The bugle of the charge

"What should I do..." Lin Yu was pondering a major decision in his life that day.

In the few days since taking his younger sister Lin Yuyou back to school, he had been agonizing over when to confess to Firefly.

Although his intuition told him Firefly felt differently about him, he was a little afraid to take the gamble. If it were someone else, failure would just be failure. At worst, they could see each other less and gradually forget about it. But Firefly lived in his house! They saw each other every day. If it turned out to be nothing but wishful thinking on his part, how would they get along afterward?!

Looking at the date spots Old Wang and Li Wei had recommended earlier, he let out a heavy sigh. Just then, someone unexpected sent him a message-or, more precisely, a plea for help.

Zhang Zeyang: "Come save me! (＞Д＜)!!"

A live location share was attached below. Seeing this, he had no idea what had gotten into the guy. Hadn't he heard that Zhang Zeyang was going to spend time with a girl who had returned from abroad? Why was he suddenly calling for help?

Despite those thoughts, Lin Yu decided to go take a look. What if something really had happened?

He got moving right away. After replying that he was coming, he stood up to put on his shoes and head to the location sent to his phone.

"Firefly, I'm going out!" Lin Yu called to Firefly, who was in her room.

"Okay! Stay safe!"

Firefly didn't come out, only calling back a goodbye. Ever since becoming a streamer, she had been quite busy, recording footage, editing videos, and streaming every day.

After reflecting on that, he left. As luck would have it, the employee who had previously taken leave had time to make up that shift today, giving him an extra day off. Otherwise, he might not have had time to go see Zhang Zeyang.

The address wasn't far away. After riding for a little over ten minutes, he arrived.

"This is it." After looking around, Lin Yu spotted his destination. It was a milk tea shop called Sweet Cottage, though it also sold all kinds of desserts. Don't ask how he knew without even going inside: there was a menu board outside listing various milk teas and cakes.

He pushed open the door and immediately spotted Zhang Zeyang. That eye-catching blond hair made him easy to find in the crowd.

"Old Zhang, what did you want me..." Just as Lin Yu was about to speak, he noticed something was wrong. Someone else was sitting across from Zhang Zeyang, and that person looked like a girl!

He had an ominous feeling. Somehow, he felt the guy wanted to use him as a shield. He was just about to turn and leave when Zhang Zeyang spotted him. Like someone clutching at a lifeline, he hurriedly stood up and came over. "Hey, Brother Lin! You're finally here. I've been waiting ages!"

Stopped in his tracks, Lin Yu thought, This is bad. But there was nothing he could do except force a smile and play along. "Yeah, I'm here."

The girl sitting with Zhang Zeyang also turned at the sound. This time, Lin Yu got a clear look at her. Like Zhang Zeyang, she had dyed her hair an eye-catching blond, but her fair skin and delicate features made her look like a porcelain doll-a blond beauty.

The girl looked over, stood up, and gave him a very friendly smile. "Hello, I'm Shen Xue."

"Hello, I'm Lin Yu." Lin Yu scratched his head and smiled a little awkwardly.

"Since your friend's here, I won't disturb you any longer." Shen Xue picked up the little shoulder bag on her seat and prepared to leave. As she passed Zhang Zeyang, a resentful expression flashed across her smiling face, and she seemed to mutter something. "I'll settle this with you next time...!"

Her voice was too quiet for Lin Yu to make out, but Zhang Zeyang heard every word. "Sigh... This really never ends." Zhang Zeyang sighed helplessly, then turned to Lin Yu.

"Thanks, bro. If you hadn't come, I wouldn't have known what to do!"

"All done? Then I'm leaving." Lin Yu paid no attention to Zhang Zeyang's thanks. He really had used him as a shield. One look at that girl was enough to tell that her relationship with this guy was no ordinary one. He had better get out of there!

But Zhang Zeyang stopped Lin Yu just as he was about to flee. "Hey, you're already here. Hang out with me for a while." With that, he forcibly dragged Lin Yu over.

"All right, order whatever you want. My treat!" Zhang Zeyang happily handed Lin Yu the menu. His expression looked as though he had just escaped some enormous danger.

"So, what did you need me for?" Sipping the milk tea Zhang Zeyang had bought him, Lin Yu asked why he had called him over.

"I just suddenly felt like hanging out with you." At that, Zhang Zeyang's eyes darted away, and his voice lacked confidence.

Lin Yu saw right through him. "Fine. If you don't want to say, forget it. I won't pry. It's your private business, after all."

"Thank you!" Zhang Zeyang gave him such a sincere look that Lin Yu felt a little uncomfortable.

"It's not really something I can't talk about, though. It's just pretty ridiculous." With that, Zhang Zeyang began telling the story on his own.

"That girl just now was Shen Xue. She's actually my childhood sweetheart."

"Childhood sweetheart?" Lin Yu looked a little surprised, then stared at him with a knowing smile. "You've really been keeping that under wraps, huh? You never even told us. I could tell there's something going on between you two~"

Seeing Lin Yu watching him with that gossip-hungry look, he hurried to explain. "It's not what you think! She's really just my childhood friend. There's nothing else between us!"

"Uh... Then why are you so scared of her? I thought..." Lin Yu didn't finish, but Zhang Zeyang understood what he meant.

"Sigh... Don't even mention it. Just thinking about it annoys me!"

"We went to the same school from elementary school through high school. In elementary school, she was really timid and got bullied. I couldn't stand watching, so I stepped in to help, though it was a little unnecessary. Those kids were pretty unlucky, really. They picked the last person they should have."

"Shen Xue's dad owns a company, and he'd donated money to the school before. So that very day, those kids who bullied her got beaten by their parents right there at school until they could barely look after themselves."

"Yeah, I can picture it..." Lin Yu broke into a cold sweat. Rich people really weren't to be messed with...

"So that's how you two met?"

"Yeah. And only afterward did I find out that my family actually had some business dealings with Shen Xue's family! That incident tied us together in one ill-fated relationship...!" At that, Zhang Zeyang looked as though he had put on a mask of agony.

"Ill-fated relationship?" He didn't understand. It sounded like a beautiful first encounter between the male and female leads of a novel. How had it become an ill-fated relationship to him?

"It was fine from elementary school through high school. Back then, she called me her big brother, and I treated her like my little sister."

By this point, Lin Yu could already guess what had happened next. "Then, in high school, she suddenly confessed to you, but you'd always thought of her as a little sister, so you turned her down."

Zhang Zeyang stared at Lin Yu in astonishment, as though he were looking at a god. "How did you know? That's incredible!"

Lin Yu felt like swearing. For fuck's sake, it really is a novel plot! Is some girl going to drop into his life next and completely beat the childhood sweetheart?!

Lin Yu pressed a hand to his forehead helplessly. "Never mind how I knew. What about you? How do you feel?"

"I don't know. I still only see her as a little sister, but she hasn't given up."

"After she confessed to me in high school and I turned her down, she stopped talking to me. Then she went abroad after graduation, and we never contacted each other again."

"Then, a few days ago, she came back from abroad, and I heard she wanted to see me. I was wondering about it. Didn't she hate me?"

"Only after I went did I find out she'd been so angry back then that she'd gone abroad to cool off."

With an innocent look on his face, Zhang Zeyang said, "Do you think getting angry over that really called for going abroad?"

"Yeah, did it really..." That was what Lin Yu said, but he was actually almost speechless. You upset her so much she went abroad. What do you think?

"So what are you going to do? It looks like she hasn't given up."

"Well..." At that question, Zhang Zeyang didn't know how to answer, because he could tell Shen Xue still had feelings for him.

"I don't know either. I want to turn her down, but she probably still won't give up."

"I can't offer much advice. I know you haven't agreed because you've always seen her as a little sister and never thought about her that way. But she isn't actually your sister. I think treating her as a woman might give you the answer you're looking for."

"Oh~ Never thought I'd see the day when I'd get relationship advice from you~" Zhang Zeyang's teasing tone made Lin Yu uncomfortable.

"Enough. If you can't talk properly, don't talk!"

"Okay, okay, I'll stop joking. I'll listen to what you said. But what about you?"

"I heard from Old Wang that you're going to confess~" Zhang Zeyang's expression changed in an instant. A moment ago, he had been solemn and serious; now he looked eager for gossip.

Damn you, Wang Haonan! Didn't I tell you not to tell anyone?! Lin Yu had already cursed Wang Haonan out in his head. Although he wanted to call and give him an earful right then, he would probably just get the retort that Zhang Zeyang was a brother, not just anyone.

"That's what I said then, but I'm still considering whether to confess."

"What's there to think about? Just go for it!"

"Some people say a confession is a song of victory, but I think it can also be the bugle of the charge!"

"When you're afraid, courage will help you break through the encirclement! Of course, if you fail, you can always lean on my shoulder." With a cheeky look, Zhang Zeyang patted his shoulder.

"Get out of here. Why do you have to make it sound so awkward?!" Under the table, Lin Yu kicked him.

"Don't kick me!" Zhang Zeyang cried as he dodged Lin Yu's feet.

They didn't spend long together before getting ready to head home. "Good luck, Old Lin~ I've got faith in you!"

"You too." After they said goodbye, Zhang Zeyang got into the car his butler had come to pick him up in, while Lin Yu rode away on his electric scooter.

The bugle of the charge, huh? Old Zhang really does come up with ideas. But... he seemed to have a point.

When he got home, he happened to come face-to-face with Firefly as she emerged from her room.

"Ah, welcome back~" Firefly welcomed him home as usual.

Looking at her, Lin Yu recalled what Zhang Zeyang had just told him. As though he had made up his mind about something, he looked firmly at Firefly. "Firefly, are you free the day after tomorrow?!"