My sister, whom I raised, has turned evil after faking her death for three years.

Cheng Xiaoyu has a unique characteristic: once he sets his mind on something, he will carry it out with extremely high efficiency.

He had just made two decisions: First, this woman named Su Qing was a beautiful woman.

Secondly, the pretty older sister's younger sister is his younger sister.

So Jiang Ran's 15-degree nod was automatically magnified into a 180-degree enthusiastic response in his eyes. He ran back and announced in a loud voice, "Come on! I'll take you to play on the slide!"

Jiang Ran was pulled forward a step by his sleeve, and she glanced back at Su Qing.

Su Qingchong waved her hand, meaning "Go ahead," then sat down on the bench next to her, crossed her legs, and took out her phone.

Cheng Xiaoyu led Jiang Ran straight to the slide area. He first wiped the dust off the entrance of the slide with his sleeve, then introduced it like a tour guide: "This is the spiral slide, it's the most fun! You go up this way, I'll catch you at the bottom!"

Jiang Ran stood at the bottom of the slide, looking up at the colorful plastic building that was much taller than her, her expression somewhat hesitant.

Without saying a word, Cheng Xiaoyu climbed up first and demonstrated it.

The sight of his chubby body sliding out of the spiral slide was quite spectacular, like a cannonball being launched. When he landed, he bounced on the plastic floor, then scrambled to his feet, his face bearing a proud expression that said, "How about that? I'm awesome, right?"

Jiang Ran looked at him for a while, then slowly walked up the slide steps while holding her skirt.

She paused for two seconds at the top of the slide, let go, and slid down.

When she landed, the wind blew her bangs up, revealing her entire face, and her eyes widened slightly.

Cheng Xiaoyu clapped from below: "Amazing! You skate even faster than me!"

Su Qing sat on the bench, watching Jiang Ran, led by Cheng Xiaoyu, go to play on the swing and rocking horse again.

Cheng Xiaoyu chattered on and on the whole time, and Jiang Ran barely responded, but the corners of her mouth maintained a very faint smile.

Su Qing felt relieved and continued scrolling through her phone.

The system suddenly popped up: [Host, Cheng Xiaoyu's social guidance for Jiang Ran is highly efficient. His behavior pattern matches the characteristics of an "extroverted social catalyst." Simply put, he can continuously output social signals without needing a response from the other party, which is very suitable for Jiang Ran's current situation.]

Su Qing silently nodded in her heart.

The system continued its analysis: [Furthermore, according to his language data mining, all his enthusiastic actions towards Jiang Ran can be traced back to the same initial condition: 'The pretty older sister's younger sister is my younger sister.' He has repeated this logic in thirty-seven sentences, averaging once every two minutes.]

Su Qing looked up at Cheng Xiaoyu, who was teaching Jiang Ran how to make the swing go higher, and chuckled.

This chubby kid is actually quite simple-minded.

As darkness fell completely, all the lights in the park came on.

  

Su Qing glanced at the time on her phone: 8:30.

She stood up, and the two children by the slide clapped their hands: "Xiao Ran, it's 8:30, time to go back to sleep."

Jiang Ran dismounted from the rocking horse and walked to Su Qing's side.

A thin layer of sweat glistened on her forehead, her cheeks were rosy, and she looked even better than when she was discharged from the hospital during the day.

Su Qing took her hand, looked down at her face, and suddenly smiled: "Have you had enough fun?" Jiang Ran nodded with a very light but clear force.

Su Qing turned to look at Cheng Xiaoyu, who was still standing next to the slide.

The crowd around had mostly dispersed; the children piling sand by the sandpit and the elderly on the bench had all left, leaving only the swing still swaying aimlessly in the wind.

No adults walked this way, and no one called Cheng Xiaoyu's name.

Su Qing asked him, "Didn't your family come to pick you up?"

Cheng Xiaoyu put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest: "I can get back by myself! My home is in this neighborhood, I know the way!"

Su Qing looked around at the empty park, then at the chubby little boy who only reached her waist.

The streetlights cast his shadow short. He stood next to the slide and looked quite presentable, but no matter how presentable he looked, he was still just a seven-year-old child.

She thought for a moment, then squatted down and asked Jiang Ran, "Shall we take him home first?"

Jiang Ran glanced at Cheng Xiaoyu.

In Jiang Ran's simple evaluation system, this chubby boy is not a bad person.

She nodded.

Su Qing stood up and waved to Cheng Xiaoyu: "Let's go, I'll take you home."

Cheng Xiaoyu paused for a moment, then a bright smile spread across his face. He trotted over and walked to Su Qing's other side.

He talked as he walked, from being named a model student at school to how he ate four bowls of rice last week, showing no sign of stopping.

Su Qing responded half-heartedly, and after walking for about five or six minutes, she turned into a building.

Stepping out of the elevator, Cheng Xiaoyu ran to a door, stood on tiptoe, and pressed the doorbell. Then he turned to Su Qing and said, "Pretty sister, I'll introduce you to my mom when she comes out! My mom's cooking is amazing!"

The door opened.

A young man opened the door.

She looked to be about the same age as Su Qing, around eighteen or nineteen years old. She was wearing a dark gray hoodie, had a slender figure, and distinct facial features. Her eyes and brows bore a resemblance to Cheng Xiaoyu's.

He was holding onto the door frame with one hand and his phone in the other, his face showing the weariness that comes with working late into the night to finish a draft. When he saw Cheng Xiaoyu at the door, he first breathed a sigh of relief, then looked up and his gaze fell on Su Qing.

Cheng Xiaoyu's expression changed the moment the door opened. His smile froze on his face, his mouth formed an "O" shape, and then he quickly turned his head and whispered to Su Qing in an urgent tone, "Pretty sister, he's scared..."

Before the word "woman" could be uttered, Su Qing had already stepped forward, revealing a polite smile, and spoke.

"Hello, are you Xiaoyu's father?"

The corridor was silent for a full two seconds.

Cheng Xiaoyu's mouth was still open, the rest of his words stuck in his throat, his expression somewhere between "I'm done for" and "How am I supposed to explain this?"

The program's fingers, gripping the doorknob, stiffened for a moment.

He looked down at his hoodie and sweatpants, then at the girl at the door, and the first thought that popped into his head was, "Am I that old?"

He stayed up for two nights straight, so he didn't shave and his hair was a mess, but surely that's not enough to make him look like the father of a seven-year-old?

Then a second thought popped into his head: the girl was only about half a step away from him.

She stood at the doorway, the corridor light shining on her face, revealing the shadow of her eyelashes on her cheeks.

She smelled clean and fresh, her hair was tied up a little loosely, with a few stray strands hanging down beside her ears.

She was about 1.75 meters tall, and he was 1.9 meters tall, so she looked up at him slightly, her eyes bright, and a polite and natural smile on her lips.

He waited for that familiar feeling of nausea to rise up.

No.

My stomach was calm, and my heart was beating a tiny bit faster, but not the panic attacks I experience during a panic attack; rather...

The program nipped that idea in the bud.

"[Host,]" the system's electronic voice sighed in Su Qing's mind, "[Didn't you notice the age difference between him and Cheng Xiaoyu? He's clearly the older brother. Data analysis shows he's at most one or two years older than you.]"

Su Qing paused for a moment, wondering, "Did I say something wrong?"

[Yes. And based on the analysis, he seems to suffer from gynophobia; the word Cheng Xiaoyu didn't finish saying earlier is most likely that.]

[Interestingly, he didn't trigger a stress response towards you; although his heart rate increased, it didn't conform to the typical data pattern of a fear attack.]

Su Qing didn't have time to answer the system because the program spoke first.

"...I'm his brother." He paused, his voice a little muffled, as if explaining something absurd but necessary to explain, "Programming Words."

Su Qing straightened up, a rare hint of embarrassment appearing on her face.

She raised her hand to touch the back of her neck and coughed lightly, "Sorry, I didn't see clearly just now. I'm Su Qing, I live on the eighth floor. Xiao Yu was playing in the park, and since no one was coming to pick him up, we brought him back on our way."

Cheng Xuyan shifted his gaze from her face to Jiang Ran, who had been standing silently to the side.

The little girl, wearing a dress, was holding Su Qing's hand and looking up at him. There was no fear in her eyes, only a scrutinizing quietness.

He quickly looked away, not because of his fear of women, but because the little girl's eyes were so clear, so clear that he felt he would see through something if he looked at them any longer.

"Thank you," he said.

Su Qing waved her hand, took Jiang Ran's hand, and turned to leave.

Cheng Xiaoyu peeked out from behind the door frame and called out to their backs, "Pretty sisters! Are you coming to the park again tomorrow? I'll teach Xiaoran how to play on that climbing net again."

Jiang Ran didn't turn around, but she gently shook the hand that was holding Su Qing's.

Downstairs, the evening breeze carried a strong fragrance of osmanthus blossoms.

Walking under the streetlights, Su Qing suddenly asked the system in her mind, "So what did you mean when you said he didn't trigger a stress response towards me?"

The system paused for a second, then said: [Literal meaning. His gynophobia has no effect on you. The reason is unknown. Further data collection is needed for analysis.]

Su Qing thought about it for a moment and decided that it didn't concern her much, so she categorized it into the "unimportant" folder and took Jiang Ran's hand as they walked home.