After coming out of the bathroom, the two went to the living room. Almost as soon as they arrived, Mother Liu called them over.
“Back? Come, sit down.”
Liu Yinuo looked around.
“Where’s my dad?”
“He’s gone to clean up a room for your classmate.”
After saying this, she turned her gaze to the girl behind Liu Yinuo.
“Xiao Ye, I can call you that, right?”
“Mm…”
Ye Xingmian timidly nodded.
“Auntie knows you’ve had a hard time all along. Yinuo has already told me about your situation, so I won’t waste words. Xiao Ye, would you be willing to stay here with Auntie?”
“Eh?”
Ye Xingmian raised her head in surprise, but suddenly noticed Liu Yinuo signaling her. The meaning in that gaze seemed to say: Hurry up and agree.
‘So, Class Monitor had successfully convinced them after all?’
Feelings were a little complicated.
After all, Liu Yinuo had done so much for her, yet she had nothing to repay…
“Thank you…”
Naturally, there was no reason to refuse. She nodded, and that was considered agreement.
“Good. Yinuo, what are you standing there for? Hurry up and take her to sit down.”
After that, Liu Yinuo led Ye Xingmian to sit on the sofa opposite Mother Liu. Liu Yinuo poured a glass of water for Ye Xingmian, and Ye Xingmian took it.
As for Mother Liu across from them, she asked about Ye Xingmian’s future plans.
“Xiao Ye, do you have any thoughts about the future?”
“Yeah, anything is fine. The college you want to get into, the major you want to apply for, the things you want to do—just pick a few and tell Auntie.”
“Thoughts?”
Ye Xingmian was a little confused, not knowing what she was talking about.
Although her tone was very calm, Ye Xingmian instinctively became nervous.
Why? The reason was simple.
She had no thoughts at all…
After a long silence, she could only give such an answer.
“I… don’t know…”
Usually, just dealing with homework, her foster parents, and her adopted younger sister was already exhausting enough.
Recently, she also had to hide from Qin Haiyue, and often overthought things because of Liu Yinuo’s matters. How could she have any future plans?
Just ordinary life already required all her effort.
“Nothing…”
You could hear that Mother Liu’s tone already carried some disappointment.
She didn’t understand why. Perhaps it was because she was afraid someone like her would hold Liu Yinuo back.
“Sorry…”
Subconsciously, she clenched her palms. Ye Xingmian felt like an ostrich, only burying her head to escape when faced with difficulties.
What would happen next?
If she disappointed Liu Yinuo’s mother, would it cause trouble for Liu Yinuo?
Just as she was worrying about this, a soft touch suddenly came from the back of her left hand.
‘Eh?’
Turning to look, she found her left hand was being held.
As for who was holding it…
Ye Xingmian looked up and found Liu Yinuo staring seriously at the opposite side.
“Mom, can you not bring up all that irrelevant stuff? It’s not like you don’t know what her home environment was like before!”
A faint smile curled at the corner of Ye Xingmian’s mouth.
‘Was this… speaking up for her?’
Her heart felt warm.
Mother Liu fell silent. Whether due to some feeling or not, she stopped talking.
However, Ye Xingmian suddenly remembered that she did have some plans.
“Come to think of it… there is one thing I’m really looking forward to.”
She raised her head, her eyes looking at a void on the ceiling.
“Hmm?”
Liu Yinuo turned her head and looked at her with a puzzled expression.
Perhaps Liu Yinuo was also curious about what this always soft girl wanted to do.
But speaking it out might not necessarily make her happy.
A look of longing appeared in Ye Xingmian’s eyes.
After all, that was something she had always looked forward to, and it was also the meaning of her perseverance.
“My mother said that once the Gaokao is over, she’ll come back to find me. I want to see her—that’s the only thing I’m looking forward to.”
Hearing her words, Mother Liu pursed her lips, her expression moved.
“Is it… your birth mother?”
“Mm-hmm…”
The girl’s voice was small, as if talking about a sweet thing.
She smiled.
“I heard from Yinuo that your birth mother hasn’t come to see you since she left you with the Lin family, right? No wonder… you must miss her a lot, don’t you?”
“Yes, so much, even in my dreams…”
That was the truth.
“And after you see her? What do you want to do?”
“I… haven’t thought it through… but I should go to college… My grades aren’t as good as Class Monitor’s, so I might not get into a good school. But no matter where I go, Mom will be with me then.”
Although she was a little disappointed when talking about grades, perhaps because she was imagining a future with her mother, the smile on her lips never faded.
After chatting for a while, the previous awkward atmosphere had dissipated a lot.
Although not said outright, the estrangement between the two seemed to have mostly disappeared.
“Alright then, Auntie can take you in until the Gaokao is over. Don’t be so reserved. Treat us like family.”
As soon as she said this, Ye Xingmian’s eyes became moist.
“Thank you, Auntie! Thank you so much!”
“Don’t thank me. Thank Yinuo instead. If she hadn’t pestered your uncle and me every day telling us about you, we definitely wouldn’t have agreed to temporarily take you in.”
These words were extremely blunt, but Ye Xingmian knew that was the truth.
If not for Liu Yinuo, after being driven out of the Lin family, she wouldn’t even know where to go.
‘After all, it’s not like she could go to Qin Haiyue’s place, right?’
‘Who knows what that pervert would do to her?’
After standing that person up, she even suspected that if she were caught again, whether she could leave with all her limbs intact was uncertain.
However, after a night’s sleep, her body seemed to feel much better.
Except for a still painful heaviness in her lower abdomen, the wounds on her body and neck no longer hurt. Perhaps after a while, they would be mostly healed.
‘Speaking of which, her period seemed to be proof that she was a true girl, right?’
‘That is… she could have a baby?’
‘But that kind of thing is impossible no matter what, right?’
‘After all, she and Liu Yinuo were both girls…’
‘Wait, no!’
‘What are you thinking, Ye Xingmian!’
Anyway, after a mental storm, Ye Xingmian turned around and bowed to Liu Yinuo.
“Thank you! Class Monitor!”
‘Since they were in front of Mother Liu, she shouldn’t call her “Yinuo” so intimately, right?’
That title seemed more appropriate.
However, she waited for a long time but still didn’t get a response.
Until she straightened up in confusion, she found Liu Yinuo still staring blankly at someplace.
As for where she was staring…
Was it at her legs?
Come to think of it, after changing out of that one-piece dress Lin Zi gave her, she was now wearing a nightgown that belonged to Liu Yinuo. It wasn’t cold indoors with the heating on, but her lower body still showed a small section of smooth calf.
‘Did Yinuo like legs?’
‘Wait, what was she thinking?’
“Nuonuo, she’s thanking you. Why aren’t you responding?”
The opposite Mother Liu couldn’t help but ask.