Leading Lu Liang back home, Lu Xiaoling attentively handed him a glass of water:
“Brother, drink some water. I’ve already prepared the bathwater for you. You should take a shower later.”
Lu Liang took the glass, a flicker of doubt crossing his mind.
The dozens of missed calls on his phone were still vivid in his memory.
He had expected a storm waiting for him, but his sister hadn’t gotten angry—she was surprisingly compliant with his wishes.
Lu Liang gave a faint “hmm” and tilted his head back to drink the water Lu Xiaoling handed him.
Throughout the process, Lu Xiaoling was secretly observing his reactions.
Taking advantage of the moment he tilted his neck back, she checked for any suspicious hickeys on his neck.
After confirming there were no marks, Lu Xiaoling suddenly spoke softly:
“Brother, have you been hiding something from me lately?”
“Pfft… cough cough.”
Lu Liang nearly spat out the water, coughing violently as he looked at Lu Xiaoling in shock:
“Xiaoling, how could you think something like that?”
“No, I was just curious.”
Her unease only intensified. Lu Xiaoling’s delicate brows furrowed ever so slightly, but she quickly hid her emotions. Handing Lu Liang a stack of tissues, she forced a joking tone:
“What’s wrong, brother? Did I hit the mark?”
“Of course not. Don’t overthink it. We’re siblings—I wouldn’t hide anything from you.”
“Ah ha ha, maybe because we’re siblings, there are some things that are hard to say out loud… But I still hope you don’t carry burdens alone. If you have anything on your mind, don’t keep it hidden. I would never hate you for it.”
Lu Xiaoling laughed, her voice trembling between tears and smiles.
Hearing this, Lu Liang froze for a moment.
He noticed that his sister seemed different from usual. He pretended to drink water while stealing a glance at her.
She was indeed his sister, Lu Xiaoling, with the same graceful features—but her eyes were red and swollen, as if she had just been crying.
She had been staring at him all along, and now that their eyes met, Lu Liang suddenly felt flustered.
He lowered his head to avoid her gaze, feigning a coughing fit.
No, something was wrong!
Burying his head in the shadows, Lu Liang’s pupils dilated.
There was definitely a problem!
Where there’s strangeness, there’s trouble.
He summarized the clues so far—
The 99+ missed calls from Lu Xiaoling, her waiting by the door when he got home, and the tear marks around her eyes…
No doubt about it! All signs pointed to her suspecting him—was it because of that money transfer?
Things just got complicated.
Just two text messages weren’t enough to fool her.
With Lu Xiaoling’s intelligence, it was only natural she would suspect something.
What now? Should he confess his identity as a Monster?
The thought appeared in Lu Liang’s mind but was immediately dismissed.
Monsters were not accepted by society.
Once discovered, it would ruin the whole family.
For his own sake and for Lu Xiaoling to get into Magical Girl High School, he absolutely could not expose his Monster identity.
For now, the only option was to lie.
Lu Xiaoling hadn’t outright stated his Monster identity, so she probably lacked concrete evidence and was still suspicious.
But with her personality, outright denial would only deepen her doubts.
The only way to convince her was to follow her train of thought and admit to deceiving her—only then might she believe what he said.
This was a test of Lu Liang’s acting skills!
Lu Liang forced a smile and said:
“By the way, Xiaoling, I actually did lie to you about something. Sorry about that. I’ll be honest with you now.”
!
Hearing this, Lu Xiaoling’s eyes widened, her breathing involuntarily growing heavier.
Though she knew Lu Liang was hiding something, she hadn’t expected him to admit it so straightforwardly:
“Wait, brother! I—I’m not mentally prepared yet.”
Seeing Lu Liang about to speak, her gaze darted nervously from side to side:
“Let me get some blankets first, so later you can hug me and cry… Or I’ll ask the school for a day off tomorrow, and we’ll pay back all this dirty money together. Just don’t do it anymore. At worst, I’ll support you from now on…”
“What are you talking about?”
Lu Liang cut her off, his heart pounding.
So his sister really couldn’t accept that he was a Monster? Then he had even more reason to keep it a secret!
“What I want to tell you is about the twenty thousand yuan. Actually, it’s not all a bonus from the Company.”
“Mm, I know.”
Lu Xiaoling bit her lip.
Lu Liang continued:
“Part of it actually came from an author. That author used to be a Pujie, but with my help, their writing improved a lot and they’ve now become a Ten-Thousand-Subscriber Author. To thank me, they sent me some money.”
“Mm… eh? Eh!”
Lu Xiaoling’s eyes widened incredulously as she looked at Lu Liang:
“So, this money…”
“Although I don’t know what you’re thinking, brother’s money sent to you is completely legal and aboveboard.”
Lu Liang smiled sheepishly, hugging himself.
“Oh, I see? I guess I was just overthinking?”
She muttered softly a few words, her worried expression vanishing.
Instead, a shy, coquettish smile replaced it.
She moved closer to Lu Liang and threw her arms around him in a fierce bear hug, burying her little head against his chest, rubbing and sniffing.
“Hehe, sorry for the misunderstanding, brother. Are you hungry? I’ve already made dinner! Come eat!”
“No need, I’ve already eaten.”
Patting Lu Xiaoling’s head fondly, Lu Liang smiled lightly.
This reaction seemed to have passed the test.
“Already eaten, huh… okay then.” Lu Xiaoling pulled her head from his chest and whispered:
“Then you should take a shower and wash up. I already prepared the hot water.”
“All right.”
“Hehe, don’t forget to put your clothes in the basket by the bathroom door.”
Lu Xiaoling’s small request was something Lu Liang didn’t refuse.
After these past few days of hard work, he really needed to wash off the grime.
Taking a change of clothes, Lu Liang turned on the shower, letting the cold tap water run over his body.
Halfway through, he suddenly remembered something.
He hurriedly turned off the faucet, opened the bathroom door, and reached into the pocket of the jacket he’d taken off.
Inside was an item he had obtained from the Star-Splitting Monster, sucking gold from it.
At the time, the situation was urgent, and Lu Liang hadn’t even had time to check what it was before stuffing it in his pocket.
But now, the pocket was empty.
“Brother, what’s wrong? Did something happen?”
The noise of the door opening startled Lu Xiaoling.
“Nothing!”
Lu Liang replied casually, then stepped back into the shower.
Had the item fallen on the road?
Though he didn’t know what exactly it was, judging by how it felt in his hand when he grabbed it, it probably wasn’t anything valuable.
He quickly dismissed the matter from his mind and turned the shower back on.
…
At the same time, at Lu Xiaoling’s desk.
Lu Xiaoling stared blankly at the item before her, murmuring softly:
“Claiming it’s a reward from another author… she’s still lying to me.”
Her voice trembled with tears:
“Saying he was at a business dinner when he ate, blaming the woman’s scent on a female supervisor, but seeing this… I just can’t fool myself anymore.”
Lu Xiaoling quietly looked at the pink-and-white striped panties before her, her gaze growing hollow:
“He’s supposed to be my brother, my family… I’m sorry, brother. I couldn’t do anything. If only I had money, things wouldn’t have come to this…”
“Heheh, young lady, don’t cry.”
Just as Lu Xiaoling sank deeper into sadness, she suddenly heard a sound outside the window.
Drawing back the curtain, a completely black Pixie grinned stupidly at her:
“Do you want to gain power to change everything? Do you want to become a Civilian Magical Girl?”