Chapter 9: Is unavailable

Facing an unyielding Gu Bai, Gu Mixue could only follow behind him.

“Big brother…”

After a moment of silence, Gu Mixue said earnestly, “I think that girl is definitely interested in you. As for her looks, while not exactly breathtaking, she’s an easy six out of 10. I don’t think you need to be that picky, do you?”

“I’m not looking for looks.”

Gu Bai currently had no interest in dating.

This did not mean he would chase a girl just because she was pretty.

If it came down to it, Gu Mixue’s own looks were quite high.

Although her style leaned toward the cute side, her overall rating was actually higher than that of Su Shuhao.

“What a cold-hearted brother.”

Gu Mixue pouted, but suddenly hearing sounds from behind, she quickly grabbed Gu Bai’s sleeve and said.

“Hey, hey, hey, big brother! That girl is chasing after us.”

Hearing Gu Mixue’s words, Gu Bai turned around to see Su Wan’er running up, gasping for breath.

Once she stopped, she held out the bottle of mineral water and said to Gu Bai.

“Um… senior, your mineral water.”

Looking at Su Wan’er’s state, Gu Bai was momentarily speechless.

Why does this girl look so silly and dim-witted?

He had bought this water for her to cool down and quench her thirst, but instead, she went and brought it back to him.

“No, that is your mineral water.”

“Um…”

Su Wan’er held the bottle, at a loss for what to do.

After struggling for a while, she finally asked, “Excuse me, may I have your contact information? If I don’t repay you for this, I won’t be able to rest easy.”

“No need to worry—”

Before Gu Bai could finish his sentence, Gu Mixue stomped on his toe and walked up with a bright smile.

“His phone number is 1XXXXXXX. Don’t mention it. His WeChat is the same.”

Su Wan’er looked at the cute girl in front of her, unable to figure out the relationship between the two.

Gu Mixue noticed her confusion and said with a smile like a little devil.

“My name is Gu Mixue, his name is Gu Bai, and we are siblings.”

“Ah… okay.”

Under Gu Bai’s resentful and helpless gaze, Gu Mixue successfully added Su Wan’er on WeChat.

“Thank you.”

After Su Wan’er left, Gu Bai spoke earnestly to his younger sister.

“Mixue’er… can we not be so worried about your brother’s romantic life?”

“Of course I have to worry!”

Gu Mixue huffed and said, “Otherwise, if you find another sister-in-law like the last one, won’t I have to suffer every single day? Look at this one, she’s so silly and airheaded, she’ll definitely be easy to fool.”

“…”

Gu Bai stared at Gu Mixue’s precocious behavior, feeling that there was really nothing he could do about her.

“Regardless, now that you’ve added her on WeChat, you’re not losing anything, right?”

Amidst Gu Mixue’s giggles, Gu Bai opened his WeChat.

Among his few contacts, there was now a new, unfamiliar profile picture.

It was a profile picture of a very popular magical girl from an anime.

“I didn’t expect this girl to be into otaku culture.”

“Isn’t that great? Nine out of ten otaku girls are suckers for romance, you can trick them without a sound… Ouch! Big brother, why did you hit me?!”

“You make it sound like I’m a scumbag trying to trick someone’s feelings. If I didn’t give you a flick to the forehead, you’d be acting even worse.”

“You wicked, stinky brother! I’m only short because you keep thumping my head!”

Gu Mixue puffed out her cheeks, looking especially adorable, causing the passing female college students to feel a wave of maternal affection.

However, once they saw Gu Bai, they paled and hurried away.

*

By nighttime, Gu Bai, exhausted from the long day, lay on his bed. He mindlessly pulled out his phone, wanting to send the habitual “good night” message, but suddenly realized he didn’t need to do that anymore.

“Seven years of habits are truly harmful.”

Gu Bai sighed, looking at Su Shuhao on his friend list, hesitating whether or not to delete her.

After so many years of feelings, even though they had long since fallen apart, it wasn’t easy to just let go.

However…

Not being able to let go didn’t mean he was willing to look back.

The last few years of companionship were his way of settling the score for her, and the breakup two days ago was his way of settling the score for himself.

While Gu Bai was feeling sentimental, the user with the magical girl profile picture suddenly sent a message.

“Good evening.”

Seeing this message, Gu Bai blinked in surprise.

He tapped into the chat and, just as he was wondering how to reply, Su Wan’er retracted the message.

Gu Bai sat there with his phone, momentarily at a loss for words.

Meanwhile, not long ago, Su Wan’er had just finished her shower.

Having shed all her outside pretenses, she looked strikingly beautiful.

She was wearing an oversized white shirt and loungewear shorts.

The loose collar had slipped down to her shoulder, faintly revealing a patch of snow-white skin, and her firm, fair legs were incredibly eye-catching.

Her clear, bright eyes were staring blankly at the empty chat interface between them.

After agonizing over it for ten minutes, she kept typing and deleting in the input box, unable to even bring herself to say hello.

“What am I doing…”

After the incident that occurred when she started her senior year of high school, even though nothing had actually happened, the rumors and gossip had never ceased.

Her former friends had gradually drifted away because of these rumors, leaving only a handful of companions by her side.

No matter how she tried to explain, those people believed she had been defiled by thugs and hooligans, looking at her as if she were a freak.

Fortunately, the police later intervened and made her high school issue an official statement, which made things a bit better.

But those friends would never return, and they didn’t have the face to face her either.

So, after enduring all of these things, Su Wan’er rarely initiated interactions with others, let alone greeted people.

But thinking about how Gu Bai had fought five men at once to save her from those thugs, and how he had helped her recover when she was suffering from heatstroke today…

She couldn’t rest easy if she didn’t do something to repay his kindness.

Finally, Su Wan’er gathered her courage and typed three words into the input box.

“Good evening.”

It was such a simple greeting, yet it left Su Wan’er feeling like a deflated balloon.

Her cheeks flushed uncontrollably, and her heart began to race, as if it were trying to leap out of her chest.

When she snapped back to reality, she saw those abrupt and stiff words sitting in the empty chat box.

She let out a cry of despair, scrambled to retract the message, and prayed incessantly.

“Can’t see it, can’t see it, can’t see it… Ugh… please, don’t reply to my message!”