Although Ming Shu was currently staying at Su Chuiyun’s house, she was absent nearly seven or eight days out of ten.
It was another early morning as the sun just began to rise. Ming Shu quietly slipped out of bed and looked down at Su Chuiyun, who was still lost in dreams.
The girl beneath the duvet was sleeping soundly, half of her face buried in the pillow. Her well-behaved appearance was a world apart from her daytime persona.
Ming Shu couldn’t help but lean down and press a soft kiss to the corner of Su Chuiyun’s mouth.
Ming Shu whispered softly, “Yesterday, my A-Yun said she lacked a necklace. Today, the auction house found an antique diamond necklace. It’s not expensive, only six million. Shall I buy it for you?”
Ming Shu didn’t know how to treat someone well; she could only express her love by constantly spending money on her beloved.
She gave her jewelry, gave her money, and even planned to use the inheritance from the Ming family as a dowry for Su Chuiyun.
After a long moment, Ming Shu let out a small sigh. Only in times like these did her cold exterior melt into a trace of girlish affection.
“Just… don’t toss me around so much. Four or five times a night… I really can’t take it.”
Ever since that day, Su Chuiyun seemed to have discovered a new joy. She was always clinging to her, using her own hands to “teach” her.
Ming Shu naturally refused at first, but she couldn’t withstand her “little sister” acting so spoiled and soft in her arms as if the girl feared Ming Shu would run off to the bathroom in the middle of the night to solve her “needs” alone again.
“Mmh…” Feeling the kiss on her lips, Su Chuiyun let out a muffled hum.
She groaned softly in her throat and buried her head completely under the covers.
Ming Shu: “…”
She couldn’t resist ruffling Su Chuiyun’s hair a few more times.
Outside, the sky was just turning grey. A clear, cool breeze blew into the bedroom. A white cat standing on the windowsill let out a long “meow” as it stretched its body, arching its back and sticking its bottom up in a deep stretch.
It was hard to say which of its owners it had learned that move from.
Ming Shu pressed a few more kisses onto Su Chuiyun’s shoulder, assuming she was still asleep, before leaving with light, careful steps.
She didn’t see Su Chuiyun on the bed open her bleary eyes.
Su Chuiyun: ?
I just got taken advantage of.
Did I not satisfy the ‘Sugar Sister’ last night?
Su Chuiyun stared blankly at the ceiling, her lips feeling slightly numb from the biting kisses.
She felt like she wasn’t “clean” anymore, but… Su Chuiyun’s fingers lightly touched her reddened lips, and a silly smile spread across her face.
Ming Shu looked so beautiful without makeup and with her hair down.
And Ming Shu said she’d buy her a necklace! Big Sister really loves her.
Ming Shu had woken up early to cook fish fillet congee for Su Chuiyun. She sat at the dining table, a slice of bread hanging from her mouth, as she replied to emails.
However, her eyes were secretly browsing a webpage about finger cots. Her sluggish gaze betrayed the little thoughts hidden in her heart.
Shhh….shhh…shhh…
The sound of a wheelchair searching its way forward broke the morning silence.
“Is Sister heading to work?” Su Chuiyun poked her head out from behind the door. “The Old Master’s health isn’t doing well, he’s intubated in the ICU. Won’t Sister go see him?”
When Ming Shu saw Su Chuiyun’s reddened lips, her brain went buzz. She immediately lowered her head.
Her fingers quickly closed the browsing tab.
I kissed her awake…
Ming Shu thought worriedly: Will my little sister think I have no self-control? Will she think I’m an indecent woman?
A shadow of gloom flashed through Ming Shu’s eyes.
Su Chuiyun remained oblivious to her emotions. “I’ve prepared a gift. I’ll have to trouble Sister to take it to him for me. Since it’s inconvenient for me to move, I won’t visit the old gentleman in person.”
In the original novel, the Ming and Su families were close, having been neighbors for a time, and the elders were on good terms. As the original host’s parents moved abroad, the relationship had gradually cooled.
Su Chuiyun steered her wheelchair toward a cabinet to open the door.
“Yesterday, Sister Chen brought over a hundred-year-old wild ginseng, bird’s nest, and some consecrated beads from that thousand-year-old temple in the west of the city.”
Su Chuiyun chattered softly as she opened the cabinet, not quite remembering where Sister Chen had placed the items.
Ming Shu couldn’t bear to let a “little blind girl” search aimlessly. “Hey..watch out!”
A vase on the top shelf was teetering precariously.
Ming Shu lunged forward, pulling Su Chuiyun back into her arms. With a crash, the vase shattered onto the carpet at their feet.
Su Chuiyun: “…”
I was too focused on searching. Great, now I really am acting like a blind person.
“I remember it’s on the second shelf. I’ll have to trouble Sister to look for me.” Su Chuiyun retreated timidly.
Just as she reached down to pick up the porcelain shards, Ming Shu tapped the back of her hand.
“Leave it to me,” Ming Shu sighed. “Be careful. Don’t go breaking our little ‘porcelain doll’.”
“Was the vase expensive?”
“I don’t know, it’s yours. It looks like Yuan Blue and White porcelain. Probably not more than a billion?”
“?!”
Crap, did the original host just leave things lying around like that?!
Ming Shu admired her expression. “I was just saying. I’m joking.”
“…”
Su Chuiyun was ready to cry.
Ming Shu first used a broom to sweep up the shards, then, wearing her high heels, she looked into the cabinet.
Inside the dusty cabinet sat three exquisitely carved camphor wood boxes.
Thinking they were the gifts, Ming Shu reached out and pulled the three boxes forward.
Su Chuiyun sat safely in her wheelchair, hearing the sound of a latch opening. Suddenly, she felt the room grow far too quiet.
Even the sound of breathing had vanished.
She suddenly had an extremely bad premonition.
Wait… the original host was the type of person who would keep a life-sized silicone doll of Song Xi at home. What would she keep in this cabinet…?
Furthermore, that vase was probably intentionally placed at the front to block the view. There was likely something scandalous hidden inside.
Adult films?
Su Chuiyun didn’t even dare to think about it.
Her stiff eyes shifted toward Ming Shu.
Su Chuiyun asked tremulously, “Sister? Is the gift inside?”
Ming Shu: “…”
The box at her hand wasn’t large. Inside were cleaned milk tea cups, a blanket, a broken walking stick, cake packaging, a handkerchief embroidered with Song Xi’s name…
Assorted trinkets filled the entire box.
Sitting atop everything was a small slip of paper. The handwriting on it was flamboyant and wild, clearly written by someone with poor eyesight feeling their way across the page.
Ming Shu carefully deciphered the words on the paper. “‘You were the first person to speak to me after the accident with my eyes. You handed me a cup of hot milk tea, covered my legs with a blanket, and told me to take care because the weather was turning cold. I asked if you liked me, and you just smiled without saying a word.'”
“‘But I like you so much. You are a candle in my darkness, the only warmth in winter.'”
“‘I heard people say you were embracing other women. It doesn’t matter, I can wait. I heard you are short on money. I will talk to my parents about selling this garden, and I can give you the rest of my family’s properties as well.'”
Ming Shu read the scalp-numbing words in a flat, indifferent tone.
Su Chuiyun was completely mortified.
I’d rather it had been adult films…
Su Chuiyun: “.”
I might as well not have transmigrated into this book at all.
Original host, you deserve a miserable end.
Su Chuiyun’s CPU was about to burn out.
If she could, Su Chuiyun truly wished she were actually blind right now so she wouldn’t have to face Ming Shu’s half-smiling, half-mocking gaze. She wanted to hijack a train and flee the planet overnight to live on another world.
Ming Shu raised an eyebrow. “Found the gifts. Found some other things, too.”
Su Chuiyun opened her mouth in despair. “Sister, I can explain.”
Ming Shu: “Go ahead, explain.”
Su Chuiyun: “…Would you believe me if I said my brain was broken back then?”
There really was no way to explain the original host’s behavior.
Argh! The original host was just purely pathetic, stupid, and wicked.
Ming Shu said cryptically, “I couldn’t tell that our A-Yun was such a devoted person.”
Ming Shu set the gift box by the door, her eyes cast down, the gloom in the depths of her gaze startlingly dark.
If she hadn’t gone abroad…
If she had stayed by Su Chuiyun’s side all along…
Would her sister have avoided falling in love with a swindler?
“Sister, you haven’t finished your breakfast yet.”
Su Chuiyun steered her wheelchair to catch up with her, struggling to stand, thinking that the plot had gone completely off the rails. All that hard work getting close and kissing, only to have it all reset in an instant.
How did the original host manage to bury landmines for her everywhere?
With a sharp internal scream, Su Chuiyun was about to take a step when Ming Shu’s raspy voice stopped her.
“I’m leaving now. You stay and rest well.”
Ming Shu’s heart ached as if it were being stabbed by a blunt knife. “There’s breakfast on the table; remember to eat.”
Su Chuiyun naturally wouldn’t let her leave. She staggered to her feet, clutched the leg that was supposed to be fractured, and fell weakly to one side.
“Ugh… the wound hurts so much. Sister, help me to the sofa first. A doctor needs to see this.”
The fragile girl lay sideways on the carpet, a layer of cold sweat breaking out on her pale face. Su Chuiyun held the leg that had actually healed since she transmigrated, squinting her eyes as if enduring intense agony.
Standing by the door, Ming Shu’s pupils contracted at the sight. Forgetting all about the contents of the box, she immediately and carefully picked her up, making sure her hands didn’t touch the leg.
Forget it, why bother keeping score? Ming Shu thought.
Su Chuiyun’s forehead rested weakly against Ming Shu’s neck.
“Sister, I’m really fine. I won’t delay you any longer. I’ll be okay once the doctor gives me a painkiller shot.”
“I’m sorry for taking up your work time, Sister Ming Shu. I’m really okay.”
Despite saying she was fine, Su Chuiyun let out another muffled groan. She channeled the same energy she used to fake sickness during PE class as a child, while carefully observing the anxiety and worry on Ming Shu’s face. For once, a sliver of guilt surfaced in her heart.
Su Chuiyun pressed her lips against Ming Shu’s jaw. “Sister, I don’t like Song Xi at all. I won’t sell the properties my parents gave me, either.”
“Sister, please believe me, okay?”
The girl’s leg dangled limply, her voice trembled because of the “pain.”
Ming Shu closed her eyes. After a long silence, she said, “Mmh, I believe you. Let’s not talk about this now. I’ll have the doctor come take a look.”
Ming Shu didn’t dare believe her entirely, but Su Chuiyun had indeed treated her very well during this period. When a person has been starved of love for a long time, their first instinct when faced with tenderness and care is to retreat.
Not hearing a definitive answer, Su Chuiyun tried to climb up her neck to whisper more into her ear, but Ming Shu held her down.
“Don’t move. Be careful not to displace the bone.”
“Sister, I…”
Ming Shu asked casually, “Which side hurts right now?”
“The left… ah, no,” Su Chuiyun stammered, “It’s the right leg.”
Ming Shu: “.” She can even get that wrong?
Seeing her looking like she was at death’s door, Ming Shu interrupted, “If you move again, I won’t let you touch me ever again.”
Su Chuiyun instantly behaved herself.