Chapter 229: Chapter 229: What Other Reason Could There Be?
“Well, Bro, I need to ask you first… did you acquire some kind of dirty Awakened Ability?” Ren Xingmei asked.
Ren Xingmei looked at the four beautiful and elegant girls in front, who were talking and laughing to one another while shopping. Each of them was charmingly unique and as they walked in the mall, there was a 50% chance that someone who walked past them would turn back to take a second look—the remaining 50% of people who walked past were phone addicts who constantly looked down at their mobile phones.
“What do you mean by ‘dirty Awakened Ability’?” the bewildered Ren Suo asked.
Ren Xingmei said, “For example, abilities to hypnotize, stop time, enhance the senses, make someone your puppet, or appear attractive to everyone…”
Ren Suo glanced intriguingly at his sister. He pondered for half a minute before saying, “My old computer should have already been formatted accordingly into different partitions, so there should not be a trace of anything for you to discover… Could it be the cabinet which I store my notebook in? I remember that I locked it though!”
Ren Xingmei blinked and replied, “What’s locked?”
“The cabinet at my computer desk is locked,” Ren Suo said.
Ren Xingmei shook her head, saying, “No, it isn’t. You remembered wrongly.”
“It… it isn’t?” Ren Suo, feeling bewildered, exclaimed. He said, “I thought that it was still locked the last time I went home…”
“You must have been so busy at work that memories were mixed up, you should rest well. Anyway, did you or did you not awaken some ability which makes girls fancy you?” Ren Xingmei asked, quickly returning to her question.
Ren Suo dug his nose as he replied, “If I did, your elder sister-in-law would be standing beside me now, not you.”
(Did he not? It would be quite a challenge to describe the scene in front of me otherwise though…)
Ren Xingmei looked at the group of girls in front, consisting of the proudly beautiful female team leader of the Countermeasure Division, the calm and reserved female teacher at the Institution, as well as one senior high school girl with long, black and straight hair, and another lively, energetic senior high school girl. She somehow felt that something did not seem right.
However, the sense of crisis for Ren Xingmei was growing more intense: the female team leader of the Countermeasure Division seemed to be very fashionable. If she became her brother’s girlfriend, she would certainly squeeze his wallet dry;
The female teacher did not have much material desire, but Ren Xingmei felt that she had an extremely strong desire of wanting to be in control. Her dork of a brother would certainly give her full control of his finances;
The two senior high school girls—one with long, straight and black hair while the other was lively and energetic—appeared to be less of a threat. However, Ren Xingmei was also a senior high school girl. She had met too many girls whose material desires grew as they constantly compared their possessions with others, and Ren Xingmei could not be at ease even if either one of the two girls was her brother’s girlfriend.
(For the sake of Brother’s wallet!) Ren Xingmei energized herself and was constantly on her guard. She never once moved away from Ren Suo to prevent any sparks of feelings from arising between him and any of the girls. Ren Xingmei roughly estimated that after Ren Suo went out today, he would not want to go out to shop for the next two months.
In Ren Suo’s words, it was: “Young people like to go out to shop, sing karaoke, have a gathering with their friends, and go to the bar, but only when they return home will they realize—staying at home was better.”
As long as she pulled through that day, Ren Xingmei would be able to guarantee the safety of Ren Suo’s wallet!
“We don’t really know enough to know what to buy,” Lin Xianyu said as she turned around. She asked Ren Xingmei, “Little Star, what do you like?”
Qiao Muyi laughed and said, “It’s cheating if you ask the person herself. The purpose of this game is, firstly, to squeeze Ren Suo’s wallet for once, and the second, is to guess what Little Star likes.”
“In that case… it won’t be cheating if I ask Ren Suo, right?” Lin Xianyu asked. Her brain still functioned quite normally when she was not eating.
Qiao Muyi replied, “Of course, Ren Suo is a participant too. He needs to buy a gift as well.”
Lin Xianyu turned to look at Ren Suo and asked, “Brother Ren, what kind of snacks do you think your sister likes?”
Ren Suo replied, “Mmm… Matcha biscuits like Shiroi Koibito?”
Gu Yueyan queried, “What does she like to do when she has free time?”
Ren Suo replied, “I suppose she likes to play games.”
Qiao Muyi asked, “Are there any guys whom Little Star fancies?”
Ren Suo replied, “No.”
Everyone turned to look at Ren Xingmei and asked, “Is your brother, right?”
Ren Xingmei smiled slightly and replied, “Wouldn’t I be divulging the answers if I answered the question? Regardless though, he’s truly my brother.”
(None of his answers were right.)
(I never liked eating matcha biscuits, it was only because my friend gave them to me as a souvenir that I ate them.)
(I don’t usually play games during my free time; catching up on drama series is the best pastime.)
“Ah,” Qiao Muyi said suddenly. She continued, “Ren Suo, go and find somewhere to wait, we will call you when we are done picking the gifts.”
Ren Suo looked around and saw that it was the clothing section up ahead. Although he did not have a girlfriend, Ren Suo had still heard before about how long girls took to choose their clothes, so he naturally took up Qiao Muyi’s suggestion and hurried away elsewhere.
“Bro—” Ren Xingmei said, quickly reaching out and trying to hold Ren Suo back.
“Don’t worry about him. Just by looking at his dressing style, you would know that his beauty standard is ‘over the top’. He would not be able to help you in any way!” Qiao Muyi coaxed as she and the rest of them pulled Ren Xingmei away from Ren Suo together.
Ren Suo was not interested in buying other things either, but he had not eaten snacks like octopus balls, grilled squid, and oden in a long time, which were not sold in the school’s dining hall. As such, when the strong fragrance of food wafted into his nostrils, Ren Suo headed directly for the snacks street.
After eating and drinking his fill, Ren Suo realized that it was about time and walked back towards the part of the mall he came from previously.
“Ah!”
“Be careful!”
Shouts and screams could be heard from in front, where the escalator was located. Ren Suo looked in that direction and decided to head over to find out what the commotion was about, demonstrating the ‘good qualities’ of any ordinary citizen.
——————
“Little Star, you have such a good figure that you might even be able to become a model with some training. Why do you want to wear men’s clothes?” Qiao Muyi remarked. She leaned on Ren Xingmei’s shoulder as she smiled at her in the mirror.
Ren Xingmei still dressed herself similarly in male clothing when they were out that day.
“I’m used to it,” Ren Xingmei replied uneasily.
Qiao Muyi asked, “What do you think of this pleated skirt?”
Ren Xingmei replied, “I think that it would be better if it was jasmine-white in color.”
Qiao Muyi said, “This sunflower-yellow color is not bad too.”
“You should try on a pair of white stockings, and change out of your flats at the same time, or it would not match.”
Dong Chengling chipped in and said, “You should get a hat too!”
When it came to choosing clothes, even Dong Chengling could not resist but give a suggestion or two. Ren Xingmei initially refused to try on the clothes, but it would have been impolite to object after they asked multiple times, so she eventually gave in reluctantly.
When she emerged from the fitting room, she was greeted by four pairs of eyes looking at her in amazement and admiration.
Qiao Muyi pulled her to the mirror and said, “Look, who is that cute girl in the mirror?”
Ren Xingmei was stunned.
The girl in the mirror was wearing a white and pink-colored knee-length lace skirt. Wearing the skirt was a girl with long and slender legs, which was covered with white stockings and red shoes. The girl wore a white sun hat on her head, and she had rosy white skin.
“Doesn’t it look great? It’s very cute, no?” Qiao Muyi asked as she placed her arm around Ren Xingmei’s shoulders. She said, “Just wear this out and give your brother a shock. He doesn’t need to pay for this set of clothes, I’ll pay and give them to you—”
“No!” Ren Xingmei exclaimed.
The rest of them were slightly stunned. Realizing that she was too worked up, Ren Xingmei immediately kept her emotions back in check and said with a smile, “I don’t like this kind of clothes… There’s no need to buy them, I’ll change back into my clothes.” Upon finishing her sentence, she immediately returned to the fitting room.
While Ren Xingmei was in the fitting room, Gu Yueyan took the chance to walk over to Qiao Muyi and led her to another area. Pretending to look at the clothes, she asked softly, “Why did you come here, Sister Qiao?”
Qiao Muyi naturally did not say that she came to enjoy the show. She replied, “Didn’t you say that Ren Suo’s sister acted very strangely, that she could be a sister who fancies her brother and would be a hindrance to you? That’s why I specially came down to have a look.”
“It… it doesn’t hinder me…” Gu Yueyan said, somewhat reluctantly.
“Don’t worry, I will help you. I am your love consultant after all!” Qiao Muyi said. She thumped her chest and assured, “Trust me!”
Gu Yueyan relaxed and turned to look at the clothes for real.
At that juncture, Qiao Muyi turned and walked over to Dong Chengling, who was looking at clothes in the menswear section. She asked softly, “Chengling, how have things been recently?”
Dong Chengling said expressionlessly, “My Practice is going smoothly. The enchantment of the Reiki Storage Device is also doing well.”
“Of course, I’m not asking you about this,” Qiao Muyi said. She held Dong Chengling’s hand and continued, “I’m asking if things are going well relationship-wise.”
Dong Chengling did not reply.
Qiao Muyi said, “I suppose that you rarely talked to guys in the past, right? You must have been enjoying your time alone throughout junior high school, senior high school and university, no? You look like the kind of person who has great resilience.”
Dong Chengling nodded.
“If there is anything you need help with in your relationship, feel free to come to me, I will definitely help you. Just treat me as your love consultant!” Qiao Muyi said. She thumped her chest and assured, “Trust me!”
…
…
After coming out of the clothing section, Dong Chengling called Ren Suo. However, she shook her head and said, “He did not answer the call.”
Ren Xingmei and the others felt that it was strange for Ren Suo not to pick up the call, but they did not panic. After all, they were in the shopping mall, and it was not possible to lose Ren Suo. Qiao Muyi said, “Let’s continue walking while trying to call him, we might bump into him. We will come back to see if he is waiting here if we still cannot find him after ten minutes.”
“He might well have returned home already, thinking that it was too troublesome,” Gu Yueyan said as she looked at the ceiling.
“He’s not such a person,” Dong Chengling remarked expressionlessly.
The group of them wandered around the mall, looking for any trace of Ren Suo. Very quickly, they found him a distance away from the snack street—Ren Suo was sitting by the walkway with a little girl. The little girl was playing with a mobile phone, and Ren Suo was touching the girl’s body with his hand…
Alarmed, Lin Xianyu instantly whipped out her mobile phone and keyed in ‘1’, ‘1’, ‘0’. She said, “I’ll get a policeman nearby to come over first…”
“Hold on,” Gu Yueyan said quickly. She continued, “We are in the middle of a crowded mall, Ren Suo would certainly not do this even if he had gone crazy!”
When they walked closer, they found that Ren Suo’s hands were surrounded by a glow of white. The little girl had serious cuts all over her hands and legs, as well as on her face. It looked extremely painful, but the little girl was focused on the screen of the mobile phone in her hands. There were traces of tears on her face, but she was not crying at that point in time.
Ren Suo turned and saw Qiao Muyi and the rest of the group. He said, “Have you guys finished buying your clothes? I was about to head back to look for you guys when I saw this little girl falling down from the top of the escalator. She was bawling her eyes out, and her parents were not around either, so I quickly took her to the side to treat her.”
“Why didn’t you answer your phone?” Gu Yueyan asked.
“Answer my phone?” Ren Suo replied, slightly shocked. He then looked at the mobile phone in the little girl’s hands and realized what happened. He explained, “There is a game mode on my mobile phone. When playing a game, it will prevent any interruptions and any incoming calls would not be displayed either. The game mode will only be deactivated when I exit the game.”
“She was injured quite badly, and I can’t treat all of them at once, so I gave her my mobile phone to play and she forgot about the pain.”
Qiao Muyi immediately said, “I will look for the staff to broadcast an announcement in the mall to notify her parents to head over.”
The rest of them immediately crowded around the girl and got down to work. Ren Xingmei squatted down at the side and looked at Ren Suo with a smile on her face. Lin Xianyu also squatted beside her and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing, I am just reminded of my childhood,” Ren Xingmei replied.
“Is it something happy?” Lin Xianyu asked.
“Not really, I suppose. I used to fall sick easily when I was young, and essentially lived in the hospital all year round,” Ren Xingmei replied. She recalled her memories as she said, “To pass my time in the hospital, I would read books, but other than that, I usually waited for my brother to look for me to play.”
“Later on, when our parents bought each of us a handheld game console, he would come to the hospital every day and ask to link our game consoles together so that I could catch pets with him. We were so noisy that the nurse had to kick him out on several occasions. Sometimes when I fell ill and was in so much pain that I wanted to cry, I would end up playing games with him and forgetting the pain.”
“Occasionally, when he went to his friend’s house and played a new game, he would come to me specifically to talk about how fun and interesting the new game was. He would then get me to keep asking our parents to buy a game console and a computer, so that we could play together… Hmph, he made use of his sister to cheat our parents of their money.”
Ren Xingmei snapped out of her daze and quickly explained, “Ah, I mean… my brother is actually…”
“Heh heh,” Lin Xianyu said as she ran away smiling. At that juncture, the parents of the little girl also appeared, and they thanked Ren Suo and the rest of them for their help. The little girl reluctantly returned the mobile phone to Ren Suo and waved her hand to bid goodbye: “See you again, Big Brother”. Then, she hopped away with her parents and left very healthily.
“It has been quite a long day, it’s time to head back now,” Ren Suo said as he looked at the time. He continued, “Since you guys have finished picking the gifts, tell me the name of the shop and the name of the item. I’ll go and buy them now.”
Ren Xingmei waved her hand in the air and said, “You really do not need to buy me anything…”
Qiao Muyi and the rest of them looked at one another. They each wrote a WeChat message stating the gift that they picked and sent it to Ren Suo. Ren Suo looked at the messages and turned to leave, saying, “Wait for me here, I’ll be back.”
————
At night, after Ren Xingmei showered, she went up to Ren Suo, who was playing a game and held his arm. She said, “Bro, let me stay here for a few more days!”
“No, you have to go back tomorrow,” Ren Suo replied. He said, “Dad and Mom have also called to get you to go back. In the beginning, you told them that you were only staying here for two days and one night.”
“No, I don’t want to go back!” Ren Xingmei cried as she continued shaking Ren Suo’s arm.
With his arm being shaken like that, Ren Suo could not continue playing the game, and he put down the game controller. He took out a few shopping bags and said, “These are your gifts.”
“You really bought them,” Ren Xingmei said as she took the bags over. Pretending to be distressed, she said, “I don’t know which one I like the most though…”
“There’s no need to choose, there’s actually only one item,” Ren Suo said.
Ren Xingmei was slightly stunned. She opened the bags and found two sets of skirts, stockings, shoes, hats, and other clothing.
“You should also start dressing yourself up and not stick to me all day long like a fake tomboy. Be elegant,” Ren Suo said.
Ren Xingmei whispered, “I don’t like women’s clothing…”
Ren Suo replied, “How would I not notice when they could notice it in just a day?”
Ren Suo picked up the game controller to continue playing the game as he said, “Well, I do not usually pay much attention to anything other than games… but at the least, I do know that when you play games, you especially like to let the female characters wear pretty DLC clothes.”
Ren Xingmei momentarily did not know how to reply. She held Ren Suo’s arm and leaned her head on his shoulder.
“A key has been found.”
“The key is in a state of sleep. Starting to retrieve the key.”
“The key has already been formed fully…”
——————
The next day, after Ren Suo and the rest of them finished their dinner at Dong Chengling’s house, they sent Ren Xingmei out of the school together.
“Are you able to take the bus to the bus stop on your own? I don’t need to accompany you, do I?” Ren Suo asked as they stood at the school gate.
“No, I’m already old enough,” replied Ren Xingmei, who was wearing men’s clothing and a hat. She tugged on Ren Suo’s sleeves and asked, “Bro, when do you intend to go home?”
“Me? Mmm… When I am free, I guess,” Ren Suo replied in a perfunctory manner.
On the other hand, as Lin Xianyu watched Ren Suo and his sister interact with each other, she said in Gu Yueyan’s ear:
“You saw wrongly.”
Gu Yueyan quizzed, “What did I see wrongly?”
Lin Xianyu explained, “Look at that—in order to match her brother’s hobby of playing games, she became a skilled gamer; after she completed her college entrance examination and scored well, she immediately came over to celebrate with her brother. She even wanted to stay with her brother and even dressed herself in male clothing on purpose, so that her brother would not need to avoid suspicion…”
“Isn’t that a sister who extremely fancies her brother?”
Gu Yueyan replied, “I cannot understand why you would fancy your brother. Nonetheless, it is fortunate that she is leaving…”
At that moment, Ren Xingmei suddenly said loudly, “Bro, it doesn’t matter if you do not come home since I will be going to live here in a few months!”
Gu Yueyan and the rest of them were shocked. Ren Suo asked curiously, “What do you mean?”
“I chose to study at the Heavenly Institution of Lian—this will be the university I will be studying at!” Ren Xingmei replied.
Ren Xingmei waved goodbye to the rest of the girls, then carried her bag and flagged down a taxi, leaving bewildered expressions on the girls’ faces.
…
“What a wasted trip,” Ren Xingmei muttered to herself as she sat in the car. She put on her headphones to listen to music and thought, ‘I was still unable to eliminate the threat to my dork of a brother’s wallet…’
She touched the few shopping bags which contained her clothes, then turned to look at the Heavenly Institution of Lian which was growing smaller in the distance.
“I’m doing all of this just for money, yes, what other reason could there be?”