The Beautiful Time With You

Younger… brother?

As those two words reached Lin Jiage’s ears, he suddenly felt as if someone had poured a pail of freezing cold water over him, causing his entire body to stiffen. Then, with a slightly higher-pitched voice filled with incredulity, he asked, “Younger brother?”

The man who had left him feeling suffocated with jealousy for the entire night was actually Soft Bun’s younger brother, or in other words, his future brother-in-law?

As the saying goes, ‘love a person, love her entire family’. Soft Bun’s younger brother was as good as his own younger brother… In other words, the young man was someone he should fawn on, not scheme against and harm…

Wait a minute, isn’t Soft Bun an only child? Where did this younger brother come from? Could it be that her father or mother had some affair outside, and this guy here is an illegitimate child… Pui pui pui! How could he think of his future father-in-law and mother-in-law in that way?

Lin Jiage quickly shook away all of the random thoughts from his mind. Perhaps Shi Yao had noticed the incredulity in his voice, but right as he was about to ask where this younger brother came from, she had already started answering his question, “That’s right. He’s actually my cousin, to be exact—the son of my father’s sister. He’s the same age as me, but he’s younger than me by five months. Since his birthday falls after the new year, he’s still in his third year in high school, so he’s having his National Higher Education Entrance Examination next month…”

Ah, so the young man isn’t some illegitimate child but Soft Bun’s cousin, which is the same as being my cousin… Still, since Soft Bun views him as her younger brother, it would be wrong for me to scheme against him and put him out of Soft Bun’s favor…

While Lin Jiage’s mind was still churning at full speed, Shi Yao’s slow mind finally processed the fact that Lin Jiage was lying on the ground, and she asked with a frown, “Lin Jiage, why are you on the floor?”

Hearing that question, Lin Jiage immediately replied without the slightest shred of hesitation, “Oh, I wanted to go to the bathroom because of my stomachache, but I lost my balance and fell down. This has nothing to do with your younger brother at all.”

That answer made Shi Yao and her cousin simultaneously turn to stare at Lin Jiage.

Cousin: “??????” You’re the one who fell down by yourself, why are you mentioning me?

Shi Yao: “??????” I was only asking out of concern. Why did you bring up my younger brother?

Lin Jiage was slightly stunned for two seconds before he realized that he’d nearly given himself away in a moment of recklessness. Thus, he hurried to clarify, “I just didn’t want you to get the wrong idea.”

“Oh, I see…”Shi Yao remarked as she walked over to Lin Jiage to help him up. Suddenly recalling a certain matter, she said, “… Oh, I haven’t finished introducing my younger brother yet. His name is Nanqiang, Gu Nanqiang. Just like the saying, not turning back till you hit the Northern Wall, that Nanqiang¹ …”

Those words provoked Gu Nanqiang, who had been silent all this while, to protest in discontentment, “Darling Yaoyao, how many times have I told you not to use that idiom when introducing me!”

But Shi Yao ignored Gu Nanqiang’s disgruntled protests. She simply turned to him and gestured to Lin Jiage, saying, “This is Lin Jiage. I think you should know him even if I don’t introduce him to you.”

After introducing the two to each other, Shi Yao realized that Gu Nanqiang wasn’t saying anything at all, so she prodded him and asked, “Aren’t you going to greet him?”

Like an obedient puppy, Gu Nanqiang replied with an “Orh” before he turned to Lin Jiage and said, “Brother-in-law, pleased to meet you.”

This time, it was Shi Yao’s turn to panic. Seemingly embarrassed by Gu Nanqiang way of greeting Lin Jiage, her face reddened slightly as she protested, “Gu Nanqiang, don’t speak nonsense!”

Shi Yao then quickly turned to Lin Jiage, about to tell him to ignore her cousin.

But before she could say a thing, the usually cold and reticent Lin Jiage had already spoken up, “Younger Brother, pleased to meet you too. Excuse me for not bringing a gift when it’s our first meeting. I’ll make sure to make up for that the next time we meet.”