At the infirmary, Zhu Liuyue was organizing the medicine on an entire row of cabinets.
Footsteps sounded behind her.
Without turning around, she said, “PE class ended already?”
Ye Yunche stopped in his tracks, a flicker of delight in his eyes.
Yet, determined to maintain his aloof, dignified image, he merely curled his lips and lifted his chin.
“What? You wouldn’t happen to have investigated me, would you? How else would you know I had PE today?” he asked, puffing out his chest with an unbearably smug air.
Zhu Liuyue pointed at the timetable posted in the infirmary.
“No investigation necessary. It’s right there.”
The amusement in Ye Yunche’s eyes faded a little as he strode closer.
Zhu Liuyue was about to open the highest cabinet, but she couldn’t reach it and had to rise onto her toes. The man behind her moved closer, and a cedarwood scent entirely different from Ye Yunjin’s drifted into her nose.
Ye Yunche naturally raised his hand and reached around her ear to open the cabinet door.
The two of them stood very close.
She was practically boxed in between Ye Yunche and the medicine cabinet.
The atmosphere grew faintly suggestive.
“Can’t reach it, can you, Shorty?”
Ye Yunche’s mocking voice sounded beside her ear.
Zhu Liuyue narrowed her eyes, seized his wrist, and tugged him along as though he were a robotic arm she could operate, making him retrieve the medicine from the very top shelf.
“Fine. I’ll borrow your hand.”
“You…”
Ye Yunche’s gaze fell on her hand gripping his wrist. Her cool fingertips rested against his warm skin, sending a tingling sensation through him.
By the time he realized what was happening, he had already made several trips as her delivery boy.
He moved several boxes of medicine from the top shelf to an empty cabinet in the middle.
“Wh-Why are you holding my hand?” Ye Yunche’s face flushed slightly, and he had just begun to struggle when Zhu Liuyue let go first.
She crossed her hands and dusted them off a few times, as though shaking away the dirt—or as though she disliked having touched his wrist.
In a perfectly natural tone, she said, “You didn’t resist.”
“Besides, what’s wrong with helping your sister-in-law?”
Ye Yunche exploded. “What sister-in-law? I haven’t admitted to anything! You and my brother aren’t even married yet. What are you so pleased about?”
Zhu Liuyue raised her hand and patted his fluffy hair.
With a beaming smile, she said, “All right, all right. You worked hard just now. How about I get you an extra chicken leg at the cafeteria later?”
Ye Yunche froze.
It took him a moment to react.
“You patted me?”
“Why did you pat me on the head?”
“No… You—You…” His cheeks flushed, and his eyes darted away, though he couldn’t stop glancing back at Zhu Liuyue.
Zhu Liuyue withdrew her hand, looking entirely at ease.
“Sorry. I mistook you for Zhu Qi. That’s how I interact with my younger brother. From now on, you’re my younger brother too, so I did it without thinking.”
Ye Yunche raised his voice slightly. “I’m not your younger brother! I’m only three months younger than you. How does that make me your younger brother?”
Zhu Liuyue teased him, “Oh? You don’t want to call me your sister-in-law? You’d rather call me your younger brother’s wife? Ye Yunche, you’ve got some nerve. I’m telling your brother.”
“N-No, that’s not what I meant!” Ye Yunche waved his hands anxiously. He had been about to say something else, but the words caught in his throat. He huffed, “You haven’t spoken to me these past few days. Why did you start talking to me the moment my brother left?”
Zhu Liuyue looked at him in confusion.
“You were the one who stopped talking to us.”
Ye Yunche realized that she was right. He had been the one sulking on his own.
Still, he stubbornly retorted, “When did I do that? Your eyes are filled with nothing but Ye Yunjin. He’s nothing more than a fiancé who abandoned you at your own engagement ceremony. What’s there to keep thinking about? If I were you, I’d have dumped him long ago.”
When other people tried to turn someone against another person, they did it subtly.
Ye Yunche, on the other hand, was blunt, direct, and merciless.
He might as well have stabbed his brother straight through the stomach.
Zhu Liuyue thoughtfully nodded.
“Sounds reasonable.”
Ye Yunche perked up. “So when are you dumping him?”
Zhu Liuyue shot him a glance, then turned and sat down in her chair. She took a sip of water.
When she saw that Ye Yunche was still standing there, clearly determined to get an answer, she replied vaguely, “He’s good enough for casual use.”
“Use?” Ye Yunche’s expression froze.
Zhu Liuyue curved her lips into a bright smile. “Mm. The user experience is pretty good. And he even goes to make up his own lessons. Very service-oriented.”
User experience? Making up lessons? Service-oriented?
Ye Yunche couldn’t help imagining something else.
His cheeks turned red—from anger.
His ears turned red—from embarrassment.
Unable to hold back, he began exposing his brother’s secrets.
“My brother has been popular with girls ever since he was little. For all I know, he’s secretly dated who knows how many girls behind my back.”
A lie.
Ye Yunche was deliberately smearing his brother.
He watched Zhu Liuyue expectantly, waiting for her reaction.
“Oh? What about you?” Zhu Liuyue asked with a smile, tilting her head. “Don’t tell me you haven’t dated even one person.”
Ye Yunche pretended to remain calm.
“I—I’m popular too, of course. But I’m different from my brother. I’m a one-person-for-life kind of man.”
Zhu Liuyue nodded in complete agreement. “Exactly. You don’t like women.”
Ye Yunche: “...!!!”
Who on earth had started that rumor about him?
Wait!
It seemed he had been the one to start it at a gathering with his friends.
Why bother dating a girlfriend? It’s pointless. It’s more fun to race. My sports car is my wife. I don’t like women anyway.
He had no idea who had spread those words afterward.
But everyone in their circle now knew that the Ye family’s second young master didn’t like women.
“What does it matter to you whether I like women?” Ye Yunche haughtily lifted his chin, refusing to give in.
Zhu Liuyue said, “Who says it doesn’t matter to me?”
Ye Yunche brightened and gave two smug little snorts. “…”
Zhu Liuyue continued, “If you really brought home a male younger brother-in-law, wouldn’t I have to think about how to get along with him?”
Ye Yunche slammed his hand on the desk. “...Zhu! Liu! Yue!”
Zhu Liuyue said, “Don’t shout at your sister-in-law. Have some manners.”
Ye Yunche shouted in agitation, “I don’t like men!”
Zhu Liuyue nodded understandingly. “Oh, you’re in love with yourself. I get it.” Suddenly, she made a strange face. “Wait, you two are twins.”
Her train of thought was terrifying.
Ye Yunche hurriedly cut off her bizarre line of reasoning. “I hate my brother. I especially hate him!”
Zhu Liuyue nodded perfunctorily. “Mm-hmm.”
Ye Yunche placed both hands on the desk in front of her and leaned forward slightly.
His tall figure cast a shadow over her.
A strange light glimmered in his amber eyes as he stared at Zhu Liuyue and reiterated, “I have my own sexual orientation. It’s perfectly normal. Don’t let your imagination run wild.”
Zhu Liuyue nodded again. “I understand, I understand.”
Ye Yunche slapped the desk hard, growing frantic. “No, you don’t! Don’t misunderstand me. I actually have someone I like.”
Zhu Liuyue replied perfunctorily, “All right. Don’t worry, you don’t have to tell me.”
“Zhu! Liu! Yue!”
“Hmm?”
Ye Yunche gritted his teeth.
“...I mean, the person I like is named Zhu Liuyue!”
