Chapter Volume 1, 2 - Seemed to be able to see strange things already

Volume 1, Chapter 2: Seemed to be able to see strange things already

TL: flarewk

“Nnn………Damn it, it hurts………..”

Blurrily waking up, the surroundings was already pitch-black, even the street lights were already extinguished. I took out my phone from my pocket, switched on flashlight mode, and casually looked at the current time.

The heck! It’s already 1 am past midnight!

I pressed onto my still aching side of my head, and struggled crawling up from the bench.

Tch, I feel that my vision still was shaking about………..it’s really uncomfortable…………

I’m so unlucky, which morally-lacking bastard was it that anyhow threw things around!

Holding my phone and shining it onto the surroundings, I didn’t notice anything around that looked like it could knock someone out; looks like that person who struck my head had already retrieved the crime object back already.

Sigh, forget it, I’ll just take it as being plain unlucky, and it’s a relief that there wasn’t any loss of blood, it merely swelled a huge lump.

As expected of what Yang-laoshi said, it’s quite dangerous at night, so it’s best that I not stray about anyhow next time, but to conscientiously go home instead.

Oh right, I should first pick up those signed notes first. If I didn’t had those notes, I couldn’t justifiably skip off my night self-revisions anymore.

Wut?

I originally planned to retrieve those signed notes, but I noticed one thing, and that the inverse pentagram drawn behind those notes had disappeared!

Don’t tell me that I had been dreaming earlier………no, it can’t be, I wouldn’t have a reason to go to the park then.

That’s strange……….how could it just vanished like that? Can it be because Yang-laoshi used some kind of magic marker or something like that to draw it out? Just for the sake of pranking, thus drawing that out?

Ayy, forget it forget it, I’m too lazy to think that much already. Whenever I start to think, my head starts hurting, so I chose to stop pondering about it right now.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Because of my headache, it even made my mood much more horrid. After stuffing those signed notes into my pocket, I once again stepped onto the path leading towards home.

As it’s already past midnight, the time really is a little too late, so I tried my best to speed up my footsteps. Usually reaching home after walking for half an hour’s time, currently I merely spent roughly 20 minutes before arriving at my house entrance.

Entering from the front door, after I took off my shoes I didn’t switch into my slippers; the right-handed side were the stairs leading towards the second floor. I attempted to not make any noise at all as I traversed up the staircase, which was why I didn’t wear any slippers, for because no matter how careful you are, while wearing slippers there will always be that ‘pa ta pa ta’ footstep sounds.

Although that level of noise shouldn’t be that loud to wake them up, but it’s better to be a little more cautious.

Judging from the shoes in the shoe-cabinet, Laobà and Laomā seemed not to be at home. Laomà’s an okuribito, and Laobà’s a surgeon, because of their special nature of their occupation, they would often stay out all night……..I’m long been used to it, and it’s possible that it’s because of this special family environment which resulted in my ‘flowing along with the wind’ kind of personality, probably.

But because my meimeis were still around, that’s why I’ll need to stay quiet a little in order not to wake them up.

I’ve just walked up the second floor and was thinking of continuing walking up to the third and directly into my room, when I heard an aloof voice.

“Who is it?”

Nn, this really is such a coincidence…………by the way, since you’re around why didn’t you just switch on the lights.

“Ah, it’s me………you haven’t sleep yet huh, Xin Ran.”

I slightly awkwardly spoke to meimei whom I had no idea where she was, and walked downwards to the second floor to look for the corridor light switch for the second floor, I remember it seemed to be right beside the stairs entrance………ah, found it.

Pressing upwards onto the switch, the instant the light appeared I uncontrollably yelped.

“Wah!”

I’ve just opened the light to notice that meimei was just standing right in front of me! Also the distance was too close until she was almost sticking up to my cheeks already!

Illustration by BabyDayln from discord

I hastily retreated a step backwards, but Xin Ran instead chased a step forward, interrogating: “How come you came back so late?”

Her face! Her face’s too close already! I can even feel her breathing!!

“Err……”

As I said, I noticed something strange.

Meimei’s face looked as cute as usual……..nonono, the main point wasn’t about there!

I frowned my eyebrows as I glanced above Xin Ran’s long hair upper region, and there indicated a series of pink-colored words.

[Coldhearted type Bro-con meimei (false)]

[An Xin Ran]

“……….”

I suddenly am able to see strange stuff already.

An Xin Ran is indeed my meimei’s name, but what about the ones on top of it?

Coldhearted type Bro-con meimei? And what’s up with that “bracket false” thingy!

I still could understand “Coldhearted” a little, but………”Bro-con”? Ha? Did my meimei had even the slightest bit of bro-con portion at all?

What kind of a joke is this, it’s purely nonsensical.

From the day I was born till now, within my memories there’s nothing that could exclaim ‘An Xin Ran loves gege’ that sort of miracle! Absolutely not! Not even when flipping through photos too! Don’t even say that our siblings relationship was harmonized, it’s not considered as normal, you even could say that it’s terrible!

Never once spoiling cutely towards me before, and never ever saying before she wants to marry gege when she grows up, that sort of thing.

Even when young, the memories of us playing together weren’t much at all, so she wouldn’t even have the opportunity to even start liking me in the first place!

When we go to school we wouldn’t walk together, and in a conversation she wouldn’t mention about me, even if we were in the same room, she would treat me as an ‘invisible person’ and completely just ignore me. She won’t just wrap herself up with a bath towel to appear before me after finishing bathing, won’t dress provocatively at home, and even won’t care about my lifestyle at all.

Even as we met coincidentally right now, she definitely wouldn’t have intentionally waited for me all the way till now, but probably merely woke up to go to the toilet, or to go drink some water, when she coincidentally heard sounds of footsteps, and thought that it was some burglar who entered the house thus not wanting to switch on the lights and kept her wariness about……….yeah, it must be like that!

Ever since she started to recognize that she had a brother like me around, she had always been treating me with cold gestures always!

Don’t even mention about the ending of two siblings marrying with german orthopedics involved as well, it would already be a divinely blessed honor if she was to invite this brother of hers to attend her wedding ceremony if she marries one day.

Look at her interrogating me right now, where did it seemed like she’s a bro-con already?

Ah, I get it, that “bracket false” probably would be referring to this title, which is purely nonsensical in the first place.

By the way, what is all this about, my imagination? It can’t be that after my head was being struck, it caused my mentality to have problems already huh? Would it be better decision if I went to the hospital to have a checkup………..I remember that Laobà and the neurology’s Doctor Wu were rather acquainted……..

Xin Ran noticed my gaze, and glared at me fiercely whilst interrogating: “What are you looking at?”

I hastily shook my hands and replied: “Nothing, nothing at all………it seemed to be only a bug………um, why haven’t you slept yet at such a late timing?”

“I just woke up to merely have a drink of water. Don’t change the subject, why did you come back so late?”

“It’s, that………..I accidentally slept at the park……….”

It shouldn’t be considered a lie, I guess, I was considered indeed to be sleeping earlier, only that it’s not being actively done so, but had suffered from a strange assault which made me passively sleep, that’s all………

Sigh, right now, remembering about it made me rather depressed, who did I pissed off exactly? I’ve only just sat in the park to rest for a while, while casually piecing some notes together which led to an unknown object attacking me……….when I thought till this point, I felt that the side of my head started to ache painfully once more, and subconsciously went to touch it.

Xin Ran stared fixedly at me for quite a while, maybe it’s because she didn’t feel that I was lying to her, for then she left from my vision afterwards to proceed down the stairs towards the living room.

Phew……….I secretly heaved a sigh of relief within my heart.

“I’m going to boil some water, you want anything to drink?”

“Oh, then just help me make a cup of coffee then, I’ve even forgotten to buy some coffee today to drink……….huh?”

My meimei was actually being caring towards me……….that’s not scientific at all!

Footnotes:

wut = it is intentional, to substitute the chinese SFX 噶. (surprised sound)

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Okuribito (入殓师 )= A euphemism for nōkanshi, derived from the words okuru (“to send off”) and hito (“person”)

Nōkanshi = Japanese ritual mortician

TLDR: Jun Cheng’s mom worked as a person who oversees people funerals, which was being held in a respectable way.

Although I understand the premise of the story is set in China, but the author indeed used this japanese term, so just think of it as a chinese-okuribito.

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The ending of two siblings marrying with german orthopedics involved as well = This ‘Germany’ gag subtly refers to a famous real CN story of a wincest, where the brother had his leg broken by his dad after their affair was being exposed, and after deciding on prices of bone reparation online, he chose the reputable Germany doctors, before fully healing his leg injury.

Now the proverb is used to term brave knights who were fearless to being caught of wincest, daring to go Germany to have their legs repaired.

Glossary:

-laoshi = a suffix, this meant ‘teacher’

Laobà / Laomā = informal ways to address your ‘father’/ ‘mother’

meimei = ‘younger sister’

gege = ‘elder brother’