“Aunt…”
“Sister!” Lin Shen was the first to speak, quickly pulling his arm off Lin Wangye’s shoulder and rushing over with a bright smile on his face. “What brings you here? Just passing by?”
As Lin Shen’s biological sister, Lin Qianqian had a gentler, more feminine appearance. Her features—her eyes, her face shape—were clearly different from Lin Shen’s.
But blood ties are truly something magical.
When these siblings stood together, it was immediately obvious that they were full-blooded siblings from the same mother, as long as you didn’t have severe nearsightedness. The resemblance was unmistakable.
Lin Qianqian was two years older than Lin Shen. From a young age, the family had been pushing her toward a career in music, enrolling her in various singing competitions starting in elementary school. She was now a sophomore at Ningchang Music Academy.
Maybe because she was still young, Lin Qianqian didn’t wear the bold, fierce red lipstick that Lin Wangye was used to seeing, but instead kept her makeup natural with a subtle lip gloss. But for someone as naturally beautiful as her, even this light touch was more than enough.
Like how almost every older sister in the world seems to have little patience for their younger brothers, Lin Qianqian wasn’t particularly warm toward Lin Shen either.
She only responded indifferently to his greeting before turning her attention to the other two. Her gaze lingered on Lin Wangye, who she’d never met before.
Xiao Lin was a master at handling situations, flashing a pure, harmless smile that reached his eyes. His tone was cheerful, his voice soft and smooth, with a slight rise at the end of his sentence.
“Hello, sister~”
The vast majority of women would find it hard to resist a cute young guy like that calling them ‘sister.’
This was a whole different vibe from a troublesome real-life younger brother.
Lin Qianqian’s heart was struck by something deep. Her eyes lit up, and without missing a beat, she hit the button to roll the car window all the way down. As if nothing had happened, she smiled, “Are you a new friend of Lin Shen?”
“Yes,” Lin Wangye nodded obediently, his smile still intact. “My name is Lin Wangye.”
“Oh, you have the same last name. What a coincidence,” she said as the sounds of locks being unlocked came from the front and back seats. Lin Qianqian lifted her arm and waved slightly.
“Get in, I’ll treat you to something delicious.”
After a brief pause, she glanced at the man standing beside her, Lu Chengxuan, and added, “Lu, come along too.”
“Okay!”
Lin Wangye didn’t hesitate for even a second. With his backpack on, he happily ran to the back seat. Lin Shen was stunned by how easily he’d gotten along and how quickly he’d won over his older sister. He was so amazed that he walked around the car in a daze and opened the front passenger door.
“Go sit somewhere else,” Lin Qianqian said with a dismissive wave, turning to Lin Wangye who was already seated in the back. “Xiao Lin, you come up front, it’s easier to avoid motion sickness here.”
Just as Lin Shen was about to settle into the front seat, he froze.
In the back seat, Lin Wangye locked eyes with Lin Shen, blinked, and then obediently nodded, “Okay!”
After the seat switch, the car began driving smoothly.
There was almost no such thing as an aunt who wasn’t close to her nephew.
When Lin Wangye was little, Lin Shen was always too busy with work, but Lin Qianqian hadn’t fully thrown herself into her entertainment career when she was younger. After her first album hit, she married the rich businessman she’d been engaged to for years and gradually stepped back from the spotlight.
As a result, Lin Wangye had essentially been raised by his aunt, and the bond they shared was undeniable.
Thinking about Lin Qianqian, Lin Wangye couldn’t help but feel a bit of regret.
After all, she hadn’t had a very happy marriage. She’d faced infidelity after a few years of marriage, and the divorce had dragged on for ages.
For a woman who’d been home for years, trying to make a comeback, especially in the entertainment industry, was no easy task. Even with the support of the Lin family’s corporation, the challenges, and the public scrutiny, never seemed to lessen.
It had taken Lin Qianqian almost ten years to regain her footing in the industry.
Lin Wangye did the math and realized that Lin Qianqian had already made a marriage arrangement with the rich businessman and was just waiting for graduation to get married.
Which was probably around the same time his grandfather passed away.
What the hell was all of this? Seriously, this was too much.
I’m still just a kid. Why does it feel like trouble keeps piling on, one after the other?!
It was so annoying!
Sitting in the front seat, Lin Wangye felt like his mind was in a mess, like some intergalactic war was happening in his head. He shut his eyes, trying to push all the chaotic thoughts away, and started thinking about what he should do next.
With his current abilities, trying to stop this marriage felt like an impossible dream.
For now, his only option was to get closer to Lin Qianqian.
The only solution to this problem was to see if he could break it from the inside, and get Lin Qianqian to abandon the idea on her own.
As he was thinking this, Lin Wangye suddenly realized that in the less than a minute since the car started moving, the atmosphere had become eerily quiet. His father and Lu Chengxuan were both silent in the back seat, and even his aunt wasn’t saying anything.
Lin Wangye quickly scanned the car, his eyes landing on the car’s air freshener next to the gear shift.
“Sister, what perfume are you wearing?” Lin Wangye sniffed the air, turning toward the scent. “It has a nice fruity smell.”
Lin Qianqian, one hand still on the steering wheel, kept her eyes focused on the road as she grabbed the perfume bottle and handed it to him. “It’s YSJ’s lime jasmine. I’ll give it to you if you like it.”
Lin Wangye quickly pulled his hand back. “Oh, I couldn’t! That’s too much!”
Lin Shen, who’d been holding in his irritation since they got in the car, couldn’t help but finally voice his frustration. He had been silently annoyed by how gentle Lin Qianqian was acting toward Lin Wangye. Seizing the chance, he immediately started to complain, “She already said she’s giving it to you, and you’re acting all polite. What’s the point? It’s not like my sister can’t afford to buy it herself.”
Lin Qianqian shot him a look through the rearview mirror. “Hey, how did you even manage to make friends with someone like that?”
Lin Shen quickly shrank back, disappearing from the mirror, and stayed silent.
Lin Qianqian sighed. “Do you have any money left?”
“No,” Lin Shen slouched in his seat, his voice weak as he answered.
Lin Qianqian said, “My bag’s in the back. There’s cash in it; help yourself.”
Since they were siblings, Lin Shen wasn’t shy at all. As soon as he heard this, he started looking for the bag, but after rummaging around, he didn’t find it. Just as he was about to ask, he suddenly felt something pressing uncomfortably against him.
He reached down, and sure enough, he pulled out the bag from underneath his seat.
With the Lin family’s wealth, it was no surprise that the young lady carried a designer bag. When Lin Shen took a closer look, he realized that the uncomfortable feeling he’d had earlier was from the metal charm on the bag.
Because he’d been sitting on it, the charm had scratched against the genuine leather, leaving a mark.
Lin Shen’s heart skipped a beat, and instinctively, he glanced over at Lu Chengxuan.
Without saying a word, Lu Chengxuan turned his gaze toward the window.
Lin Shen: “…”
After sitting there for a while, Lin Shen felt like his heart was about to leap out of his throat. He cleared his throat and cautiously asked, “Sister, do you like this bag?”
“What nonsense are you talking?” Lin Qianqian replied, slightly puzzled. “If I didn’t like it, would I be carrying it?”
Lin Shen’s heart trembled. “Does it cost a lot?”
Lin Qianqian thought for a moment. “It was ordered a long time ago, can’t really remember. Maybe four or five hundred thousand?”
Lin Shen swallowed, his mind starting to work deviously. He then said with righteous indignation, “Sister, how did this bag get this mark? What happened? Who did this?”
At that, Lu Chengxuan rubbed his forehead, unsure how to even begin commenting on this mess of an attempt to cover up the situation.
Lin Wangye also turned his head, shocked by his father’s lack of common sense.
Lin Qianqian had grown up with Lin Shen. She knew him so well that she could tell immediately what had happened without thinking. She shot him a death glare through the rearview mirror and ground her teeth, saying, “If I don’t kick your ass after we park, I’ll change my last name.”
Lin Shen sneaked a glance at her, his face filled with fear as he quickly avoided eye contact.
If it weren’t for the car’s limited features, he swore he’d have been ejected straight into outer space along with his seat.
“Uh… so, are you still giving me my pocket money…?” Lin Shen meekly asked.
“Take it,” Lin Qianqian sighed, as if resigning herself to fate. “Otherwise, I’m afraid you’ll starve to death out there.”
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
