At noon, the two brothers had a nice meal out... without He Long.
He Long, who had to sadly go home for lunch, silently shoveled rice, his brow furrowed in deep thought... So, the boss really does have a grudge against me? Because of the signature? How childish...
Uncle He passed by and smacked the back of his head, urging, "Hurry up and eat, dawdling like a girl. Finish up and go attend the parent-teacher conference for Young Master Shulin. Don't keep the two young masters waiting! Oh, and take the snacks Aunt Liu packed up. The young master forgot them."
"...Okay."
When Yu Shulin saw the familiar bag He Long handed over, he could only look up at the sky in exasperation.
He had deliberately left those snacks behind when he went out in the morning, but who would have thought...
The subject selection intention forms had already been submitted. Wang Zhi, curious, leaned over to Yu Shulin, glanced at the expressionless He Long sitting stiffly upright, and whispered, "Shulin, who's this guy from your family? He looks really intimidating."
"He's my cousin. Everyone else in the family was busy, so he came." Yu Shulin opened the snack bag, starting to ponder what to do with all this stuff.
Was he supposed to hand them out to everyone around him again? That seemed so silly...
He Long, of course, heard their "whispering." He shifted uncomfortably and shot a glance at Wang Zhi.
Wang Zhi stiffened under his gaze, saying rigidly, "Shulin, the older brother who came last year was much friendlier. If there's a parent-teacher conference next year, he's welcome to come."
"...I'll pass that along." Yu Shulin grabbed a handful of fruit candies and shoved them into Wang Zhi's hand. "I remember your mom likes fruit candies. Here."
Wang Zhi looked down at the candy, then thought about how much his mother adored Yu Shulin, and felt a surge of indignation. "When my mom gets back from the restroom, you are not allowed to talk to her first!"
Hmm? It seems the young master is being ostracized by his classmate... He Long frowned, reached out, and placed a hand on Wang Zhi's shoulder, saying seriously, "Why can't Shulin talk to your mother? Shulin is very well-behaved. Your mother would like him."
That's exactly the problem—she likes him too much! Wang Zhi's heart was flooded with sorrow, but He Long's stern face and imposing aura were too much. He moved his lips, then finally turned back around in frustration, silently eating his candy.
Shulin's cousin is a bit scary... Bring back last year's brother!
Yu Shulin felt helpless. He glanced at the serious He Long, rummaged through the bag, grabbed a colorful lollipop, and stuffed it into his hand. "Here, use this candy to neutralize your terrifying aura."
He Long looked at the lollipop, raising it in confusion. "Am I that scary?" He considered himself quite an amiable person.
"...Just eat the candy."
The parent-teacher conference followed the familiar script, the familiar routine, just with an extra side dish—subject selection.
After basically settling the subject selection intentions for the whole class, Teacher Gao took a few parents whose opinions weren't quite aligned to the office, leaving the rest free to mingle.
The classroom immediately erupted into noise, parents and students chatting with each other quite animatedly.
Yu Shulin grabbed a handful of candies, hesitated for a moment, then stood up, patted Li Tao's shoulder, and extended his hand, asking softly, "Want some candy? Same as last year, mostly chocolate, not too sweet."
...Just like last year, the parent's seat next to Li Tao was still empty.
The slumped figure stirred. Li Tao sat up, turned to meet Yu Shulin's gentle, expectant gaze, lowered his eyes, and took the candy from his hand. "Thanks."
He actually got a thank you... Yu Shulin's eyes instantly curved into happy crescents. "You're welcome. We both chose the science track. We might even be classmates after the split."
"Yeah." Li Tao nodded and slumped back onto the desk.
Wang Zhi nearly choked on the melon seeds he was eating, coughing while giving Yu Shulin a thumbs-up. After being desk mates for a year, his relationship with Li Tao was still terrible. He never expected Yu Shulin to actually manage a conversation with Li Tao. Impressive!
Mom Wang hurriedly patted his back, saying exasperatedly, "You can even choke on melon seeds. Look at you, what can you do? Learn from Shulin. He even remembers to bring us candy during a parent-teacher conference. What a good kid."
Yang Sese's mom also nodded in agreement, praising, "My Sese was quite biased in her subjects before. It's all thanks to Shulin usually looking out for her that her grades are getting more and more stable. Xiao Long, how does your family raise a child? So sensible and considerate."
The formidably energetic moms were clearly not affected by He Long's cold, stern demeanor, enthusiastically discussing "parenting tips."
"We didn't really teach him much. Shulin is very self-motivated with his studies," He Long said stiffly, feeling a bit nervous inside, afraid his poor answers might damage Young Master Shulin's good reputation.
"He really is a good kid. Xiao Zhi, you should learn more from him," Mom Wang sighed.
Everyone chatted happily. Yu Shulin, his mind on Liang Zhou waiting outside the school gate, used the excuse of going to the bathroom after handing out the candy and went out to call him.
The phone was answered immediately, Liang Zhou's voice as pleasant as ever.
"Is the parent-teacher conference over?"
"Not yet," Yu Shlin answered quietly. "Brother, isn't it too boring for you to just wait like that? Maybe you should go do something else first. It'll still be a while here."
Putting away the documents in his hand, Liang Zhou looked through the car window at the school across the street and replied, "It's fine. I'll wait for you to come out." The film promotion period had already started. He would be going abroad in a few days, and then it would be nearly a month without seeing each other. Naturally, he wanted to spend more time with his brother.
"Alright then. As soon as the conference is over, I'll come find you right away."
"Okay." After hanging up, he reined in his wandering thoughts and lowered his head to continue reading the documents. Although he had skipped work again without a shred of guilt, some urgent tasks still had to be dealt with promptly.
Yu Shulin turned around after hanging up and saw Li Tao standing behind him, hands in his pockets. Seeing him turn, Li Tao snorted coldly and went back to the classroom.
...What a prickly personality.
The moment the parent-teacher conference ended, Yu Shulin rushed out, leaving He Long to endure the moms' reluctant farewells. He weaved through the crowd, ran out of the school gate, found their car, and excitedly ran over.
Liang Zhou rolled down the window halfway, meeting the gaze of the bending, lowering Yu Shulin. He glanced behind him and asked, "Where's He Long? Why isn't he with you?"
"Ah, I was in a hurry to get out, I didn't notice him..." He scratched his cheek sheepishly, still a bit out of breath from his haste.
Seeing this, Liang Zhou felt a warm softness in his heart. He pointed to the passenger seat, indicating, "Get in. We'll wait for him. Aunt Liu just called. She said she made your favorite ribs."
"Really?" His eyes curved into smiles as he straightened up to walk around the front of the car.
"Shulin! Yu Shulin!"
A girl's clear, sweet voice suddenly rang out. Both Liang Zhou and Yu Shulin froze.
"Liu Fen?" Yu Shulin turned around, puzzled to see who it was. Remembering Liang Zhou, he quickly stood up to block the half-open window, lowering his voice. "Brother, roll up the window. My classmate is here. Don't let her recognize you."
Liang Zhou nodded, rolled up the car window, but left a small crack, intending to listen in on their conversation—he couldn't shake the feeling that the girl's tone when calling Shulin was a bit... hopefully, he was overthinking it.
A pretty girl running was like a moving, beautiful landscape painting, attracting countless gazes along the way.
Yu Shulin looked at her, thought about Liang Zhou inside the car, and then considered Liu Fen's subtle affection for him. A deep sense of foreboding washed over him.
He swore, he really wasn't into early romance!
Rushing over breathlessly, Liu Fen leaned on her knees to catch her breath, complaining in an intimate tone, "Shulin, why did you run off in such a hurry? You made me chase after you so hard..."
"Did you need something from me?" he asked politely.
"I just wanted to ask why you didn't add me as a QQ friend." Liu Fen straightened up, pouting, looking utterly charming and adorable. "I thought you'd like to chat with me more." As she spoke, her face flushed, her eyes full of delight as she looked at Yu Shulin.
Why hadn't she noticed before? Yu Shulin was good-looking, had excellent grades, a pleasant personality, and most importantly... he seemed to come from a well-off family. If only he would show her a gentle expression... How wonderful that would be! The other girls would surely envy her!
Remembering how he was always the first to hand in homework, she felt another wave of shyness... He must like her. Well, then, she could reluctantly like him back a little.
"Was there such a thing?" Seeing her reaction, Yu Shulin's internal alarm bells rang. He played dumb, replying, "I don't remember. I don't really use my QQ account much." As he spoke, his eyes kept darting toward the car behind him, then scanning the school grounds—He Long, hurry up and come out! Save me from this!
Liu Fen, noticing his evasive eyes and thinking he was too shy to look at her, felt a sweet thrill. Her expression grew even more bashful. She took a step forward, wanting to take his hand, and said coquettishly, "Shulin, the charm on your backpack is so cute. It's the limited-edition merchandise from that super popular animated movie earlier this year, right? I wanted to ask my uncle to get me one from abroad, but he couldn't snag it."
Yu Shulin quickly and subtly swung the backpack he was holding back onto his shoulders, gripping the straps tightly, refusing to let go. "Probably. All my things are prepared by my brother, this charm included." Ever since coming to the Liang household, everything from major items like his computer, clothes, and shoes to minor things like pencils and scratch paper had been arranged by Liang Zhou.
Come to think of it, his brother really was too good to him... He touched the round, adorable charm and smiled slightly. It's fine, he would be very good to his brother too.
Inside the car, the considerate older brother Liang Zhou clenched the documents in his hand, his face dark as water.
Failing to hold his hand, Liu Fen felt a twinge of dissatisfaction. But seeing the smile on Yu Shulin's face, her heart started racing uncontrollably again. She hurriedly turned her head to take a deep breath and continued making conversation, "Your brother is really good to you. I wish I had an older brother who doted on me like that." Her gaze swept over Yu Shulin's designer clothes and then to the obviously expensive car behind him, her eyes full of anticipation.
How happy she would be to have a boyfriend as outstanding as Yu Shulin.
Yu Shulin felt goosebumps rising and cold sweat breaking out on his back from her smile. He forced a smile, growing anxious, and asked bluntly, "What exactly did you need?"
"You... why don't you understand!" Liu Fen stomped her foot. Seeing him keep asking but stubbornly refusing to ask her to be his girlfriend, she grew impatient.
"What exactly am I supposed to understand..."
"It's, it's... Oh!" Liu Fen shot him a reproachful look and was just about to continue when her phone rang from her pocket.
"Oh no, it's my mom!" She glanced at the phone, her expression changing. She quickly turned, pulled out an exquisitely wrapped gift box from her backpack, shoved it into his arms, and started backing away, a smile back on her face. "You'll understand when you see this. My mom's looking for me. See you tomorrow, bye!" With that, she turned and hurried off.
Yu Shulin stood stiffly, holding the fragrant box.
It's over. Did his brother just witness a confession scene?
The car window rolled down, revealing Liang Zhou's tense profile.
"Get in the car. We're going home."
He turned around, lowered his head, and scratched his cheek, his tone placating. "What about He Long..."
Liang Zhou took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. "He can get back on his own!" Alright, the calm didn't last.
The hairs on Yu Shulin's neck stood on end. He hurried around the front of the car, opened the door, settled into the passenger seat, fastened his seatbelt, stared straight ahead, and whispered, "Brother, I'm ready."
The next second, the car shot forward like an arrow from a bow.
He gripped the seatbelt tightly, eyes wide, holding his breath.
It's over. Brother is really angry!
