ALCSRB Chapter 41

The person who had bumped into Jiang Mingyi casually apologized and then disappeared into the stream of people, leaving the two of them still holding each other tightly.

The air around them seemed to freeze.

Only the sound of their pounding heartbeats remained in the silence.

It wasn’t the first time Shen Xingyan had held him, but never before had that arm wrapped around his waist felt so intense—so much so that he thought his body might be completely absorbed into the other’s embrace.

The faint scent of sandalwood drifted around them, mingling with the sweltering heat of summer.

A strange, restless heat began to rise within him.

It surged with such force that he couldn’t tell whether the heartbeat he heard belonged to himself or Shen Xingyan.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Each beat seemed stronger, more powerful than the last.

Jiang Mingyi instinctively placed a hand over his chest, his lowered lashes hiding the flash of panic in his eyes.

His mind went blank in that moment.

Shen Xingyan slowed his breathing. Their bodies were still pressed close together, his arms tightly wrapped around the slender figure in his embrace. But he didn’t move—instead, he used his body to shield him, creating a small space where the crowd could no longer jostle the boy in his arms.

“Did you get hurt?”

The concerned voice was soft, almost drowned in the noise of the temple, but still clearly reached Jiang Mingyi’s ears.

Warm breath brushed against the fringe of his hair—it was so close.

Startled, he looked up, locking eyes with a pair of deep black pupils. There was a fleeting emotion flickering inside them—one he couldn’t decipher—before it quickly vanished.

As if it had all been an illusion.

“No.” He parted his lips and gave a one-word reply.

Shen Xingyan lowered his gaze, as if to check whether he was really okay.

Silence fell between them once more.

Neither made a move to let go.

People around them had started to notice something unusual, their curious gazes landing on the two.

Their posture was so intimate that no one would have guessed the two closely embracing individuals were actually brothers.

Just then, Su Wanxin’s puzzled voice came from the front: “What are you two doing?”

Her voice was like a small stone tossed into a calm lake, sending ripples through the air—and breaking the eye contact between the two.

Shen Xingyan’s arm around Jiang Mingyi tightened for a brief second, then quickly loosened.

“Be careful,” he said softly. After helping him stand steady, he calmly withdrew his hand.

But the hand that moved behind his back clenched into a fist, as if trying to restrain something.

Jiang Mingyi replied with a quiet “mm,” a faint sense of loss rising in his heart.

He shook his head, trying to ignore the strange emotion.

Su Wanxin had walked back over, her eyes flickering between the two of them.

Shen Xingyan glanced at the still-dazed Jiang Mingyi and explained to Su Wanxin, “Someone bumped into Mingyi just now—he almost fell. He might’ve gotten startled.”

Su Wanxin gasped, “Oh dear, what happened to you, child?”

Seeing Jiang Mingyi looking dazed, she felt both heartache and helplessness. She reached out and took his hand that hung by his side, carefully inspecting it. “Did you get hurt anywhere?” She frowned.
“Why do you look so out of it?”

Jiang Mingyi was a beat slow to respond. Meeting his mother’s concerned eyes, he replied, “Mom, I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt.”

“I think you got knocked silly,” Su Wanxin sighed. “Luckily I asked your big brother to keep an eye on you.”

“Mm, I’m lucky to have him,” he said.

Su Wanxin held his hand and led him toward the main hall, with Shen Xingyan trailing two steps behind.

Jiang Mingyi glanced back at him, and Shen Xingyan offered a faint smile. “Watch where you’re walking—don’t look back.”

Only then did Jiang Mingyi turn forward again.

As they stepped into the main hall, Su Wanxin warned, “Don’t worry about your brother—just be careful. The threshold’s high.”

Stepping inside, a refreshing coolness washed over him, as if the heat that had been clinging to him was suddenly whisked away. Jiang Mingyi felt his mood lighten.

He followed Su Wanxin as they paid respects to each statue. Her gentle reminder echoed in his ears: “You need sincerity when you bow to the Bodhisattva.”

With palms pressed together, his movements—initially lazy and half-hearted—gradually became more respectful and proper.

After they had finished praying in several halls, Su Wanxin donated some incense money.

A monk who had been attending to them led the three toward a side hall.

“Let’s go ask for a peace blessing,” she said. “That way you won’t end up hurting yourself again one day with all that carelessness.”

Jiang Mingyi couldn’t refuse, so he followed her to ask for the blessing.

Fortunately, the process wasn’t complicated.

Once it was done, Su Wanxin started chatting with the monk, and Jiang Mingyi quietly moved closer to the man standing alone near the temple doors.

Shen Xingyan’s gaze was fixed on something far away, his mind clearly elsewhere.

Jiang Mingyi found it a bit curious. Tilting his head, he watched him for a while, then reached out and gently tapped Shen Xingyan’s hand with his finger.

“Ge,” he called softly. The man didn’t respond.

He had to call him again.

Only then did Shen Xingyan return to himself, turning to look at him. “What is it?”

“Do you also think I’m careless?” Jiang Mingyi asked in a small voice, avoiding his gaze.

Shen Xingyan’s eyes landed on the side of his face—fair, smooth, and beautiful. Even the tiny earlobe half-hidden beneath his black hair looked adorably delicate.

A strange itch stirred in his heart, a sudden urge to touch him—an urge he forcefully suppressed.

He turned his eyes away nonchalantly. “No.”

Jiang Mingyi waited a while without hearing a response. He had thought Shen Xingyan saw him the same way, and the thought had left him a bit stifled—but then he heard the unexpected denial.

His mood instantly improved.

“Really?” he asked. “But Mom just said I’m careless, and your expression clearly agreed with her.”

“…”

Shen Xingyan was momentarily stunned, clearly not expecting that his conflicted gaze would be misunderstood.

“Mom’s just worried about you. Don’t take it to heart.”

“I know,” Jiang Mingyi replied. “Although I do act a little dumb sometimes, it’s more of the cute kind of dumb.”

Shen Xingyan was amused by his words and laughed. “Who calls themselves dumb?”

“That was an adjective.”

As the two chatted, the strange tension from before seemed to vanish completely.

Seeing that Su Wanxin wasn’t going to finish anytime soon, Jiang Mingyi, still thinking about the wishing tree, said, “Ge, let’s go to the wishing tree in the back mountain now.”

He was full of excitement, his eyes shining brightly, gaze drifting longingly toward the back mountain.

Shen Xingyan, seeing this, could only go say a word to Su Wanxin and then take him out.

“Do you know how to get to the back mountain?”

Jiang Mingyi walked with a spring in his step. “Naturally, with our feet.”

Shen Xingyan was stunned by his response and couldn’t help but knock on his perky head.

Jiang Mingyi held his head and quickly corrected himself, “I asked a little monk earlier, and he told me the way.”

Ahead, a stone stairway led deep into the back mountain, where lush greenery flourished.

This path was typically used by the temple monks and unknown to ordinary visitors. The two walked side by side and only occasionally passed a monk or two.

While Jiang Mingyi curiously looked around, Shen Xingyan had already spotted a towering tree. The mountain breeze blew, and from a distance, they could see red ribbons fluttering on its branches.

Faint voices could be heard — indistinct but signaling a bustling crowd.

After passing through a side gate, they were met with a constant stream of people, most of them young men and women.

A tour guide nearby was introducing the site through a megaphone: “This is the Wishing Tree of Lingyun Temple. Legend has it that this tree is over a thousand years old. In a moment, you can go inside to get a wishing plaque, write your wish on it, and hang it from the tree branches.”

Jiang Mingyi followed the voice and looked at the wishing tree. To his surprise, the tree had grown many branches, each looking like an independent tree itself — almost forming a small forest of wishing trees.

Amazement sparkled in his eyes, and with his mouth slightly open, he said, “This tree is amazing.”

Someone nearby overheard his exclamation and laughed. “Well, it wouldn’t be called a wishing tree if it wasn’t amazing. They say that every time someone’s wish comes true, the tree grows a new branch. That’s how it’s become a whole forest of wishing trees.”

Jiang Mingyi couldn’t stop exclaiming in awe after hearing that.

“Ge, let’s go make a wish now!” he said excitedly, dragging Shen Xingyan toward the main hall.

Inside the hall, there was already a long line of people. Jiang Mingyi picked a queue that seemed a bit shorter and got in line.

Shen Xingyan stood behind him.

With his tall figure, handsome features, and refined aura, he stood out even more behind the delicate and pretty boy.

People around them were sneaking glances in their direction.

“Look, there’s a pair of good-looking guys over there.”

“One’s handsome, one’s pretty—what a perfect match.”

“Their height difference is so shippable.”

“Coming here to make a wish today was the right call.”

Shen Xingyan heard the whispers and his expression tightened for a moment, then quickly relaxed.

The line moved slowly forward. As they were nearly at the front, Jiang Mingyi turned his head and asked, “Ge, what are you going to wish for?”

He actually wanted to ask if Shen Xingyan was really going to wish for love, but when the words reached his lips, he swallowed them back.

Shen Xingyan lowered his eyes and met his curious gaze, then smiled. “If you say your wish out loud, it won’t come true.”

“…”

Jiang Mingyi hadn’t expected that reply and was momentarily speechless. He muttered, “Fine, don’t say it then.”

Seeing him turn back around, Shen Xingyan stared at the back of his round head, a shadow of unreadable emotion flickering in his dark eyes.

The line grew shorter and shorter. The inner hall where the wishing plaques were handed out allowed only a few people in at a time. Soon, it was Jiang Mingyi’s turn.

He waved at Shen Xingyan. “I’m going in first.”

With that, he followed a young monk into the inner hall.

Inside, there were five tables, each displaying wishing plaques of different colors.

The young monk explained, “Red is for love, yellow for career, green for safety and health, blue for other wishes. Everyone may choose according to your heart’s desire.”

Jiang Mingyi looked around at the others — some chose red, others yellow.

He lowered his eyes to the plaques in front of him.

Career? He had the inheritance his parents left behind, so he didn’t need to struggle for that.

Safety? Su Wanxin had already taken him to pray for it earlier, so no need to repeat that.

His gaze hovered between the red and blue plaques, but in the end, he picked up a blue one.

There was a pen on the table. Without hesitation, Jiang Mingyi wrote:
[I hope Shen Xingyan’s wishes come true.]

After writing it, he exited through a side door.

Many people stood under the wishing tree. Jiang Mingyi chose a branch at a medium height and stretched up to tie his plaque to it.

The long ribbon hung on the leafy branch, swaying gently in the wind, like a little spirit carrying his small wish, drawing an arc in the air.

Shen Xingyan came out of the side door not long after and immediately saw the tall, slender figure standing beneath the wishing tree.

The boy had his head slightly raised, the breeze brushing through his soft hair, revealing delicate features. His clear gaze turned toward Shen Xingyan, and he smiled — pure and sincere.

In that moment, Shen Xingyan understood: there was no need to wish for love.

Because the boy — who was only his brother in name — had already silently walked into his heart and made it flutter.