Dinner was finished quickly.
Back.
Luo You didn’t eat much, but since all the dishes were made with high-quality ingredients, she ended up eating twice her usual amount.
And then her belly grew round.
“Wow, Youyou, you look like you’re pregnant~”
Ji Nai poked Luo You’s little belly and whispered slyly in her ear, “Eating my food, you’ve eaten and—made—your—tummy—big~ Zayu zayu~ Fish V.”
“You, could it be you’re Zhizhi?”
“What’s Zhizhi?”
Ji Nai tilted her head in confusion.
“Heh!”
Luo You sneered, “Guess I was wrong, little Nai Nai!”
She was almost certain this was Zhizhi.
Even during dinner, Luo You had felt it; Ji Nai acted normally toward others, but whenever they spoke alone, her words were just asking for trouble.
The main thing was, this girl was far too familiar; Luo You had never met her before, yet she acted like they were old friends.
Luo You knew her charm was enough to enchant men and women alike, but today she hadn’t deliberately released any allure—no way she’d captivate a girl she was meeting for the first time to this degree.
“Youyou, why don’t you stay here tonight.”
Ji Yue suggested.
“Hmm? No need, I’ll go back tonight.”
“So early?”
“Yeah, I’ve got an interview at a company and need to go back and prepare.”
She actually hadn’t planned to leave this early, but since Zhizhi was here, she had to bail.
With that little devil around, nothing good would come of it.
“Eh? Leaving already?”
Ji Nai spoke before Luo Zining could, “I wanted Youyou to meet you. Your cooking is amazing!”
“It’s just average.”
“It really is great.”
Ji Yue also praised her.
So good that she wanted Youyou to become her live-in cook.
“Hmph, how come you never cook this well when I’m home?”
Luo Zining grumbled, “Six out of ten times it’s egg fried rice. Aren’t you just being perfunctory?”
“Why remember so clearly? I just liked eating egg fried rice back then, got a problem with that?”
“Hmph!”
Time slowly ticked toward nine in the evening.
Luo You was getting ready to leave, having packed up and put on her shoes, prepared to head downstairs.
“Youyou, wait!”
Ji Nai ran out, holding a phone.
“Let’s exchange contacts?”
“Why do you want her contact info?”
Luo Zining followed out, eyeing Ji Nai suspiciously.
What’s this little sister scheming now?
“Hmm? I just want to stay in touch with Youyou, isn’t that normal? We’re family, after all.”
Ji Nai spoke as if it was the most natural thing, sounding so righteous it was impossible to argue with.
“You’re so lucky to have a mom like Youyou, Zining, you better cherish her. Otherwise… if Youyou changes her mind…”
Her sentence-ending pause left Luo Zining with a tightness in her chest.
What does that mean?
Who’s changing their mind?
Old Deng?
Who could make Old Deng change?
You?
Heh!
Take a good look at yourself!
Hmph, whatever.
Her own Old Deng was Herrera, an evil woman only interested in magical girls.
There’s no way an ordinary girl like Ji Nai could ever win her over—building walls for ten thousand miles but can’t even lay a single brick.
Luo Zining calmed down and said to Luo You, “Old Deng, take care.”
“Mm, you take care too.”
About an hour after Luo You left, Ji Nai was also getting ready to go.
Ji Yue did her best to persuade her, “You really won’t stay the night? My place is totally fine.”
“Thanks, Auntie, but I came to Jiuming Sea for some business. I have things to take care of.”
Ji Meng followed her to the door, worried, “Nai Nai, you’re still in high school, right? What business could you possibly have in Jiuming Sea?”
“Hmm? No, I dropped out long ago, been out in society for two years already.”
“Eh? What?!”
Ji Yue and Ji Meng were both stunned.
Ji Meng rushed up to grab her hand, “Why?! You’re even younger than Zining! If you’re having trouble—”
“Meng Meng Jie, don’t misunderstand, I’m actually living quite well.”
“Liar! You didn’t even graduate high school, how could you have a good job? Auntie, can you help…”
“I’m not lying! I opened my own dessert shop called Zhi Li Zhi Qi, and business is booming! Otherwise, did you really think tonight’s dessert was something just anyone could make?”
Ji Nai’s words silenced both of them.
“Besides, Youyou only has a middle school diploma like me, and she’s doing fine, too. Meng Meng Jie, you really need to update your perspective.”
Luo You, who had left over an hour ago, got dragged back into the conversation for no reason.
But the point stood, and both Ji Yue and Ji Meng accepted it.
“Then I’m off. I’ll probably visit again. Auntie, Meng Meng Jie, Zining—bye~”
After Auntie and Ji Meng saw Ji Nai downstairs, Luo Zining finally walked slowly out of the living room.
Her expression was complicated.
“So she actually owns a dessert shop…”
She opened her phone and searched for “Zhi Li Zhi Qi.”
The shop’s decor, comparable to a high-end restaurant, instantly brought all of Luo Zining’s feelings of inferiority to the surface.
She had thought Ji Nai was still that immature little sister who only knew how to provoke her, but now she saw the truth: Ji Nai was already far ahead of her in life.
Even Luo Zining knew how hard it was to run a dessert shop after dropping out of high school—and to do it well, at that.
Imagining herself in that position was simply impossible.
“Sigh—”
She couldn’t help but let out a long sigh.
To her dismay, she realized that, among all the sisters, she was the only one still at the starting line of becoming an adult…
Luo Zining leaned helplessly against the wall.
“I’ve really got to work harder…”
Hotel.
Luo You had packed her luggage, but didn’t leave right away.
She was waiting for someone.
“Ah, you’re still here after all.”
Zhizhi climbed in through the window, then sat down on the windowsill, looking at Luo You with a teasing grin.
“Having a good time?”
Luo You put down her phone, annoyed.
“Little Nai Nai?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about~~”
“Didn’t they say the real identity of a magical girl is her lifeline? And you’re exposing yourself to me just like that?”
“I~can’t~hear~you~”
Tsk!
Luo You clicked her tongue in irritation, then scolded her sharply, “Get down from there! Are you itching for a spanking, playing these tricks with your mother?”
Zhizhi was caught off guard by this, her slender body shuddering as if she’d suffered a soul-level suppression.
She timidly climbed down from the windowsill.
“Just now at Auntie’s house you called me Youyou, but here at the hotel, what should you call me?”
“What Auntie’s house? I have no idea… And we’re not shooting a video right now, what do you want me to call you for?”
Zhizhi retorted stubbornly.
By now Luo You was one hundred percent certain she was Ji Nai.
Honestly, the entire Luo Zining family were magical girls—it was just…
【Heaven’s punishment? Curse? The Curse of Causality? What a joke! I’ll take them all and turn disaster into opportunity!】
Luo You sneered.
Not even for a second did she fly into a rage at this so-called heaven’s curse.
Her determination to shatter fate only grew stronger.
Ah, of course, as for that rebellious daughter, she still had to be sent back.
But as for this daughter… she was acceptable.
Ji Nai—Zhizhi—was fundamentally different from Xing Yu Liyun and Auntie.
That was, she hadn’t slept with Zhizhi yet.
Fate had gone askew!
This was a flaw in the Curse of Causality.
As long as she grasped this flaw and followed it, she would surely break the curse’s hold!