“Sister!”
Jiang Xiaotang, who had been standing downstairs drawing circles on the ground with her foot, called out when she spotted a white-haired girl hurrying over from a distance.
Ditching Lin Luoying, who was chattering endlessly beside her, she trotted up to Jiang Cheng’s side.
Seeing the scattered group of about twenty to thirty middle school girls still waiting in front of the teaching building, Jiang Cheng sighed in relief.
At least she wasn’t too late.
“Sister!”
Jiang Xiaotang reached her, grabbed her arm, and craned her little head to look behind Jiang Cheng.
After scanning the area, she didn’t see the older sister named Lin Shuangxue.
“Xiaotang, what are you looking for?”
Jiang Cheng asked, looking down.
“Nothing!”
Jiang Xiaotang said loudly.
Jiang Cheng blinked and didn’t think much of it.
Kids are flighty, after all.
“Come on, let’s go home.”
She took her little sister’s hand and walked toward the school gate.
A few cars were parked by the road, with students in twos and threes waiting for their parents.
Jiang Cheng was about to raise her hand to hail a taxi when her gaze inadvertently swept over a sycamore tree not far away.
Standing under the tree was a girl in a school uniform, holding a pamphlet in her hands, blocking another girl who was trying to speak.
The cornered girl took a step back and shook her head.
“But I really can’t do makeup… I’ve never done it before either…”
The wind carried her voice over, tinged with embarrassment and a hint of retreat.
Jiang Cheng’s hand froze.
That voice… sounded familiar.
She listened closely.
“…Please find someone else. I really can’t do it…”
It was Su Mengyao.
Jiang Cheng was stunned.
Wasn’t this world way too small?
Even though they were in the same school, the odds of running into her at the junior high section gate were lower than winning the lottery, right?
Or maybe Su Mengyao had actually discovered her true form and was stalking her?
Now that would be seriously creepy…
Jiang Cheng followed the sound.
Su Mengyao had her back to her, so she couldn’t see her expression, but her shoulders were hunched slightly, her hands crossed in front of her, fingers twisting nervously.
The girl in the school uniform was still talking, flipping open a page of the pamphlet and holding it out to Su Mengyao, clearly with no intention of letting her go.
Jiang Xiaotang also noticed the commotion, but she only glanced once before looking away.
She saw the other person’s predicament, but she didn’t care.
She only cared about her sister.
Jiang Cheng hesitated.
Right now, she was Jiang Cheng, not White Snow.
Their body types were so different that Su Mengyao probably wouldn’t recognize her.
This was just a coincidence.
And given the way Su Mengyao looked, she was obviously being pestered and couldn’t get out of it.
Forget it, I’ll help out a little.
Just so I can feel less guilty the next time I tease her.
She took Jiang Xiaotang by the hand and walked over.
“Listen, classmate, our makeup club really needs members with your natural good looks…”
The girl in the school uniform spoke quickly, as if afraid the other would run away.
“Your facial proportions are excellent, your skin is clear. I’ve been club president for three years, and I never misjudge people—”
“But I really don’t know how…”
Su Mengyao’s voice grew softer.
“That’s okay! Our club teaches that. Starting from zero—”
“Hey,” Jiang Cheng stepped out from behind Su Mengyao.
“If she doesn’t want to join, then just drop it. Why keep pestering her?”
The makeup club president lifted her head, about to say,
“Mind your own business,”
but the moment her gaze landed on Jiang Cheng’s face, she froze.
Her mouth opened wider and wider until she was completely stiff.
Then, suddenly, the president reached out and grabbed Jiang Cheng’s face with both hands.
“Hey, hey, hey!”
Startled, Jiang Cheng took two steps back, breaking free from the girl’s grip.
“What are you doing?!”
“It’s not fake no-makeup, it’s really no makeup…”
The president took half a step back, her eyes losing their sparkle.
“…Huh?”
Before Jiang Cheng could ask what she meant, the president lowered her head and walked away, looking utterly defeated.
She was muttering something like “Makeup is a scam” and “After ascension, everyone is bare-faced.”
Jiang Cheng didn’t understand what she meant, but at least she had helped Su Mengyao out of a tight spot.
“Tha—”
Su Mengyao let out a breath of relief and turned around, but the “thank you” stuck in her throat when she saw the person in front of her.
Standing before her was a white-haired girl, staring stupidly at the retreating president, with a kind of familiar cuteness.
White hair, delicate features, a gentle smile…
An absurd thought suddenly popped into her mind.
“White Snow?!”
she blurted out.
The white-haired girl’s body stiffened.
“Wh-what!”
Jiang Cheng panicked.
“You’ve got the wrong person! My name is Jiang Cheng, not… not White Snow!”
Su Mengyao stared at her for two seconds, scanning her face as if searching for a flaw.
But Jiang Cheng’s heart was racing.
—No way, no way.
She can recognize me like this?
—Su Mengyao! Are you part bloodhound?!
“…I’m sorry.”
Su Mengyao finally looked away, rubbing her forehead.
“I’m a bit tired today and my eyes played tricks on me. I’m really sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
Jiang Cheng sighed in relief.
But was it really fine?
Jiang Xiaotang looked up at her sister, then at Su Mengyao, a trace of confusion in her eyes.
Su Mengyao might not notice anything unusual, but Jiang Xiaotang clearly knew her sister was lying.
Because her sister’s hand was squeezing so hard it was starting to hurt her.
Jiang Xiaotang didn’t say anything.
She just gently brushed her thumb over the back of her sister’s hand.
It’s okay.
As long as it’s big sister, whatever she does, Xiaotang will accept it.
But…
She stole a glance at Su Mengyao.
Who is this big sister?
And who is White Snow?
Does she have something to do with that older sister Lin Shuangxue?
No, there’s something wrong.
Jiang Xiaotang’s ears perked up.
Literally.
Luckily Jiang Cheng didn’t see it, or she’d definitely reach out and touch them.
Su Mengyao calmed down a little and took another look at the white-haired girl in front of her.
This time, she felt a sense of familiarity.
Not the kind from White Snow, but from this morning—the person Lin Shuangxue had been holding in her arms downstairs at the teaching building.
She had never met Jiang Cheng before, but she knew Lin Shuangxue.
Her father had introduced her to the eldest daughter of the Lin family—a cold-faced woman with such an overpowering presence that she made others afraid to approach.
So, this girl called Jiang Cheng was Lin Shuangxue’s girlfriend?
Su Mengyao’s gaze grew complicated.
“Um…”
she opened her mouth, wanting to say something but not knowing how to phrase it.
Jiang Cheng saw her hesitation and quickly waved her hand.
“Don’t worry about what happened today. Next time you run into someone like that, just say no. Don’t be such a pushover.”
Her tone was somewhat casual, even carrying a hint of lecturing from a “been there, done that” perspective.
Hearing that voice, Su Mengyao felt that sense of familiarity again.
Not from the timbre, but from the tone, the rhythm—something she couldn’t quite place.
It was as if the person in front of her should be someone she was close to.
—Could she be a relative of White Snow?
Or maybe she is…
“Well, we have things to do, so we’re heading out!”
Jiang Cheng suddenly interrupted her thoughts.
“Got to go home for dinner. My little sister is hungry.”
As she spoke, she pulled Jiang Xiaotang toward the roadside.
“Hey—”
Before Su Mengyao could even say goodbye, she watched the white-haired girl hail a taxi, shove her sister inside, and climb in herself.
The door slammed shut, and the car sped away.
Su Mengyao stood there frozen, watching the taxi disappear around the corner.
Her heart stirred with a strange flutter.
It was as if something was gently scratching at her.
She quickly suppressed it.
—No.
That feeling belongs to White Snow.
Only White Snow can make me feel this way.
But…
Then a question occurred to her.
Could White Snow really change size?
Turn into a young girl?
Into that Jiang Cheng?
Or maybe Jiang Cheng was White Snow’s true form?
She quickly shook her head, dismissing the ridiculous thought.
Impossible.
How could White Snow appear in someone else’s arms?
And held by someone like Lin Shuangxue?
White Snow was clearly mine.
Mine…
Su Mengyao’s face flushed.
Her lover?
It should count, right?
She took a deep breath, pulled out her phone, and opened the photo album.
There were many photos saved on it—she had installed a camera in her bedroom and recorded every time White Snow came.
Then she would capture her favorite moments and save them.
The one she was looking at now was taken this afternoon.
White Snow was lying in her arms, eyes half-closed, like a lazy kitten.
Looking at the face in the photo, she somehow thought back to that girl called Jiang Cheng.
White hair, delicate features.
Really similar.
Why did I think of that?
Su Mengyao shook her head and put her phone back in her pocket.
Impossible.
White Snow is White Snow.
She turned around and headed home.