Chapter 15: Second Sister
Wu Li: [???]
Wu Li had just finished dinner when he received the WeChat message from his childhood friend.
He racked his brains but couldn’t figure out what could have suddenly upset Luo Jing.
But Luo Jing didn’t answer his three question marks, instead continuing to send periods, looking utterly heartbroken.
Wu Li: “…”
Wu Li: [What’s wrong now, young master?]
Luo Jing: [Sigh.]
Wu Li: [?]
Luo Jing: [My sister broke up with her boyfriend.]
Wu Li: […Why are you upset that she broke up?]
It’s not like you broke up.
Luo Jing: [Because her boyfriend is the brother who came to my house for New Year’s.]
Luo Jing: [The brother who was playing games with me a few days ago.]
Wu Li: “…”
No wonder someone he had never met before suddenly appeared at Luo Jing’s house for the New Year.
Wu Li recalled how much his friend had adored this brother during the holidays, mentioning him constantly. From this perspective, it really was no different from Luo Jing himself breaking up.
It took him several seconds to digest this somewhat shocking fact.
He remembered a time when Luo Jing was little, he had a goldfish. On the third day, while changing its water, he accidentally dropped it down the drain, and then cried for a whole day.
Wu Li’s heart tightened instantly, recalling the fear of being subjected to Luo Jing’s grief.
The next second, Luo Jing’s video call came in.
Wu Li hesitated, then answered, deciding to comfort his friend.
On the other end of the phone, Luo Jing’s voice was heavy: “What should I do? Brother Huai won’t come play with me anymore.”
“You should be more worried about him deleting you directly.” Wu Li thought for a moment and said wisely, “Put yourself in his shoes. If you were in a relationship, and then broke up with your partner, would you keep their family’s contact information? Wouldn’t it be awkward?”
Wu Li’s casual words struck Luo Jing like a bolt of lightning. He froze, suddenly feeling a faint rumble of thunder outside.
After reacting, Luo Jing frantically sent Huai Dan an emoji and was relieved to find it went through.
But Huai Dan might be busy and didn’t reply immediately.
Normally, Luo Jing wouldn’t think much of it, but at this particular moment, he felt something was terribly wrong.
The gifts had been given, the birthday wishes had been sent, was it possible that he just hadn’t gotten around to deleting him yet?
Maybe he would remember later and delete him then.
Thinking of this, Luo Jing quickly retracted the message, wishing he could make his chat window disappear from Huai Dan’s chat list.
“What should I do, what should I do?” Luo Jing felt like an ant on a hot pan. “I sent him an emoji, but he hasn’t replied yet. He’s probably busy… Will he delete me when he comes back?”
“Very likely,” Wu Li affirmed, forwarding some online posts about what people do after breaking up to Luo Jing. “Look.”
Luo Jing clicked and read them. There were quite a few people asking for advice on how to tactfully delete their ex’s family’s contact information.
His heart sank with every post, subconsciously substituting Huai Dan for each poster.
“Then what should I do?” Luo Jing was distressed.
“Actually, if you just want someone to play games with you, finding a skilled player is the same.” After a pause, Wu Li tried to persuade him, “And since your sister broke up with him, wouldn’t it be awkward for her if you still have her ex-boyfriend’s WeChat?”
Luo Jing fell silent.
Wu Li was right. Finding a professional gamer was the same.
And since his sister had broken up with him, it was indeed inappropriate to keep his contact information. Otherwise, if Huai Dan’s next girlfriend found out, it would be awkward. They might even argue about it, thinking Huai Dan still had feelings for his sister…
Luo Jing didn’t want that.
He didn’t lack the money to hire professional gamers. He could hire ten if he wanted to, and they wouldn’t be as busy as Huai Dan, available whenever he needed them. But…
“It’s different,” Luo Jing said.
Huai Dan seemed to have finally finished his work and saw Luo Jing’s retracted message.
Brother: [What did you retract?]
Luo Jing couldn’t explain exactly what was different. By the time he realized it, he had already typed and sent a message to Huai Dan.
AAA.Homework Wholesaler Xiao Luo: [Brother, can you please not delete me?]
Huai Dan had just finished a phone call. Seeing this message, he felt he couldn’t keep up with children’s thought processes.
He scrolled through their previous chat history, still not understanding why the topic had suddenly shifted to this strange place.
Brother: [What’s wrong?]
So he asked.
Luo Jing’s mind raced, and finally, he typed: [Brother, although you and my sister broke up]
AAA.Homework Wholesaler Xiao Luo: [Actually, I have another older sister who’s been living abroad. She’s much better than my sister. She has all of my sister’s good qualities and none of her flaws! I’ll introduce her to you!]
“I’m doomed,” Luo Jing said, looking at the message he had sent.
“What’s wrong?” Wu Li, never one to miss a good show, asked, “Did he delete you?”
“You know, you’re acting like someone chasing a girl, afraid their crush won’t pay attention to them,” he added.
“You’re the one…” Luo Jing retorted instinctively, then paused, dumbfounded. “I told him I have another older sister and that I’ll introduce her to him.”
Wu Li: “???”
“You have another older sister?”
“No.”
“…Damn.”
They were both silent for a moment. After a while, Wu Li spoke again: “So where are you going to find a second sister to introduce to him?”
“…I don’t know, I was just panicking,” Luo Jing realized how difficult it would be to cover up his lie.
There were countless reasons to stay in contact with someone, but his first reaction was to have Huai Dan continue dating his sister, so he subconsciously made up a second sister…
“What should I do? How do I conjure up a second sister? Should I ask my parents to have another child?” Luo Jing was on the verge of a breakdown.
“…Then she wouldn’t be your sister, she’d be your younger sister.”
Luo Jing didn’t want to argue about ethics with him. He just felt a headache coming on.
Brother: [?]
Huai Dan was silent for about half a minute, then sent a question mark.
Huai Dan looked at Luo Jing’s message, holding his cup in silence for several seconds.
Then he took a screenshot and sent it to Luo Feng.
The other end was silent for a while, then the “Typing…” appeared intermittently.
Huai Dan didn’t interrupt, patiently waiting for a reasonable explanation.
After a long wait, the other end sent a message: [I don’t have a younger sister, Luo Jing is lying to you]
Huai Dan: …
H: [.]
Luo Feng: …
Luo Feng felt like she was having the worst luck today.
She took a deep breath and started to explain: [I had a fight with that little brat before. He angrily said I would never find a partner and that anyone who dated me would be incredibly unlucky. In a fit of anger, I said I would bring a boyfriend home for New Year’s and told him to wait and see]
Luo Feng: [I was actually planning to find someone to pretend to be my boyfriend, but then you happened to be coming to my house for New Year’s…]
So she went along with it.
Luo Feng: [I just told him we broke up today, and then he became like this]
H: […]
Seeing the ellipsis, Luo Feng felt incredibly ashamed.
Luo Feng: [He seems quite worried that you won’t play with him anymore. He sounded like he was about to cry when he called me earlier]
So she changed the subject and started exaggerating her brother’s behavior.
Huai Dan was speechless and felt a bit helpless.
So the child had been treating him as his brother-in-law all along.
No wonder he had always felt a faint sense of dissonance during their interactions but couldn’t put his finger on it.
Seeing Luo Feng’s message, he thought for a moment and figured the child was probably afraid he wouldn’t play games with him anymore.
Children of this age should prioritize their studies, especially Luo Jing, who was about to take the high school entrance exam. He shouldn’t be addicted to games.
Although his winter homework showed that Luo Jing had good grades, based on the frequency with which the child had pestered him to play games before he left, Huai Dan was a bit worried.
H: [So what about the second sister he mentioned?]
Luo Feng: [I don’t know, maybe he’s trying to find someone to have an online relationship with you.]
Huai Dan didn’t comment, then, after thinking for a moment, switched to Luo Jing’s chat window.
H: [Okay.]
“Ahhh, what should I do!” Luo Jing looked at the message he had just received, closed his eyes in distress, and then buried his face and phone in the bed, trying to numb himself by hiding from the problem.
Plastic Bag, lying next to him, was startled and jumped off the bed. After circling the bed twice, it jumped back up, squatted next to Luo Jing, and tried to figure out what was wrong with its seemingly lifeless owner.
The puppy didn’t know what it meant to lie and feel guilty. The puppy was just worried.
“What’s wrong now?” Wu Li was bored, so watching his friend’s drama became his best entertainment. Hearing the boy’s wails on the other end of the phone, his curiosity was piqued.
“He agreed… Where am I going to find a second sister for him? Do you want to be my second sister?!”
Wu Li: “…”
“Are you out of your mind?”
Luo Jing, still buried in the bed, replied, his voice muffled but loud: “Yes!”
The other end fell silent, probably speechless.
Luo Jing calmed down a bit, then sat up, his face slightly red from lack of air: “What should I do? I regret it so much.”
“It’s too late for regrets now.” Wu Li started to give him advice: “Why don’t you find someone to pretend to be your second sister and have an online relationship with him?”
Luo Jing initially thought this idea was feasible, but after careful consideration, he felt it wasn’t appropriate: “It’s too easy to be exposed, and how am I going to find such a person in such a short time?”
“Then you’ll have to do it yourself,” Wu Li said after a moment of thought.
Luo Jing: “?”
After sending his alternate account information, he anxiously stared at the phone screen.
After a while, a red dot appeared by his contact.
He mentally prepared himself, but still hesitated before clicking “Accept.”
“He sent me a friend request, what should I do? I’m not ready yet,” Luo Jing said.
Wu Li was playing a game and thought for a moment after hearing this: “Then tell him your second sister has a time difference and is probably still sleeping… By the way, which country is your second sister supposed to be in?”
“I haven’t thought about it yet…” Luo Jing said dejectedly.
“…Then you should work on your character setting tonight.”
After sending the message to Huai Dan using the lines Wu Li provided, Luo Jing felt slightly relieved.
Hearing his father’s voice downstairs, Luo Jing jumped out of bed, grabbed Plastic Bag, and went downstairs.
Downstairs, the food was steaming hot. The housekeeper who had helped with the cooking had already left, and Lin Xue and Luo Zhang were sitting at the dining table.
Luo Jing came down the stairs, shuffling in his slippers, holding the dog. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he noticed the atmosphere at the dining table was a bit strange.
Why did they both seem so formal?
With a hint of confusion, he sat down opposite them, placing Plastic Bag on a chair beside him: “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you talking?”
“Xiao Jing, your mom and dad want to ask for your opinion,” Lin Xue started, probing, “Do you want to study abroad in the future?”
Luo Jing: “…”
???
