Chapter 37: “Interrogation”

“Is President Mu… in love?” The people responsible for assisting Mu Yixuan with handling this matter whispered among themselves from a distance. “Who’s that girl? She looks so young.”

“I’ve seen her before. She’s President Mu’s new little assistant who just graduated from college this year.”

“Just out of college? That means she’s around twenty-two, right? President Mu must be more than ten years older than her.”

“What do you know? The age gap is total ship fuel!”

Suddenly, the little girl who had been chatting with their President Mu whipped her head around and glared at them. Even from so far away, they could feel the ferocity in her eyes.

This petite girl gave off such a delicate impression that they had almost forgotten she was the ruthless one who had smashed glass with her bare hands. They had no idea where President Mu had found such a formidable little girl, but she looked pretty cute. So why was she staring at them like that?

Had she overheard them? That shouldn’t be possible—they were so far away, and they had been whispering.

What those men didn’t consider was their habit of speaking in booming voices. Even when they tried to lower their volume, it didn’t help much. Not only could Nian Zhi’an hear them clearly, but so could Mu Yixuan.

As soon as Nian Zhi’an heard the voices, she knew things had gone south. She looked up and sure enough, she saw Mu Yixuan’s expression darken in an instant.

She immediately whipped her head back and shot a vicious glare at the gossipmongers. If you can’t talk sensibly, then shut up! Don’t they know age is a sore spot for women? Deduct their bonuses—all of them!

The group of men shivered.

“Um… don’t pay any attention to what they said. This body of mine belongs to someone else anyway, and as for my age…” Nian Zhi’an thought about her actual age and could only brazen it out. “Isn’t it about the same as yours? If I hadn’t died, I might even look younger than you right now!”

“Besides, your soul is forever in its most beautiful form!”

Mu Yixuan couldn’t help but burst out laughing with a “pfft.” One might say Song Qi’an wasn’t good at sweet talk, but sometimes she really knew how to cheer someone up.

Nian Zhi’an breathed a sigh of relief.

“I just suddenly realized we’re ten years apart, and I’m not quite used to it yet.” Mu Yixuan reached out and ruffled Nian Zhi’an’s hair. “It feels like you’ll never age.”

Nian Zhi’an shifted her head out from under Mu Yixuan’s hand. No way—she had to figure out how to make this body grow a bit taller, or Mu Yixuan would keep finding it too easy to pat her head!

“I just unexpectedly ended up in a young body, that’s all. Don’t worry—this one will grow old with you too.” Nian Zhi’an took the initiative to hold Mu Yixuan’s hand, though it felt a little awkward. “You don’t have to worry about ending up as a little old lady all by yourself!”

“…Should I take that as your confession?” Growing old together—what a wonderful future.

“Y-You can think of it that way if you want.” Nian Zhi’an was starting to buckle under Mu Yixuan’s gaze, which brimmed with joy and deep affection. She wondered if, after such a huge incident, Mu Yixuan really didn’t need to take charge of things!

She had originally assumed Mu Yixuan would be swamped. Uprooting the Huo Family entirely wouldn’t be easy. After using Huo Jiaojiao’s matter as kindling and tossing it out there, they were bound to face a fierce backlash from the Huo Family.

To topple the Huo Family in one decisive strike, Nian Zhi’an figured it would take Mu Yixuan at least half a year of nonstop work. So who could tell her why this person, who should have been run off her feet, had stuck to her like glue from one hotel to the next after completing the necessary formalities—without showing any sign of being busy at all?

After Nian Zhi’an finished her shower and changed out of her dirty clothes, she sat on the bed hugging her knees. Now she faced a very serious problem—the room Mu Yixuan had booked had only one big bed.

Sharing a bed the day after getting together? Things were moving a bit fast!

Nian Zhi’an grew inexplicably nervous as she listened to the sound of running water from the bathroom. The poor bedsheets were already being twisted out of shape by her anxious grip.

Wait! Hadn’t they actually failed to officially confirm their relationship yet?! Nian Zhi’an’s face froze. With everything happening so hurriedly these past few days, their bond had progressed so naturally that she had almost overlooked it!

When Mu Yixuan emerged from the bathroom, towel-drying her hair, she saw Nian Zhi’an wearing that deeply conflicted expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“I was thinking… we haven’t officially confirmed our relationship yet.” Nian Zhi’an mumbled her inner doubt without thinking, then realized who she was talking to. Answering like that made her sound like a nagging wife!

“…I didn’t mean anything by it!”

Mu Yixuan paused for a moment before laughing helplessly. “Didn’t you already agree to it?”

“…Huh?” Nian Zhi’an looked so puzzled that she seemed a little dim.

“Have you forgotten? That night, I asked if you’d be willing to date me, and you said yes.”

Nian Zhi’an’s eyes widened, her shock written all over her face.

It seemed that day had made quite an impact on her. Mu Yixuan sighed inwardly.

“Because you remember, last night I took the chance to steal a kiss—mmph…”

Mu Yixuan sat on the edge of the bed, but the overly reactive girl clapped a hand over her mouth. Fresh from her shower, she carried the damp, fragrant scent of her bath, enveloping Nian Zhi’an, who felt like she was about to steam herself alive.

Nian Zhi’an had to be reminded this far before she vaguely recalled that on the night she’d been kissed, Mu Yixuan had said something like that. But at the time, she had been so out of it, mind in the clouds, that she would have nodded along to anything Mu Yixuan said…

Unwilling to admit how embarrassingly flustered one kiss had left her, Nian someone clung to her last shred of dignity. “Of course I remember! I was just joking earlier!”

“Good, then. Otherwise, if I had to ask again, my girlfriend would turn into a boiled lobster.” Mu Yixuan chuckled softly, her eyes conveying that she had seen right through everything.

Nian Zhi’an successfully transformed from soft white mochi into a ketchup-covered one.

Desperate to escape reality, she grabbed the hairdryer, cranked it to max, and started blow-drying Mu Yixuan’s hair, hoping the noise would drown out her voice.

“Last time you blow-dried my hair for me, you were eight?” Mu Yixuan reminisced a little fondly about those days. “It’s been so many years in the blink of an eye.”

“Could I have refused back then?” Nian Zhi’an sighed inwardly. Her hearing was too good—good enough to pick out exactly what Mu Yixuan was saying amid the hairdryer’s roar. Fortunately, she hadn’t circled back to that earlier topic. “How old were you the first time you tried using a hairdryer on your own? Four or five? You got your hair tangled in it and came crying to me. What choice did I have but to help?”

Nian Zhi’an turned the setting down and continued with a gentler breeze.

“Back then, I really wished you were my real big sister. More than my parents, I trusted you, so whenever anything happened, my first instinct was to knock on the door next door.”

Nian Zhi’an was the type to bloom with just a bit of sunshine. Hearing this, she immediately straightened up proudly. “Then I told you to call me big sis—why didn’t you ever do it!”

“Because you could be pretty annoying sometimes, always teasing me.” Mu Yixuan remembered how grudge-holding she had been as a kid. Song Qi’an had scared her with a big green caterpillar, so she had vowed never to call her big sis.

She wondered if Nian Zhi’an would feel like she’d suffered a huge loss once she learned the truth.

“Besides, our birthdays are only a few days apart. When we were little, you acted like such a little adult, but now that we’re grown, you seem like the kid. Don’t you remember how many messes I’ve cleaned up for you? So back then, I figured I should be the big sister instead.”

It was probably… teenage rebellion?

“Uh…” Nian Zhi’an’s bravado deflated instantly. There was no helping it—at the time, her excessive help toward Mu Yixuan had aroused the suspicions of that meddling System, so she had been forced to balance things out by causing a little trouble.

“I’m sorry. Please forgive this reckless brat!”

“I’ve long since stopped holding it against you. And back when the medical staff shook their heads and told me to accept my grief, I was already thinking that as long as you came back to life, I wouldn’t blame you for anything you’d done before.”

“…I’m sorry…” Nian Zhi’an didn’t dare imagine what kind of emotions Mu Yixuan must have endured to make it this far. Beyond an apology, she couldn’t say a word.

“Let’s not dwell on that. Tell me about your current situation—did that child Guo Yuzhen… pass away in the car accident?” Noticing that Nian Zhi’an’s voice was on the verge of tears, Mu Yixuan took pity and changed the subject.

“…Yes, Guo Yuzhen didn’t survive that car crash. But because my soul matched her body so well, I unexpectedly woke up inside it.” Nian Zhi’an was a little puzzled. “How did you guess?”

“After the accident, the doctor told me that during surgery, you… or rather she… had no heartbeat for a while.”

“Then one night, I dreamed that child came to say goodbye to me. At the time, I felt that dream was an ill omen. Looking back now, it might have been a premonition.” A flash of malice crossed the depths of Mu Yixuan’s eyes. “We should make those people pay an even steeper price.”

“You don’t need to worry about this matter,” Nian Zhi’an said. “I borrowed that child’s body to return to this world, so I owe her a huge debt of gratitude. I have to repay it personally.” She felt that the hair in her hands was almost dry, so she switched off the hairdryer and set it aside.

“Good.” Mu Yixuan nodded. Perhaps this hadn’t been Guo Yuzhen’s intention, but it was indeed her body that had allowed Song Qi’an to return to the mortal world in human form. Mu Yixuan wanted to repay her but didn’t know what she could do. “Did you see that child when she left?”

“I saw her once. I watched her head into reincarnation. Don’t worry—she’ll be very happy in her next life.” Nian Zhi’an reassured Mu Yixuan.

“That’s good. I just wonder if she had any unfinished wishes…” It would be great if there was something she could help with.

“Wishes…” Nian Zhi’an actually thought of one. Would burning wedding candies for the two of them count? Cough, cough—they had only officially gotten together today, and bringing that up felt a bit premature.

“N-No, none.”

“Really none?”

“None!”

In an instant, the world spun around her. Nian Zhi’an opened her startled eyes and gazed at Mu Yixuan, who had suddenly pinned her down. They were too close; she felt her heart was about to leap from her throat.

“Lying.” Mu Yixuan whispered softly into her ear.

The warm breath she exhaled sent a shiver through Nian Zhi’an. This sensation… How could she be so soft and yielding? No! Nian Zhi’an was just about to use her superhuman strength to flip their positions when Mu Yixuan gently nipped at her earlobe. Her ears were her most sensitive spot, and Nian Zhi’an’s strength melted away in an instant.

“You, you you…” Nian Zhi’an had no idea how utterly delectable she looked right then.

“Have you forgotten? This is something you taught me.” Mu Yixuan’s hand slid over Nian Zhi’an’s slender waist, savoring her tremors, and she repeated the words verbatim, as if afraid she’d be forgotten: “You said that if all else fails, conquer them in bed. With the right technique, there’s nothing you can’t get them to say.”

Nian Zhi’an was on the verge of tears. If she got another chance, she definitely wouldn’t open the door to this new world for Mu Yixuan.