The sickly one in F4 was the group's darling.

Bai Ci had just swallowed the last bite of osmanthus cake, her tongue still secretly licking the crumbs from the corner of her mouth, the sweet fragrance still lingering between her lips and teeth, when she heard Bai Yanzhi's words, her movements suddenly froze.

He subconsciously straightened his back, placed his hands neatly back on his knees, and curled his fingertips slightly.

Although Bai Yanzhi had a cold face just now, he pushed the teapot over and moved the snack plate in front of him, his tone containing a hint of softness that was not easily noticed.

But at this moment, the man's tone was cold and serious, and his gaze was fixed on him, like a bighorn sheep in the mountains that always clears its throat before giving a lecture, creating an overwhelming sense of oppression.

Bai Ci nervously swallowed, his mind racing. He'd drunk the tea, eaten the cake, hadn't knocked over the cup, and hadn't dropped any crumbs on the table—well, maybe a tiny bit, but he'd caught it with a handkerchief. He shouldn't...have done anything wrong, right?

He quietly raised his eyes, his gaze drifting towards Zhou Yan beside him.

Zhou Yan was lounging in his armchair, twirling a teacup between his fingers. When he received Zhou Yan's pleading look, his eyebrows twitched slightly, but he hadn't had a chance to speak yet.

The phone rang.

A very brief vibration, a soft hum, swept across the rosewood tabletop. Zhou Yan glanced down at the screen, put down his teacup, and stood up to straighten his suit cuffs.

"Your Uncle Yu has arrived. I'll go to the banquet hall to say hello." He walked around the armchairs, and as he passed Bai Ci, he paused almost imperceptibly.

Bai Ci looked up at him, her light brown eyes filled with undisguised panic. That look, translated, probably meant—You're leaving? You're just leaving like this? What will I do without you?

Zhou Yan lowered his eyelashes, a very faint smile curving his lips, and slowly uttered two words in a whisper that only the two of them could hear.

"……Take care of yourself."

What do you mean by "take care"? What are you taking care of? Why do we need to take care?

Before Bai Ci could convey the three questions with his eyes, Zhou Yan straightened up, nodded slightly to Bai Yanzhi, and his tone returned to its usual relaxed tone: "The tea is good. I'll have someone send over two boxes of the newly arrived snowflake tea later, so you can try it."

Bai Yanzhi raised his chin in acknowledgment.

The tea room door closed gently behind Zhou Yan.

The moment the door closed, Bai Ci felt the temperature in the entire tea room drop two degrees. He looked away and found Bai Yanzhi staring at him, his eyes clearly saying—now no one's saving you, you can start confessing.

Before he could figure it out, Bai Yanzhi's voice rang out again, slower and heavier, as if giving him one last chance to confess: "Do you remember what I said on the phone?"

Bai Ci nodded immediately, her voice clear and earnest: "I remember, you told me to dress presentably."

Bai Yanzhi's gaze swept lightly over his attire, his tone calm yet undeniably authoritative: "Is this your understanding of decorum?"

Bai Ci paused for a moment, then shook her head frankly without making excuses: "No."

Bai Yanzhi raised an eyebrow, waiting for his explanation.

He originally thought Bai Ci would put on a brave face, would defend himself, and would use his twisted logic to forcibly link "a tiger descending the mountain" with "decency".

To his surprise, the kid admitted it right away. This left the ten questions he had prepared stuck in his throat, neither here nor there.

"I originally wanted to buy a white shirt," Bai Ci's voice was a little softer, but still very serious, her eyes clear, "pure cotton, with neatly sewn buttons, fifty-eight yuan."

Fifty-eight yuan.

Upon hearing this number, Bai Yanzhi's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

In his world, this number was practically nothing.

The cost of that set of purple clay teaware in his study alone is more than that. Uncle Chen's monthly budget for tending the flowers in the manor would easily add three zeros to the price of just one pot.

Fifty-eight dollars—he wasn't even sure if he'd ever touched that denomination of cash.

He had seen million-dollar haute couture and hundreds of thousands of handmade shirts, but he never imagined that his younger brother would be so concerned about a shirt that cost only fifty-eight yuan.

"Then why didn't you buy it?"

"If I buy a shirt, I won't have a jacket or pants." Bai Ci answered honestly, "A shirt costs fifty-eight yuan, and after buying it, I only have fifty-odd yuan left on my card. It's not enough to buy a jacket or pants. It's too cold outside, and I can't just wear a shirt."

He paused, then added, as if giving a financial report: "This hoodie is thirty-eight yuan, plus a jacket and a pair of pants, totaling ninety-five yuan. It's a little more expensive than a shirt, but you can wear a whole outfit."

The steam from the rosewood tea table rose in wisps, creating a thin layer of white mist between the two brothers. The tea room was so quiet that you could hear the sound of water dripping.

Bai Yanzhi looked at Bai Ci in silence. He had heard countless reports at the board meeting, from multi-billion dollar mergers and acquisitions to multi-billion dollar industrial layouts, each one far more complex than a ninety-five-yuan outfit.

But at this moment he found himself unable to keep up with the conversation, a set of clothes costing ninety-five yuan, and a reason that "you can't just wear a shirt".

The juxtaposition of these two pieces of information rendered his logic of questioning the "Bai family's reputation" meaningless.

"You said you wanted to maintain a decent appearance," Bai Ci looked up and gazed earnestly at Bai Yanzhi. There was no complaint or grievance in her light brown pupils, only an honesty so frank it was hard to look directly at her. "I tried my best."

The tea room remained quiet for a long time, so long that another layer of sandalwood ash settled.

Bai Ci thought he was still angry, and as if remembering something, she added, her tone carrying a hint of pride hidden beneath the calm surface: "They're all new. I spent a long time choosing them."

Bai Yanzhi's Adam's apple bobbed slightly.

Bai Ci recalled the colorful clothes at the market and how she spent a long time rummaging through the children's clothing section before finally picking out these three wearable items. She added, "Isn't being presentable about preventing people from looking down on you? A fierce tiger is more aggressive, so you won't be bullied."

Bai Yanzhi was silent for a moment, then his gaze fell on the old sneakers on Bai Ci's feet. There was a white shoelace and a gray shoelace, the gray one being longer than the white one, wrapping around the shoe surface an extra time before being tied.

"Nonsense," Bai Yanzhi retorted helplessly, his gaze then falling on his shoes. "What about the shoes? The two shoelaces are different colors, is that also because you want to look 'fierce'?"

Bai Ci looked down at his old sneakers, the white and gray shoelaces particularly eye-catching.

He unconsciously shifted his foot under the chair and whispered, "No, the original shoelace broke, and I don't have any other shoelaces."

"No other shoelaces?" Bai Yanzhi repeated, almost thinking he had misheard.

"Yes." Bai Ci nodded, her tone frank. "Shoelaces cost money too."

Bai Yanzhi's fingers tightened suddenly, the cup becoming slightly hot from his grip: "Buying shoelaces costs money, buying clothes costs money. My Bai family sends you a living allowance every month, where did the money go?"

Bai Ci blinked, looking completely bewildered: "What living expenses?"

He raised his hand, tapped on his mobile banking app, and handed the screen over, saying innocently, "I only had 123 yuan in my card, and now I only have 8 yuan left."

Eight pieces.

This number was like a thin needle, piercing Bai Yanzhi's heart unexpectedly.

He glanced at the transaction history. There were only a few scattered expenditures, all small purchases of a few yuan, such as convenience store visits and bus card top-ups. The most recent expenditure was ninety-five yuan, with the note "clothing".

He was in charge of the Bai family's business empire, handling funds in the hundreds of millions. He never imagined that his own younger brother only had a little over a hundred yuan in his bank account, and had to carefully budget even for clothes costing less than a hundred yuan.

Bai Yanzhi's voice deepened, carrying a barely perceptible tension: "So, how did you get here today?"

"Take the bus to the foot of the mountain, then walk up."

"You walked up?" Bai Yanzhi's voice rose slightly. "How many hours did it take you to walk from the foot of the mountain to the summit?"

"It took almost an afternoon, and we walked slowly," Bai Ci said. After thinking for a moment, she added, "The mountain road is winding, but it's easier to walk than the steps. The steps are too steep; I have to rest after climbing for a while."

"Why didn't you call and tell me?" Bai Yanzhi's tone carried a hint of anger he himself didn't realize. "Didn't you know you could have sent a car to pick you up?"

Bai Ci lowered her eyes, her fingertips digging into the seam of her pants, her voice as soft as a feather: "Because you're rather fierce. Last time you called, you hung up right after you finished speaking, without giving me a chance to say anything. It was the same before, every single time."

A single, casual remark left Bai Yanzhi speechless for a moment.

He always thought that he had given the orders on time and arranged everything for Bai Ci, but he never thought that he hadn't even given his younger brother a chance to speak properly.

He suddenly realized that his question, "Why didn't you tell me?", had been both foolish and hurtful.

After a long silence, Bai Yanzhi took a deep breath, suppressed the surging emotions in his heart, and said in a deep voice, "It won't happen again."

Bai Ci looked up at him, a lingering sense of bewilderment in his light brown pupils. He didn't know if "I won't" meant he wouldn't be fierce anymore, or that he wouldn't make him walk up the mountain again, or something else entirely. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but ultimately just pursed his lips.

Looking at his expression, Bai Yanzhi felt a heaviness and bitterness in his heart that, for the first time, overwhelmed any sense of propriety or decorum.

He finally realized, belatedly, how derelict he had been as an older brother.