The moment Yu Bai pushed open the door of the box, he keenly noticed an unusual silence.

It's too quiet.

The silence was a little... awkward.

Fan Qi and his elder brother Yu Sheng sat face to face. The dishes on the table were exquisite and steaming, but there seemed to be an invisible wall between them.

The chopsticks occasionally hit the edge of the bowl, making a crisp sound, which made the space even more so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

There was no conversation, not even eye contact.

Yu Bai frowned slightly.

She had no idea what had happened before, and subconsciously attributed the silence to her eldest brother's sometimes overly calm, even somewhat cold, temperament.

After all, it is really difficult for a lively and cheerful girl to face her brother's "iceberg face" for the whole day.

A trace of regret flashed through Yu Bai's heart, and he couldn't help but sigh silently, feeling a little sorry for Fan Qi.

As soon as this thought came to her mind, she looked at Yu Sheng with a hint of reproach and glared at him calmly.

Yu Sheng was picking up a piece of fish when he suddenly received a glare from his sister. He paused slightly and looked up at her with a barely perceptible look of confusion in his eyes.

What's wrong?

Did he offend her in any way?

Yu Bai ignored his elder brother's silent question and walked straight to sit next to Fan Qi with an apologetic smile on his face.

"I'm sorry, Fan Qi. My brother is a typical person who is cold on the outside but warm on the inside. He's not very good at talking. Please don't mind."

Her voice was not loud, but it clearly broke the silence in the box.

Fan Qi was eating with her head down. When she heard this, she suddenly looked up and instantly understood what Yu Bai meant - it seemed that she had misunderstood and thought that Yu Sheng had been deliberately ignoring her all day.

“No, no!”

Fan Qi waved his hands quickly, his cheeks feeling slightly hot.

"Yu Xiao...Yu Bai, Mr. Yu didn't ignore me. He...he's very nice."

She originally wanted to call him "Miss Yu", but then she thought that Yu Bai already called her by her name, and it would seem strange to call him "Mr. Yu", so she changed her words temporarily.

Before Yu Bai had time to savor the slightly unnatural tone in Fan Qi's "very good", Yu Sheng beside him spoke first.

The voice was still steady, but seemed to have a little more warmth than before:

"Just call me Yu Sheng."

This was said to Fan Qi.

Fan Qi was completely stunned.

She could clearly feel that her cheeks and even her ears were beginning to heat up uncontrollably.

He...he asked her to call him by his name?

Yu Bai looked at Fan Qi, who was clearly at a loss, and then at his eldest brother's face, which seemed unchanged, and suddenly felt...

The atmosphere seemed even weirder.

She couldn't say what was strange about it.

But since Fan Qi said it was okay, then it should be... no big deal, right?

Maybe I'm just overthinking it.

Yu Bai suppressed his doubts and decided not to dwell on it anymore. He picked up his chopsticks and said,

"Don't just stand there, hurry up and eat. I've been running all day and I'm starving!"

After Yu Bai's greeting, the tense atmosphere in the box seemed to relax a little, but it also seemed... even weirder.

But she was really hungry and didn't have time to think about it. She picked up the chopsticks and started eating. After all, she only ate a piece of bread and drank a bottle of mineral water at noon.

Spare ribs, boiled fish, stir-fried meat, oyster sauce and Chinese cabbage... Yu Bai enjoyed the meal very much.

However, Yu Bai's self-absorption made Fan Qi on the opposite side even more uneasy.

She tightened her grip on the chopsticks and felt the heat on her cheeks spreading all the way to her ears.

She secretly raised her eyes, trying to see Yu Sheng's expression, but happened to meet his gaze.

Their eyes met for only a moment.

It was as if a weak electric current passed through them, and both of them looked away quickly as if they were scalded.

Fan Qi's heart skipped a beat and he lowered his head in panic, pretending to concentrate on the vegetables in the bowl, but his ears felt even hotter.

Yu Sheng also paused almost imperceptibly, his eyes wandering for a moment before returning to the plate in front of him, but the movement of picking up the food seemed to be half a beat slower than usual.

All these subtle interactions were left in the air, but did not fall into the eyes of Yu Bai who was busy filling his stomach.

At this moment, Yu Bai’s mind is full of money, money, money!

He didn't even notice the awkwardness and undercurrent between his elder brother and Fan Qi that was almost visible.

“Hmm…”

Yu Bai took a few mouthfuls of rice and felt a little choked. His eyes swept across the steaming bowl of mushroom and chicken soup in the middle of the table, and he spoke very naturally.

"Brother, I want to drink soup."

From childhood to adulthood, it has become a habit for her to order her elder brother around.

"Um."

Yu Sheng was indeed used to it. He put down his chopsticks, picked up the soup spoon, and smoothly filled a bowl for his sister and pushed it in front of her.

Then……

Then he paused, as if he remembered something, or perhaps driven by some subconscious impulse, and he picked up the clean soup bowl in front of Fan Qi and filled it for her as well.

His movements were still steady, and one could even say that they were unquestionably neat.

"for you."

Just like him, these two words are concise and without any unnecessary emotions.

The soup bowl was gently placed next to Fan Qi's hand, and the edge of the bowl made a crisp sound when it touched the table.

Fan Qi's eating movements were completely frozen.

The chopsticks were hanging in the air, forgetting to put them down or pick them up.

She could feel her breath being held, and the blood seemed to rush to her head at this moment.

He...he...he...why was he serving himself soup?

Is it because you saw your sister drinking, so you served her a bowl as well, just as a courtesy to treat guests?

Yes, that must be it.

But...what if...what if it's not?

Is it also... a little bit, even just a little bit, because... I care?

This thought grew wildly like weeds, burning Fan Qi's heart, and he was also a little afraid to delve into it.

She didn't dare think about it anymore.

She is afraid.

I'm afraid that might just be my wishful thinking.