Siblings

"Knock, knock, knock..."

The knocking dragged Qin Ze out of sleep. Sunlight streamed through the gauze curtains, while the noise of speeding cars came from outside. Qin Ze opened his eyes, pressing one hand against his swollen head as he propped himself up with the other. His hangover headache felt as though his skull were about to split open, and the room spun around him.

The knocking continued, as irritating as a debt collector at the door.

"State your business, or be gone," Qin Ze said irritably.

"Your Majesty, this humble servant is hungry..." A lovely voice came from outside, soft and seductive with a slight huskiness.

"Got it, got it." Qin Ze replied weakly, half-opening his eyes as he fumbled for the clothes at the foot of the bed.

"Hurry up." The voice outside sounded equally weak.

Qin Ze groggily put on his clothes. He lost his balance and smacked his head against the edge of the bed. For a moment, his mind went completely blank. In his haze, he heard a voice:

"Match time: June 19, 2017."

"Match location: Unknown!"

"Host match: Suitable for implantation."

"Iris locked!"

"DNA locked!"

"System updating automatically..."

What was that voice?

Qin Ze grimaced and stood up. His mind was actually much clearer now. He walked to the window and pulled back the curtains. Warm, blinding sunlight surged in like a tide. He narrowed his eyes at the endless stream of cars outside. This was a somewhat aging residential complex, completed in 2004. In the distance, skyscraper after skyscraper stood connected together—that was the city's CBD District.

It was 2017, midsummer in June, Shanghai City.

Facing the sunlight, Qin Ze's unfocused pupils reflected the passing traffic. Only after a long while did he remember that today was Monday.

The living room was a mess of cups and plates. Half a pizza from last night still sat on the dining table, while the twelve-inch Margherita Strawberry Cake had been reduced to an empty box. It definitely had not been eaten; it had been ruthlessly wasted as a weapon. Besides the leftovers, the table was covered with all kinds of bottles: cocktails, beer, foreign wine, champagne, and several bottles of baijiu... enough to build a wall. Gold foil confetti littered the floor. It looked exactly like the aftermath of a wild party.

Qin Ze sighed softly, found a large garbage bag he had prepared, and put the empty bottles in one by one. He dumped in the leftovers as well, dragged the bag outside, and tossed it into the large trash bin in the corridor. Then, looking exhausted, he went into the bathroom. After washing up, he finally felt alive again.

He calmly entered the kitchen, took out some skim milk from the fridge, poured it into a glass, and put it in the microwave for two minutes on low heat. Then he began frying eggs and bacon, blanching two slices of lettuce in boiling water. Less than ten minutes later, a simple breakfast was ready. He set the food on the dining table in the living room, two portions of everything—just enough for two people. Then he turned back to the kitchen. There was still half a bag of toast in the fridge, and it went quite well with peanut butter.

After preparing breakfast, Qin Ze returned to a bedroom—not his own, but the other one. The apartment was around eighty square meters, with two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a well-lit balcony. His family had bought it as a school-district apartment when Qin Ze was in elementary school. It was not far from the CBD District, and there was a subway station right outside the complex. Two subway stops took you to University Town. The elementary school Qin Ze had attended as a child had been demolished years ago, but over the past decade or so, this apartment's value had increased more than tenfold.

Qin Ze attended a university in University Town, two stops away. Originally, he had wanted to experience dorm life. On the first day of his freshman year, his lazy, food-loving sister had unusually thumped her impressive chest and promised to take her little brother to register at school. Yet at an intersection still two traffic lights away from the university, she casually made a turn and kidnapped Qin Ze, luggage and all, into this residential complex.

"Hey, hey, hey, this isn't the road to school."

"Mhm." His beautiful sister tucked back the hair by her temple. "Let's put your luggage away first, then go register."

Qin Ze said loudly, "I knew you weren't being nice for no reason. There was no way you'd just take me to school."

"What's so good about living on campus? A bunch of people crammed into a messy dorm. No matter how you look at it, living with a gorgeous beauty like me is the better deal." His sister spoke with righteous conviction.

"Gee, thanks." Qin Ze curled his lip. "Please forgive someone who's lived with you since childhood for having absolutely no interest."

"Don't be like that. It's so inconvenient for me to live alone. I have to clean everything myself, and when the water dispenser runs out, I don't even have the strength to replace the jug. I can't cook, so the kitchen has gathered a thick layer of dust. And when I come home alone at night, creepy men follow me around. Boohoo..." One moment, she had been an untouchable, imposing older sister; the next, she was acting like a little girl throwing a tantrum.

"That makes me want to live with you even less. I'm not going to be your maid." Qin Ze said, "Besides, the school doesn't allow students to live off campus. That's a hard rule."

"Don't worry, little brother. Old Dad has already taken care of everything. All the paperwork and procedures are OK. Just be good and live happily ever after with your sister."

"I don't believe you." Qin Ze took out his phone and dialed. After a while, a deep, serious voice came through the line. "A Ze, what is it?"

"Dad, I want to live on campus." Qin Ze said bluntly. At that moment, his sister reached over and pinched him hard.

"There's no need to insist on living on campus. Doesn't our family have an apartment here in University Town? Stay with your sister. She's a girl living alone, and your mother and I aren't at ease about it. If you want to stay in the dorm, you can go back and stay there occasionally." After the head of the family finished speaking, he hung up.

His sister had gotten into Fudan University with outstanding grades, while Qin Ze, her younger brother, paled in comparison. He had studied incredibly hard and had barely scraped together enough marks for the Finance University next to Fudan University. If their dad had not been a professor at Finance University, the school might not even have admitted someone who ranked so close to the bottom.

Since he was the child of a faculty member, not living on campus as a freshman was naturally no problem. Qin Ze let out a miserable sigh.

Three years passed in the blink of an eye. Qin Ze was now a junior. His sister was two years older than him and had graduated last year. She worked at a foreign company as the general manager's secretary.

When he pushed open the door, a faint perfume scent mixed with alcohol hit his nose. The room was dim, with the blackout curtains drawn tightly shut. The air conditioner blew cold air with a hum. A woman lay on the bed beneath a thin blanket, limbs sprawled in every direction. Just from her sleeping posture, anyone could tell how carefree and thoughtless she was.

Qin Ze turned off the air conditioner, pulled open the curtains, and opened the window. A gentle breeze and sunlight flooded into the room, dispersing the smell of alcohol.

"Breakfast is ready. Get up!"

Her chestnut curls were scattered over her face, hiding her features. She grunted like a lazy pig and continued sleeping soundly.

Qin Ze tried hard to recall what had happened. Yesterday had been his sister's birthday, so she had invited her group of besties over for a party. The girls came in all shapes and sizes, and they all looked so refined, with such goddess-like poise. But after a few drinks, their true colors had emerged. Every last one of them was a heroine of the drinking table, and they had drunk all night. His clever sister had dragged her younger brother out of the kitchen to block the drinks for her, while she herself seemed to have only had a few beers.

I was drunk dead and still got up. What right do you have to sleep in?

Qin Ze lifted the thin blanket and shouted, "Get up..."

The words caught in his throat. The figure on the bed was lush and curvaceous. His sister had a great body. She was not the sort of delicate girl who never stepped outside; she sometimes ran, danced, and knew how to work out.

Damn it, this woman wasn't wearing pajamas.

Qin Ze stared blankly at her chest. It was not as though he did not know she was a 36D. He had known that for a long time. What stunned him was that she was wearing a set of black, lace, semi-transparent underwear. They had lived together for so many years, yet she had never worn anything this suggestive.

She must have been planning to get up just now, so she changed out of her pajamas into her underwear, then somehow rolled back into bed and fell asleep again...

"You pervert, where are you looking?" His sister kicked Qin Ze in the face, snatched up the blanket to wrap around herself, and put on the most ridiculously fake expression of shock. "I never thought you were this kind of Qin Ze."

Qin Ze rubbed his burning cheek. "Oh? That's some suggestive underwear, isn't it? Since when did you become so fashionable? Which man taught you that?"

"What man could have taught me? Your sister has never even dated in all her life. My life is such a failure."

"Keep pretending." Qin Ze rolled his eyes and walked out of the room.