Brother Shen, I love you~

Wen Shuang received a call from Chen Manli.

The voice that came through was choked with grievance and tears.

Wen Shuang was startled. “Manli, what’s wrong?”

On the other end, Chen Manli was crying so hard she could scarcely catch her breath. After a long while, she managed to say between sobs, “Shuangshuang, my mom found out I was dating someone! She’s at home forcing me to break up with him!”

That meant their pretend romance with Ji Shen had also been exposed.

Only then did Wen Shuang finally understand why, so late the night before, Ji Shen had still had to return to the family estate.

Her voice softened. “Manli, take it slow. Don’t panic. I’m listening.”

Once Chen Manli’s emotions had steadied a little, she told her that last night, while she and her young boyfriend were walking hand in hand on the road, they were seen by Mrs. Chen. Mrs. Chen said nothing at the time, but later dragged her home and gave her a furious scolding.

She had been told to break up immediately, right then and there. If she refused, then she need never step out of this house again.

Wen Shuang let out a long sigh. In truth, she did not know how to comfort Chen Manli.

This ending was something she had long since foreseen for her.

A family like the Chens, steeped in scholarship and propriety, would never let their daughter marry some reckless young man who rode a motorcycle every day and lived without a care.

Still, she did her best to comfort Chen Manli.

Crying, Chen Manli said, “Shuangshuang, I really don’t want to break up with him. He’s really so good to me! The happiness I feel when I’m with him is happiness I’ve never known before! They don’t understand!”

Wen Shuang said, “Calm down first, then tell your parents what you think. Maybe they’ll come to understand you?”

“They can’t understand! Never!” Chen Manli said stubbornly. “My dad nearly went mad after he found out, almost hit me, and only stopped because my mom held him back. But I’m absolutely not giving up. I love him. No one can tear us apart!”

Wen Shuang felt that such steadfast love was truly precious.

She had met Chen Manli’s boyfriend a few times. He was bright and puppy-like, and although younger than Chen Manli, he was very good at taking care of people.

Chen Manli had lived her whole life on the path of a perfectly obedient girl, so it was only natural she would be drawn to a sweet, affectionate young man like that.

Wen Shuang comforted her for quite a while. Only after Chen Manli had calmed a little did she hang up.

That evening, after Ji Shen came home, Wen Shuang told him about it.

He did not seem especially surprised. “Mrs. Chen called my mother today too and told her about it. Originally my mother wanted to confess to her first about my relationship, but Mrs. Chen got there before her. My mother’s more tactful, so she simply left out my situation and said nothing.”

Wen Shuang froze for a moment. “So... Auntie knows we’re dating too?”

Ji Shen nodded.

“Then will Auntie... like me?”

Wen Shuang instinctively thought not.

The faint hesitation on Ji Shen’s face made her understand at once.

She smiled. “It’s fine if she doesn’t like me. That’s normal.”

Ji Shen drew her into his arms. “It’s because she hasn’t met you yet. If she does, she’ll definitely like you.”

Wen Shuang thought of the birthday banquet next month.

A nervousness began to stir in her heart.

She was afraid that the end of her and Ji Shen would be like Chen Manli’s now, a complete collapse of heaven and earth.

Ji Shen could see Wen Shuang’s lack of security.

So he deliberately made time over the weekend to take her out to play with his friends.

They went to a famous upscale club in the capital.

As usual, Zhou Fang and Yu Tian each brought a female companion.

Only this time Yu Tian had changed to a new companion, while Zhou Fang still had Chu Chu.

Yu Tian’s companion this time was called Li Hui, and her figure was even more spectacular than Zhou Zhou’s. Wen Shuang suspected he probably had some kind of mother complex, since the girlfriends he dated all had bigger and bigger chests.

“Can you play mahjong?”

Ji Shen curved a hand around her waist and asked down at her.

Wen Shuang honestly shook her head. “No.”

She could play Dou Dizhu, but her brain wasn’t very good, and she couldn’t calculate the tiles, so she usually lost.

That was why she had always deeply disliked anything that required brains.

Chu Chu and Li Hui were already seated at the mahjong table and tugged Wen Shuang over as well.

She looked helplessly to Ji Shen for rescue. “Brother Shen, you should go instead. I can just watch you all from the side and learn that way.”

Ji Shen pressed her back into the seat. “You learn faster by playing yourself. Sit.”

Wen Shuang still wanted to stand up.

She truly did not like mahjong; every time she sat down, she became a walking cash dispenser.

Yu Tian pulled out a chair and sat down very naturally beside them. “Sister Shuang, because of his job, he can’t sit at the table. He can only watch us play from the side.”

Ji Shen also pulled over a chair and leaned close beside her. “Since you don’t know how, I’ll teach you myself.”

Warm breath brushed her ear.

It made Wen Shuang unconsciously sensitive.

She shrank her neck a little. “...Then I’ll just play for a bit.”

The three across from her were all seasoned old foxes of the mahjong world. Wen Shuang was a complete novice, and before long she had been beaten to a pulp. Even the few hands she won were nothing but worthless little wins.

Several times she tried to shape her tiles into a decent hand, but each time those old foxes saw through her immediately.

Especially Yu Tian, who kept pressing her on every move and left her no way out.

“Ah Shen, Sister Shuang is about to cry, and you still haven’t pointed her in the right direction.”

Ji Shen was dealing with a case sent over through DingTalk.

At that, he immediately looked up. “Crying? Let me see.”

“I didn’t cry!”

Her eyes had just been a little itchy, so she had subconsciously rubbed them.

“Shuangshuang has paid quite a lot in tuition today,” Chu Chu said with a smile, twirling a mahjong tile before tossing out a nine-bamboo. “If I’d lost this much, I would’ve been crying ages ago.”

“Then why don’t you people go a little easier on her?” Ji Shen tapped his knuckles twice.

Yu Tian shamelessly said, “Since she’s a beginner, the tuition has to be higher. That way, when Sister Shuang plays with others next time, she’ll have experience.”

Wen Shuang kept a calm face, but inside she was already bleeding.

She had lost so badly that almost her entire monthly salary was gone.

Ji Shen had even said he wanted to take her out to relax.

And yet!

She was about to lose everything.

Wuwuwu.

After fumbling around for a while, Wen Shuang was preparing to discard a six-bamboo when a man’s large hand pressed over the back of hers. “Discard this.”

As soon as Li Hui saw the two-man tile, she immediately called a chow and then discarded a seven-bamboo.

Ji Shen tapped Wen Shuang’s hand. “Hu.”

Wen Shuang laid her tiles open and finally completed a pure one-suit hand.

A huge win!

“Wow, I finally won!” This pure one-suit hand instantly made back all her previous losses, and Wen Shuang was so excited that she looped her arms around Ji Shen’s neck and kissed him hard in delight. “Brother Shen, you’re amazing. I love you!”

If she had not listened to Ji Shen just now, this pure one-suit hand would never have come together in time.

The man lifted his brows in pleasure. “This is the first time I’ve heard you confess your feelings, and it’s because you won a pure one-suit hand at mahjong. Shuangshuang, should I be happy or not?”

Amusement and indulgence filled those narrow eyes.

Wen Shuang only felt herself sinking deeper and deeper into this abyss.

She once again bit near the man’s ear and whispered,

“Brother Shen, I love you, meow~”