“Even?” The man’s gaze dropped to her clothing. His laugh was pressed very low. “Does that mean we’re also getting even about the clothes?”

Yan Yunning crossed her arms over her chest and stepped back a pace. “How much does the shirt cost? I’ll compensate you.”

Xuan Yanyu shot her an oblique look, drawing out his words. “No need. You’re right — returning it the same way works just fine.”

“……” Yan Yunning’s eyes went wide, and her ears burned red to the roots. When it came down to it, how many times had he undone her fine robes in the past?

The man clicked his tongue lightly. “Wasn’t it you who said getting even? Changed your mind already?”

Yan Yunning blinked. “Oh? Did you just say we’re going to eat? As it happens, I’m hungry too — shall we go together?”

Xuan Yanyu’s lips curved upward in response to the smile that reached her eyes. “Reluctantly?”

“Not reluctantly at all. I’m very happy to go.”

The man raised an eyebrow, his eyes holding a concealed smile as he looked at her. “Then why are you still not getting in? Are you waiting for me to carry you up?”

“Cough.” Ye Chen choked and began coughing. Noticing that Xuan Yanyu and Yan Yunning’s gazes had simultaneously snapped onto him, he forced down his coughing fit with sheer effort, his face flushed a deep crimson from holding it in.

Ye’an looked down wordlessly at the toes of his shoes, regarding Ye Chen with his lack of composure in the face of a big scene.

It was only words — it wasn’t as if he’d actually carried her.

Not that it was any surprise that Ye Chen, who’d never seen a grand spectacle, was in shock. Even he himself was already in a relationship, and the Young Master Xuan was still alone.

The three of them had followed the Young Master Xuan since childhood, and none of them had ever seen him be this patient with any girl.

——

By the time Xuan Yanyu and Yan Yunning arrived at the private room, they were more than an hour late. The room was filled with people, with only two empty seats remaining.

One was the head seat, and the other was the spot between Nan Chu and Shen Ruoyi.

Yan Yunning only had to look for a moment before she understood exactly where she ought to sit.

“Yanyu, did something come up on the way? Why have you arrived so late — everyone has been waiting for you for a long time.” Shiyao carried on as though that clarifying statement had never been posted, assuming the role of hostess and attending to Xuan Yanyu’s guests throughout.

In truth, there was no need for her to attend to anyone at all — the private room had staff to pour tea and bring water. She simply chose to take over the staff’s work herself.

There were many people present, and Xuan Yanyu couldn’t completely ignore Shiyao without giving any face at all. He gave a brief nod as acknowledgement.

“Yanyu.”

“Yanyu.”

“……”

Amid the succession of greetings, Yan Yunning sensed someone glaring at her. She looked up and met the fire-blazing gaze of her brother. Though she didn’t know why, she felt a guilty conscience and lowered her head.

“Yanyu, what happened to your shirt? Is this a new look?” Mu Heng studied him for a moment and couldn’t help but ask.

As far as he knew, Yanyu was always immaculate in his appearance. So why today had he shown up to a gathering wearing a shirt that was missing two cufflinks, with a third hanging by a thread and about to fall off at any moment?

Perhaps he was just out of touch with fashion. Was this the trend now — wearing it like this?

Yan Yunning quietly created a small distance between herself and Xuan Yanyu.

She now understood why her brother had been glaring at her. Back at their home entrance, her brother had exchanged words with Xuan Yanyu, and at that point Xuan Yanyu’s clothes had still been intact.

Whereas now…

The man’s gaze drifted lazily in Yan Yunning’s direction.

Yan Yunning wished she could crawl under the table right then and there, escaping the curious stares of everyone falling upon her.

“Ningning, stop standing there — come sit down.” Nan Chu laughed and spoke up, rescuing Yan Yunning from a level of awkwardness that had become truly unbearable.

Everyone in the room was sharp and perceptive. Without anyone needing to say it outright, they had all drawn their own conclusions.

Yan Yunning stole a glance at Yan Jingzhi. His glare back at her had grown even more cutting.

Yan Yunning: “……”

Would she even be able to go home today?

“Move your chair over and swap with Ningning.” Xuan Yanyu caught Yan Yunning’s arm just as she was about to take a step toward her seat, and his gaze drifted lazily toward Jiang Xian, seated to the left of the head seat.

Everyone was startled. They had dined with Shiyao quite a few times, and not once had they seen Yanyu so much as pull Shiyao’s chair out, let alone proactively arrange a seat change for her.

What… what was going on now?

Hadn’t Jingzhi asked them at the last gathering to put in a good word for his younger sister? Was that even still necessary?

“Oh… all right.” Jiang Xian stood up, puzzled, and dragged his chair over to switch places.

Xie Yan raised an eyebrow. “Yanyu, do you really need to bring the chair over just to swap seats?”

Xuan Yanyu looked at Xie Yan with an utterly expressionless gaze.

Xie Yan rubbed his chin and shut his mouth with a sheepish grin.

Was he implying he found the chair Jiang Xian had been sitting in unacceptable?

Once the seats were rearranged, under everyone’s stunned eyes, Xuan Yanyu half-pulled, half-guided Yan Yunning with an arm around her and settled her into the head seat, while he himself took the spot Jiang Xian had just vacated.

Perhaps sensing the odd looks from the group, he offered an explanation. “She’s the youngest among us. It’s only natural to look after her a little more.”

“Hahaha, so that’s what it is.”

“Understood — we get it.”

“Yanyu didn’t even need to say anything, we already knew — it’s about looking after your little sister.”

Pei Shuluo, Mu Shiqing, and Jiang Zhibai each chimed in one after another, picking up on Xuan Yanyu’s cue.

Pei Qingyan’s lips curved subtly upward. How peculiar — this was the first time he had ever seen someone look after a brother’s younger sister by putting her in the head seat.

Yan Yunning glanced at the man who had lowered his head to rinse his chopsticks and bowl. For one fleeting instant just now, she had thought with a trance-like feeling that Xuan Yanyu had remembered. But the very next second, that line of his — ‘the youngest among us deserves a little extra looking after’ — pulled her right back to reality.

Everyone had arrived. The staff began bringing out the dishes, and once they had finished serving, Xuan Yanyu picked several of the restaurant’s signature dishes using the rinsed chopsticks and placed them in the bowl in front of Yan Yunning.

Yan Yunning looked at him sideways.

The man shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat. “Didn’t you just say you were hungry? Go ahead and eat.”

Yan Yunning kept looking at him. Muscle memory? Was it muscle memory?

Xuan Yanyu’s throat moved. He pressed the chopsticks into Yan Yunning’s hand and let out a single word in a low murmur. “Eat.”

Yan Yunning: “……”

The others at the table widened their eyes, then widened them further. Could anyone make sense of a brother they’d known for over twenty years suddenly turning this attentive?

Yan Jingzhi, utterly without the will to go on, silently downed an entire cup of liquor.

He’d never seen Yanyu fuss over Zhaoran like this.

Without Shiyao in the picture, Yanyu and Ningning would be a perfect match. With Shiyao — paired with his own Ningning? Absolutely not.

It wasn’t only Yan Jingzhi who was troubled. Shiyao was unsettled too. She had still been scheming to have Xuan Yanyu raise the child she was carrying, and naturally she couldn’t stand to see him being attentive to another girl.

If he had a biological child of his own, how much consideration could he really spare for a friend’s child?

With that thought in mind, she turned toward Xuan Yanyu with a bright smile. “Yanyu, speaking of looking after the youngest — Shiyu is in her second year of university this year. She’s actually the youngest here, and the one most deserving of special care.”

The quiet murmurs that had been passing around the table cut off all at once, and everyone turned their scrutiny back and forth between Xuan Yanyu and Shiyao.

They were all the more curious now as to whether that statement had been genuine, or whether it had been issued because Yanyu’s father was dissatisfied with Shiyao.

“Yanyu, I never asked — I just brought my younger siblings along without a word. You don’t mind, do you?” Shiyao’s voice had a soft, slightly coaxing quality, and a smile still lingered at the corners of her eyes.

“Hello, Yanyu.”

“Hello, Yanyu.”

At Shiyao’s cued look, the dragon-and-phoenix twins Shiyu and Shijun Shuai obediently greeted Xuan Yanyu.

“Did I ever say that gatherings I host cannot include strangers?” Xuan Yanyu was focused on peeling the shrimp in his hands, his voice carrying no particular emotion.

Shiyao felt a flash of awkwardness, then quickly smiled again. “I know. It’s just that Shuai heard me mention Ningning and wanted to meet her — I thought the two of them might be a good match for each other, so I took the liberty of bringing him along.”