MTLY | Chapter 26

◎The sweetie of your Big Brother Yu.◎

The weekend, it was Li Yiliang’s birthday. He picked a self-service BBQ place in the city, a garden-style restaurant. Just as Li Yiliang had said, it was big.

After her nap, Song Tinghuan went out with Jiang Yu. Guan Linlin was still messaging Song Tinghuan, asking whether Han Shuming would actually come today.

Song Tinghuan: [I don’t know. Senior Yiliang didn’t say that that day.]

Song Tinghuan: [Does it matter whether Senior Han comes?]

Guan Linlin: [Of course it matters]

Song Tinghuan: “?”

Guan Linlin: [It determines whether I should wear a skirt or pants when I go out later?]

Song Tinghuan frowned, and instantly understood.

[!!!]

Guan Linlin: [Shy girl.jpg]

Song Tinghuan found it a little hard to believe. Guan Linlin liked Han Shuming…?

Since when?

Guan Linlin: [Don’t ask]

Guan Linlin: [Shy.jpg]

Song Tinghuan was still in a dazed state and completely failed to notice Jiang Yu stopping in front of her, until a big hand pressed down on the top of her head and rubbed it in a very displeased way.

Only then did Song Tinghuan realize she had nearly walked straight into Jiang Yu.

“What are you spacing out about?” Jiang Yu frowned. He was dressed all in black today, making his skin look even colder and fairer, but a striking red headphone cable hung around his neck.

“Nothing…” Song Tinghuan’s phone was still vibrating. She glanced down, and it was still a message from Guan Linlin, asking whether Han Shuming was coming or not.

“Um, Senior Han will come today, right?”

Jiang Yu looked down at her. “You care that much whether he comes or not?”

Song Tinghuan: “?”

“He isn’t coming.” The boy’s lips curved slightly, his voice wicked.

Song Tinghuan blinked slowly. Not coming… He got along so well with Li Yiliang, so why wouldn’t he come? She felt a little sad for Guan Linlin.

Her suddenly disappointed expression fell entirely into Jiang Yu’s eyes.

“He isn’t coming, and you’re this disappointed?”

Song Tinghuan: “?”

Before she could even react to the meaning behind that, Jiang Yu had already turned around. He raised a hand and put both headphones on, his whole body radiating an aura that kept strangers away. Song Tinghuan had lived with him for a long time and had already figured out a thing or two about the young master’s temperament.

For example, the way he looked right now meant, simply, don’t fucking touch me.

The weather that afternoon was a little hot. Song Tinghuan held her umbrella and obediently followed behind Jiang Yu, trying to keep a safe distance from him.

But before they had even walked ten meters, Jiang Yu suddenly stopped and turned back to look at her.

His gaze first landed on her, then slid over her little rabbit umbrella. Song Tinghuan squeezed the handle, feeling a bad premonition.

As expected, the rabbit umbrella was taken from her with ease in the very next second. Jiang Yu pulled out the inner headphone on one side and tilted his head at her. “Too sunny.”

“Oh.”

Half of Song Tinghuan’s body was sheltered under the umbrella. The moment Jiang Yu came closer, she inexplicably grew tense. He was too close. If she moved her arm even slightly, she could brush against his skin.

Song Tinghuan quietly moved a small half-step outward, and then the top of her head was pressed down again. Jiang Yu forcibly pulled her under the umbrella. Her entire body fell into the shade, but the distance between her and Jiang Yu still didn’t become the kind where their arms were pressed together.

The umbrella tilted slightly, and most of Jiang Yu’s body was exposed to the sunlight.

Wasn’t he the one who said it was sunny?

Or… Song Tinghuan didn’t dare think further. A word suddenly popped into her head, and she jolted hard all over. Self-important.[[1]]

*

The birthday party started at three in the afternoon. By the time Song Tinghuan and Jiang Yu arrived, quite a few people were already seated around the high-roofed tent. Aside from Han Jingjing, it was a sea of boys, and there were even several familiar faces.

By late spring, the weather in Jiangbei had already turned warm. A group of boys chatted and laughed, and when they saw Jiang Yu and Song Tinghuan approaching, Zhou Yize was the first to wave. “Hey, Tinghuan little sister.”

Song Tinghuan nodded obediently. “Senior Zhou.”

Today she wore a simple T-shirt and jeans, with her hair tied in a low ponytail and thin bangs hanging over her forehead. She still looked as obedient and soft as ever.

Someone seeing Song Tinghuan for the first time couldn’t help asking Zhou Yize, “Who’s this? Why is she with Brother Yu?”

Everyone who played with Jiang Yu knew he didn’t have any close girls around him, aside from Han Jingjing, who had been obsessed with his older brother for years.

Zhou Yize thought of what happened at Jiang Yu’s place last time and grinned wickedly. “Oh, Tinghuan little sister? Your Brother Yu’s treasure.”

His voice wasn’t low. Everyone nearby heard it clearly and looked over at Jiang Yu and Song Tinghuan with amused expressions. Song Tinghuan froze in place because she saw Han Shuming on the other side not far away, talking on the phone. And just on the car ride over, she had told Guan Linlin that Han Shuming wasn’t coming today.

Seeing her drift off, Jiang Yu frowned and glanced at Zhou Yize. “Can you fucking be a little more serious?”

Zhou Yize refused to back down. “How the hell am I not being serious?”

Han Jingjing, watching the show from the side, said, “Mm, maybe he recently thinks most people look like perverts.”

For example, her.

Jiang Yu: “…”

Jiang Yu’s thin lips were pressed together, his keep-strangers-away aura still intact. But Han Jingjing wasn’t intimidated at all. She smiled at Song Tinghuan and waved. “Little junior, over here.”

Song Tinghuan drew her gaze back from Han Shuming and walked over to sit beside Han Jingjing. “Senior sister.”

“Mm, so obedient.” Han Jingjing reached out and pinched Song Tinghuan’s cheek.

Song Tinghuan went still. The last time someone had pinched her cheek like that was when she was five. Back then, she was cute, her baby fat still hadn’t faded, and lots of people liked pinching her cheeks.

Later, Song Mingcheng said that would damage the parotid gland tissue and make her drool. Song Tinghuan was very young at the time and didn’t really understand, but hearing that she would keep drooling, she burst into tears. From then on, she never let anyone pinch her cheeks again.

Song Tinghuan’s shock was all caught by Jiang Yu. He frowned. “Han Jingjing, can you stop touching people all the time?”

“Nope. I like touching people. Besides, Little Junior isn’t yours, so why do you get a say?” As she spoke, Han Jingjing hooked her arm through Song Tinghuan’s. “Right, little junior?”

Song Tinghuan couldn’t quite keep up with Han Jingjing’s pace and could only nod blankly. The others laughed.

Jiang Yu: “…”

Song Tinghuan quietly took out her phone and messaged Guan Linlin: [Sorry, Linlin. I only just found out that Senior Han is coming today. I saw him.]

Guan Linlin: […]

Song Tinghuan: [Sorry.]

Guan Linlin: [Why are you apologizing? It’s fine, it’s fine. What’s wrong with wearing pants? I’m wearing pants. I need to let him discover my inner beauty!]

Guan Linlin: [Extremely confident.jpg]

Song Tinghuan smiled.

Han Jingjing leaned over. “Mm, who are you texting? You’re so happy.”

Song Tinghuan: “A friend.”

Han Jingjing: “Boyfriend?”

Song Tinghuan: “…No.”

“You look so cute, there must be a lot of boys who like you.”

“No…”

“No? Impossible, unless they’re all blind.”

“…”

Han Jingjing was a bit too warm and outgoing, and she ran her mouth nonstop, so Song Tinghuan simply couldn’t keep up with her rhythm. Fortunately, Guan Linlin arrived not long after, and Song Tinghuan seemed to finally find a kindred spirit. The two girls stuck together so closely that they even went to the bathroom together.

Besides being familiar, it was also because they had too many private things to say.

“When did you start liking Senior Han?”

“Just… last semester.”

“Huh?”

Guan Linlin said that during the sports meet last semester, she had gotten heatstroke and fainted, and Han Shuming had carried her to the infirmary on his back.

Actually, at the time she hadn’t been completely unconscious. She knew the person carrying her was a senior from third year, and she’d heard he had good grades and a gentle personality.

“Thinking about it later, we didn’t even say a single word back then. He probably didn’t even know my name.” Guan Linlin looked toward the boy in the crowd not far away. He was clean-cut and refined, with a warm smile.

“Maybe liking someone is just a feeling, something that happens in an instant.”

Song Tinghuan was very slow when it came to feelings like “liking,” but she was happy to listen to her good friend’s troubles. “Then will you confess to him?”

Guan Linlin fell silent. Since they had met, this was the first time Song Tinghuan had felt disappointment in Guan Linlin like this.

Guan Linlin: “I probably… won’t. He’s graduating soon, and with my grades, I probably can’t get into Haida either.”

“Don’t say that.” Song Tinghuan nudged Guan Linlin. “How would you know if you don’t try?”

“What did you say?”

“Try it.”

Guan Linlin’s eyes suddenly lit up. “You think I should try too?”

Song Tinghuan nodded very seriously. “Of course.”

The two girls smiled at each other and said in unison,

Song Tinghuan: “If you don’t try, how would you know you can’t get in?”

Guan Linlin: “Okay, then I’ll confess to him before he graduates!”

Song Tinghuan: “?”

Guan Linlin: “…?”

They both froze, then both curved their eyes and burst out laughing.

Guan Linlin seemed to suddenly find her courage. “Erduo, I’ve decided. Starting today, I’m going to study like hell and get into Haida!”

Song Tinghuan nodded. “Then… are you still confessing?”

“Of course! In case I don’t get in…” Guan Linlin paused for a moment. “We might never run into each other again.”

True enough, Song Tinghuan thought.

In a vast sea of people, if you got separated at one intersection, you might really never meet again.

Guan Linlin leaned closer. “Erduo, can you help me ask what kind of girls Han Shuming likes? From what I’ve observed, there don’t seem to be any girls especially close to him.”

“Okay, I’ll… try.”

Keeping Guan Linlin’s request in mind, Song Tinghuan searched through the crowd for a while but didn’t see Jiang Yu.

“Looking for Jiang Yu, little junior?” She didn’t know when Han Jingjing had appeared behind her, smiling at her.

Song Tinghuan nodded.

Han Jingjing clicked her tongue softly. “So clingy.”

Song Tinghuan didn’t hear clearly. “Senior sister, what did you say?”

Han Jingjing had already raised a hand and pointed toward the tent not far away. “Over there, with Li Yiliang.”

Song Tinghuan walked over and saw Jiang Yu wearing a very impatient expression, while Li Yiliang was still babbling beside him. “Brother Yu, just lend me a shoulder, or an arm, or even a braid, that’s fine. When I do the group shot later, I guarantee only those bastards will be able to see it. Hey, little junior!”

Li Yiliang was especially excited. He walked straight over to Song Tinghuan and gestured between the two of them in height. “Brother Yu, look, if we shoot from here, at this angle, little junior won’t even need to show her face.”

Three minutes earlier, Li Yiliang had told Jiang Yu he wanted to borrow Song Tinghuan for a shot, because the few classmates from his vocational school who didn’t get along with him had laughed at him, saying he was already one step into adulthood and still didn’t even have a girl around him.

“Bro, you’re on my side, so you’ll definitely not let those bastards look down on me, right!”

Jiang Yu gave a sneer. “Wrong.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he grabbed Song Tinghuan by the arm and pulled her to his side.

Song Tinghuan was still a little dazed.

Li Yiliang ground his teeth and was going to ask Song Tinghuan directly, “Little junior, let me discuss something with you, can I–”

Jiang Yu: “No.”

“…” Li Yiliang was unconvinced. “Maybe little junior is willing to take a picture with me.”

“Even if she is, it’s still not happening.” Jiang Yu looked lazy, but every word he said left no room for argument.

“Brother Yu, that’s too much. She’s not even yours.”

Jiang Yu curved his lips. “I brought her from home, so how is she not mine?”

Song Tinghuan: “?”

Li Yiliang thought, yours, yours. Her surname is Song, your surname is Jiang. Do you have no shame at all?

But Jiang Yu’s dark eyes already carried a warning, clearly not allowing him to bring it up again. Li Yiliang knew this brother had made up his mind to protect his own today. “Fine, I’ll go find Han Jingjing.”

After Li Yiliang left, Jiang Yu finally turned his eyes to the girl beside him. “What’s up?”

“Ah…” Song Tinghuan opened her mouth. Even though she had already rehearsed what to say on the way over, now she couldn’t get the words out.

She had never helped someone ask about this kind of thing before, and she was a little nervous, and also… a little shy.

“Did Han Jingjing bully you?”

“?”

Jiang Yu narrowed his eyes. He had just seen Song Tinghuan talking to Han Jingjing, and Han Jingjing looked like a complete female hoodlum. Who knew if she’d been spouting nonsense.

“Stay away from Han Jingjing in the future.”

“Huh?”

After giving her that reminder, Jiang Yu’s phone vibrated. Song Tinghuan watched him take it out and tap on the screen with his long fingers. His hands were really big, and his fingers were long too, with clean, distinct knuckles.

She couldn’t do that. With a phone that size, she had to use both hands to type.

“If you have something to say, say it. Why are you standing there like an idiot?” Jiang Yu still didn’t look up, replying to messages while speaking somewhat fiercely.

“Oh.” Song Tinghuan took a deep breath. Thinking of Guan Linlin, she decided to throw caution to the wind for her friend.

“Jiang Yu, I want to ask you something.”

“Mm.”

“Senior Han…” Song Tinghuan paused. “What kind of girls does he like?”

Jiang Yu’s fingers stopped mid-message, and his pale eyelids lifted.

The girl’s cheeks were tinged red, clearly embarrassed.

After a long while, Jiang Yu still didn’t answer. Just when Song Tinghuan thought she probably wouldn’t get an answer from him, the young master’s cold, detached voice rang out: “Stay away from Han Shuming too.”

Song Tinghuan: “?”

Author’s note:
Jiang Yu: Anyone with the surname Han is no good.

(Note: Jiang Yu’s behavior does not represent the author. The author thinks the surname Han is pretty good.)

Second update done, a tiny red envelope~