Volume One, Chapter Two: Your Brother Is Still So Stingy

Lin Yuxia did not expect to sleep so well that night. She remembered that during her first month abroad, she had to rely on medication every night just to fall asleep. Unexpectedly, a single call from Shen Yan proved more effective than any sleeping pill.

Stretching lazily, she heard Jiang Lan knock on the bedroom door. “Xia Xia, are you up? Let’s go downstairs for breakfast together.” Having skipped dinner with them last night, it felt a bit awkward not to join them for breakfast this morning.

Lin Yuxia responded and tidied herself up before heading downstairs. Lin Muheng was already at the table. Jiang Lan warmly greeted her, “Xia Xia, come over and see if there’s anything you like.”

After greeting her father, Lin Yuxia looked at the table laid out with shrimp dumplings, red rice sausage, mangosteen beef, and steamed chicken feet in black bean sauce—an abundant spread, yet none of them were her favorite because she always preferred something sweet for breakfast.

This habit, maintained for over twenty years, seemed unknown even to her own father.

Seeing Lin Yuxia hesitate to pick up her chopsticks, Lin Muheng’s expression darkened. “Your aunt specifically instructed the kitchen to prepare all this this morning. None of it to your liking?”

Lin Yuxia smiled and said, “No, it’s all what I love,” before forcing herself to eat two shrimp dumplings.

“Dad, I have to go out today.”

Lin Muheng replied indifferently, “Mm.”

His cold attitude didn’t surprise Lin Yuxia in the slightest; after all, she had always been the unwelcomed daughter. She had no doubt that if it were her stepsister who had just returned, Lin Muheng would have been eager to keep her daughter tied to his side day and night.

Instead, her stepsister Lin Hanhan showed an unusual concern. “Where are you going? To see Brother Yan?”

Lin Yuxia looked up in surprise. “Brother Yan?”

When had her stepsister become so close to Shen Yan?

Lin Hanhan gave a teasing smile. “Sister, why don’t I go with you?”

“I’m not looking for him. I’m just going to buy some daily necessities.” Lin Yuxia calmly put down her chopsticks. “I’ve finished eating. You two take your time.”

Outside, she wandered the streets aimlessly. Not really without purpose, but simply unwilling to stay trapped in that suffocating home.

Brother Yan... Why did Lin Hanhan call him that? What right did she have? The thought pricked her heart like a needle, sharp and aching.

Just then, Shen Yan’s call came through, instantly dispelling her gloom.

“Brother?”

“Did you sleep well last night?”

Lin Yuxia smiled sweetly. “Thanks to you, I slept exceptionally well.”

“I’ll host a welcome dinner for you tonight. I’ll send a car to pick you up this afternoon.”

Lin Yuxia was delighted. “Sounds good, but no need to pick me up. Just send me the location, and I’ll take a taxi.”

Shen Yan teased, “Has my little Yu grown up and no longer needs her brother?”

Lin Yuxia replied, “When did I stop needing my brother? It’s just that I’m twenty-two this year, not a child anymore.”

A light, gentle laugh came from the other end. “In my heart, you’ll always be a child.”

Holding the phone, Lin Yuxia’s smile gradually faded. That phrase, “still a child,” was both a shield protecting her and a cage imprisoning her from truly connecting with Shen Yan.

“See you tonight, Brother.” With that, she ended the call.

* * *

Feng Yasong, a tranquil oasis amid the bustling city.

In this land where every inch is precious, to have a single-story building enclosing a courtyard the size of a football field—with tea rooms, chess and card rooms, dining, hot springs, shopping, all in one place—was a rare luxury.

The price per visit for one person was equivalent to a month or two of the average worker’s salary, yet it was often fully booked.

However, when Lin Yuxia arrived today, only a dozen cars were parked outside this usually crowded venue.

After announcing her name, the manager of Feng Yasong greeted her with a smile and personally escorted her to the private room.

No sooner had she entered than a tall figure enveloped her in a hug.

“Little sister, let me see you! How have you grown so tall?”

Fu Chenghe, nicknamed “Moat,” howled exaggeratedly.

Lin Yuxia thought for a moment and mercilessly exposed him. “Brother, I only grew one centimeter after I turned eighteen...”

Fu Chenghe stopped howling. “Oh? Is that so? I feel like you’ve changed a lot.”

Change, indeed, there was.

Before eighteen, Lin Yuxia was a high school girl, dressed in her uniform with a ponytail.

Now, she wore a little black dress, her long curls draped over her shoulders, beautiful in a subtle, effortless way that commanded attention.

Shen Yan, unable to bear it any longer, pushed Fu Chenghe away without mercy and pulled Lin Yuxia to sit beside him. Then he coldly glared at Fu Chenghe.

“If you want to talk, just talk. No need for hands-on.”

“Hey, you…” Fu Chenghe protested, “Xia Xia is like a little sister I’ve watched grow up. I’m happy to see her and just gave her a hug. What’s wrong with that?”

He sat down beside Lin Yuxia, grumbling. “Your brother is still as petty as ever.”

Lin Yuxia glanced around the room. About twenty people, mostly familiar faces.

She had met Shen Yan when she was six. Over the next decade, he brought her to countless social dinners, so much so that almost everyone in Shen Yan’s circle knew he had a beloved “god-sister.”

Perhaps out of respect for Shen Yan, everyone treated Lin Yuxia kindly.

Simply put, Lin Yuxia was the darling of these gatherings.

* * *

Someone laughed, comforting Fu Chenghe, “Brother Yan treasures his sister most. You’re not hearing this for the first time!”

Immediately, others chimed in. “Right! When Xia Xia was abroad her first year, Brother Yan went out drinking with us less and less. Every time we called, he said he wasn’t in the mood.”

“Remember that one time? Brother Yan got drunk, grabbed a girl who looked like Lin Yuxia, and called her ‘Xiao Yu.’ We all laughed so hard!”

Hearing this, Lin Yuxia couldn’t help but glance at Shen Yan, a tender sweetness flooding her heart.

Shen Yan neither looked at her nor allowed her to look at him. He twisted her face back with one hand while tapping the table with his knuckles.

“Can’t you all keep your mouths shut even when eating and drinking?”

Though all were young masters of Shanghai’s elite, there were ranks among them.

Shen Yan was undoubtedly one of the rare few at the very top.

The joke ended here; no one dared push it further and tactfully changed the subject.

Fu Chenghe stood and declared, “Tonight is Xia Xia’s welcome dinner. Let’s raise our glasses to welcome her back home!”

Everyone raised their glasses with a cheer of “Welcome home!”

Lin Yuxia lifted the juice Shen Yan specially ordered for her and smiled in thanks.

The room soon filled with clinking glasses and lively chatter.

Quietly sitting beside Shen Yan, Lin Yuxia happily enjoyed the care while sneaking glances at his profile.

Shen Yan was thirty this year but looked unchanged from ten years ago.

Perhaps due to his lean frame, thin skin stretched over perfect bone structure, giving him an indescribable youthful elegance.

He was focused on cracking crab shells, his long fingers deftly maneuvering the ordinary crab claws with grace.

Soon, he presented a plate of pink-and-white crab meat.

“Eat,” Shen Yan pushed the plate toward Lin Yuxia. “I know you love hairy crabs, but they’re not in season yet. When autumn comes, I’ll take you to Suzhou to eat them.”

Lin Yuxia picked up a piece of crab meat with her ivory chopsticks and tasted it, a happy curve forming at the corner of her eyes. “So sweet.”

Not the crab meat, but the sweetness in her heart.

Suddenly, the door to the private room was pushed open, revealing a stunning, seductive woman in red.

“Brother Yan,” she called affectionately, “Sorry I’m late.”

Brother Yan? Again? Lin Yuxia’s fingers tightened involuntarily around her chopsticks.

Fu Chenghe, ever enthusiastic and talkative, loudly greeted, “Not late at all! Waiter, add a seat next to Young Master Shen!”