Slow to mature after marriage

Xiao Qin was completely dumbfounded when she saw this scene.

Her mouth was agape, her eyes were wide open, and she almost dropped the notebook in her hand.

This...this...this man isn't my master!

Is that a pervert? Why did he rush up and hug his master?!

Alarm bells rang in Xiao Qin's mind, and she instinctively lunged forward, her hand already outstretched to pull the man away. But as soon as she took a step, she saw Zhou Yu'an standing there, his hands dangling in mid-air, covered in blood, yet he still mustered his courage and hugged the man in front of him.

Xiao Qin paused, hesitantly standing still, her gaze shifting between Zhou Yu'an and the strange man.

Until a man's cool voice came from the side.

That's enough.

Bo Yan appeared beside them at some point, his hands in his pockets, his silver hair fluttering slightly in the night breeze, and the sour undertone in his voice could be smelled from three meters away.

"I've been hugging you for almost half an hour, could you please let go, sir?"

In the dim light of the night, Zhou Xubai couldn't make out the man's face, but he finally came to his senses. Realizing his abruptness, he quickly released his grip and took a half-step back.

"Sorry, I got a little too excited."

Zhou Xubai stared at Zhou Yu'an's eyes, which had regained their composure, his heart pounding like a drum.

He began with difficulty, "Miss, this is a bit abrupt, but you look a lot like my sister. Could you—"

"We can do a paternity test." Having only learned who she really was that morning, and then running into her now completely unfamiliar brother in the afternoon, Zhou Yu'an's emotions weren't as calm as they appeared. She politely nodded to him, "Wait for me to go change my clothes first."

After saying that, she turned and walked towards the car at the testing center.

Zhou Xubai stood there, his gaze following her intently. From the moment she opened the door, to the moment she bent down and slipped into the carriage, to the moment she disappeared behind the door, he couldn't bear to blink.

Whether it was due to blood ties or not, Zhou Xubai was almost certain that the woman before him was his sister. Even before the DNA test results came back, his wildly beating heart had already made the decision for him.

Now his younger sister stands before him, her small frame suddenly growing taller, holding a scalpel in her hand, having witnessed life and death he could never have imagined, and the light in her eyes has changed from lively to serene.

He suddenly became less anxious about getting a paternity test.

His mind was filled with thoughts of how to talk to his sister without seeming abrupt. He wanted to ask her how she had been all these years, whether she was afraid to be out there alone, whether anyone had bullied her, whether anyone had been there for her when she was sick, whether many people loved her, and whether her current family treated her well.

Also—we're so sorry, your brother, mom, and dad are late. It took them so long to find you.

Zhou Xubai's heart was churning with a thousand words, completely ignoring the silver-haired man standing next to him.

Bo Yan stood two steps away, expressionless, watching his brother-in-law stare intently in the direction where his wife, who had already changed her clothes, was about to emerge. He didn't give him a single glance from beginning to end.

Bo Yan took a deep breath.

Okay. He endured it.

The car door opened.

Zhou Yu'an came out after changing his clothes. His hair was tied up again, and the bloodstains on his face and hands had been wiped clean, revealing his plain face with indifferent eyes. Wearing a white hoodie and dark trousers, he stood in the night like a cold crescent moon.

Zhou Xubai stared at her, unable to look away.

So alike. Absolutely. Apart from the identical light mole on her forehead, the young woman's facial features were about 70% similar to her mother's when she was young. It's just that her mother had a gentle temperament, a softness nurtured by the water towns of Jiangnan; while she was more calm and rational, like a piece of ice that had been slicing with a knife.

Why did his perfectly good sister turn out to be like this, never smiling?

Zhou Xubai's throat tightened, and his eyes reddened again, but this time he held back.

After the hug, a subtle silence suddenly appeared between the two. Zhou Yu'an stood there, unsure how to interact with his "older brother."

After more than twenty years apart, the boy who used to take her for a ride in the fragments of her memory now stood before her as a tall, unfamiliar adult man with red-rimmed eyes.

At three in the morning, in the middle of nowhere, not a single shop was open. The wind, carrying the smell of blood and the chill of early autumn, blew in from the highway, making the hems of the three men's clothes flutter.

The three of them stared at each other, wide-eyed.

Bo Yan stood to the side, glancing at his wife and then at his brother-in-law. Both of them looked awkward and uneasy.

He sighed resignedly.

"Let's talk in my car."

At 3 a.m., at the scene of the car accident, the wife had just finished recognizing her relatives, and her brother-in-law's gaze was glued to her like glue.

He can still calmly invite people into the car to chat.

Bo Yan felt that her temper was so good today that she could go and accept an award.