Burden of Beauty

The nervous teenage boy quickly sprung back in place next to his friend. The boy didn't blame him for backing out of the bet. They muttered about 'having no chance' and 'way out of their league' before shuffling out of the store.

Meanwhile, Cui Baozhai's bright smile gleamed up at Cui Xuefeng, "Gege!" She jumped up and hugged his waist.

Cui Xuefeng didn't actually care about the boys. He was relieving his little creature's nerves. It would also make her more prone to trusting him, reducing the possibility of her turning on him in the future. "What?"

The creature didn't say what she wanted and repeated again, "Gege!" She buried her face into his chest.

Cui Xuefeng understood a bit through her heartbeat and other tells. He patiently put his hand on her back and replied, "What?"

"Gege!"

"What?"

"Gege!" She rubbed her face on his shirt and looked up with her beaming smile, "I just wanted to call you!"

"Good." He nodded and patted her head.

The girl laughed.

He pulled away and reached into a bag to pull out a sports jacket they'd just bought. He put it over her shoulders and rubbed her arms. Her temperature had dropped while she was waiting. Two degrees colder was probably just because of the fright that the innocent boy gave her. He needed to keep a close eye on his little creature in the future.

"Is the wait too long? I can come back later."

The girl pulled the jacket and shook her head, "Gege, I want to go with you!"

If it were before, she wouldn't have the confidence to go against his words. Now she wanted to communicate with him about what she wanted.

He nodded, "Good." He reached down to grab the bags.

Light filled her eyes and she beamed up at him. She held his arm as they walked over. When they reached the next genre he was going to glance through he gently tugged his arm free. She watched him scan through books for a moment in awe. Although she never thought he could actually read it that quickly. Then she took the bags from him in one hand to free both his hands and took a corner of his shirt between her fingers. For the next hour, she followed him around the store like this, proving herself a competent little duckling.

Cui Xuefeng finished his preliminary scan. He now had a better understanding of the level of knowledge humans held. He kept in mind the pacing at which humans expected other humans to learn things. He could imitate this in the future.

He put down the last book and took the bags back from the little creature. He led her back through some of the sections to pick up a book here or there.

"What books are you buying?" She looked at the books. He had picked one from the self-help section, "The Burden of Beauty?" She glanced at her brother and nodded. The next one was learning material for a martial arts style. Lastly was a book titled "Keeping Balance in the Environment" she couldn't tell if it was targeted towards hunters or scientists by the cover.

They bought the books and left the store.

"You should be hungry by now. Would you like a snack or a meal?" Cui Xuefeng looked down. He was holding all the bags again.

Cui Baozhai didn't notice her now-empty hand as she pondered over the books. "What does Gege want?"

"I no longer require regular intake of sustenance. I can maintain myself with mana. You should be fine with a filling snack for now. There is a good shop for scallion pancakes this way." He smoothly shrugged off her deflection. He led her away.

It took her a moment to come to herself, "What? Mana?" She yelped. She lowered her voice and leaned toward him, "Gege, did you awaken?"

Cui Xuefeng bent down to give her access. She looked so excited. Her cheeks were flushed and her bright smile adorned her pink lips. She looked ready to start jumping up and down. He stared down at her calmly for a moment. After she had calmed down a bit he nodded, "Yes."

She squealed and tossed her arms around his neck. He stiffened for a moment. She was touching all of his weak points at once. She grabbed his hand and tried to lead him away, "We should tell mom right away! She will be so excited!"

He sighed at the little creature. Even though he'd tried to make it as casual as possible it had still resulted in an explosion. He had already learned from his reading and learning that it was a good thing, otherwise, he would have hidden it.

He knew she was worrying about money during this trip. But because she didn't dare go against her big brother, and trusted him on the matter of finances, she went along with it. Now that her brother had awakened it would be much easier to make up for their mom's hospital bills.

The little creature finally noticed he didn't budge.

She stopped pulling and looked back. He was still standing casually as if he didn't feel her pulling on him at all. She got a little curious. She pulled on him with all her might. He didn't even waver. She went behind him to push with her shoulder or tried to move him from the side. She had forgotten all about taking him to their mother. It was as if she'd found a new game. She laughed and giggled every time he'd raise a brow at her useless efforts. Then she'd scramble to another side and try something else. Rinse, repeat.

Eventually, he put his hand on her back and led the tired little thing to her snack. It had been a long and exciting day for her. In the end, she fell asleep in the taxi. He carried her and their items into the house.