Yu Yan turned on the car’s dome light and used the phone’s black screen as a mirror to check his expression. After confirming there was nothing amiss, he answered the video call.

The background of the video showed Shen Yuchen at the office. He was holding the phone, and the screen wobbled slightly, but his face was still clear.

His well-defined features were flawless, and the high bridge of his nose cast a natural shadow. His deep black pupils shimmered faintly.

“Brother Chen, working overtime this late?”

Shen Yuchen nodded. “Just finished. Are you outside?”

Yu Yan was slightly stunned. “I just left the set and was about to head home.”

Shen Yuchen didn’t say anything further. The camera shifted briefly and soon flipped, revealing several large boxes. The boxes had kiwi fruit designs printed on them.

“They’re from Cao Yuanye—one box of kiwis, one box of vacuum-packed braised dishes, and another box of smoked duck. Want me to have someone deliver them to your house?”

After he finished speaking, the camera flipped back to Shen Yuchen, who had returned to the sofa.

Half an hour earlier, Cao Yuanye had messaged him, but at the time, Yu Yan was chatting with He Zhiyu and hadn’t had a chance to reply.

Yu Yan responded, “Send half to my house and leave the other half at the office to eat.”

“Alright,” Shen Yuchen agreed but didn’t hang up the call.

“Brother Chen, you…” Yu Yan hesitated.

Shen Yuchen raised an eyebrow slightly. “What about me?”

Yu Yan yawned. “You should go home early. I’m feeling a bit tired and want to take a nap in the car.”

Shen Yuchen agreed and ended the call.

Today, Yu Yan was acting unusually. First, he had hidden his plans, and then he made an excuse to end the call.

This was the first time Yu Yan had ever hung up on him first!

Zhao Chi knocked and entered. “President Shen, I’ve investigated. Before He Zhiyu called Young Master Yu, he looked into the information about the general manager of Hengfeng Building Materials and also inquired about our company’s recent change in material suppliers in the neighboring city.”

While Yu Yan might not have guessed the underlying details, someone like He Zhiyu, who grew up immersed in the business world, couldn’t have missed them.

In an instant, Shen Yuchen understood the reason.

But since Yu Yan hadn’t directly questioned him, he likely planned to investigate the matter on his own.

If Yu Yan’s source wasn’t He Zhiyu, then it could only be the Yu family.

This was too easy to figure out, and the solution was equally simple.

Shen Yuchen dialed Yu Chen’s number. When the call connected, faint keyboard sounds came from the other end.

“Calling to admit your guilt?” Yu Chen’s tone wasn’t particularly friendly.

Shen Yuchen chuckled. “Guilt for what?”

Yu Chen knew there was no way to extract information from Shen Yuchen’s mouth. His question was just a vent. “Don’t waste words. Business or personal?”

“What if it’s business? And what if it’s personal?” Shen Yuchen’s tone was calm.

“For business, contact my assistant. For personal matters, I’m not available.”

Shen Yuchen drew out his response with a long “oh.” “Your little brother’s situation—does that count as business or personal?”

Yu Chen immediately tensed, almost blurting out, “What did you do to my brother?”

The smile vanished from Shen Yuchen’s face as his fingers lightly curled.

He spoke calmly, “Remember the issue with Wen Xia? She was planning to set a trap for your brother. I had the boss of Hengfeng Building Materials take care of it.”

Yu Chen was momentarily speechless. After a brief pause, he said, “Thanks?”

“You’re welcome,” Shen Yuchen replied graciously. “Yu Yan overheard bits of it and suspects it was me. I need you to take the blame for this.”

These words were spoken so matter-of-factly that it took Yu Chen a moment to process what he meant.

“You want me to take the blame for you?”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t exactly taking the blame. After all, this also resolved a potential problem for Yu Yan.

But the issue was that Yu Yan had already made it clear before that he didn’t want them to go overboard against a girl, let alone secretly arranging for someone else to deal with it behind his back.

Yu Chen scoffed. “Where do you get the audacity?”

“Didn’t you consider this kind of scenario when you made me keep a low profile in my own family business?”

Shen Yuming spoke with complete composure, showing no sign of panic at being rejected.

Yu Chen: “…”

“No, but seriously, don’t you think you’re being too presumptuous?” Yu Chen snorted. “I think we might as well use this opportunity to be upfront with Yu Yan. That way, he won’t keep nervously asking me things like, ‘Where did Shen Yuming go?’ ‘Are you still in contact with Shen Yuming?’ ‘Will Shen Yuming come back for your wedding?’ Honestly, what did you do to make my brother so wary of you?”

Shen Yuming lowered his gaze, his voice dropping slightly. “I don’t know.”

If he knew, he wouldn’t have to go to such great lengths.

“I’m serious. Why not just tell him directly? He’s in a decent position now. Whether he stays in Xinghai or goes back to Chaoxing, it’ll work out either way.”

More importantly, Yu Chen was worried that Shen Yuming truly had feelings for Yu Yan. With Shen Yuming’s methods, if he really wanted to do something, Yu Yan would walk right into the trap before it was even set.

Shen Yuming exhaled slowly. “It’s not the right time yet. The Qi family is secretly pulling strings, planning to force the company into bankruptcy and restructuring to evade debts. Qi Ke and his father have their eyes on Chaoxing and won’t let Yu Yan off. After the setback Wen Xia suffered, she might make another move. You’re already overwhelmed with Chaoxing’s affairs. Do you really have the capacity to protect him too?”

Yu Chen knew Shen Yuming was stating facts. He was swamped and couldn’t spare the energy to look after Yu Yan.

Regardless of whether Shen Yuming harbored personal feelings, he was genuinely looking out for Yu Yan. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have instructed the boss of Hengfeng Materials to handle Wen Xia.

Seeing that Yu Chen was nearly convinced, Shen Yuming delivered the final blow. “I heard someone’s been causing trouble for Xi Yuan’s studio recently, similar to what happened with the production Yu Yan invested in.”

Yu Chen took a deep breath. “Fine. We’ll talk about this after things settle down.”

“Thank you,” Shen Yuming said concisely.

“You’re welcome,” Yu Chen replied instinctively, but then realized something felt off. “Wait, that’s my brother! Why are you thanking me for this?”

Shen Yuming hung up.

Yu Chen immediately had people investigate the Hengfeng Materials issue, just in case Yu Yan asked and he didn’t have any answers.

During that time, Yu Yan gave him a call. After learning that Yu Chen was working late at the office, he offered to come pick him up.

Half an hour later, Yu Yan pushed open the office door. “Bro, still working this late?”

Lately, working overtime had become routine for Yu Chen, which Yu Yan suspected was related to the Qi family.

“Just a bit more to wrap up. What brings you here to pick me up?” Yu Chen chuckled lightly.

Yu Yan leaned closer. “You’re my brother. Do I need a reason to pick you up?”

“No argument there. I am your brother. Blood’s thicker than water, isn’t it?” Yu Chen grinned. “Have you eaten yet? If not, stay and eat something with me.”

“I had a boxed meal on set, but I can still eat,” Yu Yan said, realizing he was indeed a bit hungry.

Yu Chen nodded. “Alright, I’ll have some food sent up.”

By the time Yu Chen finished his remaining work, an hour had passed, and the food had arrived.

Since it was just the two of them, the dishes were mostly spicy.

While eating, Yu Yan seemed distracted. Several times, he wanted to ask about Shen Yuchen, but after carefully considering his words, he still couldn’t bring himself to say anything.

“You’re about to stuff food into your nose,” Yu Chen reminded him.

Yu Yan snapped back to reality and responded with a couple of “oh”s.

“If you’ve got something to say, just say it,” Yu Chen said, already prepared for the conversation. “It’s written all over your face that you’ve got something on your mind.”

Yu Yan casually rubbed his face and mumbled, “Is it that obvious?”

“What do you think?”

Lowering his voice, Yu Yan said, “Brother, I heard some rumors… about Chen-ge. They say he had someone blacklist Wen Xia?”

Yu Chen didn’t answer directly but asked in return, “What’s the matter? Are you here to plead for her?”

“No, I’m just curious.”

Before learning that Wen Xia had set him up in a honeytrap, he might’ve considered pleading for her, thinking there was no need to push her to the brink. But now, he couldn’t muster a shred of sympathy for her.

Yu Yan added, “I just don’t think Chen-ge is that kind of person.”

Yu Chen cursed silently to himself, thinking he should let his naive brother see Shen Yuchen’s ruthless side when he was threatening him earlier. “Then what kind of person do you think he is?”

“A good guy,” Yu Yan replied casually, then pressed on, “So what really happened?”

Yu Chen recited the explanation he’d prepared beforehand. “It’s probably a misunderstanding. When Shen Yuchen was discussing business with the boss of Hengfeng Construction, I was there too. We happened to mention Wen Xia’s incident with you, and the boss must’ve taken it seriously. He’s interested in taking on Minghua’s project, so he wanted to curry favor with Shen Yuchen and instructed the investors to blacklist Wen Xia. We didn’t expect this to happen. But that Wen Xia isn’t simple—you should stay cautious.”

“So, it’s a misunderstanding?”

“I only found out about it a couple of days ago. But honestly, it worked out in our favor since it ruined Wen Xia’s plans.”

Yu Yan let out a long sigh. “Learned something new today.”

He hadn’t expected that just a passing comment from Shen Yuchen and Yu Chen could lead someone else to take action.

“You’ll see more of this kind of thing in the future. Why don’t you come back to the family company after some time? Work with Dad, Mom, and me—it’d be so much more comfortable.”

“No way.” Yu Yan rejected the idea without hesitation. “I want to do something I enjoy.”

Yu Chen was helpless. “Alright then.”

With the matter clarified, Yu Yan finally felt at ease.

Later, he sent Fang Chi a message, telling him that He Zhiyu would be bringing friends to the bar over the weekend and to charge everything to Yu Chen’s account.

He had no choice—his brother wouldn’t let him drink, nor would he allow him to open a membership or recharge at the bar.

The next day, Yu Yan went to the company just in time for work. After wandering around, he didn’t see any sign of Shen Yuchen. A call revealed that Shen Yuchen’s wound had gotten infected after taking a shower last night, and he was now in the hospital receiving IV treatment.

Without a second thought, Yu Yan took a cab to the hospital and found Shen Yuchen leaning against a sofa.

“What happened? Wasn’t the wound almost healed? How did it get infected again?” Yu Yan asked urgently, staring at the newly bandaged injury.

Shen Yuchen pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and lightly wiped Yu Yan’s forehead. “Why are you in such a rush? You’re even sweating.”

Yu Yan explained, “I took a cab here. They don’t let private cars into the hospital grounds, so I ran in. The elevator was too crowded, so I took the stairs.”

“Twelfth floor, and you took the stairs?” Shen Yuchen furrowed his brows, suppressing the surge of emotions.

“The elevator had a line,” Yu Yan explained, picking up his hand. He instinctively blew on it before realizing it was wrapped in gauze. “How did it suddenly get this bad? Does it hurt?”

Shen Yuchen shook his head. “It doesn’t hurt. I just accidentally bumped it.”

“Did you bump it while showering?”

Because of the IV, Shen Yuchen’s hand was icy cold. Yu Yan held his hand, trying to transfer some warmth from his own.

“Mm, it’s nothing serious,” Shen Yuchen nodded, then turned his hand to clasp Yu Yan’s. “Were you upset yesterday?”

Yu Yan froze, not expecting Shen Yuchen to notice his off mood from just a few sentences in their video call.

“No,” he denied stubbornly.

“Then you just didn’t feel like video chatting with me?” Shen Yuchen raised an eyebrow, loosening his grip slightly.

“How could that be? I’d love to video chat with you every day!” Yu Yan exclaimed. “It wasn’t that I was upset, really. I just heard about what happened with Wen Xia, and it made me feel a bit uneasy.”

He recounted the events but left out the part about hearing the news from He Zhiyu and omitted the fact that he had gone out of his way to ask Yu Chen about it. He thought he had covered it up well, unaware that in front of Shen Yuchen, he was already an open book.

Shen Yuchen nodded slowly. “You felt uneasy because you thought we did it on purpose?”

“No, I thought you all deliberately kept it from me. Don’t I, as the person involved, at least have the right to know?” Yu Yan’s tone carried a trace of grievance. “I hate being lied to the most.”

The smile on Shen Yuchen’s face disappeared.