Lu Qing felt a chill run down his back.
But he had no idea that he was being studied by a certain mischievous girl. His thoughts were preoccupied with the gathering this Saturday, which he felt he really had to attend.
Once there, he would have to be cautious and low-key around his senior, making sure she didn’t catch him slipping.
“Su Ling,” he called out late at night, summoning her.
“Brother, what’s wrong?”
Su Ling had just finished practicing the piano and was in the middle of drying her hair after a shower, her skincare routine still incomplete.
Hearing his call, she immediately grew concerned, sensing that her brother might have something urgent to discuss.
“Are you still planning to go with me to ‘Twilight Café’ this Saturday?” he asked.
“Ah, I’ll go if you want me to, and I won’t if you don’t want me to,” Su Ling replied, completely deferring to his wishes.
“What if I want you to add Lin Mu on WeChat and help me stay in touch with her? Would you be willing?”
“...?”
Su Ling’s face stiffened, completely caught off guard by her brother’s request.
She bit her lower lip, clearly unhappy, but she wouldn’t let her dissatisfaction show further.
In front of her brother, Su Ling would only nod in agreement and silently pull out her phone.
“...Wait, there’s something else I want to talk to you about,” he added.
“What is it?”
She put down her cat-ear phone case and looked at him, puzzled, as he sat on the sofa bed.
“You haven’t been taking your medication lately, have you?”
“No, Brother. It’s been a week since I last took it,” she answered obediently.
“Then... do you feel okay?”
Lu Qing was concerned.
He hadn’t been giving his sister much attention recently, though he had gone out a few more times than usual—all to hang out with Lin Mu.
But these outings were meant to broaden Su Ling’s horizons in music, not as one-on-one quality time. Lu Qing wasn’t sure if this was enough to satisfy her.
Su Ling shook her head and said,
“It’s fine, Brother. Don’t worry. I have ‘Black Cat’ to keep me company. When I feel lonely, I can talk to her. I feel quite content.”
“...”
Oh no.
She’s becoming more and more like how I used to be.
This isn’t good...
Lu Qing broke into a slight sweat and stood up, moving closer to her.
“Here’s the thing,” he said, his mind racing. “We have plans this Saturday, but next week, I want to take you to Tianhai First People’ Hospital.”
“Huh? Brother, are you taking me to see a doctor?”
Su Ling’s pupils contracted, and she shrunk back, clearly uneasy.
The word “hospital” clearly made her uncomfortable.
“No, no, it’s just that my eyes have been bothering me lately. I want to get an eye exam, check my intraocular pressure, maybe get a slit-lamp examination, and see if I have dry eye syndrome or something,” he said, employing the art of persuasion—
“Since we’ll already be at the hospital, I thought we might as well book you an appointment at the psychology clinic. We can get a brainwave check-up and some psychological tests to see how life’s been treating you lately... Haha, you understand what I’m getting at, right?”
Lu Qing was a master of improvisation. Even though he had no prior plans for an eye exam, he was willing to endure the discomfort of an ophthalmologist prying open his eyelids—all for the sake of getting his sister to agree to the check-up.
「For this little bit of soy sauce, I’ll wrap a whole plate of dumplings.」
“...”
Su Ling wasn’t stupid and remained skeptical of her brother’s explanation.
But she could tell that he genuinely cared about her.
Since that was the case, she had no reason to refuse. As long as he was by her side, that was enough.
—Being with him, going out together, meant he wasn’t spending time with someone else. It meant she was getting more of his attention.
Su Ling wasn’t like she used to be, desperate to monopolize her brother’s attention and control his every thought.
She had come to realize that 【her brother’s secrets were unfathomable】 and 【any attempt to manipulate his thoughts would backfire, driving him closer to others】.
She saw this as 「retribution」.
Ever since that night when her scheme was exposed (her brother had pretended to be asleep, waiting for her to make a move), she had stopped snooping through his phone or acting impulsively.
The fact that he had let her off without pressing the issue or questioning her further was already a rare gift in her eyes, and she wanted to repay him in her own way.
【I’ll change my brother in my own way, making sure he hears the 「words」 I want to convey.】
【I’m not necessarily worse than Lin Mu. She has her way of speaking, and I have my way of thinking.】
【As long as I give it my all in the second half of my life, as long as I lay my heart bare for my brother to see—】
Su Ling smiled.
She smiled with her eyes narrowed, tilting her snow-white neck upward in a “sunny” gesture, nodding at Lu Qing.
“Alright, Brother, I’ll go to the hospital with you. I’ll accompany you for the check-up,” she said sweetly.
“After all, going to the hospital alone—that’s what they call 「level ten loneliness」.”
“...”
Lu Qing looked at his slightly unhinged sister and quickly agreed, “Yeah, you’re right. Don’t worry. From now on, no matter what illness you have, I’ll be by your side. Level ten loneliness won’t happen to you.”
“Really?”
Su Ling looked at his earnest expression, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
“Yeah.”
Seeing the pressure building on him, she smiled at the right moment and then lowered her head to pick up her phone.
She opened the 「Meituan」 app, searched for “Twilight Café,” a shop labeled as “not yet open,” and clicked on the “Contact Merchant” option to find the mischievous girl’s phone number—
and dialed it directly.
Lu Qing: “...”
You’re quite the pro, little sister.
…
Ring—
Ring—
“Hello? Who’s this?”
The sound of running water filled the background. Su Ling, listening to the noise coming from the phone, greeted with a smile:
“Good midnight, Xiao Mu. It’s Su Ling. Do you remember me? The one who came to your shop with my brother last time.”
“!!! A-Ling!!! Oh my A-Ling! I can’t believe I forgot to add you as a friend! After you left last time, I kept thinking, ‘Why didn’t I get A-Ling’s contact?’ I was so upset! Your brother refused to add me, but thankfully you reached out! Hold on, let me dry off, and I’ll give you my QQ number!”
“...Wait, it’s 2 a.m. Are you taking a shower right now?”
Su Ling was slightly taken aback but continued, “Also, shouldn’t we be adding each other on WeChat? What’s with QQ?”
“! Oh, right... Sorry, I’m so used to using QQ that I forgot I’m supposed to communicate with customers on WeChat... My bad, my bad.”
Lin Mu quickly dried herself off with a towel, the hurried sounds making Lu Qing, who was listening in, stifle a laugh.
Clearly,
this girl’s WeChat contacts were few and far between—probably just her sister, her teacher, and maybe a couple of others.
She likely didn’t even have classmates on there.
Now, being added by Su Ling was a big deal for her, a breakthrough in her social circle. It meant she might occasionally get a like from Su Ling on her posts, albeit with a very low probability.
A cause for celebration, indeed.
“Hey, A-Ling!”
“Yeah?”
“You called me because there’s something important, right? You wouldn’t call me at 2 a.m. for no reason.”
Lin Mu had just finished drying herself haphazardly. Earlier, she had been upstairs pondering the “sea king” situation, interrupting her shower and nearly catching a cold from not wearing pajamas in this late autumn weather.
Now, chatting with Su Ling, she felt warm inside, as if the embarrassment from earlier—when she thought “Yinqing might be Ah Hai”—had faded, and she no longer felt like curling her toes in shame.
“Yes, my brother said that since you gave us so many delicious treats, we should visit your shop more often. So he asked me to stay in touch with you. Xiao Mu, you don’t mind, do you?”
“Of course not! I’d love that! I’m seriously lacking in friends, A-Ling. If you and I can become good friends, I’d even be willing to pay a monthly ‘friendship fee’ of 5,000 yuan!”
“?”
“But! There’s a condition!”
Lin Mu paused dramatically—
then lowered her voice to a whisper, as if proudly declaring, “I have ulterior motives,”
and said:
“You have to bring your brother along every time you come to hang out with me!”
…
…