"Bro, you have a message."

As Qin Fang came out of the shower, Jian Muyang handed over his phone to him.

"Got it." Jian Muyang was still doing his homework, and Qin Fang lay on the bed to keep him company.

There was a "knock knock" sound at the door, along with Jian Muchen's babbling voice outside. The nanny was softly coaxing him not to disturb his brother doing homework.

The knocking sound was quite persistent. Qin Fang smiled and went to open the door.

The little one could already walk very steadily and could say quite a few words. Seeing him, he mumbled "bro bro bro" with a grin. Qin Fang picked him up, and the child naturally put one arm around his neck, a chubby white doll. Qin Fang rubbed his nose against the child's chin.

The little one thought Qin Fang was playing with him and laughed as he leaned back to dodge.

The nanny was new. The previous one who had been taking care of Jian Muchen all along had gone back to her hometown to look after her own grandson.

The current one had just arrived not long ago and wasn't sure about the relationships in the Jian family. She was very reserved when she saw Qin Fang.

"It's okay, I'll play with him for a while," Qin Fang said to her. "You go ahead with your work first."

"Okay, sure." The nanny nodded. "Then I won't close the door. If anything comes up, just give me a shout."

"Alright."

Little ones all like older brothers, perhaps it's instinct. Although there was quite an age gap between Jian Muchen's two brothers, they were both the gentle type. The little one would cling to whichever one he saw. But after all, he saw Jian Muyang every day, so he was still a bit closer to him.

"Bro hug." Jian Muchen lunged towards Jian Muyang's legs. Jian Muyang laughed and moved his chair back a bit to prevent him from bumping into the desk. The agile little one climbed up his legs and sat in his arms. "Bro hug me."

Jian Muyang put a silicone little toy in his hand for him to squeeze and play with, then continued writing his homework. Jian Muchen sat quite obediently on him. They often did homework like this.

Jian Muyang had grown especially tall in the past two years. Every time Qin Fang came back, he felt he had grown taller. He was a young boy in adolescence now. Compared to before, his emotions had become much more reserved, and there were many things he was too shy to say out loud.

Now watching him skillfully coaxing his younger brother while doing homework, Qin Fang suddenly realized that before he knew it, he had already grown so big.

Qin Fang had been watching the two of them the whole time. Jian Muyang sensed his gaze and turned his head to look at Qin Fang, asking with a smile, "Bro, why do you keep looking at me?"

"Admiring how handsome you are." Qin Fang smiled. "Little handsome guy."

Jian Muyang pursed his lips and smiled, then continued doing his homework. While on Jian Muyang's lap, Jian Muchen patted the armrest of the chair, and Jian Muyang rubbed his chin on top of his head.

This scene was too cozy. Qin Fang took out his phone and snapped a few photos of the two of them.

Xing Yan had just woken up and was washing up and chatting with Qin Fang about random things. Qin Fang sent him a photo.

- Showing you my two little handsome guys at home.

Xing Yan: Yangyang has grown so big?

Qin Fang: Yeah, kids grow up too fast. Handsome, right?

Xing Yan: Handsome, your family has good genes.

Qin Fang: Hearing you say that, it sounds like you're complimenting me too.

After a while, Xing Yan replied: I am complimenting you.

They never tired of such pointless and boring conversations every day. At first, Qin Fang could still control himself and sometimes not reply, but now he couldn't anymore. It was very addictive.

Although two years had passed, at this age, they were still recklessly following their emotions without any regard. When feelings were involved, who could muster that much rationality to control them?

Dong Yin knocked on the door frame. Qin Fang looked up at her. Dong Yin had come to get Jian Muchen and smiled at Qin Fang.

"It's time for Chenchen to sleep. Want Mommy to tell you a story?" She walked over and picked up Jian Muchen.

"Not sleepy." Jian Muchen was still holding one of Jian Muyang's fingers, not wanting to let go. He hadn't finished playing with his brother and didn't want to leave.

"But it's still time for bed." She spoke in a soft voice, a very gentle mother.

Jian Muchen didn't make much of a fuss. He wasn't too happy about it but also wasn't too insistent. Dong Yin said to him, "Say good night to your brothers."

He couldn't quite pronounce "night" well yet. Jian Muchen mumbled a good night to them. Qin Fang smiled at him and scratched his face with his finger, saying, "Good night, little darling."

Jian Muyang kissed him and said, "Go play."

Actually, it was still early, not yet bedtime. Dong Yin was always reluctant to let Jian Muchen get too attached to Qin Fang, probably afraid of having another Jian Muyang.

Back then with Jian Muyang, there was no choice. At that time, Qin Fang was also living in the Jian home, and he himself wasn't very old then either, so she didn't have much sense of crisis.

Qin Fang was basically indifferent to her little schemes. He could understand it from her perspective to some extent. She was afraid that both sons would be too close to him, and he was so much older than them. She worried that both sons would be taken advantage of.

With how dependent Jian Muyang was on him, if he wanted something, Jian Muyang probably wouldn't fight him for it. If Jian Muchen was the same, then if Qin Fang wanted to snatch things, both foolish sons would have to hand them over.

In the past, Qin Fang would occasionally have some resistance towards the Jian family and find Dong Yin's schemes annoying. After these two years, he had come to terms with it. Maybe it was also because he was older now. He had no particular feelings and was much more at peace. If she wanted to scheme, let her scheme.

Now that he was in contact with Xing Yan, he saw other things in an even more detached light.

Xing Yan was about to graduate with his master's degree and still had to study for a few more years for his doctorate. How things would go beyond that remained to be seen. Since he had taken this path, it was impossible to stop after completing his master's. There was still a long way to go.

When chatting about these things now, Xing Yan never hid anything from Qin Fang and would tell him everything. But after all, they were only in contact by phone now, so they didn't talk that much. There was always a distance when talking on the phone, and it was hard to open up.

Jian Muyang finished his homework, and Qin Fang helped him check it. The little academic ace had pretty good grades and basically never made mistakes. Qin Fang's phone was on the desk, originally stopped on the chat interface, so when a message came, the screen lit up directly.

Jian Muyang's eyes swept over the name on it, and his eyes immediately widened as he looked at Qin Fang.

Qin Fang chuckled, "What's the matter?"

Jian Muyang blinked, "It's Yan-ge..."

Qin Fang said, "What about Yan-ge? Why are you opening your eyes so wide?"

"Yan-ge" had been absent from their conversations for too long. Jian Muyang had asked about it before but didn't ask again. In his heart, he had long determined that they had broken up. Seeing the name now was too surprising, and he was also a bit happy.

He turned his head to look at the door and lowered his voice to ask, "Did Yan-ge come back?"

"Not yet, but soon." Qin Fang smiled. "You still remember?"

"How could I forget..." Jian Muyang's eyes were shining. This was a little secret between him and Qin Fang, one that he couldn't tell anyone after going home, and he indeed never told anyone. His brother had a boyfriend, a fact that Jian Muyang kept buried deep in his heart.

"What did he say?" Qin Fang asked, looking down at the homework.

Jian Muyang leaned over to look at the phone and said softly, "He said he's going out."

Qin Fang said, "Reply to him, let him go."

So Jian Muyang replied for him.

—Go

Xing Yan: I may not be back before you sleep, so let me say goodnight first.

Jian Muyang read it to Qin Fang.

Qin Fang laughed and said "Mm" to indicate he heard.