Chapter 26: Good Night

Ning Mu pushed open the door of her home.

Ning Father and Ning Mother were sitting on the living room sofa with their backs to the door, each looking at their phones.

“Xiaomu is back?” 

Ning Mother turned her head. Her gaze paused for a moment on Ning Mu’s outfit, yet she did not ask where the clothes came from or why she was dressed like this.

She only asked with concern, “Did you have fun today?”

“Mm. Very happy.”

Ning Mu spoke truthfully.

“That’s good.”

Ning Mother was very pleased.

It had originally been their parents’ idea for Zhao Dandan to take their daughter out to relax. 

As long as their daughter felt happy, that was enough.

On the other side, Ning Father also found some topics to chat with his daughter about, all regarding whether she had encountered anything while outside today.

“I’m going to change and take a shower.”

Ning Mu found a suitable moment to end the conversation and returned to her own room.

First she used the remote to turn on the air conditioner and put the nearly dead phone on charge.

Then she took off the important hair clip on her head and placed it on the nightstand.

Although she cherished this hair clip very much, it was unrealistic to wear it while showering and sleeping.

After that she took off the cosplay outfit on her body, carefully folded it, placed the headpiece on top of the folded clothes, and put them away together into the wardrobe, leaving only her underwear.

Then she casually took out a pink set of pajamas from the wardrobe—those were the ones she had bought previously in order to pretend in front of Lin Ye that she was someone who liked the color pink.

Although there was no longer any need to pretend now, she still unconsciously wanted to wear this set.

***

After finishing her shower, Ning Mu blow-dried her hair.

She returned to her room and lay down on the bed. 

First she picked up the stuffed animal that Lin Ye had given her on a certain birthday, rubbed it a few times like rubbing a cat, and only then put it aside.

This was her fixed routine every night before sleeping. 

In this way, she expressed her longing for Lin Ye.

Then she casually picked up the phone that was charging on the nightstand.

Like many people, Ning Mu also had the habit of playing with her phone before sleep.

Especially after Lin Ye’s death, she frequently suffered from insomnia and basically scrolled through the entire night.

She first opened the phone album. 

The most recent page was all filled with photos of her at the anime convention today.

There were ones of her alone, ones of the four girls together… and ones of her and Bai Yurou.

The photos of her and Bai Yurou had been taken today when they were acting as poster girls at the convention booth.

She tapped open one photo.

In the photo, two peerlessly beautiful young girls, one black-haired and one pink-haired, stood side by side. 

The one with a blank expression was her, while the one smiling in front of the camera was Bai Yurou.

Ning Mu actually felt that the two of them inexplicably had a kind of… CP feeling?

It wasn’t that she deliberately put on a cold face. 

It was just that she had always had this expression when taking photos since she was young, with little fluctuation, and was often misunderstood as a cold beauty.

Actually, in front of the camera and on stage she was instead more relaxed and could show a smile.

In high school she had participated in the school’s arts evening and gone on stage to sing a song. 

That night her outstanding performance had directly made her famous throughout the school.

After looking at herself, Ning Mu then turned her gaze to the pink-haired girl on the other side of the photo.

Actually, her impression of Bai Yurou today had been quite good.

Previously at the funeral, she had still been immersed in the grief of her older brother’s death, so she had not responded much to Bai Yurou’s words and had appeared rather cold.

But after spending time together today, it had still been quite pleasant.

She could feel that this young lady had no pretentiousness and no young-lady temper either, just like an ordinary little girl.

Moreover, she could clearly feel that the other party wanted to improve their relationship.

Although there was the layer of connection with Lin Ye, and there might still be some awkwardness in her heart, it did not affect her willingness to be friends with the young girl.

It was just that spending time with Bai Yurou today always made her feel a strange sense of familiarity.

The habit of raising her little finger when excited, knowing that she had only watched Detective Conan, and that bowl of dipping sauce she had casually glanced at…

It always made her feel as if Bai Yurou was Lin Ye.

It was simply ordinary coincidence, right?

Ning Mu instantly rejected this idea.

She was a firm materialist. 

The matter of her deceased older brother being resurrected in the body of the girl he had saved was something she still did not dare to believe.

Detective Conan the other party had already explained. 

As for the dipping sauce, I only glanced at it once. It probably just looked very similar to older brother’s choice of seasonings.

That left only the habit of raising the little finger. Two people having the same habit should be a very normal thing, right?

Although there were many doubts in her heart, Ning Mu still classified all of them as coincidences.

It was probably because she missed Lin Ye too much, so she couldn’t help associating some small things that happened on the girl he had saved with her deceased older brother.

Thinking more carefully, Bai Yurou and older brother also had many differences.

For example, Bai Yurou’s personality was very soft. Today when they were playing games and she kissed her, she had almost cried. Lin Ye had always been very strong. 

After all, he had come from the orphanage. 

From the moment he was adopted by their family he had been very sensible, never crying or making a fuss, and always silently enduring whatever he encountered.

Moreover, if Lin Ye had truly become Bai Yurou and was still alive, why wouldn’t he come find her to acknowledge each other?

Lin Ye was Lin Ye, and Bai Yurou was Bai Yurou. How could they possibly be the same person?

This would be disrespectful to Lin Ye, and at the same time also disrespectful to Bai Yurou.

Ning Mu thus threw away this kind of suspicion.

After scrolling on her phone in bed for a while longer, Ning Mu received a WeChat message. 

It was from her good best friend Zhao Dandan.

Doesn’t Eat Cilantro: Mumu had so much fun today.

Doesn’t Eat Cilantro: Good night.

The other party was only giving her the usual good-night greeting, so she also replied with a sentence.

Lemon: Good night.

After sending the message, Ning Mu thought for a moment and also forwarded this good-night message to Bai Yurou.

***

“Young Miss, we’re home.”

Uncle Zhao used a gentle voice to wake Bai Yurou, who had fallen asleep in the back row.

“Oh, okay… Thank you, Uncle Zhao.”

Bai Yurou responded hazily.

She had played at the anime convention for most of the day, and the physical exertion had not been small.

Although she had caught up on sleep in advance, her weak and sickly body still couldn’t quite hold up, so not long after Ning Mu got out of the car, she had leaned against the seat and fallen asleep.

Bai Yurou got out of the car. The moment she opened the door of her home, she saw Zhou Wanting waiting for her return.

“Rourou, you’re finally back. Mommy missed you so much the whole day.”

Zhou Wanting, who had been guarding the doorway, directly stepped forward and hugged her precious daughter.

“Mom.” Bai Yurou could only let herself be hugged.

She knew that her mother was just this kind of daughter slave. 

Not seeing her for even half a day and she already wanted to hug her.

After the hug, Zhou Wanting released Bai Yurou and also noticed the clothes on her body.

“This outfit of yours?”

“A gift from a friend.”

“A gift?”

“Mm.”

“Wasn’t she just an online friend? She’s that kind-hearted, gifting clothes the first time you meet? She wouldn’t deliberately be trying to please you and then use you, right?”

Zhou Wanting was worried that her naive precious daughter would be deceived.

“She won’t,” Bai Yurou explained. “She’s also going to the same university as me. She just wanted to deepen the relationship, so she gifted them.”

She could feel that although Cai Xiaotong was a bit black-bellied, overall she didn’t have any bad intentions. After knowing she was a young lady from a wealthy family, her attitude toward her had not changed either.

“Anyway, Rourou, you must remember. You are the Third Young Miss of the Bai family. When others show goodwill toward you, you have to keep an extra eye out. It’s possible they want to use you to help them do things.”

Zhou Wanting, with many years of experience in the entertainment industry, deeply understood the treachery of the human heart and was still a bit worried, unable to stop herself from reminding her.

“I know, Mom.”

Bai Yurou obediently nodded.

Actually, with Lin Ye’s memories, Bai Yurou was no longer the pure and simple young lady from a wealthy family she had been before. 

Even without Zhou Wanting’s reminder, she knew that with her current identity she had to be careful of being deceived.

After dealing with her mother, Bai Yurou returned to her princess bedroom.

She took off the cosplay outfit, folded it neatly, and put it into the walk-in closet. 

After showering and changing into pajamas, she wiped her hair while lying down on the bed.

Just as she was about to close her eyes and sleep, her phone vibrated once. Someone had sent a message.

Bai Yurou had no choice but to open her phone. It was an ID that felt both familiar and unfamiliar to her.

Lemon: Good night.