Chapter 5. You provoke him, he has something to say.
Gu Shiyue was silent for a moment, then replied, "Thank you."
"You're welcome, you're welcome, it's my pleasure." Jiang Luo said, then circled around him. The tiny game character happily circled around Gu Shiyue's game character.
"If anyone comes, hide behind me," Jiang Luo said. "I have a high health bar, I can take a beating."
Gu Shiyue responded, "Mm."
Cheng Jiashu spoke slowly, "You've never said such things to me as you would to coax a child."
Jiang Luo smiled and lay down on the sofa.
Two opponents came to their jungle to invade, and they ran into Gu Shiyue and Jiang Luo head-on. Gu Shiyue had just finished clearing a wave of jungle monsters and was already familiar with the skills. He was playing for Xiang Qin halfway through the game, so his economy was already high, and his damage was also very high. With Jiang Luo's assistance, he managed to kill both opponents in one go.
"Wow, that's awesome!" Cheng Jiashu exclaimed.
"Wow, you're amazing." Jiang Luo followed behind Gu Shiyue and flew over to heal him.
The little shadow looks even more energetic; it could take off from the spot if it had wings.
Gu Shiyue didn't think it was anything special, and objectively stated: "I would die without you."
"No, no, it's really you who's amazing." Jiang Luo lay on the sofa, hugging a cushion and smiling. "And I won't let you die. I promise to protect you."
Jiang Luo wasn't just flattering him; he genuinely thought Gu Shiyue was amazing. After all, the character he was playing in the game had quite complex controls, and his double kill earlier was clearly not accidental; it was the result of awareness and skill. To pick up the game so quickly on his first try—his reaction time was truly impressive.
Cheng Jiashu, playing a damage dealer, was indeed targeted without Jiang Luo's protection, and was killed twice in just one minute. Jiang Luo relentlessly followed Gu Shiyue, completely disregarding his life or death. Cheng Jiashu complained, "Are you going home, kid? I've died twice already, can't you control me?"
"Here he comes." Jiang Luo greeted Gu Shiyue before leaving, "Senior, I'll protect him for a bit."
Gu Shiyue hummed in agreement.
"You're so oblivious to everyone else." Cheng Jiashu said while dodging the opponent's skills, "If you don't take care of me, I'm going to cause trouble."
Gu Shiyue glanced at the minimap and reminded Jiang Luo, "There's someone in the grass on the right."
"Mmm." Jiang Luo hadn't really noticed and almost got caught.
Xiang Qin returned quickly and saw Gu Shiyue speaking from afar, which he found quite unusual. Upon returning, he discovered that Gu Shiyue was not only alive but had also taken two lives.
“Sure.” Xiang Qin took the phone and looked at Gu Shiyue. “A top student’s brain works so well. You pick up games so quickly. Why don’t you play? I just drank too much beer and I’m feeling sleepy. I want to take a nap.”
"Play by yourself." Gu Shiyue said, then got up and left.
Jiang Luo asked on the other end of the phone, "Are you sleepy? How about we finish this game and call it a day?"
Xiang Qin laughed and said, "I'm not sleepy. I was just kidding him to get him to talk more. I think he talks a lot to you."
Jiang Luo chuckled twice: "I was just being too talkative."
"So," Xiang Qin chuckled, "he'll talk back if you provoke him, but he might not even listen to others who provoke him."
Jiang Chen stayed in the study for more than two hours before coming out. He finished his weekend homework that night. He didn't have any other hobbies except sleeping, so he went to bed early after finishing his homework, unlike Jiang Luo, who was a night owl and stayed up until midnight.
The next morning, Jiang Luo set an alarm for eight o'clock. After washing up, she knocked on Jiang Chen's door and chanted, "Jiang Xiaochen, Jiang Xiaochen, get up, get up."
Jiang Xiaochen ignored him, turned over, covered herself with the blanket, and continued to sleep.
Jiang Luo opened the door and entered the room. Jiang Chen was curled up on the edge of the bed like a silkworm wrapped in a quilt. Jiang Luo went over and patted him on the back with a pillow: "Get up, time for a run, get up, get up, get up."
Jiang Chen shifted twice, his voice muffled by the blanket: "I don't want to get up..."
Jiang Luo tugged at his blanket: "You have to get up whether you want to or not. You know, the early bird catches the worm."
Jiang Chen is extremely self-disciplined in everything else, except for getting up. On weekends, no one can stop him from sleeping in, except for his brother.
It was actually quite late, around eight o'clock, but he just didn't want to get up. Jiang Chen struggled for a while before finally lifting the covers and sitting up, looking at his brother with messy hair and sleepy eyes: "Can we skip the run?"
His tone was pleading, and he sounded quite pitiful. Jiang Chen didn't not want to run; he just didn't want to get out of bed.
"No way." Jiang Luo laughed and pulled him up. "Are you going to sleep after you finish running? Come on, go wash your face."
Jiang Luo's mother passed away from illness. During that time, Jiang Luo was in the hospital almost every day, watching his mother grow thinner and thinner day by day, her spirits gradually dimming, until she was as weak as a withering blade of grass. He didn't know why his mother suddenly fell ill like this, without any warning. When a person is afflicted by illness, they are like an ant that can be crushed at any moment, small and powerless.
From then on, Jiang Luo was very afraid of the people around him getting sick. Even a fever from Jiang Chen would make him panic. Unfortunately, Jiang Chen had a weak constitution when he was young and would get minor illnesses every now and then. So Jiang Luo made him run and exercise to strengthen his physique.
Things are different now than when they were kids. Jiang Chen is almost as tall as him now, and his physique is no worse. In another two years, the two brothers will have to switch places.
Jiang Luo is lenient with himself but strict with others. He never gets up early to exercise at school, but he strictly supervises Jiang Chen when he gets home.
Jiang Chen, who lives at school, has to go for a run every morning. He got out of bed and looked at Jiang Luo with a resentful expression: "I've run enough at school."
"So, even on vacation, you should maintain the good habits you developed at school. I'll run with you." Jiang Luo smiled and pushed him towards the bathroom. "If you can run at school, why can't you run at home? You just want to sleep in; you're a sleepyhead."
Jiang Chen turned to him and asked, "Do you run every morning at school too?"
Jiang Luo smiled and didn't reply, pushing him forward.
"I knew it," Jiang Chen said calmly. "Brother, do you even know what 'Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you' means?"
Jiang Luo feigned ignorance: "I don't know, I've never heard of it."
After his run, Jiang Chen took a shower and then went back to his room for a nap. The two brothers ate lunch at home again. After lunch, Jiang Luo took Jiang Chen to the barbershop for a haircut. To save time, Jiang Chen asked the barber to give him a buzz cut.
In the afternoon, Jiang Luo took Jiang Chen to the mall again, intending to buy him two new outfits. Jiang Chen refused to buy anything, spending the entire afternoon shopping without purchasing a single piece. His reason was that he had to wear a school uniform at school, and even if he bought something, he wouldn't have a chance to wear it. Jiang Luo knew he was just trying to save money for himself, so in the end, instead of buying clothes, she bought him a new pair of sneakers.
Jiang Chen's classmate came to play basketball with him that evening. As soon as he entered the room, he was shocked by Jiang Chen's new hairstyle and exclaimed, "Holy crap, you've gone bald!"
Jiang Luo burst out laughing: "How can you talk like that?"
“Brother Jiang Luo,” Tian Haoyu chuckled, “you took him to get his head shaved? Why did it turn out like this?”
“He wanted to shave it himself, and we couldn’t stop him.” Jiang Luo walked over and patted Jiang Chen’s head. The stiff stubble was quite prickly. “Isn’t it good? Isn’t it handsome?”
"A bit too manly," Tian Haoyu said with a laugh, holding the basketball. "I reckon it'll scare all the girls in the class."
Tian Haoyu lived in their neighborhood and had known Jiang Chen and Jiang Luo since childhood. Jiang Chen was a year younger than Tian Haoyu. He skipped a grade in junior high and was in the same grade as Tian Haoyu in high school; they were in the same class.
Jiang Chen went back to his room to change into looser pants. Tian Haoyu sat on the sofa waiting for him and asked Jiang Luo, "Are you coming with us, bro?"
"I'm not going, you two play." Jiang Luo's phone rang; it was his uncle calling.
"Luo Luo, have you had dinner yet?"
"I've eaten, Uncle," Jiang Luo said as he walked towards the balcony.
"Did you eat at home or out?"
"Outside." His uncle calling at this hour probably meant something was up. Jiang Luo skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the point, "What's wrong? Is something the matter?"
"Yes, there is something." The uncle lowered his voice. "Originally, I didn't think it was necessary to mention this to you, but you are, after all, Xiao Chen's brother..."
Jiang Luo frowned: "What's wrong with Xiao Chen?"
"It's nothing serious, don't worry. It's just that last week, he almost got into a fight at school—"
Jiang Luo was taken aback: "What?"
"I got into a fight with a classmate during PE class, and their homeroom teacher even called me after school that day..."
Jiang Luo listened silently as his uncle explained the situation.
"You should talk to him later. This kid is only willing to talk to you. I can't get anything out of him."
"Okay, I understand. I'm sorry to have troubled you."
"Don't mention it," the uncle laughed. "You should find an opportunity to have a good talk with him. He's at an age where his personality is developing, and if he's not properly guided, he could easily go astray..."
Jiang Luo felt uncomfortable hearing this: "I know what kind of personality Xiao Chen has. He has his own ideas and won't go astray even without guidance. You don't need to worry about that."
Jiang Luo hung up the phone and turned around to see Jiang Chen coming out of the house. He glanced at Jiang Chen and put his phone back in his pocket.
"Brother," Jiang Chen said as he walked over, "I'm going out."
Jiang Luo smiled and said, "Go ahead."
Although Jiang Luo reacted normally, Jiang Chen still sensed something was off from the way Jiang Luo looked at him earlier. Jiang Chen was rather oblivious, often not very perceptive, but he and Jiang Luo were brothers, bound by blood, and their tacit understanding from growing up together was ingrained in their bones. Even though he was usually oblivious, he was still sensitive about his brother's affairs.
"Brother," Jiang Chen looked at Jiang Luo, "Is something wrong?"
Jiang Luo chuckled: "Quite perceptive."
Jiang Luo hadn't planned to bring this up now; he wanted to wait until Jiang Chen finished his game and came back. Jiang Chen was usually calm and well-behaved, so something must have happened; otherwise, he wouldn't have almost gotten into a fight.
"It's something, but it's nothing," Jiang Luo said. "We'll talk about it when you get back. Go have some fun now."
"Can you tell me now?"
Jiang Luo thought for a moment, then walked over and sat down on the sofa: "Okay, let's talk about it now."
“My uncle just called me and said you almost got into a fight with someone at school a few days ago.”
Jiang Chen knew that he probably couldn't hide this from his brother, so he lowered his eyelids and hummed in agreement.
Jiang Luo's gaze fell on his right hand: "So how did you get the injury on your hand?"
Jiang Luo frowned slightly: "Was it done by someone else?"
"No, I did it myself... by smashing the wall."
Jiang Luo took a deep breath: "You even lied to me and said you fell. Jiang Xiaochen, you've really made something of yourself. You've even started lying to people, including me."
Jiang Chen kept his eyes down and didn't say anything. He didn't explain, but Tian Haoyu jumped out to defend him: "Damn, that idiot started it, bro."
Jiang Luo looked at him, and Tian Haoyu, holding a basketball, quickly walked to Jiang Chen's side: "Brother, don't talk about Chen'er. It was that idiot who started it. He was the one who started the insults. The girl he was pursuing didn't like him and liked our Chen'er. He was unhappy, so he took the opportunity to pick a fight."
Jiang Luo frowned: "Does he often bully Xiao Chen?"
“No,” Tian Haoyu said, raising his chin. “With me here, would he dare? He’s a coward.”
Jiang Luo looked at Jiang Chen, her voice softening: "What exactly happened?"
Jiang Chen lowered his eyes and remained silent.
"Well..." Tian Haoyu glanced at Jiang Chen, rubbed his nose and said, "That day in PE class, that idiot was being a jerk, he called Chen'er... 'orphan'."
A note from the author:
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