Chapter 38

"Brother?"

The living room lights were off, and the room was dim. Fu Yuhe flicked the ash from his cigarette, closed his laptop, and stubbed the cigarette out in the ashtray.

"Where did you go?" he asked.

Fu Cheng said, "Nowhere."

A couple of mornings ago, Fu Yuhe had called Shen Yi into the study. When Fu Yuhe came downstairs, his steps were hurried, and the oppressive mood around him was palpable even to Fu Cheng. Fu Cheng later asked Shen Yi about it, and Shen Yi said his brother had only given him a love letter.

Fu Cheng naturally believed Shen Yi, but he also knew that his brother was always unhappy about Shen Yi's presence. His attitude toward him ran hot and cold, even though things had clearly eased up considerably after the birthday a while back.

He thought he couldn't let his brother know he and Shen Yi had spent two hours at a cat café. Otherwise, with Shen Yi, whom his brother hated, plus cats, which his brother also hated, the double buff would stack, and the consequences... would be serious, right?

After all, his brother had been in a bad mood these past two days.

Fu Yuhe asked, "Why did you come back so late?"

"I..." Fu Cheng faltered. "Brother, can you not ask?"

Fu Yuhe looked up at him. "Hm?"

Fu Cheng said, "If I tell you, you'll be unhappy again. You might as well not ask."

Fu Yuhe said, "..."

Fu Cheng said, "Brother, I'm going upstairs."

Fu Cheng made himself scarce, running away so fast that Fu Yuhe narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint in their depths.

For several days in a row, Fu Cheng came home very late. Fu Yuhe didn't question him as he had on the first day.

Friday.

The afternoon sky was overcast, as though a downpour could arrive at any moment. The milk tea shop outside the school was bustling after the students got out. The shop wasn't large, and two people sat across from each other at a table near the door.

Shen Yi sat with his back to the glass door, turning a Rubik's cube in his hands. Shen Meiyue, her hair in a ponytail, sat opposite him. Fu Cheng had gone to order.

Both Shen Meiyue and Fu Cheng liked cats. Once, when Shen Meiyue found out they went to a cat café after school, Shen Yi and Fu Cheng's outings for two became outings for three.

Shen Yi could strike up a conversation with anyone, and as they spent more time together, the reserved Shen Meiyue gradually grew more familiar with him.

"Is something on your mind?" Shen Meiyue asked, holding a cup of warm milk tea.

Shen Yi was distracted as he turned the cube. "What?"

Shen Meiyue smiled and said softly, "You've been spacing out a lot these past few days. At first, you kept staring out the window at the cat café, and I thought it was because you weren't interested in cats, but that doesn't seem to be it. You'd almost solved the cube just now, and then you scrambled it again. You were spacing out just then, weren't you?"

Girls were always a little more perceptive.

Shen Yi's hands paused on the cube. He looked up and smiled at Shen Meiyue. "No, I just ran into a difficult problem I couldn't solve. I was thinking about it."

"Oh..." Shen Meiyue blushed easily, and the way she lowered her head with her face red looked shy to anyone watching.

A car was parked across from the milk tea shop. Inside, Fu Yuhe watched the scene without expression-the young boy and girl smiled at each other, like the beginnings of a budding, innocent, and immature romance.

Fu Yuhe recognized Shen Yi from behind.

The slender figure, the nape showing above his collar, and the back of his head with its tousled black hair all gave him a familiar feeling-everything about him was unmistakable.

A moment later, he gave a faint smile.

To the assistant in the front passenger seat, the sight was unsettling. His boss was clearly unhappy, yet his lips were curved in a smile. He was every bit as frightening as the big boss villain in a horror movie.

Fu Yuhe opened the car door. His leather shoes crunched softly on the dry orange-yellow leaves beside the car as he walked unhurriedly to the milk tea shop. He pushed the door open, but when he saw Fu Cheng standing in line to order, he stepped back out.

Shen Yi's phone rang while he was chatting with Shen Meiyue.

He took it from his jacket pocket, glanced at the caller ID, and said, "I'm going to take this."

The milk tea shop was rather noisy, so he got up, left the cube on the table, and went outside. The moment he pushed the door open, he spotted a figure in a blind spot off to one side.

The two stood on the same road, looking at each other from a distance.

Fu Yuhe's expression was the same as ever, his voice low and steady. "I need you for something. Get your things and come with me."

Somehow, Shen Yi managed to hear a hint of the calm before a storm in those words.

He raised an eyebrow. "Just me? Aren't you picking up Fu Cheng? He's here too."

"Mm." Fu Yuhe's voice was very soft. "Only you."

As though a breeze could scatter them, the words lightly carried their deeper meaning away.

Chapter 18: The Price

Dark clouds filled the sunless sky, and the wind carried a biting chill. A black car was parked beneath a maple tree, and a fallen leaf drifted gently onto its roof.

Fu Yuhe wore a black, fitted trench coat, open at the neck, with the collar of his white shirt falling to either side beneath it and his sexy Adam's apple above his collarbones. He walked to the car, pulled the door open, and glanced back at the young man strolling behind him.

Shen Yi had brought his backpack and was still holding the unsolved Rubik's cube. He followed Fu Yuhe, and when he saw Fu Yuhe open the car door for him, he didn't stand on ceremony. As he got in, he smiled and greeted the driver in front.

"Good afternoon, Uncle Ma."

The driver had worked for Fu Yuhe for quite some time. He was a middle-aged man with steady driving skills. He glanced at Shen Yi in the rearview mirror and said, "Good afternoon."

He had driven Shen Yi a few times and knew he was a friend of his boss's younger brother. Shen Yi always spoke in a way that put people at ease and seemed like a cheerful young man with no ulterior motives.

"Move over," Fu Yuhe said, standing beside the car and cutting short their chance to continue chatting.