I'm going to be your bride when I grow up? The ten-day period passed in the blink of an eye, and Ning Zhiyun's agreed time with Uncle Xing had arrived. She could no longer use school as an excuse, and what she needed to prepare for was almost ready, so that day she drove her own car back to the Ning family home.

  At dinner time, as usual, she was the only one facing a full table of dishes. She chewed her rice like chewing wax, and Huang Guoxing, who was beside her, asked with concern seeing her listless look.

  "Miss, are you uncomfortable? Or is this food not to your taste?"

  Ning Zhiyun smiled and suddenly shoveled a few mouthfuls of rice into his mouth.

  "No, maybe it's just too hot outside and I've lost my appetite!"

  Huang Guoxing put down his heart, turned around and walked to the kitchen, instructing the chef to prepare some cooling desserts for Miss to eat later. When he came back, Ning Zhiyan had already put down her rice bowl.

  "Miss, I've ordered the kitchen to prepare some snacks and desserts, they'll be sent to your room later." Compared to Ning Pei and her husband, Huang Guo Xing is obviously more considerate of Ning Zhi Yan. At least, he would remember her appetite, but for Ning Pei and her husband, such trivial matters were never on their mind.

  "Uh-huh, thanks Uncle Xing, I have to go out for a bit, I'll be back home around 11 o'clock."

  Ning Zhiyun took the red tea handed over by Huang Guoxing and took a sip.

  "Oh! Then I'll arrange for a driver, it's so late, it's not safe for you to go out alone."

  Ning Zhiyun had expected this and nodded his head in understanding, knowing that he wouldn't have the same freedom as when he was in university.

  "Uh-huh, okay, Uncle Xing, in these ten days that I've been at school, have my parents come back?"

  In Ning Zhiyun's view, this home is like a gas station for parents. They only come back to refuel when they've run out of energy from wandering around outside, and then continue on their way again.

  "Uh, the lady came back a few days ago and told me some things. She left again the next day, saying she had to go abroad for a week to take care of something. However, she should be back today. She also said that you shouldn't run around everywhere today, as she has something to discuss with you."

  Ning Zhiyun responded with a "Hmm, okay! I know."

  Uncle Xing didn't mention Dad's whereabouts, which means that Dad hasn't returned home for ten days. He probably went to inspect some place again. It seems that the argument with Mom and Dad the other day didn't bother them at all. Then, will they also ignore what I'm going to do next? Ning Zhiyan finished drinking his tea under Uncle Xing's smiling gaze, stood up, and walked out of the dining hall towards the door.

  "Uncle Xing, I'm going for a walk in the woods, I need to leave around 8 o'clock, can you help me arrange a car?"

  Ning Zhiyun slowly walked out of the villa gate, and the garden full of expensive flowers was now in full bloom with colorful flowers. She casually picked a pink peony, sniffed its fragrance, and stepped onto the small path outside the garden.

  It was a large cherry blossom forest, and it was early summer. The cherry blossoms' brilliant flowering season had passed, and the dense leaves on the cherry trees grew densely all over the tree. Because Ning Zhiyun and Ning Xiwu brother and sister loved to play in the forest since childhood, the forest was filled with lights everywhere. Although the sky was already dusk, the forest was still as bright as daylight.

  Unconsciously, Ning Zhiyun walked into the depths of the forest to the largest cherry blossom tree. Under the bright lights, the knife marks on the trunk were still very clear. Those horizontal lines were the heights of the brother and sister since Ning Zhiyun was six years old.

  Ning Zhiyun stretched out his hand and touched these engraved lines, his thoughts drifting back to many years ago...

  Six-year-old Ning Zhiyun, with two braids tied up like cow horns, wearing a white dress, stuck close to the tree trunk. Taking advantage of her brother's inattention, she tiptoed high on her black leather shoes.

  "Yuner, stand up straight, don't tiptoe!"

  At the age of ten, Ning Xiyu was like a strict instructor, forcing her to stand up straight. The little girl had no choice but to follow her brother's instructions, and when she turned around, she saw that the line marking her height on the tree trunk was much lower than her brother's, so she pouted, clearly unhappy.

  "Brother, I'm not a dwarf, did you carve my line too low?" The little girl loudly muttered in protest.

  At the age of ten, Ning Xiwu was already taller than his peers. As a fifth-grader, he looked like a junior high school student in terms of height. On the other hand, Ning Zhiyun, who had just entered elementary school, was short and small, only reaching his older brother's chest.

  "Yuner, what's the matter with you? You're so petite and lovely, like a doll! It's cute!" Ning Xiwei comforted her, tugging gently on the cowlick braid she had just helped Yuner style.

  "I don't want to be petite and cute, I want to be as tall as Xiaoyu sister!"

  Xiao Yu is Ning Xi Wei's classmate, often chasing after Ning Xi Wei to ask about homework after school. The two of them standing together are quite eye-catching and matching. Ning Zhi Yun often hears his brother's classmates say that this Xiao Yu sister is his brother's girlfriend.

  "When you grow up to be as tall as Little Sister Yu, you will definitely be taller than her!"

  Ning Xi thought she was just upset about her height, so he comforted her.

  "I don't want to, I want to be as tall as Xiaoyu sister now, I want to go to school and get off work with my brother every day, so others won't say that Xiaoyu sister is my brother's girlfriend again!"

  It seems that this little girl thought that if she were as tall as Little Yu, people would say that she was Brother's girlfriend. As for what a girlfriend is, how could a six-year-old understand? At the time, it was just a tyrannical idea - Brother could only be hers and couldn't belong to anyone else.

  "Yuner be good, brother doesn't have a girlfriend."

  Ten-year-old Ning Xiyu, with a pair of dark eyes filled with doting, had a serious expression guaranteeing his little sister, and the little girl looked up at him with a sweet smile.

  "Uh-huh! Brother, you have to remember, you can't have a girlfriend. You have to wait for me to grow up, and when I'm as tall as you are, I want to be your bride! Let's make a pinky promise!" She said, stretching out her small finger to seal the promise with her brother.

  A six-year-old girl, having just finished reading Snow White, gazed at her handsome older brother with eyes full of imagination, picturing herself as the beautiful princess and her brother as the dashing Prince Charming.

  From that day on, after getting a guarantee from his brother, Ning Zhiyun never saw the scene of his brother and the girl walking together again on their way home from school.

  Ning Zhiyun came back to her senses, still stroking the concave and convex lines, thinking of the situation at that time, thinking of the words she said when she was six years old. The 22-year-old Ning Zhiyun only felt a burning sensation on her face. A six-year-old girl didn't understand the meaning of those words, but a 22-year-old did!

  It was a memory buried in the deepest layer, awakened by these lines. But why did I suddenly come here as if possessed by a ghost?

  Although she didn't want to admit it, she was very clear about who the ghost in her heart was! Before dinner, she sat on the sofa with her laptop and opened her brother's email account. Inside, apart from the photos they took together over the past few days, there were also some photos taken at the base.

  She just wanted to care more about her brother's life, so she opened one by one photo album.

  Originally, she just went to take a look out of curiosity, but after seeing it, her heart felt depressed. She thought that in the base, there were only men in uniform. But in many photos, there was a female soldier standing next to her brother. This female soldier was very beautiful, and standing next to her brother, she looked just as compatible as Xiaoyu sister did back then.

  Who is this female soldier? What's her name? Why does she always stand beside her brother? What's the relationship between her and her brother?

  These piles of problems have her entangled, to the point where dinner is as tasteless as chewing wax. Although her brother said he didn't like women, she couldn't let go and subconsciously seemed to reject that female soldier just like she did with Xiaoyu sister back then.

  And her current mood is surprisingly similar to that of a naive and innocent child.

  But she can no longer ask her brother for such a promise as she did back then! And it's clear that she can't shout out to make an appointment with her brother and say with a straight face: "When I grow up, I want to be your bride!"