Chapter 161, The Next Day
Maybe it was because I was tired from the journey, or maybe it was because I got up too early yesterday and didn’t get enough sleep.

So the next day, when Zhuo got up, it was no longer considered morning. Specifically, if he slept for another half an hour, he would be just in time for lunch.

Zhuo stood up and picked up the blanket that had fallen to the ground at some point. He yawned as he folded the blanket.

"…Aren't you going to buy a bicycle? Why didn't anyone call me?"

Although Ling suggested buying a bicycle yesterday, he had just returned yesterday, and both Ling and Zhuo got up very early, so they planned to rest at home for a day before going out.

But since it's a holiday, there's no problem even if I sleep until noon.

…Zhuo sat at the head of the bed, stretched his body, and then savored the taste.

uneasy.

A little lonely.

The feeling of sleeping until noon and no one waking you up is more uncomfortable than being woken up by someone... It wasn't like this a year ago.

Zhuo slowly got up, changed his clothes, tidied himself up, walked down the stairs and came to the living room.

In the living room, Rei was already there, sitting around the table with Sachiko and Shuichi.

Zero leaned over to look at something that looked like a large booklet, reading it so intently that he didn't even notice that he had come down.

"Good morning. What are you watching?"

"Ah, good morning, it's actually already noon~" said Sa Chiko.

Only then did Zero turn around and find that he had already gone downstairs. He stared at him, blinking without understanding the meaning, and then nodded.

There was no trace of tiredness in her expression.

After saying hello, she turned her gaze back to the book.

Zhuo tilted his head and wondered what was going on. He also leaned over to look over there... and then his expression fell little by little.

"…I say, why are you looking at the photo album when I'm not around?"

Zhuo muttered in a low voice.

In the extra-thick notebook, there were a number of extra-large photos protected by a transparent film. In the photos, there was a familiar-looking child, with his eyelids half-drooped, standing listlessly between the smiling Sachiko and the stern-faced Shuichi.

Zhuo's parents started taking photos of him when he was very young, and they cherish these memories very much, even to the point that Zhuo has hardly ever seen the photo album... Of course, it may also be because he has never wanted to look at it.

But the problem is that they showed the album to zero.

The open photo album shows my childhood self. The photos mostly show me looking more immature than I am now, up to junior high school.

In fact, this is nothing.

Just some photos.

The issue is……

Seeing a photo of himself wearing open-crotch overalls, covering his lower body with a look of despair, and almost crying... At this moment, Zhuo wanted to hold the photo, but Sa Chiko got there first and hugged him in her arms.

He could only turn down his lips and glare at Sa Chiko, who was so amiable and still proudly showing off her photo album.

"Eh? Zhuo also wants to see photos of himself as a child? Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"What are you talking about, do you want to lose your son?"

"Can't I see it?" Sa Chizi smiled.

"It's not that you can't do it, but I don't recommend it. I advise you to be kind."

"I think it's okay. It's so cute."

"..."

I don’t know what Sha Qianzi meant by this little sentence, but Zhuo felt a deep malice.

Moreover, even if he knew that the meaning was that the child's immaturity was cute, Zhuo would not be happy. Facing Zhuo's glare, his mother Sha Qianzi not only did not restrain herself, but even became more aggressive... Zhuo turned his head and looked away.

"Oh, how great. Rei-chan also likes watching it." These are what Sachiko said.

"I don't like it at all. I just want to laugh when I see it."

"Romanov really likes Zhuo. As a parent, I am very happy to see my son have such a reliable person by his side." These are what Xiuyi said.

wash:"……"

In the corner of his vision, after hearing what Shuichi said, Zero still looked up at him calmly.

The four of them all knew that the 'like' Xiu mentioned was not the kind of romantic like, so naturally they would not overreact.

However, when Zhuo just woke up, he found out that the photo of himself wearing open-crotch pants as a child had been exposed without his knowledge... His shame became even stronger.

Zhuo plopped down on the sofa, indicating that he didn't want to pay attention to these people anymore. Then his parents smiled at him.

"Don't be upset. There really is a good kid around you who will accept you no matter what, right?" said Sa Chiko.

"..."

"But Zhuo, it's not good that you didn't tell us in advance."

Shuichi seems to have realized that the relationship between Zhuo and Ling is not what they imagined. I don't know whether he learned it from Sa Chiko or guessed it himself. I guess it's the former.

"Now that you know it, it's okay. It's not a big deal."

"That's really not honest," Shuichi looked at Ling, "It must be hard for you to take care of people like this all the time."

"will not."

Zero shook his head calmly.

“Oh my,” Sa Chizi clapped her hands excitedly and said, “What a wonderful child! I wish she was our daughter.”

The parents looked at Ling with satisfaction, and also cast a different kind of glance towards Zhuo, causing Zhuo's fatigue level to continue to rise.

Zhuo didn't want to respond.

"…I feel like I can't stay here even though this is my hometown."

Because of his parents' personalities, especially Sa Chiko, Zhuo had expected it to turn out like this.

But even so, he would feel awkward and uncomfortable as the one being teased. Zhuo's parents clearly had too many expectations of Ling, which made Zhuo mentally restless.

Zhuo sighed, then grabbed the photo album in despair, put it on his knees and started flipping through it.

Although most of the photos that Ling had seen were ordinary parent-child photos, the first half included photos from the period of open-crotch pants, including baby photos.

Strangely enough, this was actually the first time Zhuo had seen a photo of himself as a child.

——All of them looked listless.

I have half-moon eyes with half-drooping eyelids. I have had them like this since I was a child.

Even some of the photos that were taken by Sa Chiko as a prank on him, in which she made him wear women's clothing, looked lifeless.

As a reborn person, Zhuo was probably very precocious in the eyes of others. He didn't like playing with sand or anything like that with other children since he was a child... Therefore, Sa Chiko once made him wear a little girl's puffy skirt to go to school just to make him have fun.

During that time, I was also laughed at by groups of human cubs.

Now I can't even remember their names.

Later, when he was in junior high school, his family was considered relatively well-off, so he left and went to Tokyo.

Now that I think about it, there are really no memories worth reminiscing about in my past life.

(End of this chapter)