Free Web NovelChapter 166: Chapter 130: The Engraving on the Bluestone Slab
Eldest Female Cousin made an "OK" gesture, then led her younger cousin away.
"Alright, let’s go, let’s go, you dumbass kid."
Zhao Yueyang rubbed his head and muttered in complaint, "Sis, you say my grades are bad. You think it might be because you’re always hitting me?"
Hearing this, Eldest Female Cousin’s lips curled into a sly smile as she raised her arm, pretending she was about to hit Zhao Yueyang.
Seeing this, Zhao Yueyang was so scared he immediately ducked his head, like a startled ostrich, not daring to resist in the slightest.
Shen Yuan didn’t come back with Shen Ming.
The eldest brother still wanted to wander around the village a little longer with his fiancée.
When Shen Yuan got back to his uncle’s house, he immediately spotted his Eldest Female Cousin sunbathing leisurely in the courtyard and his younger cousin playing a game, a bottle of iced tea sitting on the ground beside him.
Shen Yuan walked straight up to his Eldest Female Cousin, pointed at the bottle of iced tea, and asked, "Just one? Where’s mine?"
Yang Yishui cracked an eyelid to glance at him, then slowly closed it again, saying unhurriedly, "The dumbass kid said there was no need to buy you one."
"Huh?"
Zhao Yueyang, who was off to the side, suddenly cried out. Seeming to realize things were not looking good for him, he hurriedly chimed in to explain, "No, Bro, let me explain!"
Shen Yuan looked at Zhao Yueyang with a deadpan expression and said, "Speak. You have five seconds."
Intimidated by Shen Yuan’s imposing manner, Zhao Yueyang spoke in a rapid-fire burst, "I said we should buy one, but Sis said there was no need, that if you wanted iced tea, you could go buy it yourself."
He rushed the words out like a machine gun, afraid that if he were even a second slower, he’d be on the receiving end of an elder cousin’s iron fist from Shen Yuan.
After hearing Zhao Yueyang’s explanation, Shen Yuan nodded thoughtfully, then slowly shifted his gaze to his Eldest Female Cousin’s face, a contemplative look in his eyes.
Just then, his Eldest Female Cousin suddenly said, "Sent you the money."
At her words, Shen Yuan’s gaze fell back on his younger cousin. The corners of his mouth quirked into a half-smile as he said, "Go buy one for me. I’ll transfer you the money."
Zhao Yueyang’s face fell, and he immediately pouted, his reluctance plain to see.
Still, he obediently got up from the bamboo chair and, with his head hanging, slowly shuffled toward the gate.
It was at least a two-minute walk to the little shop from here, and Zhao Yueyang had just made the trip. freewebnovёl.ƈom
He really didn’t want to walk it again.
Once his younger cousin was gone, Shen Yuan plopped down onto the bamboo chair and, just like his Eldest Female Cousin, stretched his legs out and tilted his head back toward the sky, striking a very casual pose.
They exchanged a look, and a sly smile appeared on both their faces simultaneously.
For most older siblings, ganging up on a younger cousin was probably the most natural thing in the world.
Zhao Yueyang was completely helpless.
Even though he was a high school freshman, he was pretty well-built.
But he couldn’t win a fight against Shen Yuan, and his Eldest Female Cousin was the only girl of their generation. Making her unhappy was equivalent to angering both the eldest brother and Shen Yuan at the same time.
The younger cousin could only tremble silently on the sidelines.
However, when Shen Yuan and his Eldest Female Cousin got ready to leave, the younger cousin became unhappy again. freewёbnoνel.com
"We’re off!" Eldest Female Cousin waved to the others at the house, flashing an especially wide grin at her younger cousin.
Once she and Shen Yuan left, and with his eldest brother not there to talk to, all he’d be able to do was play on his phone by himself.
Eldest Female Cousin walked up to her younger cousin, gently pinched his cheek, and said with a laugh, "Look at that long face. This is all because you didn’t do well on your high school entrance exams. If you had, you could come hang out at your big sis’s place every day!"
Hearing his Eldest Female Cousin’s words, the younger cousin looked even more crestfallen. He mumbled with a pout:
"But I really couldn’t have gotten in!"
Having finished teasing her younger cousin, Eldest Female Cousin looked with satisfaction at his miserable expression, then turned and ushered Shen Yuan and Li Zhi into the car.
"Time to go home, time to go home. Ugh, it’s back to work again tomorrow!" Eldest Female Cousin muttered as she buckled her seatbelt, her face a mask of exhaustion and boredom with her job.
Sitting beside her, Shen Yuan heard her complaint and immediately chimed in, "Well, I have evening self-study tonight!"
Eldest Female Cousin waved a dismissive hand. "Same difference."
Shen Yuan’s eyes widened as he retorted, "How is that the same! I have to actually teach a class tonight!"
Eldest Female Cousin just smiled and explained, "It’s not an official class today, so it doesn’t count."
Shen Yuan refused to back down, arguing, "Then you can come substitute for me!"
Eldest Female Cousin shrugged, replying breezily, "Even if I did substitute, I’d just make you do the lecturing."
Shen Yuan was left speechless. He stared at his Eldest Female Cousin, and after a long moment, finally squeezed out, "You... damn it, Yang Yishui. You win."
Eldest Female Cousin laughed heartily. "Let’s roll!"
As the sound of the car faded away from the village, prayer ribbons hanging from an old tree unfurled in the breeze.
Faded ink and fresh prayers overlapped among the branches, like a diary rewritten over and over by time.
Shen Yuan watched the buildings recede in the rearview mirror, his fingertips unconsciously tracing his palm.
The childish graffiti on the outhouse wall, the heart carved deep into the flagstones—all the memories of his childhood now felt like a new ring added to the old tree’s trunk.
A breeze, fragrant with citrus, swept past a prayer bell, hiding an unspoken answer within the lingering chimes of early autumn.
