Chapter 43: Remains unchanged

Lin Yu ultimately managed to evade the “devilish claws” of his older sister, Lin Mowei.

“You made such a mess and still want to go home and rest? Dream on! You two, come with me right now and clean up this disaster!”

Lan Lan marched the two “problem children” out of the office with undeniable authority.

Lin Mowei seemed fine, but Gu Yunxi was far more embarrassed—she was still wearing that ragged bunny pajamas.

Stepping out of the office building, the cool night air reinvigorated Lin Yu.

Neon lights painted the street in a blur of shifting colors.

Ye Ling naturally assumed Lin Yu would go back with her.

“Come on, I’ll head to your room first to grab Auntie’s clothes. I still need to bring them over later; she can’t possibly stay in those pajamas forever.”

She took a few steps ahead as she finished speaking, only to realize there were no footsteps following behind.

Ye Ling stopped, turning around in confusion. “What’s wrong?”

Lin Yu didn’t look at her, his gaze instead falling on the flashing sign across the street. “I won’t be heading your way.”

This left Ye Ling momentarily stunned, a slight crease forming between her brows.

She didn’t quite understand.

Come to think of it, she’d never had the chance to ask why Lin Yu was in the room next to theirs, nor did she know why Auntie had brought him back.

Everything that had just happened made her forget about that detail completely.

But now that she thought about it, maybe it wasn’t that important after all.

“Al-alright then.” Ye Ling nodded, feeling an inexplicable emptiness inside. “Where are you staying? Let me walk you there. It’s late, and it’s not safe for you to go alone.”

Counting precisely, they hadn’t even known each other for twenty-four hours, but Ye Ling always felt as if she’d known this boy for a long, long time.

And those lingering fragments of dreams made her feel a kind of curiosity toward Lin Yu that she couldn’t quite explain… and a desire to get closer.

Lin Yu looked into her clear eyes, offering a gentle smile as he shook his head. “It’s alright. Where I’m staying isn’t far from here. It’d just be a hassle for you to go back and forth. No need to walk me.”

“No…” It’s not a hassle…

The words were on the tip of her tongue, but she swallowed them back. She pursed her lips and, in the end, said nothing.

Just as she thought—did this mean they were friends? She wasn’t sure.

Would this level of concern seem too forward?

“Well… I’ll go then.” She lowered her lashes, voice soft. “Be careful.”

“Mm.” Lin Yu waved at her.

Ye Ling turned and walked the way she’d come, her slender figure gradually blending into the flowing neon lights, disappearing at the street’s corner.

Lin Yu stood there for a few seconds, letting out a gentle breath before turning to leave as well.

Just then, a lazy yet clearly dissatisfied voice sounded right by his ear.

“What are you looking at? So entranced?”

He had forgotten—he’d settled things with his sister, but there was still someone even fiercer and more unruly here.

He turned around, instantly wearing a very standard, polite smile. “Aunt Qin, it’s nothing, just admiring the night view. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be heading off now?”

With that, he tried to take a step away.

But before he could move, someone grabbed him by the collar from behind.

“Uh…” Lin Yu had no choice but to turn his head back. “Aunt Qin, is there something else you need?”

Qin Wuyue narrowed her alluring eyes, her face darkening.

She stared at Lin Yu for a few seconds before suddenly asking out of the blue, “Xiao Yu, do you like that girl?”

Lin Yu’s pupils contracted. “Huh? Aunt Qin, why would you ask that? I only met Ye Ling today, it’s not like things can happen that fast, right?”

Qin Wuyue ignored his counter-question and instead leaned in closer.

Her eyes looked straight into the depths of Lin Yu’s, and she enunciated each word:

“Then why… is the smile you show her, and the one you show me, completely different?”

Lin Yu’s heart gave a hard thump, his polite smile fading unconsciously.

Qin Wuyue continued to press in, their noses almost touching, her faint fragrance and overwhelming presence enveloping him.

“Am I wrong? Now that I think about it, lately whenever you face me, it’s always been this fake smile, hasn’t it?”

As she said this, Qin Wuyue felt a sourness rising in her heart.

It wasn’t that she harbored any special feelings for Lin Yu—what overwhelmed her was a subconscious sense of unfairness.

She’d watched this child grow up. As a kid, he’d always followed behind her, calling “Aunt Qin, Aunt Qin” so sweetly.

It used to be fine, but recently, it was as if an invisible wall had risen between them.

It wasn’t about physical distance, but a gap in their hearts.

She couldn’t understand why things had become this way.

It was like something she’d always taken for granted—something that belonged to her—had suddenly become foreign, distant, and made her feel uneasy.

That feeling of losing control—she really, really didn’t like it.

“R-really?” Lin Yu was forced to meet her gaze, and he could even see his own uneasy face reflected in her pupils.

“Really?” Qin Wuyue’s lips curled into a cold, humorless smile. “Then smile for me now? Just like you did for that girl a moment ago.”

Lin Yu’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he tried to force a smile.

But thinking about her words just now, he simply couldn’t do it.

“See?” Qin Wuyue’s gaze dimmed. “Even if you want to smile at me like that, you just can’t, can you?”

With that, she actually smiled first herself, but there was no warmth in it—only sorrow and disappointment.

Like a beloved toy snatched away, and she was powerless to take it back, left standing there foolishly. Utterly ridiculous.

She let go, straightened, her eyes turning aside—her profile seemed shadowed under the light.

“You can go.” Her tone was as usual, but it seemed to lack something. “Be careful on your way.”

Lin Yu couldn’t help but look at her face.

Reason told him he should leave at once, not get caught up any further.

But seeing Qin Wuyue like this—so vulnerable, when she was always so flamboyant and in control—it stirred something in his heart, a trace of ache.

But that feeling was quickly suppressed.

He lowered his head, avoiding her gaze. “Then I’ll go.”

“Mm.”

Lin Yu turned and headed toward the hotel along the sidewalk.

He forced himself not to look back, and his steps quickened.

But he forgot—or maybe he was just hoping—that if Qin Wuyue were someone easily crushed by emotion, she wouldn’t be called Qin Wuyue.

He’d only gone a dozen or so meters when fate once again yanked him by the collar from behind.

“?”

Lin Yu hadn’t even reacted before Qin Wuyue’s furious, unreasonable voice crashed down on him.

“I thought it over—no way! If you just brush me off like that, I won’t be able to sleep tonight!”

“??”

“You little brat, you’d better explain yourself! What exactly is your relationship with that Ye Ling girl? How did you two meet? Are you hiding something from me?”

“???”

Only one thought remained in Lin Yu’s mind: Seriously, what is wrong with you! So who were you acting for just now?

His protests and struggles meant nothing in the face of overwhelming strength.

“Come on! Back with me! Unless you explain everything, you’re not sleeping tonight!”

Totally unable to resist, Lin Yu was locked under Qin Wuyue’s arm and force-marched away, getting a taste of a wild, up-and-down rollercoaster ride.