Chapter 52 Part 2

Zhu Lexing thought, Are those even the same thing? She tried to call her out, but the Omega brushed her off with “Gotta help in the kitchen” and went silent.

She switched tabs and saw Shi Ruofeng had casually posted the photo to her Moments.

Caption: Snapped this on a whim.

Everyone except Li Nian had been mosaiced out. The comment section was flooded with question marks, and Zhu Lexing had added one of her own. A new notification popped up, so she refreshed—and there was Yan Mian, posting a photo too.

In it, Zhu Lexing propped her chin on her hand, flipping through a book. Warm sunlight streamed through the window, casting dappled green shadows from the trees across her face. The atmosphere was serene and peaceful—clearly not a recent shot.

She saved the photo and messaged Yan Mian privately: When did you sneak this?

-Not sneaking. Right out in the open.

When they were together, Zhu Lexing rarely paid attention to what Yan Mian was doing unless she drew her focus. Even if she was holding her phone, she’d assume she was studying. So calling it “out in the open” wasn’t entirely wrong.

Her thoughts drifting, Zhu Lexing realized Yan Mian had only answered her first question.

-When did you take it?!

This time without the “sneak,” but her reply was even shorter.

-Guess.

Zhu Lexing: “…”

What was there to guess?

But she played along, rattling off a few dates from recent months—all shot down.

After too many rejections, she figured she must have guessed right and she just wouldn’t admit it.

After a moment’s thought, she stopped playing the game and asked: So you’ve liked me for that long?

She expected a string of ellipses, dodging the topic.

【The other person is typing】 lingered for several seconds before the chat refreshed.

-You only just realized?

Zhu Lexing stared at the words, feeling her heart rate spike again.

*

Exhausted from the day, Zhu Lexing didn’t fuss over her sleeping arrangements. She stared at her screen until she drifted off.

Until a servant knocked on the door, Zhu Lexing finally pried her eyes open with great difficulty. She gave a perfunctory response or two before hurrying to check on Yan Mian.

A message from Yan Mian lay on the screen, sent half an hour earlier.

—I’m in the Left Side Hall, chatting with Aunt Zhu Zhao.

In the Main Hall.

Almost the moment Zhu Lexing came downstairs, a swarm of gazes converged on her. Greetings rose in a cacophony, each one accompanied by a hasty self-introduction.

By the time she had met the thirteenth relative, Zhu Lexing had gone numb.

Was this a family reunion for the New Year or some corporate annual meeting? There had to be over a hundred people here.

During breakfast, a few more arrived together from outside. Zhu Lin and Jiang Yue were among them. Zhu Lin spotted Zhu Lexing right away and called her name with a smile. Jiang Yue, however, instinctively glanced behind her, frowning when she saw no sign of Yan Mian.

Zhu Lexing had no interest in dissecting Jiang Yue’s subtle expressions. Spotting Zhu Lin came as a profound relief.

With him there, she brushed off the others with a few vague words and headed left.

The Tea Room adjoined the Side Hall, and Aunt Zhu Zhao spent this hour there every day. Her aloof demeanor kept the Zhu Family from bothering her without cause. Zhu Lin called out subconsciously, “Lexing?”

“Mianmian said she’s keeping Aunt company over tea,” Zhu Lexing replied. “I’m going to find her.”

She turned and left, oblivious to how long the Main Hall’s occupants whispered among themselves, their gazes darting about in the wake of her words.

Those looks eventually settled on Jiang Yue, everyone clearly assuming she was on the verge of ascending through her daughter’s favor. Gaining Aunt Zhu Zhao’s approval outshone any scheme.

~~~

Yan Mian was roused by scratching at the door.

When she opened it, last night’s black cat bolted with lightning speed to the snacks piled under the cat tree, tail wagging furiously.

Yan Mian hesitated for several seconds before tearing open a cat strip for it. The cat fell to licking it with gusto.

The door across the hall remained shut; Zhu Lexing was evidently still asleep. By the time Yan Mian finished washing up, the cat was pacing in circles, cat strip dangling from its mouth.

Thinking it wanted another one opened, Yan Mian started to reach for it—only to notice two empty wrappers already beside the creature.

She paused, uncertain.

Hadn’t they said the Zhu Family kept cats? It acted half-starved.

The black cat seemed to have been waiting for her. Spotting her, it gave its tail an emphatic wag by way of greeting before departing.

This time, though, it moved slowly, as if waiting for Yan Mian to follow. It glanced back now and then to confirm she was there.

Trailing it downstairs, Yan Mian realized dawn had barely broken. Heavy snow shrouded the sky in gloom. The black cat led her to the Side Hall door, where a white cat had been waiting patiently.

Watching the two cats suddenly nuzzle affectionately, Yan Mian sat with the feeding tools and let out a bemused chuckle.

When she stood again, her legs had gone numb. Checking the time, she prepared to head upstairs—only to turn and find Aunt Zhu Zhao watching her from afar, though for how long, she couldn’t say.

Their eyes met. The Beta spoke coolly, “Tea?”

They settled in the Tea Room. Yan Mian felt oddly out of place at first, but since it was for tea, she simply drank. Aunt Zhu Zhao said nothing the entire time, silently reviewing documents as she worked.

Yan Mian was accustomed to the quiet. Anxious that Zhu Lexing might wake without knowing where she was, she sent her location first, then some cat photos.

Aunt Zhu Zhao lacked Zhu Lexing’s sense of propriety and glanced at the screen.

The heart emojis threatened to burst from it, impossible to ignore.

Aunt Zhu Zhao looked away, then rose as if struck by a thought and left.

Yan Mian nearly called out, wanting to remind her she’d forgotten something, but the woman had already vanished down the hall. Resigned, Yan Mian dropped her gaze to the comments from her Star Net fans.

Moments later, the cat darted back into the Tea Room.

Online news held no appeal next to the creature’s glossy, lustrous coat. Yan Mian glanced at it several times, hesitated, then reached out tentatively to stroke it.

The cat reveled in the touch, rubbing its chin against her hand of its own accord. Yan Mian couldn’t help recalling how Zhu Lexing behaved around her—identical to this.

The thought brought an unconscious smile to her lips. She snapped videos and photos of the cat, thoroughly absorbed, when a female voice drifted from afar: “Mimi?”

The sound was muffled at first; Yan Mian didn’t catch it clearly until its owner reached the door.

The newcomer was sweetly pretty. Spotting Yan Mian, the girl arched a brow on instinct.

She seemed to be puzzling over Yan Mian’s identity, her expression managed into a smile at first.

But recollection dawned, and the smile evaporated, giving way to naked revulsion. “Yan Mian?”

Only Zhu Mingyuan’s younger sister by a few years, Zhu Mingya, could share his exact brand of attitude.

Zhu Mingya sneered. “Stay away from it. Can you afford to hurt Mimi? Come on, Mimi, with me.”

She stepped forward to scoop up the cat.

The cat wanted none of it, springing from chair to table in a blink.

Zhu Mingya’s smile froze. “Mimi?”

Yan Mian observed from the side without a word. Zhu Mingya’s pettiness paled beside the torments from “Zhu Lexing” and Lin Yang earlier. She had no desire for confrontation unless pushed.

Already irked by the cat’s indifference, Zhu Mingya took Yan Mian’s calm for disdain. Fury boiled over. “What the hell are you? Some illegitimate nobody prancing in my sight—out of the way!”

Determined to prove her dominance, she lunged for the cat.

Grabbed by the tail, the cat shuddered violently and thrashed wildly. The priceless tea set by the table shattered in an instant.

Zhu Mingya went sheet-white.

Zhu Lexing’s face drained of color even faster. The crash had sent her striding forward; she brushed past Zhu Mingya to check if Yan Mian was hurt.

Aunt Zhu Zhao halted, new tea leaves in hand. She surveyed the chaos, her gaze settling quietly on Zhu Mingya’s face.

New Year’s Eve. Early in the morning, the servants hung festive red lanterns and decorations all throughout the Zhu Family residence.

Breakfast was prepared with exceptional care, but the atmosphere in the dining room was unusually solemn—a stark contrast to the vibrant reds everywhere.

Zhu Zhao sat at the head of the table, with her younger brother Zhu Yan and Zhu Lin seated to her left.

The dishes had been pushed aside, leaving only the shattered remnants of that priceless tea set on the table.

Zhu Yan was drenched in cold sweat, while Zhu Mingya had been grimacing for ages, desperately trying to force out a single tear but failing miserably.

The System explained to Zhu Lexing: 【These cups and pots all come from different tea sets.】

Antiques were either one-of-a-kind relics or complete collections. Breaking just one piece was the surest way to destroy their value.

Zhu Lexing said: 【Alright, just tell me straight up—how much?】

The System quoted a figure, and Zhu Lexing instantly realized: Even at a ten percent discount, she couldn’t afford to pay it off.

So she immediately ducked her head and typed out the details, relaying everything to Yan Mian.

Yan Mian was surprised by the price too, her brows furrowing slightly.

Yan Mian messaged: “If I had stopped her, maybe those things wouldn’t have gotten broken?”

Zhu Lexing thought Yan Mian was far too “soft.”

Soft in personality. Soft all over.

Zhu Lexing replied: “Of course not!”

“By that logic, if she—the nutcase—hadn’t gone out of her way to provoke you, those things wouldn’t have gotten broken either.”

No matter how you sliced it, this mess was entirely Zhu Mingya’s fault. She was the one who’d teased Mimi, and she was the one keeping the cat. There was no shifting the blame with a few glib words.

The thought of the tea set’s price gave Zhu Yan a pounding headache.

But when he spotted Zhu Lexing and Yan Mian huddled in the corner of the dining table, quietly exchanging messages, something clicked. He glanced at Zhu Mingyuan.

Zhu Mingyuan got the hint right away. “Auntie, when the items fell, you—”