“Let’s do it now.”
She said it as she shut the door behind them and kissed him again.
…
Watching her stumble away like a woman with no plan, Shen Siyán’s eyes darkened and shimmered. There was a dangerous charm in the set of his brows. He reached out, touched the small nick at the corner of her mouth where she’d accidentally bitten herself, and smiled without much feeling. Then he told the driver to go to the office.
Shi Wan arrived late. When she stepped into the office, everyone else was gone—only she remained. Had they all… had surgery scheduled today?
She checked the clock. It was time for surgery. She changed into scrubs and was about to head to the operating theater when a group of doctors came back in. Their faces were awkward, half embarrassed, half gleeful.
“Dr. Shi—still here? We thought you weren’t coming,” one of them said.
“Wait—weren’t you supposed to be in surgery today?” she asked.
“Two big people showed up at the hospital. They’re from traditional medicine, but they do operations all the same. They took over your case. We thought you’d been fired.” Their whispers made it obvious what they’d assumed in the dean’s office.
“You mean it’s already done?”
“Yeah—just finished… Hey, where are you going?”
She didn’t need to be told. They meant her senior brothers.
“She wouldn’t actually go find the dean, would she?” one nurse muttered.
“Look at her—before Sun Yiran and Tai Yong came, she was everyone’s favorite around here. Now they’ve snatched that away. You think she’ll just let it go?”
“Come on, let’s go see the show.”
They followed, hungry for gossip. By the time Shi Wan reached the corridor, a small cluster had gathered. Leading the pair were the dean and the two men she knew well—her senior brothers.
“Shi Wan’s here. This is going to be good,” someone whispered.
“Why would it be good? They’re just here to check on something. They won’t stay long. If she can’t take something like this, that’d be petty,” another argued.
“But what if it was your favorite and someone else stole it overnight? Wouldn’t you be mad?”
The group grew excited, imagining a showdown between titans. Shi Wan frowned and walked straight up to them, feeling her mood sour.
Just when everyone assumed Sun Yiran and Tai Yong would be angry, the two men surprised them by smiling.
“Big senior brother,” Sun Yiran said with an oddly bright cheer.
“Hey, little junior-sister,” Tai Yong chimed.
The gathered crowd blinked. Big senior brother? Little junior-sister? Were they in some wuxia novel? Someone joked about monks from Journey to the West, and snorts of laughter spread.
“You’re too biased, little junior-sister—only ever looking at the eldest,” Tai Yong teased, stepping closer to her. “Did you eat on the way? Hungry? I’ll take you to get something.”
Those who’d come for the drama were baffled. What kind of senior-sibling relationship was this?
“I already ate,” she said.
“You should be careful—you bit your lip. Next time I’ll bring you some medicine.”
Shi Wan had no idea how to respond.
“…Thanks, Second Senior Brother,” she said, awkwardly.
“Little junior-sister, Big Senior Brother has some better stuff. Don’t take his—his cure is as questionable as his character.” Tai Yong elbowed Sun Yiran theatrically.
“Big Senior Brother!” Sun Yiran protested, offended in mock outrage.
“Am I wrong?” Tai Yong shot back.
“Alright, both of you, let’s all just bring some. This sort of thing might happen again.” Shi Wan tried to mediate, embarrassed at the attention.
“Fine,” they agreed immediately. “I also have some new complexion balm we developed—will give you a jar.”
Shi Wan laughed helplessly. “No, really. I have plenty at home.”
The crowd was stunned. “Plenty at home?” they repeated. This was the thing everyone outside wanted but couldn’t get—yet she rejected it like it was nothing.
The dean finally found his voice, pointing at the three of them. “What… exactly is going on here?”
“We’re fellow disciples. Zhou Ruo is our master,” Shi Wan explained.
The dean’s jaw dropped. “Zhou Ruo’s apprentice?”
Whispers rippled through the room. These were heavy hitters around someone else’s circle; jealousy and ridicule were irrelevant. Besides, she was being doted on. The dean felt his previous assumptions—like the meager salary he’d given her—slip into embarrassment. The idea that she might have multiple identities left him reeling.
“Shi Wan… is there something you haven’t told us?” he asked, disoriented.
“No,” she said, blinking. “There isn’t.”
“You’re Zhou Ruo’s disciple and you didn’t tell us?”
“You never asked.” Her simple answer left them speechless. It made perfect sense and yet no one had thought to ask.
Someone leaned forward. “Do you have anything else we don’t know?”
“No.”
“Hold on—let me think.” The dean fumbled, trying to process it all.
Shi Wan turned to her senior brothers. “Come on, you two, come with me. I need a favor.”
“As soon as Little Junior-Sister asks, Senior Brothers answer,” they said at once, eager to help.
“Thanks,” she said.
The three of them left together while the others stood there, stunned, still trying to catch up with what had just happened.
…
Back at the Shen residence, Shen Siyán’s computer showed a flurry of incoming alerts. The messages made his face go cold. He stared for a long time, then typed a single line in reply before closing the laptop and heading downstairs.
Shi Wan was already there, seated at the table. Sun Yiran and Tai Yong sat opposite her. Shen Siyán’s expression darkened—how had they come here again? Was it necessary for her senior brothers to pop up like this?
He kept his irritation carefully blank on his face. “You’re down here already?” he said in a casual tone as he sat beside her. “Mr. Sun, Mr. Tai.”
“Mr. Shen.” They greeted him as if he weren’t the husband in his own house, the casualness grating.
“Want something to eat?” Shen Siyán asked his wife, as if they were just chatting.
Sun Yiran and Tai Yong exchanged a look and smirked. It didn’t take long for them to start prodding.
“Little junior-sister,” Tai Yong said in an exaggerated tone. “You got married so young—why rush it? If people find out, all your old admirers will be heartbroken.”
They were trying to unsettle him, to spoil his mood.
Shi Wan’s back prickled. “There weren’t any admirers. That was all joking around,” she replied quickly.
Shen Siyán’s gaze iced over. She wondered, just as much as the others, whether these two were really her senior brothers—or troublemakers.
“Really? How many admirers did you have?” he asked, voice cool.
“None,” she said.
“None?” he pressed. “What about that oil tycoon, and that other one—”
…