Bai Yan’er immediately put on a flawless sweet smile, as if the momentary strangeness from just now had never existed.
“Ah, thank you, Sister.”
Bai Yan’er took the sugar jar and added a symbolic small spoonful.
“Don’t be so polite,” Yan Yu said, holding the café’s exquisite dessert menu, her eyes lingering over it.
“Want to have some small snacks? Matcha mille crepe, tiramisu, or the seasonal limited peach tart? My treat today.”
“Sister is treating?”
Bai Yan’er was somewhat surprised, then shook her head.
“No, Sister, I have a fairly generous allowance each month. Let me treat you to this coffee. Otherwise, I’d feel too embarrassed.”
“No need to be embarrassed,” Yan Yu said calmly, with the gentle insistence of an Elder Sister.
“I am the older sister after all; it’s only right that I treat you to something occasionally.”
“No, no,” Bai Yan’er was very firm this time. She took the menu and pointed at one item.
“Let’s order this matcha pudding. I know Sister likes matcha flavor. Let me pay for the coffee and dessert. Even though Sister herself isn’t well off…”
Yan Yu opened her mouth, but couldn’t out-argue Bai Yan’er, so she had no choice but to give up.
“Alright, just this once,” she compromised, but didn’t forget to add.
“You’re treating me to coffee and dessert; next time I get a chance, I’ll treat you too.”
“There’s no need to be so particular about accounts between sisters.”
Bai Yan’er said with a smile, then waved to call the waiter, adding an order of matcha pudding and a lemon tart, and only then turned her full attention back to Yan Yu.
“Sister,” she looked at Yan Yu, her tone becoming a bit serious, those bright eyes flickering with a barely perceptible depth.
“I heard you’ve been having a hard time recently… Actually, if you need money or any other help, you can always tell me.”
She paused, her voice soft.
“As a descendant of the Bai family, even if I take out a few million or tens of millions to help you, there’s absolutely no problem.”
As she spoke, she naturally placed one hand lightly over Yan Yu’s hand that was resting on the table. Her fingertips were cool, the touch soft.
Yan Yu knew Bai Yan’er was serious. This wasn’t the first time she had so clearly hinted at providing substantial financial support.
Yan Yu certainly understood that if she nodded and accepted Bai Yan’er’s support, she could immediately escape her current financial predicament. She wouldn’t need to work hard on those sometimes troublesome tasks from the System; at least in terms of money, she could gain great abundance and freedom right away.
But Yan Yu understood something else even more clearly.
Since she had time-traveled into this novel as the cannon fodder female supporting character, it meant this world operated under some “rules” or “laws” that she hadn’t fully figured out. The System required her to “role-play” the sickly substitute female supporting character; only by role-playing “successfully” would it reward her with large amounts of money in the short term.
This in itself showed that the role-player recognized by the System who could receive its monetary rewards probably couldn’t obtain large amounts of funds through other shortcuts. Otherwise, the System’s mechanism of using money as a task reward would lose its meaning, and the entire “game rules” would be broken. No rational rule designer would leave such an obvious logical loophole.
So Yan Yu inferred that if she really accepted large-scale financial support from Bai Yan’er (or anyone else), the most likely system punishment would be that her persona would become greatly disconnected from the original substitute female supporting character “Yan Yu,” and she might never be able to correct it back to a state recognized by the System.
At that point, what would she face if she lost the System’s “recognition”? Task failure? More severe punishment? She didn’t want to take that risk.
Therefore, she could accept occasional treats from Bai Yan’er, because that fell within the scope of normal interpersonal exchanges and the amounts were small. But for this kind of clear offer of support that could change her financial situation, Yan Yu had to firmly refuse.
“Yan Er, I appreciate your kindness.”
Yan Yu gently withdrew her hand from under Bai Yan’er’s, the movement gentle but the attitude clear.
She looked up, her gaze calm as she met Bai Yan’er’s eyes, her voice steady.
“I can earn enough to live on by my own abilities now. It’s not much, but being self-sufficient gives me peace of mind. The Bai family is the Bai family, and the Yan family is the Yan family. We’re originally two unrelated families. It’s only because of… some misunderstandings and chance that we have this sisterly connection now. I treasure the bond with you, but I don’t want this connection to become a way for me to gain without effort and take advantage of another family. If that happened, I would feel guilty, and our relationship might become tainted.”
Bai Yan’er listened to Yan Yu’s words. The smile on her face faded a little, and her expression shifted almost imperceptibly. She stared at Yan Yu for a few seconds, and in those eyes that were always filled with mirth, a complex emotion flashed.
In the end, she only let out a soft sigh.
“Sister… you’re really stubborn.”
Her voice couldn’t tell if it was a complaint or something else.
“When all you have to do is nod, and you wouldn’t have to live so hard.”
She picked up her coffee cup and took another sip. The slightly bitter liquid slid down her throat, making her feelings also somewhat complex and hard to express.
But perhaps it was precisely because Sister was so stubborn, so insistent on certain principles and pride that might seem unnecessary to her…
‘That’s why I’m so fascinated by everything about Sister. This independence, even with a bit of obstinate drive, is too rare in our circle.’
As for that Dai Feng…
Bai Yan’er’s gaze seemingly casually swept over that corner again. Dai Feng was lowering her head, pretending to look at her phone, but her tense posture and occasional quick glances over here betrayed her discomfort.
‘Since you’re so persistent about following my sister, so “concerned” about my sister… then I’ll show you something special… let you know that Sister is someone you can’t take away.’
Bai Yan’er sneered inwardly.
At that moment, the slight sound of a cart’s wheels rolling came from nearby. A waiter pushed a delicate cart to their table, on which were the desserts they had ordered.
“Your desserts, please enjoy. Cherry matcha pudding, lemon tart, and a complimentary almond brittle.”
“Thank you.”
Bai Yan’er immediately put on a sweet smile and thanked politely, then gently pushed the bowl of matcha pudding, which was attractively colored and adorned with a red cherry, in front of Yan Yu.
“Sister, eat quickly. It looks delicious.”
Yan Yu didn’t think much of it and picked up the small dessert fork.
She had just scooped up a spoonful of pudding and brought it to her mouth, the delicate and slightly bitter matcha flavor melting on her tongue, when she looked up and found that Bai Yan’er hadn’t touched her own lemon tart but was resting her chin on her hand, staring at her without blinking.
“What’s wrong?” Yan Yu swallowed the pudding and asked a bit confusedly.
“I kind of want to taste the one in Sister’s bowl.”
Bai Yan’er squinted, her tone a bit coquettish.
Yan Yu was startled. She instinctively looked at her own matcha pudding, then at Bai Yan’er’s lemon tart.
“Didn’t you order a lemon tart? Besides, before, you didn’t really like the slightly bitter taste of matcha, did you?”
“I just want to taste it. I also want to taste what’s in Sister’s bowl.”
Bai Yan’er leaned a little closer to Yan Yu, her eyes sparkling as she looked at her, her voice even softer.
“Can I have a taste? Just one small bite. I won’t eat too much.”
“Hmm… okay.”
Yan Yu nodded. It wasn’t a big deal.
“Then…”
Bai Yan’er gently opened her mouth, making a gesture of waiting to be fed, her gaze still burning as she looked at Yan Yu.
“Ah—”
Yan Yu’s fingers holding the fork stiffened slightly. She only then realized that Bai Yan’er meant for her to feed her.
This action made Yan Yu’s heart skip a beat, and her cheeks felt a bit hot. She instinctively looked around. Although there weren’t many people in the café, it was still a public place… She wanted to persuade Bai Yan’er not to do this, or at least to separate a bit onto her plate with her own fork.
But when her eyes met Bai Yan’er’s eyes that held a mischievous smile, all the words of refusal that had reached her lips suddenly became difficult to say.
“Sister,” Bai Yan’er seemed to see through her hesitation, lowering her voice so only the two of them could hear.
“Haven’t you already… agreed to let me ‘chase’ you? Then this kind of behavior shouldn’t be too much, right? If you don’t agree, I might be very sad…”
She tilted her head slightly, her smile innocent yet seductive.
Yan Yu was speechless. She felt as if she was completely under this younger sister’s control. Under the gaze of those eyes, she finally gave in.
“…Alright.”
Yan Yu’s voice was as low as a mosquito’s hum.
She leaned forward slightly. Her wrist stiff as she carefully scooped a medium-sized piece from the edge of the matcha pudding, along with the half cherry decorating it, then raised her arm somewhat tensely to Bai Yan’er’s slightly open lips.
Bai Yan’er’s red lips parted slightly.
But she didn’t take the pudding. Before Yan Yu could react, Bai Yan’er suddenly stood up slightly, pulled Yan Yu’s arm with one hand, and drew her towards herself.
In that instant, the distance between them was so close that they could almost feel each other’s breath.
“Yan Er…”
Then, Bai Yan’er gently kissed her on the cheek. It was just a light peck, touching and then separating.
Then Bai Yan’er bit the pudding and sat back as if nothing had happened, as if that moment of closeness had been just an illusion of Yan Yu’s.
“Yan Er, you…!”
Yan Yu’s face flushed at the sudden action. She covered her face, looking at Bai Yan’er with both embarrassment and shock.
‘What the hell? Is this part of a prank?’
But Bai Yan’er just swallowed the pudding, her eyes curved.
“Sorry, Sister. I just accidentally touched you just now. Sister, you’ll forgive me, right?”
Her expression showed nothing unusual, but her gaze still burned as she watched Yan Yu, hiding within it a small smugness that only she understood.