“Pfft, hahaha.”
“Mom, please stop laughing, I’m begging you.”
Xue Ji sat on the sofa, hugging a cat-shaped cushion, unable to hide her embarrassment.
Xue’s mother held back her laughter and patted her on the shoulder, saying, “I don’t mean anything by it, I just think your reaction is so funny.”
“Don’t change, just wear this outfit, okay? It’s a treat for my eyes.” She gazed admiringly at Xue Ji, whose face was slightly flushed, looking completely satisfied.
“Don’t you think it’s weird? Me wearing something like this?” Xue Ji was still struggling with it in her heart.
Her mother gently flicked her on the forehead.
“Ouch! Mom, why’d you flick me?”
“You silly kid, now that you’ve turned into this, nobody’s going to say anything about what you wear. As long as you want to, I’ll support you.”
Xue Ji felt a bit moved. Wearing this kind of outfit around people she knew—especially family—was incredibly stressful for her. It wasn’t about what others thought; it was the barrier in her own heart.
“Well… I’ll just wear it for today then…” Xue Ji mentally prepared herself, trying to take this most difficult first step.
That evening, Xue Ji helped her mom in the kitchen. Her control over her body was far beyond that of an ordinary person, and since she had lived alone for much of high school, cooking was a breeze for her. She handled almost everything effortlessly.
Her mother watched her do the housework—her movements were skillful yet graceful, and the maid outfit fit the scene perfectly.
While Xue Ji was busy, her mother took out her phone and snapped a picture of her in action.
She sent it to her best friend with a caption: A Maid at Home.
Lin Xi: “Oh my, Xiao Ji is so adorable and capable now! Can I borrow her for a few days?”
No Bean Sprouts: “In your dreams! I can’t bear to let her out of my sight, no way I’m lending her to anyone. (Angry)”
Lin Xi: “So stingy (Eye roll). I’ll come visit you sometime (Evil grin).”
No Bean Sprouts: “Sure, bring Xiao Yu along! She’s got her high school entrance exams coming up, right?”
Lin Xi: “Yeah, let’s wait until the kids are done with their things before we set a date.”
Knock, knock, knock—the door sounded.
As soon as Xue’s mother opened the door, she saw Sha Ya looking anxious.
“Ah, Auntie, I’m back.”
Sha Ya was wearing a maid outfit and breathing heavily—she had clearly rushed back.
“Xiao Ya, what’s wrong? You look exhausted.”
“I came to see A Ji in a maid outfit!”
“She’s in the kitchen.”
“Got it!” She bounced cheerfully toward the kitchen. “A Ji, I’m here to help!”
She nearly collided with Xue Ji, who was carrying a dish, but fortunately, both reacted quickly and instinctively sidestepped in opposite directions.
Click. The moment of the two maids together was captured and instantly became the wallpaper on Xue’s mother’s phone. The taller one was elegant, the smaller one lively—just one look at them was enough to lift anyone’s spirits.
At dinner, Xue’s mother had two maids beside her, one on each side, and ended up eating half a bowl more than usual.
“Xiao Ji, are you comfortable in that outfit?” Xue’s father reacted rather calmly.
“I-It’s okay. I think it looks pretty good.” She stammered a little, since she was saying this to her dad.
“If you like it, have your mom take you to buy some new clothes. Your old ones don’t fit anymore anyway, so you might as well replace them all.”
“Alright.”
After saying that, her father went to get his third bowl of rice.
“By the way, where’s Lilith? Why isn’t she coming out to eat?” Xue’s mother felt like something was missing all day and only then realized Lilith hadn’t been around.
“Oh, she’s been worn out from playing these past few days, so she’s sleeping.”
Lilith could stay attached to her puppet for up to four days at a time; after that, she had to return to Xue Ji’s body to rest.
“Oh, I see. Speaking of which, you didn’t buy those clothes yourself, did you?” Her mother’s tone turned serious. “Ling Xiaoxiao gave them to you, right?”
“Yeah, she did.” Xue Ji didn’t try to hide it and admitted it outright.
“Your father and I haven’t changed our minds. Just be careful, and don’t bring her home. I don’t want to see that cradle-robbing liar.”
Xue Ji wanted to say something in Ling Xiaoxiao’s defense, but honestly, her mother’s description was pretty accurate.
What’s more, beyond her mother’s imagination, Ling Xiaoxiao was actually approaching forty—forty centuries, that is.
And “liar” was also true. Back then, her mother had pitied Ling Xiaoxiao’s fabricated tragic past and treated her like a daughter. That wound wasn’t going to heal anytime soon.
“I understand.”
Xue Ji felt this scene was oddly like those short videos where parents are wary of some delinquent boy. Shouldn’t she be the delinquent one, though?
…
At the villa up in the mountains, Ling Xiaoxiao sneezed several times.
She took a tissue from her butler, Xia Jin, and smiled wryly.
“Have I really gotten weaker? Is it because of Xiao Ji?”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you smile like this, miss.” Xia Jin said this with an intensity of emotion that felt almost bottled up.
As if a secret she had long kept hidden had finally been brought to light, she smiled with relief.
Ling Xiaoxiao looked at her with a puzzled expression.
“I only hired you yesterday.”
“Ah, well… I just got too absorbed in a novel. Don’t mind me.” Xia Jin chuckled, trying to brush it off.
“What novel? Let me see. I always see you giggling at your phone—is it that good?”
“Uh, are you sure?”
“I’m not used to the silence anymore. Consider it a way to pass the time.” Ling Xiaoxiao gestured for her to hand it over.
“Alright! Here, I’ll send it to you.”
The file name was The CEO Fell in Love with Me.
Just seeing the title, Ling Xiaoxiao frowned slightly. She glanced at Xia Jin, who nodded repeatedly, before finally opening the file.
…
Two days later, Xue Ji reported to the superpower unit. She was there to meet Pope Aria, as they were going to retrieve the Worldstone fragment together.
Officially, it would be presented as a gift from the Pope to China, so they needed to coordinate beforehand.
On the way, she ran into Chen Shijie, who looked utterly miserable.
Seeing his exhausted appearance, Xue Ji was startled—she almost mistook him for a vampire.
“Old Chen, what happened to you? You look terrible.”
Chen Shijie saw a tuft of white hair bouncing and seemingly talking to him.
“Ugh… I must be too tired.”
Thud. Xue Ji lightly tapped his forehead with her staff.
A wave of coolness spread from his forehead, easing the fatigue of the past few days.
Now feeling somewhat refreshed, Chen Shijie finally noticed Xue Ji.
“What’s going on? Pushing yourself like that—aren’t you worried about burning out?” Xue Ji, who was a head shorter than him, made such a remark sound oddly ironic.
“Don’t even get me started. That Pope has been holed up in the testing room ever since she got here and won’t come out. We’ve tried everything.”
“Because she won’t respond, the nuns came storming over demanding to see her, and things somehow escalated into a conflict. It’s been chaos for days.”
“And Commander Ye and Ling Xiaoxiao aren’t doing anything?”
“Commander Ye is swamped, working with the higher-ups on optimizing the superpower unit system. And that Vermilion Bird person is completely unreachable. So we’re stuck here.”
Xue Ji patted him on the shoulder reassuringly. “You’ve had it rough. Go get some rest. I’ll handle it.”
She walked straight toward the testing room.