In the spacious living room, on the gray sofa, two people were squeezed together, with the face of the one on top matching the one on the television.

When Lin Qingye’s words fell, Xu Zhinan’s pushing motion paused, and somehow she lost her strength.

Instead, Lin Qingye gave a low laugh, his arm embracing her waist once more before finally sitting up.

Xu Zhinan quickly sat up as well, tugging at the hem of her shirt.

From the corner of her eye, she caught Lin Qingye licking his lower lip, with a slight smile at the corner of his mouth. The painful expression hidden in his earlier words was no longer visible.

Xu Zhinan withdrew her gaze and belatedly rubbed the back of her hand heavily against her neck twice.

Following her movement, Lin Qingye turned to look at her, then moved closer, grabbing her wrist and pulling it down, lowering his head to examine her closely.

Fearing he might suddenly do something excessive again, Xu Zhinan was about to move away from him when he gripped her chin and lifted it.

The black hair on his forehead was like raven feathers. He examined her carefully for a while, then said, “It seems a bit red.”

“…”

He pressed his palm against her neck, his thumb touching the red mark twice. “It should be fine. It’ll fade soon.”

“…”

Xu Zhinan didn’t want to talk to him anymore. She swiftly got up from the sofa, went to the bedroom, stuffed the design drawings into her backpack, gathered her things, and came out, standing in front of him. “I’m going back now.”

She was fuming, with a stern face, wearing a backpack with her hand clutching the strap, looking just like a child. It was somewhat comical.

Lin Qingye laughed and looked up at her from the sofa. “Are you angry?”

She pressed her lips together without speaking.

Lin Qingye reached out to hook her finger, but she shook him off. He tried again, and after several back-and-forth attempts, Xu Zhinan finally allowed it. His index finger hooked her pinky, swaying back and forth a couple of times.

“My fault. I’m sorry. I just couldn’t help myself.”

“What couldn’t you help?” Xu Zhinan was humbled by his shamelessness. “You did it on purpose.”

“I didn’t. If it were on purpose, the redness wouldn’t fade for two or three days.” He pointed at her neck.

“…”

Lin Qingye picked up his car keys and stood up. “Let’s go. Should I take you to the dormitory or home?”

“Dormitory.”

He walked to the entryway, putting on his hat and mask.

Xu Zhinan stood behind him, waiting for him to lock the door, but caught a glimpse of the dim emotion that flashed in his eyes as he lowered them. Then he raised his hand to press his nose bridge and pulled down the brim of his hat.

His voice returned to normal. “Let’s go.”

Xu Zhinan followed him thoughtfully.

Again, she recalled his earlier words—”She was never good to me. Why should I apologize to her?”

At that moment, he must have wanted to confide in someone, which was why he showed her that side of himself. But he quickly regretted it, so he promptly let go of her and pretended nothing had happened.

They got in the car and drove in silence to the school gate.

Xu Zhinan suddenly asked, “Do you want to tell me about your parents?” She asked stiffly, without any preamble.

“What about them?”

“What did your father come to talk to you about just now?”

Lin Qingye: “Did you hear?”

“A little bit.” Xu Zhinan chose her words carefully. “He wants you to apologize to your mother?”

He twisted the corner of his mouth in self-mockery, his eyes downcast, his bangs hiding the indescribable emotions in his eyes.

Lin Qingye had never told anyone about his family.

In many people’s eyes, there was nothing to criticize about his family. His father, Lin Guancheng, was the chairman of Minsheng Group; his mother, Fu Xueming, was also Lin Guancheng’s only wife.

The couple’s relationship had always been good. As a husband, Lin Guancheng was undoubtedly a very good one.

Lin Guancheng was a model of self-made success. He wasn’t born in Yan City but moved there with his parents for work, transferring his school registration as well.

It was at a school in Yan City that he met Fu Xueming.

Young Fu Xueming was equally beautiful, like a princess, wearing pretty little dresses, every part of her, from her hair to her nails, neat and exquisite. She was driven to and from school by a car from her family—a shiny black sedan, grand and imposing.

Lin Guancheng was from the countryside, but he was handsome, had excellent grades, and a good personality, making him popular with the girls at school.

So some school bullies didn’t study and disliked him, mocking and ridiculing him for being from the countryside.

That day after school, those bullies surrounded him, pushing and shoving, their words eroding his self-esteem.

It was at this moment that Fu Xueming appeared.

She was famous at school. Everyone knew that Fu Xueming was not only beautiful, but her family was also extremely wealthy.

Her superiority was innate, and those bullies didn’t dare to object to her words.

Lin Guancheng had a secret crush on Fu Xueming ever since.

But he never really pursued Fu Xueming. In fact, during their three years of high school, he had exchanged fewer than ten sentences with her. After high school graduation, Lin Guancheng learned that Fu Xueming had gone abroad for college, and they didn’t see each other for several years.

The next time they met, they were both grown up, and Lin Guancheng had already achieved success in his entrepreneurship.

He saw Fu Xueming at an event. She was already married, entering the venue with a smile, arm in arm with the man beside her. When she met Lin Guancheng, she still had some impression of him and took the initiative to ask, “Weren’t you Lin Guancheng, who attended high school in Yan City?”

Lin Guancheng smiled and said, “Yes.”

Fu Xueming smiled again and asked, “Do you remember me?”

“Of course,” Lin Guancheng said without changing his expression. “Fu Xueming. You were the talk of the school back then. Half the boys in school had a crush on you at that time.”

The man standing next to her turned his head at these words, bending slightly to tease in her ear: “So popular, huh?”

Fu Xueming blushed with embarrassment, gave his arm a light tap, and said to Lin Guancheng, “You’re exaggerating.”

After exchanging a few words, Fu Xueming took her husband’s arm and went elsewhere to greet others.

In the days that followed, Minsheng Group gradually expanded, eventually dominating the market. It was during this time that Lin Guancheng discovered that Fu Xueming’s husband’s company was falsifying its financial records.

He didn’t report it, even though it was his biggest competitor at the time.

But in the end, the truth couldn’t be hidden. The financial fraud was eventually exposed, causing the company’s stock to plummet and creating one-sided pressure from public opinion that piled up.

The social impact was significant. The Securities Regulatory Commission and various departments began to investigate the company’s financial situation, resulting in a declaration of bankruptcy.

All of this happened within a month.

Tens of thousands of employees under the company protested to get their wages back, blocking the entrance to his home every day. Eventually, her husband couldn’t bear the pressure and committed suicide by jumping from a building.

All the mess was left to Fu Xueming.

Fu Xueming’s family had been quite wealthy when she was young, but over the years, with the rapid development of business, the corporate giants in Yan City had changed again and again. The Fu family also couldn’t handle this debt despite their best efforts.

The first time Lin Guancheng met Fu Xueming, she was a princess, and he was a poor boy.

The second time they met, he had power and confidence, but she was already married.

And now, Fu Xueming was distraught and needed someone’s help.

Lin Guancheng had been too busy with work over the years to have a girlfriend, only to realize in the end that he still loved Fu Xueming just as much.

The business community witnessed the former competitor, Minsheng Group, step in to resolve the various debt situations left behind. Others were stunned, unable to understand the purpose behind Lin Guancheng’s series of moves, thinking it was a business operation, but they really couldn’t figure out what benefits he could gain.

The purpose was simple—just to save Fu Xueming from her difficult situation.

Afterward, Lin Guancheng began to pursue Fu Xueming.

Fu Xueming was already grateful to him and didn’t reject his invitations. They got along quite well during that month, but it was then that she discovered she was pregnant.

The child in her womb certainly couldn’t be Lin Guancheng’s.

At that time, Lin Guancheng said to her: “Marry me. We’ll raise the child together. I will treat it as my own.”

So, everyone saw Fu Xueming marry another rising star less than four months after her husband’s bankruptcy and suicide. Now, countless wealthy young ladies privately admired Lin Guancheng, only to have him snatched away by a woman on her second marriage. Naturally, rumors spread.

Lin Guancheng was furious about this and lost his temper once. His position was indeed becoming increasingly stable, and his words carried weight. Gradually, no one dared to speak up.

A few months later, Shiheng was born.

The name registered on the household registration was Lin Shiheng, but Fu Xueming usually just called him Shiheng. Her former husband’s surname was Shi.

…

Lin Qingye only learned about all this later.

He was born three years after Fu Xueming and Lin Guancheng married, and gradually he could vaguely sense that Fu Xueming cared more about Shiheng than him, smiling more as well.

But he never thought much about it, just assuming that Shiheng’s excellent grades and gentle personality made him more likable to their mother.

Lin Qingye had a problem since childhood—he was stubborn, or perhaps obstinate.

Since Fu Xueming was indifferent to him, he didn’t eagerly seek to gain her love.

He grew up freely and wildly. As long as he didn’t go astray, Lin Guancheng didn’t place many restrictions on him.

Fu Xueming didn’t care about him, and Lin Guancheng didn’t either. Laughably, it was Shiheng who would look after him.

Shiheng was three years older than him and would sometimes take the initiative to ask if he had any homework problems he couldn’t solve, offering to teach him.

The teenage Lin Qingye would cross his legs, flip through his homework notebook with a rustle, the pages curling at several corners, and say: “Who needs your teaching? Bookworm.”

He didn’t like Shiheng because of Fu Xueming.

Fu Xueming overheard this and frowned, rebuking him: “How rude. Is that how you talk to your brother? I want to see what you can accomplish in the future if you hate studying so much.”

Lin Qingye snorted coldly, turning his head away, refusing to look at either of them.

He found out about Shiheng’s true background by chance when he overheard the housemaid talking. The maid had been taking care of Lin Guancheng’s daily needs since before he got married, including looking after Fu Xueming during both pregnancies, making her relationship with the family the closest.

Just by calculating the time of Shiheng’s birth, many secrets became clear.

Twelve-year-old Lin Qingye stood outside the door, listening to her chat about this with other servants in the house.

He immediately understood why there was such a big difference in Fu Xueming’s attitude toward him and Shiheng.

In the past, he could still deceive himself, telling himself it was just because he didn’t want to study hard. It was because he didn’t care about Fu Xueming’s love.

Fu Xueming didn’t love him; it was his active choice. If he wanted to, if he tried a little harder, Fu Xueming would still love him.

But now he finally realized it wasn’t because his grades weren’t as good as Shiheng’s, nor because he wasn’t as well-behaved as Shiheng. It was decided from the very beginning—no matter how good his grades were or how well-behaved he was, he would never be the son Fu Xueming favored.

Lin Qingye couldn’t accept this.

He was Lin Guancheng’s biological son. Why was that person the most beloved one?

That evening, Shiheng came to find him again. Like a good big brother who actively coaxes his little brother to improve their relationship, he saw Lin Qingye rarely doing homework and approached to look, pointing at one spot and saying, “Little brother, you made a mistake here.”

Lin Qingye twirled his pen, turning his head to look at him, his mind filled with what he had heard the maid say that afternoon.

He suddenly asked, “Do you know who your father is?”

“What?” Shiheng didn’t react.

Lin Qingye told him everything he had heard that afternoon, without any reservation.

Lin Guancheng’s words, “I will treat it as my own,” were indeed kept. He was equally good to Shiheng, so much so that Shiheng had never thought that Lin Guancheng wasn’t his biological father.

Shiheng stepped back, unwilling to accept it. “Impossible.”

“Do you know why she only calls you Shiheng and never Lin Shiheng? Because your father’s name is Shi Zaiyuan.”

Lin Qingye vented all his dissatisfaction with Fu Xueming onto Shiheng.

The name Shi Zaiyuan wasn’t unfamiliar. He occasionally heard his mother mention it when chatting with his father.

But he still didn’t want to accept it. Lin Qingye snorted lightly: “If you don’t believe me, go ask Fu Xueming.”

Shiheng went to ask, and Fu Xueming didn’t know how to explain. She couldn’t bring herself to say that Shi Zaiyuan wasn’t his father, which was essentially an admission.

That night, Shiheng left home and had an accident—a car crash. The other driver was drunk. Shiheng couldn’t be saved.

Xu Zhinan listened to him calmly recount the past, but her emotions couldn’t remain as calm as his.

She had never heard that Lin Qingye had a brother—a brother with so many complications who had passed away early.

Shiheng was the source of the conflict between him and Fu Xueming all these years.

But in his narration, Xu Zhinan could feel his deeply buried pain, and several times he didn’t say “Shiheng” but “my brother.”

In Lin Qingye’s words, Xu Zhinan saw an excellent and kind Shiheng, and a dark, embarrassed Lin Qingye.

He was in self-loathing.

Shiheng’s passing was a disaster for Fu Xueming, but wasn’t it the same for Lin Qingye?

From a young age, his father was too busy with work to care for him, and his mother favored his brother and treated him coldly. The only one in that house who showed him kindness was Shiheng.

But he saw this kindness as charity, refusing it with disdain, yet deep down, he still regarded Shiheng as his brother.

Lin Qingye grew up in such a family, being treated coldly by his mother, experiencing such obvious favoritism and disparity from a young age. He simply didn’t know how to express his affection.

In his view, expressing affection meant showing weakness.

He refused to show weakness.

He made himself cold and unfriendly. As he grew up, though he was no longer so sharp-edged that he cut everyone who came close, he still hadn’t changed much.

Just like how Xu Zhinan had followed him for three years but always felt he was distant, neither here nor there.

She couldn’t be sure if he liked her or not. If he did like her, how much did he like her?

So Fu Xueming could cry in pain for Shiheng’s death, but Lin Qingye couldn’t. He just shut himself away, staying stuck in that night when he had maliciously destroyed Shiheng.

He could only swallow every tear back into his stomach, torturing himself.

“Do you regret it?” Xu Zhinan asked softly.

“What’s there for me to regret? It was Fu Xueming’s fault. She was the one who confirmed Shiheng’s identity. She was the one who didn’t stop Shiheng from going out that night.” He was still stubborn, refusing to look at his true feelings.

Xu Zhinan quietly looked at him for a while, then said, “Indeed, it wasn’t your fault. It was all her fault.”

Lin Qingye paused, raising his head in surprise.

The surprise in his eyes unmistakably revealed his true thoughts about the question.

Of course, he regretted it.

But after it happened, everyone blamed him, saying it was his fault.

They questioned why he would say such things to his brother;

They questioned how he could repay kindness with ingratitude when his brother was so good to him;

They questioned how he could be so bad.

So he stubbornly refused to admit it, feeling deep down that he had caused Shiheng’s death, yet still pretending not to care, to be indifferent.

But now Xu Zhinan was saying it wasn’t his fault.

Lin Qingye’s first reaction upon hearing someone say it wasn’t his fault was suspicion.

“Your brother’s accident wasn’t your fault,” Xu Zhinan repeated.

He raised the corner of his mouth, looking forlorn, both hands on the steering wheel, his head lowered. “It was because I told him those things that he went out.”

“He had an accident because the driver was drunk driving, not because he went out.” Xu Zhinan said, “The reason you said those things to him was because of Fu Xueming’s favoritism and coldness. If she hadn’t been like that, you wouldn’t have told him.”

He rested his forehead on the steering wheel, as if sinking into heavy, painful memories.

“By your logic, I didn’t do anything wrong at all.”

His tone was mocking, clearly disbelieving.

Everyone said he was wrong, and he insisted he wasn’t.

But when Xu Zhinan said he wasn’t wrong, he fell into deep self-blame and disgust.

Looking at Lin Qingye like this, Xu Zhinan suddenly didn’t know what to say.

The one radiating brilliance was him, and the one stuck in the mire was also him.

Although what Lin Qingye did at that time was indeed wrong, she just couldn’t stand on the moral high ground, joining those who condemned his cold-heartedness and disregard for brotherly feelings.

He didn’t want to be like that either.

When Shiheng was alive, who would compensate for the neglect Lin Qingye suffered?

After Shiheng’s death, how could the criticism and trauma he endured be remedied?

Everyone criticized how the 13-year-old Lin Qingye could do such a thing, but no one looked at how Fu Xueming, a mother, could treat two children this way.

Xu Zhinan recalled Fu Xueming’s words at the police station, filled with disgust and hatred: “Even if you died, you would deserve it.”

A mother who could say such things to her child—she couldn’t imagine how obvious the past favoritism must have been, to make one’s heart go cold.

The car fell silent again, and Lin Qingye kept his head down without moving.

Having truly opened up about his shameful past for the first time, his breathing was a bit tight.

Xu Zhinan reached into her pocket and unexpectedly found a piece of candy.

Purple candy wrapper, hazelnut chocolate.

She had always liked this kind of candy since she was little.

Lin Qingye only felt his sleeve being tugged. He straightened up, looked down, and saw Xu Zhinan extending her hand toward him, a piece of candy lying in her snow-white palm.

“When I was little and unhappy or throwing a tantrum, my dad would always buy this kind of candy to comfort me. Every time I ate one, my mood would become especially good.”

Lin Qingye took the candy and put it in his mouth.

The sweetness of the chocolate and the bitter almond flavor simultaneously stimulated his taste buds.

He crunched it a few times and swallowed.

Xu Zhinan looked into his eyes for a moment, then suddenly moved closer, gently wrapping her arms around his waist, hugging him.

Lin Qingye paused, not reacting, not hugging her back, just letting her embrace him like this.

“That incident wasn’t your fault,” she said.

Xu Zhinan wasn’t sure if he was at fault or not, but she couldn’t be objective about this.

Perhaps there were some mistakes made, to some extent.

But she still chose to tell him straightforwardly that he wasn’t wrong.

Lin Qingye deserved to receive some unconditional favoritism. Whether he was wrong or not, she wanted to tell him he wasn’t.

The favoritism and preferential love he didn’t get as a child, Xu Zhinan wanted to give him now.

She wasn’t good at expressing herself, so she just repeated, “It wasn’t your fault.”

Lin Qingye hugged her back, taking control, almost folding her into his embrace, his neck lowered, his head buried in her shoulder.

“Ah Nan,” he said in a muffled voice.

Xu Zhinan could feel his complex emotions now. She patted his back, then let her hand slide up to ruffle his hair, comforting him like a big dog.

She replied, “Qingye-ge.”