Chapter 5
Chapter 5
The group chat fell into a dead silence.
I exited the group chat and saw a message from my brother:
-Breakfast is warming in the pot.
-Are you up yet?
I replied with an OK emoji.
Two little kittens, each carrying a letter in their mouths, ran across the screen.
Xie Fengnan replied with a [nodding puppy.gif].
He had actually taken that sticker from me.
The puppy was a Samoyed.
Its fur was so fluffy.
It looked a bit like my brother himself when he nodded.
My heart softened as I held my phone.
Then, my brother called me.
There was noisy chatter in the background.
“Zhiyu, what are your plans for today?”
I checked my memo:
“Going out to tutor someone.”
“Do you want me to pick you up?”
“No need.”
I added quickly, “I’m going to hang out with friends after class.”
There was a subtle pause on the other end of the line.
Then, my brother spoke in his usual gentle tone:
“I see.”
“Be careful on the road, Zhiyu.”
“By the way.”
He added, “I slept very well last night. Thank you.”
Back at the roadside, eating fried skewers again.
This time, all three of us were squatting there.
Xia Mo ate until her mouth was covered in grease.
“Xie Zhiyu, you idiot. I’ve never seen someone drug a person and then fall asleep themselves.”
Zhou An was stuffing his face with skewers in silence.
I felt a bit dejected.
“I didn’t want to either…”
“It must be because you two dragged me into playing games all night for the past few days. I was so exhausted I missed my chance.”
Xia Mo rolled her eyes.
“Why don’t you just tell your brother directly? At worst, you’ll just get kicked out of the house.”
“…Haha.”
I said, “No big deal at all, right? Just getting kicked out of the house.”
Zhou An didn’t join the conversation.
He kept his head down, eating like a wild boar.
I continued to mope.
“You guys don’t understand…”
Xia Mo: “Stop acting melancholy. It doesn’t suit you.”
I slapped Zhou An on the back.
He started coughing.
I thoughtfully grabbed a bottle of water from the stall and handed it to him.
“Scan the code, that’ll be two yuan, thanks.”
Zhou An paid obediently while still coughing.
“Zhou An,”
I said, “If your cat, Qiuqiu, turned into a person and told you she liked you and wanted to be with you, what would you think?”
Qiuqiu was a stray cat Zhou An had picked up.
She had been skin and bones when he found her.
Now, she had grown into a literal truck of a cat.
Zhou An almost sprayed the water he just drank. After finally catching his breath, he looked at me with a face full of horror.
“I’m raising her as my daughter! That’s practically sacrilegious!”
I rested my chin on my hand and hummed in response.
“That’s why I don’t dare say anything.”
“I don’t want to make things difficult for my brother.”
Xia Mo’s eyes widened. “But you dared to drug him?”
I said, “Brother is going to get married.”
Soon, there will be someone else who can rightfully sleep by his side.
They will occupy that intimate distance that I, lacking the status of a “lover,” can never reach.
What I want isn’t much, really.
Just to be like when we were kids.
Leaning against him, feeling his body heat and his breathing.
Just to sleep for a bit.
Secretly, just once.
Xia Mo shuddered and rubbed her arms.
“You brother-con, I really can’t stand you. So gross.”
“Both perverted and pure-hearted at the same time.”
I glared at her. “Do you think you’re any better? We’re all birds of a feather if the three of us hang out together.”
I picked up my phone and opened the group chat.
“If someone in the group types ‘1’, I’ll do it again.”
The scene was quiet for a minute.
No one in the group chat spoke either.
I gritted my teeth.
I did it myself and typed a ‘1’ in the group.
Xia Mo: “…”
Zhou An: “…Hardcore.”