The sickly one in F4 was the group's darling.

Bai Ci froze in her seat, her cheeks flushing bright red all the way down to her neck.

It’s over.

Bai Yanzhi's eyes were fixed on him, the dark, deep pupils reflecting the warm yellow light in the tea room, as well as his own extremely guilty face.

He mentally stabbed Xiao Qi frantically, "Xiao Qi! Help! Big Brother asked who taught him!"

Xiao Qi frantically pretended to be dead in his mind: ... I'm not online, I can't hear you, I don't know anything.

Bai Ci cursed the system in her heart, but on the surface she could only grit her teeth and put on a docile smile that was even uglier than crying.

"It's...it's the phone that changed on its own," he pleaded in desperation.

Bai Yanzhi didn't speak, but his eyebrows twitched slightly.

"B-Brother, you've got it wrong, it's not 'Tightwad King'... It's... it's a problem with your input method!"

Bai Yanzhi raised an eyebrow slightly, tapped the phone screen lightly with his fingertip, and spoke in a kind tone, yet with an undeniable sense of pressure.

"The input method is malfunctioning; how can it type eight characters in a row?"

That expression roughly translates to: Keep making things up, let's see what kind of nonsense you can come up with.

Bai Ci: "..."

He shrank back slightly, his voice becoming even weaker: "That, that might be... it, it has its own ideas."

Looking at Bai Ci, who was clearly so guilty he was practically burying himself in his own shame, Bai Yanzhi's anger at the nickname had long since vanished from his flustered and aggrieved little face.

But he wouldn't let it go.

He leaned forward slightly, lowered his voice, and said with a half-smile, "Oh? Well, it's quite perceptive. It knows that if I don't give you pocket money, I'm a miser?"

Bai Ci suddenly looked up, her eyes wide: "I didn't say that!"

"I...I..."

Bai Ci stammered, her voice barely audible, her mind completely blank.

"...Xiao Qi taught me," he muttered softly.

Bai Yanzhi's gaze paused slightly: "Little Seven?"

"It's just..." Bai Ci stammered.

How do you say it? Say, "I have a system in my head called Xiao Qi, and it calls you a miser every day, and even adds a four-word prefix to your name."

His older brother would probably think he's gone mad and send him to a mental hospital. Do mental hospitals provide meals? They probably do. But the grass there certainly won't be as fresh as the grass in the mountains.

Bai Ci's thoughts had uncontrollably slid into the abyss of "Is the food in the mental hospital good?"

Bai Yanzhi watched the ever-changing expressions on his face, from guilt to confusion, from confusion to resignation, and from resignation to emptiness, and suddenly wondered what kind of younger brother he had raised.

He didn't ask "Who is Xiao Qi?", but simply lowered his head and tapped the screen a few times with his slender fingers.

Bai Ci leaned over to look, but Bai Yanzhi gently pushed her back with his palm against her forehead.

"Sit still."

Bai Ci sat back down, but her neck was stretched out like a rabbit peeking out.

Bai Yanzhi deleted "Super Invincible Iron Rooster King" word by word, and then typed two words - "Big Brother".

He paused, then added a symbol before it: 【Big Brother】

Set it as the top contact, set it as the emergency contact, set it as the fastest dialer—all in one smooth motion—and then hand the phone back.

"This debt," he paused, a very faint smile curving his lips, "will be remembered."

Bai Ci stared at those two words, blinked, and felt a strange, inexplicable feeling well up inside her even though she had only changed a nickname.

"From now on, use this when you make a phone call."

Bai Yanzhi watched Bai Ci fiddling with his phone, his profile softened by the lamplight. His short hair revealed a slender, white nape of his neck, so thin it was unsettling.

He suddenly spoke up: "That Xiao Qi."

Bai Ci's fingers suddenly froze.

"Is it a friend from your school?"

Bai Ci opened his mouth, then closed it again. He really didn't know how to explain a system that lived in his head, gave him filters, and even complained that his older brother was a miser.

"Um... sort of," he mumbled in response. "A... talkative... friend."

Bai Yanzhi nodded and did not ask any further questions.

He picked up his teacup, took a sip, and gazed at the deepening twilight outside the window, seemingly just chatting casually: "When are you bringing her back so I can meet her?"

Bai Ci almost threw the phone in her hand.

"No!"

Bai Yanzhi turned back, raising an eyebrow slightly: "No way?"

Bai Ci's face flushed red, his mind racing, and finally he stammered out a lie that even he himself didn't believe: "He...he's incredibly timid! He'll...play dead when he sees strangers!"

Bai Yanzhi watched him frantically make up excuses and remained silent for a moment.

"He can play dead," he repeated the three words, his tone carrying a meaningful "I'll believe him for now" tone. "Your friend is quite interesting."

Bai Ci nodded vigorously, like a chick pecking at rice: "Yes, yes, it's really interesting, but it's not something you can easily show to people."

Bai Yanzhi didn't say anything more, but the corners of his mouth curved up almost imperceptibly.

He'll find out, no rush.

Suddenly, a commotion arose outside the tea room, mixed with hurried footsteps and hushed conversations.

Uncle Chen walked quickly to the door and whispered something.

Bai Yanzhi's expression slightly changed. He put down his teacup and stood up.

"Sit here and don't move," he said to Bai Ci, looking down at her. "I'll be right back."

Bai Ci nodded obediently.

Bai Yanzhi walked to the door, then suddenly stopped and looked back at him.

"There's freshly brewed tea in the pot, pour it yourself."

He paused for a moment.

"No need to gulp it down. Nobody's going to take it from you."

He turned and walked out, the door closing softly behind him.

Bai Ci sat in the armchair, holding his phone. He looked down at the "Big Brother" in his contacts and then at the steaming teapot on the tea table.

He picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup.

Then he downed it in one gulp.

"...Anyway, he didn't see it." He muttered to himself.

In her mind, Xiao Qi's voice drifted out softly: "Bai Bai, were you secretly laughing just now?"

Bai Ci touched the corner of her mouth, as if she were really smiling.

He put the empty cup back on the tea table, shrank into the armchair, and buried his face in the collar of his sweatshirt.

"……No."

The aroma of tea wafts through the air as night deepens.

The deep, resonant voice of Bai Yanzhi could be faintly heard from outside the door. His voice was steady and powerful, and even through the door, it gave one a strange sense of security.

Bai Ci gently stroked the edge of her phone with her fingertips, and the slight panic in her heart slowly dissipated.

Not long after, before Bai Ci had finished brewing the tea, soft footsteps approached again. The door was gently pushed open.

Bai Ci thought it was Bai Yanzhi returning, so he hurriedly straightened his cup, straightened his back, and sat up straight again, like a well-behaved student being checked in class.

But it was Uncle Chen who came in.

The old butler, dressed neatly, still wore his usual calm and gentle expression. He approached quietly, bowed slightly, and spoke in a low voice, both respectful and considerate:

"Young Master, the Eldest Young Master went to the front hall to handle some matters and specifically instructed me to come and take you to change your clothes."

Bai Ci obediently stood up and followed Uncle Chen outside.

After taking a couple of steps, he suddenly remembered something and looked down at the "Tiger Descending the Mountain" hoodie he was wearing.

Taking this off... I'm actually a little reluctant to do it.

After all, this tiger had accompanied him on the mountain path for an entire afternoon.