Xiao Keke wasn’t entirely convinced by Sister’s explanation; after all, it was just too coincidental.
But the Senior did say she bumped into someone this morning… it couldn’t possibly be Sister’s premonition, right?
Plus, Keke recalled that time on Southern Avenue when Eternal Star was carrying two big bags of vegetables to save the day.
Maybe the Senior lived near Southern Avenue? It wouldn’t be impossible for her to have bumped into Sister while she was jogging there in the morning.
Seeing Keke fall into a tangled mess of thoughts, Xiaoxi sighed in relief. Even if this excuse didn’t convince the stubborn girl, it was fine—letting her be conflicted for a while was enough.
“Pervert!” Suddenly, a couch pillow was hurled over, “You’re actually idly staring at strangers’ chests!”
Ye Xinglan’s face wore a jealous expression, causing Xiaoxi to pause for a moment. If it was just to pretend to be a couple in front of Keke, Xinglan’s reaction made sense.
But why did Xiaoxi feel that Xinglan’s reaction didn’t seem like an act?
Keke suddenly realized it too—if the person Sister ran into was Senior Eternal Star, then wasn’t the description just now actually the Senior’s true appearance?
Imagining based on Sister’s earlier description, a golden-haired, big-wave, regal woman popped into Keke’s mind… So the Senior’s true form was that regal?
She had thought the Senior would be more youthful, like Sister herself.
Keke’s suspicion was temporarily dispelled, but Xinglan still felt something was off. Xiaoxi didn’t seem like the type to believe health tips from clickbait articles.
Glancing at the unfinished breakfast wrapper in her hand, Xinglan frowned and suddenly realized something.
“By the way, Xiaoxi—since these two bottles of vegetable juice are yours, why don’t you just drink them yourself?”
The soft voice from behind made Xiaoxi pause just as she was about to head to the kitchen to wash the dishes.
“You see, Keke definitely wouldn’t want to drink this stuff. You’re trying to be healthy, right? These two bottles were exactly brought back by Keke, so you should just drink them~”
Xinglan stared at Xiaoxi’s back, planning to test her with this tactic.
Since Xiaoxi herself said this stuff was good for health and intended to drink it after her morning exercise, she probably wouldn’t reject this suggestion, right?
Xiaoxi admitted she was sweating a bit—she hadn’t expected the thing she originally used to trick Keke would boomerang right back to hit her.
Although she hadn’t tasted it herself, from the reactions of the two who drank it, she could guess the taste was definitely bizarre!
“Fine… ah, Keke, just leave it there. I’ll drink it slowly later.”
“No way!” Xinglan rejected quickly, “Didn’t you say this stuff should be drunk right after morning exercise? You just finished yours not long ago. If you wait too long, it’ll be too late.”
“Or are you actually too scared to drink it yourself?”
“I… of course I’m not scared! I made it for myself in the first place, okay?”
Xiaoxi turned around with a smile worse than crying, feeling as if her silver teeth had shattered but she had to swallow it down.
Indeed, if she refused to drink now, her excuse for making vegetable juice to be healthy would fall apart!
Taking the bottle from Xinglan, Xiaoxi swallowed hard. She was filled with regret—deep regret.
To make sure this stuff was potent, she had spent all night brainstorming and added every flavor she could think of that would explode in taste… but now it had turned into a stone thrown at her own foot.
“Drink it quickly, Xiaoxi, don’t waste food~” Xinglan smiled, patting Xiaoxi’s head.
A devil! This was definitely a devil, wasn’t it? Xinglan was even scarier than the Blood Moon Witch!
Xiaoxi closed her eyes, unable to look at the bottle of vegetable juice emitting a strange glow under the indoor light.
Damn, this is suffocating!
A few minutes later, Keke watched her sister lying motionless on the floor, a little worried.
“Is Sister… okay?”
Keke had the feeling Sister was a bit stiff, and she thought she had vaguely seen something floating out from Sister’s head just now…
“She’s fine. Your sister just overexerted herself during exercise. I’ll take her inside to lie down for a bit.”
When Xiaoxi lay on the bed and slowly woke up, Ye Xinglan was leaning beside her, scrolling on her phone. After confirming her sister wasn’t poisoned, Keke left.
“Xinglan, I’m starting to believe in karmic retribution now.”
Xiaoxi stared at the ceiling, speaking slowly and deliberately.
“Oh, that’s good,” Xinglan didn’t even look up, “Since you’re awake, let’s talk about your lying.”
“W-what lying?”
“Stop pretending! You’ve actually been going out in the mornings these past few days because of Eternal Star, haven’t you?”
Xiaoxi’s heart tightened. She didn’t understand how Xinglan had figured it out, until Xinglan rolled her eyes dramatically and pulled out the breakfast wrapper she had deliberately kept.
“You said you ran along Southern Avenue during your morning exercise, right? But I remember that Yuan Ji Breakfast Shop is near the Park West Gate, isn’t it?”
Xiaoxi closed her eyes. She hadn’t expected Xinglan to be so attentive—she hadn’t even noticed such a detail when lying!
“And this morning when I was searching for Eternal Star, I came across this article. Isn’t it a little too coincidental, Xiaoxi?”
Xiaoxi glanced at Xinglan’s phone screen. The article was just posted this morning, titled: “Shocking! Long-missing Eternal Star Suddenly Appears in Summersea City Park?”
The article said an old man who often took walks in the park had accidentally spotted two girls exercising in a small grove deep inside the park a few days ago.
The old man’s eyes were dim, so he didn’t recognize that one of them was Eternal Star.
He casually took a photo and posted it on his social feed, captioned “Young people these days are really full of energy.”
Someone saw the post and recognized one of the girls in the photo as Eternal Star, and that’s how the news spread.
Honestly, Xinglan had thought this was fake news at first—the story sounded dubious, the photo was blurry, and such news popped up from time to time, none reliable.
But after Keke’s visit today, Xinglan felt this was likely connected to Xiaoxi.
Xiaoxi sighed deeply. She had thought the place she chose was hidden enough, but unexpectedly, someone had taken a photo.
Next time, she’d have to set up a Magic Barrier nearby.
But the urgent matter now was to get past Xinglan’s questioning. Xiaoxi shrugged and said,
“Alright, actually, it’s because [Eternal Star] contacted me recently.”
“Those vegetable juices were something she asked me to prepare. I just went out to deliver them. I don’t even know how they ended up with Keke.”
Xiaoxi shrugged. She had to admit being a fan of Eternal Star was too useful. Most of Xinglan’s questions about Eternal Star she could brush off with this excuse.
Since Xinglan hadn’t doubted her last time about knowing Eternal Star, she shouldn’t be suspicious this time either, right?
Xiaoxi secretly watched Xinglan’s expression, but unexpectedly, Xinglan just snorted coldly and left her room without another word.
What’s going on? Was there something wrong with her answer? Why did Xinglan look… a little angry?