Back in middle school, she’d started reading racy novels, and when she was caught, she blamed it on him.
No matter how hard he defended himself in front of their parents, one blink of her innocent eyes and their parents would believe their pure, naive daughter.
“Your sister doesn’t understand anything! How could she possibly read those novels? Stop slandering your sister!”
Xiang Sheng had always held a grudge about this.
Even though his sister was now eighteen and about to become a university student, their parents still thought their daughter was clueless—still that naive little girl who thought a kiss between a boy and girl would make her pregnant.
Because Xiang Di was so good at pretending in front of adults, not only did their parents believe it, but so did all their relatives.
Only Xiang Sheng knew her true colors—a total little pervert.
He’d thought she was just a bit pervy in her thoughts, but he hadn’t realized she was actually a weirdo.
He was an adult now, and occasionally watched some twisted romance movies for a thrill, but sibling romance was something he’d never touch.
Once, a roommate saw a photo of his sister on his phone and teased him, “Hey, your sister’s cute, why not go for a sibling romance?”
He’d scolded him right away—gross.
But now, the one teasing him about that was none other than his own sister.
Xiang Sheng felt like he’d swallowed a fly.
Gritting his teeth, he thought: damn sister, you want to gross me out, huh? Pretending to be all innocent? Just wait till you get a boyfriend, I’ll tell him all about your true self and scare him off.
That’ll be your payback for disgusting me.
After finally getting a day off, Xiang Di had planned to sleep until she woke up naturally. But she woke up at eight anyway.
Damn biological clock. After the college entrance exams, she was determined to sleep for three days and nights.
No choice but to get up.
She opened her door—quiet house. Xiang Sheng wasn’t up yet. Ever since University Senior Year, his schedule was completely reversed. He’d pulled an all-nighter again, so he wouldn’t be up until noon.
Xiang Di had to find something to eat from the fridge. The Cheese Puff Bo Jiangxin gave her yesterday was still untouched. She hesitated, but in the end, she couldn’t bear to eat it.
She grabbed something random to fill up, then worked on her homework while waiting for Xiang Sheng to wake up and take her out to eat.
She wrote until after noon, but Xiang Sheng still hadn’t moved. Her brain was fried and her stomach was growling again, so she got up to look for food.
Opening the door, she found Xiang Sheng awake at some point, his hair a messy bird’s nest, lying on the sofa eating.
“Why didn’t you call me when you woke up?” Xiang Di complained, “I’ve been waiting for you all morning, I’m starving!”
“I thought you were focused on your homework, so I didn’t disturb you.” Xiang Sheng waved her over. “Come eat something to tide you over. I’ll get ready and take you out.”
Xiang Di walked over and saw that Xiang Sheng was eating her Cheese Puff—he’d already eaten more than half, only two left.
She panicked, “Hey! Who said you could eat my puff!”
Xiang Sheng frowned, “Why are you yelling? You left it in the fridge and didn’t say not to eat it.”
“You—!”
Xiang Di was so mad she snatched the last two puffs away.
Xiang Sheng laughed at her exaggerated food-guarding, like a little puppy.
“Seriously? It’s just from the bakery downstairs. I’ll buy you another one, okay?”
“You don’t get it!” Xiang Di yelled. “It’s not the same!”
“What’s different?” Xiang Sheng smacked his lips, savoring the taste. “Is there gold in this puff? I didn’t taste any.”
Xiang Di couldn’t explain and could only stand there fuming. She turned and stormed back to her room, slamming the door.
Xiang Sheng was baffled.
He waited for a long time, but Xiang Di still didn’t come out, acting like she was going to fight him to the end.
He had no choice—he couldn’t let her go hungry, so he had to give in and promise not only to buy her another puff, but also that she could eat whatever she wanted today—he’d pay for it all.
After ten minutes of coaxing, Xiang Di finally came out. “I’ll forgive you, but you have to promise me one thing.”
Xiang Sheng: “Say it, as long as it’s not too much.”
It wasn’t too much. The bakery’s puffs usually came out of the oven around ten in the morning, but by then, Xiang Di was already at school.
So she wanted Xiang Sheng to bring her a puff to school on Monday.
Xiang Sheng thought it was a hassle. “I’ll buy you one today, and you can just take it to school tomorrow.”
“No.” Xiang Di refused. “I want the freshest one.”
Xiang Sheng: …
Is she a dog? Has to eat it hot, right out of the oven?
Xiang Di: “If you won’t do it, forget it, I won’t eat, let me starve.”
“Fine, fine.” Xiang Sheng gave in. “You’re Grand Concubine Yang, I’ll be your Puff Servant, okay? On Monday I’ll make sure to bring the freshest, biggest puff for Imperial Concubine.”
Xiang Di gave a little hum of satisfaction.
They went out for a big meal, and in the afternoon, she did some homework, played on her phone, took a nap.
The sunlight faded, the orange glow of sunset touched the windowsill, and her short day off was gone before she knew it.
The boarding students were probably dragging their suitcases back to school, half-dead. Xiang Di was a day student, so she didn’t have to go to evening study tonight.
Tomorrow was school again.
For others, it might be a nightmare—they’d wish tomorrow never came. But for Xiang Di, she was looking forward to it.
Because tomorrow she’d get to see Bo Jiangxin again.
If it wasn’t for Bo Jiangxin, she didn’t know how she’d make it through High School Senior Year. Having someone to like and think about at school—wasn’t that a kind of motivation, too?
But tomorrow, she wouldn’t be able to sit next to Bo Jiangxin anymore—her motivation would drop a little.
She hoped that when the Teacher arranged seats tomorrow, she could get a spot where she could easily see him. That would be enough.
Xiang Di started praying to Heavenly Mother and Buddha Father again.
Monday. Xiang Di got up to the blaring of her alarm.
A wonderful day had begun. She washed up, packed her bag at lightning speed, and before leaving, went to Xiang Sheng’s room to knock hard on the door.
After a few knocks, someone finally stirred inside.
“Knock, knock, knock—what the hell! I only went to bed after four, you know?!”
Xiang Di wasn’t scared of her brother at all. She pretended not to hear, shouting through the door, “I’m going to school, don’t forget to buy me the puff!”
To avoid getting smacked, she quickly made her escape.
Her home wasn’t far from school, with direct subway and bus lines.
In High School Senior Year, every second counted. To save time and eat breakfast on the way, Xiang Di usually took the bus.
By the time the bus reached the school gate, she’d just finished breakfast.
She stepped off, took a deep breath of the fresh air at the school entrance, and strode in.
Humming a song in her head as she walked through campus, Xiang Di suddenly spotted a figure up ahead.
A tall, slender figure, with the habit of slinging his bag over one shoulder—even in a school uniform, she could recognize him at a glance.
Xiang Di took a deep breath. Now that they were WeChat friends, it shouldn’t be awkward for her to go say hi, right?
Thinking this, she quickened her pace, finally getting close. She steadied her voice and spoke: “Hi, Bo Jiangxin.”
The boy turned around—handsome, cool eyebrows and eyes. It was definitely Bo Jiangxin.
She thought of a very natural opener: “Have you had breakfast?”
“I have.”
“Did you buy it at the school gate?”
“No,” Bo Jiangxin said, “the housekeeper made it at home.”
“You have a housekeeper at home?”
“Mm.”
The conversation wasn’t anything special, but Bo Jiangxin answered every question. No awkward silences—the two of them naturally walked side by side toward the teaching building.
Xiang Di was secretly delighted—she was so clever, getting to walk with Bo Jiangxin without any effort.
But after a while, Bo Jiangxin suddenly stopped. He looked down at her, his expression a bit strange.
Xiang Di was puzzled. “What’s wrong?”
Bo Jiangxin frowned slightly, not speaking. The two of them just stopped there in the middle of the busy walkway.
The students behind them naturally walked around. Just then, a few boys ran up from behind, chasing and playing like eels in a stream.
One of them accidentally bumped Xiang Di’s backpack, sending her stumbling forward.
Xiang Di nearly fell, but Bo Jiangxin reacted quickly, reaching out his arm to steady her—just in time to keep her from face-planting.
The boy who’d bumped into her realized and shouted, “Sorry!” before running off.
No time to settle scores with him—Xiang Di clung to Bo Jiangxin’s arm, still shaken.
She felt lucky—damn, that was close! She’d almost ruined her face.
Once she recovered, she realized she was still holding Bo Jiangxin’s arm. She quickly let go and stood up straight.
As soon as she let go, Bo Jiangxin’s frown deepened.
Seeing his odd expression, Xiang Di asked, “What’s wrong?”
“…Nothing.” Bo Jiangxin looked away. “Did you hurt yourself?”
“No, no,” Xiang Di said. “Luckily you caught me. Thanks.”
Bo Jiangxin: “It’s nothing, let’s go.”
The two walked side by side again. It was peak time for school, the road crowded and noisy, but Bo Jiangxin could hear every voice—except for Xiang Di’s inner thoughts.
Just then, Xiang Di spoke again: “By the way, when are we going to see Chen Laoshi today to ask about changing seats?”
Bo Jiangxin’s expression froze.