Old Master Ji bristled at those words.
This tall, imposing man wanted to see his mother?
Was his mother some kind of casual acquaintance, available to see anyone who asked?
"I'm in the capital, living at..." She gave the address. "I'm at the lab between 8 AM and 9 PM."
Sheng Ciyuan was annoyed.
If only he had contacted Rong Yu first, he wouldn't have made this pointless trip to Haicheng.
After ending the video call, he respectfully handed the phone back with both hands: "Thank you for your trouble, Old Master Ji."
Faced with such a polite young man, Old Master Ji found it hard to keep a stern face. He feigned courtesy and said, "It's so late. Do you have a place to stay? Would you like to make do here for the night?"
"No, no, that's quite alright," Sheng Ciyuan waved his hand. "The Sheng family has property in Haicheng, not far from here. I..."
Before he could finish his sentence,
Sheng Qingyan, who was standing beside him, had already stepped into the manor.
Old Master Ji's eyes widened.
Hold on, he was just being politely perfunctory. How could this person take it seriously?
"Big brother, big brother!" Sheng Ciyuan felt a headache coming on. He chased after him and grabbed Sheng Qingyan's arm. "This is someone else's home, not our own. It's not convenient. Big brother, come with me to stay at the Sheng family villa, okay?"
Sheng Qingyan shook off Sheng Ciyuan's hand and stopped under a very tall, tall tree just inside the manor entrance.
Winter hadn't stripped its leaves, and the night breeze rustled through them, whispering.
He reached out and touched the tree trunk, where several crooked marks had been carved, their edges smoothed by time.
Old Master Ji was taken aback.
These marks were height records.
The earliest ones were from his father's childhood, carved by his grandfather with a penknife. After he was born, his mother would also add a new mark for him every year.
The tree had grown taller, but the marks remained forever fixed in their original places.
"Big brother..." Sheng Ciyuan whispered, "Don't wander around in other people's homes. It's impolite. Weren't you looking for Rong Yu? She's in the capital. How about we head back to the capital overnight?"
Sheng Qingyan's glass-like eyes paused.
He nodded slowly.
Sheng Ciyuan let out a huge sigh of relief. Grabbing his big brother's wrist, he said to Old Master Ji, "I'm truly very sorry to disturb you so late..."
Old Master Ji watched Sheng Qingyan.
For some reason, a strange feeling surfaced in his heart, unclear and hard to define.
He wrestled with it internally for a moment. "Well... perhaps you should stay after all."
"No, really, we couldn't."
Sheng Ciyuan, terrified his brother might get another fixed idea, hastily bid farewell.
Old Master Ji's gaze lingered on Sheng Qingyan's retreating figure for a long, long time.
Early in the morning, when Ji Yanting's assistant arrived at the penthouse to deliver breakfast, he spotted two suspicious individuals squatting in the hallway.
The assistant thought they might be obsessive fans or paparazzi.
He was just about to call the police.
Sheng Ciyuan jolted awake. "Don't call the police! We're friends of Rong Yu. We're waiting for her."
He was nearly driven mad by the ordeal.
One idea from his big brother, and he had rushed from the capital to Haicheng.
Then, in the middle of the night, back from Haicheng to the capital.
His plan was to go home first, get a proper night's rest, and arrange to meet Rong Yu after she finished work.
But his big brother was having one of his episodes, insisting on coming over immediately in the dead of night.
His relationship with Rong Yu wasn't even close enough to be called friendship; how could he dare knock on her door late at night?
He had desperately held back his brother's hand from knocking, dragged him to sit in the hallway, closed his eyes, and fell asleep. When he opened them again, it was daylight.
He quickly checked to see if his brother was still beside him.
Thank goodness, he hadn't wandered off.
Ji Yanting's new assistant was a man in his thirties. He said warily, "Wait outside for a moment."
He opened the door, slipped inside swiftly, and closed it quickly. Looking towards Rong Yu on the balcony, he said, "Miss Rong, there are two people outside who say they want to see you. Do you know them? If not, I'll call the police."
The assistant picked up a tablet and pulled up the surveillance feed from the entrance.
Rong Yu had been up for a while, having read on the balcony for over half an hour. She looked at the monitor, and her composure cracked.
Sheng Qingyan and Sheng Ciyuan, two handsome faces squeezed in front of the camera lens. Their stylish hair was disheveled, their eyes drooping. Their expensive cashmere coats were wrinkled like dried vegetables, resembling stray cats battered by a typhoon all night.
She could even hear Sheng Ciyuan whispering instructions: "Big brother, this is someone else's home. If we go in, you must take off your shoes first. Don't sit down without the host's permission, don't look around randomly, and absolutely don't touch things..."
No emotion showed on Sheng Qingyan's face.
Rong Yu walked over and opened the door.
As soon as the door opened, Sheng Ciyuan bowed at a ninety-degree angle, his face full of apology. "I'm sorry, Rong Yu. I know showing up like this is very presumptuous, but my big brother can be very single-minded sometimes. When he decides to do something, he has to do it. Otherwise, he might exhibit severe stereotyped behaviors... It's really too much trouble for you..."
He turned his head and saw his big brother staring fixedly at Rong Yu.
Sheng Qingyan's gaze was so intensely focused that all surrounding sounds, light, and smells seemed to collapse into a void—only the outline of Rong Yu remained sharply defined in the center of his dark pupils.
"Big brother, it's impolite to stare like that."
Sheng Ciyuan reminded him softly.
Sheng Qingyan seemed to snap out of his trance.
Rong Yu spoke: "You haven't rested all night, have you? Come in first, wash up, and have some breakfast."
Sheng Qingyan didn't move.
He pulled out a thick stack of black-and-white photos from his pocket.
Sheng Ciyuan was dumbfounded.
His big brother had brought these things he usually treasured like treasures when he left the house?
Every photo featured the same woman.
Sheng Qingyan looked at Rong Yu for a moment, then compared her repeatedly with the photos.
He flipped through the photos rapidly, his eyes darting between Rong Yu and the pictures.
Rong Yu noticed a thick wave of disappointment surfacing in his glassy, indifferent eyes.
Her long, curled eyelashes trembled slightly. She pointed to the woman in the photos and asked gently, "Do you know the person in these pictures?"
Sheng Qingyan's lips parted slightly.
His thin lips opened, closed, then parted again. His voice was hoarse: "No."
It was like a child just learning to speak—each word slow, very clear, and heavily enunciated.
Sheng Ciyuan's pupils shook. "B-b-b-big brother? Just now... w-was that you talking? You... you can speak? Big brother, say something else, let me hear... wait, no, big brother, where are you going? Why are you leaving!"
Sheng Qingyan turned around silently.
Pressed the elevator button silently.
Walked inside silently.
"I'm sorry, Rong Yu. I'll treat you to a meal next time."
Sheng Ciyuan hurriedly chased after him.
He pulled out his phone, opened the video recording app, and coaxed, "Big brother, say something again. Just say what you said earlier. Mom and Dad would be overjoyed if they knew you could speak. Big brother, just cooperate a little, please? Big brother, don't ignore me..."
Sheng Qingyan was like a wooden puppet.
He showed no reaction.
Rong Yu pinched the bridge of her nose.
This Sheng Qingyan, with his peculiar behavior, was someone she should naturally find off-putting.
She didn't know why she had given her address and allowed these two brothers to intrude into her private space.
Perhaps it was because Sheng Ciyuan was a mathematics and physics genius, making it hard for her to feel aversion.
Or perhaps it was because Sheng Qingyan was ill—with autism—and a sense of compassion had stirred within her.
