While they were eating, Xiang Qin said,“Jingchen, if you’re sleeping by yourself tonight, make sure to lock the doors and windows. Boil a kettle of hot water early, otherwise if you get thirsty in the middle of the night, there won’t be anything to drink.”
“I know, Auntie Xiang. I’m already this old—don’t worry,” Zhou Jingchen replied.
Wen Zhiting took a sip of sweet-potato porridge and suggested,“Why not sleep here with us? Old Zhou’s place isn’t convenient for using the bathroom or bathing. Going back and forth is too troublesome.”
Under the table, Xiang Qin lightly kicked her husband and shot him a look.
She felt that if the two kids were currently upset with each other, they should just calm down on their own. Adults shouldn’t interfere. Anyway, they would make up in less than a day.
Indeed, since childhood, Wen Xi and Zhou Jingchen had argued, fought, gotten angry, and given each other the cold shoulder countless times—but it had never lasted more than a day.
Xiang Qin said,“Jingchen, after dinner just go back and rest early. You don’t have to tutor her tonight.”
“It’s fine, Auntie. I’ll finish tutoring my older sister and then go back to sleep. It won’t delay anything,” Zhou Jingchen replied.
Wen Xi angrily ate several chicken wings, dark brown sauce still clinging to the corner of her mouth. She didn’t want to lift her head to look at Zhou Jingchen at all.
He actually said her snoring disturbed him?!
How was that possible?!
A princess doesn’t snore!
It was outrageous—absolutely outrageous! She simply couldn’t swallow this grievance.
Wen Xi stabbed her chopsticks viciously into the tender chicken wing and thought bitterly:
In front of my parents he calls me “sister” so sweetly—what a good actor!
But privately he’s probably been resentful of me for a long time. After all, I bully him all the time. I don’t act like a proper older sister at all.
In front of adults he pretends to be gentle, harmless, and obedient—but actually he’s a black-hearted pineapple, with more tricks than the pineapple itself!
Just as she was about to stuff the chicken wing into her wide-open mouth, Xiang Qin couldn’t help clicking her tongue and nudging her arm.
“One plate has ten chicken wings. You’ve already eaten five by yourself. Have you put even one into Jingchen’s bowl? Is that how you act as someone’s older sister?”
Seeing Xiang Qin scolding her, Zhou Jingchen quickly said,“It’s okay, Auntie. I actually don’t like eating meat very much.”
Wen Zhiting also looked toward Wen Xi.
The atmosphere instantly became tense.
Wen Xi was already in a bad mood. Her spoiled young-lady temper flared up. Furious, she slammed down her chopsticks.
“I’m not eating anymore!”
Everyone at the table froze.
She glared at Zhou Jingchen, then stormed back to her bedroom.
Wen Zhiting sighed.
Xiang Qin rolled up her sleeves.“What’s wrong with her? Why has her temper gotten so bad lately?”
Zhou Jingchen put down his chopsticks apologetically.
“Uncle, Auntie, I’m sorry. I made my sister unhappy today. Don’t worry—I’ll go talk to her.”
The couple looked at him.
Wen Zhiting said helplessly,“Don’t always give in to her. Your aunt and I aren’t even that bad-tempered… sigh.”
At the factory, Wen Zhiting could manage everything and everyone—but he couldn’t control the little tyrant at home.
The bedroom door opened from outside. The room inside was completely dark.
Zhou Jingchen turned on the light and walked slowly toward the inner single bed, leaning on his crutch.
He bent down to pull the blanket covering the girl’s head, but Wen Xi clutched it tightly, and he couldn’t pull it away.
So he sat beside her and apologized softly.
“I’m sorry, little princess. Don’t be angry anymore.”
Wen Xi felt sulky inside and stayed silent.
He continued coaxing her.
“Your Highness the noble princess, please be magnanimous and forgive me.”
Suddenly the blanket flew open.
The girl sat up, glaring at him with beautiful eyes as she fired at him:
“You actually said I snore! Zhou Jingchen, are you asking to be beaten?! Even if my snoring disturbed you, could you talk to me in that cold tone? Have you forgotten the rule of unconditional obedience to me? You keep provoking me lately and making me unhappy. I don’t want you to be my little dog anymore! Such a disobedient puppy—I don’t want it!”
“Wen Xi—”
Zhou Jingchen’s eyes instantly reddened.
In his panic, his grip loosened and his crutch fell to the floor with a clang.
He grabbed her wrist.
“I’m sorry. Please let me continue being your dog. I’m willing to do it. I promise I’ll never speak to you so coldly again.”
He cleverly found an excuse for himself.
“I just… heard Fang Haoyu say that you told people I wet the bed. That’s why I… I was a little unhappy. You promised me you wouldn’t tell anyone.”
When that was mentioned, Wen Xi indeed felt a little guilty.
She swallowed nervously, though her attitude remained strong.
“I… my mouth belongs to me. I can say whatever I want. You wet the bed yourself—why can’t people talk about it? I didn’t even tell my parents. That’s already being nice.”
“I know. You really are very kind. Thank you for not telling Uncle and Auntie. Otherwise I’d really be too embarrassed to face them.”
Zhou Jingchen held her small hand and gently shook it.
“Don’t be angry anymore, okay?”
He took two yuan out of his pocket and secretly slipped it into her palm like a bribe. Raising his hand as if swearing loyalty, he said:
“Don’t be angry, little princess. Your puppy will absolutely, absolutely, absolutely listen to the princess from now on.”
Wen Xi held the two yuan. The corners of her mouth curled upward as she licked her lips.
“Fine. I’m magnanimous—I won’t argue with you. But if you do it again next time, I definitely won’t go easy on you.”
“Then where will you sleep tonight?” she asked again.
Zhou Jingchen lowered his head and remained silent.
Wen Xi frowned.
“Do I really snore?”
He still said nothing.
In truth, Wen Xi did snore. Zhou Jingchen hadn’t lied.
When she was little she had been a bit chubby, which left her with the habit of snoring. When she slept she sounded like a little pig, making soft snore-snore noises. However, it wasn’t as frequent as before.
Zhou Jingchen had long been used to the sound. Saying her snoring disturbed him and made him want to sleep at his own house was merely an excuse.
Wen Xi’s brows twisted tightly together.
“Is my snoring really that loud?”
Zhou Jingchen still stayed silent.
Wen Xi’s face darkened.
After a while, she suddenly jumped off the bed and ran to the living room, rummaging through drawers and cabinets.
Finally, she found a roll of white medical tape in the medicine box. She ran to the bathroom, fiddled with it for a long time, then returned to the bedroom.
Zhou Jingchen lifted his gaze.
He saw the girl had stuck two strips of white tape in an “X” shape across her lips, sealing her mouth shut.
She plopped down beside him, shaking his arm so he would look at her properly. Mumbling unclearly, she said:
“If my mouth is taped shut, I shouldn’t snore anymore… then I won’t disturb you.”
Zhou Jingchen stared at the silly girl in front of him and suddenly felt like laughing.
The corners of his lips curved slightly upward. He pinched his fingers hard, not daring to laugh out loud.
If he laughed now, Wen Xi would definitely get angry.
A short while later, Xiang Qin knocked on the door and came in.
Seeing that the two children had already made up and were sitting at the desk by the window reviewing homework together, she smiled in relief.
Thinking that neither of them had eaten well at dinner, she went to the kitchen, cut some fruit, and brought over a fruit platter.
Zhou Jingchen pointed at a math problem in the exercise book and said gently,
“First move the X to the right side…”
The fruit platter was placed on the desk.
Zhou Jingchen looked up and said politely,“Thank you, Auntie.”
“You two keep studying,” Xiang Qin said with a smile as she walked out and closed the door behind her.