ALCSRB Chapter 42

Half a month had passed since their return from Lingyun Temple.

Jiang Mingyi no longer had to go work at the Shen Corporation. At first, he was quite happy about that.
But lately, Shen Xingyan left early and returned late, and the two of them barely had any time to see each other.

Today, for once, Jiang Mingyi got up early. When he came downstairs, he saw Shen Xingyan having breakfast.

Taking quick little steps, Jiang Mingyi plopped himself down on a chair and tugged at Shen Xingyan’s arm. “Ge, what have you been so busy with lately? I haven’t seen you in days.”

Shen Xingyan paused mid-bite and glanced sideways at the delicate hand resting on his arm, his expression unreadable.

“There’s a lot going on at the company. I’ve had to work overtime frequently.”

His tone sounded perfectly normal, but Jiang Mingyi still felt a bit disappointed hearing that.

“Is it really that busy?” he asked. “Then why did you stop letting me come to work?”

“Didn’t you say you hate getting up early to go to the office?” Shen Xingyan finished his last bite, picked up a napkin, and gently wiped the corner of his mouth. “Since you don’t like it, there’s no need to force you.”

Jiang Mingyi pouted. Seeing Shen Xingyan get up, he followed closely behind.

“Then I can go with you in the afternoon.”

He wasn’t a late sleeper; he just struggled with early mornings. He could easily go to the office after lunch.

Suddenly, Shen Xingyan stopped walking. Jiang Mingyi wasn’t paying attention and bumped right into his back.

Shen Xingyan’s body stiffened for a second. After calming his breath, he turned around and saw Jiang Mingyi rubbing his forehead, lips pouting like he was about to cry. A hint of concern flickered in Shen Xingyan’s eyes.

“What is it? Did that hurt? Let me see.”

He reached out, but Jiang Mingyi dodged before he could touch him.

Thinking he was really hurt, a wave of tension, worry, and tenderness welled up in Shen Xingyan.

“Let me check if it’s red.”

But when he looked up again, he saw the boy grinning mischievously at him.

“Got you! As if I’d cry over a bump like that.”

Jiang Mingyi chuckled, his eyes curving into delicate crescent moons, his pale cheeks glowing with the satisfaction of a successful prank.

Noticing Shen Xingyan’s expression turn stern, Jiang Mingyi’s smile froze on his face.

“Ge… you’re not mad, are you?” He cautiously reached out to tug on his sleeve. “You’ve been so cold to me today. Usually, you at least smile a little. But today you’re all serious, like an old man.”

Shen Xingyan had originally intended to say that he wasn’t angry—he just didn’t like jokes like that.

But hearing the second part of Jiang Mingyi’s sentence—

“This old man’s got a lot on his plate today. No time to babysit,” Shen Xingyan replied and headed straight out the door.

Jiang Mingyi was stunned by the reaction. After a few seconds of shock, he snapped out of it and rushed to follow—but was stopped by Su Wanxin.

“Mingyi, you haven’t even had breakfast yet. Where are you rushing off to?”

He paused. “Mom, I’ll eat later.”

With that, he dashed toward the garage.

Just as he got to the garage entrance, a black car drove out.

Jiang Mingyi hurriedly waved and shouted, “Ge! Don’t go!”

The car slowed down, but didn’t stop—it drove right past him.

Through the rearview mirror, Shen Xingyan saw the boy standing there with a downcast expression, and his chest tightened slightly.

—

At noon, Jiang Mingyi barely touched his lunch before setting down his chopsticks.

“I’m full,” he said.

Under Su Wanxin’s surprised gaze, he slowly walked back to his room.

He threw himself onto the bed, burying his face into the pillow, groaning softly—clearly in a bad mood.

His phone, placed nearby, buzzed with a WeChat notification.

Jiang Mingyi lifted his head from the pillow and glanced at the screen.

[Pei Shiqing]: Yi Bao, are you home?

[Jiang Mingyi]: I’m home.

[Pei Shiqing]: I just got back from a trip. I brought you a souvenir. [Photo]

Jiang Mingyi opened the photo and glanced at it, replying with a single “oh.”

[Pei Shiqing]: I practically worked like a mule for my brother recently, and he finally took me on a trip. It’s been ages since we traveled together.

[Pei Shiqing]: You saw the photos I posted from the trip, right? I even took a lot of selfies with my brother.

Pei Shiqing kept chattering about his travel experiences, while Jiang Mingyi replied half-heartedly, barely engaging.

He scrolled back through their chat to look at the photos, and suddenly realized that he and Shen Xingyan didn’t seem to have any photos together.

Of course, they had plenty of pictures from childhood, but after being apart for so many years, they didn’t have a single photo as adults.

He looked at the photo of Pei Shiqing clinging to his brother’s arm with a bright smile and, for some reason, felt a bit envious.

—

When Pei Mingyue walked into the living room, he saw Pei Shiqing lying on the couch playing with his phone, legs swinging back and forth.

A plate of fruit sat on the coffee table. He occasionally forked a piece and ate it, looking perfectly at ease.

Pei Mingyue’s gaze followed those long legs and paused on the round, delicate feet for a moment.

He walked over and said in a cool voice, “Don’t you get tired lying like that?”

Hearing the voice, Pei Shiqing looked up in surprise. “Ge, why are you back?”

“Came to grab a document,” Pei Mingyue replied, heading straight into the study.

[Pei Shiqing]: My brother just came home to get a file. I’m gonna go see if he needs help. Chat later.

He sent the message to Jiang Mingyi, slipped on his slippers, and went upstairs.

Pei Mingyue noticed him peeking in. “What, done playing on your phone?”

“I came to see if you needed help with anything, Ge.”

With both hands behind his back—phone hidden in his palms—Pei Shiqing walked in with a cheerful smile.

…

After receiving that last message, Jiang Mingyi tossed his phone aside again.

He lay on the bed, fists tightly gripping the pillow, the soft fabric twisting and denting under the tension of his hands.

After a while, he suddenly sat up.

He picked out an outfit from the wardrobe, got changed, grabbed his phone, and headed downstairs.

Su Wanxin was in the living room watching TV. On the screen, the male and female leads were in a heart-wrenching scene, crying in despair.

“Gege, I like you. I’ve always liked you.”

“We can’t. We’re brother and sister—we can’t be together.”

“But you like me too, don’t you? Why? Why can’t siblings be together?”

Su Wanxin had already watched this drama several times. It was ridiculously melodramatic, yet she still found it thoroughly entertaining every time.

“Idiots. You’re not even real siblings, what are you afraid of?” she muttered while watching. Hearing footsteps, she turned her head and caught a glimpse of Jiang Mingyi hurriedly heading out.

“Huh? Where’s little Yi going in such a rush?”

Aunt Wang passed by and replied, “Not sure, but the young master looked pretty serious.”

Su Wanxin sighed, “He’s growing up. Hard to guess what’s going on in that head.”

—

Jiang Mingyi asked the family driver to take him to the Shen Group building. He took the elevator straight up to the CEO’s office.

Just as he was about to knock, a secretary came over and informed him, “President Shen is out.”

His raised hand paused mid-air, then dropped after two seconds.

Jiang Mingyi lowered his eyes, thinking for a moment, then asked, “Did he say when he’ll be back?”

The secretary shook her head. “No, but he does have a dinner meeting tonight, so he probably won’t return to the office.”

The eagerness Jiang Mingyi had been building up all the way there was doused like a bucket of ice water.

“Do you know where the dinner is being held?”

The secretary shook her head again. “I’m not sure.”

Since Shen Xingyan wasn’t coming back, Jiang Mingyi couldn’t exactly wait in the office.

He held his phone, hesitating a few times as he considered calling him. In the end, he didn’t dial—he just sent him a WeChat message instead.

—

Shen Xingyan was just about to begin a business negotiation meeting when his phone vibrated with a WeChat notification.

He opened it and, seeing the familiar profile picture and nickname, hesitated for a second before tapping on it.

[Mingyi]: Ge, come home early tonight.

He stared blankly at the message, not even noticing the business partner approaching.

“President Shen, what kind of message has you so focused?” chuckled Director Jin, one of the board members from the partner company, his eyes subtly drifting toward Shen Xingyan’s phone.

Shen Xingyan turned off the screen. “Nothing, just a kid from home asking me to come back early.”

Director Jin was surprised. “President Shen, you’re already a father at such a young age?”

“I never heard that President Shen is married.”

“I’m not,” Shen Xingyan explained. “It’s my younger brother.”

“Hahaha, then I misunderstood.” Director Jin chuckled to ease the awkwardness. “But it looks like you and your brother are really close. Not like my two boys—they argue every time they meet, like enemies. We’re constantly at our wits’ end.”

Shen Xingyan smiled faintly but didn’t respond.

The business meeting began soon after, and Shen Xingyan never replied to Jiang Mingyi’s message.

After the dinner ended that night, Shen Xingyan suddenly remembered the message he hadn’t replied to. He declined the follow-up entertainment the business partner suggested and told Qin Hao to take him home directly.

He had drunk quite a bit that night, and his head felt a little foggy as he sat in the car.

The streetlights outside cast flickering shadows over his sharp and handsome features.

Qin Hao glanced at him through the rearview mirror. “Boss, you don’t look too good.”

Hearing this, Shen Xingyan closed his eyes, concealing the emotion in his dark eyes. His voice was flat, “I’m fine.”

The car fell silent again. Qin Hao said nothing more and quietly drove them back to the Shen family home.

When Shen Xingyan got out of the car, he could already see the warm light shining through the living room window from a distance.

It was already past midnight. At this hour, Su Wanxin and Shen Jili should have gone to bed a long time ago.

He entered the villa, and the entrance hall was silent.

He bent down to change into indoor slippers, loosening his tie as he walked—but as he stepped into the living room, his footsteps froze.

The alcohol dulled his mind for a few seconds. Suddenly, a white figure leapt down from the sofa, and in the next moment, his arms were full.

Startled, Shen Xingyan looked down to see Jiang Mingyi, face flushed, those usually cool and clear eyes now red and misty. His heart skipped a beat.

“You…”

As he spoke, the scent of alcohol that didn’t belong to him hit his nose.

“You’ve been drinking,” Shen Xingyan said, catching the slightly limp body in his arms—slender and soft.

The young man buried in his chest rubbed his face against him and murmured, “Ge, I told you to come home early. Why didn’t you listen?”

That sentence tightened Shen Xingyan’s throat instantly. He wanted to explain, but when he looked down, the boy had already fallen asleep in his arms.

He quickly tightened his arms to catch the boy’s slipping body. A misstep nearly made him stumble, and the jolt sobered him up quite a bit.

He helped the boy to the sofa and sat him down, rubbing his temples with a headache.

Hearing the commotion, Su Wanxin came downstairs. As soon as she got close, the strong smell of alcohol hit her.

Shen Xingyan looked up at her. “Mom, what happened to Mingyi?”

Su Wanxin glanced at her younger son sleeping in her elder son’s arms and sighed. “He said he wanted to wait for you to come home. We tried everything to talk him out of it, but he wouldn’t listen. He was unusually stubborn today, and his mood wasn’t great either.”

Thinking of how her youngest had no appetite and looked listless all day, Su Wanxin couldn’t help but worry.

“We told him to go upstairs, but he refused. He insisted on sitting in the living room.”

Shen Xingyan immediately thought of what had happened that morning. The arms around his waist tightened slightly, and his emotions surged.

He slowly lowered his head, his dark eyes falling on the beautiful, sleeping face in his arms. His voice was low and hoarse.

“How long has he been sitting here?”

Su Wanxin replied, “Since dinner. He’s been on the couch the whole night.”

Shen Xingyan’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he instinctively held the person in his arms tighter.

The overwhelming emotions in his chest left him speechless.

After a moment of silence in the living room, Su Wanxin suddenly asked, “And what about you? Why did you drink so much tonight?”

“Something’s been bothering me lately.”

Shen Xingyan responded while gently rubbing Jiang Mingyi’s soft cheek with his thumb. The warmth from his slightly flushed, tipsy face seemed to seep right into Shen Xingyan’s own body.

“Is it something about work?”

“No.” Shen Xingyan paused, his gaze dropping. “It’s something about… feelings.”