Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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Ji Xiaozhuo hopped on his bicycle and rode home. When he got there, he found that Nuo Nuo hadn’t arrived yet. He asked his mother and learned that Nuo Nuo had gone to Zhu Zixiao’s house for dinner. Mother Zhu wanted to thank Nuo Nuo for her supervision, because it was Nuo Nuo’s supervision that had transformed Zhu Zixiao; otherwise, the boy would have been a chubby little boy for life.
Ji Xiaozhuo took a deep breath, turned around, and walked out the door.
Tang Tang, confused, chased after him, calling, “Where are you going? Dinner’s almost ready!”
Ji Xiaozhuo swerved and rode off. “I’m going to pick Nuo Nuo up.”
Tang Tang frowned. Nuo Nuo had only been there a short while; she probably hadn’t even eaten yet. Why was he going to pick her up so early? This child was acting strangely.
Ji Xiaozhuo stopped downstairs at the Zhu family’s building but didn’t go up. They’d only invited Nuo Nuo, so he had no reason to go up and waited downstairs. The weather was hot with mosquitoes, and soon he was covered in bites. He was usually very ticklish, and if Nuo Nuo were there, he would have asked her to scratch him, but he seemed oblivious, just sitting by the flowerbed, lost in thought.
He waited from seven to nine before Nuo Nuo finally came downstairs, accompanied by Zhu Zixiao, who was about to ride his bike to take Nuo Nuo home.
Ji Xiaozhuo stood up, quickly walked over, and took Nuo Nuo’s hand tightly. “Nuo Nuo, I’ve come to take you home.”
Nuo Nuo blinked in surprise, then nodded after a moment, waving to Zhu Zixiao, “Then I’ll go home first. Please thank Auntie for me; the food was delicious.”
Zhu Zixiao scratched his head and smiled happily, “Okay, I’ll tell my mom that if you like it, you can come to my house again next time.”
Nuo Nuo nodded.
“Let’s go home, we’ll be bitten to death by mosquitoes here!” Ji Xiaozhuo pulled Nuo Nuo quickly towards the bicycle. When they reached it, he wrapped his arms around Nuo Nuo’s waist, lifted her up, and placed her on the front crossbar. He then straddled the back of the bike and rode off.
Nuo Nuo was now nestled in his arms, and Ji Xiaozhuo felt a little more at ease.
Nuo Nuo shifted uncomfortably and whispered, “I want to sit in the back.”
“Why do you want to sit in the back? It’s fine like this.” Ji Xiaozhuo showed no intention of putting her down.
Nuo Nuo pursed her lips, patted his arm, and looked up at him. “It hurts my butt sitting like this.”
Ji Xiaozhuo paused, clicked his tongue awkwardly, and stopped, reluctantly putting Nuo Nuo down from his arms, feeling a sudden emptiness in his heart.
On the way back, Ji Xiaozhuo hesitated for a moment before finally asking Nuo Nuo in the back seat, “Nuo Nuo, why haven’t you wanted to go out with me lately? Did someone on the team upset you?”
Nuo Nuo gripped his clothes tighter, but her voice remained unchanged. “I can’t play basketball, and I can’t play video games, so there’s no point in me coming along.”
“Who said there’s no point?” Ji Xiaozhuo retorted instinctively, his tone tinged with grievance. “You could cheer me on! Without you, no one will give me water when I’m thirsty, and no one will wipe my sweat when I’m hot.”
Nuo Nuo’s eyes flickered, and she said softly, “But even without me, someone will wipe your sweat and bring you water.”
“How is that the same?” Ji Xiaozhuo said without thinking. “I don’t want other girls’ things. If I do, won’t people misunderstand?”
“Misunderstand? Won’t they misunderstand if I give them to them?”
“Of course! You’re my sister! What misunderstanding could there be?”
“Oh.” Nuo Nuo pursed her lips dejectedly, paused for a moment, and then suddenly said, “But I’m not your biological sister. If we’re too close, your future girlfriend won’t like it, and my boyfriend won’t like it either.”
Ji Xiaozhuo automatically ignored the issue of his girlfriend, because he had never even considered having one. He only cared about Nuo Nuo’s last sentence, which made him abruptly stop his bicycle, turn around, and stare at Nuo Nuo angrily, asking, “You’re dating? You have a boyfriend? Who is he?”
“…” Even Nuo Nuo, who hadn’t lost her temper in over a decade, got angry. She jumped off her bicycle and walked away, not wanting to talk to this person anymore.
Seeing this, Ji Xiaozhuo hurriedly pushed his bicycle and chased after her, “What’s wrong with you? Why are you leaving? You still haven’t told me whether you have a boyfriend or not?”
Nuo Nuo ignored him and kept walking with her head down.
“Let me tell you, you’re so young, you should focus on your studies. Early romance is wrong, you can’t do anything reckless, you know? I’m only saying this for your own good. Tell me who your boyfriend is.”
Nuo Nuo pretended not to hear him, not answering a word he said the whole way. As soon as she got home, she greeted Ji Yan and Tang Tang, then went into her room and closed the door, refusing to open it no matter how much Ji Xiaozhuo knocked.
Ji Yan glared at the increasingly agitated Ji Xiaozhuo, “What are you doing, Ji Xiaozhuo?”
“…Nothing.” Ji Xiaozhuo gritted his teeth, glanced one last time at Nuo Nuo’s door, stopped knocking, then he turned and went into his own room. He’d ask the little girl properly tomorrow morning.
Tang Tang was completely baffled and asked Ji Yan blankly, “Honey, I feel like something’s off with our Xiaozhuo.”
Ji Yan glanced at Nuo Nuo’s room, his eyes darkening, and patted her head. “Don’t worry about him. Teenagers are always full of problems. He’ll handle it himself. Let’s go to sleep.”
“Oh, okay then.”
The next day, Ji Xiaozhuo went to find Nuo Nuo as soon as he woke up, only to find that Nuo Nuo had already gone to school. He was so angry that he rushed to school without even eating breakfast. But when he arrived at school, he found that the little girl hadn’t even given him a second glance, let alone explained why she hadn’t waited for him. Instead, she was huddled together with Zhu Zixiao, talking non-stop about problems. The two of them were so close that their hands on the table were almost touching.
The pressure around Ji Xiaozhuo instantly plummeted.
Wei Jia gave a meaningful smile and said to Ji Xiaozhuo in a gossipy tone, “I’ve noticed that Nuo Nuo and Zhu Zixiao have been getting along really well lately. Is it because Zhu Zixiao has become more handsome? Could they be…?”
Upon hearing this, Ji Xiaozhuo’s icy gaze made her freeze. “If you don’t speak, no one will think you’re mute.”
Wei Jia’s face stiffened. Feeling embarrassed by this reprimand, she couldn’t help but retort defiantly, “I didn’t say anything. Besides, even if they are, what’s it to you? It’s Nuo Nuo’s freedom to like whomever she wants. You’re not Nuo Nuo’s biological brother; she’s just temporarily staying at your house. Even your parents have no right to interfere, let alone you!”
“Shut up! Get out!” Ji Xiaozhuo’s angry roar startled everyone in the class, including Nuo Nuo and Zhu Zixiao. Being yelled at in front of so many people was unprecedented for Wei Jia, especially since it was by someone she liked. Unable to bear the blow to her pride, she quickly ran out of the classroom before she could hold back her tears, to avoid further embarrassment.
Ji Xiaozhuo had no time to pay attention to Wei Jia. His lips were tightly pursed. The next second, he suddenly stepped forward and pulled Nuo Nuo, who was sitting in front of him, up. He put her schoolbag and stationery on his own desk, then threw all of Wei Jia’s things onto an empty desk in the corner. He then forced Nuo Nuo to sit in Wei Jia’s seat.
“What are you doing?” Nuo Nuo was caught off guard and tried to stand up, but he held her down.
“You sit with me.” Ji Xiaozhuo stuffed Nuo Nuo’s schoolbag under the desk and tidied up her stationery.
Nuo Nuo refused, “This is Wei Jia’s seat, I won’t sit here.”
The fact that Nuo Nuo didn’t want to sit with him like before made Ji Xiaozhuo feel particularly bad. “You don’t want to sit with me anymore? You want to sit with Zhu Zixiao?”
Nuo Nuo pursed her lips and hummed in agreement. “The seats have already been arranged. The teacher will have to be told if we change seats.”
Ji Xiaozhuo looked at Zhu Zixiao and saw him looking at Nuo Nuo with concern, as if he were a villain. So he felt even more annoyed and said, suppressing his anger, “I’ll talk to the teacher, don’t worry.”
Just then, the bell rang, and the teacher was about to arrive. Nuo Nuo didn’t want to make a scene, so she didn’t say anything more and silently lowered her head to read her book. Of course, she didn’t pay any attention to Ji Xiaozhuo the whole time.
Ji Xiaozhuo felt very sad. Nuo Nuo used to not play with other children and always stayed by herself. Later, he entered her world; and he became her only friend. They did everything together, and she was always there silently by his side.
But now she was no longer there for him; she was with someone else. This fact was hard for him to accept. Although he didn’t want to admit it, he was undeniably childishly unhappy. He really disliked Nuo Nuo’s close relationship with others, especially boys. He even felt anxious and unsure what to do whenever he heard that Nuo Nuo might have a crush on someone.
Was he, a grown man, really acting like a kindergarten child, possessive of his best friend?
Ji Xiaozhuo really didn’t want to admit he was acting like a kindergartener, but he couldn’t help thinking about Nuo Nuo’s recent unusual behavior. Could she really have someone she liked? Could it really be Zhu Zixiao? The more he thought about it, the more anxious he became. Ji Xiaozhuo glanced at Nuo Nuo, who was staring straight ahead, thought for a moment, wrote a sentence on a piece of paper, quietly pushed the paper in front of Nuo Nuo, and childishly poked her arm to remind her to look.
Nuo Nuo didn’t want to look at the note in class, but he kept nudging her, forcing her to reluctantly pick it up and open it. Strong, bold handwriting appeared before her eyes: “Nuo Nuo, do you really have someone you like? Tell your brother, and I’ll help you decide.”
Nuo Nuo lowered her eyelashes, and after a long while, picked up her pen and wrote her reply after the passage:
“—Yes.”
Ji Xiaozhuo, who had been staring at her, saw the answer as she wrote. His breath caught in his throat, and for a moment his mind went blank. He licked his lips and asked in a dry voice, “You…you have a boy you like? Haha, I didn’t expect that.”
Nuo Nuo lowered her eyelashes again and didn’t speak.
Ji Xiaozhuo clenched his fist and asked softly, trying to sound calm, “Can you tell me who it is? I’m curious.”
Nuo Nuo shook her head; she didn’t want to tell him.
“Oh.” Ji Xiaozhuo gritted his teeth, then couldn’t help but ask again after a while, “It’s not Zhu Zixiao, is it?”
Nuo Nuo shook her head again, afraid that Zhu Zixiao would be unjustly embarrassed by him, and added on the paper, “It’s not him, it’s someone else, don’t ask anymore.”
Ji Xiaozhuo stared at this sentence for the entire class period without saying anything more, because he didn’t know what to say either. This was the first time he had been speechless in front of Nuo Nuo.
After school, the team members came to ask Ji Xiaozhuo to play basketball, but Ji Xiaozhuo shook his head and refused, “I don’t want to go, you guys go by yourselves.”
He was completely unmotivated.
The team members looked at Ji Xiaozhuo’s listless back and exchanged bewildered glances.
“Have you guys noticed that Brother Zhuo has been acting strangely lately?”
“Yeah, yeah, we’ve noticed, we don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
“He looks like he’s heartbroken. My brother was like that when he was heartbroken, it’s so similar.”
“Heartbroken? That’s impossible, our Brother Zhuo doesn’t have a girlfriend, how could he have lost love?”
“Who says he doesn’t have a girlfriend? Doesn’t he have Sister Jia? Maybe he and Sister Jia had a fight.”
“Now that you mention it, it’s actually quite possible. Didn’t someone say that Sister Jia ran out of the classroom crying today? It seems like her seat was changed too. Maybe the two of them had a fight.”
Ji Xiaozhuo came home unusually early today. Tang Tang was a little surprised to see him come back so early. “Didn’t you play basketball today?”
“No, I didn’t want to play today.” Ji Xiaozhuo put down his schoolbag and glanced at Nuo Nuo’s room.
Seeing this, Tang Tang said, “Nuo Nuo is doing her homework. She just got back a short while ago. You didn’t play ball today, so why didn’t you walk home with Nuo Nuo? It’s not safe for a girl to walk home alone after school. Our Nuo Nuo has grown so much over the summer, and she’s getting prettier and prettier. You need to take better care of her, okay?”
Ji Xiaozhuo gave a soft “Mmm,” picked up his schoolbag, and walked towards his room. He paused for a few seconds as he passed Nuo Nuo’s room, but unfortunately, no one answered the door.
That night, Ji Xiaozhuo couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep. He was usually a good sleeper, and this was the first time in his life he had faced such a situation.
The author has something to say:
Later, whenever Ji Xiaozhuo thought about how stupid he had been, he wished he could turn back time and rewrite history.
Nuo Nuo, standing beside him, smiled secretly, feeling very happy. Her Brother Zhuo’s only foolishness in his life was because of her, and she witnessed his only moment of stupidity.
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