Bai Siyuan had already walked around the coffee table and approached her.
A restrained smile lingered on his pale face, but his eyes were faintly red-rimmed, his gaze locked unblinkingly onto Jiang Nuan.
"It really is you." His voice trembled slightly.
Jiang Nuan stood frozen in place, her mind buzzing.
Those long-buried fragments of hazy memory, ones she had never before examined too closely, surged up without warning.
A damp alleyway. Moldy flatbread.
In a corner of the refugee district where the sun never reached, a boy half a head taller than her split the last half of his flatbread into two pieces, pressing the larger half into her hands.
"You eat."
The boy was nine or ten at most, wearing an old jacket washed to a faded gray—but on him, it looked strangely clean.
The images jumped.
Winter in the refugee district. She huddled in a corner, shivering. That person took off his own jacket and wrapped it around her, leaving himself in nothing but a thin undershirt, his lips purple from cold, yet still smiling as he said, "Don't be afraid. Tomorrow it'll be warm."
She ran a high fever, burning until her consciousness blurred. Someone carried her on their back over a very long distance. The person carrying her ran hotter than she did. He was feverish too, but he never made a sound.
Then it was a few years later. A black car pulled up at the entrance of the ramshackle house where they lived.
A man in a suit stepped out, frowning as his gaze swept across the squalor around him.
The boy stood in front of her, his shoulders trembling, but his voice was calm.
"I'll come back for you."
The car door closed.
The black car disappeared down the end of the alleyway.
The refugees around them murmured.
"Bai family's bastard son..."
"So he's Bai family blood after all..."
"No wonder he never looked like he belonged in the refugee district..."
Jiang Nuan stood there, and stood there for a very long time.
The memory cut off there. After that, there was no trace of that boy.
Sister Zhou said the friend the original owner had always wanted to find—so it was him.
But something was wrong.
That young man in the white shirt from her memory... She tried to make out his face, but the features were blurred.
He was older than the boy she had depended on in those memory fragments, yet younger than the Bai Siyuan standing before her now.
Was it really the same person?
Jiang Nuan tried to dig up something more from the depths of her memory, but there was nothing left.
"A Nuan?"
Bai Siyuan's voice pulled her back.
He had stopped at a distance of two steps from Lu Shiyan's side, not advancing any further.
It wasn't that he didn't want to—it was that Lu Shiyan, standing there, was himself an invisible wall.
He was slightly shorter than Lu Shiyan, his figure lean.
Bai Siyuan's gaze crossed that wall and settled on her.
"You... don't remember me?"
The tone was cautious, as if afraid she would say the word "don't remember," and then he sighed.
"Ah well. It's been so many years. It's normal not to remember."
Jiang Nuan's throat tightened.
Even those fragmented memories were things she had only just unearthed.
But the original owner's body remembered this man—remembered his voice, remembered the warmth he had given.
That sense of closeness was too strong, so strong she couldn't ignore it.
"Bai Siyuan..."
She spoke, and paused for a beat.
"Big brother. Long time no see."
The word "brother" came out unbidden, her voice trembling beyond her control, a surge of longing to draw near rising through her body, a bittersweet ache lodged in her chest, sour and swollen.
Bai Siyuan's lips quivered slightly, the red in his eyes deepening.
"...To hear you call me brother again."
He paused for a moment before finishing his sentence, his voice already hoarse.
"It's wonderful. All these years, you've suffered."
Jiang Nuan shook her head, pressing down the sourness in her eyes that didn't belong to her.
"I'm alright. What about you—after all this time... have you been okay?"
Bai Siyuan nodded at first, then shook his head.
Then he smiled. "Even if I wasn't, I am now."
Jiang Nuan looked at his smile, and something in her chest gave a gentle tug.
A bastard son taken back into the Bai family from the refugee district, having to carve out a foothold in a place like that—every day must have been like walking on knives.
The sour ache in her chest grew heavier.
The tea in the reception room still steamed, and the air filled with a tender, aching warmth.
For a moment, she almost believed that this man was the most important person in the original owner's world.
"This reunion ends here."
Lu Shiyan's icy voice cut in from the side, cleanly severing the warmth flowing between the two.
Jiang Nuan's shoulders instinctively tensed. She turned to look at him.
Lu Shiyan still stood by the doorframe, not having moved an inch, his eyes devoid of any warmth.
He glanced at Bai Siyuan, then shifted his gaze to her.
"Jiang Nuan is part of Zero Squad. She still has a mission to complete."
"...What mission?" Jiang Nuan asked, puzzled. She'd just come off the White Whale; it was downtime now.
"Internal squad matters." His tone left no room for negotiation. "Go wait outside my office door."
A chill ran down Jiang Nuan's spine.
She knew that tone of Lu Shiyan's all too well—calm on the surface, but always the calm before a storm.
Still, she nodded, then turned to look at Bai Siyuan, forcing a natural smile. "Take care of yourself. Well... I'll be going now."
She took two steps.
"Wait."
Bai Siyuan's voice came from behind her.
Jiang Nuan stopped and turned around.
Bai Siyuan looked at her, the light in those eyes soft and resolute.
"A Nuan, I'm settled in the Bai family now. I want to take you away from the base, back to my home."
He paused.
"Are you willing?"
Jiang Nuan stood frozen in place.
Leaving Zero Squad.
Those words struck like lightning, illuminating every thought.
No more purifying resources. No more maneuvering through those people.
No more—
A flicker of light crossed Jiang Nuan's eyes.
But she snapped back to reality almost immediately, even schooling her expression.
Because she thought of something else.
This man... was he really trustworthy?
Everything she knew about Bai Siyuan came entirely from the residual memory fragments of the original owner.
Those fragments were warm and real.
But... they stopped at that black car.
After that car?
Had the original owner really never seen Bai Siyuan again?
If she hadn't, then why was there that blurred figure of a young man in a white shirt in her memory?
Was he a figment of imagination? Or a remnant that hadn't been wiped clean?
That made her hesitate—even if she were to escape this place under the guise of Bai Siyuan's name—she couldn't help but hold back.
Bai Siyuan watched her, his gaze soft as warm water.
But in the depths of those gentle eyes—
His lashes flickered.
So fast, like some emotion forcibly pressed back down.
So quick it was nearly imperceptible.
Bai Siyuan didn't wait for her to speak.
As if he had already made the decision for her.
He turned to look at Lu Shiyan.
"Captain Lu."
His tone remained gentle, but a layer of solemnity was added.
"A Nuan has no one to rely on. We grew up depending on each other from childhood. I've long regarded her as my closest kin. I wish to take her home, and I hope Captain Lu will grant my request."
Jiang Nuan's brow twitched.
She hadn't said anything yet. She hadn't made any decision at all.
But Bai Siyuan had already spoken for her, going over her head directly, claiming the status of "older brother" as he asked Lu Shiyan to release her.
Intellectually, she understood.
Perhaps it was the eagerness of a long-awaited reunion.
But the back of her neck went cold for no discernible reason.
This didn't feel like the restraint a friend or an older brother should have.
The temperature in Lu Shiyan's eyes dropped below freezing.
"Grant it?"
He repeated those two words.
His tone lilted upward slightly, carrying the faintest trace of a cold sneer.
As if he'd just heard something absurd enough to be a joke.
"Since when does the Bai family get to dictate what Zero Squad's people do?"
His eyes were like a deep sea concealing a hidden storm.
The warm smile on Bai Siyuan's face faltered for a moment.
But just a moment, before it returned to normal.
"Captain Lu, A Nuan is someone I regard as my own sister. I only wanted to give her a better living environment. I meant no offense."
Lu Shiyan straightened up from the doorframe, letting his arms fall to his sides.
The movement was slow.
But that intangible pressure spread like rising tide with every inch he straightened.
He took a step forward.
Bai Siyuan did not step back.
"Mr. Bai." Lu Shiyan spoke. "Jiang Nuan is active personnel in Zero Squad. Her whereabouts, her transfers, her mission assignments—those are decided by me."
No room for negotiation.
"Not the Bai family."
"Not you."
His gaze shifted to Jiang Nuan.
"And not herself."
When those final words landed, it was only a brief glance.
The back of Jiang Nuan's neck tightened, as if an invisible hand had clamped down on it.
That look said two words.
You dare.
Bai Siyuan was silent for a moment, his expression still gentle.
"I understand." Bai Siyuan nodded, his tone calm. "I was too presumptuous."
His gaze drifted back to Jiang Nuan, softening slightly.
"A Nuan, there's no rush. I'll be staying at the base for a while. We'll have plenty of time to talk."
Then he turned back to Lu Shiyan, "There's no hurry on this matter. I'll be communicating further with Captain Lu on behalf of the Bai family."
Communicate further.
Four words spoken softly and gently, but the meaning underneath was anything but soft.
I won't give up.
The fact that Bai Siyuan had bypassed her opinion entirely left Jiang Nuan unsettled.
She looked at him.
"You only just woke up, so take a couple days to rest first. We can... talk later."
"Jiang Nuan."
Lu Shiyan's low voice dropped down.
"Come with me."
Jiang Nuan took a deep breath, steeling herself, and followed.
She could feel Bai Siyuan's gaze on her back.
Warm. Tinged with something like reluctance.
She didn't look back.
Because the man walking ahead of her had a pressure radiating from him so low it was hard to breathe.
The hallway was long.
A few steps' distance stretched between them. Boots struck the floor in a steady rhythm. No one spoke. Only the sound of two sets of footsteps echoed through the empty corridor.
Jiang Nuan's heartbeat quickened with every step.
The office door opened in front of her.
Lu Shiyan stepped aside to let her enter first, and Jiang Nuan hurried inside with her head down.
Behind her, the door closed.
Click. The sound of a lock engaging.
Jiang Nuan's spine went rigid instantly.
The light in the room was dimmer than the hallway. The heavy blackout curtain was only pulled open a sliver, a blade of daylight cutting through and splitting the room into two halves of light and shadow.
Files on the desk were stacked neatly, beside them a cup of tea that had long since gone cold.
Jiang Nuan stood in the center of the room, not daring to move.
Lu Shiyan had his back to her, one hand braced on the edge of the desk.
Silence.
A silence so long it was suffocating.
Then he moved.
He turned around to face her.
One hand rose, long fingers settling on the top button of his shirt.
Slowly, he undid it.
That gesture carried no meaning beyond simply loosening a constraint.
As if peeling away something disguised, restrained, and proper—bit by bit.
His collar fell open, revealing a sliver of sharply defined neck and collarbone.
His Adam's apple rolled.
Then his eyes lifted, locking onto her.
Jiang Nuan's breath caught for half a beat.
A look entirely different from just moments before.
In the reception room, Lu Shiyan had been composed and professional.
But now, the door was closed. No Bai Siyuan. No one else. No facade to maintain.
Everything he'd been holding beneath the surface came rising up all at once.
"Jiang Nuan."
He said her name.
Her hearing distorted strangely in that instant. All surrounding sounds faded into nothing, leaving only his voice, so close it felt like he was whispering in her ear.
"Now—"
He took a step forward.
"Let's settle the books."
Another step.
"For how you were about to go with him."
Jiang Nuan's lashes trembled violently, every nerve in her body snapping taut.
He stopped in front of her, less than half an arm's length away.
His height advantage was magnified infinitely at this distance, and Jiang Nuan had to tilt her head back just to see his expression.
And his angle of looking down at her through lowered eyelids was like a mountain slowly beginning to collapse.
She met Lu Shiyan's gaze.
What was in his eyes was something more frightening than anger.
It was a scrutiny born of feeling trespassed against.
As if confirming one thing.
Have you forgotten whose you are?
It was a calm.
An unyielding.
Claim.
