Hearing the mocking laughter of the girl beside her, Su Yun’s face darkened. There were so many people nearby.
“If you dare call me dumb one more time, just try it.” She lifted her head and glared at Qin Xin, then shot out a fierce-sounding—at least she thought it was fierce—grumble in retaliation.
“Sorry, sorry.” Qin Xin quickly returned to her usual calm demeanor and even bowed politely to Su Yun in a maid-like gesture. “I’ll hold back next time.”
“You better,” Su Yun muttered. Something felt off about her words, but she didn’t think too much of it and lowered her head again, continuing to sort through the eggplants.
The eggplants in this basket were plump and fresh, clearly part of a high-quality batch grown with care.
She wanted to greedily buy them all, but her home didn’t have a refrigerator—or if it did, it definitely couldn’t fit so many. They’d spoil quickly.
Maybe it was better to just buy one. She could peel it carefully, stab it with a knife (meow), and then toss it in a pan to stir-fry with the other ingredients, eventually turning it into a delicious dish.
“Little sis, you’re so cute. I bet lots of people at college like you?” Just as Su Yun was immersed in the world of eggplants, a cheerful female voice spoke up beside her.
“Mm… I guess so,” Su Yun replied absentmindedly.
She’d been away from college too long to know the exact situation there, but she kept getting asked for autographs even when she went out—maybe she really had become some sort of campus goddess? Heh.
Still, Su Yun didn’t like the noisy atmosphere. She was lonely, yes, but she never desired a crowd of people liking her or caring about her.
“Wow~ that’s amazing, little sis~”
“Not really.” Su Yun replied half-heartedly.
“But… Do you have someone you like?”
Just as Su Yun was getting ready to grab her eggplants and leave, the person behind her dropped another unexpected question.
“…”
She instinctively wanted to say no—but unfortunately, lying wasn’t her strong suit.
“No,” Su Yun replied, then walked away and handed the eggplants to the woman weighing produce.
“Eleven yuan,” the vendor said. Four eggplants for eleven yuan—so expensive…
Su Yun looked at the priced bag with a bit of heartache.
“Sigh… let’s go get the rest of the stuff.”
As Su Yun headed to another section of the market, Qin Xin followed behind her like a proper maid, keeping a graceful posture the entire time.
Su Yun’s next target was shampoo, and this corner of the supermarket was relatively quiet with fewer people.
Seeing the small figure in front of her squatting down, Qin Xin cleared her throat.
“Little sister, you seem to be close with Xuanxuan, right? I wanted to tell you something.”
“Mm-hmm?” Su Yun was still examining bottles of shampoo.
“I like Xuanxuan—the kind of like where I want to marry her and be with her for life.”
Clunk.
A crisp sound rang out as two bottles of shampoo fell from Su Yun’s hands and hit the ground.
What…
She thought she had misheard, so she didn’t react at first and simply reached to pick up the shampoo.
“I’ve already talked to Xuanxuan. If we really do get married in the future, I’ll be the wife, and she’ll be the husband. I’ll stay home and take care of the kids, and she’ll go out and earn money.”
Qin Xin continued to speak above Su Yun’s head, her tone calm and unhurried, not at all like she was joking.
At that moment, Su Yun finally confirmed she hadn’t misheard.
“You, you, y-y-y-y-you! You two are actually—girls who like girls!?”
That one sentence seemed to pierce straight into Su Yun’s heart. She jumped up and stared at the other girl with disbelief.
“Yeah. So what? That’s totally normal.” Qin Xin didn’t show any of the panic Su Yun had expected. Instead, she stood there with a confident and composed demeanor.
It was as if she were saying: girls can like girls just like girls can like boys.
“Ah…” Su Yun stood there stunned, her little hands falling limp at her sides. She seemed to have so many questions to ask, yet didn’t dare voice them.
“We maids all grew up with Miss. All eight of us are girls. We’ve lived together for almost twenty years. In that kind of environment, it’s not strange at all to fall for another girl, right?”
“O-oh, yeah…”
Su Yun listened to the explanation and nodded dazedly.
“To tell you the truth, five of us have already formed two couples. There’s still one spot open. She’s got a pretty big chest, little sis—you want to try? Since you’re so close with Miss, I’ll let you have a free trial.”
Qin Xin said with excitement. Su Yun stopped listening.
Her mind was filled with only one thought now.
Was Qin Xue the same as Qin Xuanxuan? Had she spent so much time with her that she started liking girls too?
“Little sister, let me tell you, hers is this big.” Qin Xin continued rambling, even mimicking a grabbing motion with her hand.
“Uhh, no thanks. I really appreciate the offer, but I’ll pass. Also… I hope you and Xuanxuan will be happy.”
Looking at Qin Xin’s wildly gesturing hands, Su Yun was practically speechless.
Her head started to heat up for no reason.
That big? What is she, a dairy cow (meow)?
No wonder they only get one day off a year. These maids are going nuts…
Just like that, her impression of Qin Xuanxuan dropped a notch.
“Thanks for the blessing.”
“Little sis, shall we go upstairs later and buy a fridge? That way you can cook for your master.”
…
Su Yun didn’t reply to Qin Xin but didn’t reject her either.
After buying the shampoo, Qin Xin continued to follow behind the white-haired girl just like she normally did with her young miss.
But in reality, there was no so-called “big-chested maid still available.” And Qin Xuanxuan never agreed to be her “husband” (though she did agree to be her girlfriend).
Qin Xin had never seen what it was like under the clothes, but she had guessed from Qin Xuanxuan’s sleepwear—and exaggerated just a little.
…
…
“Doctor, are you sure my sister is really okay?”
“She fainted for an entire night yesterday.”
Inside Summer End City’s First Hospital, Qin Yao’s anxious voice echoed in the equipment-filled room.
The middle-aged female doctor sitting nearby looked over the report again and gave Qin Yao a look filled with helplessness.
Given how the older sister had described things so dramatically—and how listless the younger one looked—she’d assumed this was some serious illness.
But the results?
There was absolutely nothing wrong.
“She’s fine. Your sister doesn’t have any illness. You said she wouldn’t wake up? It might just be due to sleep deprivation and stress.”
The doctor glanced at the report once more before handing it back to Qin Yao.
“Sleep deprivation…”
Qin Yao stood there in a daze after hearing that.
“Thank you, Doctor. I’ll take my sister—”
“Oh right, your sister does have a bit of anemia. That could cause her to be frequently sleepy. Not waking up easily might be due to that.”
“Ah, anemia? Doctor, what should we do? Does she need medicine?” Qin Yao tensed up.
“Don’t panic. It’s not serious. I’ll prescribe something. Just make sure she eats more carrots and similar foods.”
While the doctor explained the lifestyle precautions, Qin Xue sat quietly nearby.
She didn’t speak—she didn’t want to humor Qin Yao.
Just drawing blood had taken hours, and Qin Yao kept pulling her aside to ask endless questions. It was driving her crazy.
Just to report back to their mother?
That woman only saw her as a tool to make money and send off to others. Once she brought in profit, she wouldn't care whether she lived or died.
Qin Xue sat there in silence, her mood heavy.
“Oh, thank you, Doctor. So I just take this to the first floor to get the meds?”
“Yes, and the dosage is written on the label.”
“Thanks, thank you so much.”
Qin Yao bowed repeatedly to the doctor—far more than she ever did during business negotiations.
She then grabbed her sister’s hand and tried to head out.
“Are we done yet?”
What greeted her was her sister’s cold voice.
“Yes, yes, we’re done.”
Click.
Outside the door stood Qin Xuanxuan, who had been waiting.
“Young Miss, would you like me to get the medicine for you?”
“No, I’ll get it myself.” Qin Yao walked past her and headed out.
On the way to the first floor, they all remained silent until they got the medicine and stepped outside.
This was an open-air parking lot, and there were fewer people around.
“Sorry… for always pushing you to study. Maybe I overdid it. From now on, if you want to rest, just rest. I won’t nag you anymore.”
Qin Yao lowered her head, her tone filled with guilt.
“Good that you know,” Qin Xue replied coldly.
She still didn’t feel sympathy. Qin Yao was just another monitor sent by their mother.
The three of them got into the car.
Qin Yao sat beside Qin Xue and pulled out the boxes of medicine, inspecting them.
About five minutes later, she finally looked up again.
“Qin Xue, look at this. This one’s taken orally, three times a day.”
She began explaining the instructions.
“Oh.”
Qin Xue replied half-heartedly.
From 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., Qin Yao had been by her side the entire time. She clearly wasn’t sick, yet Qin Yao had acted so anxious, talking endlessly like an old woman.
Qin Xue was tired of it—but deep down, she couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of familiarity.
She vaguely remembered… she really had suffered a serious illness as a child.
But the details were blurry now.
…
Soon, they finally returned home.
“Qin Xue, if you feel unwell, call me right away, okay?” Qin Yao stood at the bedroom door, reluctant to leave.
“Got it. Just go already. I need to study.”
Qin Xue still wore the same impatient expression, tugging at the door as if she would slam it shut at any second.
“Okay… but remember to rest when you’re tired.”
Click. With those words, Qin Xue gave no reply and shut the door.
In her hand was the anemia medicine Qin Yao had just bought her.
What a weak body.
Well then. It was time to go back and see Xiaoyun again.
Qin Xue pulled out her phone—this was the first time she’d gotten a moment to message her.
Xiaoyun had already sent her a message earlier in the afternoon.
(Xiaoyun: Sister Xue, how are you feeling? Did the checkup find anything?)
(...skipping a few lines of concern...)
(Xiaoyun: Sister Xue, um… maybe you can try to get closer to your sister? There might still be a chance.)
“Xiaoyun…”
Qin Xue couldn’t help but sit on the bed eagerly. Her cold face finally showed a soft smile as she looked at the messages.
(I’m fine, Xiaoyun. Where are you right now?)
She ignored the part about her sister. All she cared about now was seeing her.
This afternoon had drained her. Later, she had to kiss Xiaoyun a few extra times to let off steam~
“Meow~”
“…?”
Just as Qin Xue was beaming with joy, a soft meow came from under the bed.
(End of Chapter)