Sweet, Although Short Chapter 17

Translated by Elestrea
Edited by Amaris

Then a large, warm hand covered his stomach, separated only by his thin shirt.

In an instant, the throbbing pain seemed to disappear.

Xia Yan asked him: "Are you feeling better?"

Ning Can: "…."

Xia Yan picked up the cell phone using his right hand and dialed a number.

A sweet female voice came from the other end of the phone: "President Xia."

Ning Can heard it very clearly and his stomach ached again. He bared his fangs and tried to s.n.a.t.c.h (the phone from) the b.a.s.t.a.r.d's hand!

"Don't move randomly," Xia Yan moved his cell phone out of the way and said to Ning Can in a low voice.

He, Ning Can, would rather be killed than humiliated; he resolutely refused to surrender.

Xia Yan said on the phone: "Help me prepare a millet congee and a small plate of sugar… En, I'll put it in myself… Also, some easy-to-digest pastries…"

Ning Can p.r.i.c.ked up his ears to listen before cutting in: "The voice sounds so sweet, yet unexpectedly you ordered her to do this."

Xia Yan's face grew cold: "Shut up."

Ning Can's stomach was in pain and he didn't bother to talk to Xia Yan anymore.

Before long, the delivery came. Ning Can craned his head to look only to discover it was a man, and his mouth quickly deflated.

Xia Yan saw this scene with his eyes, and his originally thin lips were pursed into a thinner line.

Ning Can got up and said: "This millet congee looks good…" Ever since he was a child, he didn't like porridge, and the only thing he could drink was millet congee. Moreover, he also had to add some sugar. He liked it when there wasn't too much, but just a little bit of sweetness.

Xia Yan looked at Ning Can's pale face and pressed down all the surging emotions in his chest.

Ning Can couldn't wear sungla.s.ses while he ate. Ning Can thought: Anyway, the panda eyes have been seen, there is no need to hide them anymore.

He took off his sungla.s.ses and said: "Don't get me wrong, my eyes were not punched by my father."

Xia Yan didn't look at him, but carefully scooped the millet congee into the bowl for Ning Can.

He wouldn't let Xia Yan know that he had been beaten and was forced to come to the Xia Company!

Ning Can rolled his eyes and thought of a particularly cool reason.

He sighed and said, "Xiao Qing and I… Oh, Xiao Qing is the beauty you saw that night. I played with her in the bar last night. Somebody tried to flirt with her when I went to the bathroom. I couldn't stand it and punched that man when I came back. I didn't know that guy was a trainer, and then…"

With a bang, the fragile porcelain bowl fell on the marble floor.

Ning Can was startled: "What are you doing!" Have you grown too big that you can't even carry a bowl of congee properly!

Xia Yan's eyes were gloomy: "You are having a hangover, thus the stomachache."

Ning Can actually didn't drink yesterday. But since according to the script he was very drunk last night, he hurriedly said: "Of course!"

Xia Yan looked more and more ugly. He walked straight through the mess of shards on the ground, approached Ning Can and said: "You're getting more and more mature, becoming jealous and even starting a fight because of a woman."

Ning Can was terrified, but he would never yield. With his panda eyes, he said in high spirits: "It's normal for men to protect the women they like…"

Xia Yan's face was frosty: "Do you like her?"

Ning Can's heart was nervous: "Otherwise?"

Xia Yan smiled angrily: "Good, very good."

It wasn't until Xia Yan had gone for a long time that Ning Can regained his strength.

The millet congee was already cold and the room was in a mess. Ning Can's eyes hurt and his stomach hurt as well. He couldn't be more miserable.

He leaned forward on the table and thought about the past, and he suddenly felt aggrieved.

In the kindergarten, Xia Yan was bullied by people, and Ning Can beat those people up until they could only crawl away and escape.

During primary school, Xia Yan was pranked and lost his homework one day. Ning Can searched all over the school and almost became fish food before he was able to fish out Xia Yan's school bag.

When they were in junior high school, Xia Yan was mistaken as a girl and was taken liberty of. When Ning Can heard about it, he led his brothers to beat up that garbage until he could only scream 'father' and shout 'mother' that very night.

In high school… Ning Can would rather not think about it.

He didn't understand, they were so close when they were young, why did they end up like this once they grew up?

For the next two days, Ning Can never saw Xia Yan again.

As he said, Xia Company was so big that one could walk in whichever direction for a day and still avoid meeting anyone whom they didn't want to see.

On the third day, Ning Can was so bored even his head started to grow gra.s.s!

He woke up at seven in the morning and got stuck in traffic for an hour to get to this h.e.l.lhole. He couldn't smoke casually, even when he went to the smoking room, there were people watching him. He couldn't come late and couldn't leave early because his father watched him attentively. h.e.l.l, there were only men all around him. Not to mention pretty girls, any female species under fifty-year-old was nowhere in sight!

I can't stay any longer. I really can't stay any longer. I want to 'break out of this prison'!

Right after he stood up and was about to rush out of the door, the door opened by itself.

His gentle and beautiful mother and… the ungrateful Xia Yan.

Ning Can's heart thumped.

Mother Ning said to Xia Yan: "Cancan didn't cause you any trouble, right?"

Xia Yan, who had always been regarded as a good man by the elders, said in a warm voice: “I heard from Xiao Liu that Ning Can has been doing a good job."

Mother Ning understood her son too well and knew that what Xia Yan said was just out of courtesy.

She looked at Ning Can and said: "Your eyes are still hurting?"

Ning Can's nerves became tense and he was slightly panicked.

Mother Ning sold him out with no difficulty: "Your father is truly… He knew you were going to work yet he still punched you in the face."

Ning Can: "!!!" Mom, please, please, pleaseeeeee stop talking.

Mother Ning said: "Little Xia is not an outsider, why can't he know your condition?" As she came over, she took off Ning Can's sungla.s.ses and continued: "Why does it look so ferocious? I only went out for a few days, and you two already…"

Mother Ning kept rambling on and on. Just with a few words, she managed to throw her son's fig leaf into the Pacific Ocean.

Ning Can was embarra.s.sed to death. He secretly looked at the emotionless Xia Yan and became even more embarra.s.sed!

Mother Ning said: “I heard from Aunt Sun that you haven't been having breakfast these days?”

What could Ning Can do now, he could only bite the bullet and said: "It's all right, I'm not hungry."

Mother Ning was worried: "Our home is a little far away from the Xia Company."

"Mom," Ning Can's eyes lit up, "why don't you talk to Father and let me live in the city?"

Mother Ning said: "That's what I thought. I just discussed it with your father."

Holy s.h.i.t, I can really move out? Ning Can was elated: "Did Father agree?"

"He agreed," Mother Ning smiled and said, "He felt very relieved once he heard that you and Little Xia are going to live together."

Wha… what?

Not only Ning Can was stupefied, even Xia Yan's brain short-circuited.

The two men open their mouths almost at the same time: "Live with him (me)?"

Mother Ning then started to explain: "Oh, you see, I met Sister Song (Mother Xia) yesterday and started chatting with her. She said that Little Xia lived alone in the city, close to the company. It's truly convenient." She asked Xia Yan, "Since you and Cancan have been close ever since you were just kids, living together won't be a problem right?"

Xin Yan felt as if he was stabbed in the heart by these words "have been close."

Ning Can hurriedly said: "Mom, there's no lack of houses in the city, so why should I…"

Mother Ning interrupted him: "Ah, you want to live alone? Dream on."

Ning Can couldn't say anything, Mother Ning said to Xia Yan: "You can't let this reckless youngster live on his own, who knows what kind of crazy things he will do."

Xia Yan was silent for a long time, according to normal reasoning, it was clear he should've refused.

—— Living under the same roof with Ning Can, interacting with him day and night, looking at him every day. Thinking like this, his scalp went numb.

Because the demons were influencing his mind, he answered: "OK, I agree."

Ning Can was dumbfounded: "Who wants to live with you!"

Mother Ning's fist landed and Ning Can wilted.

And so, that was how it was settled.

Ning Can thought he was miserable enough, but the worst was yet to come.

Xia Yan: "Three rules."

Ning Can: "…"

Xia Yan simply minded his own business and didn't even look at him: "You aren't allowed to smoke indoors. You must be back before 11 PM. And finally…" He turned his head and stared at Ning Can, "you are forbidden to bring anyone back."

Ning Can blew up: "I don't want to live with you!" He rushed to the door.

Xia Yan's cold voice sounded behind him: "If I don't see you at 11 PM, I'm going to call Auntie."

Ning Can was full of grief and indignation: "Xia Yan, you are a man, don't tattle!"

Whether Xia Yan was a man or not wasn't certain, but in any case, Ning Can was a man who was afraid of women (mother).

Gloomily, he went inside Xia Yan's apartment. Because he was upset, he left the door open. "Small, shabby, old, and ugly…"

A 300-square apartment in the popular commercial district of a first-tier city was mocked by Ning Can. Truly wanting to be beaten up!

Xia Yan didn't even look at him. He pointed to a room and said: "Yours."

Ning Can strode in, closed the door, and locked it.

Xia Yan stood in the living room for a moment, but after a while, he frowned and went to the study.

Ning Can lay still on the bed. Thirty seconds later, he bounced up and tried to pull out a cigarette.

—— You aren't allowed to smoke indoors.

The white fingers holding the lighter paused. Ning Can snorted, bit the cigarette, and was going to…

Ring…

The mobile phone's sudden ring scared Ning Can off, making the cigarette fell to the ground!

Ning Can took out his cell phone, and there were three big words "Have Blind Eyes” on the screen.

h.e.l.l! Living together and still making a prank call?!

When Ning Can picked it up, Xia Yan said: "Don't smoke indoors."

"…" After a moment of silence, Ning Can blew up and said: "Are you monitoring me?" How else would he know!

Xia Yan chuckled: "Is it even necessary?"

Hearing the sarcasm in his tone, Ning Can became even angrier, saying: "Get lost!" After which he hung up the phone.

After a while, Xia Yan sent him a message: "There is a smoke detector in the room. If you smoke, I will tell Auntie."

Ning Can replied to him angrily: "Are you a primary schooler? What else can you do besides tattling me out?!"

Xia Yan didn't reply to him again.

Ning Can had some regrets after sending these words, and he wanted to unsend it. But then he thought that since Xia Yan had seen it anyway, it was useless to unsend it!

If Xia Yan knew how to tattle when he was in primary school, he wouldn't have been bullied.

At that time, Ning Can often said to him: "Don't be afraid. If anyone bullies you, just tell me. I'll beat them up until their own grandmothers won't even recognize them!"

Little Xia Yan nodded and behaved obediently just like a little girl, but he never once tattled to Ning Can.

Remembering this, Ning Can looked at the message he had just sent, and immediately wanted to smoke even more.

"f.u.c.k it." Ning Can threw away the lighter and buried his head in the pillow.

In a daze, Ning Can had a dream.

In the dream, there was a fair and tender Xia Yan. He quietly hid in the corner, serenely listening to other people's nonsense:
"The whole family is crazy!"
"His older sister is mentally ill and he must be too, they're all the same!"

Ning Can was very angry that he got up and beat those people to the ground.

Xia Yan looked up and smiled at him: "Thank you."

The weak sunlight reflected on his face made Little Ning Can stupefied.

Ning Can's mood at that time was as if he was a knight who had saved his princess, and he was willing to protect him for the rest of his life.

They're just… sigh…