She felt that if she was going back to her own home, yet still brought bodyguards, it would look strange no matter how you saw it.

All the more, Father Yan and Mother Yan were not like the eldest of the Yan family with that kind of persona, so Yan Luqing went alone.

She arrived early, before noon meal time. Father and Mother Yan had gone out to handle matters and had not yet returned. The elder brother, with his rich inner drama, who had picked her up last time, was also not there. On the entire first floor, apart from the butler, there were only the aunts doing chores. Yan Luqing, bored, wandered around for a while, and in the end still went up to the second floor, staying in the study she had been to the first time.

“Makka Pakka, hey!” Yan Luqing sat casually on a chair in the study and then, in her mind, connected with it, “You said that if I completed the task there would be a reward, right? I worked so hard studying and tested such high grades, it can’t be that you won’t give me anything, right?”

“Maria, don’t worry, that one is upgrading~”

Ho, looks like it’s a big treasure, it even needs to be upgraded.

Yan Luqing didn’t really want to just sit around doing nothing, so she simply started chatting with Makka Pakka. For example, what they did all day, whether a book-transcender might end up in some object instead of a human body if there was a mistake, and also just how strange the special effects of other people in this book could get…

Before they had chatted for long, a figure of a little girl of about six or seven suddenly ran past right in front of her.

The study door was half-open. She seemed to be hiding from someone, and didn’t see Yan Luqing on the other side inside the study. The little girl was wearing a white nightgown, sneakily slipped in, glanced left and right, and not seeing anyone, shoved whatever was in her hand straight into her mouth.

All of her movements were like an anime, very cute.

Before Yan Luqing could clap for this cuteness, she suddenly heard, from within the panic, a whimper tinged with pain.

…?

Although she didn’t know where this little child had come from, Yan Luqing still immediately stood up and ran to her side, gently turning the little girl’s face. “What’s wrong? Open your mouth, let sister see, open your mouth, ah—”

The little girl’s face was full of tears. Her eyes were squeezed shut, but she obediently opened her mouth wide. Yan Luqing took a look—there was a lollipop stuck in her throat.

This candy was a circle smaller than a common lollipop. Fortunately, only a small part had gotten stuck. Yan Luqing tugged at the white stick and in one pull dragged the candy out. The little girl coughed for a while, and only after a long time did she gradually recover.

“Tha…thank you…sister…” The little girl was very polite, thanking her before even opening her eyes.

Then, when she finally opened them, those beautiful big eyes suddenly widened. Within the innocent eyes of a child, there was revealed genuine, unmistakable fear.

Yan Luqing: ?

Was she so scary-looking? Did she make the little girl think she ate children??

“Maria—” As soon as this doubt arose, Makka Pakka’s voice instantly sounded in her mind, “This is the child of close friends of Father and Mother Yan. That couple died in an accident three years ago, so Father and Mother Yan took her in. She became the adopted daughter of the Yan family.”

Yan Luqing was still very puzzled: “Then why is she so afraid of me?”

“Because the original host really disliked this child. When she was four or five years old…” Makka Pakka quickly explained, and only then did Yan Luqing understand the cause of the matter.

It turned out the original host moved out of the main house because of this little sister.

The original host had once taken the little sister to play in the suburbs. Saying play, yet not bringing the little sister back. In the end it was her elder and second brothers who, after several hours, found the little girl curled up in a tree hole near the suburbs. After they returned, the whole family was furious. The original host had already not wanted to stay in this home, so she took the opportunity to leave and live alone.

Yan Luqing: “…………” She could not understand how the original host, this scum, could manage to be bad in such an all-around, flawless way.

All this happened within a few minutes. Yan Luqing’s hand was still on the little girl’s face. At this moment, the little girl was stiff, even trembling all over with fear, and she herself also froze.

Before she could react to what she should do next, hurried footsteps sounded in her ear. Makka Pakka repeatedly warned her: “The original host’s second brother is coming! He hates the original host very much, Maria, quickly let go—”

Immediately afterward, her shoulder was fiercely shoved with great force—Yan Luqing had originally been squatting on the ground, and now directly lost her balance and fell onto the floor.

“Maria, are you alright!” Makka Pakka exclaimed.

“No big deal…” Yan Luqing replied.

But damn, her butt really hurt! Grass! What kind of idiot second brother was this? Did he have no mouth? Couldn’t he ask first, or take a look at the situation??

Still the old rule: the blame she could shoulder, but the crime she would never endure.

Yan Luqing, belly full of fire, suddenly lifted her head—

The man before her stood at least one meter eighty tall, his forearm, not exaggerated but with clear muscle lines, easily holding the little girl in one arm, looking down at her from above.

…Damn, couldn’t win.

If only she had brought Little Black. She thought with hatred.

The second brother’s appearance still carried the good genes of the Yan family. At this moment, shielding the little girl, his face full of impatience and irritability: “Yan Luqing, you come back and you’re fucking going crazy again?”

Yan Luqing rolled her eyes heavenward.

Her lungs hurt from anger, and speechless to the extreme, she directly asked this idiot: “Did you open the Heavenly Eye to see that? Or did you see it with the pair of blind eyes on your face?”

Probably the original host had never spoken like this, so the second brother was clearly stunned. After examining her for a while, he sneered: “Mental illness is so awesome, called you crazy and you still don’t admit it.”

“This house is so big, it can’t be without surveillance cameras.” Yan Luqing propped herself up to stand, forcing herself to act indifferent as she patted her clothes, “Go and check the surveillance. See whether it’s me who’s crazy, or you who are blind.”

Yan Luqing did not bring up having the little girl speak herself. Her face must have left a psychological shadow on the child before. Surely she was scared of her to death, unable to say a word now—that was normal. And in this matter the little girl had no fault whatsoever.

Yan Luqing was simply displeased with the second brother’s way of not seeing anything, not asking anything, but going straight to act with his hands.

Back then when Yu Xi did this to her, she retaliated by yanking out her hair till her scalp was bald. But facing this man—eight of her added together still couldn’t beat him. She could only move her lips.

But even so, she would never let him feel comfortable.

This was a wrongful grievance that even a runaway saint would not be able to endure.

Yan Luqing endured the pain in half her butt, walked to the door with the posture of normal walking, her tone grasped just right—light and airy yet carried with hauteur, aggravating to the extreme:

“This big brother, after you see whether it’s me crazy or you blind, remember to have some manners and apologize to me.”

Having said that, she went straight downstairs. When she encountered the butler waiting at the entrance of the living room, she said with utmost seriousness: “Tell Father and Mother, I can’t eat this meal.” She paused, then added with heavy tone: “Because I was domestically abused by their second son, I will now go home to recuperate.”

“???”

Under the butler’s stupefied gaze, full of question marks, Yan Luqing thus went into the car in the courtyard, opened the door, got in, and said to the driver: “Please drive me back home.”

……

On the way back, Makka Pakka was constantly connected in her mind, comforting her.

Yan Luqing sometimes listened, sometimes drifted away.

She would always think back to that scene of the second brother protecting the little girl.

Growing up, Yan Luqing had had times of loneliness, had envied others’ harmonious families, and knew even more that for a person living, the first thing was to learn to accept oneself.

But just now, that scene was like the film she had seen at school not long ago—at a moment of no defense, it easily burrowed into the heart.

Because she herself had once been that little girl.

Yan Luqing had heard from the dean that she had been very cute as a child. At that time, a couple who were the richest in the local area came to adopt a child, and at a glance they chose her.

Yan Luqing went with them, lived for a period of time in a big house, wore beautiful dresses for a period of time. But because of the constant bullying from their biological daughter, her constant resistance, in the end she was sent back.

She had hazy impressions. At that time she had been very afraid, yet also felt relief—because she remembered that she had not even dared to wear new clothes, had not dared to leave her room, all just so that biological daughter would not bully her.

When those parents sent her back, she had forgotten what their faces looked like. But she still remembered that tone of guilt.

They had said: Sorry, our eldest doesn’t want a younger sister. It was Uncle and Auntie’s fault, adopting you without handling these matters properly…

Later, that couple gave her a large sum of money. All of it was used to buy her books and clothes. Only when she grew up did the dean’s wife tell her about the follow-up, and said: “You don’t need to feel that this money shouldn’t have been used. The guilt was theirs. When you came back with all those injuries, if they hadn’t compensated, we would not have let it rest.”

She herself had once been that little girl. Their circumstances were not identical, but both were hated with extremity by the biological daughter.

So, when she saw that second brother protecting the adopted little girl, she felt such emotions.

That second brother did not have a bright mind.

But with such family members, the little girl would surely be very happy in the future. Growing up like this, the fear the original host had once brought her ought also to fade away.

Thinking of this, Yan Luqing let out a long sigh, and murmured softly to herself: “I’m starting to Maria…”

“Maria, what are you saying.” Makka Pakka interrupted her. “Don’t be so sad. You’re making me feel sad too. I’ll hurry to urge the reward update, and when you see it you’ll definitely be very happy!”

Yan Luqing smiled, “Alright then, I’ll look forward to it.”

Makka Pakka soon went offline, her mind falling into complete quiet. Just then the car also happened to arrive back at the villa.

Yan Luqing got out of the car. It had been only a little more than an hour since she left, and yet upon seeing the familiar scene, she felt a rush of emotions.

Since crossing over, it wasn’t that she hadn’t suffered grievances. She had borne plenty of blame, but as long as she didn’t care, she wouldn’t be upset.

Today was different.

Because both Yan Luqing and Gu Ci were patients, meals had to be eaten three times at fixed times. This trip had delayed nearly two hours. Lunch at the villa had already been eaten. Gu Ci was sitting on the sofa watching television, Aunt Disney busy cleaning, Big Black and Little Black standing like guards to his left and right.

Seeing her come back so early, everyone was stunned. Little Black spoke first: “Miss Yan, why have you come back so early?”

While changing shoes, Yan Luqing said: “Mm, something happened. I didn’t want to eat over there.”

She walked straight to the sofa, waved at Big and Little Black: “You two stand a bit farther away.”

Then she lowered her head, just in time to meet Gu Ci’s gaze.

His expression was mild and indifferent. On his body there was always that kind of coolness with a trace of softness, never overly sharp, everything comfortable and measured.

Looking at that face, Yan Luqing thought—

A house had never been what mattered. What mattered was the people inside.

From the moment she walked out of the main family’s study, what she thought of was to hurry back, quickly back.

For what? To see the familiar faces in the villa… and more than that, to see him.

Perhaps from that time at the tree hole, she had begun to trust him with her whole heart.

Yan Luqing always felt that in this current world, only Gu Ci stood entirely on her side.

Gu Ci looked at her for a long time. His beautiful eye-ends curved in a graceful arc. In a warm voice he asked: “Yan Luqing, why didn’t you send flowers this time?”

That familiar tone, unique to Princess Ci, that gentle mocking laced with yin-yang strangeness.

At first, hearing it, Yan Luqing had thought it sophisticated. Occasionally, she found it funny. Later, it made her angry. And now, hearing it again, she found it… warm. And very stirring.

One sentence stirred up so many emotions in her—she wanted to laugh, yet her nose felt a little sour.

“Because this time I didn’t cause trouble, and I didn’t make a mess.” Yan Luqing sat down, blinking her eyes. “I was wronged, I was falsely accused.”

And yet, originally in the car she had not felt wronged anymore.

But he just had to ask about the flowers.

When he asked, “Yan Luqing, why didn’t you send flowers this time,” what he was actually asking was: “Yan Luqing, what happened to you.”

There are many times when something doesn’t make one cry when alone, but the moment someone asks, comforts, one wants to cry all the more.

Gu Ci was still looking at her, his jet-black pupils incomparably deep. For the first time Yan Luqing experienced the magic of Gu Ci’s eyes as described in the original book—he clearly said nothing, but looking into such eyes, she felt as if everything had already been heard.

She had so many emotions piled up in her chest, needing an outlet.

She had to find a reason.

A reason to get close, to touch.

“Gu Ci,” Yan Luqing looked fixedly at him, “be my best friend for five minutes, alright?”

It wasn’t that she wasn’t familiar with Big Black and Little Black.

Although saying this wasn’t really fair to them, she was simply a bit of a face-con.

“I told you last time, my best friend, I can’t see her right now, it’s true.” Yan Luqing added.

Gu Ci looked into her eyes. Unknowingly, she once again wore that pitiful look that had appeared several times before.

This look only appeared when she wasn’t sure he would agree. If it didn’t appear, then it meant she was certain he would agree.

Truly uncanny.

“Since you didn’t cause trouble,” he smiled, and said, “I’ll give you ten minutes.”

Almost instantly, Yan Luqing reached out and hooked her arms around his shoulders—

As his words fell, before his eyes blurred, he was suddenly pulled into a full embrace.

At this close distance, he could smell the faint scent of shampoo in her hair, the same as his own.

He very rarely experienced being caught off guard. All those kinds of emotions surged up in this moment, utterly unfamiliar.

Then he heard the girl’s aggrieved little voice sounding at his ear.

“Gu Ci, hug me.”