Chapter 63: What a Coincidence

Mm, just what kind of feeling was fear supposed to be?

An Yu raised her head expressionlessly and looked at An Qing, who was smiling brightly.

Having a red-eyed beauty who wanted to kill you standing right in front of you—did that count as scary?

If that still wasn’t enough, what if she said “welcome home” while smiling sweetly?

An Yu wasn’t afraid. 

She had long accepted reality, so right now she only felt bewildered.

Did the reborn heroine finally snap?

She clearly hated her so much, yet here she was saying “welcome.” 

How could An Qing possibly welcome her?

Since she couldn’t understand, she decided not to think about it.

An Yu ignored the greeting entirely, walked around An Qing, and headed straight for her room. 

If she didn’t want to deal with someone, she simply wouldn’t. 

Could An Qing eat her alive or something?

That would mean she had quite the appetite.

“An Yu.” 

An Qing’s voice instantly turned ice-cold, losing all traces of its earlier gentleness. 

“Did you… have fun?”

An Yu’s steps paused. She really had had fun.

She had a lot of fun with Ning Wanciu.

But what did that have to do with An Qing?

Without answering, An Yu chose to leave directly.

You don’t have to pay attention to someone who’s throwing a tantrum. 

As long as it wasn’t some kind of illness, they’d calm down on their own soon enough. 

She had no time to entertain someone who wished her harm—she still needed to go back and find her bed.

She was tired. 

She wanted to lie down and play games. 

And while she was at it, call her pillow little sister too.

Very soon, An Yu disappeared from An Qing’s line of sight and returned to her room.

An Qing remained in the living room, her crimson eyes fixed on the direction An Yu had vanished in, unable to snap out of it for a long time.

“Ha…” She let out a heavy breath, her entire body radiating exhaustion.

An Qing couldn’t understand. 

Just what was An Yu planning? 

Why was she able to completely ignore her actions?

How could she be so carefree and actually go out to play?

What was so special about that Ning Wanciu?

An Qing wasn’t stupid. 

Even without seeing it, she could guess—An Yu could only have gone out with Ning Wanciu. 

There was no one else.

At least, in her mind, there wasn’t.

She had even brought back a plushie from the arcade… Did she still care about the An family at all? Did she still care about any of this?

Or was she simply looking down on her, believing An Qing truly couldn’t do anything?

If that were really the case, then why had the An Yu of her previous life been so terrified of having everything taken away?

None of it made sense. 

So An Qing could only conclude that An Yu had some other plan, that she was hiding a trump card strong enough to turn the tables.

An Qing gently closed her eyes, concealing those crimson pupils.

No matter what, she would never again be toyed with in the palm of An Yu’s hand like in her previous life.

Soon it would be the time of the birthday banquet from her past life. 

This time, the one who would have nothing wouldn’t be her, An Qing—it would be An Yu.

She opened her eyes again. 

Those red pupils gleamed with a terrifying light.

This time, she wanted to see An Yu’s despair. 

And then she would return that pity-gift, the one that had felt like charity, right back to its owner.

An Qing reached out and turned off the living room lights, then quietly returned to her own room.

Completely failing to understand An Qing’s intentions, An Yu was currently lying on her bed with a blissful expression.

“Nn… I missed you, bed.”

It felt like they’d been apart for far too long. Probably because today had been so fulfilling.

Choosing not to go straight home after school and instead going out to play with Ning Wanciu had been the right decision. 

Right now, her bed felt even comfier than usual.

An Yu contentedly pressed her lips together and rolled around while hugging her blanket.

Comfortable was comfortable, but it still wasn’t time to sleep yet, and An Yu was wide awake.

Sleeping at this hour would be such a waste!

She reached out, fumbled around, and pulled out her top-tier rich-miss cellphone.

Woohoo—time couldn’t be wasted. 

She should start playing right this instant!

An Yu blinked expressionlessly, unlocked her phone, and prepared to message her pillow little sister.

Playing games without pillow little sister was like… well, like playing games without pillow little sister. In short, it was a very bad thing.

Games were definitely the most fun when played with someone else.

She opened the chat with pillow little sister and was just about to ask if she wanted to play when a voice interrupted her.

【Host!】

Her hand slipped, and she accidentally tapped voice call.

“Ah.”

An Yu blinked, then quickly hung up.

Ning Dongli didn’t pick up—she was probably busy with something else. 

But that didn’t matter. More importantly, what was wrong with the system now?

“What is it?”

【Host, even though you never do missions anymore, I still have to mention…】

The system’s voice carried a hint of helplessness. It had already accepted that An Yu wouldn’t bother with missions.

“Mm.” An Yu gave a soft “mm” to indicate it should continue.

【According to the script, your birthday banquet is coming up soon. In the original worldline, around this time the An parents would start preparing for the host’s birthday and neglect the female protagonist An Qing.】

“Oh.” An Yu responded politely so the system wouldn’t feel like it was talking to a wall.

【Then, An Qing’s birthday is the day after the host’s. She has definitely resented this for a very long time. Just like the previous recognition banquet, this is a major plot point, so host, please be careful!】

“Ah.”

【Also, also—because of the reborn heroine’s influence, there’s a very high chance the An parents won’t throw a birthday banquet for the host this time. The host’s treatment will probably be completely reversed with An Qing’s…】

The system’s voice suddenly became cautious, but An Yu couldn’t understand why.

So…

“Mm.”

When she didn’t know how to respond, “mm” was always safe.

【Host… are you listening?】

The system was speechless. It had actually been a little worried its host might feel sad, but clearly it had overthought things again.

An Yu didn’t care in the slightest. Even if she were kicked out of the An family, she’d probably just happily run to Ning Wanciu and ask to be taken in…

Why had it bothered worrying…

“I’m listening.”

An Yu replied coldly.

She obviously had perfectly good “mm,” “oh,” and “ah” responses—how could the system think she wasn’t listening? Her system really was an idiot.

【……】

Though the system suspected An Yu had just tuned it out, An Yu really had listened.

It was just that her birthday banquet was canceled? 

Why would she care about that? She actually thought it was good news. She hoped everyone in the An family would stay far away from her.

Still…

Come to think of it, An Yu had read similar novels in her previous life.

The return of the true heiress was always perfectly timed with the fake heiress’s birthday banquet.

Even her own situation was more or less the same.

The fake heiress’s birthday was just so perfectly timed—always falling right when the true heiress came back, not a single day off.

Amazing.

An Yu thought sincerely.

***

At the same time, elsewhere, Ning Dongli triumphantly finished another match. 

Once again, she had carried the game.

Time to rank up hard!

Ning Dongli’s lips curved into a happy grin. She casually glanced at her phone.

The moment she did, her world collapsed.

“Nooooo!!!!”

On the screen: Missed call. Good night, sleep well.