Qin Luo didn't get it but respected it. She finished off the veggie bun, then started on the next one, and her eyes lit up when she realized it was a Three Meat Bun.

"Bro, are you still thinking about what Mrs. Qin said this morning?"

"A little… it was kind of unexpected." Qin Huai said. Qin Huai had never doubted Director Qin's love for him. In his eyes, Director Qin loved every child in the orphanage equally, maybe loving him just a tiny bit more.

"But you've always been like this, Bro. I don't think you're withdrawn at all, you just don't like talking to people and you like making snacks," Qin Luo said. "That's perfectly reasonable."

"It's like Mom says, only people who like reading can study well. I don't like reading, so my grades are bad. You don't really like reading that much either, so your grades were just so-so."

"But you love making snacks. You hate getting up early so much, but back in high school you were still willing to get up at 5 a.m. during winter and summer break to make buns, that's why your snacks taste so good."

"And I love eating snacks. No matter how full I am, as long as you specially made it for me, I can eat it all, that's why I can eat so much!" Qin Luo puffed out her chest proudly as she said this. "It's not like I was a big eater from childhood. My appetite was trained up one bite at a time!"

Qin Huai looked at Qin Luo.

"Everyone's time is limited, Bro. All your time is spent on making snacks and studying what snacks I want to eat, so of course you don't have time for classmates. And you don't need to bother with classmates either. I think you're actually very popular. It's you who doesn't want to be friends with them, not them who don't want to be friends with you."

"Or, it's not even that you don't want to be friends with them, it's just that you don't have that hobby. You just don't like making friends."

"Ever since I started middle school, everyone knew I was your little sister. They were all counting on me to help bring them breakfast."

"And Bro, you're actually no different now than before. The only difference is, before it was your classmates coming to our Breakfast Shop every day to buy snacks, and now it's the grandparents and aunties and uncles from the Yunzhong District coming to our Breakfast Shop to buy snacks. Everyone really likes you. If there's any difference… maybe it's that you're a bit snobbish and favor the rich over the poor, and Aunt Chen and them have more money, so you like being friends with Aunt Chen and them more?" Qin Luo kept talking and then fell into thought herself.

Qin Huai, annoyed, gave Qin Luo a hard knock on the head, and Qin Luo almost ducked and covered her head.

"I'm snobbish and favor the rich, you actually said that? When you were at your poorest you owed me more than ten thousand yuan, how come I didn't look down on you?"

Qin Luo giggled. "Bro, just tell me if I'm right or not. Of course, it's also possible you just like making friends with older people."

"Mom has muttered about this at home too, saying you don't really hang out with people your own age, instead you get along great with Aunt Chen and Mr. Luo. She even worried you were cozying up to Mr. Luo for his inheritance, and she asked me to look up online whether what you're doing counts as fraud."

"And what did you find?" Qin Huai was both amused and annoyed.

"For that amount, it's over ten years in prison or life imprisonment, plus a fine or confiscation of property."

Qin Huai gave Qin Luo another irritated knock. Qin Luo clutched her head and yelled, "That really is what I found, I didn't make it up!"

Qin Luo, cheeks puffed with anger, finished off the Three Meat Bun, then started on the last bun. When she discovered the last one was a big meat bun, she was very happy, and her mood instantly cleared up.

Qin Huai was still thinking.

"Bro, you're still not in a good mood?"

"I don't think Mrs. Qin said anything that serious this morning. Going by TV drama plots, when a kid from an orphanage hears something like that, shouldn't they be moved to tears, then sign a five-million check to say they're going to rebuild the orphanage?"

Qin Huai: ?

What kind of TV drama is that from? A script written by Director Qin?

"I'm not in a bad mood," Qin Huai said calmly. "My head's just a bit of a mess."

"I always thought I knew myself pretty well. Then today I suddenly realized I don't understand myself at all."

Speaking of this, Qin Huai looked at Qin Luo, staring straight at her. "Luoluo, don't you think I'm weird?"

Qin Luo shook her head.

"You're totally normal, Bro. What's weird about you?"

"You don't really like going out, and you don't like traveling, but you're willing to take me to the aquarium and to the amusement park, and you even took me to the amusement park in the City."

"You don't really like hanging out with others, but everyone's willing to hang out with you. As long as you feel like going out to play, I'm sure there'd be plenty of people willing to go with you."

"And you're really likable, Bro. Everyone likes you. Even though sometimes I feel like the stuff you say to the grandpas and grandmas and uncles and aunties in the neighborhood are just lies that pop out of your mouth, that just means you're really good at talking!"

"Not to mention your snacks are so delicious. You spend so much time making snacks, of course you don't have time to go out and play and make friends. If that counts as being withdrawn, I think that's totally normal. All the time I would've spent going out with friends, you've spent making snacks for me. How could you not come off as withdrawn?"

"Plus, truly withdrawn people aren't liked by anyone. But you're the opposite, everyone likes you. Your personality is super good, okay!"

"You are absolutely a bright, sunny, cheerful boy!"

"Bro, if you make Four Happiness Dumplings for me this afternoon, I'll go tell Mrs. Qin in a bit that you're not withdrawn at all, she misunderstood you!"

Qin Huai: …

Qin Huai wasn't sure if he himself really was bright and sunny, but he was sure Qin Luo definitely was—maybe a bit too bright and sunny.

In this kid's heart, her brother's sudden emo couldn't compete with Four Happiness Dumplings.

Qin Huai rolled his eyes at Qin Luo, suddenly feeling there wasn't much to emo about.

Qin Luo wasn't wrong. He really hadn't cared about this stuff for the past twenty-something years. There was no need to suddenly start caring a lot the moment he became aware of it. After all, even if he did, he wasn't going to change.

He couldn't just to prove he's actually sunny and cheerful and willing to make friends, stop making snacks and go out every day to socialize. He clocked in at 4 a.m. and got off at 4 p.m.—a 12-hour workday. Where was he supposed to find all that time and energy to go make friends?

If he cut back his work hours just to make friends, that would mean the grandparents and aunties and uncles in Yunzhong District and the nearby office workers would have fewer snacks to eat, and the originally mild competition would suddenly get fierce.

And if someone then casually leaked why Master Qin had reduced his snack-making hours…

Qin Huai suspected the office workers would treat "friendship applications" like resumes and frantically send them to Yunzhong Restaurant every day, telling him there's no need to spend time going out to make friends—there are plenty of friends trying to get in.

The more Qin Huai thought about it, the more amused he became by his own imagination.

"Hey, Bro, you're smiling. That means you're in a good mood now. Bro, will you make Four Happiness Dumplings this afternoon?"

"Sure."

"Then what about beef pie? Oh wait, we probably can't do Baked Buns here, how about beef pancakes?"

"Sure, I'll make them."

"Wow, and I wanna eat lamb shumai too. Bro, can you make lamb shumai?"

"Of course I can."

"Awesome, Bro, you're the best. I also want osmanthus cake, Furong Cake, Green Bean Cake, fried dough stick, and pea cake. Can you make all of those?"

"Of course I can, but if we make all that, the two of us might have to stay at the orphanage tonight. Otherwise going back and forth will waste too much time."

"Stay, of course we have to stay! I'll message Dad in a bit and ask him to bring us a change of clothes."

"Bro, you're really easygoing today. I improved on my last exam and you still weren't this easy to talk to. You're seriously too nice. Can you maybe… uh, every three… no, every one… ah, that won't work. Can you be in a bad mood once every six months?"

Qin Huai shot Qin Luo a look that said, If you still want to be my dear little sister, you'll shut your mouth at the appropriate time.

Qin Luo shut her mouth.

But not for long. A few seconds later, it opened again.

"Heehee, Bro, you really are the best brother in the whole world."

"Mm." Qin Huai nodded. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"Bro, at a time like this, shouldn't you be complimenting me back?"

Qin Huai smiled. "Our Luoluo is also the best little sister in the whole world."

"Hehe." Qin Luo flashed a big toothy grin. "I'm still not as good as you, Bro."