Chapter 17

Chapter 17

On the third day after Xu Ge left, Brother Wu said he was treating me to dinner.

“Little sister, while your brother’s not home, I’ll take you out for a proper meal. We’ll send him a photo when we’re there and piss him off.”

I said, “Brother Wu, I still have homework. I don’t have time. Let’s eat when I’m free this weekend.”

Brother Wu wasn’t happy. “If you don’t come, you’re not giving me face. Your classmates are here too. Hurry up, hurry up.”

Nian Nian was there too?

Then wasn’t this the perfect chance to ask her why she’d been ignoring me?

I said okay, and that I’d come over after I finished the last two math problems.

By the time I finished my homework and Uncle Zhang drove me to the place, it was eight thirty.

There was still half an hour until the time I’d agreed on with Brother Wu, nine o’clock.

Following the server’s directions, I found the private room he’d mentioned.

Just as I was about to push the door open, I heard Ji Yunbai’s voice.

“This is my first time coming to a place like this. It feels so fancy.”

“Oh, what’s the big deal?”

Brother Wu’s carefree voice rang out. “If you like it, I’ll bring you here every day from now on.”

Slowly, strangely, I lowered my hand.

Why did Brother Wu know Ji Yunbai?

During the time I hadn’t been at school, what exactly had happened?

“I heard Ruan He’s parents are both dead. She’s living with the Xu Family now?”

It was Nian Nian’s voice.

“Yeah. You didn’t know? Aren’t you two friends? She never told you?”

Brother Wu sounded a little puzzled.

I heard Nian Nian let out a scoff. “When has she ever truly treated me like a friend? She lied to me and said her parents had a good relationship, that her family was happy. Turns out her parents died ages ago.”

“But that little sister of mine really is lucky. Uncle Xu personally brought her to S City. It’s not like you don’t know how expensive housing is in S City. Now that the Xu Family is raising her, she’s basically half a member of the Xu Family. She won’t have to worry about her future anymore.

“Going from a tiny place like W Town to settling down in S City in one leap-that’s a jump in social class. Even if she knelt down and kowtowed to the Xu Family, it wouldn’t be too much.

“My little Sister Ji isn’t so lucky. Her biological mother died when she was young, her biological father is missing, and even the person who adopted her is some broke loser.”

“Brother Wu, you are not allowed to talk about my adoptive father like that.”

Ji Yunbai warned him seriously.

“Fine, fine, I won’t. Let’s keep talking about that little Sister Ruan of mine.

“The Xu Family adopted her, giving her good food and good living, but she doesn’t have the slightest awareness that she’s living under someone else’s roof. Just a few days ago, she even made a fuss about wanting Xu Ge to go home with her.

“I just feel bad for my little Sister Ji. You’re pretty and you have such a good personality, so how did you end up with a family background like that?

“You should have swapped life scripts with Ruan He. Only someone like you deserves to be doted on by everyone.”

“Exactly. Who knows why Ruan He is so lucky?”

It was Nian Nian’s voice.

…

I stood outside the door, quietly listening to it all.

For even a moment, I wondered if something was wrong with my hearing.

One was the older brother who used to call me “little sister” so affectionately.

One was the friend I used to follow wherever she went, the friend I’d once sincerely given my heart to.

No matter how I looked at it, those didn’t seem like words they could say.

Outside the window, rain poured down in sheets. The window in the corridor hadn’t been closed properly, and cold droplets kept sweeping in, landing in my eyes.

I blinked, and the rain slid down from the corners of my eyes.

The chill made me breathe out a puff of cold air despite myself.

If it had been anyone else, I could have rushed in and argued back.

But if I listened carefully, what they said made sense. What could I even refute?

I laughed at myself.

Blinking my dry eyes, I turned and went downstairs.

The damp, cold wind, mixed with fine rain, struck my body.

I couldn’t help but shiver.

Without warning, my heart gave a sharp throb.

The pain came quickly and vanished just as quickly.

By the time I reacted, I was already leaning against the hotel’s glass doors, gasping for breath.

Uncle Zhang hurried over with an umbrella.

“Why did you come out so soon?”

I raised my eyes bit by bit, numb and blank. When I saw Uncle Zhang’s kind, gentle face, I thought again of what they had just said.

I sniffed back the sourness in my nose and tried to smile at him.

But as soon as I opened my mouth, the rotten lemon in my heart was pierced, and a sob I couldn’t stop spilled out.

“Uncle Zhang, sob… Uncle Zh… let’s go… go home.”