"I hope everything you said was true. I don't want our next meeting to be at the Ministry of Civil Affairs. It's a hassle getting someone out of there."
"Can't there be a little basic trust between people? Especially you, my bestie-you're seriously failing on that front. No matter how much of a beast I am, I'm not so desperate that I'll take anyone."
"Hmph. I'll believe you this once."
Yelan raised her fair chin as she spoke.
Unable to keep his hands to himself, Shen Luolun touched the woman's jade-like neck.
Smack-
Yelan slapped his grubby hand away hard, a faint pink tinge spreading across the tips of her ears.
"So what did you come to see me for tonight?" Shen Luolun asked.
"Nothing. I'm just staying here for the night. Tomorrow, I'm going to the Chasm to investigate the Abyss," Yelan said, smoothing the hair by her ear.
"Oh, make yourself at home, then. I'm going to bed."
Hearing that it was work, Shen Luolun immediately lost interest. He yawned, stretched, and turned toward his bedroom.
He looked as though he didn't care in the slightest whether her mission was dangerous.
In fact, that wasn't true.
Shen Luolun cared a great deal about his bro.
It was just that Yelan's work was confidential and highly sensitive.
Given their friendship and the trust between them, Yelan would most likely tell him if he asked. But for the safety of her work, Shen Luolun wouldn't listen, nor did he want to.
The only thing he could do was look after their home, so she would have somewhere to stop and rest in peace when she was tired.
Besides that, he occasionally traveled or played chess with her, helping her relax and ease the stress she'd accumulated at work.
It had been this way for years, and both of them were long accustomed to it.
Before they knew it, the two bros were practically an old married couple.
"All right, I'll stay in the west wing tonight."
"Okay, good night-what?!"
Shen Luolun hurriedly turned around, looking nervous.
The west wing?
The mysterious woman in black stockings was still sleeping in there!
Wouldn't all hell break loose if Yelan went over there?
At the thought, he forced himself to stay calm and asked with as natural an expression as he could manage:
"Don't you always stay in the east wing? Why do you suddenly want to stay in the west wing?"
Yelan narrowed her eyes and said calmly:
"I'm tired of sleeping there. I want a change of scenery. What, can't I?"
"No, I didn't say you couldn't."
"It's just, it's just..."
Thinking fast, Shen Luolun said:
"It's just that the west wing's roof has been leaking lately. I was going to find someone to repair it tomorrow, but no one can stay there for now."
"Why don't you stay in the east wing instead?"
"The roof's leaking?"
Yelan smiled.
This guy really could lie off the top of his head without thinking at all.
It hadn't rained in Liyue Harbor for a week. How could the roof be leaking?
It seemed there was something fishy about the west wing.
"It's fine. I like houses with leaky roofs. They're airy."
"I'm staying there tonight."
Shen Luolun's smile stiffened.
But to avoid being found out, he kept trying to dissuade her:
"I'm afraid you'll catch a cold. You'd better sleep in the east wing."
"I'm hot. The west wing is cooler, and I can enjoy the moonlight."
"There are lots of mosquitoes in the west wing. Last time, they bit me all over. A girl's skin is so delicate-you'd better go to the east wing."
"As it happens, I brought mosquito repellent. It's fine."
No matter what reason Shen Luolun gave, Yelan always had a flawless answer.
Shen Luolun: (｀⌒´メ)
You wicked woman, you just have to go against me, don't you!
"No!"
"You can only sleep in the east wing tonight. You can sleep in the west wing another time!"
Shen Luolun dropped the act and stopped her from going to the west wing.
Yelan grew even more curious.
What on earth was this guy hiding in the west wing that he wouldn't even let her in?
"What if I insist? Either way, I'm only sleeping in the west wing tonight. What are you going to do about it?"
Yelan used the skill unreasonable persistence.
She was determined to see what was hidden in the west wing today.
Shen Luolun flew into a rage.
So that's how it is, Yelan. You're challenging me, the emperor?
If I don't teach you a lesson, you'll run wild from now on.
So, under Yelan's shocked gaze, Shen Luolun scooped her up, tucked her under his arm like a little girl, and strode toward the east wing.
"You bastard, let me go!"
Yelan struggled, her face reddening with anger.
How could this man be such a scoundrel? What did he take her for, picking her up just like that?
Smack-
Shen Luolun brought his hand down on her round backside, wrapped in leather pants, with a crisp sound.
Yelan's expression froze, and she stared at him in disbelief.
He actually dared to hit me?
Shen Luolun tightened his grip around the woman's waist, looking haughty.
"That's what you get for not listening. Spare the rod and you'll be tearing the roof off in three days!"
"Behave yourself! Or I'll make you pay!"
Yelan refused to accept it and wanted to keep struggling, but then she saw his dark gaze and the dangerous aura he gave off.
Despite all the battles she'd been through, she felt afraid for the first time.
She didn't dare move again and obediently submitted to the man's oppressive might.
Seeing that she had finally settled down, Shen Luolun gave a smug "Hmph."
He continued carrying her toward the east wing.
Everything went smoothly along the way.
Shen Luolun pushed open the doors to the east wing, walked into the bedroom, and put Yelan on the bed.
He covered her with the quilt and wrapped her up like a zongzi.
Only then did he smile in relief.
"Just sleep here obediently for the night. No one will come and disturb you."
"Don't go to the west wing for now. I won't hide it from you-someone's already staying there."
Hearing Shen Luolun finally reveal the answer, Yelan asked curiously:
"A man or a woman? Do I know them?"
Shen Luolun's expression turned a little unnatural, and his eyes darted away.
"Well..."
As a top agent, Yelan read him at a glance and immediately understood.
"A woman. I don't know her, and neither do you?"
"Don't tell me you picked her up?"
Shen Luolun stared at her in shock.
"Hey, hey, hey, that's cheating! Who said you could use an omniscient point of view? Turn it off right now!"
If I married this woman, would I ever have any secrets?
"Sigh, please learn to control your expression before you speak. Anyone could guess just by looking at your face," Yelan said helplessly.
"Speaking of which, you're far too bold. Not only did you flirt with a young girl, you even picked up... a corpse outside."
"Hmm, I get the feeling you're going farther and farther down the road of crime. Be careful, or you won't even be able to get leniency later. It's not too late to turn yourself in to me now. You'd only need to work for the Ministry of Civil Affairs for forty or fifty years before your sentence is up and you're released."
To be honest, Yelan was a little upset.
He had a fine cabbage at home and wouldn't root around it, yet he insisted on chasing wildflowers outside. He really was a super-duper, utterly invincible idiot!
She hadn't told Shen Luolun that working for the Ministry of Civil Affairs meant working for her.
Since this playboy wouldn't catch on, he could obediently accompany her down into the Chasm for the rest of his life.
"Ahem, I'm not nearly as bad as you say. And forty or fifty years of work-is it really that serious?"
Shen Luolun felt embarrassed.
Under Liyue's criminal law, the maximum sentence was only twenty years, and even a mortgage only lasted thirty. Having to work forty or fifty years before being released was terrifying.
"That's why I'm telling you to pull back from the brink before it's too late for regrets."
Yelan rolled her eyes at him.
Unexpectedly, that eye roll was surprisingly alluring.
Bro, you're really beautiful.
Shen Luolun's throat bobbed. For some reason, those words suddenly surfaced in his mind.
The fire of desire that Sister Yuan'er had stirred up, which had already died down, flared back to life at that moment.
For the first time in his life, he had impure thoughts about his bro:
Yelan really has grown up.
She's curvy in all the right places, quite womanly.
What perfume did she put on? She smells so good. I really want to lean in and smell her armpit...
If Yelan knew this guy hadn't listened to a word she'd said and was even having lustful thoughts about her, she'd surely take off her shoes in anger and stomp hard on his face.
At a time like this, he was still thinking lewd thoughts.
(Oh, that reminds me.)