At the living room table, the atmosphere was somewhat silent.
Liu Zilang quietly slurped his noodles.
Zhang Xiaotong nibbled on her noodles while she scrolled through her phone, with her delicate fingers tapping on the screen. Liu Zilang had no idea what was she doing.
In all seriousness, Liu Zilang had been back for more than half a year. Although they live together, the two of them had never sat down and ate together since then.
That is because the housekeeping aunty was usually around to make dinner. Once dinner was ready, Zhang Xiaotong's portion of the meal would be brought to her.
As for Liu Zilang, he would occasionally dine in the living room, or sometimes in his room.
Thinking about it, a situation like today's would actually be a first.
…
Sensing that the atmosphere had been silent and it was getting slightly awkward, Liu Zilang knew that this could not go on like that.
He thought to himself, 'Perhaps the current situation presented an opportunity for him to restore the broken sibling-relationship.'
As he pondered, Liu Zilang automatically coughed twice with his fist closed over his mouth.
Once he got her attention, he squeezed out what he thought would be a sunny smile and shuffled towards Zhang Xiaotong. Grinning from ear to ear, he asked, "What are you looking at, let brother look at it too…"
Snap!
As expected, before he was done speaking, Zhang Xiaotong pressed on the side button and the phone's screen turned off in response.
All of a sudden, Liu Zilang choked on the latter part of his sentence —"let brother look at it"— he was almost unable to ease his breathing.
That was too far!
Unacceptable!
Why did such a sister exist?
Liu Zilang's rage rose in a heartbeat.
Take a deep breath. Calm down, calm down!
He consoled himself, telling himself that it was just an 'ice-breaking day' but he must not screw it up.
However, the little brat was already a junior high student, so it was normal to have some privacy and secrets.
Yes, he was indeed a little rude.
After calming down, Liu Zilang looked at the bowl of noodles in front of him and a sudden inspiration hit him. He beamed as he said once again, "What do you think? Brother's cooking skill isn't all that bad, isn't it?"
"Don't judge this bowl of noodles by its simple appearance. It's actually an authentic Chongqing street noodle that your brother has secretly learned in the few years that he was in Chongqing."
"You see, this noodle, this egg, this green onion… Tsk tsk…"
While he said it, Liu Zilang intentionally took a deep breath as if he was drunk. In fact, he was relishing in secret.
As a saying goes, 'the way to a person's heart is through their stomach.'
He gestured triumphantly!
The entry point of this topic would surely be right!
As he expected, Zhang Xiaotong who was playing with her phone with her head down suddenly raised her head after having heard what Liu Zilang said
The next moment, their eyes met.
Liu Zilang was very taken aback.
For a moment, he saw a shred of grievance in Zhang Xiaotong's evasive gaze. It was like a cat abandoned at the corner of a street.
Yet that feeling vanished in a flash because Zhang Xiaotong's face was once again restored to her cold and distant countenance.
It was clear that her expression in her eyes at that very moment was directed at Liu Zilang to shut up…
…
Without a doubt, the plan had failed.
Dispirited, Liu Zilang fiddled with the noodles in his bowl, not knowing what went wrong.
Liu Zilang did not possess any 'indomitable' character regarding such matters. Naturally, two failures were enough to plummet his fighting spirit into the earth's core.
Inadvertently, he saw the remaining amount of noodles in their bowls. Since Liu Zilang was bored stiff, he suddenly came up with an idea.
So he shamelessly asked, "Xiaotong, why don't we compete?"
Zhang Xiaotong's head remained low; she was clearly ignoring him.
However, Liu Zilang kept going, "Hey, the rule of the competition is simple. That is, whoever eats the slowest… is…"
"Responsible for washing the dishes!"
As soon as he finished his sentence, Liu Zilang abruptly slurped all the remaining noodle that was in his bowl.
A short while after, he topped the bowl and gulped down the soup.
It was then followed by a raise of his hand. High-spirited, he said, "Haha! Sorry, but I won!"
After he said that, he put down the bowl and left the table smugly, walking into his room.
At that moment, his dismal from being defeated earlier on had been swept away as he seemed relaxed.
Still eating her noodles in small bites, Zhang Xiaotong raised her head and stared at Liu Zilang's silhouette. To express her dissatisfaction, she made a 'hmph' sound.
…
In his room, Liu Zilang took a rest on the bed for a while before he got up by doing a carp skip-up.
After he gathered for a few clothes to change into from the cabinet, he hummed while prepared to take a shower.
When he passed through the living room, he heard sounds coming from the kitchen.
So, Liu Zilang leaned sideways and tilted his head where he caught a glimpse of Zhang Xiaotong washing the dishes in the pool of water with a pair of gloves on.
Heh heh heh!
Seeing this scene, Liu Zilang's heart suddenly became more at ease.
Just as he walked past the table, the handphone in which Zhang Xiaotong placed on the table before she went to do the dishes suddenly vibrated — a QQ message popped up.
"But I did not regard you as a sister. Maybe we can try to get along."
Liu Zilang inadvertently shot a glance at the message, and he was shocked.
Did not treat her as a sister?
Who? Treat who as a sister?
Also, get along?
What is the situation here?
For a while, Liu Zilang's confused mind suddenly felt like it was being scratched by a cat.
He looked at the phone on the table and made a peek at Zhang Xiaotong who was then still washing the dishes in the kitchen. It did not seem like she would come out anytime soon.
Liu Zilang thought to himself, 'Although looking through someone's messages was not good, with the absence of his father and other family members, he could be considered as half a guardian of this brat.
So yes, for the sake of her healthy growth, it should not be a problem.
With the mentality of 'it's for her own good' and driven by his curiosity, Liu Zilang finally extended his evil claws towards Zhang Xiaoto's handphone.
…
Sliding the screen, it was still not locked yet.
Nice!
When Liu Zilang turned on the phone, he saw the chat history in QQ's dialog box.
"Uhm... Xiao Tong, you don't have a boyfriend yet, am I right?"
"Uhh... Why would you ask this such a question?"
"Just tell me, do you have one or you don't?"
"Of course not."
"That... If it were me, would you consider it?"
A brief interval occurred after that message.
Upon reading it, the corner of Liu Zilang's eyes could not help but twitch. He thought to himself, 'Could it be that this little brat has experienced some intense psychological struggle?'
Unbelievable!
Absolutely unbelievable!
Fortunately, Zhang Xiaotong's next reply allowed Liu Zilang to breathe a breath of relief.
"I'm sorry, I've always treated you as a brother. If you keep this attitude, let's not contact each other anymore."
However, Liu Zilang could not help but pout after reading it.
Think of others as her brother?
Damned brat, don't you have a brother?
I am right here. Why don't you regard me as your brother?
Feeling humiliated, Liu Zilang continued to scroll through the messages until it arrived at the latest message in which he saw just now — the one where it said 'But I did not regard you as a sister. Maybe we could try to get along.'
When he read that, Liu Zilang finally understood, and his heart suddenly burst into anger!
Stinking brat!
How dare he lay his hands on my sister!
He clicked into that person's information, showing his cartoony profile avatar that looked like a male character from an anime. It had the same style as Zhang Xiaotong's profile avatar.
Due to the fact that Liu Zilang had limited contact with two-dimensional characters, he did not recognize the character and skipped it.
He then looked at the screen name, Shangshan Xiaxiang.
What the hell?
Do you f*cking think that you are the most educated youth of the last century?
Liu Zilang sneered as he picked up the phone. Then, he swiftly typed a reply, "Okay, then treat me as your mother!"
"Hurry up and scram!"
...