Page 35

Caught off guard by the sudden concern, Fu Cheng was flattered. "I'm okay. I can manage."

Fu Yuhe walked over to the desk and lifted the test paper covering the pink envelope. He tapped the envelope with a fingertip. "What are you planning to do with this?"

"Give it to Shen Yi tomorrow, of course," Fu Cheng said.

Fu Yuhe's lips tightened. "Is there a girl at school he's interested in?"

Fu Cheng said, "I don't think so... He's with me every day. He hasn't been with anyone..."

He paused and said no more. "Brother, why are you asking?"

To Fu Yuhe, that second's pause was suspicious.

But Fu Yuhe didn't press him. He only said, "Have you thought about what he'll do if you give him the letter?"

Fu Cheng looked at his brother blankly.

"If he has no intention of dating, but this distracts him, what will happen? You're in your final year of high school. You shouldn't let things like this affect you-you have less than a year left. Next June is when your results will be put to the test." Fu Yuhe turned the watch on his wrist. "Once you get to college, you can date whoever you like, but now isn't the time. This letter has come at the wrong time too. Understand?"

Fu Cheng felt like he was standing in front of the dean of students, being lectured. Whenever his brother took this serious approach to something, it had generally meant that the matter was serious, ever since they were children. He instinctively lowered his head and admitted he was wrong, and in his confusion, he let Fu Yuhe take the letter away.

It wasn't until the bedroom door closed softly with a crisp click that Fu Cheng came to his senses.

Wait, that's not right. When he first saw the letter, my brother didn't seem to react so strongly! Even if he doesn't like Shen Yi, he shouldn't take someone else's love letter... He looks more like he cares. What does he care about?

Fu Cheng had a strange feeling that Shen Yi was his brother's real younger brother.

The perfume on the envelope lingered, a fresh scent belonging to a young girl. Fu Yuhe could even picture a girl shyly taking up her pen and carefully writing each stroke on the letter paper.

Perhaps she had written many letters, rewriting them because of typos or unattractive handwriting, before carefully choosing the one she thought was best.

The pink letter paper carried a young girl's shy feelings.

The more Fu Yuhe thought about it, the more sour and troubled he felt.

He had made trouble for himself.

He sat in the study with the letter in front of him, his eyes lowered and his lips pressed into a straight line. He shouldn't have brought it here or let his emotions spread and make him do something so childish. Yet at the time, it had been as if he were caught in a nightmare.

After a while, Fu Yuhe frowned and raised a hand to his temple.

Had he gone mad?

Fu Yuhe had received things like this in his youth, and he had also seen others write them with care. Girls would lean over their desks during or between classes, pondering what to put on paper.

Back then, though, Fu Yuhe had been busy dealing with the mess of troubles at home on top of school. He'd had no real youthful years of his own.

The reason he had given Fu Cheng was too far-fetched. He couldn't even fool himself with it.

Fu Yuhe glanced at his silent phone and put the letter in a desk drawer.

No one would come in here and touch his things. As long as he didn't take it out himself, no one would know an out-of-place love letter was hidden in there. But hiding it away wasn't what Fu Yuhe wanted.

He got up and left the study.

Early the next morning, a boy in school uniform stood outside the villa gates, wearing earphones and a hood to block the wind, his messy black hair hidden beneath it. He was looking down and typing on his phone, a black backpack slung over one shoulder behind him. His posture was casual and relaxed, and he looked a little like he hadn't woken up yet.

Shen Yi really wasn't fully awake. He was drowsy for a while in the mornings, and it had rained at five that morning, leaving the ground wet. He hadn't gone out for a run, so he felt even less awake.

He was messaging Fu Cheng to ask him to come open the gate. He didn't yet know that Fu Yuhe had come back the night before, so when the gate on the other side opened to reveal Fu Yuhe's car, he was stunned for a moment.

Shen Yi was leaning against the wall to one side, not particularly conspicuous, but Fu Yuhe still spotted him. Fu Yuhe was startled too. He told the driver to stop, then rolled down the window and looked at Shen Yi, who was looking down at his phone as if he hadn't seen him.

Fu Yuhe waited three seconds, then opened the car door and got out.

A pair of leather shoes entered Shen Yi's field of vision. He took out one earphone and looked up with the same bright smile as always. "Brother Fu."

They had grown distant.

Before, when the two of them were alone, Shen Yi often called him "Brother." Fu Yuhe noticed the change immediately.

"What are you doing here?" Fu Yuhe asked.

"Waiting for Fu Cheng," Shen Yi said.

Fu Yuhe opened his mouth to say something, but Shen Yi's phone vibrated, drawing his attention away. A new message had appeared on his phone, a voice message Fu Cheng had just sent. Shen Yi played it.

Fu Cheng's voice came through.

"Hang on, I'm coming. My phone ran out of power and shut off this morning, so I only just saw your message. Wait for me..."

"Going in?" Fu Yuhe asked.

"Yeah. Brother Fu, I'll head in first. Don't let me keep you."

[Shen Yi: I ran into your brother's car.]

He took a couple of steps toward the gate, and the sound of leather shoes striking the ground followed behind him. Shen Yi paused and turned sideways.

"I have something to give you," Fu Yuhe said.

"What is it?" Shen Yi asked.

"We'll talk inside," Fu Yuhe said. "It's cold out here."

"Okay." Shen Yi turned away and walked inside.

Fu Yuhe felt that the two of them seemed much more distant. The ambiguity that only they understood had vanished like a bubble.