Xie Ying'an had no plans for the weekend.
Early in the morning, Mrs. Xie, Zhao Yan, made a call, asking both siblings to spend the weekend at the Xie Family.
Li Qing Mo, who disliked cooking, readily agreed and urged Qingran to go early in the morning.
Qingran had been resting poorly recently and showed no signs of getting up even close to eight o'clock,
but Li Qing Mo, who usually played video games till late at night every weekend, got up unusually early. He leaned against Qingran's door, scrolling through his phone while urging Qingran to get up.
"Li Qingran, hurry up, don't be so lazy."
In addition to the sound of footsteps in his game, his phone suddenly transmitted Xie Ying'an's voice laced with amusement: "Is your sister still not up?"
"Heh~" Li Qing Mo scoffed, pulling out a 98k and firing a shot at an opponent, headshot; he boasted proudly: "Is 'sister' someone you can call casually?"
"Hmm," Xie Ying'an fell silent for a while, rare conciliatory words came: "I won't call her sister."
"That's more like it." Li Qing Mo grabbed his phone, turned to go downstairs, and didn't forget to remind Qingran, who was still in bed, again: "The food is getting cold, get up quickly."
It was rare for her to indulge in lounging in bed, and her own brother made it public, leaving Qingran utterly speechless.
The cell phone on the nightstand chimed with a WeChat notification, Qingran stretched her hand out of the blanket to grab her phone.
The WeChat was from Ruan Ruan, the young girl had recovered her spirits after a day of rest and her mother's comfort.
Soft girl: Ranran, Song Shize said today is his birthday, he wants both of us to come over.
Soft girl: Hahaha, he must be crazy, who would go.
Qingran replied with a smiley emoji and added, "Just block him," then got up to wash and dress.
When she came back after breakfast to check her phone, she discovered a string of messages from Ruan Ruan.
Soft girl: Block him? Maybe let's not, Song Shize is just someone Brother Mo beat up so you wouldn't have the chance to add him on WeChat, otherwise you would see how clingy he can be.
Soft girl: Ranran, Eleven just contacted me
Soft girl: She asked if I wanted to go out shopping this afternoon?
Soft girl: Do you want to go together, Ranran, I haven't gone shopping in a long while.
Soft girl: Ranran?
The last message was sent twenty minutes ago, Qingran held her phone hesitantly for a moment, then sent a "Sure" in response.
Qingran's current residence was not close to Xie Ying'an's house, requiring two bus stops.
When they left the house at nine o'clock, Li Qing Mo, impatient with Qingran's dawdling, hurried her, "Hurry up, Liu Luo Xi is also at Xie Ying'an's house, we are just one short now."
They had a fairly long walk to the bus station, and as they passed under a tree where stray cats are fed, Qingran paused.
A tall, thin youth in black clothes and pants stood under the ancient tree, his delicate brows and eyes obscured by his black baseball cap.
"Senior Brother Ji?" Qingran called out uncertainly.
Ji Yanchen lifted his head upon hearing her, his beautiful, tea-colored eyes still as dead and waveless as ever, he tugged at his mouth in an awkward smile: "Hello Qingran junior."
"It really is you." Qingran gave a polite smile.
At this time, the stray cats hadn't come out to forage yet, what was God Ji doing running out here?
Ahead, Li Qing Mo walked on without turning his head, completely unaware that Qingran had stopped.
Qingran glanced at the increasingly distant Li Qing Mo, panicking slightly, she hastily bid Ji Yanchen farewell: "I have things to do, I'll leave first, goodbye Senior Brother."
Ji Yanchen's mouth twitched, but the words on the tip of his tongue remained unspoken.
From afar, a girl's reminding voice could still be heard: "We are at the road, brother, don't just keep looking at your phone…"
As the siblings walked away, Ji He emerged from behind another tree nearby.
He patted Ji Yanchen on the shoulder encouragingly: "Well done."
Only Ji He knew how difficult it was for the autistically lonely God Ji to take this proactive step.
Ji Yanchen's gaze lowered, merging with the shadows beneath the tree, his interest waned, and he retreated back into his own world.
Ji He moved to drape an arm around his shoulder: "Let's go, God Ji, it seems our journey together still has a long path ahead."
It was rare, Ji Yanchen just frowned slightly, his eyes fixed on Ji He's arm on his shoulder, not brushing it off as usual.
His own best friend, whom he couldn't influence even after over a decade, had softened up suddenly for a girl; in that moment, Ji He didn't know whether to cry or laugh.
Ji He, unaware of how clumsy his own methods were, secretly rejoiced at the success of this 'chance encounter'.
——
Qingran was slightly nauseous on buses, but fortunately, it was only two stops to Xie Ying'an's house. The discomfort of motion sickness had just begun to manifest when they already arrived.
Xie Ying'an stood outside the door waiting for them, idly playing with his phone.
Li Qingmo tiptoed and slowed down his steps, this guy was having a childish moment, thinking of rushing over to scare Xie Ying'an.
Before he could make a move, Xie Ying'an nonchalantly lifted his eyes and glanced at him.
Li Qingmo rolled his eyes and withdrew his hand, muttering, "Boring!"
Taking a few steps forward, he then turned his head back and asked Xie Ying'an, "Where's Liu Luoxi?"
Xie Ying'an hooked the corner of his lips but didn't say anything.
"Hey!" Hidden in the shadows, Liu Luoxi suddenly sprang in front of Li Qingmo.
"Ah—" Li Qingmo was startled into a serious shiver, and after recovering, he got angry: "Liu Luoxi you childish ghost…"
Xie Ying'an couldn't be bothered with the two of them. When Li Qingmo and Liu Luoxi got together, if they could go over half an hour without fighting, it definitely meant one of them had been beaten up.
After being carsick, Qingran's face was somewhat pale.
Xie Ying'an walked over to pull her, his gaze lingering on her face for a moment, "Carsick again?"
The young boy's warm, dry hand touched Qingran's icy cold hand. Qingran looked down for a moment.
"A little." She responded, taking a couple of steps then discreetly pulling her hand away from Xie Ying'an's, and entered the room first.
Xie Ying'an paused his steps, stunned for a moment before passing the bickering duo to follow Qingran inside the house.
Zhao Yan was lying on the sofa watching TV, seemingly finding the drama boring as her gaze drifted away.
"Aunt Zhao." Qingran walked over.
"Oh my, Ranran is here." Zhao Yan stood up from the sofa, her listless face instantly gaining some vitality.
"Sister An—" Zhao Yan called out to the kitchen.
A sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl wearing an apron ran over, the girl was extremely pretty and smiled before speaking: "Aunt Zhao, my mom is still washing vegetables, do you need something?"
Zhao Yan seemed very fond of this girl from the An Family, she smiled and said, "Xiaoxiao, some guests are here, go prepare some fruits."
An Xiaoxiao crisply agreed, her gaze briefly pausing as it passed Qingran, she nodded at Qingran then headed to the kitchen.
An Xiaoxiao, Qingran slightly tasted these three words with her tongue, then her head throbbed violently again, she tightly closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, her eyes were clear, the second female lead in the book, named—An Xiaoxiao.
An Xiaoxiao was born into an ordinary family with a stable financial situation, her parents were hardworking, and the family of three had a decent life.
However, in An Xiaoxiao's ninth year, her father developed a gambling addiction and started gambling. Initially, the straightforward man who lost in gambling would kneel in front of his wife, begging for forgiveness with tears.
Later, when this man won some money, he got out of control and spent whole days in the gambling house, would the goddess of luck always favor him?
This man gambled away the family's savings, then the house. Perhaps influenced by his wife's repeated soft-hearted compromises, or the sweet taste of gambling successes, this man completely lost himself.
Starting from when An Xiaoxiao was eleven, debt collectors visited their home during festive seasons incessantly, and whenever they came, An's father would secretly escape through the wall, leaving behind An's mother and daughter watching valuable things being carried away from the house…
In the year An Xiaoxiao turned twelve, An's mother could no longer endure this life. She took An Xiaoxiao and escaped, later through a relative's introduction, they came to work for the Xie Family.
Zhao Yan, being soft-hearted, couldn't bear to see An's mother and daughter struggling, coincidentally during the years Xie Ying'an was picky with food, he somehow only liked the meals cooked by An's mother, thus mother and daughter stayed with the Xie Family.
Zhao Yan pulled Qingran to sit by her side, Xie Ying'an, Liu Luoxi, and Li Qingmo gathered together and started playing a game.
An Xiaoxiao quickly brought over the fruits, she placed the fruits on the coffee table then turned around to place a dish of blueberries right in front of Xie Ying'an.
Qingran looked thoughtfully at that plate of blueberries.
As Xie Ying'an looked up, he saw Qingran staring at the blueberries farthest from her, he pushed the plate of blueberries towards her, "Want some blueberries?"
Qingran shook her head, casually lying: "I don't like the taste of blueberries."
Xie Ying'an frowned: "How come I didn't know you dislike them…"
Liu Luoxi interrupted him, "Xie Ying'an hurry up, what are you dawdling for?"
Xie Ying'an put away his phone and headed towards the kitchen with the plate of blueberries, leaving behind a remark: "You guys play first."
Li Qingmo glanced up at him amidst his busy schedule: "Xie Ying'an, can't you take a loss?"
The slim tall figure of the young boy had already entered the kitchen, Zhao Yan laughed and smoothed things over, "Ha, ignore him, he's just like that. I really can't understand these kids going through puberty anymore."
Li Qingmo, his fingers flying over the phone screen, did not forget to flatter Zhao Yan, "Aunt Zhao look at you, your skin isn't much different from Li Qingran's. If you two walked together, people would certainly say you are sisters. You could experience youth again."
Zhao Yan laughingly scolded Li Qingmo for teasing her too.
The atmosphere in the room was warm and cozy.
Qingran made an excuse to go to the restroom, and as she passed by the kitchen, she clearly heard An Xiaoxiao's puzzled voice: "...didn't you always like blueberries?"
"Suddenly I don't like them anymore." The young boy's voice was cold and firm: "No need to prepare them in the future."