Shen Sixian had actually never had much physical contact with Shen Shuangjian.
For years, he and this younger brother, who was not even entirely his brother in name, had ignored each other. Even their one instance of contact had been when he had half tossed, half draped his own coat over Shen Shuangjian last time.
The skin beneath his hand was almost icy, yet soft and delicate to the touch, unlike his own firmly muscled arms.
That beating pulse was proof that the same blood flowed through their veins.
"Elder brother-!"
This time, when Shen Shuangjian called out to him, his voice ended on a note of reproachful displeasure.
Shen Sixian instantly released his hand. It was also at that moment that he suddenly realized how Shen Shuangjian differed from him. It had nothing to do with ability or class, but something concrete and more subtle.
Unlike him, Shen Shuangjian did not have a strong, healthy body, the ability to support the family, or the power to hold absolute sway.
Even his personality was fragile, concealed beneath distance and indifference.
They both bore the surname Shen and had the same father, yet their lives were completely different.
That sudden realization made the hollow, unfamiliar words "elder brother" burn with scorching heat.
Shen Sixian pressed his throbbing temple and suddenly felt a little mentally exhausted.
He could not accept the reason Shen Shuangjian had given him, yet after what had just happened, he did not know what to say to him either.
So he could only swallow the sigh that was about to escape and carefully ponder why he cared so much about the differences between Shen Shuangjian and himself.
"Suit yourself."
He did not stop Shen Shuangjian from leaving again.
Shen Sixian thought that since Shen Shuangjian did not appreciate it, why should he concern himself so much?
Only after leisurely eating a piping-hot dinner did the dull ache in Shen Shuangjian's stomach finally ease considerably.
Whether his return was well timed or poorly timed was hard to say. Shen Shuangjian had only just pushed open his bedroom door when the phone its owner had abandoned all alone on the bed began vibrating and ringing.
Shen Shuangjian's heart instantly tightened. Now, whenever he heard a call or message notification, he wondered whether Xie Qingchi had changed his number again to contact him.
Only after seeing the familiar number on the caller ID did Shen Shuangjian relax. He swiped his finger across the screen and answered.
"Hello, Shuangjian."
The instant the call connected, Director Wang's loud voice came through the phone, tinged with excitement.
"Get ready on your end and coordinate with our production team and the other guests to start a livestream at seven. That'll help us retain our audience before the next episode goes live."
"I'll have a staff member send you the streaming account. Just accept their friend request on WeChat."
He had barely finished speaking when noisy shouts came from the other end, as though someone was calling him.
"All right, I have to go."
And so, this call, throughout which he had been the only one speaking, was unilaterally ended by him as well.
After the call ended, Shen Shuangjian looked at the seven or eight new friend requests in his list, each with a different profile picture and nickname. He pressed his lips together and fell into an impasse of silence.
"..."
Left with no choice, Shen Shuangjian finally added those new friends whose requests he had left pending on WeChat.
The staff member on the other end soon sent Shen Shuangjian his official personal streaming account, walking him through how to log in and start streaming.
Unfortunately, Shen Shuangjian was extremely unfamiliar with these things. The staff member often had to patiently repeat each step two or three times in a gentle voice before he could complete it.
6:50 p.m.
Shen Shuangjian started streaming at the same time as several other accounts. Fans who had been waiting for ages instantly flooded in, with the concurrent viewer count passing one hundred thousand in a minute and three hundred thousand in five minutes.
[Real Life (Shen Shuangjian), whom you follow, is now live and invites you to enter his livestream.]
There was no streaming equipment in Shen Shuangjian's bedroom, so he could only prop his phone against the slender-necked vase on his desk. Although he had no professional equipment, the angle he chose turned out to be accidentally perfect.
The bright light shining from behind Shen Shuangjian scattered against the backlight, gilding every strand of his hair and lending him just the right touch of dreamlike haziness.
[Holy shit, a critical hit right off the bat.]
[Huff, huff, so beautiful. So beautiful this humble girl can't handle it.]
[Shen Shuangjian, as long as that face stands, so does your empire. I won't let anyone defy you!]
[Just crawled over from Xie Qingchi's stream. That bastard started running his mouth the second he went live, but his fans are terrifying fighters. I couldn't win against them.]
[What did he say?]
[Wait, Xie Qingchi's been going on a rampage on Weibo. Don't tell me you don't know?]
[Nobody cares, thanks.]
[I fucking misjudged Xie Qingchi. I thought that bastard had really changed his tune, but then he turned around and backstabbed wifey on Weibo. Great, now we're a joke.]
[So you do know you're a joke.]
[I'm dying. You kept putting our Qingchi down to prop him up and pushing that "he changed his tune" narrative like crazy. Got slapped in the face now, didn't you?]
[You only behave when someone tears into you. Now you know the crown prince of Beijing's elite isn't someone to mess with, right?]
[Where the fuck did these Qing dynasty remnants come from?]
[Xie Qingchi has publicly distanced himself on Weibo and even insulted my wife. Fine, fine, this ship is over.]
The comments scrolled faster and faster. Shen Shuangjian turned on the option to clear the bullet comments, but even so, whenever he looked at the screen, it was filled with the name Xie Qingchi.
Whenever Shen Shuangjian saw that name, he involuntarily remembered Xie Qingchi getting handsy and "insulting" him. After a while, he no longer particularly wanted to read those scrolling words.
[Shen Shuangjian, you clown. You think being good-looking means you can put our Qingchi down to prop yourself up?]
[An absolute clown. I'm dying.]
[This proves being good-looking doesn't mean you can do whatever you want.]
[Wait, are you haters or face fans? Why are you insulting my wife and complimenting his looks at the same time?]
[Looks that even brain-dead haters can't ignore.]
[Can't help it. With a face like that, you can only insult him with your eyes closed. But ugly is off-limits, okay? We're not blind.]
[Okay, but doesn't Xie Qingchi find Shen Shuangjian annoying? He's been going on and on during his stream, and three out of every five sentences are about Shen Shuangjian not accepting his friend request or answering his calls.]
[Stop talking, okay? Whatever you say, I'm never shipping them again. Xie Qingchi isn't worthy.]
[Holy shit, Xie Qingchi's connecting!]
[???]
[Connecting to fight it out live?]
When the unfamiliar connection notification popped up on his phone screen, Shen Shuangjian felt a little panicked by the unknown.
He leaned closer, and when his finger tapped the conspicuous pop-up, the image instantly changed, then split in two.
When Xie Qingchi's face appeared on the right half of the phone screen, Shen Shuangjian froze. Then, quite naturally, one phrase surfaced in his mind.
A ghost that wouldn't go away.