Chapter 1 Part 2

Song Yingqiu had already calmed, kneading her temple with two fingertips, her smile easy again. “I’m just a little tired. What would I have to be angry about?”

No one else knew about her and Shao Yu, so it was only natural for people to think they belonged to two different worlds.

Strictly speaking, the fault was Song Yingqiu’s. She simply couldn’t stand hearing a single word said about Shao Yu.

To Song Yingqiu, Shao Yu was the person closest to her in the entire world.

And this hidden bond was known to only the two of them.

Ever since middle school, her soul and Shao Yu’s had swapped bodies from time to time.

Though they had never met, they knew each other inside and out, closer than close. In Song Yingqiu’s heart, Shao Yu was as good as her own little sister.

In the beginning, the body swaps came without schedule or warning. They would trade places and live each other’s lives, which caused no end of trouble.

Fortunately, as they grew older, the swaps grew rarer, and eventually even manageable.

Another major change: at last, they could meet.

In the past, whenever Song Yingqiu wanted to see Shao Yu, she had even tried traveling to Shao Yu’s city.

But when she was still dozens of kilometers from her destination, both her body and Shao Yu’s would suffer an indescribable agony, as if soul and flesh were about to be torn apart, and the marks of that pain lingered in their bodies for months afterward.

After that lesson, neither of them ever attempted an in-person meeting again.

All these years, though, somewhere in the dark, they could feel the constraint keeping them apart weakening year by year, until it vanished entirely.

And Shao Yu’s work had just changed. She was about to follow her mentor to the Provincial People’s Hospital in Lingguan City.

At the thought, the last of Song Yingqiu’s displeasure melted away, and her red lips curled into a smile.

Once she and Shao Yu could be together face to face, all their friends would learn that Shao Yu was her dearest little sister.

Song Yingqiu stretched, then checked her phone again. Still no unread messages. Swaying on her heels, she drifted down toward the dance floor.

The night deepened, and the music at Drunken Haze grew louder still, the DJ whipping the dancing crowd into a frenzy.

That was when Shao Yu arrived.

She paused at the door, and the hostess greeted her with far more warmth than she’d shown any other guest:

“Welcome, Miss. First time here?”

Anyone who had seen that face once could never forget it.

Shao Yu paused a beat, then gave a silent nod.

Just as the hostess was about to continue, the woman in front of her said:

“Thank you. No need to attend to me.”

A few scattered words, pitched low, yet they cut through the hot music spilling from inside like a stream of cool water poured into the ear.

Something in the tone compelled obedience. The hostess stopped mid-step without realizing it, watching her walk inside.

Before coming to Drunken Haze, Shao Yu had dropped her suitcase at the hotel front desk for storage.

It was her first time in Lingguan City, but this city, Drunken Haze itself, even the hostess just now, she knew them all through Song Yingqiu’s body and identity, familiar beyond familiarity.

Needing no guide, she moved steadily through the crowd toward her target.

Along the way, people’s eyes lit up with astonishment, hunger stirring, only to falter before Shao Yu’s forbidding air. By the time they recovered, she had vanished into the crowd, leaving nothing but sighs of regret.

Wen Xinxian was mid-game of dice when a girl beside her suddenly shouted:

“Holy crap, my friend just sent me a total beauty! She’s in our club! Unreal, unreal.”

Wen Xinxian said, “Let me see.”

The moment she looked at the phone, she couldn’t look away. “Gorgeous… but why does she look familiar?”

That face was too distinctive. The instant Wen Xinxian finished speaking, it came to her, and she slapped her thigh. “Wait, wait, isn’t that the—”

The plastic surgeon from that Qiu Rui gossip they’d just been reading about? What was her name again?

The prim, proper beauty from the ID photo had suddenly materialized in a nightclub, gilded by its suggestive lighting, as if some paragon of virtue had tumbled from the heavens into the mortal dust.

But the name stuck at the tip of her tongue and would not come, and Wen Xinxian was dying of impatience.

Then her friend frantically patted her arm. Wen Xinxian looked up in irritation and found the beauty from the photo standing right in front of their booth. She had even stopped, and she was looking at her.

Wen Xinxian froze. Then she blushed.

Aside from the untouchable Sister Yingqiu, it seemed her heart had been stolen again.

Wen Xinxian softened her voice. “Hi? Here alone? Want to join our booth?”

The cold beauty in front of her said nothing, but Wen Xinxian kept feeling that her gaze was oddly meaningful.

Wen Xinxian was still lost when the beauty swept her eyes over the booth, as if failing to find what she was looking for, gave a small nod, and walked away.

Wen Xinxian: ?

“Who was she looking at just now? Is there anyone in our booth she’d like?”

“Probably here to meet a friend.”

“Well, she was stunning, that’s for sure.”

At her usual reserved booth there was no Song Yingqiu, only faces she knew extremely well. Shao Yu did not linger.

The only thing that had brought her into Drunken Haze was Song Yingqiu.

The air inside a nightclub never smelled good: perfume, alcohol, and human heat all trapped in the space like one enormous fermentation vat.

Shao Yu’s brow creased, almost imperceptibly, and her steps quickened in the search.

At the edge of the dance floor, Shao Yu cast down a cool glance.

Song Yingqiu would go dance when her mood was good, but…

Checking the time on her phone, Shao Yu turned on her heel.

Song Yingqiu believed in indulging herself fully, but she prized efficiency even more.

She wouldn’t stay long on the dance floor. At this hour, she should be upstairs.

On the second floor, drink in hand, watching the pageant of humanity below. Or else:

Like right now, flirting, or being flirted with.

Not far away, Song Yingqiu leaned against the railing, a strange young girl in front of her.

They stood face to face, and even in the dim light Shao Yu could see the girl’s nervousness and shyness.

By contrast, Song Yingqiu’s expression was pure ease.

Shao Yu paused only a moment, then strode over.

…

The girl took out her phone. “Sis, can I add you?”

Song Yingqiu smiled lightly, and the girl understood. Rallying from her disappointment, she tried again: “Then, Sis, will you come tomorrow?”

Song Yingqiu said, “Do you want me to?”

As if her coming or not coming, her appearing or vanishing, rested on the girl’s single word.

The girl flushed scarlet and found herself unable to speak.

Song Yingqiu found her rather cute, and her smile deepened.

She was about to speak again when something like a faint, light breeze brushed past her, a sensation so subtle it took her a beat to realize it wasn’t wind at all, but a scent that was far, far too familiar.

Not smelled with the nose, but answered by the soul.

Song Yingqiu turned her head, and before she could even see the person clearly, the name left her lips:

“Shao Yu.”

“Happy birthday.”

Shao Yu looked at her steadily, then glanced at the girl, then back at Song Yingqiu, her voice deepening on the word:

“Sis.”

Shao Yu? It was really Shao Yu.

Shao Yu, who was supposed to be far away in Xiangwu City. Shao Yu, who had said tonight there was no way to celebrate her birthday with her. She was standing right here, wishing her a happy birthday in her own voice.

Her voice was beautiful.

The person she most wanted to see had suddenly appeared before her eyes. Song Yingqiu lost her grip for an instant, and nearly half her BlueShark spilled.

Recovering, she broke into a smile with real feeling in it, eyes bright, her reproach brimming over with delight:

“You said you had surgery. You lied to me?”

The tone was almost coquettish, completely unlike her usual self.

Shao Yu’s expression shifted minutely, her eyes turning toward Song Yingqiu as if they could speak.

Every emotion of hers had sunk to the bottom of her gaze, which stayed fixed on Song Yingqiu for a long, long moment.

The air between them thickened until no third person could fit in it. The girl, who had already been staring at Shao Yu slack-jawed, conceded defeat as the designated third wheel and sighed:

“Sis, so this is your dear little sister.”

Hmm?

Song Yingqiu corrected her with a smile:

“Not a dear little sister. My little sister.”

A person could have countless “dear little sisters.” My own little sister, there was only the one.

After the girl left, Song Yingqiu turned back to Shao Yu and looked her over, again and again, like a child with a brand-new toy who couldn’t get enough of a look.

Shao Yu’s gaze tilted slightly away, the line of her jaw sharp and clean in profile.

Only then did Song Yingqiu laugh softly. “Come on, back to our booth. I’ll introduce you to everyone. You haven’t met them yet, right?”

Taking Shao Yu’s arm without asking, she led the way downstairs.

With Shao Yu here, Song Yingqiu’s mood had climbed to its peak. She was so happy she never noticed Shao Yu stiffen at her touch.

Song Yingqiu tilted her head. “Why aren’t you answering?”

Shao Yu forced her body to relax, her voice low and slow. “I ran into her while I was looking for you.”

The music surged louder. Song Yingqiu didn’t catch it and leaned close to her ear. “What did you say?”

Her breath fell hot against Shao Yu’s ear.

Shao Yu’s breath caught. Without a trace, she angled away and looked straight ahead. “We crossed paths. Wen Xinxian spoke to me.”

“Oh, was she drooling over your face?” Song Yingqiu laughed and scolded. “You know how she always is. She didn’t scare you, did she?”

Shao Yu said shortly, “No.”

A crowd of dozens came up the stairs, and Song Yingqiu pulled Shao Yu to a stop at the corner railing.

“Wait here a moment.”

Her phone buzzed then. She took it out, glanced at a message in the work group chat, and when she looked up again, Shao Yu had stepped away and come back.

Song Yingqiu asked, “Where’d you go?”

Shao Yu answered with action.

She took the glass from Song Yingqiu’s hand and set it on the low table beside them.

The sudden emptiness in Song Yingqiu’s hand left her stunned for a breath.

Then her vacant hand was caught, Shao Yu turned her wrist, and Song Yingqiu’s hand came to rest in her palm.

With a wet wipe, Shao Yu wiped away the alcohol she had splashed on herself a moment ago, bit by bit.

Every finger was tended to, not a trace of stickiness missed, methodical and thorough.

Song Yingqiu arched a brow, leaned her lower back against the railing, and let her have her way.

Until the last of the sticky alcohol was gone.

Shao Yu folded the wipe gently in her hand and looked up at Song Yingqiu, her expression faint, and in that instant her flat tone carried an overwhelming weight:

“It has to be cleaned properly.”