Chapter 100 Pseudo-Siblings (6)

On the night of the explosion, news spread quickly because there were many injured people in the shops on the first floor. By the time Bian Shu rushed into the emergency room like a madman, Lin Langyi was sitting by the bedside, holding Yuan Chuyu's hand tightly and listening to the doctor's instructions.

The feeling of snuggling together for warmth was too strong, and Bian Shu was stunned for a moment. The sweat on his back and forehead from running all the way from the hospital entrance clashed with the strong air conditioning in the hospital, making him shiver suddenly. It wasn't until he quickly walked up to Lin Langyi and put his hand on her shoulder that he managed to pull himself out of his thoughts.

"I'm fine. My brother's condition is a bit worse than mine, but he's okay too. Our plane is coming, and we'll be leaving soon."

Even when Lin Langyi said it was nothing, she still didn't let go of his hand.

Bian Shu forced herself not to dwell on the matter, but she still couldn't help but look at their tightly clasped hands, and all sorts of thoughts arose in her head... Was she holding his hand? Or was he holding her hand tightly?

Their fingers weren't intertwined, but their hands were clasped tightly together, like a tangled ball of yarn that was hard to separate. Bian Shu forcefully looked away, the sweat on her back completely drying, and a chill ran through her.

"Thank you, brother." He tightened his grip, allowing Lin Langyi to lean against him as a support, trying to get her closer to him rather than closer to the other side. "I'm late."

Yuan Chuyu didn't look well. His face was pale, his lips were dry, and his messy hair hung listlessly on his forehead. The only thing with any color in his eyes was his half-closed resting eyes. The thin red at the corners of his eyes looked like blood that had congealed after being scorched by flames, making him look lifeless.

Lin Langyi was very worried about him. In the noisy hospital, under the cold and pale incandescent lights, with people coming and going around her, she held Yuan Chuyu's hand tightly. When he spoke, she would bend down and tilt her ear to get as close to him as possible. As a result, the ends of their hair, which were scorched by the flames and curled ridiculously, were clumsily tangled together like knotted fish bait.

Yuan Chuyu spoke very little, his lips parting slightly and then closing again, so that it was almost impossible to see him speaking unless you looked closely, yet Lin Langyi could accurately understand his meaning. There was an absolute tacit understanding between them that no one else could penetrate, a telepathic connection built up over the years they had grown up together, like an impenetrable wall that kept outsiders at bay and confined them.

Bian Shu saw Lin Langyi ask the nurse for cotton swabs. She dipped them in saline solution and carefully wiped Yuan Chuyu's dry, chapped lips again and again. Occasionally, she would dip too much and the excess water would slide down his chin, which she would then gently wipe away with her fingers.

That's right.

Bian Shu turned her face away, trying her best to tell herself that this was just the worry and care that siblings felt after an unexpected accident, which was only natural.

*

Upon returning home, the anticipated tangled emotional entanglement did not materialize.

That's the correct interpretation. Lin Langyi felt that Yuan Chuyu probably just experienced a strong emotional outburst at that critical moment of life and death, and then mistakenly thought it was love.

He doesn't seem like someone who's obsessed with romance.

Sure enough, after she returned, she avoided him for a few days, but Yuan Chuyu immediately became like a machine that had been completely formatted and reset. She didn't mention it, and neither did he. Their parents were terrified and only focused on the health of the two of them, failing to notice the subtle estrangement between the siblings.

The unspoken words left behind by that fire seemed like nothing more than a fleeting dream. After leaving that remote and peaceful town, that chapter was turned over.

Lin Langyi felt that this gentle letting go was the only way for the two of them to maintain a long-term harmonious relationship. It was like meeting someone you knew from the beginning would not lead to anything, and choosing to never start was a defense mechanism for yourself.

She couldn't explain why she was so careful and meticulous in considering their relationship and trying so hard to maintain the status quo, but she was certain of one thing: her opinion of him had changed somewhat because of his reckless act of rushing into the fire to find her.

If at the beginning, Yi Yi was mostly wary and indifferent to him as a brother, then now, she believes that her dislike for him is no longer simply that of "someone else's child"... or rather, she may no longer be able to use the word "dislike" to crudely summarize her brother.

Of course, she has to admit that this change in her heart and her emotional nature largely stemmed from the fact that Ying Yuan gradually possessed absolute inheritance rights. The retreat of her sense of crisis led her to shift her attention from him as a "competitor" to the warm role of her "brother".

If she is willing to continue to get along with him, then maintaining the sibling relationship will be eternal.

She planned to start cold and then warm up, and slowly get back to how things were before with Yuan Chuyu.

However, it was really difficult to control the degree of this, especially since Yuan Chuyu was a man whose heart was unfathomable. She thought of dealing with it temporarily by giving him the cold shoulder, and he didn't even leave the house. A week or two passed, and Lin Langyi didn't even see him a few times.

Even though Yuan Chuyu deliberately reduced the number of times he left his room, it was inevitable that the two of them would run into each other when they were under the same roof. It was fine when his parents didn't come home for dinner, but once they did, the two of them had to sit back down at the dining table to eat.

Feigned intimacy is like a drop of ink in white paint; no matter how it's blended, it always feels awkward.

This is the bad thing about siblings arguing; during the cold war, they have to grit their teeth and put the two chairs side by side, pretending nothing happened and continue eating.

Her mother was heartbroken that the two of them were injured, so she came home for dinner almost every day during this period. Lin Langyi's mouth was almost dry, but her mother kept a close eye on the health food that was given to Lin Langyi's plate, insisting that she eat well to replenish her body.

The poria and gorgon fruit in the Four Gods Soup tasted like wall ash when chewed. Taking advantage of her mother's inattention, Lin Langyi habitually took out the spoon quickly, picked up the bowl, and swiftly tilted it towards Yuan Chuyu beside her.

She had done this countless times since she was a child; she was simply a matter of practice.

The two bowls clinked together with a crisp sound. Before Lin Langyi could successfully dock the satellite, his peripheral vision swept over the long, slender fingers that were pointing at the table, and he suddenly stopped.

Habits are a terrible thing, like the inertia of the soul.

She looked up and, sure enough, saw him looking at her with his eyes downcast and his expression indifferent.

The pervasive silence was like a gray, rainy day, with the entire sky covered by a curtain. He said nothing, neither handing over the bowl nor covering it with his palm in refusal.

Lin Langyi remembered that the two of them were still awkward and embarrassed. The smooth and efficient eating movements gradually lost their quick and precise momentum. She pretended that nothing had happened and withdrew her movements without any hesitation.

The mother returned to the table.

Lin Langyi straightened her neck and swallowed the entire bowl of Four Gods Soup.

The overcooked fox nuts turned into millions of powdery particles mixed in the soup, like wall plaster that doesn't dissolve in water.

It tastes awful.

Just as Lin Langyi put down her bowl, she heard the sound of chopsticks being gently set down beside her, as if a lonely person had accidentally dropped a marble in a large room, making the only sound.

Yuan Chuyu's voice was low and cold, like a piece of broken jade: "I'm going back to my place tomorrow to stay for a while. I have some things to take care of."

He left home for the latter half of the summer vacation.

Life goes on. Lin Langyi had a fulfilling and enjoyable summer vacation, while Yuan Chuyu was about to go abroad for further studies, following his life path.

On the day Yuan Chuyu left, his mother was attending a three-day exchange meeting in another city, while his father stayed at the company. It was originally agreed that he would take Yuan Chuyu to school for the first time, but Yuan Chuyu said that there was no need to trouble him, as he was already an adult.

"Then let's go to the airport." The father was happy to be the one to leave everything to the others.

The flight was at 7 a.m., and in order to get to the airport 2 hours early, Yuan Chuyu got up before dawn.

He packed his luggage a few days in advance and only returned home the night before his flight so that the driver wouldn't have to take a detour to pick him up and take him to the airport the next day.

When the alarm clock rang, Yuan Chuyu got up, tidied himself up quickly, went downstairs, took a turn, and suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Lin Langyi, who suffers from difficulty waking up early, sat on the sofa yawning, looking at him sleepily.

She had changed out of her loungewear and into a cotton T-shirt and jeans, with a bulging travel bag beside her, ready to go.

Seeing him come down, she perked up and combed her long, loose hair: "Let's go."

Yuan Chuyu stopped in his tracks and asked her, "What do you mean?"

Lin Langyi got up and went to the entrance to change her shoes. When she bent over, the T-shirt tucked into her jeans straightened, outlining the beautiful lines of her back. She opened the door, and the cool morning breeze blew in, making her thin top ripple like water.

She turned to look at him and said, "What do you mean? I'm taking you to the airport."

In the end, the father did not keep his promise, and it was Lin Langyi who accompanied Yuan Chuyu to the airport.

Neither of them had breakfast, which was Lin Langyi's habit. In high school, in order to save time and sleep a little longer, she would eat breakfast on the way to school with her driver. Usually, she would also play English listening exercises in the car, killing two birds with one stone.

Yuan Chuyu sat with her in the back seat, holding sandwiches made by Aunt Qiu in his hand. Lin Langyi inserted a straw into the milk and handed it to him, one bottle for each of them.

As the car sped along and turned, their knees would occasionally bump lightly together. Yuan Chuyu caught a whiff of a familiar floral and fruity scent, and following the aroma, he turned his head slightly to see that her hair was not completely dry.

It's been a long time since we've sat so close together.

Yuan Chuyu's chest rose and fell slightly, his breathing was even and regular, and he involuntarily curved the corners of his lips into a smile, but the smile quickly disappeared.

Before meeting friends, going on dates, or having meals together, she always washes her hair because she loves buying all kinds of scented shampoos. However, she often makes mistakes and ends up with a bad one. In those situations, she would secretly put the shampoo she didn't like into his cabinet as part of his stock, and when asked, she would never know who bought it.

For a long time, he helped her use up her discarded shampoos, to the point that sometimes the fragrances were too strong, and Xiao Pucheng would give him strange teasing looks.

Yuan Chuyu turned his head to look out the car window. The sky was gradually brightening, and the hazy, dim air was filled with a little water vapor, making it gray and somber.

He remembered that he hadn't brought shampoo this time.

It's too heavy and inconvenient; I can buy it there.

Many reasons surfaced in his mind one after another, only to fade away. In the end, he began to regret not bringing the bottle of basil white tea shampoo that he had only squeezed out two pumps of.

That was something she secretly hid in his bathroom, saying sweet nothings like, "Brother, this cool and sophisticated fragrance suits you," but in reality, she had bought all the other scents and saved the one she didn't like as much for him.

He knew all of this, but he felt as if he were in a daze that this kind of distribution was just like the ordinary daily life of a married couple. She would put carrots that she didn't like into his bowl so that he could digest them, and she would stuff skin care products that didn't work well into his bowl for him to use, and she would say with a straight face that these were expensive and that he was getting a good deal. The two of them would sometimes mix their shower gels, maybe because he had run out, or maybe because they were covered in foam when they were bathing together in the bath and couldn't tell each other apart.

Before realizing these feelings buried deep in his heart, he probably didn't have such rich imagination. But once he broke through that barrier in his heart, he began to toss and turn like a hysterical madman, sentimental and restless.

Yuan Chuyu hesitated for a moment before finally speaking: "I think I forgot to bring something."

Lin Langyi swallowed a mouthful of milk, and seeing his serious expression, she straightened up as well, and said gravely, "Forgot what?! Could it be your ID card? Or—"

Shampoo.

Lin Langyi: ?

She froze for a few seconds, thinking she had misheard, and rubbed her ears before struggling to say, "What?"

Yuan Chuyu's expression remained unchanged, and his tone was calm: "The shampoo you put in my bathroom cabinet, the white tea scented one."

"You didn't bring this?"

"Um."

"No, I mean, is it worth bringing? Aren't you worried about the weight? Shampoo can be bought everywhere..."

Lin Langyi was puzzled, but breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back in her seat: "I thought you had forgotten your credit card or ID card, and I was so scared that I almost told the driver to turn around and go back."

Yuan Chuyu's gaze wavered for a moment, his lips parted slightly, but he quickly and calmly replied, "It's worth it, it's not heavy, I'm used to it."

Lin Langyi's expression was even more indescribable: "Brother, if I remember correctly, this is the first time I've bought this bottle, right? You've only used it a few times and you're already used to it?"

Yuan Chuyu lowered his eyelashes. He hadn't heard her complain to him so sweetly and naturally all summer. Those days that he used to take for granted would soon become unattainable because of the time difference and distance.

He started to feel nostalgic even before he left.

Yuan Chuyu lowered his head slightly and finally said calmly, "Yeah, I'm used to it."

The clicking of a cell phone next to him filled the cramped car, and the faint fragrance emanating from her suddenly enveloped him. His breath caught in his throat as she squeezed her head in front of him, her phone screen facing him: "Is this the address? I'll send it to you later."

Yuan Chuyu's gaze lingered on her long, black hair for a long time. He heard her muttering, "But you should be able to buy it abroad too. I bought this through a proxy. I'll check it out at the supermarket later."

The fragrance is like a hunter's intricate net, falling from the sky, leaving no one untouched, and no one can escape it.

He agreed.

Upon arriving at the airport, Lin Langyi followed Yuan Chuyu into the terminal with her bag. He kept glancing at her travel bag, and seeing that she showed no sign of wanting to explain, he finally stopped her before the security check.

Lin Langyi raised her chin and looked at him.

"You're going out to play?" That was his first thought. "Did you tell your parents?"

Lin Langyi blinked and nodded: "I told you."

But she didn't tell herself.

Upon hearing this reply, Yuan Chuyu was suddenly overwhelmed with jealousy and immense disappointment... Before, she would always tell him about her travels, whether domestic or international, but now, now she doesn't even want to talk to him anymore?

"Where to..." he asked, suppressing his emotions.

Lin Langyi stared at his fluttering eyelashes, which looked like a butterfly whose wings were dampened by the mist and could not take flight.

She said slowly, "To your school."

As soon as she finished speaking, she saw Yuan Chuyu freeze in place, his hand resting on the suitcase handle, hanging limply in mid-air. Passersby hurried past, and two mischievous children ran by, accidentally bumping into the suitcase while playing. The wheels rolled forward a short distance, but Yuan Chuyu was like a broken machine, showing no reaction whatsoever.

Lin Langyi took a big step forward and quickly grabbed the suitcase. The two children didn't even apologize. They looked back and ran away laughing.

"Didn't you go there already..." Yuan Chuyu said slowly from behind, "Two years ago, you went there with Hang Qian, hired a tour guide and spent more than half a month there, and even took pictures at the school gate."

“Yes,” Lin Langyi turned around and shrugged, “but we couldn’t get into the school. We’re just lucky to have this opportunity to visit it.”

Yuan Chuyu remained silent for a long time. He bit his teeth very slightly, the tips scraping against the soft flesh inside his mouth. The slight pain was transmitted to his nerves, which made him tremble slightly.

Actually, there was no need to ask any more questions, but he was feeling a little dizzy, probably because it was too stuffy in the airport... a terrible excuse.

"A visit? How many days are you going?"

"A day or two." Lin Langyi lifted her travel bag up, "Traveling light."

Look, she went there for you.

This judgment felt like an unexpected yet long-awaited gift falling right on his head. Yuan Chuyu took a short breath, his Adam's apple bobbing repeatedly. He even turned his face away, trying not to look at her, and controlled his tone of voice so as not to become distorted.

"One or two days? That means you can only stroll around the campus, and you can't go anywhere else."

“Yes.” Lin Langyi smiled and returned his words verbatim, “Didn’t you say that I’ve already been there?”

Even if siblings quarrel or have a cold war, the opportunity to make up is always surprisingly simple, like a movie that starts strong but ends weakly.

"Did you come all this way just to see me off?" What an idiotic question. Yuan Chuyu felt the tightness in his throat getting more and more pronounced, as if he had become a pitiful character in a fairy tale, sealed into an animal by witchcraft, and only the beautiful and brave princess could utter that destined word to regenerate him.

He had no hope of hearing a positive answer from her. Throughout the summer vacation, the two tacitly avoided too much contact. She even refused to put food she didn't like into his bowl. His impulsiveness and loss of composure before the raging fire made his already disastrous chess game even more hopeless. He thought in despair that she would never want to talk to him again, so he could only retreat to his house and live there until now.

But Lin Langyi answered crisply and clearly, "Yes."

Yuan Chuyu's throat tightened, and a wave of dizziness surged up his temples like a tide. He emphasized, "Is it because Dad is busy? It's alright, I'm an adult now—"

"What does this have to do with being an adult?"

He was speechless and turned to look at her.

Lin Langyi's eyes widened in surprise. She said, "I just thought that students all over the world would be given a ride on the day they registered."

The invisible hand that had been gripping his throat suddenly released, and fresh air rushed into his body. Yuan Chuyu felt as if he could smell her pleasant floral and fruity scent again. Even in the open and spacious airport, the soothing and sweet fragrance was like a bond connecting the two of them, completely enveloping him like a cocoon even from a distance.

He watched as an excessive number of threads grew within him in the enclosed space, binding him. He couldn't touch her, but her gentle breaths intertwined with his. He watched himself sink deeper into her trap once again, like someone struggling in a swamp using the wrong posture to cry for help. Every resistance only pushed him further into the trap of tenderness.

But he enjoyed it nonetheless.

He didn't feel good at all during the time he lived in his own house away from home.

Lin Langyi and Yuan Chuyu arrived in the foreign country more than ten hours later. After their destination was revealed, Lin Langyi never carried her travel bag on her back again, and Yuan Chuyu carried it in his hands the whole time.

They stayed at the hotel for one night. The next day, the two of them efficiently completed a series of tasks in half a day. Lin Langyi did not go to the student dormitory with him, but sat by the flower bed below and waited for him.

Yuan Chuyu came downstairs quickly; in such a short time, he probably only had enough time to put his things down.

He walked up to Lin Langyi and stopped. He saw that Lin Langyi was busy searching for maps on her phone with her head down. The stray hairs behind her ears were not combed in and fell loosely against her neck. When the wind blew, the stray hairs fluttered against her face like down feathers that had escaped.

"The supermarket might have that brand of shampoo. Shall we go check later?" Lin Langyi had just looked up when he reached out and wiped her cheek with the back of his hand, tucking a tuft of unruly hair behind her ear.

He stood so close that the wind that slipped in was blocked by his body, and he said, "Okay."

Upon arriving at the large supermarket, the two pushed a shopping cart and made purchases according to their list. Unfortunately, the basil white tea scented shampoo they wanted was out of stock.

Lin Langyi held the orange blossom and vetiver shampoo with a troubled expression and mumbled, "As expected, your scent just won't sell. I do have my shampoo in stock though... Never mind, I'll send it to you."

Yuan Chuyu placed his hands on the handle of the shopping cart, glanced at the golden-orange bottle in her hand, and said calmly, "Never mind, it's okay."

Lin Langyi put the shampoo back.

After paying the bill, the two walked a distance before hailing a taxi. On the way, Yuan Chuyu remained silent for a long time before finally asking the question he most wanted to know: "When is the flight?"

Lin Langyi: "Tomorrow morning at nine o'clock."

He pursed his lips, raised his hand to check the time, and although he could instantly calculate the timetable in his mind, he checked it several times.

"So, are you going to the airport tomorrow morning or—"

“I’ll definitely go tonight,” Lin Langyi said matter-of-factly. “You know I can’t get up early, so I’ve booked a hotel near the airport tonight. Every second I can save in the morning is a second I can.”

Before going abroad, Yuan Chuyu did not experience separation anxiety. When he was researching travel guides, many posts mentioned how to adjust one's mindset, but he always thought he didn't need to.

He felt he wouldn't miss that home.

However, at this moment, in a foreign country, in a speeding taxi, he clearly felt a tightness in his chest, as if a knife had been ripped out of his heart, leaving a gaping hole that let in the cold wind, making him feel so uncomfortable that he wanted to curl up.

Lin Langyi toured the entire campus as planned.

After Yuan Chuyu learned that she was going to the airport that night, he completely gave up on packing his luggage, the most important thing. He put the daily necessities he had bought on the table, turned around and went downstairs to find her.

Lin Langyi ate in the cafeteria and then took the school bus to visit the teaching and laboratory buildings. One of the libraries was not open to the public, so she could only take a quick look at it from the entrance. Yuan Chuyu saw her curiosity, went in and took some pictures of the layout, and then showed them to her when he came out.

He meticulously led her through every place he could take her into, as if they were genuinely touring the campus.

"Want to take a picture?" Yuan Chuyu called out to her as they passed the memorial hall.

Lin Langyi flipped through her phone's photo album with great interest: "I took some pictures!"

"I meant a group photo."

She paused, turning her head to look at him. Yuan Chuyu's dark pupils shimmered with tiny glimmers of light in the sunlight, like dappled sunlight filtering through leaves and rippling on the water.

He came up with many reasons: "We can ask passersby for help. I remember you and Hang Qian took a picture at the main gate before... Don't you want to take a picture here? This is one of the most representative buildings on campus, and the weather is nice today. The lighting is just right from this angle, so it should look great."

"Need not."

He suddenly stopped talking.

Lin Langyi stared at his deliberately avoided gaze, then suddenly burst out laughing, turned behind him and rummaged through her bag: "I brought a selfie stick, no need to bother strangers."

The two took a lot of photos, including the memorial hall, the statue, the three museums, the lawn where the graduation ceremony was held, and finally, a group photo in front of the main gate, which she had taken with others earlier.

It was an unspoken understanding.

As the countdown to the timed photo shoot continued, Lin Langyi smiled brightly at the camera. The two were so close that even the slightest whispers could be clearly heard.

Yuan Chuyu said, "I'll take you to the airport later."

"I'll see you off, then you'll see me off. Is this ever going to end?" she said in a light tone. "Brother, I'll miss you."

The words had barely left his lips when the shutter clicked. Yuan Chuyu's habitual, polite smile vanished in an instant. His eyes drooped, and his gaze seemed to turn into a pool of fragile, obscure water, completely incompatible with the bright sunlight and the spirited composition.

This is a discarded photo.

Lin Langyi requested a reshoot.

After several attempts, she finally managed to take a decent photo. She fiddled with her phone and promised to pack it up and send it to him later.

Lin Langyi didn't eat at school that night. Instead, she treated Yuan Chuyu to a delicious meal and ate to her heart's content. The food at this restaurant was actually just average, but it was located in a food desert near the airport, so the dishes were only passable because of the other restaurants there.

Yes, this was a compromise that Yuan Chuyu came up with after Lin Langyi refused his offer to see her off for ten miles. Instead of taking her to the airport, they would have a meal together, and the restaurant just happened to be located next to the airport.

No one mentioned what to do or where to go after dinner. It was just like an ordinary day when a driver would take you to school during your student days. Lin Langyi took her bag from him and walked to her destination, which was a six-minute walk away. The two would separate in the morning and return to the same house to have dinner together in the evening.

After walking about ten meters, a clear "Zhuzhu!" suddenly came from behind.

Lin Langyi finally discerned a hint of reluctance in that slightly trembling voice. The relationships between people are truly complex. His sadness and reluctance almost penetrated the medium to reach her, and she was also infected by it and felt a little sad.

Human hearts aren't made of stone; she seemed to have softened a lot towards this brother without even realizing it.

But he's just an older brother; blood ties bind the two together, limiting all possibilities to a certain boundary.

She said, "Brother, I wish you success in your studies."

Lin Langyi entered the hotel, and Yuan Chuyu left only after watching the elevator display screen show that they had reached her room floor.

He returned to the supermarket where the two of them had shopped together during the day, went straight to the toiletries shelf, bent down, and took a bottle of shampoo.

Orange blossoms and vetiver, the orange-yellow bottle resembles a soft wall lamp in a bedroom.

"This is for women," the saleswoman reminded him, holding other products in her hand as she tried to sell them.

"Thank you, I understand." Yuan Chuyu didn't choose anything else, took the bottle of shampoo and went to pay.

Back in his apartment, without tidying up, he turned on all the lights and silently began to clean.

It was two hours later when he finished everything. Finally, he unpacked the newly bought shampoo, unscrewed the pump, and placed it on the shelf in the shower.

He was sweating, so he took a shower. In the steamy bathroom, the shampoo bottle exuded a rich fragrance.

Yuan Chuyu tilted his head back, ran his hand through his bangs, and felt the hot water from the showerhead spraying over him. He closed his eyes and remained still for a few seconds.

When you can't see, your other senses become amplified. For example, right now, with every breath I can smell a familiar fragrance, as if she is still by my side, in their shared home.

*

Lin Langyi continued to date Bian Shu while in university.

Bian Shu is steady and reliable, and excels in her studies, while Lin Langyi took over the internship business of Yingyuan early on, running back and forth between the school and the company in her spare time.

Although Bian Shu didn't buy a car, he immediately went to learn to drive and got his driver's license during the summer when she had a rubber allergy. Every time Lin Langyi needed to go to and from school or the company, he would personally pick her up and drop her off.

Their relationship was relatively stable, but it seemed to have passed the initial passionate stage.

Of course, this refers to Lin Langyi.

It was practically a done deal that Bian Shu was going abroad, and his major required him to continue his studies if he wanted to achieve anything. His teachers also had high hopes for him, and Lin Langyi was genuinely happy for him.

But Bian Shu was very uneasy.

Lin Langyi had only said a long time ago when she was having dinner with Hang Qian that she would never be in a long-distance relationship. She hadn't mentioned it since, but Bian Shu knew that she was a person of her word. Rather than giving repeated warnings, she was the kind of person who would take direct action.

But people never give up until they've hit rock bottom, so Bian Shu tried hard to find an exception, and several times, intentionally or unintentionally, asked, "Your brother is studying abroad, do you still keep in touch?"

Lin Langyi said to the computer screen, "We keep in touch, but not often."

Unexpectedly, one day he even hoped that Lin Langyi could maintain more contact with Yuan Chuyu. He thought anxiously that if even the closest relationship between siblings would fade because of the foreign country, then his relationship with Lin Langyi would only be more dangerous in the future.

Why don't you contact them more often?

"Why would he contact me every day if there's nothing going on? It's not like in high school when he was constantly nagging me to study."

Bian Shu felt uneasy: "Don't you contact each other often anymore? But I remember he often sent you things."

"Oh right, I forgot to pick up my package!" Lin Langyi straightened her back, radiating happiness from the bottom of her heart. "My brother seems to have sent me two bags and some skincare products for my mom."

Bian Shu heard that Yuan Chuyu had expanded Yingyuan Group's market overseas. He was capable and ruthless, but he always adhered to the rules of the game and did not embezzle Lin Langyi's control in the domestic market.

Lin Langyi has her mother's full support. Although she is young, she joined the company early, and the shareholders and partners are good at judging the situation, so they naturally recognize her.

It's only a matter of time before we completely establish ourselves.

Bian Shu couldn't hide his envy. Geographical distance might have made the siblings' relationship less close than before, but Yuan Chuyu's move had fundamentally brought him closer to Lin Langyi and their adoptive parents.

Yuan Chuyu had the ability and resources to turn the tide and win, but what did he have?

Lin Langyi broke up with Bian Shu only after he boarded the plane.

By a twist of fate, she was also going abroad to study at that time, but not to the same country as Bian Shu.

She dislikes the tropes in movies and TV shows where couples compromise and apply to the same university during the college entrance exam. She prefers that both parties work together to avoid regrets in their future endeavors, and not let the momentary surge of hormones become a source of mutual blame when facing the mundane realities of daily life.

She didn't reply to any of the more than thirty phone calls and long messages after she got off the plane; the breakup was clean and decisive.

Lin Langyi didn't tell anyone about the breakup, but her mother found out a few days later and was overjoyed.

It's unclear how Yuan Chuyu, who was thousands of miles away, found out about the breakup, but he transferred a large sum of money to me that very day.

Looking at the transfer message, Lin Langyi thought to herself, "This guy has struck it rich, transferring so much money over here?"

Across from her, her overjoyed mother was still praising, "I know everyone in our family is sensible. Zhuzhu, out with the old, in with the new. Mom will introduce you to more people."

What my mother meant by getting to know more new people became a shortcut for my father.

Lin Langyi suspected that her father had been a kept man all his life, so he always felt that everything could be solved by marriage.

He was very pleased with the son of his mother's childhood friend, Aunt Ying. After discovering that her daughter could not be with Yuan Chuyu, he turned his attention to Lin Langyi.

Xi Zhiyue quite liked Lin Langyi. He came from a wealthy family, had a good temper, and possessed a kind of innocent, sheltered quality.

In my father's words, they were easy to handle.

But Lin Langyi didn't think so, because Xi Zhiyue seemed to be a non-marriage advocate, and he probably only wanted to be in a relationship.

However, this guy was too eager to be in a relationship. He contacted her every few days, asking if she wanted to go here or there, and inviting her out to play everywhere.

Bian Shu's experience made his family feel threatened. His father pressured her too much, leading to many arguments, and in a fit of anger, Lin Langyi retorted:

"You won't be at peace even if I don't get married? Then take me with you when you die, so you can watch over me even in the afterlife, okay?"

She never expected that her words would come true; her father was indeed stabbed a month later and could not be saved.

Lin Langyi felt that something was amiss, because Yuan Chuyu had just returned from abroad before her father was assassinated.

In addition, the mother, who was always known for her absolute devotion, did not seem to grieve for the father for long.

In this matter, Lin Langyi was 100% on her mother's side, but she was uneasy about whether Yuan Chuyu had played some role in it.