For a moment, shock completely overtook her, making her forget all her composure as the eldest lady, even the carefully prepared opening lines she had in mind.
She should have driven up right as the two were about to head home, then winked at the couple lost in sweet words and asked if they’d had a good time.
Afterward, she would have invited them into the car and casually inquired about the little moments of their trip, asking about the happiness and joy they’d experienced along the way.
Her good brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law would then begin reminiscing about those sweet memories, further deepening their feelings.
She was willing to be the third wheel for her good brother and his fiancée.
That was how it should have gone.
Even if the outcome was a little different from what she imagined, it shouldn’t have been like this.
Her good brother, Gou Yu, was swinging the pants he’d just taken off like a lasso, twirling it continuously through the air like a wild west cowboy.
Meanwhile, her soon-to-be sister-in-law, Zhu Niao, lay sprawled on the ground like a warrior refusing to accept defeat.
Why was it like this?
But somehow, it made a certain kind of sense.
Since she was little, she always felt a bit out of place compared to the rest of her family.
When her father and brother played a real-life version of Plants vs. Zombies in the backyard, using crops grown by the servants and ended up knocking each other out with concussions.
When her mother tried to knit a scarf out of noodles at home, gave up, then threw them into the pot to cook—and they both ended up hospitalized from food poisoning after playing the real-life Plants vs. Zombies survivor together.
She would stay in her room, reading books, doing homework, or watching some children’s cartoons.
So no matter how absurd their behavior was, she had developed some resistance to it—some lack of understanding but with respect.
Her only mistake was naively thinking that once her good brother Gou Yu had Zhu Niao by his side, he’d tone things down a little. At least Zhu Niao would keep an eye on him so he wouldn’t be so glaring.
But she was completely wrong. She seemed to have forgotten the saying: “Not a family member? You don’t enter the family gate.”
Perhaps, even she had been subtly influenced by her family environment, almost becoming like them.
A sudden, inexplicable fear swept over the girl with red-brown hair.
She looked once again at the two in front of her: her well-dressed good brother and the graceful figure of her soon-to-be sister-in-law.
Gou Yu’s face showed concern. “What’s wrong? You look like you’re not all here.”
As if what she’d just seen was nothing but an illusion.
But damn it, she clearly saw her good brother struggling to put on his pants the right way—he had them on inside out.
Taking a deep breath, she forced a stiff smile. “Get in the car. Let’s head home quickly. It’s going to get cold soon, and the food waiting at home will get cold too.”
The shameless Gou Yu walked ahead. “A little sister’s concern really touches me deeply. I’m so grateful to have a sister like you.”
He opened the car door without bothering to help Zhu Niao behind him and got in by himself.
This made the shop manager sitting in the passenger seat twitch her eyelids.
Compared to Gou Yu, Zhu Niao seemed much more reserved, or maybe she just wasn’t as thick-skinned. Being caught by acquaintances while lying on the ground looking ridiculous was certainly hard to hold her head up high.
Bowing her head, Zhu Niao followed Gou Yu to the back seat, nervously twisting the edge of her skirt.
When she had stood up earlier, she tried to brush the dust off her dress, but it still looked a little dirty.
Or maybe she just couldn’t bring herself to raise her head.
The shop manager glanced at Zhu Niao and Gou Yu in the rearview mirror.
Zhu Niao was alright. As her soon-to-be sister-in-law, she was well-behaved now, sitting quietly in the back seat with her head lowered, not even interested in looking out the window after the car started moving.
Gou Yu, however, looked less composed. He was fiddling with his pants, trying to figure out why they felt so uncomfortable. After a long moment of puzzling, he realized the pants had two front pockets.
But those were supposed to be back pockets.
Then she saw her good brother curiously stick his crotch in front of Zhu Niao and shove both hands into those back pockets.
Suddenly, she was at a loss for words.
After thinking for a bit, she decided to stick to her original plan and spoke up, “You two must have had a lot of fun on your trip, right?”
Normally, after saying this, the two would start recalling bits and pieces from the trip—at least the joyful parts.
And indeed, that was the case. She saw Zhu Niao and Gou Yu wearing thoughtful expressions, as if reminiscing about something.
Their memories overlapped; they both thought of the same thing.
They remembered that night when they filled the hotel’s little amenities with water, turning them into water balloons and started building trenches with blankets to fight each other.
Of course, they didn’t know that after they left, the hotel’s cleaning lady, upon seeing the scattered debris and even some hanging from the chandelier, once again had her perception of young people’s energy completely blown away.
Was it fun? Yes, it definitely was.
Gou Yu and Zhu Niao exchanged a smile.
Gou Yu’s was a mocking smile at the weak, while Zhu Niao’s was a teasing grin at Gou Yu’s rebounding antics.
Though their smiles seemed a little off, at least they were smiling, so the shop manager said the next sentence.
“Did you two have some private activities? How was it? Did you have enough fun?”
Zhu Niao and Gou Yu fell into deep thought again, pinching their chins as if pondering something.
Once again, they simultaneously recalled the same memory.
They both thought of that beach—the golden sand beach just before the untimely rain arrived, where soft, fine white sand was everywhere.
Then they remembered how they competed in digging dog-paddle sand pits—this was their very first dog-paddle sand pit contest.
The outcome, naturally, was that there was no winner.
Because Gou Yu didn’t admit defeat, and there was no judge to declare Zhu Niao the victor.
Gou Yu insisted it was a total domination in every aspect, while Zhu Niao held that the pit Gou Yu dug wasn’t as beautiful or aesthetic as hers.
In the end, the two parted ways on this one disagreement.
Gou Yu recalled how he kept being kicked back at the edge of the pit by Zhu Niao, looking like he wanted to stop but was afraid of hurting her, so he didn’t put much force into it—those soft little feet.
Zhu Niao thought of the two of them sheltering under the awning of a deserted shop during the rain, where she used Gou Yu’s phone to take a group photo—still saved on his phone now.
Playing PvZ IRL? Knitting a scarfs from a noodles? Yeah, her family is crazy. Poor lil sis