You Asked for It Yourself, So It Doesn't Count as Me Bullying Your Sister, Right?

"As for conversation, anything's fine as long as Wanwan is interested."

"The main thing is... as her older sister, I don't really know what she likes..."

Lin Jianxia clasped her hands together and spoke cautiously.

"And if Wanwan really asks for anything, try your best to satisfy her, okay?"

"If, if you need to buy anything, just deduct it from my salary."

Jiang Yubai stopped walking and looked helplessly at the girl beside him.

"I'm saying, you live on plain congee and steamed buns at school every day, yet you're pretty generous when it comes to spending money on your sister."

"It's different," Lin Jianxia muttered. "This is treatment..."

Jiang Yubai said nothing more, merely tilting his head to signal for her to open the door.

Lin Jianxia softly hummed in acknowledgment and raised a hand to knock on the door.

After waiting patiently for a few seconds, she slowly pushed it open and called softly into the room.

"Wanwan...?"

Lin Tingwan was no longer sitting at her desk. Instead, she sat quietly at the edge of the bed, clutching the familiar panda plush in her arms, her gaze still fixed on some unknown distance beyond the window.

Her eyes seemed unfocused, as though she had simply drifted into a daze within her own world.

Hearing the voice at the door, Lin Tingwan seemed to be gently called back from some distant dream. After a few beats, she slowly turned her head.

A flicker of barely noticeable concern passed through Lin Jianxia's eyes, but she put on a cheerful smile and spoke in an easy tone.

"Look, Wanwan, Jiang Yubai said he's free today, so he came over to play with you."

Jiang Yubai gave her a somewhat complicated look upon hearing that.

What do you mean, came over to play with you...

It makes us sound like kindergarten kids visiting each other.

But when Lin Tingwan, sitting on the bed, heard this, her gaze shifted between her sister and Jiang Yubai, and her eyes seemed to brighten a little.

Still hugging the panda plush, she silently scooted to the side and looked up at them.

Was that... her way of asking me to sit over there?

Jiang Yubai was still hesitating when someone gently tugged at his sleeve.

Lin Jianxia pulled him forward and directly pressed him down onto the empty spot beside Lin Tingwan.

Jiang Yubai: "..."

After settling him beside her sister, Lin Jianxia sat down on Jiang Yubai's other side and discreetly shot him a meaningful look.

On his left was Lin Tingwan, quietly lowering her eyes as she hugged her plush. On his right was Lin Jianxia, looking both expectant and nervous.

With this pair of twins sandwiching him from either side, Jiang Yubai felt uncomfortable all over.

...Whatever. I'm already here.

Steadying himself, he turned toward the quietly invisible-seeming Lin Tingwan beside him and cautiously started a conversation.

"Um... Lin Tingwan, aren't you reading novels today?"

Why would you start with that?!

Lin Jianxia's little face fell, but she still unconsciously shifted her gaze over, wanting to see how her sister would react.

Yet Lin Tingwan merely hugged the panda plush, her head slightly lowered and her eyes resting on her knees, as if she had not heard him at all.

Jiang Yubai blinked and called again.

"Lin Tingwan?"

No response.

Jiang Yubai turned and gave Lin Jianxia a questioning look.

Seeing her sister's reaction, Lin Jianxia's brows knitted slightly.

She knew this version of Lin Tingwan all too well—or rather, this had always been her sister's most ordinary state.

But... how could this be?

Just last night, Wanwan had expressed that she did not dislike him. How long had it even been...

Had she really guessed wrong?

Had Wanwan merely become briefly curious about something, as she had in the past, only to retreat back into her own world once the novelty wore off?

Lin Jianxia's eyes dimmed. Just as she was about to say something, she seemed to think of something and froze slightly.

"Um..."

She swallowed the words she had been about to say and switched to a brisk tone instead.

"By the way, is there anything you two want for lunch? I'll go make it now. How about mapo tofu?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Lin Tingwan, who had been quietly lowering her eyes the whole time, suddenly tilted her head slightly and nodded with a tiny motion.

"Okay~"

Lin Jianxia stood up and said as if casually, "Jiang Yubai, I'm going next door to make lunch. Stay here and chat with Wanwan for a while. Don't bully her."

The moment she finished speaking, she did not even give Jiang Yubai time to react. She turned and left decisively, casually pulling the door mostly shut behind her.

Watching her smooth, practiced movements, Jiang Yubai stood there in a daze.

Huh? You're just leaving?

You're really leaving me alone in a room with your sister?

No, last time you were at least keeping an eye on things from the kitchen. This time you ran all the way to my place. What if I bully your sister?

Didn't you used to guard against me like I was a thief? Isn't this change in attitude a little too fast...

Besides, Lin Tingwan isn't even talking to me right now. It's not like she'll suddenly—

Jiang Yubai's thoughts came to an abrupt stop.

He stared blankly at the spiral notebook that had somehow been held out before him, a massive question mark slowly rising over his head.

Seeing that Jiang Yubai had no intention of taking it, Lin Tingwan tilted her head and held the spiral notebook closer to him.

"..."

He took the notebook instinctively and saw a large, conspicuous line written on it.

"Big Sister hid it."

What do you mean, Big Sister hid it? Your sister just went to cook, she didn't—

Oh, wait.

Only then did Jiang Yubai realize that Lin Tingwan was answering his first question.

—Wasn't she reading novels today?

—Her sister had hidden the novels.

So she did hear everything.

Setting aside the possibility that her delayed reaction meant she was only answering now, there was probably only one reason left for why she had not responded earlier.

"So why didn't you answer when your sister was here?" Jiang Yubai turned toward her. "Didn't you want her to hear?"

Lin Tingwan silently took the spiral notebook back from his hand, lowered her head, and gently wrote a line.

"Big Sister would worry."

Worry...?

Jiang Yubai did not understand for a moment.

Did she think Lin Jianxia would be uneasy if she talked with me too much?

He did not dwell on it. As long as Lin Tingwan was willing to respond, that was enough.

Jiang Yubai turned to look at her and changed the subject. "By the way... what were you looking at just now?"

"Watching the clouds."

Watching the clouds? What was so interesting about clouds?

If I were ten and writing an essay, I'd say this cloud looked like soft cotton candy, and that one looked like an upside-down Ultraman.

But I'm almost nineteen now. How am I supposed to follow that up...?

So he changed the subject again. "Then... are you usually like this at home? Just watching clouds and stuff?"

"Mhm."

Jiang Yubai was truly out of options. Lin Tingwan was practically a conversation killer. One "mhm" and the chat was dead. How was he supposed to continue?

If he did not know her situation, Jiang Yubai might even have thought that she particularly disliked him and was only giving him perfunctory replies to get it over with.

Just as he racked his brains to come up with another topic, Lin Tingwan beside him suddenly wrote something else in her little notebook and held it out to him.

Hmm?

Jiang Yubai accepted the little notebook, almost flattered, and focused his eyes on it.

"Can I have a hug?"

Jiang Yubai: "..."

He seemed to understand why Lin Tingwan thought her sister would worry.

If it were him, he would worry too!

Jiang Yubai was about to refuse when Lin Jianxia's words suddenly flashed through his mind.

"And if Wanwan really asks for anything, try your best to satisfy her, okay..."

"..."

Fine. I'm not bullying your sister. You asked for it yourself.

I hereby solemnly declare: a panda is a panda. A panda is not a pig!