Chapter 151 – Brother Su Ming, You've Changed

“Huh?”

Returning to the living room from the balcony, Su Ming stared at the scene before him and couldn’t help but freeze.

“What’s going on with you all?”

Su Ming asked with some confusion.

In the living room, everyone was sitting exactly where they had been when he left.

But for some reason, everyone’s posture was unnaturally straight, their spines rigidly upright. The previously lively atmosphere had been replaced by a subtle feeling.

Even An Zijin sat there with an expressionless face—frankly, it was a bit terrifying.

And clearly, Su Ming wasn’t the only one who thought so.

“I… we’re fine… oh?”

Jiang Wanyu’s voice sounded rather stiff.

“Y-yeah…”

Yao Beibei looked like she was about to cry.

Lei Hao and Ye Bai didn’t say anything, just sat with straight backs, hands on their knees, obedient as children.

Only An Zijin remained, sitting there expressionless and silent.

The scene was somewhat eerie.

“…Since everything’s fine, I’ll head back to my room first.”

Su Ming instinctively sensed danger and immediately wanted to retreat.

But before Su Ming could turn around, An Zijin finally spoke.

“Wait.”

An Zijin’s voice was so cold it made everyone shiver.

Su Ming’s body stiffened too, unable to move.

“Come sit here, Brother Su Ming.” An Zijin patted the spot beside her, her face still blank. “There’s something I want to properly discuss with you.”

Hearing this, Su Ming knew he was in trouble.

Though it was an ordinary sentence, Su Ming detected a faint aura of danger within it.

Therefore, Su Ming responded almost without hesitation.

“I’m tired, let’s talk another time.”

These were the exact words Xu Qianqian had just used.

Now, Su Ming shamelessly borrowed them.

Unfortunately, Su Ming didn’t have Xu Qianqian’s good luck to escape unscathed.

“Wait!”

The moment Su Ming turned, several large hands grabbed him.

“You…!?”

Su Ming looked at the owners of those hands in astonishment.

They were none other than Lei Hao and Ye Bai.

Even Jiang Wanyu and Yao Beibei had somehow appeared beside Su Ming, each grabbing one of his arms, completely restraining him.

“Sorry, senior.”

“This is Little Zijin’s will.”

Jiang Wanyu and Yao Beibei spoke somewhat unnaturally.

As for Lei Hao and Ye Bai, they were much more direct.

“Who’d let you escape?”

“If you run away, we’ll probably be the ones suffering.”

Lei Hao and Ye Bai’s words clearly expressed “better you die than me.”

“Let me go!”

Su Ming almost used his real strength, exposing his exceptional Hunter physique.

But before he could, everyone dragged him before An Zijin and forced him to sit down heavily.

“Alright, he’s here now.”

“You two have a good talk.”

“We won’t disturb you.”

“Bye… bye, Little Zijin.”

Lei Hao, Ye Bai, Jiang Wanyu, and Yao Beibei immediately withdrew without hesitation.

“Traitors!”

Su Ming couldn’t help but condemn their actions.

“Bang!”

The response was a loud slamming door.

Everyone had scurried into their respective rooms, vanishing from sight.

Only Su Ming and An Zijin remained in the living room.

An Zijin didn’t speak further, just stared intently at Su Ming, making him feel like sitting on pins and needles.

At this point, escape was impossible.

Su Ming could only abandon unrealistic thoughts and gave An Zijin an awkward smile.

“What did you want to talk about, Zijin?”

Su Ming deliberately softened his tone, trying to appear more like the boy next door.

His expression seemed designed to evoke sympathy and mercy.

But An Zijin ignored it completely.

“Brother Su Ming.”

An Zijin looked directly at him.

“I’m here.”

Su Ming instinctively straightened his back, finally understanding why everyone had been sitting so properly earlier.

Of course, that didn’t matter now.

What mattered was…

“You’ve changed.”

An Zijin made this inexplicable statement.

“Huh?”

Su Ming was baffled.

“You’ve changed.” An Zijin repeated, her face finally showing some seriousness. “You’ve changed so much I hardly recognize you.”

“Really?” Su Ming, still confused, cautiously asked, “Why do you say that?”

Instead of answering, An Zijin said something else.

“The Brother Su Ming I know is quite unreliable.”

An Zijin made this declaration.

“Huh?”

Su Ming was baffled for the second time.

Ignoring him, An Zijin continued on her own.

“Even though he’s older than me, he has no sense of being an elder brother. He steals my dolls, often tricks me out of my pocket money, glares jealously when Uncle and Aunt Su dote on me, and seizes any opportunity to get back at me afterward. He tricks me into eating extremely sour candy, draws turtles on my face, and even makes me strip to play doctor and patient games. That’s the Brother Su Ming I know.The words spoken with such earnestness made Su Ming’s mouth twitch violently.

He suddenly felt like dying.

“Bang!”

From the rooms behind them, loud noises erupted without warning, confirming that others had heard these words too.

Su Ming could imagine that at least three of those four rooms contained people who might go berserk at any moment.

Though not dead yet, Su Ming was undoubtedly socially deceased.

Feeling dizzy, Su Ming screamed internally.

“What the hell did you do, childhood me? (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻”

If only there was a ticket to Mars for refuge right now…

Su Ming began escaping reality.

Unfortunately, An Zijin’s purpose wasn’t to socially execute Su Ming, but to lead to another statement.

“A Brother Su Ming like this, as far as I know, shouldn’t be liked by any girl besides me.” An Zijin said with utmost seriousness. “That’s why I felt safe moving to Yinze City with my parents.”

Su Ming: “︽⊙_⊙︽”

Should I be happy about this sudden confession? Or sad about the image I’ve left in your heart?

Su Ming’s mentality was slightly crumbling.

Then, An Zijin got to the main point.

“In my imagination, Brother Su Ming would definitely remain single forever. As long as I returned, I could naturally become the only girl by your side, always accompanying you, spoiling you, making you fall for me, until we finally marry with everyone’s blessings.”

Here, An Zijin showed a hurt expression.

“But Brother Su Ming, you’ve changed. There are actually other girls besides me willing to get close to you. This makes no sense at all!”

These words were first met with two male voices.

“Exactly!”

“Makes no sense at all!”

The two rough guys eavesdropping had just popped their heads out to shout this when slippers flew from two other rooms, hitting their foreheads and knocking them back inside.

“I…”

Su Ming nearly cracked.

Honestly, An Zijin’s words contained too much information and too many points of complaint, leaving Su Ming unsure whether to be happy or sad—his feelings were extremely complicated.

An Zijin completely failed to grasp these complex emotions.

“Since things have come to this, I can only have a proper talk with Brother Su Ming and speak frankly.”

An Zijin lifted her gaze to look at Su Ming.

Her eyes resembled a beast locking onto its prey.

“Please tell me clearly, Brother Su Ming.”

An Zijin presented two choices.

“Do you want to marry me? Or do you want to marry me?Hearing this, Su Ming finally felt like spitting blood.

What kind of devilish choices are these!?

“Is… isn’t there a third option?”

Su Ming proposed.

“There is.” An Zijin, being quite democratic, immediately nodded. “You can also choose to kill all women besides me, especially that Xu Qianqian.”

What kind of devilish choice is this!?

“Of course, you could choose all three options.” An Zijin said with a smiling expression, though her eyes held no laughter. “I know you boys like having it all, hehe…”

Oh heavens, how terrifying.

Has this girl next door completely broken!? o(?Д?)っ!

Watching Su Ming fall into a speechless daze, An Zijin seemed to understand.

“So you really want it all?” An Zijin stood up. “Then we should start implementing the third option immediately.”

Saying this, An Zijin turned to leave the room and begin her terrifying plan.

“Wait a minute!”

Su Ming couldn’t stay seated.

“What is it, Brother Su Ming?”

An Zijin stopped and turned around.

In her hand, she now held a kitchen knife.

“Gulp…”

A swallowing sound came from somewhere.

Clearly, this scene was rather horrifying.

Su Ming would bet that if he hadn’t already awakened his Nightmare Species Bloodline, with physical abilities comparable to a Three-Star Hunter—no longer the fragile Sorcerer he used to be—he would definitely turn and run after seeing this.

Now, Su Ming could only rely on his skills and courage to speak up.

“Please calm down first, Zijin.” Su Ming forced an extremely strained smile. “Let’s have a proper talk first, okay?”

“Talk about what?” An Zijin’s eyes gleamed coldly as she raised the kitchen knife. “About how to dismember Senior Xu Qianqian?”

“No!”

“Then you want to plead for that Fox Spirit?”

“N-not that either!”

“So that woman really doesn’t deserve sympathy and should be killed, right?”

“No! That’s! Not! It!”

“Then Brother Su Ming wants to stop me? (Raises knife)”

“Damn it! Can you put the knife down first!?”

The living room descended into chaos, the commotion only gradually subsiding after a while.

Su Ming successfully wrestled the kitchen knife from An Zijin and threw it into a half-open room, causing someone inside to scream.

Only then did An Zijin allow Su Ming to push her back onto the sofa, no longer embodying a terrifying presence.

In this situation, An Zijin’s eyes suddenly welled with tears as she stared at Su Ming, mist gathering in her gaze.

“Sigh…”

Su Ming wiped his sweat, then sighed again upon seeing An Zijin’s tearful expression.

Perhaps he really should have a proper talk with this girl next door.

“What’s really wrong with you?”

Su Ming sat facing An Zijin, looking directly at her.

Under Su Ming’s gaze, An Zijin also became pitiful.

“I’m just worried Brother Su Ming will be taken away by someone else…”

That soft, tearful complaint left Su Ming momentarily unsure how to respond.

Especially that familiar hurt expression, which pulled Su Ming’s consciousness back to the distant past.

In those distant childhood memories, this expression had frequently appeared before him.

He remembered that back then, he had indeed been envious and jealous of An Zijin.

As a child, seeing his family favor another kid naturally bred jealousy.

An Zijin was precisely the kind of existence that made all children of the same age feel jealous.

Back then, like others, he couldn’t stand seeing An Zijin being doted on and found her annoying. Even though she was cute, in the eyes of an immature child, she remained someone to bully.

And just as An Zijin said, Su Ming had bullied her in various ways, finding pleasure in it.

Until one day, when he saw this girl next door being bullied by other children, her doll thrown to the ground and trampled, ultimately helplessly hiding in a corner crying—only then did he stop bullying her.

Not for any special reason, simply because he couldn’t bear it anymore.

Because he couldn’t bear it, Su Ming learned to care for An Zijin in small matters.

Because he couldn’t bear it, Su Ming would spend time playing house with An Zijin.

And because he couldn’t bear it, for a period he took this girl next door everywhere with him.

Gradually, this girl who had initially been somewhat afraid of him, worried he would bully her, began to show him genuine smiles and heartfelt happiness.

Perhaps it was from that time that An Zijin became clingy.

She always followed Su Ming step by step, unwilling to be left behind.

She always liked staying by Su Ming’s side, disliking being alone.

Even when Su Ming wanted to play with other children, she would tug his sleeve, not letting him go.

Su Ming remembered that back then, An Zijin would say with that exact hurt expression:

“I’m just worried Brother Su Ming will be taken away by someone else…”

Yes, it was so similar, so identical to this very moment.

Recalling these past events, Su Ming scratched his head.

How had he responded back then?

“Then take out your pocket money, let’s go play games.”

As memories resurfaced, Su Ming felt utterly embarrassed.

So he really did scam pocket money back then!?

(End of Chapter)