The siblings spent the whole night sharing the parts of their lives the other had missed.
Shao Yuye tried his best to gloss over his hardships, wanting his sister to see only the good parts of his life.
But Shen Wanwan couldn’t stop her brow from furrowing, her heart aching.
A father who only brought trouble, a hypocritical stepmother, and a naive but perfectly spiteful stepsister who always managed to disgust others with precision.
Shen Wanwan said calmly, “You should’ve cut ties with them long ago.”
Shao Yuye let out a bitter laugh. “Yeah. I should’ve done that a long time ago…”
All these years, he’d refused to leave simply because he wanted to stay near her room.
Just the thought of how, even if he took away everything that once belonged to her, the room that used to be his sister’s would still be occupied by Xu Qingxin and her daughter made him feel sick.
On the very first day Xu Qingxin moved into the Shao household, she packed away everything related to Shen Mingzhen from the bedroom she had shared with Shao Hongyuan.
Shao Yuye coldly watched her throw out his mother’s things, except for one: a vase that had been smashed in a furious argument between his mother and father. The fact that she deliberately left that behind told him she was far from the delicate little flower she pretended to be.
Xu Qingxin spent an entire day piecing that vase back together. Then, with grand ceremony, she placed it in the most conspicuous spot in the room.
When Shao Hongyuan asked about it, she simply smiled and said she liked it, that even broken, it had a kind of shattered beauty.
But Shao Yuye knew her true, malicious intent.
Xu Qingxin wanted to use that vase as a constant reminder for Shao Hongyuan. Every time he felt even a sliver of guilt, one glance at that vase would bring back memories of Shen Mingzhen’s furious face cursing him as shameless.
And so, over time, Shao Hongyuan forgot every good thing about Shen Mingzhen.
That’s why, no matter how diligently Xu Qingxin tried to please Shao Yuye afterward, he never spared her a single extra glance.
Shao Yuye was only worried that one day, their mother might abandon his little sister.
After all, Shao Hongyuan had more than once said that Shen Mingzhen was just a woman—divorced, with a child. What kind of man would want to take on someone else’s child? Even if someone did, how many would truly treat the child as their own?
He was afraid that one day, his little sister would be cast aside by their mother.
Because, hadn’t he already been abandoned by her?
If… if his sister ever came back one day, even if there was no real affection left in this home, at the very least, he would do everything within his power to protect her and keep her from being hurt by their stepmother.
Although as time passed and he grew up, his sister still never returned…
Protecting her room had already become his obsession.
The siblings ended up talking for two whole hours, and only when they realized it was late at night did Shao Yuye finally leave, reluctant to go.
This was the little sister he had lost and then regained.
His heart was full of joy.
Just as he opened the door to leave, he bumped into someone coming from the opposite room.
Qi Luozhou was wearing a crisp white shirt that hugged his back and a pair of black slacks that outlined his long legs. His posture was tall and straight, and whether viewed from the front, the side, or the back, there was an innate grace to his every movement.
Their eyes met, and Qi Luozhou gave Shao Yuye a polite nod.
Shao Yuye, however, averted his gaze with disdain.
—Tch.
His sister really had bad luck, huh? Living right across from Qi Luozhou? What a curse.
But he was in such a good mood tonight that he couldn’t be bothered to quarrel with Qi Luozhou. Shao Yuye hummed a little tune and happily returned to his room~
He decided to fall asleep listening to <Good Days1> tonight!
Not long after Shao Yuye returned to his room, Shen Wanwan’s door was knocked again.
Fortunately, she hadn’t gone to bed yet. Thinking Shao Yuye had returned, she casually pulled the door open.
Outside stood a man with refined features.
In his hand was a tube of pain-relief cream.
Shen Wanwan raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“Mr. Qi?”
Qi Luozhou handed her the cream, his voice calm and gentle.
“Did I disturb you?”
“No,” Shen Wanwan replied, making no move to take the cream immediately.
She looked at Qi Luozhou, her voice sweet.
“You help me.”
In the silence of Qi Luozhou’s non-reply, she kindly added:
“Of course, you’re free to say no.”
The corridor light above cast a warm orange glow.
The gentle light softened Shen Wanwan’s facial features. Her skin was fair and delicate.
Her gaze was always frank and straightforward, never trying to put on a façade to create a persona. She simply didn’t care what others thought.
001, the system, was already surprised when Qi Luozhou came to bring her medicine.
Now that Shen Wanwan actually asked him to apply it for her…
001 was baffled: {Didn’t you say last time that if you had another chance, you wouldn’t make such requests again?}
Would Qi Luozhou, like Su Tingxuan, feel insulted?
“So I gave him the right to refuse,” Shen Wanwan said calmly, long lashes lowered.
001 was just about to comment, the male lead will probably turn you down—
Who would have guessed that in the very next second, Qi Luozhou stepped inside.
“My pleasure.”
Shen Wanwan gave him a look of approval.
For the first time, she praised him: “There’s a reason he’s the male lead. He’s got a great personality.”
001: {…}
—{It’s only because he’s playing along with you.
—{I’m not even going to bother calling it out!}
There was no heater on in the room. Shen Wanwan didn’t like the stuffy feeling it brought.
The chill kept her mind clear.
She leaned back lazily on the chaise lounge, letting Qi Luozhou apply the cool ointment to her toes.
“That trekking pole from this morning, was it you who left it there?”
Qi Luozhou’s fingers were cold, long, and well-defined. His pressure was firm but not too much.
The man gave a soft laugh. “Is the pressure okay?”
Since he didn’t bring up the morning incident, Shen Wanwan didn’t dwell on it either.
She gave a contented “Mm.”
Then cheerfully nudged her other soft, fair foot into his hand, as if to remind him, Don’t play favorites.
Qi Luozhou smiled faintly.
He didn’t seem to think that serving her was anything shameful.
Shen Wanwan, content in her enjoyment, didn’t notice the expression on his face at all.
She even hugged a throw pillow comfortably and closed her eyes.
He took the opportunity to gaze at her without restraint.
When Shen Wanwan was awake and alert, she carried a trace of cold aggression in her demeanor—a sharp, unapproachable aura.
But once she let her guard down, she revealed a kind of softness and innocence that matched her age. Like a young girl, spoiled and untouched by the harshness of the world.
Qi Luozhou gazed at her gently.
Until the ceiling light flickered, and Shen Wanwan suddenly opened her eyes.
Her eyes were bright, like moonlight pouring softly through the window.
“Mr. Qi, you’ve been staring at me for a while now.”
“Have I?” Qi Luozhou smiled slightly. “I just think Miss Shen is very beautiful.”
Even though she knew it was just a polite, superficial compliment, Shen Wanwan was still a little pleased.
She didn’t smile, but the delight in her voice betrayed her.
“Mr. Qi, your smile right now feels a little too polite.”
—The implication being: not sincere enough.
“Hm?” A smile lingered in Qi Luozhou’s eyes. “Then how does Miss Shen think I should smile?”
He said it in such a way that it didn’t sound like flattery at all.
Instead, it carried a teasing undertone.
Shen Wanwan gave a light “hmph”: “You can’t even get that right? Did you become Best Actor through connections or something?”
Qi Luozhou chuckled lightly and followed her lead.
“Maybe I got it through fan votes.”
Shen Wanwan narrowed her eyes.
Qi Luozhou was a curious person.
Unlike Shao Yuye, who was obsessed with winning and losing, Qi Luozhou had an astonishingly low desire for competition.
While fans labeled Shao Yuye as ‘ambitious and competitive,’ Qi Luozhou’s label was ‘indifferent to fame and fortune.’
But was he truly as detached as he appeared?
After all, everything he wanted was already in his hands.
Maybe it was because Qi Luozhou was the male lead.
After he massaged her feet for a while, the pain in her toes disappeared.
001 chimed in proudly : {Of course it did. He’s the male lead, after all, his light outshines even Bai Ling.
{This is a Cinderella-style Mary Sue story, after all. Once the heroine gets the male lead, she gets all the spotlight too~}
While Qi Luozhou was washing his hands in the bathroom, the door was knocked for the third time that night.
001 was shocked : {What is going on? Are they all reporting in one by one?!
{Who is it this time?!}
Shen Wanwan smiled faintly.
The answer was obvious.
Su Tingxuan knocked on her door, short and urgent:
“Wanwan, it’s me…
“Wanwan… please open the door.”
Su Tingxuan had been harshly scolded by his father that night.
When the Shen family came to break off the engagement, Father Su originally thought Shen Wanwan had fallen for someone else and wanted to use that as leverage to renegotiate terms.
But Shen Rong had immediately turned cold. “Does your son not know what he’s done?”
Not only did Shen Rong withdraw all investments from the Su family, but he also explicitly forbade any of his subsidiaries from doing business with them.
The Su family had long relied on the Shen family’s support for its booming business. As success swelled, so did Father Su’s arrogance, leading to blind expansion and a strained cash flow.
Shen Rong’s move was like a fatal blow, crushing them completely. Now, the Su family faced a massive funding shortfall, and their company was on the verge of collapse.
One phone call from his father, and Su Tingxuan finally realized just how much trouble he was in.
“That’s Shen Wanwan! Marrying her means not just you, but your mother and I would never have to work another day in our lives!
“That so-called ‘true love’ of yours, what’s it worth?”
Su Tingxuan had been stubborn at first.
But soon, he felt his father had a point.
After all, he’d been attending to Shen Wanwan for so many years. He had gotten used to it, it wasn’t so bad.
Besides, Shen Wanwan was fiercely loyal and extremely generous to those close to her.
In truth…
After all these years, she must still have feelings for him.
If he could get hold of her heart and make her fall in love with him, wouldn’t she be under his control from then on?
Once Su Tingxuan realized this, he felt like he couldn’t afford to wait even one more second.
He wanted to see Shen Wanwan and coax her into coming back!!
At that moment, he heard some movement from inside the room.
His voice became a little more agitated: “Wanwan…
“Open the door and let me in. Let’s have a proper talk.”
Shen Wanwan stood with her arms crossed, leaning against the door. Through the door panel, she replied slowly, “Mr. Su, didn’t we already say everything that needed to be said?”
Inside the bathroom, the sound of running water suddenly stopped.
When Qi Luozhou heard the way she addressed the person outside, he paused for a brief moment.
He dried his wet hands and walked out of the bathroom, the ever-present natural smile on his face now gone.
Shen Wanwan gave him a small smile, motioning for him to stay quiet.
Outside the door, Su Tingxuan continued pleading desperately, “Hurry, there are people passing by in the hallway. It’ll be bad if someone sees. Wanwan, I was wrong. I’ve thought a lot over the past few days. I was a bastard before…”
Forced to listen to a whole act of ‘repentant scumbag,’ Qi Luozhou spoke up coldly:
“Mr. Su?”
Shen Wanwan responded, “Mm, Su Tingxuan, my ex-fiancé. Sorry you had to witness this.”
Just as she was about to raise her voice and send Su Tingxuan away—
The door was suddenly pulled open a crack, and the corridor light poured in instantly.
Su Tingxuan’s vision dimmed as a shadow abruptly engulfed him.
Seeing the door open, he was overjoyed and raised his voice: “Wanwan… I knew you wouldn’t ignore me…”
Halfway through his sentence, he suddenly felt something was off.
Shen Wanwan wasn’t this tall.
Stunned, he looked up, only to see a man’s sharply defined jawline.
The eyes that usually appeared gentle and warm now held a hint of coldness and indifference.
As if only now noticing the noise, Qi Luozhou gave him a cool glance.
Their eyes met. Only then did Su Tingxuan clearly see the man’s face.
He was utterly dumbfounded and murmured:
“God Zhou?! You… why are you here…?!”
- 好日子 (hǎo rìzi, lit. meaning ‘Good Days’) is a very famous Chinese folk song. The song’s cheerful melody and lyrics reflect a theme of living a good, happy, and prosperous life. ↩︎