Chapter 71: Better to Stay Busy + [Extra]

After dinner, as Qin Shiguang helped tidy up, she casually asked, “Hey, so how are you doing these days?”

“What do you mean, how am I doing?”

“I mean, are you taking your medicine on time? And that alarm... you didn’t secretly delete it, did you?”

Seeing her elder brother either genuinely confused or pretending not to understand, Qin Shiguang had to lay the question bare, leaving no room for avoidance or evasion.

Qin Shishen didn’t reply, simply shook the water off his hands and walked straight out.

“Hey! What’s the matter with you? If you took it, you took it, if not, you didn’t! I won’t scold you...” Qin Shiguang chased after him from the kitchen, watching him head upstairs. After a moment, he came down from above, carrying two or three small white bottles in his hand.

Then, Qin Shishen fetched his water bottle from behind the bar, took out his daily dose of medicine and swallowed it in front of Qin Shiguang.

“Hmm?”

“That’s more like it.” Qin Shiguang was quite satisfied with her brother’s straightforward action. An elder brother ought to set an example, not always leave the family worrying.

With that thought, she started her little report to their mother. But this wasn’t tattling—more accurately, she was the “little spy” planted at Qin Shishen’s side.

【Qin Shiguang: Reporting to Ms. Lu Yushuang! Your son is taking his medicine on time every day and is in good shape! Also, he’s managing your shop very well! Report complete~】

At that moment, Lu Yushuang was lying on the sands of the Maldives with her husband, watching the last rays of sunset.

Seeing her “little detective” so diligent, she smiled and kept up the requests:

【Send me some photos of your brother! It’s been so long—I miss you all so much.】

Receiving the message, Qin Shiguang scoffed, unimpressed:

So love and longing are really just surface-level. She says she misses us, but she’s always flying around the world with Dad, never coming home to see me.

And every time she eats something delicious, she just posts it to her social feed? And tags me on purpose? Is she trying to tempt me, or is she just tempting me, or still tempting me?

She mentally counted another mark against her unreliable mother—or rather, her young and beautiful mother—then obediently opened her phone camera, snapping away at her brother’s breathtakingly handsome face.

She selected all the photos and sent them “pure and unfiltered” to the family group chat. As for whether Lu would use these for daily nostalgia or to show off her “kid,” that wasn’t Qin Shiguang’s concern.

Because there was already a bed in the studio upstairs, the siblings did not return to Qin Shishen’s apartment that night but stayed directly on the café’s second floor.

After washing up, Qin Shiguang lay on the only bed upstairs, watching Qin Shishen still busy with work. She rested against the headboard, knees bent, quietly observing him:

“Hey, brother, aren’t you tired doing this every day? The shop is troublesome enough by day, you still squeeze in orders, and at night you’re busy with your own stuff.”

“It’s not so bad,” Qin Shishen replied, his tone barely fluctuating.

For him, it was better to stay busy. Only then did he have no energy left to dwell on the unpleasant things he’d experienced, and could pretend he’d forgotten, pretend he was just like anyone else.

Qin Shiguang saw everything he did. She wished he could drop the café work, be a hands-off owner, not always wear the mask called “polite and gentle, warm as jade” in front of others.

But if he really let go and stayed at home all day, it wouldn’t take long for him to return to the state he was in just after coming back to the country. That was the last thing she wanted to see.

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【Extra】

After Lin Luyou and Qin Shishen officially confirmed their relationship, she’d always wanted to see photos of Qin Shishen as a child—especially after learning they’d once been neighbors.

Somehow, the future daughter-in-law’s wish made its way to Lu Yushuang, who immediately declared:

Come, she must be invited! We must properly invite Luyou for a meal at home! No time like the present—let’s do it this Sunday!

With the matriarch’s word, the whole family sprang into action. Qin’s father drafted the menu that very night, determined to showcase his culinary skills to help his son “secure the position” sooner.

Even Qin Shiguang notified her school early, using the excuse: “Going home to meet my brother’s fiancée.”

So when Sunday arrived, the unsuspecting Lin Luyou was “lured” through the Qin family doors.

Upon entering, she saw Father and Mother Qin, and the already familiar Qin Shiguang, all sitting on the sofa smiling at her.

“What... what’s going on?” Lin Luyou greeted them, then subtly retreated, gripping Qin Shishen’s sleeve and hiding behind him.

How was this so different from what she’d been told?

Wasn’t it that uncle was always abroad on business, aunt always went along, and Qin Shiguang couldn’t easily take leave from the police academy? So there was supposed to be no one home that day?

If she’d known the whole family would be here... she wouldn’t have come, no matter what!

Seeing the future sister-in-law so shy, Qin Shiguang, ever eager for drama, bounded over, yanking her out from behind Qin Shishen:

“Oh, come on, don’t be shy, sis-in-law! You’ll get used to it after coming a few times, hehe.”

She nudged the couple into the living room, feigning surprise:

“My, where should you two sit? Joined at the hip like conjoined twins—maybe just squeeze onto one sofa?”

Lu Yushuang returned from the kitchen with a fruit platter, caught sight of her daughter’s antics, and couldn’t help but click her tongue, “Stop stirring things up!”

Then, bypassing her own daughter, she warmly invited Lin Luyou to sit and enjoy the fruit.

After some small talk, Qin’s mother worried that her presence with her husband might make their guest uncomfortable, so she slipped away under the pretense of “checking how your uncle’s lunch is coming along in the kitchen.”

With mother gone, Qin Shishen took Lin Luyou’s hand to lead her upstairs, ignoring his mischievous sister.

But Qin Shiguang, oblivious to his intentions, kept up her teasing:

“Really? As soon as mom leaves, you pretend I’m invisible? Hey, sis-in-law, are you two always this clingy?”

“It’s not her clinging to me—it’s me clinging to her.” Qin Shishen said, and with practiced ease, lifted their interlaced fingers and dropped a gentle kiss on the back of her hand.

“Oh my, what a public display!” Qin Shiguang was so overwhelmed she squeezed her eyes shut and ran off.

Meanwhile, Lin Luyou’s face was already flushed, her head buried against Qin Shishen’s neck, missing the love in his gaze.

He led her to the bedroom, which was far cozier than his own apartment.

From the bottom drawer of the wardrobe, Qin Shishen took out a photo album and handed it to her:

“I knew you wanted to see these—my mother had them prepared ages ago.”

They sat together on the thick carpet, leaning against the wall, flipping through the pages.

“Hey! You went to Chuyang Middle School too?” Lin Luyou pointed at a photo, surprised.

“Mm. Not just for junior high—my high school was there too. Why?”

“I did too! Six years! What a coincidence! But do you think we ever passed each other on campus back then? If we’d reconnected then, maybe we’d have been together long ago? Though... if my brother hadn’t insisted on attending Chuyang, and I hadn’t insisted on going to the same school as him...”

While Lin Luyou mused over their intertwined fates, Qin Shishen recalled something else:

When he was in eighth grade, Lin Luyou would have been in third grade. Yet even after starting elementary school, she hadn’t stopped coming over to his house to eat, play, and hang out.

He remembered one day after school, before even entering the courtyard, Lin Luming marched up with his little backpack, fuming: “Next time, don’t stick to my sister!”

What did he do then? Qin Shishen tried to remember. He seemed to have ruffled Luming’s hair, watching his expression shift from jealous to frustrated:

“Catch up to me first!” he said, then strode off.

But looking back now, Lin Luming probably misunderstood, thinking “catch up” meant advancing to eighth grade at Chuyang.

“Wait, why are you laughing? Was what I said that funny?” Lin Luyou looked ready to pout. Qin Shishen quickly soothed her:

“No, I just suddenly felt a bit regretful... The girls’ uniform at Chuyang was always a little dress. I just regret never seeing you in one.”

“So you weren’t listening to me! And who were you looking at back then, to remember so clearly?”

“No one else.” Qin Shishen pulled her close, letting her lean against him, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I only ever had eyes for you.”