Volume 3: High School Arc - Mirror Game
“Ah~”
Mornings always came so suddenly, and feeling the slight warmth on my eyelids, I knew the sky outside had already brightened.
Yawning, I slowly opened my eyes and glanced at Sha Ha, who was lying beside my pillow.
This creature had such thick fur that when I hugged it like a pillow, it always felt too hot.
So… before I fell asleep, I would always compromise for a bit, and once I was asleep, it would quietly wriggle out of my arms and lie next to the pillow.
Back when I was still Zhang Yiwei, it often fooled me like this.
Whenever I was half-asleep, drifting in and out of consciousness, it would sneak out of my arms.
Every time, I’d get annoyed and slap it twice while still groggy, then change my sleeping position before continuing to sleep.
But it’s been so many years now, and I’ve gotten used to it.
It’s already five years old…
“Morning~”
Just like usual, I gave its big head a pat.
Back when I was male, my palm was big enough to cover its whole head with one slap.
But now, with smaller hands and slender fingers, I couldn’t completely cover its head anymore.
From between my fingers, it looked at me with those sky-blue eyes.
‘Piapia’ — I patted it twice, then pushed myself up with some effort and sat straight up in bed.
I turned my head to glance at the bird perch hanging from the canopy bed.
Jiaoza was staring at me with wide eyes.
For some reason, when Sha Ha looked at me, what I saw in its pupils was Liu Yunyan, not the Evil Spirit Form.
But when I looked into Jiaoza’s eyes, what I saw was the Evil Spirit Form.
A ghostly female smile was reflected in Jiaoza’s big eyes at that moment.
“Morning~”
I reached out and rubbed Jiaoza’s little head.
The little guy blinked a few times but didn’t make a sound.
I looked down at myself.
Since I used to be used to sleeping naked, I still wore a nightgown that was oversized and long like a cloak.
Maybe I tossed and turned too much in my sleep, so the front of the gown had come completely open.
Lowering my head… I saw two soft, pink buds standing proudly.
As a C+ about to reach D, this bundle of flesh really blocked my view.
And these weren’t outward-facing.
They had the youthful upright feel, with a hemisphere-like shape.
It looked very… very ero.
In a case like this, if I wore a bra exposing the lower half and walked down the street, some guys would probably have nosebleeds on the spot.
Hmm… but at least I wasn’t an exhibitionist.
Letting me show the lower half would be worse than killing me.
“Ah~~”
I yawned again, stretched my tiny waist, scratched my itchy butt, and crawled out of bed.
Glancing at the curtains, the wall clock next to the dressing table showed it was already past 8 a.m.
Groggily, I walked over to the bathroom, casually took off my nightgown, tossed it into the laundry basket, and slipped into the bathroom completely bare.
I washed my face, brushed my teeth, took a shower, and changed into the underwear I had prepared last night.
By the way, most of the bras I used were full-cup.
No matter if it was three-quarters or half-cup, they were just uncomfortable.
Especially the half-cups.
Too much movement and… never mind, forget it.
While putting on my bra in front of the mirror, I suddenly remembered something, turned my head, and said, “Xiao AI, turn on the desktop power.”
“Okay~”
The next second, accompanied by the buzz of electricity, music echoed through the whole room.
Listening to the relaxed tune of ‘Lately I’m a Bit Annoyed’, I closed my eyes and finished putting on my bra.
Out of habit, I reached behind my neck, swept my long hair back, shook my head, and let my hair fall naturally and smoothly.
Then I walked over to the wardrobe.
There were two big wardrobes in the room.
One was full of repeated styles — white shirts, jeans.
The other was more complicated, filled with qipao, hanfu, evening dresses, and more.
Occasionally I would wear some just for fun, to please my own eyes.
After getting dressed, I walked straight to the dressing table.
Even though I didn’t wear makeup, there were still quite a few items on the table.
I casually picked up a piece of high-quality seed-grade mutton-fat jade.
The carving of Phoenix Dancing in the Nine Heavens was exquisitely detailed and full of meaning.
Most of the accessories on this table were things I ‘borrowed’ from Liu Wanqian.
I wasn’t sure if it was due to Liu Yunyan’s influence on me, but I had accepted Liu Wanqian surprisingly quickly.
Faster than I’d imagined.
Now, it just felt natural to rely on him.
This feeling was, at times, a little frustrating.
The World Watch on my left wrist was something I would never replace.
So I returned the watches Gong Lianyu and Liu Wanqian gave me.
There was no point in keeping them.
It would be like burying a pearl in dust.
Might as well return them.
For people of their level, appearances were important when they went out, or they couldn’t get things done.
I also picked up a string of chicken-fat yellow amber beads.
I secretly took this string of amber from Liu Wanqian’s display cabinet.
After spending over half a year together, there was really no barrier left between Liu Wanqian and me.
As for me… though I didn’t want to admit it, I had started to feel a bit of family warmth.
It wasn’t the same as the feeling I had with Sha Ha.
It really was… different.
But I always felt that if this continued, I would become soft.
Yet I couldn’t stop the feeling of having a family.
It made my emotions very complicated.
With 30mm diameter large beads, each flawless, this single bead was worth at least ten thousand.
This string had eighteen large beads and one Buddha head.
All were flawless 30mm chicken-fat yellow beads.
Just this string alone was worth over a hundred thousand.
As for the Phoenix Dancing in the Nine Heavens that I wore, well… I checked the auction listing.
It was bought for 570,000.
All in all, over these past months, Liu Wanqian had been seriously milked by me.
And this guy… actually enjoyed it.
It wasn’t like I intended to exploit him.
It was just that after taking a couple of nice hand pieces at first, I felt kind of embarrassed.
So I didn’t take anything from him for a whole month.
But in the end, he actually came to me and asked.
“You… why aren’t you asking me for anything anymore?”
Looking at his conflicted expression, I could only sigh helplessly.
Perhaps, in Liu Wanqian’s eyes, me mooching good stuff from him was his way of feeling close to a daughter.
After all, whether it was Liu Wanqian or Gong Lianyu, they rarely had time to spend with their children.
For them, giving their children what they could was also a form of compensation.
So when I didn’t want his things, he actually became uneasy.
Though it was frustrating, I could only… keep mooching from him.
The result was… on my dressing table, there wasn’t anything else.
It was either jade or jadeite hand pieces, or some expensive accessories.
However, Liu Wanqian’s taste… was actually pretty similar to mine.
Most of these items weren’t quite suitable for a woman to wear, but since I already took them, I might as well display them.
Honestly, even a thief would probably be too scared to steal from here.
The cheapest item on this dressing table was worth at least eighty to a hundred thousand.
Any single one of them could get someone a sentence of over a decade.
The only relatively cheap things were probably the velvet flower hairpins.
The prestigious high school I got into wasn’t a public school, but a private one — quite famous across Huaxia.
Just the annual tuition was around 200,000.
Even the uniforms cost more than 20,000.
Yep… very standard sailor-style girls’ uniform.
To be honest, I initially resisted attending such a school.
But when I thought about how Gong Lianyu was one of the school directors, I had nothing left to say.
The top of the uniform was a dark blue fitted jacket, with a white shirt underneath.
The bottom was a red-and-black plaid short skirt.
I hadn’t worn it yet.
Though it had already been delivered, I could basically imagine how I would look in it.
Originally not used to being the center of attention, it looked like I’d have to start getting used to it in this new life…
I went downstairs.
There wasn’t anyone else in this villa.
No servants either.
After all, the villa wasn’t one of those particularly large ones.
Currently, it was just me and Shao He living here.
The courtyard was still under renovation, but no work was happening today — that was my request.
Once I started school, there’d be plenty of time for renovations.
Shao He could keep an eye on it.
Today was my last day before school started.
I wanted to relax properly and didn’t want to hear the clanging of construction.
“Morning, Miss.”
Shao He was a very disciplined person.
She didn’t seem to have any particular hobbies either, apart from reading those weapon magazines mailed from overseas.
“Morning, Shao He. You’re reading those magazines again?”
I looked at Shao He sitting on the sofa, reading a magazine in her hands, and couldn’t help but frown slightly.
“Mm.”
Shao He seemed a bit absent-minded.
She replied softly and turned her attention back to the weapon magazine in her hands.
However… I felt like she was watching me from the corner of her eye.
Though not with ill intent, I could still sense her gaze.
“Shao He, about yesterday… don’t tell my parents.”
“……”
The hand holding the magazine tightened slightly when she heard that.
She seemed a bit scared, probably still shaken by what happened yesterday.
Then, she slowly pulled the magazine up a bit without turning to look at me.
Pretending to read, she replied with what seemed like a probing, casual tone:
“My duty is to protect and monitor you. In special circumstances like this, I’m required to report to my employers.”
Hmm, looks like the word ‘required’ was doing a lot of heavy lifting here.
She wanted an explanation from me, didn’t she?
For questions that beat around the bush, I wasn’t in the mood to give answers that did the same.
“Shao He… I’m truly sorry. I can’t explain this to you.”
“And even if you report it, it won’t really change the current situation.”
“Honestly, I quite like you. I hope we can remain friends.”
Hearing this, Shao He frowned at first, then turned around to face me.
“Miss… are you currently in trouble?”
Hmm, that was a direct question. I liked that.
But… unfortunately… I couldn’t say.
I shook my head.