Am I a Kamen Rider or the real young master who was switched at birth?

As night deepened, the lights in the Lin family manor went out one by one, leaving only the room at the end of the second-floor corridor with its warm yellow light.

Ye Yang sat cross-legged at his desk in his room, with a pile of cards spread out on the table. The Decade Driver was placed next to the cards, and its crystal core glowed with a faint green light under the lamp.

He was carefully wiping the edge of a Kabuto card with a tissue.

Just then, the phone beside me suddenly vibrated several times, the screen lit up, and a series of messages popped up in the notification bar, from the sender—Gossip.

Ye Yang put down the Kabuto card, picked up his phone and opened the chat window. He was immediately greeted by a series of exclamation marks and an emoji of a fat orange cat frantically banging its head against a wall.

A smile crept onto his lips as he rapidly tapped the screen: "Why are you texting me so late?"

The other end instantly replied with three emojis of fat orange cats screaming simultaneously, followed by a string of exclamation marks: "It's 'I'm just a passing online singer'!!! How many times have I told you he's my favorite!!! I met him today!!!"

Ye Yang looked at the several chubby orange cats on the screen, their faces blurred with excitement, and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

He leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and typed slowly, his tone carrying a calm and collected air, even more so than a seasoned fisherman who was overjoyed when his float moved: "Really? Don't be fooled."

"Really, really, really! I'm telling you! Today, not only did I hear him sing 'Small Town Girl' at the karaoke bar, but he also sang my favorite song, 'Little Dimples'! I was so close to him!"

Ye Yang received a voice message from the gossip column. He listened to it and heard Lin Ying's suppressed screams in her room.

Next up was a meme of a chubby orange cat rolling around on the sofa, captioned "I can't take it anymore."

Then the gossip came through: "And you know what—he's actually my brother. I live in the same house with him every day, eat at the same table, and I only found out today that the song I listen to on repeat every night is in the room next door."

"Can you imagine? It's like this—you've been looking for someone, and it turns out that person is right next to you. Every time you hear their voice, it feels so familiar, but you've never thought about it in that way."

"Then one day someone tells you, it's him. You lie in bed tossing and turning, going over everything that happened that day in your mind—he pointed at you on stage and sang, he wiped the sauce off your mouth, he carried you that far, and his voice is exactly the same as the one in your headphones."

Ye Yang raised an eyebrow.

He touched his chin, tapped his jawline lightly with his fingers several times, and frowned slightly.

She is rumored to be involved in a scandal and is one of the three Lin sisters.

She often complained to him about how her second sister was obsessed with reading novels about real and fake young masters; her second sister was Lin Xingran.

Rumors say that she herself doesn't speak very fluently, and that Lin Ying stutters when she speaks.

Rumor has it that she saw an online singer perform live at a karaoke bar today, and Lin Ying is at a karaoke bar tonight.

He pieced these fragments together one by one, finally creating a picture that was as complete as could be.

He picked up his phone and put it down again, then quickly typed: "I have something important to tell you."

The other end sent a picture of a large orange cat with its head tilted at a 45-degree angle, lying on the keyboard, accompanied by a giant question mark emoji.

Ye Yang leaned back in his chair, tapped his phone case twice with his fingers, and then typed out a line of text.

After sending the message, he put his phone on the table, crossed his arms, and the smile on his face grew wider and wider.

He already had a rough idea of ​​who was on the other end.

"Do you have two older sisters? One is very capable, and the other is very mischievous?"

Meanwhile, in Lin Ying's room, she was lying face down on the bed, her legs crossed and sticking out in the air, her long, silvery-white hair spread out on the light blue pillow.

When she saw the message from Ye Yang, she felt as if she had been electrocuted and jumped right out of bed.

She knelt on the bed sheet, holding her phone in both hands, her eyes wide open, her pupils slightly contracting in the warm yellow light of the floor lamp.

She stared at the screen for a long time, then looked at it again, and then typed out several rhetorical questions forcefully.

Each question mark is followed by a chubby orange cat in a different pose: some are huddled in a corner, some are covering their eyes with their paws, and some are flipped over to expose their bellies.

"How did you know?! You investigated me?! No, no, no—how could you possibly know?! Do you know me?! You're from our school, right?! You're my classmate, right?! No, my classmate doesn't know this number—who are you?!!"

Ye Yang looked at the fat orange cats on his phone screen, who seemed to be in an existential crisis, smiled, then stuffed his phone into his pocket, stood up from his desk, pushed open the door, and went out.

The motion-activated lights in the corridor turned on one by one as he walked by, casting his shadow in slippers onto the dark wooden floor.

Lin Ying was still staring blankly at the last few messages on her phone screen in her room.

She saw Ye Yang's latest message, but before she could open it, there was a knock on the door.

"Who—who is it?" She turned off her phone screen, flipped it over onto the bed, and asked in a trembling voice.

A familiar voice, tinged with laughter, came from outside the door: "Open the door, Scandal."

Lin Ying froze. She looked down at herself; her hair was a mess under the covers, and the pajamas with a little rabbit on the neckline were all wrinkled from being pressed down on them.

She sprang out of bed with a speed she herself didn't know she could do, and then rushed to the closet.

As she rushed towards the wardrobe, she called out to the door, "Wait—wait for me—I'll be right there—don't come in—don't come in yet—"

She opened the closet door, took out a comb, and frantically combed her hair several times in front of the mirror. Then she turned the collar of her pajamas inside out to make sure the little rabbit was symmetrical. Finally, she hopped on one foot under the bed and found a missing slipper.

After taking several deep breaths, she put her hand on the doorknob and opened the door.

Ye Yang was leaning leisurely against the door frame, one hand in his pajama pocket and the other holding up his phone, waving the screen at Lin Ying.

"Does this count as us meeting in person? Online friends meeting in real life—I promised you online that if you got kicked out by your family, you could come and stay with me. But it seems you don't need to come to me anymore—you are a member of the Lin family yourself."

Lin Ying stood at the door, her hands clasped in front of her, her silvery-white eyelashes fluttering gently in the corridor light.

She had spent so much time fixing her hair and pajamas, but seeing Ye Yang standing at her bedroom door, she suddenly felt that all that effort had been wasted.

Her heartbeat was so loud that she was sure Ye Yang could hear it.

Then she lowered her head, a faint smile appearing on her face. She looked up at him, her voice carrying a tenderness she herself wasn't even aware of, and said:

"Um—what a coincidence. We've actually been online friends all this time. I told you before about how I was switched at birth, how my second sister was obsessed with novels, and how I got along really well with the new little brother. Turns out you're that little brother."

Ye Yang leaned against the door frame, tilting his head to look at her.

He recalled those sleepless nights in the orphanage, tossing and turning in bed. He heard messages from his sister complaining that she had been scolded by her teacher again, that her second sister had read a novel about a real and fake young master and insisted on matching it to real people, and that she had spoken several words to the new boy but stuttered every time she opened her mouth, feeling ashamed.

When he looked at those messages, he felt that although this netizen didn't say much, every message was quite interesting.

Now, as he superimposed those messages onto Lin Ying's face, he suddenly felt that everything made sense.

Why do I always feel a strange sense of familiarity when I'm with Lin Ying? Why does Lin Ying's way of speaking sound so similar to the rumors circulating online?

"Me too. Every time I'm with you, it feels like we've known each other for a long time. It's the same online—when I receive a message from you, I always feel a sense of familiarity, as if we've known each other for ages. Now that I think about it, it's probably because we're like family."

Lin Ying tidied her neatly combed hair and then suddenly chuckled softly.

Ye Yang chuckled along with her, then asked in a soft voice, "What are you laughing at?"

She tucked a few unruly stray hairs behind her ear and looked up at him.

The moonlight at the end of the corridor was reflected in her light gray eyes, and the smile on her lips deepened.

"It's just that—I feel like we're so destined for each other. First, we were switched at birth, then we became online friends who can talk about anything, and then you became my idol, the song I listen to on repeat every night."

"Every time I listen to your songs before bed, I think about what kind of person he is, what he does, and what he is thinking when he writes songs. And now I am standing in front of him. So—it's wonderful."

Ye Yang watched her stand at the intersection of the moonlight and the corridor lights.

Her silvery-white eyelashes fluttered gently under the light, and the smile on her lips was faint and sweet. She looked like a cotton candy soaked in moonlight.

He smiled and said gently, "I never expected that Lin Ying, who usually stutters when she speaks, would be the same netizen I often complain to about my second sister reading novels online."

"Every time you send those chubby orange cat emojis, I think, how can this person be so cute? Now that I think about it, those emojis are quite similar to you—you both love to curl up into a ball."

Lin Ying reached out and gently patted his arm.

She puffed out her cheeks and protested softly in a completely harmless tone, "Don't say—don't say I stutter. And don't say I'm like a cat. I—I only have a little bit—just a little bit."

Ye Yang smiled, then put his phone in his pocket and said gently, "Okay—I understand."

Lin Ying withdrew her hand that had patted him, and then placed her hands back together in front of her.

She slightly raised her head, and the light from the corridor fell on her eyelashes, making her light gray eyes appear exceptionally bright.

She tilted her head slightly and said in a soft voice, "Ye Yang—it's so good to know you."

Just then, a voice brimming with gossip came from the other end of the corridor: "You two—what are you doing out so late at night instead of in your own rooms?"

Lin Ying and Ye Yang turned their heads at the same time.

Lin Xingran was standing at the door of her room, wearing a loose T-shirt that read "Champion of Staying Up All Night," her eyes wide open.

She crossed her arms over her chest, her body slightly tilted to one side, and a meaningful smile played on her lips.

Lin Ying was jolted half a meter away from Ye Yang's arm as if she had been electrocuted.

Ye Yang pulled his hand out of his pocket, pointed at Lin Ying, then at himself, and said in a calm tone, "Meeting an online friend."

Lin Xingran's eyes widened even more, and the tuft of hair on her head swayed slightly.

Before her second sister could say anything more embarrassing, Lin Ying quickly hid behind Ye Yang.

She showed half her face, her voice tinged with guilt, and said, "This matter—is a bit complicated. Second—Second Sister, please don't ask anymore. I—we'll go to sleep right away. Really, right away. Look, I've already changed into my pajamas."

Lin Xingran coughed. Then she lowered her hand from her chest and spoke in a rare serious tone:

"Um—Ye Yang, could you come with us to the school tomorrow? We'll check out the performance venue and talk to the principal about the performance."

"My older sister has already sent over the preliminary plan, and the principal replied to the email saying he wants to talk to you in person. Also, Han Shuang said she'll take you to see the equipment display area tomorrow—she said that although the marriage is temporarily on hold, her rights as a fan still need to be protected. I said no, but she said she'll wait for you on the playground, and I couldn't stop her."

Ye Yang nodded in response, then turned to look at Lin Ying with a gentle expression in his eyes: "Then—see you tomorrow."

Lin Ying also leaned out from behind Ye Yang, her hands still gently grasping the piece of fabric on his back that she had accidentally crumpled earlier, and gave him a sweet smile:

"See you tomorrow. Don't be nervous when you go to school, the principal is a very nice person—he just looks a bit fierce."

Ye Yang walked past his second sister and headed to his room.

As he reached the door, he glanced back and saw Lin Xingran grab Lin Ying's arm and quickly pull her into Lin Ying's room.

"Quickly—tell your second sister—when did you meet Ye Yang—"

Lin Ying was forced to sit on the edge of the bed by her second sister, her hands neatly placed on her knees, her head lowered, not daring to look at her second sister.

Lin Xingran sat cross-legged opposite her, a smile of excitement on her face.

Lin Ying asked softly, "Second Sister—what are you doing?"

Lin Xingran braced herself on the mattress with both hands, her eyes shining like two searchlights, and said excitedly:

"I also want to ask you two what you're doing? I opened the door and saw you two standing there gazing at each other so affectionately! What do you mean by 'meeting someone you met online'?! When did you become online friends with him?! How many things are there that I don't know about you two?!"

Lin Ying buried her face in the pillow, only her two bright red ears showing.

"We—we didn't do anything—it's just Ye Yang—he's a very good online friend of mine. We—we only found out about this today."

Lin Xingran pulled the pillow out of her hands, then pinched her cheeks with both hands and gently pulled them apart, saying in a doting tone:

"Lin Ying! Do you know that you always bite your lower lip when you lie! You were biting your lower lip when you and Ye Yang were standing at the door just now! I saw it!"

Lin Ying freed her face from her second sister's clutches and then rubbed her cheeks, which were a little red from being pinched.

She looked down at the embroidery on the little bunny pajamas on her knees and said in a very soft voice:

"Second sister—I—I didn't—I just think he's amazing. And he's very gentle and takes good care of me—he was this nice when we were in the orphanage. So—I really enjoy being with him."

She suddenly stopped, as if realizing she had talked too much, and quickly snatched the pillow back to cover her face again.

Lin Xingran gave a soft "Ah" in a very knowing tone.

She slowly sat up from the bed, then put her hands behind her back and walked step by step to the window. Her silhouette looked somewhat somber in the moonlight.

"If we could make all the mistakes we could afford to make—we should still have time to repent—if you love someone, just say it—otherwise, like this song says—unfortunately, there are no 'ifs'—"

Lin Ying peeked out from behind the pillow, looking at her second sister's pretentious back and completely off-key voice. Her mouth was slightly open, unsure whether she should laugh first or blush first.

Lin Xingran suddenly turned around, looking at Lin Ying with a rare serious expression, and then said earnestly:

"Some people, they just like someone but don't say it, and then they miss out. After they miss out, they start listening to sad love songs on repeat. My second sister has read so many novels, I know this kind of plot all too well."

"Lin Ying—Ye Yang is outstanding, and the number of girls who like him will only increase. Tonight, your second sister witnessed Han Shuang wielding the family's arsenal for him in the private room, and Zhou Zhi even stood up and cheered for him. Zhou Zhi! That's Zhou Zhi!"

"And your older sister is already preparing for his solo concert, when all the girls in the school will see him singing on stage."

"Imagine that scene—thousands of people waving glow sticks at the same time, him standing under the spotlight singing 'Sunny Day,' and the screams from the audience could lift the roof off the auditorium. Do you think it will be too late to act then?"

Lin Ying slowly lowered the pillow, hugged it to her chest, and then held the edge of the pillow tightly with both hands.

She lowered her head and said in a very soft voice, "But—but I don't dare. I'm afraid he'll think I'm weird—I'm afraid he'll hate me—or he'll avoid me whenever he sees me in the future."

"I—I don't want this. I think things are fine as they are now—I can see him every day, we can eat together, we can go for walks together, and tonight I can listen to him sing by the river. I don't want—I don't want to ruin all of this."

Lin Xingran sat back on the bed, then reached out and hugged Lin Ying, pillow and all.

She gently rested her chin on the top of her silvery-white head, her voice unusually soft:

"If you don't dare to say it, your second sister will help you. If you don't take the initiative, your second sister will give you a hand. But you have to tell me first—do you like him or not? I'll help you keep it a secret from the whole world, help you deal with your eldest sister, and help you fend off Han Shuang and Zhou Zhi—but you have to admit it first."

Lin Ying remained silent for a long time; the room was so quiet that the gentle breeze from the bamboo grove outside the window could be heard.

Then she buried her face in Lin Xingran's shoulder and softly murmured "Mmm" in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

Lin Xingran was so excited that she jumped out of bed. She clenched her fists and waved them in the air, shouting "So exciting!" several times in a breathy voice.

Then she pushed Lin Ying down onto the bed, and the two of them rolled into the blankets, making the light blue sheets wrinkled from their rolling around.

Lin Ying hurriedly covered her second sister's mouth, saying in a flustered tone, "Keep your voice down, keep your voice down! Ye Yang's room is right next door, and this wall isn't very soundproof."

Lin Xingran could only let out muffled laughter as her mouth was covered.

After a long while, she removed Lin Ying's hand from her mouth, then looked at her with an extremely solemn expression and said in a low voice:

"The adopted daughter of a wealthy family falls in love with the real young master who has returned home—a plot that only exists in novels, and I, Lin Xingran, have actually witnessed it with my own eyes! Don't worry, your second sister guarantees you—I will definitely help you win over that silly boy Ye Yang."

"It's okay if he doesn't know you like him. Let him find out slowly. Let's start from tomorrow at school—I'll arrange for him to sit next to you, and at lunchtime I'll deliberately pull Han Shuang to another table to create opportunities for you to be alone."

"Then find an excuse to have you take him to the bamboo grove behind the school—didn't you say you used to play leaf flutes in the yard? The bamboo grove behind the school is bigger, so take him there and let him continue learning."

Lin Ying peeked out from under the covers, her light gray eyes unusually brightening as she looked at Lin Xingran, a shy smile slowly spreading across her face.

"Really? But—didn't you used to say that no one was allowed to touch your brother—you wouldn't even let Han Shuang touch him. Now you're willing to help me—aren't you afraid I'll end up like Han Shuang?"

Lin Xingran nodded vigorously, then patted her chest and said excitedly:

"It's a package deal! Han Shuang is an outsider—you're my closest sister, how can you be the same? Besides, I don't feel comfortable handing Ye Yang over to someone else. Handing him over to you—at least I've watched you grow up since you were little, I know your personality best."

"You've taken Ye Yang away, but he'll still be my brother, we'll still live together, and you won't be sending him to the Han family—isn't that perfect? ​​And that Han Shuang wants to marry my brother—dream on!"

After she finished speaking, she extended her little finger and waved it at Lin Ying.

Lin Ying looked at her second sister's little finger waving in front of her, and then at her smug look, and finally couldn't help but chuckle softly.

Then she extended her little finger and hooked it around her second sister's finger.

In the moonlit room, the two of them simultaneously uttered the line that had become an unspoken agreement between them, a promise they'd made between sisters sometime in the past: "Pinky promise, a hundred years from now—whoever breaks it is a dog."