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

But Zixiao realized that her brother was lying.

Whenever he lies, his facial expression immediately becomes unnatural, and no matter how normal he acts afterwards, it can't hide it.

So Zixiao really understands Yuzhe very well.

However, the principle remains the same: if he doesn't say anything, Zixiao won't ask any more questions. Everything is for her brother's happiness. If it's something her brother doesn't want to recall, why should Zixiao bring it up?

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

Yu Zhe remembered that Zi Xiao seemed to have said something like... "Don't stay up late?"

Sorry, it's past midnight again.

In the past, Yu Zhe would have said that midnight meant the night had just begun, but since returning from the hospital last time, under the pressure of his two younger sisters, Yu Zhe could only say that midnight meant the end of the night.

But there's a chess competition tomorrow, so Yu Zhe sat in his chair and mentally simulated all sorts of chess games.

Since I don't have a chessboard at home and I'm too lazy to download a chess app on my phone, I simply mentally completed about ten thousand chess game variations.

The whole process took about half an hour, and then Yu Zhe drew some comics for the next hour.

If Yu Zhe hadn't seen people urging him to update his comics, he would have completely forgotten that he was still drawing comics!

After drawing two simple chapters and uploading them, Yu Zhe planned to go to sleep. The competition was already scheduled for 10 a.m., and it would be too embarrassing if he couldn't get up.

Before that, Yu Zhe had one more thing to do.

I just went out to Xiaolizhi's room to see if she was asleep.

Well, you might say she's carefree, but she's still a girl, so she's bound to be more sensitive.

A girl living alone here, away from home, will inevitably feel uneasy and may have trouble sleeping. If she has insomnia, Yu Zhe plans to chat with her for a while, and if they get sleepy from talking, she will definitely be able to fall asleep.

Thinking of this, Yu Zhe got up and opened the door to the room as quietly as possible. The corridor was pitch black, and he groped his way down the corridor to the light switch.

With a click, the corridor lights were turned on.

Before looking at Xiao Lizhi's room, Yu Zhe saw an even more conspicuous scene.

"..."

Zixiao was leaning halfway out, standing at the door of her own room.

She still had one foot in the room, indicating that she was just about to come out.

She would normally be asleep by now, so this is quite a coincidence.

"Zixiao, what are you doing?" Yuzhe asked in a low voice.

“I…” Zixiao smiled awkwardly and looked away slightly. “I need to go to the restroom.”

"Hehe, I don't think so. You don't have the habit of getting up to go to the bathroom at night."

"Then I'll... yes, I want to go see if Little Lychee has caused any trouble!"

"What trouble could he possibly cause in the middle of the night..."

To this, Yu Zhe could only ruthlessly expose: "You're probably just like me, a little worried about whether Xiao Lizhi can sleep well, aren't you?"

"Ah, no... well, never mind, brother, you go back to sleep, I'll just take a look."

"Haha, what a coincidence! I'll take a look too. This guy is like a child; he's just always a worry."

Zixiao did indeed come out to check on Xiaolizhi's condition.

Despite Zixiao's constant teasing, the two are good friends at school. And now that Xiaolizhi has come to the apartment, Zixiao, as a friend, can't just ignore her.

This is where Zixiao's thoughtfulness lies.

The two quietly approached Little Lychee's door. Zixiao said speechlessly, "I'm serious, brother, you should go to sleep early. There's a competition tomorrow. If this girl isn't asleep, I'll tap her with this, and she'll definitely sleep until dawn."

Yu Zhe took a look and exclaimed, "Wow, it's an extra-thick encyclopedia!"

That's physical hypnosis!

"It's okay...we'll just take a look and then leave."

You can only pray that Little Lychee is asleep, otherwise you'll get hit.

I gently pushed the door open; there was no sound.

The nightlight in the room has a soft glow that can illuminate the entire room with a dim light.

The two looked down at the bed and saw that Little Lychee was already asleep.

But this sleeping posture... is really not flattering.

She slept sprawled out, brazenly taking over the entire bed.

Even when she's asleep, a gentle smile lingers on her face, her chest heaving slightly.

The crystal ball beside her bed glowed in the dark, sparkling and bright, creating a harmonious and warm scene, just like in Little Lychee's dream.

The gift Yu Zhe gave her.

The only thing that made Yu Zhe a little embarrassed was that Xiao Lizhi's sleeping posture was too bad; her pajamas were slightly rolled up, revealing a snow-white belly.

Do you toss and turn in your sleep?

"Brother, don't stare..."

Zixiao immediately covered Yuzhe's eyes, quickly led him back to the corridor, and then closed the door to Xiaolizhi's room.

“I told you my brother shouldn’t have come.”

"Haha, isn't this great? You adapt to the environment quite quickly, and you can sleep so freely right away."

"Looks like we don't need to worry about her." Zixiao yawned. "Goodnight, brother. No need to set an alarm. I'll wake you up tomorrow morning."

"Okay, goodnight Zixiao."

But Zixiao didn't leave.

"Zixiao?"

"Brother." Zixiao stepped forward. "Isn't there a reward before goodnight? I did pretty well today, right?"

Yes, Yu Zhe could see that when they were out buying New Year's goods today, Zi Xiao kept reminding Xiao Lizhi not to run around. These were things that Yu Zhe should have been doing.

"Okay, goodnight Zixiao, thank you for your hard work today~"

As he said goodnight, Yu Zhe reached out and gently stroked the top of her head. About ten seconds later, Zi Xiao looked up with satisfaction.

"Okay! Goodnight, brother!"

Before returning to her room, she turned back with a half-smile on her face: "Brother~ you stayed up late again today, I've made a note of it for you."

What?! We've been discovered!

21. Arrival at the venue (Bonus chapter)

"Let's see if there's anything else we need to bring. Zixiao, please hold my water bottle. Luling and Luyao have parked the car outside. Let's go straight to the city center stadium."

"Okay, Little Lychee, hurry up too."

Early morning... no, it was no longer early morning at all. It was almost 10 a.m. when Yu Zhe finally packed his things at a leisurely pace and prepared to head to the chess competition venue.

Isn't this what chess should be like? A healthy activity, something to be enjoyed in a relaxed and carefree way.

After waiting at the door for a while, Xiao Lizhi stumbled out of her room, her coat half-on, a pink bow-shaped hair tie in her mouth, trying to tie her right side of her hair into a small ponytail.

"Oh, here they come! How did you manage to move so quickly?"

"No, it's just that you're too slow."

Seeing her dawdling and struggling to tie her hair for ages, Yu Zhe got impatient. Okay, the nonchalant atmosphere ended there.

So Yu Zhe simply went over and quickly grabbed her hair and tied her hair up with a hair tie.

Wow! Brother Yuzhe is so amazing, it's like magic!

"You really should realize that it's not that I'm great, it's just that you're too stupid. You don't have anything to bring anymore, do you?"

"Okay, I'll just bring this one!"

Little Lychee held up a large bag of potato chips, seemingly indicating that this was a necessity in her life.

On the other side, Zixiao opened the apartment door, and a cool breeze blew into the room, which refreshed Yuzhe considerably.

Zixiao put down her phone and turned around to say, "Sister Xinye said everything has been arranged over there, so we can go now."

"Okay, let's go!"

Anyone could see that Yu Zhe was in a particularly high spirits today.

After all, he's going to play chess, and chess is his favorite game!

This was also the purpose of Yu Che Zixiao and Qi Xinye in planning this competition: to let Yu Zhe relax.

Lu Ling and Lu Yao, who were already waiting at the apartment's main entrance, stepped on the gas without hesitation after the three of them got into the car and settled in.

Therefore, this level of initiative is a stark contrast to that of the lazy little lychee.

"Brother, look over there."

"Wow, this competition seems to be on a pretty big scale? It's impressive."

Yu Zhe looked out the window in the direction Zi Xiao pointed, and saw a huge hot air balloon carrying the promotional words "City Sports Center Chess Competition" slowly gliding over the city, creating a unique scene.

Moreover, some high-rise buildings have had their LCD screens, either on top or on the surface, displaying images promoting chess competitions.

Little Lychee was already peering out the window.

Yu Zhe pulled her back to her seat.

"It seems that the benefits of the alliance between the Su family and the Qi family are becoming apparent. These investors and businesses have also seized this opportunity and want to participate. I bet there will be quite a few sponsors this time."

Upon hearing this, Zixiao took out her phone and checked, then placed it in front of Yuzhe: "Indeed, quite a lot... a full 374 companies participated..."

"Three hundred and seventy-four? That's more than I expected. Oh, I see."

You have to understand that sponsors just want to advertise and promote themselves during the competition.

But if an event has more than 300 sponsors at the same time, who will remember you? When the advertisements come out, the audience will only feel dazzled and no one will remember which company is sponsoring it.

Therefore, it's clear that the sponsor's main purpose this time was not publicity.

It was simply to make their faces known during the renewed cooperation between the Su Group and the Qi Group.