Binhai City featured a luxurious consumer street home to many money-burning pits.
Everything from the Emperor Bathhouse and the Wealthy Family Luxury Club to top-tier restaurants could be found here.
People flowed back and forth along the wide street lined with shops of every variety, their bizarre and colorful signs hanging everywhere.
At this moment, in a high-end restaurant on the second floor, two young girls sat facing each other across a table. Neither was the first to speak, and the atmosphere was incredibly awkward.
After a long while, the black-haired girl in the purple short skirt sitting opposite Xu Yinsheng finally couldn’t help herself and broke the silence. “Cousin… Cousin?”
“Yes, that’s right. It’s me.” Xu Yinsheng’s cheeks were slightly red. Her long hair fell over her shoulders, covering most of her face. She didn’t dare to look Jiang Shimo in the eye. She was so embarrassed it felt like a social death; she wanted to bury her head and act like an ostrich that knew nothing.
If Xu Yinsheng had to choose the people she least wanted to find out about her gender swap, Jiang Shimo was undoubtedly one of them. She had already told too many lies to this girl; trying to fix it with more lies now was going to be difficult.
“You… you are really my cousin??” Jiang Shimo stared at the black-haired girl before her, whose head was lowered and whose cheeks were flushed with shyness. She couldn’t help but raise her voice.
When she heard from Mother Jiang that Xu Yinsheng wasn’t dead and had returned to the country, she had remained quite calm. After all, she had spoken to Xu Yinsheng on the phone before. But Mother Jiang’s next sentence almost made Jiang Shimo jump out of her bed!!
What did she mean by saying she had to start calling her cousin “Big Sister” from now on?
Jiang Shimo had been utterly bewildered after hearing her mother’s explanation.
Pseudohermaphroditism?
What on earth was that? Just because of that, she had to stop calling him “Cousin” and start calling her “Big Sister”?
“It’s true.” Xu Yinsheng bit her lower lip lightly. Her long hair fell loosely, accentuating her fair and delicate face, making her look somewhat frail.
Looking at the black-haired girl opposite her—who was even more refined than herself—Jiang Shimo glanced at those legs, that waist, that rear, and that very well-endowed chest. She then looked down at her own disappointing “small steamed buns” and back at the other’s perky pair of “large meat buns.” It felt like she was watching an absurd comedy.
Has technology really become this advanced? How is the “man-made” version better than the “natural” one? With such “assets,” wouldn’t the man who chases her cousin in the future be very lucky?
Thinking of this, Jiang Shimo felt her thoughts were becoming too wicked. Before she arrived, Mother Jiang had strictly warned her: Do not poke at the wound. Yinsheng must be feeling uncomfortable in her heart after turning into this appearance. If possible, try to offer some guidance.
She quickly retracted her curious gaze but immediately couldn’t help asking again, “Are you sure my cousin didn’t just send someone to fool me? It’s almost April Fool’s Day, after all.”
“No, I really am your cousin.”
“Weren’t you off chasing girls abroad?”
“That was just an excuse. I was actually undergoing surgery.”
“And didn’t you say you got into some legal trouble?”
“With pseudohermaphroditism, I would have died without the surgery. Besides, a well-bred playboy like me would never do anything that harms others or offends heaven.”
“Then why the fake death?”
“I couldn’t face anyone. When I first learned I had to have the surgery, I really just wanted to die and be done with it.” Xu Yinsheng shrugged and spread her small hands.
“You know my situation. I have a ton of fair-weather friends, and while my ex-girlfriends might not number in the hundreds or thousands, there’s at least a reinforced platoon of them. If news like this leaked out, how could I ever show my face again? I’d rather just suffer social death.”
“Fortunately, while I was hiding abroad, I slowly came to terms with it. Plus, it’s hard to leave one’s homeland, so I thought about returning. Otherwise, I would have prepared to spend the rest of my life abroad after the surgery.” Xu Yinsheng spoke with sincerity, her large, watery eyes making it hard not to believe her.
Of course, this was all made up, but if a lie is told a thousand times, it becomes reality.
Was she supposed to tell the truth? ‘I couldn’t accept it at first, but after being bent over by my good brother Zhao Yicheng countless times, I had no choice but to accept it.’
After all, no matter how stubborn her little mouth was, after being “fermented” by Zhao Yicheng and deeply “developed” by little Zhao, her mouth didn’t dare to be stubborn anymore.
Seeing Jiang Shimo’s bewildered expression after hearing the “truth,” Xu Yinsheng wanted to say more, but the other girl beat her to it.
“So, should I call you ‘Cousin’ or ‘Big Sister’ from now on?” Jiang Shimo blinked her innocent, large eyes.
Xu Yinsheng pressed a hand to her forehead and thought for a moment. “Call me ‘Cousin.’ I still miss my old identity more.”
“Mhm.” Jiang Shimo nodded.
Then, she leaned in and whispered into Xu Yinsheng’s ear with a mysterious look. “Cousin, did you know? Your good friend—Zhao Yicheng of the Zhao Group—was beaten into the intensive care unit six months ago.”
“I heard about it from my mom. They say the injuries were incredibly severe. He was bedridden for three months and underwent countless surgeries just to snatch his life back.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. I really don’t know who could be so ruthless. I heard that in the ICU, he was only hanging on by a single breath.”
“By the way, have you two been in touch lately? How is he?”
Xu Yinsheng, the “ruthless person” who had broken her good brother’s arms and legs: “…”
She touched the tip of her nose and gave a hollow laugh. “We’ve been in touch recently. He can get out of bed now. I really don’t know what kind of grudge or enmity could lead someone to beat a person into the ICU.”
“I believe justice won’t be late. Those people will be brought to justice sooner or later.”
Looking at her, a certain sketch suddenly flashed through Jiang Shimo’s mind. She couldn’t help but speak again:
“Cousin, did you and your good brother have a falling out?”
The moment those words were spoken, Xu Yinsheng’s breath hitched. She was about to blurt out, ‘How is that possible? We are good brothers,’ but her mind suddenly recalled her days as a “Bixian” and the four questions she had answered when summoned by Jiang Shimo and the other three girls.
‘Bixian, Bixian, I want to ask the reason for my cousin’s sudden fake death. Just how big was the trouble he caused…’
A man in a suit forcibly pinning a frail girl down, ignoring her resistance, ignoring her tears, wantonly possessing her, violating her, and toying with her to vent his long-accumulated emotions…
Consequently, “How is that possible? We are good brothers” quickly morphed into something else.
“While I was having the surgery, he came to visit me abroad once. We talked about some things, and there was a bit of unpleasantness.”
The ambiguous sentence left infinite room for imagination, yet it was the best way to stall for now. Explanations were often useless; speaking in halves and letting others fill in the blanks was the “most reasonable” way to present the “truth.”
“I see…” Jiang Shimo nodded, seeming to understand yet not quite.
Actually, she really wanted to say, ‘I saw some things while playing Bixian in the dormitory.’ But if she talked about ghosts and gods, no modern person would believe her.
However, could the “unpleasantness” her cousin mentioned actually be that forced suppression?
Hiss! Thinking about it that way, it wasn’t impossible. After all, she had always felt that Xu Yinsheng’s good friend was very gay.