In the morning, she placed the signed test paper in the most conspicuous spot and muttered,
“Such good grades.”
Ke Rong straightened Xie Shimian’s clothes and remarked, “Did Hua Zhi really never attend school before? It doesn’t seem like it.”
Xie Shimian raised an eyebrow. “She doesn’t seem like it?”
Ke Rong’s heart ached as she noticed the dark circles under Xie Shimian’s eyes. “The educational conditions on Frontier Star are terrible. Even if someone ranks at the top of their class in a regular school there, they’d barely scrape by in the capital. There’s only one decent school, and it’s exclusively for local merchants and minor nobles.”
The inequality of educational resources was an age-old, nearly unsolvable problem.
Xie Shimian packed snacks for Hua Zhi’s tutoring class. “Just say it outright.”
Inside the backpack, alongside the textbooks, was a thermos filled with Earl Grey tea latte. The syrup of Earl Grey tea and coffee were poured into a preheated cup, then topped with steaming, frothy milk. The blend of tea and coffee was delightful refreshing and perfect for sharpening focus.
“My goodness, Miss even prepared tea and cookies for Hua Zhi?”
Was she going to a tutoring class or a spring outing?
Xie Shimian: “Hmm?”
Ke Rong spoke bluntly, “Perhaps Hua Zhi’s past isn’t as simple as what we’ve uncovered.”
The black-market clinic and orphaned vagrant they’d found were only the surface-level details.
The first time Ke Rong saw Hua Zhi, she sensed she wasn’t an ordinary girl.
Ke Rong asked, “What does Miss think?”
Xie Shimian rubbed her nose. “I don’t even dare to think.”
Ke Rong: “…”
Xie Shimian: “My head hurts.”
Ke Rong: “Has the love-struck brain grown back?”
Xie Shimian: Cough, cough, cough.
Hua Zhi woke up, washed up, and came downstairs, spotting a heavy tutoring backpack on the chair.
Xie Shimian tilted her chin up. “Off to your spring outing, ah, no, your class. The bag’s ready for you.”
Even through the zipper, the rich aroma of butter cookies wafted out.
Hua Zhi gulped audibly.
“Thank you, Miss. Good morning, Miss.”
“Hmm?”
“Thank you… sister.”
This was the first time someone had prepared lunch for her, not her parents, not her sisters, but a benefactor she’d never met before.
She should have been living cautiously under someone else’s roof, yet here she was, being cradled gently in the palm of their hand.
The morning cat was especially clingy, hugging the backpack and gazing at her longingly before leaving.
“Sister.”
Xie Shimian took a sip of coffee. “What? Did you forget something?”
Hua Zhi stubbornly called out again, “Sister.”
Xie Shimian: “?”
Her deep blue cat-like eyes, vast as the starry sea, fixed on her. “Sister forgot the morning kiss.”
Before Xie Shimian could react, morning kiss? What morning kiss? her lips were suddenly pecked.
It was an incredibly warm kiss, carrying the sweet scent of strawberries with a faint hint of bitter lemon pheromones.
But Xie Shimian didn’t think it was pheromones after all, Hua Zhi hadn’t presented yet. She assumed it was just a pleasant toothpaste flavor.
The sly little cat kissed her and dashed off.
Xie Shimian stood there alone, face burning, body feverish.
Before today, there had never been a habit of morning kisses.
Her itching teeth longed to sink into something, but all she could do was soothe them with her tongue.
Ke Rong: “There’s something I’m not sure I should say.”
Xie Shimian: “If you shouldn’t say it, then don’t.”
Ke Rong: “Miss used to love getting her nails done. It seems you’ve stopped?”
Xie Shimian finished the last of her coffee. “Manicures can cause injuries.”
Ke Rong: “You…?”
Xie Shimian: “Hua Zhi.”
Ke Rong: ?!
Ew!
Inside the luxurious car.
The maid driving lit a cigarette and gave Hua Zhi, a disdainful glance.
“With such a pretty face, no wonder the young lady likes you.”
Hua Zhi sat quietly in the passenger seat, pretending not to hear her words.
Her eyes lowered, docile as a porcelain doll.
“We’re here. Get out quickly, don’t dirty the Xie family’s car.”
Hua Zhi turned and gave her a cold look. “What did you say?”
The maid scoffed. “You climbed into the young lady’s bed don’t actually think you’re the master of the Xie family now, do you? Having the young lady personally pack your schoolbag and bake cookies for you, what an honor.”
A flicker of delight passed through Hua Zhi’s indifferent eyes. So the treats were made by her benefactor herself!
The maid rolled her eyes, slammed the car door shut, and hit the gas, leaving Hua Zhi in a cloud of exhaust.
She was used to being insulted. This level of contempt was nothing more than a joke to her.
In the past, she wouldn’t have cared. But now…
A tutor passing by called out, “What are you thinking about? Watch out for the cars. Hurry inside, class is starting.”
Hua Zhi: “I’m thinking about how to whisper sweet nothings into the young lady’s ear.”
Tutor: ?!
Hua Zhi carried her bag of snacks into the classroom and took a seat by the window in the back row.
To her right sat a girl with twin braids, her skin slightly rough but her features striking. Her overly ornate clothes stood out awkwardly in the classroom.
There were only four students in the class. Xie Shimian had wanted to hire a private tutor for her, but the cost would have been much higher, so Hua Zhi refused.
This was an introductory finance class.
“Finished the problems so fast, did you copy the answers?”
The girl next to her, Zhong Sha, muttered under her breath.
Hua Zhi’s pen paused briefly before resuming its usual speed.
“I heard you’re from the Wasteland Star too. So am I.”
Hua Zhi continued solving problems without distraction.
“Must be nice, crawling into Xie Shimian’s bed. Lucky you found such a soft-hearted master.”
Zhong Sha smirked at her, eyes mocking. “She even lets you attend classes. If I were Xie Shimian, I’d lock you in the bedroom and play with you until you couldn’t bear children anymore.”
“Oh, wait! I forgot. You haven’t even presented yet. Just how good are your skills that Xie Shimian doesn’t even care about your pheromones? Tsk.”
Hua Zhi set down her pen and looked at her calmly.
Zhong Sha was a Wasteland orphan adopted by a noble family in the Capital Star two years earlier. Though called a foster daughter, her status was lower than a maid’s.
“Hey, why’s your neck so red? Bug bite?”
After class, the student in front turned around. “I have anti-itch cream in my bag. Want some?”
Zhong Sha covered her neck, expression stiff. “No, thanks.”
That wasn’t a bug bite, it was a hickey.
Hua Zhi remained seated after class, quietly opening her thermos of Earl Grey latte.
The rich aroma instantly filled the room.
“Oh, living the high life, aren’t you?”
Zhong Sha’s resentment burned. She had to grovel just to survive in the Capital Star, fighting for every scrap of opportunity yet Hua Zhi got to be pampered by Xie Shimian’s personal assistant.
They were both from the Wasteland. Why did Hua Zhi have it so much better?
The way Hua Zhi sipped her tea with such grace felt like silent mockery.
Everyone on the capital planet knew Xie Shimian cherished her like the apple of his eye.
Zhong Sha glared at her viciously, her heart churning with twisted hatred.
She knew Hua Zhi, the girl who had an ambiguous relationship with her half-brother on the wasteland planet. Hua Zhi’s mother, a painter, was an illegitimate mistress, rumored to be mentally unstable, creating nothing but obscene depictions of copulation in her works.
How could something like this share the same classroom with her?
In a sudden motion, Zhong Sha snatched Hua Zhi’s thermos and hurled it to the ground.
Earl Grey tea latte splashed across the floor, along with crisp, buttery shortbread cookies.
Hua Zhi’s eyes flickered, momentarily dazed.
They fell.
Those were made by her sister…
Finally, Hua Zhi looked directly at Zhong Sha, pulling a sharp blade from her sleeve. “Do you know what you’re doing?”
Zhong Sha instinctively recoiled at the venom in her gaze but raised her voice defiantly. “Of course, I know! Hah, haha, if you want it, get on your knees and lick it up.”
She stomped on the spilled coffee, crushing a soggy cookie beneath her foot.