Chapter 96

There were only two bedrooms in Liu’s house. Zixiu’s room, where the kang had been burned, was on the left side, and Liu Wuyi’s room was on the right side. Although the roof had been burned out, Luo Huali still carried Zixiu into Liu Wuyi’s room. As soon as he stepped in, he saw the tablet of Zixiu’s mother on the table next to the window.

Huali was seized with a pang of grief in an instant. He remembered more than ten years ago, Uncle Liu’s family was still living in the Valley of Fallen Blossoms. Every sunny autumn afternoon, Uncle Liu and Zixiu’s mother would take Zixiu to the garden to get some sunshine. Then he and Lingxiao would run over and try to hold Zixiu. Although Zixiu’s mother was in poor health back then, Huali didn’t expect that she would have died so early! As the saying goes ‘life is full of uncertainties’. Fortunately, Zixiu had grown up healthy… But maybe this Zixiu was not the former one?

“Zixiu, take a nap first. The meal is going to be ready soon!” He put Zixiu in bed and tucked the quilt for him carefully. Thinking of Zixiu’s tantrum just now, Huali couldn’t help but feel worried. How come Uncle Liu and Lingxiao had never told Zixiu that it was very dangerous for a man to take a false pregnancy drug, and a tiny mistake would lead to his death? After a moment of hesitation, he decided to remind Zixiu that for the sake of his “baby”, he mustn’t get angry! However, before he could say something, Zixiu suddenly chimed in.

“Senior Brother!” Zixiu’s tone had never been so serious. He pulled up the quilt, covering most of his face except for his eyes. “You don’t think I am gay, do you?”

“Huh?” Huali was confused. He didn’t understand what Zixiu was talking about.  What was…GAY?

Hearing no response from his senior brother, Zixiu thought for granted that he had really mistaken him for gay. He hurriedly pushed the quilt away and shouted, “Senior Brother, you must have got me wrong! This is not the case at all! I am the victim! That jerk, Nangong Du, called me a dumb ass for no reason! He had really gone too far! If it weren’t for the fact that I was no match for him, I would have knocked his teeth out!!”

Though Huali was still muddleheaded, he seemed to have caught something vaguely. When he saw Zixiu was so angry that he was about to bounce up, he immediately pressed him back to the bed and said gently, “Come on, don’t think that much. Nothing is more important than your health! Lie down, or you’ll catch a cold!”

Without the warm kang, Zixiu felt so cold that he slipped under his quilt at once. However, the calm look on his senior brother’s face made him feel uneasy. “Don’t misunderstand me, Senior Brother!” he added. “I really have no homosexual orientation! Both of those two have problems. I can’t get rid of them, so I’m counting on you! Senior Brother, please do help me!”

Both of those two had problems? Now Huali had figured out what Zixiu meant. ‘It turned out that Zixiu was afraid I might be under the delusion that he had fallen for Nangong Du or Lingxiao!’ To be honest, before he learned the truth, Huali had really mistaken Zixu for marrying Nangong Du of ‘her’ own free will. Needless to say, now he had known that Zixiu was a boy, so if he still thought Zixiu had feelings for Nangong Du, it would be a humiliation to him. However, the love for Zixiu he had accumulated over the years was deep down in his heart. Even though it was just the affection between children in the beginning, it had deepened and sublimated unconsciously over the years. The first time he saw the grown-up Zixiu, he had believed that ‘she’ was the one he wanted to hold hands with for life! Was he in love with ‘her’ in his memory? Or did he fall for ‘her’ at first sight when they met in the Prince Mu’s Mansion? Why did it come to this? He had no idea what he liked about Zixiu, but every time he saw ‘her’, he was seized with an impulse to protect ‘her’. Even now he had known that Zixiu was a boy, his feeling for him remained the same. He was a calm person, but he couldn’t even restrain his rolling emotions whenever he saw Zixiu, which made him feel so upset and conflicted! Moreover, Zixiu’s confidence in him made him even more nervous. He didn’t know what kind of feeling he had for Zixiu who had “turned into” a boy from a girl. Was it the sense of familiarity he didn’t want to let go of or was it Zixiu?

“Senior Brother!” Zixiu grew anxious. How come his senior brother hesitated for so long? Was he reluctant to help him? Or did he not be able to protect him?  Um, impossible! He even slapped Nangong Du in the face just now! “Senior Brother, although we haven’t seen each other for over ten years, for my dad’s sake…”

“I won’t let anyone bully you!” Huali regained his wits and looked at Ziu seriously. No matter how he felt about Zixiu, protecting him was his responsibility as his senior brother! With this in mind, Huali felt a little bit relieved. He then continued, “Zixiu, listen! You need a good rest. Try to stay calm. If your belly hurts again, you will be in danger! No worries, I won’t let Lingxiao and Nangong Du in to disturb you. I will let you know when the meal is ready!”

With that, he hurried out to cook. To his surprise, the two who were left in the other room did not make a sound!

Nangong Du remained his pose as if he were holding someone in his arms! Caught off guard, he was suddenly slapped. No one could tell his face had turned livid from the impact of the slap or from anger, or maybe from both! Anyway, Yan Lingxiao’s senior brother had become his No. 1 enemy! If he couldn’t get back, he would become other people’s laugh stick! As for Liu Zixiu… ‘Damn it!  How come I kissed that little brat again? Liu Zixiu is a scourge! A bitch who seduces around! A shameless dumb ass!’

Lingxiao had been ready to pick a fight with Nangong Du before Huali rushed in. However, when he saw his senior brother take Zixiu away without difficulty and leave Nangong Du freeze on the spot with his face livid, he was so shocked that he had no idea what to do next! Standing there in a daze, Lingxiao looked like an idiot. ‘I did nothing when Xiuxiu was kissed by Nangong Du! But Senior Brother rushed over to rescue him and even gave that asshole a slap! Gosh! How useless I was! What will Xiuxiu think of me in the future? A love rat? A scumbag? Or a coward?’