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

After shouting that, he pushed Xiao Lizhi aside and immediately quieted down. What ghost? Isn't this Xiao Lizhi?

The little lychee, pushed away, felt as if she had been doused with a bucket of ice water. Calming down, she looked at her pajamas, which had slipped down her shoulders, and felt a little lost. Her eyes were watery as she asked, "Brother Yuzhe... what... what am I doing?!"

"You're asking me?" Yu Zhe was still trying to calm his frightened heart. "Either you're drunk or you're playing a prank. Anyway, you win. You scared me half to death."

"No...I..."

"Shh! Don't speak. If you don't want Zixiao to hit you, don't make a sound!"

After saying this, Yu Zhe immediately grabbed Xiao Lizhi, who was huddled in the corner of the bed, and pulled her into his own bed, covering her with the blanket.

"Hey...! Brother Yuzhe, what are you doing?"

Little Lychee was still confused and looked panicked.

But Yu Zhe heard footsteps coming from the corridor; he must have woken Zi Xiao up with his scream.

Sure enough, Zixiao pushed open the door and asked anxiously, "Brother, what's wrong? Are you alright? Did you have a nightmare?"

"Haha... It's nothing, it's just a nightmare."

Yu Zhe dared not turn on the light. If he did, he would see that the blanket was bulging, and even if Xiao Lizhi was about the same size as him, she would not be able to hide it.

If Zixiao finds out, there's no need for an explanation; she won't listen. A bloody storm is inevitable.

Of course, it was Little Lychee who faced the bloodshed and chaos.

What does that have to do with Su Yuzhe?

"Oh, I see... Brother, don't panic, I'm right next door. Call me if you need anything."

Actually, Zixiao was a little confused... Her brother wasn't usually so easily startled, why was he suddenly like this today...?

But it's the middle of the night now, so I can't say anything more and disturb my brother's rest. I'll ask him what he dreamed about tomorrow morning.

"Go to sleep early, brother, we'll talk tomorrow. Goodnight..."

Seeing that Zixiao had closed the door, Yuzhe secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

They took the small lychee out from under the blanket.

Little Lychee, breathing in the fresh air, took a deep breath: "Phew~ That scared me to death! I thought I was going to suffocate!"

Yu Zhe smacked her on the head, furious: "You have the nerve to say that! You deserved to suffocate! You almost got beaten to death by Zi Xiao, you know that?!"

19. Visit

The next morning, Aunt Elisa came early to pick up Little Lychee.

Downstairs at the apartment building, Elisa sat in the driver's seat of the car, giving Yu Zhe a meaningful smile: "Little Yu Zhe, I was just too busy yesterday to take care of her, so I had to leave her with you guys for now. I hope Li Zhi didn't cause any trouble yesterday~"

Yu Zhe felt that there was a deeper meaning in her words, as if she was expecting something to have happened.

Aside from Little Lychee coming to my room as if she was still half asleep, there was nothing else.

Out of consideration for Xiao Lizhi's feelings, Yu Zhe didn't bring this up: "It's okay, Aunt Elisa. If you're busy, you can just leave her here. She and Zixiao can discuss their studies. Besides, Xiao Lizhi is very obedient and won't cause us any trouble."

Hearing this, Little Lychee, sitting in the back row, perked up: "That's right! Did you hear that, Mom? Brother Yuzhe said so too, and I really did listen to him!"

For some reason, hearing these words from Xiao Lizhi herself made Yu Zhe's eyelids twitch, and he felt very uncomfortable.

So he casually remarked, "Hmm, very obedient. It would be great if you could get rid of this sleepwalking habit at night."

Yu Zhe thought she was sleepwalking last night, otherwise there was no other explanation, since she hadn't been drinking.

Just then, Zixiao came downstairs and walked to Yuzhe's side.

I happened to overhear this, and asked in confusion, "Sleepwalking? Little Lychee, do you have a habit of sleepwalking?"

"Um... about this... actually I'm not too sure either... anyway..."

Before Yu Zhe could sense that Xiao Lizhi was about to say something inappropriate and cause a misunderstanding, he quickly said, "It's okay, it's okay! I was just using an analogy. She said she had a bit of a stomachache last night and came to me to get some medicine."

Whether she was sleepwalking or not, Xiao Lizhi accidentally wandered into her room last night. If Zixiao found out, she would smash the car on the spot.

But Little Lychee wasn't quick-witted. She tilted her head and thought, "Does my stomach hurt?"

Yu Zhe angrily replied, "Yes!"

What a terrible teammate; I could barely carry him.

However, since Yu Zhe said so, Zi Xiao believed him, but her expression was still somewhat dissatisfied: "Is that so? I was wondering why you didn't tell me yesterday that there was some noise outside, Xiao Lizhi, that you weren't feeling well?"

Little Lychee was so touched: "I didn't know Zixiao cared about me so much..."

"No, don't misunderstand." Zixiao looked at her with disdain. "I just meant that if you don't tell me, you're going to bother your brother. It's not good to disturb your brother's sleep, you know?"

"..."

If there were even a shred of concern in this world, it wouldn't be like the car door next to it.

Cold as ice, devoid of warmth and emotion.

The blow only lasted a few seconds for Xiao Lizhi. After a brief period of dejection, she smiled again: "I understand! I'll bear it next time!"

But she wasn't talking about a stomachache; she was referring to that strange feeling she had yesterday... She wasn't sure if she could really bear it.

But Zixiao had no idea what she was thinking: "No, no, no... don't hold it in, you still need to take your stomachache medicine."

Elisa could tell at a glance that the two were not on the same page at all. She said apologetically to Zixiao, "I'm sorry, Zixiao. I know that to some extent you are wary of Lizhi, and you probably think she's a nuisance..."

That's true, but Zixiao had to remain polite: "No, Aunt Elisa, it's not that serious."

"Next time I bring her here, I'll tell her to tone it down a bit. After all, Xiao Zixiao's thoughts are easy to guess."

There was no awkwardness or embarrassment. Zixiao clasped her hands in front of her and replied very seriously, "Xiaolizhi and I are good friends at school, that won't change. But if your purpose in putting her in my house is what I'm guessing, then don't blame me for not being nice to her."

“I understand, I understand. If Xiao Yuzhe could have it all…” Elisa smiled wryly. “It’s alright. This child doesn’t have any special abilities, but she’s very resilient. She’s always been able to withstand pressure. If Xiao Zixiao is unhappy, just scold her harshly. As for hitting her… go easy on her, just don’t cripple her…”

Little Lizhi looked at her mother, who calmly said these words, with disbelief. Did she not care about being beaten?

Even though Zixiao wouldn't hit her! Probably... she wouldn't, right?

"Anyway, thank you both. Please give my regards to your father. I have a meeting to attend to, so let's talk another day."

Aunt Elisa, who always seemed to have an ulterior motive, was about to leave, and Yu Zhe certainly didn't intend to keep her any longer: "Alright, you can go ahead and do your work. I will convey your greetings to my father."

The etiquette was impeccable; they watched the vehicle depart.

Yu Zhe could vaguely hear Elisa's voice coming from inside the car: "You good-for-nothing! I gave you a chance and you couldn't take it! Did you really think I let you come here to freeload?!"

"..."

Yu Zhe didn't want to guess anymore. He knew very well what Aunt Elisa meant by sending the lychees.

But it's obvious there's no chance, since Little Lychee isn't interested. Even if you send her over anyway, it won't make a difference.

It's another beautiful morning. It's Friday, and I don't have any classes this morning, so I guess I won't go to school.

Yu Zhe stretched and said to Zi Xiao, who was watching him, "Zi Xiao, let's go back. I feel like sprawling on the sofa today, and I even want to watch TV all day."

"Yes, brother, I'll watch it with you."

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

Compared to Yu Zhe's leisurely life, Qin Ruoke seems far too busy.

Qin Ruoke didn't go to school this morning because she had no classes; studying at home would be more efficient.

It was almost 10 a.m. at this time.

She closed the book and prepared to begin her day's activities.

Today is a bit special because she has to visit her father in prison, which makes her feel somewhat helpless.

It wasn't that visiting was particularly bothersome; she really wanted to see how her father was doing, it's just…

She lost her top spot in the grade, how should she tell him... She didn't even want to talk about how things went wrong before the college entrance exam.

"Never mind, things will work themselves out," she thought, opening her wardrobe.

It's a very small wardrobe... It's called a wardrobe, but it can only hold about ten pieces of clothing.

But that's enough. Qin Ruoke usually wears two sets of school uniforms that she changes and washes herself.

As for everyday clothes... I don't have any.

It's not that she didn't wear them at all; she kept all of her father's clothes from before the accident, but she basically never wore them.

One reason was that the clothes were indeed too small, and the other was that she wanted to say goodbye to the past completely, as wearing her old clothes always reminded her of some unpleasant things from the past.

So I simply put on my school uniform and tied my hair in a single ponytail, which made me look quite energetic.

Before leaving, I prepared some dishes and put them in an insulated box to take with me. Since it's a visit, it can't be as meager as usual, so I put in some ribs and fish.

After finishing, Qin Ruoke couldn't help but marvel at her own talent for cooking.

In the past, the only problem was a lack of material. Don't ask, the answer was always the same: no money.

After everything was prepared, she walked to Xicheng Prison. Although it wasn't close, it would save her some taxi fare, so Qin Ruoke felt it was worth it.

It was almost noon when she finally arrived at this place that made her feel very depressed.

Sigh, I really don't know when I'll never have to come here again.

20. A big shot?

After showing the relevant identification and necessary documents to the staff in charge of guarding the prison, Qin Ruoke was taken to the temporary visiting area.

It was a glass wall with a circular gap in it. That was the condition for temporary prison visits. Actually, it was good enough if they could exchange a few words. Qin Ruoke hadn't really expected the conditions to be any better.

She waited there for about ten minutes, and then she heard the sound of an iron gate opening on the other side of the glass wall.

Two guards, one on each side, led a thin, middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties out of the room.

He is Qin Ruoke's father, Qin Yang.

He's been in prison ever since because of business matters.

When he saw Qin Ruoke outside the glass, a light slowly shone in his eyes, which had been as still as a pool of water, as if he had seen the rising sun in the dark night.

The two guards helped him sit down on a chair inside the glass partition, and casually reminded them, "Visiting time is twenty minutes. Please say what you need to say as soon as possible."

Qin Ruoke understood and nodded. After that, the two guards left, leaving the space to the father and daughter.

Qin Ruoke put her things down on the table next to her and asked with concern, "Dad, did they give you any trouble?"

"It's alright, it's alright." Qin Yang felt much better after seeing Qin Ruoke, and he was even smiling now. "Your dad has been doing alright here. Apart from being really bored, I haven't suffered any grievances."