The Gods Are Fighting Over Me - Chapter 37

Lin Jianyue fumbled to gather the two pairs of chopsticks from the dining table into one bunch. She then stacked the teriyaki chicken from the two plates on top of each other, managing to make it look like a single, hearty serving.

Lin Jianyue grabbed a towel and rushed into the bathroom. The cold water instantly soaked her hair, which Kenji had just fluffed up with a hair dryer.

She hastily wiped her face, wrapped the wet hair in a towel, and pretended to have just come out of the bathroom. She smiled and opened the front door. “Big Brother, what are you doing here?”

Lin Shuyun stood straight and tall in the doorway with his hands in his pockets. His eyebrows were knotted, and his light brown eyes were filled with scrutiny, staring intently at Lin Jianyue.

He coughed twice and pulled down his mask. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse from a sore throat, and his words were a bit slurred. “You’re acting weird today.”

“No, I’m not,” Lin Jianyue moved to the side, trying to make her tone sound casual. “What about you, Big Brother? Why did you come here without saying anything?”

Lin Shuyun took a long step into the apartment and quickly scanned the living room, as if checking for something. “I was worried after you were crying on the phone the other day. I just happened to have some unused leave, and the orchestra’s performances are temporarily over, so I came over.”

Lin Jianyue closed the door, not forgetting to mumble, “You took so long to get here.”

Lin Shuyun’s footsteps paused. He reached out and pressed down on Lin Jianyue’s towel-wrapped head, ruffling it hard twice. “You brat, I took a thirteen-hour flight. At least act a little happy to see me.”

He casually tossed his heavy backpack onto the rug next to the sofa. “Got any water?”

Before she could answer, he had already turned around and was walking toward the kitchen.

Lin Shuyun had personally chosen this apartment. Although he had only been here a few times, he remembered the general layout. He went straight to the kitchen without needing Lin Jianyue to guide him.

The moment he stepped into the kitchen, the aroma of leftover food rushed into Lin Shuyun’s nose. The tip of his nose twitched, and his eyes scanned the counter. “Did you just finish eating?”

“Yeah,” Lin Jianyue replied in a muffled voice, her fingertips unconsciously tightening.

“That smells good. I’m hungry just from the smell,” Lin Shuyun said as he reached for the refrigerator door.

“Big Brother!”

Lin Shuyun’s fingertips were already on the refrigerator door handle, but Lin Jianyue’s voice stopped him.

Lin Jianyue put her hand on his forearm, but didn’t dare to actually stop him, afraid it would seem strange.

She gave a forced, relaxed smile and intimately looped her arm through Lin Shuyun’s. “Since you’re here, why don’t I take you out to eat? I know a super delicious restaurant right across the street!”

“No,” Lin Shuyun refused immediately, his voice filled with the weariness of a long flight. “I’m so tired that I don’t want to take another step.”

Lin Shuyun pulled open the refrigerator door without a care. The cold, white light poured out. He stared at the two-person plate of teriyaki chicken inside and was stunned for two seconds.

Lin Jianyue’s heart was in her throat. She was quickly thinking of a way to lie her way out of this, but then she heard Lin Shuyun ask in an extremely surprised tone, “You can cook now?”

“…” Lin Jianyue was speechless for a moment. She could only bite the bullet and nod.

Lin Shuyun’s face was instantly filled with shock, which was then replaced by pity, and finally, it all turned into a look of deep regret. “I told you to come with me to England, but you insisted on coming to Japan! Look at this, Japanese food is so terrible that my sister has even learned how to cook!”

Lin Jianyue’s eyes widened in shock as she looked at him. Her red lips parted and closed. It took her a long time to squeeze out the words. “What in the world are you talking about, Big Brother?! Is white people’s food delicious?”

“Have you forgotten the time when you first went to England and you were crying and video calling me while chewing on a salad, saying you were a cow eating grass?”

Lin Shuyun was choked up by her words. He stiffened his neck and forcefully retorted, “There’s not just salad in England!”

Lin Jianyue nodded without any sincerity, a hint of teasing in her tone. “Mhm, mhm, mhm, and there’s also the national dish, stargazy pie. Big Brother, is mashed potato with rice delicious?”

Lin Shuyun suddenly remembered the days when he was dominated by mashed potatoes with rice. He fell silent, his face turning red with embarrassment. “…If you keep this up, I’m going to get angry out of shame!”

He decided to end the topic and put the plate of teriyaki chicken into the microwave.

After it was heated up, Lin Shuyun didn’t care that it was hot. He scooped up a bowl of rice and started inhaling the teriyaki chicken.

His cheeks were puffed up with rice, and he would occasionally make sounds of swallowing and chewing. “It actually tastes pretty good. I underestimated you.”

Lin Shuyun was eating so deliciously that Lin Jianyue’s mouth started to water. She pursed her lips, and her stomach inappropriately started to rumble.

Lin Shuyun looked up at her strangely. “Didn’t you already eat?”

Lin Jianyue just blurted out a lie. “I’ve been too stressed, so I don’t have a good appetite. I only ate a couple of bites.”

She heated her own portion of dinner. After a few bites, she felt like she was chewing on cardboard. She was secretly worried about the person in the closet. Kenji Hagiwara hadn’t had lunch either, and he had woken up even earlier and done chores.

Last night… he was the one who was doing all the work.

Lin Jianyue quickly shoveled a few more bites of rice, put down her chopsticks, and said, “I’m full, Big Brother. You take your time eating.”

Then, under her brother’s confused gaze, she grabbed a pile of snacks and hid in her bedroom.

She pulled open the closet door, and her eyes met Kenji Hagiwara’s purplish ones, which had a hint of a wronged look.

The tall man was squeezed into the corner of the closet, looking like a large dog that had been punished for doing something wrong. When he saw Lin Jianyue, he hugged his knees, tilted his head at her, and gave her a smile that was so bright it was blinding. “Jianyue-chan, you’re here.”

Lin Jianyue’s heart trembled. A feeling of guilt, like seawater, rushed in from all directions and swallowed her whole.

She shoved the snacks into Kenji Hagiwara’s arms and patted his head as if she were comforting a dog. “Be a good boy. I’ll come back for you after I get rid of my brother.”

Kenji Hagiwara nodded. He took her hand and kissed it before obediently picking up the snacks at his feet, tearing open a bag of potato chips, and eating them in small bites.

Lin Jianyue was so amused by Kenji Hagiwara’s wronged and obedient look that her heart melted. She looked at him for a long time, reluctant to leave. She only gently closed the closet door when she had no choice.

When she walked out of the bedroom, Lin Shuyun was already washing the dishes. His movements were not skillful and were even a little clumsy, but he was washing them very seriously.

Lin Jianyue sat on the sofa, curling up with her knees hugged to her chest. She was trying to figure out how to reasonably, and without seeming heartless, get her brother to leave.

Before she could come up with an excuse, Lin Shuyun walked over, wiping his hands. He suddenly picked her up from the sofa without warning and then plopped down on the sofa himself. “I’m so tired. I’m going to take a nap.”

Lin Jianyue was stunned by his sudden action. “Big Brother, aren’t you going to a hotel?”

“No,” Lin Shuyun shrank into the depths of the sofa. His voice was filled with obvious tiredness and impatience. Japanese people are so hard to deal with. If you weren’t here, I wouldn’t have anything to do with these weirdos.”

Lin Jianyue paused, then couldn’t help but argue, “Big Brother, not every Japanese person is a low-IQ, fussy person like the ones you met during your tour last time.”

“There are a lot of really good people, too. They’re excellent and righteous, and they’re great at dealing with people.”

Lin Shuyun lazily raised his eyelids and glanced at her. “Are you secretly dating a Japanese man behind my back?”

Lin Jianyue’s heart skipped a beat, but her face remained calm. “I just don’t like your comments, Big Brother. I have people around me who are very good to me.”

“Hmph,” Lin Shuyun scoffed and closed his eyes again. “Men are no good. If they’re good to you, they definitely have ulterior motives.”

“I’m telling you, Jianyue, stay away from men, especially Japanese men. They’re all so chauvinistic, fussy, and their hearts are as small as a bird’s.”

Lin Jianyue was stunned for a moment. She frowned and bared her teeth at her brother like an angry cat. “Big Brother! You’re already a principal designate at the Royal Opera House in London. Can you please get rid of the way you used to talk when you were a delinquent in high school!”

Lin Shuyun pulled his hat over his face and rested his head on his arms. “I’m sleeping. If you have nothing to do, make me a packet of anti-inflammatory medicine. It’s in the side pocket of my backpack.”

Lin Jianyue was speechless for a moment.

She looked at his shameless demeanor, so angry that she almost stomped her foot. “Big Brother, go sleep at a hotel!”

“I’m not doing that,” Lin Shuyun suddenly lifted the hat from his face, his eyes filled with rejection. “I checked before I came. The number of homicides in Tokyo has been skyrocketing recently, and there have been several big explosions this month.”

He sat up, his voice filled with lingering fear. “I even ran into a murder case when I got off the plane. A man suddenly grabbed his throat and started foaming at the mouth right in front of me. If a weird little bespectacled elementary school student hadn’t helped me explain, a weird man with a mustache would have handed me over to the police as a suspect.”

He put his hat back on his face. “I am absolutely not leaving this safe house that I meticulously chose!”

Lin Jianyue looked at her brother’s tense profile and realized that the fear in his voice was not fake.

Lin Shuyun also noticed the change in Lin Jianyue’s emotions. His voice softened a little. “I know you’re a girl, and it’ll be inconvenient for me to stay here. But I won’t go into your bedroom. I’ll only stay for a few days, and then I’ll leave. Just cut your brother some slack this time.”

With him saying this, Lin Jianyue couldn’t argue anymore. She nodded. “Go to sleep, Big Brother. I’ll stay in the bedroom. When you wake up, I’ll make you some medicine.”

She turned around and walked toward the bedroom, her footsteps very light, afraid of waking the person resting on the sofa.

The living room quickly fell silent. Lin Shuyun was so exhausted that in just a moment, he was breathing evenly and steadily.

In Lin Jianyue’s bedroom.

When the closet door was opened again, Kenji Hagiwara was curled up in the corner, eating potato chips by the faint light of his phone screen. The rustling sound of the bag was exceptionally clear in the quiet closet.

When he saw Lin Jianyue come in, Kenji Hagiwara’s bright, downturned eyes immediately showed a mix of a wronged and a hopeful expression. He obediently stopped chewing, his cheeks slightly puffed out, and he looked at her with pleading eyes.

Lin Jianyue made a shushing gesture, checked her watch, and waited a few minutes. She then put her ear against the door and listened carefully to the sounds outside.

After confirming that her brother was really asleep, she gently took Kenji Hagiwara’s hand and started to walk out. The two of them tiptoed toward the front door like kids sneaking out.

Lin Jianyue’s heart was beating incredibly fast. With every step she took, she would turn her head to look at the sofa, afraid that in the next second, she would meet a pair of bright eyes that were faking sleep.

Just as the two of them were getting closer and were only a few meters away from the front door, the washing machine suddenly let out a beeping sound to signal that it had finished, and the sharp sound burst in the silent room.

Lin Shuyun, on the sofa, let out a muffled groan. His eyes slowly opened into a slit, filled with the confusion of just waking up.

When she saw her brother’s eyes open, Lin Jianyue’s scalp tingled, as if an electric current had run through it. She almost instinctively pushed Kenji Hagiwara toward the balcony and then frantically pulled the curtains shut, moving as fast as the wind.

Lin Shuyun rubbed his eyes and sat up. His eyes fell on Lin Jianyue, who was holding the curtains. His voice was filled with the bewilderment of having just woken up. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” Lin Jianyue laughed dryly, pulling at the corner of the curtain, trying to make her expression look natural. “It’s too sunny outside. I was afraid it would bother you while you slept, so I was closing the curtains.”

Lin Shuyun stared at her for two seconds, a hint of undetectable suspicion in his tone. “You only closed them after the washing machine woke me up. Isn’t that a little late?”

Lin Jianyue gave a harmless smile and forced an explanation. “I just realized it now.”

Lin Shuyun narrowed his eyes. “Jianyue, you’re really strange today.”

“You’re just worried, Big Brother, and it’s clouding your judgment.”

Lin Jianyue quickly changed the subject. She grabbed a blanket from the sofa and put it over her brother. Her fingertips trembled as she tucked the edges in. “Go to sleep. Stop thinking so much.”

Lin Shuyun was silent for a few seconds. He didn’t ask anymore and slowly lay back down. He closed his eyes, but it seemed like his mind was chasing him, and he couldn’t sleep well. He changed his position several times.

After a moment, he opened his eyes again and looked at Lin Jianyue, who was walking back and forth in the living room but was always watching him from the corner of her eye. “Jianyue, are you hiding something from me?”

Lin Jianyue’s shoulders shrank in a conditioned reflex from being startled. She pretended to be angry. “Big Brother, are you going to sleep or not?!”

Lin Shuyun pouted. Just as he was about to close his eyes, he seemed to remember something and opened them again. “Why aren’t you hanging up the laundry?”

Lin Jianyue was stunned by the question. She subconsciously looked toward the washing machine, and her heart sank.

Before she could come up with an excuse, Lin Shuyun had already thrown the blanket off and stood up. His tone was his usual one of disgust, but it also had a hint of helplessness. “You’re so lazy. I’ll go hang them up for you.”

He turned and walked toward the bathroom, not forgetting to mumble, “You’re definitely hiding something from me.”

Lin Jianyue was shocked. She subconsciously raised her hand to stop him. But she was too nervous. Her mind was a jumbled mess, and she couldn’t come up with a single good excuse.

In the few seconds she hesitated and thought, Lin Shuyun had already quickly rushed into the bathroom. He pulled open the lid of the washing machine with a clack and then froze, as if he had been paused.

The air instantly froze.

Lin Shuyun stared at the clothes in the washing machine, falling into a deathly silence.

To be more accurate, he was staring at the men’s white dress shirt and the dark blue men’s underwear on top. He was completely stunned, and the expression on his face gradually became more complicated.

Lin Jianyue was rooted to the spot. Her limbs were like rusty iron frames, stiff and not listening to her commands. She slowly turned around, tiptoeing, and cautiously started to move away from her brother.

“Lin! Jian! Yue!”

Her brother’s voice, each word a single syllable, came from behind her. Every word seemed to be squeezed out through clenched teeth, suppressing the rage before a volcanic eruption.

Lin Jianyue’s scalp tightened. She didn’t care about anything else and ran toward the bedroom. She slammed the door shut with a bang, locked it, and covered her ears in one swift motion.

Her brother’s suppressed curses came from outside the door, accompanied by the rustling sound of him grabbing clothes.

Lin Shuyun threw the clothes that obviously belonged to a man onto the sink with great force, all while muttering something under his breath.

“Oh… this is just great…”

Lin Shuyun spoke with a hateful grit in his voice. “If I find out who took advantage of my sister, I’ll kill him.”

He carried a basket of clean, slightly damp clothes like an enraged rhinoceros, his footsteps heavy and loud, and walked straight toward the balcony.

The next second, with a swish, the sound of the curtains being yanked open came, and Lin Shuyun’s eyes met Kenji Hagiwara’s, who was leaning against the balcony railing and smoking.

Both of them were stunned.

The air seemed to have been sucked out of the room instantly, leaving only a silent stillness that spread across the balcony. Even the sound of the wind outside the window became softer.

Kenji Hagiwara was wearing a white dress shirt with the top three buttons unbuttoned. The neckline was loosely open, revealing a large area of his fair shoulder and the clear teeth marks on it, as well as some faintly visible, ambiguous scratch marks.

The expression on Lin Shuyun’s face was blank for a full three seconds, and then it turned completely black.

Lin Jianyue was startled out of the room by her brother’s furious voice.

She yanked the bedroom door open and saw Lin Shuyun tightly grabbing Kenji Hagiwara’s collar, looking like he was about to eat him alive.

But the scene was a little comical.

Lin Shuyun was 1.8 meters tall, which was considered quite tall in China. But Kenji Hagiwara was 1.9 meters, almost 2 meters tall.

Lin Shuyun was aggressively pulling on his collar, trying to lift him, but Kenji Hagiwara just slightly stood on his tiptoes and easily neutralized that little bit of intimidation. He even slightly lowered his head and looked at Lin Shuyun with a confused and innocent expression.

What was even more interesting was that these two people didn’t speak the same language.

Lin Shuyun didn’t speak Japanese, and Kenji Hagiwara couldn’t understand Chinese.

So, Lin Shuyun, with his fluent London accent, started to swear at him relentlessly. The words came out fast and hurried, as if he was venting his pent-up rage.

Lin Jianyue was initially worried that Kenji would be in a difficult situation, but when she saw her brother’s aggressive but completely un-intimidating demeanor, the words in her mouth stopped short. She pursed her lips, and her expression became hesitant, and she even wanted to laugh a little.

Lin Shuyun obviously also realized his awkward position. He angrily threw Kenji Hagiwara onto the sofa and growled, “Sit down!”

Then, he turned and glared at Lin Jianyue. “Lin Jianyue, you sit on that sofa, too!”

“Okay…” Lin Jianyue rubbed her nose and obediently sat down.

To increase his intimidation, Lin Shuyun sat down on the coffee table in front of the sofa, looking down at the two of them. “When did you two get together?”

Lin Jianyue answered honestly, “Last month.”

“…?” Lin Shuyun’s eyes instantly widened even more. “Did this cheating scumbag lie to you? You’ve only been dating for a month, and you’re already living together!?”

Lin Jianyue quickly explained, “But we’ve known each other for years!”

Lin Shuyun crossed his arms and glared at Kenji Hagiwara, his expression filled with a hatred that looked like he wanted to skin him alive. “No wonder you didn’t want to come to London with me. Was it this femme fatale who seduced you?”

Kenji Hagiwara couldn’t understand Chinese. He could only feel the hostility in Lin Shuyun’s tone. But when the other person’s gaze swept over him, he still curved his eyes and gave him a clean, harmless smile, even slightly nodding at Lin Shuyun.

…And then Lin Shuyun became even angrier.

He suddenly stood up and pointed at Kenji Hagiwara’s overly handsome face, growling at Lin Jianyue, “This guy is a two-faced faker! Jianyue, he must have fooled you with that face of his! People like him are the best at tricking young girls with their pretty faces!”

Lin Jianyue was silent for a moment. She shrank her neck and mumbled, “Although it’s not good to say this, the possibility of you being the scumbag is much higher than his, Big Brother.”

“…” Lin Shuyun was as if he had been splashed with a bucket of ice water. He instantly became silent.

A few seconds later, Lin Shuyun suddenly flared up and pointed at Lin Jianyue’s nose, cursing, “You little brat!”

Lin Jianyue was startled by his furious outburst. She instinctively shrank into Kenji Hagiwara’s arms and held on tightly to his waist.

Kenji Hagiwara’s arm almost instinctively came up to protect her. The smile in his eyes instantly turned vigilant.

The two of them’s instinctive actions made Lin Shuyun so enraged that he wanted to roll up his sleeves and physically exorcise Kenji Hagiwara.

But he also knew very well that he was no match for Kenji Hagiwara.

Whether it was the glance on the balcony earlier, the unprotected muscular lines on Kenji Hagiwara’s body, or the feel of his body when Lin Shuyun tried to lift him up, everything was clearly telling Lin Shuyun that he was not Kenji Hagiwara’s opponent.

Lin Shuyun was self-aware. If they were to have a one-on-one physical confrontation, Kenji Hagiwara would beat the living daylights out of him.

Lin Shuyun stared at the two people in front of him with a headache. He let out a long sigh and rubbed his temples. “Is he the police officer you were crying about on the phone the other day?”

Lin Jianyue quickly nodded. The hope in her eyes was a little timid. She didn’t care about her father’s opinion, but she cared about Lin Shuyun’s.

Lin Shuyun let out another sigh, his eyebrows furrowed into a frown. The bridge of his nose also wrinkled slightly.

Lin Jianyue tentatively whispered, “Big Brother…”

“Shut up!” Lin Shuyun suddenly glared at her, his tone deadly. “I’m thinking!”

Lin Jianyue immediately fell silent and obediently closed her mouth, but her hand was still tightly holding Kenji Hagiwara’s.

Just then, the doorbell suddenly rang.

Lin Jianyue’s eyes lit up as if she had grabbed a life-saving straw. She quickly stood up. “I’ll get it!”

“Sit down!” Lin Shuyun snapped. “You sit there and reflect!”

He shot a fierce glare at Kenji Hagiwara and strode to the door.

Lin Shuyun pulled the door open with a foul expression and saw a man with an equally foul expression.

Jinpei Matsuda was wearing a black suit. He had one hand in his pocket and was holding a bag of something that looked like documents in his other hand. When he saw the furious, strange man who had suddenly appeared, Jinpei Matsuda’s face immediately fell. He frowned and asked in Japanese, “Who are you?”

Lin Shuyun was already full of anger with nowhere to vent. Hearing the threatening tone just added fuel to the fire.

He aggressively blocked the doorway with his body, preventing Jinpei Matsuda from seeing what was inside the apartment. He retorted in English, “Who are you? What is your relationship with the woman who lives here?”

He didn’t understand Japanese, nor did he know how to pronounce Lin Jianyue’s name in Japanese. He could only use a vague pronoun, but the guard and hostility in his tone were so strong they were almost tangible.

Jinpei Matsuda’s eyes narrowed dangerously. He clearly saw this aggressive man as a dangerous person. He took a step forward and countered, “What did you do to my girlfriend?”

After saying that, Jinpei Matsuda noticed that the man’s expression, which had been so aggressive and murderous just now, instantly went blank. It was as if he had been paused. His whole body froze.

A few seconds later, Lin Shuyun, like a rusty robot, slowly turned to look at Lin Jianyue on the sofa, who had already tucked in her neck and was acting like a quivering quail.

He was filled with deep regret and disbelief. His lips trembled as they parted, and it took him a long time to squeeze out a raspy voice. “Jianyue, you can’t judge a book by its cover…”

“I was worried you had been deceived, but I didn’t expect…”

Lin Shuyun’s eyes darted back and forth between Kenji Hagiwara’s and Jinpei Matsuda’s faces. He then gave Lin Jianyue a firm and slow thumbs-up. “You’re truly my sister. You’re so charming.”

His eyes were shining with a strange sense of pride. “You’re even a top-tier scumbag girl.”

 Lin Jianyue was silent for a moment. She picked up a pillow and threw it at Lin Shuyun. “Don’t praise me for something so weird!!”