Chapter 28: Sister

The New Year has passed, the winter vacation has also ended, and the Beijing Academy of Fine Arts has officially started school.

Chen Zhan dragged his suitcase back to school.

It was late winter and early spring, and the temperature was still as low as usual. When I carried my luggage to the dormitory, there was already someone inside.

Ji Miaomiao was the first to arrive at the dormitory. When Chen Zan pushed open the door, she was taking out the specialty snacks she brought from her hometown from her suitcase.

With a bag of money in her arms, she looked up subconsciously when the dormitory door was pushed open by someone from outside.

"Zhanzhan?!" Seeing it was her, Ji Miaomiao's eyes were filled with surprise, "You're here?"

Chen Zhan greeted her with a smile, "Miaomiao, long time no see."

Ji Miaomiao put all the snacks in her arms on her desk, then walked around the suitcase spread out on the ground, came over and hugged Chen Zan.

"I haven't seen you for a whole winter break. I really miss you so much!!!"

Chen Zhan smiled and gently patted her back, saying, "I miss you too."

The two sisters hugged each other at the door for a while, and then Ji Miaomiao pulled her in. "I brought you some goodies. Come with me."

Ji Miaomiao pulled Chen Zan to her table and said to her, "These are all delicious snacks from our hometown. I bought them specially. Come and try them."

As she spoke, she stuffed something into Chen Zan's arms.

There was so much stuff stuffed in that Chen Zhan could barely hold it in his hands. He stopped her and said, "Alright, alright, that's enough."

"This is not enough..." Ji Miaomiao ignored her advice and just stuffed the snacks into her arms, "I brought a suitcase full of snacks this time."

“…”

"You really...want to move the supermarket from your hometown here?"

Ji Miaomiao thought about it and seemed to think that this proposal was very good. "If it's possible, it's not impossible."

“…”

Afterwards, Tao Yiran and He Shiyi also returned to school and received the same treatment as Chen Zan.

Tao Yiran looked at the mountain of snacks on his desk and couldn't help shaking his head and praising Ji Miaomiao, "Ermiao, are you moving your own granary here?"

"Why didn't I notice you were such a big eater last semester?"

“…”

Knowing that Tao Yiran was insulting her, Ji Miaomiao puffed out her chest and raised her chin slightly to show her strength, "My mother said that being able to eat is a blessing."

"Then you..." Tao Yiran glanced suggestively at the four tables in the dormitory, which were piled high with things, and teased her, "You're so lucky..."

"Pfft..." He Shiyi couldn't help laughing. She smiled with her eyes crooked, and her laughter cut her voice into pieces. "Ranran...you chatterbox...stop it..."

"Er... Er Miao... Ran Ran said you are a pig, hahahahahahaha"

“…”

"Tao Yiran, I'm going to kill you!!!"

The jubilant playfulness in the dormitory seemed to have started with He Shiyi's words, and then it got out of control.

Chen Zhan didn't join in their playfulness. She smiled as she sorted out the things she had brought from home. She also brought them gifts, sachets she had sewn herself when she had nothing to do at home.

She planted an ornamental orange tree at home. During the winter vacation at home, the orange tree bloomed with small white flowers. She picked the white flowers, dried them with rain dew, and put them into sachets.

I also sewed auspicious words on the outside of the sachet by myself——

"May you be blessed with peace and happiness every year."

Chen Zhan made five, one for each of the four people in the dormitory. She wanted to give the remaining one to He Jingsui. She didn't know if he would like it, but she made it just because she thought of him.

Chen Zhan distributed the sachets to them and said, "I hope you like them."

"I love it so much!" He Shiyi held the small sachet in her hand, stroking the small words on it with her fingers, and said to Chen Zhan, "Zhan Zhan, you are so skillful, and you can even embroider. If someone marries you in the future, his family will definitely burn incense and pray to the Buddha, and they will be happy forever!"

I really don't know where she learned these words from. Chen Zhan chuckled and teased her, "Your flattery is too high and too far."

"Seriously," He Shiyi sighed softly and said, "I don't know which pig will snatch this little cabbage of yours away in the end. As your sister, I'm really envious and jealous. Oh, it's all my mom's fault for giving me the wrong gender. If I were a boy, I would definitely marry you home to be my wife!"

Chen Zhan continued to smile and continued her line, "Then I will wait for you here in the next life. You must come and marry me."

He Shiyi playfully winked at her and made an "OK" sign with her hand: "OK!"

The first month of school was almost full of classes, and Chen Zhan had no free time. Two new courses had been added to their schedule this semester. Not only did they have to take painting theory and skills courses, but also some other theoretical courses that were completely unrelated to painting.

Some knowledge was difficult and she couldn't understand it in a short time, so these days she was either painting in the studio or burying her head in long and boring theoretical books in the library.

He Shiyi was not as worried as her. She went back to the dormitory after class. She was going to the Sports University to find He Jingsui to pick up something today. Coincidentally, her mother sent her some snacks from abroad, and she also planned to bring him a few bags.

Chen Zan helped pack the snacks last night. They were all put into a white plastic bag, which was quite heavy.

After putting the bag of snacks into his schoolbag, He Shiyi left the dormitory.

Half an hour later, they arrived at the Sports University. Jiang Qiannan and He Jingsui came to the door to pick her up.

He Shiyi saw He Jingsui first, and stood on tiptoe to wave at him, "Brother!"

Then, she ran over happily, her smile as bright as a flower. When she got to them, He Shiyi's smile did not fade.

He Jingsui put one hand lazily in his pocket and held a cowhide handbag in the other. When he saw her, he handed the things in his hand to her.

He Shiyi took it and looked into the bag. It was indeed the things she had forgotten at He Jingsui's house. She looked up at him and smiled, saying, "Thank you."

"I searched for it at home for a long time, and it turned out to be yours."

During winter vacation, He Shiyi went to He Jingsui's house for a few days. Fearing she might get bored, she brought two books with her. She left them at his house after returning home in a hurry. She only remembered them a few days ago and came to get them.

"If you keep losing things like this next time, I won't care about you anymore."

Knowing that He Jingsui was capable of such a thing, He Shiyi didn't play tricks on him. He smiled playfully and said in a soft voice, "I know, brother. I definitely won't do it again next time."

Her slimy voice made the two grown men in front of her frown. Jiang Qiannan, standing beside her, waved his hand in front of his eyes in disgust, "He Shiyi, do you have phlegm in your throat? Why are you talking so slurred?"

“…”

That's clearly called acting coquettishly!

Damn Jiang Qiannan, what do you know!

He Shiyi glanced at him speechlessly and didn't want to pay any attention to him.

But Jiang Qiannan didn't think so. He asked her casually, "Are you here alone? Where's Chen Zan?"

"She's been busy lately and doesn't have time to come." He Shiyi answered his question perfunctorily, but the next second, she alertly sensed something wrong and turned to look at Jiang Qiannan.

Because of this, she missed the look that He Jingsui cast at her.

No one noticed this detail.

"Why are you asking that?"

Jiang Qiannan teased her: "I used to see you two inseparable, but this time I saw you were all alone, and I thought you had abandoned her."

“…”

He Shiyi couldn't help but tease him, and even got angry when he was teased, "What nonsense are you talking about! Don't try to drive a wedge between us, we have a great relationship!"

It was this kind of angry look that made Jiang Qiannan feel very cute, and even He Jingsui laughed softly.

He said lazily at the right time: "Okay."

He Jingsui looked at He Shiyi and said, "Is there anything else? If not, go back to school early."

If she hadn't told her something, she would have almost forgotten about it.

He Shiyi hurriedly unfastened her schoolbag in front of her, unzipped it, took out the things inside and handed them to He Jingsui. In her flurry of activity, she didn't notice that the sachet was also taken out and dropped on the ground.

"By the way, these are the snacks my mom sent me from abroad. I can't finish them all by myself, so I brought them over to share with you."

His eyes fell on the bulging bag she handed over. He Jingsui couldn't help but twitched the corners of his lips, feeling a little funny. "You're so old, and you still eat snacks?"

"This is different," He Shiyi said, "It's delicious."

"Here! Take it."

There was really nothing he could do with this little brat, so He Jing raised his hand to take the bag of snacks and said thank you to her.

Jiang Qiannan wasn't really listening to them. The sachet on the ground caught his eye. He squatted down to pick it up, and with a flick of his finger, he saw the eight prominent characters for "blessing" written on it. He hooked his finger around the string tied to the sachet, letting it sway, and held it out to He Shiyi. "Where did you get this? It looks quite old."

A sense of age?

If you say something so nice, won't you find new ways to say it's unsophisticated?

Jiang Qiannan took it and sniffed it, muttering to himself, "It smells pretty good, but this smell... why does it look so familiar..."

He only had a vague feeling, but before he could confirm it, He Shiyi snatched the sachet from his hand and touched it lovingly, "Don't touch it. This thing was given to me by Zhanzhan. She made it for us at home. If you break it, you have to pay for it!"

"Chen Zan can also do this?" Jiang Qiannan was surprised.

"Of course," He Shiyi said, looking like a proud little peacock, as if she had made it herself. She praised him affectionately, "Our Zhanzhan is very clever and can do anything. She's nothing like you grown men."

Jiang Qiannan chuckled and crossed his arms, "It's only been one semester, and Chen Zan has become yours?"

"Why, is it still yours?"

They didn't listen to He Jingsui at all, and they were talking to each other at the same time, but He Jingsui's attention was completely occupied by the sachet.

He brought the snacks back to the dormitory, and they were soon noticed by the other three roommates. One of them came over with ill intentions, put his arm around his shoulder, and said "Yo yo yo" a few times, "A Sui, how long has school started? You're accepting gifts again? And this time you brought them back to the dormitory, it seems like you're not simple——"

He Jing then took his hand off his shoulder, lifted his foot and hooked a chair in front of him, then sat down carelessly. While reading the message on his phone, he explained nonchalantly, "My sister gave it to me."

The boy was a little suspicious of his words, his brain stopped working for a second, and then he suddenly realized, "My dear sister?"

“…”

"I'm not saying anything bad about Ah Sui, but you're quite extravagant in private, even with brother and sister. But it suits you very well, it's exciting."

“…”

The more he spoke, the more outrageous it became. He Jingsui lazily lifted his eyelids and glanced at him, silently, yet with an oppressive and warning look.

The boy shut up at the right time, looked at his expression and left.

The ears are finally pure.

He finished replying the message while crossing his legs, and when he raised his eyes, his gaze fell on the bag on the table.

With a helpless sneer, he reached out and took the bag, placing it in his arms. He untied the beautiful bow on it with his fingers and took out the snacks one by one as if he was counting them and piled them on the table.

Until the last little item left in the bag.

The red silk cloth had a fluffy fur. On the side facing his eyes, eight small characters were embroidered with gold thread, which read: "Year after year, may you be blessed with peace and happiness."

He Shiyi's voice suddenly appeared in my mind.

"Zhanzhan made this for me at home."

He took it out of the bag and spread it on his palm. Suddenly, he laughed softly. It turned out that he had made a portion for himself.

"Eh?" The boy who had just been scared away by He Jingsui's eyes came closer again. Seeing the small sachet in his hand, he couldn't help but tease him, "A Sui, you said it wasn't given to you by your sweetheart."

He looked at the sachet and read the words on it, "Year after year, wish you peace and happiness. Your sister would never give you something like this..."

"I think it was given to you by a little girl."

He Jingsui didn't seem to be teased at all. He just looked at the sachet casually, searching for Chen Zan's figure in his mind.

What I can remember is her expressionless and tense body and the little thoughts that could easily reveal themselves when she was with me, or her relaxed and natural behavior when she was with other men.

He remembered the scene he saw at the street corner that day, clenched his fingers, and squeezed the sachet tightly into his palm.

He placed the sachet next to his pillow, and the faint fragrance accompanied him into his dreams.

He had a dream.

He dreamed that he went on a spring outing with the school bus during his senior year of high school. He had picked up a sachet on his seat that was exactly the same as the one next to his pillow. Even in his dream, there was a familiar smell. He couldn't see the face of the owner, and all he could remember was her figure running away in panic.