Chapter 76 Growing Up

  Li Banxian would pester her brother, but An Nanxiu wouldn't pester Li Rouyu. Instead, she liked to order Li Rouyu around, except that often Li Rouyu wouldn't listen to her.

  However, there are also times when Li Luyu will cooperate with her, just like on the bus, An Nanxiu can hold Li Luyu's hand and circle around, Li Banzhuan is too embarrassed to do so, because she can't be as indifferent to other people's gazes as An Nanxiu.

  An Nanxiu was enjoying the vast space with a pleased expression, Li Banyan would snuggle up to Li Luyu's arm and act coquettishly, An Nanxiu also had her own privileges, feeling a little more comfortable in her heart.

  Back to the residential area, Li Luyu carried a big bag of school uniforms upstairs for An Nanxiu. Li Banzhen went shopping for groceries. Originally, An Nanxiu was going to go upstairs to get some popsicles to eat, but Li Banzhen called out to her to come along and buy groceries together. An Nanxiu thought about it for a moment - she still didn't know what dish they would be adding to the menu that night, so she couldn't let Li Banzhen decide, or else it might end up being something Li Banzhen liked to eat but not necessarily An Nanxiu's favorite. Even if An Nanxiu also happened to like it, letting Li Banzhen make the decision would still make her feel like she was at a disadvantage.

  When Annanxiu arrived at the supermarket, she knew what she wanted to eat. The supermarket had marinated chicken wings, so Li Banxuan bought some and roasted them in the electric oven when they got home.

  Li Banzhen bought more ganbian (dried tofu), flour, zhengpanggu (a type of pork chop) and suancai baozi (pickled mustard green buns) and fish, then headed home with An Nanxiu.

  Li Luyu was sitting in front of the computer in his room, An Nanxiu opened the refrigerator and found that there was only one ice stick left. "Li Luyu, go buy some ice sticks."

  "Go buy it again tomorrow." Li Luyu didn't want to go downstairs anymore.

  "There's only one left, and I still want to eat tonight." How can one be enough? Annan Xiu ran into Li Luyu's room, "Go buy quickly."

  "It's that store across the street, you know, ask the boss to send three boxes over, and I'll go pay tomorrow." Li Luyou was a big customer of that cold drink store, he needed these white sugar ice sticks more than many small vendors, so the boss would always agree to deliver.

  An Nanxiu left, because Li Banyan was there. In fact, she didn't like the time when three people were together. She always felt that this small house was best with just herself and Li Luyou. When Li Banyan was around, she always felt uncomfortable, because she would always think that Li Luyou actually wasn't hers alone.

  Li Banzhuan has run into the kitchen and is busy, tightly closing the kitchen door.

  Li Luoyu finished his work and walked over to knock on the kitchen door.

  "Who's there? The kitchen is full of smoke and won't open," Li Banzhuang said softly in the kitchen.

  "You haven't cooked yet."

  The door opened and Li Banzhuang was wearing an apron with a kitchen knife in her hand, "I'm holding the kitchen knife, don't come any closer."

  "Let go." Li Rouyou was very serious.

  "Oh." Li Banzhen obediently put down the kitchen knife.

  Li Luoyu entered the kitchen, opened the refrigerator door, "I bought snow clams, soak them tonight, wash and clean them tomorrow, make a papaya pot to eat, ginger slices and rock sugar are placed here..."

  "Why are you eating melon again?" Li Banzhuang's face turned red, and she said with her head down: "I'm already very big, just give it to An Nanxiu."

  "I knew that, papaya is good for digestion and immunity, preventing parasites, promoting lactation and fighting diseases. A girl of your age would benefit from eating it the most." Li Luyou didn't buy the papaya to promote his sister's development, its main effect isn't even breast enhancement, what does she need that for?

  "Oh." Li Banzhuang returned to her obedient self again.

  "She's not that obedient in school." Li Luoyu's face was stern, as an older brother, he didn't just take care of his sister, but also had to bear the responsibility of a guardian and parent at times. Although they were close in age, Li Luoyu could understand his sister very well, but he still had to maintain a certain demeanor and couldn't appear indifferent or indulgent.

  Li Banzhu knew she couldn't escape, so she honestly followed Li Luyu out of the kitchen and into his room.

  "Brother, I was wrong." Li Banzhuang knew that her brother wanted to talk to her about the English exam.

  "Hmm, how many points did you get on that exam?" Li Banzhen asked.

  "Over one hundred and twenty points."

  "How much does it usually cost?"

  "About one hundred and thirty-four."

  "A bit short of twenty minutes."

  "Don't you think it's incredible that two people can finish the test in twenty minutes without cheating and still get so many points?" Li Luyou said with a straight face.

  "No, I was wrong." Li Banzhu looked at Li Luyu walking over with a pitiful expression.

  "It's good to know what went wrong, but punishment is unavoidable."

  Li Banxian's cheeks flushed red as she pulled Li Luyu's hand, "Brother, let it go this time, I won't dare next time."

  Li Luyu suddenly burst out laughing and stretched out his hand to scratch Li Banzhu's itchy spot.

  Li Banzi let out a loud shriek and was no longer obedient, flailing her two long legs as she ran away.

  The room wasn't big, Li Banxiao dodged around the sofa to avoid Li Luyu, "Brother, you can't catch me, I'm the long-distance running champion of our school!"

  "You'd better not run, just a few scratches will do." Li Banzhu was most afraid of being scratched, and Li Luyu had never been willing to hit or scold his sister. But when she did something wrong, Li Luyu couldn't just let it go, he would scratch her as a form of discipline, which was very effective. Usually, once Li Luyu scratched her, she wouldn't dare do the same thing again.

  However, Li Banxian actually rarely did anything wrong that required Li Luyu's punishment.

  "No way, you'll kill me..." Li Banzhen didn't know what was wrong with herself. In the past, she couldn't stand being tickled, whether it was her neck, waist, or feet. As soon as someone said they wanted to tickle her, she would start feeling ticklish before they even began. But now, if Li Luyu tickled her, she would have a very strange feeling that made her heart skip a beat and tremble with fear. She didn't know when it had started to become like this.

  "No way, I'll be gentle, just a few scratches will do." Li Rouyu suddenly jumped over from the sofa.

  Li Banzhuang let out a cry of "ah" and ran back to Li Luyu's room, quickly closing the door and locking Li Luyu outside.

  Li Rouyou knocked on the door, but it remained tightly shut. At this moment, Li Banzhuang was resolute and would not open the door.

  Li Luoyu didn't bother with her anymore, just smiled and actually had no intention of punishing his sister. His sister was already so big, studying wouldn't let him worry, occasionally being a bit mischievous was also very normal. He was after all the older brother, could spoil his sister, could be indulgent to the point of being unreasonable in his heart, but sometimes still had to show a strict attitude. This way, his sister wouldn't rely on her brother's spoiling and become unmanageable, disrespecting her brother. This was the same as many parents educating their children, if they let the child feel that the parents couldn't punish them no matter what wrong they did, they would very likely put themselves in a position higher than their parents.

  Li Luyu has always been like this, protecting his sister and never allowing others to bully them when their parents are not around. He takes it upon himself to discipline Li Banzhu with a high attitude, but no matter what, he will maintain her dignity in front of outsiders, yet at home, he still strictly demands from her.

  Li Rouyu was busy in the kitchen, doing things that Li Banzhen had not finished. He knew his sister was energetic, but he would rather take care of her food and clothing after she had studied hard.

  After a while, Li Luyu's door opened and Li Banzhen walked out. She had changed out of her school uniform and was wearing Li Luyu's long-sleeved sweater on top and leggings on the bottom, but no shoes. She tiptoed into the kitchen and suddenly hugged Li Luyu, "Don't tickle me anymore."

  It's just in time, Li took the kitchen knife from his hand, which was still wet and dirty, of course he wouldn't scratch it, and said without looking back: "Owe it first."

  "No more, brother. From now on, you're not allowed to tickle me again, even if I've done something wrong." Li Banzhuang said with a straight face and a sense of righteousness.

  Li Luoyu put down the kitchen knife and was about to wash his hands.

  Li Banzhu hastily ran out of the kitchen and stuck to the side of the door, only revealing half of her head to look at Li Luyu.

  "Give me a reason, can't I be exempt from punishment even if I did something wrong?" Li Luoyu turned his head to look at her, actually he quite liked the feeling of teaching his sister a lesson when she did something wrong. Otherwise, he would always feel that his relationship with his sister was not like ordinary siblings, there were some inexplicable feelings between them, and this feeling mainly came from his sister. But what exactly was it, he didn't have a clear idea.

  However, most of the time he wouldn't mind, because he and Li Zi were different from other siblings, ordinary siblings couldn't possibly have the kind of feelings they had for each other.

  "Brother, I've grown up, I'm not a kid anymore." Li Banyu slowly walked over again and found that Lǐ Lùyóu was still motionless, still hugging her waist like before.

  "You're not a kid anymore, but you're still my little sister. If my little sister does something wrong, can't her big brother punish her?" Li Luyu said while picking out fish bones.

  "But can't scratch an itch." Li Banzhen said with a pout.

  "What's wrong?" Li Luoyu turned back strangely, "Grown up and don't want to play with brother anymore?"

  It's more like a playful tease, but Li Banyu feels that the taste of being taught a lesson is stronger.

  Li Banzhu's face turned red, "Then... then you scratch me one more time and try it out... you'll know."

  Li Luoyu looked at her with a puzzled expression, washed his hands, chuckled and scratched Li Banzhu's armpit.

  Li Banzhen didn't smile, and she didn't laugh loudly like before.

  Li Luyu was very strange and scratched again, but still no reaction. In the past, as long as Li Banyu lightly scratched her, she would laugh until tears came out.

  Li Banzhuang's cheeks were exceptionally red, as if they were about to bleed, her eyes were watery and moist, with a layer of mist inside, it was unclear whether she was holding back laughter or what.

  "Are you okay?" Li Luyu started worrying again. People are always like this, if there's a sudden change, they will feel very uncomfortable.

  Li Banzhuang shook her head.

  Is it that when girls grow up, they will have such a change? There is an opportunity to find Annanxiu to try, but Annanxiu seems not afraid of scratching, last time he threatened her, Annanxiu didn't care at all.

  The original cover of Louise was made by Rabbit Sister, a professional cover, thank you for Rabbit Sister's support. The other messy covers were all made by Xia Hua herself, sweating, don't know which one everyone likes.