Chapter 14: Loss of Dignity  

Stick it up?  

Stick what up?  

Her injured backside?  

At that moment, Jiang Lai ignored the pain in her backside, clutching the blanket tightly and shrinking into the corner of the sofa.  

Deep down, she instinctively recoiled at the idea of someone looking at her there.  

“Brother-in-law, don’t hide.  

Just let me take a look.  

You can’t see your own backside anyway.  

If I don’t check, I’ll call 120 and let a doctor do it.”  

Chi Yingyu chuckled softly, leaning closer to the struggling Jiang Lai.  

Jiang Lai’s heart raced as Chi Yingyu approached, retreating further into the corner.  

But with nowhere left to go, her body trembled slightly.  

Seeing Jiang Lai shiver like a frightened kitten, Chi Yingyu gently pinched her cheek.  

“Brother-in-law, be good.  

Just one look.  

I’ll help you dry your hair later—it’s long now and will take time to dry.”  

“But…”  

Jiang Lai’s face flushed with embarrassment.  

Being scolded like a child by her sister-in-law completely stripped away her dignity as an elder.  

“No way, I can’t accept it…”  

Jiang Lai gritted her teeth, almost furious with shame.  

Being seen naked in the bathroom was bad enough, but now she had to stick out her backside for her sister-in-law to inspect?  

“Absolutely not, no way, no way!”  

But no matter how much she protested, Chi Yingyu insisted on checking.  

Not knowing the extent of the injury meant a hospital visit and a doctor’s examination.  

“Would you let a stranger doctor see it, rather than me?  

We’re the same, after all.  

I don’t have anything you don’t.  

If you feel shortchanged, you can look at me too.  

We’re both girls, right, my dear sister-in-law?”  

At that moment, Jiang Lai gave up resisting, covering her eyes with her hands to avoid facing this awful reality.  

As her sister-in-law said, their bodies were structurally the same.  

Being seen by her wasn’t a loss—it was the lesser evil.  

No matter what, she couldn’t escape this ordeal today.  

If only she’d been steadier standing up in the bathroom, none of this would’ve happened.  

Chi Yingyu looked at Jiang Lai, lying flat, covering her eyes, refusing to face reality, and slowly climbed onto the sofa, gently pulling her hands away from her face.  

“You can’t check like that”  

Without waiting for a reaction, Chi Yingyu flipped Jiang Lai over to face away from her.  

Jiang Lai kept her eyes tightly shut during the process.  

For the first time, she felt her body was beyond her control.  

This loss of control plummeted her sense of security to its lowest.  

She could feel Chi Yingyu’s hand pressing her down, preventing her from turning to look.  

She had no idea where her sister-in-law’s gaze landed.  

Being scrutinized in such a vulnerable state, Jiang Lai trembled finely.  

She just wanted this embarrassing, shameful moment to end quickly.  

Her voice, like that of someone bullied, emerged from her throat.  

“Tell me when you’re done… I can’t take it anymore…”  

From Chi Yingyu’s perspective, Jiang Lai faced away, pressed onto the sofa, her neck arched, body curved downward, forming a graceful arc that tempted one to tease.  

“So beautiful… I wonder how it feels?”  

Chi Yingyu murmured, her gaze captivated, though she didn’t forget her purpose.  

She saw a clear bruise on Jiang Lai’s fair, rounded backside.  

What should’ve taken a second stretched into over half a minute.  

Jiang Lai, unable to see, could only feel Chi Yingyu’s lingering gaze.  

Under that subtle stare, Jiang Lai felt her body react strangely, becoming hypersensitive.  

Even Chi Yingyu’s breath sent a tingling sensation blooming in her heart.  

Wait—why could she feel her breathing?!  

What was Chi Yingyu doing without touching her?  

“Is it done?  Cover me up if you’re finished…”  

After what felt like an eternity of shame, Jiang Lai finally felt the coolness below being covered again.  

When she turned around, her eyes were inexplicably red, her body trembling.  

“How’s my backside?”  

“It’s bruised.  I’ll go to the convenience store downstairs to get some safflower oil.  Rubbing it should help.” 

Jiang Lai looked up at Chi Yingyu, her gem-like eyes shimmering with light, her voice full of grievance.  

“No need, just tell me where it is, and I’ll rub it myself.”  

If that situation repeated, she couldn’t bear it.  

The changes in her body filled Jiang Lai with deep fear and resistance.  

Though a bit reluctant to let it end, hearing Jiang Lai’s soft yet firm tone, Chi Yingyu smiled and nodded.  

She’d already taken a big advantage.  

“No problem, I’ll dry your hair first, then get the safflower oil.”  

Chi Yingyu smiled and headed to the bathroom for the hairdryer.  

But there, she saw Jiang Lai’s phone vibrating incessantly, the caller ID showing “Deputy Manager.”  

Work-related?  

Not daring to delay, she grabbed the still-vibrating phone without the hairdryer and rushed it to Jiang Lai.  

Jiang Lai stared at her phone in silence, letting it vibrate without answering.  

With her current voice, the caller wouldn’t believe she was Jiang Lai.  

She didn’t want many people knowing her true identity.  

At that moment, Jiang Lai faced a dilemma.  

Only those she absolutely trusted could know she’d become a woman, but what about her job?  

Without work, she’d be living off savings, depleting them over time.  

Feeling the phone’s relentless vibration, Jiang Lai took a deep breath, as if hiding her helplessness from those around her, and said softly, “Yingyu, I’ll dry my hair myself.  

Can you get the safflower oil now?  

I want to be alone for a bit…”