Cheng Lele coaxed Chen An all the way with lowered brows and submissive eyes, her voice so soft it was boneless: “Little Brother, I was wrong.” “Little Brother, smile a little.” “Little Brother, I’ll never dare again.” “Little Brother, please forgive me.”
Each sentence was different—in any case, however submissive she could be, that’s how she came across. Cheng Lele had thick skin, especially in front of Chen An. She basically didn’t know how to write the two characters for “face.”
Chen An didn’t speak either. He sat huffily on the bus, his handsome face turned toward the window, leaving only the back of his head for Cheng Lele.
The auntie sitting in front didn’t know what was going on, but after listening the whole way, she almost couldn’t take it anymore. She turned to Chen An and said: “Young man, just say something. As the older brother, how can you bear to let your delicate little sister keep saying nice things? Can you really bear it?”
Chen An was thin-skinned. Being called out like this made him feel utterly ashamed, so he simply got off the bus. Cheng Lele hurriedly followed him off, even bowing to the auntie before getting off.
She followed behind wagging her tail and begging for mercy. Following so anxiously she nearly tripped, but Chen An had eyes in the back of his head—before she could fall, he steadied her.
“You’re not angry anymore, right, Little Brother?” Cheng Lele had been talking the whole way, her mouth dry and tongue parched. At this moment she also felt a bit wronged, her eyes pooling with water about to burst the dam.
No matter how angry Chen An was inside, seeing her like this, his heart softened. He sighed and asked: “Are you hungry?”
Chen An was still a parent in the traditional sense—the way to give face was the ancestral method of “eating a meal.”
Cheng Lele hurriedly nodded.
The two walked into a nearby noodle shop. Chen An ordered: “Two bowls of pork rib noodles, one without cilantro and no spice.”
When the noodles were served, Chen An passed the bowl without cilantro to Cheng Lele and also picked all the pork ribs from his own bowl to give to her. Cheng Lele ate while secretly observing Chen An’s expression.
Chen An remained silent the whole time, just keeping his head down eating noodles. Cheng Lele could only see a beautiful hair whorl.
Chen An’s bellyful of anger had already dissipated in the bumpy bus ride. Now he didn’t want to speak because actually he felt guilty. That four-eyed frog’s words had struck his weak spot like a sharp sword. Thinking calmly, he really had no right to control Cheng Lele.
But Cheng Lele’s mind was as simple as a blank sheet of paper. If he didn’t look after her, he couldn’t just watch with his eyes open as she made friends recklessly.
As for the standard of “reckless,” Chen An had a scale in his heart. In any case, those with ulterior motives like that four-eyed frog definitely had to be screened out and eliminated.
He finished his noodles in a few bites. Cheng Lele was still eating. Chen An wiped his mouth and said steadily and calmly: “If you love watching them, next time Little Brother will go with you.”
Without context or preface, Cheng Lele didn’t react for a moment. By the time she did react, Chen An was already watching TV coldly with his arms crossed.
Cheng Lele tugged at Chen An’s hand and said: “Little Brother treats me the best.”
Chen An didn’t shake off her paw. His eyelids drooped: “If you hide things from me again in the future, it won’t be as easy to talk as this time. Remember?”
Cheng Lele held up three fingers and said: “I absolutely won’t dare again. I’ll report to you first about any little matter.”
“You’re a young lady—don’t go on about farts all day long.”
“Young ladies are fairies—are they not allowed to fart?”
“Just hurry up and eat your noodles.” Chen An said helplessly. He couldn’t maintain his dignity for more than a few minutes before he was obsequiously using his chopsticks to fish out pork ribs for Cheng Lele.