Chapter 37
Chapter 37
After lunch, Yu Lingling told her brother to rest while she tidied up the house.
Sitting on the living room sofa, Yu Huan pulled out his phone and looked up hotels at the amusement park in the neighboring city. “Do you want another themed room? An animal one again?”
“Yes.” Yu Lingling poked her head out of the kitchen. She was washing fruit – her favorite strawberries and her brother’s favorite grapes. “This time, I want a princess room.”
Her dolls couldn’t be the only ones who got to live in the Princess Dollhouse. She wanted to stay in one too.
Yu Huan agreed. With the fireworks show coming up, room rates had risen considerably, but fortunately, there were still vacancies. “Do you want to stay a couple more days?”
Yu Lingling carried out the fruit, sat beside her brother, and leaned over to look at his phone. “No. We have to spend New Year’s at home.”
They had already stocked up for the holiday and only planned to be gone for about three days. “We’ll come back for New Year’s Eve and stay up to ring in the new year.”
Yu Lingling bit into a strawberry and made two contented little snuffling sounds like a piglet.
Yu Huan didn’t care what kind of room he stayed in, so he booked two rooms of the same type and left a note requesting that they be next to each other. Since they planned to drive, there was no need to book tickets. “Go pack your things, then. We’ll leave tomorrow morning.”
The strawberries were especially fragrant and sweet this time, so Yu Lingling popped one into her brother’s mouth too. She knew he wanted her to make more friends and get along with her classmates, so she said craftily, “I want to buy souvenirs to give my classmates when school starts again.”
Sure enough, Yu Huan smiled. “All right.”
Yu Lingling rummaged through her pocket and handed him the egg that looked as though it were made of cheap yellow plastic. She had wanted the wheelchair as a gift for her brother too, but she hadn’t managed to get it, leaving her with only this egg. “For you.”
The moment Yu Huan took it, he sensed that the egg was alive. He didn’t even have to think to know where Yu Lingling had gotten it. “Actually, it would be more useful if you kept it instead of leaving it with me.”
Yu Lingling wore a pair of fuzzy puppy-patterned socks, complete with floppy dog ears. The egg might have looked cheap, but she could sense the strange energy contained within it. “It’s for you.”
Yu Huan smiled and kept it in his hand. “All right, then I’ll…”
Before he could finish, his phone suddenly vibrated. Yu Lingling looked over curiously and saw an app she had never seen before appear on the screen. Before she could get a closer look, however, her brother flipped the phone over.
Yu Huan’s gaze darkened, but his voice remained gentle. “Lingling, think about what you want to bring. I’m going to make a call.”
Although the app’s icon had only flashed across the screen for an instant, Yu Lingling had memorized it.
Yu Lingling was certain she had never seen that app on her brother’s phone before. Had he kept it hidden? Then again, she never went through his phone in the first place.
Yu Huan rose and headed toward his room.
Yu Lingling popped another strawberry into her mouth, but just as its flavor touched her tongue, her brother’s ringtone sounded.
It was the same ringtone she heard all the time, yet for some reason, it filled her with dread now.
Yu Lingling jerked her head up to look at Yu Huan as he walked toward his room and called out instinctively, “Brother?”
Yu Huan stopped. He was dressed in beige loungewear, and his refined, handsome features were always gentle whenever he looked at Yu Lingling.
Yu Lingling glanced at the phone, then back at her brother’s face. “Brother, don’t answer it.” She didn’t even know why she was saying this. “You only just got back. Forget about them.”
This was the ringtone Yu Huan used exclusively for work. Likewise, he had a custom ringtone on his phone just for Yu Lingling.
Yu Lingling had recorded that ringtone herself. Whenever she called Yu Huan, his phone would ring with her voice: “Big Brother, answer the phone! Big Brother, hurry up and answer! Your precious little sister is calling you!”
His work ringtone, on the other hand, was simply one of the phone’s default options.
Yu Huan looked at Yu Lingling. “Let me find out what this is about first. Then I’ll tell you whether I have to go, okay?”
Yu Lingling wanted to say no, but when she met her brother’s gaze, all she could do was pout unhappily.
Yu Huan walked back over and rubbed his sister’s head. “Why don’t you think about what you want to bring for our outing tomorrow?”
In the end, Yu Lingling lowered her head. “Okay.”
Yu Huan’s phone had barely stopped ringing when it started again. Clearly, it was urgent. Once he saw that his sister had been placated, he returned to his room to answer the call.
Yu Lingling stared at the closed door and murmured, “How annoying. Big Brother only just got back.”
Despite her complaint, Yu Lingling set down what she was holding and went back to her room. When she emerged again, she had changed into a fleece-lined tracksuit.
Yu Huan and Yu Lingling came out of their rooms one after the other. He had changed into clothes suitable for going out. Seeing Yu Lingling, he said, “Lingling, wait for me at home.”
Yu Lingling stood up, her feet planted on the carpet. This was the first time her brother had ever spoken to her in such a serious tone. “Big Brother?”
Yu Huan’s expression remained unchanged. “Don’t eat junk food for dinner. I’ll order you a proper meal.”
Yu Lingling turned to look outside. The car and the people who had come to take her brother away were already waiting. They must have made all their preparations before they even called him. At the thought, a vicious gleam filled her eyes.
Yu Huan ruffled Yu Lingling’s hair. “Be good.”
Yu Lingling forcibly suppressed the hostility in her eyes. “Then I’ll wait for you to come back, and we’ll go to the amusement park.”
Yu Huan agreed.
Yu Lingling walked him outside. “Big Brother, did you bring that egg?”
Yu Huan pulled it out of his pocket and showed it to her.
If the Princess Dollhouse could have been transferred to someone else, Yu Lingling would have made her brother take the Dollhouse with him too. With no other choice, she puffed out her cheeks and indignantly saw him off.
Yu Huan noticed that Yu Lingling had come outside without the extra-thick, extra-long down coat bought especially for her. “Aren’t you cold?”
Yu Lingling watched as the men loaded the wheelchair into the car. The people sent to pick up her brother this time were different from the ones before.
Previously, both the driver and the assistants had been ordinary military veterans. The people who had come this time also had military backgrounds, but they carried the distinctive energy fluctuations of the Horror Game.
Yu Lingling felt deeply uneasy, though she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was bothering her. “I am.”
Yu Huan gently reminded her, “Then hurry back inside.”
Yu Lingling murmured an acknowledgment but remained where she was.
Yu Huan sighed inwardly and reached out to hug his sister. Ever since Yu Lingling started middle school, he had rarely embraced her like this. “Don’t send Doctor Song flowers this time. He isn’t allergic to pollen.”
Yu Lingling murmured another acknowledgment.
Yu Huan released his sister and patted her head once more. “Wait for me to come back.”
Yu Lingling watched Yu Huan get into the car. Even after it drove away and disappeared from sight, she didn’t leave. She stood there a while longer before finally heading inside.
“So not everything Doctor Song says is complete nonsense after all. My sensitivity to the cold really is psychological.”