“Hide in a mine? Absolutely not, not, not…” Tan Xiao shook his head repeatedly. “I can tell right away you don’t have experience! If you hide in there and the cat comes after you, there’s nowhere to run! Trust me — the roadside is best, especially a crossroads. Even if you get spotted, you can take off running! That’s how we always hid when we got separated in a fight!”

Shen Fei’s eye twitched, his feelings deeply complicated.

He could not understand how his brilliant and capable cousin had ended up with someone like this… this street brawler.

One had to know — among all the cousins and siblings in the Shen family, Shen Mo had always been an idol-like figure.

When they were playing in the mud and jumping rope, Shen Mo walked past them, cool and composed, and the adults would say: Look at Shen Mo — he got into a top-tier school!

When they were grinding through their books and exams, Shen Mo walked past them, cool and composed, and the adults would say: Look at Shen Mo — he skipped a grade through exceptional achievement!

When they at last graduated and worked hard to forge their careers, Shen Mo appeared on television, cool and composed, and the adults would say: Look at Shen Mo — he’s serving the nation!

So all this time, Shen Fei had looked up to his cousin as the lighthouse of his life — a beacon in the dark that parted the fog of existence and guided him forward!

But now!

He had sunk to rubbing elbows with a street thug?!

Was this still the cousin he had in mind?!

“Xiao Fei, you and Tan Xiao go over to the mine.” Shen Mo said.

Shen Fei blinked. “…Huh?”

Shen Mo said: “The path toward the mine can’t accommodate the wheelchair. I’ll take Weiwei to look inside the castle.”

Before Shen Fei could react, he watched helplessly as Shen Mo pushed Bai Youwei away in the direction of the castle.

“Hey… wait, I… you… how…” Shen Fei was baffled.

Tan Xiao swung an arm around his neck. “Come on! Let Big Bro Xiao show you how to scout a location before a fight!”

Shen Mo and Bai Youwei were getting farther and farther away. And then — it wasn’t clear what Bai Youwei said — but Shen Mo stopped, bent down, and picked her up! Then —

Then walked away carrying her!

“He’s carrying her now?!” Shen Fei’s eyes went wider still. “How is he… how… why is he carrying her…”

“Oh, what’s weird about carrying her?” Tan Xiao dragged him toward the mine. “It’s not like he’s going to carry you, is it? Come on, let’s go~”

“…” Shen Fei was dragged away in reluctant bewilderment.

…

Shen Mo carried Bai Youwei toward the castle, stepping out of the blazing sun and into the shade of the trees. By a rainbow-colored bench beneath the boughs, he set her down.

“Are you feeling better now?” he asked. “Still hot?”

Bai Youwei listlessly nodded. “My back is soaked through with sweat.”

“Why spread out a blanket in this heat.” Shen Mo could barely bring himself to comment on her choice. He said flatly: “I’ll go take the blanket off.”

“Don’t.” Bai Youwei frowned. “Even if you take it off, sitting out here is just as hot — the fundamental problem is the weather.”

Shen Mo was at a loss. “What do you want then?”

“Carry me.” Bai Youwei stretched a hand out toward him, perfectly unapologetic. “We’re going inside the castle anyway, and the stairs there mean the wheelchair won’t be of any use.”

Shen Mo couldn’t help but smile. “Does being carried make it less hot?”

Bai Youwei asked him in turn: “Are you hot?”

Shen Mo said: “Not particularly.”

“There you go~” she said with great conviction. “Heat is transferred — if you’re not hot, my heat transfers to you, and then I won’t be hot anymore.”

“And what if I get hot?” Shen Mo asked, amused.

Bai Youwei looked at him, her eyes sweeping him slowly from head to toe, “If you get hot, you can take your shirt off.”

Shen Mo: “…”

He was silent a moment, then picked her up and walked into the castle.

He really shouldn’t engage with her in such pointless conversations.

—