Xu Huo pretended not to hear, comfortably snuggling into his quilt.
He first tucked the left side of the quilt under him, then rolled over, tucking the right side, and finally used his feet to secure the end, wrapping himself up like a zongzi.
Sleep, sleep…
There were only two people in the entire house, and he wondered who she was afraid of hearing her whisper.
Then, the bedroom door was gently pushed open…
In the dim light, Jiang Ran stood, smiling sweetly at him.
“Brother? You’re not asleep yet… Then why didn’t you answer me?”
“Didn’t feel like it.”
“How could you? What if I had something important to say?”
“What could you possibly have to say?”
“Just a tiny, insignificant thing.”
“Hey! What are you sticking your head in for?!”
“Hmm?”
“Alright, alright, I get it! Can’t you just stand there and talk?!”
“Hehe!”
“What are you laughing at?”
“Ah.”
“Pull your legs back!”
“Brother~~”
“I’m warning you, don’t climb into my bed! I’m counting to three! One! Two! Three!”
He watched the girl, dressed in pajamas, deliberately open the door slowly, then tiptoe onto the bed.
Her two small feet were still outside the covers, and she playfully wiggled her legs, causing her slippers to fall off with a soft clatter.
Then, she smugly raised an eyebrow at him.
“You’re a big person now, aren’t you? So childish,” Xu Huo said irritably.
It was deliberate.
Absolutely deliberate.
That slow-motion entry was clearly telling him, I’m coming in, I’m coming in, you see? I
just love how you can’t stand me but can’t do anything about it!
“Brother, you know I’ve been afraid of the dark since I was little. Even a little stimulation, and I’ll have nightmares at night, dreaming about being abducted when I was a child. My therapist even said my condition can only slowly recover, it could take ten or twenty years… But today, you scared me so much that when I lay in my room, all I saw when I closed my eyes was you sitting on the edge of the rooftop. It was so terrifying! I really can’t sleep!”
Seeing Xu Huo’s exasperated look, Jiang Ran covered her mouth and chuckled softly, her almond-shaped eyes narrowing into two crescent moons.
Xu Huo pouted, grabbed a blanket from the closet, and made a bed on the floor, “But you don’t look like you have PTSD at all… You’re clearly smiling very happily.”
“I only smile happily when I see you! Two people sleeping in one room can even save electricity! It’s just because Mom and Dad aren’t home, otherwise I’d sleep with them, and wouldn’t be giving you a good deal!”
Jiang Ran immediately burrowed under the covers, completely wrapping herself up, and even pulling and gripping all four corners of the quilt, turning herself into a snail.
She didn’t dare to secretly pull open a small gap to peek until the room became quiet again.
Xu Huo didn’t look at her either, playing on his phone.
This kind of thing happened often; he was already used to it.
The key was that she really did have PTSD, and he couldn’t prove whether she was genuinely scared or just being opportunistic.
Perhaps sensing the movement, he turned to glance at her.
Jiang Ran immediately retreated back into the covers.
Jiang Ran’s muffled voice came from under the quilt, “Time to sleep, we have school tomorrow.” Xu Huo acknowledged her, turning to face the other way.
The room grew even quieter; one could even hear the other’s breathing if they listened closely.
“That Han Xiao earlier was stunned when she heard you sing!”
“Stop rambling, go to sleep!”
***
Xu Huo was a bit tired, but Jiang Ran was full of energy.
Unable to sleep, she curled up her legs, pulled the quilt over half of her head, and clutched the corner of the blanket with her small hand, leaving only her nose and eyes exposed. She just quietly watched him.
After watching for a long time, she felt lonely, being the only one awake with no one to talk to.
“Brother… Do you think I can still find my parents? It’s been so many years…”
Xu Huo suddenly opened his eyes, holding his breath, “Why are you suddenly talking about this?”
“It just came to mind.”
“Don’t worry, we didn’t have enough resources before. Once I make money, I’ll find them even if I have to throw money at it.”
“Maybe we should just forget it? It’s tiring to keep thinking about it. The police haven’t found them in so many years…”
“What the police found or didn’t find is their business. I’m your brother. We promised back then that I’d help you find your parents, and we pinky-swore. Don’t you remember?”
“I remember, but the older I get, the more I feel it’s unnecessary. I’ve been with you all these years. Even if I found them, it’s impossible for me to leave. Why waste time? Or are you saying you don’t want me as your sister? Are you eager to push me away?”
“What nonsense are you talking about? Just go to sleep, okay?”
“Brother, I’m not a child anymore. I know you and Mom and Dad only said that to comfort me.”
Jiang Ran, hidden under the covers, softly said to Xu Huo, “So many years have passed. S-City is only so big. The police have records. If they really wanted to find me, how could they not? If I went to the police station and asked, they’d see my photo, right?”
“Actually, you know better than me, they might have deliberately abandoned me, right?”
“No!”
Xu Huo vehemently refuted, then turned over, facing Jiang Ran’s side to sleep.
Jiang Ran was a bit nervous, her big eyes nervously fixed on him.
In the dimness, she could vaguely see the outline of Xu Huo’s face.
“When you were abducted, you had a jade pendant, gold bracelet, and a peace lock on you. If they really wanted to abandon you, would they ‘waste’ so many things?”
Jiang Ran fell silent.
Indeed, this didn’t make sense, and it had been the family’s shared belief for years.
“Then how do you explain the current situation?” she asked in a muffled voice, “My eighteenth birthday is in a few days.”
“That’s why I need to help you figure this out.”
After he said that, neither of them could sleep anymore.
They both opened their eyes and looked at each other, and with a telepathic understanding, felt they couldn’t see each other clearly from their respective angles.
Actually, they could see quite clearly; eyes gradually adapt to faint light in the dark.
“Hm?”
“It sounds like it’s raining outside. Listen, drip, drip, drip. It’s a bit cold.”
After he spoke, Xu Huo distinctly felt the springs at one end of the bed compress.
Something fell off the bed with a “thump,” and then he clearly felt a warm presence rapidly approaching!
Before she could make any move, Xu Huo lifted his arm and “clicked” on the bedside lamp on the nightstand.
The light was a bit dazzling.
After a brief moment of disorientation, the scene in front of him gradually became clear
— Jiang Ran had indeed rolled down.
Caught in the act, she let out a strange “Ah!” and quickly burrowed into the quilt.
“My dear ancestor, what are you doing?!”
Xu Huo was exasperated with her.
He got up to pull off her quilt.
Unfortunately, she was gripping the edges of the quilt tightly, and he couldn’t pull her out.
“I, I’m a bit cold!”
“It’s almost summer, and you’re cold, huh?”
“It’s raining outside! Didn’t you hear the pitter-patter?”
“Did you get wet?”
“My period started, my hands and feet are freezing.”
“Is your period today?”
“Can you be more sure than me?”
“Nonsense! When was it ever not me who helped you rub your stomach?”
“Pervert!”
She always had a thousand reasons.
In any case, she wanted to burrow into Xu Huo’s quilt.
Xu Huo looked at the lump under the quilt in front of him and said helplessly, “How old are you? Still think you’re a child? Don’t you know that boys and girls shouldn’t touch each other intimately?”
“We’re siblings!”
“Not by blood.”
This statement vibrated in the girl’s ears.
Visibly, the faint blush on her face immediately turned fiery red, and her eyes instantly panicked.
“Then have you heard of the Ship of Theseus?”
“What?”
“There was a ship that, as time passed, its parts gradually decayed. People constantly replaced them with new ones, until eventually all its parts had been replaced. The question that arises from this is, is this ship still the original Ship of Theseus?”
“Speak like a normal person!”
“When I was 3, I was a child. When I was 10, I was a child. Now I’m 17. The days have passed one by one, minute by minute; there’s no such thing as suddenly growing up… So tell me, on what day was I a child and allowed to sleep with you? On what day did I grow up, and boys and girls shouldn’t touch each other intimately?”
“Legally, you’re still considered a minor until 18. Before my birthday this year, I’m a child.”
“Get lost! Mom and Dad aren’t home, I am the house rules! How dare you push your luck? If you don’t listen, get back to your own room. I won’t care if you cry yourself to sleep.”
Xu Huo was too lazy to argue with her.
He picked her up by the waist and directly tossed her back onto the bed.
The girl’s body was soft and elastic, bouncing twice on the bed, and she let out a painful wail, “Oh my aching back~”
“You’re too young, what back?”