Chapter 11

011.

At 6:40 in the morning, Chen Chi, a top-notch butler holding a UKBG International Butler certificate and having scored full marks in the butler exam, woke up right on time when his alarm went off. After washing up, he changed into a sharp, spotless suit. He checked himself in the full-length mirror to make sure every detail, even his hair length, met butler standards, then pushed open the door and headed for the living room, ready to start a new day of work.

Ding!

The elevator behind him arrived, and the doors slid open. He turned around and saw two faces that looked completely wiped out.

Lu Yan squinted through those signature Lu-family peach blossom eyes, his gaze a little out of focus, his black hair messed up like a bird's nest. Beside him, Lu Yuan was wrapped in a fluffy pajama set, the oversized hood covering most of his face, yet yawns still escaped one after another, the red mole at the corner of his eye getting wet from tears welling up.

They looked like they had their arms around each other, but really they were holding each other up, swaying weakly, looking like they might wipe out at any moment.

Chen Chi, true to his perfect-score butler reputation, moved faster than his brain could think. He stepped forward, caught one arm each, and with a deadpan expression, steered them to the couch.

Plop, plop.

Two figures collapsed heavily into the couch. Lu Yan greeted Chen Chi, "Chen Chi, you look exceptionally handsome today, like you've got a built-in soft-focus filter."

Chen Chi: "Maybe Third Young Master stayed up too late and is seeing double?"

Lu Yan rubbed his eyes and slowly let out an "Ah... so that's it."

Meanwhile, Lu Yuan, huddled at the edge of the couch, let out another big yawn. His head was spinning, and his eyelids felt like they weighed a ton. He could barely stay awake, but he forced himself up, palms pressing against the couch edge, his slender, pale fingers whitening at the knuckles. "I'm going to bed. Brother Chen, you should go catch some shut-eye too."

He wasn't getting up until at least 4 PM.

Lu Yuan floated toward the elevator like a ghost, while Lu Yan, though he felt he could push through a bit longer, decided to hit the guest room for a nap, you know, for his health.

The perfect-score butler Chen Chi watched the living room empty out in an instant, feeling a mix of melancholy and bewilderment—like a hero with no war to fight.

At the same time, inside Villa No. 1 nearby.

A guy walked out of the gym shirtless. His collarbones sat in a sharp hollow, running from his broad shoulders, outlining a tall, well-proportioned figure. His waist cut cleanly into light-colored sweatpants, leaving his tight, toned abs on display.

He half-lidded his eyes, gaze landing on the celebratory posts in his social feed.

Lu Yan: "Everyone rejoice! Ten wins in a row, let's go! A Yuan's a beast!! [Image][Image]"

The first image showed the game's background—two big, buff dudes with Western looks, arms around each other, with bright red text in front: "Congrats, player, on your ten-win streak!"

The second pic was a selfie of Lu Yan and Lu Yuan. Lu Yan was grinning, throwing up a thumbs-up with his right hand. To his right was Lu Yuan, also smiling. The game room must've been warm, 'cause the fluffy pajamas were tossed on the couch, leaving him in a baggy T-shirt that looked two sizes too big.

Since he was leaning slightly toward the camera, the collar dipped down to his collarbone, his smooth skin glowing like pale jade under the warm light.

His thumb grazed the red mole at the corner of the kid's eye. The zoomed-in image snapped back to normal size. Bai Yu's eyes moved down to the comments from mutuals.

Qi Shuyang: "Damn, at 8 PM you told me A Yuan went out to eat and never came back, then by 3 AM you two had steamrolled ten teams and grabbed the reward? Then what do I call dropping a fortune on pro players to grind for three straight days and nights?"

Qi Shuyang: "Our A Yuan is seriously gorgeous! Even this trash lighting can't dull that face /flowers/red lips/confetti/heart"

Lu Yan replied to Qi Shuyang: "Call it being trash at the game but loaded."

Lu Yan replied to Qi Shuyang: "Obviously /smoking"

Lu Zhuo: "?"

Lu Zhuo: "You made A Yuan pull an all-nighter?"

Lu Yan replied to Lu Zhuo: "We didn't stay up."

Lu Zhuo replied to Lu Yan: "Your game background and the WeChat time stamp literally say 3 AM?"

Lu Yan replied to Lu Zhuo: "We pulled an all-nighter, that's different from 'staying up' /smoking"

Lu Zhuo didn't reply again, but knowing him, Bai Yu figured this was the calm before the storm.

Without changing his expression, he hit like, pouring gasoline on the fire.

*

Lu Yan threw off the covers and got into bed. Whether it was all in his head or not, the room at Songlan Estate felt bigger, the bed softer, the blankets warmer, and even the air smelled a little sweet.

A night of yelling and hyper-focus had wiped him out. He squinted, about to drift off, when his phone on the pillow suddenly started going off like crazy.

His drowsiness got scared off, scrambling away on all fours. He snapped his eyes open, grabbed the phone, and put it to his ear without even checking the caller ID, taking a deep breath to yell—"Which dumbass—" dares to disturb your Third Young Master Lu's beauty sleep!

"Brat!" Those two words cut off the "dumbass" before it could come out. The familiar voice, familiar tone, familiar fury made Lu Yan snap to attention. He scrambled up from the bed, pulled the phone in front of his eyes, and sure enough, saw the name "Lu Jingshan" on the screen.

Lu Yan: "..."

He made a face and asked, "What do you want, old man?"

Lu Jingshan: "You little shit, you've got the nerve to ask me what I want? You've lost your damn mind, dragging your little brother into an all-nighter! Do you even know your brother went to Cheng'an for a check-up 'cause his heart's been acting up, and Ah Zhuo found out?! You're built like a tank, but you think your brother's built like you?!"

Lu Yan froze, then jolted: "Heart problems?"

Lu Yan genuinely hadn't known.

He'd been so busy hopping between gigs and events that all he knew about Lu Yuan came from a thin file.

In that instant, he wasn't sleepy or tired anymore—he had enough energy to run three more miles—scared shitless.

Lu Yan scrambled out of bed and bolted to the living room. Good thing Chen Chi, the perfect-score butler, hadn't actually gone back to sleep.

Seeing Lu Yan come barreling in, Chen Chi felt a twinge of concern and was about to ask, but Lu Yan spoke first: "Chen Chi, do we have any emergency meds like nitroglycerin pills, or an AED defibrillator or something?"

Chen Chi nodded: "We've got emergency gear and all kinds of meds."

Okay, that was a relief.

Lu Yan ran a hand through his already messy hair, didn't say anything else, and headed upstairs to the master bedroom. At the door, he almost knocked but remembered Lu Yuan had just fallen asleep—waking him would only make things worse. But he couldn't relax without checking on him, so he carefully tried pushing the door open.

Lu Yuan never locked the door. The door swung open silently, and Lu Yan snuck in like a thief, tiptoeing to the bedside.

Lu Yuan was on his side, face buried in the blanket, eyes squeezed shut, his crow-feather lashes throwing shadows on his eyelids. Lu Yan couldn't help but think, totally off-topic—his A Yuan's lashes were so long. He should bring those fans who always call him "Lashes King" over to see who the real king is.

Then, like a total weirdo, he carefully pulled the blanket down from half of Lu Yuan's face and put his fingers under his nose.

Phew, okay, he's breathing.

The breath he'd been holding since hearing about Lu Yuan's heart issues finally let out completely.

He plopped down on the carpet, thinking—if he ever made A Yuan pull another all-nighter, he'd be a dumbass.

Lu Yuan slept hard and peacefully that time.

When he opened his eyes, fully rested, he stretched out in bed, arms and legs reaching as far as they could before sitting up. Squinting, he flicked on the light in the pitch-black room. The lights came on, the curtains slid open automatically, and sure enough, it was already dark out.

Lu Yuan reached for his phone as he rolled over. The second his fingers hit the cold phone case, his pupils shook.

"You—"

On the recliner a short way from the bed, Lu Yan sat hunched over, elbows propped on his knees. Under the lamplight, his hair was still a tangled mess, like a bird's nest, but he looked even more disheveled than in the morning. His brows drooped, and his eyes were bloodshot, making him look like someone who'd been hauled off to a private coal mine and forced to dig for three days.

Lu Yan rubbed his eyes, his voice a bit hoarse: "A Yuan, you're awake. Did you sleep well? Any chest pain or discomfort? I didn't know you had heart problems, or I wouldn't have kept you up all night gaming."

Lu Yuan blinked, mumbling, "I feel pretty good, but you don't look so great."

Lu Yan indeed didn't look great.

But that wasn't from lack of sleep—his job made all-nighters a regular thing. What was really weighing on him was worrying about Lu Yuan and the file Lu Zhuo had sent—that was the real stress.

He scrubbed his face with both hands, stood up, and with a look so complicated Lu Yuan couldn't read it, said hoarsely, "I'll go sleep for a bit. After I wake up, there's other stuff to do."

Hey—

Lu Yuan opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Lu Yan pushed the door open and trudged out.

Lu Yuan: "..."

He pulled out his phone again and saw a wall of WeChat messages, mostly from the Lu family. The gist was all the same: "This time's fine, but don't stay up late with Lu Yan again!"

Lu Yuan pressed a hand to his chest and suddenly sucked in a sharp breath.

Ever since he'd been reborn, life had been way too comfortable. Without the crushing weight of money problems pressing down on him, he felt light and carefree, like a huge burden was gone, so much so that he'd completely forgotten that pulling all-nighters to sketch designs could kill you—and so could gaming all night.

Comfort makes you soft!

Counting the night before last, when he couldn't sleep because he'd napped too long during the day, he'd now stayed up two nights in a row!

Lu Yuan scrambled out of bed, slipped on his slippers, and dashed to the full-length mirror in the bathroom, staring at his face for a long while—aside from looking paler from just waking up, his lips and everything else seemed normal.

God, he swore he'd never get too comfortable again, and he'd never stay up late gaming again.

Back on the bed, he replied to each family member's message one by one. Before long, Lu Zhuo's call came through, and Lu Yuan quickly answered.

"Awake? How do you feel? Any chest tightness, racing heartbeat, dizziness, blackouts, shortness of breath, or nausea?"

"No, I feel fine now," Lu Yuan answered obediently. "Sorry for making you all worry."

"When a person finally relaxes from a high-pressure environment, it's normal to feel a bit empty. That's when Lu Yan comes around—you two are close in age and get along well, so it's easy to slip into bad habits. But it's no big deal; just be careful from now on." Lu Zhuo's voice had that calm, soothing tone doctors use. "You probably haven't eaten all day, right? Get up and grab something to eat."

"Okay," Lu Yuan replied, then hesitated. "Third Brother didn't know about my heart issue before. That's mainly my own fault, so don't scold him."

Lu Zhuo: "I didn't scold him. I just told him to memorize all the papers in that file."

Lu Yuan: "—Huh?"