"Good boy, have a chicken leg." Pei Yining rewarded him with a big chicken leg.
"Thank you, sister."
Pei Yijian said sensibly, holding the chicken leg and gnawing on it with great joy. Did he just see his brother looking at him with approval?
Pei Yijian was overjoyed. Although he couldn’t understand their conversation, as long as he stayed by Pei Yicheng’s side, he felt happy. After dinner, everyone played a game of ’Pass on Seven,’ where you clap instead of speaking for numbers involving seven or its multiples.
The game was simple, and Pei Yijian eagerly joined in. Numbers under one hundred were no problem for him, but once it went over a hundred, Pei Yijian got a little confused.
But every time Pei Yijian was about to give up, his brother Pei Yicheng would make a mistake—either forgetting to clap or saying the wrong number.
Pei Yijian was relieved but also felt as if his brother was protecting him. This feeling lasted till the end, and everyone had lots of fun. Pei Yijian’s little face was full of excitement, and he didn’t even want to acknowledge the usual rule of going to bed at nine.
"Yijian, it’s time for bed," Pei Yining reminded him.
Pei Yijian was reluctant, frequently glancing at Pei Yicheng, his little expression seeming to say: "Brother, can I sleep with you?"
"Yijian will sleep in my room today."
As soon as Pei Yicheng finished his sentence, Pei Yijian jumped up excitedly. He quickly ran to take a bath, then darted into Pei Yicheng’s room as fast as he could. Seeing his brother’s clean and tidy room, his little face was flushed with excitement.
Lying on his brother’s bed, Pei Yijian couldn’t be happier. It was his first time sleeping with his brother. From a young age, he admired and worshiped his brother, though, unfortunately, his brother didn’t seem to like him much.
But he would make his brother like him in the future.
Though young, Pei Yijian had a determination in his eyes that had never been seen before.
"Brother, why are you sleeping on the sofa?" Pei Yining was thirsty at night and came downstairs to find Pei Yicheng sleeping on the sofa, giving her quite a scare. If it weren’t for having many family members at home, she would’ve been frightened to death.
"The bed’s too small, cramped."
Pei Yicheng turned over and looked at Pei Yining, saying, "Next time, bring some water to your room, or turn on the light, so you don’t trip in the dark."
"I...I just forget easily." Pei Yining said sheepishly. She had a poor memory and often listened to the radio in her room until after eleven o’clock, then when she wanted to sleep but was thirsty, she could only fumble downstairs for water.
Pei Yining drank enough water from her cup before saying, "Brother, after seeing Nianhua and the others off tomorrow, let’s go to the hospital together."
"I’ll have someone take you," Pei Yicheng’s words indicated that he was unwilling to go.
Pei Yining frowned and asked, "Why? Brother, why won’t you go?"
She lowered her voice, knowing that if she told Nianhua, he would definitely make her brother go to the hospital to see their dad, but Nianhua was about to go home, and she didn’t want him to know or worry.
Initially, she got close to Nianhua because of her brother, but after spending so much time with him, she really liked Nianhua and considered him a friend, future sister-in-law, and family.
"Didn’t you say he’s out of danger?" Pei Yicheng asked, resting his head on his hand.
"But brother, this time it was really critical. The doctor said if it wasn’t for the timely medical intervention, he could have been in life-threatening danger!" Pei Yining was very unhappy with Pei Yicheng’s attitude. No matter how angry her brother was, Pei Guozhong was still their father.