You Must Be Good 42

Chapter 42 

That evening, Qiao Xiaoxiao sold out all her stock. As she counted the money, her heart, which had been low all day, finally felt a little better.

When she got home, she didn’t know where her sister had gone. She ran to the music room next door, but Sister Yang wasn’t there either.

That little bit of joy was instantly washed away. In her sadness and disappointment, Qiao Xiaoxiao made a video call to Nuonuo. Nuonuo answered quickly. The first thing she did when she saw her sister was to sign.

—Sister, I saw the video online. You’ve become an internet celebrity!

Qiao Xiaoxiao poked her chin with one hand and looked at Nuonuo.

Nuonuo: …

Seeing her sister like this, the little drum in her heart started to beat. Oh my god, did my sister have a fight with Sister Chu and is going to take it out on me? Where’s Sister Yang? Could it be that she’s not here?

Qiao Xiaoxiao’s tone was sad. “Your sister earned a full four hundred yuan tonight. I’ll deposit it all into your school account in a bit.”

Nuonuo wiped the corners of her eyes, deeply moved. And then…?

Qiao Xiaoxiao looked at her. “It’s been so long. Why haven’t you called me ‘Jiejie’ yet? Have you been seriously following the teacher’s pronunciation in class?”

Nuonuo: …

Qiao Xiaoxiao: “You haven’t been spending all your time looking at pretty kids, have you?”

Nuonuo: …

Qiao Xiaoxiao: “Ah, I’m so sad. I won’t have any energy to work tomorrow.”

Nuonuo: …

After hanging up the phone, Qiao Xiaoxiao felt that the bitterness in her heart had not been fully vented. She put on a jacket and went out for a night run.

The autumn night was cool, and the evening wind carried a hint of coldness.

Qiao Xiaoxiao started to run slowly. At first, her mind was full of Chu Xinrou’s figure—her smiling eyes and brows, the slightly upturned corners of her lips when she spoke, and her hair that fluttered in the wind under the sun. These images flashed before her eyes like a revolving lantern, impossible to shake off.

Unconsciously, her pace became faster and faster. The night wind whistled in her ears, and her heartbeat was as clear as a drum. It wasn’t until a sharp pain came from her lungs and her legs felt as heavy as lead that she stopped. But although her body had stopped, her heart was still flying and thinking wildly.

When she got home, Chu Xinrou still hadn’t returned. Qiao Xiaoxiao pressed her lips together and curled up on the sofa, sad for a while. She got up to take a shower. Just as she took off her jacket, she received another video call from Nuonuo.

Nuonuo was still a kind-hearted little girl. Although she had been “bullied” by her sister several times, she still cared about her.

After connecting the video call, Nuonuo saw the sweat on Qiao Xiaoxiao’s face and signed with her hands.

—Sister, did you have a fight with Sister Xinrou?

These words made Qiao Xiaoxiao’s nose tingle. She felt like crying, but in front of her sister, she still had to maintain her image and dignity.

“No. Why are you still awake so late?”

Nuonuo looked at her with big eyes.

—I’m worried about you.

She was indeed worried about her sister.

Before, she had always felt that her sister had changed. After coming to the city and being by Sister Chu’s side, she had become much more sunny and cheerful, loving to laugh and talk. But the way her eyes and brows were lowered in the video just now was back to the way she was at home before.

Nuonuo carefully stared at her sister for a while and signed.

—Sister, actually, Sister Chu is very good to you.

Qiao Xiaoxiao’s heart felt even more sad, and her voice was choked. “Nonsense.”

Everyone knows Chu Xinrou is good to her. Does she need to be told?

Seeing that her sister was really at the lowest point of her emotions, Nuonuo was both anxious and heartbroken.

—Don’t be so stubborn. No matter what it is, just act cute and give in to her, and it will be fine.

Qiao Xiaoxiao looked at her suspiciously. “You said that last time. I acted cute to Sister Yang, and she looked at me like she had seen a ghost.”

Nuonuo sighed.

—Sister Yang is Sister Yang, and Sister Chu is Sister Chu.

Are they the same?

In Nuonuo’s big eyes, Sister Yang treated her sister more like a friend, occasionally doting on her. But what about Sister Chu? The way she looked at her sister was simply as gentle as water.

Qiao Xiaoxiao was at the peak of her low and irritable mood. “I’m not going to listen to a little brat like you. Hang up and go to sleep.”

She was just being uncooperative.

The call was hung up. A fair-skinned girl with particularly large eyes, who looked like a little swallow, leaned over to Nuonuo and signed with her hands.

—Your sister won’t listen to you?

Nuonuo shook her head.

—She’s just like that. She’ll listen in a bit.

As the gentle stream of water slid down her skin, Qiao Xiaoxiao suddenly remembered the first day she had come to the city from the village. It was raining heavily, and she had waited at the door for a long time, so cold and wet from the rain. It was Chu Xinrou who had brought her home and let her take a hot bath.

At this thought, Qiao Xiaoxiao’s nose tingled again. She felt that she had been particularly emotional these past two days, and her stomach was also uncomfortable. She became even more irritable when she thought of Nuonuo’s words. Act cute and give in? My sister is ignoring me. Do I even have the chance?

At the end of her shower, as Qiao Xiaoxiao was scrubbing with a bath ball, she looked down and was stunned by the bright red blood.

The young girl Qiao Xiaoxiao, in the second semester of her first year of high school, at the age of 15, almost 16, had her first period.

Because almost all her friends around her had already gotten theirs, Qiao Xiaoxiao was not so ignorant as to not know what this was or how to deal with it.

But when Chu Xinrou returned home.

Qiao Xiaoxiao was already weakly lying down. The moment she heard the door open, she immediately turned off her desk lamp.

She had changed her sanitary pad and had also looked up online—what does menstrual pain feel like? What are the symptoms?

Chu Xinrou opened the door and habitually glanced into the living room. Usually, Qiao Xiaoxiao would be studying at this time, but today she was not there.

For some reason, a spark of anger ignited in her heart. Chu Xinrou thought, did she get happy from making money tonight, went to Class 10 again, and really started to slack off?

She didn’t know what was wrong with her. She was clearly not a controlling person. In the past, with the children she had sponsored, Chu Xinrou would at most say a few gentle words. How could she get angry with them?

On the way back, Yang Feitang had already lectured Chu Xinrou. “Alright, stop it. I saw that the brat has dark circles as big as a basin these past two days.”

Chu Xinrou glanced at her.

Yang Feitang pressed her lips together. “She… she’s also quite pitiful. She’s been watching your expression all day.”

Chu Xinrou raised an eyebrow. “I give you a look. Do you watch it?”

Yang Feitang couldn’t out-talk her and threw a tantrum with her hands on her hips. “Do you know how much pressure teenagers are under these days? Especially our Xiaoxiao. She’s studying, running, and doing business all day. Don’t let anything happen to her!”

What could happen?

Chu Xinrou wouldn’t listen to her nonsense, but her mind was filled with images of Xiaoxiao’s red-rimmed eyes. Her heart wrinkled into a ball. That child… could she have run away from home because she was sad? It’s so late, and there are so many cars passing by. How many people walking in the dark have bad intentions? She…

When she rushed home.

Chu Xinrou didn’t see Qiao Xiaoxiao’s figure. She looked in every room, but it was pitch black.

Sensing that her sister was looking for her, and had just passed by her door, Qiao Xiaoxiao clutched her stomach and let out a cry of “Ouch.”

Chu Xinrou stopped. She was stunned for a moment. Who made that sound like a cat’s foot being stepped on?

“Xiaoxiao?”

She held her breath and called out softly.

Qiao Xiaoxiao “hmm”ed and said weakly, “I’m here, Jiejie. Haven’t you had dinner yet?”

Chu Xinrou: …

Hearing the child’s voice, it seemed that she was not feeling well. And even in this state, she was still worried about whether she had eaten dinner. Does Xiaoxiao really think of herself as a little cabbage?

When Chu Xinrou pushed open the door, in the dim room, there was only a small figure curled up in the corner of the bed, her hair not even dried, like a little cat soaked by the rain.

“What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?” She softened her voice and turned on the bedside lamp.

Under the warm yellow light, Qiao Xiaoxiao’s face was particularly pale, and the hair on her forehead was still damp. She bit her lower lip and looked up, her eyelashes casting a trembling shadow under her eyes.

“I… got my period…” her voice was as soft as a mosquito’s buzz, and even had a deliberate weakness to it.

Chu Xinrou was clearly stunned for a moment, her gaze lingering on Qiao Xiaoxiao. “Do you know how to use a sanitary pad?”

Qiao Xiaoxiao nodded, her fingers unconsciously twisting the corner of the blanket. “My pants… I’ve already washed them…” she suddenly flinched. “Jiejie, my stomach hurts so much…”

Seeing Qiao Xiaoxiao like this, Chu Xinrou forgot everything. She quickly went to make her some brown sugar water and put a hot water bottle on her lower abdomen. “You can’t do strenuous exercise when you have your period, and you can’t eat cold things, okay?”

Qiao Xiaoxiao nodded. “Can I… set up my stall?”

Chu Xinrou paused for a moment, looked at her, and said lightly, “How much did you sell today?”

Qiao Xiaoxiao looked at her, her big eyes full of pity. “Business was very good.”

Chu Xinrou: “No matter how good it is, I’ll buy you five days of rest.”

…

Every young girl, perhaps, has a heart that has been captured by a domineering CEO.

If these words were said to someone else, Qiao Xiaoxiao would have found it unbearable and would have gotten goosebumps, telling the other person to get as far away as possible. But when it came to her sister, she was inexplicably conquered and lay down limply.

Chu Xinrou’s figure, bustling back and forth in the room, was particularly gentle. She first brought a steaming cup of brown sugar water and, after it had cooled, fed it to her spoonful by spoonful. Then she found a hairdryer, her slender fingers running through Qiao Xiaoxiao’s hair. As the warm air blew past her ears, Qiao Xiaoxiao felt that the gloom that had been weighing on her chest for days had evaporated with the steam.

At this moment, Qiao Xiaoxiao suddenly understood what it meant to be “pampered.”

The warmth of Chu Xinrou’s palm was transmitted through her skin, making her whole body feel as if it were soaking in a hot spring, even her fingertips tingling with a warm numbness. It turned out that this was what it felt like to be held in someone’s palm—her heart was soaked in honey, and even her breath was sweet.

She had once thought that she was a nameless weed in a corner, but she had never thought that one day, someone would stop for her and look at her with such a gentle gaze.

Qiao Xiaoxiao’s eyes grew hot again. This time, it wasn’t because of grievances, but a kind of happiness she had never experienced before, so full it was about to overflow. She quietly rubbed against Chu Xinrou’s palm.

“What are you thinking about? So happy?” Chu Xinrou looked at her, not noticing anything unusual.

Qiao Xiaoxiao subconsciously pressed her lips together but was keenly caught by her sister. “Don’t lie.”

Under the warm yellow light, her newly dried hair had a soft luster. Qiao Xiaoxiao, who had been carefully cared for over the past six months, had shed her previous dullness. Her skin was as white as jade, and her lowered eyelashes cast a fan-shaped shadow under her eyes. She hesitated for a moment, her voice almost inaudible. “I was thinking… it would be nice if I had my period every day.”

This way, she could be treated gently by her sister every day.

The humming of the hairdryer suddenly stopped, and the room was suddenly silent. Chu Xinrou’s fingers were still in Qiao Xiaoxiao’s hair, but it was as if the pause button had been pressed.

“Xiaoxiao,” her voice was very soft, but it made Qiao Xiaoxiao’s heart clench. “Am I not good to you?”

These words were like a dull knife, slowly stabbing into Qiao Xiaoxiao’s heart. She felt her eyes instantly grow hot and immediately shook her head vigorously. “No… Jiejie, you are the best, best person to me…”

So good that she often felt terrified, so good that she would always feel that she didn’t deserve such gentleness when she woke up from a dream in the middle of the night.

Qiao Xiaoxiao was also a child. She also had times when she was lazy, times when she didn’t want to run hard, and times when she wanted to eat snacks, watch TV, and play with her friends like her peers.

But her sister was right in front of her. She didn’t dare to stop.

Chu Xinrou’s fingertips had a cool touch as she gently stroked Qiao Xiaoxiao’s cheek. This touch was clearly as gentle as a feather, but it made Qiao Xiaoxiao tremble all over, and she even stopped breathing.

“These past few days, I didn’t mean to be fierce to you.”

Chu Xinrou’s voice was so gentle, every word wrapped in a soft apology, carefully ironing out the sourness in Qiao Xiaoxiao’s heart. Just as she was about to speak, her sister’s other hand also covered hers, making Xiaoxiao completely freeze on the spot.

Her sister’s palm was warm and delicate, but it was like an invisible net, trapping Qiao Xiaoxiao firmly. She could even feel her sister’s pulse, one beat after another, transmitted through their touching skin.

“Are you angry?”

Qiao Xiaoxiao felt as if her heart was about to jump out. “I… I’m not…”

“Then tell me,” Chu Xinrou lowered her head slightly, her gaze gentle, yet with a warmth that could not be resisted. “Why did you deliberately fail the placement test?”

“I didn’t…” Qiao Xiaoxiao’s voice was as soft as a mosquito’s buzz, her eyes darting around in a panic. She subconsciously wanted to hide but was gently held in place by the force cupping her face.

“Xiaoxiao,” Chu Xinrou’s thumb gently stroked the corner of her eye, where there was still a trace of undried wetness. Her voice was very soft, but it carried an unquestionable meaning. “You have to be good.”

These three words were like a key, opening the lock in Qiao Xiaoxiao’s heart with a click.

She instantly let down all her defenses, and even her eyelashes stopped trembling. She was as obedient as a little cat being petted, only able to hear her own rapid heartbeat echoing in her ears.