Chapter 13: Brotherly Love (05)

  For Li Jia, it was a familiar thing in Yan Nan S Middle School.

  When she was a kid, Li Jia often came to this side with her brother and other little friends to play, leaving many happy footprints. At that time, there was no large playground in S, nor the new teaching building now, not even a real school gate. She still clearly remembers that next to the old playground, there was a small pond on the edge of the mud wall, where she would go fishing with her brother and friends every summer. However, when the S playground was expanded, the little fish pond had long been dug up by an excavator. Li Jia, this little girl, was heartbroken for a while!

  The classroom of Class 211 in High School, Li Jia had been here several times before, either following her brother Li Donglin or Chen Haonan. This time, she came over again, and it was a familiar road. However, this time she was "ordered" by her father to "assist" her brother in inviting Chen Haonan to their home, and she already knew that the once familiar him had changed a lot. Thinking of these things, her mood became complicated, and the originally familiar teaching building seemed to become blurred as well. The lively and energetic her from just now couldn't help but slow down her pace...

  Li Jia hopes that later on, she can persuade Chen Haonan to go to her home in one go. She hopes that the friendship between her brother and Chen Haonan remains as before, and she even more hopes that nothing has happened - just because of the tight learning task.

  These strong hopes combined together, gradually condensed into a bright lamp - shining brightly in the heart of this fifteen-year-old girl. It made her heart slowly relax, and even let out a burst of excitement from the bottom of her heart.

  Before long, Li Jia arrived at the door of Class 211. Her sparkling eyes searched through the window glass into the classroom. Her appearance brought a considerable commotion to the classroom. As the class was about to end, the teacher sitting at the podium reading the newspaper didn't care much about the students' behavior. He just glanced at the mysterious visitor outside the window with his eyes and then lowered his head to continue reading the newspaper... Li Jia had seen this kind of thing many times before, so she didn't mind it at all.

  Soon, Li Jia saw her brother. And Li Donglin almost discovered Li Jia at the same time, he stood up straight and kept making eyes at her. Then, Li Jia quickly searched for the second target, but what made her feel strange was that the second target seemed to have disappeared...

  Then, Li Jia tiptoed and searched again in a hurry. This time she finally saw Chen Haonan: the one in the last group of the fourth row next to the aisle. However, Li Jia found that Chen Haonan seemed not to have noticed her. Just then, she discovered that the familiar him had really changed: his hair was longer, and his original silver-rimmed glasses had become melancholy black - he lowered his head, his eyes staring fixedly at the textbook.

  Through the window, Li Jia carefully observed Chen Haonan, and a voice seemed to appear in her heart: He really changed! Her mood was in disarray, just as the bell rang. Before the teacher even stood up, the students poured out of the classroom one after another. Seeing this scene, Li Jia's shy girl's heart immediately appeared, she quickly turned around, and leaned her body against the railing. At this time, she felt a slight flush on her face...

  Suddenly, Li Jia's shoulder was patted once. Li Jia knew it must be her brother coming out, and without waiting for him to speak, she hastily shouted: "Brother, wait a minute——" However, she still leaned on the railing, not even turning her head.

  "Wait a minute?" Seeing that his own sister was not quite right, Li Donglin also leaned on the railing, bent over, tilted his head, and asked in puzzlement, "Jiajia, what's wrong with you? Why do you want to wait a while?"

  "Didn't you see there are many people?" Li Jia replied extremely quickly. However, she still bowed her head.

  "Many people?" Li Donglin was somewhat perplexed, and he couldn't help but mutter to himself along with Li Jia's words. He didn't understand the reason, so he tilted his head and thought for a moment, suddenly realizing that she always had her head deeply buried. His heart skipped a beat: he understood everything. So, Li Donglin chuckled and leaned in close, teasing his sister by saying: "Haha, I didn't think you'd also have times when you're shy!"

  "Brother, stop talking......" Li Jia was anxious and kicked her legs straight, and happened to kick Li Donglin.

  Li Donglin immediately shut his mouth after being kicked. He thought that joking and teasing with his own sister was a very common thing as long as they didn't get serious or overdo it. However, this wasn't at home, there were still many classmates in the classroom and corridors - no matter what, people had to save face.

  After a while, seeing that everyone had left, Li Jia hurriedly turned around to take a look inside the classroom. Seeing Chen Haonan still sitting there, she couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Immediately after, she tightly grabbed her brother's arm and asked: "Did you talk to Haonan?"

  "Not yet, just waiting for you!" Li Donglin replied with a smile.

  "Then why don't you go and say it quickly? Mom is busy cooking at home!" Li Jia said hastily, with a flush rising to her face.

  Li Donglin seemed to have no feeling about the change on her sister's face, still half-jokingly saying: "Jiajia, why don't you go in and talk to Haonan first, he'll definitely listen to you."

  "Being advanced is just being advanced, what's the big deal!" Li Jia said without thinking, her head tilted back in a cool manner. In fact, she had made a thorough observation and confirmed that there was no one else in the classroom except Chen Haonan, otherwise she wouldn't have dared to be so carefree and confident! Before Li Donglin could finish his "please" gesture, Li Jia had already turned up her nose and walked into the classroom from the back door. At first, her footsteps were heavy, but suddenly a thought occurred to her, and her footsteps slowed down involuntarily, her waist also intentionally shrinking.

  Seeing Li Jia's behavior, Li Donglin, who was following behind, knew that this girl was up to something mischievous, but he didn't have the slightest intention of stopping her - instead, he covered his mouth with both hands and couldn't help but laugh secretly.

  She walked lightly to Chen Haonan's side, stopped for a moment and then jumped forward - doing a 90-degree turn in mid-air, landing right in front of Chen Haonan's desk. In the instant she landed, Li Jia called out affectionately "Haonan ge——". Her voice was crisp and clear, like a silver bell, full of fresh vitality.

  Suddenly, such a sound would have scared Chen Haonan to death in the past. But this time, he seemed to feel nothing, only his heart slightly shook, and the pen in his hand stopped moving. Since his father's illness, especially since this semester, Chen Haonan's heart had become numb, and those extreme expressions that used to express his inner joys and sorrows had disappeared... But what suddenly appeared in front of him was Li Jia's lovely smiling face, and he became excited all at once, opening his mouth to ask with a smile: "Jiajia, how did you come?"

  "How can I not come? Don't you remember how I used to follow you and my brother into your classroom to play?" Li Jia pouted, pretending to be serious, but as soon as she stopped talking, she burst out laughing.

  "Remember, remember..." Chen Haonan replied briefly, but still with a smile.

  At this time, Li Donglin also leaned over, and Chen Haonan glanced at him sideways. However, Li Donglin just stood there without saying a word. This made Li Jia anxious, but the clever and eccentric girl also knew the principle of "haste makes waste". She thought about bringing up something else to talk about. Suddenly, she remembered the doubt that had arisen outside the classroom earlier and asked hastily: "Haonan brother, why did you change your glasses to black? Black represents melancholy, right? And how come you grew your hair so long?" This time, Li Jia's speech slowed down a lot. Originally, she wanted to ask more questions, but for a moment, she didn't know how to express her feelings, so she had to stop in time.

  Chen Haonan didn't know why Li Jia asked him like that, so he took a closer look at her. Her innocent and lovely face, as well as the deep concern in her eyes, made him think she was just worried about him and didn't have any other meaning. Thinking of this, he smiled and replied: "Nothing much, I went to an eyeglasses store before school started and thought these glasses suited me, so I bought them..." As he spoke, he took off his glasses and held them in his hand, gently swinging them back and forth. Suddenly remembering Li Jia's other question, he smiled again and said: "As for my hair, it's time to get a haircut, but I just haven't had the time yet!" As he said this, he naturally put his black-rimmed glasses back on.

  "Oh, I see!" Li Jia believed Chen Haonan's words to be true. She didn't think much of it and even thought that his longer hair made him look cooler, especially with a pair of black-framed glasses - he was simply too cool for words. However, she hadn't carefully observed his eyes, nor had she discovered the deep sadness hidden behind those glasses...

  Li Donglin stood by, seeing his sister hesitating to bring up the "main topic", and couldn't help but feel a little anxious. As soon as Chen Haonan and Li Jia's conversation had a gap, he immediately seized the opportunity and interjected: "Haonan, my mom has been thinking about you, she asked me to bring you home for dinner today no matter what..." As he spoke, his hand lightly fell on Chen Haonan's shoulder.

  "Aunt Qiao (Hao Nan's respectful term for Li Mu, and he also respectfully referred to Li Fu as "Li Shu") is calling me to eat?" Chen Hao Nan unconsciously followed Li Dong Lin's words.

  "Yeah, my old mom was even afraid that I couldn't invite you alone, so she also sent Jiajia." Li Donglin said with a smile, and gave Li Jia a very pleased glance. Then he leaned down, staring into Chen Haonan's eyes, mysteriously smiling and saying: "Let's see if you'll give us face or not——"

  Li Donglin said with a smile, Chen Haonan smiled sincerely. His smile was not the kind of superficial courtesy, but came from his heart. But while smiling, he couldn't help but wonder: Why did Aunt Qiao suddenly ask me to dinner? And also let Donglin and Jiajia come together, what's the reason for this?

  As he thought about it, Chen Haonan seemed to have a premonition. He guessed that Li Donglin must have told his family something about him - whether to go or not, Chen Haonan couldn't help but feel anxious again. He knew that Li Donglin's family was very concerned about him, and in their home, he even had a sense of "home" - a feeling that was impossible to find in many places.

  So as soon as Li Donglin's words fell, Chen Haonan decided to go. However, he soon realized that if he went, his emotions would definitely be detected by "Aunt Qiao" and "Uncle Li", and would also affect them, they would worry too - this was something he did not want to see at all, because he had long regarded their family as his own closest people. In an instant, Chen Haonan made a decision, he decided to temporarily bury all the unpleasantness and pain - he continued to smile wholeheartedly, without responding to Li Donglin's words.

  Li Donglin waited anxiously for a response, but after more than half a day, Chen Haonan didn't even send a single word; he just smiled faintly. This made Li Donglin really impatient, and he hastily smiled and said: "I'm asking you, brother, are you going or not? Can't you give me a straight answer? I'll call you 'master' if that's what it takes!"

  Chen Haonan was waiting for Li Donglin's words. To know that Li Donglin is very hard to admit defeat in front of others, when he is anxious and has no choice, he will say something like "Call someone a master" - this is his usual trick to retreat. Because he knew Li Donglin's habit well, as soon as he heard his words, Chen Haonan stood up with a "thud", stuffed the book into his desk and said: "Go, definitely go! However..."

  "What's 'but' about it? Stop being mysterious!" This was Li Donglin's urgent voice again.

  "But it's not for your face, it's for the lovely Xiaojia's face..." Chen Haonan said loudly as he pushed away Li Donglin, and grabbed Li Jia's hand to run outside.

  Chen Haonan's sudden movement shocked Li Donglin into a daze. When he came to, Chen Haonan and Li Jia were nowhere to be seen, so he hastily chased after them, shouting as he ran: "Wait for me! Wait for me!..."