Volume 2 Chapter 3 Part2 (1/2)

Illusions, Lies, Truth Volume 2: Human Doll Contract Part Two

Original novel in Chinese by: 御 我 (Yu Wo)

Chapter 3: Hidden in the Dark… Part 2—The Neighbors Across—translated by lucathia (proofread by Trespa.s.serby)

When Jiang Qibing returned home, he even held in his hands a small, pretty cardboard box with two exquisite cakes inside.

Neither he nor Jiang Ziya liked sweets, so he had only bought two small cakes for his wife and his daughter. Merely thinking about the sweet smiles they would show while eating them lifted his mood.

The moment he walked in, he couldn't wait to shout, ”I'm home.”

The entire place was filled with the aroma of food and the familiar sound of stir-frying vegetables from the kitchen. Jiang Qibing's heart was immediately filled to the brim with warmth.

As she was in the middle of stir-frying the vegetables, Jiang Yu obviously couldn't step aside, but she didn't forget to shout, ”Jiang Jiang, Xiao Xue, go welcome your bàbi!”

…Xiao Xue?

Jiang Qibing froze.

”Bàba!”

”Bàbi!”

Two little girls rushed out from their room, practically pouncing on Jiang Qibing at the same time. One grabbed his left hand and the other grabbed his right. The two little faces on both sides were exactly the same and couldn't be told apart at all.

Jiang Qibing looked at his pair of daughters, a bit stunned.

”Bàba, what's this?” One of the girls lowered her head to look at the little box in Jiang Qibing's hands.

”Smells so good!” The other girl cried out, ”Is it candy?”

”It's a small cake.” Jiang Qibing smiled as he said, ”I bought cakes for you, one per person. But you can't eat it right now. You have to wait until after dinner, or your mother will scold you.”

Both little girls' eyes shone, making the girls appear super cute.

”They'll be full after dinner. How will they eat cake then?” Jiang Yu brought out the fish, an exasperated but fond smile on her face.

Jiang Qibing was a bit embarra.s.sed as he said, ”How about letting them share a slice? You should eat a slice, too.”

Right. That should have been his original plan, or else why would he have only bought two cakes? Jiang Yu also liked sweets. How could he have skipped buying his wife's share?

Jiang Yu deliberately shook her head and sighed, saying, ”Sooner or later, you'll turn us into three fatties from feeding us so much. It's not good to eat sweets at night. Let's save it for later. Tomorrow, we can have it for afternoon tea.”

Then, I won't be able to witness the cute sight of my wife and daughters eating dessert! Jiang Qibing was full of reluctance.

Maybe I should skip work tomorrow. In any case, he had already been planning on not accepting jobs for awhile. He could conveniently stay home to watch his wife play with their daughters. He might as well stay home and manage the tools auctioned online. The sales seemed to be doing well lately and could be considered a rather good source of side income.

With that in consideration, Jiang Qibing said, ”Tomorrow, the boss will go overseas for a period of time. I can work from home for now.”

Hearing that, Jiang Yu said rather happily, ”Really? That's great. You can help me watch Jiang Jiang and Xiao Xue. In the meantime, I can focus on stewing soup for Ziya to recover his strength.”

Jiang Qibing agreed with a smile, but then he asked doubtfully, ”Where's Ziya? Hasn't he returned from the hospital?”

”He just called and said he needs to head over to Jiu Ge.”

With his plan to return home and talk with Ziya dashed, he couldn't help muttering, ”Why is he running about while injured?”

Jiang Yu also complained along with him, ”I also told him that. He's only just gotten injured by a stray bullet. It's such a frightening thing to happen. Why isn't he scared? Shouldn't he at least hide away at home for awhile?”

”Boys shouldn't be that scared of things.” Hearing Jiang Yu say that, Jiang Qibing couldn't help dissuading her, ”If he hid at home like that, afraid to go out, it'd be my turn to nag at him.”

Hearing that, Jiang Yu rolled her eyes at her husband. ”I'm going to finish stir-frying the remaining dishes. Go put the cakes in the fridge and help me carry out the soup while you're at it.”

”Yes, dear wife.” Jiang Qibing smiled as he followed his wife into the kitchen. He didn't forget to turn and tell the two girls, ”Wait in the living room for dinner. Don't play around!”

”Yes, Bàbi!”

”Okay, Bàba.”

The two little girls obediently nodded in agreement, yet when Jiang Qibing lowered his head and saw the twins, a sliver of doubt flashed across his mind. He felt like something wasn't quite right…

”Hubby?” Jiang Yu poked her head out of the kitchen in puzzlement.

Jiang Qibing abruptly returned to himself. He smiled and rubbed the heads of the two girls and simultaneously called out, ”Coming” to his wife. Then, he quickly walked into the kitchen.

The two girls stood silently in the living room. One of them lowered her voice and asked worriedly, ”Jiang Jiang, Bàba looked weird just now. Has he figured out that something's strange?”

Jiang Jiang nodded. ”But at least Bàbi is a lot easier to trick than Gēge. We can't trick Gēge at all.”

Xiao Xue pouted and said, ”In the beginning, you clearly said that everyone would be tricked, yet in the end, we could only trick Māma.”

Could only trick… Jiang Yu, huh?

Jiang Jiang hesitated but decided not to think too deeply about that question, or else it'd get worse the more she thought about it.

”It's your fault since you're not a lie yet. Even the illusion of the neighbor across from us has already turned into a lie!” Jiang Jiang complained, ”Why are you so slow at it? If you're only an illusion, it's really easy to get discovered. I don't know how long we can keep it from Bàbi.”

”Go ask Ziya-gēge!” Xiao Xue said in discontentment, ”He already turned the butler across from us into a lie, yet he can't turn me into a lie as well.”

Jiang Jiang frowned, but she didn't have a good solution either. She could only say, ”From now on, you're going to use a subst.i.tute body at home. At all other times, go stay by Gēge's side. Gēge is really powerful. He'll definitely be able to turn you into a lie! Besides, if you don't hurry and become a lie, you might not be able to keep it from Bàbi for much longer.”

Hearing that, Xiao Xue could only nod.

Worried, Jiang Jiang said, ”Also, I'm afraid I won't be able to help you anymore in the future.”

”Why not?” Xiao Xue was stunned, deeply afraid that Jiang Jiang didn't want to help her anymore. If so, what could a mere illusion like her do?

”I feel like I've been forgetting more and more things lately…”

At this time, the husband and wife in the kitchen were chattering as they walked into the living room. Jiang Jiang could only shut her mouth and stop discussing their problem.

Forgetting was the best. Jiang Jiang knew that, yet she also felt that she couldn't forget everything just yet to focus on being a little girl. There still seemed to be something that wouldn't allow her to do so; however, she had already forgotten the reason.

What's more was how she had Xiao Xue to consider now, too.

Eh? Can it be that that ”reason” isn't Xiao Xue then? Jiang Jiang frowned, trying to remember, but she gained nothing from it.

”Looks like Ziya really isn't returning home for dinner.” Jiang Yu worried, ”I wonder if running about like this will affect his injuries. When he returns home tonight, I'm going to nag at him.”

”He still needs to go to cla.s.s. It's not like he can stay home.”

Actually, Jiang Qibing was a bit worried, too. He had returned earlier exactly because he wanted to talk with Jiang Ziya. He was somewhat disappointed he hadn't accomplished what he wanted, but hearing that Jiang Yu wanted to ”nag” at Ziya, as the brother-in-law, he felt he shouldn't add insult to injury.

That's true… Jiang Yu began feeling that maybe she was worrying too much. It was just that she and her brother had only had each other for so long. She really couldn't help worrying about him. She believed that if she had been the one hurt, Jiang Ziya would definitely be an even bigger worrywart than her.

Jiang Yu lifted Xiao Xue onto a chair and watched Jiang Qibing lift Jiang Jiang onto the other chair. The two of them looked at their pair of twin daughters with a smile, and then they smiled at each other before they sat down to eat.

”Hubby, after we eat, why don't we head over to the neighbors a bit?”

Jiang Yu had never followed the rule of ”not conversing while eating.” Jiang Qibing was usually busy with his work and had very little time to chat. If they couldn't even talk during meals, then their family would grow apart.

”Over where? You mean the neighbors across from us?” Jiang Qibing looked curiously at his young wife. It was rare to hear about her interacting with others. This was also what made his heart ache the most for his wife.

Jiang Yu nodded. Speaking of today. ”An author and her boyfriend live across from us. Oh, and her boyfriend's little brother was also here today. Both brothers are foreigners! Both of them have good manners. They even went out of their way to come over today to give their regards! We should go over and return the goodwill.”

…Foreigners? Jiang Qibing nodded, a bit surprised that two foreigners were actually living across from them. He recalled that there seemed to be a woman living there, but when he tried to think about it more, he actually couldn't recall the appearance of the neighbor at all.

”Māma, I don't want to go!” Xiao Xue immediately pouted and complained.