Ruan Wei watched the busy crowd around him, and his mood to keep brooding vanished; very soon he joined in too.

Jiaojiao let out a long breath, patted her chest, and felt very satisfied with her ever-improving ability to talk people into things.

Honestly, if this had happened to Ruan Chi or Ruan Jun, it really wouldn’t be that easy to comfort them, since both of them are pretty sensitive. But with naturally slow-on-the-uptake Ruan Wei, it was much easier to fix—see, a couple of words and she’d already talked him around.

"Awooo." Rou Rou walked over to Jiaojiao’s side feeling a bit wronged, whimpering under its breath.

Jiaojiao smiled with squinty eyes and kept coaxing: "Rou Rou, you’re different. You should compare yourself with wolves, not people, okay? Among wolves, you’re the smartest kind there is."

"Awoo?" Really? Rou Rou’s eyes lit up and it lifted its head.

"Of course—" Jiaojiao was just about to give a firm answer when she met Duan Xi’s gaze.

"..." Jiaojiao.

For fuck’s sake!

Isn’t this crash-and-burn happening a bit too early!

Jiaojiao was genuinely exhausted in her heart. Seeing Duan Xi give her a quiet look and then turn away, she couldn’t bother with anything else; she hurriedly scuttled after him, spilling a whole string of sweet talk as if it cost nothing.

Several times, the Ruan boys and Lu Zishu walked past the two of them and overheard what she was saying. Aside from Lu Zishu rolling his eyes in utter disdain, the others all exchanged knowing smiles, feeling a little bitter on behalf of all the "the most" compliments they’d been sweet-talked into believing in the past.

The problem was, even so, next time she sweet-talked them with that little mouth of hers, they’d still believe her. He’s always the brother she "loves the most"!

Once they’d packed up their luggage, the group didn’t eat at home. After a meal at a hotel, they officially set off on the journey back to Beidu.

Ruan Jianguo and Ruan Jie parted ways with them at Changling. Father and son dragged Rou Rou and Xiaoxue along with their twelve wolf pups onto a long multi-day journey, while Jiaojiao and the others took the train.

Jiaojiao had slept for a while on the way to Changling, so once she got on the train she couldn’t sleep anymore. In high spirits, she pulled out the deck of cards she’d brought and invited a few of her brothers to play.

But the moment Lu Zishu saw the deck in her hand, he was reminded of what had happened on the train two years ago, his face instantly went green, and he refused on the spot. He didn’t want to end up losing his underwear again.

But it didn’t matter if he didn’t play—Jiaojiao had plenty of brothers, and they all doted on her and were willing to keep her company.

Lu Zishu watched from the side for a while. Seeing how much fun they were having, he gradually couldn’t sit still anymore. He scooted over with a fawning face and said, "Why don’t you add me in? Bullfighting is more fun with more people, you know."

It was Yu Rou’s first time playing this game, and she was just getting hooked. Hearing that, she looked over and mocked him: "Weren’t you just acting all tough saying you wouldn’t play?"

"Hehe, I just wanna keep you guys company, right?" Lu Zishu’s skin was thick; he wasn’t afraid of being mocked. When Ruan Feng dealt the cards again, he kept tapping insistently in front of himself, and Ruan Feng didn’t make it hard on him and dealt him in.

When Jiaojiao played cards, her brothers would try their best to let her win. Plus, they were family, so no one played too seriously; they were just playing to kill time.

But as soon as Lu Zishu joined, he won four or five rounds in a row. And the problem was, this guy has always been the show-off type with no idea what "low-key" means. After winning a bunch of hands, he started mocking Jiaojiao for having "cursed hands," just like he did back then.