Watching Bai Shuanglian’s firm eyes and her serious expression, Bai Qiuyin fell silent for a moment.
Then, she gave a helpless smile and said, “Fine, fine, you girl. Your Great-Aunt will promise you, is that okay?”
Hearing this, Bai Shuanglian let out a sigh of relief, and her expression softened considerably.
Bai Qiuyin reached out and rubbed the head of this child she had practically watched grow up, saying, “I really did do the wrong thing. I took too much for granted, only thinking about setting the two of you up while ignoring your own thoughts.”
“No, I know you were looking out for me, Grandma Qiuyin. It wasn’t your fault.”
Bai Shuanglian shook her head and said, “It was my fault for not communicating my thoughts to you in time.”
Bai Qiuyin knew that if they kept admitting fault to each other, it would never end, so she decisively terminated the topic.
“Alright, alright, let’s just say we were both at fault. In any case, we’ll treat this incident as an accident.”
As she spoke, she picked up a napkin to wipe the corners of her mouth and looked at Bai Shuanglian seriously.
“Next time, if I want to help you, Frost Lotus, I will use a gentler approach, and I will discuss it with you beforehand.”
“Thank you, Grandma Qiuyin,” Bai Shuanglian nodded and thanked her.
She also understood that her behavior was a bit unreasonable.
An elder had kindly come to help her, yet she had told her to stop.
It was essentially failing to live up to Bai Qiuyin’s good intentions.
But Bai Shuanglian really didn’t want Ling Xiaoyou to be ‘awakened’ in that way.
After all, that kind of atmosphere was inherently suggestive, and it might cause Ling Xiaoyou to misunderstand her own feelings.
This was undoubtedly something Bai Shuanglian did not want.
What she hoped for was that Ling Xiaoyou could be with her and express her love out of her own free will.
“Hmph, it’s nothing. I’m your Great-Aunt; if I don’t help you, who else would I help?”
Bai Qiuyin waved her hand dismissively and pointed toward the kitchen inside the restaurant for Bai Shuanglian.
“Come, help me get some more dinner. While you’re at it, hurry the kitchen along. Why haven’t the new dishes been finished yet?”
As she spoke, Bai Qiuyin sighed again.
“The young men of this era 100 years later are quite useless. They’ve only made a few trips and already can’t walk.”
“Okay.”
Hearing this, Bai Shuanglian glanced at the waiters whose legs were trembling so much they could barely walk, and she suddenly felt a bit sympathetic toward them.
‘Well, I won’t wait until later. I’ll go talk to their manager in a bit and give them some extra pay for their hard work. Anyway, the Bai Family isn’t short on money.’
***
In the morning, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, Ling Xiaoyou had already woken up from her slumber.
“Ah-woooo~”
She let out a yawn and a long stretch, exposing her smooth, delicate little belly to the air.
Ling Xiaoyou rubbed her face, still feeling a bit groggy.
It seemed her jet lag hadn’t quite adjusted yet.
Even though ghosts were nocturnal beings, once they were in the Human Realm to participate in competitions, they had to follow the rule of waking during the day and sleeping at night.
However, Ling Xiaoyou could have chosen not to sleep and stayed up until the following night, which would have naturally corrected her internal clock.
Ling Xiaoyou had originally intended to do exactly that last night, but…
Picking up her mobile phone from beside her pillow and looking at the call log that showed a duration of more than 7 hours, Ling Xiaoyou felt somewhat helpless.
Last night, Bai Shuanglian had called her as promised.
Ling Xiaoyou had chatted with her for most of the night until that girl suddenly said, ‘Xiaoyou, you should sleep now, otherwise you won’t be able to get up tomorrow.’
Then, without waiting for Ling Xiaoyou to reply, she started singing a lullaby on her own.
And then…
There was no “and then.”
Ling Xiaoyou had used her last shred of consciousness before sleep to end the call, and then she had fallen into a deep dreamland until now.
‘That lullaby really is effective!’
Although Bai Shuanglian’s singing was indeed very pleasant, her calm tone could completely trigger a person’s sleepiness.
Ling Xiaoyou estimated that even a normal song would turn into a lullaby if Bai Shuanglian sang it.
Knock, knock, knock.
A sudden knock on the door startled Ling Xiaoyou.
She wondered who would come looking for her at this hour.
She got off the bed, put on her slightly ill-fitting slippers, and walked to the door.
Standing on her tiptoes, she peeked through the peephole.
Immediately, she saw Bai Shuanglian standing outside the door, waiting quietly.
‘So it’s Bai Shuanglian. Oh right, I remember now. When we were on the phone last night, we agreed to have breakfast together.’
Thinking this, Ling Xiaoyou prepared to pull the door open and let Bai Shuanglian in to sit for a while.
She reached out her small hand and placed it on the doorknob, but then Ling Xiaoyou noticed the pajamas she was currently wearing.
These were the pajamas provided by the hotel.
They were a bit too large for Ling Xiaoyou, which forced her to hitch them up before she went to sleep.
This resulted in Ling Xiaoyou currently exposing a large area of snowy-white skin, giving off a suggestive vibe like the ones found in those provocative illustrations.
Even though she wasn’t actually exposing anything explicit, that suggestive feeling didn’t require exposure.
Ling Xiaoyou’s face turned red, and she immediately wanted to go change her clothes.
But then she remembered that Bai Shuanglian was still waiting outside, and her footsteps faltered.
She thought for a moment, then cautiously opened the door just a crack, only sticking her small head out.
She quickly spoke to Bai Shuanglian, who was about to say good morning, “Wait for me for a moment. I need to change my clothes first!”
After saying that, without waiting for Bai Shuanglian to reply, she shut the door.
She returned to the bedside, took off the pajamas, and changed into the clothes she had brought with her.
Afterward, she flew to the bathroom to wash up and tidy her appearance.
After confirming that no hair was sticking up and her clothes were neat, she hurried back to the door and pulled it open.
Even though she had waited outside for quite a while, Bai Shuanglian didn’t look the least bit unhappy.
She looked at Ling Xiaoyou with a smile and asked, “Are you ready?”
“Mhm! We can go!”
Ling Xiaoyou nodded her head repeatedly.
She grabbed Bai Shuanglian’s hand and led her toward the elevator.
She hadn’t forgotten that this floor belonged to the Ghostly Resentment Office, and her colleagues were in the surrounding rooms.
If they hadn’t adjusted to the time difference yet, they would likely be heading out for breakfast right about now.
To prevent her colleagues from seeing her with Bai Shuanglian, Ling Xiaoyou decided not to linger and to head to the restaurant first.
Though she didn’t know why she was acting with such a guilty conscience.
Bai Shuanglian smiled and nodded, seeming to understand Ling Xiaoyou’s thoughts, or perhaps she simply didn’t mind.