Chapter 89: The Grand Gift Part 1

Before receiving the call from Xu Yinian, Jiang Ke was busy planning next week’s salon with other members of the College Student Union.

Blessed with both popularity and competence, Jiang Ke was a natural leader. Despite being a first-year freshman, the other members naturally gravitated toward her, hanging on her every word.

The central discussion had just concluded, and she was busy delegating tasks.

“Group Leader, um… that… would you be willing to go with me tonight?”

A petite girl stood beside Jiang Ke, her cheeks flushed with a strange bashfulness. Her eyes never once strayed from Jiang Ke’s face. It wasn’t just reliance on Jiang Ke’s capability; it was a clear invitation for a date.

The girl had launched her offensive only after confirming that Jiang Ke was both single and interested in women. Usually, the other members would have teased them or tried to play matchmaker. However, everyone knew their leader despised gossip, so they merely exchanged knowing, scandalous glances.

The girl’s hesitant, stammering manner of speech caused Jiang Ke to daze for a moment.

It reminded her of her sister.

Sister… Jiang Ke’s eyes, usually so confident and radiant before others, suddenly darkened as if veiled by a thick fog.

Ever since that pottery class, how could she not feel the shift in Xu Yinian’s attitude? Although she had indeed pushed things a bit too far, the true culprit was undoubtedly Shen Ruoshuang.

Shen Ruoshuang must have said something to her. Only then would someone as dense as Niannian suddenly start awkwardly avoiding the intimacy they had shared since childhood.

Jiang Ke had never expected that while Bai Ran was content to stab people in the back, Shen Ruoshuang would be so reckless as to plunge the blade right in front of Xu Yinian’s face. It had caught her completely off guard.

As a result, her sister had been distancing herself for some time now. With Bai Ran in front and Shen Ruoshuang behind, Jiang Ke couldn’t find a single opportunity to get Xu Yinian alone to act spoiled or play the pity card. She had been forced to remain stationary until now.

Just then, her phone screen lit up. Jiang Ke initially spared it only a casual glance, but the moment she saw the caller ID, the gloom on her face vanished instantly. She stood up abruptly, hurriedly leaving the group with a brief, “You guys keep talking.”

She was terrified of wasting even a second and keeping her sister waiting.

The girl left behind felt her face burn with embarrassment, but more than that, a sense of unease rose in her heart. She had never seen Jiang Ke care so much about a phone call before. She recalled the brief glimpse of the screen she’d caught—the contact name was “Sister.”

Was it a real sister… or the kind of “Sister” used in the lesbian community?

When Qin Jiashu’s provocative, mature voice exploded in Jiang Ke’s ear, the girl froze where she stood.

Xu Yinian’s… girlfriend?

For a brief moment, Jiang Ke seemed to lose the ability to comprehend language. She struggled to mentally repeat that terrifying, alien combination of words.

“Where is my sister?” As she forced out each syllable, a metallic, bloody taste rose in Jiang Ke’s throat. A hint of madness surfaced in the latter half of her sentence; she was clearly on the verge of a total breakdown. “Let her get on the phone.”

When there was no immediate response, she repeated herself mechanically, but by the final words, her patience snapped into a violent, crazed threat: “Let her get on the phone, do you hear me?!”

With the phone on speaker, everyone at the party heard this sudden outburst. Even Qin Jiashu was startled, reflexively glancing at Xu Yinian.

Xu Yinian was equally filled with fear and confusion. She had never seen this side of Jiang Ke. Was this really the same child who spent her time acting spoiled and clinging to her in her memories?

Shen Ruoshuang had anticipated this. Her gaze narrowed slightly, flickering with a touch of irony.

As expected. Xu Yinian was being coveted by the very “good sister” she cared for and protected—a love that defied social norms.

She likes girls…

The same realization flashed sharply through Ji Yan’s mind.

“…Ke-ke?” Xu Yinian took the phone, her voice tentative.

“I want to hear you say it personally.”

The moment she heard Xu Yinian’s voice, Jiang Ke’s suffocating tension finally eased, as if she’d been given a life-saving elixir. She gasped for air silently, like a drowning person clutching at a final straw.

“W-we’re playing… Truth or Dare. It was a task. She isn’t…”

Xu Yinian was indeed stunned into a daze, and her explanation was incoherent. She didn’t even have the capacity to wonder why her sister would have such a massive reaction to the word “girlfriend.” Her entire mind was occupied by the desperate need to clear things up with Jiang Ke.

“I’m… I’m sorry, Ke-ke. I tricked you.”

“She isn’t”… “A task”…

Jiang Ke finally slumped against the cold wall, her strength spent. She stared up at the dead-white ceiling.

Thank god. Her sister was still hers.

However, that extreme, murderous fear didn’t vanish in the slightest. Jiang Ke had never realized as clearly as she did now that Xu Yinian could become someone else’s girlfriend at any moment.

She could not allow that to happen. Jiang Ke’s eyes turned cold, stripped of all warmth.

“Jiang Ke… are you… are you really okay?”

Xu Yinian’s panicked, hesitant voice came through the line again, pulling Jiang Ke back to reality. She realized too late that her deeply buried nature and secrets had been exposed to her sister.

And her sister was afraid of her!

Jiang Ke desperately suppressed all her abnormalities. When she spoke again, she was once more the dependent little sister who needed looking after. “Sister, I… I’m fine. Go back to whatever you’re doing. There are probably a lot of people around you.”

Jiang Ke intentionally left things vague. She knew Xu Yinian wouldn’t feel at ease just from that. She could cry on command if she wanted to, but now wasn’t the time to use tears for sympathy.