Chapter 10 I like the sound of something snapping; just now, Yu Tang was serving soup to Yu Chaoxian…

The itching sensation in my palms felt like an electric current shooting up to my heart.

Yu Chaoxian's hands were wet. He hung up the phone, thought for two seconds, and quickly gave a solution: "Let's discuss it. I have three requirements: First, don't cry in front of your brother. Second, don't complain to your brother. Third, you have to sit next to me under your brother's nose for half a month. Then, everything that happened before will be wiped clean. If you can do that, blink twice."

Yu Tang blinked quickly, then nodded, a few teardrops still clinging to her eyelashes falling onto Yu Chaoxian's hand: "I understand."

As her lips parted and closed, the soft touch made Yu Chaoxian's palm itch. He released Yu Tang, glanced at the tears on the back of his hand, then at the tear stains on Yu Tang's face. He raised his hand and wiped Yu Tang's face a couple of times, then disgustedly used Yu Tang's skirt to wipe his hands clean.

Yu Tang's voice was still a little choked up: "Then will you still throw me?"

"If you listen, you won't fall."

"So, am I still going to stay a meter away from you?"

“When your brother isn’t around, stay a meter away from me.”

Yu Tang obediently sat back down on the sofa, keeping a meter's distance from him as he wished.

Yu Chaoxian looked over, unsure what to say, but a feeling of pent-up frustration welled up in his chest, and he finally managed to utter, "You're surprisingly obedient."

Yu Chaoxian felt inexplicably irritated and used a fork to pick up a strawberry and eat it.

I realized something was wrong when I tasted it; besides the strawberry flavor, it tasted much sweeter, like candy.

Oh, this fork was used to feed Yu Tang just now.

Annoying.

Yu Chaoxian tossed the contents of his bag into her hand and turned to leave.

Yu Tang opened her palm and stared blankly at the little duck lollipop. It was the one Yu Chaoxian had eaten after school.

I gave it back to her.

Yu Tang sobbed for a moment, then turned to look at Yu Chaoxian, who was carrying dishes to the kitchen. Holding the candy in her hand, she didn't seem to want to cry anymore.

They sat down at the dinner table. Previously, whenever Yu Yanting ate at home, Yu Tang would always sit to Yu Yanting's left.

Yu Chaoxian was sitting in the seat, and she subconsciously wanted to sit on the right. Her feet, clad in fluffy slippers, had just taken a small step to the right when she felt a damp and cold gaze behind her and heard the sound of a chair being pulled.

Yu Tang almost fell over when someone behind her stepped on half of her slipper.

The instigator grabbed the girl's waist and said lazily, "What, does your little aunt have to kowtow before eating?"

Yu Tang suddenly realized that Yu Chaoxian's third request was that she must sit next to Yu Chaoxian whenever her brother was present, and maintain this position for half a month.

Half a month, two weeks plus one day.

Although she didn't know why Yu Chaoxian made such a strange request, Yu Tang dared not go back on her word since she had agreed. Now that Yu Chaoxian was in the family, she could still distinguish between the two kings.

Moreover, she genuinely wanted to repair her relationship with Yu Chaoxian for a simple reason: she didn't want her brother to be caught in the middle.

"Thank you." Yu Tang turned back and sat in the chair that Yu Chaoxian had pulled out.

Yu Chaoxian subconsciously glanced at his feet. Wow, this crybaby has really grown taller; his feet can almost touch the ground.

Yu Yanting, sitting in the main seat, looked slightly surprised, wondering what method Yu Chaoxian had used to make Yu Tang not cry. In the past, Yu Chaoxian didn't come home very often, you could count the number of times on one hand, but every time Yu Chaoxian was there, Yu Tang cried more often than you could count on two hands. Now, after only one night, Yu Tang was actually willing to sit with Yu Chaoxian.

In short, Yu Yanting was quite satisfied with the current situation, and even opened a bottle of wine in a good mood.

Yu Tang immediately ran over to stop him, taking away Yu Yanting's wine glass. Unlike his previous weakness, his tone was unusually firm: "Brother, the doctor said that you have high blood pressure and cannot drink alcohol, smoke, or get angry."

Upon hearing this, Yu Chaoxian also looked up, his fingertips tracing the shape of his wine glass, but he remained silent.

Yu Yanting has high blood pressure and must abstain from smoking and alcohol, otherwise he risks having a stroke. However, today is a special case; his son is home, and the father is happy. "Since you're both here with me, I'll have a drink today because I'm so happy."

Yu Tang was still a little reluctant to let Yu Yanting drink alcohol. Her face was wrinkled and her brows were furrowed. "But the doctor said that if it triggers a cerebral infarction, he may have to rely on a wheelchair to get around in the future."

Yu Yanting comforted Yu Tang: "Just one drink, you count for your brother."

Yu Chaoxian scoffed. What kind of family drama were these two siblings acting out? Yu Tang's reaction was quite interesting; who exactly was Yu Yanting's father?

He raised his hand and poured Yu Yanting a glass of wine, their glasses clinking slightly. The baijiu was cool as it went down his throat, its spicy flavor flowing smoothly. He didn't have much to say.

Yu Yanting, on the other hand, kept reminiscing about the past. He must really be getting old; he kept talking.

Speaking of Yu Chaoxian, he was disobedient and secretly played with guns and cannons at a young age, so he was sent to the base for training and trained in wilderness survival with the people in the base.

At that time, Yu Yanting only wanted to force Yu Chaoxian to obey and admit his mistake, to say that he would never be stubborn again and never touch a gun again. As a result, Yu Chaoxian did not utter a word and completed the survival training with the first place in his class at the age of fifteen.

Yu Yanting's original intention was to let Yu Chaoxian know that shooting was not a joke, but a matter of life and death, hoping to make him back down. Who would have thought that it would only encourage Yu Chaoxian to take up the gun.

Hearing Yu Yanting recount this past event, Yu Chaoxian couldn't recall the specific details clearly anymore. After all, he had experienced countless similar survival training exercises since then—deserts, rainforests, each far more treacherous than the jungle survival exercise at the base. He only remembered the jungle training session, when his mother, Zhou Ningxuan, secretly brought him food, her eyes red from crying, but he refused all the food and supplies offered. When he returned home after training, only Zhou Ningxuan was there. The not-so-empty dining table held only a woman waiting for her husband. Zhou Ningxuan trimmed the thorns of roses, arranging bunches of short-lived white roses in a vase.

Marriage and what she thought was love tormented Zhou Ningxuan to the point of unbearable pain. She called Yu Yanting, but Yu Yanting was at the hospital with his stepmother, completely forgetting that it was Zhou Ningxuan's birthday.

He began to doubt whether Yu Yanting had ever truly loved his mother, but his doubts were useless, because one day, not long after Zhou Ningxuan's death, Yu Yanting brought seven-year-old Yu Tang home.

That day, Yu Yanting asked Yu Chaoxian to give Yu Tang some candy in hopes of getting the two closer. Yu Chaoxian sneered and left this ridiculous home.

As for Yu Tang, who was forgotten and only reached the adults' knees, she carefully picked up the candies that Yu Chaoxian had thrown all over the floor. The candies had the word "Candy" printed on them and little duck patterns. Yu Tang unwrapped the candies and sat in the corner to eat them quietly. She was immersed in the sweet taste and was unaware of the argument between the adults.

Yu Chaoxian would never have known that Yu Tang liked the duck-patterned candy because of him.

In every story, everyone has their own missing pieces, but even knowing the whole picture is of no use.

Because what's done is done, and the person is gone.

Soon, Yu Chaoxian finished his glass of wine and poured himself another. Yu Tang, who was next to him, glanced at it but didn't say anything, burying her head in a plate of mango sticky rice.

"You brat, you have such a stubborn temper. Can't you just give in to your old man and save me some trouble?" Yu Yanting sighed, seemingly regretting that he had been too stubborn in the past, wasting too much time and missing out on parent-child time.

Yu Chaoxian swirled his wine glass without speaking. During that time, his only memory was of his mother Zhou Ningxuan's tears.

"One cup at a time," Yu Tang counted, and once the cup was empty, she ran over and took the cup from Yu Yanting's hand. Her beautiful eyes glanced at Yu Chaoxian again, her small hand hesitated for a moment, and seeing that the man didn't have a stern face, which meant he acquiesced, Yu Tang also took his cup.

Yu Chaoxian noticed Yu Tang pacing back and forth restlessly, spinning around in his eyes like a top.

Yu Tang served Yu Yanting a bowl of hot soup.

The man's gaze finally settled on the soup bowl beside him when he felt a warmth in his hands. Yu Tang also served him a bowl.

There were two kinds of soup on the table, and Yu Tang, thinking herself clever, served him a bowl of sweet white fungus soup.

In the blink of an eye, Yu Tang was happily eating her white fungus soup. Yu Tang didn't think she was presumptuously guessing Yu Chaoxian's tastes; if Yu Chaoxian liked her snacks, didn't that mean he liked sweets?

Noticing the man's gaze, Yu Tang turned to look as well, while the latter glanced at the steamed grouper in front of him.

The spotted fish's belly had been emptied.

While he was drinking two glasses of wine, the girl had already put the fish meat on her plate and removed the large fish bones.

But Yu Tang wasn't eating it herself; she wanted to give it to her brother. Seeing that Yu Tang was about to push the plate of fish towards Yu Yanting, Yu Chaoxian tapped his finger on the table. This crybaby really always puts Yu Yanting first; looking at it this way, Yu Yanting didn't raise her for nothing.

She paused, her short arm stopping halfway as she reached out, and pushed the deboned fish meat towards Yu Chaoxian. Yu Chaoxian raised an eyebrow, seemingly in a good mood.

Seeing her nephew eat the fish she had carefully prepared, Yu Tang felt a sudden surge of responsibility as an elder. She picked up another piece of fish, removed the bones, and gave it to him. Yu Tang remembered what her brother had told her earlier: that only the three of them remained in the Yu family, and that they were the closest family members in the world.

Moreover, her brother said he felt indebted to Xiao Xian, so Yu Tang made up her mind that she would help her brother make it up to Yu Chaoxian. She would just give in to him more often, since she was also an elder and wouldn't argue with him.

With someone willing to serve him, Yu Chaoxian was happy not to lift a finger.

As Yu Yanting drank his hot soup, he saw that the two had a very good relationship. His brows relaxed and his mood improved. He picked up a large shrimp for each of them and also brought the plate of steamed chicken feet, which were first fried and then braised, to Yu Tang.

Yu Tang smiled sweetly: "Thank you, brother."

Yu Yanting said to Yu Tang, "Alright, Tangtang, let's ignore him and let him eat his own food. He's too lazy to even lift a finger. Will we have to feed him in the future?"

Yu Chaoxian ignored him, pointed at the fish dish, and raised an eyebrow at Yu Tang: "Another piece, please."

"Oh, okay." Yu Tang lovingly placed another piece on Yu Chaoxian's plate. She might not be good at getting along with people her own age, but she had her own way of dealing with people older than her.

Yu Chaoxian glanced at Yu Tang, who was eating with great relish. She was much more pleasing to the eye when she was eating quietly. She had already eaten more than half of the mango sticky rice and almost all of the steamed chicken feet. This little aunt looked slender, but she had quite a large appetite.

Yu Yanting looked at the two children sitting together. Before, Yu Tang was not even as tall as Yu Chaoxian's legs when she was next to him, but now she has grown a lot taller. The little girl has grown into a young lady.

Yu Yanting looked at Yu Tang with affection and said with a smile, "When Tangtang looks for a boyfriend in the future, she must find a gentle, kind, positive, and most importantly, a boy who is good to her."

Gentle and kind, Yu Tang understood, that's exactly what her brother was like.

Yu Tang wasn't interested in dating, but she still added, "Well, they have to be good-looking, right?"

With a thud, the bowl of soup that Yu Tang had just served Yu Chaoxian was slammed heavily onto the table. "Yu Tang, it seems you only go to school to date?"

"I...I didn't!" Yu Tang couldn't stand Yu Chaoxian's unfounded accusations. She had been attending class diligently. "How could I be in a relationship if I don't have anyone I like!"

Yu Chaoxian gave her a cool look, thinking, "Oh ho, this crybaby has quite a temper."

Yu Yanting looked at his son: "And you, how old are you? Why don't you hurry up and seriously date, get married and have children? Tell me what kind of people you like, and I'll keep an eye out and help you find someone."

Yu Chaoxian seemed intrigued, and his tone became playful: "Dad, you like elders, and I, your son, take after you and naturally like elders too."

As he spoke, he glanced at Yu Tang in a casual manner, "Isn't that right, Yu Tang?"