The plane landed, the engines shut down, and the cabin door opened.
The Capital’s June heat rolled over him, mingling with the smell of aviation fuel and hot asphalt.
Wei Yi followed the crowd out. Beyond the arrivals exit, people had gathered to meet passengers, some holding signs, others looking around.
Yet Wei Yi spotted Chen Xinyi at a glance.
There was no way he could miss her.
She wore a simple white dress and flat white sneakers, her long hair falling casually over her shoulders.
Though the area was packed with people, she seemed to have a spotlight trained on her, glowing white.
At 163 centimeters, she wasn’t tall by northern standards, but her proportions were outrageous.
Her waist was so slender it looked like it might snap with a pinch, and her legs were long and straight. The dress’s fitted waist accentuated every curve.
And when it came to her size-E grain silo, no outfit could hide it.
Lin Siyan, standing beside her, had a completely different style.
A cool-toned blouse, dark gray cropped trousers, and short hair cut to her ears. Her features were delicate, but her expression was distant. She stood quietly, like a glass of cool boiled water.
Someone like her wasn’t particularly eye-catching at first glance, but a closer look often made it hard to look away.
Standing together, the two made a striking contrast: one warm and vibrant, the other cool and composed. Passersby kept turning to look.
Chen Xinyi saw him too.
Her eyes lit up, and she hurried over. Before Wei Yi could say a word, she reached out and pinched his cheek.
“You’ve gotten thinner again. Don’t you eat at home?”
Her voice was sweet as melted milk candy, but she didn’t go easy on him.
Wei Yi instinctively leaned back.
“What are you dodging for?” Chen Xinyi laughed. She brought her other hand over and held his face between both hands, inspecting it from side to side. “You’re still trying to dodge. You’re this skinny—how does Mom even feed you?”
“Sis… let go. There are people around,” Wei Yi mumbled.
Only then did Chen Xinyi let go, her eyes full of laughter. “So what if there are people around? I’m pinching my little brother. Who’s going to stop me?”
Wei Yi rubbed his cheek. He knew those hands all too well.
In his previous life, she’d pinched him countless times. When she was happy, when she was unhappy— here, there, everywhere.
Lin Siyan came over and greeted him with a smile. “Wei Yi, long time no see.”
Her voice was soft and gentle, completely unlike Chen Xinyi’s sweet-enough-to-kill-you tone.
“Sister Siyan,” Wei Yi said properly.
Lin Siyan had visited his Hometown with Chen Xinyi at the end of last year, during winter break, and stayed for over a week.
And later, this woman who seemed so quiet and indifferent to the world became just as entangled with him and his older sister.
It wasn’t merely a simple relationship between a man and a woman. Later, at Chen Xinyi’s insistence and under her personal arrangements, Lin Siyan even had a child for him.
A daughter.
A lovely little baby whose features looked entirely like his, not her mother’s.
Wei Yi still remembered holding his daughter. Her mother hadn’t been looking at either him or the child at all.
She was looking at the child’s paternal aunt—and second mother.
Back then, Lin Siyan had been leaning against the delivery bed, pale-faced, smiling at Chen Xinyi. She said something Wei Yi would remember vividly afterward, something he could never forget.
“I gave him a child. You promised me that you wouldn’t kick me out for the rest of my life.”
Damn it.
At the time, Wei Yi felt like he’d become a part of the Play between these two women.
Later, Chen Xinyi raised the child. The girl called Chen Xinyi “Big Mama,” Lin Siyan “Mom,” and him “Dad.”
Their family relationships were an absolute mess.
Now, standing at the Capital Airport arrivals exit and looking at Lin Siyan smiling gently before him—
Wei Yi felt a chill creep up his spine.
This woman in front of him.
And his older sister.
Along with three others, they made up the “Five Tiger Generals,” and ultimately sent him to the ICU.
“What are you spacing out for?” Chen Xinyi smacked him on the butt. “Let’s go.”
Wei Yi came back to himself and followed them out. Lin Siyan walked beside his sister. Their backs, one white and one gray, made a surprisingly harmonious picture.
In the parking lot, Chen Xinyi pulled out a car key.
Wei Yi glanced at it.
A BMW X5.
A junior in college driving a BMW X5 in 2014.
He remembered how his jaw had nearly hit the floor the first time he saw this car in his previous life. Now, he merely clicked his tongue inwardly and moved on.
After all, he knew how wealthy his older sister would become. An X5 was nothing—just a car for getting around.
Lin Siyan took the front passenger seat, while Wei Yi climbed into the back.
Once the doors were shut, Chen Xinyi started the car and casually began chatting with Lin Siyan.
“The beauty salon brought in more customers this month, and we hired two new technicians. We can barely keep up.”
Lin Siyan picked up the thread. “How’s that Korean treatment doing?”
“Not bad. We’ve got plenty of repeat customers. It’s just that the equipment we import from Korea costs a fortune—over a hundred thousand yuan a machine.” Chen Xinyi switched on the turn signal and drove out of the parking lot. “The restaurant gets lines on weekends. I’m thinking about expanding, but the rent on the shop next door is too high. It’s not worth it.”
“What about the Coffee Shop?”
“That one’s steady. There are lots of students nearby, and our prices aren’t high.”
Listening to the two older sisters talking, Wei Yi sat in the back and did the math.
A beauty salon, a restaurant, and a Coffee Shop.
Three brick-and-mortar businesses.
Plus that X5.
And the two-bedroom apartment in Zhichun Dongli they were about to discuss.
Eight thousand yuan in rent a month.
And this was still 2014.
A junior from Guangdong Province who’d come to the Capital to study, starting from nothing, without relying on her family or anyone else.
His sister was seriously incredible.
Wei Yi had always admired her for that.
“Oh, right,” Chen Xinyi said, glancing at him in the rearview mirror. “Since you’re coming here to study, I just rented an apartment. It’s in a complex called Zhichun Dongli, a two-bedroom, close to my school. I’ve got your room ready. When we get back tonight, see what you’re missing, and I’ll take you shopping tomorrow.”
“Mm-hmm,” Wei Yi replied.
His Gaokao results weren’t out yet. But he’d been reborn after the exam was already over.
Unless something unexpected happened, he’d get the same 560 points as in his previous life. With his older sister around, she’d definitely insist he apply to the same school as before.
Capital United University’s College of Applied Arts and Sciences.
One reason was that he’d studied the humanities; another was that the school was close to Renmin University.
In fact, it was right between Renmin University and the apartment she’d rented.
From Zhichun Dongli, both his school and Renmin University were close by.
As he spoke with his sister, he caught sight of Lin Siyan out of the corner of his eye. She was leaning against the front passenger seat, but her gaze stayed fixed on Chen Xinyi’s profile as she listened quietly. Sunlight streamed through the window, seeming to light up her eyes.
That kind of light.
He’d seen it countless times in his previous life.
Of course. It only appeared when she was looking at his older sister.
They arrived at Zhichun Dongli.
The complex was pleasant, with plenty of greenery and a little garden downstairs.
It had originally been a residential complex for municipal government employees, so the surroundings and cultural atmosphere were both quite good.
Chen Xinyi parked near the entrance to Building 10, and the three of them carried their luggage upstairs. The elevator took them to the twelfth floor. They turned left after stepping out, and found apartment 1203.
Chen Xinyi unlocked the door.
“Come on in.”
Wei Yi carried his luggage inside.
It was a two-bedroom apartment. The living room wasn’t large, but it had a tidy, square layout. A sofa, coffee table, and TV stand filled the space, all in a simple Nordic style.
The kitchen had probably been renovated. It was open-plan, and the island was spotless; it looked like it had hardly ever been used.
There were two bedrooms. Chen Xinyi had the larger one, and the door to the smaller one was open. It was obviously meant for him.
Wei Yi stood at the small bedroom’s doorway.
New sheets. A new duvet cover. A new pillow.
A little bedside lamp sat on the nightstand. Several new sets of pajamas hung in the wardrobe, and even the slippers by the bed were exactly his size.
His toiletries were in a clear storage box: toothpaste, a toothbrush, a towel, a razor. Nothing was missing.
Everything had been bought in advance.
Wei Yi stood in the doorway, feeling as though something had struck a place deep inside him.
It had been the same in his previous life. He’d opened the door, and everything had already been prepared.
Back then, he’d been so happy, thinking how wonderful his sister was. But now that he’d lived through it again, seeing all these details made his nose suddenly sting.
Because he knew his sister had gone to the shops alone and picked out every single thing.
Lin Siyan and her roommates had offered to help, but she wouldn’t let them.
The color of the sheets, the style of the pajamas, the size of the slippers—she’d even bought him a razor.
And she was busy running three businesses and keeping up with school at the same time.
Tiger Mom might be terrifying, but the way she cared for him truly came from the heart.
“What do you think?” Chen Xinyi gave him a smack on the butt from behind. “Anything missing?”
“No.” Wei Yi sighed inwardly.
If only his sister weren’t so insatiable.
He was a grown man now.
His older sister shouldn’t be smacking him on the butt.
“Good.” Chen Xinyi laughed. “I’ll take you out tonight to celebrate your arrival. We’ll have crayfish on Gui Street, then walk around Houhai.”
Wei Yi sighed inwardly again.
Crayfish on Gui Street.
A walk around Houhai.
It was exactly the same as his previous life.
It had been the same summer, the same welcome dinner. They’d eaten crayfish on Gui Street, walked around Houhai, and then gone home.
He’d drunk two bottles of beer and was feeling woozy. Chen Xinyi sat by his bed and said she had something good to show him.
And then.
Then he’d nearly lost his virginity before the eighteenth.
Fortunately, she managed to hold back in the end. She did, not him. After all, back then he’d been a horny young guy. How could he possibly resist his sweet older sister’s charms, so full of youthful and mature allure?
Only someone with his sister’s self-control could have resisted.
Wei Yi looked at Chen Xinyi’s smiling face, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up one by one.
“What’s wrong?” Chen Xinyi tilted her head.
“N-nothing.” Wei Yi gave a dry cough. “The flight wore me out a little.”
“Then get some rest. We’ll leave at six tonight.” Chen Xinyi patted his shoulder and turned toward the living room.
Lin Siyan sat on the sofa, looking down at her phone. Chen Xinyi went over and sat beside her. Their shoulders touched as they spoke quietly.
Wei Yi closed the bedroom door.
He sat on the new sheets.
The mattress was soft.
His heart was hard.
No, he was panicking.
He knew the script of his previous life by heart: Gui Street, Houhai, drinking, going home, and then his sister would start closing the net.
But panicking wouldn’t help. Rather than sit there worrying, he might as well start getting in shape and make sure he was ready for battle.
Physical fighting strength, and financial and material strength.
For his physical condition, all he could do was keep a healthy schedule and practice that mysterious set of Internal Martial Arts.
As for material resources…
Wei Yi took out his phone and browsed Weibo.
News about the 2014 World Cup was everywhere. The first match and the opening ceremony were set to begin in the early hours of the thirteenth. Since today was the twelfth, that meant tonight.
He stared at his phone screen. The opening match was between the host country and Croatia.
Wei Yi remembered the match: the score was 3–1. On Zhifubao’s online platform, the current odds for that score were 13.5.
He thought it over.
After all, this was the first bet of his first pot of gold.
He gritted his teeth and decided to go all in!
He had 15,200 yuan and placed a bet of 15,000.
He could rely on his sister to support him afterward anyway, even if the Butterfly Effect messed things up and he lost.
So he wasn’t worried.
He could just cling to his older sister’s generous support. He wouldn’t starve.
He’d just finished placing the bet when someone knocked twice on the bedroom door.
“Wei Yi, Sister Siyan cut up some fruit for you.”
The door opened.
Lin Siyan stood at the doorway holding a plate of sliced watermelon, and smiled at him.
“Eat it while it’s fresh.”
Wei Yi took the plate.
He looked at Lin Siyan’s gentle smile.
An inappropriate thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
This older sister had a great figure too.
And although her grain silo was three sizes smaller than Chen Xinyi’s, she actually produced far more baby food than his sister.
His and Chen Xinyi’s third baby hadn’t gotten enough milk, so afterward, the baby had been fed by this older sister instead.