On the ride home, An Qing leaned against the car window, staring blankly outside.
An Yu really liked doing this too, pressing herself against the window whenever she was in a car.
Just what was she looking at?
Or… what was she thinking about?
An Qing had never understood An Yu, not even in her previous life, right up to the moment she saw An Yu’s corpse.
“Young miss, we’ve arrived.”
The car had stopped without her noticing. The driver reminded her to get out.
“Mm, thank you.”
An Qing smiled and nodded, maintaining her practiced gentleness.
She opened the door and paused instinctively.
Every time she looked at the An family villa, she felt both familiar and foreign.
Familiar, because she had come here countless times.
Foreign, because no one inside had ever needed her.
An Qing suppressed her emotions, walked forward slowly, placed her hand on the gate, and once again returned alone to this home that had never given her a shred of warmth.
In this life, she couldn’t even see that little liar’s shadow by her side.
That was fine.
In fact, it suited her perfectly.
Since An Yu liked ignoring her, didn’t that give her more room to maneuver?
“Qing’er, you’re back?”
A man’s voice carried a hint of delight, as though he was happy to see her.
“Father?”
Surprise flickered in An Qing’s eyes.
“Haha, come, come, put down your bag. Let’s eat first.”
An Yunfan enthusiastically took An Qing’s schoolbag and led her to the dining table.
An Qing sat in her usual seat.
The food was already prepared, as if they had only been waiting for her.
“Why does Father have time today?”
An Qing put on a puzzled expression and looked at An Yunfan.
“Heh, what kind of talk is that? No matter how busy I am, I can still make time to have dinner with my daughter, right?”
An Yunfan laughed and shook his head, looking helpless.
Nice words.
In truth, for someone like An Yunfan who never lifted a finger without profit, this kind of pure waste of time was something he would never do.
And An Qing knew exactly why he was here, but she wouldn’t point it out.
Instead, she pretended not to know.
“Oh, thank you, Father.”
On the surface she looked happy, but inside she only felt disgust.
She nodded at An Yunfan, then began eating slowly and elegantly.
Everything seemed natural and ordinary.
An Yunfan would occasionally put food in her bowl and ask if it tasted good.
An Qing would reply gently.
They looked like a normal father-daughter pair, just a little distant.
Nothing special.
Until dinner was nearly over… An Yunfan finally lost his patience.
“Um, Qing’er, did you get any messages or anything today?”
An Qing looked at him in genuine confusion.
“Messages? What messages?”
Seeing her puzzled face, An Yunfan dropped the pretense and spoke bluntly.
“Aiya, I’ll just say it straight!”
He slapped his thigh.
“Young Master Chen the Second said you haven’t accepted his friend request, so he asked me to check if something went wrong!”
An Qing grew even more confused.
“Ah?”
She blinked, took out her phone with an innocent expression, opened the social app, and sure enough, there was an unaccepted request.
“Ah… Father, you came home early just for this?”
An Qing shook her head helplessly.
“I don’t usually check my phone at school, so I didn’t see it.”
“You really didn’t need to rush home early over something so small.”
“A phone call would’ve been enough.”
As she spoke, she accepted the request right in front of An Yunfan.
“See? No need to worry now, right?”
An Qing looked at him with a helpless expression, as if he was making a mountain out of a molehill.
Of course, that wasn’t what she really thought.
She hadn’t actually missed Chen Guang’s request; she had deliberately left it hanging.
Because she knew Chen Guang would definitely complain to An Yunfan.
That was just the kind of person he was.
By waiting until Chen Guang went to An Yunfan, then acting like this, the effect was far greater than simply accepting the request right away and pretending nothing happened.
This way, she could effortlessly raise her standing in An Yunfan’s eyes and make him realize that Chen Guang was the one actively trying to contact her.
Even going so far as to complain to An Yunfan because she hadn’t added him yet.
In An Yunfan’s mind, the value of An Qing and An Yu was measured solely by which one could win the Chen family’s favor.
The fact that their worth had to be proven through the Chen family sons made her want to vomit, but that was exactly how An Yunfan thought: only things that brought profit had value.
“Ahem, hey now, Qing’er, what are you thinking? I only asked in passing. Didn’t I say it already? I can always make time to eat with my daughter!”
An Yunfan clapped his hands.
Seeing the request accepted, he had nothing left to do, so he began saving face.
“Is that so?”
An Qing nodded.
“I understand.”
Her lips curved into the same smile as always. Beneath it lay endless loathing.
Why did she have to keep performing for someone like him?
In this life, she had come home alone, yet An Yunfan never once mentioned An Yu.
Completely opposite from her previous life.
She had already taken revenge once before, yet now she still had to face her enemy’s face.
All of this… was because of that damn liar.
***
Meanwhile, An Yu was having the time of her life.
She stared at the dazzling array of games in the arcade, no longer sure what to play first.
In short, suffering and whatever had nothing to do with An Yu right now.
Holding Ning Wanciu’s hand, An Yu expressionlessly scanned the surroundings.
Her amber eyes sparkled, gleaming with something called anticipation.
She had never been to a place like this before, so right now, she wanted to play everything!
She turned her head and looked at Ning Wanciu with eyes full of expectation, though her facial expression didn’t change in the slightest.
“Mm…”
Meeting An Yu’s gaze, Ning Wanciu froze for a moment.
Those shining amber eyes made it impossible to disappoint her.
Ning Wanciu shook her head, then quickly broke into a gentle smile.
This side of An Yu was actually much easier to read than usual.
Looks like choosing the arcade was definitely the right call…
“An Yu, what do you want to play first?” Ning Wanciu lightly squeezed her hand. “Anything is fine~”
She even showed off the full box of game tokens they had just exchanged—more than enough for An Yu to play until she dropped.
An Yu tilted her head without speaking, simply pulling Ning Wanciu in a certain direction.
Ning Wanciu didn’t resist and quietly followed behind.
Looking at the small figure in front of her, Ning Wanciu suddenly thought, in a way, didn’t this make her some kind of flower-protecting knight?
She shook her head helplessly.
Seriously, what was she even thinking?