In the living room, the tall lady and the big-chested girl stood in place, looking at each other.
Earlier, sensing that something was off, Lin Yingluo had stepped forward for a routine introduction.
She said, This is Su Nuo, your sister-in-law.
Everyone calls her Lin taitai.
She was about to ask if they knew each other when Lin Chu Xi suddenly bowed her head and ran upstairs, dashing into the first room on the second floor—her own.
Only Su Nuo, frozen in place, and the confused Lin Yingluo remained.
“Do you two know each other?”
Lin Yingluo hadn’t had time to ask her little sister, so she threw the question to Su Nuo.
“Um… we’re roommates.”
“Roommates?”
“Yes, same school, same department, same major, same class, same dormitory.”
Su Nuo said in one breath.
Just not the same bed.
Her mood was complicated.
She never imagined that the roommate she lived with at school and the big sister she spent holidays with were actually real sisters.
Su Xiao Nuo was also surprised.
“One Lin big sister, one Lin little sister. So they really are related.”
“But why did she run off? And her expression didn’t look right either.”
Su Nuo had this thought in her mind, privately chatting with Su Xiao Nuo, though she didn’t say it out loud.
Yet Lin Yingluo spoke similar words.
Lin Chu Xi’s strange behavior just now was too obvious.
At this moment, Su Xiao Nuo, who prided herself on her intelligence, thought for a while and said,
“What else? She must be disillusioned.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, she probably thought you were the Flower on a High Ridge in the dormitory,”
Su Xiao Nuo shook her head dramatically.
“‘The thought of the Su Nuo I respect being toyed with like a dog in front of her sister makes me cry uncontrollably.'”
Something like that.
“……You’re overthinking it.”
Someone who shared a dorm for three years, doing shameless things in front of everyone every day, how could she be a Flower on a High Ridge?
But Su Xiao Nuo’s words still gave some insight.
Su Nuo realized that since she and Lin Chu Xi were close friends, suddenly becoming a sister-in-law brought about a change in status that was hard to accept or a little embarrassing.
After all, it was like two separate circles in her life had suddenly merged.
Su Nuo shared her thoughts.
“Yeah, I think so too,”
Lin Yingluo glanced upstairs.
“It’s fine. I’ll go talk to her later.”
***
Lin Chu Xi couldn’t remember how she ran upstairs.
By the time the buzzing in her ears faded and her mind returned, she was already sitting in her room, staring at the open computer.
Everything that had happened felt like a mirage in a bubble, passing through her memory as if nothing had happened.
But Lin Chu Xi knew—it was all real.
Even this room, the chair she was sitting on, the mouse she held—these were all things that girl had chosen herself.
If she sniffed carefully, she might even catch the scent of flowers belonging to a young girl.
Why her?
Lin Chu Xi’s dazed gaze fell on the computer screen.
The freshly opened Bilibili homepage displayed a recommended video featuring two men in strange makeup and exaggerated grins.
[10 Minutes of Pure Enjoyment! Classic Joker Laughter Compilation.]
She understood why this appeared.
It was because the day she went on a date with Su Nuo at the mall, they watched Batman 2 together in a private theater, and the receipt had been logged by her own data.
At some point, her mouse clicked, and wild Joker laughter echoed in her ears—growing louder, then distant, then near, and then…
Dong dong dong.
Dong dong dong.
“Chu Xi?”
It was her sister’s voice.
Lin Chu Xi closed the video, turned the chair, and stood to open the door for her sister.
Her delicate face had returned to calm at some point.
Lin Yingluo saw her expression and, seeing nothing wrong, entered, found a chair, and sat down.
“Chu Xi, I didn’t expect you and Nuo Nuo to be roommates at school. When she told me, I was surprised too. But this is perfect—you two are already close, so I don’t need to introduce you much.”
Lin Yingluo had just learned from Su Nuo that their relationship at school was good.
They talked, shopped together, and even helped each other with meals.
Lin Chu Xi replied with a faint “Mm,” not saying much, her thoughts unclear.
“Actually, I understand. This is all too sudden.”
No, you don’t understand. Not at all!
“In any case, you’ll understand in time—matters of the heart.”
Lin Yingluo hesitated, then stopped.
She felt her little sister hadn’t experienced love yet and wouldn’t understand, so she changed the topic.
“By the way, Mom and Dad will be visiting soon. They’ll definitely notice Nuo Nuo living here. When the time comes, can you say she’s your good friend and bestie? That way, it makes sense she’s staying here.”
Lin Chu Xi was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled.
“Sis, Su Nuo really is my good friend~”
“That’s wonderful.”
Lin Yingluo didn’t notice anything strange about her sister’s smile.
After a few more words, she got up and left for the kitchen to find Su Nuo.
“It’s done,” she said.
Su Nuo let out a sigh of relief.
“You should rest for a while,”
Lin Yingluo said softly.
“I’ll handle the rest.”
“Okay.”
Su Nuo didn’t argue.
Everything that needed to be done was almost finished.
Just had to turn off the stove at the preset time.
She took off her little apron, left the kitchen, and walked up the stairs to the second floor.
As she opened her bedroom door, she saw a figure standing inside.
Su Nuo jumped, then looked closely and saw it was the Lin little sister.
“Lin Chu Xi, you…”
“Su Nuo,”
Lin Chu Xi spoke directly.
“Didn’t you tell me you found a job and were working?”
Her voice was ghostly, as if floating in from an alley outside the window, giving goosebumps.
Even Su Xiao Nuo noticed.
“She’s acting weird!”
Su Nuo didn’t care about weirdness.
That question hit her right in the weak spot, making her even more embarrassed.
“Well, um, actually, you could say it’s… work… too.”
The big-chested girl fidgeted, not knowing how to explain.
But then Lin Chu Xi suddenly laughed.
“I understand now.”
Su Nuo wanted to ask what she understood, but didn’t dare.
Soon, she heard Lin Chu Xi speak again.
“Earlier, big sis asked me for a favor—to help cover for you two when our parents visit.”
In an instant, Su Nuo’s heart leapt.
“Then could you…”
“How would I know? But just now, I thought—how about this?”
Lin Chu Xi pulled a commemorative coin from her pocket, smiling lightly.
“I’ll flip a coin. If it lands heads up, I’ll help you. If it’s tails—”
She turned toward the window.
Sunlight illuminated only half her face, the other half of her smile lost in shadow.
“If it’s tails, I’ll help anyway—but you’ll owe me a favor.”