Even though she was upset about being kept in the dark, Qin Xue knew this was Su Yun’s decision to make.
Still, she was upset.
“?”
“Ah?”
Su Yun froze for a moment, her mind quickly turning over before she realized what was going on.
Wait—could Sister Xue be thinking… I'm pregnant?!
Ah, well, now that she thought about it, she had just told Qin Xue she wasn’t feeling well. She didn’t mention anything else.
Panic surged as Su Yun scrambled to find a way to explain things before Qin Xue jumped to more conclusions.
“Sister Xue, you misunderstood. I just had a bit of pain, so I went for a checkup. The doctor said everything's fine.”
After speaking, Su Yun walked over to her mom and grabbed the medical report.
She covered up the name, then handed it to Qin Xue.
Qin Xue looked at the report and saw that the section for pregnancy was completely blank.
“Oh… I see…”
Only now did she realize it had all been a big misunderstanding.
But the shock hadn’t worn off yet. She just nodded blankly, her voice still low and unsteady.
It took a good ten seconds before her emotions began to settle.
She had panicked and assumed the worst far too quickly.
“So, Sister Xiaoyun, you’re really fine? Nothing wrong with your body?” she asked in surprise.
“Mm.” Su Yun hesitated briefly, then nodded and handed the report back to her mother.
“Yay!”
Qin Xue’s joy overflowed. She threw her arms around Su Yun in a tight hug. In that bright moment, their happiness lit up even the cold corridors of the hospital.
Su Yun quietly hugged her back, burying her face into the soft warmth of Qin Xue’s chest.
She was happy, too.
At last… she was officially a girl.
Now, she could live a normal life—so long as no one discovered anything out of the ordinary.
A smile spread across her pale face, mirroring Qin Xue’s. The two of them embraced each other in full view of everyone.
...
By the time they left the hospital, it was already ten in the morning.
Aside from the gender verification documents, there were a few other materials to prepare, but her parents had already taken care of those in advance.
To Su Yun, the whole process felt oddly simple—just two days of travel and a hospital visit, and that was it.
But she knew it hadn’t been easy for her parents and uncle. They’d taken a week off work and barely slept for days. They’d been running around, calling in favors, and only managed to get everything done after two full days of trying.
Tomorrow, her father would be hosting a banquet to thank everyone. That too would cost a lot of time, money, and energy.
It was clear: no one in the world loved her more than her parents did.
After an hour-long car ride, they arrived once more at the local registration office.
In their rush, none of them had remembered about hair color. For ID photos, black hair was mandatory.
So they had to detour into town and search for a salon.
“Sister Xiaoyun, do you really need to dye it?” Qin Xue asked reluctantly as they finally found a place that could do it.
“Mm.”
“…Alright.” Seeing how determined she was, Qin Xue didn’t protest further.
Inside the salon, she watched sadly as Su Yun’s nearly perfect white hair was coated in cheap black dye. That soft, snowy hue gradually faded away.
Qin Xue had even asked the hairdresser if she could pay extra for the best dye available, but the stylist said only standard black dye was in stock. Anything better would take time to order.
They didn’t have time to wait, so she gave up.
In the end, Su Yun’s long white hair was turned black.
When they walked out of the salon, both her mother and uncle looked relieved. At last, everything was settled.
Su Yun herself liked her original hair more, but she didn’t say anything. She smiled alongside her family, happy just to be moving forward.
“Sister Xiaoyun… are you sure you didn’t curse your hair?” Qin Xue followed behind, gently brushing her fingers through Su Yun’s newly dyed strands.
It wasn’t that she disliked the black hair—far from it. She loved Su Yun’s pure heart and clumsy personality the most.
Still, it felt like such a shame.
And in a small rural town like this, who knew what kind of chemicals they used? What if the dye hurt her?
“Hmm?”
Suddenly, Qin Xue froze.
Su Yun’s hair was long—down to her waist. Qin Xue’s hand had brushed across the middle of her back, and the moment she touched it… the black dye wiped right off.
A streak of pure white hair emerged again.
“…”
Qin Xue stared at her pitch-black fingers in a daze.
“Sister Xue? What’s wrong?” Su Yun noticed something was off and turned around.
“Sister Xiaoyun, look!”
Still stunned, Qin Xue grabbed a handful of hair from behind Su Yun and gently wiped it with her hand. Just like that, the black faded away, revealing white strands underneath.
“Huh?!” Su Yun blinked in disbelief.
“Sweetheart, what are you two doing?” Wang Haiyan, already in the car, noticed they weren’t moving and called out in confusion.
But no matter how many times she called, they didn’t budge, so she got out to check.
“Hey! Why didn’t the dye stick? Did that stylist mess it up?”
Wang Haiyan sounded angry. Over a hundred yuan, wasted? That could’ve paid for days of groceries!
Just as she was about to storm back into the salon and demand answers, Qin Xue quickly stopped her.
“Auntie, it’s fine. We just need the photo taken once. After that, it’s okay to wash it out. Our school doesn’t care about hair color.”
Qin Xue forced herself to sound calm, though she was bursting with excitement inside.
“But we were scammed! That cost over a hundred yuan!” Wang Haiyan fumed.
“Maybe not. It could be that Sister Xiaoyun’s hair is just too healthy for the dye to stick.”
“…That’s a thing?”
Qin Xue did her best to explain, eventually managing to calm Wang Haiyan down. Afterward, they all got back into the car.
When they arrived at the registration office again, Qin Xue and Wang Haiyan stayed in the car while the others went inside.
Su Yun didn’t want Qin Xue to see her old male ID, and her mother stayed behind to look after her.
“You’re back. Got everything done?” the chief asked with a smile.
Ever since they’d gotten acquainted, his attitude toward Su Fulin had improved a lot.
After reviewing the documents, he personally led Su Yun to the photo booth.
There, she put on a black shirt and posed for the picture.
“This time, we’d like to change her name too—to Su Xiaoyun,” Su Fulin added.
Changing both gender and name at once wasn’t unusual, but it still required official documentation and a few extra forms.
They arrived around 11:30 and didn’t leave until nearly noon.
Name: Su Xiaoyun
Gender: Female
The application had been submitted by the chief himself. Barring any complications, it should go through without a hitch.
Whether the new ID would arrive before exam day was still uncertain.
As for the school, there were still procedures to complete. Changing name and gender at the university would take more time.
That part was up to Su Yun. It might take a whole day to handle.
Still, her parents had taken care of the hardest part. The rest wasn’t so bad.
“Whew…” Su Yun let out a deep sigh as she stepped out of the station.
Her week-long journey had finally come to an end.
“Sister Xiaoyun, is it done?” Qin Xue excitedly rolled down the car window and waved.
“Mm, it’s done.” Su Yun looked at her from across the street, her joy written all over her face. A sweet smile bloomed.
Now, she could finally be with Qin Xue openly and without shame.
But that thought quickly brought up another worry.
What about after this? How would they meet again?
Sure, they’d once run away together and now chatted on their phones every day, but Su Yun still didn’t know what Qin Yuanyuan and the others were really planning behind the scenes.
Would Qin Xue move in with her?
Just the two of them… That might not be a good idea.
“Sister Xiaoyun! Why are you standing there? Hurry up and get in!” Qin Xue called out.
“Oh—coming!”
(End of Chapter)