My Favorite Ship Became My Sister-in-Law - Chapter 1

The school bell rang. Ji Chenchuan packed his bag as usual and headed home.

The school was about three hundred meters from his house. Since first grade, Ji Chenchuan had walked to and from school by himself, requiring no pick-up from his parents.

He was in fourth grade this year, but looking at his height, he seemed more like a middle school student. This was not just because he was a head taller than his peers, but primarily because his handsome, youthful face always wore the serious, stoic expression of a little adult.

Ding-dong.

Ji Chenchuan pressed the doorbell. He lived on the 23rd floor and stood at the entrance waiting for someone to open the door.

The neighborhood security was excellent. The hallway walls were snowy white, free of any disgusting small advertisements.

At the first ring of the bell, Ji Chenchuan heard the clamor of two children inside racing to open the door. He frowned slightly, knowing that once the door opened, he would have to close it and ring the bell one more time.

“Brother, you’re home from school!”

The door opened, and the head of a very cute little girl about four or five years old popped out. Her face was pink and tender, and her hair was tied in pigtails as she called out happily to Ji Chenchuan.

“Mm.”

“Brother Chenchuan, I wanted to open the door for you too.”

Standing behind the girl was a little boy of the same age, looking as delicate as a doll, gazing at Ji Chenchuan with tearful eyes.

“Don’t cry. I will close the door, and this time you can open it.” Standing outside, Ji Chenchuan gave the boy’s head a comforting pat, then looked at the little girl and said, “Zhiruo, don’t fight with Shi Yue this time. Let him open the door. I still have a lot of homework to do.”

With that, Ji Chenchuan closed the door and rang the bell again.

The sounds of squabbling still drifted from inside. The door opened; it was Ji Zhiruo again.

Shi Yue cried out of frustration, stretching his small hands toward Ji Chenchuan. “Brother Chenchuan, hug.”

“Go back to your own house! This is my brother, not yours. You are not allowed to call him that!” Ji Zhiruo grabbed Ji Chenchuan’s school uniform, preventing him from hugging Shi Yue, and even kicked at Shi Yue.

“Zhiruo, why are you bullying Shi Yue again?” Feng Liuyu’s voice drifted over from the kitchen.

“He’s trying to steal my brother! I don’t like him! Mom, make Shi Yue go back to his house. He is not allowed in our home!” Ji Zhiruo wailed.

Starting six months ago, whenever the neighbor, Auntie He Lin, went on business trips, she would ask his mother to look after Shi Yue. Every time Ji Chenchuan came home from school, his house would be in an uproar for a while as Shi Yue and Ji Zhiruo fought over who got to open the door for him.

“Zhiruo, you cannot say that. It is very rude.”

Ji Chenchuan entered the house, knowing his mother was cooking. Following his usual routine, he took one child in each hand to coax them into behaving. Afterward, Ji Zhiruo watched TV while Shi Yue followed him to his room to look at children’s picture books while he did his homework. When it was time for dinner, they would all come out to eat together.

At this time, his father, Ji Shengqiang, also arrived home from work.

Ji Shengqiang was 1.9 meters tall. He was a very imposing man from the Northeast, tall and muscular with a stern face. He possessed a majesty that made people instinctively quiet down, not daring to laugh or play around in his presence.

“Daddy!” Ji Zhiruo ran over and hugged Ji Shengqiang’s leg.

Shi Yue followed behind her, a hint of envy in his little eyes. He also wanted to call him “Daddy.”

“Hey there, Daddy’s little treasure.”

Having lived away for years, Ji Shengqiang no longer had a Northeast accent. He picked up both Shi Yue and Ji Zhiruo, one in each arm, and asked Feng Liuyu, who was busy in the kitchen, “Are Shi Jingsong and his wife busy with work again?”

“Mm,” Feng Liuyu responded.

There is a saying: “Above there is Heaven, below there are Suzhou and Hangzhou.” Feng Liuyu was a great beauty raised by the land and water of Suzhou. She was gentle and beautiful, with every gesture reflecting the grace of a lady from a prominent family.

“Those two are really trusting, frequently leaving such a small child for you to look after. I think Shi Yue is closer to you than he is to He Lin. Tell those two we might as well just raise Shi Yue in our house as a child groom. I quite like this kid; he is smart and sensible,” Ji Shengqiang said quite seriously.

“Uncle Ji, what is a child groom?” Shi Yue was full of curiosity about this new term he had never heard before.

“Yueyue, do not listen to your Uncle Ji’s nonsense,” Feng Liuyu interjected quickly, casting a smiling glance at Ji Shengqiang.

“Yueyue wants to know! Tell me! Uncle Ji, Yueyue wants to know!” Shi Yue insisted on finding out.

“Alright, alright, Uncle Ji will tell you,” Ji Shengqiang said with a laugh. “A child groom is when another family’s boy is raised in one’s own home from a young age to become the husband for one’s daughter when they grow up.”

Ji Shengqiang was very patient with children, and his stern expression usually softened into a smile for them.

“Oh, so that is what a child groom is!” A very serious expression appeared on Shi Yue’s little face. “Then I want to be Brother Chenchuan’s child groom.”

Ji Chenchuan happened to be bringing a dish out of the kitchen at that moment. He shot Shi Yue an utterly speechless look. His dad had clearly said “daughter.” Did Shi Yue not have ears?

Was he a daughter?

The Ji couple could not help but burst into laughter. It was truly the nonsensical talk of a child.

After dinner, Feng Liuyu told Shi Yue that his parents were on a business trip and would not be back tonight, so Shi Yue would sleep with Ji Chenchuan as usual.

Shi Yue loved being close to Ji Chenchuan. Upon hearing this, he was overjoyed and hurried to wash his face and feet. Once finished, he climbed onto Ji Chenchuan’s bed and rolled around happily, bunching the quilt into a ball and wrinkling the sheets.

Ji Chenchuan, who was sitting at the desk finishing his pre-class prep, looked at the messy bed and felt a headache coming on. He liked things neat and tidy. He stood up, picked Shi Yue up, and sat him down by the pillow. “Sit still and do not move. Wait for me to wash my face, then I will come back and tell you a story. If you dare to move, I will not tell it.”

“Okay, Yueyue will not move. Brother Chenchuan, do not be mad at Yueyue, okay?”

Shi Yue immediately sat perfectly still, blinking his bright, sparkling eyes at Ji Chenchuan.

Meeting those black, bright, and innocent eyes, Ji Chenchuan could not bring himself to be angry even if he wanted to. “I am not angry. Just do not roll around anymore.”

“Mm, Yueyue will not roll anymore. Yueyue listens to Brother Chenchuan the most. Brother Chenchuan, Yueyue does not want to hear a story tonight. Can you teach Yueyue to read? The one from last time, ‘Clouds to rain, snow to wind, evening glow to the clear sky,’ can we?”

“Sure. That book is called The Enlightenment of Rhythm.”

Ji Chenchuan swiftly put away his books and homework, pulled The Enlightenment of Rhythm from his neatly arranged stack, and handed it to Shi Yue. “Look at the pictures yourself for a bit. I am going to wash my face.”

“Mm.”

Shi Yue agreed happily, holding the book and looking at the illustrations with great interest.

A moment later, Ji Chenchuan returned. He reclined next to Shi Yue, took the book, and pointed at the characters with his finger, teaching Shi Yue word by word: “Last time I taught you ‘Clouds to rain, snow to wind, evening glow to the clear sky.’ Today we will learn the next line: ‘Incoming swans to departing swallows, roosting birds to chirping insects.'”

“Incoming swans to departing swallows, roosting birds to chirping insects,” Shi Yue followed along with every line Ji Chenchuan taught. “A cloak of misty rain, evening fishing by the stream,” Shi Yue’s voice grew smaller and smaller. Before he could finish the last line, he had leaned against Ji Chenchuan and fallen asleep.

Ji Chenchuan closed the book, gently moved Shi Yue onto the pillow, turned off the light, and went to sleep.

“Brother Chenchuan, help me tie my shoelaces.”

“Brother Chenchuan, hold my hand and teach me how to write!”

“Brother Chenchuan, this math problem is so hard! Teach me.”

Time slipped away quietly amidst Shi Yue’s repeated calls of “Brother Chenchuan.” Before they knew it, Shi Yue was in the second half of his sophomore year of high school, and Ji Chenchuan had already graduated from Zhejiang University.

“Brother Chenchuan, are you coming back today? It happens to be Saturday with no classes, so I will go to the airport to pick you up.” Shi Yue stood by the roadside, talking to Ji Chenchuan on the phone while waving down a taxi.

Shi Yue’s appearance had not changed much; he was a perfect, scaled-up version of his childhood self. He was slender with clean-cut short hair, wearing a white shirt, smoke-gray ripped jeans, and a pair of canvas shoes. He was the embodiment of youth.

“I have not even boarded yet. There is no rush.”

Ji Chenchuan’s magnetic, pleasant voice traveled through the phone into Shi Yue’s ear. Shi Yue could not help but feel a slight shiver. Although they contacted each other every few days, it was mostly through messages. They rarely spoke on the phone.

This was mainly because Ji Chenchuan was very busy.

“I have already headed out. Your flight is at one o’clock. It is only a two-hour flight from Hangzhou to Lincheng. Lincheng is famous for being a congested city. If I head to the airport now, it will take an hour even if there is no traffic. If it is jammed, I might arrive around the same time as you.”

“Mm. Be safe on the road.”

“Don’t worry! I am a grown man now, I know. Oh, by the way, it rained this morning and it is a bit chilly. You should wear a jacket.”

“Okay. I am hanging up then.”

“Mm! Bye-bye.”

A taxi happened to arrive. Shi Yue sat in the passenger seat. “To the airport, please.”

Surprisingly, there was no traffic at all today. Shi Yue arrived at the airport an hour early.

The last time he saw Ji Chenchuan was when he was in ninth grade. Now he was in eleventh grade. It had been two years. He wondered if Ji Chenchuan would still recognize him.

After waiting for half an hour, as the time drew closer, Shi Yue felt inexplicably nervous. He headed toward the exit, wanting Ji Chenchuan to see him the moment he came out.

At the exit, waves of people surged through. Shi Yue scanned the unfamiliar faces, then checked the time on his phone.

15:38.

Two and a half hours had passed. The plane should have landed.

Shi Yue quickly unlocked his phone and called Ji Chenchuan, but to his dismay, he heard the system prompt: “The number you have dialed is powered off.”

Still in airplane mode?

“Brother Chenchuan, have you arrived? I am waiting for you at the exit.”

Shi Yue quickly typed a WeChat message and sent it, clutching his phone in nervous anticipation. Five minutes passed without a reply.

Shi Yue started to feel a bit panicked. He dialed Ji Chenchuan’s number again, but it was still off.

Could the flight be delayed?

Given Ji Chenchuan’s personality, if there were a delay, he would definitely have notified him. Shi Yue hurriedly scrolled through their WeChat messages. Everything was from previous days; the only message from today was the one he had just sent.

Maybe his phone ran out of battery, Shi Yue thought. He immediately looked back at the crowd. If the phone was really dead, what if they missed each other?

Just as he looked up, Shi Yue saw a handsome young man in his early twenties in the crowd. He had a tall, straight build, a smooth forehead, a high bridge to his nose, and a perfectly defined jawline. He was looking straight at him.

Shi Yue’s bright eyes locked onto the man, unblinking.

“Two years apart, and you don’t recognize me anymore?”