"Of course you can." Ruan Jie answered, looking at Jiaojiao, and gently patted her little head. "Miss your big brother?"
Jiaojiao nodded honestly. Over the past two years, she had been to Beidu twice, both tis during sumr vacation. She even went this year, but she didn’t get to see Ruan Hao because he had already gone sowhere else for academic exchange.
By the ti she returned from Beidu in mid-August, Ruan Hao had gone abroad. There simply wasn’t any chance for them to et.
"Why doesn’t big brother ever call ho?" Jiaojiao sighed, nestling into Ruan Jie’s arms. Ruan Jie gently rubbed her little head, thinking how fortunate it was that the Ruan brothers were quite nurous. Even though he, Ruan Chi, Ruan Jun, and Ruan Bo had all left for college, there were still the two younger ones, Ruan Lei and Ruan Feng, staying with their little sister during high school.
As for the two in middle school, well, there wasn’t much to say about them.
With such an adorable and fragile little sister, it was hard for them as brothers to feel at ease leaving her alone.
Thinking about this, Ruan Jie suddenly rembered that he, too, was going to leave in three days, and the feeling of reluctance grew stronger. He reached out to rub Jiaojiao’s little head again and, thinking of the gathering planned for tonight, said to her, "Jiaojiao, later we’ll do like we always do, help your brother out, okay?"
"Brother, where are you going this ti?" Jiaojiao asked curiously.
Although life had gotten a bit better financially over the last two years, she still felt there weren’t many places to have fun. Besides the cinema, there was the arcade, but Jiaojiao was already bored of those places.
Sotis, she was genuinely curious about what Ruan Jie was up to. He seed to be out all day, playing sothing they never talked about, and could spend the entire day doing it—often getting back late at night.
Speaking of this, it brought to mind another matter.
In recent years, video gas had developed quite rapidly, with several arcades opening up all over town.
Back when Shu Lao Yezi had prepared a whole room full of gaming consoles for Ruan Jie, he had gotten addicted within a month. After he ca back, not only would he sneak off to the arcade to play gas whenever Shu Jiao was busy at her evening self-study sessions at school, but he also saved up money to buy a bunch of gaming consoles, hiding under his dorm blankets and playing all night.
This continued for about half a month, until the school’s midterm exams, when his grades plumted from first place to sowhere in the twenties.
It was then that Shu Jiao found out he had gotten addicted to gaming.
Shu Jiao was furious.
The three siblings had always been academic achievers since childhood, so Shu Jiao barely had to worry about their studies. But this ti, she was truly enraged and not only scolded Ruan Jie harshly but even Shu Lao Yezi wasn’t spared.
When Ruan Jianguo saw how angry Shu Jiao was, he took it a step further and beat Ruan Jie with the sole of a shoe.
At the ti, Ruan Jie was still a high school freshman. It was also the second ti Jiaojiao had ever seen her brother cry since elentary school. He cried while hiding under his blankets in the dorm—not because of the beating, of course, but because of the talk Shu Jiao had with him afterward. However, Jiaojiao didn’t know what they discussed.
"Brother, you’re not going off to play gas again, are you? You’re studying at the National Defense University; you can’t ruin your eyesight." Jiaojiao looked at him worriedly.
"What nonsense are you talking about? I quit gaming a long ti ago. Don’t worry about that—it’s just a small gathering with my classmates." Ruan Jie responded helplessly. Back then, after he got addicted to video gas and his grades plumted, Ruan Jianguo had beaten him, but Ruan Jie hadn’t cared much about the punishnt. It was Shu Jiao’s words during their talk afterward that truly intimidated him.
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