Chapter 38

Perhaps their sincere prayers to Buddha were answered; after eight episodes, the show's popularity had exceeded expectations, and all the promotional materials prepared in advance were quickly used up.

Cheng Qingqing called, forcing Shen Li to return to carry out the next phase of promotion.

Because she and Li Nan have paired up so many times, the handsome man and beautiful woman, and the sense of destiny between them both on and off screen have attracted a large number of viewers to ship them as a couple.

Both companies promoted the event, and the two quickly shot a magazine cover and secured a couple's clothing endorsement.

During that time, there were many rumors about Shen Li and Li Nan online, and even some classmates at school were watching the drama and discussing the two as a couple during breaks.

Luo Mingxiu felt annoyed, firstly because he enjoyed watching his sister's performances, but couldn't stand seeing her being intimate with others, especially off-screen.

Secondly, I'm upset. Ever since that night when I saw my sister eating oranges, I've indulged myself and now I often dream about her and fantasize about her.

Teenage boys get restless for the pretty girls at school. During breaks, there are always groups of boys gathered together, looking at adult comics that they don't know where they got them from.

Luo Mingxiu couldn't possibly be unaware of what such fantasies represented, even though he clearly disdained such things, he couldn't help himself every time.

In the dead of night, I tossed and turned for Shen Li. At first, I just imagined her face, but later I could only feel satisfied when I heard her voice and looked at her photos.

The constantly playing WeChat voice messages and the posters in the cabinet both testify to his behavior; his object of fantasy is his sister.

He's a bad guy; he really wants to kill himself.

How can someone have so much energy, especially when they are constantly reviewing for exams and under the most academic pressure?

With winter break just around the corner, he couldn't even imagine how badly he would fall into depravity.

One day after the winter break, in order to prevent things from getting out of control, Luo Mingxiu made a painful decision and uninstalled Weibo and all other software that could search for information about Shen Li.

I packed up all my treasured posters and magazines, contacted my deskmate, and prepared to give them all to his younger sister, because he had mentioned before that his sister was a fan of Shen Li.

After my deskmate found out, he replied with three question marks on WeChat: What's wrong with you?

Overwhelmed with shame, Luo Mingxiu could only cover it up: "I'm no longer a fan."

Desk mate: ...Okay, I'll send you my location. I'll be here all afternoon. Bring your things over.

In the afternoon, Luo Mingxiu went out with his bag. The address was an internet cafe. After arriving, he made a phone call and asked someone to come out.

Soon, his deskmate appeared at the door and offered to take him inside.

Luo Mingxiu: "No need, I'll just leave it at the door and go."

"This is my family's place. I can take you in. My sister is inside too. We're both fans of the same idol. Wouldn't it be better if you gave it to her yourself?"

Luo Mingxiu thought for a moment and then went inside with him.

Once inside, I saw a little girl in the triangular seating area.

The two met face to face, and Luo Mingxiu opened his backpack and placed stacks of magazines on the table.

The younger sister flipped through the magazine, her expression surprised: "Brother, I've never managed to get my hands on so many of these limited editions, are you really going to give them all to me?"

"Mm." Luo Mingxiu nodded.

"I can transfer you the money. There are a lot of magazines here that are hard to get, and they're all being sold at high prices. Even if you really stop being a fan, you still need to recoup some of your losses."

"Do as you please." Luo Mingxiu didn't understand these things. He had even considered throwing away his female fan when he realized that his deskmate had one.

He wanted to stop fantasizing about his sister by clearing out the magazine posters featuring Chen Li, so that his life could gradually get back on track.

The girl smiled and decided to transfer him some money, then used her backpack to gather the magazines scattered on the table.

Luo Mingxiu watched her pack them one by one, as if she were trying her best to tear apart the memories of the past. He personally sent them away.

"Since you're already here, play a couple of games with me," Luo Mingxiu's deskmate patted him on the shoulder and said, "I don't understand what you fans are thinking, but the most important thing is to be happy."

"Thank you." Luo Mingxiu accepted his invitation. He wasn't feeling great and really needed an outlet for his emotions.

"It's still more fun playing with you. Everyone else is too bad at the game," his deskmate sighed, leaning back in his chair after playing a couple of rounds. "It's a pity that I have to take the college entrance exam next semester. My mom will be watching me until I finish the exam, so I can't play anymore."

"Hey? Are you still doing that game boosting service? I have an account..."

“The game-playing and writing services have all stopped,” Luo Mingxiu interrupted him. “You should stop now. There’s still hope if you give it your all in the final stage.”

“I don’t have grades as good as yours. I’ve given up,” someone sighed beside me. “Studying, studying, I don’t even know what I’ll do after all this time.”

What will I do next?

Luo Mingxiu didn't know either.

As his sister once said, he is good at science, and learning knowledge and taking exams is not difficult for him, but as for liking it, it's really not true.

He even found it meaningless, only knowing that he needed to get into a good university so that his mother, godfather, godmother, and sister would be happy.

As for what he will do in the future, he hasn't thought that far ahead. His sister said that he will know what dreams are when he grows up, so for now, his expectations for the future are...

Does being by my sister's side count?

The chair creaked, and Luo Mingxiu was pulled from his reverie. There were two people beside him, a red-haired man and a curly-haired woman, who seemed to have just come in. They were talking and turning on their phones at the same time.

Luo Mingxiu turned off his computer and prepared to leave, but as he stood up, he heard Shen Li's name from them.

"Did you see that poster outside that clothing store? Shen Li, you know her, right?" the red-haired guy with his legs crossed said to another person.

The curly-haired woman, engrossed in her phone, ignored him: "A big star, everyone knows him."

Red Hair: "That was my high school classmate. He really liked me back then. I was even pursued by a celebrity back in the day."

My sister is always the one being pursued; she's never the one pursuing anyone.

Luo Mingxiu knew he was lying as soon as he heard it, so he sat down to watch his performance.

The curly-haired man rolled his eyes at the red-haired man: "Keep bragging."

"Don't believe me?" Red Hair took out his phone and held it in front of Curly Hair. "See this? Graduation photo. I went to the same high school as her."

"So what if we go to the same school? Don't you even look at yourself? You're so creepy, people will chase after you the moment they see you." Curly-haired guy couldn't stand him anymore, picked up his bag and walked out.

"Damn it, you dead woman, mmp, I spend a whole day's money on you and you don't even give me a kind look." Red Hair cursed a couple of times, got up and chased after her.

Luo Mingxiu sent a message to his deskmate, picked up his schoolbag, and followed behind him.

Red Hair couldn't catch up with the person, so he kicked a tree by the roadside twice, then squatted down and made a phone call.

After the call connected, he immediately launched into a tirade: "Hey, do you have a grudge against me? What kind of person did you introduce? He's so clueless, he ate me like a pig for a day and then dumped me without a word."

After a few words were exchanged, the red-haired man's voice grew louder: "I just said that a celebrity had pursued me, is that a reason to get angry? If it weren't for the fact that she looks somewhat like Shen Li, I wouldn't even want to see her, you bitch."

"Harassment? What do you mean I harass her? You slut, you can accuse me of harassing her on a blind date? Get lost."

Red Hair spat on the ground and continued to grin, "Looking like that, you're just asking for it. You look a lot like Shen Li, you're cut from the same cloth."

Hong Mao's series of vulgar words caused passersby to keep their distance from him, but Luo Mingxiu, who was behind him, heard them clearly.

He clenched his fists, anger rising within him. He remembered when Shen Li was still in high school, she said she was often harassed by boys. He didn't know who these boys were, whether they were one of the harassers or just one of many.

Now that he's run into him, he won't let him go.

That day, for the first time in his life, Luo Mingxiu walked two streets with someone, and finally seized the opportunity when they turned into a small alley.

He quickly took off his coat, wrapped it around the person's head, slammed him against the wall, and began punching him repeatedly...

As evening fell, Luo Mingxiu returned to the villa. Standing in front of the gate, he checked his coat one last time and found nothing amiss.

Although he was furious, he didn't hit the man in any vital areas. He had no wounds from retaliating, only a few scrapes from his finger bones scraping against the wall.

He put his hands in his pockets, covering his only wound, and walked into the courtyard.

The gate to the courtyard faces the window of his room. The light in his room is on, and no one enters his bedroom except when his mother is cleaning.

But it was so late; she should have finished cleaning long ago. Luo Mingxiu felt a pang of panic, a bad feeling creeping over him, and his steps became heavy.

"Get in here." The person inside spoke when they were still a few steps away from the bedroom.

Luo Mingxiu opened the door and saw Luo Qiuli sitting at his desk, with a poster spread out on the table.

In the poster, Shen Li has wet hair, and her back is exposed with a large area of ​​bare skin, showing off her shoulder blades and waist dimples.

In front of her was a mirror, in which she was wearing a white shirt, her shoulders half-exposed. The shirt was short and sheer, outlining her figure, and her slender, long legs were bare.

This is undoubtedly a private photo shoot, not a picture from a magazine, nor a poster that can be bought. It is a series of pictures taken by a photographer hired by Shen Li Studio.

He thought this one was beautiful and printed it privately.

Unexpectedly, he carelessly forgot one when packing, and it happened to be this one.

"Mom, I... I bought a magazine of my sister's, and this was a freebie included with it. I wanted to support her." Having come this far, Luo Mingxiu had no choice but to tell his mother about buying the magazine.

"What about the magazine?" Luo Qiuli looked at him. "Don't lie to me. I can take a picture and ask you, Sister Lili, if you have this magazine."

"Don't ask her." Luo Mingxiu could only stop him, but he couldn't say anything. Those posters were locked in the cabinet; they were a secret he couldn't bring himself to tell.

Now, because he wants to give up his fantasies and clear his mind, the secret has been exposed, and how can he say it out loud?

Seeing his reaction, Luo Qiuli clenched her hands, trying to banish her wild thoughts, and looked at Luo Mingxiu again: "Give me the phone."

"Mom," Luo Mingxiu took two steps back. There was a photo album of Shen Li on his phone. How was he going to explain this?

Luo Qiuli walked over impatiently and tugged at him: "Give it to me."

The phone was handed to her, and Luo Qiuli opened the photo album, looking at the pictures of Shen Li one by one. She closed her eyes briefly, and asked incredulously, "You like her?"

The word "like" struck Luo Mingxiu like a heavy blow, and countless scenes flashed through his mind: his excitement, joy, sadness, confusion, and shame.

So all of this was actually because I liked him?

He likes Shen Li; he has fallen in love with the older sister who watched him grow up.

"I'm asking you, do you like her?" Luo Qiuli raised her voice.

Luo Mingxiu was startled. When he looked up and saw tears welling up in his mother's eyes, he realized the seriousness of the situation.

Shouldn't he like his older sister?

"I like it." Luo Mingxiu nodded in acknowledgment. The next moment, a slap landed on his face, and his ears rang. He saw his mother's lips form three words.

You don't deserve it.