Kapitel 39: 39
Wen Yixin froze, her body momentarily stiffening. "What did you say?"
She thought she might have misheard. Otherwise, how could she have heard Qin Ruan say something like that?
But before Wen Yixin could convince herself otherwise, she heard Qin Ruan repeat, "I want you to kiss me, just once."
Wen Yixin: ...
So she hadn't misheard.
Realizing this, Wen Yixin couldn't help but cough awkwardly, turning her head to avoid Qin Ruan's gaze.
She cleared her throat. "That's not possible. Choose something else."
"Okay." Although she had expected the refusal, Qin Ruan couldn't help but feel disappointed when she heard it.
Hearing the dejection in Qin Ruan's voice, Wen Yixin glanced back at her, noticing her gloomy expression. She thought for a moment but said nothing.
Qin Ruan took a moment to compose herself before speaking again, "Sister, I can't think of any reward right now. Can I save it for later and let you know when I decide?"
"Sure," Wen Yixin replied.
Qin Ruan smiled. "You're so kind, Sister."
Wen Yixin responded with a soft hum, but she didn't say much more.
The two of them then fell into a peculiar silence, each seemingly lost in their own thoughts.
After a long pause, Wen Yixin glanced at Qin Ruan and softly suggested, "I'm going to feed the cat. Do you want to join me?"
In an instant, the gloom in Qin Ruan's heart dissipated, and her expression became lively again. "I'll go too!"
Wen Yixin nodded. "Alright, let's go."
After feeding the cat and playing with it for a while, they each retired to their rooms.
The night was quiet, but sleep did not come easily to some. Wen Yixin lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep as thoughts of Qin Ruan's words kept resurfacing, making her emotions fluctuate.
Earlier, when she was with Qin Ruan, her mind was focused on responding to her, leaving little room for other thoughts. But now, alone in her room, her mind wouldn't stop racing.
On the other side, Qin Ruan was also wide awake. She would occasionally touch her lips or scroll through her phone, her smile growing wider as she looked at the photos she had taken of Wen Yixin.
She flipped through them one by one, and when she reached a video of Wen Yixin playing with the cat, she felt a spark of inspiration and opened a video editing app.
The next morning.
When Qin Ruan woke up, she habitually checked her phone and was startled by the dozens of notifications from a video platform.
She frowned and opened the app, only to find that the cat video she had posted last night had gone viral, with tens of thousands of views and many likes and comments.
Qin Ruan's eyes widened in surprise, and any lingering sleepiness vanished instantly.
She clutched her phone and hurried out to find Wen Yixin. Just as she raised her hand to knock on the door, it opened.
Wen Yixin looked at the slightly disheveled Qin Ruan, surprised. "What's wrong?"
Qin Ruan handed her the phone, pointing to the screen. "Sister, look at this."
"The video has so many views, and it keeps increasing."
"Let me see." Wen Yixin took the phone and, after a moment, handed it back with a smile. "It really has."
"I didn't expect so many people to like our cat."
Qin Ruan smiled. "I didn't either."
She had only posted the video on a whim after seeing it on her phone last night. She never expected it to get such a big reaction.
As she stared at the hands playing with the cat in the video, her eyes flickered with a hint of emotion. Thankfully, she had cropped the video so that Wen Yixin's face wasn't shown.
"I saw that people in the comments are asking you to post more. If you have time, you could share more videos of the cat," Wen Yixin suggested.
Qin Ruan thought for a moment. "That sounds good."
She checked the time on her phone and then looked at Wen Yixin. "Why are you up so early today, Sister?"
Usually, by the time she was done getting ready, Wen Yixin would just be waking up.
Wen Yixin shifted her gaze slightly, as if avoiding the question. "I just woke up and decided to get up."
"I see..." Qin Ruan said, staring at her. "Did you sleep well last night, Sister?"
Wen Yixin replied, "It was alright."
"And you?" she asked casually.
Qin Ruan's eyes curved with a smile. "I slept very well."
Wen Yixin raised her eyebrows in surprise.
Qin Ruan smiled, "Because I dreamed about you after I fell asleep."
Wen Yixin coughed slightly.
She averted her gaze and focused on Qin Ruan's messy hair. "Your hair is a bit messy. You should go back to your room and tidy up before you brush your teeth and wash your face."
Qin Ruan quickly ran her hand through her hair and felt the messiness. She immediately turned around. "Sister, I'll go back to my room and fix it."
"I'll make breakfast as soon as I'm done."
Wen Yixin raised her voice slightly. "I'll handle breakfast. You can take your time."
After breakfast, just as Qin Ruan was about to speak to Wen Yixin, her phone rang.
She glanced at the screen, then answered the call right in front of Wen Yixin. "What is it?"
At the same time, Wen Yixin glanced over at Qin Ruan.
Whatever the person on the other end said, it made Qin Ruan's brows furrow deeper and deeper. She even glanced at Wen Yixin before replying to the person on the phone, "Let's talk about it later."
"I have things to do. I'm hanging up now." With that, she quickly ended the call.
Wen Yixin noticed Qin Ruan's sour expression and asked, "What happened?"
Qin Ruan pressed her lips together. "Qin Zhengyang wants me to go back the day after tomorrow to attend a banquet at the Yu family."
"A Yu family banquet?" Wen Yixin pondered, feeling like she had heard of it before.
Qin Ruan explained, "Remember yesterday, when we picked up the dresses, Yu Shuyun tried to invite you to their banquet at the door?"
"Oh, that," Wen Yixin said, suddenly understanding.
"Are you going?" she asked Qin Ruan.
"I don't want to go. They never took me to any banquets before, and now they suddenly want me to go. It's probably..." Qin Ruan trailed off, recalling the conversation on the phone earlier. She added, "They probably want me to bring you with me."
Wen Yixin laughed lightly. "I thought this was over, but it looks like they're still trying to involve me."
She turned to Qin Ruan. "So, what are you thinking? Are you going to listen to them and take me with you?"
Qin Ruan shook her head. "I'm not going, and I wouldn't take you with me even if I did."
"Why not?" Wen Yixin raised an eyebrow.
"Because you don't want to go," Qin Ruan said with a soft smile.
"I would never force you to do something you don't want to do, and I wouldn't let anyone else force you either."
"Besides, even if I did go, I doubt I could convince you to come with me. After what happened last night..." The thought trailed off, but she knew what she meant. She was just glad that Wen Yixin wasn't avoiding her after what had happened. So, the idea of dragging Wen Yixin to a gathering full of scheming people was out of the question.
While she might have been able to take Wen Yixin somewhere else, dragging her to a place she didn't want to go to wasn't something she was capable of—nor did she want to be.
As Qin Ruan sorted through the complicated thoughts in her mind, Wen Yixin's voice interrupted her:
"What if you could convince me?"
"What do you mean?" Qin Ruan asked, confused.
Wen Yixin smiled. "I mean, what if you could convince me to go?"
Qin Ruan looked bewildered. "Why would you..."
"You're not even interested."
Wen Yixin's lips parted slightly, her voice warm:
"If you want to go, I'm more concerned about you going alone than about my own preferences."
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein