Chapter 46 Part 2

No one raised in the Lin Family environment could possibly be the saint Le Yiqiu imagined.

If she were, she might not have been able to hold onto the inheritance Grandma Lin left her.

Le Yiqiu saw only the best in her, but Lin Xianing knew exactly what she was.

Le Yiqiu said nothing. Instead, she sat up and took hold of Lin Xianing’s hand. She straightened out the arm and pillowed her head atop it.

Once settled, she adjusted to a more comfortable position, leaving Lin Xianing flustered and at a loss.

Le Yiqiu buried her face in the crook of Lin Xianing’s shoulder. Her hand fumbled about for a moment before coming to rest at Lin Xianing’s waist.

Lin Xianing went rigid, not daring to move a muscle.

“You…”

“Me what?” Le Yiqiu bluffed with righteous confidence, though her heart pounded with shyness. “I’m latched onto you now. Good luck getting rid of me.”

Lin Xianing might think poorly of herself, but Le Yiqiu saw it differently.

Lin Xianing had simply walled off her heart, hiding her true goodness from view.

“Then watch out—I might sell you off one day,” Lin Xianing teased.

As for how much truth lay in her earlier words and how much was jest—even she couldn’t say.

Le Yiqiu tightened her hold, hugging Lin Xianing’s waist even closer. “Would you really?”

“Who knows?”

“You’re a naughty Kitty.”

“I’m not Kitty.”

The two clung together, trading a few lighthearted jabs. Perhaps it was the warmth of Lin Xianing’s embrace, but Le Yiqiu soon felt her eyelids growing heavy.

Just as sleep began to claim her in a hazy drift, Lin Xianing’s voice cut through: “Truth is, this plan doesn’t need you in it. But…”

Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I need you.”

……

“I need you.”

The words rang too loudly in her dream. Le Yiqiu’s eyes snapped open. Her mind was foggy, disoriented as to where she was.

As awareness flooded back into her drifting consciousness, she registered the blaring alarm clock beside her ear.

She had to be at the ancestral hall by three o’clock, so Le Yiqiu set an alarm for two-thirty. It was a good thing she had; after chatting with Lin Xianing for just a little while, she had drifted off into a hazy sleep.

Right—where was Lin Xianing?

She had fallen asleep lying in Lin Xianing’s arms, hadn’t she? How embarrassing. It made her look like some delicate little wife.

At the end there, she seemed to hear Lin Xianing say she needed her. Or had she misheard?

Le Yiqiu patted her own head, trying to shake off the drowsiness and wake herself up fully.

“Heh~”

A soft chuckle drifted in from the doorway. She looked up and saw that it was Lin Xianing.

“You didn’t sleep?”

Lin Xianing gave a small “Mm,” then said, “I was about to, but Little Pig was sleeping so soundly she completely numbed my arm.”

Le Yiqiu: ???

Little Pig? Her???

Le Yiqiu smiled helplessly, but at the same time, she sensed that Lin Xianing had changed somewhat.

She seemed much more open with her now, holding back less.

It was a good thing—something worth celebrating.

“You’re in a good mood?”

“It’s alright.” A genuine smile graced Lin Xianing’s face for the first time since her return to the Lin Family.

“There’s good news. Kang Han just sent word—someone’s pitching in to help with our plan, and the timing for launching it couldn’t be better.”

An unexpected surprise. It meant the plan was starting at just the right moment. No wonder Lin Xianing was so pleased.

Caught up in Lin Xianing’s good spirits, Le Yiqiu asked, “What’s this plan of yours?”

“You don’t need to tell me the details of the plan. Just tell me what you hope to achieve with it.”

“Is there anything I can do to help you?”

Recalling that line from just before she fell asleep, Le Yiqiu wanted to confirm whether it had been a hallucination or if Lin Xianing had really said it.

Lin Xianing saw right through her little thoughts. “The goal? I want to split the family.”

“Grandma didn’t get the chance to do it before she passed. She didn’t want her children turning on each other.”

“I’ve accepted her inheritance, so it’s my duty to fulfill her final wish.” Her feelings for Grandma were complicated. Grandma had sheltered and raised her when she was little, so she would repay that debt of gratitude.

It was just gratitude, after all. Especially since this special closeness had come from her role as an emotional punching bag.

“I don’t want to stay trapped in the Lin Family’s cage any longer either. That’s my goal.”

First, to fulfill Grandma’s last wish. Second, to free herself from the Lin Family.

The only way to accomplish both was to split the family.

Dividing the Lin Family’s assets among the branches was only part of it. Splitting the family was far more than that—at the very least, it meant moving out of the Lin Family first. The ancestral rites didn’t require every single family member to attend.

Lin Xianing would have loved to be thrown out of the Lin Family, but her inheritance was far too substantial. They wouldn’t let her go that easily.

So splitting the family was the only option.

So that was it. A touch of disappointment flickered through Le Yiqiu. It wasn’t what she had hoped to hear.

Had “I need you” really just been her imagination?

Lin Xianing leaned against the doorframe, grinning widely. “Come on, shake off the sleep. We need to get going.”

The ancestral hall was over at the old residence—a good twenty-minute walk. If they didn’t hurry, they’d be late.

Le Yiqiu scrambled out of bed to change her clothes. When she saw Lin Xianing smiling there with no sign of looking away, she froze in place.

“I’m changing clothes?”

Lin Xianing tilted her head up just a fraction. “Go ahead.”

Le Yiqiu went silent for a beat, clutched her clothes to her chest, and decided she’d change in the bathroom instead.

As the smile on Lin Xianing’s lips grew broader, Le Yiqiu realized she was being teased.

Heat rushed to her head. In two quick strides, she leaned in sideways, her reflection drawing nearer in Lin Xianing’s pupils. Their lips were about to meet when reason slammed back into her. She threw up a hand to cover Lin Xianing’s mouth, planting the kiss on the back of her own hand instead. Then she snatched up her clothes and bolted into the bathroom.

Lin Xianing was caught off guard by the sudden “kiss” and didn’t react for a long moment.

It hadn’t even landed on her lips, but her heart was far more unsettled than if it had.

That mix of Le Yiqiu’s impulsiveness and restraint—it struck her right in the chest.

Neither of their hearts was calm. Le Yiqiu leaned against the bathroom door for a full minute, reining in the deer racing wildly through her chest.

Seeing Lin Xianing like that, she hadn’t been able to hold back the urge to kiss her. Thank goodness she’d reined herself in at the last second.

Once she had changed, Le Yiqiu took a deep breath and marched back out like a soldier heading bravely to her death.

But by then, Lin Xianing had gone downstairs, giving her a moment to recover.

Le Yiqiu grabbed her phone and hurried after her.

Lin Xianing stood in the small courtyard, her earlier flush cooled by the chilly air back to her normal complexion.

Hearing the footsteps behind her, Lin Xianing pointed at the bicycle in the courtyard. “You pedal. I’ll ride on the back.”

“Sure~”

Right—the Lin Family grounds were so vast; walking would take ages. A bicycle was perfect. An e-bike would have been even better.

But pedaling along with the person she liked? That was infinitely more romantic.

With the Lin Family’s beautiful landscaping, it was ideal for biking.

She took the bike from Lin Xianing’s hands and swung her long leg over the seat. “Hop on.”

“Put on some gloves first.”

Lin Xianing held out a hand to Xiang Meng nearby, who passed over a pair of black insulated gloves.

Biking in winter would freeze your hands solid. A twenty-minute walk turned into at least ten minutes biking with a passenger. Riding bare-handed, she’d have no feeling left in her fingers by the time they arrived.

Le Yiqiu obediently slipped on the gloves, then guided Lin Xianing’s hands to her waist as she climbed on.

“All set?”

“Mm.”

Le Yiqiu gave the pedals a strong push, and the bike glided forward more easily than she’d expected.

Even with someone riding behind her, there was no strain at all.

Cold wind whipped past them, but a sweet warmth filled her heart.

“If only I could keep pedaling you around like this forever,” Le Yiqiu thought. She was convinced Lin Xianing was the one she wanted to spend her life with.

“You’ll be too old to pedal when the time comes.”

The image of two little old ladies biking along popped into both their minds at once, drawing laughter from them.

If she hadn’t been biking, Le Yiqiu would have leaped for joy.

“We can get one of those e-bikes for seniors and go strolling by the lake whenever we feel like it.”

“Sure. Will you be the one driving?”

Lin Xianing pressed her cheek against Le Yiqiu’s back, tightening her arms around her waist.

“Of course. I’ll take you anywhere.”

Le Yiqiu grinned as she agreed. Anywhere would be wonderful, as long as it was with Lin Xianing.

What made her even happier was that Lin Xianing was imagining their future together—their life as an old couple.

Joy welled up in her heart beyond words. Did this mean Lin Xianing was willing to spend her life with her?

Le Yiqiu pedaled faster, boundless energy surging through her.

By the time they reached the ancestral hall, nearly all the Lin Family members had arrived.

The crowd gathered at the entrance parted automatically at the sight of them.

“Little Nine, riding a bicycle all the way to the ancestral hall? That’s hardly showing respect for the ancestors.”

Eldest Brother Lin’s dissatisfied voice rang out, as though they had violated some grave taboo and committed an unforgivable sin.

A smattering of voices murmured agreement, bolstering his confidence that he was in the right.

Eldest Brother Lin had always comported himself as the next Lin Family Head, treating the Lin Family Rules as divine law. Outside the rules, he was tolerant and never turned away a family member’s plea for help. But when it came to enforcing them, he transformed into a stern upholder of family discipline.

He did all this, of course, to win the Lin Family’s approval and ascend to the position of head as a matter of course.

In his dreams!

Lin Xianing let out a cold sneer. “Pardon me, Big Brother—which Lin Family Rule says anything about no bicycles on Lin Family grounds, or riding them to the ancestral hall?”

The family rules hadn’t been updated in a century. Bicycles probably hadn’t even existed in the country back then, let alone been codified into regulations.

“You should walk into the ancestral hall. That’s the path of filial piety.” He struck the pose of a rigid traditionalist.

Lin Xianing raked him with a mocking gaze until he grew visibly uncomfortable, then said, “In that case, when we go up to the ancestral mountain for the rites in a few days, Big Brother, be sure to walk the whole way there.”

“From the Lin Family all the way to the mountain.”

They drove an hour just to reach the mountainside where the Lin Family cemetery lay. Hiking up took at least half an hour more. Walking the entire distance? The rites would be long over by the time he arrived.

“You…”

The moment Eldest Brother Lin opened his mouth, Lin Xianing strode up beside him and cut him off. “Save the lectures for after you’ve become head of the family. You’re just making a fool of yourself right now.”

With that, she took Le Yiqiu’s hand and brushed past him into the ancestral hall.

Le Yiqiu’s eyes sparkled. Lin Xianing had been so cool ever since returning to the Lin Family. It was enough to make anyone’s heart race.