Chapter 15: My Brother Who Didn’t Come Back Late at Night

Standing quietly at the corner by the front door, Lu Xiaoling watched the passing cars with calm eyes.

In the distance, a dim yellow streetlamp flickered softly, emitting a faint buzzing of electric current.

Lu Xiaoling had tried her best to stay composed, hoping her brother wouldn’t notice anything unusual about her.

But the fingers she clenched so tightly until they turned red betrayed the anxiety swirling inside her heart.

“No… no way… Brother wouldn’t do something like that…”

Her eyes were red-rimmed, but she forced herself to raise her delicate, fair neck, fighting back the tears.

It had to be some kind of mistake!

A few hours earlier…

In the last semester of third year middle school, at this very moment, she should have been at home studying, preparing to apply to Magical Girl High School.

If she had managed to spare a little time, maybe she could have snuggled into her brother’s arms for a while, soaking up some of his protective warmth.

But when Lu Xiaoling got home and prepared to make dinner for Lu Liang, she found no sign of him.

In recent days, Lu Liang had been coming home later than usual.

Lu Xiaoling assumed, as always, that he was just busy with work and company socializing, so she didn’t worry much.

Until she accidentally checked her phone and saw a notification that money had been deposited into her bank account.

A sum of twenty thousand yuan had been transferred to Lu Xiaoling’s account — the sender was her brother, Lu Liang.

Her brows furrowed slightly as she put down her chores and studied the transaction on her phone.

That amount far exceeded Lu Liang’s usual salary.

What was this money? A bonus?

But wasn’t Brother an editor?

Editors earned fixed salaries, didn’t they? Even if there were bonuses, how could it be this much?

Could it be that…

A terrifying thought crept into Lu Xiaoling’s mind.

She had heard from classmates that some impoverished students’ parents resorted to desperate measures — male prostitutes and female prostitutes — selling their bodies to rich older men and women just to afford their children’s tuition at Magical Girl High School.

Could Brother…?

No, that couldn’t be. It had to be her imagination running wild.

Lu Xiaoling forced a bitter smile.

To her, her brother was a tall, upright man of great integrity. No matter how bad their financial situation got, Lu Liang would find a way to keep them from going hungry.

He was like an almighty deity.

Such a brother wouldn’t—no, couldn’t—exchange his body for money, even if starving or desperate.

Besides, Brother was a bit of a handsome rogue. Apart from her, who else would be interested?

That twenty thousand yuan must be a bonus from his boss.

With that thought, Lu Xiaoling’s restless heart calmed significantly.

She hummed softly to herself and went to grab two eggs, intending to cook a little extra to nourish her brother when he returned.

Cracking the shell, the clear, jelly-like egg white dripped smoothly into the bowl.

She whisked the eggs absentmindedly, her gaze drifting back to the phone.

Buzz!

The phone vibrated—another unread message alert.

Sliding open the screen past their sibling photo wallpaper, Lu Xiaoling opened QQ and saw a message from a contact named “Most Most Most Favorite Brother.” The message read:

【Brother worked hard today. The boss was pleased, so he gave Brother a bonus.】

Just as she thought! This really was a bonus from the boss!

Her eyebrows relaxed, and she breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

She bounced lightly on the spot, confident now that the twenty thousand yuan was definitely a bonus.

There was no way Brother had sold himself!

After a brief moment of joy, Lu Xiaoling hugged her phone and typed happily:

“Hehe, Brother, you’ve worked hard! What do you want to eat tonight? I’ll make anything for you.”

Just as she was about to send the message, a reply came from Lu Liang:

【Xiaoling, don’t overthink it, and don’t feel too much pressure. It really is just a bonus.】

Reading that message, which somehow made her feel even more suspicious, Lu Xiaoling’s heart skipped a beat.

She fell silent, deleting every word she had just typed out carefully.

Staring at Lu Liang’s avatar that had gone dark after sending those two sentences, Lu Xiaoling thought for a moment and then called him.

While the phone was dialing, she rehearsed what she would say, trying to sound casual—asking how work was going, subtly probing why the boss had given him such a bonus.

Her hands trembled as she gripped the phone, her voice shaking slightly when she finally spoke.

She cleared her throat and pinched her thigh hard to steady herself, forcing the pain to suppress her anxiety.

She told herself she couldn’t let Brother hear any worry in her voice, lest he start to worry.

Then she planned to firmly ask him why he’d sent such an ambiguous message that could cause so many misunderstandings.

But—

Beep beep beep beep…

Lu Liang didn’t answer. On the other end was a busy signal.

Lu Xiaoling lowered her head and called again.

Once, twice, three times…

Beep beep…

No answer every time.

Closing her eyes painfully, Lu Xiaoling’s mind suddenly conjured a horrifying image:

Lu Liang kneeling in humiliation, his body trembling on the floor.

In front of him, on the bed, sat a fat, ugly woman wearing a malicious smile.

Her eyes glinted with dark intent as she appraised every inch of him, as if trying to violate him with her gaze alone:

“This brother, you wouldn’t want your sister to not have enough money to go to Magical Girl High School, would you?”

Faced with the woman’s threatening intimidation, her sacred, inviolable brother nodded in shame and slowly crawled toward her lap…

“Ah!”

Snapping out of the nightmare, Lu Xiaoling covered her head, breaking down:

“No! Not that kind of thing! No, no, no! Brother, you absolutely can’t agree to that! Brother belongs to me! Without my permission, no one touches Brother!”

She panted heavily, her pupils filled with terror.

She still refused to believe Lu Liang would do such a thing. It had to be a misunderstanding! Yes! A misunderstanding!

Brother selling himself for money? Impossible! Hahaha!

Wiping the cold sweat from her face, Lu Xiaoling kept telling herself the twenty thousand yuan was truly just a bonus from Brother’s boss.

Those two messages were just Lu Liang’s way of trying to stop her from worrying.

Not answering her calls meant he was simply busy. Nothing to panic about.

Right, everything was fine.

All she had to do was eat dinner like usual, then wait patiently for Brother to come home.

She scooped a steaming bowl of white rice and sat down at the table, staring at the grains for a long time without picking up her chopsticks.

Thud!

She kicked the stool away and covered the rice, then ran out the door.

She had to wait for Lu Liang! Wait for him to come home and eat together!

She waited four, five hours.

The moon hung over the willow branches, and a breeze whispered like a silent sigh, gently lifting Lu Xiaoling’s softly curled hair, revealing her tear-streaked, tender face.

Her expression was like spring rain on pear blossoms — fragile and heart-wrenching.

If anyone had been there, they would have been brokenhearted and fallen in love at once.

At her school, Lu Xiaoling was known as a High Mountain Flower because of her outstanding beauty. Many boys confessed to her daily.

But she always appeared cold and unapproachable, so the High Mountain Flower title suited her.

Seeing her reveal such a vulnerable, delicate side was rare indeed.

Finally, as she wiped her eyes for the fourth time, Lu Xiaoling spotted Lu Liang’s figure approaching.

“Brother!”

Her sadness instantly vanished, replaced by excitement as she waved and called out his name.

But Lu Liang, hearing his name, instinctively flinched — a subtle movement that didn’t escape Lu Xiaoling’s keen eyes.

She froze.

She didn’t understand why Brother would react that way.

It was as if he was feeling guilty about something.

Could it be that Lu Liang was hiding something from her?