The room’s curtains were drawn tight, dim and shadowy, with only a sliver of light from the setting sun squeezing through a gap in the drapes.
Looking at Shen Zhinian’s sharp, fierce features, Bo Chengjing grabbed his hand, which was holding a knife, and slammed it down onto the bed.
Instinctively, Shen Zhinian used his other hand to grab Bo Chengjing’s wrist. He let go of the knife, shook off Bo Chengjing’s grip, and pinned him back down instead.
Bo Chengjing gathered his strength for a counterattack.
The two wrestled together, but in the end, fearing he might hurt Shen Zhinian, Bo Chengjing held back his strength. However, Shen Zhinian didn’t hold back, directly pressing down on both of Bo Chengjing’s hands and pinning him flat against the mattress.
With one knee kneeling between Bo Chengjing’s legs, Shen Zhinian looked down at him.
Lying on the bed, Bo Chengjing looked into those deep eyes. “You’ve improved.”
Seeing the fragmented, smiling light in the depths of those eyes, Shen Zhinian tightened his grip on Bo Chengjing’s wrists involuntarily.
“Hmm?” Bo Chengjing prompted with a question.
After a moment of silence, Shen Zhinian asked, “Are you going to talk or not?”
“Not talking.” Feeling the pressure radiating from Shen Zhinian, Bo Chengjing lowered his gaze, turned his head away, and said, “Get up.”
“No.” Shen Zhinian watched the graceful curve of his side-turned neck.
Bo Chengjing said, “If you get up, I’ll tell you.”
Shen Zhinian stared at him for a while longer, let go of his hands, stood up, and stepped back to the edge of the bed.
Bo Chengjing sat up, stayed on the edge of the bed for a moment, and then headed into the walk-in closet to change his clothes.
Shen Zhinian followed him into the walk-in closet.
Bo Chengjing took out two sets of clothes, placed them on the sofa, turned to look at Shen Zhinian, and said, “I’m changing.”
“I’m not a stranger,” Shen Zhinian said. “When I was little, you used to hold me while we slept.”
Bo Chengjing curved his lips into a smile. “Who on earth planted such a false memory in your head?”
“You want to deny it?” Shen Zhinian asked.
“There is simply no such thing.” Bo Chengjing walked over and pulled the sliding partition door of the walk-in closet shut.
“Is there an event to attend tonight?” Shen Zhinian asked from the other side of the closed partition door.
With the door closed, he obediently stood outside, tracing the patterns on the partition door with his fingertips.
“There’s a cocktail party.” Bo Chengjing quickly changed his clothes, stepped out, raised a hand to pat the top of Shen Zhinian’s head, and said, “I’m heading out.”
Shen Zhinian stood in place for a moment, followed him, and said, “You still haven’t answered my question.”
Bo Chengjing buttoned his cuffs as he walked down the stairs. “I changed my mind. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“Bo Chengjing!” Shen Zhinian called out to him from the upper landing.
Reaching the ground floor, Bo Chengjing looked up, flashed a smile at him, and turned to leave.
But when he reached the front door, he found it wouldn’t open.
Then he walked back, looking up at Shen Zhinian.
Shen Zhinian shook the remote control in his hand. “Smart electronic lock. Unless opened via the remote, your fingerprint, facial recognition, and iris scans will all be disabled. It can’t be opened from the inside either.”
Bo Chengjing tilted his head back, staring up at him.
This was a program Shen Zhinian had coded himself. Originally, he made it out of boredom, and the remote always hung on a storage shelf on the second floor. He never expected it would actually come in handy today.
Holding the remote, Shen Zhinian walked down the stairs. “President Bo, if you don’t talk, don’t even think about leaving the house.”
Bo Chengjing narrowed his eyes.
Shen Zhinian walked up to him, locked his gaze onto his face, and demanded, “Spit it out. Is it someone from the company?”
“Who do you think I’d fancy?” Bo Chengjing said with a smile.
Shen Zhinian thought for a moment. “Pretty? Competent? Sister Yue?”
Bo Chengjing’s secretary was named Lin Yue, with ‘Yue’ meaning music.
“Your Sister Yue has been married for two years,” Bo Chengjing said.
“Ah.” Shen Zhinian pondered for a second. “Then what kind of person do you like? How would I know?”
Bo Chengjing smiled as he looked at him.
Shen Zhinian said, “Stop dodging the question and answer me right now.”
Bo Chengjing raised a hand to flick his forehead, reached out, and snatched the remote control right out of his hand. “Did I ever say I was in a relationship?”
Shen Zhinian froze.
Bo Chengjing pressed the remote button, unlocking the front door.
Shen Zhinian stood rooted to the spot.
How do you know I haven’t been dating?
Did I ever say I was in a relationship?
Fine, fine, you never said it!
But what difference was there between that and actually saying it?
Shen Zhinian was so exasperated he wanted to laugh.
Bo Chengjing had already walked to the entrance.
Shen Zhinian hurried to his side, hooked an arm around his neck, and pulled him down.
Both of them hunched over.
Bo Chengjing said, “Zhinian.”
“Bo Chengjing, are you messing with me?” Shen Zhinian tightened his arm around his neck. “Have you actually dated someone or not?”
Bo Chengjing gripped his wrist and smiled. “Zhinian.”
“Spit it out,” Shen Zhinian said.
“No,” Bo Chengjing said. “When would I even have the time? If I were actually dating, could you possibly not know about it?”
“Really?” Shen Zhinian asked.
“Mhm,” Bo Chengjing said. “Really.”
Shen Zhinian let him go.
Bo Chengjing straightened up, adjusted his clothes, and said, “Relax. Even if I dated someone, you’d still be my younger brother. I wouldn’t leave you out in the cold.”
Hearing those words, Shen Zhinian couldn’t quite describe his mood, but it certainly wasn’t a happy one.
Just like how he didn’t understand why he kept hounding him about who he was dating.
Maybe after all this time, his possessive desire had grown too strong, he didn’t want to let a single shred of Bo Chengjing’s care and attention be shared with anyone else.
“You did that on purpose,” Shen Zhinian muttered softly.
Bo Chengjing didn’t speak.
Shen Zhinian stared at him, his gaze turning sharp and shocked. “You really did do it on purpose.”
“Wasn’t it obvious?” Bo Chengjing said.
“You’re going too far,” Shen Zhinian said.
“I’m sorry,” Bo Chengjing apologized with absolute sincerity. “But teasing you is genuinely a lot of fun.”
“You are forbidden from teasing me with this ever again,” Shen Zhinian said. “I don’t like it.”
“Alright, fine,” Bo Chengjing agreed.
However, Shen Zhinian wasn’t actually angry, instead, having gotten an answer, he was in a pretty good mood. “I’ll go with you…”
Before he could finish his sentence, the phone in his pocket suddenly rang.
An unfamiliar number.
Shen Zhinian hung up, but it immediately rang again.
Shen Zhinian answered the call, and the caller identified himself as his college class monitor, asking if he wanted to come to a class gathering tonight.
He had been tagged in the group chat a few times, but seeing that he never replied, the monitor looked up his contact info and called him directly.
Shen Zhinian originally wanted to refuse, but Bo Chengjing said, “Go ahead, make some new friends.”
So Shen Zhinian asked for the location and time of the gathering.
Bo Chengjing went to attend the cocktail party, while Shen Zhinian went to his class reunion.
For the past dozen years or so, Shen Zhinian had practically zero friends around him.
During his three years of high school, the number of times he actually went to school could probably be counted on one hand.
Shen Tiancheng never granted him leave.
Most of the time, it was Bo Chengjing who asked for leave on his behalf.
Even when staying home on sick leave, Shen Zhinian didn’t go out to play, most of the time, he just tagged along with Bo Chengjing to the company.
Bo Chengjing had urged him to go out and socialize.
Shen Zhinian’s go-to excuse for refusal was: I can’t talk to people my own age, we don’t have any common topics.
And Bo Chengjing hadn’t forced the issue either.
Now that he was finally willing to go out and socialize, Bo Chengjing was actually quite pleased.
Little did he expect that after Shen Zhinian’s very first outing to a social gathering, he would come back dead drunk.
When he returned home, he was greeted by a drunken little brother.