Breaths intertwined, Cen Zhisen’s slightly deep voice caressed Ning Zhiyuan’s ears.

From his laughter, Ning Zhiyuan sensed a hint of intriguing meaning. In a daze, Cen Zhisen raised his hand and pressed a point on the back of Ning Zhiyuan’s neck. The movement was swift, and as he withdrew his hand, the mocking smile on his face disappeared, and he stepped back.

“Don’t just stand here. Let’s go.”

With a serious expression and a formal tone, it was the Cen Zhisen familiar to Ning Zhiyuan. The laughter and the somewhat ambiguous move just now seemed like figments of Ning Zhiyuan’s imagination, born out of drunkenness.

Ning Zhiyuan shook his head, stood up straight, and followed him out of the nightclub.

The driver pulled the car to the side of the road, and they both got into the back seat.

Ning Zhiyuan indeed felt uncomfortable. After getting into the car and giving the address, he leaned against the seat and closed his eyes. However, his brows were furrowed; the alcohol had heated up his brain, buzzing incessantly.

Suddenly, the person next to him said, “Extend your hand.”

Ning Zhiyuan was a bit groggy, his eyelids moved slightly, and he opened his eyes with difficulty. In his blurry vision, Cen Zhisen’s gaze met his.

Cen Zhisen gestured again, “Extend your hand.”

Without thinking too much, Ning Zhiyuan obediently did so. Cen Zhisen pulled out a pack of candy from the armrest compartment and poured a few into Ning Zhiyuan’s palm.

Ning Zhiyuan looked down. The individually wrapped yellow candies had a smiling face pattern, resembling snacks for children.

“Hangover candy,” Cen Zhisen explained. “It’s more effective to eat it before drinking. Eating a few now is better than nothing.”

This candy was prepared by his assistant and placed in the car. He usually ate a few pieces in advance when attending social events.

Seemingly not reacting, Ning Zhiyuan still held the same posture, staring at the candy in his hand.

Helplessly, Cen Zhisen took back one candy, tore open the packaging slightly, and handed it to him. “Here.”

As Ning Zhiyuan took the candy, his fingertips touched one piece. He regained his senses and threw the candy into his mouth, chewing and swallowing slowly with lowered eyes.

The rich mango fragrance spread between his lips and teeth. The chewy candy indeed resembled snacks for children.

In a daze, he recalled some past memories.

When he was very young, Cen Zhisen brought back many foreign snacks that were hard to find at the time. Among them was a mango-flavored candy similar to this hangover candy. He had eaten two at the time and wanted more. However, because someone said, “Those are all your brother’s. Do you have the nerve to keep taking them?” he intentionally claimed they weren’t delicious and threw the candy back.

Later, when he went abroad to study, he found that candy in a supermarket. He bought it every day until he got tired of it and no longer wanted to eat it. He felt that Cen Zhisen’s things were nothing special.

Whether it was a psychological effect or not, after consuming three candies, Ning Zhiyuan’s head didn’t feel as dizzy. Self-mockingly, he thought that Cen Zhisen’s things did have some usefulness.

Cen Zhisen answered a phone call, directly addressing the person by name, “Ning Zhe.”

Upon hearing these two words, Ning Zhiyuan’s attention returned slightly. The person on the other end said something, and Cen Zhisen calmly advised him, “You don’t need to pay attention to her. Don’t get involved in her affairs. If she talks to you about these things again, tell her you’ll consult me before making a decision. Dad has gone to sleep, so you should go back to your room and rest. Tomorrow morning, I’ll have the housekeeper arrange a car to take you back.”

While Ning Zhiyuan was still pondering the meaning of Cen Zhisen’s words, the call had ended. Cen Zhisen turned to glance at him and casually said, “Ning Zhe came home today to see Dad. It got late, so he stayed overnight. Xu Lan tried to rope him into some pointless chatter, thinking he doesn’t understand anything, wanting to manipulate him.”

Ning Zhiyuan sneered, “She really isn’t afraid of gossip.”

Cen Zhisen responded with a faint “Hmm,” clearly not taking these self-righteous tricks seriously.

The car smoothly traveled through the night. After a moment of silence, Ning Zhiyuan suddenly said, “I didn’t notice before, but you’re actually quite good at being a big brother. Does Ning Zhe trust you a lot? After all, you’re the one who found him and brought him back.”

Cen Zhisen turned his head again. There was only a center armrest between him and Ning Zhiyuan. Ning Zhiyuan leaned against the seat, and his head seemed to be resting near Cen Zhisen’s shoulder. Ning Zhiyuan himself was still unaware.

After gazing at his face for a few extra seconds, Cen Zhisen said, “At least, he sincerely says ‘Thank you, brother.'”

Ning Zhiyuan closed his eyes again and smiled, “Well, I admit I’m not as good.”

“Stop talking,” Cen Zhisen reminded him, “Close your eyes and rest for a while.”

In a half-dream state, Ning Zhiyuan lowered his head even more, and his hair brushed against Cen Zhisen’s shoulder. He remained still.

Cen Zhisen stared at the part of his neck exposed between his hair and the collar of his shirt for a moment. It was fair, slender, with a graceful curve, and the lines were beautiful.

He shifted his gaze away and leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes to relax.

Twenty minutes later, realizing the car had stopped and the engine was off, Ning Zhiyuan quickly snapped out of his half-asleep state. He opened his eyes and found himself outside the gate of his residential compound.

He sat up slowly, turned his neck, and thought about thanking Cen Zhisen. However, he remembered the words Cen Zhisen had said earlier and felt a sudden loss of interest. He waved casually, pushed open the car door, and got out.

After taking a few steps, he leaned against a tree trunk, bending over as if to vomit. However, he wasn’t sure if it was because of the candy; he dry heaved but couldn’t vomit.

“Need some water?”

Cen Zhisen, who knows when, also got out of the car and handed him a bottle of mineral water.

In a scene almost identical to the night when he learned about his origins, Ning Zhiyuan felt a bit amused. He stood up straight, supported by the tree trunk, shook his head, and said, “No, I have too much water in my stomach.”

Cen Zhisen asked, “Shall I take you upstairs?”

Ning Zhiyuan stood still, neither moving nor speaking. Taking advantage of the dim light from the street lamps around, he examined the person in front of him.

Cen Zhisen was also looking at him, a slight frown on his forehead, seemingly a bit worried. Ning Zhiyuan thought he might be having hallucinations due to excessive drinking. How could Cen Zhisen possibly be concerned about him?

He took out the last hangover candy he hadn’t eaten from his pocket, pinched the candy, and patted Cen Zhisen’s chest. Feeling the firm muscles beneath the fabric, he curled his fingers slightly and stuffed the candy into the pocket of Cen Zhisen’s suit jacket. “The last one, returning it to you.”

“One candy also needs to be returned?” Cen Zhisen questioned.

Ning Zhiyuan withdrew his hand, looked at his fingertips, and said disdainfully, “I don’t want to take more of your things. People might say, ‘If it’s not yours, do you have the nerve to keep taking it?'”

He imitated the tone of the uncles and aunts at home, and after saying it, he burst into laughter.

“Why do you care so much about what others say?” Cen Zhisen observed him in a drunken and confused state. “I thought you were used to doing things your own way, completely indifferent to others’ opinions.”

“With your words, I’m not living in a vacuum. Besides…” He paused. Back then, he was just a child, and the elders in the family were either indifferent or hypocritical. He had questioned himself countless times, wondering where he fell short compared to Cen Zhisen, but he never got an answer. Therefore, he was unwilling to accept defeat. It was only when he grew up that he realized those things were meaningless. Still, chasing after Cen Zhisen had become a habit ingrained in his bones.

“Besides what?” Cen Zhisen insisted on asking.

Ning Zhiyuan didn’t want to say more, but Cen Zhisen persisted.

Lifting his eyelids, Ning Zhiyuan looked at him. “Do you really want to know?”

“Can’t you say it?” Cen Zhisen inquired.

“There’s nothing I can’t say; I’m just afraid you’re not interested in hearing it,” Ning Zhiyuan tilted his head slightly. “Cen Zhisen, do you think Ning Zhe can be a good brother to you? If  he grew up in your Cen family, treated differently with cold violence by your grandparents, instigated and alienated by your uncles and aunts. If everyone told him he had an outstanding and capable elder brother, that he was not as good as his brother, that he shouldn’t covet his brother’s things, and that he was a disaster, causing his mother’s death and making his brother lose his mother. Do you think he can still be a good brother to you with a calm and uncomplaining heart?”

Ning Zhiyuan spoke slowly, and his voice seemed ethereal.

Cen Zhisen listened silently for a while, then swallowed. “Is that so?”

Ning Zhiyuan was talking about others, but in fact, he was talking about himself.

Cen Zhisen probably knew about these things before, so he had been tolerant of Ning Zhiyuan’s provocations since childhood, even if he found this brother annoying.

Even so, he couldn’t truly empathize. Now, when asked by Ning Zhiyuan, he could only remain silent.

Ning Zhiyuan continued leaning against the tree trunk, his tone not intense, sounding like a complaint after getting drunk. “People outside say I’m living off your family’s wealth just because your Cen family is rich. I’ve become the one taking advantage. But, isn’t Ning Zhe also taking advantage of my parents? Their family has an album with hundreds of photos from his first hundred days to adulthood. The three of them would go on vacation whenever they had time, traveling all over the place, some of which I haven’t been to, and some I’ve been to for work but had to rush back and forth. While he enjoys my parents’ care and love, what about me? I’ve been alone overseas, with only a nanny and a housekeeper by my side, not even someone to talk to.

“From childhood until now, I haven’t celebrated my birthday even once. No one has ever wished me a happy birthday. Never.”

Cen Zhisen stared into his eyes. “Do you feel hurt?”

“Hurt? Of course, I feel hurt,” Ning Zhiyuan sighed. “If I weren’t your father’s son, it would have been impossible for me to become the executive vice president of An Corporation at such a young age. But so what? Can Ning Zhe do better than me? I also studied at a prestigious Ivy League school, and graduated with all A’s. Am I worse than your brother?”

“No,” Cen Zhisensaid.

Cen Zhengsen had never thought that Ning Zhiyuan was inferior to him. If Ning Zhiyuan were just the son of Ning Zheng and Sun Xiaoqing, growing up in the care of his parents, he would be a true pride of heaven. No one would compare him with others, and he wouldn’t feel so conflicted about those gains and losses.

“You’re drunk,” Cen Zhisen reminded him.

Ning Zhiyuan closed his eyes for a moment, fell silent for a few seconds, and then, as if suddenly coming to his senses, stood up straight. Frowning, he said, “I’m going in.”

Cen Zhisen stood in place and watched him. Ning Zhiyuan took two steps and stopped, swaying back towards him.

Cen Zhisen, puzzled, looked at him. Ning Zhiyuan’s lips curled up in a slight smile. “Didn’t you say you’d take me upstairs? Come with me; I have something for you.”