I Might Have Fallen in Love With My Childhood Sweetheart
Chapter 46 - 43 Playing Games Late into the Night

Chapter 46: Chapter 43 Playing Games Late into the Night

The living room lights were switched on.

As the light suddenly flooded the room, Qingran frowned and opened her eyes, sitting up from the couch.

Li Qingmo got startled by the figure rising from the couch; while placing his backpack down, he grumbled, "Li Qingran, why aren’t you turning on the lights when you’re home?"

Qingran shook her head, her headache had come quickly and subsided just as fast; it was much better now.

"I fell asleep just now, brother," she said.

Li Qingmo, wearing slippers, clattered over and reached out to touch Qingran’s forehead, "Do you have a fever?"

"No," Qingran let him touch her forehead and explained with a brusque voice, "I didn’t sleep well."

Li Qingmo eyed her skeptically.

Qingran blinked rapidly, "Brother, why are you staring at me like that?"

"I think you’ve been acting strange lately," Li Qingmo rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger, appearing contemplative, "Coming home late frequently, and hanging out with someone like Song Shize?"

His gaze gradually sharpened, "Li Qingran, confess honestly, have you gone wild?"

Not bothering to respond, Qingran put on her slippers and walked towards the kitchen.

"Wow!" Li Qingmo stood stunned for a moment before hastily following her.

He fumed, "Li Qingran, you go out to have fun without me and think you’re justified??"

Aunt Liu had kept the meals warm. Qingran dished out two bowls of rice and brought them to the dining table in the living room, with Li Qingmo trailing behind her eagerly bringing over the dishes.

In the vast house, there were only the two of them. Their mother had taught them to eat in silence and to rest without speaking, so when they actually sat down at the dining table, they merely ate quietly.

After the meal, Li Qingmo persisted, "Li Qingran, if you don’t clarify today where you’ve been hanging out recently, don’t think about going to bed."

Qingran helplessly spread her hands, "Brother, didn’t I explain when I came back yesterday?"

Yesterday, when Qingran returned, Li Qingmo had just finished school and was sitting on the couch in the living room. With his arms folded across his chest, he began to coldly jeer when he saw Qingran.

For instance: "Yo, decided to come back, have you?"

"Don’t start calling me brother; I wouldn’t dare claim that title, would I?"

"As the old saying goes, ’a child no longer listens to their mother when they grow up,’ but it seems now it’s ’a younger sister no longer listens to her brother.’"

"Li Qingran, if you think you can go upstairs today without sweet-talking me first, I’ll immediately sever our sibling relationship!"

"Hey! Li Qingran, I mean what I say!"

Qingran ignored his sarcasm and mockery and ran back to her room, closing the door behind her.

She hadn’t expected him to act so passive-aggressively again today.

Inside, Qingran felt as if a ten-thousand-strong herd of ’your mom’ thundered past; despite her reluctance, she knew she had to placate her own brother, "Bro, all because I didn’t invite you to dinner yesterday, right? From now on, I’ll include you, okay?"

Li Qingmo snorted coldly: "Do you think that’s what I care about?"

Qingran: "..."

Then why do you keep emphasizing that I didn’t bring you along!!!

Li Qingmo’s chin tilted up high, "Other than Xie Ying’an, who else was at last night’s dinner with you?"

Qingran immediately answered honestly, "Ruan Ruan, God Ji, and Senior Ji He."

Li Qingmo doubted what he heard: "Ruan Ruan and who?"

"Senior Brother Ji Yanchen and Senior Ji He from grade twelve."

Li Qingmo looked at his own sister with a changed expression, silent for a long while.

Confused by his stare, Qingran asked, "What’s the matter, brother?"

"You’ve moved up in the world, huh, Li Qingran. Come here, sit," Li Qingmo sat down on the couch first and then gestured for Qingran to sit across from him.

Qingran subconsciously walked over and sat down.

Li Qingmo instantly switched to a smiling face: "Ranran, how did you get to know God Ji so well?"

Luckily, Qingran was used to his quick changes of mood from a young age and wasn’t too startled. After a moment’s thought, she still chose to omit the part about feeding the cat.

"Yesterday, Tan from class seven came to apologize to me. But for some reason, the post about Tan on the school forum wasn’t removed, so I took the opportunity after school to ask Senior Ji He about it. It just so happened that God Ji was there as well."

Qingran casually asked, "Brother, was it you who asked Senior Ji He to not delete the post yet?"

Li Qingmo shook his head, "Ji He is not one of us; I’ve never hung out with him, how could I have asked him?"

Qingran bowed her head, falling silent.

Since it wasn’t Xie Ying’an or Li Qingmo who arranged for Senior Brother Ji He, then before this, she did not know Senior Ji He, nor could Senior Ji He have left the post up and delayed deleting it just for her, right?

Qingran had wondered if it might be God Ji’s doing, but God Ji is indifferent to worldly affairs, not even bothering to listen to such trivial matters, so how could he interfere?

Li Qingmo could tell that Qingran was troubled, he comforted her: "This might just be Ji He looking for some excitement, don’t overthink it."

"The main thing is," Li Qingmo’s tone suddenly shifted, "why would Ji Yanchen agree to have dinner with you all?"

"I don’t know either." Qingran shook her head, casually picking up some textbooks from the table, "Brother, I’m going back to my room to do homework."

Li Qingmo, apparently deep in thought himself, just casually nodded from the sofa.

At ten o’clock at night, Li Qingmo knocked on Qingran’s door from outside.

"Li Qingran, open the door."

Qingran, still working on test papers, reluctantly put down her pen and ran over to open the door.

Outside, Li Qingmo was holding a cup of hot milk. He peeked into Qingran’s room, his gaze settling on Qingran’s desk without moving.

"Are you really studying?" he asked with wide eyes, somewhat surprised.

Qingran took a sip of the milk, "Yes, what else?"

Li Qingmo, familiar with the place, pushed past Qingran to her desk and glanced at the math test paper she was nearly done with, getting even more surprised.

"You’ve done up to this one?"

Qingran came over too, explaining: "Lately, I’ve been feeling quite fatigued with studying, and midterms are coming; I need to buck up."

Li Qingmo: "..."

He had a ’Damn!’ moment, not sure if he should say it out loud or not.

Li Qingmo then looked at the two math test papers Qingran had completed tonight, his surprise growing: "Did you write all these tonight?"

Qingran drank the rest of her milk in one go and handed the empty cup to Li Qingmo, replying, "Yep."

Li Qingmo took the empty cup and narrowed his eyes, "Li Qingran, I suspect you’ve been getting extra help."

He knew very well that math had always been Qingran’s weak spot.

"I haven’t..." Qingran started to say but then paused. She had indeed consulted with God Ji and Xie Ying’an a couple of days ago.

"Forget it, I won’t bother you about it."

Li Qingmo turned and hurriedly left, leaving Qingran confused.

The next morning, after breakfast, Qingran waited downstairs for Li Qingmo for quite a long time but didn’t see him come down.

Seeing that it was getting late for school, Qingran ran up to call him.

She knocked on his door for quite some time without hearing any response from inside, so she couldn’t help but knock harder: "Brother! Brother! Li Qingmo!!!"

Then, faint movements finally came from inside, and Li Qingmo appeared at the door, his hair a mess like a bird’s nest, and his eyes groggy.

He mumbled unclearly, "What time is it?"

Qingran’s eyes fell on his severe dark circles and asked, "Brother, what time did you sleep last night?"

Li Qingmo’s stretching paused.

"Ah," he feigned nonchalance, "I played games too late last night, probably around 1 or 2 in the morning."

Qingran’s gaze quickly swept over the desk covered with densely written test papers and she twitched her mouth: "Then brother, you’d better get up quickly, it’s past seven."

"What?" Li Qingmo exclaimed, rushing to his bedside table to check his alarm clock.

The alarm clock had been vibrated out of place by the alarm; that it hadn’t woken him up showed just how deeply he had slept.

Qingran closed the door behind her as she left.

Li Qingmo quickly dressed and washed up, carelessly stuffing the test papers he had written until three in the morning into his backpack, and then ran towards the school.

A joke, if his grades were crushed by his little sister this midterm, how could he maintain his authority as her elder brother in front of Qingran!

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