In the evening, Yu Wanlai sat on the bed with his bare arms, awkwardly twisting himself while trying to dress his wound with a small mirror he had found from somewhere. He was too embarrassed to ask Wang Ma for help, so he could only fumble through it himself.

When Yu Qingyue came back from work, he passed by Yu Wanlai’s room while going upstairs. Remembering the bloodstains he had seen in the morning, he couldn’t help but glance inside. Just as he did, Yu Wanlai, who had heard the sound, turned his head and their eyes met. Seeing Yu Wanlai’s expression change, Yu Qingyue immediately felt a bad premonition rise in his mind and quickly looked away, planning to leave.

“Good little brother~ You’re finally back? Could you help me out… I can’t reach it myself…” Yu Wanlai’s voice sounded quite pitiful.

A trace of irritation flashed in Yu Qingyue’s eyes, but he spoke coldly, “Ask Wang Ma^[1]Wang Ma (王妈) is a term used to refer to a female household helper or nanny, often in a more informal or affectionate way.  for help.”

Yu Wanlai’s gaze locked onto Yu Qingyue. “Wang Ma is a woman, how inconvenient!”

Yu Qingyue crossed his arms, standing firmly without moving. “Then ask Dad!”

Yu Wanlai stretched out his arm, leaning forward. “Dad will just hit me, don’t waste time. Come on, you want me to beg you?”

Yu Qingyue’s eyes lit up, and he leaned against the door, arms crossed, adopting a high and mighty stance. “Then beg. I’ll think about it.”

Yu Wanlai seemed afraid that Yu Qingyue would change his mind, and quickly spoke, “Good little brother~ I beg you, I really do… please?”

Yu Qingyue was disgusted by Yu Wanlai’s clingy tone. He couldn’t outlast Yu Wanlai’s thick skin, and with an exasperated face, he said, “I’ll help you with the medicine, but you’re never allowed to call me ‘good little brother’ again. It’s disgusting!”

Yu Wanlai clicked his tongue and reluctantly agreed, “Fine, I won’t call you that anymore. Now hurry up.”

He held the iodine cotton swab up to his face, looking at Yu Qingyue with hopeful eyes.

Yu Qingyue, for some reason, found it amusing. Yu Wanlai looked like a silly dog now, much more bearable than the pretentious, calculating version from before.

As soon as Yu Qingyue stepped into the room, he regretted it a little, but since backing out would seem like he was scared, he had no choice but to reluctantly apply the medicine.

Yu Wanlai felt as if Yu Qingyue was trying to skin him rather than applying medicine. The pain was much worse than when the doctor did it.

“Ugh… could you be gentler?”

Yu Qingyue rolled his eyes at Yu Wanlai’s back. “Can’t be gentle. Otherwise, do it yourself!” He was about to throw down the supplies and leave.

Yu Wanlai quickly grabbed his hand, his face full of pleading. “Okay, okay, I won’t say anything anymore. Just keep going. Do whatever you want.”

Yu Wanlai thought to himself, “When did I ever feel this humiliated?”

Yu Qingyue’s lips curled up slightly before quickly returning to his usual expression. Watching Yu Wanlai suffer was very satisfying.

In the following days, Yu Wanlai had to beg Yu Qingyue every time he needed his wound dressed. His dignity as an older brother was truly gone! But seeing his younger brother actively come over to help him with the medicine, he felt a brief sense of comfort.

After a couple of days off from his violin work at the Western restaurant, Yu Wanlai returned to work. However, he took a few more days off from singing at the bar, since performing was more physically demanding and could aggravate his injury, so he decided to rest properly for a few nights.

…Yu Wanlai walked onto the stage with his guitar. As he passed the dance floor, his gaze briefly froze as he thought he saw his annoying younger brother. He stopped for a moment, standing still. The lighting was dim, and the crowd was packed. His partner, following behind him, almost bumped into him.

The partner, wearing black sapphire earrings, took a step back and shouted in his ear, “What’s wrong? Hurry up, it’s almost time!”

Hearing the voice, Yu Wanlai snapped back to reality, pulling his gaze away and continued toward the stage. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand, but he had just seen his younger brother, and that was odd. Based on what he knew, his younger brother had a very fixed routine and shouldn’t have been in a noisy bar at midnight, unless something unusual was going on tonight.

Yu Wanlai scratched his head, troubled. He couldn’t remember any relevant plot points that matched this time of night, and he hadn’t done anything wrong, so why would the story be following him?

By the time he was on stage, Yu Wanlai had no clue about the situation, so he decided to push the confused thoughts aside and focus on the performance.

Meanwhile, Yu Qingyue was regretting his decisions. After finishing his usual evening routine, he was about to turn off the lights and go to sleep when his WeChat notifications started pinging nonstop. The message kept coming, followed by a persistent phone call. It felt like the person on the other end would keep calling all night if he didn’t answer, draining his phone’s battery.

Yu Qingyue stared at the phone screen for a while before reluctantly pressing the answer button. He placed the phone by his ear and lay back on his pillow, staring at the pale white ceiling, quietly listening to the other person’s incessant chatter.

“Hello! Yue Yue, I’ve been trying to message you for ages! Are you not going to reply?”

“Just now, were you still thinking about hanging up on me?”

“I’m telling you, I’ll keep calling until you pick up!” Yu Qingyue’s teeth ground together with a sharp sound. He rolled over and lay flat on the bed, his gaze fixed intently on the phone screen, as if he could burn a hole through it. His voice was incredibly irritable. “Can you at least check the time? What time is it? I’m asking you, what time is it, huh??”

On the other end of the phone, Bai Yi heard Yu Qingyue’s voice and became even more difficult to deal with. “Yue Yue… you’ve improved, huh? This time, you actually responded within three sentences! Good, come out, I’m at your doorstep! Bye-bye,” he dragged out the last part of the word and hung up the phone before Yu Qingyue could even reject him.

After the call ended, Yu Qingyue stared at the now black screen of his phone, suddenly remembering that this person should be abroad right now. If this troublesome guy dared to mess with him, then he was finished. Yu Qingyue changed out of his pajamas and into a casual outfit before heading out.

As he walked down the stairs, he passed by Yu Wanlai’s room and, by chance, saw through the crack in the door that it was pitch black inside. It seemed that this person had been unusually quiet at this time of night lately, so quiet it was as if he had disappeared.