Chapter 8

Chapter 8

As the New Year drew near, Uncle Xu and Aunt Xu both came home.

The house became lively and bustling.

I kept them company and chatted with them for a while, then went upstairs to do my homework.

I got stuck on a physics problem and couldn’t make sense of it no matter how hard I thought. I filled five whole sheets of scratch paper with calculations, but still had no clue where to begin.

“For this problem, set up differential equations to solve it. Apply Newton’s second law, combine the two differential equations you get, eliminate the variables, and you’ll be able to get the expression for v in terms of t.”

A clear, cool voice suddenly sounded above my head.

I was so startled that my pen immediately dragged a long line across the paper.

I looked up in a daze and, without warning, met Xu Ge’s dark eyes looking down at me from above.

His gaze was moving back and forth over my test paper and my scratch paper.

This was the first time he had ever come into my room.

I couldn’t help breaking into a smile. “Xu Ge, you’re here.”

He gave a quiet “Mm,” his eyes still on my paper. Then he reached out, his arm passing over my head as he flipped my worksheet over. While scanning it, he answered casually, “There are guests at home. Chunting Feast has already delivered the food, and Aunt Su told me to call you down for dinner.

“You were so absorbed in studying that you didn’t answer even after I knocked a few times, so I pushed the door open and came in.”

Xu Ge had mentioned guests so casually that I didn’t take it to heart.

But when I followed him downstairs and saw the reception room on the first floor, I froze on the spot.

Why were there so many people my age here?

A pretty, lively girl saw Xu Ge and immediately waved at him. “Xu Ge, Xu Ge! Do you want to stay up all night playing Werewolf with us?”

“No.”

Xu Ge didn’t even look at her. He walked straight to the sofa where a bunch of boys were sprawled out, slipped off his slippers, and curled up in a corner of the couch. The moment that familiar “Timi” announcement sounded, I knew they were about to start again.

“Little sister, little sister, come here.”

Brother Wu called me over and had me watch him play Plants vs. Zombies.

I wrinkled my nose in disdain. “Brother, you’re so childish.”

Brother Wu flicked my forehead lightly. “Isn’t it all for you? I saw you standing there all alone, so I found a game you know how to play.”

He handed me the phone, still warm from his hand, and let me play while he squatted off to the side and watched.

I was just getting absorbed in the game when a girl’s voice suddenly cut in.

“So this is the new adopted daughter the Xu Family took in?

“What a lucky life. She gets to hang around Brother Xu every day.”

My hand, which had been dragging a sunflower, instantly froze there.

Brother Wu hurriedly covered the girl’s mouth. “My dear little ancestor, please stop talking. You have no idea how much Xu Ge dotes on his little sister. If he hears this later, he’ll get mad.”

The girl stuck out her tongue playfully. “Kids say whatever they want. Kids say whatever they want.”

Then she turned the conversation toward me again. “Hey, was your family really poor? How come your parents are both dead and none of your relatives wanted you?”

My sharp nails dug into my palm.

The zombies broke into the house.

I lost.

I turned off the phone screen and handed the phone back to Brother Wu, who was still desperately trying to cover the girl’s mouth.

Brother Wu was so anxious that sweat beaded on his forehead.

“Stop talking, stop talking. Xu Ge is looking at you.”

I subconsciously looked back.

I saw Xu Ge lift his eyes. His gaze landed on that girl, and there was a smile in his eyes, but the smile didn’t reach the bottom of them.

I looked away and said, somewhat stubbornly, almost obsessively, “My family may not have been as rich as all of yours, but we weren’t as poor as you imagine either. My family was very happy. The reason no relatives took me in was because I don’t have many relatives, and they’re all out of town.

“Besides, Uncle Xu treats me very well. Please don’t keep making baseless guesses about things you don’t understand.”

After dinner, I returned to my room and continued doing my homework.

Before long, Brother Wu knocked on my door with a thump, thump, thump.

“Little sister, little sister, your Brother Xu got revenge for you.

“Just now, those people were gathered around the table playing Werewolf. Xu Ge, who clearly hadn’t been interested at all, joined in for some reason. And you know how sharp Xu Ge’s tongue is-he talked that girl straight into tears.

“Someone beside them even tried to smooth things over, telling Xu Ge not to embarrass a girl like that. Guess what your Brother Xu said? Damn.

“He threw the card in his hand onto the table, leaned back in his chair, crossed one leg over the other, acting so cocky he looked like a total idiot, then gave a cold laugh and said, ‘I gave her face? Did she give me any?’

“I told you, didn’t I? Xu Ge is such a damn sister-con. If he heard it, there was no way he would just ignore it!”

I smiled and nodded. I said thank you, Brother Wu, for telling me all this. Thank you, thank you.

After closing the door, I turned around.

From the very bottom of my drawer, I took out my sketchbook. Thinking of what Aunt Su and Brother Wu had said, I slowly began to outline Xu Ge’s features on the page.

Then my eyes shifted, and I suddenly saw the words I had written on the back of the drawing paper the first day I arrived.

[Here, I met a very good-looking boy. God, please bless me and make it so he doesn’t hate me.]

I thought for a moment, then added a small line beneath those words.

[It’s okay, even if it’s for Ji Yunbai.]