Hearing her childish response, Mo Chuxi’s steps suddenly felt like they had turned to lead, freezing him in place.
He looked at the little woman leaning against his chest, whose face was unusually pale, yet still wore a faint, sweet smile. His heartbeat instantly lost its usual rhythm.
"Yan Xinxin, what did you just say? Say it again."
Mo Chuxi asked incredulously.
She called him Brother Xi?
Was it really Brother Xi? The "Brother Xi" she had once vaguely mentioned in the past?
And she also called herself Yuan?
Yan Xinxin suddenly lifted her bright catlike eyes, slightly moist, and her little face puffed up in anger as she glared at the man who looked utterly stunned and shocked.
"Brother Xi has turned into an idiot and doesn’t even recognize Yuan anymore!"
She complained, her sweet voice filled with the innocence of a child.
"What Yan Xinxin? What is that supposed to be?"
Confused, Yan Xinxin’s expression twisted into discomfort. She suddenly furrowed her delicate brows, raised her right hand, and tightly grabbed onto Mo Chuxi’s collar.
"So hot, Yuan is so hot, so very hot! Brother Xi, take Yuan swimming, let’s go swimming now!"
She murmured, speaking while trying to nuzzle her head against Mo Chuxi’s chest.
"Let’s go, let’s go!"
Everything felt so real.
Mo Chuxi held Yan Xinxin in stunned silence, letting the girl tug at him, pout, and cling playfully. His thoughts had already unraveled, and his heart seemed to have gone missing...
Yan Xinxin... Why would she say something like that...
She called him Brother Xi?
And referred to herself as Yuan? That childlike tone truly resembled the little girl from his distant childhood memories.
Yan Xinxin raised her big eyes in aggrieved innocence.
But he didn’t allow himself to remain in a daze for too long. Right now, Yan Xinxin’s behavior was too peculiar—not only her actions but the words she spoke were even harder for him to piece together.
"Yan Xinxin, I’m taking you to the hospital right now."
He said and started walking.
The word flashed through Yan Xinxin’s mind. Within seconds, she reached out to grab Mo Chuxi’s arm, shaking her head desperately.
"No, no! Yuan doesn’t want to go to the hospital! No needles! Scared, scared!"
Hearing her resistance, Mo Chuxi’s expression faltered again, his mind flooding with distant memories from years ago... Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on novel·fiɾe·net
"Brother Xi, Yuan doesn’t want needles. It hurts so much... Yuan is scared..."
"Don’t be scared, don’t be scared. Brother Xi will be right here with you. Be good, stretch out your arm."
Under his coaxing back then, the little girl eventually obediently stretched out her tiny arm.
"No needles, no hospitals, I just want Brother Xi..."
Yan Xinxin’s murmured words pulled Mo Chuxi back to the present.
He furrowed his brows tightly, looking at the water-streaked, pitiful little woman, his thin lips parting to speak words of unprecedented tenderness and comfort.
"Be good. Yuan, don’t be scared. Brother Xi is right here with you. It’ll be fine. Let’s go to the hospital to get better, okay?"
Yan Xinxin listened, half-understanding, and shook her head lightly, but soon raised her gaze to him and nodded firmly.
"Mhmm! As long as Brother Xi is here, Yuan isn’t afraid of anything!"