Chapter 2 - Princess and Pauper.

Zhong Xiyou didn't dare to think any further. The more he thought about it, the more he felt like he couldn't breathe.

His gaze fell on the plate beside Zhong Youyou's bed, a bowl of untouched plain white porridge that had already long gone cold without any side dishes at all. How could anyone eat this? It would be hard for anyone to swallow! Much less, second older sister who was still a weak patient!

The servants of the Zhong family didn't know the inside story. They all thought that Zhong Youyou, the child who suddenly came to Zhong's family, was an illegitimate child, so they secretly looked down on Zhong Youyou. Cold leftover meals were simply commonplace. It wasn’t that he didn't know, but it was just that he didn't care about it in his previous life. However, at this time, an indescribable anger suddenly rose from within his heart!

He quickly walked out.

It was early in the morning. Chef Wang, Housekeeper Zhang, and two other servants who were in charge of cooking had already prepared breakfast. They were waiting for the young master and the young miss to get up. Mrs. Zhong was abroad with Mr. Zhong for the past two days. They haven’t come back yet, but even so, they didn't dare to neglect their breakfast and still cooked as many dishes as usual.

Toast, sushi, steak, corn soup, everything one could think of. The eldest young miss and the little young master will definitely like it.

But they did not expect that the little young master did not come out of his own room, but came out of the room of the outsider Zhong Youyou, looking beside himself with rage.

Zhong Xiyou was the most reticent person in this family. There was always either impatience or aloof arrogance written all over his face with a look of indifference in his eyes all day long. Even if he was angry, he would never have had an outward expression of anger. What could have caused this?

Housekeeper Zhang reacted first and stepped forward to pull out Zhong Xiyou's fixed table seat: "Young master, what's wrong? Did that girl make you angry again? There is no need to care about her. Just tell Madam when she and Sir come back."

Adding fuel to the fire!

"Do you usually rat on people like this?" Zhong Xiyou was so extremely angry that he could only laugh.

Housekeeper Zhang and the other servants all trembled, stunned, not understanding what happened to Zhong Xiyou. Wasn’t he always cold and indifferent towards Zhong Youyou?

"Also, what is with ‘that girl'?" Zhong Xiyou stared at her as well as the other servants, with a frightfully gloomy expression: "She is my older sister, my biological sister. Treat her with this attitude again, you guys wouldn’t need to continue working anymore, just pack your bags and leave!"

Even after saying those words, Zhong Xiyou still hadn’t worked off his anger and felt a persistent dull throb in his heart that could not be relieved.

He swept a glance at the abundant breakfast on the table, and under the astonished and horrified eyes of the servants, he picked up two side dishes, then put them down again. His eyebrows slowly furrowing, not loosening at all —— he suddenly realized that he didn't know second sister's preferences at all.

He knows what Meng Shixuan likes, and even every birthday, he would have a cherry cake specially customized and prepared for Meng Shixuan, but he doesn't know anything about his second eldest sister!

Second eldest sister lived in the house for so many years, but she was completely abandoned by her family in a corner!

Zhong Xiyou took a deep breath, picked up two plates non-greasy vegetables and a steaming hot bowl of porridge, and walked towards Zhong Youyou's room. Fortunately, there was still a chance to make it up to her. He can slowly find out what second eldest sister likes in this life. She was recovering from a serious illness, so it was best not to eat dishes that were too salty and greasy. It was better to eat white porridge which was light on the stomach. The most important thing was that it has to be hot enough to warm the stomach.

Thinking of this, he turned his head coldly: "The porridge in my second sister's room is cold, go and remove it!"

Housekeeper Zhang and the servants looked at him like they were looking at some fantastical creature. They were shocked and terrified. They don't know if the little young master was agitated by something, or if Zhong Youyou had poured some sort of magical potion into him, but he suddenly changed so much, as if he was like another person entirely! It was Housekeeper Zhang who reacted first, she quickly trotted into the guest room before Zhong Xiyou, and brought out the cold porridge at Zhong Youyou's bedside.

Before closing the door, she casually glanced to see what the little young master wanted to do, only to see that the little young master looked at Zhong Youyou with red-rimmed eyes. She almost lost her grip on the bowl in her hand.

*

Since they keep going in and out like this, Zhong Youyou couldn't continue pretending to be asleep anymore.　　

To be honest, when she was reading the novel, she had a very unpleasant impression of the Zhong family, especially the extremely biased Mother Zhong! If you were unable to treat people equally, then fine. But when the original owner first entered the house, she was afraid that the original owner would threaten the position of her beloved daughter Meng Shixuan and went as far as to beg Father Zhong to send the original owner back! Doesn't she know what kind of wandering life the original owner was living outside before she returned?

As for Zhong Xiyou, after all, he was only a seventeen-year-old boy. He was a bit scumbag, but he was only indifferent to the original owner. He protected Meng Shixuan everywhere he went and hadn't done anything extremely excessive.

However, Zhong Youyou still didn’t want to associate too much with him, and besides, this was also exactly what he wanted, wasn't it?

But Zhong Youyou didn't expect Zhong Xiyou to act so out of character this morning. She heard what he said outside the door and felt an extremely weird emotion in her heart. What was that all about?

She opened her eyes and looked at Zhong Xiyou.

Zhong Xiyou put the hot porridge and side dishes on the bedside table, pulled a chair to the bedside and sat down. He didn’t dare to make a lot of noise and wake up second eldest sister, but then he saw that his second eldest sister woke up just like that. He was overjoyed and instinctively wanted to speak, but he was met with the cold indifferent eyes of his second sister.

Emotionless, as if she was looking at a stranger, without any sort of warmth in her eyes.

“……”

Zhong Xiyou's heart suddenly ached. Second eldest sister has been working hard trying to integrate into this family, and even racked her brains in order to have a conversation with him, wanting to gain just a small amount of affection from the family. But this time, second eldest sister was pushed to the ground by him. As expected, has she lost hope? Was she discouraged? If not then why would there be such a strange unfamiliar look?

Zhong Youyou sat up, her right hand was a little bit weak and a little bit of blood leaked from the wound on her arm.

Upon seeing this, Zhong Xiyou didn’t bother about his sadness and leaned over to help her sit up. But before he could touch his second eldest sister, he was stopped by her composedly waving her hand. Zhong Xiyou's fingers stiffened and stopped in mid-air, and the smile that he produced with great difficulty became a bit bitter.

But even so, he didn't blame Zhong Youyou, he just felt very sad and very guilty.

"Second sister, are you hungry? How about you eat a little bit to fill your stomach?" He handed the porridge over, scooped it up with a spoon, and lightly blew at it.

Zhong Youyou still haven't guessed exactly why this cheap brother of hers had changed so much. Faced with the porridge he sent to the corner of her mouth, she turned her head away. She was an orphan and was not used to being in close contact with others, let alone being fed porridge. It felt too uncomfortable. What's more, she didn’t have a good impression of Zhong Xiyou.

At this moment, Zhong Xiyou froze completely, his body was like a stone slab.

He looked at his second eldest sister's silent side profile. That face was ruined by second eldest sister herself. It looked like she had smeared an entire makeup palette on her face, and her hair was permed and curly. Zhong Xiyou has always disliked such girls, so seeing his second eldest sister like this made him feel even more disgusted. But after his rebirth, he finally realized that his second eldest sister’s character was not like this. She had clearly wanted to be clean and tidy, and clearly envied Meng Shixuan for being like that, but it was only because no one in the Zhong family cared about her that she stepped on the wrong path.

In conclusion, it was the Zhong family's fault. He was also at fault.

Zhong Xiyou held the spoon motionless in the air for several seconds, but her lips still remained pursed, the air around her faintly emanating defiance and estrangement. Zhong Xiyou finally couldn't restrain his wry smile and heartache, and withdrew his hand. He knew that if he kept staying here, second eldest sister would probably not eat anything.

"Then, I'll go out first. I still have to go to school today." Zhong Xiyou opened the door and said softly, turning around, trying to smile at Zhong Youyou: "Second Sister, remember to eat more. I will come see you after school. Mom and Dad had gone abroad to deal with things and will be back home tomorrow."

He discovered that he had never smiled at Zhong Youyou before in his previous life, and currently the expression felt stiff on his face.

Second eldest sister raised her eyes and glanced at him, then laid down again, still not responding.

Zhong Xiyou held back the sour feeling in his heart, rubbed his eyes and closed the door, thinking about coming back earlier after school today —— he was in his second year of high school and usually waited for Meng Shixuan, who was in her third year of high school, to be picked up together by the driver after school. Today though, he decided not to wait for Meng Shixuan, so as not to waste the half an hour he could be spending with his second eldest sister.

He turned around and met Meng Shixuan who was coming out of the room carrying a schoolbag.

As usual, Meng Shixuan had a slight smile on her face. Under the coat of her school uniform was a gray knitted dress that outlined her beautiful figure. Her skin was snowy white, and she looked very fresh and pure just like an elegant swan, faintly exuding a mild yet haughty air.

Just like a little princess. In fact, Meng Shixuan was indeed the princess of the Zhong family who has been spoiled since childhood.

Zhong Xiyou has always had a very good relationship with this sister and even unilaterally spoiled her. She was very beautiful and excellent. He always believed that girls should be like older sister Shixuan, so much so that he always turned up his nose at second eldest sister who was like a little pauper when she first arrived at the house.

But now when he looked at Meng Shixuan, he felt her rather offensive to the eyes.

It was clear that everything she got was only by seizing another person’s home for herself. Those nice clothes and pretty earrings were supposed to belong to second eldest sister. She received so much, but in the end, she cowardly ran away by herself at the car accident.

If second eldest sister grew up in the Zhong family and had not suffered those hardships, would she have blossomed into a bigger beauty than Meng Shixuan?

Thinking of this,  a faint indescribable feeling of revulsion emerged from within Zhong Xiyou’s heart.

Meng Shixuan was completely ignorant of this. She asked in surprise: "What's the matter, Xiyou? You don’t look so good, why did you come out of Youyou's room?"

She thought that Zhong Xiyou hated Zhong Youyou, never thought of going in to take a look at Zhong Youyou at all.

"It’s nothing." Zhong Xiyou's always doting expression was unexpectedly appearing to be a bit icy right now. He passed by her, striding out of the villa without waiting for her.

The more he thought about it, the more he couldn't forgive Meng Shixuan.

When Zhong Youyou was burned beyond recognition by the fire from the explosion, perhaps it was because they share the same blood, he could almost feel that same burning pain so acutely that he laid in the hospital for an entire month. It was only just this, but he already couldn’t bear it. How much pain did Zhong Youyou, who had been burned to ashes by the fire, feel?

And at that time, what the hell was Meng Shixuan doing? Inheriting how many billions of property and continuing on to live as a lucky princess?

Meng Shixuan knitted her brows. She didn't think deeply about it, but there was a faint unpleasant expression on her face. When she passed Zhong Youyou's room, she glanced at her room with a complicated look flashing in her eyes.

Blu: Sorry for the long silence. I didn't expect the start of Honours year to be this busy. Not to mention I missed my first lab with my supervisor because the time displayed on my Zoom invitation was in another time zone that was 3 hours later. Man, I really wanted to end myself there ~ Not even milk tea could cheer me up. So learn from my mistakes! Double, triple checking ain't enough! You have to do it 5 times!!! T-T