Chapter 29: I’m Not Your Brother

Lu Yi had left, and someone else had taken over disciplining her, but the tense atmosphere in the room showed no sign of easing.

Lu Qingyue glanced up surreptitiously.

In her line of sight was a beige trench coat, the fabric draping elegantly, its quality apparent at a glance.

Her eyes traveled upward to a sharply defined Adam’s apple, a taut jawline, and then a handsome, indifferent face.

Cheng Xingye stood before her, looking down with a cold, detached expression. He said nothing, his hands buried in his pockets, his features lazy yet refined.

There was an indefinable arrogance and sharpness about him, an intangible pressure that seemed to emanate from his very presence.

Lu Qingyue hadn’t felt the least bit guilty after arguing with her own brother, yet under Cheng Xingye’s silent gaze, she found herself inexplicably uneasy.

Carefully, she lifted her hand and tugged at his sleeve, asking softly, “Why do you look even angrier than my brother?”

Cheng Xingye stood in the thin wash of light spilling from the café, a faint golden glow outlining his silhouette.

When he finally spoke, his words seemed to float in the air, light and seemingly careless, “If your brother and I hadn’t shown up today, would you have agreed to him?”

Lu Qingyue let out a startled sound, quickly shaking her head. “Of course not, I don’t even like him.”

She had never thought much of Xiao Qingrong. If she hadn’t been tricked into coming, she wouldn’t have agreed to meet him at all.

Cheng Xingye’s gaze remained unwavering, as if he didn’t quite trust her, his tone sparse as he asked, “And if it had been someone else? What if it happened to be someone you liked?”

Someone she liked... She’d never considered that. Mostly because she’d never liked anyone before, so she had no idea what that would even feel like. But if the feelings were mutual, wouldn’t it be okay to say yes?

Lost in these muddled thoughts, she suddenly saw Cheng Xingye’s lips curl into a mocking smile. His voice was cold, issuing a warning: “Lu Qingyue. So everything I told you last time was for nothing?”

Lu Qingyue snapped back to herself and quickly promised, “Brother Xingye, I get it! I won’t fall in love early... Even if a boy I really like confesses to me, I won’t say yes!”

Cheng Xingye said nothing, his eyelids lowering for a moment as he looked away.

For some reason, Lu Qingyue sensed he seemed to be in a bad mood today.

Had his own sister been confessed to?

But she’d never heard he had a sister...

Maybe... his girlfriend had been confessed to?

That seemed plausible, and would explain his shifting expressions, face flickering between gloom and jealousy.

Feeling clever for piecing this together, Lu Qingyue couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him. She sneaked a glance at him, feeling awkward just standing there, and tried to make small talk to lighten the mood. “Brother Xingye, did you get a new girlfriend recently?”

Cheng Xingye: “???”

Was this girl sent by the heavens to test his patience? After all this time apart, the first thing she did was throw mud at him?

Seeing his displeasure, Lu Qingyue hurried to explain, “I haven’t seen you lately, so I asked my brother. He said you were dating and told me not to bother you all the time.”

Cheng Xingye: “...”

With a friend like yours, who needs enemies?

He looked at her in silence, on the verge of telling her flat out that he’d never had any messy relationships — all just her brother’s wild stories.

But then he reconsidered. Why should he bother explaining himself to her?

It felt oddly like a boyfriend trying to prove his innocence during a lovers’ quarrel.

Cheng Xingye didn’t want to admit he had any particular feelings for this little rascal, so he deliberately suppressed the urge to explain and calmly countered, “If you wanted to know, why didn’t you just ask me directly?”

Lu Qingyue, for her part, was perfectly self-aware, answering without a hint of embarrassment, “Wouldn’t you find it annoying? My brother probably thinks I’m a nuisance — he’s never liked bringing me along since we were kids.”

Cheng Xingye replied, “I’m not your brother.”

Lu Qingyue countered, “You are now. Didn’t he just tell me to treat you as my brother?”

Cheng Xingye was instantly speechless, thinking he wanted nothing less than to acknowledge this sibling bond...

In the past, he probably would’ve agreed with Lu Yi: kids her age were just trouble.

But Lu Qingyue had single-handedly changed his impression of sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds.

At least, he didn’t find her annoying in the slightest.

In fact, even when she drove him up the wall, one innocent or aggrieved glance from her could make him swallow all his pride and irritation and want to comfort her.

It had become almost a habit — as natural as eating or sleeping. Because he’d realized, he simply had no way to deal with her.

By now, Lu Qingyue’s thoughts had already leapt to another topic.

It was Christmas Eve, the shopping district ablaze with lights and teeming with people.

She noticed the LED screen outside the mall playing trailers for the latest movies, and rubbing her hands together in excitement, she asked, “Brother Xingye, since we’re already here, why don’t I treat you to a movie?”

Cheng Xingye looked down at her. She was bundled in a white puffer jacket, round and soft in the winter night.

His voice was low and a bit hoarse, “Just the two of us?”

Lu Qingyue replied, “Yeah! Is that okay? Or do you have a girlfriend? Then I guess it wouldn’t be appropriate.”

Cheng Xingye’s Adam’s apple moved slightly as he shifted to shield her from the wind with his slender frame. “I don’t have a girlfriend, but do you really think it’s appropriate?”

Lu Qingyue saw nothing inappropriate about it.

If he didn’t have a girlfriend, and she didn’t have a boyfriend, what harm was there in watching a movie together? With careful logic, she analyzed, “You’re my brother now. What’s wrong with watching a movie with my brother? Or are you afraid I’ll develop improper thoughts about you?”

She was so earnest, Cheng Xingye almost believed her.

He’d always thought he cared for her as a younger sister. Yet now that she was treating him as her brother, he found himself inexplicably irritated.

He lifted his eyes in exasperation, lazily regarding her. “Why aren’t you afraid I might develop improper thoughts about you?”

Lu Qingyue looked genuinely surprised. “Wow! Are you into incest?”

Cheng Xingye: “...What nonsense. Do we have any blood relation at all?”

Lu Qingyue’s eyes spun as she paused for a few seconds, then asked with innocent confusion, “So… would you have improper thoughts about me?”

Now it was Cheng Xingye’s turn to fall silent. “…Hard to say.”

He’d thought that would finally make this little troublemaker back off. Unexpectedly, she just raised an eyebrow and said with astonishing composure, “Then let’s wait until you do.”

Cheng Xingye: “…?”

After a few seconds of silence, he lifted a hand to his brow, hiding the helpless smile in his eyes.

He suddenly realized that, despite being six years her senior, he was utterly outmatched when it came to matters of the heart.