Chapter 13: Stick It Up  

Through the misty steam, snow-white skin was revealed before her eyes.  

Wet hair clung tightly to her back, the dark strands spreading across her fair skin.  

Water droplets slid from the tips, trailing down her smooth back, tracing her slender waist, outlining her rounded curves.  

Just one glance was utterly captivating.  

Jiang Lai looked at the bathroom door, opened briefly before she slammed it shut, feeling a sliver of relief.  

If she hadn’t reacted quickly, Chi Yingyu might have seen everything.  

Though unintentional, her exposed body felt like she was deliberately enticing her sister-in-law.  

She’d already shown Chi Yingyu too many embarrassing sides—she couldn’t ruin her image further.  

Jiang Lai had been dizzy from soaking in the bath.  

She’d tried to stand to dry off and catch her breath, but in her daze, she lost her balance and fell hard to the floor.  

Trying to push herself up using the tub, she found her backside ached terribly, as if she’d bruised a bone.  

Even the slightest movement was excruciating, leaving her unable to stand.  

Jiang Lai was tall and slim, with a tiny waist and long, straight legs—a model’s figure.  

But to her, this perfect physique seemed almost sickly.  

With such thin limbs, a fall could easily bruise a bone, and being too skinny meant low energy and weak immunity.  

She’d always wanted her daughter to eat more for this reason.  

But her daughter never listened, saying her old-fashioned father didn’t understand.  

Now, Jiang Lai felt it firsthand—one fall, and she couldn’t even stand.  

After several failed attempts to get up, despite her deep shame, she called out to her sister-in-law outside.  

“Ying…yu…can you help me?”  

Her voice was soft, but Chi Yingyu heard it clearly.  

“Come in?”  

“Yes, I fell and can’t stand…”  

Jiang Lai’s words, trembling with pain, could stir the imagination.  

But Chi Yingyu wasn’t clueless.  

Hearing Jiang Lai couldn’t stand, she rushed in, opened the door, and quickly lifted her from the floor.  

Jiang Lai felt Chi Yingyu’s body press close, her dry clothes now soaked, their skin touching intimately.  

She could even feel the warmth radiating from Chi Yingyu’s body.  

Perhaps Chi Yingyu had some magic—being lifted so suddenly made Jiang Lai feel like nothing else mattered.  

The pain seemed to vanish, her focus entirely on Chi Yingyu.  

“Brother-in-law, I’ll carry you to the sofa.  There’s a blanket to wrap up in. Where did you fall? I’ll check it later.”  

Chi Yingyu held her tightly, wary of any further mishaps, her earlier playfulness gone.  

If there were no danger, seeing Jiang Lai bare might have sent her pulse racing.  

Now, her only concern was Jiang Lai’s safety, desperate to know how badly she was hurt.  

“Watch the wet floor—be careful not to slip.”  

Despite her burning embarrassment, Jiang Lai, face flushed, softly warned her.  

Held in a princess carry, she could nestle her head into Chi Yingyu’s shoulder if she lowered it.  

Her wet clothes clung to her body, Chi Yingyu’s scent enveloping her.  

Feeling her softness and warmth, Jiang Lai’s breathing quickened, her heart pounding, feeling restrained.  

She’d never been so humiliated—slipping in the bath and needing a princess carry to be saved.  

Such shame.  

Jiang Lai wanted to disappear from her sister-in-law’s sight.  

All her past authority seemed gone.  

Was she still an elder?  

“Can you close your eyes when you put me down?”  

Her cheeks felt like they were burning, her eyes half-lowered, barely daring to look at Chi Yingyu, her voice as soft as a mosquito’s hum.  

“Men and women shouldn’t touch…”  

Chi Yingyu nearly laughed at her words.  

Men and women?  

Was that even relevant now?  

“But we’re both women now, brother-in-law.  

You have what I have, and I know your body better than you do in every way.”  

Chi Yingyu had never been interested in girls—her heart and gaze were only for Jiang Lai.  

Now that Jiang Lai was a woman, her eyes began to appreciate this new form, as if enchanted.  

She didn’t care for men or women—her orientation was Jiang Lai alone.  

But this love was so hard to confess.  

Even if she crossed that line, what would Jiang Lai think of her?  

Sometimes, Chi Yingyu wished she were a stranger.  

Then, even if Jiang Lai didn’t love her back, she’d have the freedom to pursue her.  

As she neared the sofa, following Jiang Lai’s request, she closed her eyes, letting Jiang Lai slowly move to the sofa and wrap herself tightly in the blanket.  

“You can open your eyes now…”  

Though they were both women, and Chi Yingyu had her own body years ago, this was still new to Jiang Lai.  

She hadn’t even fully examined herself.  

During her bath, she’d only washed with her eyes closed, unable to cross that mental barrier.  

While Jiang Lai debated whether this was about men and women or women and women, Chi Yingyu was only concerned about her injury.  

“Brother-in-law, where did you fall? If you can’t stand up, it might be serious. We should go to the hospital if it’s bad.”  

But her question hung in the air as Jiang Lai hesitated, mumbling for a long time before finally whispering, “My…butt…”  

Before she could finish, Chi Yingyu’s urgent, caring voice cut in.  

“Stick it up and let me see. If you hurt a bone, it could be serious.”