“Sister…”
Bai Yan’er tilted her head to look at her, with a hint of coquettishness. “Can’t I?”
“If… if it’s not okay, then I’ll ask again tomorrow.”
“If it’s still not okay tomorrow, I’ll ask again the day after.”
“I’ll keep asking and asking until you agree, believe me, I’m very patient.”
She blinked, her tone serious, as if she wasn’t joking at all. “Anyway, Sister has been a lot gentler with me lately… I don’t want to let this chance slip by.”
She narrowed her eyes slightly, a sly and satisfied smile curling at the corners of her lips.
She looked like a beautiful and dangerous little fox, who had finally discovered her beloved prey’s weakness.
“Yan’er… what nonsense are you talking about?”
Yan Yu felt a little uncomfortable under her straightforward and slightly aggressive gaze. The strange feeling in her heart grew more and more obvious.
‘This girl… why does she seem different from usual?’
‘Come to think of it, was this how she was described in the original book?’
‘Wasn’t Bai Yan’er supposed to be that distant and unapproachable heiress of the Bai Family? What kind of act is this now?’
“Alright, alright, ahem, I get it. I promise you, okay? I’ll promise you.”
Seeing the other party’s persistent attitude, she finally relented.
On one hand, she didn’t want to be entangled any further. On the other… Bai Yan’er’s determined stance of never giving up until she achieved her goal made her vaguely feel that refusing might bring more troublesome consequences.
“Then Sister, you said it, right?”
Bai Yan’er’s eyes lit up, and she smiled triumphantly.
She let go of the hand covering Yan Yu’s, and instead extended her slender index finger to gently pinch Yan Yu’s pinky fingertip. The action was intimate, and carried a hint of possessiveness.
“If you break your promise…”
“Then Sister will receive a special ‘punishment’.”
Yan Yu’s heart skipped a beat. The ticklish sensation of her fingertip being pinched, mixed with Bai Yan’er’s unclear mention of “punishment,” sent an inexplicable chill down her spine.
She didn’t know what specific “punishment” Bai Yan’er was referring to, but her intuition told her it definitely wouldn’t be anything pleasant.
“…Alright.”
She lowered her eyes, avoiding Bai Yan’er’s overly intense gaze, and answered in a low voice.
Regardless, she really had no intention of trying that so-called “punishment.”
The day’s classes finally ended.
Yan Yu sent a message to Ruo Xiaozhen, saying she had something to do and would be back later, telling her not to wait for dinner.
Then, she remained in the gradually emptying classroom.
Her classmates packed their bags and left in twos and threes, their laughter and footsteps fading away.
About twenty minutes later, only she was left in the classroom.
The afterglow of the setting sun slanted through the tall windows, casting long, orange-red shadows of light and shadow on the empty desks and floor. Fine dust particles floated in the air.
Yan Yu sat in her wheelchair, scrolling through her phone out of boredom. But inwardly, she harbored vague, uneasy speculations about what Bai Yan’er was about to say.
Just then, a faint, deliberately softened sound of footsteps came from the direction of the front door of the classroom.
Yan Yu instinctively looked up.
Then, she heard a soft “click.”
It was the sound of the front door being locked from the inside.
‘What’s going on?’
Yan Yu’s heart sank suddenly. A strong sense of foreboding rose within her.
She immediately put down her phone, her hands gripping the wheels of her wheelchair on both sides, and her body tensed up slightly.
“Yan’er?”
She tried calling out, her voice sounding a bit abrupt in the overly quiet classroom.
No one answered.
Then, she saw Bai Yan’er’s figure walk in silently from the back door of the classroom.
She didn’t look at Yan Yu. Instead, she walked straight to the window, reached out, and with a “shwoosh,” neatly pulled the thick blackout curtains on the first window shut.
The dimness instantly devoured a patch of sunlight.
“You… what are you doing?”
Yan Yu’s voice carried a clear note of wariness and a faint trace of panic she couldn’t hide.
Having been transmigrated into this book for so long, she had managed to stay calm and act according to plan in the face of Su Qinghan’s coldness, Jiang Muyun’s schemes, and the System’s coercion.
But only Bai Yan’er, this nominal “little sister,” was like a completely uncertain variable, or a ticking time bomb that could go off at any moment. She always, unexpectedly, did things that completely deviated from her predictions and disrupted her plans.
Bai Yan’er didn’t answer. She just continued towards the second and third windows, moving methodically, pulling the remaining curtains shut one by one.
The last sliver of daylight was blocked out. The classroom was instantly plunged into a suffocating, unsettling dimness. Only the faint light filtering through the transom windows above the front and back doors barely outlined the shapes of the objects.
Next, Bai Yan’er walked to the back door. Another “click” echoed.
The back door was also locked from the inside.
After doing all this, Bai Yan’er turned around, facing Yan Yu, who was sitting in her wheelchair in the center of the classroom.
She walked slowly, step by step, towards Yan Yu, her footsteps clearly audible in the silence.
“Sister, now, it’s just the two of us here.”
She walked up to Yan Yu, bent down slightly, and placed her hands on the armrests of the wheelchair, trapping Yan Yu between herself and the chair.
Her eyes, still bright and dazzling even in the dimness, stared unblinkingly at Yan Yu.
The distance was so close that Yan Yu could see her long eyelashes and some surging, unreadable emotion in the depths of her eyes.
“Can you finally… listen to me properly?”
Yan Yu looked up to meet Bai Yan’er’s heavy, staring gaze. Her heart inexplicably tightened, and her fingers subconsciously clenched the fabric beneath her.
That look was too stubborn, wrapped in undisguised obsession and possessiveness. It was nothing like the lively and cute little girl who usually just clung to her and acted spoiled.
Her throat felt a little dry. She spoke softly, tentatively.
“Yan’er… what do you want to say?”
Bai Yan’er shuffled half a step closer, her gaze locked firmly onto her. Word by word, she enunciated clearly, leaving no room for jokes.
“I want you to explain to me clearly. What is your current relationship with Su Qinghan?”
The words were direct and sharp, piercing straight through the delicate veil between them.
“Me? Qinghan…”
As soon as Su Qinghan was mentioned, Yan Yu remembered the role she had to play.
The System demanded she play the Substitute. That meant she had to always remember her persona.
Using that innocent, harmless, yet love-scarred facade to interact with others, to win sympathy or pity.
So, she showed Bai Yan’er a somewhat fragile smile.
“Qinghan and I… it’s over between us. I don’t ask to be by her side. Just being able to watch her from afar like this…”
That was nothing more than an ordinary line of dialogue.
In short, what she never expected was that her role-playing would have such a powerful effect on Bai Yan’er’s heart.
For a single moment, Bai Yan’er felt as if her gentle little sister mask was about to slip off, and she could barely resist the urge to forcibly claim this stupid sister of hers for herself.
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