1.
Yan Zhuo was born with an irresistible charm and has countless admirers. Unfortunately, he's as wooden as they come. When someone confesses to him, his cool reply, "You don't need to tell me," is enough to send even the most ardent admirers packing.
He's known as the Biology Department's unattainable beauty and a prime candidate to die alone.
No one knows that he suffers from alexithymia.
Its typical symptoms include being unable to feel any emotions from childhood and relying on learning and imitation for years to maintain normal social interactions.
So he chose someone who would make it easiest for him to gain the most direct understanding of emotions:
His stepbrother, Shen Gengshan.
2.
In the eyes of others, Shen Gengshan, the student council president, is handsome and refined, comes from a privileged family, and is a brilliant student admitted through a guaranteed placement.
Only Yan Zhuo knows that Shen Gengshan is a thoroughly rotten person.
His character traits include, but are not limited to: an unfilial son, a man who likes men, a compulsive liar who never means what he says, and a vindictive bastard.
What's more, Shen Gengshan hates him and only ever shows his true colors in front of him.
On the surface, the two are brothers who don't get along. Yan Zhuo takes Shen Gengshan's sarcastic remarks like water and never gives him a second glance.
In secret, however, his eyes have followed Shen Gengshan for more than seven years.
The reason is simple: Shen Gengshan is a perfect subject to observe, easy to approach, emotionally expressive, and open about it.
Yan Zhuo never expected Shen Gengshan to be such a pit, one destined to make him fall hard.
One night, drunk, he is pinned beneath Shen Gengshan.
In the sweltering little rental apartment, their breathing is heavy. Shen Gengshan's fingertip travels from the corner of his damp eye to the vivid red bite marks on his neck.
Yan Zhuo stares blankly at the ceiling. His bitten lip stings faintly, and the metallic tang spreads from the tip of his tongue all the way to his heart.
The next day, he adds another page to his notes.
[July 3, Typhoon]
[Brief assessment: Shen Gengshan still hates me]
[Emotions: Anger, agitation]
[Cause: Drunkenly had sex with me]
[Expression: Frowning, harsh words, inflicting pain]
[Self-assessment: Abnormal stabbing pain in the heart. Requires further observation.]
After that night, Shen Gengshan began acting strangely.
He kept updating the [Ways of Expressing Emotions] section, going from hugs to kisses, tender and affectionate, as if treating him like a real lover.
Yan Zhuo couldn't make head nor tail of it, but fortunately the strange behavior didn't last long.
Shen Gengshan found his observation notes.
3.
Overnight, Shen Gengshan blocked Yan Zhuo on every channel and avoided him like the plague.
Yan Zhuo felt a little regretful. A subject as perfect as Shen Gengshan was hard to come by. Fortunately, he was never short of people around him, so finding a new subject wouldn't be too difficult.
The day he settled on a new subject, it was a typhoon night. Just after midnight, Shen Gengshan showed up uninvited, soaked to the skin.
His face was deathly pale, with deep shadows beneath his eyes, yet when he spoke, his voice was hoarse and his tone strange.
Every word was almost obsessive.
"Keep observing me. Don't go looking for anyone else."
"It's okay if you don't understand love. It's okay if you don't love me."
"Yan Zhuo, I'll teach you."
Cool and wooden, emotionally numb beauty bottom x warm on the outside, cold within, refined scoundrel stepbrother top
[Reading Guide]
1. Both are virgins, one-on-one, happy ending. An angsty romance with a little coercion and rekindled love. In reality, it's a mutual journey between a bad-tempered older lover who takes the lead and a slow-witted little ice cube.
2. Not actually related by blood. They come from a reconstituted family, and they are never on the same household register.
3. The alexithymia in this story is not exactly the same as the psychological condition. There are fictional elements, so no need to scrutinize it.
4. Blurb screenshot saved on June 25, 2026.
Theme: Love is patient, love is kind.
