"Hey guys, wanna go grab a bite tonight?"
"Sure!" came two voices in unison.
"Sorry, Lao Jin, I've got plans tonight!"
In the freshman dorm of Class 2, Acting Department, 2009 Capital Film Academy, as the new students were just getting settled, Jin Chengbin, the oldest in the room, decided to channel his inner Northeastern vibe and round up his newly acquainted brothers for a night out.
Lin Yikai, the second oldest, and Tao Yiran, the youngest, readily agreed, but Chen Hao, the third oldest, declined.
"Plans? With a guy or a girl?"
All three crowded around him at once.
If Chen Hao had claimed he was busy with something else or made up another excuse, they might not have cared. But the moment he mentioned having a date, they were wide awake.
Chen Hao gave a shy smile. "A girl, but not what you guys are thinking!"
"Ooh, ooh, ooh! Not what we're thinking? Look at that little spring breeze blowing through your heart!" Tao Yiran squeezed his voice to mock a green tea bitch. As expected, art students were truly multi-talented—he could even pull off a female voice.
"Spill, did you meet her during the art exams?" Lin Yikai looked honest, but he was actually harboring a gossipy soul.
"Seriously, it's not what you guys think!" Chen Hao seemed easygoing, but his lips were tightly sealed.
"Fine. We'll go grab our skewers, and Haozi can go on his date. We'll all head out together. We won't crash your date, but running into our sister-in-law on the way shouldn't be a problem, right?" Jin Chengbin put his foot down.
"Better not. How about I treat you guys to this meal instead?" Chen Hao still wanted to back out.
Yet art students were rarely truly broke. Thus, his proposal was ruthlessly rejected, as the guys were clearly far more interested in gossip.
Bribing them having failed, Chen Hao gave up. If they wanted to see her, so be it; it was no big deal.
Then the guys tried every trick in the book to fish for details, but he wouldn't breathe a word. Seeing her with their own eyes and having him brag about her were two entirely different things.
As dinner time approached, Chen Hao pulled out his phone to check the agreed-upon time, threw on a simple grey T-shirt and jeans, and prepared to head out.
The other three roommates exchanged a tacit look, quickly tidied up their appearances, and slyly tagged along.
Chen Hao left a few minutes early. When he reached the school gates, his date hadn't arrived yet, so he waited outside.
He looked helplessly at the three clingy freeloaders and asked, "Aren't you guys going for skewers? You should go early. Today is freshman registration, it's packed, and you won't find a table soon."
"No rush, no rush. Skewers can wait, seeing our sister-in-law is what matters." Tao Yiran was quite handsome, but he had a distinctly sly streak.
The other two chimed in with winks and grins, clearly far more invested in Chen Hao's date than anything else, refusing to budge.
Helpless, Chen Hao let them be. He pulled out his phone, intending to give his date a heads-up on the situation.
Before the call could even go through, a red Ferrari pulled up right in front of them.
The window rolled down, revealing a face as ethereal as a fairy.
The jaws of Chen Hao's three roommates nearly hit the pavement. Every slick remark they had prepped to tease him about his sister-in-law vanished completely.
"Get in!" Liu Yifei called out to Chen Hao from inside the car.
"Guys, I'm heading out first. Have a great time tonight," Chen Hao said, trying to make his escape while they were still in a trance.
"Wait, you... she..." Jin Chengbin was the first to snap back to reality. He grabbed Chen Hao, but he was stuttering so badly he had no idea what he wanted to say.
Chen Hao shrugged apologetically at Liu Yifei and offered a helpless explanation, "These are my roommates. They were just heading out for a group dinner."
Liu Yifei opened the car door and stepped out, enthusiastically shaking hands with the guys. "Hello, juniors. I need to borrow Chen Hao for a bit—sorry for interrupting your dorm gathering."
"Not at all, not at all, Senior. Your stuff is way more important..." The guys were practically incoherent.
"My car only seats two, so I'll treat your whole dorm to dinner next time to thank you for taking care of my Haozi. We'll be heading off now." Even though the Fairy Sister wasn't much older herself, when it came to handling a bunch of freshman guys, her aura was off the charts.
"Go ahead, Senior..." They turned into nodding machines.
Chen Hao gave them a few parting words, telling them to keep their mouths shut and not spread rumors, before climbing into the car and driving off into the distance.
By the time the Ferrari vanished from sight and a gust of wind blew past, the guys finally picked their dropped jaws up off the ground and reinstalled them.
"Lao Jin, I think I just got hit with an illusion jutsu. I swear I just saw the Fairy Sister come pick up Haozi." Tao Yiran was up to his usual mischievous antics.
"Starting today, Haozi is the boss of our dorm. None of you better fight me for the big brother spot." For the sake of having the Fairy Sister as a sister-in-law, he willingly accepted Chen Hao as his big brother.
Lin Yikai raised his hand with a flushed face. "Hehe, I shook hands with the Fairy Sister! I'm never washing this hand again."
"Smack!" Jin Chengbin casually landed a solid whack on the back of his head. "Stop being so creepy, man. That's our sister-in-law."
People from the Northeast valued etiquette. Even though everyone loved the Fairy Sister, once she became a sister-in-law, wild thoughts were off-limits—at least on the surface.
Lin Yikai chuckled sheepishly. "An idol, an idol! Sister-in-law is my idol, I've been a fan for years."
"Me too, me too! I love her so much, especially as Zhao Ling'er—she had me bawling my eyes out back then," Tao Yiran chimed in.
"You two little brats. I think her role as Nightingale was the coolest, absolutely badass," Jin Chengbin argued, holding a different opinion. He believed Nightingale was a role fit for a mature adult.
"Ah, right, right, Nightingale was genuinely cool..."
***
Meanwhile, in the car, Liu Yifei asked Chen Hao with a bright smile, "Junior, what do you want to eat? Big sis is treating."
Chen Hao reached out and pinched her cheek. "Whose big sis? Say that again, I didn't catch that!"
Liu Yifei didn't mind the hand on her face at all and shot back, "You're a post-90s kid, I'm practically ancient compared to you."
Chen Hao applied a bit more pressure. "Some people look all glamorous on the outside, but behind closed doors, they're total..."
"Uncle, I was wrong!" The Fairy Sister surrendered instantly now that her weakness was in his grip.
"Aren't you worried people will misunderstand after what you just said to my roommates?" Chen Hao kept his hand firmly on her cheek.
"Uncle, why split hairs? We're going to be spending tons of time together anyway, there's no way around it," Liu Yifei replied, blinking playfully at him.
Chen Hao figured she had a point. He gave her cheek one last firm pinch before letting go.
He had wanted to do that for ages. Before, he hadn't had the chance, but now he could. Still, that chubby, dumpling-like softness of her youth was mostly gone now—what a pity.
The two arrived at a private restaurant known for its high-end Sichuan cuisine. True to her quirky nature, however, the Fairy Sister had booked a hot pot room, valuing privacy above all else.
As Chen Hao calmly swiped slices of beef through the boiling broth, the Fairy Sister rested her chin in both hands and stared straight at him.
Unable to bear the intense gaze, Chen Hao rolled his eyes. "What's to look at? Don't you recognize me?"
Liu Yifei covered her mouth with a giggle. "Uncle, you look so fresh-faced right now. Honestly, I think you look way more handsome when you're in your thirties."