Nine Star Burden

The summer night was breezy and the moon shone brightly in the star-scarce sky.

1In a small private room of an elegantly decorated cafe, the long-haired Han Jiangxue fiddled with a small white porcelain spoon as she stirred the coffee in the cup out of boredom.

Seated opposite her was the short-haired girl who was blabbering on and on continuously with enthusiasm. The two had been chatting since morning until noon.

 2To be precise, the short-haired girl kept talking until the evening, and Han Jiangxue responded periodically, appearing completely distracted.

The short-haired girl didn’t mind it at all, for she understood Han Jiangxue’s character very well. The two grew up together and were childhood friends.

In fact, the short-haired girl was very satisfied with Han Jiangxue for taking the time and effort to listen to her complaints. She was already very content.

“Cuckoo!”

A cuckoo crowed, and Han Jiangxue grabbed her chin. She finally stopped stirring her coffee out of boredom.

Han Jiangxue pulled out her mobile from her bag with a peculiar expression on her face.

“What’s going on? What happened? Did someone confessed to you?” The short-haired girl was instantly interested and her eyes lit up as she hurriedly approached Han Jiangxue.

 After looking at the text message that she had received, Han Jiangxue quickly put her mobile away and said, “Xia Yan, I have to go home.”

 1“It’s so early and you’re already leaving…” Xia Yan was not done with speaking yet but soon stopped because she felt a little embarrassed, for it was almost eight o’clock. “Alright then, I’ll send you home. But you have to tell me who sent you the text message and what the content is about.”

“It’s up to you to choose if you want to send me home or not.” Han Jiangxue stood up and opened the door to leave.

 “Hey, you’re so angst…” Xia Yan looked at Han Jiangxue who was scurrying away in a hurry. She then quickly chased after her.

…

 Three minutes ago.

…

 Jiangbin City, Dongcheng District, Huayuan Estate, Building G7, Room 701 of the 1st floor.

Jiang Xiao looked at the night sky through the window, still feeling a little worried.

 In Jiang Xiao’s fused memory, Han Jiangxue had never once come home at such a late timing. He wondered where on earth she had gone.

After making two phone calls, Han Jiangxue casually expressed assent and hung up. When Jiang Xiao called her for the third time, Han Jiangxue simply told him to go downstairs to buy some instant noodles for himself.

Jiang Xiao was dumbfounded.

If it weren’t for the fusion of Jiang Xiaopi’s memory and emotions, Jiang Xiao wouldn’t be bothered to care about this woman. Ahem, girl.

Han Jiangxue is an Awakened, after all. Surely she couldn’t have gotten into a mishap? 

But then again, this world is much more dangerous. What if the criminal is an Awakened too?

Putting aside the other dangers, what if Han Jiangxue went out for some drinks and karaoke and ended up being taken advantage of? 

Well, she doesn’t seem to be the type to go to nightclubs. 

Hey, I was born to be her younger brother, but I’m acting like her father.

4Jiang Xiao shook his head helplessly. He spent the afternoon at home searching for information, deepened his understanding of the world, and further researched about Star Power. He only finally remembered now that there was something else he had to do.

 It was to delete his inglorious past.

That was, of course, Jiang Xiaopi’s Weibo account.

 1Jiang Xiao used the account password in his memory to log into the Weibo account to see that the account name was “Jiang Xiaopi-mischievous-or-not.”

 

Fortunately, Jiang Xiaopi had only opened his Weibo account today and did not have much activity. The self-introduction video that he recorded at noon had yet to be posted either.

1However, there was another Weibo post before this.

“I want to be a dad!”

 Jiang Xiao stared at the post and nodded silently. Indeed, he’s really domineering and straightforward, he thought.

Eh? Is there a response below?

 Jiang Xiao hurriedly opened the reply, only to discover that it was from a person named Suo Liweng.

It was posted just 20 minutes after this Weibo post. The reply read, “Delete Weibo immediately.”

 Suo Liweng?

Jiang Xiao blinked, for the name was from a stanza of a poem.

Han Jiangxue? 

Han Jiangxue? 

Huh? 

Her name is really poetic. 

It seems that Han Jiangxue is still very concerned about how silly Jiang Xiaopi is on the internet. 

He only started the Weibo account today, why are there already 34 fans?

 1Jiang Xiao clicked on the accounts of his fans one by one, and they turned out to be bots that were selling goods and accessories on Weibo.

Out of the 34 fans, only one was an actual living human, Han Jiangxue.

There seems to be some room for management? 

Jiang Xiao gave it some thought and deleted the only Weibo post while typing on the keyboard.

A minute later, Jiang Xiao pondered about the words he had typed for a while before posting it.

At the same time, Han Jiangxue heard the cuckoo notification tone coming from her mobile phone.

Han Jiangxue followed all of Jiang Xiaopi’s posts on Weibo and she could see the content of the Weibo post on her lock screen without even having to unlock her mobile phone.

–

 Jiang Xiaopi-mischievous-or-not

Just in: Notification from Weibo wb.cn

 Feeling really lonely on this boring night. I really want to go out for a while. I’ll bear with it for ten more minutes. If I can’t tolerate it…

PS: It’s the first day of me having a crush on Little Jiangxue.

3–

 In the cafe, Han Jiangxue put her mobile away and pushed Xia Yan, who had leaned closer towards her. “I have to go home.”

 …

 Back to now.

…

 The black jeep roared and pulled up at the entrance of Huayuan Estate. Xia Yan slammed the brakes abruptly, giving the security officer a great shock.

Han Jiangxue swiftly opened the car door and ran towards the estate.

 

“Hey! Xiaoxue, remember our agreement. I’ll pick you up in three days and we’ll go on an adventure together!” Xia Yan rolled down the window of the passenger seat, leaned over and looked at Han Jiangxue who was walking away.

 Han Jiangxue didn’t even turn around and simply waved her hands casually.

“Hey! Would it kill you to just look at me?” Xia Yan muttered angrily and stomped her foot onto the accelerator pedal.

 Han Jiangxue could no longer be bothered anymore. Her younger brother had just begun to behave well and yet, he was starting to show symptoms of going back to his childish behavior.

 No, I must stop him in time! 

1If that really doesn’t work, I shall slap him again! 

3Han Jiangxue scrambled back home, opened the door and took a look at the clock on the wall in the living room. Fortunately, it took her less than 10 minutes.

The house… is so clean and tidy. Is the kid spring cleaning? 

While looking around the living room, Han Jiangxue walked towards Jiang Xiao’s door and pushed it open forcefully in a hostile manner.

She was greeted with the sight of the skinny Jiang Xiao leaning against the window.

In the dim lighting, Jiang Xiao seemed to be emitting a faint glow that was flickering together with a subtle wave of Star Power that lingered around him.

Is he absorbing Star Power? 

He doesn’t look like he’s planning to go out at all.

Jiang Xiao suddenly asked, “You actually know that you have to come home?”

1

Han Jiangxue was bewildered.

Jiang Xiao asked, “Do you believe that I can whip up a spread of shredded meat, sweet-and-sour fish, and potato and beef stew?”

Han Jiangxue asked derisively with raised brows, “You?”

Jiang Xiao chuckled and turned to look at her. “You don’t believe it? Since you don’t believe it, why aren’t you cooking yet?”

3Han Jiangxue was speechless.

2Jiang Xiao turned around and said, “In the future, you will be responsible for cooking while I clean the house and do the dishes. It’s settled, then. Come home on time from tomorrow onwards.”

3Han Jiangxue took a deep breath and felt that her brains were bulging. “Is your Star Power full now?”

“Huh?”

Han Jiangxue walked towards the closet, opened it and pulled out a sports attire. “Change into this.”

Jiang Xiao looked at Han Jiangxue warily and asked, “What are you trying to do?”

 Han Jiangxue said coldly, “Your body is too fragile and you can only absorb and condense a small amount of Star Power. You need to exercise to strengthen your body and improve your physical fitness.”

“Now?”

“Yes. Get moving and go for a night jog with me.” Han Jiangxue turned around and exited his room. “You have five minutes. I’ll go get changed.”

 Jiang Xiao said bitterly, “But I’m still hungry.”

“You may skip dinner and lose some weight,” said Han Jiangxue as she walked further and further away.

1Lose weight? 

I’m already so skinny and you want me to lose more weight? 

2Are you a devil? 

3