Chapter 24: Why Is It You?

"Is Second Brother coming back next month?"
"What day? If I have time, I can pick him up at the airport."
"Speaking of which, when I was abroad, I actually met Second Brother once."
...
Whenever Lin Xi mentioned Second Brother, it was as if she became a different person. From the aloof indifference of their earlier conversation, she transformed into a little chatterbox, speaking endlessly even if he didn’t respond.
It was clear she was genuinely happy.
Realizing this, Qin Yu clicked his tongue, feeling a twinge of jealousy.
Among the group, Lin Xi was closest to Zhou Family’s Second Brother. Her bond with him even surpassed that with her own brother, Lin Chen. Whenever Lin Xi was reprimanded, she always sought out Second Brother for comfort.
When she was younger, she used to cling to Second Brother every day. Whenever he went to school, she would cry to go along. Her favoritism toward him had never changed over the years—her heart and eyes were filled only with Second Brother.
The elders often joked that when she grew up, she would become the Zhou family’s daughter-in-law.
Qin Yu still remembered that, as a child, she never showed him a pleasant face, barely willing to exchange more than a few words with him.
She was pampered as she grew up, possessing the temperament of a young lady. When others called her, she would stand there reluctantly, waiting for them to approach.
But when it came to Second Brother, she would run over to meet him without waiting for him to come.
She was notorious for her double standards, recognizing only two types of people: Second Brother and everyone else. The difference in treatment was glaring.
Even her own brother, Lin Chen, had been jealous, and at one point forbade Lin Xi from seeing Second Brother.
"You met abroad?" Qin Yu didn’t realize how sour his tone sounded.
"Yes. He said he was on a business trip nearby and came to my school to see me." Lin Xi was still immersed in the joy of seeing Second Brother, unaware of the subtle changes on Qin Yu’s face. She answered every question without pause.
"So, you’ve kept in touch all this time?"
At this, Qin Yu gripped the steering wheel tighter, his knuckles turning white.
Lin Xi shook her head, and before he was completely swallowed by jealousy, she replied softly, "Not really."
"We only met once and chatted for a short while. He didn’t stay long."
Second Brother had always been like that—knowing when to advance and when to retreat, respecting all her decisions. When she changed her contact information, making clear she didn’t want to keep in touch with anyone back home, Second Brother never brought it up. When he left, he simply told her to take care of her health.
She pressed for Second Brother’s exact return date.
Qin Yu said he didn’t know.
"Really?" Lin Xi eyed him suspiciously.

The next moment, the man unhappily tossed his phone into her lap. "Ask in the group yourself."
"Is it okay?"
She was asking if it was appropriate for her to log in to his WeChat.
He replied in a cold, sarcastic voice, "Why didn’t you ask before?"
... Lin Xi awkwardly scratched her nose and played dumb.
Whenever they were together, she would reply to any activity in the group using Qin Yu’s WeChat. This led the members to always ask if it was her messaging, or if the two of them were together again.
At their most intimate, when he was busy with documents and couldn’t spare a hand, she would even reply to work messages for him, without him worrying about any secrets being leaked.
Unlocking the phone, Qin Yu’s WeChat was as clear as ever.
There weren’t many chats, since he had a bit of OCD—he deleted conversations after finishing each one.
But there were two exceptions, pinned to the top.
One was their group chat.
The other, with a familiar profile picture—hers.
It was an account she had used years ago.
After returning home, she had only given him her new number; they hadn’t added each other on WeChat yet.
From the outside, the latest message in the chat was from last year, with a small line at the top: "Happy New Year, may all things go well."
She hadn’t logged into that WeChat in years—the message was clearly sent by Qin Yu to her.
Her finger hovered, unable to resist the urge to click in, wanting to see what else he had sent before.
The chat window suddenly became a Pandora’s box.
Lin Xi’s palm grew hot, as if enchanted, irresistibly drawn in, her index finger dropping lower and lower.
"Did he reply?"
A man’s voice cut in abruptly. His tone was calm as always, but Lin Xi, feeling guilty, thought the voice was right beside her ear.
Waves crashed against the shore, her own voice unsteady:
"Not yet."
She opened the group chat and tagged Second Brother. "Second Brother, when are you coming back? Around what date?"
Since he and Zhou Family’s Second Brother were the same age, only a few months apart, Qin Yu had stopped calling him "Second Brother" after reaching adulthood, always using his name instead.

So when Lin Xi sent the message, the others in the group quickly sensed something was off.
"Third Brother, that doesn’t sound like you," Cheng Si, the most idle of them, was the first to jump in.
Fifth Brother: "Doesn’t seem like Third Brother."
"Is it Xi Xi?" Immediately, Second Brother sent a voice message, his tone more certain than before: "It’s Xi Xi, right? Unless something changes, I’m set to return on the twelfth."
After Second Brother’s message, the group fell silent for a moment.
Lin Xi didn’t notice, continuing her conversation with Second Brother.
After a while, Cheng Si and Fifth Brother chimed in.
Having confirmed the date, Lin Xi opened the emoji menu and habitually sent a sticker in reply.
After sending it, she stared at the cute image for a long time, unable to snap out of it.
She clicked back and looked over her collection of stickers.
Qin Yu never saved things like this, let alone send them. If he typed more than a few words in a reply, it was considered a "blessing."
These were all her "creations," yet Qin Yu had kept them? Had he never deleted them?
Thinking this, Lin Xi helped him clean up a bit before finally handing back the phone.
—
Tuesday morning, Feiyun R&D Department.
Lin Xi and the others were sitting in their chairs, debating what to have for lunch.
"I heard there’s a new menu in the cafeteria today. Shall we go together?" Seeing that no one could decide, Lin Xi suggested.
Someone groaned in protest, "Did they change the cook yet? Last time their creative dishes nearly killed me. Maybe the kitchen staff think we’re pigs."
"After last time, I’ve never gone back to the cafeteria."
The debate grew lively, but before a decision was made, there was a knock at the door.
HR brought in a new hire, saying he’d been recruited as an assistant for Engineer Lin.
Hearing this, Lin Xi looked up from her pile of documents.
Seeing her face, the newcomer’s eyes widened in shock and he blurted out, "Why is it you?"