuan’s lips left his neck. Calmly, he said, “Emotions can cause changes in pheromones, so I can sense them.”
“Really?” Xiao Zhou said. “Isn’t that exhausting for you? Everyone’s emotions and pheromones affecting you?”
Jiang Chengyuan replied, “With treatment, this sensitivity can be reduced.”
Xiao Zhou hesitated, “Is this condition inborn?”
Jiang Chengyuan’s expression changed slightly, and after a moment, he shook his head. “No.”
“Then what caused it?”
Jiang Chengyuan looked up, the dim indoor light casting a ghostly paleness over his fair complexion. “It was due to something unpleasant.”
His response was evasive and he had no intention of elaborating. Xiao Zhou, understanding, didn’t press further. It was clear that this was a deeply private and fragile memory for Jiang Chengyuan, not something he would share easily with an outsider.
Xiao Zhou then asked, “When you ask me questions like that, how does my pheromone scent change?”
Jiang Chengyuan touched his gland. “For example, right now, your scent is quite sour.” He removed his hand from Xiao Zhou’s body and stepped back, his expression stern. “Do you have something you want to tell me?”
Xiao Zhou looked up at him. “Xu Cuiping moved out.”
Jiang Chengyuan had expected this. “Quite fast,” he remarked, his eyes shifting slightly. “Is that why?”
Xiao Zhou was very calm, neither questioning nor agitated. “I think it’s because I told her what you said to me that she acted this way.”
Jiang Chengyuan looked at him intently. “You shouldn’t overthink it. On the contrary, you did a good thing. If Xu Cuiping continued her nonsense, it wouldn’t end well. This way, it’s a win-win.”
A win-win, or a complete victory for one side?
Xiao Zhou marveled at Jiang Chengyuan’s ability to lie so calmly. Having deceived him once with his eloquence, did he intend to deceive him a second time?
That night, they ended up in bed again. Jiang Chengyuan’s pheromones were still unstable, often intensifying suddenly. Everything was so abrupt that they didn’t even make it to the bedroom; Xiao Zhou was pressed onto the dining table in the living room. His neck bitten, swelling and heating up from the pheromone injection.
Then, still connected, they moved to the bedroom. After finishing, Jiang Chengyuan didn’t stay the night. As soon as they were done, he went to wash up and returned to the next room.
Xiao Zhou lay on the bed, completely naked. His eyes rested on the back of his hand, his eyelids cool, his body sticky with sweat, utterly exhausted, too tired even to lift a finger. One hand hung over the edge of the bed, touching the cold floor.
The second time was much better than the first; they were starting to learn each other’s rhythms.
Yet such beast-like love-making didn’t bring Xiao Zhou much pleasure. In fact, it often left his mind and body in extreme conflict, occasionally detaching his soul to look down on his own disgrace.
He dozed off with his eyes closed, but the discomfort inside his body soon forced him to get up and clean himself.
Water droplets rolled down his body, and the mirror reflected his figure, with fresh hickeys overlapping the fading ones.
Jiang Chengyuan was not a very considerate lover, stingy with after sex tenderness. Simple and rough, though occasionally gentle, and would do intimate things like kissing. But after it was over, he switched back easily. This mode of interaction was clean and straightforward, without any unnecessary entanglement.
Perhaps he wasn’t worth any emotional investment from Jiang Chengyuan.
But maybe this was for the best, Xiao Zhou thought calmly. He had some residual issues and didn’t like having someone sleep beside him. Jiang Chengyuan’s cold nature saved him a lot of trouble.