Chapter 3: My Brother Loves Me Too Much — Day Three

The two of them stood in the bedroom like the most familiar of strangers.

She said nothing, and neither did he. The atmosphere quickly sank into an awkward silence.

If she had still been little, she could have rushed into Jiang Yanbai’s arms like a carefree bird the moment she saw him. But not anymore.

Yun Zhiyi looked at him quietly, studying him in silence. Since becoming an adult, the number of times she had met Jiang Yanbai could be counted on one hand.

He had changed a great deal. Tall and long-limbed, he carried the oppressive presence of a grown man. Standing before him at nearly five feet seven, she could probably only reach his shoulder.

Yun Zhiyi decided to break the silence first. “I thought you weren’t home.”

Jiang Yanbai had come out suddenly from the bathroom inside the bedroom. Hearing her explanation, he said, “I came back to get something.”

“Mm.” Yun Zhiyi stepped aside. “Will you leave after you get it?”

Jiang Yanbai gave a faint acknowledgment, passed by her, bent down, and opened the drawer of the bedside table. He took out something and slipped it into his pocket.

Yun Zhiyi did not catch what it was. Perhaps a lighter, perhaps a watch. She asked, “Will Brother come home for dinner today?”

Jiang Yanbai’s hand paused slightly as he closed the drawer. “Depends.”

An ambiguous answer.

“All right.” Yun Zhiyi sounded disappointed. “Is Brother that busy with work?”

Jiang Yanbai turned to look at her. After a two-second pause, his dark eyes shifted away, and his tone remained flat. “A little busy lately.”

Yun Zhiyi had heard from Madam Jiang that after graduating, Jiang Yanbai had not joined the company. Instead, he had started his own business, with a wide range of operations. She did not know exactly what industry it was in.

If he was so busy with work, how did he still have the energy to run off and join a dating show just to pursue Xu Xinran?

Yun Zhiyi grumbled inwardly, though she did not show it on her face.

She was not a talkative person. Once Jiang Yanbai stopped the topic, she awkwardly found herself not knowing what else to say. Having taken what he came for, Jiang Yanbai looked ready to leave.

“I’m going now.”

Since the owner of the room was leaving, Yun Zhiyi had no intention of staying. She followed him out.

The two went downstairs one after the other.

Aunt Feng saw Jiang Yanbai and looked slightly surprised. “Young Master is back.”

Jiang Yanbai said, “Aunt Feng.”

Aunt Feng smiled. “I’ve already told Master and Madam that Miss has returned to the country. At noon, the whole family should eat together at home and have a proper reunion. Young Master and Miss, what dishes would you like? I’ll tell the kitchen to prepare them—”

Jiang Yanbai interrupted her. “I still have something to do. I won’t be back for lunch.”

Aunt Feng glanced at Yun Zhiyi. “Miss has finally come back. Can’t Young Master spare some time to eat with her?”

Yun Zhiyi looked at Jiang Yanbai. His expression remained faint. “There’s still work at the company.”

With that, he strode out of the villa.

Aunt Feng complained, “Why is everyone so busy?”

“It’s all right,” Yun Zhiyi said.

Aunt Feng had watched the two siblings grow up. When they were young, they were inseparable every day, their relationship so close. Now that they were grown, they seemed no different from strangers when they met.

“After Young Master moved out, except for important holidays, he almost never comes back…”

Yun Zhiyi listened absentmindedly to Aunt Feng’s complaints, her expression light.

If she were still a child, she could cling to Jiang Yanbai’s arm, act spoiled, and force him to stay. But now she had grown up; she had to be cautious and could no longer approach him however she pleased.

Growing up was truly troublesome.

At noon, after learning that she had returned to the country, Father Jiang and Mother Jiang both came back to the villa.

They had married and had children late, and were now nearly fifty. Thanks to good care, they looked to be only in their early forties.

Father Jiang wore silver-framed glasses on the bridge of his nose. His properly handsome face carried a faint seriousness, and he naturally possessed the aura of someone used to authority, enough to make one feel uneasy in his presence.

Mother Jiang wore a dark purple top with a pearl necklace, and on her ears were also naturally formed, first-rate pearls. Elegant and gentle in temperament, she was unmistakably a refined and intelligent society beauty.

“Uncle Jiang, Aunt Jiang,” Yun Zhiyi greeted.

Yun Zhiyi was brought to the Jiang family when she was five. Father Jiang and Mother Jiang asked whether she would be willing to change her surname and be formally adopted into the Jiang family as their rightful adopted daughter. Her parents had both died, and submerged in grief, she refused.

She felt that changing her surname would be tantamount to betraying her biological parents, as though she would forget them in the future.

For all these years, she had lived in the Jiang family as a boarder. Father Jiang and Mother Jiang treated her like their own daughter, and while living in their home, she had always called them Uncle and Aunt.

“It’s good that you’re back,” Mother Jiang said as she came over affectionately to link her arm with Yun Zhiyi’s and led her to the sofa. “I asked you to return to the country before, and you were still hesitant. Why did you suddenly change your mind?”

Yun Zhiyi said, “I missed you all.”

“What a sweet mouth,” Mother Jiang said happily. “Now that you’re back this time, you’re not leaving again, are you?”

Yun Zhiyi nodded.

Father Jiang looked at Mother Jiang. “Contact the school later and arrange her work.”

“I…” Yun Zhiyi began.

Mother Jiang shot him an irritated look. “The little darling has only just come back. Why are you in such a hurry? Let her rest at home for a while first. It’s not too late for her to go when she feels like working.”

Yun Zhiyi breathed a sigh of relief. As far as she knew, filming the dating show would take one or two months. If she went to record the program, she would certainly need to free up her time. If she went to work, then she would not be able to film the show.

Father Jiang said, “Then do as you see fit.”

The family chatted idly for a while before Aunt Feng came over to tell them lunch was ready in the dining room.

At the table, Mother Jiang learned from Aunt Feng that Jiang Yanbai had come back to the villa and then left again. “Running around outside all day and never coming home to stay. He’s twenty-five already and still doesn’t have a girlfriend.”

Father Jiang also thought his son was outrageous. When he was in college, he had suddenly moved out to live alone in an apartment, and once he moved out, he never came back to stay. He spent all day fooling around outside, refusing to come back and take up the family business.

Yun Zhiyi thought silently to herself that Aunt Sun had no need to worry about her brother’s romantic prospects at all. He had already signed up for the dating show to pursue someone. In a few months, perhaps with her help, he might even bring back a girlfriend.

At that thought, the food in her mouth suddenly seemed rather tasteless.

Xu Xinran was the heroine of this world. She had halo and a system. With her abilities, could she change the storyline? If her brother Jiang Yanbai was bewitched by the heroine, what was she supposed to do?

Was she supposed to go along with his wishes, help him chase Xu Xinran on the dating show, and have the second male lead win over the heroine?

In her past life, Xu Xinran had guided and allowed her fans to launch a cyberbullying campaign against her, driving them to madness so that they tracked down her address, exposed her privacy, and chased her car until her legs were crippled. Even now, recalling it left her feeling hopeless.

Losing both legs was no different from being dead. She did not want to become a useless burden dragging her brother down, which was why she had chosen to end her life in a deserted place at night.

No. She had to stop her brother from falling for Xu Xinran.

Yun Zhiyi thought firmly that even if her brother did not like any of the women on the dating show, there were so many good girls in the world. As long as he did not like Xu Xinran, that would be enough.

Because her legs had been crippled by Xu Xinran’s fans chasing her car, she held hostility toward Xu Xinran.

Jiang Yanbai was merely a supporting male character in this book, there to set off the male lead. No matter how hard he tried, Xu Xinran would only choose the powerful man with the male lead’s halo, and would never choose Jiang Yanbai.

In the early stages of the dating show, Xu Xinran built herself a route as a universally adored, formidable heroine. The male guests on the show were all among her choices. She flitted among them, flirting and enticing them one by one, using the beauty aura granted by the system to draw every male guest’s attention.

The higher the affection of the male lead and supporting male characters for Xu Xinran became, the more beautiful she would grow, and the more she would attract others, until even the people of this world fell for her.

As a woman, Yun Zhiyi did not dislike ambitious girls with drive, such as Xu Xinran. But when the object whose feelings Xu Xinran toyed with was her own brother, she found it disgusting and unforgivable.

So she absolutely, absolutely did not want her brother to fall for Xu Xinran. She would go on the dating show and ruin this love line.

Over the years, she and Jiang Yanbai had grown distant. Yet through her death in her previous life, she knew that this younger sister still held some weight in Jiang Yanbai’s heart. If she went on the show, she could still change some of his thoughts, at the very least preventing him from being misunderstood on the dating show again and falling into a storm of public opinion as he had in her past life.

“Zhiyi, what are you thinking about?” Mother Jiang’s gentle voice came to her ears.

Yun Zhiyi lifted her head. “Nothing. I wanted to discuss something with you all.”

Father Jiang had finished eating and was wiping his hands with a damp towel. At her words, he set the towel down and looked at her. Mother Jiang also put down her chopsticks and focused on her.

Yun Zhiyi said what she had decided. “I want to move out.”

Mother Jiang was stunned, then immediately said, “Why do you suddenly want to move out? Are you not comfortable living at home? Has someone bullied you?”

Father Jiang asked, “Where do you want to live?”

Yun Zhiyi replied, “My parents left me a house. I want to move there.”

She looked at Mother Jiang, her voice sweet and soft. “Aunt Sun, I’m already an adult now. I want to be a little more independent, so I thought of moving out. There’s nothing else to it.”

Mother Jiang was unhappy. “Zhiyi, how dangerous is it for a girl to live alone? Fine, Yanbai lives in an apartment outside, but if you move out too, the house will feel so empty, and the dining table won’t be lively at all.”

“This is your home. You can live here as long as you like, and no one would dare gossip about it.” Mother Jiang tried her best to persuade her. “Zhiyi, be good. Stay at home and keep Auntie company. Don’t move out.”

Yun Zhiyi hesitated.

Mother Jiang persuaded her a few more times.

Father Jiang did not say much. He had always been busy with work, rarely disciplined the children, and did not have a deep relationship with either his biological son or his adopted daughter. He seldom had heart-to-heart talks and did not know how to get along with them.

Yun Zhiyi could not bear to make her adoptive mother sad, so she agreed to stay at home for a while first.

Her luggage was packed by the servants and placed in her room. After showering that night, Yun Zhiyi lay in bed, opened her phone, chatted a little with her friend Xu Wanqing, and then once again opened the registration page for the dating show.

The website said the review period would take from one week to half a month. Once she passed, the official team would send her an email or text, and might even call directly to notify her of the interview time and place.

She had never participated in a dating show and rarely watched variety programs. In her memories from her previous life, there were only some maliciously edited clips of Jiang Yanbai on the show.

While she still had time, she should cram some knowledge about variety shows. If she passed the review and went on the program without understanding anything, she would very likely make a fool of herself on camera and be put online for people to mock and curse.

By then, let alone helping Jiang Yanbai, even she herself might be subjected to abuse.

She had studied music. Mother Jiang wanted to arrange for her to work as a professional teacher at a well-known university, with a high salary and easy work, so she would not need to worry about employment pressure. But she had other ideas of her own and wanted to start a studio.

Music producers would come into contact with many people in the entertainment industry. By participating in the dating show this time, she wanted first to help her brother escape the original storyline, and second to increase her exposure in the entertainment world and obtain resources.

The Jiang family had raised her for over ten years. She could not keep relying on them to support her now that she was grown. As the Jiang family’s adopted daughter, she ought to achieve something in her own career and bring them pride.

After watching two episodes of the previous season’s dating show, Yun Zhiyi yawned and fell asleep.

The next day.

Birds chirped noisily outside the window. Their calls were crisp and pleasant, but to someone still half asleep, they were rather annoying.

Yun Zhiyi grabbed a soft pillow and covered both ears, but the birdsong seemed impossible to block out, drilling through the cotton into her ears and then into her brain.

So noisy!

Woken by the racket and unable to fall back asleep, Yun Zhiyi abruptly sat up, got out of bed in her slippers, and drew open the blackout curtains. Sunlight streamed through the white gauze lace curtains and into the bedroom, scattering a floor full of shattered golden light.

The sunlight was lovely.

Standing before the floor-to-ceiling window, Yun Zhiyi looked out at the back garden. A servant was watering the greenery, announcing that a new day was about to begin.

She lazily yawned, then turned to wash up in the bathroom. After brushing her teeth and washing her face, she came out with her hair loose, wearing a bear-print pajama set and soft slippers, and, as she had in high school, wanted to go downstairs to see what breakfast the kitchen had made.

The moment she opened the door, she saw that the bedroom door opposite was half open.

Had her brother come back?

After Jiang Yanbai left yesterday, she had already prepared herself to see him again on the dating show. She had not expected that Jiang Yanbai, who only returned home on important holidays, would actually come back.

Yun Zhiyi crossed the corridor and walked toward the room opposite.

Through the half-open bedroom door, she could see the large bed inside. Just as she reached the doorway, she ran into Aunt Feng.

“Miss, you’re up.”

Yun Zhiyi greeted her politely. “Good morning, Aunt Feng.”

Aunt Feng said, “Young Master came back last night. Miss, go wake him and tell him to come down for breakfast.”

Yun Zhiyi nodded. “Okay.”

She pushed open the bedroom door and stepped inside softly.

Coming to the bedside, Yun Zhiyi lowered her eyes and looked at the young man asleep on the bed. The blackout curtains were thick, and the room was dim. Jiang Yanbai’s handsome face was turned to the side, his eyes closed, his long lashes dense as raven feathers, his nose bridge high and straight.

With the boyishness of youth faded and maturity taking its place, Jiang Yanbai looked even more handsome.

Yun Zhiyi bent down, mischief rising in her heart. She extended a slender finger and lightly poked his cheek, calling softly, “Brother, wake up.”

The next second.

Her finger was suddenly caught, and the man lying in bed opened his eyes.