Chapter 4

Chu Xiaoyi made his living with his face.

He had always been effortlessly popular with women.

Who would have thought that one day he’d embarrass himself in front of his own little sister?

The little girl wasn’t very good at hiding her emotions.

Although she tried to be subtle, traces of impatience still showed through.

She clearly had no interest in talking to him.

Chu Xiaoyi: Oh? Starting with a show of dominance already?

Oddly enough, he wasn’t angry about her rejection.

In fact, he thought it was perfectly normal.

If a sibling suddenly appeared out of nowhere, most people wouldn’t greet them with open arms.

At least Xiaoxiao wasn’t like He Xin.

She was obviously just as uncomfortable with the existence of a brand-new older brother.

Resistance radiated from every inch of her.

The two of them were like wild animals competing over territory.

Battle could break out at any moment.

After accidentally getting a cold reception for his friendly approach, Chu Xiaoyi immediately changed tactics.

He began observing his little sister from every angle.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.

Since his initial goodwill had achieved nothing, perhaps it was time for a counterattack.

That evening, the family prepared an elaborate feast to welcome him home.

The dining table was covered with dishes.

Xiao Bi smiled warmly.

“Try this. Isn’t preserved vegetable braised pork your favorite?”

Chu Xiaoyi took a bite.

“It’s delicious.”

“Good.” Xiao Bi smiled. “At least your father’s hard work wasn’t wasted.”

He looked startled.

“Dad made this?”

Chu Xiaoyi stared at Chu Jiadong in disbelief.

He had never imagined his father cooking.

Great-Uncle laughed.

“He cooked the entire table!”

Internally, Chu Xiaoyi was stunned.

He knew his father’s personality had softened over the years.

But he never expected Chu Jiadong to become something resembling a househusband.

It was completely different from the authoritarian father of his childhood.

Embarrassed, Chu Jiadong avoided eye contact.

“Eat, eat…” he muttered.

At that moment, Grandma Chu Zhen slowly scooped rice with her spoon.

Her gaze remained fixed on Chu Xiaoyi.

Suddenly she called out:

“Xiao–”

Having lived with her for years, Chu Xiaoyi instinctively responded.

“Yes, Grandma?”

The old woman tilted her head.

Then she broke into a wide smile.

Her smile instantly brightened the entire table.

“Mom smiled!”

“You recognized Xiaoyi, didn’t you?”

“She still remembers people!”

“She still remembers her grandson…”

The atmosphere became lively and joyful. Yet Chu Xiaoyi noticed the silence of the little figure sitting across from him.

Xiaoxiao quietly ate her food. Her long eyelashes remained lowered. She seemed completely detached from the excitement around her. She wasn’t crying or sulking.

She simply appeared to exist in her own world, like a delicate doll sitting silently among humans.

Originally, Chu Xiaoyi had planned to retaliate for the “learning to oink” remark. But for some reason, his heart softened. He suddenly didn’t feel like arguing with her anymore.

He understood perfectly why his parents were paying him so much attention. After all, he had been away for years.

Once the holiday ended, he would leave again. Every day together was precious.

Truthfully, he wasn’t especially fond of his surprise little sister. Yet he was probably the person who best understood her feelings. Both of them were anxious about losing their parents’ affection. Both of them feared being replaced. Both carried the same insecurity. 

At its core, he felt she had stolen part of his parents’ love. And she felt he had stolen part of hers.

Seeing that the little girl hadn’t joined the conversation once, he decided to take the initiative. Picking up a piece of vegetable from a dish near him, he stretched across the table and dropped it into her bowl.

“Xiaoxiao, eat more vegetables.”

Chu Jiadong was just about to praise the gesture. Then he saw what vegetable had been transferred. Immediately, his expression became complicated.

Chu Xiaoyi loved stir-fried celery with lily bulbs. Chu Xiaoxiao absolutely hated celery.

That dish had been intentionally placed near Chu Xiaoyi and as far away from Xiaoxiao as possible. No one had expected him to perform a long-distance vegetable delivery.

Xiaoxiao stared silently at the celery in her bowl.

She was beginning to suspect her bargain-bin brother was sabotaging her on purpose. Why else would he specifically choose her least favorite food?

Without realizing it, Chu Xiaoyi’s well-intentioned gesture had actually caused him to lose even more favorability points. His image in Xiaoxiao’s mind sank further.

Seeing his daughter frozen in place, Chu Jiadong found himself trapped. He didn’t want to expose the truth and embarrass his son. But he also didn’t want his daughter to suffer.

Leaning toward her, he whispered secretly, “Should Daddy eat it for you?”

Ignoring him entirely, Xiaoxiao began eating the celery. One bite at a time. The determination on her face suggested she wanted to bite through her spoon.

The sight made Chu Jiadong increasingly uneasy.

After finishing every last piece of the hated vegetable, Xiaoxiao calmly set down her spoon. Then she spoke softly. “Big Brother seems to be coughing a little. Great-Aunt should make him some medicine.” 

The suddenly named Great-Aunt immediately looked concerned. “Really? Does your throat hurt, Xiaoyi?”

Chu Xiaoyi was caught completely off guard. He was indeed still recovering from a cold. But it was hardly serious anymore. He had no idea how the little girl had noticed.

Quickly, he tried to stop them. “It’s fine. Just a minor cold. I already took medicine.”

Great-Aunt shook her head. “I’ll make you some medicine anyway. You’ve been working so hard.”

Xiao Bi smiled. “Your Great-Aunt’s remedies are very effective. They’re nourishing too.”

Chu Xiaoyi immediately became alarmed. “No, no, no. I don’t drink traditional medicine.”

Great-Aunt waved him off. “It’s not really medicine. Just think of it as a health tonic. I’ll make it for you right away!”

Seeing that her scheme had worked, Chu Xiaoxiao practically wanted to grow a little devil’s tail and wave it around. A faint look of triumph appeared on her face.

Unfortunately, Chu Jiadong completely failed to notice. Instead, he gently patted her head and praised her warmly.

“Xiaoxiao really cares about her big brother’s health.”

Chu Xiaoyi: “…”

Thank you very much. Please tell her to care a little less.

After dinner, Chu Xiaoyi stared at the bowl of dark, ominous-looking tonic soup that Great-Aunt had brewed.

The rich medicinal smell hit him immediately.

His expression became extremely complicated. And deeply resistant.

Seeing him holding the bowl without moving, Great-Aunt asked cautiously, “Xiaoyi, don’t you like it?”

“No, no…” he replied quickly. “It’s just a little hot.”

Of course he didn’t like it. But there was no way he could reject an elderly relative’s kindness.

Great-Aunt was already in her sixties. She had spent a long time preparing it. No matter what, he had to drink it.

So Chu Xiaoyi forced himself to do it. He didn’t dare let the liquid remain in his mouth for even a second. Instead, he gulped it down in one go. By the time he finished, sweat was pouring down his back.

It. Was. Incredibly. Bitter.

Beside him, Chu Jiadong applauded approvingly. Then he used the opportunity to educate his daughter.

“Xiaoxiao, look at your brother. See how tough he is? Unlike you, who whines every time you have to drink soup and drags the whole thing out forever.”

Xiaoxiao immediately cooperated. Clapping her little hands, she nodded. “Mhm. Big Brother is amazing. He should drink several more bowls. It’ll be good for his health.”

Great-Aunt’s face lit up. “Then should I make more tomorrow?”

Chu Xiaoyi nearly died on the spot. Unable to speak because of the bitterness, he frantically waved his hands. Anything to stop the well-meaning old woman.

After the traumatic dining experience finally ended, everyone else began cleaning up dishes and chopsticks.

Only the siblings remained in the living room, floating awkwardly around each other.

At this point, Chu Xiaoyi had completely seen through the little girl’s hostility.

He spoke bluntly. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you? Did I offend you somehow?”

He rubbed his nose. Ironically, the medicinal soup had actually worked. His blocked nose had started clearing up. Even so, after remembering the taste, he swore he would never drink it again.

Though he had plenty of complaints, he considered himself a reasonably decent person. At the very least, he wasn’t the type to take revenge on a child. Especially not his own sister.

Xiaoxiao couldn’t be bothered bringing up the celery incident.

She had been looking down at her iPad. Now she glanced up at him and studied him carefully once more.

Chu Xiaoyi had no idea what she was looking at. Instinctively, he touched his face. “What?”

“You’re very fake.” Looking at his gray-blue heart, Xiaoxiao slowly withdrew her gaze. A trace of disgust entered her voice. “You obviously don’t like me, but you keep pretending.”

Of all things, this was what Xiaoxiao found most intolerable.

Because of her special ability, nobody could easily deceive her. Compared to everyone else, Chu Xiaoyi’s act seemed especially clumsy.

Chu Xiaoyi was speechless. He had never expected a three-year-old’s intuition to be so sharp.

Not only could she accurately sense adult emotions, she had even used the word fake.

Of course, he didn’t know about her ability. He assumed it was simply a child’s instinct. And because of that, he didn’t know how to respond.

After all…

She wasn’t wrong. Her dislike was completely understandable. If he didn’t like her, why should she like him?

Looking at the blunt little girl, something inside him gradually relaxed. The tension he’d been carrying loosened.

For the first time since coming home, he stopped maintaining the polite, sunny persona he had been showing his family.

Truthfully, returning home had been stressful. His relatives were trying so hard to welcome him. Everyone constantly watched his reactions. Instead of feeling like family, he felt like a guest, a guest who couldn’t afford to relax.

I’ve basically been spending New Year’s using my celebrity customer-service mode.

Now that Xiaoxiao had exposed him so directly, he simply gave up pretending.

Plopping down beside her, he asked casually, “What are you watching? That pig again?”

At the moment, she was the only person in the house who knew how he genuinely felt, so he stopped acting.

When he suddenly sat next to her, Xiaoxiao immediately became wary. And annoyed.

She scooted farther into the corner and hugged her precious iPad protectively.

Yet as she examined him, confusion appeared on her face. His emotional color had changed, just a little.

His heart was still dark blue. But the foggy gray had mostly disappeared. It looked clearer than before.

This person is weird. Why is he happier after being scolded? 

She genuinely couldn’t understand how his brain worked. “None of your business.”

Completely unfazed by her cold attitude, Chu Xiaoyi pointed at the cartoon pig on the screen. “So that’s Peppa?”

“That’s George.”

Trying to annoy her, he said, “What’s the difference? Aren’t they both just pigs?”

Xiaoxiao looked at him as though he were hopeless. Then she provided an example. “You’re Chu Xiaoyi. I’m Chu Xiaoxiao. Aren’t we completely different too?”

Chu Xiaoyi laughed. “Oh? Your vocabulary is pretty impressive. So which one of us is heaven and which one is earth?”

Without hesitation, Xiaoxiao replied: “You’re heaven. You’re earth.”

Before he could process the answer, Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes dramatically.

Then she declared with utmost seriousness: “I’m a normal human being. If you want to be heaven, be heaven. If you want to be earth, be earth. Just don’t drag me into it.”

“…”

Chu Xiaoyi looked at the vivid little expressions flashing across her face.

He had the distinct feeling that her forehead was only one step away from having the words “Refuse to be associated with him” written on it.

For a moment, he didn’t know whether to be annoyed or amused.

Has this little brat become a spirit or something?