Chapter 976: A Loyal Tribute to Junior Sister's Beautiful Legs! (Part 2)

“Little Chan’Er, you’re about to go stay at Sister’s place soon, are you happy?”

Xianchan nodded happily.

Baili Yao Yue was grinning like she’d just eaten honey, her smile practically splitting her face.

Fan Wubing narrowed his eyes and squawked, “Your drool’s coming out!”

Baili Yao Yue instinctively covered her mouth, then glared at Fan Wubing in annoyance. “What kind of nonsense are you spouting?!”

Fan Wubing raised a brow. “How come I’ve never heard you use that tone with me!”

Baili Yao Yue rolled her eyes. “How old are you now, and you’re still jealous of a little kid.”

Fan Wubing tilted his head to the side, showing a “life has no meaning” expression,

“You kept saying I’m the only one for you, and now look at you—haven’t even been reunited a full year and you already find it tiring to even talk to me. Ah, people, they all like the new and hate the old. I can’t even tell anymore whether all those things you used to say to me were sweet little lies or actual heartfelt words.”

Seeing Fan Wubing acting like a resentful wife, Baili Yao Yue’s eyes immediately widened,

“Where did you learn that kind of vocabulary?!”

Fan Wubing clutched his chest. “When the heart aches, the gods may descend.”

Baili Yao Yue was helpless. She’d never imagined that once their days became peaceful and carefree, Fan Wubing would cling to her even more than she used to cling to him.

She paused her breath very slightly, then moved to stand in front of Fan Wubing. She leaned down a little and, in an incredibly gentle voice, stroked his head to soothe him,

“Okay, be good. I’ll come find you to play more often in the future.”

Fan Wubing nodded with a smile, satisfied, and stopped making a fuss.

Baili Yao Yue pressed her lips together, her eyes full of tenderness. She could somewhat sense that after Fan Wubing’s return, he’d become all “delicate and girly” because that world-on-his-shoulders pressure he’d borne for so long had finally been released, and now he was rebounding from the bottom. But that was fine too. She didn’t dislike this version of Fan Wubing; in fact, she was very willing to indulge this temporary little girlish quirk of his.

And it wasn’t just her; all the sisters were “spoiling” him a lot right now.

That reminded her of some Earth culture she’d learned when she went there. Fan Wubing right now was basically like the heroine of a women-oriented otome game, basking in the love of many.

She had worried whether this state of Fan Wubing’s would last forever.

But when she’d mentioned it to Jiang Ran before, Jiang Ran had used a term that sounded very professional to explain it, saying Fan Wubing was a textbook case of “Big-Sister Dependency Syndrome.” It flares up every so often, and once he’s had his fill, he’ll revert to normal.

So all they needed to do was love him properly.

Once they got back to her own place, Baili Yao Yue asked curiously,

“Little Chan’Er, why don’t you want Brother Wubing to teach you how to talk?”

Xianchan was happily rubbing the head of the Piqiu that had shrunk down to the size of a dog, while using qi to paint her reply,

“His birthday is coming up. I want to say ‘happy birthday’ to him with my own mouth.”

Baili Yao Yue suddenly understood. She did a quick bit of mental math—Fan Wubing’s birthday was at the end of January next year, so there were less than three months left. She immediately said seriously,

“Little Chan’Er, time is tight and the task is heavy! We’ve got to step it up.”

Xianchan clenched her fists hard and nodded solemnly.

…

Why doesn’t Chan’Er want me to teach her to talk?

Fan Wubing was sprawled in a rocking chair, like a salted fish tossed aside at random. No matter how he turned it over in his head, he couldn’t figure it out. Chan’Er was clearly closest to him, yet when it came to something this important, she didn’t want him involved.

He agonized over it for ages, then suddenly sat upright with a jolt, muttering in agony,

“Could it be Chan’Er has awakened a sense of sexuality and started rejecting me?”

A daughter awakens sexual awareness and begins to push her father away—this is the pain every father in the world has to face.

Even though Chan’Er had always called Fan Wubing “big brother,” in other people’s eyes he was essentially her adoptive father. And Fan Wubing really did raise her like a daughter. Like any father, the moment he thought about Chan’Er possibly falling for some little punk who’d appear out of nowhere one day, his heart twisted viciously.

Once that possibility occurred to him, Fan Wubing’s face was full of worry.

At that moment, Luo Qingyao, who had gone to attend the Luo Family clan meeting, came back. As soon as she entered the courtyard she saw her senior brother draped over the chair like a little pudding ice cream that had melted in the sun. She walked over, squatted down in front of him,

“Senior Brother, what’s wrong?”

Fan Wubing said lifelessly,

“Chan’Er doesn’t love me anymore.”

“Huh? What happened?”

Fan Wubing recounted the situation.

When Luo Qingyao finished listening, she couldn’t hold back her laughter. “Oh come on, I thought it was something serious. Senior Brother really does treat Chan’Er like his precious baby daughter.”

“I do not. We’re just siblings with a big age gap, that’s all.”

“Long elder brother, like a father.”

“Nonsense!”

Seeing her senior brother about to get worked up, Luo Qingyao quickly soothed him. “Okay, okay, siblings, you’re siblings.” She picked up an orange from the little side table, peeled it, separated the segments and fed them to Fan Wubing one by one as she said, “Don’t worry, Senior Brother. In this whole wide world, Chan’Er definitely still loves you the most. Her bond with you runs way deeper than with any of us sisters.”

“Then why doesn’t she want me to teach her?”

Luo Qingyao more or less guessed what was on Chan’Er’s mind. But precisely because she’d guessed it, she had to keep it secret. She said with a smiling lilt,

“Maybe Chan’Er doesn’t want to keep watching Sister Yao Yue and Senior Sister at odds like this.”

“Is that it?”

“Chan’Er is a clever little thing.”

“Oh…” Fan Wubing finally felt a bit relieved.

The look Luo Qingyao gave him was a little helpless. She’d heard about that weird “Big-Sister Dependency Syndrome” too. Every time it came up before, she’d thought Sister Jiang Ran was just teasing them. Now, she really couldn’t say for sure. If this were the normal Senior Brother, he’d have guessed Chan’Er’s thoughts in an instant.