Chapter 12 : On the Way to School

The next morning, Chen Qiao opened his eyes to the rooster’s crowing, the gentle chirping of birds, his sister’s reading aloud, and the rumbling of the dump truck’s engine.

It seemed that his father was going to haul bricks.

Setting off early in the morning meant the weather wasn’t too hot yet, and there was no need to queue at the brick factory.

He could go early and come back early, making the most of the time.

Chen Qiao propped himself up with his hands, yawned, and sat up from the bed.

The bed was still warm, and a few strands of hair were left on the pillow.

His sister seemed to have just woken up not long ago.

Chen Feifei, holding a Chinese textbook, leaned against the window and asked, “Why are you up so early? Did I wake you up? I felt a bit cold when I got up this morning, so I didn’t go to the rooftop to recite my texts.”

Chen Feifei shrugged her shoulders.

The early morning at the end of spring and the beginning of summer was still chilly, with a hint of coldness remaining.

“No, I woke up naturally. Hearing my sister’s reading, I thought I was in the classroom at school, and I slept even more soundly.”

“This is really…”Chen Feifei was momentarily at a loss for words, not knowing what to say.

“You can go back to sleep. It’s not even half past six yet. I’ll wake you up when it’s almost seven.”

“Okay.”

Chen Qiao pulled the quilt over himself and lay back down, planning to enjoy a nice second sleep.

The quilt was filled with his sister’s familiar and reassuring scent.

The alarm clock, set to go off at 6:50, emitted a sharp and grating sound.

Chen Qiao reached out to turn off the alarm, but a slightly larger jade hand covered his.

“I was still a step too slow and woke you up.”

“I was already planning to get up.”

Chen Qiao got up and looked at his sister, but he was stunned on the spot.

Chen Feifei happened to be changing clothes, and the blue nightgown she had just taken off was placed on him.

Through the quilt, he could see that she was only wearing plain, off-white underwear and panties, with no patterns, just a small bow.

Her skin was as white as snow, but there was a slight difference in color between her arms and shoulders.

Noticing Chen Qiao’s gaze, Chen Feifei, without changing her expression, picked up her school trousers and put them on, then put on her school uniform and said, “You should also change your clothes quickly. Don’t dawdle once you’re awake.”

It was Chen Qiao’s face that turned red, feeling his cheeks and ears burning.

He took the school uniform from the bedside table and began to change clothes noisily under the quilt.

He felt something was off. The one who should be shy was his sister, right?

He was being too brotherly.

Chen Feifei, with a hair tie in her mouth, gathered her long hair into a ponytail with both hands and then secured it with the hair tie.

Chen Feifei shook her ponytail, exuding a youthful vibe all over.

She had already picked up her textbook and was about to go downstairs first, but she had to run back to the room in a fluster because she forgot her deskmate’s battery.

His sister was occasionally a bit careless.

After all, she was just an ordinary excellent girl.

In the eyes of the reborn Chen Qiao, she had already lost her halo and filter.

He just wanted to take good care of and protect his sister.

While his sister was getting up, brushing her teeth, and washing her face, he cooked porridge.

He also reheated the leftover food from last night, stir-fried some pickles, and fried some scallion eggs.

Since his mother had been on duty at the hospital last night and came home in the morning, she also bought buns, steamed buns, and fried dough sticks on the way.

Today’s breakfast was quite sumptuous.

After eating and drinking their fill, they heard the primary school’s broadcasting station start to play melodious morning music.

“Sis, let’s go together?”

Chen Qiao called out, slinging his school bag over his shoulder.

“What’s with you today? In the past, you couldn’t stand the idea of going to school with me. You would either wait until I left before going or just run off without a trace. You even once deliberately took a longer route to school.”

Chen Feifei puffed out her cheeks, turned her head away, and didn’t look at Chen Qiao, seemingly a bit upset.

The primary school was being expanded, and the school gate was virtually non-existent, with drafts everywhere and multiple paths leading to the school.

“Uh………………”

Chen Qiao scratched his cheek, not knowing how to explain.

Previously, he was embarrassed, feeling that at his age, going to school with his sister would be ridiculed behind his back.

As a child, he always cared too much about others’ gazes and evaluations.

When he was with his sister, his classmates and friends wouldn’t dare to greet him if they saw him on the road because his sister was too dazzling.

However, his sister’s female classmates didn’t have such reservations, and in the end, it turned into Chen Qiao being surrounded by older girls.

Moreover, Chen Qiao and his sister were always compared by teachers and parents.

Actually, he was not bad among his peers, but his sister had raised the bar so high that being with her would amplify his feelings of inferiority, and he even began to harbor a bit of resentment towards his sister.

“Your red scarf isn’t properly tied; it’s all wrinkled. And you’re still a monitor.”

Chen Qiao thought to himself that he was doing well just to remember to wear the red scarf.

Chen Feifei handed the textbook in her hand to Chen Qiao, bent down to untie the red scarf around Chen Qiao’s neck, adjusted the length of the two corners, made a knot, and then let the right corner pass through the knot.

Chen Feifei’s breath, exhaled, tickled Chen Qiao’s face, and her slender fingers inadvertently touched his neck and ears.

Chen Feifei finally pushed the knot up to a suitable position, making it look neat without causing discomfort to Chen Qiao.

Chen Feifei walked around Chen Qiao, straightened his collar, smoothed the inverted triangle at the back of the red scarf, clapped her hands, and nodded in satisfaction.

This reminded Chen Qiao of the time when he graduated and went for his first job interview.

His sister had helped him tie his tie.

Unexpectedly, the other candidates in the interview were either from prestigious schools or had master’s degrees.

Chen Qiao, who had only a regular undergraduate degree, returned home in defeat.

On the way home, he saw a recruitment for crowd-sourced delivery personnel and, still in his suit, went to deliver food.

The morning light was tinged with a halo, and the sunlight shone on his sister, making her hair tips glisten, her ears crystal clear with visible blue veins, and a fine layer of downy hair on her earlobes.

“Your school bag looks so light.”

Chen Feifei patted Chen Qiao’s school bag and lifted it a bit.

“I didn’t bring any homework home; I finished it all at school.”

“That’s quite unusual. I’ve never seen you so proactive about doing homework before.”

Chen Qiao usually left his winter and summer vacation homework until the last few days, spending one night with a pen and creating a miracle.

When it came to a critical moment, his sister would help him.

Chen Qiao had also made up homework on an early morning before.

The punishment of copying compositions assigned by the teacher was one of the most disgusting tasks.

The advice he gave to the boss’s daughter Mengjia was based on his own experience.

“In any case, it’s a good thing. I’ll leave my Chinese textbook here with you first.”

Chen Feifei unzipped her school bag and threw the book in.

“Just don’t forget to take it.”

“Good morning, auntie.”

Chen Feifei greeted the neighbors and relatives along the way, and Chen Qiao, cooperating with his sister, nodded slightly to these unfamiliar faces.

He had always been introverted, taciturn, and had been taught many times to be more polite, to greet the elders proactively.

It was the society that had forced him to learn to be more talkative and accommodating.

“The siblings are going to school together?”

“Yeah, we’ve been going to school together since we were little.”

Chen Feifei naturally took Chen Qiao’s hand and raised it high to show off.

Chen Qiao had been led to the kindergarten’s small class by his sister, who directly handed him a book of arithmetic problems to do.

Chen Qiao didn’t try to break free from his sister’s hand; instead, he held it tighter, then relaxed a bit for fear of causing his sister to feel strange.

As they walked, most people on the road were students heading to school, many of whom were holding buns or steamed buns in one hand and soy milk in the other, eating while walking.

Sister’s old acquaintance, Ye Qinglan, trotted up to greet them.

The town was small, and many people had known each other since kindergarten.

Chen Qiao and Lin Na were also like this.

As an excellent student, Chen Feifei had good interpersonal relationships.

She would lend her homework to others to copy, and when she was a class officer, she wasn’t rigid.

She would help with small things if she could, such as charging the phones of boarding students.

“Feifei, good morning. Tsk, tsk, you and your brother have such a good relationship. Unlike me, I just had a fight with that stinky boy last night. Look, there are still scratch marks on my face. He was really fierce.”

When Chen Qiao heard the voice, he guiltily flattened his palm and let go of his sister’s hand, but she didn’t let go.

“Joo……” Chen Feifei just laughed dryly.

She didn’t want to comment on other people’s family affairs, but she felt that other people’s brothers were definitely not as good as her own.

No one along the way thought it was inappropriate for siblings to hold hands.

Perhaps it was because Chen Qiao was short, and his sister had developed early.

She stopped growing taller in the third year of junior high school.

One was in a junior high school uniform, and the other was in an elementary school one.

It seemed that the age difference between the two was more than two years, which was quite safe.

The whole way, it was Chen Qiao who was scaring himself.

But in Chen Qiao’s plan to cultivate his sister, if she ate well, drank well, slept well, and didn’t have to bear so many family burdens, she would be carefree and could definitely grow taller, and her chest could also be bigger.

When they arrived in front of the winding uphill path to the entrance of the primary school, there were various food and toy shops and a mobile business hall opposite.

The rooftop had publicity for a calligraphy classroom.

Chen Feifei still showed no sign of letting go.

Chen Qiao reluctantly took the initiative to break free from his sister’s hand.

Only then did she turn her head and say, “Oh, we’ve already arrived. I didn’t notice.”

“And don’t forget your book.”

Chen Qiao took out his sister’s Chinese textbook for the second year of junior high school from his school bag.

“Oh, I almost forgot.”

Chen Feifei took the book, tapped her head, covered her mouth, and chuckled lightly, “Be careful on your way.”

“I’m already at the school gate. What else do I need to be careful about?”

Chen Qiao said with a roll of his eyes.

“Then be careful of basketballs, be careful of girl……………… Chen Feifei’s voice and figure gradually faded away.

Only then did Chen Qiao retract his gaze and start climbing the hill to go to school.

His few days in primary school were spent writing novels and……………teaching his deskmate.