IMGH Chapter 23 (1)

The Second Failed Confession

At the entrance to the building, Jiang Mingxuan noticed Jiang Yi had opened an umbrella and teased him. “Oh, big bro, since when did you become such a gentleman, even knowing to hold an umbrella for a lady?” She said this while moving to duck under Jiang Yi’s umbrella.

Jiang Yi quickly pulled her back, thinking to himself, Your big frame better not bump into my Rui’er.

Jiang Mingxuan, stopped in her tracks, said unhappily, “Big bro, what are you doing? So this umbrella wasn’t opened for me!”

“Xuan Xuan, more sunshine is good for you — calcium!”

“Then why are you holding an umbrella? Go absorb some yourself first!”

Jiang Mingxuan reached out to snatch the umbrella, only to be blocked by Jiang Yi.

Unable to grab it, Jiang Mingxuan fumed. “This lady doesn’t even want it! Hold it yourself, you little bottom!”

Misunderstood, Jiang Yi felt deeply bitter inside, but had no choice — he couldn’t reveal the truth.

He held the umbrella up and said quietly to Qiu Rui, “Rui’er, move a little closer to this side. Otherwise I really can’t explain what I’m doing.”

“So troublesome.” Qiu Rui drifted a few steps toward Jiang Yi’s side, and the two — one living, one ghost — shared the umbrella together.

Jiang Yi gently lifted his eyes and looked at Qiu Rui beside him, a sweet sense of happiness rising from the bottom of his heart.

This man is willing to be gay for you.

The confusion from the night before dissolved in an instant. The smile at the corner of Jiang Yi’s mouth was steady and self-assured, gleaming brilliantly in the sunlight.

Back home, Jiang Yi inevitably endured a round of nagging from his mother. Jiang Mingxuan was just about to chime in when Jiang Yi silenced her with a murderous glare. If his mother ever found out he was gay, there would be no end to it — the house would be turned upside down.

Right now, it was only his one-sided feelings for Qiu Rui. Given Qiu Rui’s status and standing, winning his heart was unlikely to be easy. And even if Qiu Rui did come to like him, the living and the dead were worlds apart — being together would be no simple matter.

And it’s all your fault. What kind of ghost are you? You’re nothing but a little fox spirit!

Jiang Yi sighed inwardly and said aloud, “It’s nothing.”

“Your mom is so scary. No wonder coming home feels like you’re walking to your death!” Qiu Rui stuck out his tongue — a rare moment of playful expression that broke through — and successfully left Jiang Yi stunned once again.

Qiu Rui frowned at Jiang Yi’s dazed, foolish face and scolded, “Idiot!”

Watching the graceful retreating figure of a certain ghost drift away, Jiang Yi sighed again and again. This old man’s heart had truly fallen for this ghost.

Jiang Yi’s cooking skills, rivaling five-star restaurant standards, had gloriously earned him the formidable task of making dinner.

Since Qiu Rui couldn’t stray from Jiang Yi’s side, he could only remain within the Jiang family’s home. Unwilling to listen to the women’s endless gossiping chatter, the bored Qiu Rui drifted into the kitchen to find Jiang Yi, who was busy cooking, for some company.

Jiang Yi was dishing out a dish when he saw Qiu Rui float into the kitchen and asked, “What’s wrong? Hungry?”

Qiu Rui shook his head. “It’s too noisy out there.”

Jiang Yi nodded with understanding. “Now you get why I don’t want to come home. They say three women make a full drama — my two women at home are already a whole production. Add another one and it would be chaos!”

“Sooner or later a woman will come into your home. Are you really not going to get married your whole life? Don’t tell me you actually are gay?” Qiu Rui teased with an exaggerated look of surprise.

Jiang Yi looked at him with a half-smile. “I wasn’t before — but maybe I am now?”

Qiu Rui looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”

Jiang Yi smiled. “Meeting Rui’er — even a straight man can be bent!”

Qiu Rui shot him a look. “Boring.”

“Rui’er, I’m confessing here, alright? Could you take it a little more seriously?” Jiang Yi said with a pained expression.

Qiu Rui looked at him and put on a completely serious face. “I’ll say it again, very seriously — you are boring. And that joke isn’t funny at all.”

His second confession crashed and burned. The dejected Jiang Yi channeled his grief into cooking, focused intently on the remaining dishes, then set the plates on the dining table and called Xiao Wenya and Jiang Mingxuan over from their chat.