Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A glance, a raised brow-just a way to spend idle moments.

Qi Sen said he could waste time with me.

I traced the shape of his eyebrows with my fingertip-long and unruly.

Physiognomy says that men with overly long eyebrows tend to be unfaithful.

I said I didn’t have that kind of time to waste with him.

The key to living is staying clear-headed.

He avoided my eyes and brushed off my half-hearted touch.

His tense jaw dispelled the flirtatious air.

He didn’t speak, and I couldn’t guess what he was thinking.

I was thinking, he’s still young. What could I use to keep him?

Staying clear-headed was my armor in this relationship, preventing me from falling too deep.

With age came this one advantage.

When his silence made me think he was angry, he actually smiled.

He said, “Suit yourself.”

Du Yuejia’s call came later than I expected.

After all these years, the moment his number flashed on my phone still made my heart pound with dread.

He was a shadow I could never escape, trapping me in endless cycles like a nightmare.

He asked me, “Ruan Yu wants to know if you’re coming to the wedding.”

Du Yuejia’s brief return to the country this time was specifically to attend Ruan Yu’s wedding.

After all, there was nothing left here worth his attachment.

He’d moved all the Du Family assets overseas.

Just as he wished, not a penny fell into my hands.

“Is my brother going?” I asked him.

“Go? Why wouldn’t I?” he countered with a laugh.

Du Yuejia had been secretly in love with Ruan Yu for years; our circle knew it well.

But how much that secret love was worth, only he knew.

“Not heartbroken?” I tucked the phone between my ear and shoulder, one hand tugging at Qi Sen’s hair.

“If my little sister isn’t heartbroken, then I’m not either.”

Ruan Yu was also Duan Guanqin’s white moonlight.

In the youthful days of those boys, the prettiest girl in the compound was like prey.

It had little to do with love; it was just a way for males to show off.

And I was merely a toy they used to seek thrills.

I told him, “I’ll be on time.”

After hanging up, Qi Sen brushed my hand away in protest: “You can’t just tug like that. What if you pull it all out? You gonna take responsibility?”

I looked at his lush, youthful hair, soft to the touch.

“Going bald wouldn’t be so bad. It’d let me see what you’ll look like when you’re old ahead of schedule.”

After all, there’s no hope of growing old together anyway.

He chuckled at that and pinched my cheek: “Look like what? Exactly the look you’d despise, right?”

Welcome, honored guest.

I stood at the hotel entrance, looking at the wedding welcome photo-the bride’s face.

Ruan Yu.

She had a face that didn’t know hardship, wrapped in the world’s blessings.

The groom I didn’t recognize, but he was quite handsome too.

“You’re here?”

Du Yuejia came out to greet me, a men’s cologne hidden within his dark wool coat.

I glanced at his face, then at Ruan Yu’s in the photo.

“You two really have a couple’s resemblance,” I said.

He didn’t get annoyed: “Well, doesn’t that prove that all lovers in the world end up as siblings?”

He was actually willing to joke with me now.

“Then what are we?” I kept my distance. “Siblings end up as lovers?”

He smirked, amused by me: “Forget lovers, you’re always so keen to be a mistress.”

“What mistress?” Ruan Yu came out, her exquisite makeup making her features even more striking. “What are you two siblings muttering about out here? Come in, quick.”

“My brother said I don’t need to bring a gift, he’ll cover it for me,” I said, taking Ruan Yu’s outstretched hand.

“Absolutely not!” She arched an eyebrow. “You got married early, so if anyone’s covering it, it’s Duan San. How does your brother figure into this?”

I smiled and handed her a red envelope: “Wishing you a harmonious union for a hundred years.”

“Where’s Duan San?” she asked.

“I don’t know.”

Since that late-night call, I hadn’t seen him for a long time.

His appearances and disappearances in my life were always like gusts of wind.

After so many years, I’d gone from catching a chill to learning to keep myself warm.

It’s nothing more than putting on clothes, taking them off, and putting them on again.

A set of actions-who can’t manage that?

“Why are you wearing so little?”

As we took our seats, Du Yuejia took my light jacket.

I hesitated: “Concerned about me?”

“As if,” he said, sitting beside me. “Just being polite.”

The distance in his tone was undisguised.

More honest than before.

Du Yuejia had taken off his coat; the cologne was mostly gone, leaving only a trace.

Up close, it faded even more, leaving only the chill in the air.

Just like the man himself.

He draped his long arm over the back of my chair, drawing us closer.

“Still in love with Duan San?” His voice was steadier than Qi Sen’s, but not as deep as Duan Guanqin’s.

“Brother must be joking.”

“Won’t admit it?” He leaned back against his own chair, putting distance between us.

His tone was teasing, the back-and-forth hinting at flirtation.

His usual trick.

After all these years, still the same old routine.

Not a bit of progress.

The emcee droned on for a while, and finally Ruan Yu walked slowly in on her father’s arm.

Her wedding dress was simple yet finely designed, quality material, a few strokes outlining her figure.

“Do you like it, brother?” I turned and leaned in to ask.

He seemed a little surprised by my active closeness, lowering his gaze as if savoring my words, or perhaps my face.

“Whether I like it doesn’t matter,” he said by my ear, low. “What matters is that Duan San likes it.”

Now his cold fragrance filled my breath.

“According to him, he’s utterly bewitched,” Du Yuejia lazily brushed his finger near my lower lip, a smile at the corner of his mouth. “Ah, right, I forgot.

“You were there when he said that, weren’t you, little sister?”

I was indeed there. At that time, I had just come to live in the compound with my aunt.

I didn’t fit in at all.

Timid and shy.

As Du Yuejia later put it: “You just made people want to bully you.”

In the room on the second floor of the small villa in the South Compound, sunlight filtered through the treetops, falling on the slightly ajar door.

“Duan San likes Sister Ruan?”

“Really? He sure knows how to pick. We all grew up together-how could he go for her?”

“Is there anything he can’t get his hands on?”

“Will Ruan Yu’s formidable old man agree?”

Inside, a few guys were chatting excitedly.

“Move.” A male voice came from above, and Niangniang at the door was startled, jumping up like a rabbit.

She turned her head and saw a brash face.

Duan Guanqin.

He was tall, and when he glanced down at Niangniang, his appraising look was unmistakable.

Niangniang quickly stepped aside.

“Hey, isn’t this your little sister?” someone inside shouted, as everyone looked toward Du Yuejia sitting in the very back.

He was sitting on the floor by the window, one knee bent, propping up a book, reading lazily.

Hearing the word “sister”, he instinctively frowned, then immediately smoothed his expression, adding a touch of gentleness.

He glanced at Niangniang. “What’s up?”

“Auntie… Auntie said to come home for dinner.” Niangniang said timidly.

Du Yuejia didn’t respond, only saying, “Anything else?”

“No… nothing.” Niangniang took half a step back, about to leave.

“Hey, little sister, don’t go.” A guy inside stepped past Duan Guanqin leaning against the doorframe, grabbing Niangniang’s sleeve. “You’re in the same class as Ruan Yu?”

She nodded woodenly.

Niangniang wasn’t good at dealing with boys this age, especially in front of Du Yuejia.

Living under someone else’s roof, she naturally had an extra layer of sensitivity, excelling at subconsciously overanalyzing others’ minutest expressions and gestures.

She always felt that Du Yuejia seemed like a warm March sun, but to her, it was warm one moment and cold the next.

Du Yuejia didn’t like her joining their circle.

“Hehe,” the guy grinned, “so do you know who she likes?”

Duan Guanqin raised an eyebrow and glanced at the speaker.

“Help our Brother Duan keep an eye out.” The guy tugged at Niangniang’s sleeve and shook it.

“Get lost,” Duan Guanqin half-jokingly kicked the guy’s hand away, “As if I need that.”

“That’s right, is there anyone our Duan San can’t get?” the others chimed in.

“I’m just asking the girl to keep an eye out!” the guy dodged, laughing, “Ruan Yu’s that kind of delicate but sharp type; she’s not so easy to comfort.”

“Duan San just likes her kind of temperament!” another guy teased, nudging him.

Niangniang slightly raised her head and secretly glanced at the person being discussed, only to see him turn his head and look at her too.

Niangniang’s face flushed, and she unconsciously took a small step back.

Seeing this, Duan Guanqin looked her over even more thoroughly, then withdrew his gaze. He seemed to be speaking to the group, yet also to the little girl before him whose every emotion showed on her face. His tone was teasing: “I wouldn’t say I like her, but I’m pretty much head over heels.”

The guys inside immediately jeered: “You’re way too modest. Where’s the ‘over heels’? Your mind’s full of nothing but heels!”

Niangniang couldn’t stand this no-holds-barred vulgarity, nor the scrutinizing gaze of a certain someone. She shuffled her feet, turned, and skipped away.

As she descended the stairs to the inner wall on the first floor, the guys’ voices still faintly reached her through the balcony walkway.

Someone asked Du Yuejia: “Your sister called you home for dinner. Why aren’t you going?”

Du Yuejia’s tone was slightly cold: “Since when do I have a sister?”

Then, Duan Guanqin’s voice: “Why did you grab her?”

“You got a problem with that?”

“Grab her all you want,” he said, “just don’t touch my bed with the hand that grabbed her.”

“You… you must be Mrs. Duan?”

The voice beside me snapped me out of my memories.

I turned to see an unfamiliar middle-aged woman, well-dressed, holding a wine glass and looking as if she meant to propose a toast.

I nodded: “And you are?”

With an ingratiating smile, she quickly explained our connection in a few words, and bending her knees she was about to clink glasses with me.

I moved to help her stand straight, but our hands misaligned, and some red wine spilled onto the white blouse over my chest.

“Oh, Mrs. Duan, I’m so sorry! So sorry, I-I…” She hurriedly looked for a tissue to wipe me.

“It’s fine. Please sit.”

I stood and walked toward the restroom outside, glancing sideways to see that Du Yuejia, who had been sitting beside me, was no longer at the table.

Not far away, the groom was alone, toasting elders at the head table amidst a lively atmosphere.

A waiter led me to the restroom at the end of the corridor.

The red wine stain wouldn’t come out right away, leaving a small, awkward wet patch on my chest.

Marrying Duan Guanqin brought nothing good.

But marrying into the Duan Family, that was indeed something-as if it instantly downgraded my life from nightmare difficulty all the way down to bronze rank.

This was the red carpet my aunt had laid out for me.

But actually walking on it, I discovered that the fine diamonds sparkling from afar were nothing but glass shards up close, hurting my feet.

Mental erosion was invisible torture.

My aunt could handle it because she treated marriage like a career.

She said I couldn’t handle it because I still harbored fantasies of love.

“Just like your mother,” she sneered at me, “a hopeless case.”

I opened WeChat; my conversation with Qi Sen had stopped the day before yesterday.

The Duan Family could turn a blind eye to Duan Guanqin’s infidelity.

But if I made a mistake, it would mean the collapse of my entire persona.

In this power game, he and I were never equals.

We were born unequal, just a random, natural allocation.

I stood before the vast floor-to-ceiling window at the end of the corridor, the sunset dyeing half the high-rises of the southern city crimson, as if clinging to the lingering warmth of memories withered by time.

Before I could fully digest it alone, Du Yuejia came up behind me and gently wound the ends of my hair around his fingers, his touch both there and not there.

He looked down at my silent expression, seeming somewhat annoyed.

Then he deliberately yanked, making my scalp ache.

I frowned, and he smiled.

He drew closer, wanting to pull me into his arms, into that faint, intangible scent of his.

He said: “Little sister, guess why Duan San didn’t come today?”

I brushed his hand away, turned my face aside to look at him, my eyes utterly free of desire.

A cigarette dangled from Du Yuejia’s fingers, the smoke curling around the ends of my hair.

The slanting sunlight etched fine lines on his profile. “Upset?”

He was like an inescapable shadow from old memories, dragging you down with him.

“Du Yuejia, do you hate me?”

“How could I?” His palm brushed past my waist, tightening painfully. “How could a brother hate his sister?”