Chapter 29: The 36 Strategies - Sneak through Chen Cang

"Big brother, it's me..."

The shadow suddenly spoke and it was Jiang Shixu's voice.

Jiang Yan retracted the hand that he was about to throw something with.

He knew about Jiang Shixu's condition; he barely ate and was skin and bones. He was so timid that if Jiang Yan hurt him by throwing something, the old man would hang him from the ceiling and beat him.

So, he resentfully pulled his hand back.

"Jiang Shixu, why aren't you sleeping in the middle of the night? Are you here by my door on Jiang Li's orders?"

"No, big brother." Jiang Shixu took a step forward, his bloodless face emerging in the dim room. "I can't sleep on my own."

Unexpectedly, Jiang Yan was startled again.

It wasn't that he was cowardly; it was just that the guy looked so unsettling in the middle of the night.

With dead, dried-out hair and frighteningly pale skin.

Even though his eyes were large, they were deeply sunken, making the dark circles under his eyelids even more prominent.

A perfectly good skin and the excellent genes from his second uncle's family had turned him into this ghostly figure.

Jiang Yan clutched the pillow beneath him. "You, don't come any closer. Stay there, don't move."

"But big brother... I, I really can't sleep." Jiang Shixu's voice got lower and lower, turning ethereal in the silent night.

Jiang Yan shivered, his brows furrowing and unfurling.

"If you can't sleep, see a doctor. Why bother me? Go away, I want to sleep now."

"Big brother, sometimes I really envy you." Jiang Shixu said in a low voice, speaking haltingly, "You can carefreely go to different places every day, whereas I, I can only stay in that small room every day, unable to do anything but stare at the ceiling or count the pieces of broken clocks in my drawer."

At this moment, Jiang Yan sensed something was amiss, his voice pressing down.

"What, what are you talking about? What's actually wrong?"

Could this kid be thinking of something desperate?

But just then, he couldn't move!

"That Shixu." Jiang Yan coughed softly, "Actually, you don't need to envy me. Sometimes, I even envy you—you see, you have both a mom and a dad—"

As soon as he said it, Jiang Yan regretted it.

After all, having Jiang Shixu's parents was as good as having none, and his illness was also because of their neglect.

Sure enough, when he looked up, he met Jiang Shixu's plaintive gaze, which scared him out of his wits.

"Shixu, you..."

"Big brother, I have only one unfulfilled wish. You must grant it for me."

Jiang Yan's mind was completely blank.

The pain and exhaustion on his body, along with the fright he had just experienced, made him feel like a tightly strung wire, ready to snap with just a little more pressure.

So, without thinking, he said:

"You, tell me. As long as I can do it, anything is fine."

"Can you sign something for me?" Jiang Shixu raised a few sheets of paper in his hand.

Jiang Yan was stunned.

"Sign what? Did you cause trouble at school and need a guardian's signature on a letter of guarantee that the teacher made you write?"

After all, he had done this hundreds of times when he was in school.

But hadn't Jiang Shixu dropped out of school half a year ago?

Jiang Shixu floated forward, laying the papers in front of him.

"Big brother, are you unwilling?"

His mournful expression seemed to signal that if he were rejected, he might very well jump out of the wide-open window.

Jiang Yan did not dare to risk it and just picked up the pen.

However, just as he was about to flip through the papers, Jiang Shixu's pallid, cold hand covered them.

"Big brother, hurry up and sign, and then you can look."

In his dizziness, that voice sounded like the bell of doom.

He glanced at the pale face in front of him, and Jiang Yan hastily scribbled down his name, then handed over the stuff with a gloomy face.

"Here, here, here, just go away."

But Jiang Shixu pulled out half of the papers and placed them on his bedside.

"Big brother, I'm leaving now. Good night, and I hope you have sweet dreams."

The window closed, and the door shut behind them, leaving Jiang Yan with a complex expression on his face.

Damn it, how could he possibly have good dreams after that?

Angry and annoyed, he threw all the papers onto the floor.

"Whoever wants to look at them can look. I definitely won't!"

-

Having left Jiang Yan's room, Jiang Shixu's mood lightened instantly, and he dashed downstairs with eyes bright as jewels, then handed the stuff to Jiang Li.

"Sister, I've completed the task."

Jiang Li carefully reviewed the contract pages, and upon seeing Jiang Yan's flamboyant signature on the last page, she nodded in satisfaction.

"Well done. I'll make you something delicious tomorrow."

After that, she placed her hand on the Records of the Grand Historian lying on her lap.

The page she had open brightly bore the words —

"To repair the plank road in the open while sneaking through the pass of Chen Cang."

It was the eighth of the thirty-six stratagems, confusing the enemy openly and then secretly outmaneuvering them to achieve one's objective.

Hearing Jiang Li's praise, delight instantly lit up in Jiang Shixu's eyes, but concern soon followed, and he crouched worriedly in front of the sitting Jiang Li.

"What if he realizes and takes his anger out on you?"

"It won't happen," Jiang Li said. "He has already experienced what happens when he loses his temper with me today. I'm sure he wouldn't want to misalign his other leg."

This would also give him a chance to quietly lie in bed for a while.

A surge of emotion filled Jiang Shixu's eyes.

His sister really loved him the most and was never harsh to him.

-

As noon approached, Jiang Yan finally woke up.

The disturbance by Jiang Shixu left him unable to sleep until the early morning.

The servants, too wary to disturb him, had left food next to his bed before quickly departing.

Leaning on the bedside, Jiang Yan struggled to clean himself up and tried to eat the seafood porridge that could comfort him.

However, his peripheral vision unintentionally caught sight of those papers on the floor.

A line of bold black text caught his attention.

— ["Shining Transformation Trip" Variety Show Agreement]

Jiang Yan spat out a mouthful of porridge and grabbed the papers.

When he saw the signature he had scribbled on the very last page, his whole body began to tremble.

"Jiang Li!!!"

A screeching roar tore through the air, and Jiang Yan, disregarding everything, made his way downstairs from the fourth floor, leaning on his crutches.

At that moment, Jiang Li was dining elegantly and leisurely in the dining room, just like the previous night.

But Jiang Yan's rage was even more intense than the night before.

Fuming, he limped over to the dining table with the contract, but instinctively stepped back the moment Jiang Li glanced up.

Learning from experience, Jiang Yan chose to stand next to Lin Manru this time, and with a fierce and angry gaze, he sized up Jiang Li and Jiang Shixu before slamming the contract down onto the table with a "slap."