"I'm so thirsty..."
Dazed, Jiang Juyou opened her eyes. The phone in her palm was in the middle of dialing a number:
—Shang Muye.
She frowned and scanned her surroundings. A spacious, bright, and luxurious hotel suite—she knew this layout all too well. It was the penthouse of the Junyue Hotel, a property under her brother's name.
But... wasn't she supposed to be on a mountain in the suburbs?
For the first snowfall of the season in Jing City, she had promised Shang Muye she would go to Changbai Mountain to watch it with him.
She had arrived and waited for him all day until her body went numb, only to receive a single message:
—Not coming.
When she tried to return to Jing City, an avalanche struck Changbai Mountain, and she was trapped. Her phone ringing was swallowed by the snow, and so was she.
After she died, her soul did not dissipate; instead, it was free to roam. She wandered for who knows how many days and nights until she reached Jing City and found Shang Muye. A supercar was parked beside him, and he was kissing Zhou Die, his so-called "good buddy."
The man's silver hair danced in the wind as he held Zhou Die in his arms, his peach-blossom eyes looking both charming and tender.
"Hey, you still haven't cut ties with that little childhood friend of yours, have you?" Zhou Die asked, kicking him playfully, her face full of arrogance. "You haven't even cleared out the strays, yet you dare to come touch your daddy?"
Shang Muye curved his lips into a mocking smile. "Your daddy? That fierce?"
"Wasn't getting together with her just a bet you lost, so you made me confess? Jealous?"
Floating by his side, Jiang Juyou opened her mouth, repeating the words "strays" that had fallen from his lips. She let out a self-deprecating laugh. "A bet..."
So, her relationship with Shang Muye had been nothing more than a game, a bet proposed by Zhou Die.
Jiang Juyou no longer held any hope for Shang Muye. She only wanted to see her mom and dad, and to see... her brother.
"Hello..." a lazy, off-key voice sounded from the other end of the line.
"Shang Muye, hurry up and draw a card! What are you dragging your feet for? You're a grown man..." An unrestrained female voice could be heard vaguely through the phone.
Shang Muye muttered, "Busy," and hung up.
"Cough, cough..." Jiang Juyou looked at the darkened screen, the dryness in her throat intensifying.
She was alive again. She had been reborn to a time before she had accepted Shang Muye's confession.
She glanced at the thermometer nearby; her fever was at forty degrees Celsius. This was the state she had intentionally put herself in for Shang Muye's sake, but even when she was hospitalized, he hadn't made a single phone call to her.
Instead, her brother, whom she hadn't seen in a long time, had sat by her bedside, peeling an orange for her, meticulously removing every strand of white pith. She still remembered what he had said back then. Pei Zongzhi’s words were clear, his tone consistently cold, yet his voice had trembled at the end:
"Do you like him that much? Enough to hurt your own body?"
But back then, she had already fallen out with her brother, intent only on throwing a tantrum: "I don't need you to tell me what to do!"
Everyone in the Jing City social circle knew that Jiang Juyou, the daughter of the Jiang Family who had been spoiled rotten by Pei Zongzhi, was Shang Muye’s little shadow. Wherever Shang Muye went, she followed. For him, she had even cut ties with Pei Zongzhi, refusing to ever see him again.
Jiang Juyou picked up her phone, her weak fingers tapping the screen. She had deleted her brother's number, but she remembered it. He had made her memorize it many, many times.
"Beep... beep... beep..." The phone rang. Jiang Juyou held her breath; a few seconds felt like an eternity.
"Hello."
Her heart skipped a beat, but she realized it wasn't her brother's voice.
"Brother Shen... I..."
"Oh? Zongzhi’s little sister? I thought you were cutting ties with your brother..."
The sound on the phone cut off abruptly. When it returned, it was that steady, reassuring voice: "What is it?"
It was faint, but hearing it, Jiang Juyou felt as though she could smell the cedarwood scent that always clung to her brother. Tears welled up instantly, and she couldn't stop herself from sobbing. "I... I... wuuu, Brother..."
She had been wrong. She missed him.
"Where are you?"
"I..." Jiang Juyou took a breath. "Junyue."
"Stay there."
Her sobs hadn't even ceased, and she thought he had hung up, but when she looked down, the call was still connected. She could faintly hear the sound of a man opening a door.
On the other end, Shen Wangting stared in disbelief. "You called me out to drink and drown our sorrows, remember?"
Wait, no? Seconds ago, he had been saying that the heartless girl had cut ties with him for a white-haired punk, and that he would never worry about her again? And now, a single phone call with a couple of whimpers and she had managed to trick Pei Zongzhi into leaving?
"I really admire you doting brothers. Heh."
*Bang!* Pei Zongzhi slammed the door shut and left.
"Why is your voice so hoarse?" he asked her.
"Um... I have a fever."
Hearing this, the man’s knuckles tightened on the phone until they turned white.
"Did you call a doctor?" The Junyue Hotel had private doctors on twenty-four-hour call.
"No."
"..." Pei Zongzhi gritted his teeth. "Are you sick on purpose to trick Shang Muye because he didn't come?"
Jiang Juyou let out a low whimper. How did he know...
"You..." He wanted to scold her, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything harsh that would hurt the young girl's heart. He walked faster, reached the garage, pulled open the car door, and got in, his phone still connected.
*Ding—*
Jiang Juyou looked up, dazed, as Pei Zongzhi entered, followed by the hotel manager and a doctor. The manager hurriedly pushed the doctor forward, wiping sweat from his forehead. This little ancestor was such a handful—how could she let herself get a fever and not tell anyone? If something happened to her... Never mind if something happened; even if she was fine, the look on President Pei's face just now had been terrifying.
"Brother..."
As soon as Jiang Juyou saw him, her small mouth puckered, and her tears flowed even harder. She raised her arms, wanting a hug.
Pei Zongzhi forgot the principle he’d held before opening the door—that he must teach her a lesson this time. He raised his arms, pulled her into an embrace, and stroked her head.
"You're burning up." His voice was already thick with anger.
Just as he was about to pull away to check her condition, Jiang Juyou held onto him tightly.
"Brother, I don't like Shang Muye anymore."
She buried her head in the crook of Pei Zongzhi’s neck, breathing in his faint, reassuring scent of cedarwood. She moved her hand, hooked her finger around his, and tugged it. "I was wrong. Please don't cut ties with me, okay?"
She sobbed, her round, beautiful deer-like eyes glistening with tears. Her eyes were red, the tip of her nose flushed, and she was acting spoiled with him.
Pei Zongzhi’s expression darkened. He knew in his heart that she was likely just saying she didn't like Shang Muye because she felt wronged, yet he couldn't help but feel happy about it.
His low voice was filled with doting affection: "Cut ties with you? You're too overbearing, little sister. Are you putting words in my mouth that I never said?"
Jiang Juyou paused, her eyes darting around. She remembered that it was she who had said she wanted to cut ties with him. Pei Zongzhi had never said such a thing, nor had he ever agreed to it.
She held him even tighter. "Brother... I really know I was wrong. I shouldn't have hurt you or made you angry for the sake of Shang Muye."
She still remembered the day Shang Muye confessed to her. At her birthday banquet, in front of all the other young ladies and gentlemen, he had shoved one hand into his pocket, his attitude lazy and malicious.
"Little Orange, I’ll give you the position of my girlfriend. Want it?"
He had smiled teasingly, his eyes full of smugness, as if everything were firmly within his grasp.
Jiang Juyou had agreed, naively believing that the young master of the Shang Family had turned over a new leaf for her.