Chapter 43

Lu Chi curled his lips into a smile, crouched down until he was eye level with Miao Miao, and patted Lu Miaomiao's back as he softly comforted her. "Don't worry. It's already over."

Little Miao Miao still wrinkled her tiny nose, looking at Lu Chi with obvious disapproval.

Lu Chi sighed helplessly and tapped Lu Miaomiao's nose with a slender finger. "Fine, Big Brother was wrong. I won't do anything so dangerous and make Miao Miao worry again. Is that okay?"

Only then did Lu Miaomiao smile in satisfaction. She threw her arms around her eldest brother and said sweetly, "Big Brother, don't be mad. You're my only family in Yanjing."

Lu Chi's face darkened. He reached out and flicked Lu Miaomiao on the forehead. "If you keep randomly copying lines from TV dramas, I won't let you watch television anymore."

Lu Miaomiao covered her head and grinned slyly. "Big Brother, did your hand hurt?"

Lu Chi was completely helpless. Several girls who had just come out of the restroom looked at the Lu siblings, one standing and one crouching in the hallway, utterly baffled. "What are you two doing?"

"My big brother is abusing me!" Lu Miaomiao blurted out before Lu Chi could speak.

Driven speechless by Lu Miaomiao's ridiculous choice of words, Lu Chi could only shake his head helplessly, planning to give his little sister a proper Chinese lesson once they got home.

With her little tail practically sticking up into the sky, Student Lu Miaomiao clearly had no idea of the miserable future awaiting her. She was happily holding hands with Campus Belle Qiao and chatting away.

Having failed to enjoy herself enough at the equestrian club, Campus Belle Qiao had already decided to move on somewhere else—she wanted to take all their friends to a villa Qiao Dad had recently bought in eastern Yanjing for an all-night party. First, they had to go to the supermarket for snacks, games, balloons, and ribbons.

"Let's have a pajama party and sit together watching horror movies tonight. What do you think?"

Qiao Shiyu was the star of today's birthday celebration, so naturally no one objected to her suggestion. More importantly, most of them felt they had not had enough fun today, so when they heard Campus Belle Qiao's new proposal, they all clapped in agreement.

Thus, the two groups crowded back into the changing rooms to change clothes—they had been so nervous earlier that they had even forgotten to do that.

So by the time Qiao Shiyu's father drove to the club, the deluxe private room was already completely empty—even the meals, cake, juice, and drinks specially prepared by the club had been packed up and taken away by the group.

In the taxi, Xing Yuan looked helplessly at his phone, whose battery Qiao Shiyu had confiscated, and silently sighed. "Uncle Qiao, I really did my best!"

Qiao Aiguo's newly purchased villa was located in the newly built Marriott Villa District in eastern Yanjing. Since it was a newly developed upscale residential area, it still retained the sparse population and tree-lined surroundings rarely found in the city center. The artificial hills, flowers, stones, and lake were all quite beautiful, following a forest oxygen-bar theme—in other words, there were few signs of human activity, and facilities such as supermarkets and shops that relied on foot traffic to survive had not yet been fully established.

With that in mind, everyone went on a shopping spree at a large supermarket near the equestrian club, buying loads of snacks, ribbons, balloons, even toy water guns, along with several horror movies said to be terrifying. Dozens of them headed for their base loaded down with bags, then decorated the villa's living room according to the standard birthday-party setup. By the time all that was done, it was nearly evening.

The friends were all starving. Several girls simply took the food packed from the club into the kitchen and warmed it in the microwave. A few boys could not hold out any longer and had just reached their sinful claws toward the snack bags when their hands were slapped away with a sharp smack.

"Don't touch them. Those snacks are for watching movies tonight. Don't forget, we're staying up all night! Besides, if you fill up on snacks now, will you still be able to eat later?" Qiao Shiyu put her hands on her hips. "We girls made this meal ourselves. If you dare leave even a single bite, that means you don't respect the fruits of our labor. When that happens... hmph!"

Qiao Shiyu snorted threateningly as the boys clutched their stomachs and wailed. Zhang Yang could not help complaining, "You make it sound so impressive, but you just warmed it up in the microwave."

"What did you say?" Qiao Shiyu narrowed her eyes, her chilly gaze landing on Zhang Yang.

"Fine, it's your birthday, so you're the boss!" Zhang Yang raised both hands in surrender and said with a fawning grin, "I'll eat whatever you tell me to eat, whenever you tell me to eat it. If you don't let me eat, I'll go hungry. Is that good enough, Your Majesty?"

Qiao Shiyu huffed and returned to the kitchen in satisfaction.

Watching Qiao Shiyu's retreating back, Xing Yuan sneaked over furtively. "Yue Bin, Yue Bin, lend me your phone again."

Yue Bin was leaning against Lu Chi and watching the show. Hearing Xing Yuan, he could not help frowning. "Didn't you make a call in the car just now? What is it..."

Yue Bin gestured toward the kitchen with his chin and whispered, "Can't your father-in-law find his own house?"

"What father-in-law..." Xing Yuan waved his hand, speechless. "I'm not joking around with you. Hurry and let me make a call before Qiao Shiyu comes out!"

Yue Bin snickered, pulled his phone from his pocket, and tossed it to Yue Bin. The tall Yue Bin took the phone and hid behind the sofa, acting furtively for more than ten minutes. When he finally came back out, he looked dejected as he returned the phone to Yue Bin.

"What happened?" Yue Bin raised an eyebrow and asked curiously.

"Well..." Xing Yuan scratched his nose awkwardly. "Qiao Shiyu's stepmother... the daughter she gave birth to has acute appendicitis and is in surgery. Uncle Qiao is at the hospital with her right now! He said he might not be able to come today and told us to keep Qiao Shiyu company and have fun. Whatever Qiao Shiyu wants to do, let her do it. Whatever she wants to buy, let her buy it. If she runs out of money, put it on his tab."

Hearing that, Yue Bin subconsciously scratched his ear. Leaning against Lu Chi, he muttered quietly, "What a letdown!"

Zhang Yang secretly stole a strawberry from the cream cake and tossed it into his mouth. Speaking indistinctly, he said, "That really is some rotten luck!"

Wasn't it, though!

Xing Yuan frowned, sighed, and said nothing.

Lu Miaomiao secretly hugged her eldest brother's arm and whispered, "Big Brother, how about I make pretty sister a bowl of egg noodles?"