Shang Lübai was still looking at her. “Are you really going to be this distant with me now? You don’t tell me anything when something happens.”
Ying Chan forced a casual smile. “This isn’t even a big deal. I just ran into some creep, and I already had my bodyguard beat him up. I got my anger out, isn’t that enough?”
Shang Lübai didn’t beat around the bush with her. He asked directly, “Is there something I did that upset you?”
“…No, there isn’t. Why would you think that?”
The moonlight tonight was mediocre—no stars, no moon.
Shang Lübai wasn’t fooled by her deflection. “You’ve been avoiding me lately. I can feel it.”
Ying Chan pressed her lips into a smile. “Really, there’s nothing… If I had to say something, it’s that our rumors are getting more and more ridiculous. I think it’s better if we keep some distance, otherwise it’ll be hard to clean up.”
“What needs cleaning up? What counts as hard to clean up?”
Grilling someone relentlessly and refusing to let go inherently creates an overwhelming sense of pressure—especially coming from a man with as strong a presence as Shang Lübai. Even Ying Chan found it hard to withstand.
She couldn’t help but turn her head away, and inadvertently caught sight of a figure strolling down the path with an unmistakable swagger.
Yes, there really are people whose walk could be described as “swaggering.”
Jin Si hadn’t eaten dinner tonight, so he’d ordered takeout. Delivery drivers couldn’t enter this kind of upscale residential complex, so he had to go to the gate to pick it up himself. He hadn’t expected to come back and witness this little scene.
He crossed his arms over his chest, standing under the streetlamp, watching with a half-smile.
Seeing him, Ying Chan—who had been suffocating under Shang Lübai’s pressure—suddenly found a gap to breathe.
She looked back at Shang Lübai and said, half-joking, half-serious, “You’re going to marry a sister-in-law someday. What if she asks what your relationship is with that actress you keep getting rumored with? If you say she’s just your sister, she might not even believe you, and it’ll ruin your good match. Uncle and Auntie will kill me.”
Shang Lübai frowned. “Who told you I’m going to marry another woman?”
Ying Chan let out a laugh. “You’re not saying you like men, are you?”
She deliberately ignored the word “another” in his sentence.
Shang Lübai wouldn’t darken his face over words like that, but when he looked at someone with that calm, unruffled gaze, it meant he was displeased.
Ying Chan cracked jokes and raised her hands in surrender. “Just kidding, just kidding. I’ve just been annoyed by a creepy sasaeng fan lately. It’s not aimed at you. I’ll be fine once I get over it.”
Whether he believed the explanation or could tell she didn’t want to tell the truth, Shang Lübai finally stopped pressing. “Clear some time in the next few days. I’ll go back to Hong Kong with you to visit home.”
Ying Chan shrugged. “We’ll see.”
Shang Lübai said, “Alright then. Go on up.”
Ying Chan nodded. “When you get back, have the servants find you some hangover medicine, or brew a cup of honey water.”
That bit of concern finally brought a hint of softness to Shang Lübai’s expression. He reached out and gave her head a very light pat.
“You ungrateful little thing. You still won’t call me ‘brother’ even now. All these years of looking after you, wasted.”
Ying Chan ducked her head slightly from the pat.
Suddenly, she felt that she really didn’t need to resist him so much—it only made it look like she cared too much about what she’d seen on the stairs.
Even if they could never be anything more, there was still a ten-year bond between them—one of being cared for and caring.
They were siblings.
“Brother, brother, brother—there, happy?”
Ying Chan called out to him with a laugh, and after saying it, she felt her whole body lighten, as if she’d set something down.
Shang Lübai curved his lips. He was a cold, detached man, but when he smiled, it was gentle. “It’s cold at night. Go on up.”
Ying Chan turned and walked into the building.
Shang Lübai stood there for a while, waiting until he could no longer see her before getting into the car. But as he did, the corner of his eye caught the man under the streetlamp.
Last time he’d seen him at the company, he was wearing a mask, so he hadn’t gotten a clear look at his face. But this time, meeting his eyes for a single moment, Shang Lübai could be certain—this was the new bodyguard Ying Chan had hired.
After Jin Si got home, he’d taken a shower and was now wearing only a set of dark blue cotton pajamas with an open front, a long robe over it, and slippers on his feet.
A very casual outfit, but because his height, looks, and bearing were all too outstanding, even facing Shang Lübai in his suit and tie, he didn’t lose an ounce of presence.
The two men looked at each other. Jin Si didn’t care in the slightest—one hand in his robe pocket, the other holding his takeout, he walked straight past him and into the building.
Shang Lübai had looked into him. Ye Han had insisted to the death that he was just a bodyguard signed by the company—but he didn’t believe it.
His intuition had always been sharp. This man gave him a very uncomfortable feeling. He couldn’t just be a bodyguard.
But Shang Lübai wasn’t the type to act rashly. Especially since Ying Chan had been somewhat resistant to him lately, he wouldn’t directly expel Jin Si and make Ying Chan even more displeased with him.
Shang Lübai got into the car. The driver turned back to ask, “Where to, President Shang?”
He leaned back, closed his eyes, and his Adam’s apple moved. “To the warehouse.”
At midnight, the warehouse district had stopped all transport. The entire area was pitch black and empty, with only one warehouse glowing with white light—conspicuous and eerie.
The black sedan pulled up to the entrance, and the man waiting in front of the warehouse immediately opened the car door. “President Shang, he’s inside.”
Shang Lübai stepped out of the car and walked into the depths of the warehouse.
The male NPC lay face-down on the ground, breathing in more than out. His condition was worse than this afternoon—clearly, he’d been beaten again after being brought here.
Shang Lübai walked up to him and lifted his head with the toe of his leather shoe.
He’d watched the video of this man deliberately pressing down on Ying Chan. Such a mediocre, lowly, foul-smelling man—and he’d dared to touch her.
“Which hand touched her?”
The male NPC opened his mouth but couldn’t make a sound. Blood trickled from his lips, his gaze unfocused.
Shang Lübai withdrew his foot, turned, and walked out of the warehouse. “Then break them all.”
From behind came the male NPC’s scream: “Ah——”
…
After saying goodbye to Shang Lübai, Ying Chan walked into the building and reached the elevator, but didn’t go up right away.
She waited a moment, and sure enough, Jin Si came in. He reached out and pressed the elevator button. “Waiting for me.”
Ying Chan caught the aroma of takeout. “What did you order?”
“Wontons.”
“That’s a huge portion. Can you finish it all?”
Jin Si looked at her with a half-smile. The elevator doors opened, and the two went in together. He reached over and pressed the button for the 16th floor.
Ying Chan was satisfied. Once home, she immediately went to the kitchen to grab a bowl and spoon, and scooped two wontons out of his portion.
Jin Si said, “Feeding the cat, huh? The cat eats more than you do.”
Ying Chan sat on the sofa. “It’s so late—eating too much makes you gain weight. Just a little taste is enough.”
Jin Si didn’t bother responding.
He finished eating on his own, then raised his eyes to look at her. “Boss, I think we need to make things clearer between us.”
“What things?”
“You ran out by yourself in the middle of the night. If something happened, would you hold me accountable for dereliction of duty?” Jin Si sat on the carpet, his back against the sofa, looking lazy and casual.
Ying Chan said, “I didn’t go that far, did I? Just downstairs.”
“Your obsessive fan got into your own home,” Jin Si had plenty of arguments. “Even home isn’t safe, let alone downstairs. You’re trying to set me up.”
Ying Chan thought he was being unreasonable. “It’s not like I went downstairs for no reason in the middle of the night. My boss summoned me.”
Jin Si pointed out, “And bosses are safe? Don’t you know many victims are attacked by people they know?”
Ying Chan: “…”
Jin Si curled his lips in a smirk. “Take my boss, for example—she’s always thinking about molesting me. See, she’s tricked me into coming to her place again.”
“…” Ying Chan raised her hands in surrender. “Fine, I get it. Next time, no matter who calls, if I need to go out, I’ll bring you along.”
“Half-hearted.”
Jin Si asked again, “Does your boss come looking for you in the middle of the night often?”
“No, he doesn’t. Today he came because he heard about what happened on set, so he stopped by to check on me.”
Jin Si gave a half-smile. “He cares about you quite a bit.”
Ying Chan said, “Besides being boss and employee, we’re also… friends. It’s normal to care.”
Jin Si grew a little irritated as he spoke, and tossed out one line: “Doesn’t seem normal to me.”
Then he picked up the empty takeout container and left directly, closing the door with a bit of attitude.
Ying Chan: “?”
The subordinate dares to defy his superior!