Chapter 3: Siblings

Lin Zhiyi had always been deeply grateful to Lin Yingyuan.

Without her, after their father’s death, he might have crumbled completely, but with her there, he pulled himself together and kept facing life head-on.

Because he was her brother.

He sat down across from the coffee table, gazing at the girl before him with a complex swirl of emotions.

Lin Yingyuan was diligently working through the problems in her textbook; when she pondered, her brows would furrow slightly, and that beautiful face would reveal a trace of bewilderment, making her look all the more refined.

As Lin Zhiyi watched the girl in this moment, his mind wandered to the version of her yet to come.

In the future, Lin Yingyuan had been admitted to Huaxia University of Law with outstanding grades, her career steadily ascending until she chose to work on the distant shores across the ocean; after that, they never saw each other again.

Lin Zhiyi’s final memory of his sister was the tears she shed at the airport seven years ago, along with the annual text messages he received that left him at a loss for how to reply.

“Happy New Year, bro. I hate you.”

So, seeing her again now filled Lin Zhiyi with a sense of having crossed worlds; gazing at that pure, unblemished face, he felt it all so dreamlike, so precious, so beautiful.

Having been stared at like this for so long, someone was getting fed up; she set down her pen, pursed her lips, and shot him a somewhat displeased look.

“What? Why are you staring at me?”

“Nothing, just… a bit of missing you.”

Lin Yingyuan froze; in her memory, Lin Zhiyi had never said anything like this to her before.

How come today, all of a sudden… could it be… he’d finally hit puberty and woken up to things?

“You… stop with those awful thoughts.”

Lin Yingyuan crossed her arms over her chest, looking at him with a hint of alarm.

Lin Zhiyi blinked in stunned silence, then burst out laughing at her inexplicable reaction.

“You’re being ridiculous! Besides…”

Besides, you don’t even have anything worth covering up like that, do you?

He thought this but didn’t say it aloud, for a gentleman doesn’t linger beneath a crumbling wall.

He shifted to a topic that truly concerned him.

“Someone confessed to you today?”

“Yeah.”

“Need me to handle it?”

“No need, I’ve already taken care of it.”

Lin Yingyuan replied flatly, her calm demeanor strikingly similar to someone from her memories.

“Really? That’s good then.”

“There are other things that need your attention.”

She slid her workbook over, pointing to one of the problems.

Lin Yingyuan was a year below him, and every now and then, like this, she’d ask him for help with her homework.

They didn’t have extra money for tutoring classes, so during breaks, Lin Yingyuan would preview new material using Lin Zhiyi’s old textbooks, and for anything she couldn’t figure out, she’d turn to him for explanation.

“Let me see.”

Lin Zhiyi agreed without hesitation; right now, he desperately wanted to do something for her.

He stood and circled around to her side, sitting down close beside her to carefully read the problem on the table.

Lin Yingyuan went rigid but didn’t pull away.

The girl hadn’t expected him to sit so near—so close that his scent filled her nostrils, a familiar aroma that put her at ease.

“Got it,”

Lin Zhiyi quickly spotted the solution to the problem.

“Draw an auxiliary line here, and then you can…”

He noticed the odd look in the little one’s eyes beside him.

“Why is your face red?”

He asked, puzzled.

Lin Yingyuan stammered for a moment, then, for some reason, huffed in irritation.

“Just explain the problem already!”

Before bed.

“Bro, where’s my hair clip? Have you seen it?”

The girl’s voice drifted over from afar, a bit muffled.

No one answered her, because Lin Zhiyi was brushing his teeth while staring blankly at the person in the mirror.

He still wasn’t quite used to seeing such a youthful version of himself.

“Bro—”

The voice drew closer.

“Seriously, why are you ignoring me?”

Then came the sound of the sliding door being pulled open.

Lin Zhiyi spat out the toothpaste foam, rinsed his mouth briefly, swished his toothbrush a couple more times, and only then turned toward the bathroom doorway.

Lin Yingyuan leaned against the frame, her expression tinged with displeasure as she looked at him, her lips pressed into a straight line.

She was dressed in a set of light blue short-sleeved pajamas, the top white with blue trim and little bear prints, paired with plain shorts that revealed her fair, slender legs; below that, a pair of slim sandals, her toes round and dainty, nails gleaming with a healthy pale pink.

The pajamas looked a bit worn but were spotlessly clean.

Lin Zhiyi recognized them as the ones their father had bought for her.

Lin Chengming had been a man of few words, yet he held a special fondness for this daughter with no blood ties.

As a construction engineer, he was often away on business, but every trip, he’d remember to bring Lin Yingyuan a small gift—sometimes a box of colored pencils, other times a pack of osmanthus candies.

Back then, Lin Zhiyi had noticed this and approached his father: Dad, you know, Yingyuan actually really likes that thing called Strike Freedom Gundam…

His father had knocked him lightly on the head, then pulled a gift from his bag for him: Five Years of Gaokao, Three Years of Simulation.

Lin Zhiyi: ?

A middle schooler doing 53? That’d make for quite the life.

At the time, Lin Zhiyi had felt twinges of petty jealousy now and then, but seeing the once-silent Lin Yingyuan’s smiles brighten day by day, he thought it was all for the best.

He’d even been quietly pleased to discover that later, when their father was away on longer trips, his sister would secretly mark circles on the calendar, counting down the days until his return.

They should have been a perfectly happy family, but…

He shook his head, pulling himself from the painful recollection, and looked at the slight girl before him; her expression was petulant, unreservedly baring her true feelings to him.

But in truth, when Lin Yingyuan had first come to this home, the two children had kept a distant relationship for a long time; back then, Lin Zhiyi hadn’t known how to interact with her.

She often hid in her room, and even when their eyes met, she’d quickly look away.

It wasn’t until much later, as they gradually grew familiar, that Lin Yingyuan first opened her heart to him.

It had been one late night when he heard muffled sobs from her room; pushing the door open, he found her curled up at the head of the bed, moonlight casting her shadow on the wall—thin as a sheet of paper.

She clutched a photo of her mother, her voice thick with congestion, tears swirling in her eyes.

In that moment, Lin Zhiyi suddenly recalled how, as an elementary schooler himself, he’d hidden away to cry after his mother’s passing; he sat silently on the bed’s edge, gently patting her back as she leaned into his chest and sobbed.

After that night, an invisible barrier between them seemed to dissolve without a sound.

In his previous life, after graduating university and entering society, he’d taken some detours; there was a stretch when the economy soured, he lost his job, and job-hunting proved fruitless.

It was Lin Yingyuan who supported him through that time, encouraging him not to lose heart, telling him that Lin Yingyuan’s brother was the best brother in the world, and that everything would turn out fine.

But he only learned later that she’d been struggling too during those days, facing her own hardships, yet she’d shouldered them alone without a word to him—always greeting him with a face full of sunshine.

She was a girl who loved to put on a brave front.

The evening breeze whispered softly, the night thick as ink, and in an instant, a torrent of intense emotions surged through his heart.

He couldn’t help but step toward the girl, taking her arm in her blinking gaze and pulling her slight frame into his embrace.

Lin Yingyuan’s body stiffened, her expression a touch bewildered.

But she didn’t struggle; after a hesitant pause, she gently raised her small hands, returning the hug and patting his back twice.

“What’s wrong… bro? Are you unhappy?”

“No.”

He wanted to say something, but the words wouldn’t come together.

“Really? It’s okay—you can lean on me a bit~”

She deliberately lightened her tone, making it upbeat.

“Your sister’s pretty tough! For this term’s prelims, my ranking’s definitely gonna beat yours! Wanna bet on it?”

Lin Zhiyi smiled, suddenly feeling much lighter at heart; he started to release the girl in his arms, but Lin Yingyuan squeezed him tightly once more before letting go—a firm, solid hug that made his ribs protest a little.

“Recharged enough?”

Lin Yingyuan flashed a mischievous grin, her eyes curving into crescents; she’d never worn such an impish expression at school, but even the weightiest worries would surely melt away before that smile.

Lin Zhiyi couldn’t help but smile too; he didn’t know if he’d win on exam rankings, but he knew he’d never outmatch a smile this adorable in his entire life.