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"Sleepy?" Xie Zhiyu's ears twitched, and he quickened his pace.

"A little." Shen Baili wasn't very good at lying to Eldest Brother. "I'm a little sleepy."

She searched for a topic. "Eldest Brother, are you afraid of ghosts?"

Uh, she admitted it was a terrible choice of topic. Just as Shen Baili was thinking of another subject to cover it up, she heard Xie Zhiyu chuckle.

"No."

Xie Zhiyu said solemnly, "I'm a materialist."

He brought up a topic himself. "You're afraid of ghosts and the dark."

Shen Baili said, "Eldest Brother, how did you know?!"

Xie Zhiyu said, "I saw it with my own eyes."

Everyone in the Xie Family knew Shen Baili was afraid of the dark.

They had only just learned her secret fear of ghosts.

Shen Baili: "!"

"Is it that obvious?"

Xie Zhiyu said, "Very."

He reassured her. "Everyone's afraid of something. Tingsi is afraid of ghosts too. When he was little, he wouldn't sleep alone. Every night, he'd hug his stuffed toy and knock on my door."

The adults in the Xie Family were always busy. Butler Lin and the nannies had raised the two brothers, who had learned to be independent from an early age.

Xie Tingsi was younger than he was. Afraid of the dark and of being alone, he clung to his older brother. At night, he would seek him out, stare up at him with damp eyes, and stretch out his little chubby hands. "It's dark. I want to sleep with Big Brother. Don't be scared."

Then, in the middle of the night, the little boy wet the bed—and Xie Zhiyu along with it.

The culprit covered his eyes with his little hands, blew bubbles with his lips, and accused him first. "Big Brother, shame on you."

Xie Zhiyu