Quick Transmigration: What to Do When the Male Supporting Character You Saved Becomes Obsessed with

Chapter 337 Obedient and Clingy Younger Brother (48)

Lu's mother, who was on the other end of the line, didn't notice anything amiss and continued talking. Lu Liruan, however, sensed something was wrong, so she moved her phone forward slightly, turned her head, and glanced at Jin Shuhe.

"No...no."

Jin Shuhe swallowed hard and answered Lu Ma's question in a low voice.

"You're just like your sister! All these years, you haven't even had a boyfriend, and you just stay cooped up at home all day, like you're trying to dig a hole!"

"mom--"

"I'm talking about you! Have you been staying up late lately? You're like a nocturnal animal, you don't sleep until the mice do!" Aunt Lu scolded.

Lu Liruan pouted; she did feel a little guilty, as she had recently started staying up late on and off again.

"You have no energy or spirit at all. No matter how old you are, I'll still have to worry about you..."

Last year, Ms. Qin overheard Jin Shuhe let slip that Lu Liruan suffered terribly from her migraines, and she felt extremely sorry for her.

He wanted to call her every night to make sure she went to bed, but in the end, Lu Liruan got impatient and gave up.

After hanging up the phone, Lu Liruan put down her phone and went to the kitchen to get the soaked strawberries.

Jin Shuhe suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, leaned back on the sofa, and recalled his behavior just now. He was too scheming!

He was a criminal investigation major, and he felt that the characteristics of observing criminal suspects that the teacher talked about in class were applicable to him without any sense of incongruity.

But Sister Li Ruan couldn't find out...

Jin Shuhe wanted her to know, yet he also didn't want her to know.

If Li Ruan didn't know, they could continue like this forever.

But if Sister Li Ruan knew about what happened... would they never be able to go back to how things are now, and what's done is done?

Does Sister Li Ruan not like him at all? Does she only treat him like a younger brother? Jin Shuhe was extremely conflicted, completely inexperienced, and at a loss for what to do.

“Jingyi came to visit me a few days ago,” Lu Liruan said, peeking out from the kitchen amidst the sound of running water.

"Hmm?" Jin Shuhe was pulled from his thoughts, somewhat bewildered.

“She told me she recently started dating a boyfriend and didn’t want to tell her mom, so she came to ask me.” Lu Liruan divided the washed strawberries into two bowls, handed one to Jin Shuhe, and sat cross-legged on the sofa next to him.

"Yeah."

Jin Shuhe wasn't interested in whether Zhao Jingyi had a boyfriend or not, and responded softly.

"By the way, Jingyi said she used to have a crush on you!" Lu Liruan smiled and winked at Jin Shuhe with a hint of ambiguity.

"what?"

Jin Shuhe was stunned.

Recalling Zhao Jingyi's inexplicable words at the teacher appreciation banquet, Jin Shuhe had a sudden realization.

He truly didn't see anything back then; he didn't even understand his own thoughts...

“Sister Li Ruan, she had a heart-to-heart talk with you, can you tell me?” Jin Shuhe sighed.

"It's okay, it's okay. I even asked Jingyi if I could talk to you, and she said yes. That was all from when we were little, and she doesn't like your type now."

When Lu Liruan heard Zhao Jingyi mention it, she wasn't surprised.

I was a little curious: "Then why didn't you like him later? Xiao He is such a good person!"

"Jin Shuhe is a good person... but he's always quiet with us. We always feel like we have nothing to say to him, and we don't know what he likes. We can't get close to him."

Zhao Jingyi, who had developed her own unique style of dressing and was dressed very beautifully, rested her chin on her hand and spoke to Lu Liruan.

"So how did you come to like him back then?" Lu Liruan took a big gulp of her drink, listening with great interest.

"He's handsome!" Zhao Jingyi exclaimed without hesitation. "I sit at the desk in front of him, and every time I turn around, I think he has such a handsome face!" she praised exaggeratedly.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

The two men laughed together.

Lu Liruan thought to herself, he is indeed good-looking, just like the high school heartthrob in romance novels.

“Our Xiao He is the prettiest!” Lu Liruan nodded in affirmation when she said this.

"Sister Li Ruan..." Jin Shuhe blushed, but couldn't help but smile. He listened attentively to any praise from Sister Li Ruan and was happy for a long time.

Actually, Zhao Jingyi said something else at the time. In her eyes, Jin Shuhe was a bit dull, even a bit boring. He only had a good-looking appearance, so of course he couldn't attract girls.

After Zhao Jingyi became friends with him, she gradually came to see him as just an ordinary friend.

"I felt he was a bit boring... not that I meant he was bad, it's just that when I was with him, I couldn't even find anything to talk about." Zhao Jingyi still has a vivid memory of her first crush.

Upon hearing this, Lu Liruan disagreed. Xiaohe was clearly a very interesting child, earnest, responsible, meticulous, and caring.

Lu Liruan was always in a good mood when she was with him.

How could it be boring...?

After returning home that day, Lu Liruan played games absentmindedly, recalling what Zhao Jingyi had said that afternoon.

Suddenly, I realized that Xiao He seemed to be too dependent on me.

It's one thing for the past, but now he's in college, yet it seems like his life is still centered around me...

He takes care of everything, no matter how small. I tell myself that he rushes home as soon as he has a holiday, and it seems that he is indeed different from how he is when he is out.

"You're good-looking, but you should also communicate and interact with people more, instead of always..."

Lu Liruan wanted to say: Don't always hang around me, you need to have your own life too.

But before she could even say those words, Lu Liruan suddenly felt a pang of jealousy.

If Xiaohe really had her own world and friends her own age, just like other children.

So where does he place himself in his heart?

Will he gradually drift away like a child leaving his parents, just like he did with his own parents?

Lu Liruan understands that the process of a child growing up is a process of gradually separating from their original family, parents, and elders, and having an independent life and an independent personality.

But thinking about this, Lu Liruan felt very disappointed...

Will things gradually turn out the same between me and Xiaohe?

When Lu Liruan heard Ms. Qin ask Xiao He if he had a girlfriend, she suddenly realized that he had already reached that age.

I'm not exactly his elder!

Lu Liruan optimistically reassured herself that even if he grew up, she and he would still be of the same generation, so... they wouldn't drift further and further apart, right?

It's unclear when it started, but Jin Shuhe's dependence on Lu Liruan wasn't just one-sided; Lu Liruan also began to rely on this younger child in her heart.

"what happened?"

Jin Shuhe asked, puzzled, when Li Ruan stopped halfway through her sentence.

"It's nothing... I'm just saying if you have a girl you like, you should put in some effort, so she doesn't find you difficult to get along with or seem dull." Lu Liruan said casually.

"Does Sister Li Ruan think I'm dull?" Jin Shuhe took a breath and asked seriously.

"Hmm?" Lu Liruan was taken aback and shook her head.

"Does Sister Li Ruan... think I'm hard to get along with?" Jin Shuhe nervously licked his lips.

Seeing his expression, Lu Liruan thought he was bothered by what she had just said and, afraid of hurting him, said sincerely from the bottom of her heart, "No, I think you are especially good. Maybe they don't know you well enough. Xiaohe, you are really good."

Jin Shuhe blinked, concealing the joy in her eyes: "That's fine then..."

"what?"

"As long as Sister Li Ruan likes me, that's fine." He said boldly, pretending not to have any deeper meaning.

When Lu Liruan returned home for the Chinese New Year, the house was much warmer, so she didn't need the cotton pajamas she had brought back. She could just wear short-sleeved pajama pants at home.

Mr. and Mrs. Lu would tell everyone they met that their daughter had made it for them, and they seemed extremely proud.

Jin Shuhe is a junior in college now, and she goes home even less often.

During the floods in June, they were all sent to the front lines for rescue and relief. When they returned, their arms and legs were covered in swollen, white, waterlogged wounds, which were left exposed without proper treatment and would definitely leave scars.

Lu Liruan felt extremely distressed.

Jin Shuhe earnestly told her, "Sister Li Ruan, I understand what the teachers at school said: responsibility is never just about words, but about doing things."

His expression was resolute and mature; he had completely grown up.

In the autumn of his 21st year, Lu Liruan celebrated her 27th birthday.

As Lu Liruan blew out the candles with her eyes closed, Jin Shuhe's gaze fell on her face, tender and adoring.

"Ruan Ruan, isn't this the person your Aunt Liu introduced? She happens to be from the same city as you, so why don't you meet her? It won't interfere with anything you're doing! Mom won't pressure you, just see if you click with her, it's okay if it doesn't work out!" When Ms. Qin called, Lu Liruan was holding a bag of milk and tilting her head to type her manuscript.

I was worried about not having enough money. I started writing scripts for short dramas, thinking it was just a temporary job. But to my surprise, after promoting the account, the data was surprisingly good.

Lu Liruan was originally a freelancer, and it would be crazy not to make money from it, so she did achieve some success in this job on and off.

He is now considered one of the more well-known writers and screenwriters in this field.

Since turning twenty-seven, Ms. Qin, who used to only talk about it occasionally, has indeed become a little anxious.

I've introduced Lu Liruan to several blind dates on and off.

Lu Liruan had no interest in this, but Ms. Qin had a rather strong personality, and when she got anxious, it left Lu Liruan quite helpless.

"Your mother attended four weddings and three full-month celebrations this year, and she gave out more than four thousand yuan in gifts alone..." Mr. Lu whispered to his daughter.

"What? Is my mom planning to get me married so she can get all the wedding gift money back in one go?" Lu Liruan complained to her dad while munching on popcorn.

"If all else fails, I'll study hard and try to get into graduate school next year... Then I can throw myself a graduation banquet and get some money back, right?" Lu Liruan muttered to herself.

"Sigh..." Mr. Lu sighed. For so many years, the father and daughter had been manipulated by Ms. Qin, and could only chirp behind her back.

After refusing several times, Lu Liruan finally couldn't resist and went to meet him.

One year older than Lu Liruan, who runs a catering business in Pucheng, nodded with great satisfaction after hearing that Lu Liruan could cook and bake bread: "I'm so tired of eating takeout. It would be great if you could cook!"

Lu Liruan: ...

How come your takeout didn't choke you to death?

Lu Liruan endured the eye-roll and made an excuse to leave. After returning home, she was bursting with inspiration and created a funny short drama.

Of course, it can't all be these blood pressure-raising scenes. Lu Liruan's main storyline is a very silly love story.

In short: a love affair that resembles a "home invasion robbery".

Falling in love with the next-door neighbor

Because of his suspicious behavior, he was mistaken by his neighbors for a burglary scout.

Always be on guard against others

Interspersed within are stories about family, blind dates, and work.

From then on, Lu Liruan was less resistant to the blind dates introduced by Ms. Qin. She used it to reassure her mother and also to gather material for her research.

Whether it's true or not, the story comes from life.

This Saturday, Lu Liruan sat in a restaurant, listening absentmindedly to the "elite man" in a suit across from her bragging.

I checked the time; it was about time to make an excuse and slip away.

As it turned out, the person on the other end seemed to get carried away with their conversation, and suddenly reached out to grab Lu Liruan's hand.

Lu Liruan tried to pull back, but couldn't dodge. The man squeezed Lu Liruan's palm hard, making her feel disgusted.

"What are you doing……"

"Li Ruan!"

Suddenly a voice came from behind, and a young man in a black hoodie and jeans strode in from the doorway, instantly locking onto Lu Liruan's location.

"Let go!" He walked to Lu Liruan's side, grabbed the man's wrist, and with a little skill, the man hissed and pulled his hand back, his expression twisting.

"What are you doing!"

The self-proclaimed elite man in a suit was meticulously dressed, his hair combed to perfection, but when he stood in front of Jin Shuhe, who exuded a masculine aura, he was utterly defeated.

He was half a head shorter and had no imposing presence at all.

"what are you doing."

"I...we're on a blind date, where did you come from?!" The elite man was very satisfied with Lu Liruan's appearance and was about to take things further when he was interrupted and questioned, which made him very unhappy.

"Li Ruan... don't be angry with me anymore, I'm sorry." Jin Shuhe turned his head and said in a low voice. Although he was broad-shouldered and tall, in front of Lu Li Ruan, he seemed like a loyal large dog, firmly standing between the two of them.

"you……"

"Don't give up on me just because I'm young. I'll change everything you said. Please give me another chance." Jin Shuhe bent down, his clear eyes fixed on Lu Liruan, his voice pleading.

"You have a boyfriend, why are you going on blind dates!" The elite man understood and was so angry he almost choked.

“Even if it’s a blind date, you can’t just touch someone without their consent.” Jin Shuhe looked at him coldly.

Feeling guilty, the elite man muttered a few more words under his breath and left on his own.

"Who's going to split the bill with me now that he's gone?" Lu Liruan sighed as she watched the other person's hurried departure.

"What would you like to eat, Sister Liruan? I'll treat you to something else..." Jin Shuhe, who had just been looking serious and self-righteous, pursed his lips and glanced at Lu Liruan's expression.

"How did you know I was here?"

“When I went to the store, Sister Xiaoyou said you had arranged to meet someone at this restaurant outside the school,” Jin Shuhe told the truth.

"So what are you doing with all this?" Lu Liruan raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't that what Sister Li Ruan wrote in her script..." Jin Shuhe muttered to himself.

Lu Liruan consulted Jin Shuhe about a police-related issue in her new script, and he even took the time to carefully read what she had written.

But what I wrote was not the same set of words he had just used.