—

After getting back from Beijing, Xu Yan threw himself straight into a perfume ad shoot. Took him over a week to finally wrap it. Wang Wenan laid out the upcoming schedule, and Xu Yan looked it over — next issue's cover was with Yu Xue, locked in ages ago. Location was some Small Island, but he hadn't scouted it yet because there was literally no time.

'Want me to send another photographer to check it out? Or I could go myself?' Wang Wenan suggested.

'I'm fine, it's just how I work — I shoot it, I scout it, then I know what I'm dealing with. Yu Xue's schedule is tighter, she can't hang around on set while we figure out angles.' Xu Yan flipped through the itinerary. 'Next Sunday. I'm off that day, nothing else on. I'll go myself.'

'Looks like rain.' Wang Wenan pulled up the forecast. 'Yep, rain — but not sure if it's all day. Bad weather means tricky light, you might make the trip for nothing.'

Xu Yan nodded. 'I'll play it by ear when the time comes.'

He got off work early today, had dinner at home with Xu Nian. After the meal the family sat around in the living room, and the new place Xu Yan had bought came up. Xu Shen asked how the renovation was going. Xu Yan said: 'It's still a bare concrete shell.'

Xu Shen: '...'

'Ugh, the designer ge found is way too busy — probably won't start until autumn.'

'Nothing I can do. Looked at so many portfolios, just liked his style.' Xu Yan shrugged. 'No rush anyway, the designer's locked in, I'll hand it all off to him when the time comes.'

They chatted a bit, then Xu Yan and Xu Nian left. Walking to the car, Xu Yan rested his hand on the door handle, thought for a second, then turned back. 'What's with you today? You seem off.'

Quieter than usual, spacing out. While drinking tea earlier he'd grabbed Xu Yan's cup by mistake half a dozen times.

Xu Nian slumped. 'Dunno.'

'Where's your wife?'

'Business trip. Hasn't told me when she's back.'

Xu Yan looked up at the sky, sighed. 'Get in. Let's find somewhere to drink.'

They ended up at their usual quiet bar. Xu Yan told the owner to open a bottle; the owner asked what to mix it with — green tea, red tea, something else? Xu Nian waved him off. 'Nothing. Straight up.'

Xu Yan glanced at him — his little brother was on a mission to get wasted tonight.

'You two fight?'

'No, it's just... I feel like...' Xu Nian frowned. 'Jiejie's been weird.'

'Weird how?'

'Honestly nothing's really different, same as usual, it's just my own feeling, I don't know how to put it.' Xu Nian tipped his head back and downed half a glass. 'And she's always busy, always traveling. My company's a mess too. Never any time to actually talk.'

'What do you want to talk about?'

'I don't know. Maybe just...' Xu Nian looked miserably at the table. 'Maybe I just miss her. It's been too long since we had any real time together, just the two of us.'

Xu Yan smiled. 'If you miss your wife, go tell her. Sitting here feeling sorry for yourself doesn't do anything.'

'That's the whole problem. I feel like she's been so tired lately, doesn't really want to talk. Ask her anything, she says she's fine. I've got all this stuff I want to say and suddenly I can't get any of it out.'

'I get it.' Xu Yan said. 'Wait till she's back, talk it through properly. Three years married, you two can get past this.'

Xu Nian nodded slowly, pulled out his phone, opened WeChat. 'I'll ask jiejie when she's coming back.'

After he sent it, they talked for another half hour or so. Xu Nian kept checking his phone every few minutes, but Ye Xuan never replied. Xu Yan watched his brother's face get steadily more wrecked and didn't know what to say — it was their business, after all. So he just kept pouring him drinks, trying to numb the sadness, and offered: 'Probably still working, or asleep. Business trips are brutal, it's understandable.'

'I'm fine. I'm great.' Xu Nian drained another glass of bitter wine.

Drunk and bleary, he cracked an eye open and saw Xu Yan also sitting there, dopey, chin propped on his hand, the other hand turning his glass around and around. After a long hesitation, Xu Nian mumbled: 'Ge, lemme ask you something.'

'Hmm?'

Xu Nian sat up a little straighter, looked at Xu Yan. 'Since you've been back in the country — has Shen Zhi come to find you?'

The glass stopped spinning. Xu Yan stared at the swaying wine. 'Why?'

'Nothing, just asking.' Xu Nian fished a little dried fish out of the snack tray, chewed it slowly. 'I used to think he was some arrogant, spoiled rich kid with a nasty temper.'

'Not quite.' Xu Yan said it flatly. Arrogant wasn't the word — more like arrogance aimed only at him. Bad temper wasn't it either — more like cold violence...

'Yeah, but then I heard he gave up being CEO, cut ties with his family, went and studied law. I thought that was... how do I put it... pretty bold. Plenty of people were probably waiting to watch him crash.'

'I've worked with him too. Setting feelings aside — his professional ability is genuinely strong. Is it true that smart people are always a little lacking somewhere else?'

Xu Yan was already wasted, brain fuzzy, could only grab the important bits. He asked: 'You worked with him?'

'Oh, yeah.' Xu Nian was the type who, once drunk, spilled everything. 'So... last year, I was... what was I doing? Oh, an acquisition. We hired Yi Xin's lawyers as consultants, and the partner over there recommended Shen Zhi.'

'Ge, you know we have to keep personal and professional separate, right? Even though I was super biased against him, the partner made it obvious he wanted to mentor Shen Zhi himself, so I didn't turn him down...'

'Every document Shen Zhi wrote — due diligence reports, opinion letters, whatever — I read them all. I was pretty baffled at the time... how could one person put all that together so fast? Later... later at dinner with the partner at the firm, he told me Shen Zhi had dropped all his other work to focus on just mine. And... originally, Shen Zhi was the one who offered to take on the project. Said he'd do it for free.'

'The manager at our company who liaised with him said Lawyer Shen always sent materials to check at four or five in the morning, but... but no matter when you reached out to him during the day, he'd always reply right away. Like he didn't need to sleep.'

'Ge, does he really not sleep?' Xu Nian was wasted enough to ask anything. He squinted at Xu Yan. 'When you two were together, did he sleep? Is he an AI or something?'

He slept. He needed to. Sometimes he'd even lie in. Xu Yan would have to lean in close by his pillow, gently remind him he had a meeting that morning, absolutely could not be late. Shen Zhi usually wouldn't move at first. In the end he'd only open his eyes — after Xu Yan threatened, 'If you don't wake up I'm gonna kiss you,' and then actually planted a few loud smacks on his face — and told Xu Yan to be quiet.

Xu Yan rubbed his eyes. 'Forgot.'

'Anyway, the stuff he produced was seriously impressive... on top of it all he threw in this extra few-hundred-page analysis — investment and financing recommendations, risk assessments, all written after he'd gotten a complete grip on the company's situation. I've never in my life seen a lawyer put in the effort to write that kind of thing for free...'

'Plus he used to run a whole big corporation... honestly, more professional than any investment bank analyst. The legal department couldn't find a single thing to complain about. A few of our market and investment teams are still... using his materials for reference. Me too, that stack was genuinely useful.'

'I really do admire his brain. But ge, if he actually comes to find you...' Xu Yan took a hard swig, said bitterly, 'you need to think it through. Don't let yourself get hurt again. Whether you two are right for each other — you know that better than anyone.'

'Even if he shows up at your door waving a hospital bill playing pitiful, don't go soft. Got it?'

Xu Yan frowned. 'What hospital bill?'

'Oh... slipped.' Xu Nian winced, rubbed the back of his neck, half-coherent. 'I heard he went to Beijing on a business trip and ended up in the hospital last week. Don't know if he's out yet. Could still be in some ward over there.'

'That whole industry burns people out. And Shen Zhi brings in billable hours at the firm, so the pressure's even worse. Makes sense he'd crack...' Xu Nian trailed off, his head almost hitting the table, half-asleep.

Xu Yan drifted off, thinking about the last time he'd seen Shen Zhi in Beijing — thin, pale, fragile, falling apart, exhaustion radiating from his bones. But in other settings — the first time at the studio, the second at Tang Yunyan's studio, the third in the hotel elevator — Shen Zhi had looked controlled, normal.

Then he remembered: the next day, when he and Lu Sen were checking out, he'd overheard the lobby manager on the phone — something like 'send the luggage to the hospital, don't leave anything behind, be careful,' 'have the kitchen prepare the nutrition meals, deliver them to the hospital at noon,' 'note down any requests, make sure everything's arranged.' Xu Yan had wondered at the time which VIP got that kind of treatment. Now it clicked — that was Shen Zhi.

'Oh!' Xu Nian sat bolt upright, looking at his phone. 'Jiejie's calling me.'

He picked up, answered cheerfully a few times. Xu Yan heard him tell her the bar's name, then watched Xu Nian's face darken. By the time he hung up he looked like he'd seen a ghost. He looked up. 'Ge, jiejie says she just landed, she's coming over. She has something to tell me.'

Xu Yan's heart sank.

Xu Nian had gone rigid, sat there blankly, not a word. Xu Yan wanted to say something but didn't dare, and definitely didn't dare guess what Ye Xuan was about to say.

Half an hour later, Ye Xuan walked into the bar. Tall, eye-catching the moment she came in. Xu Yan raised a hand to wave her over, murmured to Xu Nian: 'Perk up.'

Xu Nian barely lifted his head.

'I'm gonna hit the restroom, you two... talk.' When Ye Xuan got close, Xu Yan stood up with his glass. He was wasted, words coming out a little slurred.

Nobody asked why he was bringing his glass to the bathroom. Xu Nian scooted deeper into the booth, tilted his head up, gave Ye Xuan a pale smile. 'Tired? Sit down, have a bite.'

Ye Xuan glanced at the snacks on the table. 'No.'

Xu Yan leaned against the bar, watching Xu Nian's table from a careful distance. He saw Ye Xuan say a few things, Xu Nian seemed like he was about to break, then suddenly shivered, stared hard at Ye Xuan, and finally covered his face and cried.

The more he watched, the more panicked he got. Xu Yan was already speed-running through what to do if Ye Xuan actually asked for a divorce.

Xu Nian cried for about a minute. Ye Xuan watched him calmly the whole time. Xu Yan gritted his teeth, straightened up to head back to the table and ask what was going on — but the moment he was about to step forward, he saw Xu Nian wipe his tears, grab his phone, and type. Soon his phone lit up. Xu Yan got a WeChat message from Xu Nian: Ge, I'm gonna be a dad.

Xu Yan stared at the screen as it went dark. After a long moment he finally exhaled, smiling in relief, but his eyes stung.

Back at the table, he shoved a few tissues at his embarrassing little brother, then said to Ye Xuan: 'Congratulations. Thank you for everything.'

'I did a last-minute check before the trip, didn't wait for the results before getting on the plane. The doctor contacted me later and confirmed the pregnancy.' Ye Xuan smiled. 'I was panicking too. If I'd told Xu Nian, he'd probably have flown straight out to find me. I decided to come back and tell him in person.'

She took Xu Nian's hand. 'These past few days I've been a bit distracted, low energy, really wanted to see Xu Nian, so I wrapped up work early today and came back.'

Xu Nian, crying, reached out and hugged her, tears smearing onto Ye Xuan's pale blue shirt. 'Wife, waaaaah...'

In the end Ye Xuan drove them both home. Xu Nian was afraid his drunk self would be a problem for her, so he sat in the back with Xu Yan. He slumped against Xu Yan's shoulder, hiccupping: 'Ge, love is so great.'

Xu Yan: '...'

Xu Nian: 'Ge, I hope you're happy too.'

Xu Yan: 'Okay.'

Xu Nian: 'Ge, are you happy right now?'

Xu Yan: 'Happy.'

Xu Nian closed his eyes, satisfied. 'Me too.'

Ye Xuan glanced at Xu Nian in the rearview mirror, the corner of her mouth curving up slightly.

The car pulled up at the apartment building. Xu Yan got out. Seeing him wobble, Ye Xuan said: 'I'll walk you up.'

'No no, really, don't bother. Just two steps to the elevator, I can make it. You two be careful on the road.'

Xu Nian, barely conscious, waved at him. 'I'll have the driver bring your car over in the morning... park it in the underground garage. Ge, goodnight.'

'Okay, goodnight.'

'Ge, did I tell you? I'm gonna be a dad.'

Xu Yan laughed, his nose stinging a little, unsure if it was from being moved or just happy for him. 'Really? Congratulations.'

The car drove off. Xu Yan came back to himself, shuffled over to the trash can. He'd been clutching a little dried fish in his palm the whole time — since the moment Ye Xuan walked into the bar. Through the whole rollercoaster of thinking his sister-in-law was about to ask for a divorce, then finding out his brother was going to be a dad, the little fish just stayed squeezed in his fist. Even now, it was warm.

He tossed the dried fish, and suddenly felt completely wiped. He squatted down by the flower bed, head spinning. He dropped his head, closed his eyes — tired, but really didn't want to move. That's how it is when you're drunk. Everything looks like a bed. He wanted nothing more than to just lie down and sleep right there.

Something cool suddenly settled on the back of his neck. Xu Yan flinched slightly, opened his eyes, looked up — Shen Zhi was leaning down to look at him, a suit jacket draped over his arm.

Insects chirping in the grass, mosquitoes spinning under the streetlight. Shen Zhi gently touched the back of Xu Yan's neck. 'Lots of bugs out here. Let's go home.'