"Time..."
Xi Xinrui glanced at the time on his phone. "...It's getting late. You should get ready to rest in a little while."
"Oh, okay."
Xi Xinxin looked obedient, but inwardly she protested.
How was it getting late?
It was only a little past eight...
Sometimes her brother's thinking was so old-fashioned, he seemed like he belonged to Grandpa's generation...
Xi Xinrui waited for his sister to hang up.
He was used to doing that.
Ever since the time he'd hung up too quickly and his sister called him right back to complain, he'd never hung up first when talking with her.
"Ah!"
Xi Xinrui's heart skipped at the shriek coming through the phone.
He hurriedly asked, "Xiao Xin, what's wrong?!"
"What happened?"
"Xiao Xin?!"
"...It's nothing."
A few seconds later, Xi Xinxin's voice came through again.
Xi Xinxin poked her pet snake on the head.
"Then why did you scream just now?"
Xi Xinrui was somewhat suspicious of his sister's answer.
Something had definitely happened.
Uh...
Xi Xinxin tugged on her pet snake's tail.
She put on a fierce expression.
This is all your fault...
She hadn't wanted to say anything, but since her brother had specifically asked...
"Ahem~"
Xi Xinxin felt a little embarrassed.
"Actually, it's nothing."
"I just didn't notice..."
"Pinecone had crawled down from my wrist."
"I nearly sat right on top of it."
"It scared me half to death..."
Luckily, she'd reacted quickly and dodged Pinecone with an incredibly difficult maneuver.
That had saved Pinecone from being crushed beneath her like Mount Tai.
So that was it.
Xi Xinrui understood, and the worry on his face faded.
He knew Pinecone was the name of one of his sister's pet snakes.
She thought the snake's color looked a