When Xu Jinyao finally returned home after being dragged around by Ling Xiaoying the whole afternoon, he was tired, confused, a little disgruntled even, but surprisingly, he felt… good.
Actually, very good.
That rare good mood didn't last long.
Because the moment he walked into the living room, he saw Wang Jianyuan sitting on the couch, tablet in hand, his expression as cold and lifeless as if someone had just murdered his dog.
Seated beside him was Wang Jiannan, a volleyball resting in his lap and his sports bag by his feet. He must've rushed over right after college practice to sit with his older brother.
The atmosphere was a little tense.
Still, Jiannan brightened the moment he saw Xu Jinyao enter. "Jinyao-gege, you're back! Eh? Shopping bags? Looks like you had a great ti-"
"You're late," Wang Jianyuan cut in without looking up, his voice indifferent. "You usually get back earlier."
Only then did his eyes rise from the screen, briefly scanning the pile of bags in Xu Jinyao's hands before fixing on him with a blank, unreadable gaze.
Xu Jinyao paused, glanced down at the bags himself, then looked up again. "I… went out. Played around a bit after class. With a… friend."
Both brothers were visibly taken aback.
While Wang Jianyuan remained silent, Jiannan was the first to react, his face lighting up in delight. "Wait, really? No offense, Jinyao gege, but you don't usually hang out with anyone from college. That's awesome!"
"Gender?" Wang Jianyuan asked flatly.
Both Xu Jinyao and Jiannan turned to him.
He repeated, still calm but with an edge in his voice, "This friend of yours... what gender?"
Xu Jinyao said nothing. He walked over, dropped the shopping bags onto the side table, and sat down on the edge of the sofa. His fingers ached from carrying all that stuff, and he rubbed them absentmindedly.
"A girl," he finally replied. "It was a girl… And she's not from college."
"Then where did you meet her?" Jianyuan asked.
Xu Jinyao hesitated for a second before murmuring, "At… the protest. The other day."
There was a short beat of stunned silence.
Wang Jiannan blinked, then exclaimed, "Wait, wait- you don't mean that woman, right? The weird one… what was her name again- ah, Ling Xiaoying?"
Beside him, Wang Jianyuan's expression darkened. His tone was low and sharp: "You mean the lunatic who carried you in her arms and shouted at the crowd like a deranged street performer? The one plastered all over the news, yelling nonsense?"
He was visibly irked.
He couldn't stand her.
The moment he'd seen her on the news, irritation had flared. She looked too much like Ling Xiaoyu, more than Xu Jinyao ever had. The resemblance had unsettled him, and lately, he couldn't even get through to Ling Xiaoyu. Watching his doppelgänger parading around in public was nothing short of infuriating.
And now this woman was getting cozy with Xu Jinyao?
His gaze swept over the boy's face, lingering for a second too long. An unfamiliar tightness formed in his chest. He hadn't seen Ling Xiaoyu in days. He was on edge. And the only person left within his reach, the only one who had ever quietly stayed in his orbit, was Xu Jinyao.
His Xu Jinyao.
The only one he could control. Mould. Keep.
Someone slowly growing more like Ling Xiaoyu, yet far more obedient, far easier to hold in the palm of his hand.
Anything out of order, anything that threatened that, made him uneasy.
Made him angry.
"Don't meet her again."
The command was simple. Final.
Xu Jinyao flinched, then frowned. "Why?"
"Because I said so." Wang Jianyuan didn't even look up, returning to his tablet with a blank face.
"But why should I?"
That single sentence hung in the air like a dropped glass.
Both brothers were stunned.
Never - never - had Xu Jinyao questioned Wang Jianyuan. Not even once.
Wang Jianyuan removed his reading glasses slowly, his gaze sharp and cutting. "Why would you want to befriend such an uncouth woman?"
Xu Jinyao paused.
He actually thought about it.
"...She's fun," he said at last. "Weird, but she helps me out. Hanging out with her is kind of insane, but honestly… it was entertaining today. She's strong, too. And... I guess she's kind of cool."
With each word, Wang Jianyuan's face grew darker.
'Cool?'
'Cool?'
His grip tightened involuntarily. The next moment, he stood up without warning, the tablet falling onto the couch with a heavy thud.
"Gege?" Wang Jiannan jumped, startled by the sudden movement. "What's wrong?"
Wang Jianyuan ignored his younger brother entirely and turned to Xu Jinyao instead.
"Go change into something presentable."
Xu Jinyao blinked, glancing at Wang Jiannan for a moment in confusion before returning his gaze to Jianyuan. "…Sorry?"
"I said," Wang Jianyuan repeated coolly, "go prepare yourself. We're going out for dinner. Clearly, I've failed to instill any sense of class in you—getting swept away by cheap stunts and dime-store dramatics."
There was no room for protest.
Before Xu Jinyao could even ask what that was supposed to mean, Jianyuan had already summoned the house staff with a wave of his hand. A servant approached at once, bowing slightly as they gestured for Xu Jinyao to follow them.
And just like that, he was whisked away.
All the while, Wang Jiannan remained seated on the couch, holding his volleyball a little too tightly, lips pressed in a thin line.
He felt increasingly like a useless third party, an extra stuck in the middle of a strange couple's silent war.
On the road, Xu Jinyao still couldn't get a word in. Wang Jianyuan was on the phone, voice cold and commanding.
"I said I'll pay however much it takes. I want the window seat, tonight. I don't care how full you are, or how inconvenient it is. Make it happen."
The call ended with a snap.
Jianyuan didn't say another word, just kept his eyes on the road, jaw taut with restrained frustration.
By the time they arrived, Xu Jinyao found himself standing inside a grand, almost ostentatiously decorated restaurant. It sparkled with crystal chandeliers and the kind of quiet luxury that didn't need to boast.
Every table was surrounded by sharply dressed elites - men in bespoke suits, women in designer gowns. The air smelled like money and fine wine. The lighting was soft, golden, expensive.
Xu Jinyao spotted a few familiar faces too - celebrities, influencers, media darlings.
And then there was him.
He followed quietly as a waiter led them toward a table by the window. Around them, every other table was clearly reserved, fully occupied. Judging by the startled looks exchanged by the staff, it was obvious this table had also been booked in advance.
But Wang Jianyuan had forced it open for them, last minute, through sheer power and pressure.
Xu Jinyao felt a flush rise to his cheeks. It was embarrassing. Humiliating, even.
He took his seat stiffly, folding his hands into his lap. The fine cut of his clothes, chosen by the servants, not him, made him feel like a child playing dress-up at someone else's party.
And ordering?
That was somehow even worse.
He could've sworn the waiter was looking at him with a trace of disdain, though he told himself it was just his imagination. His own discomfort magnified everything - the way he sat, the way his voice trembled slightly when he spoke, the way his fingers gripped the edge of the menu.
He didn't belong here.
And no matter how much the suit fit, or how glossy the floors were, Xu Jinyao couldn't shake the feeling that he was an outsider, dragged in like a pet to heel beside its owner.
Wang Jianyuan hardly ever brought him to places like this.
The only high-end venues Xu Jinyao had visited with him were typically extravagant parties or formal events, gatherings where Wang Jianyuan's so-called "friends" would show up in droves. But their open disdain for him, whether expressed through veiled sarcasm or thinly masked sneers, always made him forget the glamour of his surroundings.
Sometimes, it was large musical galas or industry showcases. Those were worse.
He would barely step inside before Jianyuan would hand him off to a producer or an investor - someone powerful, someone useful. All in the name of "networking." After all, Xu Jinyao wanted to enter the industry, didn't he?
And connections were easy to make.
Too easy.
Because everyone feared Wang Jianyuan. And by extension, they sucked up to Xu Jinyao too.
It made his skin crawl.
He didn't want to succeed like that. Not through silent intimidation or someone else's shadow. Not by being used as some kind of pawn.
So these days, he rejected those invitations more and more often. Politely. Firmly.
That was why tonight's sudden dinner invitation was making him restless. Uneasy.
He glanced around the restaurant again. The soft golden light shimmered against champagne glasses and polished marble floors. Beside him, Wang Jianyuan sat with the poise of someone who owned the world, and had nothing left to prove.
Xu Jinyao's gaze shifted-
-and locked onto a very familiar figure.
A woman at the table directly ahead had broken into a bright smile, waving at him like they were old friends.
'Wait.'
'Wait a minute-'
'That cheerful face, that exaggerated wink...'
'Ling Xiaoying!? Even here?!'
There she sat, grinning like she'd just won the lottery, completely at ease amidst the elegance. Opposite her was a man with sharp features and a presence that screamed 'untouchable.' Of course, nearly everyone here looked like they came straight out of a glossy magazine, but this man had an aura that felt… heavier. Denser. Gold-plated, diamond-studded elite.
And right before Xu Jinyao's eyes, that same man calmly picked up a napkin and dabbed at the corner of Ling Xiaoying's lips with a gentle precision, like a meticulous caretaker. Or a very indulgent, very resigned nanny.
Then, as if sensing his stare, the man's gaze lifted.
Cool. Calm. Perfectly impassive.
Xu Jinyao stiffened.
'Ah… That must be him. The future "beau" whose kid I'm apparently going to be godfather to...'
His thoughts trailed before pausing.
'Wait… wait a minute… that's-'
His eyes widened slightly.
'That's Shen Yizhou…'
And then the shock settled in.
No wonder she was so wild. So unrestrained. So bold.
Her so-called fiancé… was that man.
The richest man in the capital. Shen Yizhou.
His name alone could silence a room. His reach was long, his power deep-rooted. He moved in circles most wouldn't dare approach, much less breathe in. And if he was truly engaged to Ling Xiaoying—then what of her background?
Xu Jinyao suddenly realized: she must come from a family of considerable standing herself. No ordinary woman could move through Shen Yizhou's world like that, carefree, laughing, getting her mouth wiped at the dinner table like some pampered consort.
It was then that an important though crept in.
Wang Jianyuan… didn't like her. At all.
In a panic, Xu Jinyao turned to glance at the man beside him, intending to distract him, say something, anything, before his eyes wandered across the restaurant.
Too late.
Wang Jianyuan was already staring in her direction.
His eyes were wide.
Not with anger. Not even with disgust.
Soft. Shocked. Disbelieving.
Awestruck.
And the expression - ah, it made Xu Jinyao's stomach turn. That… was the look Wang Jianyuan used to give him. The one he was given when he was obedient. Agreeable. When he did things the way Wang Jianyuan liked them done. Said what he wanted to hear. Wore what he wanted to see.
The admiration in that gaze wasn't for Ling Xiaoying's presence.
It was for something he saw in her.
Someone.
Even as Wang Jianyuan's face gradually darkened, his features folding back into a scowl, his earlier hostility towards her returning like a tide, it did little to settle the uneasy twist in Xu Jinyao's chest.
And then-
"No… it can't be him. Ridiculous…"
Wang Jianyuan's voice was low, almost to himself. But Xu Jinyao heard it.
He turned sharply, eyes narrowing as he watched the man. Agitated. Restless. Like he might rise and stride straight to Shen Yizhou's table.
He clenched his jaw, uncertain whether to stop him or simply watch.
But in the end-
It wasn't Wang Jianyuan that stood up from his seat.