That wasn’t the kind of question any normal person would come up with.
Qi Luozhou found it absurd. “This is the question you wanted me to answer seriously?”
Shao Yuye lifted his chin. “Yeah. So?”
Qi Luozhou almost laughed from sheer exasperation.
“It’s that important?”
Shao Yuye crushed the empty water bottle in his hand until it crackled.
“When I ask you something, just answer it. What’s with all the hemming and hawing?”
Before he could finish, he heard a respectful response:
“It is. Brother.”
Shao Yuye’s heart skipped a beat. The little version of himself in his mind immediately planted its hands on its hips and burst into triumphant laughter.
—Hahahaha!
—Qi Luozhou, oh Qi Luozhou… so you finally have this day too!
His little sister had, by her own efforts, made Qi Luozhou call him ‘Brother.’ That counted as getting revenge for her Brother in its own way.
Still, Shao Yuye was suspicious that Qi Luozhou had agreed so readily.
“For real?”
Qin Luozhou was speechless for a long moment.
“…For real.”
Perfect.
Shao Yuye immediately took advantage of it and stretched out his arm.
“Certain!”
He and Jiang Yuan had done this gesture countless times on the variety show. Even if Qi Luozhou had the memory of a goldfish, after watching it so many times he should know the routine by now.
Shao Yuye looked at him provocatively.
The corner of Qi Luozhou’s mouth visibly twitched.
He had imagined countless scenarios of how Shao Yuye would react after learning he and Wanwan were dating.
Never—not even once—had he imagined Shao Yuye making such an unreasonable demand.
It was unexpected…
Yet somehow, completely in character for Shao Yuye.
Seeing him still standing there without moving, Shao Yuye urged him impatiently.
“Hurry!
“Crertain!”
Apparently, the hurdle Qi Luozhou had to overcome tonight…
wasn’t enduring verbal humiliation from the man who was about to become his brother-in-law—
nor was it getting beaten up to vent his anger—
but…
Qi Luozhou silently raised his own hand.
“…Victory.”
Shao Yuye almost burst out laughing.
That was it.
The tiny Shao Yuye in his heart, who had been clinging stubbornly to the last thread of resistance, finally let go after hearing that reluctant ‘Victory.’ Qin Luozhou completely pulled him over to his side, and the little man cheerfully raised a tiny white flag in surrender.
“Fine. I acknowledge that you’re serious about my sister.”
Seeing his longtime rival’s silent expression, Shao Yuye’s mood brightened instantly. He whipped out his phone and snapped a picture of the two of them in that pose, perfectly preserving this historic moment. In his heart, a cheerful celebratory tune was already playing.
—Hahahahaha! Hahahahaha!
There was only one word for it—
Satisfying!
“So… how far have you two gotten?”
Qi Luozhou kept a straight face, having no desire whatsoever to answer him.
Just thinking about the ridiculous pose he’d been forced into, and that Shao Yuye had even taken a picture of it…
It was more humiliating than getting punched.
He narrowed his eyes, looked at Shao Yuye, and smiled faintly.
“We’re already planning to get married. Does discussing that even matter? We’ll naturally get to whatever step you’re thinking of eventually.”
Although Qi Luozhou delivered the line without much emotion, Shao Yuye felt as though someone had stabbed him straight through the heart.
He instinctively clutched his chest.
He remembered that ‘WanZhou’ video that had gone viral on the trending charts. He hadn’t watched it himself—not a second of it—but the comments underneath had been increasingly… stimulating.
*Crack.*
Somewhere inside him, his fragile heart seemed to develop another tiny fracture.
Still clutching his chest, Shao Yuye warned, “Treat my sister well. If you ever dare mistreat her—”
“I’ll chop myself into pieces and express-deliver myself to you so you can make soup.”
The boxing room fell so silent that even a pin dropping would have been audible.
Outside, the wind rustled the leaves.
Inside, beneath the bright lights, the man who always wore a faint smile—as though everything in the world interested him, yet in truth nothing ever truly reached his heart—stood perfectly straight before him.
“Brother.”
Damn.
Qi Luozhou…
He was really, truly serious about his little sister.
Shao Yuye suddenly had nothing left to say.
He tossed the completely mangled water bottle into the trash can, turned around expressionlessly, and said, “I’m leaving.”
After Shen Wanwan finished her shower, she realized her brother was no longer home.
She checked her phone and found a message he had left her.
[Something suddenly came up at the company. Go to bed first tonight.]
001, perched on her shoulder, saw the message too.
{That’s obviously an excuse. Did your brother go looking for Qi Luozhou?}
As Shen Wanwan casually tidied her freshly blow-dried hair, she replied, “I don’t know.”
001 had always admired her remarkable composure.
{Aren’t you worried they’ll end up fighting?}
“If they do, it’ll just be my Brother beating up Qi Luozhou. What’s there to worry about?”
She lifted an eyebrow and said casually, “If my brother really did that, Qi Luozhou would deserve it.”
When she had first approached him, she’d deliberately used her identity as Shao Yuye’s younger sister as bait.
Qi Luozhou himself had admitted it was an irresistible temptation.
The moment he chose to date her—let alone marry her—everything he would have to face had already been made clear to him from the very beginning.
001 sighed sincerely.
{I want to be Shen Wanwan too… TAT}
Not for anything else.
Just to experience what it felt like having two top superstars fighting over her.
The two of them were chatting animatedly when Shen Wanwan’s phone rang. She glanced at the screen, it was a call from Qi Luozhou.
She tilted the phone toward the little light orb and said calmly, “Looks like it’s over.”
001 said nothing more and tactfully settled back onto her shoulder.
Shen Wanwan answered the call. In the mirror, her eyes brimmed with a smile.
“Is it settled?”
Her sweet, gentle voice seemed to take the bite out of the bitter winter wind.
Qi Luozhou stepped out of the boxing gym and walked slowly through the dark night.
“It’s settled.”
“How did you settle it?”
After 001 had brought it up, Shen Wanwan found herself genuinely curious for once.
The other end of the line fell silent.
On that question, the two men had reached an unspoken agreement to keep their mouths shut.
Shen Wanwan couldn’t help but laugh.
Still, what she cared about was the outcome.
She didn’t think it mattered how Qi Luozhou had resolved things or what he’d done to earn her brother’s approval.
What mattered was that he’d passed her brother’s test. That meant their marriage plans could continue moving forward, and that was enough to make her happy.
As her thoughts drifted, she heard him call her name.
“Wanwan.”
“Hm?”
“I’m downstairs.”
Really?
Shen Wanwan hurried to the window and looked down. Sure enough, she could make out a tiny figure below.
He was tall and slender, with an upright posture, but from her apartment high above, he was reduced to nothing more than a small silhouette.
Even so, she could see him standing in the cold wind.
A white streetlamp stood beside him, casting a straight beam of light over his head.
Though she couldn’t make out the details, she could easily imagine the tiny white specks illuminated by the light, drifting through the air like delicate snowflakes, and picture him looking up at her with gentle, smiling eyes.
A smile curved her lips.
“I’m not coming down.”
Qi Luozhou didn’t sound disappointed at all.
“Mhm.”
“I just wanted to see you.”
Across the great distance, they looked at each other.
His warm, mellow voice seemed to whisper right beside her ear.
“Good night.”
“Good night.”
Even after she walked away from the window, the smile remained on her lips.
How strange. They had only seen each other that afternoon, so why did seeing him again feel like a reunion after a long separation?
Shen Wanwan hung up.
001 waited for a while. When it didn’t hear any movement from the entryway, it asked curiously,
{Qi Luozhou’s already downstairs. Why hasn’t your brother come back yet?}
Shen Wanwan set down her phone, turned off the light, and lay in the darkness, staring at the ceiling as she slowly closed her eyes.
“Adults always need a little space.”
001 tilted its little glowing head in confusion.
It had no idea what she meant.