Ye Yunche felt his heart slipping out of control.
Thump, thump—it began racing wildly.
He glanced at the time on his phone. It was already past midnight.
Was staying up too late making his heart sound the alarm?
He knew he should go to bed early, but he simply couldn’t fall asleep.
He kept thinking about his eventful journey.
At first, his assistant had said, “Second Young Master, the earliest flight is tomorrow morning. I’ve already booked it for you.”
Ye Yunche had just been about to praise him for his efficiency and had already started packing at home.
He was on his way to the airport when his assistant suddenly called.
“The ticket is booked, but Second Young Master, it seems your ID card was accidentally demagnetized. You’ll need to get it replaced.”
“Replaced? How long will that take?”
“Not long—half a day. I’ll book you the last flight tonight, and I guarantee you’ll be able to fly to the southwest.”
“Fine. Be more reliable this time.”
Ye Yunche didn’t suspect a thing. After all, this assistant was his older brother’s most trusted aide, the kind who earned a million yuan a year. He had always been meticulous in his work.
So Ye Yunche began searching for information about the elementary school in the southwestern mountains they were supporting.
One should never fight an unprepared battle.
If he was going to chase after her, he needed a reason, didn’t he?
Ye Yunche had already thought of one.
He would contribute to the charity effort too. As for how long he would stay, he would spend a month there—just long enough to return on the same flight as Zhu Liuyue.
As he was getting ready to leave that evening, his assistant called again.
“I’m sorry, Second Young Master. The airline canceled the flight we booked for you at the last minute, but I’ve already reserved a morning flight for tomorrow.”
Ye Yunche was completely dumbfounded.
He couldn’t help complaining, “What’s going on? That’s several mistakes now.”
“Yes, yes, Second Young Master! I promise, there absolutely won’t be any more problems this time.” The assistant let out a quiet sigh on the other end of the line. At last, he had managed to delay him. Hopefully, Mr. Ye would be satisfied.
After hanging up, Ye Yunche gradually began to sense that something was off.
This assistant was his older brother’s trusted right-hand man. There was no way he could be this careless.
Something unusual was definitely going on!
Ye Yunche narrowed his amber eyes and instantly understood why things had gone wrong time and time again.
It was his older brother.
He had deliberately instructed the assistant to stop him from going, unwilling to let him intrude on his time alone with Zhu Liuyue.
Hmph! Wasn’t he just afraid that Ye Yunche would disturb their little world together?
That was too much. Absolutely too much.
Ye Yunche called a friend with connections at the airlines, but it was already too late. Even if they could arrange something, the earliest flight would still be tomorrow morning.
So he went to Daqi Mountain and raced a few laps.
He returned home drenched in sweat and was just about to take a shower and go to sleep.
But the moment he lay down, his heart began pounding uncontrollably.
He pressed a hand to his chest and said, “All right, I won’t stay up late anymore. I’ll go to bed early. I’ll head straight to the southwest on the morning flight tomorrow. Just you wait, Big Brother!”
What he really wanted to say was: Zhu Liuyue, just you wait for me.
He turned off the lights, pulled up the covers, and went to sleep.
He had been asleep for less than three seconds when Ye Yunche suddenly shot upright like a carp leaping from water and switched the lights back on.
He had finally realized what was wrong.
He focused again on the rhythm of his heartbeat from earlier.
!!!
It wasn’t an irregular heartbeat caused by staying up too late.
That feeling hadn’t been his.
It belonged to his older brother, Ye Yunjin.
And at this hour…
His older brother was with Zhu Liuyue.
“Ahhh!” Ye Yunche collapsed back onto the bed and wailed into his pillow.
This was too much.
His older brother had schemed against him.
He had even stolen his girl.
Granted, Zhu Liuyue was his older brother’s fiancée, but Ye Yunche had participated in their engagement ceremony himself. He didn’t care—she was still his girl!
A flicker passed through Ye Yunche’s amber eyes.
…
The next morning, when Zhu Liuyue woke up and saw Ye Yunjin again, he was already dressed in a suit, looking mature and composed.
There was no trace of the awkwardness and disarray from the night before.
His mental fortitude was impressive. When he saw Zhu Liuyue, he merely smiled and gave her a slight nod.
“You’re awake. How did you sleep?”
“Pretty well. What about you?”
Ye Yunjin smiled. “I slept very soundly.”
He was lying.
In truth, he had tossed and turned all night. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Liuyue looking at him with that faint smile.
Bai Shurou had never been his first love.
In fact, Ye Yunjin had always scoffed at the idea of a “first love.”
A person was a person. How could anyone be moonlight?
Besides, he was a science major, and his thinking had always been precise and logical.
But after the scene from the previous night had been etched so deeply into his mind, Ye Yunjin realized that he was doomed.
All his rationality seemed useless. In that moment, he had truly seen his own moonlight.
However, he had always been good at concealing his emotions. So even now, when he looked at Liuyue, he maintained a polite yet un distant smile.
In reality, his heart was once again pounding wildly.
Not only did he have to maintain his composure, he also had to block his emotions so that Yunche couldn’t sense them through their connection.
When the principal saw them coming downstairs, he happily led them to the cafeteria.
“After breakfast, we’ll distribute the new clothes to the children. The packages arrived a few days ago, and the children have been very excited. In the past, they only got new clothes during the New Year.”
Zhu Liuyue looked slightly surprised. “They arrived a few days ago? You could have given them out earlier. There was no need to wait specifically for us.”
The principal was taken aback.
Many people came here to do charity work. Their intentions were usually good, but most of them brought cameras and photographers along.
Naturally, the photographs would show the kindhearted donors handing clothes, schoolbags, and textbooks to the children.
The principal had assumed Zhu Liuyue was the same.
Zhu Liuyue smiled again and said, “I’ll be staying here for a month. My main purpose is to monitor the children’s medical conditions.”
The principal understood. He scratched his head sheepishly.
“I’m sorry. I misunderstood.”
“It’s all right. No matter what brings us here, the most important thing is that the children receive real, tangible benefits. At least, we agree on that.”
Zhu Liuyue’s voice was gentle.
“Yes, yes, that’s right.”
The principal smiled as well. Zhu Liuyue had a natural warmth that made her very approachable. When she smiled, even the freckles on her face seemed to come alive.
On the playground, the children lined up one by one to receive clothes and shoes, while the principal and several teachers maintained order.
The children varied in height and build, but their eyes were bright and clear, filled with longing.
They received their things by class, starting with first grade and ending with fifth.
As Zhu Liuyue handed everything out, she would gently ask, “Hmm, do you like pink? This white one with the little bunny would suit you too.”
The children neither fought nor argued. To them, any item would be a new outfit.
One by one, they happily took their things and left.
Standing not far away, Ye Yunjin watched the scene, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.
Just then, the phone in his pocket rang again.
He took it out and glanced at the screen.
It was a message from his assistant.
“Mr. Ye, I did everything I could! But Second Young Master booked a ticket himself. He should have landed at the southwestern airport by now.”
“All right. I know.”
Ye Yunjin closed his phone.
He knew that his younger brother had never been foolish. After all, they were twins. How different could their intelligence really be?
It was just that Ye Yunche trusted his big brother far too much most of the time, so he couldn’t be bothered to think things through.
Now, he should have realized that he had been playing a trick.
Ye Yunjin wasn’t nervous—in fact, he was faintly looking forward to it.
