Even as a "normie," I'm completely oblivious to it.

Fortunately, it wasn't 8 p.m. when we arrived at the apartment building, so at least we made it in time for Christmas Eve.

Yu Zhe went up to his floor and the first room he went to was Qin Ruoke's.

Yu Zhe switched both cakes to his left hand and used the free hand to knock on the door.

"Who is it?" came a voice from inside, growing louder as it approached.

"Santa Claus has come to bring you presents. Good children, open the door."

Santa Claus...

Even though it was all a joke, it was enough to make Qin Ruoke happy, because it was Yu Zhe's voice.

She opened the door and saw Yu Zhe carrying two large cakes.

The moment the door opened, Yu Zhe handed over one of the cakes: "Merry Christmas, Ruo Ke!"

Qin Ruoke carefully took the cake: "Hmm... Merry Christmas, Yuzhe, is this for me?"

"Well, good children always get Christmas presents."

In the past, being treated like a child like this would probably have made Qin Ruoke very unhappy, given her personality.

But when facing Yu Zhe, she seemed to only want to act cute: "Um... well... thank you, Santa Claus."

She glanced down and exclaimed in surprise again: "Hey? Isn't this the Christmas-themed cake that's been all the rage in the city today? Yuzhe, you managed to snag one?"

"Is this hard to get?"

"Of course!"

Qin Ruoke first placed the cake on a shelf to the side, then took out her phone and casually showed Yu Zhe a few local news reports: "This cake is so popular today that it's even on the news. It seems to have been selling well to begin with, and with this news hype, it looks like everyone is scrambling to buy it. It's not easy to get one!"

She glanced at the cake again, this time even more flattered: "So... is it really okay for me to have it?"

Ha, you would never guess that I made this myself, and with the ingredients, I can make as much as I want.

"What's the big deal?" Yu Zhe smiled. "As long as you think it tastes good, that's fine. After all, we can produce and sell this ourselves."

"Self-produced and self-sold?"

"No, it's nothing. In short, it's not that valuable. Just know that."

That won't do, since it was a gift from you. So Qin Ruoke had already decided to enshrine the cake in her heart, but... it seems wasteful not to eat it, so she decided to eat it to show her "respect".

After delivering the gifts, Yu Zhe waved and said, "I'll head back now. There are two kittens waiting for me at home. You should come in too; it's quite cold outside today."

"Ah, wait a minute, I have something I wanted to ask you."

With her birthday party tomorrow, Qin Ruoke quickly took the opportunity to ask, "Do I need to wear a formal dress to tomorrow's birthday party? If so, I'll go out and buy one tomorrow morning. What style, in particular?"

She thought that she had been invited by Yu Zhe to attend a high-society banquet for the first time, so she certainly couldn't let Yu Zhe lose face.

"There's no need for that," Yu Zhe said clearly. "Just wear your usual clothes, you're cute enough. If you wear a formal dress, I'm afraid I won't even recognize you!"

This joke

These words, while making Qin Ruoke somewhat happy, also made her a little uneasy: "But this kind of banquet..."

"There's no such thing as high or low rank. It's just a formality. Or is Xiao Ruoke thinking about the details of the banquet instead of celebrating my birthday?"

"How could that be!"

Ugh… Qin Ruoke really can’t argue with Yu Zhe. He always manages to switch the concepts so naturally. Celebrating a birthday and wearing a formal suit are two completely different things, but he just can’t seem to confuse the two.

"That settles it then." Yu Zhe shrugged. "Since the purpose is to celebrate my birthday, nothing else matters. Ah, it's getting late, I'll head out now."

Yu Zhe slowly closed the door for her and then slipped back to his own side.

What could Qin Ruoke do? Since Yu Zhe said she didn't need to wear a formal dress, she figured she'd just let it go. She wasn't used to those kinds of glamorous clothes anyway.

We'll handle the specifics at tomorrow's banquet as things unfold.

..............................

I finally got back to my apartment.

"I'm back."

Before he could even hang his coat on the hanger, he saw two pairs of big eyes standing in the entryway staring at him.

Oh dear, this is a little embarrassing.

Fortunately, Yu Zhe was prepared.

He handed over the cake in his hand: "I heard this is quite rare, and I made it myself. I'm giving it to you two."

Before Zixiao could react, Yuche darted forward and took the cake, exclaiming, "Yay! Thank you, brother!"

This infuriated Zixiao: "You! Brother clearly said it was for both of us! And you traitor, you clearly said you'd ask Brother a good question when he got back, why do you always do this!"

While saying those words about Yu Che, Zi Xiao had already started staring at the cake herself.

This was made by my brother himself...

That's easy to handle.

Yu Zhe breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that his sisters might have a disagreement, which was why he had prepared the cake in advance.

But after a while, he actually told the two of them the whole story of what had happened that day.

"Helping out at the cake shop for most of the day... that sounds exhausting... Brother, why didn't you contact me? This kind of thing could have been solved immediately by just sending out the Su family's maid squad," Yu Che said with a hint of reproach.

"This is just a small thing to help a classmate, there's no need to bother others. Also, if you know I'm tired, could you please not sit on my lap? It hurts."

This girl talks a good game, but then she just sat on Yu Zhe's lap and kept rubbing against him.

Yu Che smiled mischievously: "No, this is punishment for my brother leaving us at home for several hours."

"..."

If that's the real reason, then Yu Zhe really has no way to deal with it.

In the end, it was Zixiao who saved the situation. She brought the dishes she had prepared from the kitchen, set them on the table, and called Yuzhe and Yuche to come and eat. Only then was Yuzhe finally able to lift the girl off his lap.

At the dinner table, Yu Zhe wished them a Merry Christmas, saying that the cake was good enough to be eaten as a main course.

"Were you two arguing?" Yu Zhe suddenly asked.

"Huh? Why do you ask that?"

Indeed, just now she and Yu Che were arguing about whether or not to call Yu Zhe.

Yu Zhe laughed and said, "Don't I know you two well? Look at you two, deliberately turning your heads to one side and sitting a little further away. If you ask me, what's there to make a fuss about? You've been a handful since you were little."

As expected, the first thing to do is to complain! Yu Che suddenly raised his hand: "Report! Zi Xiao hit me just now!"

"You're talking nonsense!" Zixiao was truly impressed; this guy reacted so quickly! But this was blatant slander!

Yu Zhe wasn't stupid either. He reached out and slapped Yu Che on the back of the head: "Who are you trying to fool? You said Zi Xiao hit you. I'd be grateful if you didn't bully Zi Xiao."

"Ugh..."

After dinner, no one went to sleep.

Needless to say, Yu Zhe hasn't gone to bed before midnight for many years.

It was mainly Zixiao and Yuche who were waiting, waiting for the clock to strike midnight.

Around 11:50 a.m., snow began to fall outside the window. This was the first snow of the year!

The three of them gathered around the window, watching with great interest as the scenery outside gradually turned white.

Then, the time finally came to midnight.

At the same moment, Zixiao and Yuche exclaimed in unison, "Happy 18th birthday, brother!"

At the same time, Yu Zhe also responded: "Happy birthday, Yu Che. Also, thank you, Zi Xiao."

The first snow fell softly, as if in celebration, swirling around every corner of the city.

45. You've really made something of yourself!

The next morning.

Yu Che got out of Yu Zhe's bed early.

Normally, when she comes here, she always sleeps with her brother. But today is her birthday, so she'll definitely go even further.

Yu Zhe went to great lengths to get her to sleep peacefully and stop making a fuss.

Then, after she fell asleep, she kept muttering in her sleep, "Happy birthday, brother."

It's your birthday too, why don't you wish yourself a happy birthday instead? This left Yu Zhe feeling helpless again.

Fortunately, Yu Zhe eventually drifted off to sleep.

Now, as dawn breaks, Yu Che has changed his clothes and is sitting on the edge of the bed putting on his shoes.

"Then I'll go set up the banquet first. I'm really worried if I don't keep an eye on things. It's such a waste of the time I spent with you. Ugh, so annoying."

Yu Che still needs to personally attend and arrange the banquet at the Su family's main residence that evening. Otherwise, the decision-making efficiency for many things will be very low, and the venue may not be properly set up by the evening.

It was only a little before seven o'clock, and Yu Zhe had only been asleep for a little over three hours.

While still half-asleep, I opened my eyes and saw Yu Che sitting on the edge of the bed complaining.

So cute.

Perhaps he was still a little sleepy, he turned over, buried his face in Yu Che's back, and wrapped his arms around her: "Mmm... thank you for your hard work."

Feeling the touch of Yu Zhe's hands on her stomach, Yu Che was startled, and then slowly turned her head.

I just saw Yu Zhe looking half-asleep and silly.

It strikes right at the softest part of Yu Che's heart, what a blessing!

Now I'm not in a hurry to leave...

She had just finished putting on one shoe, and put the other one down from her hand. She sat diagonally on the edge of the bed, looking at Yu Zhe, trying hard to etch Yu Zhe's appearance deep into her mind.

"It's not tiring at all. How could I be tired when I can celebrate my brother's birthday? Hehe... My brother looks so handsome."

I really wanted to crawl back inside and hug my brother to sleep, but I was in a real rush.

She got up, put on her shoes, put her hands behind her back, bent down and gently kissed Yu Zhe's cheek.

"See you tonight, brother."