Ye Zhiyun truly hadn’t reacted at first.
But then, she foresaw an utterly terrifying possibility!
Still, Yun’er was too much of a pushover. Her sister had asked a question—how could she possibly not answer honestly?
At the very least, let me beat around the bush a little!
“Um… Sis, our family’s maids are divided into different roles, with varying pay scales. We can’t lump them all together.”
“Is that so? What about the ones who sweep the courtyard and do housework, then?”
“Probably… around five hundred a day?”
Five hundred…!
So the maids in our family were all high earners!
My apologies, my apologies. She’d thought they were like her old colleagues—weaklings scraping by on three thousand a month.
Turned out the real clown was her.
Ye Zhibai kept her shock from showing on her face, but Yun’er was already pursing her lips, explaining reluctantly.
“That’s pretty normal… Our maids are all versatile talents. They don’t just sweep and mop at home. If the villa’s fences get damaged or a stone pillar cracks, they handle the repairs too.”
She could understand fixing fences.
But stone pillars could crack too?!
Oh, right… Ye Zhibai suddenly recalled the maid from the banquet hall who, to relieve stress, had ferociously smashed her mop against a big tree.
So, she breaks it herself and fixes it herself, huh?!
What versatile talents—versatile enough to cause trouble!
After laying out that prerequisite, Yun’er hugged Ye Zhibai’s arm tighter and shot a sidelong glance at Lin Zihan, who was still cluelessly shaking her head.
“There are maids for all sorts of roles—some who cook, some who fix computers, the Combat Maid Corps for security, and the Medical Maid Corps for healthcare, to say nothing of those. In short…! Sis, take a look at her. She doesn’t meet a single standard for the Maid Corps!”
Huh?
Ye Zhibai thought, had she already mentioned wanting to ask if Lin Zihan could work as a part-time maid at their place?
She hadn’t said it yet!
And yet Yun’er had already anticipated her wild idea!
Shivering with irritation, Ye Zhibai took a sip of hot tea to warm herself up.
Lin Zihan was quick on the uptake too. The moment Ye Zhiyun finished speaking, she grasped the situation completely.
She raised her left hand to her mouth, genuinely surprised.
“Eh?! Little Bai’er, do you want me to come work as a maid at your house? I… I’d love to!”
“The hell you would!” Yun’er pressed her palm against Lin Zihan’s forehead, shoving her forward-leaning body back from her sister. “Even if you’re willing, you still need an interview! Don’t think freebies just fall from the sky, you idiot!”
“Hello! One plate of pie—may I set it here?”
“?”
Damn it, a pie really had fallen from the sky!
Yun’er was locked in a standoff with Lin Zihan when a restaurant server suddenly brought over a plate of pie.
Yun’er blinked in confusion. “We didn’t order any pie.”
The server respectfully placed the pie on the table and gestured toward it with an open palm as she explained.
“It’s like this: Mr. Ye covered the entire lunch bill today. Before leaving, he told our boss to give every table an extra serving of our signature dish, Bamboo Hidden Pie. Please enjoy.”
“……”
Dad, you know…
Our father-daughter teamwork has never been great, from childhood to now.
This time too. Of all things, why’d you have to pick pie!
Lin Zihan grabbed a fresh pair of chopsticks from the server, eyeing the pie with eager anticipation.
“Hey… can I eat this? I haven’t had lunch yet—I’m starving! A pie from heaven; who cares if it’s tasty, it’ll fill me up at least!”
No one could stop her from eating the pie.
The pie itself wasn’t important right now. What mattered was the other kind of “pie from the sky.”
Mm, Ye Zhibai had planned to continue anyway.
She and Yun’er had already eaten their fill, so they pushed the entire plate toward Lin Zihan.
That move left Guang Yu, who had been about to sneak a taste, high and dry!
With her left hand under the table pinning down the squirming little fox, Ye Zhibai used her peripheral vision to scan the two who had grasped her intentions without her saying a word.
As expected, Yun’er wasn’t thrilled about the idea.
Fair enough—friends were friends, but hiring one as a family maid might be going too far. Ye Zhibai had her own sense of balance.
If Yun’er wasn’t on board, Ye Zhibai would definitely prioritize her feelings.
Family came before friends; any normal person would side with their family’s emotions.
Worst case, she’d just brainstorm another solution for Lin Zihan.
Yun’er had no interest in bickering endlessly with Lin Zihan.
Her sharp instincts told her that her sister clearly had more to say.
Ye Zhibai: Don’t hold back like that. It’s not that I didn’t finish— I haven’t even started!
But it wasn’t just Ye Zhibai who knew how to look after family feelings.
If anything, Ye Zhiyun was even better at it.
She reached out first, snatching a piece of pie before Lin Zihan could and biting into it viciously.
“Hey, Sis, finish what you were going to say. Why do you want this woman to come work as a maid at our house? She’s doing fine here, and the pay’s not shortchanging her.”
“Little Bai’er, no need to trouble yourself~” Afraid Ye Zhiyun would polish off the pie, Lin Zihan hurriedly wolfed down a piece in two big bites. “Ow… so hot. Hehe, Little Bai’er, I get your good intentions, but don’t feel burdened on my account. You’ve helped me so much already. What’s this now—fixing my living situation too? Wuu, if you keep this up, what if I end up totally dependent on you~”
By then, the two of them had cleared the plate at lightspeed in their tussle.
Guang Yu watched in despair.
Ruthless eating machines—and she wasn’t the only one!
The pressure was now on Ye Zhibai.
She pulled the empty pie plate in front of herself and gripped its edges with both hands, as if to steady her words.
Finally, Ye Zhibai voiced her thoughts.
“Yun’er, I just think Zihan’s safety here isn’t guaranteed. Look at her—she’s so pretty…”
“Sis?”
“Yeah… as pretty as you, so she attracts all sorts of attention. She seems slick and clever on the surface, but really, she’s naive about the world—or at least, that’s how I see it. Something like what just happened… if Zihan had to face it alone, I bet she’d panic, right? So…”
So, I want to give her a home… Wait, no! What I mean is,
I want to offer her a job with comparable pay, but in a safer environment with better conditions.
Once Ye Zhibai had laid out her view,
Both Ye Zhiyun and Lin Zihan sank into their own whirlpools of thought.
Or rather, Ye Zhiyun was genuinely considering it.
But Lin Zihan? She was beyond considering!
Little Bai’er was too much.
Saying to her face that she was actually naive about the world… so sneaky.
But… Ye Zhibai had hit the nail on the head.
In truth, even though Lin Zihan had brushed off the two thugs with a smile, hearing about their plan to cause trouble had left her secretly rattled.
The sheltered Eldest Miss Lin had been forced by circumstances to toughen up, but there were times when her inner fragility had nowhere to go—no one to confide in.
It was like Little Bai’er had seen right through her.
Wahh, it was as if she were utterly exposed, completely laid bare before Little Bai’er!
Good thing she hadn’t said it aloud, or Ye Zhibai would’ve roasted her for sure.
Ye Zhiyun’s contemplation didn’t last long.
A flurry of emotions swirled in her eyes.
In the end, they all dissolved into a soft sigh.
“Sigh… Sis, you’re too sly… Your kindness always makes it impossible for me to say no. Aah… Sis, why do you always have to act like such an angel! If I object, doesn’t that make me look like the devil?”
The devil’s opposition was to keep the angel’s gaze forever on herself alone.
The devil’s agreement was to offer the angel the purest understanding, love, and blessing.
“……”
Ye Zhibai never imagined her brief words would earn her the label of “sly” from both Yun’er and Zihan.
I’m not sly!
The sly one’s Guang Yu—she’s the fox!
Guang Yu: ?
No pie was one thing, but now she was getting shot while lying down?!
