The ‘him’ Qi Luozhou mentioned naturally referred to her Brother.
Shen Wanwan paused, almost imperceptibly.
To be honest, she quite liked how it felt to be with Qi Luozhou.
He was intelligent enough and perceptive enough that she never had to struggle to figure out what he was thinking, nor worry that he would wear himself—or her—out over trivial matters.
And all the complaints Su Tingxuan had once voiced, all the things he had been dissatisfied with, simply didn’t exist with Qi Luozhou.
Perhaps that was the charm of a mature man.
She couldn’t be bothered to think about all those unnecessary things. Thinking about her Brother in a moment like this would completely ruin the mood. So she simply wrapped both arms around Qi Luozhou’s neck and resumed the kiss they’d just shared.
Her sudden initiative made his body stiffen.
The arm that instinctively circled her waist tensed with restrained strength, hovering awkwardly in midair for three seconds before finally settling against her back.
Shen Wanwan opened her eyes and looked at his face, now only inches away.
The bright white ceiling light shone overhead, its gentle halo falling over him and softening the contours of his brows and eyes.
His long eyelashes trembled ever so slightly, casting a flickering shadow beneath them.
She couldn’t stop the corners of her lips from lifting.
She actually loved seeing him react like this.
It gave her an overwhelming sense of being completely in control.
Sensing her smile, Qi Luozhou opened his eyes.
She let out a quiet laugh.
The next second, his lips descended once more, as if punishing her distraction. He even gave her lower lip a light nip.
Her competitive streak flared instantly.
Their lips and tongues intertwined again. It was impossible to tell whether the sounds echoing between them were racing heartbeats or swallowed breaths.
The world seemed to spin.
The only things that remained vividly clear were their entwined tongues… and the increasingly heated breaths they shared.
By the time he finally let her go, Shen Wanwan’s whole body had gone weak from the kissing. She could only feebly retreat from his lips.
“Qi Luozhou… just how many girlfriends have you had?”
His fingers still cradled the back of her neck.
As their lips parted, he opened his eyes.
His gaze lingered on her now rosy, swollen lips, kissed into vivid color. His Adam’s apple bobbed unconsciously before he drew in a deep breath. Even his voice had turned hoarse.
“None.”
Shen Wanwan looked surprised.
“Not even one?”
“Mhm.”
Desire still lingered in his eyes.
Gone was their usual calm clarity, replaced with an unmistakably alluring intensity.
“What about you?”
“Only Su Tingxuan.”
His thumb gently stroked her crimson lips.
They were beautifully shaped, even the little pout in the center perfectly formed. His gaze darkened several shades.
“Did you ever kiss him?”
Shen Wanwan tilted her head as though searching through her memories.
Even this normally composed man found himself unconsciously tensing as he waited.
The muscles throughout his body tightened, and even the air seemed thinner.
Only a few seconds passed.
Yet they felt as long as an entire century.
Without revealing anything, Shen Wanwan quietly took in every one of his reactions before finally shaking her head.
“No.”
It felt as though a bolt of lightning shot straight through Qi Luozhou’s chest.
When he still had his reason, he had never wanted to ask her questions like this.
There was no point.
No matter how far she and Su Tingxuan had gone, it was all in the past.
He wasn’t the sort of man obsessed with meaningless hang-ups, either.
Besides, her earlier inexperience had already told him everything he needed to know.
But hearing her say it herself…
His heart still lurched violently.
She smiled softly and copied what he had done earlier, gently pressing a warm fingertip against his lips.
“My first kiss was with you.”
Originally, Shen Wanwan had only wanted to tease him.
Her Brother disliked how effortlessly composed he always appeared.
She wasn’t particularly fond of it either.
She liked seeing Qi Luozhou lose control.
She liked watching the desire he usually hid so carefully spill openly into his eyes…
—Tsk.
In the end, she was still too softhearted.
She really had resisted getting physically close to Su Tingxuan before.
Perhaps she’d simply never found him attractive. Nothing about him had ever truly caught her eye. Even after gradually accepting him and considering him one of her own, he had never been more than ‘someone she’d live with in the future’.
So how had things progressed this far with Qi Luozhou?
Perhaps beauty really was misleading.
And she was only an ordinary person after all.
Qi Luozhou caught her fingertips in his palm and absentmindedly kneaded them for a while before suddenly asking, “When are you going to tell your Brother?”
Their fingers remained tightly interlaced, their warmth blending together as though they could stay that way forever.
His gentle caresses had already left Shen Wanwan’s thoughts delightfully muddled.
She answered absentmindedly with a vague “Mm,” then grabbed the hand that was continuing to distract her.
“Stop teasing.”
The smile at the corner of Qi Luozhou’s lips faded slightly.
He didn’t press the matter any further.
Instead, Shen Wanwan took his hand and studied it carefully.
“What are you looking at?” he asked casually.
“Your palm.”
She looked up at him, her eyes sparkling.
Qi Luozhou raised a brow in surprise and chuckled.
“You know palm reading?”
“Mhm.”
With a perfectly serious expression, Shen Wanwan shamelessly made it up as she went.
“You have a very fortunate fate. You’ll marry a virtuous wife.”
She was exceptionally good at this sort of playful push-and-pull.
His smile returned immediately as he followed along.
“Can you tell when I’ll get married?”
“That depends on my mood.”
She winked at him mischievously.
“If you make me happy, then I’ll tell my Brother.”
“How do I make you happy?”
The smile on Qi Luozhou’s lips widened.
He took hold of her slender fingers again, lightly scratching the center of her soft palm with his fingertip, making both her hand and her heart itch all over once more.
“Hm?”
That final murmur, barely more than a breath against her ear, overflowed with tender affection.
Shen Wanwan tilted her head thoughtfully before asking with complete seriousness, “How about… you call me ‘Master’ first?”
“…”
Meanwhile, over in another room, Zhang Song was apologizing to Shao Yuye.
“I’m sorry, Brother Ye. I was wrong this morning. I shouldn’t have made you angry. I hope you can forgive me and not hold it against me.”
Shao Yuye looked utterly bewildered.
Just that morning, Zhang Song had been all fake sweetness while trying to steal his sister away. Now he was calling him ‘Brother’ every other sentence with such warmth that it was giving him goosebumps.
—What on earth is this kid plotting?
Unable to hold it in any longer, Shao Yuye asked bluntly, “What exactly are you trying to do?”
Zhang Song opened his big doe-like eyes wide and answered without the slightest hesitation, “I like Sister!”
“…?”
That… direct?
Shao Yuye’s heart skipped a beat. His entire body froze.
—What did I just hear?!
—I. Like. Sister.
“For real?” he asked, staring at Zhang Song with his mouth hanging so wide it could practically swallow an egg.
Zhang Song nodded earnestly.
“Really! Really!”
Shao Yuye immediately put on an inscrutable expression and fired off a machine-gun barrage.
“How old are you? Kids your age don’t even know what ‘liking someone’ means.”
Zhang Song protested.
“How do I not know? I do—”
Before he could finish, Shao Yuye cut him off.
“No. You don’t.”
Looking down at him from above, Shao Yuye raised a finger and emphatically gestured through the air.
“Do you know how much money she spends in a day? How much have you earned? What’s your salary? Do you make more than I do? She already thinks my money isn’t enough, what makes you think she’d even look at you?”
Zhang Song: “……”
Shao Yuye continued relentlessly, “Do you know her daily routine? Do you know what she likes? She gets up at seven every morning and drinks a glass of warm water on an empty stomach. It can’t be too hot or too cold, around forty degrees, and it has to be freshly boiled. Can you guarantee you’ll have that ready for her at exactly the right time every single morning?
“She likes desserts. Do you even know which dessert is her favorite at her favorite shop?
“You don’t. You don’t know anything.
“All you know is that she’s beautiful, adorable, and considerate. But you don’t see what she actually needs…”
The nonstop bombardment left Zhang Song nearly wishing the ground would swallow him whole. His head hung lower and lower, his fingers pressed tightly against the seams of his pants like a student silently enduring a lecture from a strict instructor.
Judging from his appearance, his psychological defenses had completely collapsed.
The corners of Shao Yuye’s lips curled triumphantly.
“See? You’re not even qualified to like her.
“Alright, squirt. Go watch your Peppa Pig like a good kid…”
Having easily dealt with this hopeless little brat who fancied becoming his future brother-in-law, Shao Yuye’s mood improved considerably.
He cheerfully headed for the door—
Only for the kid behind him to stubbornly add, “Brother Ye… that’s not the kind of ‘like’ I meant.”
Shao Yuye stopped dead in his tracks.
As he stood there stunned, Zhang Song blinked innocently.
“Brother… I’m not here to break you two apart.
“I’m here to join you.
“I really like Sister Wanwan. I mean the kind of love a little brother has for his older sister.”
After confessing, Zhang Song nervously curled his fingers.
—Sister said…
—Be sincere.
—I’m being sincere now… right?
He looked at Shao Yuye expectantly.
Shao Yuye stood rooted to the spot for a long moment, as though something were stuck in his throat. Finally, he ground out three words through clenched teeth.
“…In your dreams!”
—This brat dares try to steal my sister? Is he tired of living?!
In the room next door, Zhang Yiran and Jiang Yuan had already finished showering and were huddled together on the bed.
There was no light in the room. The beam from a phone flashlight was the only illumination, casting a huge glowing circle across the wall.
Outside, the cold wind rustled through the trees.
Zhang Yiran narrated dramatically,
“Suddenly! A sinister grin appeared on the wall. Jiang Jian’s heart lurched as he spun around, and standing there was a green-faced, fanged gh-gh-gh-GHAAAAAAAH!!”
The phone hanging from the window frame suddenly shook, causing the room’s only light source to tremble as well.
Jiang Yuan shuddered beside him. Frightened by Zhang Yiran’s story, he screamed too. Following the direction Zhang Yiran pointed, he saw a tall, thin shadow suddenly appear on the wall.
The ghostly silhouette seemed fused with the swaying tree outside. As the wind blew, it looked as though branches were sprouting from its body while elongated arms reached toward the two of them.
The room erupted into utter chaos and terrified screaming.
Shao Yuye walked in through the doorway. Already in a foul mood, he frowned at the two shrieking men.
“What are you two doing?”
Still shaken, Zhang Yiran and Jiang Yuan clutched their chests.
“Damn it! Can’t you make some noise when you walk?!”
“You nearly scared us to death!”
Shao Yuye sat down on the edge of their bed and let out a melancholy sigh.
“…Sigh.”
The two exchanged a glance.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Shao Yuye muttered, “My little sister is just too lovable. What am I supposed to do?”
Tsk, tsk.
Here comes the obsessive siscon again.
Zhang Yiran waved him away.
“If you’ve got nothing else to say, hurry up and leave. You’re ruining the horror atmosphere.”
Shao Yuye sighed again.
“Do you know that feeling?”
Zhang Yiran: “……” No, I don’t. I don’t. I really don’t!
After being thoroughly outplayed by Shen Wanwan twice, the last thing he wanted was to hear Shao Yuye go on about how charming she was.
He had personally experienced her overwhelming charisma.
Jiang Yuan, however, chimed in from the side, “Who wouldn’t like Shen Wanwan?”
She was beautiful and brilliant.
It was hard to imagine anyone in the world not liking her.
Shao Yuye immediately perked up.
“!
“Right?!”
Jiang Yuan nodded seriously.
“Exactly. You’d better keep a close eye on her. There are wolves and tigers watching her everywhere. That new kid, Zhang Song… something’s definitely off about him.”
Jiang Yuan was famously a nice guy. Honest to a fault, he always spoke from a friend’s perspective whenever he opened his mouth.
Shao Yuye nodded in wholehearted agreement.
“Exactly! It’s that brat!”
Halfway through speaking, he suddenly sprang to his feet.
“No, I need to go talk to my sister…”
And just like that, Shao Yuye disappeared in a blur.
Watching his retreating figure, Zhang Yiran turned to Jiang Yuan.
“You really had to rile him up, huh? After what you said, do you think he’ll even be able to sleep tonight?”
Illuminated by the glow of his phone, Jiang Yuan grinned with unmistakable schadenfreude.
“Perfect. We can drag him over too. The three of us can listen to ghost stories together. Later, make sure you tell one where the main character has a younger sister.”
Zhang Yiran: “Damn.”
When an honest man stopped being honest, he really stopped being human, didn’t he?!
Jiang Yuan quickly called Shao Yuye and sincerely invited him over.
Shao Yuye’s voice came through the phone sounding incredibly smug.
“My sister’s room has a fireplace and a lamp. Why would I be so out of my mind that I’d squeeze into your cold, dark little room?”
Zhang Yiran & Jiang Yuan: “…”
Damn it!
Zhang Song had thoroughly demonstrated just how wolfish his intentions were.
Shao Yuye secretly thanked his lucky stars that his sister had stood firm and switched him back.
Otherwise, if she had been paired with Zhang Song for the next few days… he didn’t even dare imagine the ways that kid would try to flirt with her.
Today’s challenges were much freer than yesterday’s.
The contestants could choose whether to keep gathering supplies and equipment or continue tackling challenge stages.
Now that the ‘Petty Revenge Duo’ had reunited, Shao Yuye was in exceptionally high spirits. Throughout the entire morning, he blazed through several more levels, leaving everyone else far behind. Even the livestream viewers were laughing and cheering along.
[This is exactly why I love seeing the ‘Petty Revenge Duo’ together!]
[Wanwan and Brother Ye are seriously unbeatable!]
[The sibling team is just too good. I could watch them forever!]
By the afternoon, a light drizzle began to fall over the island.
At the time, they were working on a hidden mission with a thirty-minute time limit: locate and defuse the island’s ‘landmines.’
If they failed to clear all the mines before time ran out and any of them exploded, their progress would be set back by five stages.
Raindrops splashed against the stone paths, scattering tiny droplets.
Shen Wanwan tugged gently on her Brother’s arm.
“Stop looking. Let’s find somewhere to get out of the rain.”
By now, after participating in the show for so long, she wasn’t nearly as obsessed with taking first place anymore.
The main reason she was still here was simply to spend more time with her Brother.
The livestream chat agreed with her.
[Yeah! Even if you lose five levels, you’re still in the lead.]
[I remember there’s a covered walkway in the park next door. Brother Ye and Wanwan can just sit there and enjoy the scenery.]
[Exactly! Brother Ye’s been clearing stages nonstop. This is the perfect chance for him to take a break.]
But everyone had underestimated just how competitive Shao Yuye was.
They did head to the covered walkway, but once they arrived, he negotiated with Shen Wanwan.
“Can you wait here? I’ll be right back.”
Unable to hold back a smile, Shen Wanwan nodded and handed him the umbrella.
“Okay.”
This competitive streak clearly ran in the family.
[Brother Ye: I finally got reunited with my sister. There’s no way I’m letting our progress go backwards!]
[He’s trying way too hard! The wind’s so strong on the island. Brother Ye, don’t catch a cold!]
“Wait for me.”
Taking the umbrella, Shao Yuye solemnly left those two words behind before charging back into the curtain of rain.
Meanwhile, Shen Wanwan sat comfortably beneath the covered walkway, leisurely admiring the rainy scenery.
The area had been beautifully renovated. It had originally been decorated as part of a dating show’s set, complete with a wisteria-covered walkway. Though the flowers had long since faded, the alternating pink and white decorations looked especially romantic beneath the hazy rainfall.
She stretched out her hand beyond the shelter of the roof, letting the fine raindrops fall onto her palm.
Normally, Shen Wanwan would never have paid attention to a rainstorm.
She disliked rainy days and hated the damp, clammy feeling they brought.
But today, with nothing else to do, she gazed at the misty little park and suddenly felt that rain wasn’t so unpleasant after all.
After sitting there for a while, the wind seemed to pick up.
A fine spray drifted onto her face, cool and slightly damp.
She reached up to tuck her windblown hair behind her ear.
Just then, the wind abruptly died down, and the raindrops that had been blowing into her face disappeared instantly.
She turned her head, tilting her chin slightly upward.
The rain fell like mist upon the umbrella above her.
Qi Luozhou’s handsome face was hidden beneath it.
Thin lips, a high nose bridge, deep brown eyes, and slightly upturned peach blossom eyes that lent him an air of effortless charm. Yet his overall demeanor remained cool and reserved. Against the misty rain, he looked almost ethereal.
“Why are you here by yourself?”
The livestream exploded.
[AHHHH! What are the odds?! She just happened to run into God Zhou here!]
[Ladies, what did I tell you?! ‘WanZhou’ is so shippable!!]
[Please! Just get together already!]
Others immediately started calling for Shao Yuye.
[Brother Ye, get back here! Qi Luozhou’s stealing your cabbage!!!]
[Emergency! How do we tell my sweet, innocent husband that his rival is helping him look after his little sister?!]
“My Brother went to do a mission.”
After answering, Shen Wanwan asked him in return, “Where’s Xiaoyu?”
“Went to the restroom.”
Qi Luozhou smiled and sat down beside her. Sitting shoulder to shoulder beneath the large umbrella, the two of them were effortlessly sheltered from the wind and rain.
Shen Wanwan wore only a light-colored sweater beneath a brown wool coat. The tip of her nose had turned red from the cold, and her hands were icy.
All of a sudden, she found herself yearning for the warmth coming from him.
She really wanted to slip her hands into his warm palms to warm them up.
But this was a live broadcast.
The audience shouldn’t find out about their relationship before her brother did.
Just as she was thinking that, warmth suddenly spread across her palm.
Two disposable hand warmers had been dropped into her hands.
Qi Luozhou chuckled.
“Xiaoyu gave them to me.
“I’m just presenting someone else’s gift.”
Her eyes curved into a smile as she laughed along with him.
“Thank you.”
[AHHH I’m so jealous, does anyone understand?!]
[How do I transmigrate into Shen Wanwan?! I want God Zhou to hold an umbrella for me and hand me warmers too, wuwuwuwu!!!]
[God Zhou is seriously so gentle!]
Meanwhile, Jin Xiaoyu soon came out after finishing in the restroom.
She already felt bad enough for making her idol wait.
She’d even prepared a whole string of rainbow-fart compliments for God Zhou.
But the moment she stepped outside, she couldn’t even see his shadow.
No way?
Did God Zhou just leave her behind?
That wasn’t right!
He wasn’t that kind of person!
She looked around and finally spotted the large umbrella God Zhou had been holding.
…And beneath that umbrella was a beaming God Zhou, along with Shen Wanwan, who no longer looked nearly as cold or distant around him.
Jin Xiaoyu: “…” If you two keep acting like this, I’m really going to start shipping you!
The livestream chat burst into laughter again, with viewers spamming lyrics:
[I should be under the car, not inside it, watching how sweet you two are~~]
[It’s clearly a movie starring three people, yet I never even get my name in the credits~~]
[I gave you all those years of my youth, only to get a “thank you for letting me go” in return~~]1
After teasing Jin Xiaoyu enough, everyone noticed that Shao Yuye was still peacefully searching for ‘landmines.’
The camera switched to him, and the comments immediately flooded in.
[Brother Ye, stop searching already! Hurry back! God Zhou’s stealing your cabbage!]
[Please, is winning really that important? If you don’t get back soon, God Zhou’s going to run off with your little sister!]
[Open your eyes and look at the world! Your sister is seriously in high demand, hahaha!]
The rain blurred everyone’s vision, making every task more difficult.
Yet Shao Yuye advanced like a force that couldn’t be stopped, clearing every single ‘landmine’ with remarkable efficiency.
Now all he had to do was lead his teammate back to the NPC to claim their reward.
His steps were light. Holding his umbrella in one hand, he turned toward the follow camera, grinned broadly, and said happily,
“Ha! This mission was actually pretty easy.
“I wonder if my little sister’s getting impatient waiting for me?”
- They are lyrics from three different Chinese pop songs popular as lyrics about being a ‘third wheel’. The songs are 他一定很爱你 by A-do (阿杜), 一直很安静 by A-Sun (阿桑), and 成全 by Rene Liu, respectively. ↩︎