ALCSRB Chapter 16

Jiang Mingyi, who had tried to run away, was dragged upstairs.

As soon as they entered the room, he slipped out of Shen Xingyan’s grasp, only to see the man openly walking to his desk and flipping through his books. It was too late to stop him.

“I can tell you take good care of your books.”

Shen Xingyan casually flipped through a few. Every professional textbook was as clean as new.

Well, not entirely. At least his name was written in them.

His eyes lingered for a few seconds on the rather unsightly handwriting, but before he could react, the book was snatched back.

Jiang Mingyi hugged the book to his chest, stiffening his neck and saying, “I don’t need your help reviewing. I can do it myself.”

“It’s only natural for an older brother to help his younger brother. You don’t have to feel burdened.” Shen Xingyan leaned leisurely against the desk, a faint smile on his handsome face. “But since you say you can review on your own, that’s fine too.”

Jiang Mingyi thought he’d leave after saying that, but to his surprise, the man pulled over a chair.

He sat down, crossed his legs, and pointed to the book in Jiang Mingyi’s arms. “Then I’ll just sit here and watch you review.”

He tilted his chin slightly, signaling that he could start.

“…”

Jiang Mingyi stood frozen in place, hugging his book, feeling incredibly uncomfortable under Shen Xingyan’s gaze.

After hesitating for a while, he finally spoke up: “Can you not stay here? I’m really not used to it.”

“It’s fine. Just pretend I’m not here,” Shen Xingyan said with a shrug. “Dad asked me to do this. As your big brother, I have to fulfill my duties.”

“Oh, by the way.”

Jiang Mingyi was just about to complain when he noticed Shen Xingyam’s tone change and looked up.

“Since Dad said he’d give you a reward for your final exam results, I can’t be stingy either.” His long fingers tapped lightly on the armrest—not loud, but hard to ignore.

Jiang Mingyi’s attention was first drawn to those fingers, but when he heard the words, it quickly shifted back.

“You’re giving me a reward too?”

Shen Xingyan nodded.

“Mm. You can ask for anything you want.”

“You’re not lying to me, are you?” Jiang Mingyi looked unconvinced.
“You said two days ago you’d give me a birthday present, and it’s already been three days.”

Where’s the gift? Why hasn’t he seen it?

Men really are all liars.

Shen Xingyan looked slightly embarrassed for once.
“The gift is still being prepared. You’ll need to wait a little longer.”

“If you don’t want to give it, just say so.” Jiang Mingyi turned his head and huffed heavily, silently adding a grudge to Shen Xingyan’s account.

Old man, always going back on his word. Liar.

Shen Xingyan didn’t know he was secretly cursing him in his heart. He simply explained,
“The gift is kind of big. There are still some procedures it needs to go through before it can be delivered.”

Jiang Mingyi just assumed he was making excuses and walked over to the desk, sitting down.
“I’m going to start studying now, don’t talk and distract me.”

As he spoke, he opened his book and started reading seriously.

Shen Xingyan sat nearby, falling silent and no longer speaking.

He was actually quite curious about how the kid studied on a daily basis. He knew he hadn’t done well on his college entrance exam, but his dad always spoiled him. When his grades weren’t good, he simply donated two lab buildings to the school and easily got him in to get a degree.

The Jiang family left behind a lot of inheritance. Even if Jiang Mingyi just lived like a second-generation rich kid, it’d be enough for him to live in comfort.

Not to mention, he still had his parents doting on him. So many people were jealous of that.

A light scraping sound came from the chair.

Shen Xingyan snapped out of his thoughts and, seeing him getting up, asked,
“What are you doing?”

Jiang Mingyi paused in his steps.

“I want some water.”

Under Shen Xingyan’s deep, quiet gaze, Jiang Mingyi walked over calmly, poured himself a glass, gulped it down, and then returned to his seat to continue studying.

Ten minutes later, the WeChat notification sound rang abruptly in the quiet room.

Jiang Mingyi’s eyes lit up.
“My friend asked me to play a couple of rounds of a game…”

The last few words trailed off under Shen Xingyan’s deep, dark gaze.

Jiang Mingyi poked at his phone a little slower, but his eyes seemed glued to the screen, reluctant to look away.

Shen Xingyan directly walked over and took the phone.
“I’ll hold onto this for you, so someone won’t keep playing games.”

The last few words were said with extra emphasis. Jiang Mingyi chuckled awkwardly, lowered his head, and continued pretending to read.

The words on the page entered his eyes one by one, but none of them stuck in his mind. He couldn’t concentrate at all.

So boring. Studying was so dull. He really wanted to play on his phone.

His eyes drifted longingly toward the phone held tightly in the man’s large hand, only to be immediately caught.

“Ahem…”

Half an hour later.

“I want to take a shower.”
Jiang Mingyi stretched and rubbed his waist. Sitting for so long was exhausting—he needed to move a little.

“So this is what you call studying.”
The man’s tone didn’t sound much different, but when Jiang Mingyi listened closely, he could definitely hear a hint of sarcasm.

“I…”

“Alright, I’ll give you ten minutes to shower.”

Jiang Mingyi was about to argue but was cut off, then froze.
“What? Ten minutes? How is ten minutes enough for a shower?”

“Either take a ten-minute shower, or go back to reviewing.”

Jiang Mingyi stared at the two fingers the man held up, as if they were saying: Hurry up and pick one.

He wanted to choose a third option.

Unfortunately, there was no third option—just Shen Xingyan standing there, expressionless, waiting for him to decide.

Jiang Mingyi gave in and muttered, “Then I’ll go shower first.”

“Okay. I’m starting the timer.”

Jiang Mingyi paused for a moment before heading to the bathroom, then quickly sped up his steps.

Clenching his back teeth, he silently cursed: Shen Xingyan, you win this round.

Once the bathroom door slammed shut, Shen Xingyan’s expression softened.
“Seems like I can’t be too gentle with you all the time.”

He left the room and went to get something. On the way back, he bumped into Su Wanxin carrying a fruit platter in the hallway.

“How’s Xiao Yi doing with his studying?”
Su Wanxin asked her eldest son, seeing the door to the room was closed.

“Pretty well-behaved.”
Shen Xingyan replied, taking the fruit platter from her hands. “Mom, don’t worry, I’m keeping an eye on him.”

Su Wanxin nodded, thinking about her younger son’s temper.
“If he really doesn’t want to study, just let him be. As long as he’s happy, that’s all that matters.”

“Mom, you spoil him too much.” Shen Xingyan said helplessly.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Xiao Yi is still young, spoiling him a bit doesn’t hurt.” Su Wanxinsaid casually. “Besides, with you around, I’m sure he’ll get spoiled even more.”

Shen Xingyan stayed silent for a moment. After his mother left, he opened the door and went back inside.

The bathroom door was still closed. Ten minutes had already passed, but he waited patiently for that mischievous boy to come out.

There was a bathtub in Jiang Mingyi’s bathroom, though he usually used the shower. Right now, however, he was enjoying a relaxing soak.

“As long as Shen Xingyan doesn’t rush me, I’m not coming out.” He hadn’t brought a watch inside anyway, so he could just pretend he didn’t know the time.

Perfect excuse!

But even after the skin on his fingers and toes had gone wrinkly from soaking, he still hadn’t heard Shen Xingyan come to rush him.

Jiang Mingyi couldn’t take it anymore. He got out of the tub, put on his bathrobe, and tiptoed to the door.

He quietly cracked open the door, peeking outside—
And was immediately startled by a pair of dark eyes staring back at him.

“You—you trying to scare me to death?!”
Jiang Mingyi pointed at the man, yelling before he could say anything.

Shen Xingyan’s gaze swept up and down him, stopping briefly on the slightly open neckline of his robe.

The boy, freshly showered, had pale skin that was now tinged with a light pink. A fine mist of steam still lingered on him, making him look soft and appealing.

There was also a faint scent of his body wash, light and pleasant.

The look in Shen Xingyan’s eyes quickly faded as he turned around.
“Since you’re done showering, then let’s get back to it.”

Jiang Mingyi watched him walk off, still a little confused.

Wait… what just happened?

Attitude, huh?

He followed the man and saw two medicine bottles of different colors and styles on the desk.

“What are these for?”

He recognized one as honghua oil, and the other seemed to be essential balm.

Shen Xingyan pointed at the honghua oil.
“What, you already forgot what you said yesterday?”

Jiang Mingyi stared at the honghua oil for a few seconds before remembering.

“Oh, I didn’t forget. Isn’t it for applying medicine on you?”
But doing that in his room would mean the smell would linger.

He could already smell the sharp, pungent scent of honghua oil in his nose. Resisting the urge to pinch his nose, he asked,
“And what about this one?”

A big hand picked up the tiny bottle of honghua.

“This is for your puppet self,” Shen Xingyi said with a kind smile.
“To refresh your mind and keep you from acting like a hyperactive child. I can’t deal with that.”

You’re using essential palm to ‘refresh’ me? Are you the devil?

Under the double assault of essential palm and honghua oil, Jiang Mingyi had a salty dream all night long.

The moment he woke up, he rushed into the bathroom and took a thorough shower.
Even as he was heading out, he kept sniffing himself just to make sure there was no scent left before finally relaxing.

Pei Shiqing arrived at school before him and was surprised to see how drained he looked.
“You look…” he carefully chose his words, “…like your yang energy has been sucked dry.”

Jiang Mingyi lifted his eyelids and glanced at him.
“Today, I finally understand the tragic experience you’ve had being oppressed by your big brother during exam prep.”

“Huh?”

Jiang Mingyi looked up and sighed deeply.
“People only truly empathize after going through the same ordeal.”

At the Shen Group Headquarters.

When Shen Xingyan stepped into the company, he was told someone from the Lu family had come to see him.

When he saw who it was, he looked slightly surprised.
The secretary brought two cups of tea. Shen Xingyan cut straight to the chase,
“Lu Guozhang sent you.”

Across from him, Lu Jinglan took a sip of the fragrant tea. “This really is good tea.”
She set down the cup.

“I’m just here as the messenger.”

Shen Xingyan raised an eyebrow.
“He sure knows how to order people around. That little brother of yours is really your dad’s precious treasure.”

“Boys are usually more valuable than girls anyway,” Lu Jinglan said indifferently.
“I’ve delivered the invitation, so I’ll be going now.”

She stood up and headed for the door.
Then stopped again.

“Almost forgot—my little brother went to school today.”
Behind her, Shen Xingyan’s gaze darkened.

Meanwhile, with a feeling of wretched resignation, Jiang Mingyi finished two exams.
As soon as he left the classroom, he turned his phone back on.

Almost immediately, WeChat messages popped up.
Jiang Mingyi looked at the top one and frowned.

[Shen Xingyan]: If that Lu family kid comes looking for you, ignore him.

Just as Jiang Mingyi was trying to figure out what that message meant, a shadow fell over him.
He looked up—and oh.

Of course it was that Lu family boy who came looking for him.
With his pretty peach blossom eyes, Jiang Mingyi sized the other up, a cunning glint flickering in his gaze.

“Lu Jingze, I heard you were bedridden for a few days. You’re already up and walking? Seems like my brother’s kick wasn’t strong enough.”
He feigned regret. Lu Jingze’s hand at his side clenched into a fist.