Sincere Advice

Fu Haoyao awkwardly offered his suggestions, though his Affinity Points were steadily climbing, until they stopped at 25 and wouldn't budge.

It was only then she noticed that his affinity had already risen that much from 5 without her realizing.

It felt easier to win him over than she'd expected.

Fu Liangxia sank into thought.

Still, five kilometers a day was a bit much—did he think she was some kind of professional athlete like him?

Fu Liangxia didn't argue, just gave a docile little smile, as if she really would go run five kilometers every day like he said.

"Got it. Thanks for turning off the AC for me." The girl tilted her head up, her pretty eyes fixed on him, clear and bright, without a trace of gloom.

There was a wholehearted trust in that gaze that nearly made Fu Haoyao feel like some savior who had done something huge.

All he'd done was turn off the AC!

Fu Haoyao stared at the girl's face, growing increasingly uncomfortable, and turned away again: "It's nothing."

"But seriously, Brother, Fu Liangxia's health isn't great—why did you bring her to a place like this and not even have the cold air turned off in advance?" The boy's tone carried a hint of dissatisfaction, with a bit of cunning he wasn't even aware of himself.

It seemed to say: My brother's so inconsiderate, doesn't even know to care about you.

And you're still holding his hand.

"..."

Fu Liangxia somehow seemed to read the meaning behind his words and fell silent.

She knew why Fu Haoyao was saying this—it was because of what had happened earlier, misunderstanding her relationship with Fu Langshu.

And Fu Langshu, for whatever reason, when misunderstood, just let it go and didn't bother to explain.

What was going on?

She silently glanced at the man across from her, waiting for his reaction.

But the man just raised an eyebrow and said, "Done talking? Then sit down and eat."

"..."

Fu Haoyao took a deep breath, looking at that indifferent face across from him, feeling like all his emotions were being pressed down in his chest, held in place by an invisible hand.

A deep sense of helplessness.

His brother was always like this—cold and detached toward everything, showing no trace of real emotion.

It was a bit irritating.

"Fine," he said sullenly, but his body obediently sat down.

Too easy to control.

Fu Liangxia saw how he dared not speak his anger and couldn't help chuckling inwardly.

Fortunately, the rest of the meal passed without incident. To be fair, the cuisine at the private club Liang Huiming had chosen was pretty good—even Fu Liangxia, with her bird-sized appetite, ate a few extra bites.

After the meal, they left by car, but with Fu Langshu added to the group, seating became a dilemma—

Who should sit in the front passenger seat.

As everyone knew, in a car with a clear hierarchy, the superior shouldn't sit in the front.

So Fu Liangxia instinctively headed for the passenger side, but halfway there, Fu Langshu caught her wrist.

The man's scorching palm pressed against her wrist, immediately igniting a patch of heat. His voice was calm: "You sit in the back. Let Xiaoyao sit in front."

Hearing this, she didn't understand why, but she felt his fingertip lightly tap the inside of her arm, as if hinting at something.

Fu Liangxia swallowed her doubts. As she opened the car door, her peripheral vision caught a glimpse at the club entrance—the valet was handing car keys to a tall man.

The man was wearing a flashy floral shirt. Who else could it be but Liang Huiming?

He still hadn't left.

Could he be deliberately waiting for them?

A flicker of suspicion passed through her mind, but Fu Liangxia didn't care. Even if he'd seen through her act with Fu Langshu, what did it matter? It wasn't her being harassed anyway.

Not my business, so just let it go.

By the time they left the club, it was already past eight in the evening. There was naturally no time for tutoring, so Feng Qian drove Fu Liangxia home first.

When she got out of the car, she first changed back into her suit jacket. Her gaze swept past Fu Haoyao's face in the passenger seat, catching only a cold, hard profile.

The girl was gone, but the faint, cool fragrance lingered in the air, and the car fell into an awkward silence.

...

When Fu Liangxia got home, her father wasn't back yet. Her mother was watching a drama, and hearing the door, she raised her voice: "Xiaoxia's back."

Through the entryway, Fu Liangxia could see the floor-to-ceiling home theater in the living room playing a prime-time soap opera. Her mother was watching with flushed cheeks, not lifting her head. Beside her sat Fu Liedong, looking uninterested, yet still lingering there with a bored expression.

Fu Liangxia glanced at the screen—it happened to be showing two men brawling, while the woman in the background cried, "Stop fighting, you two..."

"Oh, what a tragedy—" her mother sighed. "Two good brothers, both falling for the same girl. What a twist of fate, tsk tsk..."

Fu Liedong narrowed his eyes: "Mom, I've told you to watch less of this stuff. Only TV dramas have scenes like this. How could something this ridiculous happen in real life?"

Hearing that, her mother was displeased. She finally tore her gaze from the screen to glare at him: "Why not? The more closely related brothers are, the more similar their tastes—genes and the same upbringing, after all."

Fu Liedong pouted: "Even if they both fell for the same girl, one of them would surely back off. It's not something so rare that they'd fight like that."

Her mother snorted coldly, thinking her simple son clearly had no clue about love, no comprehension of feelings at all.

When you truly fall for someone, it's not something you can just give up.

Even between brothers.

Quite the opposite—maybe it was precisely that kind of competition that stirred up hidden desires in one's heart.

Not wanting to argue with him, her mother directly shooed him away: "Go on, if you can't understand it, then don't hang around here. You're torturing yourself and me both. Go upstairs and study."

Fu Liedong: "..."

It was precisely because he didn't want to study that he'd come down to watch this sappy stuff.

Because when studying, everything else seemed interesting.

But her mother wouldn't tolerate someone insulting the drama she was so into, sitting there with a picky expression beside her.

She called out to Fu Liangxia, who was about to head upstairs after a quick glance: "Take your brother upstairs. See if there's anything he doesn't understand and teach him, or give him some practice problems. Don't let him idle."

Fu Liangxia turned to look at Fu Liedong and raised an eyebrow: "Coming?"

The boy didn't get why he'd angered his mother, but he could sense the strong murderous intent radiating from her. He rubbed his nose and said sheepishly, "Yeah."

But as they headed upstairs, he still couldn't help testing his sister: "Don't you think I'm right? There's no way real brothers would fight and turn against each other over loving the same person."

Fu Liangxia glanced at him. His eyes were innocent, his expression slightly foolish, as if he truly hadn't figured it out.

"TV dramas are, of course, fictional, with artistic embellishment."

Hearing the girl's words, Fu Liedong was pleased—so there was at least one normal person in this family.

But then he heard the girl continue slowly: "However, art comes from life. Whether something like that happens in real life—who knows."

... Right, he shouldn't have trusted her.

"Foolish," he said, looking at her like she was an incurable romantic. "Can't reason with you. I'm going to bed."

With that, he turned and went straight into his room.

Fu Liangxia slowly withdrew her gaze, lowering her eyes in thought.

Impossible?

She thought it wasn't necessarily so.

...

Unexpectedly, as she lay in bed, she received a message from Fu Haoyao—a rare occurrence.

After getting home, Fu Haoyao found himself increasingly restless. When he asked Fu Langshu, the other just brushed it off lightly.

Too curious, he asked the other party involved.

Fu Haoyao: [What's going on between you and my brother today?]

After sending it, his heartbeat suddenly quickened. He was nervous about her reply, both wanting to see it and not wanting to.

Fu Haoyao kept pressing the lock button, watching the screen go black and bright again, but no new message came into the chat.

He looked up and saw it hadn't even been a minute since he sent it.

Yet it felt like an eternity had passed.

Fu Liangxia: [Didn't your brother tell you?]

Fu Haoyao: [I asked him, but he wouldn't say. Just told me not to get involved.]

Fu Liangxia: [Then I probably can't tell you either.]

She replied with full professional integrity, utterly disregarding Fu Haoyao's feelings.

Fu Haoyao stared at that "either" and suddenly felt a tightness in his chest, like he'd been tossed into lemon juice, a strange feeling.

Fu Haoyao: [What secret do you two have that I'm not allowed to know?]

Fu Liangxia: [None.]

Fu Haoyao thought, liar.

Her reaction clearly showed she was checking his brother's cues—once she heard his brother hadn't said anything, she clammed up too.

Fu Haoyao felt that no matter what, he couldn't just watch his classmate and tutor walk into a whirlpool. He warned: [Anyway, I have to tell you something—don't let my brother's cold demeanor fool you. He's never short on female companions.]

He sent several photos of his brother at banquets, snapped by tabloids.

Fu Haoyao: [See? Not a single repeat.]

Fu Liangxia: [?]

But what did that have to do with her?

She didn't want to be his sister-in-law anyway, so why should she care how many female companions his brother had.

Fu Haoyao: [Don't think you're pretty enough to make a difference. Those companions weren't ugly either, but they were still disposable. Fu Langshu has no heart.]

By the end, he wasn't even calling him "brother," just using his full name—clearly sincere in his advice.

But Fu Liangxia, blinded by the goal of raising Affinity Points, didn't notice at all. Her gaze lingered on that phrase "don't think you're pretty enough" for a long time.

Moments later, she suddenly curled her lips into a smile.

She switched her input method to voice and held it to her lips, slowly asking, "So you think I'm pretty, Young Master Fu?"

Fu Liangxia's voice was pleasant, especially when she slowed her speech, trying to stir someone's emotions.

It was alluring.

Two seconds after Fu Haoyao played the voice message, his ears turned completely red.

What was that? Was that the point? He muttered under his breath.

But his hand, very honestly, pressed play again.

What had originally been a simple statement of fact, when she deliberately called it out like that, made it seem like he had some other intention toward her.

Thinking that, Fu Haoyao replied stiffly: [Mm, don't overthink. I'm just stating a fact, no other meaning.]

Fu Liangxia: [Oh.]

She didn't send another voice message, and Fu Haoyao couldn't guess her tone, so he just assumed she understood what he meant.

Covering his ears, he pulled the blanket over his head, tossed his phone aside, and his face grew even redder.

Meanwhile, when Fu Liangxia exited the chat after replying to Fu Haoyao, she noticed that Su Xingshu had sent her two messages at some point.

First, a screenshot of a Fan Club registration form, with her name written on it.

Followed by a brief: [?]