Chapter 33: My head hurts so much; it must be a concussion from that punch Jiang Ye gave me

"Ah~"

The ghost face let out a blood-curdling scream. That handsome face, which had been decent to look at, was instantly graced with a black eye.

The officers taking their afternoon naps in the dorms on the floors below heard the commotion and poked their heads out of their windows one after another. They looked at each other, their foreheads full of question marks.

Who was that screaming just now?

One person pursed their lips, signaling everyone to look at the top floor.

Then, the heads all sensibly retracted back into their dorms. They wouldn't look anymore; a ruthless person lived on the fifth floor, and they couldn't afford to provoke him.

Mostly because the feeling of being crushed by him was unpleasant, especially in front of the soldiers under their command...

"Don't be afraid. This ghost thing is just Lu Xiu Bai. He was just messing around with me; he didn't mean to scare you."

Jiang Ye had no intention of caring about the others' reactions; he was focused on soothing the frightened young girl in his arms.

In truth, that heavy punch had sent his future brother-in-law into a daze.

"Jiang Ye, take your dog paws off first. Tell me, who is the young girl in your arms?"

Lu Xiu Bai, seeing stars in his head, saw Jiang Ye's attitude and recalled the fleeting glimpse of that face just now. His teeth ached intensely.

He regretted it. He regretted inviting a wolf into the house and regretted having the thought of teasing Jiang Ye by letting him help pick up his own sister!

"..."

Shen Man was very afraid of the dark, and she was also afraid of ghosts.

Having just pushed the door open and suddenly seeing a grotesque ghost face without any mental preparation, she felt as if her soul had nearly left her body.

At this moment, hearing the male voice that carried a questioning tone amidst its trembling, she guessed the identity of that ghost face.

"Brother?"

Shen Man's hands were still wrapped around the man's firm waist. Her voice was muffled, and her movement of poking her head out allowed one to see her current state—

The terror on her face had not yet fully faded; her palm-sized face was deathly pale from the fright.

Jiang Ye held the girl in his arms in an absolutely protective posture, his gaze toward Lu Xiu Bai exceptionally serious and filled with hostility.

He had spent the whole journey building himself up, trying his best to please his future brother-in-law for the sake of his future happiness.

And yet, this person had water in his brain, making a ghost face the moment he opened the door and scaring his little girl!

"Little sister, are you Manman?"

Lu Xiu Bai covered his swollen left eye with one hand, squinting through the slit. His face held surprise, shock, helplessness, regret, and heartache.

"Slap~"

He gave himself a loud slap. He was the dog!

How could he make a ghost face to scare his sister the first time they reunited!

He really deserved to die!

"Brother, what are you doing?"

Perhaps it was the pull of blood ties; seeing the scarred young man leaning on a crutch, Shen Man's heartache overcame her sense of strangeness.

Jiang Ye had been observing the young girl's expression. Seeing the heartache on her face, he let out an inaudible sigh.

His little girl was too kind.

He loosened his encircling arms, his gaze toward the young girl filled with encouragement and affirmation.

"I'll go get him a meal. You two siblings go inside and sit down to talk."

Love is tolerance, understanding, and empathy.

His current status was that of the young girl's suitor and admirer.

Giving the young girl and her brother appropriate boundaries was also a form of decency he maintained.

"Mm."

Shen Man released the firm waist under her palms and watched him leave.

This scene, in Lu Xiu Bai's eyes, was extremely bitter.

Sigh, a perfectly good cabbage, and before he could even keep it by his side to protect it for a few days, it had been arched by a dog!

It hadn't even been a day; how could his sister trust and rely on Jiang Ye so much?

If his sister had taken a fancy to Jiang Ye, should he agree to them being together, or should he break them up?

My head hurts so much; it must be a concussion from that punch Jiang Ye gave me!

"Brother, are you okay?"

Although there were some accidents during their first meeting, after the awkwardness and shock, the blood ties could not be faked.

The two siblings didn't look identical, but there were overlaps in their subtle features.

The siblings hadn't seen each other for over a decade. Once they sat down face-to-face and asked each other questions of concern, the sense of estrangement vanished instantly, leaving only the joy of a long-awaited reunion.

"Mom passed away three years ago? Why, why didn't you contact the family? Even if that man was heartless, you still had me and Grandfather."

"Brother, don't blame yourself. Mom was very peaceful when she left. Even though Mom didn't contact you for so many years, she always had you in her heart. Mom loved you too."

"I know, I always knew. When Mom divorced back then, she could only take one of us.

It was me; I chose to stay to protect Grandfather. Little sister, you were so small then; you needed Mom more than I did.

I just didn't expect that after Mom took you away, there would be no news at all..."

"After I grew up, Mom often mentioned you to me, praising you for being sensible since you were little and for being a real man.

When Mom mentioned you, her face was always full of pride..."

"Did you and Mom suffer in life all these years?"

"Brother, Mom and I lived in our hometown of Suzhou, and we were very happy. We didn't have any worries. Have you forgotten?

Suzhou is Mom's hometown; she had friends and relatives there. We really didn't suffer much back home.

It was you, Brother. Mom wouldn't say it out loud, but I could tell she missed you very much."

Shen Man clutched her slightly tight chest. Perhaps it was the lingering obsession of the original owner at work; as she spoke with her brother, images surfaced in her mind, frame by frame, completing her memories.

At the same time, as the comforting words to her brother fell, the tightness in her chest gradually disappeared, as if the original owner was using her mouth to express the mother and daughter's longing and reluctance to part from him.

"I knew it, I knew Mom had me in her heart."

Lu Xiu Bai covered his face, tears overflowing from between his fingers like a breached flood.

The 1.89-meter-tall man looked as fragile as if he would fall with a gust of wind.

Fortunately, Lu Xiu Bai was an adult; his emotions came quickly, and after venting, he pulled his lips into an awkward smile that looked worse than crying.

"Alright, little sister. Now that we've finished talking about Mom, I want to know, why did you come to the Sea Island to seek me out?

It's not that Brother doesn't welcome you, but Brother knows you had an arranged marriage with that Gu family. According to common sense, since you returned to the Capital, Grandfather would surely have plotted for you and decided for you to marry that person from the Gu family.

Why? Why would Grandfather agree to you coming to the Sea Island and even send a telegram instructing me to help you find a military officer husband on the island?"

Lu Xiu Bai's intelligence had regained the high ground; this was also the reason he wanted to return this morning—he couldn't wait a single moment!

He was afraid he had missed something and that his sister had been wronged.

"Brother, don't get excited. Drink some water first."

Seeing this, Shen Man knew she couldn't persuade her brother, so she took advantage of the angle to add a drop of Spiritual Liquid into the cup, attempting to alleviate his symptoms first.

At the very least, she wanted to ensure that when her brother learned the ins and outs later, he wouldn't be so angry he had a cerebral hemorrhage. ===== CHAPTER 34 =====