Love Apartment: Yifei is my junior aunt

Chapter 105 South Wind's Request

Holding a bouquet of flowers, Zhanbo stood at the restaurant entrance, looking around like a silly goose: "Judging by the time, they should be arriving soon."

Just as Zhanbo was muttering to himself, Nanfeng's somewhat helpless voice came from behind: "You've been standing here for several minutes, looking forward, looking left, looking right, why can't you even look back?"

Zhanbo turned around and saw Nanfeng's face, which was both funny and exasperated.

He scratched his head, grinning sheepishly, "Nanfeng, why are you the only one here? Where's your god-sister?"

"Isn't she here?"

"Where? Where?" Zhanbo tilted his head back and stood on tiptoe, looking around. "Why can't I see it?"

Nanfeng suppressed a laugh and made a downward gesture.

Zhanbo looked down and saw a small girl with short hair.

"Hello, my name is Zhuge Dali, and I am fourteen years old." Fourteen-year-old Zhuge Dali reached out her hand to Zhanbo expressionlessly.

Zhanbo was stunned: "Are you sure she's already fourteen?"

He already knew yesterday that Nanfeng's god-sister was a fourteen-year-old girl, but you're telling me that the girl in front of me is fourteen years old?

With her height and looks, you could easily believe she's only ten years old.

Faced with Zhanbo's doubts, Zhuge Dali explained casually, "I just had a physical examination at the hospital recently, and all my physical indicators are normal. It's just that my puberty is a little slower than others. I just grew taller this year."

Nanfeng explained, "Her mother is busy with work and doesn't have time to take care of her. Dali often gets so engrossed in reading that she doesn't even eat, so she doesn't get enough nutrition. It's only in the last year or two that she's finally recovered."

"Huh? Ah..." Zhanbo seemed to wake from a dream and gently grasped Zhuge Dali's hand. "Hello, my name is Lu Zhanbo."

The two men's hands touched briefly before parting. Dali said politely, "I've always heard Brother Nanfeng mention you, saying you're a genuine computer genius."

Zhanbo asked curiously, "Then why haven't I heard Nanfeng mention you?"

Zhuge Dali: "..."

south wind:"……"

"Lu Zhanbo, please think about how old Dali was when you went abroad to study. How idle do I have to be to chat with a child who's only a few years old?"

"Oh right..." Zhanbo laughed heartily, only then noticing that he was holding a bouquet of flowers.

Zhanbo quickly handed over the bouquet: "This is for you."

Dali looked at the bouquet of snacks, lollipops, and fruit, smiled, thanked them, and accepted it. Then she turned to look at Nanfeng.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Nanfeng asked.

Dali glanced at Zhanbo again, confirming her judgment: "He shouldn't have the emotional intelligence to think of giving fruit flowers as a greeting gift."

Zhanbo gave an awkward laugh.

Nanfeng laughed and said, "I heard that the educational film is more than three hours long, and it's so long and boring that I'm afraid you won't have anything to eat or drink when you go in."

"Instead of bringing snacks and fruit baskets in, it's better to bring flowers like this; it looks nicer that way."

Dali glanced at the large bouquet of fruit flowers in his hand, then looked at the restaurant and frowned slightly: "Theoretically speaking, after eating at this restaurant, I have basically met my energy and nutritional needs for the whole day. Eating these snacks and fruits would be a serious overdose in terms of sugar, calories, and nutrients."

"So what if it's excessive? Have you ever seen a fat person who got fat in a day?" Nanfeng vigorously rubbed Dali's head. "Let's go eat, I'm starving."

The three of them entered the restaurant, and Nanfeng ordered a lot of food with a wave of his hand. As Dali asked to go to the restroom, Zhanbo breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Dali leave.

"Such a strong sense of oppression," Zhanbo muttered under his breath, pressing the menu against his neck. "Are you sure she's only fourteen?"

"You were just asking her if she was fourteen years old, how come you think she's older than fourteen now?" Nanfeng teased.

"How was I supposed to know she's only 1.4 meters tall but has the presence of someone 2.8 meters tall?" Zhanbo whispered, covering his mouth with his hand. "She seems like a futuristic android."

Judging from his furtive glances, he was clearly afraid of being overheard by Dali, the future android.

Nanfeng couldn't help but chuckle to herself. Zhanbo was clearly the oldest of the three, but he was the one who acted like the most like a child.

"Don't worry, Dali isn't a robot, much less an AI," Nanfeng explained. "She just skipped grades too quickly, and that caused her some psychological issues."

"Can skipping grades cause psychological problems? How come I don't have any?" Zhanbo asked in confusion.

As a computer genius, Zhanbo was also admitted to the computer science department of a well-known foreign university at a young age. After completing his bachelor's and master's degree with outstanding academic performance, he returned from abroad in a strong manner.

If it weren't for his eagerness to return home and the fact that the food abroad was terribly bad, he might have agreed to his teacher's request and finished his doctorate along the way.

To his utter surprise, even after returning to China, he didn't get to eat anything good; he could only eat the food cooked by Yifei every day...

For Zhanbo, skipping a grade is just routine, so how could he possibly have psychological problems?

Looking at Zhanbo, who seemed to be born single-minded, Nanfeng was speechless for a moment and could only vaguely reply, "That's different, you have extraordinary talent."

"Oh, is that so?" Zhanbo was very happy to be praised, and then asked, "Did you have any psychological problems when you skipped grades?"

Nanfeng looked helpless: "I didn't skip a grade. The Curtis Institute of Music's piano department doesn't have an age limit. I just applied through the normal process."

"Before I went to university abroad, I always went to school with children my own age, so how could I possibly have psychological problems?"

Nanfeng quietly pointed in the direction of the toilet and whispered, "But Dali is different. He skipped grades when he was a child and got full marks in every subject. He was often bullied by the tall boys in his class."

"Those little brats patted her head hard and lied to her that it was a way of celebrating... I seriously suspect that Dali's slow growth is all because of those little brats."

"So getting patted on the head isn't a way to celebrate after all!"

Zhanbo touched his head as if struck by lightning and said, "I told you it was just a celebration, why did you have to hit my head so hard?"

"So, was I also bullied at school when I was a child?"

Nanfeng clapped his hands and said, "Look, this is the problem that may occur when skipping grades."

"Others study hard for half a semester, but you skipped a grade and got full marks in every subject in less than a week. Of course, kids with bad tempers will not like you."

"I see..." Zhanbo seemed thoughtful, but given his personality, he wouldn't care too much about these things. The frustration of learning the truth was quickly swept away by him.

"And then what happened?" Zhanbo asked.

"Later, Dali skipped directly to junior high school in the second half of the year, while those little brats were still in second grade."

"Awesome!" Zhanbo gave a thumbs up.

Zhanbo is a computer genius who excels in one subject but not the other; his speed of skipping grades certainly can't compare to Dali's true academic genius.

Nanfeng sighed and said, "My godmother originally thought that since Dali wouldn't learn anything in elementary school anyway and would be bullied by little kids, it would be better to skip a grade and go straight to junior high."

"Her classmates from junior high school no longer bully her, but boys and girls in their teens don't want to play with a little kid like her."

"So, she likes to make herself look like a big kid, a little more mature, and that's how it's always been."

"I see." Zhanbo felt a sense of sympathy. Although he hadn't skipped grades as recklessly as Dali, he had experienced much of what Dali had gone through.

"That's roughly Dali's situation. My godmother said that she had a hypnosis test done at the psychologist Jason's place last time. There weren't any major psychological problems, but she had quite a few minor issues like being withdrawn, unsociable, and overly rational."

"Dr. Jason's advice is that we shouldn't be too stressed, as long as we don't skip to a new environment and jump to another unfamiliar one before we've had time to adapt to it, like in the past."

"Don't force her to grow too fast; let her grow up naturally. Of course, it would be even better if you could help her find a few like-minded peers to talk to."

Nanfeng's gaze towards Zhanbo grew even more fervent: "So now you know why I wanted you to go with her to see the educational film, right?"

"Why?" Nanfeng had made it so obvious, but Zhanbo still didn't understand.

south wind:"……"

Nanfeng sighed and made her point clear: "First of all, of course, it's because the audience watching this educational film is mostly children. I wanted to see if Dali could find a few peers he could chat with."

"But as you know, a fourteen-year-old college student and a group of junior high school students or elementary school students would probably have little in common."

"As an art student who excels in only one subject, I have even less in common with Dali."

Nanfeng looked at Zhanbo with increasing fervor: "But Zhanbo, you are different. Your experience is similar to Dali's, and you are both geniuses."

"You like UFOs, and she's also very interested in space."

"Most importantly, you two are both quite old yet naive, and you're pretending to be mature, so your mental ages are about the same."

Nanfeng whispered to Zhanbo, "I just want you to help me out. If you two can get along, could you just treat me like you have a little sister?"

"I think you're definitely more reliable than me as her brother."

Zhanbo pointed to himself, speechless, and said, "Me? The older brother?"

"I can't believe I'm a big brother now!"

Zhanbo's eyes lit up: "Then can I have her run errands for me, take care of my pets and plants, and discipline her if we disagree?"

"Of course... you can't!" Nanfeng's face darkened. "Please don't try to apply what Yifei did to you to Dali."

"Your ability to withstand Yifei's 'education of love' is a gift you have; anyone else would absolutely not be able to handle it."

"Don't worry, leave this to me." Zhanbo patted his chest and assured him, "I will definitely give you back a lively and cheerful little sister."

Zhanbo spoke with great confidence, and Nanfeng was also full of confidence at first.

When he saw Zhanbo shrink back like a quail and dare not speak after Dali returned, Nanfeng's heart sank.

Why does it feel like entrusting this matter to Zhanbo is so unreliable? Am I just grasping at straws in my desperation?

Here it comes!

(End of this chapter)