Old Madam Shen, hearing Shen Zhe’s words, furrowed her brow slightly, looking him over as if she didn’t quite approve.
“Your idea of living free is smashing your own leg like this? That’s too high a price to pay.”
She was talking about the injury, but it sounded like she meant something else underneath.
Old Madam Shen narrowed her eyes slightly, glancing over the lazy, indifferent Shen Zhe. Her gaze turned, landing next on the silent Shen Jichu: “Never mind.”
“Young people’s affairs, your grandmother really doesn’t understand sometimes. But since it’s your own choice, I suppose that’s fine too.”
Shen Zhe didn’t catch the warning underneath.
He scooped up another spoonful of oatmeal porridge, eyelids drooping lazily: “Thanks, Grandma.”
Sigh, he’d thought about it before, about bringing Chu Li around the Shen residence to look around.
He’d dropped the idea later, guessing that his grandmother, being somewhat old-fashioned, would push him to hurry up and get married, too much of a headache.
Still, it was fine.
His grandmother seemed to genuinely like Chu Li.
Maybe in a while, he’d get a sudden urge and want to propose to her.
【Here we go again, worried brother.】
【Worried brother’s daily three-times-a-day musing: what do I do, Chu Li loves me too much, what do I do, everyone’s got prejudice against her, what do I do, I just want the freedom of a free relationship.】
【Drink less of that porridge and take a look at reality. Even if this were cured, all that would come out is drool, tsk tsk.】
Shen Zhe had the air of someone in no rush, as if he felt confident enough that Chu Li’s love for him gave him nothing to fear.
He reached out to pick up a few crystal shrimp for her, but since the distance across the table was far, his chopsticks, hanging midair, were accidentally knocked away.
Shen Jichu: “Sorry.”
He picked up his napkin, wiping his lips coolly.
Shen Zhe: “…?”
Could it be that his older brother thought exchanging looks at the dining table was bad manners, bad for the family image?
After all, the elders were still here.
He had no choice but to withdraw his hand, not interacting with Chu Li any further.
【What elders, your brother just can’t stand the sight of you.】
【Such a shame, the pace is still a bit slow. Going by the original restricted-content storyline, Shen Jichu should already be, right under the table…】
The bullet comments were, as always, full of shameless suggestions.
Describing exactly how, right in front of Shen Zhe and Old Madam Shen, some illicit, transgressive claim was about to be forced.
Sometimes the text painted too vivid a picture.
The tips of Chu Li’s ears turned red, she picked up a piece of pineapple bun with her fork, coughing once in the process.
Beside her, Shen Jichu lowered his eyes, apparently mistaking it for her having burned her mouth. He instructed the butler to fetch ice, and poured a glass of cold drink, passing it to her: “Drink this, it’ll help.”
Chu Li’s fingers paused before taking it.
The butler, fetching the ice nearby, couldn’t help thinking the exact same thing as Shen Zhe.
Assuming Shen Jichu, cold on the outside but warm at heart, would eventually let go of his prejudice.
Now that was a good thing indeed!
Old Madam Shen finished her breakfast slowly at the table.
The relative beside her, seemingly the third aunt of the two Shen brothers, was giving Chu Li a shrewd once-over.
“Jichu, you and this Miss Chu seem quite familiar.”
Chu Li spoke up first to explain: “Mr. Shen is a client of our company, we have some overlap through work.”
The aunt’s expression looked as if she’d just understood: “I see, so that’s how it is.”
Who else would care that much about a client, catching such small details, noticing right away even that she’d burned her mouth?
Shen Jichu had clearly overstepped.
As she helped Old Madam Shen leave, her gaze carried a hint of meaning. She’d initially thought Chu Li was, as rumored in the second-generation circles, just a girlfriend Shen Zhe never took seriously.
Seeing it today, maybe that wasn’t the case at all.
Before she left, still smiling, she handed Chu Li a business card: “Our company has some relevant business needs too, Miss Chu, feel free to come work with us.”
People in this circle always cozied up to whoever had power or money.
But Chu Li liked making money, so she smiled sweetly and obligingly, giving a polite “sure,” and accepted the gilded business card.
Who doesn’t like money and connections?
Once the woman had walked off, Shen Zhe, beside her, lazily lifted his eyes, resting his chin on his hand: “You really are a little money-grubber, taking any business card that’s handed to you.”
“That third aunt of ours is quite shrewd, one day she’ll sell you off while you’re busy counting your cash.”
He probably thought he was being funny.
Chu Li blinked, tossing the words lightly back at him: “It’s fine, I’ll know how to handle it when the time comes, no need to worry about me.”
【Li Li: I was scamming you out of your money since childhood, back when you were still busy playing in the mud somewhere.】
【In a later part of the plot, our third aunt apparently colludes with a company executive to try to embezzle funds. Shen Zhe does have a bit of a sixth sense, even if it’s not much.】
Chu Li put down her utensils, feeling fairly full.
Just as she was about to leave the table, she heard Shen Zhe call out to her, asking her to pass him his soup bowl, and then peel half an apple for him.
Shen Jichu: “Don’t you have hands of your own?”
He kicked lightly at the other man’s wheelchair, coldly, the same way he used to discipline Shen Zhe when he was younger.
The latter deliberately hissed in mock pain, putting on a show: “Bro, you hit my injury.”
If only he’d actually hit it.
Shen Jichu shot him a cold glance, restraining himself from letting any hint of jealousy show: “It’s your leg that’s hurt. Can’t you peel your own fruit?”
Shen Zhe answered lazily: “Bro, you just don’t get the appeal of this.”
“I’m not really asking her to cut it into pieces, half an apple’s fine, she can eat the rest herself…”
Chu Li split the apple in half.
Out of his line of sight, she dabbed the mustard on the side plate, coating the surface all around.
Then handed it up to him: “Here.”
【No wonder she’s the heroine of our restricted-content novel, Li Li’s got some strength, splitting half an apple with a single motion.】
【The proper way to handle being a restricted-content novel’s heroine.】
This wasn’t the first time Chu Li had pulled this kind of thing, no guilt about it at all.
Since childhood she’d mixed mint toothpaste into Shen Zhe’s crackers, mixed vinegar into his wine.
Shen Zhe thought she was just naive and sweet, that it was always an accident, like grabbing the wrong bottle of expired water.
She rested her chin on her hand, her light tea-colored eyes curving as she watched him, smiling, take the half apple from her.
He took a bite, and sure enough his dark brows knitted together.
He nearly spat it out: “Did you accidentally get mustard on this?”
Chu Li hummed twice: “Sorry.”
Her tone was the picture of innocence.
Shen Jichu, watching from the sidelines, felt his mood inexplicably lift. As he lowered his head to wipe his lips, the corner of his mouth curved up faintly again.
It took Shen Zhe quite a while to recover from the bitter, pungent mustard.
He tilted his head back and gulped down some cold water, then said, as if in passing, “Never mind, it’s not your fault either.”
“Pei Mo accidentally served me stinky folium houttuyniae at the table yesterday too.”
Strange, he’d had unusually bad luck lately.
First his race car mysteriously malfunctioned, getting him into that accident. Even his trusted, all-capable brother hadn’t managed to figure out what caused it.
His close cousin gave him the wrong dish. Last night he didn’t even keep him company chatting into the night, leaving in a hurry, a real fair-weather friend.
Shen Zhe held the rest of the apple, the part without mustard, which had lost its bitterness and turned back to ordinary sweet.
He mused: “Right, speaking of Pei Mo.”
“He really was quite the fair-weather friend, leaving so fast, didn’t even stay for breakfast today.”
“He left in a hurry last night before nine…”
The apple core caught in his throat, cutting off his words.
Shen Zhe paused, his sentence left half-finished.
Then he heard the butler beside him remind him: “Young master, I think you might be misremembering.”
The butler: “Pei Mo left at ten. He’d had champagne with you last night, and you had the driver see him off.”
The butler’s intention in reminding him had originally been out of concern that after the accident and the fever, his thoughts might be a bit muddled.
He turned to look at Shen Jichu, silently asking whether they should arrange for an even more specialized, skilled doctor for Shen Zhe.
Shen Jichu’s brow moved slightly.
He kept feeling like something was off.
In his line of sight, he saw the chopsticks in Chu Li’s hand pause between her fingers.
His instinct told him there was something to this.
Chu Li thought privately to herself.
She’d added too little mustard just now, otherwise Shen Zhe would’ve been left too spicy-tongued to speak, and this wouldn’t have come up at all.
Shen Zhe, choking slightly, mused aloud: “Cough, no, that’s not right. I’m not misremembering.”
“After Pei Mo left last night, I called Chu Li, that call record shows it was after nine.”
【Congratulations to the original male lead for spotting the crack in the wall.】
【Not easy, the corner’s practically caved in already, and he’s finally noticed one little clue. Impressive that he managed to use his brain at all.】
【We already know Pei Mo, before he left, went out with his tongue piercing to hit on some woman.
He lied about leaving at nine, claiming the driver drove him straight home with no going out again after ten. So the question is, who exactly was he hitting on?】
【Who could it be, who could it be, so hard to guess, surely it couldn’t be the third aunt (dog-head emoji).】
The scrolling bullet comments, with no regard for how big a mess they were making, landed on the white wall in front of him.
Beyond the window, the blue sky-scene blurred into a hazy streak, flashing quickly in front of Shen Zhe.
He pressed a hand to his temple.
He felt something flicker faintly through his mind, and in the same instant, lost it before he could catch it.
So.
Who exactly had Pei Mo gone to meet last night?
Shen Zhe felt his head was in a muddle, the aftereffects of the accident still messing with him.
He pressed his lips together lightly, and hesitated as his gaze drifted toward Chu Li, just as she happened to pour him a glass of water.
Chu Li: “Aren’t you going to drink it?”
Her smile was as gentle as ever, still wearing that even-tempered look, the one that seemed devoted to him.
Even as, in her heart, she thought, choke on it and die, why don’t you.
Shen Zhe’s fingers tightened slightly as he slowly took the glass of water. The temperature was neither too hot nor too cold, and rare for once, nothing extra had been mixed in.
He noticed Shen Jichu was also studying Chu Li closely, gaze sharp.
The other man’s reaction seemed even stronger than his own, his jawline tight, dark ink swirling in his eyes.
Not good.
Maybe there was some misunderstanding here, Shen Zhe instinctively thought.
His brother had only just managed to shed his prejudice against Chu Li.
The man was naturally sharp and suspicious by nature, if he got the wrong idea now, there was no telling how long it would take to clear it up again.
Shen Zhe: “Actually…”
Shen Jichu: “Actually, he came to see me.”
Chu Li: “?”
Something about this development felt off.
She looked up, and after Shen Jichu’s absurd misdirection, he no longer looked at her with that dark, unreadable gaze.
He lowered his lashes, avoiding everyone’s eyes: “He had some business matters to discuss with me, so he left a bit later than usual.”
This was the first time Shen Jichu had told a lie without rehearsing it beforehand.
His expression stayed composed and calm, like when he was discussing business deals, confident of the outcome. But his fingers curled lightly into a fist beneath the table, pressed against his knee.
Just one step short.
If he’d been braver last night, hadn’t backed away after asking about that red mole, would that opportunity that went to Pei Mo have been his instead?