Chapter 78: IF Arc 004

“Don’t do that anymore from now on.”

IF Arc

004

High School

That day marked the start of high school.

Xu Yan had woken up bright and early, but Chen Yi was still clinging to her in a sleepy daze, occasionally smacking her lips in her dreams as if she had dreamed of something tasty. She looked just like a goofy little piglet.

“Yi Yi, time to get up,” Xu Yan said gently, letting her girlfriend hold on to her like a sloth.

“No way,” Chen Yi mumbled. “Five more minutes.”

“We have to go to school for orientation today,” Xu Yan reminded her.

Chen Yi, still half-asleep, muttered, “What school?”

“I’ve already graduated!”

She had her college degree ages ago. On graduation day, Xu Yan and her mother Chen Nanyun had both come, along with Su Dai. Why on earth did she need to go back to school? She could just lounge around at home all day.

Xu Yan gazed at Chen Yi’s face for a moment, then glanced at the clock on the desk. From outside the room, Xu Auntie called to the two girls to hurry up and have breakfast. Chen Nanyun was away on a business trip abroad and had left Chen Yi in Xu Auntie’s care, which was why Chen Yi had been sleeping with Xu Yan every night lately.

“Xiao Yan, Yi Yi, come on now,” Xu Auntie urged. “If you don’t hurry, you’ll be late.”

The woman was stern and authoritative in public, exuding an air of officialdom that commanded respect without a word. But at home, with these two girls, she was all warmth and indulgence.

“Got it, Mom,” Xu Yan called back.

She had started calling Xu Auntie “Mom” back when she was eight.

Xu Auntie had never pressured her about it. From the very first day Xu Yan was brought home, Xu Auntie had told her, “Xiao Yan, make yourself at home. This is your family now. Call me whatever feels right to you.”

So Xu Yan had called her Xu Auntie.

And it had stuck.

Xu Auntie had given Xu Yan a kind of care she’d never known before—more attentive than a birth mother, more understanding. The sort of thing other kids wrote about in essays, like a mom tucking them in at night to keep out the cold—Xu Yan first experienced that with Xu Auntie. Even the story of a mom carrying her feverish daughter through the rain to the hospital had become real in Xu Yan’s life.

The difference was that when Xu Yan got a fever, Chen Nanyun—who had specially bought a house in the same neighborhood—rushed over with Chen Yi. Everyone gathered around to watch over her.

Xu Yan had insisted on not going to the hospital, so Xu Auntie bought fever patches and spent the whole day wiping her down with cool towels.

But after three grueling days, the fever still wouldn’t break.

In the middle of the night, Xu Yan’s temperature spiked to 104 degrees.

Chen Yi, who had been keeping vigil, touched her forehead and freaked out. She immediately woke the two family members to rush Xu Yan to the hospital.

Chen Nanyun drove, Xu Auntie cradled her, and Chen Yi stayed close by.

That was the year Xu Yan turned eight.

She wasn’t really afraid of being sick; as a kid, she’d always tough it out through fevers. But after two days of IV fluids at the hospital and the fever still raging despite the medicine, Xu Yan started to get scared.

Her small body was delirious from the heat.

In her dreams, she kept seeing two other women whose faces she couldn’t make out, but they were always together, intimately close. Xu Yan felt like they were her and Chen Yi, but she had no proof—just a gut feeling.

After days of burning up, Xu Yan was wilted. What terrified her most was overhearing the adults: they still hadn’t found the cause of her fever.

The doctor said, “This isn’t normal.”

Blood tests, urine tests—all showed no signs of infection, no viruses, and her immune system was functioning fine.

The cause remained a mystery.

Without a diagnosis, they couldn’t prescribe targeted treatment—just daily IV hydration and immune boosters.

Xu Yan overheard it all.

She hid under the covers and cried quietly.

Chen Yi noticed and thought she was in pain. “What’s wrong?” Xu Yan said no.

“Then why are you crying?”

After a long hesitation, Xu Yan whispered, “I’m so useless.”

“I keep getting sick,” she said. “And now everyone’s taking care of me, staying by my hospital bed.”

Chen Yi reached up on tiptoes and pinched Xu Yan’s cheek.

“Idiot, don’t think like that!”

“You’ll be fine soon,” Chen Yi said, gripping the hand that wasn’t hooked to the IV tightly. “You’ll be fine soon.” She repeated it.

Maybe it was Chen Yi’s confidence that rubbed off—two days later, Xu Yan’s fever finally started to drop. After multiple checkups confirmed she was clear, the doctors let her go home.

One night after they got back, Xu Yan woke up to use the bathroom. Still groggy, she opened her bedroom door with a soft creak. Instantly, she heard Xu Auntie stir in the next room.

Xu Yan stepped out, and Xu Auntie asked with concern, “Xiao Yan, everything okay?”

Her first instinct was to reach out and feel Xu Yan’s forehead.

It was a little warm.

Worried, Xu Auntie started rummaging for the thermometer.

Seeing her so flustered, Xu Yan couldn’t stand it. She grabbed Xu Auntie’s wrist and blurted out, “Mom, I’m fine.”

“No fever.”

The word slipped out instinctively.

Xu Auntie froze in place.

From then on, Xu Yan changed how she addressed her.

Mom was urging her now, and Xu Yan had no choice but to get Chen Yi up. She slipped her own cold hand under Chen Yi’s pajama top.

It was like an ice cube.

In her dreams, Chen Yi suddenly felt the warm bundle in her arms turn into a lump of cold snow.

She jolted awake.

Xu Yan’s hand was still inside her clothes. Their eyes met, and Xu Yan raised an eyebrow slightly. “Awake now?”

Chen Yi nodded, glancing down. Xu Yan calmly withdrew her hand from under Chen Yi’s pajama top.

“Desperate times,” Xu Yan said. “We need to get up.”

Chen Yi’s face flushed as she muttered that she knew.

She rolled out of bed to change, but even then, she grabbed her clothes and headed to the bathroom to do it.

It was her own dirty mind—she’d thought wrong just now.

Chen Yi tugged up her thin autumn pajama top, her own hand brushing her stomach.

Xu Yan’s hand was so much colder than hers.

And Xu Yan?

She sat on the edge of the bed, staring down at her palm. Every fingertip that had touched Chen Yi’s skin was burning hot. For a moment, she couldn’t tell if the warmth came from Chen Yi or from her own racing heart.

Once Chen Yi was dressed, Xu Yan took her to Xitu Lanya Restaurant for breakfast. Afterward, Xu Auntie drove them to school. She had wanted to walk them right into the classroom, but Xu Yan and Chen Yi refused.

They weren’t the type of kids who needed coddling from adults, and with Xu Auntie’s recent promotion—she’d even appeared on the news—being seen with her might draw unwanted attention from other parents.

Xu Auntie couldn’t sway them, so after a few reminders, she let them go on their own.

Xu Yan and Chen Yi were in the same class.

When the teacher called their names during roll call, plenty of classmates reacted. After all, one was the famous Middle School Entrance Exam Top Scorer, and the other was the little lunatic who dominated local internet cafes with Dota. The studious kids knew them, and the slackers did too.

It didn’t take long for several boys in the class to swarm Chen Yi.

“Chen Yi, after orientation, wanna party up for some games? My treat at the cafe.”

They all wanted to see her skills firsthand.

Things were the opposite around Xu Yan.

The good students kept their distance from this legendary Study God figure—no one dared approach her easily. Plus, Xu Yan’s demeanor wasn’t exactly inviting; she had this cool, aloof vibe, her face practically saying “strangers keep out.” The curious ones watched from afar, whispering among themselves.

Once orientation wrapped up, Chen Yi politely turned down the invites from her new classmates and dragged Xu Yan off to explore the campus.

It was a private school, and the grounds were huge.

Chen Yi hadn’t attended high school in China in her previous life, so she was full of curiosity now.

They wandered for nearly forty minutes. When they looped back to the classroom to grab their stuff and leave, they overheard voices inside.

“Hey, doesn’t Xu Yan seem kinda unapproachable?”

“Normal for a Study God. And her mom’s some big-shot official—rumor has it she’s on track to be the top dog. My dad mentioned it, even told me to get in good with her.”

“For real?”

“Pfft, what’s the point? Xu Yan isn’t even her real daughter.”

“Huh? What do you mean—what’s the story?”

“I heard it from my parents. She’s just some country bumpkin who got sold to Deputy Xu. What’s the use in sucking up to her? She’s—”

The gossip cut off abruptly.

The door slammed open with a bang.

Chen Yi stepped in, and the chatterboxes in the classroom shut up instantly.

“Go on?” Chen Yi strode toward them, leaning on a desk with a innocently sweet smile. “What about her? Keep going. I wanna hear too.”

Behind her, Xu Yan walked in quietly, as if the subject of their talk wasn’t her at all. She went to the spot where she and Chen Yi had been sitting, picked up the shared bag with their things, and slung it over one shoulder.

“Let’s go,” she said to Chen Yi.

Chen Yi was still glaring at the group.

“Aren’t we meeting Su Dai for lunch?” Xu Yan tugged at Chen Yi’s sleeve. “Come on.”

In this lifetime, Su Dai was still born into the Su Family, right on schedule with her original birth time. Naturally, she became the cherished little sister shared by Chen Yi and Xu Yan. She clung to Xu Yan like glue, worshiping and respecting this sister who seemed to excel at everything. At times, she even squabbled with Chen Yi out of jealousy.

Su Dai and Chen Yi? Despite the age gap between them, they got along just like in their previous life—trading barbs, roughhousing, and refusing to back down. When their spats escalated, they always had to drag Xu Yan in to settle things fairly.

The thought of mealtime softened Chen Yi’s expression.

“Alright.” She released her grip on the chair.

At that, the others breathed a collective sigh of relief. They’d all been picturing Chen Yi, caught up in the heat of her anger, grabbing the chair and swinging it at them. That would have blown the whole incident out of proportion.

Chen Yi would never stoop that low. Deep down, she was still an adult, not one to bicker with a bunch of kids. Still, hearing them gossip about Xu Yan behind her back had gotten under her skin.

Chen Yi shot them a fierce glare before following Xu Yan out.

As Xu Yan passed by the group, she came to a sudden halt.

“You got one thing right just now,” she said calmly. “I am adopted. So rather than wasting your time on me, why not focus on improving yourselves?”

Gossiping about others behind their backs all day—what else did they have to do?

Xu Yan and Chen Yi stepped out of the classroom.

Chen Yi snatched the bag from Xu Yan’s hand and slung it over her own shoulder.

Xu Yan called out to her.

“Little Yi.”

“Yeah?”

“Why’d you stick up for me again?” Xu Yan’s eyes gleamed with a profound depth, like the surface of a tranquil lake concealing hidden perils—just waiting for the monster at its heart to erupt and swallow everything whole.