“Sis, I’ve folded your nightgown and left it right here. Though there’s still so much I want to talk about, you should get some rest first—you must be exhausted after just getting home. Oh, and don’t forget to change into it before bed!”
“Got it.”
Ye Zhiyun brought over a pure white cotton nightgown whose fabric looked silky smooth at a glance. She folded it neatly and placed it on Ye Zhibai’s bedside table.
After issuing her reminders, she left the room with a satisfied smile and closed the door.
This left Ye Zhibai alone in the room, her thoughts a jumbled mess.
She still wasn’t used to talking with beautiful girls.
Ugh! What a hopeless case I am!
Yun’er did have a real knack for putting people at ease, but Ye Zhibai wasn’t the type to warm up to someone all at once.
It would take time to get to know her better.
Get to know her…?
Ye Zhibai had the nagging feeling that someone was watching her from behind.
She turned slowly. The moment their gazes met—
She jolted in shock!
Ye Zhiyun hadn’t left after all.
The door was ajar, and she was peeking through the crack—her black hair cascading like a waterfall, her eyes sparkling with eager anticipation!
That did it. Any lingering tension Ye Zhibai felt evaporated.
“Yun’er…? What are you doing?”
“Ah, don’t mind me, Sis! I’m just waiting for you to change!”
You’re such a pervert!!!
Though Ye Zhibai felt a twinge of “fear,” her voice came out cool and detached. “Could you… go now?”
“Sure thing! I’ll crawl—er, I’ll head out right now!”
But before actually crawling away, she added one more hopeful line.
“Hee hee, Sis, if you have trouble putting it on, you have to come get me from my room! I’ll help you!”
“I already know how… Don’t worry.”
“Fine…”
Ye Zhiyun sounded a little disappointed as she gently closed the door.
Ye Zhibai hurried to the door on tiptoe and pressed her ear against it.
Her room was on the first floor, while Ye Zhiyun’s was on the 2nd Floor. Sure enough, she could hear the creak of wooden stairs as her sister headed upstairs.
Looks like the major pervert—no! My little sister—actually went back to her room this time.
Ye Zhibai turned around, leaned her back against the door, and slowly slid down until she was sitting on the floor. Only then did she let out a long breath.
Whew… Dealing with people is really tough.
Especially someone like Yun’er, who seemed to be watching her every move. It sent chills down her spine.
Earlier, Ye Zhibai had asked Ye Zhiyun if she didn’t need to go to school.
Ye Zhiyun’s answer was that she was in her senior year of high school, with Gaokao right around the corner, but her grades were top-notch. Whether she went to class or not didn’t really matter.
In short, it was double insurance. First, her grades let her get away with it. Second, money made her even more carefree.
Ye Zhibai, who had neither money nor grades in her previous life, had nothing to say to that.
Yun’er had added that more importantly, she wanted to stay home and keep her company after her discharge from the hospital. She just wasn’t entirely at ease.
What was there to worry about?
Ye Zhibai’s heart was plenty tough!
The new home… wasn’t bad.
Still, getting used to it would take some time.
Ye Zhibai stayed seated on the floor, drawing her knees up and hugging them with both arms.
In this new environment… only holding herself provided any warmth.
It was a bit cold.
The central air conditioning in the room was still
whirring away with chilly gusts.
Ah, so that’s why.
Ye Zhibai stood up and, following Yun’er’s earlier instructions, turned the AC controller’s fan speed from three down to one. She also bumped the temperature up a couple of degrees.
Once finished, her hand paused.
Suddenly cautious, she glanced left and right.
I’m the only one here.
So…
She switched the fan speed back to three!
And reset the temperature!
Then adjusted it again!
With a series of beeps, Ye Zhibai fiddled with the AC settings three or four times before finally stopping!
And then…
Ye Zhibai realized she was being utterly childish!!
Wah… but it was her first time having her own AC. Playing around with the settings a few extra times wasn’t too much, was it?
The novelty was like that. A few more blasts of cool air, and it’d pass.
Satisfied with her tinkering, she set it to a comfortable temperature and returned to sit on the edge of the bed.
She picked up the phone from the bedside table and unlocked the QQ interface again.
She didn’t have any particular goal in opening QQ.
It was just a modern habit—swiping it open absentmindedly to check.
She’d only meant to glance at it…
But Ye Zhibai noticed something off.
The number of friends on QQ seemed to have dropped by more than half since she’d last checked at noon.
The chat list showed the friend count right there… It was obvious at a glance.
Ye Zhibai scrolled through her friend list carefully, piecing together what had happened.
—Most of the deletions came from university classmates.
Word of Ye Zhibai’s death by car accident in her previous life must have spread back to school.
Her classmates in the same major, anyone who had her QQ, probably rushed to delete her first thing.
Fair enough… Who’d want to keep such a bad-luck contact around?
It wasn’t a big deal… Pretty normal, really. But as Ye Zhibai held her phone, her bangs falling to veil her calm, beautiful face, a pang of inexplicable heartache tugged at her.
Those classmates were mostly just people from her major after starting university. Plus a few teachers from her specialized courses.
In her previous life, Ye Zhibai hadn’t exchanged more than a few words with any of them.
She’d planned to save up from part-time jobs, improve her life a bit, gain some confidence, and then start building social connections—live a normal life.
But before she could even begin… she was gone.
Such is life, unpredictable as ever.
Ugh! Enough of that. Dwelling just makes it hurt more!
She unwillingly glanced at QQ one more time.
While she’d been lost in thought, a few more friends had vanished from the already sparse list. Nothing else noteworthy.
Well… No new messages was for the best. Even after her miserable previous life, Ye Zhibai wouldn’t dare claim no one cared about her at all.
She deliberately checked the contact labeled “Sister Liang.”
Aside from the morning message asking if she had classes, there were no new ones.
Fine.
She hoped—if there really was anyone who’d cared about what she’d been through last time—that they’d keep her on their friends list. Don’t delete her just for being bad luck.
Wah… The more she thought, the more pathetic it felt!
No, she couldn’t look at QQ anymore!
Ye Zhibai hurriedly locked her phone
and tossed it face-down on the bed!
As she looked up by chance—
“Hm?”
After the AC, Ye Zhibai spotted another “treasure.”
Directly across from the king-sized bed, in the corner of the room by the desk—
stood a massive floor mirror.
From where she sat, it perfectly reflected her entire figure.
For Ye Zhibai, this… this was a great find.
She’d already seen herself in a small mirror at the hospital, but a full-length one would give a much clearer, head-to-toe view.
Ye Zhibai kicked off her slippers, scooted backward onto the bed, and shifted around until she was fully in the mirror’s frame.
Angle… perfect.
And once again… she was stunned by her own reflection.
Sitting there, her waist-length silver hair gleamed across the bedsheets like a sea of blooming silver flowers.
Unable to resist, Ye Zhibai slipped off the bed, bare feet padding across the wooden floor to stand right in front of the floor mirror.
The dress she wore now, combined with her figure and poise—it was a sight for sore eyes, perfectly natural and harmonious.
Slender, but not sickly thin.
The gentle curve rising at her chest sparked an impulse to cup it herself!
No… it wasn’t just an impulse.
Out of pure curiosity—honest curiosity—she tentatively reached out with a trembling hand and lightly grasped her left breast.
“……!”
A jolt, like electricity.
Just like at the hospital at noon… that same wondrous sensation!
No no no! What am I doing to myself?!
Ye Zhibai yanked her hand away and shook her head to clear it.
She looked back at the mirror and refocused.
More importantly, this face.
Those purple irises… so icy they could freeze a person solid. Even she felt chilled looking at them.
Couldn’t she smile?
Ye Zhibai tried propping the corners of her mouth upward with her fingers, forcing a… awkward grin.
Forget it.
That looked even worse.
No rush, though. Once her soul fully merged with her body, as the Light Orb had implied, she’d probably gain free control over her expressions.
Hopefully sooner rather than later.
Always greeting people with this frosty face made her look like the whole world owed her a fortune. Not a good vibe.
But…
Until then, she needed to study herself thoroughly first!
If she didn’t even understand herself, how could she face the world anew?
Ye Zhibai poked at her cheeks again, pulling silly faces—though the innate chill in her eyes made them look goofy instead. It cracked her up inwardly.
No one was better at entertaining herself than Ye Zhibai.
Suddenly—
Thump!
“?”
A sound like a knock on the window, but much softer, rang out.
Ye Zhibai’s fingers jerked away from her face as if shocked.
Phew… I can’t let anyone catch that idiotic look from earlier. Wouldn’t that just make me seem like some doddering old fool with a walking stick all over again?
Thump!
Another “knock” sounded.
Ye Zhibai instinctively turned her head and looked toward the door.
Hang on…
Didn’t Yun’er just head back?
And besides… that earlier knock hadn’t come from that direction at all.
Thump!
This time, the sound was even clearer!
Ye Zhibai zeroed in on the source and whipped her head toward the large window that opened onto the courtyard.
The curtains were still drawn over there.
The tapping hadn’t let up, sending out the occasional light rap every so often.
Now she was sure—the noise was coming from right there!
Someone was knocking on the window?! What the hell, who does that? That’s ridiculous!
Uh… wait a second.
Knocking on the window?!
