A brother and sister lived in Huaiyi Alley. They were strikingly beautiful, so much so that even without being related by blood, people would believe they were family.
When Zhu Lixue was five, her daily routine was to be taken to kindergarten by her older brother, picked up by him afterward, and follow him around all day like his little shadow.
When Zhu Linxi was ten, his daily routine was to take care of his little sister as she grew up.
The aunties basking in the sun at the entrance to the alley watched the young siblings grow up day by day and couldn't help teasing them. "Xiaoxi, you take such good care of your sister. Be careful, or when little Lixue grows up, she'll be so picky she won't find a boyfriend."
Zhu Linxi carried a pink backpack, holding a newly bought bow-shaped hair clip in one hand and the little girl's hand in the other. In the clean, steady voice of a young boy, he said, "If she can't find one, I'll keep taking care of her forever."
The auntie laughed when she heard him, taking it for childish talk.
Many years later, the siblings returned home for a visit.
The auntie who used to bask in the sun had become a grandmother, but she recognized them at a glance.
"Xiaoxi, is that your sister you've brought home?"
Zhu Linxi had grown tall and handsome, even more charming than when he was young. "Grandma, Lixue and I are married."
Grandma froze. Her mind was usually muddled, but the next moment she saw the young woman and smiled. "It's little Lixue! Have you come home with your big brother?"
Zhu Lixue blinked and smiled, ready to patiently explain again. The man beside her took her hand and bent down to tell Grandma seriously, "Grandma, I'm Zhu Linxi."
"...Oh, Xiaoxi! You're back."
Zhu Linxi nodded and drew the woman gently into his arms. He smiled. "This is my wife. I've brought her home to visit."
Zhu Lixue secretly pinched the man's waist.
On her eighteenth birthday, Zhu Lixue secretly wrote in her diary:
["A hug makes up for the heartbeat humans lack on the right side of their chest." I hugged my brother today, but it still wasn't enough. I want all of his heartbeats. I want him to belong only to me. I don't want him to be just my brother... Zhu Linxi, what am I supposed to do?]
On her twentieth birthday, Zhu Lixue found two lines beneath an entry she'd written two years earlier. The handwriting wasn't hers.
It was a hand she knew so well it was etched in her heart, Zhu Linxi's.
"Marry me."
"Your big brother can be your husband, too."
Not-actually-related siblings / Siscon
Theme: Keep love in your heart
