By the time Zixiao came back with the shopping, half an hour had passed.

Yuzhe was getting hungry. He looked up and saw Zixiao struggling toward them with several plastic bags in her hands.

He hurried to his feet and went over to take the bags from her.

The moment he took them, he felt their weight suddenly drag his hands down.

They really were heavy... He definitely should’ve gone with her.

Yuzhe took a tissue from Yuche and used it to wipe the beads of sweat from Zixiao’s face.

“Th-thanks, big brother. I can do it myself.”

Zixiao was so flattered she could hardly believe it. Being the designated helper was totally worth it!

“It’s fine... You worked hard. Next time, just order everything online... Or I’ll go out and buy it. You’re not allowed to go shopping by yourself again. I didn’t realize it’d be this heavy...”

Zixiao hurriedly took a few of the smaller bags back. “I’m not that fragile! Honestly, sometimes it feels like you’re raising me like a pig... Aren’t you worried you’ll spoil me until I’m lazy and greedy?”

Yuzhe set the plastic bags on a chair, then reached out and tucked a few loose strands of black hair from the side of Zixiao’s face behind her ear. “Hehe. Even if I am raising a cute little pig, what’s so bad about being lazy and greedy?”

Blushing, Zixiao quickly looked away and hurried over to the chair to sit down, pretending she was just taking a rest.

Big brother never realized how devastating his casual little gestures could be... Her heart had nearly stopped.

The three of them rested like that for about ten minutes.

Yuche was starting to get impatient. “I’m so hungry. Big brother, are you hungry? Zixiao, have you rested enough? Should we go eat now?”

“I’m getting hungry too. Zixiao, are you up for walking?”

Yuzhe looked at Zixiao beside him, whose face had been as red as an apple for a while now. What, she still hadn’t rested enough?

“Huh? Oh... No, I already told you, I’m not that fragile! I’m fine. Let’s go now and find somewhere to eat around here.”

The three of them got into the elevator going downstairs, and Yuche immediately asked Yuzhe what he wanted.

“What do you want to eat, big brother?”

“Hmm... Nothing in particular. How about some home-style cooking?”

“Okay.”

Yuche had no objections.

Zixiao looked up at the little restaurants lining the third floor of the mall and shook her head. “Looks like we shouldn’t eat up here. Rent must be really expensive in this mall, so they probably don’t have private rooms. Big brother doesn’t like eating in a crowded place...”

Yuzhe didn’t mind. “I’m actually fine with it. Just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean I can’t do it. You two should eat wherever you want.”

But Zixiao didn’t change her mind. “There’s no need to settle. There’s a food street right downstairs, and most places there have private rooms. It won’t take us long.”

Yuche nodded in agreement.

So the three of them soon headed downstairs and found a restaurant with a rather traditional-style interior.

The hanging lanterns and the sandalwood chairs and tables gave the place just the right feel.

There was a private room available, so they decided to eat there.

Without Little Lychee around, ordering went much more smoothly. The three of them passed the menu around, and Yuzhe told the girls to order whatever they liked.

When the menu finally came to Yuzhe, he was just about to order when he noticed that Zixiao and Yuche had picked all the dishes he loved.

Yuzhe thought to himself, Well, isn’t that a lucky coincidence?

Completely oblivious, he ordered three servings of rice and handed the menu to the waiter outside the door.

Last time he ate with Little Lychee, Zixiao had been the one pouring tea and looking after him the whole time.

Well, this time he had two helpers.

The two girls sitting on either side of him couldn’t keep still for a second.

Yuzhe noticed that his utensils had been rinsed twice with hot water.

Meanwhile, Yuche and Zixiao’s utensils were still in their wrappers.

“Sigh...”

Yuzhe sighed and stopped them from reaching for the teapot to pour his water. Then he quickly unwrapped their utensils, rinsed them the same way, and set them in front of the girls.

“Just take care of yourselves, okay? Stop keeping your eyes on me all the time. What really wears me out is watching you two fuss over me while forgetting to look after yourselves.”

“Understood...”

“Okay...”

The two girls gave him their word, and Yuzhe nodded in satisfaction at their earnest expressions.

That should take care of it, right?

But once the food arrived, they started up again.

First, Zixiao picked up a piece of twice-cooked pork and put it on Yuzhe’s little plate.

Yuzhe didn’t say anything. He was already used to Zixiao serving him food, so he picked it up with his chopsticks and popped it into his mouth.

But before he’d even finished the piece, he noticed two more pieces of pork on his plate—Zixiao had just put them there.

Yuche wasn’t about to be outdone. She kept piling fried hairtail onto Yuzhe’s plate, almost shoving the whole serving platter right up in front of him.

And just like before, both their plates were still empty. Yuzhe had been watching them, and neither of them had eaten a single bite yet.

Weren’t you two hungry?! If you’re hungry, then eat!

What was worse, Yuzhe could feel it every time Zixiao served him food...

Yuche would bump her white-stockinged leg against his.

It was like she was saying, Don’t eat what Zixiao’s giving you. If you’re going to eat, eat from my side.

At last, when Yuzhe saw that his plate could barely hold the small mountain of food in front of him, he couldn’t take it anymore.

Yuzhe slapped the table and stood up. “That’s enough, you two! If you don’t eat properly, I’m really going to get mad!”

The two of them froze. They really didn’t get to see Yuzhe angry very often. But even when he was angry, he still looked so pretty—and there was something different about him...

Hmm... Yuzhe was only pretending to be angry. They hadn’t figured it out, had they? But if it got the girls to eat properly, then pretending to be mad was worth it.

Both girls stopped what they were doing, looking startled and unsure of themselves.

Yuche immediately lowered her head, burying it as far down as she could. She picked up her chopsticks and ate a couple of bites of rice, pretending she had nothing to do with it. She’d leave Zixiao to face Big Brother’s anger alone!

Zixiao carefully helped Yuzhe sit back down. “Big brother... Don’t be mad. I know I was wrong... Yuche was too.”

“How could I not be mad? I just told you both to take better care of yourselves!” Yuzhe figured he had to keep pretending to be angry. “You want me to eat so badly—does that mean I can eat you two, too?!”

Yuzhe had only meant to say that he was super scary right now.

But they misunderstood what he meant.

Blushing, Zixiao lowered her head. “I-I’d be okay with that... if you don’t mind me, big brother...”

“???”

Yuche suddenly lifted her head, her eyes shining as she looked at Yuzhe. For once, she seemed a little shy. “Really? I... I think I’d be okay with that...”

“???”

What did they mean? Yuzhe could only think that he’d said the wrong thing again.

He couldn’t keep up the act any longer, and his anger finally melted away.

Seeing Yuzhe’s expression suddenly soften, Zixiao and Yuche started eating on their own.

They knew when to stop. Of course they knew Yuzhe was only pretending to be angry—but if they kept it up, who knew when his anger might turn real?

They knew Yuzhe genuinely cared about them. For example, he couldn’t stand it when they were still hungry but refused to eat properly.

So they’d eat their fill first. There’d be plenty of chances later!

When they were nearly done eating, Yuche suddenly brought up something important. “Big brother, you don’t have anything else to buy this afternoon, right? Could you come with Zixiao and me to a women’s clothing store?”

“A women’s clothing store?” Yuzhe took a sip of tea. “Are you two buying clothes? I can understand Zixiao, but Yuche, I thought you had absolutely no interest in picking out clothes.”

Before Yuche could answer, Zixiao cut in. “It’s not for us. We wanted to get you—mmph!”

Before she could finish, Yuche sprang behind Zixiao as fast as a flash of white lightning and clapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh, no... It’s nothing like that. We just want to see what kind of styles they have around here. Zixiao said she wanted some new clothes but was too embarrassed to say so, right, Zixiao?”

Before letting go, Yuche shot Zixiao a fierce glare. The meaning was obvious: Are you stupid?! If you tell him what we’re really planning, do you think he’ll still come with us?!

That was close. She’d been so excited that she’d nearly blurted out what she was really thinking without giving it a second thought.

So Zixiao quickly changed her story. “Y-yeah. I want some new clothes. I just... wanted big brother to help me pick them out. I might not know which ones look good.”

“All right. I’m pretty good at picking out clothes.”

Yuzhe now felt that he’d been entrusted with the important task of picking out clothes for Zixiao.

He still hadn’t realized how serious this was going to get...