After leaving the inpatient ward, Shen Shuangjian still had a long walk before he could reach the hospital gates.
But his body, only just recovered and still heavy with exhaustion, could hardly support him through a distance that ordinary people would not have considered long.
So when he passed the artificial lake in the landscaped grounds, Shen Shuangjian had to stop on a lakeside bench for a brief rest.
Before him lay a lake whose waters moved sluggishly in the lingering winter chill, its surface desolate, with no spring willows to adorn it and no swans gliding leisurely across it.
"Cough..."
Only after coughing did Shen Shuangjian catch the scent of cigarette smoke, carrying a little nicotine, drifting slowly over from his left.
The two benches were barely half a meter apart. Shen Shuangjian's fine brows drew together slightly as he turned his gaze toward it.
The man sitting on the bench to his left held a half-smoked cigarette between his fingers.
The thick, lingering smoke obscured his indistinct features. Through a haze of bewildered pallor, Shen Shuangjian's gaze slowly met those deep, dark eyes.
But before he could make out anything more, Shen Shuangjian lowered his eyes and gradually withdrew his gaze.
Unable to tolerate the smell of cigarettes, Shen Shuangjian rose, ending his brief rest.
And exactly ten seconds after Shen Shuangjian's figure began receding into the distance, ash fell from between the man's fingers, landing lightly on his expensive coat. A breeze swept past, leaving barely a trace.
It was the sound of a heartbeat. Once, twice, countless times.
When the last burning ember scorched his fingertips, Xie Jinghui's eyes trembled slightly, and he finally extinguished what remained of the cigarette.
Just then, a spring breeze happened to sweep across the lake.
And so, early spring finally faded into oblivion, gradually giving way to high summer.
Shen Shuangjian finally walked out through the hospital gates. When he hailed a car and told the driver the neighborhood and street number, the driver actually froze for several seconds.
He had been driving around the capital for over a decade, though he could not claim to know every place like the back of his hand, as if it were his own home.
But the place Shen Shuangjian had named was a wealthy neighborhood known throughout the capital. As for the specific address, although he had never been there, he knew a mansion stood there-the Shen Residence.
As far as he knew, people who came and went from places like that were supposed to travel in luxury cars, surrounded by bodyguards. How had this one been reduced to hailing a car?
Even so, he asked no questions. He merely gave his passenger a look through the rearview mirror, his expression complicated, then stepped on the accelerator.
In a place like the capital, where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold, anyone who owned a mansion passed down for a hundred years was, if not all-powerful, at least wealthy enough to rival a nation.
The driver could go no closer. He pulled over beside a road in the public area, leaving Shen Shuangjian to walk the rest of the way himself.
The journey to the main house would have taken less than ten minutes by car, yet Shen Shuangjian spent an hour walking it, stopping and starting along the way.
As soon as he entered the villa's living room, Shen Shuangjian could no longer hold himself up and collapsed onto the sofa.
The lights in the Shen Residence were still on, but the servants who bustled about during the day had left the main house and were all in the servants' quarters.
Shen Sixian had not returned. No one in this entire household cared about Shen Shuangjian's presence, so naturally, no one would welcome him or look after him.
Shen Shuangjian was utterly exhausted. Less than three minutes after sinking into the soft sofa, his consciousness grew hazy and he fell asleep.
The lavish, antique-style living room was steeped in the opulence and elegance of the Middle Ages. The crystal chandelier at its center shone brightly and glittered, its cold white light making the young man on the dark sofa look even paler.
Leather shoes clicked crisply against the clean, polished floor. When Shen Sixian returned, the first thing he noticed was a slender, frail figure lying on the usually empty sofa.
His younger half brother, Shen Shuangjian.
He rarely saw Shen Shuangjian. Given their less-than-harmonious relationship as brothers, Shen Shuangjian's comings and goings almost never coincided with his.
Even when they were both home, one remained in his room while the other handled business in the study. Even at mealtimes, Shen Shuangjian deliberately came about half an hour late, just to avoid him.
Withdrawn, cowardly, but just barely sensible enough to understand his circumstances-that was Shen Sixian's fairest assessment of this younger brother.
So, ever since Shen Shuangjian had been brought back to the Shen Family, he had never actually seen him like this.
Studying his face closely, he found that the two of them, brothers with no familial affection between them, did not really look alike.
Shen Sixian resembled their father more, inheriting his strengths and none of his flaws, with a refined, distinguished, and stern face. He was more like a young master raised by an aristocratic family, his every word and gesture carrying the indifference of a life of privilege.
Shen Shuangjian, however, seemed to resemble his mother more. There was a fragility to his beauty, like porcelain that had survived a thousand years yet could shatter at a touch: quiet, cool, and without any forceful impact, yet still so beautiful that one could not look away.
Only when he looked at this face and pictured Shen Shuangjian's mother could Shen Sixian find something tangible in the fact of his father's marital infidelity.
"Cough..."
Shen Shuangjian slept fitfully. He must have been very sensitive to the cold, for even in his hazy sleep, he instinctively frowned, clutched his clothes, and hunched his shoulders with a faint shiver.
Early spring had just arrived, and the first warmth still gave way to cold.
It was only natural for Shen Shuangjian to feel cold sleeping in the living room with its doors wide open.
Shen Sixian unfolded the coat draped over his arm and let it fall over Shen Shuangjian from above. His movements could hardly be called gentle, but a trace of compassion had stirred in him after all.
"Rather than putting on such a pitiful display, you should have behaved yourself from the start."
Ever since Shen Shuangjian had returned, Shen Sixian had known more or less about the things that had happened to him over the years.
The contempt of outsiders, the targeting by the Xie Family's little crown prince, and even the recent rumors and malicious attacks online-he knew all of it perfectly well.
Since Shen Shuangjian had chosen to bear it himself, he was satisfied that the other knew his place.
After his thick, long eyelashes fluttered a few times, the young man wrapped in the heavy coat soon woke from his restless sleep.
He reached out a thin, delicate hand, feeling around to push aside the garment weighing on him. As he sat up, the long hair piled on the sofa spilled loosely down.
"Elder brother."
That was the scrupulously proper, distant form of address he used.
Shen Sixian's brows furrowed slightly. With slow, unhurried steps, he went to sit in an armchair nearby, his long, finely jointed hands resting naturally as he crossed his long legs.
"This is not your private resting area. It's most improper."
Since he lived under someone else's roof, he did indeed have to follow their rules.
At his words, Shen Shuangjian was dazed for only a moment before lowering his eyes and responding politely.
"Elder brother, I have to leave for the show tomorrow, so I don't have time to move. Once the show is over, I'll move out as soon as possible."
Shen Sixian had not meant to make Shen Shuangjian leave this home. It was merely that, after so long keeping his distance, he had suddenly taken a step forward and therefore needed an excuse to retreat twice as far.
The tall, slender man abruptly rose, and the shadow cast by the light easily enveloped Shen Shuangjian's entire body.
"As you wish."
He tossed out those words casually, then turned and headed upstairs. The crisp sound of his leather shoes was neither hurried nor slow, yet Shen Shuangjian still felt somewhat dizzy and heavy-headed.
If he could not shake off his exhaustion tonight, Shen Shuangjian thought, tomorrow might be very difficult to endure.