Absolutely Spoiled – Chapter 1

Translated by: Cozy Translations

　Chapter 1

You are the joy in my heart, and also the one and only.
—Inscription

The warm weather still lingered around in September. The air was so hot, it made people feel restless.

The skies were getting dark, the golden sun slowly being covered by the night skies. Outside, the lights were lit by the people, thousands of lights gathering together, dancing in and lighting up the night.

A teenage girl wearing a sky-blue miniskirt got off from a taxi. Her soft and delicate pearl-colored high-heeled sandals stepped on the ground. The exposed parts of her feet gave off a white glow under the lights.

Yu Zhiyi gently let loose her hair that was originally put up in a bun. Tugging on the tulle skirt, she subconsciously tightly grabbed the silent bell on her wrist.

Gazing at the brightly lit KTV¹, she awkwardly stepped forward, then immediately stepped back. Only four hours and eight minutes more and it would be her most, most, most favorite childhood friend Shi Yi’s birthday–18 years, an adult!

And she, was preparing to confess.

Yu Zhiyi fiddled with the Bluetooth headphone in her ear, her voice was quite soft as she spoke to the other person, “Erer, I’m a little scared…”

“What are you scared of! You’ve known each other for so many years, don’t be a coward, just do it!”

“But…this time I really…” Yu Zhiyi hesitated.

One hour ago, her good friend Jiang Mi’er told her that she coincidentally bumped into Shi Yi at the KTV. She saw him and his friends enter a private room, and they were even carrying a cake.

After midnight tonight, tomorrow would be the day Shi Yi turns 18. Such an important birthday, he was celebrating with his friends in advance, but didn’t tell her to come along? Ever since they met each other, this is the first time something like this happened!

Jiang Mi’er pretended she was one of their classmates and took the opportunity to ask around, even getting a slice of cake in the process. She hid in the corner and reported the latest news to her (Yu Zhiyi), “It’s very lively inside. It’s your childhood friend’s birthday, if you came it’d be even more celebratory!”

“It’s not the same this time…” Other people were celebrating his birthday in an open manner, but she was on pins and needles because she wanted to confess to her crush!

She lowered her head to stare at the gift bag she was carrying. One glance was enough to see there was an unopened black square gift box. This was the coming-of-age present she had prepared for three whole months to give to Shi Yi. Other than the practical gift inside the black box, there was also a red heart-shaped card that revealed the teenage girl’s heartfelt feelings.

Jiang Mi’er suddenly yelled out, “Not good, I just discovered there’s a girl who’s been staring at Shi Yi this whole time. She’s even singing those sweet love songs, I bet she’s harboring some thoughts towards Shi Yi.”

“Ah ah ah no way, she can’t!” Vinegar², what a great thing.

The provoked Yu Zhiyi felt a “bang” go off in her brain. When she regained her senses, she was already standing in front of Room 526.

The girl’s delicate and fair little hand was pressed against the door. The other hand carrying the gift bag was trembling non-stop.

She pricked up her ears, suddenly hearing the song inside switch. The moment the melody came out, she knew the saw. It was the prelude of [Love Confession]³. A nice female voice came out through the microphone: “I want to invite one of the male students present to sing this with me.”

Follow, a chorus of male voices became rowdy: “Today is Shi Yi’s birthday, Shi Yi you go!”
The girl had a joyful smile, “Alright, then I want to invite Shi Yi to…”

“No way!” Yu Zhiyi couldn’t hold back any longer and pushed the door to enter.

The first person she saw was the youth sitting on the edge of the sofa. His eye-catching long legs stretched out naturally, and his slender and long arms placed against the cushion. His naturally curved fingers were propping up his head, his face a picture of laziness.

Everyone in the room turned to look at the girl who suddenly barged in.

The youth slowly lifted his eyes, his thick black eyelashes sweeping across his lower eyelids. A pair of amorous and charming peach blossom eyes seemed to naturally carry electricity.

*Childhood*

When Yu Zhiyi was first born, she was so skinny she didn’t even cry. Only when the nurse who was holding her patted her butt a few times did she finally open her mouth and cry out. Even then her voice was quite frail.

Mother Yu, Ruan Qing, did not have sufficient breast milk. Moreover, at the time, they did not have much money and were unable to afford supplements that could provide additional nutrition. It was a problem to just feed the child.

The relatives were all saying that this child would not be easy to bring up. To put it rudely, it was easy for her to die. Hearing this so much, Ruan Qing also felt extremely distressed.

Yet the complete opposite situation was happening in the neighboring Shi family living across the courtyard.

The Shi family was quite wealthy. Although they were neighbors that lived in the same courtyard, the value of their house was incomparable! There were many families living in this courtyard. Even if you tried to go up, the building was capped at two stories, and the interior decoration was extremely simple. On the other hand, the Shi family lived in a single-family building, and all three floors were made of concrete. It occupied a large area, and the lighting was good as well.

Three months ago, a little fatty was added to the Shi family. He was born white and chubby, and not too long after, he looked very cute. Everyone adored him.

Little Zhiyi was never full and cried no matter if it was day or night. It was so noisy, the neighbors would knock on their door. Ruan Qing was driven to her wit’s end and left with no choice. Thickening her face⁴, carried her skinny and frail daughter to knock on Shi family’s door.

The female master of Shi family was named Ning Suya. The first time she saw little Zhiyi, her heart ached so much! Women who just became mothers were originally more emotional. Unable to bear seeing the child suffer, she carefully held the little doll in her arms, her gaze full of pity.

“We’re all mothers here. I already secretly told you, if I give some for her to eat, it should be enough.” Ning Suya had been nourished very well during her postpartum confinement. Her own son would not finish all her milk, so her breasts would often become swollen with milk, making it a troublesome matter as well. Now a little doll was sent to her doorsteps in need of nutrition, which would help resolve her troubles as well.

Ruan Qing bowed in gratitude multiple times, extremely thankful towards Ning Suya.

Little Zhiyi’s food problem was solved, and her body slowly grew as well.

—

Little 8-month old Shi Yi liked to crawl around the sofa. Little Zhiyi who was three months younger than him couldn’t even sit upright.

Little 10-month old Shi Yi began to imitate the way the adults spoke. At the same time, 7-month old little Zhiyi could only babble along with im.

2-year old Shi Yi constantly absorbed the knowledge he learned from his surroundings. The directions to a place, the words he had heard, usually he would memorize it after only hearing it once and could even repeat it back to you. Yet little Zhiyi’s speech development was delayed, and she didn’t know how to speak yet. Occasionally, she would say “Brudder, Yiyi, Mammy⁵,” she didn’t know how to say “Daddy” yet.

Only later would they realize that the first word little Zhiyi said wasn’t “brudder” but “brother”.⁶

The day Shi Yi turned 3, Father Shi bought a little cake home for the two kids to eat. Shi Yi was so excited, he didn’t even eat before pestering his dad to light up the birthday candles. When little Zhiyi saw the pretty flames, she reached her hand out to grab them, only to wind up being burnt until she sobbed loudly.

In order to coax her, Father Shi put the best parts of the cake into her bowl. Yet little Zhiyi didn’t eat it at all, staring at the fresh and tender strawberries on the edge of the cake.

“Little sister likes to eat strawberries!” Shi Yi used a fork to pick up a heart-shaped strawberry, bringing it to her lips.

Little Zhiyi did indeed like it, she didn’t let go after biting it.

“This is my fork!” Shi Yi, who was intelligent at a young age, tried to reason with her.

But little Zhiyi remained indifferent, her eyes as big as grapes blinked twice.

Just as Father Shi and Mother Shi were about to give another fork to their son…

They saw the 3-year old Shi Yi patiently wait for her to finish this strawberry, then imitated the adults and patted little Zhi Yi’s head with a helpless yet pampering voice, “What do I do with you”

Father and Mother Shi: ???

—

Father and Mother Yu were busy with work and would leave little Zhiyi with the Shi family during the daytime.

Ning Suya never felt that it was troublesome because little Zhiyi would pretty much just obediently sit. As long as she fed fully, she would never cry or make a ruckus.

Little Zhiyi usually never moved, a stark contrast from Shi Yi who liked to step on the sofa and climb walls.

Seeing the well-behaved little doll, then looking at the troublesome one crawling all over the floor, even the good-tempered Ning Suya was angered by her son until she was hopping, “Shi Yi! If you throw the space sand on the ground again, I will take away all your toys!”

Three-and-a-half-year-old Shi Yi was already a little villain. Even when he was naughty, the moment he detected his mother was truly angry, he would be the fastest to admit his mistakes, “Mommy, I won’t throw it ever again.”

Finished, he ran to sit down next to little Zhiyi, temporarily being an obedient little boy.

After Ning Suya went to clean the floor, Shi Yi began to tug little Zhiyi’s soft hand, “Little sister, let’s play together.”

Little Zhiyi turned her head to dumbly look at him. Her pink lips formed a pout as she lowered her head to blow air on the back of his hand. It turns out, when he was playing with his toys earlier he had accidentally scratched his hand.

He suddenly remembered that he didn’t wash his hands after playing with the space sand, and shrank backwards, accidentally hitting little Zhiyi’s mouth. Her teeth were hurting from the impact and the delicate little Zhiyi suddenly began to cry.

Ning Suya rushed over carrying a clothes hanger in her hand, “Shi Yi! You dare to bully your little sister?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose!”

Boys were more mischievous, after making trouble multiple times, the angered Ning Suya punished him to stand facing the wall to reflect. She picked up the toy ball on the ground as she walked over, nagging again. “Look at all your toys on the ground. You’re not allowed to eat lunch today.”

The three-and-half-year-old Shi Yi was very smart and knew how to analyzed problems. He knew how to accept his losses and went to stand in the corner without arguing. Raising the toy ball over his head, he faced the wall.

When his stomach growled from hunger, he secretly turned around and peeked, seeing his mom pick up little Zhiyi and put sit her down on the chair. He turned back around, his head hanging down.

Ning Suya scooped out half a bowl of rice for the child and also picked some of her favorite vegetables to put into the child’s bowl. Afterwards, she went to the kitchen to prepare her own lunch.

At this moment, little Zhiyi who was kneeling on the chair moved!

Her white and chubby little hand carried the bowl while her other hand held onto the table as she got down from the chair. The spoon in the bowl almost fell out and she firmly grasped it in her hand.

Discerning the direction Shi Yi was at, little Zhiyi held the bowl as she slowly waddled towards him. When she finally got to him, she painstakingly raised high her pink kid’s bowl to give to him. Her arms were raised so high, the bowl unsteadily swayed.

Shi Yi shook his head, “Why are you giving me your food?” He made a mistake and didn’t dare to accept it.

Little Zhiyi raised her tender pink face and stubbornly held the bowl out. A milky voice drifted out as she said her first clear sentence: “Brother, eat.”

“Da—da—“

The ball fell on the ground.

A soft and sticky sweet “brother”, directly turned Shi Yi dumb on the spot.

Author’s Note: This is a very heartwarmjng story about childhood sweethearts, Yiyi really grew up under Shi Yi’s pampering~ The childhood timeline will go by pretty quickly.

Translator’s comments: Ahh, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! I love all the fluff we were given in just the first chapter, they’re too cute. While this is ultimately a romance novel, there are many more relationships explored in this story, especially familial, that (in my opinion) are very realistically portrayed. We have our fluff and our heartwarming moments, but there’s also moments that did cause me to tear up. For a relatively short romance novel, it is written very well, so I hope you’ll love it as much as I do!

1. Shorthand for karaoke lounge
2. To say someone is jealous in Chinese means to 吃醋 or eat vinegar
3. A song by Jay Chou
4. Meaning to become bolder or more shameless
5. Baby speak for [elder] brother, Yiyi (her name), and Mommy
6. Meaning the word with the correct pronunciation