Lu Xiaoxiao found Lu Jiaoyue's kitten-like peek around the door utterly adorable. She firmly suppressed the smile tugging at her lips and kept her voice from rising. "What is it? Come in and tell me."
Only then did Lu Jiaoyue step inside. She closed the door behind her, and once she stood beside Lu Xiaoxiao's bed, her little hands fidgeted nervously with her skirt, unsure where else to go.
"Xiaoxiao, I think... I think I upset Bochen."
Half an hour earlier, Lu Jiaoyue had nothing much to do and had planned to practice an instrument for a while.
When Lu Xunli heard her say she could play the qin, he suddenly remembered that they still had an Ancient Qin Score at home. He could no longer remember when it had been given to Song Zhilan or which of her friends had sent it, only that it was probably quite valuable.
But no one in the family had been good at playing instruments back then, so everyone had forgotten about the score. He only remembered that it was probably somewhere in the storage room, and asked Lu Jiaoyue whether she wanted to find it and try playing it.
Lu Jiaoyue was very interested in the score her eldest brother had mentioned. She immediately agreed and headed to the storage room alone.
The Lu Family's storage room was not cluttered. Everything was neatly arranged by category, but there was so much in there that finding one thin qin score was no easy task. Lu Jiaoyue wandered around for ages without catching so much as a glimpse of it.
Suddenly, she noticed a large wooden storage cabinet in the corner. Suspecting that books might be stored inside, Lu Jiaoyue reached for the cabinet door without a second thought, intending to see what it held.
To her surprise, the sight that greeted her when she opened the door was nothing like anything she had imagined.
There were no objects stored in the cabinet, but it was not empty, either.
At that very moment, a slender teenage boy sat curled up inside. He hugged his knees with both hands, his head buried deep in the crook of his arms. He sat there quietly, utterly motionless, as still as a statue.
The sight gave Lu Jiaoyue quite a fright, but she forced herself not to cry out.
Although she could not see his face, Lu Jiaoyue naturally recognized the boy in the cabinet-it was her third brother, Lu Bochen.
In all the days since she had come home, Lu Jiaoyue had barely interacted with this third brother of hers. They rarely even made eye contact. Yet of all her siblings in the house, apart from Lu Xiaoxiao, Lu Bochen was probably the one she paid the most attention to.
The reason was simple: her mother had told her that she and Lu Bochen were boy-girl twins who had been inseparable when they were very young.
Lu Jiaoyue had an indescribable feeling about Lu Bochen. Perhaps twins really did share some mysterious connection. She always felt that beneath his silence lay far more turbulent emotions, roaring like immense, raging waves.
But Lu Bochen was usually so quiet that the people around him sometimes even forgot he was there.
For instance, before opening the cabinet door just now, Lu Jiaoyue had never imagined that a living person could be hiding inside.
Even after she opened the door and saw Lu Bochen there with her own eyes, he still seemed as insubstantial as a wisp of mist that might vanish at any moment.
Lu Jiaoyue tried to keep her breathing quiet and reached toward him with great care.
She wanted to wake Lu Bochen so he would not sleep here all alone.
But before her outstretched hand could quite reach him, Lu Bochen, who had seemed completely unaware of his surroundings a moment ago, suddenly snapped his head up. His pitch-black eyes fixed directly on Lu Jiaoyue, his expression sharp in a way she had never seen before.
"B-Bochen?" Lu Jiaoyue's hand froze in midair. Her lips instinctively parted twice before she managed the faint syllables.
She realized that Lu Bochen seemed angry and was about to explain, but in the next instant, he shoved her away hard.
Lu Bochen looked thin and frail, but there was considerable force behind that shove.
Lu Jiaoyue was already bent over and off balance. She fell straight onto her bottom, the pain bringing involuntary tears to her eyes.
The instant he saw her fall, Lu Bochen froze as well. His lips turned pale from being pressed together too tightly, and his eyes seemed to go blank for a moment.
He raised his hand, though it was unclear what he meant to touch. In the end, he touched nothing and did not help his fallen sister up. Instead, he stumbled past her, quickly ran out of the storage room, and disappeared.
Once Lu Jiaoyue recovered and got to her feet on her own, her first impulse was to chase after Lu Bochen and apologize. But she worried that approaching him now might upset him further, so she ultimately decided to ask someone else about her third brother's situation before making any plans.
And so, ten minutes later, Lu Jiaoyue knocked on Lu Xiaoxiao's door.
After listening to Lu Jiaoyue's account, Lu Xiaoxiao was a little surprised. What Lu Jiaoyue had experienced matched the description in the Original Novel exactly.
These past few days, Lu Xiaoxiao had grown used to the plot going off course. Not long ago, she had even received official confirmation from the system that "there really is something wrong with this world." Seeing a bit of normal plot progression now actually felt unusual.
Still, this was a good thing. If the plot really veered so far off course that it had nothing to do with the original story, wouldn't she completely lose her cheat of knowing the future?
"Xiaoxiao, will Bochen really hate me from now on?" Lu Jiaoyue asked then, her voice filled with guilt and self-reproach.
"You're overthinking it," Lu Xiaoxiao replied absently. "Lu Bochen treats everyone equally as if they're invisible. How could he possibly hate you?"
Uh... that isn't entirely true, is it? He's been pretty talkative around me lately. Oh well, that doesn't matter. Let me comfort my precious little sister first.
When Lu Jiaoyue heard Lu Xiaoxiao say that Lu Bochen talked a lot around her, her eyes widened slightly in surprise.
So even Bochen opens up around Xiaoxiao? She's amazing! She's so incredibly charismatic!
At that thought, the look she gave Lu Xiaoxiao instantly became even more admiring.
"Then... Xiaoxiao, do you know what desserts Bochen likes? I want to make him something myself tomorrow and apologize when I give it to him."
Lu Xiaoxiao said, "Of course..."
She had barely gotten those words out when the system urgently popped up to interrupt her. "Host, don't use the information you have to help the female lead!"
"...of course I don't!"
Lu Jiaoyue nodded in disappointment. "All right. I'll go back to my room, then. Sorry for bothering you tonight."
She had just turned around when Lu Xiaoxiao's thoughts rang out.
Aaaaaah, sweetheart, don't be sad! I know, I know! Lu Bochen likes macarons, tiramisu, Black Forest cake, soufflés, mille-feuille, cream puffs, mousse cakes, brownies, crêpes, and egg tarts!
By the way, could you make a teeny billion extra for me to try, too? I like strawberry crêpe cake, blueberry cheesecake, mango mousse, durian crêpe cake, raspberry tarts, yellow peach cream cake, banana pound cake, apple pie, orange cake, raisin shortbread...
Waaah, I can't take it anymore! I've talked myself hungry in the middle of the night. Lu Xiaoxiao, you really are such a greedy girl!
Listening to that long menu-like stream of thoughts, Lu Jiaoyue nearly laughed aloud. Fortunately, her back was to Lu Xiaoxiao, so she did not have to hide her smile.
So Xiaoxiao loves desserts this much!
Lu Jiaoyue suddenly felt very glad that she had taken such an interest in cooking before. Now she could put it to good use making Lu Xiaoxiao happy.
Mm, then I'll start with strawberry crêpe cake!
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