Li Qinqin [Bei Yan, did you go to your sister's again?]

"How do you feel?" Meng Beiyan asked.

"I don't feel anything," Ying Qian replied calmly. "I'm happy that you have a girlfriend."

"It's fake." Meng Beiyan leaned over and hugged her, the fresh scent of her shower gel filling his nostrils.

All weariness miraculously dissipated in her presence.

She is the only cure.

Meng Beiyan pressed the back of her head against his chest, lowered his eyes and stroked her cascading black hair, which was streaked with a few white hairs. He couldn't help but say, "If you're unhappy about anything, you must tell me."

Ying Qian wrinkled her nose, her desire to break free incredibly strong.

"Don't move," he warned coldly.

"..."

There was no more sound.

Meng Beiyan lifted her directly onto his lap, leaning back slightly so that Ying Qian's body could curl up on him, her startled eyes darting back and forth in front of her.

"What are you afraid of? Why should you be afraid of me?"

"I'm so tired. My job, my family, they're all causing me trouble and making my life miserable. Seeing you will make me feel much better."

“I miss our life in Qincheng, even though we were dirt poor back then.”

“Ying Qian, you’ve grown up, and so have I. You won’t always be my little sister; one day…”

Hearing this, Ying Qian interrupted him, saying, "But you will always be my brother."

"Ying Qian," Meng Beiyan laughed, "would you really believe such a thing while in my arms? We're not going back to the way things were."

"Yes, I will." Ying Qian looked up, her eyes filled with clear, spring-like water. "When I was little, you held me like this too. Back then, you treated me like a little sister. Why can't you do it now?"

She was simply foolish.

"Hehehe."

“Okay, but I’m a grown man now, Ying Qian.” His eyes were filled with a fierce, possessive gaze that permeated the entire study.

He no longer smelled of cigarettes mixed with cologne.

He started trying to quit smoking and stopped using perfumes that made him look mature.

He had only a faint scent of soapberry on him.