Ye Yunjin didn’t learn about this until the next morning.
Watching his younger brother Ye Yunche shuffle out of his room looking listless, with dark circles under his eyes, he reached out and blocked his path.
“I told you not to mess around! But no — last night you actually dragged Liuyue into your nonsense?”
Ye Yunche’s tone was weak, and he blinked, trying to butter him up:
“Bro, my big bro, my own flesh and blood — don’t be mad. It wasn’t me who wanted to cause trouble, it was that Zhu Liuyue.”
“Besides, she’s about to become my sister-in-law. How was I supposed to stop her?”
Ye Yunjin let out a heavy snort, then shook his head.
A similar pair of amber pupils flickered with helplessness.
“Today is the engagement ceremony. You behave yourself — don’t pull any more stunts.”
“Don’t worry, bro.” Ye Yunche’s eyes sparkled, sly as a little fox.
The engagement ceremony was at noon.
On the way to the hotel, Ye Yunjin asked the club staff to send over yesterday’s race video.
Watching Zhu Liuyue drive Yunche’s 718 like she had no regard for her life, squeezing through narrow roads to race that brat from the Zhao family, his gaze turned deep and grave.
This was Zhu Liuyue?
This was the Zhu Liuyue he knew?
In his mind, she had always been an ordinary, pretty, well-matched young lady from a good family.
As the eldest son of the Ye family, aside from holding up the household, his other responsibility was marriage — and producing an heir with the family bloodline.
Zhu Liuyue was a perfect candidate for a future wife.
Of course, this had nothing to do with attraction.
Nor did it have anything to do with love.
It was purely out of duty.
And most importantly, Yunche didn’t like Zhu Liuyue.
That was good.
Ye Yunjin wasn’t the clear, noble, and gentle person everyone thought he was. He had his own dark little thoughts.
The twin bond they’d shared since childhood had gone from something he was used to, to something he gradually grew annoyed with.
Whoever he liked — before he even said a word, Yunche would know it first.
And over the years, he hadn’t dared to date, because think about it — if you held hands with the girl you loved, kissed her, even…
Those sensations — his little brother Ye Yunche could feel all of it.
How terrifying!
Fortunately, the Ye parents were aware of the brothers’ situation, and over the years they’d consulted countless experts both at home and abroad, finally teaching the two brothers how to control their emotions — even how to block them out.
The effect wasn’t a hundred percent, but they could at least suppress seventy to eighty percent of it.
Although Ye Yunjin hadn’t felt Yunche’s emotions in a long time.
Of course, part of that was because Ye Yunche hated women — he never dated, never had women around him, so naturally there was nothing to feel.
That was why, last night in the office, when Ye Yunjin felt that touch on his hand, he was so shocked!
But once he found out what had happened last night, he let it go. At the time, Zhu Liuyue must have recklessly challenged that Zhao kid to a race, and Yunche had stopped her. He’d been too anxious in that moment and forgotten to block his emotions.
Ye Yunjin closed the laptop in front of him.
The car had already slowly arrived at the engagement venue.
As soon as he entered the hotel, his mother dragged him into the dressing room, muttering as she went:
“The Zhu family will be here in half an hour. I’m telling you, even if you’re a workaholic, today is your engagement — how could you not free up your morning?”
Ye Yunjin smiled helplessly and said, “Mom, I know.”
“You know what?” His mother was about to keep nagging.
Ye Yunjin changed the subject and asked instead, “By the way, where’s Yunche?”
“Funny you should mention it — that boy showed up earlier than you today. He’s been here for a while. Right now he’s with your father in the banquet hall, checking if anything’s been missed.”
When his mother mentioned her younger son, her tone unconsciously grew warmer, a smile tugging at her lips.
Ye Yunjin watched this scene, his eyes flickering.
But he said nothing.
Meanwhile.
Ye Yunche looked at the banquet hall covered in pink decorations and a sea of pink-and-white flowers, and couldn’t help but complain.
“Zhu Liuyue is this old now, and she still likes pink?”
His father turned around at that, glared at him, and said in a low voice, “What nonsense are you talking! Your brother and Liuyue are the same age.”
Ye Yunche and Ye Yunjin were twins, so naturally they were also the same age as Zhu Liuyue.
He curled his lip and added, “Anyway, she’s three months older than me. Don’t know what big bro was thinking. I’m not into women older than me.”
His father replied without thinking, “You don’t like women anyway.”
The moment those words left his mouth, the air in the room froze for a second.
His father realized he’d slipped up and tried to make amends, but Ye Yunche had already laughed it off and walked away.
Was it that he didn’t like women?
It was that he didn’t dare.
Even though the brothers had trained to block out seventy to eighty percent of their emotions, in certain moments — even if they blocked it as fast as they could — they still couldn’t stop their bodies from involuntarily reacting.
Ye Yunjin, as the eldest son, had to inherit the family business and marry and have children.
And Ye Yunche? He was a very possessive person. If he ever had a girlfriend, and they kissed, got married, and did what came naturally, wouldn’t his big brother feel it all too?
So Ye Yunche would never get a girlfriend.
No way!
The best excuse was to say he didn’t like women.
That way, there’d be no awkwardness.
Besides, Ye Yunche also felt that apart from racing, no woman could hold his interest.
Unless — she was a woman who was really good at racing.
He let out a soft sigh.
Then his expression turned mischievous, darkly playful. He walked to a corner, pulled out his phone.
“Hey, buddy, I heard Bai Shurou’s back in the country?”
“She came back a couple days ago! Why? Yunche-ge, you’re asking about her? But isn’t your big brother about to get engaged to the Zhu family?”
“Well, Bai Shurou is my big brother’s first love, after all. Just showing some concern. By the way — did the Bai family go bankrupt?”
“Not sure, but Bai Shurou was supposed to settle abroad after graduating. If she rushed back this fast, maybe the Bai family business really is in trouble.”
“Oh. Do you have Bai Shurou’s contact info?”
“What for?”
“Tell her my big brother’s getting engaged. Oh, and the address is xx Hotel, xxx Banquet Hall.” Ye Yunche revealed his left little fang as he grinned, all mischief and swagger.
“Wait, are you planning to stir up trouble?”
“You know I don’t like Zhu Liuyue anyway — no way I’m letting her become my sister-in-law. But let’s keep that between us. Mainly, I feel bad for my big brother. Think about it — he clearly has someone he loves, but he’s marrying someone he doesn’t like out of duty. How miserable is that…”
“…Fine. But if this blows up, don’t you dare sell me out.”
“Relax. We’re brothers! I, Ye Yunche, would never stab a brother in the back!”
He said it with absolute conviction and grand sincerity.
Completely unaware that what he was doing was, in fact, stabbing his own big brother Ye Yunjin right in the back.
