allonlinenovel Chapter 310 Obedient and Clingy Younger Brother (21)
Chapter 310 Obedient and Clingy Younger Brother (21)
"What a spineless coward," Jin Shuhe thought, barely daring to look up. He tried his best to keep his tone steady.
He didn't want Sister Li Ruan to see his tears, so he could only stiffen his neck and continue to stand there stiffly like a withered tree.
Could it be that Sister Li Ruan doesn't care at all, and only he cares this much? If Sister Li Ruan sees him crying, will she... think he's strange? Jin Shuhe couldn't help but think.
"Ah... then who will have dinner with me from now on?"
A soft sigh reached Jin Shuhe's ears, and the tears that had been welling up in his eyes instantly fell.
It's okay, it's already very good. I'm able to get to know Sister Li Ruan and occasionally linger in her world...
After spending time with Sister Li Ruan, she might still remember me even after I leave.
Jin Shuhe looked at his shoes, pinched the hem of his clothes with his fingers and twisted it hard, feeling a slight stinging pain in his fingertips.
The news was so sudden that Lu Liruan didn't know how to react for a moment.
How could she not see the child's sadness?
He stood there, looking so forlorn and pitiful; it was impossible to hide it.
But Lu Liruan didn't know what she could say or what she could do in this matter.
This made her suddenly feel extremely powerless.
What kind of life will this child lead in the future?
When will I be able to see him again?
Maybe it will be easy to see him; if I want to see him, I can see him next week, next month, next semester...
But what kind of life is he living? What is he thinking? Is he sad or upset?
Lu Liruan felt that she was beyond her reach.
Although this analogy is inappropriate, Lu Liruan had done volunteer work, visiting orphanages and nursing homes.
The little children at the orphanage surrounded him, listening to his stories. When they received their new stationery and schoolbags, they all smiled happily, their faces radiant with joy. But why were they like that on a normal day?
Without needing to delve deeper, Lu Liruan knew that they were not actually happy. At such a young age, they already understood what it meant to be abandoned and what it meant to be alone and helpless.
The elderly people at the nursing home held her hands, beaming with joy, treating her like their grandchildren, and taught Lu Liruan how to make dumplings and how to write calligraphy.
But one time, when Lu Liruan went there, she saw Aunt Jiang, who worked there, secretly wiping away tears.
An elderly woman surnamed Lu who had lived here for many years passed away last night.
The aunt took the tissue Lu Liruan handed her and sighed, "How pitiful, all alone all these years... I see it every day and it breaks my heart, but what can I do?"
"It's good that she's gone. She's no longer sick and can enjoy life now," she murmured.
After returning home that day, Lu Liruan lay on her bed and cried for a long time for no apparent reason.
Now, those feelings are flooding back again.
What should she do?
Jin Shuhe forgot how she got home that day. She only remembered that when she opened the door and saw Aunt Chun standing there, she still couldn't control her tears.
Under Aunt Chun's surprised gaze, he quickly returned to his room.
"you……"
He shut out Aunt Chun's voice.
He wasn't unaware that the soundproofing in this small room wasn't very good, and Aunt Chun clearly hadn't intended to deliberately hide it from him.
"Don't talk to me about that. I'm not taking him with me. I'll let him sleep on the streets."
……
"Screw your adulthood! What obligations? What, does being an adult mean you can conjure up money and a house overnight? Didn't I tell you that before? Stop spouting nonsense!"
Aunt Chun's words were as unpleasant as ever.
Jin Shuhe knew who she was talking to.
"I'm living with you, shouldn't I be spending your money? What do you mean it's not about money? You're rich, but you're so stingy... You have a few coins, why are you so petty!"
Over the years, Aunt Chun had tried living together, but Jin Shuhe knew that he was an endless source of arguments. If he were Aunt Chun's biological child, perhaps... but he was just a burden she couldn't get rid of.
Aunt Chun is not young anymore. This is the first time in all these years that Jin Shuhe has heard her mention with a smile that she is getting married. Although Jin Shuhe has never met the person she is marrying.
The arguing continued. Jin Shuhe opened the drawer and found a bank card. It was opened using Aunt Chun's ID card and linked to his own mobile phone. Whenever Jin Shuhe earned some money, he would deposit it into this card. The money in this card would not be withdrawn.
Jin Shuhe looked at the amount displayed on the app.
He silently took the card back.
In the following days, Jin Shuhe was in a daze and couldn't even remember the date. There wasn't much in the refrigerator to begin with, but when he opened it again, he smelled a strange odor coming from inside. The old power strip that was plugged into the refrigerator had broken down at some point.
There was no air conditioning in the room, so Jin Shuhe opened the door to let in some fresh air. The hot, dusty air from outside hit him, making him feel as if he had been transported back in time.
Today is August 20th.
Aunt Chun had already started packing things, but she clearly didn't know how to do it, stuffing each box into a mess.
Jin Shuhe squatted on the living room floor, quietly folding and arranging the clothes neatly. She also arranged the items to be taken one by one, sealing the boxes with tape and writing on the outside of each box what was inside with a marker.
Then stack them up one by one.
One by one, the boxes and crates were packed away, and the things in the house became less and less. The kitchen shelves were empty, and even the kitchen utensils and dishes were stuffed with tissues and put into boxes lined with foam.
His own room, however, remained completely untouched and undisturbed.
"Xiao He, come and help me put these away too!" Aunt Chun would order Jin Shuhe around when she was home.
She had packed almost everything, and the room was empty.
The rest was a jumbled mess, which could be packed into a few boxes.
Lu Liruan went to the store to keep an eye on things as usual these past few days. It was Saturday again, but this time Jin Shuhe didn't come over on his own initiative, and Lu Liruan didn't call him either.
"Where's your brother? He didn't come with you this week," Sister Wang asked casually.
“Ah… he’ll be a senior in high school when school starts, so he doesn’t have much time right now.” Lu Liruan smiled.
"You have to study hard in your senior year of high school! I always hear people say that the senior year is the first step that determines a person's future!"
"My child isn't in their final year of high school yet, but I'm already worried about it. What can we parents do to help with our children's studies?" Ms. Wang clearly cares a lot about her child and is full of concern for them.
"All we can do is create a comfortable and good environment for the child..." Lu Liruan said, as if she were talking to Sister Wang, but also as if she were talking to herself.
That evening, Lu Liruan stared blankly at the new phone she had just bought the day before, leaning back on the sofa.
This was originally a birthday gift she prepared for Jin Shuhe.
After overhearing about Jin Shuhe's birthday, Lu Liruan secretly began making preparations.
Lu Liruan had looked at the child's phone; it was clearly someone else's old one. It was very slow and inconvenient to use. Lu Liruan could also tell that the child was very reluctant to let others see the color of the phone.
Lu Liruan didn't buy anything too expensive. This phone cost a little over a thousand yuan, and its functions were pretty good, in Lu Liruan's opinion. It wasn't a particularly expensive gift for him.
Lu Liruan pondered for a moment, put her phone back in the box, opened her account backend, and checked the cards linked to her payment app, looking thoughtful.
On the evening of August 22nd, when Jin Shuhe returned from taking out the trash, Aunt Chun was sealing the last box containing her work clothes with tape.
She smoothed her hair and said, "Xiao He, we're moving out today. Someone will come to pick us up in a bit."
Jin Shuhe stood there, stunned.
Jin Shuhe didn't know who the person who came was, nor did she want to know. Judging from Aunt Chun's words, it seemed like a last-minute decision, and she didn't know why it was in such a hurry.
The other party probably didn't want him to come along at all. Jin Shuhe knew this clearly.
Today was supposed to be the day I met Sister Li Ruan.
I just passed by downstairs, and the lights were on in Sister Li Ruan's house.
"I..." Jin Shuhe pressed his toes against the box on the ground, wanting to say something.
“I can be here by myself.” He mustered his courage, thinking he was speaking loudly, but he was just muttering to himself.
"Why are you thinking so much, you little kid?" Aunt Chun interrupted him, speaking hastily with a forced, relaxed expression and a slight twitch of her lips.
The air seemed to freeze; the countdown to leaving this place had begun.
Jin Shuhe didn't say anything more. He lowered his head and silently moved all the boxes into the corridor, then closed the door behind him for the last time.
But at this moment, a sudden surge of emotions welled up in his heart, pressing countless feelings to his throat. He wanted to speak and shout, but he couldn't open his mouth.
The sound of brakes came from downstairs.
The whole day was gloomy, and finally it rained as the sky darkened. The damp, slightly fishy smell of the earth stimulated people's noses.
Footsteps approached upstairs, and the man who appeared at the entrance of the stairwell was a slightly overweight, rather mature, and rather refined and serious-looking man in a suit, quite different from any other man Jin Shuhe had met in recent years.
His scrutinizing gaze fell on Jin Shuhe.
Jin Shuhe noticed that Aunt Chun, who was standing next to him, awkwardly raised her hand to smooth her hair.
In that instant, he desperately wanted to rush out and escape from this suffocating environment.
But there was nothing he could do; he bit his cheek hard, the pain preventing him from making a sound.
"Let's go." The man nodded politely to them at the end.
Jin Shuhe picked up the package from the ground.
"Click."
Just as he took his first step, the door next to him was suddenly pushed open with such force that it almost hit him.
The person inside seemed surprised by their own strength and quickly grabbed the doorknob with one hand.
Jin Shuhe staggered, and then he saw that Sister Li Ruan's expression was very strange. She seemed to be taking deep breaths and making some kind of decision.
Her knuckles were white from gripping the doorknob so tightly, and she looked intently at Jin Shuhe.
"Do you want to stay here with me?" she asked clearly. Her beautiful eyes no longer held their usual smile; her gaze was firm yet gentle, and her tone was anything but joking.
"I will take care of you until you can live independently, treating you like my younger brother, and providing you with a stable and peaceful living and learning environment!"
Lu Liruan uttered these words slowly, as if afraid that Jin Shuhe wouldn't understand, trying her best to explain the meaning of her words.
"Ah..." Jin Shuhe stood there dumbfounded, as if everything around him had disappeared.
He couldn't understand what Sister Li Ruan meant either, and remained rooted to the spot, motionless.
Aunt Chun, who was standing next to him, and the man who had just come up also looked puzzled.
"What are you saying?" Aunt Chun said in a shrill voice, looking at Lu Liruan as if she thought Lu Liruan was talking nonsense.
What is this little girl in the soft pink nightgown saying? Does she even realize how much trouble this is?
"I'm serious," Lu Liruan said clearly and calmly. Her heart had been pounding ever since she uttered the first sentence.
How could she not know this was a heavy responsibility? She had considered it for several days, thought it through carefully, and assessed her financial situation...
She considered all possible scenarios before finally making this decision. As long as Jin Shuhe was willing, she could and was willing to take on this responsibility.
Jin Shuhe had never heard anyone speak like this before. Someone had taken the initiative to say to him, "I can accept you. I am willing to take responsibility," and invited him into their world.
Jin Shuhe felt a sharp pang in his heart, and his eyes welled up with tears. He had originally planned to leave today.
Today is his eighteenth birthday. As an adult, he can take responsibility for his own choices and no longer need to be supervised or dragged along by others. He can walk a different path.
Although he still felt empty inside, filled with worry and a vague fear of the unknown future, he had to take this step.
"Do you want to stay? I feel quite lonely living alone in this city. I'm very happy to have you with me these days. You won't be a burden to me, you won't have to live a hard life, and you won't have to be so careful..." Lu Liruan tried her best to say what she had prepared from Jin Shuhe's perspective.
She could tell that Jin Shuhe was wavering and uncertain at this moment.
Jin Shuhe bent down slightly, trying to wipe his face. No one can escape being needed, and no one can escape being treated kindly.
His vision was so blurry that he couldn't see anything clearly. Aunt Chun had interrupted him earlier, which made him lose the courage to continue speaking.
Li Ruan's words seemed to have helped him rediscover his voice; he needed to act like an adult and choose his own path.
"……it is good."
Lu Liruan heard his answer.
Jin Shuhe thought that even if it was just for a short while, even if it was just to find an excuse for Aunt Chun to go back to her own life, he was willing to agree.
He wanted to live with Sister Li Ruan because those were some of the happiest days he had ever had in all these years.
Even just saying "okay" makes him feel happy.