Chapter 36: The Household’s Regular Guest

Su Yan recalled the game this time and suddenly realized that compared to the first game, this one couldn’t have been any gentler!

Even though she hadn’t found a quick way to clear the dungeon, this one was completely safe—a purely entertaining challenge.

It seemed that childhood variety shows weren’t all about bleeding and injuries; some had games where you wouldn’t get hurt at all.

But obviously, compared to the “Little Duck Crossing the River” game, this one required more brainpower.

Su Yan pondered thoughtfully.

It looked like the producers designed the games to complement each other.

The dungeons that needed a lot of brainpower weren’t very dangerous, while those that required less intelligence were more treacherous and demanded high combat ability.

In fact, Su Yan keenly sensed a deeper message here—Nikese valued both culture and martial prowess, but placed relatively more importance on intelligence.

In their eyes, clever people didn’t have to face danger, while reckless fools had to fight crocodiles.

If that was the case, then she was definitely on the wise path…

Su Yan smiled and nodded, glad she had chosen correctly!

Time flew by, and the winter break was just around the corner, meaning they would soon be going home for the New Year!

The dorm was filled with a happy and peaceful atmosphere.

The university Su Yan attended was quite far from her home—it took four to five hours even by high-speed train.

Under such circumstances, aside from big holidays like National Day and winter and summer breaks, she rarely got to go home.

Only Wu Xiaoxiao in the dorm was a local, and being a top student, she was indifferent to the winter break and wasn’t in any hurry.

In contrast, Su Yan and her two friends started packing a whole week early.

“By the way!”

Feng Di looked at Su Yan.

“When you get there, will your family come to pick you up? Do you need my parents to take you home?”

Their two families lived in the same city, though in completely opposite parts, and they had never met before.

But in this foreign place, they were rare compatriots.

So naturally, the two booked the same train, planning to go home together.

Hearing this, Su Yan shook her head.

“No need. My parents will pick me up.”

After all, her family was fairly well-off and had a car.

They hadn’t seen each other for half a year, so her parents would definitely come.

“Ding ling ling ling!”

Su Yan’s phone suddenly rang.

She glanced at it and, speaking of the devil, it was her mother calling.

A smile appeared at the corner of her eye as she put on her earphones and answered the call.

Su Mother started with the usual chitchat, rambling about trivial family matters.

Su Yan didn’t get impatient at all and listened carefully, occasionally responding.

After a while, Su Mother finally got to the point: “Xiao Yan, do you still remember your cousin? The one who just started high school?”

Su Yan frowned, thinking for a moment, then answered after a pause, “Zhao Qian?”

Su Mother said excitedly, “Yes, yes, that’s her! She’s just started high school—and it happens to be your high school. She’s actually your junior schoolmate!”

Su Yan asked with some confusion, “Hmm… so what about it?” Suddenly, her eyes widened with a bad feeling inside. “I thought Zhao Qian’s family wasn’t from our city?”

“Yes, that’s right…”

Su Mother marveled at her daughter’s cleverness.

“Because she came to our city to study, her parents asked us to look after her and let her stay at our house. Since you rarely come home, we agreed.”

“Eek!”

Su Yan quickly asked, “She’s not staying in my room, right?”

Su Mother nodded.

“Of course not, she’s in the guest room.”

Their home was a three-bedroom apartment.

Su Father and Su Mother shared one room, Su Yan had one, and the other was always used as storage.

Hearing this, Su Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s winter break, so Zhao Qian’s not going home?”

Su Mother said, “Sigh, her parents are especially busy during the New Year, running their business all over the place, so…”

Even without her saying it, Su Yan understood what that meant.

She didn’t mind sharing a room with a “familiar stranger.”

“It’s fine, Mom. Just don’t let her into my room. Since we’re both girls, maybe we’ll even become friends or something.”

“That’s good, that’s good.”

Su Mother relaxed and smiled.

“You’ve been so sensible since you were little, and Zhao Qian’s quite well-behaved too. You two just have to get along.”

Perhaps worried Su Yan might bottle up her feelings, Su Mother added, “But if you ever feel uncomfortable or if you two have a fight, you have to tell me. I’m not so senile that I’d put my own daughter through hardship while raising someone else’s.”

With those words, the faint dissatisfaction in Su Yan’s heart immediately vanished.

She nodded happily and changed the subject to tell her mother funny stories from school.

***

Soon after the exams, the school immediately went on holiday.

Su Yan’s luggage wasn’t much—just a large suitcase and a bulging backpack.

In stark contrast, Feng Di was hauling an entire mountain of bags.

She had a big suitcase in each hand, a large bag hanging from her left elbow, and a big pack on her back.

This was after Su Yan had helped carry one of the bags.

Coupled with her thick winter down coat, Feng Di looked like a big ball.

Definitely the kind who, if she fell down, couldn’t get up by herself.

Watching her struggle with all those bags, Su Yan laughed.

“I know you’re going home for winter break, but if someone didn’t know, they’d think you were a royal consort visiting the province!”

Generous as always, Feng Di smiled good-naturedly.

“Have you ever seen a royal consort like this? I’m more like Yang Consort, Yang Yuhuan.”

The two laughed and joked as they took a taxi to the train station.

After getting their luggage settled and finding their seats, they finally breathed a sigh of relief early in the morning.

Looking out the window at the rushing scenery, Su Yan felt an almost unreal sensation.

She was about to go home!

This first semester of sophomore year was definitely brilliant and colorful.

And of course, the payoff was a bank balance she hadn’t dared dream of back in freshman year.

It was a fortunate semester after all! Su Yan felt her eyelids grow heavy—the fatigue finally caught up with her after being busy since 4 a.m.

She closed her eyes and slowly drifted off.

***

After getting off the high-speed train, Su Yan said goodbye to Feng Di and began searching for her parents.

Her mother couldn’t drive, so both parents must have come.

“Xiao Yan! Xiao Yan!”

Su Yan looked over and saw her mother wearing a bright red cotton jacket, waving at her by the door.

That red was really eye-catching.

Su Yan rushed over and hugged her mom tightly.

“Mom! I missed you so much!”

After some warm greetings, they parted.

Only then did Su Yan notice there was a girl standing next to her mother.

Because of the angle earlier, she hadn’t seen her.

The girl wore a light pink windbreaker and looked delicate and pretty.

Her hair was tied in a bun, making her appear young and cute.

But… a sharp glint flashed in Su Yan’s eyes.

That girl’s expression was not cute at all.

When Su Yan saw her, the girl’s face was filled with a complicated expression.

Su Yan couldn’t quite tell exactly what, but one feeling was clear—that of dislike.

And at that moment, the girl was looking at her. In other words—she hated Su Yan.

But as soon as Su Yan caught her eye, the girl quickly masked her expression, replacing it with a faint, polite smile.

If Su Yan weren’t so observant, she wouldn’t have noticed.

Su Mother remembered then and introduced, “Xiao Yan, this is your cousin Zhao Qian. Qian Qian, this is your cousin Su Yan.”

Su Yan raised an eyebrow with interest and stretched out her hand.

“Cousin, long time no see.”

There was no trace of resentment on Zhao Qian’s face; she even looked genuinely happy.

She immediately grabbed Su Yan’s hand and, pretending to be excited, said, “Yan Yan sister! I missed you so much!”

Su Yan raised a brow and smiled.

“I missed you too.”

That’s what she said, but inside, she snorted.

The last time they had seen each other was back in Su Yan’s middle school days!

That was years ago—miss her my foot!

For the rest of the journey, Zhao Qian made a big show of her enthusiasm in front of Su Mother, clinging to Su Yan as if they were biological sisters.

What a drama queen!

This holiday was going to be interesting.

Su Yan smirked and let Zhao Qian carry on.

Back home, Su Yan first went to her room to see if anything had changed.

On the surface, everything looked exactly the same, without a speck of dust.

But with Su Yan’s sharp eyes, differences were obvious.

Many of her decorations were missing, some figurines gone, and even the books in the bookshelf had been moved around.

Su Yan stepped out and didn’t confront her mother directly but found her gently and asked, “Mom, did you tidy up my room?”

Su Mother shook her head in confusion.

“I clean your room every day, but I don’t think I touched your decorations.”

Su Yan nodded.

“But my necklace is missing—the one you gave me for my 18th birthday.”

Since it was a coming-of-age gift, Su Mother had spent a lot on a pearl necklace for Su Yan.

The necklace wasn’t cheap, and her mother immediately tensed up.

“What? The necklace is gone? Could it be that you took it to school?”

Su Yan shook her head anxiously.

“No way. I wouldn’t bring something so valuable to school! I just got home and wanted to wear it, but I can’t find it.”

Su Mother quickly put down what she was doing and went with Su Yan to the room.

“I’ll help you look. Where did you usually keep it?”

Without hesitation, Su Yan said, “In the jewelry drawer.”

Since her mother worked in the jewelry business, whenever Su Yan did really well, she was rewarded with nice pieces.

Over time, Su Yan had accumulated a whole drawer full of jewelry.

Her mother opened the drawer and rummaged through it, finally finding the pearl necklace at the very back.

She sighed in relief and teased, “You’re so careless. It was right here all along!”

Su Yan stuck out her tongue and deliberately drew her mother’s gaze to the drawer.

“It’s just that there were too many things inside, so I didn’t look carefully!”

At that moment, Su Mother noticed something was off.

“Xiao Yan… aren’t you missing some things from this drawer?”

Su Yan raised her eyebrow—mission accomplished!