Jiang Wen had a slight fever, and slept until the afternoon before waking up. The heating was turned up high, and he’d sweated lightly all over.

The room was quiet; there was a light touch on his face. He struggled to open his eyes; the curtains were tightly drawn, the surroundings dim. Disoriented for a moment, Jiang Wen finally recognized the dark shape in front of the bed as Jiang Yurou.

He sat up slightly, his voice tired and hoarse: “How did you get over here.”

“Auntie Cai carried me over.”

“Done with your tutoring session?”

Jiang Yurou struggled to climb onto her brother’s bed, flopping onto his legs. “Finished ages ago! We’re about to get ready to eat now.”

Her legs weren’t fully mobile; Jiang Wen shifted over slightly, steadying her shoulders. “Where’s that older sister?”

“Tutor sister?”

Jiang Wen made a sound of acknowledgment, reached over and pulled the bedside wall lamp on. His lips were covered in dry, cracked skin; he rubbed at them with the back of his hand.

He picked up a cup to drink water, and heard Jiang Yurou say: “Sister already went home.”

“When did she leave?” Jiang Wen’s mouth pulled slightly away from the cup’s rim.

“Just now.”

Jiang Wen’s throat moved, and he tilted his head back to continue taking small sips, wetting his throat.

Jiang Yurou propped her chin up with both hands, watching him, “Brother, I asked her for you.”

“Asked what?”

“Asked tutor sister whether you or cousin Jing is more handsome!”

Swallowing the water down, Jiang Wen pretended to be casual: “Oh, what did she say.”

Jiang Yurou thought about it: “Sister said she’d personally message you the answer on WeChat.”

“Tell me?” Jiang Wen choked, coughing, set down the cup, and asked her a bit anxiously: “You told her I was the one who asked you to ask??!”

Jiang Yurou nodded her head, her big eyes blinking innocently, seeing nothing at all wrong with this: “Yep.”

“……”

Jiang Wen fell silent. He closed his eyes, opened them again, trying hard to compose himself.

Auntie Cai’s voice came from the door: “Did Xiaorou wake her brother up? It’s time to eat.”

Jiang Yurou called back: “Brother’s awake.”

Jiang Wen felt his head start to ache again. He rubbed his forehead, “Auntie Cai, carry her out first, I’ll come down once I’ve changed.”

After they left, Jiang Wen threw off the covers and got out of bed, stood up, sulked for a few seconds, then quickly grabbed the phone that was charging.

His finger touched the WeChat icon, then withdrew.

His head still felt a bit swollen; Jiang Wen sat on the edge of the bed with his legs apart, elbows resting on his knees.

Just then, his phone buzzed slightly; the vibration left his palm with a faintly numb sensation.

Xi Gaoyuan had sent a message:

Wen bro, what are you up to? Want to come out and hang [heart][heart]

Jiang Wen glanced at it, too lazy to reply, kept the same posture and zoned out for a while longer. After stewing over his worries, he tossed the phone face-down onto the bed, sluggishly getting dressed.

On his way downstairs, he opened up his message list. After a long stretch of mental preparation, he clicked open the chat window with Feng Ning:

Only a single sticker.

He leaned against the railing, held the phone up to his eyes, zoomed in on the image.

Bow. Down. Boy.—three big characters.

Jiang Yuyun passed by the living room, calling up from below: “Why are you standing there on the stairs, hurry down.”

Staring at it for a while, Jiang Wen found it hard to believe, sent back a question mark.

The reply came fast, another three sarcastic characters: Don’t get jealous

Composing himself a bit, Jiang Wen went downstairs, then sent a string of periods to her—

Fnn: You’re actually bothered about who’s more handsome, you and your cousin?—

W: …I’m not bothered—

Fnn: Then why’d you have your sister ask me?

At the dinner table, the servants were setting out the bowls and chopsticks. Jiang Wen sat down at his seat, thought for a moment, and replied:—

W: I didn’t have her ask—

Fnn: ?

Jiang Wen typed out a whole bunch of characters in the chat box, then deleted them, typed again, deleted again—

W: Today I just casually asked her a question, as for why she later went and asked you, I don’t know either

After sending this, he kept staring at the chat window. The other side showed “typing…”

His phone buzzed once—

Fnn: Ohh~~ so that’s how it is!

After an imperceptible pause, Jiang Wen typed: —

W: Whatever, what you think has nothing to do with me.

Yin Yan cleared her throat, said softly: “Jiang Wen, don’t play on your phone while eating.”

Jiang Wen turned his head slightly away, absentmindedly picking up his chopsticks, scooping up a bite of rice, his eyes never leaving the phone screen.

Feng Ning sent a sticker of a crying woman covering her mouth, with text on it that read: [How proud can I really be, when I’m this easy to break?]—

Fnn: This one’s for you

Jiang Wen typed with one hand:—

W: Are you mocking me?—

Fnn: I wouldn’t dare

Yin Yan’s voice rose a notch, carrying some anger: “Who are you messaging, I told you to stop playing and eat first!”

He’d just been too absorbed in the chat, and only belatedly realized the whole table of elders was watching him.

Jiang Wen, like a thief caught red-handed, awkwardly set his phone aside.

Shuang Yao’s parents had gone to visit relatives in another province these past few days, so she’d been eating and staying at Feng Ning’s place. At dinnertime, Shuang Yao suddenly asked, “What’s Jiang Wen’s house like, is it super luxurious?”

Feng Ning, mouth full of rice, thought back for a moment, answering: “Actually it’s not that exaggerated. But the decor at his house really is extremely lavish, extremely lavish.” After finishing, she added: “I feel like just randomly walking off with one item could sell for a lot of money.”

Shuang Yao said: “Were you intimidated?”

“Hmph, I’ve seen the world too, you know.” Feng Ning was quite calm, popping another egg into her mouth, saying vaguely: “But I was shocked by Jiang Wen’s dad and uncles.”

“Why?”

“This morning, that whole group of them was dressed in suits, just like the top-tier elites coming out of skyscrapers in TV dramas. The most ridiculous part was there were even a few Black bodyguards following behind—if you didn’t know better you’d think it was a mafia film.”

Shuang Yao listened with a look of pure admiration on her face.

Qi Lan watched them both eat, and upon hearing this, smacked Feng Ning on the head, “What nonsense are you talking about.”

“Mom, I want to drink cola.” Feng Ning acted coy, trying to get her way.

Qi Lan glared at her, handed her a tissue to wipe her mouth, “Who drinks cola while eating.” After thinking, she asked again: “Why are you going to your classmate’s house to tutor his sister?”

Qi Lan didn’t know Feng Ning worked at a bar, so naturally Feng Ning couldn’t mention Zhao Huiyun either. She calmly gave the explanation she’d prepared in advance: “My classmate’s sister is in the same class as Zhao Binlin’s cousin, Zhao Binlin introduced me.”

Qi Lan didn’t suspect anything further, turned her head slightly aside, coughing twice, “Well, make sure you’re serious about it then.”

“Mom, why have you been coughing so much lately.” Feng Ning stopped eating, looking a bit worried.

Qi Lan waved her hand, “It’s nothing, my chest’s been a bit stuffy lately, probably from not moving around enough.”

Another day passed, and Feng Ning went to tutor Jiang Yurou again.

Jiang Wen didn’t show up at all this time.

Today’s lesson went quickly; checking the time, Feng Ning assigned Jiang Yurou a few problems.

Jiang Yurou lay sprawled over the desk, diligently working through the problems. Feng Ning, with nothing to do, also picked up a chemistry test paper to work through alongside her.

The housekeeper came in, set down a plate of strawberries on the table, and quietly left again.

Jiang Yurou ate a few, then struggled to hop down from her chair.

Feng Ning set down her pen and quickly grabbed her, “Hey hey hey, where are you going?”

Jiang Yurou held up the porcelain plate: “Brother loves strawberries the most, sister, can you carry me over to him?”

Feng Ning flicked her nose, took the plate from her, “Sister can’t carry you, you sit here and finish your homework like a good girl, sister will bring it to him for you.”

Her memory was good; last time she’d followed Jiang Wen to his room once. This time, feeling her way there, she quickly found the spot; the door was left ajar.

“Jiang Wen, your sister brought you strawberries.” She knocked for a while with no response, then vaguely heard a faint sound. Feng Ning simply pushed the door open and slipped inside.

She didn’t go into his bedroom, just casually set the fruit plate down on the bookshelf in the hallway.

Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly heard a commotion behind her. Feng Ning turned around.

Jiang Wen had just pushed open the bathroom door and stepped out, his black hair and face dripping with water droplets, sliding downward.

She froze for a second.

Their gazes met head-on; Feng Ning’s mouth fell open, eyes widening in shock, her gaze uncontrollably drifting downward for a moment.

Jiang Wen froze too, and followed suit, looking down.

His skin, fresh from the shower, was illuminated pink-white by the bathroom light and steam behind him.

But, he was completely naked, not even wearing shorts. Just like this, exposed bare in front of Feng Ning, it was an extremely shocking sight. As if struck by a bolt from the blue, Jiang Wen’s mouth opened slightly, letting out a sound, using his hand to cover himself below.

Feng Ning snapped back to her senses as if waking from a dream, quickly covered her eyes and turned around, “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t see anything, I’ll head out right now.”

Feng Ning fumbled her way toward the door like a blind person, and just as her hand touched the door, she suddenly heard a knock.

Jiang Yuyun’s voice came from outside: “Little Wen, are you in there?”

Everything happened too fast; Feng Ning had absolutely no idea how to handle this situation. Without time to think further, she reflexively turned back around.

Feng Ning spun in place twice.

This was it, it was over.

She darted like a gust of wind past the petrified Jiang Wen, panic-stricken, yanked open the closet door and dove inside.

After a moment, Jiang Wen finally opened the door.

Seeing her younger brother’s cheeks flushed red enough to practically drip blood, Jiang Yuyun was baffled, peering into the room: “What’s wrong with you? Took you so long to open the door.”

Jiang Wen was frozen at the doorway, not letting go of the door handle, steadying his voice: “Nothing, I just finished showering, was putting on clothes.”

Jiang Yuyun didn’t doubt this at all, instructed him: “In a bit, at five, we’re going out.”

“Going out for what?”

“The company’s year-end gala is coming up in a couple days, Mom ordered a few outfits for you, go try them on later.”

“Got it, understood.” Jiang Wen nodded.

Before leaving, Jiang Yuyun suddenly asked: “Is there someone in your room?”

He pretended to be calm: “No one.”

The closet was very large; Feng Ning sat amid a huge pile of clothes and pants, breathing tense, on tenterhooks, eavesdropping on the commotion outside.

After a while, the closet door was pulled open.

Backlit against the light, Jiang Wen’s face looked sallow, terrible to look at. He looked down at her and said, “Get out.”

Feng Ning slunk out awkwardly.

An indescribably strange atmosphere spread between them. Even someone as thick-skinned as Feng Ning was still, after all, just a girl.

She didn’t quite know what to say for a moment. Her gaze landed somewhere in the distance, mouth dry, hesitating: “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about what happened today.”

Jiang Wen’s breathing grew heavier: “Who else would you even tell.”

She promised awkwardly: “I really won’t, I won’t tell anyone.”

Afraid he wouldn’t believe her, Feng Ning raised three fingers next to her temple, not looking particularly ashamed at all: “I swear, everything I just saw, I will forget as soon as possible.”

Jiang Wen didn’t look at her, his slightly long eyelashes casting a shadow over his eyes. He took a deep breath.

Who would have known that what Feng Ning said next nearly made him cough up a mouthful of blood in anger.

“—I’m also worried I’ll get a stye now.”