Because… there were only three people in the family photo.
That meant… their family had actually only ever had three people. There had never been a fourth person.
"Bro, what are you looking at?"
When Ethan heard the voice behind him, his whole body suddenly jolted.
Cold sweat instantly broke out all over his back.
Because… the owner of the voice at this moment, Ethan's nominal younger sister, Riyana.
This person wasn't in the family photo at all.
Rip!
Without another word, Ethan directly tore the printed paper in his hand into shreds.
And Riyana had already run behind Ethan at this moment. She slapped Ethan on the shoulder and said, "Let me see?"
"There's nothing worth looking at. It's just some boring advertisements."
Ethan not only tore the A4 paper to pieces, he even casually threw it into the trash can, destroying all traces.
Riyana looked at the trash can suspiciously. Seeing that Ethan had already torn the advertisement into pieces, she didn't say anything more.
"By the way, why did you come here?", Afraid that Riyana would ask more questions, Ethan hurried outside the shop, changing the subject as he walked, "Weren't you doing your homework at home?"
"Mom was worried that you'd be out for too long, so she asked me to come find you!"
Riyana answered with a grin.
And although it was clearly broad daylight now, Ethan still felt uneasy as he said, "Then how did you know I was here?"
"Bro, you're so weird," Riyana looked at Ethan strangely and said, "You were the one who said earlier that you were coming here to get Dad's phone back. If I didn't come here to find you, where else could I find you?"
"Did I say that?"
The alarm bells went off in Ethan's mind.
Because from beginning to end, he had never told Riyana where he was going.
Then how did Riyana know…
"Of course you did!", Riyana hooked her arm around Ethan's arm and said, "Did you get your phone or not! We need to hurry and buy the braised goose and vegetables, otherwise if we're late, the market will close."
Originally… Ethan thought Riyana's hand would be cold, or that there would be some kind of strange feeling.
But the moment Riyana hooked her arm around his, Ethan realized that he seemed to have been overthinking it, because Riyana's hand was warm, and her skin was soft.
She was simply a living person.
'Looks like… I am the one who got it wrong.'
'Maybe when Dad took that kind of family photo, Riyana just wasn't there?'
'It isn't impossible.'
But Ethan still didn't want Riyana to know too much, so he lied, "I didn't get the phone. The boss said it won't be fixed until tomorrow."
"Oh, I see. Then let's go buy the vegetables first."
Riyana acted as if she didn't care, but Ethan noticed that the corners of her eyes kept glancing toward the second-hand phone stall several times.
Then, the two of them went to the market and bought some of the things Mom wanted.
By the time they returned home, large patches of fiery clouds had already appeared in the sky. The autumn dusk passed quite quickly. Once the fiery clouds appeared, it would definitely be dark within half an hour.
After the two returned home, Ethan handed the vegetables and the remaining money back to Mom.
Mom didn't say anything either. She simply stuffed the money back into her wallet, then silently carried the vegetables into the kitchen. She didn't even ask whether he had gotten the phone, as if she had known already.
Mom strangely didn't ask, and Ethan was naturally happy to have it easy.
Dinner was very plentiful.
But the Dad that Mom spoke of still didn't come back.
Ethan suspected that Dad, who was locked in the rooftop water tank, might never reset again, for some unknown reason.
Mom was somewhat disappointed, and she also seemed somewhat absent-minded while eating.
Ethan had already prepared a bag between his thighs. He pretended to lower his head and shovel rice into his mouth while shoveling all the rice into the plastic bag, then hid it in his crotch and took it back to his room to throw away.
Dinner passed like this without any trouble.
Next… it was time for the whole family to take turns showering.
When Ethan entered the bathroom, he had already noticed that the water coming from the showerhead had a very strong smell. It was very likely the water from the rooftop water tank, so he didn't dare wash with it.
He then turned on the faucet and found that the water from the faucet didn't smell like anything.
Only then did he use the faucet water to rinse himself casually.
After nine o'clock, the whole family turned off the lights and went to sleep.
Not long after Mom returned to her room, Riyana quietly came over and knocked on the door. Ethan originally didn't want to open the door, but unfortunately, Mom had rubbed open a hole in the bedroom door, so there was nothing he could do even if he didn't want to open it.
Riyana simply reached her hand through, twisted open the bedroom door that Ethan had locked from the inside, and ran in.
"When you enter someone else's room, can't you knock first?"
Ethan looked at Riyana somewhat speechlessly.
But Riyana rolled her eyes and said, "You want me to wake Mom up, right? Besides, when I lent you the key this afternoon, didn't we already agree on this? You're not planning to go back on your word again, are you?"
"I'm not going back on it, but let's make this clear first!", Ethan didn't care whether there was something wrong with Riyana or not and directly said, "You sleep on the floor, I sleep on the bed! You can go get your quilt and pillow and come over. As for sleeping together, forget it!"
"Bro, how can you be like this! How can you bear to watch your little sister sleep on the floor and catch a cold!", Riyana immediately complained, "And I even worried that you'd be hungry because you hadn't eaten tonight and brought you a sandwich. You've really disappointed me!"