CHAPTER 381: CHAPTER 378: [CALL ME BROTHER?]

Chapter 378 [Call Me Brother?]

THUD, THUD, THUD. After kowtowing three times, Chen Xiaoguo pulled the two girls up from the ground, one in each hand. A slight smile on his face, he looked at Niveer and Li Yingwan. "From now on, we are family."

"Yes, of course!" Niveer said excitedly.

Li Yingwan’s eyes, however, held a look of utter despair.

At this moment, Ou Xiuhua gently coughed, cleared her throat, and then took two plump red envelopes from her pocket. She handed one to each girl, stuffing them into their hands.

"From now on, you are like siblings, part of one family. You should support each other... If this brother of yours ever bullies you, come and tell me..."

Ou Xiuhua wore a complicated expression.

Truth be told, she also felt that what Chen Nuo did today was too... too despicable! But what else could be done? When Chen Nuo had discussed this with her beforehand, Ou Xiuhua had already thought his plan was utterly vile... What was this? This was a classic case of ’lovers fated to become siblings’! This whole charade must be incredibly heartbreaking for these two poor girls.

Still, Ou Xiuhua had agreed to go along with her son and play out this farce. Naturally, she had her reasons.

She had always been worried sick about her son’s romantic entanglements. Such a good boy, he absolutely couldn’t grow up to be a heartless womanizer like his father, a callous little scoundrel. Even though the two girls were undoubtedly upset and disappointed right now, in the long run, it was better for them to be freed from this sooner rather than later. This was a case of ’better a short, sharp pain than a long, drawn-out one.’ Cutting the Gordian knot, resolving this matter simply, decisively, and once and for all, would bring peace in the future. Still, Ou Xiuhua felt a pang of guilt.

After handing out the red envelopes, Ou Xiuhua quickly got up and made her escape. Using the excuse that she had to work the night shift, she hurriedly changed her clothes and left the house, leaving Chen Nuo and the two girls behind. Let the young people resolve their own affairs.

「Ten minutes later.」

"Well, that’s how it is. We’re all family now, so..." Chen Nuo said, smiling as he looked at the two dispirited girls sitting on the sofa.

Li Yingwan sat there, red-eyed and sobbing.

Niveer, however, seemed to have a vacant look in her eyes, as if she still hadn’t processed the situation.

The little British noble was utterly baffled! What in God’s name was this stunt? In the blink of an eye, a hen turns into a duck? My honey, the one I’ve been eyeing for over a year, has turned into my brother? All the excitement from when I eagerly climbed the stairs and walked through that door just moments ago had vanished into thin air. Damn it all... Everything was fine when I came... but now there’s no going back...

Resolute, perhaps due to her athletic nature, Niveer glared at Chen Nuo, her eyes red. "You... you’re just going to brush us off like this?!"

Chen Nuo sighed. "Isn’t this good? Now that our statuses are clear, there will be far fewer problems in the future."

"It’s *you* who’ll have fewer problems!" Niveer shot back.

Chen Nuo spread his hands. "The kowtows have been performed, and ’Mom’ has been addressed."

"You kowtow and call her ’Mom’ when you get married too!" Niveer retorted, still trying to fight back.

Chen Nuo thought for a moment, then pulled Niveer up and led her to his grandmother’s memorial portrait, pointing at it. "Look, my grandmother’s spirit in heaven was watching just now. The ceremony is complete."

"WTF!!!" The noble young lady couldn’t help but curse.

Niveer was furious. Her already full chest heaved violently with rage. Finally, she stomped her foot hard and let out a venting scream. After her outburst, she spun around and started to leave. However, she stopped abruptly at the doorway, turned back, and snapped at Li Yingwan, "Aren’t you leaving?!"

The long-legged girl looked up at her little ally, her expression utterly dejected.

"What, you really want to stay here and be his sister?!" Niveer fumed.

Overwhelmed by sorrow, Li Yingwan let out a WAIL and burst into tears. She stood up unsteadily, wobbled to the door, and grabbed Niveer’s arm. Sobbing, the two girls left the Chen Family home.

Chen Nuo let out a long, slow sigh. What a karmic mess I’ve made...

Actually, a full meal had been prepared at home—the kinship-acknowledging feast.

But at this moment, there was absolutely no way the two girls would stay for this meal—he’d be lucky if they didn’t flip the table!

So, Chen Nuo simply pulled Xiao Yezi over to sit down and eat.

Little Xiao Yezi still looked completely bewildered, having no idea why her two "older sisters" had been crying and shouting earlier.

But children don’t understand such things, and Chen Nuo wasn’t about to explain it to her. After coaxing Xiao Yezi to finish her meal, he shooed her off to her room to do her homework.

Tonight’s business was handled a bit crudely, true. But hey, as long as it worked. Previously, Chen Nuo had been in a bind, wondering how to handle these two without pushing them too hard. If he cornered them, they might run to Sun Keke and lay everything bare. Then he’d be sunk, with all his secrets. An Ability User, a transmigrator who’d undergone Body Seizing... none of it was easy to explain.

But now... After returning from Antarctica, it suddenly dawned on him. Damn it, what was there to be afraid of anymore? If it was social suicide, he’d already experienced that! His status as an Ability User? Sun Keke already knew! The Body Seizing... that had already been exposed during the incident with the original Chen Nuo. So what was there left to worry about? The sensible thing to do now was to sort out his relationships with these girls, and quickly!

Everyone calls me, Chen Xiaoguo, a scumbag... What a gross injustice! It’s been two years since my rebirth! Sure, there seem to be five girls around me, but who have I actually wronged? When I came back, I originally intended to be completely devoted to Sun Keke. But unexpectedly, I got entangled again with my greatest love from my past life, the Star Sky Empress. That’s called a karmic bond from a previous existence! As for anyone else, who have I, Chen Xiaoguo, actually scammed? It’s been over two years! If I were such a damn scumbag, I’d have knocked up all five of these girls and put them on maternity leave by now! To this day, I, Chen Xiaoguo, have only slept with one woman, and she was the love of my past life! You call *that* a scumbag?! Look at all those other transmigrators! Which one of them isn’t damn well drowning in women, one on each arm? I’ve only slept with my own wife, yet people call me a scumbag every day. How unfair is that? The only ones Chen Xiaoguo really actively pursued were Lu Xixi and Sun Keke, and there were reasons for both. One was a love from a past life, the other a concern in this one. I’m a transmigrator who’s lived two lives. That’s an average of one partner per lifetime. That hardly counts as promiscuous, does it? What do you call that? That’s called being faithful and true! No, wait... Faithful to no more than two!

After leaving Chen Nuo’s house, Niveer and Li Yingwan were on their way back. Li Yingwan sat in Niveer’s car, still red-eyed and tearful.

Niveer, on the other hand, had surprisingly calmed down. She drove without uttering a word, her speed steady and not at all fast. Her restraint on the accelerator showed that the Squatting Little Witch’s emotions were, for the moment, still under her own control.

Sworn siblings, huh? Formally acknowledged kinship, right? Damn it! No, it’s laughable! Utterly laughable, Chen Nuo! You think this can stop me? Naive! Who do you think I am? And what kind of family is the Devonshire Family? A noble lineage with a long history in Britain! Constrained by righteousness and ethics? Do you have any idea how many scandalous messes my ancestors were involved in?

Niveer didn’t fully understand what Chinese people meant by "fictive kinship" or the so-called "sworn siblings," as Europeans and Americans lacked such traditions. However, she roughly grasped it as something akin to the relationship between adopted children, meaning siblings in name only.

But so what? Do you know what it means to be a European noble family with a long history? Forget ’sworn’ siblings! When we’re truly worked up and seeing red, we’ll drop that ’sworn’ prefix in a heartbeat and pounce when it’s time to pounce! Hmph! Using this against me? I’ll show you what the time-honored traditions of European nobility truly mean! It’s just a pity that this Li Yingwan beside me is absolutely useless! Normally so cold and aloof, she seems tough, but she’s actually a coward! All she does is sit there and cry like a fool. Why don’t you fight back with me, damn it!

Lost in these thoughts, she shot Li Yingwan a resentful glare.

Li Yingwan, wiping her tears, said, "Niveer, what are we going to do? From now on... we’ll have to call him ’brother’..."

"Call him ’brother’?"

"Yes, when we’re with Chen Nuo in the future, we’ll have to call him ’brother’..."

SCREECH!

Niveer suddenly slammed on the brakes, her fiery red sports car skidding to a halt by the roadside.

Taking a deep breath, Niveer turned to Li Yingwan. Her pretty face was taut, her eyes blazing with anger, yet the corners of her mouth slowly curved into a fierce, almost predatory smile.

"Call him ’brother’?" she mused. "Well... wouldn’t that make it even *more* thrilling?!"

"Huh?" Li Yingwan stared at Niveer, wide-eyed.

Wait... why does this Bichi actually look excited and eager all of a sudden?

That night, Chen Nuo felt much more relaxed—at least mentally.

The issues from tonight were more or less resolved. The only regret was that Xicheng Xun had been missing during the oath-taking. That Neon sword-wielding girl... on the way here, Chen Nuo had asked Li Yingwan about her. Apparently, she’d run off searching the world for him and wasn’t in Jinling City. A real pity. But it didn’t matter. Now that he was back, Li Yingwan and Niveer would surely call their ally in the trio back quickly. This time, he’d pretty much sorted out all the lingering family issues in Jinling City.

Chen Nuo let out a leisurely sigh, then happily chugged a bottle of ice-cold cola.

Xiao Yezi, beside him, looked on with envy, but Chen Nuo just patted her head, saying, "Kids shouldn’t drink too much of this stuff."

After a moment’s thought, he decided to indulge his "little sister" and went into the kitchen to juice a glass of fruit for Xiao Yezi.

Sigh, nominally she was his younger sister, but considering his actual mental age, Chen Nuo practically raised Xiao Yezi like his own daughter.

"Remember to brush your teeth well after you finish drinking this and before you go to bed," he said, handing the juice to Xiao Yezi.

He wouldn’t need to pick Ou Xiuhua up from work tonight either. Judging from last time, Hou Changwei would definitely be escorting her home on his bicycle. Yeah, keep it up, Old Hou.

Later that night, after coaxing Xiao Yezi to sleep, Chen Nuo returned to his bedroom and lay down on his bed.

Around ten o’clock, he heard the sound of a key turning in the front door—Ou Xiuhua was home from work. She tiptoed to his room first and peeked through the slightly ajar door. Seeing Chen Nuo lying in bed, Ou Xiuhua felt relieved and gently closed his door.

About half an hour later, after hearing Ou Xiuhua finish tidying up outside and go to her own room to sleep, Chen Nuo opened his eyes and sat up abruptly.

He got out of bed and opened the window. The September night breeze, carrying a lingering trace of warmth, brushed his face, making it tingle.

Chen Nuo gazed quietly out the window.

The Gray Cat was perched on the windowsill, its head raised, silently meeting his gaze.