Su Yun just watched as Qin Xue ran out wrapped in a bath towel.
It seemed like something important.
It was her mother again. Last time something like this happened, Qin Xue had kicked Su Yun straight out of the car, so this time she didn’t plan to follow her right away. She figured she’d wait until the call was over.
“Mm…” She felt the bathtub that now only held herself and suddenly found it a bit lonely.
Su Yun hugged her knees in the tub, her mind full of what had just happened.
“Do you like me?”
If friends and besties were excluded, then the only thing left was lovers.
Do I like Qin Xue? If I had to give an answer… then, yeah, I probably do.
Qin Xue was honestly a really good person, and with all her other traits, Su Yun figured 99% of guys would like her. The real question was: who’d be lucky enough to be liked back by Qin Xue?
What would happen if I answered “yes”?
“No, no!” Su Yun suddenly sat up straight in the tub, looking like she had a revelation.
She suddenly thought of something—
She was a girl now. Then didn’t her behavior during the bath just now come off too gentlemanly?
Thinking back to it, Su Yun had hardly looked at Qin Xue after the first few glances. She’d deliberately lowered her head, kept her back turned, and acted all stiff—not at all how a normal girl would behave.
Her face had also been red the whole time.
Would Qin Xue think she was a lesbian? And if she answered that question honestly, would she get kicked?
That would be bad. She still wanted to mooch meals off her! It had taken this long to finally build a closer bond; she couldn't afford to get kicked out. She had to treasure this chance.
Plus, she was used to having Qin Xue around every day now. She was starting to depend on her.
After a bout of intense thinking, Su Yun finally decided not to answer Qin Xue’s question. If she was pushed to answer, she’d say it was the kind of “like” between friends.
And from now on, no more dodging. She’d look directly! Best case, she’d just reach out and touch or squeeze a bit. No more blushing—just smile. Make Qin Xue think she was a totally normal girl.
Yes, that’s the move.
Thinking of this, Su Yun suddenly felt like she’d lost a billion earlier. All that gentlemanly acting had just led to suspicion. If she’d just groped a little, she could’ve had some fun too.
“Sigh…” Su Yun let out a heavy sigh and stood up from the tub.
Fresh from the bath, water droplets still clung to Su Yun’s skin. As she stepped over the edge of the tub, her pale little foot glistened temptingly under the bathroom light.
Barefoot, she stepped onto the floor and started searching around the rack for some clothes to wear.
“Hmm… this one’s probably Qin Xue’s.” Su Yun first ruled out an obviously larger piece of “clothing,” then carefully set it aside.
She found a pair of long pants and a long-sleeved top and slipped them on.
As for the undergarments, there were blue and pink ones. Of course she picked the blue.
“Ugh, too obvious…” Once she’d finished changing, Su Yun looked down and immediately spotted the problem.
She’d skipped an underlayer. Normally, she’d wear something thicker underneath, but Qin Xue hadn’t prepared one.
“Uuuu…” Su Yun instantly felt annoyed. No way was she going to walk out hugging herself like that. That kind of posture was way too embarrassing.
…
In the bedroom, Qin Xue sat on the edge of the bed while Qin Yuanyuan stood behind her, helping blow-dry her hair.
“I thought you said you were going to study seriously. This is what your ‘studying’ looks like? The news already reached me.”
The voice on the other end of Qin Xue’s phone clearly didn’t sound happy.
“Mom, I have been studying seriously. That was just a school event—I was just watching from the side.”
“Watching? You’re about to end up on the front page of the news, and you’re still watching? Stop embarrassing our family and don’t lie about studying. Just listen to me from now on—it’s for your own good.”
Qin Xue’s patient explanation didn’t gain any forgiveness. On the contrary, her mom now believed she was just using “studying” as an excuse to buy time.
“My friend fell off the stage. I was worried, so I rushed over.”
“What kind of friend randomly falls off a stage? And with hair dyed that white, she probably isn’t any good. Stop hanging out with her.”
“Mom!…”
Qin Xue nearly exploded right then and there, but she held herself back with sheer will.
She felt helpless, completely at a loss for how to convince this pigheaded middle-aged woman.
But if she didn’t try, her mom would probably start forcing her into those status-matching mixers again.
All in the name of “doing what’s best for her.”
“Call me Mom again when you’ve learned to listen. I don’t want to hear it right now. What’s so wrong with you getting to know Su Wei? He’s such a good kid.”
(Su Wei: previously mentioned as the son of the chairman of Su Group.)
“Sigh…” Qin Xue had nothing left to say. She tossed her phone aside and leaned her aching head into her hand in pain.
“Mom, Sis is telling the truth!” Qin Yuanyuan, who’d been listening this whole time, finally couldn’t stay silent. She grabbed the phone and shouted into it.
“I saw with my own eyes—Sis was tearing open brand-new books, page by page, and studied all night!”
“No, not just one night—every night recently! She’s been working super hard! Mom, you have to believe her. You can’t keep judging her with your old views!”
Qin Yuanyuan launched a passionate monologue into the phone, leaving the person on the other end momentarily stunned.
“…”
“Yuanyuan, are you really telling the truth? You’re not teaming up with Qin Xue to lie to me, are you? Let me tell you—doing that just hurts your sister.”
Faced with words like that, the person still wouldn’t believe in Qin Xue.
“It’s true! If you don’t believe me, come see for yourself! Her books are full of notes!”
“Yuanyuan, stop…” Qin Xue, who’d been sitting to the side, couldn’t watch anymore and tried to stop her sister.
“I will say it! Mom’s being way too unfair.”
The two sisters fought over the phone. After a while, the voice on the other end came back, this time sounding a little hesitant.
“…Fine. I believe you. Let’s just say Qin Xue really is studying now. I was being too suspicious.”
(End of Chapter)