Subconsciously, Xu Hao furrowed his brows. “At best, he is just obedient. You know I like men, not some physically deformed intersex person. His biggest advantage is just having a soft and easily manageable personality. When the time comes for a divorce, he will not pose any threat.”
Seeing the corner of a garment belonging to someone who was eavesdropping, Xu Shulan pretended not to see it and instead steered the topic deeper.
“You have been married for a year, so there must be some feelings built up by now, no matter what.”
No matter how useless someone from the Xu family background was, they still possessed a bit more cunning than others. Xu Hao lifted his gaze and carefully looked at his younger brother, who had now grown up, and gave a light chuckle.
“Heh. If you like him, I do not mind. Besides, I have never touched him; he should still be untouched.”
Suddenly, the clear sound of a porcelain bowl dropping and shattering on the kitchen floor rang out, immediately followed by a servant’s anxious inquiry.
The two brothers sitting by the dining table exchanged glances with different thoughts running through their minds, and tacitly brought the topic to a close.
After quite a while, Xia Yunyu finally walked out of the kitchen carrying dishes. He busied himself back and forth for quite some time, but the joy on his face had already become forced.
“Eat up. You have worked hard recently.” Once he finished speaking, Xia Yunyu returned to his seat, keeping his head lowered so his expression was obscured.
Soon, however, Xu Hao’s phone began to ring. Glancing at the caller ID, he answered the call right in front of everyone without a care, and the voice of a boy clearly belonging to a young man spilled from the other end instantly, whining playfully.
“Didn’t you promise to come eat with me today? Why haven’t you shown up yet? I am going to starve to death.”
Xia Yunyu buried his head even deeper, acting like an ostrich and comforting himself with the thought that the environment was safe.
“Be a good boy, I will be right over.” Xu Hao hung up the phone, stood up, patted Xu Shulan’s shoulder with an ambiguous expression, and left the garden villa.
The front door stirred once more, and Xia Yunyu could no longer bear it. He quickly set down his chopsticks. “I am full, I will head upstairs first…”
Without even glancing at Xu Shulan’s expression across the table, he hurried upstairs and into his bedroom like a fugitive.
Back in his room, Yunyu grabbed a throw pillow from the bed and punched it fiercely a few times. “What a scumbag. Why did I have to marry such a jerk?”
Fortunately, it was Xu Shulan and not him, otherwise he would have choked to death from disgust.
No matter what, however, until the divorce, he had to maintain this humble persona.
Xia Yunyu had always kept the habit of going to bed at ten o’clock, so he washed up early and got into bed, casually flipping through a book to kill time.
Just then, a knock sounded at his door.
Xia Yunyu got out of bed to open it, instantly enveloped by a tall shadow that made him instinctively take a slight step back in discomfort, maintaining a subtle and safe distance between the two of them.
Xu Shulan smiled, appearing entirely unconcerned by the other’s minor evasive movement, and handed the cup of milk in his hand to Xia Yunyu. “It helps with sleep.”
Xia Yunyu mumbled his thanks as he accepted it. Although he had never had the habit of drinking milk before bedtime, it felt awkward to refuse his brother-in-law.
“Thank you.”
Seeing those slender fingers steadying the cup, Xu Shulan withdrew his hand. “Then sleep early, sister-in-law. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
After Xu Shulan left, Yunyu carried the milk back to bed.
609 anxiously chimed in: Host, you must not drink it! This cup of milk contains sleeping pill ingredients!
Yet Yunyu downed the milk right to the last drop. A smile hung on his face. But things only get interesting this way. Remember to help keep my conscious mind awake, otherwise I will miss out on good stuff.
Realizing what his host was about to do, 609 promptly went offline; it had no desire to visit the maintenance center just because it caught a glimpse of things it shouldn’t see.
Late at night, all was dead silent. A figure appeared in the hallway, walking with clear, purposeful intent straight into a room.
This was Xu Shulan’s first time setting foot in Xia Yunyu’s bedroom. The carpet was soft, and on the nightstand sat a rose-shaped small night light encased in a glass cover, emitting a gentle glow.
Sitting down softly on the edge of the bed, Xu Shulan first checked the cup left on the nightstand, and seeing that the milk inside had been entirely consumed, he dared to cast a gaze at Xia Yunyu that was thoroughly burning with invasive, predatory intensity.
Xia Yunyu’s exceptionally pretty yet completely harmless face pressed against the soft pillow. He wasn’t sleeping in a relaxed posture; instead, he was curled up like a tiny snail, forming only a small, solitary lump on the massive bed. It was a sleeping posture that screamed of excessive insecurity.
Gazing at that completely defenseless sleeping face, Xu Shulan couldn’t help falling into memory.
What had it felt like the very first time he saw Xia Yunyu?
It was as if he were being pushed by fate, with some invisible force commandeering his gaze, forcing him to look at nothing else until he was helplessly and completely ensnared by the completely oblivious youth.
And what had it felt like when he learned that Xia Yunyu was his older brother’s wife?
A pure, beautiful serpent entwined around his shoulders, watching his anxiety and restlessness. It was an emotion that both mesmerized and desperately suppressed him, making him tremble with endurance, yet still get pierced by Xia Yunyu’s beauty.
Clearly, he was such a cowardly and soft person.
Xu Shulan gently stroked Xia Yunyu’s face, unconsciously recalling Xu Hao’s attitude at the dining table earlier that day.
How could he not know what his ambitious older brother was thinking? It was nothing more than wanting to saddle him with the scandal of seizing his brother’s wife, eventually succeeding in kicking him out of the line of succession.
Yet he voluntarily surrendered to Xia Yunyu’s charm, and willingly offered up his true heart.
Today’s intensely glaring scene, however, had caused his jealousy to erupt in a single instant. Even now, his mind remained bewitched by that sort of hysterical madness, which explained the cup of milk laced with sleeping pills, and explained his unreserved approach right now.
Xu Shulan leaned down, gently smoothing away Xia Yunyu’s tightly furrowed brows and wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes.
He could tell how much this little sister-in-law of his loved his older brother. Even when hearing such excessive words, he didn’t dare muster the courage to get angry, only daring to cry quietly in his dreams.
Perhaps dreaming too deeply, Xia Yunyu began to tremble slightly. Tears slid down his eyes like a broken string, dampening a large patch of the pillow. His brow furrowed once more, carrying an undispelled fragility as he gravitated trustily toward the source of heat, refusing to let go until he lightly gripped a hem of clothing.
Thus, in the silent night, a sigh drifted softly on the air.
Naturally, Xia Yunyu overslept the next morning. He walked downstairs with a somewhat unnatural gait, hoping no one had noticed his abnormality today.
Fate, however, had other plans.
“Sister-in-law, why did you wake up a bit late today?” Xu Shulan approached with a smile. How could he not know it was because of that spiked cup of milk, not to mention a few more covert reasons? Yet Xia Yunyu’s expression of guilt was so thick that he couldn’t resist teasing him.
Xia Yunyu nervously pinched the hem of his shirt, still harboring lingering self-consciousness over last night’s dream, one that was clearly tragic yet suddenly turned vivid and sensual, while forcing himself to muster the energy to deal with his brother-in-law.
“Probably because it is raining today, good for sleeping.”
Listening to the adorably lame excuse, Xu Shulan curled his hand into a fist against his lips to mask his overly obvious smile.
“Since I happen to have free time today, let me take you out for a stroll, sister-in-law.”
Hearing that he was going to be taken out, Xia Yunyu couldn’t help taking a step back, clear reluctance written all over him.
“It is raining. You can just go have fun, don’t mind me.”
“It is precisely because of the rain that there are fewer people out.” Xu Shulan used both hands to take hold of Xia Yunyu’s hands, shaking them coaxingly with the air of an inadvertent gesture. “During the time I have been here, I have never seen you step outside. Keep me company for a walk today, I haven’t strolled around domestically in ages either.”
Xia Yunyu hadn’t stepped outside in a very, very long time. He was like a canary voluntarily staying inside a gilded cage, quietly waiting to be squeezed dry of his remaining value before perishing.
Yet facing his brother-in-law’s spoiled coaxing, he found it difficult to resist, fighting the urge to rudely pull his hand away. “But I haven’t been out in ages, and I don’t know where any fun places are.”
Sensing that Xia Yunyu’s attitude was softening, Xu Shulan took the initiative to release the other’s hand and gently urged him toward the exit. “I know, just follow me. Let’s hurry up and get going then.”
“Shouldn’t I change clothes?” Xia Yunyu looked down at his attire with a touch of awkwardness, instinctively casting a plea for help toward Xu Shulan.
This must have been the first time Xia Yunyu took the initiative to look directly at Xu Shulan, making Xu Shulan’s gaze blur for a fraction of a second before he recovered. “It is fine, you look great just wearing this.”
In this rushed manner, Xu Shulan brought his little sister-in-law out of the house.
The two shared a single umbrella, shutting out the swirling spring drizzle. Beneath the umbrella, an independent space was formed, and within this space, the two brushed shoulder to shoulder, arms pressed against arms.
The distance seemed a bit too close. Xia Yunyu nervously widened the gap slightly, only to be driven back in by the rain.
Xu Shulan quietly hooked the corner of his lips into a smile.
In the air, an indescribable atmosphere began to diffuse.
They soon reached the garage.
With a hint of regret, Xu Shulan folded the umbrella, silently praying that this spring drizzle would be like his threads of affection, endless and unceasing.
As Xu Hao’s nominal wife, Xia Yunyu naturally had his own assigned car and driver, but Xu Shulan snatched the driver’s job, as he had zero desire for anyone to intrude upon their two-person world.
Xia Yunyu breathed a quiet sigh of relief as he settled into the front passenger seat. There was still a decent gap between the front seats; had he sat in the back, it would have been just like under the umbrella.
The car slowly pulled away from the garden villa.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Xia Yunyu maintained a very upright posture, but his gaze kept darting toward the scenery outside the window, filled with bright anticipation and delight.
Xu Shulan, worried that Xia Yunyu might have grown stifled staying cooped up at home all this time, wanted to take him out for a spin. Catching the exceptionally relaxed expression on the youth’s face, his internal joy stepped up another notch.
Before long, the car smoothly came to a stop. Looking at the antique architecture before him, Xia Yunyu looked at Xu Shulan in confusion. “Where is this?”
Xu Shulan tossed the keys to the valet at the entrance and led Xia Yunyu through the front gates. “It is called Cangwei Pavilion. The food was pretty good before I went abroad, I just wonder how it holds up now.”
A waitress dressed in a qipao led the two to a table. Perhaps because it was still morning, they barely passed a soul along the way.
Once they sat down, Xu Shulan handed the menu to Xia Yunyu. “See if there is anything you would like to eat.”
“Just order what you like, I am not a picky eater.” Xia Yunyu pushed the menu back, his movements still retaining a touch of awkwardness since he still wasn’t quite used to being alone with Xu Shulan.
Helpless, Xu Shulan had no choice but to order himself. Through his observations during this period, he had long since discovered that Xia Yunyu was actually quite a picky eater, yet no matter what was given to him, he would obediently finish it all, save for the fact that his chewing noticeably sped up as if rushing to swallow down things he disliked. It was simply adorable.
“Let us go with these.” Xu Shulan didn’t order too much, since it was only breakfast after all.
When the exquisite dishes were served, Xia Yunyu realized to his surprise that not a single item on the table was something he disliked. He looked at Xu Shulan with a trace of hesitation, afraid it might just be his own wishful thinking.
“Eat up.” Xu Shulan dropped a shrimp dumpling into Xia Yunyu’s bowl.
Xia Yunyu immediately let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.” This included the thanks he hadn’t managed to voice earlier due to his hesitation.