Chapter 4 A-04

Chapter 4 A-04

Yun Qian’s hands felt awkward, unable to find a comfortable resting place.

He glanced back briefly and froze, seeing the tall, handsome man standing not far away. “...Big brother?” he asked, uncertainly.

Yun Xiu: “Huh?”

Getting caught gossiping by the very person you’re talking about—that was truly embarrassing.

The young man quietly slipped off Yun Qian’s back. As Yun He approached, he meekly said, his voice barely a whisper, “Brother.”

Yun He first nodded at Yun Qian, then his gaze swept over Yun Xiu, seemingly unfazed by the playful antics between his younger brothers.

Mother Yun, however, was completely unbothered by her eldest son’s imposing demeanor. She pulled him aside, chattering incessantly, her words filled with accusations that he had broken his promises and failed to deliver on what he’d agreed to.

As a family, Yun He was responsible for the group’s work, and Mother Yun had long stopped caring whether he came home on time. But the thought of how Zhao Limei’s influence had ruined their meal left her feeling somewhat resentful.

Yun Xiu’s eyes darted mischievously. He took two steps forward, linked arms with the man, and said with a bright smile, “Brother, you haven’t eaten yet, have you? I’m still hungry too. There’s some food left in the kitchen—let’s eat together!”

Yun He initially wanted to pull away, but seeing the young man’s upturned face, with its fair and soft skin and innocent expression, he hesitated, missing the opportune moment to break free.

*Sigh*, whatever.

Seeing this, Yun Qian suddenly felt a pang of unease.

At first, he hadn’t thought much of his eldest brother, Yun He, merely nodding in greeting. Yun He didn’t strike him as a particularly warm or friendly person.

But then he watched Yun He indulge Yun Xiu’s affectionate clinging, with their biological parents smiling approvingly nearby, and Yun Qian suddenly felt like an outsider, superfluous.

He had thought things through clearly before returning. Before Yun He came home, Yun Qian hadn’t felt anything amiss. But with an odd number of people, he became the one left out, the extra.

Without thinking, he blurted out sharply, “Is it that you can’t eat well if you’re at the same table as me?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Yun Qian regretted them.

He saw those beautiful, cat-like eyes widen in disbelief, as if shocked that he would ask such a hurtful question.

With the elders present, Yun Xiu remembered his role of being well-behaved and sensible. Instead of arguing with Yun Qian, he widened his eyes, puffed out his cheeks, and turned his head away sharply, presenting his back to him.

*Heartless!*

Yun Xiu hadn’t even started scheming against Yun Qian yet, but here he was being attacked first. Who was the real one with the mission?

In his anger, he forgot to ask Yun He for his opinion and pulled him straight back into the house without a second glance.

The previously harmonious atmosphere instantly turned icy. Mother Yun frowned. After Yun Xiu and Yun He went inside, she saw Yun Qian still standing motionless outside and said as gently as possible, trying not to hurt the sensitive twenty-year-old:

“Xiao Qian, no matter whose fault the baby mix-up was, it wasn’t either of yours. I know you have issues with Xiao Zai, but he’s innocent. Earlier, we were busy with work, and Xiao He was in school. Xiao Zai was raised by nannies and, due to certain reasons, developed autism spectrum disorder. He only started improving in his teens.”

“Maybe I have no right to say this, but strictly speaking, you didn’t suffer much in their family. Xiao Zai, from birth until now, has only had these three good years with us.”

“I’m telling you this not to force you to apologize to Xiao Zai. You’re both my children, and I don’t want things to get too ugly between you.”

Yun Qian stood there stunned. Knowing the truth hurt him even more than seeing Yun Xiu and Yun He getting along so well.

While Zhao Limei had poor character, she had raised Yun Qian like a golden phoenix. The family never mistreated or wronged him, hoping that after he returned to his biological family, he wouldn’t forget their upbringing and would bring them into the Yun family to enjoy a life of luxury.

As Yun Qian grew older, he realized there were many things about his parents’ behavior he couldn’t agree with and learned to change them himself. But one thing was undeniable—

As an "only child," Yun Qian had never apologized to anyone.

During his phase of not distinguishing right from wrong, there was no need to apologize. After he learned to tell right from wrong, there was no occasion to apologize. In situations where an apology was necessary, he chose to compensate with material things.

What did Yun Xiu lack?

Yun Qian couldn’t think of anything. Just the things the Yun family had given him after confirming his bloodline were enough to support an ordinary family comfortably for three generations. Yun Xiu probably lacked nothing materially.

Mother Yun had said all she could.

Before the child returned, she and her husband had spent a long time figuring out how to treat everyone fairly. They gave Yun Qian material compensation before he returned and emotional support after he arrived, yet Yun Qian still felt unfairly treated.

A layer of weariness settled between Mother Yun’s brows. The excitement and joy of her biological child’s return had completely faded. She had done all she could and truly didn’t know what to do next.

In contrast to her gentle persuasion, Father Yun maintained the Yun family’s characteristic aloofness. Leaving behind the words, “You have the right to choose,” he supported his wife and went back to their room to rest.

Ten minutes earlier, the family had been laughing and chatting together. Now, only Yun Qian remained standing outside alone.

…

Yun Xiu’s anger flared up quickly but faded fast. If Yun He hadn’t needed to change out of his suit, he would have dragged him into the kitchen to experiment with frying glutinous rice cakes.

Yun Xiu didn’t know the housekeeper’s off-duty hours. To satisfy his craving for brown sugar glutinous rice cakes, he didn’t hesitate to enlist his stern-faced eldest brother.

The reason was simple: unlike the typical perfect second male lead, Yun Xiu had never lifted a finger for household chores. He was clueless about cooking and household tasks. If he wanted to show off, he had to go through eighteen twists and turns to present himself.

*Ugh!*

Typically, second male leads came from good backgrounds and never lacked people to serve them. Yun Xiu felt that his lack of skills wasn’t a problem!

But while Yun He was changing, Yun Xiu noticed the housekeeper was still there, though preparing to leave. He sweet-talked her for two minutes before convincing her to fry the glutinous rice cakes.

The housekeeper beamed with delight, joking about "no pay, no overtime," but her hands moved deftly as she heated the oil and fried the cakes.

Golden, adorable glutinous rice cakes were neatly arranged on a white porcelain plate, drizzled with a layer of brown sugar syrup, and finally sprinkled with soybean flour. A plate of brown sugar glutinous rice cakes was ready.

Frying glutinous rice cakes seemed so simple. Yun Xiu felt he had mastered it and began imitating the process at another stove.

Soon, blackened, charred, shapeless lumps of glutinous rice faced off against the housekeeper.

Yun Xiu guiltily rubbed his nose and forced a laugh, flattering her, “Haha, it seems us youngsters still have a long way to learn!”

The housekeeper said helplessly, “Young master, you should just go out.”

Ruining a plate of glutinous rice cakes didn’t just waste the cakes—the entire pot of oil was unusable. Although she wasn’t spending her own money on oil, the housekeeper felt sorry for the Yun family.

The Yun family’s young master was kicked out of his own kitchen.

Ten minutes later, the housekeeper finished frying four portions of glutinous rice cakes, took off her apron, and happily clocked out.

Yun Xiu noticed Yun He still hadn’t come downstairs, his second brother had disappeared, and his parents had gone upstairs to rest.

He glanced toward the upstairs direction, confirmed no one was around, sneaked furtively back into the kitchen, put on an apron and gloves, and as footsteps approached the kitchen, sprinkled soybean flour over the glutinous rice cakes for a second round of final touches, making them look somewhat presentable.

Yun He was delayed because he had taken a shower in his room and dried his hair before coming downstairs.

As soon as he stepped into the kitchen, Yun Xiu turned around and smiled at him. “Brother, go wait in the side hall. I’ll bring them over in a bit.”

Yun He didn't move, his unwavering gaze showing a hint of surprise. "Did you make this?"

As far as he knew, Yun Xiu never had the chance to learn how to cook.

Yun Xiu smiled shyly, admitting by default. "I thought it was pretty simple. I failed once, but after that, it got much easier."

Tonight was a special situation. Aside from the scheduled cleaning times, the main house generally doesn't keep staff around.

Since Yun Xiu had taken charge of making the food, Yun He had no reason to just sit and wait to be served. He took the initiative to carry the brown sugar glutinous rice cakes to the side hall.

Yun He, a young and strong man, couldn't just have brown sugar glutinous rice cakes for dinner. Yun Xiu remembered that the auntie had left a meal for him, kept warm in the steamer. The "leftovers" were beautifully plated, incorporating almost all the ingredients from tonight’s dishes.

He swallowed hard, remembering his own sensitive constitution, and reluctantly gave up the idea of sharing a bite.

It wasn’t worth ending up in the hospital just for a taste of food.

There were two portions of "leftovers." Mother Yun ate little at night, so the other portion was likely reserved for Father Yun or Yun Qian.

Seeing him bring out the meal, Yun He raised an eyebrow. "Did you make this too?"

"No," Yun Xiu shook his head honestly. "The auntie knew you’d be back late and specially set it aside for you."

You can't become an expert overnight—this meal clearly couldn’t have been made by him. Besides, it would be easy to find out what was served tonight with a simple question. There was no need to tell such an obvious lie.

Yun He nodded. "Thank you."

Yun Xiu smiled sweetly, flirting with him subtly: "As long as you like it, brother."

Unfortunately, Yun He remained as unresponsive as ever today. He picked up his chopsticks and began eating unhurriedly, showing no reaction to Yun Xiu’s words.

Yun Xiu wasn’t discouraged.

Back when he used to exchange tips with a colleague from a certain platform, the other person had said that the harder a man is to pursue, the more loyal he tends to be.

Even though his colleague had looked a bit strange when saying the word "loyal," Yun Xiu still believed him.

After dinner, without Mother Yun as the social glue, there was no shared TV time tonight. Everyone returned to their rooms to rest.

9 p.m.

Yun Xiu emerged from the bathroom, a small yellow floral towel on his head, his eyes fixed on his phone.

After a pause, he couldn’t help but urge, "Hurry up and pick the role you want to play."

"What do you want to play?"

Fang Zicheng’s voice came through the phone. "How about you pick first?"

Yun Xiu immediately rejected the idea. "You go first. I have choice paralysis. Hurry up, hurry up!"

The two had added each other as friends. Since their majors were different, they didn’t have many common topics. It was unclear who brought it up first, but once they started talking about games, they immediately clicked and decided to team up.

Time was tight—both had to select their heroes at the same time. Fang Zicheng didn’t have time to think it through and randomly picked a jungler at the last second. Unexpectedly, Yun Xiu’s account auto-selected a jungler as well, causing a lane conflict.

Yun Xiu: "Uh-oh?"

Fang Zicheng: "No other choice."

The hero Fang Zicheng had chosen had relatively high tankiness, and since their team lacked a frontline/tank, he simply switched roles. He joked, "Look on the bright side—our other three teammates can still fill the roles."

Yun Xiu sighed. "We should coordinate before queuing next time."

Fang Zicheng laughed and agreed.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Yun Xiu couldn’t think of who might be visiting him at this hour, but since Mother Yun sometimes brought them milk they weren't fond of when she had time, he assumed it was her. Still controlling the game interface, he hurried to the door.

"Mom, I’m in the middle of a game. Can you wait—"

Halfway through his sentence, Yun Xiu looked up and saw an unexpected person. His fine eyebrows furrowed tightly, and he said bluntly, "What are you doing here?"