How Could Anyone Be This Smart?

Before the awkward silence could deepen.

Qin Yuheng took a handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to Yu Nian. "Wipe off your sweat."

Yu Nian looked up at him.

Huh? Why was Qin Yuheng so close to him?

Seeing him staring blankly, Qin Yuheng didn't hurry him. He raised his hand to wipe Yu Nian's sweat for him.

But Yu Nian abruptly stood and backed away, fumbling tissues out of his backpack. His eyes darted everywhere, avoiding Qin Yuheng's gaze. "No, no, I brought tissues. I wouldn't want to get your handkerchief dirty."

Yu Nian pulled out a tissue and wiped the sweat from his face, then tucked the used tissue into the trash bag he'd brought.

Qin Yu noticed what they were doing and found it a little strange.

Had Yu Nian been hiding behind his brother just now?

Qin Yu wasn't sure, but privately, he thought probably not.

With his brother's temperament, how could anyone dare get that close to him? Maybe Yu Nian hadn't noticed and had just happened to stand there.

See? Hadn't he moved away as soon as he realized?

But Qin Yuheng had actually offered to wipe Yu Nian's sweat with his own handkerchief?

His brother wasn't exactly a germaphobe, but he was fiercely protective of his personal space.

Was he imagining things?

Unable to make sense of it, Qin Yu asked Yu Nian, "What was going on with that guy just now?"

Yu Nian glanced at him without answering, shouldered his backpack, and kept walking.

Qin Yu followed him. "Yu Nian, do you have to embarrass me like this?"

Yu Nian said, "I have nothing to say to someone like you who can't understand plain language."

Qin Yu hadn't expected him to treat him this way even in front of his brother. "Are you insulting me?"

Yu Nian's face was expressionless. "Just stating the facts."

Qin Yu's face darkened. "Since when can't I understand plain language?"

Yu Nian looked back, saw Qin Yuheng was still there, and paused before saying, "We're done with each other, yet you insist on pestering me. You're really annoying. I don't want to see you at all."

Qin Yu's breath caught. He could barely keep his emotions under control, his eyes full of hurt. "I came to apologize sincerely, and this is how you treat me?"

"How many times do I have to say it? I don't want to see you. I don't, I don't, I don't! Not now, not later, not for the rest of my life! Whatever you do, I don't want to see you. I'm not playing hard to get or throwing a tantrum. From the moment we broke up, I never wanted anything to do with you again. What will it take to get that through your head?!"

Qin Yu was driving Yu Nian mad, and he had completely lost his patience. He threw caution to the wind, no longer caring what expression Qin Yuheng wore beside them. "You don't even know how to like someone. Do you think I have so little self-respect that I'd stay with you and put up with your crap? You selfish jerk! I'd jump off this mountain before I'd forgive you!"

What a total turnoff!

A good ex should be as good as dead-Yu Nian finally understood just how true that saying online was.

Seeing Qin Yu look so pitiful, anyone who didn't know better would have thought Yu Nian was bullying him.

Fuming, Yu Nian climbed a few more steps. If murder weren't illegal, he would have loved to shove that annoying bastard off the mountain right then.

Hearing Yu Nian stop concealing anything, Qin Yu looked at him in alarm, then anxiously checked Qin Yuheng's expression.

Yu Nian took two deep breaths before remembering to sneak a look at Qin Yuheng. But Qin Yu was driving him to a breakdown now. If Qin Yuheng dared yell at him, he would-he would!

"Is this what you called a minor disagreement?"

Qin Yuheng spoke, but his words were directed at Qin Yu.

Qin Yu's face instantly paled. "Brother..."

Qin Yuheng's brows lowered, his entire expression dark and forbidding. He snapped, "Go back."

Both of the others startled.

Yu Nian had been thinking about how to argue back if Qin Yuheng scolded him, but seeing that fierce expression, he suddenly grew frightened.

He'd forgotten that when he'd first met Qin Yuheng, the man had looked just this cold and severe, allowing no questioning of his words or actions.

He simply hadn't taken issue with anything Yu Nian did, which had somehow led Yu Nian to think he was easygoing.

Qin Yu's lips moved as though he wanted to say more, but in the end, he only glanced at Yu Nian before turning to leave.

Qin Yu slowly walked away and disappeared around a bend in the mountain path.

Meanwhile, a steady stream of people passed Yu Nian and Qin Yuheng.

Yu Nian found himself silently exchanging looks with him.

When there were no more passersby around them, he shifted his stiff body slightly and spoke with difficulty. "I'm sorry. I never told you that your brother and I... dated."

He lowered his eyes, as though giving up the struggle entirely. "I know you must find it unacceptable. It's normal if you're angry. You can yell at me or kick me out of Sea Star, but you can't hit me. I'm scared of pain, I can't beat you in a fight, and getting an ambulance up the mountain would be difficult."

"And definitely not in the face. I still have to livestream. Um... if you're going to blacklist me, forget I said that. But you'd still better not hit me. I'm scared of pain. Oh, I already said that."

"But you can't blame this entirely on me..." Yu Nian swallowed, trying to sound righteous without much confidence. "Homosexuality isn't a disease. There's a medical explanation for it. I was born this way. I didn't seduce him. I don't know whether your brother was born this way, but if you want to make him drink Chinese medicine to treat him or whatever, that's up to you. He's the one who pursued me, anyway."

"Of course, I'm not bragging. I'm just stating the facts. So at most, your brother and I share the blame equally. You can't dump all the blame on me just, just because he's your brother."

"And you don't need to force me to leave him or anything. You saw it yourself just now. We broke up ages ago. I don't want anything to do with him. If you're still worried, you can send him abroad. I'd even thank you..."

Yu Nian rambled on in a muddle, piling up layer after layer of defenses for himself, terrified that Qin Yuheng would take his anger out on him and do something awful.

"I know."

Yu Nian froze and looked up. At some point, Qin Yuheng had come to stand in front of him.

He was so close that Yu Nian instinctively retreated up another step, even stumbling over his words. "Y-you know?"

Know what?

Qin Yuheng nodded. His deep eyes looked even more hazy in the mountain mist, calm and distant, without a trace of menace.

"Yes. I was waiting for you to tell me."

Yu Nian felt puzzled. Was he imagining it? He'd clearly thought Qin Yuheng was quite frightening when he'd snapped at Qin Yu earlier.

Now, however, he seemed so composed that Yu Nian could even meet his eyes.

But he couldn't hold that gaze for too long. Yu Nian felt that the calm was only on the surface, that a ferocious beast lay hidden in that mist, and he was the prey it had set its sights on. It might bite through his neck at any moment.

Yu Nian unconsciously climbed another step.

But once he processed what Qin Yuheng had said, he was still stunned. "Huh? You, I... wait, how did you know?"

Qin Yuheng stepped forward. "When I saw you at the Qin Family home that day, you were very unhappy."

Yu Nian was bewildered and incredulous. "Just because I was unhappy, you could tell your brother and I..."

Qin Yuheng said, "There were other details."

Yu Nian: ?

So he'd seen through him and Qin Yu on the very first day?

Wait, all those people had spent an entire evening with them without noticing, and this guy had only been at the Qin Family home for a few minutes!

How could anyone be this smart?