Sun Zhenhai pressed his lips together, standing there with his head lowered. After what seed to be a mont of internal struggle, he finally forced the words out.
"Sis... Brother-in-law."
Song Qingya was slightly taken aback, a strange feeling stirring within her.
’She rembered that he had never once called the original owner of this body "Sis."’
’He usually ignored her completely. Why was he being so uncharacteristically proactive today?’
"Zhenhai really has grown up a lot. He’s much more polite than before."
Song Qingya glanced at him, the corners of her mouth twitching with a faint, almost imperceptible smile, and said in a lazy tone.
"In that case, why don’t you go help your brother-in-law with the suitcases? He must be tired from the long journey."
In reality, with Fei Jin’s strength, the two suitcases combined didn’t even weigh a dozen pounds.
To him, it was no different from carrying air.
But this was their first formal visit back to her family ho after getting married.
He was more than willing to play the part of a brother-in-law who was doted on and cared for by his wife.
Besides, if his wife said he was tired, then he was definitely tired.
Fei Jin set down the luggage, took Song Qingya’s hand, and smiled at his young brother-in-law, his attitude perfectly natural and gentle.
"I’ll have to trouble you then, brother."
"...No trouble."
Sun Zhenhai mumbled a reply with his head down, his expression a little strained.
At ho, Sun Zhenhai was used to having everything handed to him on a silver platter.
Forget these two suitcases; he usually wouldn’t even carry his own fruit ho from the market, let alone haul anything up to the fifth floor.
He had been coddled his whole life at ho and rarely had to lift a finger.
On the way here, Yang Yunhua had carried everything.
He had just strolled along with his hands in his pockets, not doing a thing, as carefree as a random passerby.
But now, it was his turn to carry sothing.
He was imdiately clumsy and flustered.
By the ti he’d only reached the third floor, Sun Zhenhai was already panting heavily.
His legs felt as heavy as lead, and beads of sweat started to form on his forehead.
He leaned on the railing, gasping a few tis, fighting the urge to just drop everything and walk off.
Seeing her son struggling, Yang Yunhua’s heart ached. She couldn’t help but step forward to help, but Sun Qiang grabbed her and scolded her in a low voice.
"What do you think you’re doing? This is a chance for our son to put in so effort. Don’t you go up there and help him."
"Dad!"
When Sun Zhenhai saw his mother about to lend a hand, he perked up imdiately and blurted out at Sun Qiang.
He really didn’t want to do this, and he was already in a bad mood, so his voice was thick with complaint.
But the mont the word was out, Sun Qiang shot him a glare, and he instinctively flinched.
Then he lowered his voice and reprimanded him.
"Not another peep. Your brother-in-law is walking ahead. Aren’t you going to take this chance to make a good impression? Are two little suitcases really too much for you? Get moving and carry them properly."
Song Qingya walked at the very front of the group, her hand held by Fei Jin.
Sunlight stread through the narrow stairwell window, falling on the side of her face.
From ti to ti, she would glance back to check on the situation behind them.
Hearing the low-voiced discussion from not far behind, her pace slowed involuntarily. Her brows furrowed slightly, and she turned around.
"What’s wrong back there? Are you all getting too tired? I thought I heard soone talking. Our things aren’t too heavy, are they? It’s all my fault... I knew I shouldn’t have insisted on bringing my books. They’re so heavy that even Zhenhai can’t manage them."
As she said this, her gaze swept, intentionally yet casually, over the group behind her.
Fei Jin always cooperated with her seamlessly in these kinds of situations.
The mont her voice fell, he also stopped, turned around, and calmly looked at the people on the stairs below. He spoke in a asured, unhurried tone.
"Do you need to help carry them up?"
"No need! We absolutely can’t trouble you, Xiao Fei!"
Hearing this, Sun Qiang quickly waved his hand to interrupt, shaking his head with a cheerful laugh as he declined the offer.
"This little bit of weight is no big deal for us. You’ve already had a long trip getting here; how could we trouble you any further?"
With that, he turned to his son, his face uncharacteristically stern, and his voice suddenly bood.
"What are you standing around for? Hurry up and get those upstairs!"
Sun Zhenhai’s face instantly flushed red, and his chest heaved violently.
Gritting his teeth and suppressing a surge of anger, he silently hoisted the two heavy suitcases onto his shoulder and trudged, step by step, toward the fifth floor.
Sweat trickled down his forehead and dripped onto the floor. He was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion.
When he finally, with great difficulty, reached the front door, he collapsed onto the ground with a thud before he could even catch his breath.
Even his clothes were soaked through with sweat.
"Oh heavens, to think he could carry those all the way up in this heat. The poor child must be exhausted."
Seeing this, Yang Yunhua hurried into the apartnt and found a towel to wipe her son’s sweat.
anwhile, Song Qingya was being helped by Fei Jin to slowly sit down on the living room sofa.
"Mom, don’t be so anxious. It’s good for him to get so exercise. Isn’t that much better than him doing nothing at ho all day? If this keeps up, his body will get lazy and useless sooner or later."
"What are you talking about?"
Yang Yunhua’s expression imdiately soured at her words, and she couldn’t help but retort.
"How can you say that about your own brother?"
"Did I say sothing wrong?"
Song Qingya looked at her mother with a wronged expression.
"I’m just telling the truth. If you don’t believe , you can ask Ajin. My own health is so poor right now."
Fei Jin’s expression didn’t change. He nodded impassively and said in a flat tone, "Qingya’s health has indeed been poor lately. It’s already good that she has enough energy to lie down and read a book to pass the ti."
Standing to the side, Sun Zhenhai suddenly felt a surge of resentnt.
’They’re clearly just laying down the law and putting in my place!’
’The two of them tead up to put on this perfectly coordinated act just to make a fool out of !’ The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, his fists clenching tightly.
’So that’s how it is!’
Sun Zhenhai gritted his teeth inwardly, feeling more and more like he’d been set up.
’Just now, my brother-in-law offered to help, but she deliberately stopped him... It must have been on purpose!’
’It was all to humiliate in front of everyone!’
’To back into a corner!!’
"Do you really think everyone is like you, just lazing around all day with nothing to do?"
"I have a real job to do, unlike you, who just lies in bed all day pretending to be sick and playing dumb!"
"Oh~ Is that so?"
Song Qingya wasn’t the least bit angry. On the contrary, she looked at Sun Zhenhai with a beaming smile.
"Then why don’t you tell us what you’ve been so busy with lately? Did you get a job, or have you found a girlfriend?"
In the past, all he had to do was glare and act intimidating, and Song Qingya would basically shut up.
But things were different now!
The Song Qingya of today had a tongue as sharp as a knife.
The key was that she always had a sweet smile on her face, making it impossible for anyone to curse at her or argue with her.
"Zhenhai," Song Qingya continued in a soft voice, "it would be such a sha to miss out on the pri of your life because of laziness. You really need to think about your future."
Her voice carried a hint of regret.
"Look at your old classmates. So have joined the service to serve the country, while others are working steadily in factories. But you’re still just wandering the streets. How can that be okay? Finding a partner in the future will take both fate and skill; you can’t just get by on idling around."
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