In the dream, everything was hazy and foggy, wrapped in a warm, sweet fragrance. Steeped in the rising heat of ambiguity, her mind grew clouded and unclear.
Yin Li didn’t feel cold. Instead, the blazing heat beside her made her heart run cold.
Her eyes were gently covered, but she couldn’t loosen the binding. All she could do was whimper and beg for mercy.
But her pleas only brought another storm of fierce intensity.
“Ah.” Yin Li let out a short, startled cry and woke up. A thin layer of sweat covered her body, and the fan had been turned down a notch.
She was a grown girl now. Her father wouldn’t just walk into her room anymore. That was also why he had chosen to remarry—she was a daughter, and there were many things he felt uncomfortable discussing with her.
So when she woke up in the morning with a slight chill, Aunt Li, who rose early, would come in and adjust the fan for her if she saw Yin Li was still asleep.
She had never appreciated these small kindnesses before.
Her father and Aunt Li had already left for work. Zhao Xiujie seemed to have gone to his workplace too.
In those days, there were very few people who had returned from studying abroad. Most had been sent by the state, but Zhao Xiujie had paid his own way—only someone like Aunt Li, who could earn a good income, could have afforded to support him.
Of course, whether state-funded or self-funded, Zhao Xiujie was a rare talent. It was said he was now working as an engineer at some automobile company.
Yin Li decided to pay less attention to his affairs and focus on herself. Slipping on her sandals and rubbing her eyes, she shuffled toward the main room.
“You’re awake? Eat breakfast first,” Zhao Xiujie said as she stepped out. The aroma of fried eggs filled the air. He was carrying a small pot of steaming porridge.
Yin Li froze. She hadn’t expected him to be home. Usually, no one was here at this hour. She looked at herself—still unwashed, hair a messy tangle—and quickly tried to pat it down. “Brother, you didn’t go to work?”
“Even a mule needs rest. I just got here yesterday. I’ll go in a couple of days.” He began ladling out porridge for her.
“Oh, right, right.” Yin Li felt very awkward. Hugging her bare arms, she took a step back. “I’ll go wash up first.”
Zhao Xiujie nodded, but grew more puzzled. Had the distance between them really grown just because they hadn’t seen each other in so long?
The window was open, revealing her well-proportioned arms and pale, long, straight legs. The morning light gathered gently around her like fine white porcelain. Even her movements stirred a springtime ripple.
She really had grown into a young woman.
Zhao Xiujie seemed to think of something and smiled faintly, but quickly suppressed it.
As for Yin Li, she stared at the toothbrush with toothpaste already squeezed onto it, utterly embarrassed. In recent years, she had stopped letting her father do these things for her, because people said he spoiled her too much. This had to be Zhao Xiujie’s doing…
Sigh… She brushed her teeth carefully. She planned to go to the library later, just to avoid spending too much time around Zhao Xiujie.
She hadn’t minded before, but now, sharing the same roof, she felt uncomfortable no matter what.
In her dream, too, she had been unable to help herself from hovering around Zhao Xiujie the moment he returned, so much so that she never noticed Aunt Li’s growing suspicion.
After washing up, the two siblings sat down to eat together.
“We should go to the hospital later. We don’t want that throat inflammation to get worse,” Zhao Xiujie said with concern, noticing she still coughed now and then.
Yin Li waved her hand. “It’s fine. It’ll go away in a couple of days.”
She was not going to the hospital. Still, as they talked, she felt she had been too cautious.
Being too distant with her stepbrother wouldn’t be good either. As long as she didn’t entertain any inappropriate thoughts, it would be fine.
After all, in the dream, she had always been the one to make the first move. Just as she was thinking this, Zhao Xiujie, just like in the old days, picked up some food with his chopsticks and placed it on her plate.
Zhao Xiujie had a gentle, refined nature. His skin, inherited from Aunt Li, was a cool, pale white. Holding the wooden chopsticks, his fingers looked like green bamboo—a pleasure just to look at.
Realizing that her gaze had unconsciously drifted to his hands, Yin Li quickly looked away. “Brother, I can do it myself. I’m not a child anymore!”
“Right, right, our Li Li has grown up. You said you wanted to learn a foreign language—I brought some books back. They’ll be perfect for you.”
“Thank you, Brother.” Yin Li wouldn’t refuse study materials. She picked up her spoon and began drinking her porridge.
For her first meal of the day, she always ate very slowly, scooping up just a little bit of porridge with the ceramic spoon before bringing it slowly to her mouth.
Her eyes were unfocused, looking nowhere in particular, her mind wandering.
Zhao Xiujie knew this habit of hers. She was zoning out.
He had never realized that simply watching her eat could bring him such joy.
Yin Li finished her porridge at a leisurely pace. When she looked up, she met his gaze—gentle as water. Her heart fluttered in panic, and she quickly stood up.
“I’m done. You rest, Brother. I’ll clean up.”
“It’s fine. Uncle Yin has never made you wash the dishes. How could I bear to?” Zhao Xiujie stopped her and began collecting the bowls and chopsticks.
Yin Li felt that his words were somehow embarrassing to hear, though she couldn’t quite explain why. Touching her flushed cheek with an awkward smile, she prepared to slip into her room to read.
Just as she was thinking this, there was another knock at the door.
Yin Li walked toward the door, asking, “Who is it?”
She opened it to see Li Hanting standing outside, holding an aluminum thermos.
“Why are you here?” Yin Li glanced inside the house and instinctively stepped out. He rarely came over before—only when her father was home.
At the same time, Zhao Xiujie walked over, drying his hands on a towel. “Who is it? Are they looking for you, Li Li?”
Li Hanting glanced at Yin Li’s tank top, then at Zhao Xiujie coming from inside. He spoke up: “Your throat hasn’t gotten better. I made you some soup to soothe it.”
Hearing this, Yin Li leaned in with interest to take a look. “You went to all that trouble. Sorry for the hassle.”
“It’s nothing.”
Since he had specially brought the soup, Yin Li naturally had to invite him inside.
“Brother, it’s my friend~” she said in a light, cheerful tone, tugging at the hem of his shirt.
So it was the man from yesterday. Zhao Xiujie gave an “Oh” and said, “Come in and sit down.”
Li Hanting had to bend slightly to get through the doorway. He was so tall that the door seemed a bit low.
For some reason, Zhao Xiujie felt as though a wild beast had silently crept into their home.
A sudden sense of crisis rose within Zhao Xiujie. He had studied abroad, where attitudes were more open and romantic relationships between men and women were much freer.
So he could naturally recognize what it meant when a man bothered to make soup and remembered that Yin Li wasn’t feeling well.
“Mm, Brother, go ahead and do what you were doing. I know how to entertain him,” Yin Li said, eager to drink the sweet soup. Still, she didn’t forget to pour a cup of hot water for Li Hanting.
But Zhao Xiujie found it hard to move his feet. His heart felt stuck again.
Yin Li wasn’t worried about any of that. She took the cup of rock sugar, pear, and hot orange tea that Li Hanting poured for her and took a delighted sip.
“Is it good?” Li Hanting asked, seeing her drink happily.
Yin Li nodded. As she set down the cup and looked up, she caught sight of his exposed forearm.
His arm was thick and sturdy, clearly powerful, with prominent veins visible beneath the skin.
But for some reason, Yin Li thought of the arms in her dream last night—the arms that had held her so tightly…
“Cough, cough, cough!”
“What’s wrong? Did it go down the wrong pipe?”