My Idol Turns Out To Be My Ex-Girlfriend - Chapter 49

Lin Shengsheng took the lead to show off his diligence, helping her carry all the things while wearing a mischievous grin.

“Are you going up too?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be going to the internet cafe?”

“Oh, I’ll just say hello to sister’s friend before I leave, okay?”

“What do you have to say hello for? Get lost, hurry up.”

Seeing Lin Sanyuan’s look of extreme guilt, Lin Shengsheng guessed that this must be the “brother-in-law” without a doubt. His sister, who usually kept a low profile while doing big things, was actually pretty cool.

Lin Sanyuan couldn’t shake him off, and the persistent pest followed her upstairs anyway.

Hearing the knock, Tang Hengzhi opened the door. She was wearing a simple white T-shirt, and after her shower, her face seemed to be covered in a transparent mist, clean and bright like the moon, and exceptionally exquisite.

Her dark hair was wet, with droplets still clinging to the slightly curved ends. She looked calmly at Lin Sanyuan and the stunned Lin Shengsheng standing behind her.

“Ah… this is my brother. He helped me bring some things over.” Lin Sanyuan tugged at Lin Shengsheng’s clothes, signaling him to say hello.

Lin Shengsheng’s mind was racing. Seeing a beautiful woman come out of the room, he was nearly sent reeling on the spot. All the logic that didn’t make sense before suddenly became crystal clear.

It wasn’t a brother-in-law, it was a sister-in-law!

No wonder she traveled so far to be here and drove a Maybach. Lin Shengsheng thought to himself that with such good conditions and such a caring person, Lin Sanyuan’s brain must have been clouded to let someone like this go, choosing instead to go on blind dates with all those strange-looking men.

This was truly the kind of relationship that would never survive being revealed to their mother!

Lin Shengsheng couldn’t act playful anymore. His face flushed red, and his mind was spinning. He had originally thought he would see what kind of guy this was and put some pressure on him, acting with the pride of a protective family member, but all those thoughts were thrown out the window.

The aura he couldn’t muster made him look like a fool, nodding and bowing. As soon as he opened his mouth to greet her, he started stuttering.

“Hello… hello, sister-in-law.”

Woof, woof, woof?

What am I barking about?

Lin Sanyuan, who was walking in, tripped over the threshold. Her soul almost flew out of her mouth from the shock. How on earth did this little brat figure out that she and Tang Hengzhi had something going on!

Tang Hengzhi stepped back half a pace and reached out to support her. Her palms, fresh from the shower, were warm and soft. Her fingers were slender and pale, and as she gripped Lin Sanyuan’s hand, their palm lines pressed together, and the faint scent of body wash drifted over.

Lin Sanyuan stiffened like a frozen duck.

Tang Hengzhi whispered softly, “Be careful.”

Then she looked up and smiled slightly at Lin Shengsheng, “Hello, little brother.”

Holy crap, the sister-in-law is so smooth!

She actually acknowledged that title!

Lin Shengsheng was completely lost in that smile, able only to nod his head, “Good, good, everything is good…”

When he went inside to put the things down, his foot was stepped on ruthlessly by Lin Sanyuan. Taking advantage of the moment Tang Hengzhi wasn’t looking, she hissed in his ear, “If you say another word, I’ll kill you.”

She shouldn’t have agreed to bring him along!

Lin Shengsheng gasped in pain. He didn’t dare stay and be a third wheel anymore. After all, whether it was her status, temperament, or gender, this sister-in-law had nothing to do with those mediocre guys. Even if his sister didn’t come home all night, he was perfectly at ease.

He knew his sister well. When she fell in love, she liked things to be simple and pure. Platonic, right?

Isn’t that perfect? Those guys from the blind dates were all a bit lecherous, acting like the universe owed them a wife the moment they met. His sister couldn’t handle that kind of dynamic, so finding a woman was actually quite good.

Besides, this woman looked quite disciplined and elegant. Whatever they did in the hotel would surely be “rated G.”

Lin Shengsheng diligently laid out the food Lin Sanyuan had packed on the table, even carefully lining it with newspaper.

“Sis, I’m heading to the internet cafe now, okay?”

Lin Sanyuan was taking clothes out of her bag for Tang Hengzhi. She frowned, “Aren’t you going to eat?”

Lin Shengsheng looked resistant, “I’m a bit tired of Mom’s cooking every day. Since I’m out, I want to eat some junk food. Don’t worry about me, I’ll take a burger to the cafe. You guys enjoy.”

Lin Sanyuan hummed in response and transferred five hundred yuan to him, “Don’t just eat burgers. Didn’t you say you wanted hot pot? Invite some classmates out.”

“Sis, you’re the best!” Lin Shengsheng beamed and rushed over to give her a bear hug.

Tang Hengzhi cast a faint glance over, her head slightly tilted.

Lin Shengsheng immediately behaved, shrinking his neck and stopping his tracks. His voice dropped lower, “Then… I’ll take off first.”

My god! She even gets jealous of the biological brother. This sister-in-law is something else!

Just as he was about to leave, Tang Hengzhi suddenly called out to him, “Brother, shall we add each other on WeChat?”

The siblings both looked at her at the same time.

Lin Shengsheng knew this routine. Adding the brother-in-law to get intel on his sister, and then winning her over! This sister-in-law knows the game!

Being a supportive brother, he pulled out his phone before Lin Sanyuan could refuse, “Sure, sure!”

Under Lin Sanyuan’s complicated gaze, the two of them officially added each other.

As soon as Lin Shengsheng walked out, his phone vibrated. He received a New Year transfer from Tang Hengzhi.

It wasn’t a red envelope. It was a direct transfer. Because the amount was 6,666.66 yuan.

Holy cow! That much?

As a college freshman who had never seen so much pocket money, Lin Shengsheng’s hands shook. Following his good upbringing, he was about to decline it when Tang Hengzhi’s message followed, “Your social media captions are quite good. Don’t play with your sister’s phone next time.”

Her tone was like she was educating a playful child.

Lin Shengsheng felt dizzy. She knew! How did she know? Is she a psychic? He had a million questions, but he didn’t dare ask.

He was sweating, not knowing how to reply.

Tang Hengzhi added, “You can accept the money. It’s a New Year blessing and our little secret. You’ll keep it, right?”

The words were a bit vague, but Lin Shengsheng understood. She hadn’t officially secured his sister yet! It looked like she was still in the pursuing stage and knew how to bribe the “little brother-in-law.”

Lin Shengsheng couldn’t suppress his excitement. His sister, the old iron tree, finally bloomed, and it was a golden lily. He decided he needed to go online later and look up some stories to see how girls actually date each other. It was so exciting. His old-fashioned sister was finally following the trends of the era.

Lin Sanyuan watched Tang Hengzhi looking down at her phone and felt a bit unhappy, “Why are you playing with your phone while we’re about to eat?”

“I’m done,” Tang Hengzhi put her phone away.

She looked at the packed food on the table. It was quite a feast, eight dishes and a soup. Each portion was small but enough for two people.

“I thought you would take me out to eat?” Tang Hengzhi seemed to be in a very good mood.

Lin Sanyuan opened the disposable boxes, keeping her head down as she spoke, “It’s not that I’m too stingy to treat you to dinner, Teacher Tang. It’s just that in this small town, the best food is usually in those hole-in-the-wall places, and they’re all closed for the New Year. The mall food is just pre-packaged and not very clean. When I went back, my mom had just finished cooking. Look, there’s beef, lamb, fish, and shrimp. It’s definitely better than eating out.”

Tang Hengzhi looked at the steam rising from the boxes and listened to Lin Sanyuan’s familiar nagging. Outside, the sound of sleet hitting the glass created a rare, peaceful night. She couldn’t resist these mundane moments of daily life, which felt like seeds taking root in her heart.

Lin Sanyuan first brought over a bowl of soup. The pork rib soup was in a thermos. She always felt that hot soup in disposable bowls wasn’t clean. The family thermos hadn’t been used in a long time, so she had washed it three times.

“Since you got caught in the rain today, have some hot soup first.”

There were no extra bowls, so Tang Hengzhi had to drink directly from the thermos.

Seeing her not being polite at all, Lin Sanyuan, holding a bowl of white rice, said to her, “You’re drinking it like that?”

There was only one thermos for the soup. Although there were no extra bowls, she was drinking it directly, as if she intended to let Lin Sanyuan drink her leftovers. Even though she had drunk her leftover milk tea before, that was because Lin Sanyuan had offered it. Why did it feel like she was developing a habit?

Tang Hengzhi held the thermos, which was larger than her face. Because she was beautiful, even this primitive way of drinking soup didn’t look out of place.

She moistened her lips and said, “Don’t you usually avoid meat-based soups?”

Lin Sanyuan took a mouthful of rice expressionlessly. Oh, she almost forgot, this was the “ex-sister” she lived with for three years, who knew her tastes very well.

“Yeah, I don’t drink pork rib soup. You should eat more of the dishes, Teacher Tang. Don’t eat too much of the meat in the soup, it’ll fill you up.”

Lin Sanyuan intentionally placed a piece of braised sweet potato starch in her bowl. It was a local specialty with a unique texture, chewy and soaked in a rich braised sauce, looking exactly like a piece of braised pork belly. But in reality, it was a vegetarian dish. Outsiders might think it looked too greasy to eat.

Tang Hengzhi lowered her eyes and smiled. She picked up the piece and ate it calmly.

Lin Sanyuan was stunned for three seconds, staring at her blankly.

Tang Hengzhi’s lips were stained with a bit of oil, giving them a full, shimmering glow, making her faint smile in the night look very tempting, “I’ve had this dish before.”

Lin Sanyuan gave a hollow laugh, “Does Huacheng have this dish too?”

“No,” Tang Hengzhi looked down, poking at her rice, and said as if casually, “Years ago, during the New Year, the hotel you booked for me was this same one. Every time your family gathered, your mother would make eight dishes and a soup, with beef, lamb, duck, fish, shrimp, and just like now, braised sweet potato starch.”

Even the containers hadn’t changed.

The first year she followed her back to Nanzhen, she had used this same routine. Back then, Tang Hengzhi really didn’t dare eat that seemingly greasy food. At that time, Lin Sanyuan didn’t have the courage to take her to meet her family, but Tang Hengzhi could truly feel that she was hoping she could officially become part of the family.

So, every year Tang Hengzhi was with her, she would come here, and in this unconventional way, they would have a New Year’s dinner together.

Emotions are a strange thing, turning strangers into friends, then into something more, and finally returning to being strangers again.

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