When Jing Nian’an came downstairs again, Jing Lüyan had already returned home and was sitting on the living room sofa, flipping through documents.
The warm yellow floor lamp cast a soft glow on his stern profile, his narrow eyes calm as still water.
“Brother, you’re back!” The girl’s sweet, soft voice rang out in the living room.
Jing Lüyan looked up, raising an eyebrow in slight surprise, the corners of his lips lifting almost imperceptibly. “Why are you in such a good mood today?”
His peripheral glance fell on Wen Zhuo, who was leisurely sipping wine nearby, his gaze turning obscure and inscrutable.
The next second, the man’s slender fingers tapped lightly on his knee. The girl immediately understood, her slender body curling into his embrace like an agile kitten.
The hem of her skirt rippled slightly with the movement, revealing a glimpse of dazzlingly white thigh.
Jing Lüyan naturally smoothed her skirt for her, his large hand resting on her waist.
Wen Zhuo watched this scene coldly, the ice cubes in his crystal glass clinking as he swirled it.
Hah, if not for those two red diamonds, Jing Lüyan probably wouldn’t even have been able to touch the hem of her clothes tonight, let alone hold her.
“Jing Nian’an,” he reminded gently, tapping lightly on the rim of his glass, “go eat some more.”
Hearing this, Jing Lüyan frowned and looked down at the girl stretching lazily on his lap.
She had styled her hair into a cute bun today, with a few stray strands hanging against her porcelain-white neck, swaying gently with her movements.
“Haven’t you finished eating yet?” The man’s voice deepened slightly.
Sensing danger, Jing Nian’an abruptly sat up straight, pulling on her brother’s arm.
She leaned her small face against his shoulder. “I’m full…”
While in a place Jing Lüyan couldn’t see, she glared fiercely at Wen Zhuo, her almond-shaped eyes full of warning.
Just as Jing Lüyan’s warm palm rested on her flat stomach, the girl suddenly had a flash of inspiration and excitedly straightened up:
“Oh, right, brother! Let me show you the new doll I made!”
With that, she slipped out of the man’s embrace like a light butterfly, completely unaware of Jing Lüyan’s momentarily stiffened body.
Watching his sister’s cheerful retreating figure, the man rubbed his temples in frustration.
He had been too busy these past few days and hadn’t yet prepared himself to face her “new creation.”
Noticing Wen Zhuo silently moving toward the stairs out of the corner of his eye, Jing Lüyan narrowed his eyes:
“What has she been creating recently?”
Wen Zhuo, having been addressed, turned back helplessly, a perfect smile on his handsome face. “I don’t know either…”
Recalling the bizarre shape from the surveillance footage, he chose his words carefully. “It should… be a bug?”
Hearing this, Jing Lüyan visibly relaxed and picked up his tablet again.
Just as Wen Zhuo on the stairs was about to slip away, he heard the sound of light footsteps approaching from a distance.
The girl came running excitedly, holding a palm-sized unidentified object, the cat-shaped hairpin in her hair trembling slightly with her movement:
“Brother, look at my new creation!”
Wen Zhuo’s smile froze for an instant before quickly returning to its gentle expression. “That’s wonderful. Go show it to your brother.”
After saying this, he quickly stepped aside to make way, secretly relieved to have escaped this ordeal.
Unsuspecting, Jing Nian’an happily ran toward the sofa.
Wen Zhuo leaned against the stair railing with his hands in his pockets, his affectionate peach-blossom eyes glinting with amusement.
“Look, brother!”
The girl sat down next to Jing Lüyan, holding up her “artwork” like a treasure, her almond-shaped eyes sparkling:
“Quick, guess what I made!”Jing Lüyan set down the documents, his gaze lingering for two seconds on the unidentified object with red eyes, four legs, two long antennae, and red wings.
Looking up at his sister’s eyes filled with anticipation, he parted his thin lips the next moment and said with absolute certainty:
I’d guess it’s a mutated cockroach.
After a pause, he thoughtfully added a compliment: “A rather cute little cockroach. You did great, baby.”
Then he turned his head back to continue reading the documents.
Time seemed to freeze at that moment…
As if remembering something, Jing Lüyan turned his head again to remind her: “Go eat some more… Hmm? What’s wrong?”
Looking at the stunned girl, Jing Lüyan suddenly had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, the girl’s eyes were visibly reddening, and tears quickly welled up in them.
The moment she heard the answer, Jing Nian’an felt as if struck by lightning.
What was he saying…?
She must have misheard, right…?
Otherwise, how could she have heard the word “cockroach”?
She lowered her head to look at the artwork in her hands, then raised her eyes to Jing Lüyan. A teardrop “plopped” onto the back of her hand.
Jing Nian’an tried hard to suppress her sobs, defending the artwork in her hands:
“This… this is my Great Sage Equal to Heaven, wuwu…”
As she spoke, she couldn’t hold back anymore.
Jing Lüyan: “…”
Although he had mentally prepared himself, it was clearly not enough.
Jing Lüyan furrowed his brows, reaching out a long arm to pull her back, but the girl deftly dodged.
The man sighed helplessly: “Your brother was wrong…”
“I even used red diamonds for the fiery golden eyes… wuwu…
“And you… you actually called him a mutated… cock… cock…”
The girl kept accusing him, but in the end, she found she couldn’t even utter the word “cockroach.”
She simply hugged her “Great Sage Equal to Heaven” and buried herself in the corner of the sofa, crying her heart out.
Your brother really was wrong…
The man softened his tone, a rare occurrence, his stern brows tinged with helplessness. “Ask me again, okay?”
Wen Zhuo chuckled softly from the stairs, only to be met with a cold glare from Jing Lüyan.
The man gracefully descended the steps, crouching before the ostrich-like girl. His slender fingers rested on her back:
“Be good, don’t cry. I know this is the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.”
Jing Nian’an looked up with tear-filled eyes, meeting Wen Zhuo’s smiling gaze.
Wen Zhuo’s face grew even more handsome in the backlight, the collar of his light blue casual wear slightly open, his cedarwood scent enveloping her.
R-really?
Of course.
Wen Zhuo gently wiped the tears from the corner of her eye with his fingertip, his thumb stroking her flushed, soft cheek.
“Holding such a majestic golden staff, how could it be a cockroach?”
The air froze once again…
Jing Nian’an’s expression shifted from grievance to shock, her watery almond eyes slowly widening:
“But… but I didn’t even make a golden staff…”
Wen Zhuo: “…”