At the international flight arrival gate, crowds swirled on multiple levels.
A small-statured figure was standing on tiptoe, craning her neck, anxiously peering toward the arrival gate, her face full of worry, afraid she might accidentally miss someone.
“Shouldn’t they be here by now?”
Passengers were steadily coming out of the gate, but Lin Zhiwei’s figure was nowhere in sight.
Bai Yao looked up at the screen above, then down at the flight information her mother had sent on WeChat, comparing them to make sure she wasn’t mistaken.
“It’s been at least ten or twenty minutes, and still no sign of them?”
As more and more travelers exited, the crowd waiting to pick someone up gradually thinned, and Bai Yao realized she might actually have missed her cousin.
She paced back and forth anxiously.
The thought of getting scolded by her mother made her frown and bite her nails.
“Just a little longer, just a little longer…”
Though Bai Yao usually seemed cold and introverted, she actually had a quick temper and couldn’t stand waiting.
Usually, she just kept it to herself, but now the anxiety was building.
“This is bad.”
Almost everyone had left the gate except Bai Yao…
At that moment, a figure appeared, dragging two oversized suitcases and carrying a massive hiking backpack.
Bai Yao froze for a moment, her gaze filled with doubt, unable to be sure.
Wasn’t her older cousin a blonde?
As she got closer, she finally recognized the familiar face.
A sense of relief, as if she had survived a crisis, surged through her.
Bai Yao ran excitedly to the railing, waving her hand high.
But her cousin looked hesitant, uncertain as he stared at her.
Who’s this girl?
She looks familiar… Could she be a cousin?
He nodded politely and walked out through the corridor formed by the railings.
Bai Yao quickly ran up to meet him.
“Chengcheng-ge!”
Her cousin’s full name was Lin Zhicheng, nickname Chengcheng.
Bai Yao usually called him Chengcheng-ge.
When they were kids, they were very close, like real brothers.
But in high school, for some reason, Chengcheng dropped out and became a blonde delinquent, mingling with society.
Since then, they had little contact.
A few years ago, her aunt and uncle opened a restaurant abroad and took him overseas to help out.
Over the years, the cousins hadn’t even exchanged a single WeChat message.
Lin Zhicheng felt as if he had seen a ghost.
After a few years, that 165 cm junior high schooler was still 165 cm? He hadn’t grown at all?
Back then, Bai Yao still had the short haircut required by her school.
Her cute childhood face had been mostly ruined by adolescent acne.
And now… her hair was short, no longer covering her ears, her face delicate, her figure slender, even a slight curve visible at her chest.
Standing there, she looked like a tense, petite girl with short hair.
“Yao… Yao Yao?”
Lin Zhicheng scanned Bai Yao from head to toe before giving a dry nod.
“It’s been a long time.”
Bai Yao felt awkward under his gaze, her face showing a polite, slightly embarrassed smile, her toes pressed tightly into her shoes.
“Yeah… it has…”
She glanced at Lin Zhicheng’s two large suitcases and massive hiking backpack, then, feigning enthusiasm, stepped forward.
“I can help you with one of these.”
“Sure, it’s a bit heavy. Be careful.”
“No problem.”
Bai Yao took the handle of a suitcase and gave it a gentle tug.
Almost couldn’t lift it, so she laughed awkwardly.
“Yeah… it’s a bit heavy…”
Years apart had erased the playful familiarity she once had with her cousin.
Now, pulling the suitcase and following him, her feigned enthusiasm had melted into her usual coldness.
As long as she got him safely here, that was enough.
Once in the ride-hailing car, Bai Yao had a chance to secretly observe Lin Zhicheng sitting beside her.
Her cousin had changed a lot…
His skin had visibly deteriorated; even in the dim light, she could see enlarged pores.
His hair was short, no longer the flashy blonde, now a subdued brown.
He seemed a bit sturdier, with his short-sleeved arms showing muscular contours.
Yet the foundation of his facial features remained.
He was still handsome, the sort of “weathered, mature handsome” type.
Well, not as handsome as Qiu Ye!
Bai Yao felt a bit awkward, instinctively keeping her knees together, but in front of relatives, she maintained a masculine posture, trying to appear more grown-up in her mannerisms.
“Where are we staying tonight?”
Lin Zhicheng suddenly asked.
Bai Yao stiffened and quickly replied,
“Uh… at a hotel, I booked it.”
[Long-awaited check-in! And it’s with your older cousin after such a long time! Have you really become so desperate that you ignore all ethics? Even the family’s big horse and bombardment can’t satisfy you? Or are you trying to conquer the “thousand-person challenge”?]
[Remember to stay safe. At over thirty, your body can’t take the strain. Reward: 100 cash]
Bai Yao clenched his fists tightly.
Even the system’s AI voice sounded helpless! The mission was just to “stay safe”?
That perverted, obsessive woman was way too outrageous.
Aiming for the “thousand-person challenge”?
Clearly, she had participated in countless orgies when she was young!
“What’s wrong?”
He quickly shook his head and lowered his gaze to his phone.
Though there was some awkwardness between them, Lin Zhicheng, after some consideration, still asked warmly,“You’re in your first year of college now, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Only a few years apart, and you’ve… become handsome?”
Lin Zhicheng complimented her first, then teased, “Do you have a girlfriend at university?”
“No.”
But the system constantly egged him on, encouraging him to find a boyfriend, twisting ordinary friendships into “romantic escalations.”
Bai Yao didn’t like being questioned all the time, so she steered the topic herself: “How about you?”
“I’m back for a matchmaking session this time,” Lin Zhicheng sighed helplessly.
“Otherwise, I’d only come back during the New Year.”
“Match… matchmaking?”
Bai Yao remembered Lin Zhicheng wasn’t much older than her, maybe twenty-four or twenty-five.
Hardly the age for matchmaking.
“Mom’s pushing me. I have no choice,” he leaned back, sighing in frustration.
“Before, she’d cry, argue, even threaten to cut ties to urge me to marry.”
Probably no one abroad would listen to him complain.
He couldn’t help adding, “I was seeing someone, an international student. I liked her, but she found faults and insisted we break up. Now Mom’s pushing me to matchmake.”
Just listening to him, Bai Yao felt powerless.
She had thought her cousin was living well abroad.
Because of his candidness, the awkwardness between them quickly faded, and she gradually became more talkative.
“You’re in college, just graduated two years… there’s no need to rush.”
“Exactly. Studying is useful at least—it keeps you from marrying too early,” Lin Zhicheng patted Bai Yao’s shoulder.
“Study hard, maybe do a graduate degree.”
Bai Yao tensed, trying to hide her discomfort at the boundary being crossed, subtly shifting her seat to create distance.
“Uh… we should be there soon.”