Xia Qinghe could bear this hardship alone

His two sisters had suffered at their mother's hands, so naturally, they would not let Lin Fengmian have it easy. They both called to scold their youngest brother.

"Lin Fengmian, can't you just humor Mom? Huh?!" Lin Tingyu wanted nothing more than to grab Lin Fengmian and pummel him.

Unfortunately, just like her mother, she did not dare face Lin Fengmian in person. Whenever she saw his face and those perpetually watery eyes, she could not bring herself to lecture him.

She could only bluster over the phone, making about as much difference as scratching an itch through a boot.

Lin Fengmian was still at Xia Qinghe's place, but after waiting for ages, Xia Qinghe still had not come upstairs. He was just about to go downstairs to find him when his second sister called, her tyrannosaur roar blasting from the tiny phone.

He observed two seconds of silence for his poor phone before replying languidly, "I humored her like you told me to. And what happened?"

What happened was that his mother intensified her efforts, arranging as many as ten blind dates a day, scheduled from eight in the morning to ten at night. Lin Fengmian had been so sleepy that he fell asleep during a date and abruptly collapsed to the floor, giving his date a terrible fright. Thinking he had been struck by a sudden illness, she had called 120 for emergency help.

Lin Tingyu fell silent. As a daughter who understood her mother, she sometimes genuinely felt awful for Lin Fengmian.

Empathy was a dangerous thing.

"You..." Lin Tingyu could barely keep scolding him, and her voice softened despite herself. "What kind of person do you actually like?"

"No idea."

Those brazen words rekindled the anger Lin Tingyu had only just managed to suppress. "Do you really not know, or are you pretending? You're almost thirty. Can't you grow up a little? How can you not know what kind of person you like? Or is there someone you like, but you've been hiding it because you're afraid we won't approve?"

What Lin Tingyu actually wanted to ask was, Do you like Xia Qinghe? Are you gay, and have you refused to open up all these years because you're afraid we won't accept it?

Lin Tingyu really wanted to tell him that it was fine even if he liked Xia Qinghe. Their mother only wanted him to find a partner, male or female.

Their demands had already sunk to such a pitiful level, yet the guy on the other end did not appreciate their efforts at all.

"No, there's no one I like. Relationships are just too tiring, and I'm lazy..." Before Lin Fengmian could finish, he heard his sister roar like a tyrannosaur again.

"You've never even been in a relationship! How do you know it's tiring? How would you know if you don't try? Fuck, you're driving me mad, you little..."

Lin Fengmian held the phone a little farther away, feeling utterly weary. The human body really was a marvel. How could such a small body as his second sister's produce such a loud voice?

When Lin Tingyu heard soft, steady breathing from the other end, she knew her brother had fallen asleep. Furious, she hurled her phone down.

The students she supervised scurried away like quails. Their advisor was already frightening enough under normal circumstances. How could she get even scarier?

Seeing the empty zone that had formed around her, with the students working on experiments under her keeping their distance with their tails between their legs, Lin Tingyu nearly had a heart attack.

Her terrible reputation for having an explosive temper was all thanks to her dear brother.

Lin Zhixia was much smarter than Lin Tingyu. Rather than confront him herself, she went home and poured out her grievances to her husband. Jian Yi frowned as he listened. "Don't get yourself worked up. I'll give him a talking-to."

And so Lin Fengmian, who had only just fallen asleep, received a call from his third brother-in-law, Jian Yi.

Forced to boot up for a second time, Lin Fengmian spoke sluggishly. "Brother-in-law, what is it?"

Jian Yi got straight to the point. "I'll introduce you to someone in a few days. She's a classmate's younger sister, and her family is a suitable match for ours. She has a good temperament and is good in every other respect, too."

"Not going." Lin Fengmian refused in a slow drawl, like a robot running out of power.

Jian Yi took a deep breath. "Mianmian, your third sister is seven months pregnant. Could you let her have her baby in peace, then recover from childbirth in peace?"

Lin Fengmian felt that his third brother-in-law still did not understand him well enough. Emotional blackmail did not work on him. "Oh."

Jian Yi waited for over a minute, but beyond that single "oh," nothing more came from the other end.

Go on, then! Say you'll go on the blind date. Say you'll let your third sister have her baby and recover in peace.

Why don't you react like other people?

Jian Yi and Lin Zhixia had only been married for a year, and this younger brother-in-law was essentially a stranger to him. Apart from seeing him on their wedding day, he never saw him at all.

Even when he visited his parents-in-law with gifts during the holidays, he never saw him.

Lin Zhixia, who had been listening with her ear pressed beside his phone, looked at her bewildered husband. She had thought he might have a better idea, but it turned out he was just trying emotional blackmail. That guy had a master's degree in law. Trying that on him was completely useless.

"...Move aside. Let me."

"Lin. Feng. Mian."

The roar arrived as suddenly as a spring breeze sweeping in overnight, and Lin Fengmian finally felt that things were right again.

He was still more accustomed to dealing with his tyrannosaur siblings.

"I'm not going on a blind date." He paused for two seconds. "Don't waste your energy."

Ignoring her husband, who looked horrified, as though he had only met her that day, Lin Zhixia continued roaring, "Get your ass over here for the blind date tomorrow. Don't make me come drag you over by the ear. Understand?"

Lin Zhixia hoped that after this introduction, her mother would no longer be able to bother her.

"Not going." Lin Fengmian stuck to those same words.

Lin Zhixia ignored that. "Did you know Xia Qinghe is going on a blind date tonight?"

Lin Fengmian frowned slightly and spoke to the air. "Dear Mianmian wants the blackout curtains open."

Hearing the instruction, the AI slowly opened the curtains. Lin Fengmian stared out at the pitch-black sky, the multicolored neon lights casting strange, shifting colors over his face.

No wonder he felt hungry. It was already evening, and Xia Qinghe had not brought him any food.

So he had gone on a blind date.

"So?" Just because he's gone on a blind date, do I have to go too?

Even best buddies don't need to share every hardship like that.

Lin Fengmian simply felt that Xia Qinghe could bear this hardship alone. There was no need to drag him into it.

After all, blind dates really were exhausting.

"You're not angry?" Lin Zhixia asked tentatively.

"Why would I be angry?" Lin Fengmian did not understand.

His tone was so sincere that Lin Zhixia thought another award-winning actor had been born into their family.

Nothing got through to this guy. It was infuriating.

With her probe having failed, Lin Zhixia could not be bothered to be tactful anymore. She unleashed a torrent of abuse on Lin Fengmian, finally declaring, "If you don't go on that blind date, I'll kill you."

Lin Fengmian was not scared in the slightest.

After his third sister finished venting, he waited another five minutes. When Tyrannosaur Number One still had not called, he decided to call him himself. "Big brother."

Lin Qiwu murmured an acknowledgment on the other end. Glancing at his wife, who was helping their child with his homework, he gently closed the door and went out onto the balcony. "Go on. What is it?"

Lin Fengmian asked, "Why haven't you called to yell at me? I'm really not used to this."

Every time his mother finished harassing his older siblings, they would invariably line up to yell at him. Only once they were done could he sleep in peace, because that was the only way he would not be disturbed.

Lin Qiwu laughed in exasperation. "You've actually gotten used to being yelled at?!"

Lin Fengmian hummed in agreement, making Lin Qiwu laugh again. That was just how his younger brother was, infuriating yet impossible to do anything about. "Would yelling at you help?"

"No."

"There you go, then. If yelling at you won't help, why waste my energy and breath? All right, I'm hanging up. I've got a whole pile of things to deal with at home."

It was not actually that Lin Qiwu did not want to scold his brother. His son had come dead last in his class, which he and his wife, both top students, could not accept. They planned to deal with their son's problem first.

His brother's problem could wait.

After all, things had to be prioritized. His brother's marriage prospects had remained unchanged for years, but his son's grades could still be salvaged.