Brothers Conflict (24)

"Doesn't Cheng Yinyin like Wang Zirui?" Seeing Cheng run after Si Jiu, Cheng Qian's expression also turned gloomy.

Cheng Ze sneered, "If she liked Wang Zirui, did you really think your little tricks could save him? Let alone bring him right in front of Yinyin?"

He knew everything indeed! Cheng Qian said with resentment, "So you did this on purpose from the very beginning? This doesn't benefit you at all."

Cheng Ze gave a light snort, "Yu was originally like a piece of wood, yet Cheng Yinyin managed to keep him in her sights. Now, with Wang Zirui stirring things up, that piece of wood seems to be waking up. Doesn't that mean there won't even be room left to fight for her?"

Cheng Ze adjusted his glasses and chuckled softly, "I'm looking forward to it."

Utterly arrogant.

...

Over there, Cheng chased Si Jiu all the way upstairs.

He didn't even know why he was running after her, but his legs had moved on their own before his mind could process it.

By the time he stood outside Si Jiu's door, a strange and inexplicable nervousness crept over him.

"Ahem... Yinyin, may Fifth Brother come in?"

A loud "thud" echoed as something was hurled against the door, immediately followed by the young woman's stubborn and angry voice:

"No! Go away!"

Silence fell outside for a moment.

The person inside probably assumed he had left, so she crept stealthily toward the door, cracked it open just a sliver, and then—

"Why, why haven't you left yet?"

She moved to slam the door shut, but he wedged his hand right into the gap, drawing a sharp hiss of pain as the door caught his fingers.

"Hey, you! Are you stupid? Didn't you know how to dodge?"

"It doesn't matter whether I dodge or not, as long as Yinyin stops being mad at me, I wouldn't care even if my fingers broke."

He blurted out the cheesy line completely unawares, taking himself by surprise. He probably even found himself cringing internally.

"You..." Si Jiu stamped her foot. "Get downstairs and put some medicine on that yourself."

Furious, she pushed him out and slammed the door shut.

Cheng stood there questioning his own existence.

Was that really me? Why did I suddenly...

Before he could figure it out, the door flew open again. Si Jiu forcefully shoved something into his arms and slammed the door shut once more with immense force.

In that fleeting instant, he noticed a rare, rosy blush blooming across the young woman's cheeks.

He looked down. Clutched in his hands was a rather tacky-looking black wrist guard.

A wrist guard?

He stared blankly for a long moment before sudden inspiration struck.

"Knock, knock, knock..."

"What? I told you to go away. I don't want to talk to you."

"Yinyin, is this... a gift for me? Did you make this?"

The person inside remained silent for a long time. Just as Cheng was seriously considering whether he should break the door down, he suddenly heard the young woman's mortified roar: "I don't talk to big idiots!"

Though she hadn't explicitly admitted it, after so many years of knowing and living with each other, Cheng considered himself to have a fairly good understanding of Cheng Yinyin.

So, she really did make this by hand and give it to it to him.

Naturally, apart from himself who loved playing basketball, who else could be more fitting for this gift?

The corners of his lips curled upward uncontrollably. He slipped the wrist guard onto his wrist and only then noticed two tiny letters embroidered on the inner side with fine red thread: CY

Crooked and terribly ugly.

The corners of Cheng's mouth curved even higher. Suddenly, he felt that this wrist guard, along with those two clumsy letters, possessed a bizarrely endearing ugliness.

He stroked the wrist guard twice, then slowly, very slowly, pressed it against his chest.

He had never experienced his heart beating this fast before... No, that wasn't entirely true.

Like when scoring a remarkably breathtaking goal, or when winning a crucial match...

So, is this... liking someone?

Is this what it feels like to have a crush?

It felt so abrupt, yet at the same time, as natural as it should have been.

He stood in a daze outside the door as scene after scene flickered through his mind, every single one filled with memories of his days with Cheng Yinyin.

He was three years older than her and had known her since he was eight. He remembered the first time he saw Cheng Yinyin: the five-year-old girl in a butter-yellow tulle dress, cradled in the arms of fifteen-year-old Lin Su, looking just like an exquisite porcelain doll.

His eldest brother had taught her, "His name is Cheng, he'll be your Fifth Brother from now on. Call him Fifth Brother."

And so, the little porcelain doll had called out to him in a milky, lisping voice, "Fifth Brother."

That soft, sweet address, accompanied by a radiant, honeyed smile.

Just one look, and it felt as though his heart was melting.