Chapter 55: The Rise and Fall of Branching Out (12)

  When Chen Haonan woke up, he found that Xiao Qiuyue was gone. He suddenly saw that it was already dark outside the window, and he panicked, quickly looking at his watch - only ten minutes before evening self-study. "This is going to be a disaster!" His heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he hastily jumped out of bed. Without even caring about his wrinkled clothes or messy hair, he rushed out of the dormitory like flying.

  Although Chen Haonan sincerely and skillfully said some vivid and reasonable words to the class teacher Wang Ze on the night he arrived at Class 214, Wang Ze still deliberately targeted new students in some aspects. In order not to provoke Wang Ze's anger, Chen Haonan was always very careful, afraid of making a little mistake...

  Chen Haonan ran to the classroom door and was immediately stunned: the classroom was packed with people, and Wang Ze sat in front of the podium with a gloomy face. Fortunately, Wang Ze only glanced at Chen Haonan and didn't say a word. Under the gaze of everyone, Chen Haonan nervously sat down in his seat. "Dead autumn, this rabbit son woke up and didn't even call me!" Chao Xiaoqiu glared at him, and he cursed viciously in his heart...

  It's okay for three late self-study sessions, nothing unexpected happened - except that during the second self-study session, it started raining under the night sky, accompanied by strong winds.

  He went out to dinner with Xiao Qiuming, wasting the whole afternoon. Chen Haonan felt a bit sorry for himself, so after the bell rang, he quietly stayed behind. Because after self-study class, the classroom would still have electricity for half an hour, Chen Haonan wanted to use this time to read some books and make up for the wasted time in the afternoon. But just as he found his English vocabulary notebook, Li Donglin slipped into the classroom like a ghost.

  "Donglin, it's raining! You little rascal still haven't gone home? Be careful or Aunt Qiao will spank your butt!" Chen Haonan discovered Li Donglin just in time, otherwise he would have been startled. Putting down his book, he said with a smile.

  "Hit me on the butt? I don't think so!" Li Donglin said with a smile, "However, you little scamp have done something good and must confess honestly!"

  "What good deed have I done? I'm a straightforward person, don't try to fool me! Otherwise——" Chen Haonan was just arguing with Li Donglin when two girls suddenly appeared at the classroom door, and his words were stuck in his throat because the newcomers were Yu Fen and Yu Na sisters!

  Yu Fen and Yu Na stood at the classroom door, staring at Chen Haonan, neither entering nor speaking a word. Chen Haonan hesitated for half a day before squeezing out a sentence: "How did you guys come?" As he spoke, he walked towards them.

  Li Donglin didn't know Chen Haonan would be so excited, but the more he thought about it, the more pleased he became. He quickly pulled Chen Haonan over and whispered into his ear with a smile: "Haonan, you little scoundrel, when did you get a girlfriend? You didn't even tell your brother! And to top it off, you got two... You're really something!"

  Chen Haonan gave Li Donglin a stern look, his elbow also involuntarily poking into Li Donglin's chest, but he didn't say anything, just kept walking forward.

  "Alright, you little rascal got a girlfriend and didn't even tell your brothers, I asked you and you still hit me, good job, you little rascal!" Li Donglin said with a smile, leaning in close to Chen Haonan's ear. But Chen Haonan seemed not to have heard him, walking over to Yu Fen and Yu Na before beckoning Li Donglin over. Li Donglin happily followed, but Chen Haonan suddenly grabbed the back of his neck and shouted: "You little rascal, if you spout nonsense again I'll smack you! Yu Fen and Yu Na are my sisters!"

  "Ah! Murder!..." Li Donglin shouted on purpose, not wanting Chen Haonan to say that the two beauties in front of him were his sisters. He quickly shut his mouth. As soon as Chen Haonan let go of his hand, Li Donglin hastily pulled him aside and asked with a bitter smile: "Your sister? Aren't you surnamed 'Chen'? Besides, didn't you say you only had one sister? How did two suddenly appear?"

  "I'm not telling you!" Chen Haonan said with a helpless expression. But he didn't idle around, pointing at Li Donglin and calling out to Yu Fen and Yu Na: "This rascal is 'Li Donglin', my good brother - isn't that right, Donglin?" As he spoke, he nudged Li Donglin with his shoulder.

  "Yeah, we're good buddies!" Li Donglin said with a big smile. But after a while, he leaned in close to Chen Haonan's ear and asked softly, "Haonan, is she really your sister, not your girlfriend?"

  "Are you trying to kill me?!" Chen Haonan raised his fist, wanting to punch Li Donglin, but he withdrew it halfway. Closing his eyes tightly for a moment, he said slowly in an almost pleading tone: "Those two are really my sisters, they accompanied me for two whole years during middle school, and because of many things, we lost contact - just the other day we reunited at S..."

  "I believe you, I believe you..." Li Donglin saw Chen Haonan's serious expression and quickly smiled to apologize.

  Chen Haonan took a look at Yu Fen and Yu Na, then said to Li Donglin: "Then I'll introduce you." As he spoke, he pointed to the slightly taller Yu Na and said "This is Yu Na", and then pointed to the slightly shorter Yu Fen and said "This is Yu Fen". He continued, adding: "The two of them are twin sisters, Yu Fen is the older sister, and Yu Na is the younger sister."

  "Nice to meet you, nice to meet you, I'm glad to know both of you. In the future, if there's anything, just let me know, and Haonan's sister is my sister too!" Only then did Li Donglin really return to normal.

  "Right, Fen and Nana, how did you find Donglin?" Chen Haonan asked hastily.

  "It's like this," Li Donglin hastily helped them answer, "For a week now, I've seen the two of them hanging around our classroom door several times, but I didn't pay much attention. Just now when we were leaving self-study class, I saw them peeking into the classroom from the corridor - out of curiosity, I went up to ask them. Who would have thought that they were actually looking for you? So I quickly brought them over... haha, good thing you hadn't returned to your dorm yet..."

  "Oh, I see!" Chen Haonan patted Donglin's shoulder and said, "Thanks a lot!"

  "We said we could find it ourselves, but this 'Donglin brother' is very enthusiastic, and he led me and my sister to find you. Fortunately, there was him, or else we would not know how many wrong roads we would have run. Maybe tonight we wouldn't have seen you, Brother Han..." Yu Na said with a smile, she was very happy to see Chen Han.

  "Just call me Donglin!" Li Donglin hastily interjected. Yu Na and Yu Fen also nodded in agreement.

  "It's all my fault. I transferred to the liberal arts class and didn't even tell you guys - it's so late, do you have something urgent to see me about?" Chen Haonan scratched his head.

  "Hao Nan Ge, we——" Yu Fen had just spoken when she fell silent for a while, and tears began to flow. Chen Hao Nan was also anxious for a moment, not knowing what to say.

  At this time, Li Donglin noticed something and hurriedly said, "You three chat slowly, I have to go home, or else my mom will really spank me like Chen Haonan said - remember, don't forget the time, your dormitory is about to close soon!" He said and walked out, Chen Haonan, Yu Fen and Yu Na hurriedly waved goodbye to him.

  Li Donglin left, Chen Haonan hurriedly and anxiously asked: "Fen'er, what's wrong with you? Is something going on at home? Whatever it is, tell your brother, don't cry - crying doesn't look good!" As he spoke, he gently pinched Yu Fen's nose.

  "Hao Nan Ge——" Yu Na also cried on the side. At this time, Chen Hao Nan was even more at a loss for what to do. He just wanted to speak, but Yu Na cried and said: "Hao Nan Ge, such a big thing happened in your family, you didn't tell us... You're so worried about yourself, yet you still care about us..."

  Chen Haonan's heart skipped a beat, unsure of what to do, but seeing Yu Fen and Yu Na crying, he couldn't think much, busily comforting them: "You two don't have to worry about me anymore, I'm fine now. After all, my dad is gone, this is an unchangeable fact, if he knows in the afterlife, he will also bless you..."

  "But can the dead really protect others?" Yu Fen said with tears in her eyes.

  "Alas——" Chen Haonan let out a long sigh and said, "Regardless of whether we can protect him or not, once a person is dead, they cannot be brought back to life. We can't live in tears every day, can we?" As he spoke, his eyes also flashed with tears, but not a single drop fell.

  "Hao Nan, if you're feeling sad, just cry. Don't hold it in, it'll be too hard to bear... I and my sister are here with you!" Yu Na saw Chen Hao Nan biting his lip tightly, his fists also clenched tightly, and her heart couldn't help but ache even more.

  "I won't shed tears easily again, I've sworn not to cry easily anymore..." Chen Haonan said, taking a deep breath. "Tears can't explain anything, let alone the ancient saying 'A man has tears but does not shed them easily'!... I'm really fine, you guys go back to your dorms, or else it'll be bad if the gate closes!" As he spoke, he suddenly remembered Li Donglin's reminder as he was leaving. But Yu Fen and Yu Na seemed not to have heard him, still crying, Chen Haonan got anxious and shouted: "Stop crying! If you don't, then don't call me 'brother' anymore! My sisters must be very strong..."

  "Hao Nan Ge, we just won't cry!" Chen Hao Nan's words suddenly stirred Yu Fen and Yu Na to quickly take out tissues to wipe away their tears, and they smiled faintly.

  "Alright, that sounds more like it!" Chen Haonan also smiled happily, "If you two are still worried about me, let's have a good chat tomorrow afternoon, the three of us. How does that sound?"

  "That's great!" Yu Na exclaimed, jumping up excitedly.

  However, Yu Fen calmly asked "the actual question": "Where is that?"

  "Let's go to the park," Chen Haonan thought for a moment and said, "I often go there, sometimes I sit for several hours, and I can find many feelings there..."

  "I also like Youyuan with my sister, we often go there for a walk." Yu Na pulled her sister's arm and said happily.

  "That's settled then. You two go find me after lunch tomorrow!" With that, Chen Haonan urged Yu Fen and Yu Na to head back to their dorm...