“Sister…”
Bai Yan’er tilted her head, looking at her with a hint of playfulness.
“Is it not allowed?”
“If… if it’s not allowed, I’ll come ask again tomorrow.”
“If it’s still not allowed tomorrow, I’ll ask the day after.”
“I’ll keep asking and asking until you agree, Sister. Trust me, I’m very patient.”
She blinked, her tone serious, not like a joke.
“Anyway, Sister has been much gentler with me lately… I don’t want to let this opportunity slip.”
She narrowed her eyes slightly, a sly and satisfied smile curling at the corners of her lips.
Like a beautiful yet dangerous little fox who had finally found her beloved prey’s weakness.
“Yan’er… what strange things are you saying?”
Yan Yu felt uncomfortable under her direct, slightly aggressive gaze.
The weird feeling in her heart grew stronger.
‘This girl… doesn’t she seem different from usual?’
‘Wait, was this how she was set in the original novel?’
‘Isn’t Bai Yan’er supposed to be the aloof heiress of the Bai Family? What kind of act is this now?’
“Alright, alright, ahem, I understand. I promise, I promise, okay?”
Seeing the other’s persistent attitude, she finally relented.
Partly to avoid further entanglement, and partly… Bai Yan’er’s relentless determination hinted that refusal might bring more troublesome consequences.
“Then you’ve said it, Sister?”
Bai Yan’er’s eyes lit up, a triumphant smile spreading across her face.
She withdrew her hand from over Yan Yu’s, then extended her slender index finger to gently pinch Yan Yu’s pinky fingertip.
The gesture was intimate, with a hint of possessiveness.
“If you go back on your word…”
“You’ll get a special… ‘punishment,’ Sister.”
Yan Yu’s heart skipped a beat.
The ticklish sensation of being pinched, mixed with the ominous “punishment” in Bai Yan’er’s words, sent a chill down her spine.
She didn’t know what specific “punishment” Bai Yan’er meant, but instinct told her it would be anything but pleasant.
“…Okay.”
She lowered her eyes, avoiding Bai Yan’er’s overly intense gaze, and replied softly.
Either way, she had no intention of experiencing that so-called “punishment.”
The day’s classes finally ended.
Yan Yu sent Ruo Xiaozhen a message, saying she had something to attend to and would be back late, so she shouldn’t wait for her for dinner.
Then she stayed in the gradually emptying classroom.
Students packed their bags and left in twos and threes, their laughter and footsteps fading away.
About twenty minutes later, only she remained in the classroom.
The setting sun slanted through the tall windows, casting long, orange-red shadows across the empty desks and floor.
Fine dust particles floated in the air.
Sitting in her wheelchair, Yan Yu scrolled through her phone idly, but her heart harbored an uneasy foreboding about what Bai Yan’er was about to say.
Just then, a faint, deliberately softened footstep came from the front door of the classroom.
Yan Yu looked up instinctively.
Then she heard a soft click.
The front door had been locked from the inside.
What was this?
Yan Yu’s heart sank.
A strong sense of foreboding surged.
She immediately put down her phone and gripped the rims of her wheelchair, her body tensing.
“Yan’er?”
She tried calling out, her voice sounding abrupt in the overly quiet room.
No one answered.
Then she saw Bai Yan’er’s figure enter 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, firmly pulled the heavy blackout curtain over the first window.
Dimness swallowed a patch of sunlight in an instant.
“You… what are you doing?”
Yan Yu’s voice carried obvious wariness and a hint of panic.
In all this time since she’d entered this book, facing Su Qinghan’s coldness, Jiang Muyun’s scheming, and the System’s coercion, she had kept calm and acted according to plan.
But Bai Yan’er, her nominal “little sister,” was like a completely unpredictable variable—a ticking time bomb that always deviated from her expectations and disrupted her plans.
Bai Yan’er didn’t answer.
She continued to the second window, then the third, methodically pulling each curtain shut.
The last ray of light was sealed outside, plunging the classroom into a suffocating, dim twilight.
Only the faint light from the transoms above the front and back doors barely outlined the shapes of objects.
Then Bai Yan’er walked to the back door, and another click echoed.
The back door was locked from the inside too.
Having finished all this, Bai Yan’er turned around to face Yan Yu, who sat in the wheelchair at the center of the classroom.
Slowly, step by step, she approached Yan Yu.
Her footsteps were clear in the silence.
“Sister, now… it’s just the two of us.”
She stopped in front of Yan Yu, leaned down slightly, and placed both hands on the armrests of the wheelchair, trapping Yan Yu between herself and the chair.
Her bright, burning eyes stared unblinkingly at Yan Yu.
So close that Yan Yu could see her long lashes and the swirling, unreadable emotions in her eyes.
“Now can you… listen to me properly?”
Yan Yu met Bai Yan’er’s heavy gaze, her heart tightening inexplicably.
Her fingers unconsciously gripped the fabric of her clothes.
That gaze was so stubborn, filled with undisguised obsession and possessiveness—nothing like the lively, coquettish little girl who usually clung to her.
Her throat tightened.
She tentatively spoke, her voice soft.
“Yan’er, what do you want to say?”
Bai Yan’er moved half a step closer, locking her gaze firmly.
Word by word, she spoke clearly, without a trace of jest.
“I want you to tell me clearly what your relationship is with Su Qinghan now.”
The words were blunt and sharp, piercing the delicate veil between them.
“Me? With Qinghan…”
At the mention of Su Qinghan, Yan Yu remembered the role she had to play.
The System had asked her to play the substitute, meaning she had to keep her character setting in mind at all times.
Wearing that innocent, yet emotionally scarred expression, she interacted with others to gain sympathy or pity.
So she showed Bai Yan’er a fragile smile.
“Qinghan and I… it’s over. I don’t ask to be by her side; just to gaze from afar…”
It was just another routine line.
But what she never expected was that her act would have such a powerful effect on Bai Yan’er.
For a moment, Bai Yan’er felt as though her gentle little sister mask was about to crack, and she wished she could just take this stupid big sister for herself by force.