Chapter 82: Make You Call Me Brother (II)
Gu Yinnian held a small glow-in-the-dark pig that offered almost no illumination.
After entering Xiao Ji’s bedroom, he turned and gently closed the door. He walked to the foot of the bed and reached out, fumbling around in an attempt to find Xiao Ji’s feet.
But he felt nothing.
Just as he was about to tentatively climb onto the bed to see exactly where Xiao Ji was, a dark shadow suddenly sat up on the floor beside the bed.
Gu Yinnian was startled and nearly threw the glow-in-the-dark pig. Reacting quickly, he whispered fiercely:
“You scared me!”
Xiao Ji reached out and switched on the small bedside lamp. The dim, warm light illuminated him. He rubbed his eyes. A bird was perched on his shoulder.
He looked at Gu Yinnian and apologized, “I’m sorry.”
Gu Yinnian was stunned. He was clearly the one who had come to apologize, yet Xiao Ji had beaten him to it.
He opened his mouth, looking at Xiao Ji’s pitiful state curled up by the bed. Remembering what Chen Lan had told him earlier, he fished a lollipop out of his pajama pocket, handed it to Xiao Ji, lowered his head, and said awkwardly:
“I’m sorry. I apologize for what I said to you today.”
Xiao Ji reached out and took the lollipop from Gu Yinnian’s hand. “I’m not angry with you.”
Gu Yinnian looked at Xiao Ji’s fluffy hair and kept a straight face. “Didn’t Ms. Chen tell you today? You have to call me Brother.”
Gu Yinnian was always like this. After being lectured by Chen Lan, he would admit his mistakes and correct them, but he would remain awkward for a couple of days, refusing to call her ‘Mom’ and addressing her as ‘Ms. Chen’ instead.
He had mulled it over for hours. Although he felt an indescribable resistance to Xiao Ji’s sudden arrival, he had to admit that Xiao Ji was in a wretched state.
If Xiao Ji was willing to listen to him, not touch his things without permission, and not work against him, he wasn’t completely opposed to accepting this sudden younger brother.
Xiao Ji lowered his eyes. “I’m not angry with you, Brother Xiao Nian.”
Hearing this, Gu Yinnian felt much better. He asked, “Why are you lying on the floor? Are you scared?”
Xiao Ji shook his head, climbed onto the bed, and obediently tucked himself under the quilt, still clutching the lollipop. The shrike on his shoulder flew up and landed by the pillow, nestling into a small corner.
Gu Yinnian wasn’t the type to warm up to people instantly, but Chen Lan had said he needed to take care of Xiao Ji.
Although he found the word “care” troublesome, as an Alpha, he had to learn to look after others, just like his Alpha dad looked after Chen Lan.
So, he could only console himself by treating Xiao Ji as practice.
Xiao Ji said he wasn’t afraid, but Gu Yinnian didn’t believe him. Last year, when he had just stopped sleeping with Chen Lan and started sleeping alone, he had been silently terrified for several nights.
He felt Xiao Ji must be the same—looking soft on the outside but stubborn on the inside.
He was racking his brain for ways to soothe Xiao Ji’s emotions.
Then, he heard Xiao Ji touch a sore spot by asking:
“Does your butt hurt?”
Gu Yinnian had been brooding over the spanking he received that evening for hours.
If Xiao Ji hadn’t mentioned it, he could have saved face. But now that Xiao Ji had poked him right in the heart, his expression crumbled.
“It doesn’t hurt! I have thick skin! It was just a beating, what’s there to ask? Are you laughing at me?”
Facing Gu Yinnian’s interrogation, Xiao Ji appeared very calm.
“I’m not. I was afraid you were in pain.”
Gu Yinnian stared at Xiao Ji’s face. Seeing that he wasn’t lying or gloating, he reluctantly believed in his good intentions.
“I don’t hurt,” he said, then pointed at his own neck and asked Xiao Ji, “What about you? Does it hurt here?”
Xiao Ji raised his hand and touched the gauze on his neck.
“It doesn’t hurt. I have thick skin too.”
Looking at Xiao Ji’s delicate, tender skin, Gu Yinnian’s competitive spirit flared up.
“You can’t be. Your skin definitely isn’t as thick as mine.”
Xiao Ji was speechless.
He had no desire to win this argument, so he chose to shut up.
In the moment of silence, Gu Yinnian suddenly remembered that Xiao Ji had been huddled on the floor earlier because he was scared and might need comforting.
But he had never comforted anyone before, and he couldn’t just punch Xiao Ji unconscious to stop his fear. He could only start asking questions.
“Will your bird poop on the bed?”
Xiao Ji: “…It won’t.”
“Did you raise it?”
Xiao Ji: “No, I picked it up.”
“Did you pick it up a long time ago?”
“Just picked it up today.”
“Then how do you know it won’t poop on the bed?”
“I told it that if it poops on the bed, it will be stewed into soup.”
“What if it didn’t understand?”
“Then we drink soup.”
Gu Yinnian nodded. “I admire your character.”
Little Cui (the bird) shifted its posture, turning its head toward the headboard and its butt toward Gu Yinnian.
Between children, once a topic is opened, there is no end to the conversation.
Gu Yinnian asked Xiao Ji about everything, from where he came from, what he ate and drank, to what he learned in kindergarten, how far his previous home was from Ning City, and if they had a dialect.
He asked about everything.
Xiao Ji had never interacted with a child of this age before.
At this moment, he only felt that even Gu Yinnian, at this age, was indeed talkative enough to give someone a headache.
It wasn’t exactly annoying, just hard to handle.
If he said too much, he feared it would never end.
If he said too little, he feared Gu Yinnian would think he didn’t like him.
So, Xiao Ji could only seize a moment when Gu Yinnian paused, deliberately yawned at him, and rubbed his eyes.
Seeing this, Gu Yinnian breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that this difficult-to-serve child was finally sleepy.
He looked at the lollipop in Xiao Ji’s hand and gave his final instruction:
“You can’t eat it at night, and you can’t eat it after brushing your teeth. Don’t secretly eat it after I leave. I’ll check when you wake up tomorrow morning.”
Xiao Ji nodded, placed the lollipop on the bedside table, and said to Gu Yinnian, “Goodnight, Brother Xiao Nian.”
Gu Yinnian left Xiao Ji’s bedroom, tiptoed back to his own room, and quietly closed the door.
Lying in bed staring at the ceiling, he pondered his performance just now.
Polite, generous, hospitable—worthy of praise.
Then he thought of Xiao Ji’s soft hair under the gentle lamplight and his obedient look when he called him ‘Brother Xiao Nian.’
Suddenly, he felt that having an extra person in the house didn’t seem so hard to accept.
Gu Yinnian had boundless energy; he ate well and slept well. He didn’t know when he fell asleep, but when he woke up, the sky had just turned bright.
He faintly heard voices in the living room. Thinking his dad might be back, he got out of bed and walked to the door, only to hear Father Gu sigh:
“The doctor said Xiao Ji’s glands are too immature. Suffering such trauma… if recovery doesn’t go well, it will very likely affect his secondary differentiation in the future.”
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