Chapter 22.1 - (Part 1) (1/2)

Zhao Yuning could not believe his eyes.

Does Zhao Mingxi know how long he spent on picking the gift?!

For a moment there he was so angry that his mind was buzzing. He subconsciously took the gift out of the trash.

The morning dew was moist to begin with, and the bottom of the trash was filled with dirty water.

The moment the gift was taken out, it was dripping with black water. A few drops splashed on Zhao Yuning’s pants.

Quite a number of girls who had come downstairs hand-in-hand gave  him odd looks as they passed him by. They all unanimously avoided him.

The other two guys who came along with Zhao Yuning scratched their heads. They felt a little awkward as they walked over to pat on his shoulder. “What happened? She didn’t even open the package. Could it be that the lady in charge of the dorms didn’t actually pass it to your sister?”

Zhao Yuning stared at the Kraft paper at the bottom of the box which was now soaked by the dirty waters in the trash. Even if he picked it up, it was useless. The dirty water would have completely soaked the gift.

He sighed. Finally, he had calmed down a little. He let go, turned and ran toward the reception at the lowest floor of the dorms— Yes, it must be so. It must be that the lady in charge of the dorms had not given it to Zhao Mingxi.

He rushed there, but before he could say anything, the lady by the window raised her head and recognized him. “Oh, it’s you. Don’t you dare ask me if I have passed the gift to that girl. I gave it to her personally the moment she came back yesterday. I even extended my shift for this!”

Zhao Yuning placed his hands on the windowsill. He was in disbelief. “Then why did it appear in the trash?! It hasn’t even been opened yet!”

“She tossed it in herself! She took it from my hands, and without even glancing at it, she turned, walked down the steps and threw it away!”

When the lady finished speaking, she gave Zhao Yuning a suspicious look. “You’re not her younger brother, right? She told me to reject everything you give her after this, regardless of what it is.”

Zhao Yuning was about to pass out from anger. “How can I not be her younger brother?”

The lady said, “If you are her younger brother, then why would she reject your things?! Get going. Don’t loiter around the girls’ dorms. Also, I advise you to focus on your studies—”

The lady took a glimpse at the nameplate on Zhao Yuning’s chest. “You are only in Year 1, yet you’ve already learned how to pursue your seniors. How could someone in Year 3 be free enough to entertain you? Allow me, as someone who has experienced this, to tell you one thing – it won’t work!”

Zhao Yuning, “…”

Zhao Yuning’s heart was filled with so much anger, yet he had nowhere to vent it to.

Aside from the frustration from being embarrassed due to his two friends seeing his gift awkwardly tossed out, there was also a sense of questionable fear and annoyance.

He swung his arms and left.

His two friends hurriedly chased after him. One of them said, “Your elder sister sure has a bad temper. She has left home for quite a while already. I’m actually wondering what has this got to do with you? Just leave it. It’s fine if she wants to stay in school. She’ll still have to come home during the New Year. Speaking of which, isn’t it your mother’s birthday soon? She’ll have an excuse to come home then.”

“You’re the one with the bad temper!” Zhao Yuning said in exasperation. “You don’t know anything about what’s going on in my family, so shut up!”

It was no longer something as simple as her leaving home. Now, Zhao Mingxi wanted to sever all ties with them!

There was never a situation when he would fail to coax Mingxi after giving her gifts and ingratiating him with her.

This was truly the first time.

Another guy consoled him, “I, too, think you shouldn’t be so anxious. Your elder sister will be fine after a while. I pick fights with my elder sister frequently too. The most extreme one was when she even bought a ticket and went overseas. But in the end, we’re still a family so she stopped being angry after a while.”

Zhao Yuning stopped walking. He massaged his temples, “You guys don’t get it. The situation in my home is really complicated. She and I… are different from you and your elder sister.”

Although there was nothing between him and Zhao Mingxi for many years, a lot of things happened for the past two years.

During Zhao Mingxi’s absence for the past few weeks, the images of everything that had happened for the past two years kept on appearing uncontrollably in Zhao Yuning’s mind.

His room was the closest to Zhao Mingxi’s room. There were a few times when he would fall asleep on the floor in front of the sofa while in the middle of playing games. He realized that Zhao Mingxi who would go to the bathroom in the middle of the night would enter his room, drag a chair, stand on her toes and take a duvet from the top of his closet before draping it on top of him gently.