“First choice… second choice… third… Ah, Ye Zhibai! We finally figured it out—these slots are for university names! Hehe, not bad for us. Who knows, maybe even the god in charge of wisdom isn’t as smart as we are!”
“The great path has already faded away, and you’re only just now getting it…? Sigh… At least you’re not completely hopeless. You even realized these are for your choices.”
“Hey~ Don’t expect the impossible from a god. We don’t know your human rules for advancing in school. Figuring it out at all is pretty good. Which one are you picking, anyway?”
“I told you, you wouldn’t know it.”
“We could use our divine power to check them out! Hmm? Doesn’t Shikezi University sound super badass? The level has to be top-tier!”
“……”
Guang Yu, I know you’re probably trying to get me banished from the heartland and shipped off to the boonies.
But your little scheme is never going to work.
Ye Zhibai ignored Guang Yu, who was sprawled on the bed, happily kicking her little feet while holding court like she owned the world.
Following the decision she had reached with Yun’er last night, she resolutely selected “Qihai University” for her first choice.
Well… Ever since she and Yun’er had talked things over in the courtyard last night and felt the gentle evening breeze, Ye Zhibai no longer had any hesitations.
If anything, she now felt more embarrassment than worry!
Her sister, who could casually toss out the words “travel the world,” and here she had arrogantly worried yesterday that Yun’er might be too sheltered because of her college choices!
Wahhh, sorry! It was me who was the arrogant frog in a well, too narrow-minded to see the world!
She didn’t submit her choices right away. There were majors and such to fill out, so she needed to wait for Yun’er to finish and copy her template.
The sisters would advance together—that had become their unspoken rule.
Ye Zhibai locked her phone screen and placed the device horizontally on top of Guang Yu’s head before closing her eyes in meditation.
Guang Yu nudged the phone on her head with a bob, looking just like a sea lion at the City Center Aquarium balancing a ball.
“What are you thinking about? And why’d you put your phone on our head?”
“To see if you can handle the weight of knowledge. I’m heading to Sister Liang’s place soon. It’s giving me a real headache already.”
“A headache?” Guang Yu shook her head experimentally, but somehow the phone stayed perfectly balanced. “Are you sure you’re that worried? The first thing you said when you got up today wasn’t ‘time to hit the road’? You’re clearly excited, but you call it a headache—like when your sister pins you down and has her way with you, but you stubbornly insist it’s uncomfortable. You’re totally into it, just like yesterday when you wanted to peek under that figurine’s skirt. Oh… Isn’t this what those doujinshi talk about? All soft everywhere else, but that mouth stays hard? Sigh, humans are so hard to understand…”
To emphasize the truth of her words, Guang Yu fiddled with the figurine, angling the plastic little person’s skirt toward Ye Zhibai as a sign of respect.
Ye Zhibai, ever the refined gentleman at heart, couldn’t stand that sort of thing.
“Shut it. If it’s so hard to understand, then don’t bother. My time to turn the tables is coming soon. Truth be told, when Yun’er and I were kissing yesterday, I had the upper hand—you don’t need to know that. Cough. Anyway, Guang Yu, you can’t judge by appearances.”
“If not by appearances, then what’s really going on inside?”
“Inside? Well, yeah, I’m really looking forward to going to Sister Liang’s. But once I’m there, there’s something super awkward I have to tell her. She was really hoping I’d go to Capital University, and now I’ve decided not to… It’s hard to bring up. I didn’t even dare mention it yesterday.”
“Oh, we don’t really get it.”
“……”
I knew you wouldn’t! I shouldn’t have even hoped you’d help me figure this out!
Ye Zhibai had no patience to bicker with the fox. She snatched her phone from atop Guang Yu’s head.
With a casual flick of her silver hair, she rose to her feet. Her line of sight lifted accordingly.
Naturally, through the spotless floor-to-ceiling window, she caught sight of what was happening in the courtyard.
Lin Zihan had come to work as usual today.
The golden-haired girl, dressed in a black-and-white ribboned maid outfit, was crouched by a puddle, steadily holding the watering can as she tended to the fresh flowers she had just planted that day.
She was bobbing her head too, but her movements were far more graceful than Guang Yu’s clumsy shakes.
She had come here to be a maid~ Yet every gesture from Zihan was more like that of an eldest miss leisurely strolling through her garden.
Some qualities were innate, impossible to define or strip away—even if her family had fallen on hard times, they hadn’t faded Zihan’s luster.
Even through the excellently soundproofed window, it only took a few seconds for Zihan’s sharp senses to pick up Ye Zhibai’s gaze. She turned her head with a smile even brighter than before and waved the hand not holding the watering can toward the house.
Ahh… Busted?
If this were back when she was still a boy, getting caught glancing at a girl would have been pretty embarrassing.
But things were different now. This was friendship! Checking if a friend was tired from work, if she needed a break—that was totally normal!
Ye Zhibai, always able to claim the moral high ground, walked forward a few steps with a clear conscience and pushed open the nearby side door.
The courtyard’s floral scent in the morning light was no different from at night, but the warm sunlight added a gentle touch to it.
“Ya-hoo! Little Bai’er! Ah… No, wait, that’s wrong. Boss Ye, good morning! Your personal maid, Lin Zihan, reporting for duty!”
“Thanks for your hard work. And don’t talk like that.”
“Hehe… Just trying to get into the work mindset! Anyway, good morning, Little Bai’er! You were still fast asleep when I got here. Phew… You have no idea how hard it was to make it to the courtyard. Zhiyun even wanted me to hang from the rafters by a rope when passing your room!”
“A rope…? For what?”
“To dangle myself with my feet off the ground! She said if my feet touched the floor, my footsteps might wake you up!”
“!”
Holy crap—that scene would basically be a hanging!
Whew… Good thing Zihan was still alive. It meant Yun’er had a sharp tongue but a soft heart; she hadn’t actually gone through with that inhumane plan.
Lin Zihan set down the watering can for the moment and untied the thin cord holding her golden hair in a neat ponytail.
The dazzling locks spilled free, cascading over her shoulders. With a tilt of her head, the eyepatch over her left eye peeked out.
She covered her mouth with one hand and grinned mischievously, every movement full of playful charm.
“Hehe… Speaking of which, Little Bai’er really loves sleeping in, huh? It was already eight-thirty when I arrived, and you were still out cold. Don’t tell me… You and Zhiyun were exercising again last night?!”
“Exercising…? What kind of exercise late at night… No…”
Look at that smug grin—you’re setting me up with clever words, aren’t you!
A lifetime as the eldest miss didn’t teach you anything else, just how to gossip! Cough… Ye Zhibai wasn’t lying. There really hadn’t been any exercise last night.
They’d spent all day at Comic-Con and were exhausted. Yun’er wasn’t irrational; she’d successfully held herself back.
Well… They had gotten a bit handsy after their talk and kiss in the courtyard, but that hardly counted as exercise, right?
The intensity wasn’t there!
This topic was best avoided. Ye Zhibai swept her gaze around the courtyard and decisively changed the subject.
“Zihan, you’re planting more and more flowers.”
“Huh? Doesn’t Little Bai’er like all these flowers?”
“No, more flowers look great. But this is outside your job description—it’s unpaid overtime. You’re losing out.”
“Pfft… What loss? Doing what you love is its own reward.”
“You love planting flowers that much?”
“Nope~ What I love isn’t planting flowers. It’s planting flowers in Little Bai’er’s courtyard~”
“?”
What’s the difference?
Oh, got it. She must love the soil in my courtyard.
See? Fertile soil is always popular.
Ye Zhibai nodded as if she understood. She was about to say something when Zihan’s voice suddenly dropped a notch.
“And… most flowers need warm seasons with lots of heat to grow big. Come winter, there won’t be much chance to plant anymore. And when winter comes…”
When winter comes, where will I be?
At the very least… I probably won’t have another chance to come to this courtyard.
The fleeting look of melancholy vanished. When Lin Zihan looked up again, she was brimming with energy once more!
“I heard from Zhiyun, Little Bai’er—you both signed up for Qihai University?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Congrats~ I really think it’s a great choice. Studying at a university right nearby… Waa, I’m genuinely jealous.”
“So… You went for Capital University, Zihan?”
“Yep! I applied to Capital University and Azure Flower University too, but who knows if they’ll accept me~ My scores aren’t like yours, Little Bai’er. I’m barely scraping past the top hundred in the province.”
Don’t… Every time you say that, it makes this cheater feel so guilty.
“You’ll get in.” Ye Zhibai knew how to respond with tact. “Once the admissions come through… Even if we’re not in the same city, we can stay in touch on our phones.”
“Little Bai’er… You want me to get in?”
“Hm?”
“Ah… Never mind! Sorry, just talking nonsense. If I get in, I’ll burn thirty sticks of incense up on the mountain! Confucius, bless me, Confucius!”
“Confucius didn’t study English… He probably can’t bless you for the Gaokao.”
Ye Zhibai was in the middle of chatting with Zihan about Gaokao choices when Yun’er’s voice suddenly called out from inside the house, growing closer.
“Sis! Have you seen our family’s wasabi? I left two bottles on the kitchen cabinet, but they’re gone!”
“……”
Wasabi?
Wasabi!
Ye Zhibai’s first instinct was to whip around and glare at Guang Yu, who was lounging on the bed playing with the figurine!
But her gaze hit empty air.
Of course—Guang Yu had heard Yun’er too. In an instant, she turned into a cat and bolted into the flower field in the courtyard, vanishing with practiced ease!
Well… Doesn’t that just confess everything?
“You’re really scumbag, aren’t you, Guang Yu? Stealing wasabi paste from the restaurant is one thing, but even raiding the condiments we keep at home for emergencies? Don’t you know what strategic reserves are?”
Yun’er stepped into the courtyard, wearing an apron emblazoned with a big “Love Sister” heart emblem. In her hand, she clutched an empty wasabi bottle, her expression full of bewilderment.
“This shouldn’t be right… Such a big bottle. Sister, you haven’t touched the wasabi, have you?”
“I… I have. Feeding the cat.”
“Feeding the cat?! Wasabi?!”
“Yeah, wasabi for the cat to eat… Er, the cat that eats wasabi. Yun’er, you’re making a fuss over nothing.”
Lin Zihan, who was already well past the point of surprise, planted her hands on her hips and confidently backed up Ye Zhibai.
“That’s right! Zhiyun, you’re just too naive. The cat Little Bai’er raises is super impressive. Have you ever seen a cat that yanks up green onions? It happened right in front of me—it just whooshed and pulled one right out of the ground! Eating wasabi is nothing compared to that.”
Nice one, Zihan. People who know how to talk really do hit the spot!
Yun’er shook the empty bottle in her hand. She felt a little wronged, a little confused, but in the end, she could only offer an honest apology.
“Sorry, Sister… As your little sister, I need to learn more and try harder. Otherwise, if my skills aren’t up to par, I’ll just end up as a laughingstock. Right now, my knowledge is still so limited…”
It’s fine, Yun’er… In the whole world, there’s probably only one cat that eats wasabi. It’s not common knowledge anyway, so no big deal.
Time was getting late.
Ye Zhibai stepped back onto the stone steps. She glanced over her shoulder at Lin Zihan first, then met Yun’er’s eyes directly.
She stated the arrangement they had agreed on the night before.
“Then, Yun’er, it’s time for me to head out.”
“Got it. Go ahead without worry, Sister! The Maid Corps’ car is already waiting at the door. Tsk tsk… That Chi Yuliang better treat you right and not slack off. It’s so annoying that she’s stealing our rare lunchtime together…”
Yun’er… Why don’t you listen to the nonsense you’re spouting?
Rare lunchtime together?
We eat together every single day!
“Yun’er… You won’t be following me this time… right?”
“Huh?! How could I? No way! Why would Sister even worry about that? What a weird thought!”
Those rapid-fire exclamations of hers, combined with her frantic waving hands, came off looking exactly like a straightforward confirmation.
