Chapter 169 IF Line: Childhood Sweethearts (02)

Pei Yizhong reached out and grabbed Xie Xingchen, wishing he could spank him.

She scolded through gritted teeth, "No way! That won't do! You're not allowed to kiss him again, you little brat, do you hear me? Not on the face, not on the hand, and definitely not on the mouth!"

"Why?" Xie Xingchen looked bewildered. "She's my wife. I've made my choice, and this is the one."

"You can't just kiss anyone, Xingxing." Yun Qing said to him, looking down at Lin Yao, whose cheeks were flushed, and reminded him, "Yaoyao can't be your wife either, he's a boy."

Xie Xingchen stared at him, his thoughts clear, and said, "You're a boy too, and you married Dad too."

Yun Qing: "......."

What an eloquent tongue! Well said, with clear logic, I'm speechless.

Pei Yizhong squatted down and tried to reason with a three-year-old child: "You will be an Alpha in the future, and Yaoyao will also be an Alpha. You can be brothers, but he cannot be your bride."

Surrounded by the crowd, Xie Xingchen was very unhappy.

"What A? I don't understand," she said, reaching out to hug Lin Yao tightly, "I want it! It's mine!"

Lin Yao rarely encountered someone who would take the initiative to play with him, so he remained still and let the man hold him, nodding blankly: "Okay."

Pei Yizhong was so angry he almost had a heart attack: "..............I'm really speechless."

"Never mind, never mind." Lin Han reached out and pulled him, saying gently, "Children say the darndest things. He won't think like that when he grows up."

Xie Xingchen felt that this was a typical case of age discrimination, and said firmly, "I'll still think that way when I grow up!"

Pei Yizhong really couldn't help but want to punch him; this brat just looked like he deserved a beating.

Xie Hengzhi took out his phone, pointed it at him, and said sarcastically, "Say that again? When you grow up, I'll show you this video."

Three-year-old Xie Xingchen, holding two-year-old Lin Yao, proudly declared, "When I grow up, I want Yao Yao to be my wife too!"

Pei Yizhong clenched his fists and asked earnestly, "Can I hit him?"

Lin Yao looked up and slowly said, "No, I won't hit my brother..."

Pei Yizhong was so angry he almost fainted.

The other adults exchanged smiles, not taking it seriously at all.

When Lin Yao reached kindergarten age, he was sent to the same school as Xie Xingchen. In order for the children to look after each other, Xie Xingchen repeated the junior class.

Cheng Boyan, who grew up with Xie Xingchen, was in the same class. On the first day of school, during lunchtime, he saw Xie Xingchen blowing on his bowl and asked in confusion, "What are you doing?"

"Let it cool down, then give it to Yao Yao." Xie Xingchen said with a very serious expression.

Cheng Boyan, holding his bowl, ate very politely: "Huh? Doesn't he have a mouth?"

Xie Xingchen glanced at him, leaned closer and whispered, "You don't understand, Yaoyao will be my wife in the future. Father Yun said that you have to treat your wife well."

Cheng Boyan frowned, looked at him, then at Lin Yao sitting obediently on the stool, and asked incredulously, "Why don't you arrange a marriage between your children with Pei Xiang?"

"I don't like it," Xie Xingchen said bluntly. "She cries so much, it's so noisy."

Pei Xiang, who was passing by from behind, overheard the bad talk and loudly retorted, "I hate you too! I hate you to death!!!"

Lin Yao didn't know why his brother and sister would get so worked up every time they met. He spoke slowly and was always anxious, so he could only reach out and pull Xie Xingchen: "Don't argue, try to coax her."

Xie Xingchen reluctantly took out a piece of candy from his pocket, handed it over, and emphasized, "Okay, here you go, but I'm only giving it to you because Yao Yao told me to."

Pei Xiang was furious. She turned and stormed off, saying, "Who wants your candy?"

Xie Xingchen shrugged slightly and continued to feed the cooled porridge to Lin Yao: "See, she didn't want it."

Cheng Boyan rested his chin on his hand, looking at him with a probing expression: "Something's not right with you."

Xie Xingchen turned his head and said in a mature tone, "You'll understand when you have a wife."

"I don't want a wife." Cheng Boyan lowered his head and ate his food, refusing righteously. "I also hate crybabies."

Pei Xiang, who had already left, stormed back in a huff and bumped into Cheng Boyan on the head, making him yell, "I hate you guys!"

With things having escalated to this point, Pei Xiang decided to distance herself from these two annoying people.

However, because they were of similar age, they were forced to be in the same class since kindergarten. Pei Xiang watched as Xie Xingchen fed Lin Yao every day, tied his shoelaces, and took him out to play.

They want to be carried on their backs on rainy days and hugged on snowy days; it's enough to leave anyone speechless.

Pei Xiang would go back every day to complain to Pei Yizhong, feeling angry as if her own brother had been taken away: "Xie Xingchen is always hanging around my brother. Doesn't he have his own brother? Why does he have to come and steal someone else's?"

Pei Yizhong was stumped by the question and said indignantly, "That's right, why doesn't he stick close to Xie Yunhuai?"

"I guess the age difference is too big, after all, there's a five-year gap," Lin Han analyzed. "Boys of similar age always like to play together, it's normal."

Just thinking about that brat annoyed him. Pei Yizhong scoffed, "Heh, that's not normal at all."

As he grew a little older, seven-year-old Lin Yao became even smarter and more sensible.

With Pei Yizhong constantly nagging him, he has begun to righteously reject Xie Xingchen and draw a clear line: "You can't call me wife. Dad said you can't call me that."

"Why?" Xie Xingchen stood up after tying his shoelaces, looking very dissatisfied.

"No way." Lin Yao, carrying his schoolbag, had a serious expression on his face. "I'm going to find an Omega to be my wife in the future, and you have to find one too. Your wife will be someone else, not me."

Xie Xingchen remained silent.

Why does Yao Yao want to find someone else? Why? On what grounds? What if I become an Omega in the future? How can he be so sure? It's so annoying.

Cheng Boyan, who was watching the show from the sidelines, sneered, "Your wife doesn't want you anymore."

Xie Xingchen was very angry, but she couldn't vent her anger on him. She just reached out and grabbed his hand, stubbornly saying, "I want you. We made a promise when we were little."

After saying that, he added, "My dad recorded a video, I'll find it for you when I get back."

Lin Yao was very indifferent and pushed his hand away: "Then I've changed my mind. If you call me that again, I won't talk to you anymore."

Xie Xingchen felt like the sky had fallen, and he sulked for three whole days after returning home.

Lin Yao was aloof by nature. If the other party ignored him, he would not take the initiative to make amends. So the two people who were usually inseparable suddenly went their separate ways.

On the way home from school, Cheng Boyan saw Lin Yao walking ahead of Pei Xiang and, not wanting to miss out on the fun, teased him, "What should we do? Lin Yao is really ignoring you."

Lin Yao walked very fast and quickly pulled ahead of everyone else.

Xie Xingchen was silent for a few seconds, then strode forward and grabbed Lin Yao's backpack strap: "Stop right there."

Lin Yao turned to look at him, his expression puzzled: "What are you doing?"

Pei Xiang grinned from the side, thinking, "That wretched thing! My brother finally played with me for a few days, and now he's snatching me again."

"I won't call you that anymore." Xie Xingchen, after much painful reflection, temporarily compromised. "I won't call you that anymore, I'm not angry anymore, let's make up."

Lin Yao looked at him and said very seriously, "You can't even think about it."

Xie Xingchen was furious, but he had to pretend to be compliant and nodded, saying, "I don't want to."

"I don't believe it." Pei Xiang added fuel to the fire from the side. "He's probably secretly thinking, 'Brother, don't believe his nonsense.'"

Lin Yao nodded slowly, quite rationally: "That makes sense. Then, let's have another week of cold war."

Having finally compromised and taken the initiative, Xie Xingchen's world collapsed once again.

Unable to play with Lin Yao, he lost interest in everything, even school, and was listless every day, which made Yun Qing think he was sick and wanted to take him to see a doctor.

"Yaoyao is ignoring me." Xie Xingchen looked up at him with a tense face. "How about we go to their house for the weekend? You go and take me with you. I haven't played with him for a week."

Yun Qing was both amused and exasperated, and said gently, "You don't eat every day, is that why?"

"Yeah, he won't let me call him 'wife,' and even after I've stopped, he still ignores me." Xie Xingchen was very distressed, as this was indeed a bit too difficult for a child who was not even eight years old.

Xie Hengzhi said in a deep voice: "Who told you to hug him all the time when you were little? If you keep doing this, Lin Yao will be even more annoyed with you when you grow up."

Xie Xingchen hadn't thought about the future, and upon hearing this, he was startled and became very nervous: "Really?"

Xie Hengzhi hummed in agreement: "Yes, have you ever seen me so clingy with Uncle Pei?"

Xie Xingchen imagined the scene of the two of them hugging and got goosebumps all over his body. How disgusting.

Xie Hengzhi could tell what he was imagining just by looking at the expression on his face, and stopped him, saying, "Stop having those strange thoughts."

Yunqing decided to take this opportunity to educate her son, so she said, "You are already a primary school student, so you can't kiss and hug Yaoyao anymore. You can only do these things with your partner when you grow up, understand? If you treat Yaoyao like a good brother like your older brother and Boyan, you can continue your friendship."

Xie Xingchen reluctantly replied, "Fine."

Although it sounds very ununique, he was willing to compromise a little in order to break the ice with Lin Yao.

So on the weekend, he brought a box full of gifts and invited Cheng Boyan to come along, and visited Lin Yao's house again.

"Dad said we're brothers from now on." Xie Xingchen handed over the gift, redefining their relationship. "Is this okay?"

Lin Yao thought for a moment and nodded, saying, "Okay, but I only have a younger sister. I don't know how brothers get along."

Xie Xingchen raised his hand and threw Cheng Boyan to the ground, demonstrating, "This is how we usually play."

Cheng Boyan, sprawled out on his back: ? ? ? ? ?

No, you? Are you sick?

Lin Yao seemed to understand, but thinking about the group of boys in his class who were playing wildly, he thought it made sense. So he raised his hand and knocked Xie Xingchen, who was next to him, to the ground as well.

"so?"

Despite his short stature, he possessed immense strength, pinning the other person down and preventing them from moving at all.

Unable to break free, Xie Xingchen remained silent.

Pei Yizhong, who was watching the scene from the sidelines, couldn't help but applaud and exclaimed, "Yaoyao has perfectly inherited my genes. She'll definitely be a good soldier in the future."

Xie Hengzhi, unusually showing concern, retorted sarcastically, "It wasn't your son who got beaten up."

Lin Yao looked at Xie Xingchen, whom he had knocked down. His older brother, who was usually so arrogant among his friends, had become a prisoner. He couldn't help but laugh: "You're so lame. Why didn't you fight back?"

It was rare to see the other person show such a lively expression. Xie Xingchen was stunned for several seconds before sincerely praising, "Yaoyao, you look so beautiful when you smile."

Lin Yao: ""

Xie Xingchen lay on his back on the ground, grabbed his hand, and taught him to make a fist and punch himself.

"It's okay, you can hit me, I can take it."