“Spill it! When did you sneak off yesterday?”
Mom Xue was holding a feather duster. Lilith and Shaya, wisely sensing the situation, pressed Xue Ji down onto a chair and joined the interrogation team.
“I didn’t sneak off. I just had some things to take care of this morning.”
“She’s lying. We swapped places while she was still on the road.” Lilith directly exposed Xue Ji’s lie from the sidelines.
Even in this predicament, Xue Ji managed to keep a calm face on the surface, but sweat kept pouring down her forehead uncontrollably.
“Mom, I went to hang out with Shen Dai.”
“Two hours before you came back, I already called Shen Dai. She went out with Zhao Cheng. Were you planning to be their third wheel?”
“Ugh…” The situation was dire. Xue Ji’s brain spun rapidly, trying to think of a way to escape this predicament.
“What exactly did you do, or where did you go? Spill it!”
The feather duster pressed against Xue Ji’s forehead. Xue Ji felt utterly helpless.
Could she really talk about what happened last night?
Mom Xue had noticed some traces from the previous night on the front. She said calmly, without changing her expression, “Dad, you should step out for a bit. I’ll call you back in a while.”
Although Dad Xue was puzzled, he didn’t say much. After all, Xue Ji was now a girl, so he had to be more mindful than before.
“So, who left these marks on your neck?”
Before Mom Xue could finish asking, Shaya leaned in and sniffed Xue Ji.
She looked like a hunter who had caught prey, her eyes gleaming with sharp light. Seeing her like this, Xue Ji frantically signaled with her eyes, even begging silently.
Shaya nodded, then turned to face Mom Xue.
“Reporting to Auntie, it was Ling Xiaoxiao. I smell Ling Xiaoxiao’s scent on her.”
Xue Ji had originally thought Shaya would cooperate with her. She nodded in response, then suddenly realized something was wrong and snapped her head up.
At the same time, Lilith’s gaze also turned cold.
So that’s what those things she experienced through the empathic link last night were all about.
The young woman in the ruqun skirt, watching the chaos unfold from within the consciousness space, leered at Lilith and whispered, “So, wouldn’t you say that counts as you getting Ling Xiaoxiao too…”
Lilith realized what she was about to say, goosebumps rising all over, and shuddered.
Shaya turned back and patted Lilith on the shoulder, flashing a peace sign.
Xue Ji’s eyes dimmed, and she let out a long sigh. This scene, combined with her snow-white hair and youthful maiden features, looked so chaotic and broken.
“Heaven truly wishes to ruin me.”
“Stop it, who told you to say such unlucky things?” Mom Xue looked at the marks on her body and couldn’t help but feel a twinge of heartache.
Sensing her mother’s concern, Xue Ji blushed and whispered softly, “Mom, I was the one who started it with her.”
Seeing her so spineless like this, what more could her mother say?
“Well, at least it’s better than you being some cabbage that got rooted up.” Mom Xue held her forehead, trying to comfort herself.
“But you told so many lies today, I have to teach you a lesson.” She flicked the feather duster in her hand. “Go lie down on the bed yourself!”
Xue Ji obediently complied, but after lying down, she deliberately widened her eyes, furrowed her brows slightly, and looked back, putting on a pitiful expression.
Whenever Mom Xue made a move to strike, Xue Ji would look back, tears welling in her eyes—a deadly weapon. It made Mom Xue hesitate, unable to bring the feather duster down.
“No looking back!”
“Okaaay~”
Mom Xue steeled her heart this time and was about to swing again, but before she could even strike, Xue Ji started crying.
Xue Ji’s voice was naturally soft, she was usually well-behaved, and after becoming a girl, she’d even learned to act cute. This trick was highly effective on her mom. Even though Mom Xue could see through Xue Ji’s intent, she couldn’t truly stay angry at her.
“I give up. Get up and talk.”
Receiving Her Majesty the Mother’s decree, Xue Ji obediently sat by the bedside, ready to accept her fate.
“Tell me, what did you do wrong?”
“I shouldn’t have used that ‘substituting a fake for the real thing’ trick to deceive you all. I shouldn’t have hidden the fact that I was going to see Ling Xiaoxiao.” She then turned to look at Lilith and Shaya beside her, and said sincerely, “I also shouldn’t have used you all for this. I’m sorry.”
This tactic of feigning admission of guilt while actually diverting attention left the young woman in the ruqun skirt within the consciousness space utterly astounded.
On one hand, she stabilized her mom. On the other, she took the initiative to start diffusing Lilith and Shaya’s resentment, even pulling them back to her side.
‘Wow, Xiao Ji, you’re truly a natural prodigy! You were born for this!’
Ignoring this troublemaker’s teasing, Xue Ji continued, “Lilith, this was your first time experiencing being human, and I used it for something like this. I’m so sorry.”
Seeing Xue Ji’s crying spiral out of control, Lilith became flustered. She couldn’t help but step forward to wipe Xue Ji’s tears.
“Sis, please don’t cry. I’m not mad at you anymore.” Lilith was ultimately innocent. Seeing Xue Ji’s reaction, she even started to feel a bit guilty.
The scene where they were jointly interrogating Xue Ji quickly dissolved. Lilith hugged Xue Ji and started crying along with her.
Shaya looked at her and asked, utterly bewildered, “What are you crying for?”
“I don’t, I don’t know either. Just feel like crying.”
Seeing this, Shaya felt a strange competitive urge rise within her. She actually forced herself to cry too, and joined Lilith in hugging Xue Ji from both sides.
Mom Xue: “…”
“I finally understand. Every single one of you is extraordinarily gifted.”
After all this commotion, evening soon arrived.
Tonight’s dinner at Xue Ji’s house was much more plentiful than usual, because Shaya had a big appetite, and there was also an extra pair of chopsticks.
At the dinner table, Shaya just focused on eating, while the others had a lot to talk about.
“You mean, Lilith counts as your little sister?” Mom Xue didn’t quite understand, but she was deeply impressed.
Lilith dropped her previous disguise, revealing her true appearance, which was exactly the same as her soul form.
She still had black hair, but with more childishness than Xue Ji, and a pair of peach-blossom eyes that were more mischievous and lively than Xue Ji’s, twinkling with cuteness.
With Lilith and Shaya around, Xue Ji’s hard-won improved family status was once again downgraded, returning to her previous state of being virtually invisible.
“And Shaya’s tail and ears are real too?” Mom Xue was very curious. She really wanted to touch them.
“They’re real!” Shaya proudly preempted the answer, even leaning her head in for Mom Xue to touch.
Dad Xue’s reaction wasn’t as strong. After all, compared to his son turning into a daughter, Xue Ji splitting off to create a little sister probably didn’t seem like such a big deal to him anymore.
“Like hell it isn’t! No matter how I think about it, it’s still too absurd. I’m even starting to imagine that your story about time-traveling to another world for several years might be true. I must be too tired.” Dad Xue, after all, maintained a normal person’s mindset, even though he had joined the special abilities unit long ago.
Xue Ji picked up a chicken drumstick for her dad. Even though the two equally dejected individuals exchanged no words as they looked at each other, they still achieved a certain level of understanding.
Should it be said that blood is thicker than water?