Si Yiheng held Shu Yu, the corner of his lips curving into a slight arc. "Mm, did you miss your brother?"
Shu Yu buried her head in Si Yiheng's chest. "Yes."
"Miss you, and miss Song Zhaozhao too. Song Zhaozhao hasn't been home for a while."
Si Yiheng coaxed her in a gentle voice. "Have Song Dabao come home another day."
He hadn't seen Shu Yu in a while either—his school was really far from here.
And things always piled up.
Every time he thought he could go home and see Shu Yu, something new would hold him back.
By the time he got home exhausted each day, Shu Yu was already asleep.
"Little Treasure, I really hope the year after next comes soon."
That way, they could go to school together.
They could move near campus, and he could personally take care of Shu Yu every single day.
Shu Yu nuzzled against Si Yiheng again, his cool, crisp scent completely enveloping her.
Maybe because Si Yiheng was always by her side—as long as she could feel his presence, Shu Yu felt at peace.
Shu Yu chattered on with Si Yiheng for a while, telling him about what happened at school, before she went to sleep.
In the blink of an eye,
Shu Yu was in her senior year of high school. That year, an online romance web drama exploded in popularity.
An online dating app also burst onto the scene, seizing the moment to promote itself.
It made online dating trendy—but also brought a wave of online scammers.
Shu Yu was hooked on that drama too, discussing it passionately with Ye Ning every day.
She almost forgot she had two brothers, Song Wenzhao and Si Yiheng.
Song Wenzhao, every single day.
Song Wenzhao: Little Treasure, you haven't been clinging to big brother lately? Did Si Yiheng say something bad about me?
LittleFishSwimming: How could I!
Si Yiheng checked his phone eight hundred times a day, then put it away again each time.
Xiao Jun watched for the eight hundredth time as Si Yiheng pulled out his phone, then put it down with a cold face.
Xiao Jun: "Little sister ignoring you?"
Si Yiheng said nothing.
Xiao Jun: "Give me your phone. Help me test out my company's dating app."
Si Yiheng tucked his phone away. "No."
Xiao Jun raised an eyebrow. "Really? Your cute little sister has already registered an account and is being matched right now."
Si Yiheng frowned slightly. "Xiao Jun, you shouldn't develop something like this to corrupt minors."
Xiao Jun was speechless. "How is this corrupting minors? Our backend review is extremely strict."
Si Yiheng: "Then you still shouldn't leak customer privacy."
Xiao Jun: "..."
Xiao Jun: "Fine, fine, fine. I'll go match with little sister myself. You don't trust little sister to date anyone else."
"You can trust me, right? We're practically brothers."
"When I make it big, can I be with little sister?"
"I promise I'll take good care of her—I'll cook for her with my own hands. Anything you can do, I can do too. If you're worried, write me a list of rules and I'll follow every single one."
Si Yiheng's gaze turned even colder. The first time he realized Shu Yu might fall in love was when he saw that love letter.
But back then, the feeling wasn't real to him.
Shu Yu was only sixteen then—just a girl.
He was simply teaching Shu Yu not to date too early.
But now, Shu Yu was eighteen.
In the normal course of life, people start to get curious about love, experience it, and begin relationships.
What was impossible at sixteen became all sorts of possibilities at seventeen or eighteen.
No matter who Si Yiheng imagined Shu Yu being with, he couldn't accept it.
Even harder to accept was someone else personally taking care of Shu Yu, running their fingers through her soft hair, Shu Yu calling someone else "brother."
Si Yiheng: "Xiao Jun, don't go too far."
"You can't take care of her."
Xiao Jun was exasperated. "Then you take care of little sister—just tell her that. But you won't let anyone else do it either?"
"You can't let little sister depend on you for her whole life, right?"
Si Yiheng's gaze turned frostier. "Why not?"
Xiao Jun: "..."
Si Yiheng: "I was born to take care of Baby Yu. Big brothers are born to take care of little sisters."
Xiao Jun: "...But you're not her biological brother."
Si Yiheng stared coldly at Xiao Jun. "I'm the brother Baby Yu chose herself. I've been by her side for fourteen years. For twelve of those years, we walked to and from school together. I'm closer to Baby Yu than Song Wenzhao is."
Xiao Jun: "..."
Bro, seriously, are you really going to keep going down this path of comparing yourself to Song Wenzhao?
Xiao Jun: "If you really want to be Baby Yu's biological brother, then pretend I said nothing today."
Xiao Jun turned around, speechless. Just as he was about to leave, he heard Si Yiheng speak.
"Let me match with Baby Yu."
Xiao Jun: "..."
Honestly, Si Yiheng was such a piece of work.
Say what you will, in the end, he was still going to do it himself.
Want to be the big brother, want to be the husband—wants the cake and eats it too.
Ye Ning: "Baby Yu, did you download the dating app Xiao Jun's team made?"
Shu Yu leaned her chin on her hand while doing practice problems. "Yeah, I downloaded it."
Xiao Jun got along well with Si Yiheng. Before Si Yiheng graduated, Xiao Jun would sometimes eat with them and do homework together.
Xiao Jun could be considered their friend too.
When a friend's app launches, of course you support the promotion.
Ye Ning even got the whole class to help Xiao Jun spread the word.
Ye Ning asked eagerly: "Did you get matched with anyone?"
Shu Yu blinked. "I haven't looked yet. Not sure if I've been matched."
"Ningning, did you get matched?"
Ye Ning nodded emphatically. "Yeah, got matched. This dumb guy tried to scam money out of me."
Shu Yu curiously leaned over to look at the chat history with Ye Ning.
It read:
Tall Handsome Guy with 8.88 Abs (Broke): Hey there.
Golden Corn: ...
Golden Corn: kk abs.
Shu Yu: "???"
Shu Yu stared at Ye Ning.
Ye Ning was guilty for a second. "Don't look at me. Look at the chat history, Baby Yu."
Tall Handsome Guy with 8.88 Abs (Broke): Huh?
Golden Corn: Not eight-pack abs? Can't show them?
Tall Handsome Guy with 8.88 Abs (Broke): I... I don't think so?
Golden Corn: Transferred 1 yuan.
Golden Corn: kk abs.
Tall Handsome Guy with 8.88 Abs (Broke): image.jpg
The other side accepted Ye Ning's 1-yuan transfer and sent back a photoshopped chocolate abs picture—eighteen abs in total.
Golden Corn: With abs like that, you're not even worth a single yuan.
Tall Handsome Guy with 8.88 Abs (Broke): What do you expect for one yuan? Send me 888 and I'll show you the real goods.
Ye Ning: "See? A scammer, right? Just trying to get 888 out of this miss."
Shu Yu kept laughing as she watched.
Shu Yu: "So, are you going to send him 888 to unlock the abs?"
Ye Ning tucked her phone away. "Of course not. I'm not some pervert."
That night, Shu Yu got home and received a call from Ye Ning.
What came through first was Ye Ning's shriek.
Ye Ning: "Ahhhhhh, Baby Yu, 888 was totally worth it. Xiao Jun's app is legit—they actually screen people properly."
"Xiao Jun finally did something good for single people."
Shu Yu covered her ears, laughing so hard she nearly collapsed.
"Ningning, didn't you say you weren't a pervert?"
Ye Ning: "Pervert? The pervier, the better!"
Ye Ning: "Baby Yu, go get matched right now. I'm telling you, with all that college entrance exam stress, you need to look at some abs."
Ye Ning was clearly very excited. "I'm not talking to you anymore, Little Treasure. I still have ten 888-coin super powers I haven't used."
Shu Yu could already feel just how worked up Ye Ning was. Just then, the downloaded online dating app popped up with a notification.
— Congratulations, "LittleFishSwimming" and "ATM" have matched successfully.
