She herself seemed very calm. "When school started, there were suddenly a few people being nice to me, acting like we"re close. They probably misunderstood our relationship and think that I"m uncle"s child."
Cao Yang laughed aloud. Translated by The Novelst
"If you were my real little sister, that would be nice too." He grabbed the tips of her hair and wound them around his fingers. As long as she could see through the matter and wasn"t deceived by appearances, all was good.
"Should I explain it to them?" Xia Rou asked helplessly, pulling back her hair.
Any human would probably have their own strange habits or weird tastes. Such as Cao Xing"s love for plushies, or Cao An"s ability to love male or female. Until now, the only person between the four brothers that Xia Rou hadn"t found out anything about was probably only the second brother, Cao Bin.
Even though in the past he had held the image of the nearly-perfect big brother in her heart, in this life she realized that Cao Yang… He was actually very fond of long hair.
Why hadn"t she realized before?
This was probably because she had always kept her hair short in order to be as different from Cheng Wan as possible. Only when she had graduated, she felt she was more mature than she was in the past, and that there was no meaning behind her deliberate actions to keep her hair short; it was then that she started to grow out her hair.
But at that time, her relationship with Cao Yang wasn"t nearly as close as it was now. Every time he saw her, his face would stiffen up. As for her, she could only lower her head and listen to his lectures.
She didn"t know why, but there was always a nervous atmosphere between them.
Even though he cared for her so.
Even though she respected him so.
She could still remember that the many times she"d angered him once again, after being scolded, she would leave his study room dejectedly. Each time after she closed the door, she could hear a deep long sigh.
Xia Rou couldn"t help but turn her head to look at Cao Yang.
They sat under the tree atop the long bench in the courtyard.
The hair was being slowly pulled from his fingertips. He raised his brows in dissatisfaction, taking another long strand to wrap again on his fingers.
When facing her, his expression was very relaxed. The shape "川" didn"t appear embedded in his forehead as it had been in her memory.
A man in his thirties could actually look so childish in a fully relaxed state.
Xia Rou was speechless.
She had never thought a day would come that it wasn"t Cao Yang who was speechless toward her, but rather her toward him.
"No need," Cao Yang raised his brows, wrapping hair tighter around his fingers. Looking at how helplessly Xia Rou was trying to get back her own hair, he found it amusing.
"Whether or not your surname is Cao, you"re now a child of the Cao Family," he smiled and stated clearly.
Xia Rou actually understood.
The things she desired in the past and the moment Cao Xiong had allowed her to attend the banquet, she had already understood.
It was false to say she wasn"t happy with it, it was just that… She wasn"t as excited nor as satisfied as she thought she would be.
To be able to obtain Cao Xiong"s recognition in terms of her ident.i.ty… Instead, she was more satisfied to be able to be sitting next to Cao Yang, relaxed and teasing her.
Suddenly she felt her scalp tighten and her head was pulled toward Cao Yang.
"Also, don"t concern yourself with those people. Right now, all you have to do is study hard. If you want to get a boyfriend, wait at least until you get into university," said Cao Yang.
Xia Rou glared at him and said in annoyance, "Let go of my hair, it"s painful."
Cao Yang wrapped even more layers of hair into his fingers. The more he wrapped, the shorter her hair got.
He smiled and looked at her, "I didn"t use any strength."
He didn"t know why, but he really liked to tease her.
She was always so soft and never expressed any anger to him before.
Many times, he would actually only be able to observe her "helplessness."
It was as if she was an adult looking helplessly at her lovely child being naughty but wasn"t able to do anything… It was so funny to him!
It made him want to tease her even more.
Xia Rou, the victim, looked like a little kitten, helpless but annoyed in her efforts to pull her hair back. This scene was being watched by Cao An.
"What"s going on, what"s going on!" He walked to them and put his b.u.t.t right down between the two.
With one hand he grabbed his big brother"s shoulder while the other wrapped around Xia Rou"s waist.
Cao Yang: "…"
Xia Rou: "…"
Both swerved away quickly.
"So relaxed today? You actually stayed home this weekend?" Cao Yang asked curiously.
His fourth little brother was still young and hadn"t quite stabilized yet, so he was quite painful. It was rare to see him appear in the house during the day on a weekend.
Cao An gave out a hmmph. Translated by The Novelst
Xia Rou knew him well, so she took just a glance at him and could tell something bad must have taken place between him and He Chengzhe.
She sighed in her heart and stood up. "You guys continue. I"m going back to my room."
"Eh, I"ll come with you," Cao An said. Just as his b.u.t.t left the chair, his big brother had already tackled him back down.
That hand was like an iron band. It reminded Cao An of his childhood spent being repressed by that very hand.
"Where do you think you"re going?" Cao Yang furrowed his brows. He hadn"t noticed before, but wasn"t Cao An too close to Xia Rou? "Xiao Rou is a lady now, you can"t always run into her room."
As though the person who had pulled the lady"s hair and played around wasn"t him himself!
Cao An only dared to keep these thoughts deep inside.
Originally he had argued with He Chengzhe, which was why he had returned early. He wanted to talk to Xia Rou about it. Since he had to hide this matter from Cao Xiong, he didn"t dare tell anyone else. Or else he was afraid that one day it would surely make its way to Cao Xiong"s ears.
Of course this meant he wouldn"t dare let his big brother know about this, as the second version of his father.
In the end, the person he wanted to find had run away, while he was being pushed down by his brother. He couldn"t express the deep despair he felt.
He was afraid that his big brother might pay attention to his concerns, so he followed his big brother"s words and quickly responded: "Since you also know that Xiao Rou is a big lady, why don"t you keep a safe distance?"
Cao Yang maintained his composure as he increased the pressure to his hands, looking in satisfaction at the grimace of pain on his little brother"s face, looking like he didn"t dare shout in pain. Only then did he release his grip.
"Keep your head on," he lit up a cigarette. "I"m fourteen years older than her. She"s like a child to me."
Proofread by: Hannah