"The child’s name sounds nice."
"If you think it sounds nice, then when the child can call you uncle, you should call out to him a few more times." Gu Lili got out of bed and was about to leave.
As she passed by Long Yubei, he suddenly turned around and hugged her from behind, an act utterly beyond reason.
"Lili..." He restrained his emotions, "I’m sorry."
Gu Lili’s nose stung, she turned around and slapped him on the face.
"I am your junior sister, do not overstep your bounds, remember that."
Her voice was clear, cold, and detached, her eyes looked at him as if he were a stranger.
More than the slap she gave him, it was her gaze that broke his heart.
She didn’t leave him much, only the love letters she once wrote, her photos, and a recorded song she sang acapella.
That was all she left behind.
Yet they became cherished memories he revisited over and over.
A past he can’t return to, a future he can’t grasp.
He could only blame himself for coming to his senses too late.
Having lost her once before and barely warming up their emotions again, now everything had reverted back to square one, and there was no way he could move her heart.
After all, she was now his junior sister.
Throughout the journey back, Gu Lili was quiet and taciturn.
Su Changzhi sensed her low spirits and asked, "Did you run into Zen?"
"Yes, he told me he was sorry."
"That’s rare." Su Changzhi looked straight ahead, "He’s always aloof, hardly ever apologizes to anyone, almost never."
"I... I also slapped him."
Su Changzhi continued, "Did your hand hurt? I’ll massage it when we get home."
Gu Lili’s mood instantly brightened, "It doesn’t hurt."
It had been a long time since she dreamt about Long Yubei.
Tonight, she dreamt of him.
The dream felt as real as reality.
In her dream, as an observer, she saw Long Yubei with Zen’s face standing on a cloud foundation stone, holding a snow-white, translucent cat in his arms.
The cat looked plump and lazily nestled in his embrace, its eyes half-closed as if it was enjoying itself.
His hand rested on the cat, his face smiling.
When she woke up, it was broad daylight outside, and Su Changzhi had already gotten up.
"Changzhi, do you like cats?"
"Cats?" He nodded, "Yes, I do. Zen used to have a white Li Mao that always liked to steal food from my mansion. I found it quite well-behaved and grew fond of it."
Gu Lili asked, "Did that cat have a name?"
"That name is really casual."
"That cat was incredibly greedy, always loved eating meat, and was both lazy and fat, looking like a ball. Zen tried to make it lose weight by not letting it eat too much, so it always ran to my mansion to steal food."
Gu Lili asked, "Is that cat still around?"
"How could it still be?" Su Changzhi reminisced, "It fell into a well and drowned. That cat was Zen’s favorite pet, he took it everywhere with him, and after it died, Zen never kept another pet again."
Gu Lili let out an "Oh", feeling perplexed about why she had such a dream.
*** Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by NoveI-Fire.ɴet
Wednesday night at eight o’clock, Long Fengxi appeared on time in room 812.
She had a room card, so she no longer needed someone else to open the door for her.
As soon as she entered, like before, Long Fengxi’s eyes were covered, and then she was pinned against the wall.
From the doorway to the bedside, clothes were scattered all over.
Long Fengxi felt he was wild, completely out of her control, as if in front of this man, she was very passive.