"Be a good girl, lie back down."
Pei Zongzhi was merely using the excuse of fetching water to go outside and make a phone call.
"I won't. Are you abandoning me?"
Having just lain down, Jiang Juyou thrashed around again. "I'm not taking the medicine. I don't want you to get water."
"Jiang Juyou."
Pei Zongzhi started to speak, but caught the aggrieved, panicked, and helpless look in her eyes.
*Fine, fine. Forget about going after that punk Shang Muye today.*
He bent down and scooped Jiang Juyou up with one arm.
With his other hand, he held the glass and walked toward the water dispenser.
Jiang Juyou was still in a daze.
Beneath her thighs was the man's strong arm, lifting and cradling her like a child from years past.
Her hands were crossed behind his neck, holding onto him. As she lowered her head slightly, she could catch the pleasant scent radiating from him.
As if under a spell, she lowered her head and leaned in closer.
The cedarwood scent at the tip of her nose grew richer and richer, and the tip of her nose and lips brushed against burning-hot skin.
Suddenly.
The room fell completely silent.
Both the man and the woman slowed their breathing.
Pei Zongzhi's body stiffened.
He parted his lips, before he could say a word.
Jiang Juyou's lips had already pulled away.
She covered her mouth with her hands. "I... I didn't mean to..."
Yet she had no idea why she was reacting so strongly, when she clearly hadn't meant to do it.
"...It's nothing." Pei Zongzhi's voice carried a hint of hoarseness.
But the bizarre atmosphere kept Jiang Juyou from noticing this tiny detail.
Pei Zongzhi placed the glass beneath the water dispenser and pressed the button.
A moment ago, he had been furious, acting purely on impulse when he picked her up.
Only now did it hit him: they were both adults now, and a hold like this had no place between siblings.
He had scared her.
*Glug, glug, ding*—the water in the glass stopped right at the two-thirds mark.
The chaotic thoughts of both individuals were finally reined in.
With his body still stiff, Pei Zongzhi carried her back to the bed.
Jiang Juyou felt that the atmosphere between them had turned rather strange.
She spoke up, "I... I know you didn't read too much into it."
The moment those words left her mouth, the atmosphere only grew more awkward.
What on earth was she saying? Talking about reading too much into it or not—she should have just kept her mouth shut.
Pei Zongzhi watched her lower her head in an effort to avoid his gaze.
His heart grew heavy. Had a simple one-armed hold scared her this badly? What if there were more?
When she saw the desires buried deep within his heart, just how terrified would she become?
Would she hide away? Would she never see him again?
"Take your medicine." After a moment of silence, he handed her the medicine prescribed by the doctor.
Jiang Juyou had just taken the cup from his hand.
When she heard a phone ring.
Subconsciously, her eyes went to her own phone.
Pei Zongzhi took out his vibrating phone, fixing his gaze on Jiang Juyou's instinctive little movement.
A faint smile curved the corners of his lips, his voice cold:
"Whose call are you waiting for? Hmm?"
"..."
Anyone would have that kind of reaction, okay!
Why was her brother so sensitive?
Jiang Juyou took a breath. *Fine, fine, it's just that she had left him with a fixed impression in the past.*
"Who's calling you, anyway?" Jiang Juyou softened her voice, trying to change the subject.
"Mom."
Jiang Juyou started as if electrified, lunging to snatch the phone.
She couldn't let him answer!
Pei Zongzhi raised the phone higher, his gaze sweeping downward:
"Don't want Mom and Dad to find out? Yet you still dared to make yourself run a high fever."
His knuckle flicked against her forehead.
Anxious, Jiang Juyou stared at his phone.
She moved to stand up and resume her snatching.
Only to be pressed back down by the man's hand on her shoulder.
With a heavy *thud*, she sat down hard, bouncing slightly on the soft mattress.
"Pei Zongzhi!"
She angrily called him by his full name.
Pei Zongzhi stroked her head, his index finger pressed against his lips.
He answered the call.
"Mom."
Pei Zongzhi spoke into the phone, but his eyes remained fixed on Jiang Juyou.
Beneath his palm, her hair was slightly ruffled.
That little flash of temper just now—that was the real Jiang Juyou.
The pitiful act she had put on earlier was purely for Shang Muye.
Jiang Juyou had been pampered since childhood; her temper was anything but small.
If anyone ever crossed her even slightly, she would go cry to Mom and Dad.
By the next day, that person would vanish without a trace in Jing City.
It was only after meeting Shang Muye that she reined in her nature, transforming into that gentle and obedient type.
Of course, that gentleness and obedience were reserved solely for Shang Muye.
Once back home, she was still the same arrogant little cat who would flare up at the slightest spark.
"How is Guai Bao doing lately?"
Hearing their mother's voice on the other end, Jiang Juyou instantly clamped her mouth shut.
She assumed Pei Zongzhi would help her cover for it.
Instead, a light chuckle escaped him, his tone lacking its previous deepness: "Guai Bao is right beside me."
Jiang Juyou's pupils widened instantly, and she glared straight at Pei Zongzhi.
Not only was he refusing to cover for her, he wasn't even letting her speak!
"Right beside you?" Surprise laced the voice from the other end of the line.
After all, both of them were well aware of the time Pei Zongzhi and Jiang Juyou had fallen out to the point of cutting ties.
"Guai Bao made up with you?" Jiang's father's voice chimed in, cutting in close.
Jiang Juyou's fallout with her family over Shang Muye had also been extremely ugly.
Pei Zongzhi put the phone on speaker:
"Guai Bao is very well-behaved now, and even told me she doesn't like white hair anymore."
Pei Zongzhi spoke with a completely straight face, while in his hand he twirled the lighter he had just confiscated from Jiang Juyou.
The silver-engraved lighter flipped back and forth in his palm, a flame rising steadily, swaying with the movement of his fingers.
Jiang Juyou knew this was a blatant threat directed right at her.
"Is Guai Bao willing to speak with us on the phone?"
Hearing the words coming from the phone, Jiang Juyou immediately snatched the device back from Pei Zongzhi's hand.
"Mom, Dad, I'm sorry. I really don't like Shang Muye anymore, and I won't ever fight with the family over him again."
"Guai Bao, don't harbor a grudge against your brother. Come home for dinner tomorrow; your father and I are planning to discuss with you how to handle your twentieth birthday banquet two months from now."
The other party completely ignored her promise.
Whenever the old Jiang Juyou hit a snag with Shang Muye, she would come home with this exact routine, utterly lacking in credibility.
Yet by the next day, she would be trailing eagerly behind the guy again.
Jiang Juyou knew she couldn't overturn her family's established impression of her overnight.
She obediently lowered her head and replied, "Mm, my brother and I will come back together."
After hanging up, Jiang Juyou looked at Pei Zongzhi. "Brother..."
Casually pulling a nearby chair over, Pei Zongzhi sat down, his long legs crossed lazily.
His gaze rested quietly on Jiang Juyou.
Whenever she felt guilty, she stopped calling him older brother and simply said "brother," the trailing syllable often soft and dragging, deliberately acting spoiled with him.
"Weren't you just having a grand time calling me by my full name?"
Pei Zongzhi's smiling eyes narrowed, looking precisely like a smiling-faced fox whose polished warmth was entirely on the surface.
"Weren't you the one who deliberately told Mom..."
Before she could finish, the alarm Pei Zongzhi had set went off.
He turned off the alarm and picked up the thermometer to check Jiang Juyou's temperature.
The doctor had warned that she might very well suffer a secondary fever later on.
Jiang Juyou's words caught in her throat.
Pei Zongzhi placed the smart thermometer against her forehead.
The digital display read 38 degrees Celsius.