Chapter 7: Younger Sister Bao Has Privileges

Ji Shou and Xu Shu returned the following evening.

At that moment, Ji Huailuo was playing with the dog on the lawn in the Courtyard, while Xu Zhiqiao leaned on the windowsill of the second floor, looking longingly down with an expression that said she wanted to join, but didn’t dare.

Ji Huailuo glanced up at her. “It’s not that I don’t want you to play. If something happens to you, my dad and your mom would skin me alive.”

“…” Xu Zhiqiao couldn’t help but defend herself. “It’s not that serious…”

Ji Huailuo’s shoulder twitched with a cold snort. “Doesn’t matter what you think. You don’t get to decide how serious it is—”

He didn’t finish the sentence. A surprised cry came from the doorway.

“Why is there a dog in the house?” Xu Shu exclaimed.

Ji Shou slammed the car door shut, heading straight toward the lawn, voice thundering, “Ji Huailuo! I told you your sister has asthma, didn’t I?”

Xu Zhiqiao had a bad feeling. She bolted out of the bedroom and rushed downstairs.

The shouting between father and son had already begun.

Maybe realizing whose dog it was, Xu Shu felt a little embarrassed for her earlier overreaction and tried to mediate. “Ji Shou, speak properly. Don’t just start yelling at the child…”

“I don’t need your help,” Ji Huailuo’s eyes were red, “this is my house. The dog’s name is Ji Er De. What the hell are you? That sickly daughter of yours—does she even have a place in this family…?”

The words became more and more vicious. Ji Shou could no longer hold back and slapped him—hard.

Xu Zhiqiao’s hurried steps came to an abrupt halt.

Xu Shu also fell silent.

Ji Huailuo lowered his head, red palm prints stark on his cheek.

After a long pause, he wiped the corner of his mouth with his thumb, then let out a short, cold laugh. “Fine. I’ll move out. Wouldn’t want to interrupt your happy little family of three.”

Ji Shou’s chest heaved, furious beyond words.

Ji Huailuo brushed past him, leading Er De. Xu Zhiqiao called out, timidly, “Big Brother…”

“Get lost!” Ji Huailuo snapped. “Who the hell is your Big Brother? My mother only gave birth to me!”

Xu Zhiqiao froze where she stood, not daring to move.

Ji Huailuo took the dog and went upstairs.

The scene hung in silence.

Xu Shu gently pulled her daughter close, watching her carefully. “Don’t be afraid. Mommy’s here.”

“I’m not scared…” Xu Zhiqiao’s eyes welled up, the corners tightening with ache. “Uncle, you blamed Big Brother wrongly. The dog is mine—I begged him to help me take care of it. Big Brother’s already twenty-two, and you still hit him in the face… If his Mother were still here… she’d fight you to the death.”

Her tears broke free, pouring down in choked, messy sobs.

Xu Shu was stunned.

Ji Shou’s hand trembled—whether from the force of the slap or regret, even he couldn’t tell.

“Baobao, how could you get a dog,” Xu Shu’s voice turned stern. “Didn’t Mommy tell you—”

Xu Zhiqiao sobbed, “I know, so I asked Big Brother to keep it for me. Just now he even reminded me not to come downstairs. He said I could only watch from upstairs…”

The room fell quiet.

Ji Shou was a patriarch to the bone, firmly believing parents were never wrong. Even with Xu Zhiqiao’s explanation, even knowing he’d made a mistake—

Apologizing to his son? Out of the question.

The roar of an engine shattered the silence.

Ji Huailuo came downstairs, dragging a suitcase behind him. He shoved Er De into the front seat, got in, and drove off without looking back.

Xu Shu moved as if to stop him, but Ji Shou held her back. “Let him go. Cancel his credit card—he’ll come crawling back.”

–

The Zhou residence had been deathly quiet for three days.

Ji Huailuo hadn’t come home.

Nor had he gone to the company.

On the evening of the fourth day, Xu Zhiqiao sat alone on the front steps, dazed.

Ji Huailuo had blocked her. No one knew where he had gone, and Ji Shou remained firm, unwilling to yield even a step.

The harmony the Ji family once had—it felt like she had been the one to shatter it.

Xu Zhiqiao hugged her knees, burying her face in them.

Until a hand suddenly reached out and ruffled her hair. Xu Zhiqiao jerked her head up, and when she saw who it was, the surprise in her eyes slowly faded.

“What’s wrong?” Zhou Cong rested one foot on the step, leaning forward. “Thought it was your Big Brother?”

Xu Zhiqiao brushed off his hand and turned her face away, unwilling to speak.

Zhou Cong tilted his head to follow her gaze, smiling lazily. “Your Big Brother’s gone, you’re the only child in this house now—why are you still sniffling?”

“None of your business,” Xu Zhiqiao didn’t like the tone. “Are you here to laugh at me?”

Zhou Cong smirked. “Why such a temper? Or is it just worse when you’re with me?”

Expressionless, Xu Zhiqiao said, “Go away.”

Zhou Cong clicked his tongue, straightened up, and held out a hand to her in the golden light of dusk. “Want me to bring him back for you?”

Backlit by the setting sun, his features were blurred, but the back of his hand gleamed faintly gold in the fading light. His long, lean fingers carried a natural sense of control. The tension was subtle, yet unmistakably charged.

Xu Zhiqiao raised her chin. “You know where he is?”

“Of course,” Zhou Cong seemed amused. “We’ve been friends since we were kids. Did you forget?”

Xu Zhiqiao nodded, sidestepping the hand he offered and pushing herself up.

“Thank you, Big Brother Zhou Cong.”

At this moment, standing on the steps while Zhou Cong remained below, Xu Zhiqiao was finally eye level with him. She could see the faint curve of his smile clearly.

Zhou Cong took a step closer. “Just a thank you? That’s it?”

“…”

Catching the guarded look in her eyes, Zhou Cong chuckled with genuine amusement. “What exactly are you afraid of? Let me out of your blacklist, alright?”

It wasn’t an outrageous request.

In fact, it was more than generous.

Xu Zhiqiao nodded.

Zhou Cong glanced at her. “Right now. In front of me.”

Who knew if this girl would just fake it again?

Xu Zhiqiao pressed her lips together, then pulled out her phone and, right in front of him, removed his name from the blacklist.

“Oh, by the way,” Zhou Cong suddenly added, a mischievous glint in his eyes, “you blocking me was pointless. I read through everything before telling you.”

“…”

She wanted to kill him.

Discussing her social feed face-to-face—it was no different than being stripped bare in public.

Zhou Cong laughed with unrestrained delight. “September third last year—you posted a vow in your feed, saying you’d never forget ‘this thing’… what thing?”

“…” Xu Zhiqiao had no idea what it was. She couldn’t even remember what she did last month.

Back in high school, there were always those days where she’d have some melodramatic fit—declaring oaths, setting grand flags in her feed. Looking back now, even she didn’t know what she was talking about.

Mortified and furious, Xu Zhiqiao shoved him hard. “Get lost!”

In a few quick steps, she stormed down the stairs and walked straight to his still-running car. Without hesitation, she kicked it hard, leaving a dirty shoe print on the side.

Hands in his pockets, the man strolled over lazily. The way the light hit the angles of his ear and earring gave his features a rakish, unruly air.

“If it were anyone else,” he said casually, “I’d make them lick it clean.”

“…” Xu Zhiqiao suddenly remembered his notorious obsession with cleanliness.

Zhou Cong cast her a sidelong glance, then slowly added, “But our Younger Sister Bao has privileges.”

“…”

Xu Zhiqiao found him even more shameless than before.

“Big Brother,” she hesitated, but still spoke, “a four-year age gap doesn’t look like much, but in reality… it’s a lot.”

Zhou Cong’s shoulders trembled, his laughter suave and languid. “July sixth last year—someone posted in her feed: ‘Age doesn’t matter. It’s only that you were born before I was…’”

Before he could finish, Xu Zhiqiao’s memory was violently dragged back to that incredibly embarrassing post.

She had written it after watching some sappy romance drama.

And now—

All she wanted to do was bite someone.

Her rationality went out the window. Xu Zhiqiao raised her foot and kicked Zhou Cong hard—right on his black suit pants.

Let him have his cleanliness obsession.

Go use toilet cleaner!