Chapter 17: Does Big Brother See Him as a Child?

Chapter 17: Does Big Brother See Him as a Child?

Chi Jue placed the peeled shrimp into a clean bowl and swapped it with the bowl in front of Ye Man.

Seeing Ye Man frozen in place, Chi Jue reminded him, "I've peeled them for you."

Ye Man almost reached for the shrimp in front of him, but then he remembered the system's points he hadn't yet earned. He stiffened his neck, acting stubborn, and purposely being difficult, "I don't feel like eating it anymore, sorry, Second Brother."

He thought that by bullying Chi Jue like this, his parents and eldest brother would surely step in and scold him.

But there was no other way; the system's points were clearly more important at the moment.

After waiting for a while, no one else spoke up. Only Chi Jue calmly replied, "How about some milk and an egg? You need protein to help you heal faster."

Ye Man didn't respond. Chi Jue frowned, his tone instantly stern, "If there's nothing you want to eat, you can tell Auntie Zhou and she'll make something for you. You can't skip breakfast just because you're picky. Even with a poor appetite, you should eat something. You're still recovering."

Ye Man was startled by his tone, which was so similar to Chi Yan's, and his confidence instantly dropped significantly.

Chi Jue reached to take away the bowl of shrimp in front of Ye Man, but Ye Man instinctively grabbed it.

Chi Jue tilted his head to look at him, only to see the young man muttering with a pout, "You peeled these just for me."

Letting go, Ye Man firmly held the bowl in his hands, as if someone were trying to snatch it away.

Chi Jue glanced at the bowl of shrimp, then at the young man who claimed he didn't want to eat but was fiercely protective of it, and a slight smile appeared in his eyes.

With the whole family watching, Ye Man extended his only usable hand, carefully felt the edge of the bowl, and then picked up a shrimp and put it into his mouth.

With only one hand available, he just grabbed the shrimp with his hand, firmly refusing Chi Jue's offer to feed him.

The shrimp at breakfast were boiled in salt water, without sauce, so they weren't messy.

Ye Man bit down hard.

He silently complained to the system, "The protagonist is too deep. Even when I'm mean to him, he still puts up with it. No wonder he's the protagonist; he's really hard to deal with."

Mean? He calls this mean?

The system paused for a moment before reminding him, "Eat slower."

The Chi family watched Ye Man closely. They exchanged silent glances before returning to their meals.

Qin Fangrui recalled her conversation with Auntie Zhou the previous night.

She had always avoided interacting with Ye Man before, but now she was seriously observing him for the first time.

Ye Man went from being full of fighting spirit, like a pumped-up balloon, to sitting quietly and obediently beside Chi Jue eating, all because Chi Jue said, "Okay."

Auntie Zhou had said that Ye Man was easy to coax, and Qin Fangrui was now seeing firsthand just how easy it was to coax Ye Man.

Chi Jue stopped peeling shrimp after filling half a bowl and switched to peeling eggs for Ye Man, also grabbing a piece of bread—easy-to-eat foods.

Although Ye Man didn't seem very happy, he still obediently ate everything Chi Jue gave him.

After the meal, Chi Jue offered some fruit, saying it would help with vitamins.

After eating half an orange, Ye Man shook his head, "I can't eat anymore."

Chi Jue didn't force him. After a moment of thought, he tentatively patted Ye Man's head and said, "You did really well today."

Under the curious gazes of Chi’s dad and Qin Fangrui, Ye Man thought he was being sneaky as he brushed against Chi Jue’s palm.

Chi Jue, who’d been ‘petted’ like a cat, calmly pulled his hand back. The sensation lingered in his palm, stubbornly refusing to fade, leaving a strange, warm ache in his chest.

When he looked up, he caught his older brother, Chi Yan, watching them. Though Chi Yan’s face was as calm and unreadable as ever, Chi Jue picked up on something deeper in his expression.

Chi Jue smirked smugly, raising an eyebrow with a fox-like grin, a hint of challenge in his eyes.

He mouthed silently, “Sorry, big bro, Xiao Man just likes me better.”

Chi Yan was too strict, and Xiao Man, being young and naive, naturally gravitated toward a kinder, easier-going brother.

Chi Jue conveniently forgot he was only a few hours older than Ye Man—they were practically the same age.

Chi Yan gave a silent, icy laugh, loosened his tie in annoyance, and stood up. “Xiao Man, come with me to the study.”

Chi Jue felt a tug on his clothes and looked down to see Ye Man clutching the hem of his shirt. He took Ye Man’s hand and guided it to his arm, letting him lean on him for support. With his other hand, he grabbed Ye Man’s cane and guided him after Chi Yan. “Don’t worry, if big bro scolds you, just cry. I promise he won’t dare say another word.”

Ye Man thought Chi Jue’s advice was terrible. Was Chi Yan really the kind of guy who’d back off just because someone cried?

As they neared the door, Ye Man, still uneasy, whispered, “Does this really work?”

“It’ll work.”

“You’ve tried it?”

“Nope,” Chi Jue chuckled, pinching Ye Man’s cheek. “It depends on who’s doing it. It doesn’t work for me, but it’ll work for you.”

Ye Man, still puzzled, was led into the study, wondering why it’d work for him but not Chi Jue.

After delivering Ye Man to the study, Chi Jue left.

Ye Man was nervous, but when Chi Yan called him over, he didn’t say a word. Instead, he told Ye Man to take out his phone and practice calling him.

Chi Yan pulled up a chair and had Ye Man sit next to him. As Chi Yan typed away, Ye Man sat there, tapping at his phone. During Chi Yan’s video conference, Ye Man was still tapping at his phone.

The more he tapped, the more lost he felt.

Even mid-meeting, Chi Yan made time to answer Ye Man’s calls, waiting for him to hang up before doing it again.

After finishing a meeting, Chi Yan glanced over, not only answering the call from his brother sitting right beside him but also holding the phone to his ear.

“Do you know what the first thing to do is when you run into trouble now?”

Chi Yan’s deep, slightly weary voice came through the phone and from beside him after a morning of non-stop work.

Ye Man nodded blankly.

Chi Yan: “What should you do?”

Ye Man: “Find... my brother?”

Chi Yan: “Mm.”

Chi Yan: “Open your mouth.”

Ye Man opened his mouth, and a candy ball dropped in, the sweet citrus flavor spreading across his tongue.

Chi Yan: “A reward.”

A warm sensation brushed the top of his head and vanished in a flash.

"When something happens, don’t panic. Practice regularly so you’re prepared when it matters most," Chi Yan tapped on his computer. "No matter what I’m doing or how important it is, it won’t stop me from answering your call. Just call me—don’t worry about interrupting me or overthinking the situation."

"Understand?"

Ye Man touched his head, "Hmm..."

Ye Man wandered back to his room in a daze, threw himself onto the bed, and his exposed ears turned slightly red.

Was Brother treating him like a kid?

After wallowing in embarrassment and self-pity for a moment, Ye Man turned over, lay on his back, and stared blankly at the ceiling.

The sweetness still lingered on his tongue.

"Brother Tong..."

"What’s wrong?"

Ye Man blinked his eyes, lowered his gaze, and hid the complex emotions swirling within him. In the end, he suppressed the words that were about to spill out.

"The cannon fodder score can’t keep falling like this, Brother Tong. When is the next key plot point?"

The system felt that for a moment, Ye Man had something very important to say.

"Hold on, let me look it up."

"In a month, there’s a very important international economic and trade exchange conference in Zhonghai City. Chi Yan was supposed to go, but he got caught up with other matters, so in the end, it was decided that Chi Jue would attend in his place. The conference will last for a week, and Meng Yao will also be there."

"When you heard about this, you insisted on going along. Once in Zhonghai, you went all out to win Meng Yao over, but the protagonist ignored you completely. On the last day, seeing that you were about to miss the great opportunity to snatch Meng Yao from Chi Jue, and after being rejected repeatedly over the past few days, in a fit of rage, you decided to take a desperate gamble. While Meng Yao was drunk, you sneaked into his room and gave him a certain kind of drug, planning to have something happen with him..."

Seeing Ye Man’s eyelashes tremble and droop with worry, the system quickly added, "But don’t worry, nothing happened in the end. You only ended up humiliating yourself again. Not only did you not break the relationship between the protagonist and his love interest, but it also gave them a chance to talk things out, realize their true feelings, and only made the protagonist more determined to take you down."

While the system was speaking, it didn’t feel much, but when Ye Man earnestly promised that he would complete the plot this time, the system glanced at his arm in a cast, the band-aid on his face, and thought of the other injuries on his body. Suddenly, it felt a deep concern for the upcoming events.

"Don’t push yourself too hard. Your health comes first. If it doesn’t work out, we still have another chance," it advised earnestly.

Now it was starting to worry that the malicious cannon fodder might not even survive until the exit plot at this rate!