Chapter 1
To this day, Lin Wan still doesn't understand why Chen Yu ate the fish she picked up for him with an expressionless face when they first met, even though he clearly knew he would be allergic to it.
In the days that followed, she mentioned this matter many times, intentionally or unintentionally, but never got a clear answer.
In the summer of his third year of high school, a typhoon arrived as expected, and seventeen-year-old Lin Wan had a younger brother.
The two elders of the Lin family begged for many years, and finally, they finally had a grandson.
Lin Wan still remembers the first time his so-called younger brother came home.
A typhoon passed through Jiangcheng, and fallen leaves flew all day long. Chen Yu was sixteen years old, like a newborn green bamboo, even the petals were covered with fresh dew.
Lin Wan clenched the strap of her schoolbag tightly in her hand.
This is the student my mother has sponsored for many years, and I should treat him better, Lin Wan told herself.
The boy not far away had his eyes lowered, his long eyelashes blocking his view. He was wearing a black tracksuit, had short, neat hair, and fair skin, looking particularly well-behaved.
Calm and quiet—this was Lin Wan's first impression of him. Despite many things that happened later, this first impression remained unshaken.
Like a certain node in life, it permeates your life unknowingly, and only when you look back by chance do you suddenly realize its value.
"This is Chen Yu, your younger brother." Lin Zhen looked tired, and his tone was flat as if he was introducing a new piece of furniture. He held a document in his right hand. After years of dominating the business world, he rarely showed any signs of fatigue today.
He had actually aged so much, with gray hair on his temples and wrinkles creeping up around his eyes. Lin Wan was a little shocked. It had been a long time since she had spoken to Lin Zhen properly since her mother passed away.
Her fingers held the strap of her schoolbag, keeping it away from her body.
Be generous and decent, my mother's advice from the past echoed in my ears.
Lin Wan turned to his new brother with a peaceful smile.
Hello, I'm Lin Wan, she heard herself say.
On typhoon days, the sky is particularly gloomy and blue, like a huge cover, airtight.
"Hello, Chen Yu." The boy answered with a smile in his eyes. His voice was not loud, like the ripples caused by a stone falling into the water.
Lin Wan also smiled and nodded. She came back in such a hurry that she didn't have time to turn on the light. The boy was standing against the light, so she couldn't see his face clearly. She could only tell that he was very tall, about the same height as Lin Zhen.
"Lin Wan, Aunt Chen is busy. Please take your brother to look around the house."
Lin Zhen took off his suit cufflinks and casually rolled up his sleeves.
Lin Wan nodded, indicating that he understood.
Like Lin Wan, Lin Zhen had a pair of extremely deep eyes that looked at people with deep affection. However, at forty-three, Lin Zhen had a lot of fine lines at the corners of his eyes.
Perhaps her mother, who died early, was deceived by this appearance.
At this moment, Lin Zhen's eyes were looking at him, and there was a hint of sharpness in them.
"How was the exam this time?" he asked about the results that he always cared about the most.
"Very good." Lin Wan responded indifferently, glanced at his so-called brother, and then returned his gaze to his father.
Seeing Lin Zhen's casual response: "That's good." He hurried up to the third floor and continued to expand his business territory in the study.
The empty living room was suddenly filled with only the brother and sister who had just met.
Natural light filtered through the windowpanes, casting a hazy, cold glow on all objects.
Lin Wan was still wearing her gray-blue school uniform skirt, with her ponytail sticking up high behind her ears, her classic hairstyle.
She had just finished her exams today and hadn't even had time to put down her schoolbag when she saw her new little brother - although he was called a little brother, he hadn't even gone through the most basic adoption procedures.
Lin Wan took two steps toward the wall, flipped on the overhead light, and finally saw the person clearly.
The person who selected the children obviously put a lot of effort into choosing orphans according to beauty pageant standards.
The boy's appearance is traditionally standard and he is the very likable type.
Chen Yu stood outside the door with a faint smile on his lips, his hands in his sportswear pockets, looking at the house in silence.
Lin Wan exhaled lightly, smiled, and took two steps toward him. She tried her best to be friendly: "Hello, Chen Yu. From now on, I'll be your sister." At this point, an inexplicable emotion began to surge. She paused, then continued in a calm tone.
"Aunt Chen has already tidied your room. I'll take you there."
She is extremely sensitive to people's attitudes and can always detect the most subtle emotions in people. As for her reaction to such emotions, it mainly depends on her mood at the time.
Lin Wan continued to smile, as if facing a guest who had come from afar.
She could see Chen Yu's resistance at the moment, but she still had to complete her task.
Chen Yu stood in front of the gate of the house, still with a smile on his face, but the smile was much fainter.
He took two steps forward and leaned against the door, looking at Lin Wan with a gloomy look in his eyes, which matched the dark clouds behind him.
It's about to rain again.
Although he was an orphan, he did not look shabby or embarrassed at all. His exquisite appearance made Lin Wan compare him with the rich young men he had met. They were similar, yet completely different.
Lin Wan couldn't describe this strange feeling.
Chen Yu looked at himself, obviously judging something.
Strangely enough, he only carried a schoolbag when he moved into his new home.
"good."
After a moment's silence, he spoke and stepped into the Lin family's gate.
It was a perfectly normal occurrence, yet Lin Wan inexplicably felt her heartbeat quicken. The sultry air flowed into the living room as he moved, and Chen Yu stood still beside her.
Lin Wan was stunned for a moment, then raised her hand to introduce her home to him: "This is the living room, the Chinese-style kitchen..."
Introducing your home to a stranger is a strange feeling, like a real estate agent eager to sell a house. As Lin Wan spoke, her mind began to wander. With a third person entering this home, would the struggle between father and daughter finally turn around?
And Chen Yu - what exactly is different about him?
Lin Wan placed his hand on the wooden dining chair and felt it was warm and cool.
"Western-style kitchen?" Chen Yu's tone rose, questioning.
Lin Wan's eyebrows jumped, and she regained her attention. She ignored Chen Yu's obviously teasing look and looked straight at the greenhouse in front of her, which she described as a Western-style kitchen, and fell silent.
“Yes, an all-natural kitchen.”
She forced herself to make a joke. The rainy day made the kitchen extremely dark, and she could hardly see the expression of the person opposite her.
Chen Yu seemed to laugh very lightly, and Lin Wan didn't know if it was an illusion.
"Go upstairs first—see your room."
Lin Wan took a deep breath, feeling a bit overwhelmed. Chen Yu's reaction was too calm, like a thick barrier between them, making it difficult for her to grasp his emotions. This made Lin Wan feel unusually irritated.
In her imagination, his reaction shouldn't be like this.
"This is roughly what the first floor looks like. There's also a utility room that I won't show you. The second floor is my father's study and bedroom, and—your room is on the third floor."
My mother's studio is also on the second floor.
Lin Wan walked up the spiral staircase, speaking in a slow voice, not knowing whether the person on the other side was listening carefully.
But his eyes were always on me, so he must have been listening very carefully.
"This is your room now."
Arriving at the place he was most familiar with, Lin Wan's emotions finally calmed down a bit.
Passing the full-length mirror at the end of the corridor and turning left, Lin Wan helped Chen Yu open the door of his room.
"Aunt Chen helped to organize it."
My parents originally wanted two children, so they specially installed two master bedrooms on the third floor.
The Nordic style decoration and warm lighting give it a special warmth on rainy days.
"If you need anything, you can tell Aunt Chen tomorrow. However, her child is sick, so she's taking today off to take care of him."
The two stood side by side in front of the door, closer than ever before, almost shoulder to shoulder.
To some extent, Lin Wan is good at socializing, but she is not a talkative person. On the contrary, she can be extremely inarticulate at certain moments, like at this moment.
The mission was completed, and deep down she almost wanted to escape, but she remained polite and courteous on the surface.
"I live next to you. If you have any difficulties, you can come to me."
It’s better not to look for me, Lin Wan added in his heart, still wearing the smile that was often on the faces of his uncles.
——Hypocritical enthusiasm was once the smile that Lin Wan hated the most.
Chen Yu nodded, his gaze lightly falling on Lin Wan, watching her ponytail swaying slightly as her body leaned back.
"Okay." Lin Wan patted Chen Yu's shoulder like an older sister.
The original intention was to close the distance through physical contact, but Chen Yu was a head taller than her, so it was not easy to pat her on the shoulder.
The slender white fingers tapped the black sportswear, which was clearly a dominant action, but for some reason it made people feel a little timid.
Chen Yu stared at Lin Wan's fingertips, still smiling with curved eyebrows, which reminded Lin Wan of the kitten that his mother Jiang Yuexing once raised.
But his expression was unclear, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.
Lin Wan quickly withdrew his hand, thinking to himself: How does Lin Zhen usually do this so naturally?
The smile he maintained immediately collapsed after he turned around.
Lin Wan opened the door and turned on the light, put his schoolbag on the small sofa, and leaned against the soft sofa.
The layout of her room was the same as Chen Yu's. If there was any difference, it was only that the excessive number of test papers on her desk was like an extra wall, making her room seem much more cramped.
Brother? It's really hard to figure out.
But it is also true that to be able to stand out from thousands of people in Jiangcheng and become the adopted son of the Lin family, he can't be a simple person.
Bending his knees to his chest, Lin Wan placed his index finger on his chin as he thought.
But it’s not a big problem. I went to the UK after graduating from high school, and there is a high probability that I will have no intersection with Chen Yu.
Staring at the hand-painted oil painting on the wall, Lin Wan turned sideways, grabbed the political book on the desk, fell on the sofa and flipped through it casually, determined not to think about these troubles anymore.
One more year, just one more year.
The phone beside him rang twice, and Lin Wan fumbled to pick it up.
It’s news about Lin Zhen.
[Dog Emperor: I have a social event tonight, take your brother out for dinner.]
Next comes the transfer.
Lin Wan mentally reenacted the idol drama heroine's expression of disbelief when receiving a check, as if she had suffered some kind of humiliation. However, she did not tear up the check, but simply accepted it expressionlessly.
【Wanwanwanwan: OK.】
And take your brother out to eat some.
From her own perspective, she didn't want to have too much contact with Chen Yu. But arriving in a strange place alone must be very helpless.
Thinking this way, Lin Wan opened her schoolbag and began to write her English test. She was about to enter her third year of high school, and she needed to prepare for it. Lin Wan was always extremely focused on her work, but for some reason today she kept glancing at the clock on her desk.
4:20, still seems a bit early.
4:40, time to go out and invite Chen Yu.
If there is an appointment, he can reject her frankly. If there is no appointment, he can force her to do it - Lin Wan has his own social rules.
She reluctantly put down the black pen in her hand, stood up slowly, walked straight to the door, but paused for three seconds at the wardrobe.
It’s just a meal, no need to be so serious, right?
However, this was his first day home, and Lin Wan was conflicted, his hands clenched into fists on the cabinet door.
Ten minutes later.
Lin Wan knocked on the door opposite in her new dress. The flower-shaped luxury brand necklace was no longer covered by the collar of her school uniform and sparkled around her neck.
According to Aunt Chen, after Chen Yu met the two elders of the Lin family, the two elders were very satisfied, so Lin Zhen brought him in.
From a boy in the urban village to the young master of the Lin family.
Tsk tsk, how can it not be considered a quick ascension——
The door opened from the inside.
Lin Wan, who was deeply lost in his own thoughts, widened his eyes slightly, reflecting the lights of the corridor.
"What is it?"
As if he had just taken a shower, Chen Yu was wiping his wet hair with a white towel, his eyebrows slightly curved, still a gentle shell.
Lin Wan smelled the familiar scent of shampoo, the same one as her own - a light floral fragrance.
"Dad has something to do tonight, so he asked me to take you out for dinner." Lin Wan said as if reciting a lesson, and then added thoughtfully.
"Do you want to come with me?"
The invitation was reasonable and gave room for refusal. Lin Wan was very satisfied with his language organization ability.
But Chen Yu was really good-looking. A few strands of his short hair were wet and stuck to his forehead. His eyebrows were deep, and his nose was smooth and strong. At the junction of black and white lights, he had the classical elegance that only Greek sculptures could have.
There was no light in the room. Chen Yu stood in the darkness and looked at Lin Wan. His eyes inevitably fell on Lin Wan's new light yellow skirt.
Lin Wan's skin was very fair, which perfectly complemented the vibrant color. At this moment, the girl's eyelashes were slightly raised, and her pupils reflected her own shadow.
The strange feeling came over me again.
Chen Yu frowned. He didn't like going out on such a rainy day, even though he needed to please this young lady in order to integrate into this family.
but.
"Okay." This obsessive answer was completely contrary to his inner thoughts. Chen Yu paused while wiping his hair, looking unusually confused.
"Okay! Then I..."
Lin Wan looked straight ahead and raised her gaze to meet Chen Yu's eyes, following her second script of "the other party agrees".
"Then what shall we eat? Is there anything you particularly like to eat?" Lin Wan seemed to be very willing to follow the advice.
"You decide, I'll change my clothes, what time do we leave?"
Chen Yu took a step back, holding the towel he had been using to wipe his hair in one hand, and holding the door frame with his other hand. His beautiful eyes were hidden in the darkness as he looked at Lin Wan.
Standing on the soft carpet, with the warm light shining down on his head, the boy looked like an exquisite work of art in a street window.
"Oh!" Lin Wan responded briefly and stood there in a daze.
Chen Yu propped himself up on the door frame with one hand and looked down at Lin Wan, his eyes filled with moisture mixed with heat.
"See you at the door in fifteen minutes." Lin Wan heard himself say.
He was stunned. It seemed that the person in charge had good taste. Lin Wan once again affirmed his aesthetic taste.
"Okay." Chen Yu responded.
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