The rented house wasn’t very big, especially the bedroom. Apart from a small bed, there wasn’t much room to move around.
Because of the earlier flower stickers, the small bed was filled with a refreshing floral fragrance.
Bai Xiaoya tried wiping it with a tissue, but seeing no change, she gave up and lay down on the bed.
“Why is it like this?”
She thought carefully.
The reason Bai Xia and Su Qingyu had fought was either related to the mysterious item or… because of herself?
“It really must be because of that mysterious item,” the busty girl concluded.
As a pragmatic person, Bai Xiaoya rarely let herself have too many illusions.
***
In the next room, a blond lolita and a black-haired girl sat opposite each other, separated by two tables and more than a meter of space.
The blond lolita held a mouth organ in her left hand and a flute in her right.
The girl with long black straight hair had her hands in her pockets.
Although it didn’t look like much, both knew what “secret weapons” were hidden inside.
“Don’t tell her about this,” Bai Xia said first.
“About the tasks and all that.”
Su Qingyu tilted her head.
“Why not?”
Bai Xia snorted lightly.
“I’m different from you; I didn’t do this with her because of the task.”
Although she usually used the task reward to convince herself, deep down she knew it was just fooling herself — no need to fool others.
“Really… but you don’t have to worry,” Su Qingyu said regretfully, “I tried before; there’s no way to tell her.”
When telling the story about herself and the flute, because of the hinting involved, she received warnings from that mysterious text.
Bai Xia thought for a moment.
“Then let’s change the terms.”
“Wait, why are you the one making demands?”
Su Qingyu lifted her small face, unwilling to accept this.
“I can tattle to my parents and say she’s making a mess with girls at school.
Then my parents can lock her at home,” Bai Xia said seriously.
“Can you do that?”
Either way, being locked up at home is better.
Su Qingyu bit her teeth.
“Who said I can’t? At worst, I’ll follow you home and tell your uncles and aunts you two girls are messing around… messing around!”
Isn’t it just hurting each other?
Who’s afraid of who?
Besides, “messing around” definitely sounds worse than “girls together.”
Bai Xia wanted to say they weren’t really sisters and that the parents wouldn’t mind, but… did they really not mind?
No, perhaps it’s pointless to consider the sister relationship first.
The key is whether their parents cared about girls together at all.
If they didn’t, then the threat to Su Qingyu wouldn’t hold.
After thinking for a while, Bai Xia asked, “What are your conditions?”
Just put them out first.
“Very simple,” Su Qingyu cleared her small throat.
“I want one rule — when there’s no task, no ‘lewd’ stuff!”
Bai Xia frowned slightly.
She and Bai Xiaoya lived in the same house.
Vacation was coming, so they’d have plenty of time together.
“Fine, agreed.”
Although the holiday was near, she looked at the long term.
After the holiday, school would resume, and maybe then one of them would have more chances.
“And your conditions?”
Su Qingyu asked.
Bai Xia pondered.
How to create an environment beneficial to herself wasn’t easy to figure out, but as she thought, she suddenly came to a realization: did she really need any advantageous condition?
It was just a blond lolita, after all.
So she said, “Same as when I first came. I want detailed records of that old business deal — who initially came to Baibai Trading.”
“Emmm, theoretically not by the rules, and I’ll be honest with you — Edwins’s Pocket Watch has been rated by the family as a high-danger item.”
Su Qingyu shrugged.
“I’m just here to gather intel. Others will come to Baiyuan City later to retrieve it. They’re stronger and more professional.”
Bai Xia’s hand gripping the pocket watch tightened slightly.
“No need for you to worry about that. Just tell me what I need to know.”
Su Qingyu tilted her head, thinking carefully.
According to what they said before, the boss of Baibai Trading was Bai Xiaoya’s real parent; she would definitely want to know too.
“Okay, let’s go talk to Aya together.”
This way, she could also increase goodwill.
Little Su was quite clever.
After a while, Bai Xia and Su Qingyu came out together and found Bai Xiaoya in the bedroom.
“You two… really made up?”
Bai Xiaoya was surprised to see their current state.
They had been shouting and fighting earlier but now suddenly seemed to have reached some kind of agreement.
“Not exactly made up. We just stopped fighting,” Bai Xia said with a serious expression.
Coming in, the floral scent hit her, and her fists clenched.
Su Qingyu smiled sweetly, pure and obedient.
“Aya~, I never liked fighting anyway.”
The blond lolita’s voice returned to the tone she used at school, so soft it made one’s bones melt.
Bai Xiaoya suddenly had two intimate nicknames in one day, which left her confused.
But she had to resolve another confusion first.
“Now can you tell me what exactly the mysterious item thing is about?”
“Of course. Let’s start from the basics.”
Su Qingyu, wearing small white socks, climbed onto the bed and sat at the head, clearing her throat.
“First of all, there are many special items in this world with unique powers. You’ve seen and heard of some, and there are others with various functions. These things seem to appear out of nowhere, without origin or reason — like white sesame sprinkled on bread. White sesame has nothing to do with the wheat that makes the bread, and mysterious items have nothing to do with physical laws.”
Bai Xia pretended not to care on the surface but secretly listened carefully because even she didn’t know this basic knowledge.
“Hundreds of years ago, the founders of the Management Family discovered the first batch of mysterious items and learned how to use them. At first, they fought and competed for them, but later they decided to cooperate.”
At this point, Su Qingyu glanced at Bai Xia and snorted softly.
“I’m just telling history. Absolutely no hints.”
Bai Xia rolled her eyes.
“No one thinks you’re hinting at anything. Just keep going.”
“The Management Family gathers people with mysterious talents and trains them from a young age to protect the family’s interests and continue the ‘management’ function. I’m one of them, but my status… is still young and I don’t have achievements to support a promotion yet,” Su Qingyu said, meeting Bai Xiaoya’s gaze and deliberately adding, “But I’ll definitely rise fast in the future!”
Showcasing strength and potential — she’d heard that’s how the matchmaking market worked too.
“Why do you want to retrieve the pocket watch?”
Bai Xia asked.
“Don’t include me. I’m not in the decision-making layer, and the watches they retrieve mostly don’t end up with me.”
Su Qingyu innocently declared that first, then said, “Recently, the family had several internal conflicts and external invasions. Not long ago, after the turmoil ended, a new decision-making body came into power. They modeled themselves after ancient customs and called themselves the Seven-Person Council.”
Bai Xiaoya nodded, thinking, I get that. Seven is a magical number.
To put it simply, it was for good luck.
“The Seven-Person Council is more radical than previous decision-makers, second only to the founders themselves. They want to make the family great again, and the first step is to control more mysterious items.”
Su Qingyu glanced at Bai Xia’s shirt pocket.
“The new rule is that anything rated ‘high danger’ or above will be considered for retrieval. Edwins’s Pocket Watch is classified as ‘extreme danger’ — they will definitely come for you.”
After saying this, she looked at Bai Xia’s heavy expression with schadenfreude.
“For such an important item, they’ll investigate everything, including the people around you, until they find out…”
Su Qingyu’s voice stopped abruptly when she looked at Bai Xiaoya.
Danger level is just a term, but essentially the higher the level, the more urgent the recall — in other words, Bai Xiaoya…
At that moment, Su Qingyu thought the family’s Seven-Person Council was a bit too extreme.
“This is… c… messed up! We have to deal with the people involved back then as soon as possible,” she said to Bai Xia.
“We absolutely can’t let the family find anything on you!”