Chapter 8

Bai Shuangshuang had always treated people with gentleness, especially around those she truly cared for and liked. In their presence, she was nothing more than a little soft kitten with its claws tucked away.

But that didn’t mean she lacked a temper entirely. Once pushed too far, even a kitten would bare its teeth and bite.

Bai Shuangshuang, who had never once lost her patience with Bai Tongsheng in her previous life, finally turned a cold face toward her for the first time. Without mercy, she delivered a sharp slap to Bai Tongsheng’s snow-white bottom.

A child’s skin is delicate, so even without putting much force behind it, the pale flesh turned red on impact.

Bai Tongsheng immediately thrashed on her lap like a glutinous rice ball tumbling in a sizzling wok, howling and scrambling in every direction. Her delicate little face flushed redder than a blaze—not from pain, but from the sheer humiliation flooding her heart.

She flopped and struggled like a fish stranded on dry land, yelling nonstop from her mouth: “Bai Shuangshuang! How dare you hit me! I’ll get you for this! Let me go! I’m telling Mom! I’ll make her throw you out!”

In truth, Bai Shuangshuang had frozen up the instant she struck. Coming back to herself and realizing what she’d done, she stopped holding the girl down. So the moment her grip loosened, the slippery little loach wriggled free and slid right off her legs.

She landed squarely on the innocent sandwich, flattening it into mush. With a disgusted “tch,” she kicked off her slippers and bolted back to her room on bare feet.

Her first order of business was tattling to Yu Xichi. The phone had barely connected before she burst out, brimming with grievance and fury: “Bai Shuangshuang just spanked my butt! I don’t want to live with her anymore! She spanked my butt!”

Yu Xichi took a long moment before responding. When she did, it was with peals of earth-shattering laughter. Rather than soothing Bai Tongsheng first, she bolted to another room with the phone in hand. Bai Tongsheng heard her on the other end, barely containing her mirth as she told Bai Bingyang: “Your daughter just got her butt smacked.”

Bai Tongsheng’s soft, tender little hands clutched the phone tight, her cheeks puffed out as she fumed, waiting for Bai Bingyang to demand justice for her.

Sure enough, his reaction stood in stark contrast to Yu Xichi’s. The smile vanished from his face in an instant. “What happened?”

Hearing his voice, Bai Tongsheng cried out from her end of the line: “Daddy—”

“Shuangshuang grabbed Shengsheng and gave her a spanking, hahahahaha! Can you imagine? From the day she was born, who’s ever dared lay a hand on our little tiger’s rear? Hahahaha! I’m seriously regretting coming here now. If I’d stayed home, hahahaha, I might’ve caught the whole show myself. Hahahaha, I’d have grabbed the camera for sure.”

A bad feeling hit Bai Tongsheng like a punch to the gut. Her eyelids twitched, and then she heard Bai Bingyang let out a chuckle of his own.

She hung up on them, hurled the phone onto the bed, and scrubbed messily at her face with both hands. She had every reason to hate Bai Shuangshuang! Bai Bingyang used to dote on her endlessly, but now that she’d been spanked, he was laughing right along with Yu Xichi!

The more she dwelled on it, the angrier she became!

But Bai Tongsheng caught herself quickly. No way! If she just sulked here by herself, wouldn’t that play right into Bai Shuangshuang’s hands?

She wasn’t about to take that slap lying down!

Bai Shuangshuang had just finished cleaning up the mess Bai Tongsheng left behind when the girl stormed back in.

Traces of her recent bout of hard crying still lingered on her face—eyes and nose puffy and red. Now she stood in the doorway, smug triumph shining through her gaze unchecked. She looked every bit the gloating little victor, and it was honestly kind of funny.

“Bai Shuangshuang! I just called my mom, and she’s livid. She says you have to move out right now!”

Bai Tongsheng forced herself to stay calm, putting on her best poker face to sell the lie. In reality, her heart hammered with nerves. If Bai Shuangshuang called her bluff, she’d die of embarrassment.

But Bai Shuangshuang’s response was nothing like what she’d anticipated.

No questions, no apologies, no pleading. It was as if she’d seen this coming all along. She simply curved her lips in a faint smile. “All right.”

By the time Bai Tongsheng realized what she’d set in motion, she was already planted firmly in front of Bai Shuangshuang, blocking her path to leave.

Bai Shuangshuang traveled light, with just a backpack slung over her shoulder. In mere minutes, she’d gathered all her things.

The eyes that usually brimmed with gentle warmth now lay calm and still as a placid lake. “I’m going now. You don’t need to stand in my way anymore.”

Panic seized Bai Tongsheng. She was the one who’d demanded she leave, but suddenly it felt like Bai Shuangshuang was the one abandoning her. “Bai Shuangshuang! You never used to listen to me like this before!”

No trace of extra emotion colored Bai Shuangshuang’s voice. “I’m not leaving because of you.”

With that, she stepped aside and skirted past Bai Tongsheng toward the stairs. She had just reached the landing when strong arms wrapped around her fiercely from behind.

Bai Tongsheng had chased after her in a rush, her momentum carrying enough force to nearly send them both tumbling down the steps. Bai Shuangshuang’s hands shot out with lightning reflexes, grabbing the railing and steadying them both before disaster could strike.

“I lied to you! Bai Shuangshuang, I lied! My mom didn’t tell you to leave. She knows you hit me, and she even laughed at me for it. She didn’t chase you away! So you—you can’t leave!”

Bai Shuangshuang didn’t push her away. She stared straight ahead, her gaze so dazed that no one could read the emotions swirling within.

“Why?”

Bai Tongsheng shot back, “What?”

“Why can’t I leave? You’ve always wanted me gone, haven’t you?”

Bai Tongsheng wasn’t even sure herself why she’d suddenly decided to keep her here, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it. Instead, she hugged her even tighter.

The two of them pressed close together, and she could smell the clean, pleasant scent wafting from Bai Shuangshuang’s body.

“If you leave, my mom will scold me, so you can’t go!”

“You’re not afraid of her.”

Bai Tongsheng was the apple of her family’s eye. No matter how angry Yu Xichi got, she would never truly do anything to her.

Feeling Bai Shuangshuang’s hand on her arm, Bai Tongsheng panicked. She couldn’t think of any excuse, and she wasn’t willing to let go, so she blurted out, “I don’t care. You’re not leaving anyway! Bai Shuangshuang! You’re not allowed to go!”

“So now, you want me to stay?”

Bai Tongsheng shook her head furiously in her mind—she didn’t want her to stay at all—but her body betrayed her true feelings. She buried her face in Bai Shuangshuang’s back and mumbled a reluctant nod. “Mm.”

The next second, Bai Shuangshuang pried her hands away. Bai Tongsheng instinctively tried to wrap them back around her, but she didn’t have the strength. All she could do was watch with reddened eyes as the girl in front of her turned around.

Wait—turned around?

Bai Tongsheng blinked in disbelief, then heard her say, “In that case, starting today, we’ll each stay in our own safe zones and stop bothering each other. Can you accept that?”

Her emotions had fluctuated wildly in these short few minutes.

She had regretted hitting Bai Tongsheng the moment it happened.

Bai Tongsheng had been pampered her whole life—no one in the family had ever laid a hand on her. So when Bai Tongsheng stormed back to her room to tattle, Bai Shuangshuang had already braced herself for the worst.

—Yu Xichi might treat her well, but in the end, they were still Bai Tongsheng’s parents.

That was why, when Bai Tongsheng came back smugly with the news, she accepted it with surprising calm. Why hadn’t she fought back? Because it was Yu Xichi’s disappointment in her.

So, she didn’t dare stay any longer.

But Bai Tongsheng’s reaction had caught her completely off guard. She had hugged her—even pleading in a way to make her stay. In their last life together, after more than a decade, Bai Tongsheng had always recoiled from her touch with utter disgust and rejection. Yet now, she was the one initiating the embrace.

The shock must have overridden her reason for a moment, prompting that question. And what came next was even more unbelievable—Bai Tongsheng had admitted it. Hearing that soft “mm” felt like a dream to Bai Shuangshuang, utterly unreal.

Once her rationality returned after a brief cool-down, she had no intention of probing why Bai Tongsheng’s attitude had shifted so suddenly. She probably wouldn’t forget the pain of twenty-two-year-old Bai Tongsheng smiling as she told her to go die—not for the rest of her life.

So in this life, she didn’t want any deeper connection with Bai Tongsheng.

No hope meant no disappointment. She didn’t dare anymore, so why not just let it go?

With cool composure, she laid out the condition for her staying. In that moment, she realized she could be selfish too—taking advantage of Bai Tongsheng’s softened stance to throw out a condition she couldn’t refuse.

—Yes, she was certain now that Bai Tongsheng wouldn’t say no.

“Okay.”

A flicker of shadow passed swiftly through her eyes at Bai Tongsheng’s response.

“Then go finish the rest of that milk now.”

Bai Tongsheng’s mouth drooped instantly. “It’s cold!”

“I’ll heat it up. Once it’s warm, you drink it all.”

She lowered her eyes, agreeing reluctantly. “Mm.”

Bai Shuangshuang tugged at the corner of her mouth. This life could be like this, then.

If they really dissected the grievances from their last life, hadn’t she been at fault too?

She was the one who’d foolishly tried to warm an icy heart, the one who’d abandoned herself out of crippling inferiority. If there was anyone to blame, it should be herself.

Heaven had given her a chance to start over, and she needed to atone for the person she’d been in her last life. Her atonement would be to live a life that truly belonged to her.

So, if Bai Tongsheng could really keep her promise and behave herself, they could just be normal sisters.

—Not too close, not too distant.

—Just right.

—That would be enough.

But what did normal sisters even act like?

She didn’t know. At least, it shouldn’t be like their last life, with one always taking and the other always giving.

As for the details, she’d figure them out slowly.

Time would teach her what to do.

…

“Shuangshuang, are you reading right now? Did Auntie disturb you by calling?”

“No, what’s up, Auntie?”

Yu Xichi sounded delighted on the other end of the line. “I just heard from Shengsheng that you spanked her today?”

Bai Shuangshuang couldn’t quite figure out the purpose of her call, but Yu Xichi didn’t sound like she was calling to chew her out. Hesitating for a moment, she admitted it before quickly apologizing. “Yeah, Auntie, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have hit my little sister.”

“Silly Shuangshuang, Auntie isn’t mad at you at all. You don’t need to apologize to me.”

“Then…?”

“Auntie thinks you did an excellent job with that spank!”

Bai Shuangshuang: ???

Yu Xichi seemed to be picturing the scene in her mind again as she burst into excited laughter. “Shengsheng has plenty of padding on her rear, and Auntie knows you wouldn’t hit her too hard. So if she makes you mad again in the future, Shuangshuang, don’t hold back. Just go ahead and spank her. You’re the only one who’s ever laid a hand on this Little Overlord’s butt from childhood right up to now. Seize the chance while she’s still young—give her a few more. We’ve all spoiled her rotten. Now that we’re not around, we can count on you to straighten out that awful temper of hers. If you manage to improve it even a little, Auntie will be eternally grateful!”

“…” How had she never realized in her previous life that Yu Xichi harbored such thoughts?

“Alright then, Auntie won’t keep you any longer. I’ll call you again next time, Shuangshuang.”

“…Okay. Goodbye, Auntie.”

Bai Tongsheng drained the last of her milk and looked up at her. “What did my mom say? Did she yell at you? Tell you to spank me again? You totally deserve it!”

Bai Shuangshuang turned to her with a gentle smile. “Auntie said I can spank you however I want. Even if I beat your butt black and blue, it’s fine.”

“…”

She should have kicked Bai Shuangshuang out earlier!