The living room.
Lin Xiangyi sat on the sofa, idly scrolling through videos.
The glow of the screen flickered in his eyes, reflecting a thoughtful expression.
He was thinking about something.
With exams looming, Shen Ye’s sudden arrival had somewhat disrupted his plans.
He had originally intended to take his senior brother down the mountain to play for a few days after exams ended.
Now it looked like he’d need to make other arrangements.
But then again.
He thought of Shen Ye’s condition.
Taking care of her during the exam period wasn’t a hassle.
By the time exams ended, her injuries would probably be nearly healed, and they could head back together then.
“Creak~”
With the sound of a door opening, a gentle, soft female voice cut through his tangled thoughts.
“Xiangyi.”
Hmm?
Lin Xiangyi turned to look, and what came into view was a wet little cat head poking out from the bathroom.
Shen Ye was wearing a set of old pajamas that were a bit loose on her, the fabric slipping off one side, revealing her smooth shoulder.
Thousands of strands of dark hair cascaded down naturally, making the girl’s narrow, jade-white shoulders appear even fairer and more lustrous.
Her clear eyes looking at him sparkled with anticipation.
Lin Xiangyi calmly averted his gaze, not letting his auto-aim interfere.
“What’s wrong?”
He asked, his voice flatter than he expected.
Not bad, Lin Xiangyi. Improvement.
“Can you help me dry my hair?”
Shen Ye’s voice came from behind him, cheerful, the sound of her slippers shuffling growing closer.
“It’s hard for me to do it alone.”
He turned and stared at Shen Ye for two seconds.
Wouldn’t Spirit Control Art work?
Lin Xiangyi felt a little puzzled.
Could it be that her injuries were still restricting her from using too much Spiritual Power?
He hesitated for a moment.
In that case, I’ll do it.
He channeled Spiritual Power into his right hand, faint golden light gathering at his fingertips.
But as he stood up, he saw Shen Ye holding a pink hair dryer in her hand.
“Can you… dry it for me?”
Shen Ye stood in front of him, offering the hair dryer.
Lin Xiangyi looked at the hair dryer being handed to him, then at the girl’s wet hair.
Her cat ears drooped, water droplets trailing down the tips of her hair, soaking dark patches into her light gray pajamas.
He froze for a moment.
As if possessed, he took it.
The Spiritual Power that had already been circulating in his right hand dispersed the moment he accepted the hair dryer from the girl for some reason.
The faint golden light died out at his fingertips, like a candle flame extinguished in the wind.
Before he could think too much about it, Shen Ye had already turned and sat down on a chair in the living room.
She obediently placed her hands on her thighs, her back resting softly against the chair’s backrest.
The pointed cat ears standing atop her head twitched disobediently with each falling water droplet, flicking fine spray onto Lin Xiangyi’s face, bringing a chill.
From behind, she was the spitting image of an adorable cat girl.
Lin Xiangyi’s gaze flickered. His hand rose, then rose again, and finally fell back down.
He plugged in the power and pressed the switch.
“Whoosh—”
Warm air rushed out from the nozzle.
Lin Xiangyi tested the temperature on the back of his hand, then gathered up Shen Ye’s hair.
Her wet hair was silky smooth, playfully slipping through his fingers, carrying a pleasant fragrance.
He had to carefully gather it, separating strand by strand, slowly blow-drying from the tips.
If Xiaomeng didn*’t need this thing, there wouldn’*t even be a hair dryer in the house.
He thought to himself, but his hands kept moving.
“Um, Xiangyi.”
Shen Ye spoke up, her soft, delicate voice largely drowned out by the sound of the hair dryer.
“Hmm?”
Lin Xiangyi turned the setting down a notch.
“Do you… live alone usually?”
“Didn’t I mention my sister lives here too?”
“That’s right, haha…”
Shen Ye let out a dry laugh, her cat ears twitching along with it.
Then, silence.
Awkward.
She had clearly wanted to use this opportunity to chat with her junior brother.
But when it came time to speak, she didn’t know what to say.
She pressed her lips together, her ears drooping flat along with her sinking mood.
Lin Xiangyi looked at the drooping cat ears without thinking much of it.
He could see Shen Ye’s nervousness and found it a little amusing.
But as he chuckled, the scene felt strangely familiar.
Back on the mountain, when he was bathing with his senior brother, he’d also made forced small talk like this.
Except the one always initiating conversation was now the girl before him, and the one who couldn’t find the words, merely nodding and giving simple answers, had become him.
Before long, Shen Ye spoke again.
“What do you think… of your senior brother? As a person…”
“Senior Brother?”
He paused, momentarily unsure how to describe the Grand Senior Brother “Shen Ye” to her.
Say he*’s strong? Say he has social anxiety? Say he’*s cold and aloof, yet takes good care of their sibling pair?
“Uh, he’s a good person.”
After thinking for a long while, that was the only universal answer he could come up with.
“I see.”
Shen Ye’s voice was soft, impossible to tell whether she was satisfied or felt something else.
“Anything else you want to ask?”
Looking at the cat head in front of him, he felt like he’d come to understand the girl a little more.
She seemed really concerned about Senior Brother’s matters.
Why?
What exactly was her relationship with Senior Brother?
“…No, that’s all.”
Shen Ye’s voice grew even quieter, as if embarrassed to ask more.
Lin Xiangyi didn’t press further. Holding her hair, he blew toward the top of her head.
He ruffled and massaged, his fingers weaving through her strands, carefully avoiding a certain spot.
Meanwhile, Shen Ye swayed her cat head blissfully, eyes half-closed, the corners of her mouth turned up, her tail swishing back and forth.
A good person, huh.
That evaluation from her junior brother was way too understated—it wouldn*’t hurt to praise his senior brother’*s deeds a bit more.
But getting your hair blown dry feels way too nice, no wonder Mother always had Father do it for her.
On the other side, Lin Xiangyi was in a bind.
Eventually, he’d reached the cat ear area.
“Your ears…”
He hesitated before speaking.
“Should I clean those too?”
“Mmm… please.”
Shen Ye seemed not to have heard clearly, comfortably squinting her eyes as she agreed drowsily, her voice softening under Lin Xiangyi’s massaging.
Lin Xiangyi swallowed hard and reached toward Shen Ye’s cat ears.
This feels kind of sinful…
He thought to himself.
But as he reached out and touched that fluffy pair—
The cat ears twitched violently.
“Myaaah!!!”
Shen Ye let out a piercing cat cry, leaping up from the chair like a startled little animal.
“Ah, what’s wrong?”
Lin Xiangyi*’s hand froze mid-air. He’*d been startled too.
“N-no, it’s nothing.”
Shen Ye’s face flushed bright red in an instant.
It was only then that she snapped back to reality, realizing she’d just agreed to let Lin Xiangyi touch her ears.
“I’m sorry, I misspoke earlier. Please…”
“Don’t touch my ears.”
Her voice was soft and trembling, as if holding something back.
Although Shen Ye had her back to him, Lin Xiangyi could still tell how embarrassed she was from the bright red tips of her ears.
“Sorry.”
He said awkwardly, withdrawing his hand.
So she really is just like a cat…
For the rest of the time, they both tacitly stayed silent.
Lin Xiangyi fetched a comb—one he sometimes used to brush his sister’s hair.
He slowly worked through the girl’s strands, using the gentlest setting to blow-dry those cat ears.
Shen Ye was so relaxed her little feet tensed up, toes curling, like a cat being petted, eyes shut in pure bliss.
But when Lin Xiangyi’s gaze drifted downward and saw that tail swaying leisurely, he hesitated.
Instinct told him that if he touched it, something very bad would happen.
So he crouched down, simply cradling the tail in his hand, blow-drying all the damp fur.
He didn’t use the comb on it either, afraid of repeating what had just happened.
The tail fur puffed up in his hand, soft and fluffy, with an excellent texture.
“All done.”
No response.
“Xiaoye?”
He looked up.