No matter how much Liu Yuâan asked, Shao Yanxi wouldnât budge on spilling the fact that he only picked up Liu Yuâan because he was jealous when he saw the amorous comments for him. Itâs too embarrassing.
The direct consequence of keeping his mouth shut is that Liu Yuâan toyed with his body in various sorts of ways and positions by acting drunk.
So they only woke up after 10 the next day, with a pile of work waiting for them already.
So Shao Yanxi very shamelessly and matter-of-factly pushed the work to the currently free Liu Yuâan.
Liu Yuâan canât help but shrug looking at Shao Yanxi acting all âyou made me unwell so you have to help meâ when heâs clearly fine, and helps regardless.
While Liu Yuâan is dealing with the documents on the small sofa, Shao Yanxi is staring at him while lying in bed.
Then he suddenly asks the question that has been bugging his mind, âyou havenât ever managed a company or whatever, so how did you learn to deal with it so efficiently?â
Despite being impressed the first time Liu Yuâan did it, he still checked it thoroughly afterwards, only to realise that Liu Yuâan did an even better job than he normally could.
While heâs puzzled, he hasnât exactly been concerned enough to ask. So he only asks now that theyâre both free and he recalls it looking at how familiar Liu Yuâan is with his work.
Liu Yuâan pauses ââŚâ He canât just say itâs because he has already been a CEO in the âpast,â can he.
He answers, âitâs a natural talent.â
Shao Yanxi keeps staring at him with this piercing gaze so distracting it makes Liu Yuâan unable to focus. So he can only look up at him, and says, âhave you heard of the mysterious telepathy between twins?â
Shao Yanxi doesnât know where heâs going with this, so he doesnât say anything, and continues staring at him with this look that reads âcontinue your charade, please.â
Liu Yuâan starts bullshitting without so much as a blink, âitâs like, what Liu Yuxi knows I also naturally come to understand them. I canât explain it, but thatâs how weâve been since birth.â
Shao Yanxi clearly doesnât believe it. After mulling over it for a while, he suddenly takes it to an outlandish conclusion, and asks, looking squarely into Liu Yuâanâs eyes, âsince thereâs this telepathic connection between you two, then can he feel it when we are doing it?â
âJesus!â Liu Yuâan canât help but express his shock by citing the name of a certain figure, then asks, âwhat in the world are you thinking?â
âYou said you have some mysterious telepathy, right? So Iâm curious.â
ââŚâ Liu Yuâan says rather harshly, exasperated, âhe canât!â
âOh, I thought your older brother would have felt it,â Shao Yanxi says, sounding disappointed.
Liu Yuâan ââŚâ
Oi, what are you disappointed about?!
Shao Yanxi starts laughing looking at Liu Yuâanâs spooked expression. After finally calming down, he says, âthank the Heavens your older brother canât feel it, or itâll be terrible for him.â
The younger brother is having a good â time while the older brother is⌠âsuffering.â
Thanks to the diversion, how Liu Yuâan is experienced in managing a company is glossed over with and Shao Yanxi doesnât ask anymore.
As Liu Yuâan is still free for a few more days, by prodding him with some more cutesy acts Shao Yanxi successfully spends the time in bliss as Liu Yuâan does the work for him.
Finally, itâs time for Liu Yuâan to help pay his agentâs mortgage with the commercial for cosmetics.
Due to his recent popularity and his identity, the people present in the studio are all friendly towards him. There is no such thing like that rather rude interlude back at the shooting of the previous commercial.
The photographer working with him today is a famous one in his field of work. Over two days, theyâll first have his stylised photo taken, and tomorrow theyâll be recording the commercial footage.
It is all done smoothly. Then, the third day after he has finished that work, Shao Yanxi suddenly calls Liu Yuâan, saying that he is going to see his mother in the capital. He asks Liu Yuâan whether he wants to go with him.
Though itâs a question, Shao Yanxi certainly looks like he wishes for him to go with him.
Naturally, Liu Yuâan agrees, not to mention this is the first time Shao Yanxi has asked him such a thing since their marriage.
Though he does ask him why they are suddenly heading to see her, because Shao Yanxi has already told him before that his mother was taken away by her brothers and they wouldnât let him see her.
The answer comes, and itâs perhaps not unexpected; because his companyâs newly created drug has been approved by the NMPA . Since heâs giving medicine to her, the family reluctantly relented.
Shao Yanxi doesnât seem to cheer up much when Liu Yuâan agreed to go with him, though. He is quiet for a bit before saying, âI donât actually know whether they will let us see my mum when we do get there. If they stop usâŚâ
âItâs alright,â Liu Yuâan holds his hands tight, and reassures him, âI will be there with you no matter what happens.â
Shao Yanxiâs eyes seem to be welling up. He leans forward and stuffs his face into Liu Yuâanâs chest; Liu Yuâan could feel that his clothes have got wet soon enough.
He caresses Shao Yanxiâs head gently.
He really is a little crybaby, huh. If he were to come to know his mother only has two monthsâ life left, he would surely be devastated.
Liu Yuâan sighs, but he cannot reveal such facts he only knows because of the original novel to him; the medicine did alleviate her motherâs mental condition, but it was no help to her ailing physical health. He kisses Shao Yanxi to make him feel better.
There is nothing he could do but be there for him at all times, to be his support when the inevitability comes.
Though, what he doesnât know is that, Shao Yanxi is this down precisely because he knows his mother would be passing soon, having experienced it once already.
When theyâre at the capital, Shao Yanxi wants to go directly to the psychiatric institute where his mother is, but Liu Yuâan stops him and drags him to the supermarket to get a bunch of stuff first.
âWhy are you buying these for?â Shao Yanxi doesnât understand what heâs doing buying all these presents.
âItâs for your maternal relatives, of course.â
Shao Yanxiâs mood seems to fall hearing that. He says quietly after a bit, âthey wouldnât let me in.â
He went to them once, but they chased him out.
âWhen did you go?â Liu Yuâan asks, taking him to an unfrequented corner of the store.
Shao Yanxi says, muffled, âwhen I was eight. It was the 27 <sup>th</sup> of November,â he can never forget the day when his mother was first taken away by his uncleâs family. He chased after them; it was his first time riding on a train alone, riding on the metro alone, then riding on the bus alone.
He must have looked like a refugee or something; it took him more than four hours to finally get to the capital. His wallet and phone were already pickpocketed on the way there.
Finally, with the help of kind strangers and the police, he finally reaches the neighbourhood his uncleâs family was in. There were guards and, because his phone was stolen, he cannot contact them. He didnât know any of their phone numbers either, nor what house number they lived in. He waited with the kind, wrinkled police officer at the entrance for over an hour before finally, he came across his cousin, who was heading out to play by herself. She let them inside, but his maternal grandfather said, âwhat are you doing here? Iâve said we will never have anything to do with you Shao family ever again. Your mother will not see you either. Leave.â And he and the officer were both chased out.
The sun was setting back then. His phone, his wallet were all stolen. He didnât have a single cent to buy tickets back home, or to spend a night in a hotel.
The officer didnât have enough cash on hand to help him pay for expensive intercity travel either. The young, helpless Shao Yanxi was walking back with the officer to the police station for the night when they walked past a Nike store downtown. A kid was throwing a tantrum, yelling that he wanted Nike clothes.
Even the cheapest winterwear in the store costs over 1,500 RMB ; his father wouldnât buy any of them. The kid was crying.
He happened to be wearing a Nike jacket, so he could only swallow his pride and accosted the two. He even took off his jacket to show the salesperson at the door, proving to them that it was genuine. Then he told them his phone and wallet were stolen, so he was willing to sell it to them for cheap.
That jacket was officially 3,999 RMB in China back then. That father ended up giving him 1,200 for it. He was going to give him 800 at first because of both the jacket and hearing that rather unfortunate story of his, but the salesperson and the officer helped young Shao Yanxi to negotiate as well.
With 1,200 RMB in hand, he first went to the store the salesperson pointed out to him to buy a jacket marked 200 , currently at 25% off, so that he could keep warm.
Then the police officer helped him get a cheap room at a three-star hotel for 560 RMB that night; it was fortunate the winter holidays were still months away, so he could still get a room for relatively cheap on such short notice even in the heart of the capital city.
Back then, IDs werenât mandatory for booking train tickets yet. Though without his student ID and without any proof of age, he had to book an adult ticket without discounts. It was 300 RMB for one-way back to his home city.
That was the first time that he realised there was so much one could do even with just 1,200 RMB.
That was the first time that he realised he was all alone from then on.
He used to be playful and naughty, and a crybaby too, that had a loving mother and older sister who would spoil him.
After that, he had to steel himself, burying all his little emotions under layers of ice in the deepest corners of his heart.
Tears, whimpers and teases, wouldnât fly in the world. They wouldnât fly at all unless there was someone that would be receptive and accepting of them.
After growing up, he has had to go to the capital several times, but never again has he gone to his uncleâs residence ever again.
That experience really did leave a gaping wound in his mind.
After hearing him say that, Liu Yuâan realises that Shao Yanxi really did treat the person known as âLiu Yuâanâ really specially.
With how bad âheâ was treating him, Shao Yanxi would probably have had him dealt with long, long ago.
But he hasnât.
Even though he seems to have turned cold, contrary to the plot development at first, with just a little bit of genuine care for him Shao Yanxi has obediently, subserviently, even, went back into his embrace.
Liu Yuâan canât help but be curious. After the world restarted, it has bugged out and so all the charactersâ behaviours were no longer entirely reflective of their assigned supposed personality bestowed by the novel setting, but Shao Yanxi would stillâŚ
Though he doesnât voice it, only saying, âitâs been so many years already. Perhaps your maternal grandfather only said those hurtful things because his daughter has just gone mad like that. Now that time has passed maybe they wouldnât be so angry anymore. You were still able to see and visit your mother before, werenât you?â
Shao Yanxi doesnât say anything. After a while, he suddenly says, âI think youâre right. They havenât tried to stop me again after that. Then we should just visit my mum directly.â
He always thought they didnât want him to see his mother at all, but thinking about it, whether before or after he was transported back in time, he was only stopped that one time in the long past and once in recent days when he tried to visit.
If they arenât stopping him, then what reason does he even have to visit them?
âAlright,â Liu Yuâan says.
He thought Shao Yanxiâs uncle and the others were blocking him from seeing his mum at all costs when Shao Yanxi said that before, so he was going to visit the family with Shao Yanxi to see if there isnât a way to change that situation somehow.
But if they arenât actively against Shao Yanxi visiting his mother, and he doesnât want to see them either, then never mind.
If they wouldnât help Shao Yanxi when he most needed help in the past anyway, then thereâs no reason for them to reconcile either.
They put the products back where they picked them up, and left the supermarket empty-handed.
Theyâre visiting the mother in a psychiatric institute. They couldnât give her anything anyway. The doctor wouldnât agree, nor would she recognise the significance of them bringing presents.
As Shao Yanxiâs maternal relatives are high in the military hierarchy, they have arranged expensive, high-class accommodation for his mother. Itâs expansive, with grass and even an artificial river. Itâs an excellent place to live in seclusion, with only a few patients in a big mansion too, and over a hundred medical staff on-call.
Shao Yanxi has visited this psychiatric institute before given his nature of work already, and heâs even the wealthiest man in the world. So heâs greeted warmly by the doctors and nurses.
The director of the institute quickly comes as well, and after a brief chat, he leads the two to visit Shao Yanxiâs mother.
On the way, they could see a doctor and a few nurses playing with a patient, almost looking like kids.
âItâs for that patientâs mental condition,â Shao Yanxi tells Liu Yuâan.
âYeah.â Liu Yuâan replies and doesnât say anything else. Despite the lively atmosphere around them, theyâre still a bit sombre walking forward.