Bookshelf, Rainstorm, Old Memories (Please Vote)

The sky had already darkened, and the snow-white curtains rose and fell in the wind.

The setting sun slanted westward, its afterglow spilling across the wooden floor, fading from an egg-white-like dusky yellow into a rich crimson.

The moment he got home, their eldest brother, Ke Linye, sat down on the sofa and took a copy of Ulysses from the shared bookshelf. The shared bookshelf in the living room held books the family had read or were currently reading.

The idea of a "shared bookshelf" had first been proposed by their third sister, Xia Ningzhi, several years ago. Back then, she had pestered Ke Mingwei with one "handsome old man" after another and one "good daddy" after another, successfully getting their dad to order a folding bookshelf online.

She had sat right there in the living room, quietly and seriously fiddling with the parts, assembling the bookshelf piece by piece.

The first book on the shelf had been placed there by Ke Mingqing. At the time, he had put up the complete set of Bakuman. manga that he had finished reading. After that, Ke Mingwei added a copy of <The Superhero's Self-Cultivation: The Legend of Rain Crow>, their alien empress mother placed Complete Guide to Home Cooking on it, and Xia Lingxue added Chronicles of Norse Mythology.

And now, the out-of-place literary work in Ke Linye's hands, Ulysses, was the one he himself had put there all those years ago.

Clearly, Xia Ningzhi had assembled the bookshelf, but she had attended a boarding school in middle school. So when she returned home after school one weekend, she had stared indignantly at the shelf packed with novels before slowly placing a novel called The Eccentric Family onto it.

Year after year passed, and the children gradually grew taller. There were knife marks on the back of the bookshelf, each one marking a child's height at the time, with their names written beside them in crooked handwriting.

Later, they all grew taller than the bookshelf, and the marks on its back were never updated again.

But as time passed, year after year, the books on the shelf only grew more numerous and thicker.

Only Xia Zili had never placed a book on the shelf.

Remembering this, Ke Mingqing thought, Because she's illiterate, I guess. Let's look up the average education level of magical girls with one click.

In fact, he remembered several times when little Xia Zili had stood before the shelf with her head lowered, hiding a book behind her back as she looked around furtively, checking whether anyone in the living room had seen her.

She had hesitated over whether to put her favorite Charlie IX detective novel series, or perhaps some shoujo manga, onto the shelf. But every time she stood before it, Xia Zili would hesitate for a long while before giving up without exception.

"Are Xiao Li and Ningzhi home?" Ke Linye suddenly spoke, interrupting Ke Mingqing's thoughts. "Why is the house so quiet today?"

As he spoke, their eldest brother turned on the television with the remote, then pulled out a deck of playing cards from his trench coat pocket and spread them across the table.

"Mom told her and Third Sister to buy some things at the supermarket. They'll be back soon," Ke Mingqing said blandly.

"I see. I thought everyone was hiding from me."

Ke Linye smiled as he spoke. While lowering his eyes to read Ulysses, he used the cards to build a pyramid on the table.

Ke Mingqing took an ice pop from the refrigerator and glanced at his eldest brother.

In the original owner of this body's memories, Ke Linye had been exceptionally outstanding since childhood. He had skipped grades in high school and gotten into the best university. He was a genuine genius, far beyond the realm of the ordinary "neighbor's kid."

But at the same time, their eldest brother was also extremely neurotic. Ever since they were young, most of the children in the family had been unable to get along with him.

Only their second sister, Xia Lingxue, had a somewhat better relationship with their eldest brother.

As an adopted son, Ke Mingqing had always believed that his eldest brother did not care about him as a younger brother. He was a latecomer, someone who had entered this family halfway through. But later, one incident overturned that belief.

It had been on a day of torrential rain, when Ke Mingqing and several other students had been stranded at middle school. He had only just started middle school then, and his interpersonal relationships were a complete mess. The students at school knew he was adopted, and most of them called him things like "parasite."

Because of flaws in his personality, he had been ostracized by his classmates.

Ke Mingwei had happened to be busy that day and had been unable to drive over to pick him up.

Ke Mingqing stood alone at the school entrance with his schoolbag slung over his shoulder, waiting for a long time. Several kids from his class who bullied him had their arms around his shoulders, taking turns making fun of him, and they even threw his schoolbag into the rainwater.

At the time, he had merely lowered his eyes and silently watched his books get soaked by the rain, his face expressionless.

As though none of it had anything to do with him.

But then Ke Linye drove Ke Mingwei's car to the school. He tilted his head toward Ke Mingqing through the window, a smile in his bright eyes.

Ke Mingqing froze for a moment before finally lifting his head, as though waking from a dream.

As if afraid Ke Linye would see him in such a sorry state, he plunged headfirst into the downpour, picked up his soaked schoolbag, hurriedly stuffed his now soggy homework notebooks inside, and climbed into the car clutching it to his chest.

Ke Linye paused, and the smile on his face gradually faded.

He turned to look at the schoolbag in Ke Mingqing's arms, then looked through the car window at those children hiding behind the curtain of rain and snickering. Curious, he asked, "What's your relationship with those kids?"

"Friends," Ke Mingqing said softly after sneezing.

"Are they really your friends?"

"Yeah."

Ke Mingqing touched his reddened nose. Rainwater had soaked his bangs.

The rain poured down in sheets. Ke Linye watched him silently through the rearview mirror, his fingers lightly tapping the steering wheel.

After a while, he suddenly shrugged and drove away.

"I was like this in the orphanage too. I'm used to it," Ke Mingqing said quietly, breaking the silence between them.

Ke Linye thought for a moment. "Were all the kids in the orphanage that rough?"

"No... most of them were like me, so the occasional rough kids became little tyrants." Ke Mingqing turned to look at the rain outside the window. "Anyway, none of us had family. There was no one to be afraid of us tattling to. Whoever had the harder fists got to call the shots."

Ke Linye fell silent for a moment, tilted his head, and said casually, "Mm... that's good, then. Just think of yourself as still being in the orphanage."

His voice passed through the pattering rain and reached Ke Mingqing's ears. Young Ke Mingqing froze, then suddenly hugged his soaked schoolbag a little tighter, his lowered bangs concealing his eyes.

That night, Ke Mingqing ran away from home. He returned to the familiar orphanage in the rain, climbed over the wall, and entered the dormitory where he had once lived for a long time. But it was already empty. He lay on a bed and stared blankly at the moon outside the window. Sometimes, being alone made him feel safer. For some reason, knowing that his eldest brother had learned of his humiliating experiences at school made him feel even worse.

Because he thought that he was no longer an orphan now, so he unconsciously began to expect certain things. He expected that someone would truly stand up for him, that someone would feel angry when he was hurt... Perhaps he really was no longer someone with no one to rely on.

But he had been wrong. Completely wrong. Ke Linye's expression in the rearview mirror had been utterly calm. Failed expectations always hurt, so the first lesson orphanage children learned while growing up was not to expect anything. Those children who dryly hoped that they might be adopted all thought this way.

Ke Mingqing looked at the tall wall and slowly closed his eyes. That night, after the rain stopped, he still went home.

When Ke Linye opened the door, he was standing silently outside, his body trembling, head lowered like a drenched stray dog.

Ke Linye stared at him silently for a while, brought him to the second-floor bathroom, tossed him a towel, and closed the bathroom door.

Ke Linye stood outside with his arms folded, his back against the door. After a while, he suddenly spoke in a low voice.

"What I meant was..."

Ke Mingqing turned his head while drying his hair with the towel, silently looking at the silhouette reflected on the glass door.

"It's not that hard to open your mouth and ask others for help." Ke Linye's voice came from outside the bathroom. "I may not be that dependable, but I'm still your eldest brother, after all."

After leaving behind those words, Ke Linye turned and left.

After that day, something bizarre happened. The group of kids in his class all dropped out one after another. Ke Mingqing guessed that Ke Linye might have done something, but he had no proof.

Later, one evening, Ke Linye, who had been reading in the living room, stopped him. As he lowered his eyes and turned a page, he reminded him, "Be more careful when making friends in the future. If you hang around trash, you'll become trash too."

Ke Mingqing had been stunned for a very, very long time. In the end, he nodded, said, "Oh, okay," and went upstairs.

Back in the present, Ke Mingqing quietly reflected while drinking his beverage. Big Brother didn't use his ability to scare those kids into psychological trauma, did he? No, no, no. With his twisted sense of humor, he definitely did something worse.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

Ke Mingqing sat on the sofa with one leg crossed over the other, too lazy even to lift his eyelids.

Ke Linye looked through the window at the figures outside. Xia Zili and Xia Ningzhi had returned from shopping with bags in hand. The former looked unhappy, apparently displeased at being ordered around by their alien empress mother, while the latter wore the faintest curl of a smile.

"They're back."

Ke Linye smiled faintly, set down his book, and went to the entryway to open the door.

Upon seeing his face, Xia Zili and Xia Ningzhi both froze slightly.

"Wow, Big Brother's back?" Xia Ningzhi said belatedly. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I told you yesterday. None of you paid attention to me," Ke Linye said, tilting his head.

"It's good that you're back. From now on, you can run errands for Mom, or she'll keep ordering me around."

Xia Zili grumbled quietly as she carried the shopping bags inside. If Xia Ningzhi had not insisted on coming along, she would have transformed into a magical girl, flown to the supermarket holding an umbrella, and bought everything in no time. Why go through all this trouble?

"Isn't there delivery now? Why did you have to go to the supermarket?" Ke Linye asked, puzzled.

"Discounts," Xia Zili said expressionlessly, carrying the bags into the house.

"Dear Big Brother, we can catch up later. I have something to settle with A-Qing first."

Xia Ningzhi puffed out her cheeks slightly and spoke indignantly, shoving a shopping bag into Ke Linye's arms.

Ke Linye accepted the heavy bag, looked down at the eggs and luncheon meat inside, and asked curiously, "What did A-Qing do?"

Ignoring his question, Xia Ningzhi kicked off her sandals, crossed the entryway, went around behind the sofa, reached out, and vigorously ruffled Ke Mingqing's hair.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Ke Mingqing shook off her hand and continued playing Snake.

"I heard from Xiao Li on the way back. You little brat have a girlfriend now? Look at you, getting all capable." Xia Ningzhi spoke with puffed cheeks.

"A girlfriend?"

Ke Linye walked in and set the shopping bag on the table. He tilted his head with some curiosity and asked with interest, "Really? A-Qing's personality is so awkward, and he still managed to get a girlfriend?"

"Yes, him." Xia Zili set down her shopping bag, her tone calm.

Ke Mingqing froze. Little sis, your sins are truly unforgivable. Why did you have to bring up exactly what I didn't want mentioned?

He did not even dare imagine what would happen if his eldest brother suddenly got the idea to use that eyeball testing device on Hitomi Kuroki one day...