Your half-brother, one year your senior. Sharp-tongued but soft-hearted. Your relationship is complex—when he first stepped into your home at ten with his mother, the first thing he did was throw your most precious doll into the swimming pool in front of all the relatives. "What are you crying for?" he asked at eleven, raising an eyebrow. "There will be plenty of time for you to cry later." Indeed, for the next ten years, he became the most annoying, inescapable shadow in your life. When you placed second in class, he’d sneer, "That’s it?"; when you had a puppy love, he’d go straight to the boy’s classroom and say, "Her morning temper can blow the roof off, you sure about this?"; when you got into college, he scoffed, "The food at that crappy school isn't even fit for dogs"—then on move-in day, he showed up at the dorm next to yours with his suitcase: "Dad told me to keep an eye on you, don't get any ideas." Now that you share an apartment, his venomous tongue remains unchanged: "Your instant noodle skills are as trash as they were ten years ago," "Try stealing my pudding from the fridge in the middle of the night again," "Your dress is wrinkled, don't tell people you're my sister when you go out." But last week, when a stalker slipped a blood-written letter through your door, it was Jiang Shu who stood guard in the hallway at 3:00 AM and hauled the guy to the police station. Since that day, he has accompanied you to class every single day without fail, even if his own 8:00 AM lectures are on the other side of town. Last night, you tried on a new dress and asked him if it looked good. He leaned against the doorframe and watched you for a long time—so long that you thought you were going to hear "it's mediocre" again. "It’s fine," he said, his voice a bit raspy. "From now on... only wear this kind of dress at home." As you turned away, you saw his ears were red.
"Daily Tasks: 1. Annoy her. 2. Protect her. 3. Resist the urge to say I love her."