Chapter 75

The weather forecast said it would rain all week, and sure enough, by midnight the sky began to drizzle.

The streets were wet everywhere.

Originally, the post-second-class run couldn't happen, so the students piled up in the hallway outside, horsing around.

Bo Luo Zai and a few people formally changed their address for Shu Shu from "Shu Sis" to "Little Aunt."

They originally thought Shu Shu was about their age, so calling her "aunt" sounded weird; they'd rather call her "sis," otherwise they'd get Shu Lingchen's deadly stare.

Since Shu Lingchen's identity was exposed, Bo Luo Zai still felt a little uneasy, not quite used to getting along with the "rich-kid version" of Chen Ge, feeling somewhat awkward.

He voiced that worry, and Shu Lingchen grabbed him by the throat, saying, "No matter when, I'm still your Chen Ge, got it?"

Bo Luo Zai begged for mercy as usual, but he was smiling, and the few others laughed as they piled on, turning it into a scuffle.

In the scuffle, they heard someone from the next class mention Chu Lian.

A couple days ago, Chu Lian actually came to see Shu Lingchen again, still in that tearful, pleading act asking for his forgiveness; seeing him ignore her, she even pretended to faint, thinking he'd come over to help her.

Upon hearing Shu Lingchen say that he'd just seen the convenience store stock a new yogurt flavor and was going downstairs to buy a few bottles for his sister and his aunt.

The people from the next class said Chu Lian was sent to the infirmary, where the school nurse found out she was faking it.

These days, her situation spread among the teachers; the principal thought the impact was bad and directly advised Chu Lian to withdraw.

…

Pei Muyin had always thought Shu Shu and Shu Lingchen were siblings.

Upon learning that Shu Shu was Shu Lingchen's distant aunt, she also wondered whether she should start calling her "aunt" as well.

Shu Shu said, "Muyin, call whatever you want."

Pei Muyin curved her peach-blossom eyes, softly and excitedly saying, "Then I still want to call her 'sister'."

Shu Shu gently pinched her nose: "No problem at all!"

As school was about to let out, the rain stopped.

Shu Shu planned to go home and cook dinner; as soon as she left the school gate, she brought the two kids to a large supermarket.

The three of them had a very noticeable yet unspoken change in their positions.

From the original order of Pei Muyin, Shu Shu, Shu Lingchen, it shifted to now being Shu Shu, Pei Muyin, Shu Lingchen.

Mom and older brother on the outside, younger sister in the middle.

In fact, nobody deliberately decided to stand like that; it just happened naturally while pulling a bag or pushing a cart.

After leaving the supermarket with their purchases, Shu Lingchen carried a large shopping bag in one hand; Pei Muyin originally wanted to step forward to help share the load: "Give me one."

Shu Lingchen swayed flexibly to dodge her hand, refused, then said, "Do you know what the term \"older brother\" means? It means I take the chores first, you get to taste the good food first, if you cause trouble I'll bear it for you—I can't let you call me \"older brother\" for nothing, got it?"

Shu Shu let out an surprised sound, teasing, "You haven't been short on memes lately."

Shu Lingchen righteously defended himself: "What memes? These are my sincere feelings, OK?"

Shu Shu raised her hand, touching thumb and forefinger together while spreading the other three fingers: "OK."

Shu Lingchen then recalled that line, thinking how he could have said something so cool, and added, "No way, I have to rush and post this on my Moments when I get back—I'm telling you, this line is totally going to make the top ten coolest signatures this year, and you'll be swooning."

"... Pfft."

Shu Shu and Pei Muyin exchanged a glance, both eyes holding back laughter.

They were about to laugh until they cried.

…

For dinner, Shu Shu prepared steamed sea bass, broccoli shrimp soup, soy milk steamed chicken feet, and a cold cucumber salad.

Making the cold cucumber salad involves no skill—just smash the cucumber, cut it into sections, put it in a bowl, and toss it with the dressing.

Shu Lingchen voluntarily took on that task.

But while smashing the cucumbers, he ran into a major obstacle—he kept munching as he worked, and while snacking he also cut off a piece to hand to Pei Muyin, saying it was delightfully crunchy.

Shu Shu had bought three cucumbers total; she had planned to make two batches of the salad, but in the end only enough for one batch remained.

"Shu Lingchen! Don't stuff me, we still have to eat later!" Shu Shu chased after Shu Lingchen, directing: "Go, take my sister to the living room to watch TV, don't cause trouble here."

The two words "Shu Shu's little sister" were spoken extremely naturally; hearing them, Pei Muyin felt she was an intimate member of this household.

She wiped the water droplets from her hands clean and followed Shu Lingchen to the living room, taking small bites of a cucumber full of water.

Indeed, it was crisp and crunchy, and also very sweet.

In the living room.

Shu Lingchen indeed posted that remark on Moments, with a bunch of hahahahas underneath.

Pei Muyin sat on the sofa on the other side, holding her phone, and silently gave Shu Lingchen a like; a notification popped up on the screen: "You liked your brother's post."

From the TV came a recently very popular reality show, said to be extremely funny, and it happened to be airing a scene of guests fighting over props in a mud pit, their whole bodies covered in mud, like a bunch of big spotted cats.

Shu Lingchen kept laughing as he watched.

Pei Muyin glanced at him, then at Shu Shu's figure in the kitchen, realizing she hadn't binge-eaten snacks in a long time; when she felt unhappy, she would binge-eat snacks, but since coming to An Shi, she hadn't done that.

The snacks were arranged like ornaments in the display cabinet, as if they were also saying, "If we're not eaten, we're happy too."

Pei Muyin now felt surrounded by a rich, warm happiness.

If only this could go on forever... if only there were...

As she thought that, she was about to put her phone down, preparing to watch the variety show with Shu Lingchen, when her phone vibrated in her hand.

It was a phone call.

The number's location was Jing Shi.

When her gaze fell on the note above the number, Pei Muyin's motion instantly froze.

— Grandma.

"I-I'm going to take a call!"

Shu Lingchen, who was intently watching the variety show, heard the girl suddenly say that; before he could turn his head to speak, he saw the girl clutching her phone and jogging into the bedroom.

Isn't it just answering a phone call? Why do I feel so flustered?

…

In the bedroom.

It's been a little over a month since I came to An Shi; during this period, Grandma has never called me—not even normally would this be so uncommon.

Pei Muyin didn't know why Grandma was calling.

Perhaps it was because Grandma's stern image was deeply ingrained in her heart; before pressing the answer key, Pei Muyin subconsciously took several deep breaths, then mustered the courage to slide open the button, her voice tiny:

"Hello, Grandma?"