The engagement was with the younger brother, but I've fallen for the older brother.

Huo Siyue had entered full-on "gossip mode," leaning forward and supporting herself on the table with both hands.

"Try sending a message."

He Sichen didn't move.

"Send it! How will you know if you don't send it?"

Huo Siyue was so anxious she wanted to snatch his phone.

He Sichen lowered his eyes and typed two words in the input box.

【Are you there?】

Click send.

A line of small gray text popped up on the screen.

The other party has enabled friend verification, but you are not yet their friend...

The air fell silent for a moment, then Huo Siyue burst into laughter.

"Hahahahahahahaha..."

She laughed so hard she leaned back in her chair.

"Dr. He! He Sichen! The big boss of Yu'an! Has been deleted!!"

She clutched her stomach, tears welling up in her eyes from laughing.

"I'm going to add this to my year-end memo!! It's even more exciting than when He Nanxian was jilted!!"

Yan Tingnan put down her teacup, a slight smile playing on her lips.

"Deleted?"

He turned his head to look at He Sichen.

"What did you post that made someone delete you?"

He Sichen didn't post anything.

That's the real problem!

For a full two weeks, he didn't utter a single word.

Huo Siyue finished laughing, sat up straight, and wiped her eyes with a tissue.

"I'm truly impressed."

"Brother Sichen, in your thirty years of life, have you ever had someone delete you from WeChat?"

He Sichen locked the screen and placed the phone on the table, screen down.

"no."

"So this is your first time experiencing this process?"

"Alright."

He Sichen coldly interrupted her, his hand resting on the table, his index finger pressed against the back of the phone, turning white.

He suddenly raised his hand, picked up the teacup, and gulped it down in one go, pressing his Adam's apple down twice before swallowing the tea.

The tea was bitter and astringent, burning from the tip of the tongue all the way to the bottom of the stomach.

Without changing his expression, he placed the empty cup back on the saucer, the porcelain bottom making a crisp sound as it tapped.

Huo Siyue obediently shut her mouth, but she couldn't suppress the smile on her lips.

"Brother Sichen, I'm serious."

"Boston isn't Mars. If you wait for her outside her school after class, she's not going to shoot you dead in the street, is she?"

Yan Tingnan glanced at He Sichen, then looked away and took a sip of her hot tea.

"Siyue, don't pressure him."

Huo Siyue pouted: "How did I force him? I was just curious."

"If you're not angry, upset, or upset about being deleted on WeChat, then you weren't really invested in it."

"But judging from Si Chen's appearance, he's obviously gone; he's just being stubborn."

He Sichen pursed his thin lips and didn't reply.

He stood up, picked up his phone, and draped his coat over his arm from the back of the chair.

Then he glanced at Huo Siyue, his gaze calm.

"Send me that photo from earlier."

Huo Siyue was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but smile.

"Okay, I'll send it to you right away."

Huo Siyue looked down and swiped her phone, tapping the screen twice with her finger.

He Sichen nodded: "I'm leaving now."

After he finished speaking, he walked out. Huo Siyue watched his back and turned her head to look at Yan Tingnan.

"Is he alright?"

"Something's up."

Yan Tingnan picked up his teacup and gazed in the direction He Sichen had left.

"But he won't say."

Huo Siyue remained silent for a while.

"Was my addition to this fire a bit too much?"

"Should I not have shown him this screenshot of my WeChat Moments?"

"The heat is just right."

Yan Tingnan put down her cup.

"You should be glad he saw it; now he knows what to do."

Huo Siyue said thoughtfully, "Brother, you really are a life mentor."

Yan Tingnan withdrew her gaze and looked back at the tea table.

"I've just been beaten down by life too many times."

"You really shouldn't say that."

Huo Siyue leaned back in her chair.

"You deserve to be the first among them to have a wife; you deserve it."

Yan Tingnan's lips twitched slightly.

"You have a very keen eye for our private lives."

"Nonsense, I rely on this to stay alive."

Huo Siyue spoke with absolute confidence.

"Any one of these couples you're paired up with is top-tier, how can I not ship them?"

As she spoke, Huo Siyue pulled her legs back, sat up straight, and clasped her hands together in a prayer towards the window.

"God, I beg you, please let this couple be together."

"The believer wishes to eat both meat and vegetables for the rest of her life in exchange for them getting married on the same spot."

……

He Sichen got into the driver's seat but didn't start the engine.

He reached out, picked up the phone, and unlocked it.

The photo is high-definition with clear lighting; the Charles River is bathed in a warm orange hue by the setting sun at dusk.

Si Yimian stood by the bridge railing, her hair disheveled by the wind, laughing carefree.

The man next to me was very close; he was of mixed race, with deep features, high brow bones, and dark hair.

The two people's shadows stretched long in the setting sun, close together, almost overlapping.

He Sichen stared at the photo for a long time.

He saw the man standing next to her, the air between them so thick that there was no room for him to step in; the distance was so close that he wanted to draw his sword.

Suddenly, he felt something pushing up his throat, from the center of his chest all the way down to his pharynx, making his breathing a little shorter.

I want to cut that mixed-race boy's face off his phone screen.

He had never experienced this kind of physiological rejection reaction for anyone before.

He thought he had prepared himself mentally.

She'll meet new people, build a new social circle, and have guys pursuing her on this trip.

She's so vibrant and attractive; it would be abnormal if no one pursued her.

He told himself that this was her choice, her freedom, her path.

He thought he could handle it.

After all, I'm thirty years old, what haven't I seen?

As a result, a single sunset photo made him so jealous that he clenched his teeth and felt his stomach churn.

He didn't even know the name, yet he started to feel jealous.

He thought he could let go gracefully and offer his blessings with dignity.

Screw dignity.

He Sichen tossed his phone onto the passenger seat, screen down.

He gripped the steering wheel cover so tightly with his knuckles that it creaked, and the veins on his hands stretched all the way down to his wrists.

He rested his forehead on the steering wheel, leaving shallow dents in the black leather-wrapped cushion.

His breathing became heavy for a moment.

Then he slowly straightened up and picked up his phone again.

Open the contacts and find Song Yilang's number.

I dialed it, it rang once, and then I answered.

"Boss He?"

"Arrange something for me."

He Sichen's voice was no different from usual, indifferent and calm.

"Arrange a long vacation for me, at least two weeks."

Song Yilang on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment.

"Mr. He, how long?"

"have no idea."

"It doesn't matter how long it takes, you handle it."

"I only need you to do one thing for me."

"The next flight to Boston, the sooner the better."

Song Yilang took a deep breath on the other end of the line.

"First class?"

"Any cabin class is fine."

He paused, then added a sentence.

"Any seat is fine."

When she wasn't running, he said "I never chase" with complete ease.

His posture was as dignified as a bodhisattva in a temple, a smile as if he had nothing to lose.

Now that he's flown 11,000 kilometers, he's even willing to take economy class tonight.

The harsh words I uttered on the hot spring boardwalk two weeks ago are now slapping me in the face with every single one of them.

At the time, he thought he was restrained and clear-headed enough.

Now he just wants to slap himself in the face.

He never imagined he could slap himself in the face like this.