My sister, whom I raised, has turned evil after faking her death for three years.

"Miss, you must have seen it just now, you must have seen it. That look in your eyes... you weren't just telling me to be sent to the African branch, you were telling me to plant me in the Sahara Desert as a cactus..."

Lin Zhi stood there, still clutching the tissue she had just used to wipe Su Qing's mouth. Her mind was already replaying the scene of her being exiled... Wearing a business suit, standing under the scorching sun, surrounded by endless yellow sand, with a sign not far away that read "Lin Zhi, winner of the Special Prize in Beicheng Ancient Street, place of exile".

But then Lin Zhi thought, what if? What if the young lady was just giving her a warning?

Just as Lin Zhi was about to take a step, a hand reached out from behind and gently placed on her shoulder.

The force, the touch, the size of that hand that had haunted her countless nightmares... she was frozen in place, as if a pause button had been pressed.

Seriously? Are they going to arrest her on the spot and interrogate her? She just wiped herself with a tissue, it was really subconscious, the tissue started it!

Her mind raced with all sorts of pleading lines, from "Miss, I have elderly parents and young children to support" to "I'm willing to go to the African branch to atone for my sins." Before she could even choose her lines, her hands suddenly went empty.

The tissue she hadn't had time to throw into the trash can was snatched from her fingers.

Lin Zhi was stunned for a moment, and the pressure on her shoulder disappeared.

She turned around in a daze and saw her young mistress holding the wad of tissues, looking down at it, with a soft, almost pious smile on her lips that she had never seen before.

That smile was exactly the same as the girl she had seen in the photo on Miss Su's phone, but now, paired with the girl's eyes that were still surprisingly bright even under the shadow of the baseball cap, there was something Lin Zhi couldn't quite put her finger on... It was like someone who had been walking in the desert for a long time finally finding a spring, or like a collector finally putting their last treasure into a glass case.

Her young lady carefully held the wad of tissue in her long, slender, fair, and delicate hands, as if she were holding some priceless treasure.

No…Miss, that’s oil from the meat pie and icing sugar from the osmanthus cake on it…Lin Zhi cried out silently in her heart, but she didn’t even dare to twitch her lips.

Jiang Ran held the wad of tissues, turned around and took a few steps, then suddenly stopped and looked back at her.

Those eyes gleamed eerily in the shadow of the hat brim, as if to say, "What, you have a problem with that?"

Seeing this, Lin Zhi shook her head frantically, almost breaking her neck, then turned and ran towards the teahouse door, running faster than she had in her physical fitness test 50-meter sprint.

Seeing this, Jiang Ran withdrew her gaze, found an inconspicuous corner in the bustling crowd of the ancient street, sat down, brought the wad of tissue close to her nose, and gently smelled it.

Mmm... the crispy aroma of the meat pie, the delicate sweetness of the osmanthus cake, and the faint, familiar fresh scent on my sister's skin.

She pressed a tissue to her lips and closed her eyes.

The image of her older sister looking up at Lin Zhi with a smile flashed through her mind—her crescent-shaped eyes, her little tiger tooth that peeked out when she smiled, and her face, glistening with oil yet still so beautiful that it was impossible to look away…

She felt her heart pounding heavily in her chest, one beat after another, each one like a blow to a wall called self-control.

  

She had originally planned to give her sister a few days to relax, but now she wasn't sure if she could make it through the day. No... she was going to take her sister home tonight.

When Lin Zhi rushed into the teahouse, Su Qing was sitting by the window waving at her.

Wen Liang sat opposite Su Qing, holding a teacup in his hand. Seeing her still-shaken appearance, the smile on his lips deepened.

Lin Zhi sat down next to Su Qing, picked up the cup of tea on the table (whose cup she didn't know), and took a big gulp to calm her nerves.

Then she narrowed her eyes slightly and gave Wen Liang a fierce look that said, "You just wait."

Wen Liang simply held his teacup and looked at her innocently, his expression as if to say, "I didn't do anything, why are you glaring at me?"

Lin Zhi was furious at her innocent look, but since Miss Su was there, she couldn't lash out. She could only swallow her anger and take another sip of tea.

Seeing her puffed-up face, Wen Liang's smile deepened.

"It seems our Steward Lin is hungry."

As she spoke, she turned to Su Qing, her tone still cool and aloof, but her words were very considerate. "Miss Su, please take a look at the menu and see if there's anything you like. Please order first." She gently pushed the menu in front of Su Qing.

Su Qing was staring blankly at Lin Zhi drinking cup after cup of tea when she heard this. She told them to order first and that she would go to the restroom.

Wen Liang nodded and asked if he could order a set meal.

Su Qing stood up, waved her hand and said okay, then walked towards the restroom.

As soon as Su Qing's figure disappeared around the corner of the corridor, Wen Liang reached out and grabbed Lin Zhi's wrist, who was about to continue holding the teacup.

"That's enough, isn't it? You've drunk so much, are you a water tank?"

Her fingers circled Lin Zhi's slender wrist, the pressure light yet firm, her fingertips slightly cool, yet the touch very soft.

Lin Zhi struggled but couldn't break free, so she simply used her other hand to pick up the cup and gulp down another cup while still in that position. She then slammed the cup on the table and glared at her defiantly, saying, "What's wrong? Can't I even have a couple more cups of free tea?!"

Looking at her "I'll drink it, what can you do about it?" expression, Wen Liang finally couldn't help but laugh, letting go of her hand and leaning back in his chair.

She couldn't do anything about this guy. It was always like this. She knew he was deliberately trying to annoy her, but she just couldn't get angry. Instead, she found his flustered appearance inexplicably cute.

"Alright, alright, since you don't want to talk about this, let's talk about something you do want to talk about."

Wen Liang dropped his joking tone, lowered his voice, and switched back to the seriousness befitting a chief physician, "How is Miss doing lately?"

Lin Zhi paused for a moment, then slowly withdrew her glare, looked down at the empty teacup in front of her, and remained silent for a while.

No matter how much she disliked Wen Liang, her own mistress's affairs always came first in her heart.

"She's much more stable now." She put down her cup, her tone more serious than before. "It seems... she doesn't act like that when it comes to Miss Su."

Wen Liang's fingers, holding the teacup, tightened slightly.

Lin Zhi may not know the inside story, but as Jiang Ran's chief psychologist, she had vaguely heard some news.

Before the young lady was found by the Jiang family, she had an older sister who adopted her. But for some reason, after the young lady was recognized and returned to her original family, that older sister never appeared again.

She didn't know how much of the news was true or false. The young lady never opened up to her during therapy sessions. Every time she was asked about her past, she would just look at her with those unfathomable eyes until she herself wisely changed the subject.

But if the rumors are true, if Miss Su really is that person... But Miss Su looks about the same age as Miss, around eighteen years old.

Could someone so young really be the older sister who, according to the rumors, raised her all by herself...? She didn't know, and unless her mistress told her, she would probably never find the answer.

Su Qing came out of the restroom and was wiping the water droplets off her hands with a tissue when a woman walked towards her in the corridor.

The man had striking red, wavy hair and wore an extremely daring black tank top that revealed large, colorful tattoos on his shoulders and collarbone, extending from his neck down to his arms.

She wore tight leather pants and high heels, which made a crisp sound as she walked on the bluestone pavement.

Her makeup was heavy; dark eyeshadow and dark red lipstick added a sharp, aggressive edge to her already beautiful face. But this aggression wasn't pure; it was mixed with an undisguised hunting instinct.

As she walked past Su Qing, she left behind a strong, almost pungent, perfume scent, mixed with tobacco and something even spicier.

Su Qing slightly turned to let her pass, but the woman suddenly stopped after they brushed past each other and looked back at her.

His gaze was direct, sliding from Su Qing's face to her neck, and from her neck to her collarbone, as if he were examining a work of art that had just been taken out of a shop window and had not yet been priced.

Then she turned around, walked back slowly in her high heels, stretched out her arm, and slapped her palm against the wall behind Su Qing, trapping her between herself and the wall.

"Hello, what can I do for you?" Su Qing frowned slightly and looked up at the woman in front of her who was a head taller than her. She wasn't afraid, but she felt a little confused and couldn't figure out what was going on with this sudden roadblock.

The woman listened to Su Qing's voice and looked at the face so close to hers. There was no heavy makeup, no tattoos, no unnecessary embellishments, but it was clean and beautiful enough to make one want to reach out and touch it.

She licked her lips, leaned forward slightly, pushing the strong scent of her perfume even further forward, and looked directly into Su Qing's clear eyes.

"Little beauty," her voice was deep and languid, with an undisguised hint of amusement, "Want to hook up?"