Chapter 29: The World Is So Small
The goji berry and red date tea were steadily held in Ye Zhibai’s hands.
The comfortable warmth of the glass cup spread through her palms, soothing her heart.
In some small way, it comforted Ye Zhibai’s wounded soul from last night.
Seeing her sister take the cup, Zhijun finally showed a faint smile.
She had been worried that her sister would be angry and demand that the “divine tool” be thrown away!
Ye Zhijun thought, Hehe, since my sister didn’t object, next time I’ll bring out an even stronger one! Hmm… of course, I’ll be gentler next time.
Guang Yu leaned over, sniffing the aroma from the cup.
Her eyes instantly lit up with a spark of joy!
Gangyu said, “Smells good! So fragrant! Is this a new drink?”
Ye Zhibai replied, “It is a new drink, but it’s not for you.”
Gangyu responded, “Eh~~ Stingy!”
“Yes, stingy, and what about it?” Ye Zhibai felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.
She added, “Because—this was specially brewed for me by Zhijun, right?”
Gangyu said, “Of course, I won’t let you, this pesky fox, drink it!”
Ye Zhijun said,” Besides, you’re always overflowing with energy, pulling up the spring onions in the yard whenever you feel like it, what kind of supplement do you need!”
Ye Zhijun thought, Someday, I’ll find a way to burn off Guang Yu’s excess energy. Otherwise, nothing will ever be able to grow in the yard.
In front of the greedy little fox, Ye Zhibai lifted her head and drank the tea in one gulp.
The warm tea flowed smoothly down her throat, spreading warmth to her stomach. Holding the now-empty cup in her hands, Ye Zhibai felt much more energized.
She said appreciatively, “Thanks, it was delicious.”
Ye Zhijun said, “As long as sister is satisfied! Ugh, I’m sorry, sister… I’ll make sure to be more moderate next time. When you tell me to stop, I’ll definitely… stop next time… Uh, I mean, I won’t dare to do it again!”
I won’t bet on Guang Yu’s drink this time.
I’ll bet the entire Guang Yu on this—
Next time, you’ll dare!
But… next time, I might fight back with all my might, you know?
After all, Ye Zhibai learns and improves.
Just last night, she had already discovered some of Zhijun’s weaknesses!
Next time, I might just turn the tables! (Probably)
Zhijun was still feeling anxious.
She was doing everything she could to make up for her excessive behavior last night and the emotional damage it may have caused her sister.
Only when facing her sister does Zhijun become this humble.
Ye Zhijun continued, “So… sister, do you want anything else? How about another cup? Uh, but drinking too much of this isn’t good, so maybe something else! I’ll bring lunch to your room in a bit. Do you want to play on your phone? I’ll hold it for you!”
It’s not that serious!
I’m just a bit weak, not disabled!
Ah, who am I kidding, I’m not weak at all!
Ye Zhibai lightly massaged her forehead and shook her head, like a proud little Zhibai who wasn’t weak at all.
She said, “Nothing, I’m fine, I’ll come out to eat later myself. You don’t have to work… hmm?”
Ye Zhijun continued, “Sister?”
“Wait.”
“Hold on.”
“Isn’t this a perfect opportunity?”
Ye Zhibai thought Zhijun seemed to be very intent on apologizing right now. And since she’s apologizing, that means she must be feeling pretty guilty, right?
She said, “Well, there’s nothing to feel guilty about; after last night, I feel like I’ve become a better person.”
“But!”
Ye Zhijun said, “This also means that if I make a request now—of course, a reasonable one—the chances of success should be much higher than usual, right?!”
A flash of inspiration crossed Ye Zhibai’s mind. She blinked at Guang Yu.
Guang Yu blinked back.
Ye Zhibai inquired, “What are you looking at? If you have something to say, say it!”
Ye Zhijun retorted, “Of course, I’m going to say something.”
“But…I’m just showing you how clever I am. Watch and learn from my performance.”
Turning her gaze back to the front, her eyes met Zhijun’s worried gaze, and Ye Zhibai got straight to the point.
Ye Zhibai spoke, “Zhijun, I have something I’d like to discuss with you. It’s quite important.”
“!?”
Zhijun’s guilt was even deeper than Ye Zhibai had imagined.
Hearing her sister’s words, her expression instantly turned serious, and she immediately knelt on one knee, holding Ye Zhibai’s small hand on the bed.
Ye Zhijun said, “Sister, please say it! No matter what it is, as long as it’s within Zhijun’s abilities, I will make it happen for you.”
Ye Zhibai responds, “Ah, so touching.”
She continued, “But Zhijun, what I’m about to say requires your serious consideration.”
“At the very least, after you hear it, you’re not allowed to bring out that spiky “divine tool” again!”
Ye Zhibai straightened her already unnecessarily serious expression and carefully voiced her request, word by word.
“I was wondering… if in the future, I could get your permission to go out by myself?”
Ye Zhijun replied, “No! You’ll get hit by a car!”
Ye Zhibai screamed, “Get lost!”
She continued, “Am I destined to be hit by a car every time I leave the house?”
“That’s a very low-probability event, okay!”
There’s no way around it. Since the subtle approach didn’t work, Ye Zhibai had to be more direct.
She added, “I want to go out mainly to have a meal and chat with a friend I recently made. Look, yesterday when Chi Yuliang came to see me, we had to be so cautious, because she was worried you might misunderstand.”
“…”
Just now, Zhijun had said she’d agree to anything within her power, but as expected, she fell into deep thought.
She said she’d accept anything within her abilities.
But this… this is clearly beyond her capabilities!
The thought of her sister having dinner alone with another woman—Zhijun felt like she would die just thinking about it!
Of course.
—That was before last night’s “great battle.”
Now, Zhijun’s mentality has already undergone a qualitative transformation.
She sighed lightly and sat on the edge of the bed.
The cat-shaped Guang Yu, who had been sitting on the edge, dove to the floor to avoid her!
She transformed back into a fox under the bed, cursing quietly.
Ye Zhijun answered softly, “Ah… this cat is so noisy, forget about her. Sister, you’re right. This is indeed a very important matter. I thought about it yesterday, too. I don’t want to become the cage that Lin Zihan called a prison for you. On the contrary… it’s completely normal for you to have dinner with a new friend… Ahem, as long as it’s a perfectly normal dinner, there’s no need for my permission. Friends should be able to have meals together without any issues, right?”
Ye Zhibai uttered, “Zhijun, you’re being so understanding today.”
She continued, “But could you please stop touching my thighs while saying such considerate things!”
All the emotional impact is lost!
Noticing her sister’s glare, Zhijun reluctantly pulled back her naughty hand.
Her newfound perspective was just as she had said last night in the living room—it came from confidence!
She used to think her sister couldn’t make friends because her appearance and personality were so overwhelming, making it easy for her to attract fox spirits and untrustworthy types… In short, it didn’t feel safe.
But now, Zhijun felt that as long as she stayed vigilant and used her strength to keep her sister’s heart firmly tied to her, what was there to worry about?
She continued, “You must rely on your strength!”
“Even if there’s a fox spirit around, try to steal her away and see what happens!”
“Watch me punch you out of existence!”
All this newfound confidence was condensed into the affectionate expression on Zhijun’s face as she suddenly asked a sly question.
“By the way, sister… how was my performance last night…? Did I ‘conquer’ you? With that level of intensity, you won’t be looking at any other women, right? As long as that’s clear, there’s no problem with you making friends!”
“!?”
Ye Zhibai answered, “Second Miss Ye, please watch your words, that is not very elegant!”
She continued, “What, if it wasn’t intense enough, are you planning to increase the intensity next time?!”
“But…Being under someone else’s roof, how could I not lower my head?”
Ye Zhijun said, “Not to mention, a bet’s a bet.”
Last night, Ye Zhibai was indeed pinned down the whole time, so she had no choice but to admit defeat.
Without a word, Ye Zhibai gently lifted Zhijun’s hand, avoiding her gaze. With her fingers, she drew a circle on the back of Zhijun’s hand.
The meaning was clear—It was decent.
A brilliant light flashed in Zhijun’s eyes!
She jumped up suddenly, clasping her hands in front of her, and excitedly stomped her feet!
Ye Zhibai said, “Ah… Zhijun, your excitement is showing!”
With this, the two sisters had more or less reached an understanding.
Ye Zhijun spoke softly, “Sister could go make friends, and Zhijun was assured she could guard their love. A win-win!”
Zhijun happily took the empty cup from Ye Zhibai’s hand, completely forgetting that the stove was still on!
Before rushing off to check whether the braised pork had been burned,
Zhijun, in a hurry, added one final instruction at lightning speed.
Ye Zhijun continued, “But there’s one rule! When you go out, you must tell me. I’ll arrange for the maid team to protect you in secret. This is non-negotiable, sister, so please understand that. Otherwise, I won’t be able to relax. Now, you rest a little more! I’ll call you when lunch is ready! Ugh, the pork might be ashes by now!”
Clang.
The door closed.
Ye Zhibai gently pushed away the paw of the cat-formed Guang Yu, which was tapping her head.
She spread out her arms and collapsed back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
Guang Yu appreciated, “Good… good job!”
She added, “Today’s negotiation with Zhijun was a resounding success!”
Ye Zhibai responded, “Ugh… it was worth all the fluids I lost yesterday, they were the bargaining chips for today’s progress!”
She continued, “At the very least, this means I can fulfill my promise to Cool Sister from yesterday.
Now I can openly arrange a meal and invite her over, where we can sit down as ordinary friends, have some tea, and chat about recent events.”
“How nice!”
Guang Yu flashed and transformed back into her fox-maiden form.
The little fox-maiden sat on the edge of the bed, swinging her snow-white feet, clearly impressed by Ye Zhibai’s actions.
She said, “Not bad, Ye Zhibai, you managed to convince your stubborn little sister! I’m impressed!”
Ye Zhibai countered, “Please stop using the word ‘convince’… I think I’ll be allergic to that word for the next few days.”
Guang Yu inquired, “Allergic? What do you mean?”
She spoke, “It means… move aside, there’s too much fox fur.
Guang Yu requested, “Come on, let me hug your tail.”
“…”
Move aside?
Then you want to hug my tail?
You only like my tail but not the rest of me?!
How despicable of you humans!
Hugging Guang Yu’s fluffy fox tail, Ye Zhibai instantly felt a wave of comfort.
Ye Zhibai said, “Oh, right. Time waits for no one. Now that I’ve secured my right to arrange social meetings and go out, I should hurry and notify Cool Sister, so she can rest easy.”
Ye Zhibai reached over and grabbed her phone from Guang Yu’s hand. She doesn’t even ask why the phone is always with her.
This annoying fox had used her divine power to spy on the lock screen password and was always searching for weird things on my phone.
For example—
—The origin of wasabi paste.
—Why dipping flatbread in wasabi isn’t a mainstream practice.
—How to pluck spring onions without being caught.
What on earth are these searches?!
Especially the last one.
Ye Zhibai cautioned, “You were caught while doing it, weren’t you?!”
Giving her an expressionless side-eye, Ye Zhibai opened her QQ chat window.
She responds, “Ah… My account is still as cold and lonely as ever, no new messages”
“Just kidding.”
That quiet account is just the one I use to prevent Zhijun from conducting surprise checks. But lately, Ye Zhibai has realized there’s nothing much to hide.
Zhijun may have a sharp tongue, but she has a soft heart. She talks about checking my account, but she’d never actually invade my privacy.
That’s her bottom line.
Yesterday, after the college entrance exam celebration party, Ye Zhibai added Zhijun as a friend to her new account.
When Zhijun asked why she suddenly changed accounts, Ye Zhibai’s answer was simple: [Ye Zhibai: I didn’t like the old QQ number!]
Having three zeros in a row made it look weak and unlucky!
With that, the account she used as a meaningless shield had become an empty shell with no friends left.
With a few taps, she unceremoniously logged it off.
Your task is complete!
Now, all that remained on Ye Zhibai’s phone was her primary account.
She clicked on the little tea-cat avatar to log in. The chat page instantly became lively. Well, alright, maybe not that lively.
After all, Ye Zhibai didn’t have many friends on this account. Just a couple of contacts, plus a group chat.
At the top of the messages, of course, was the ever-busy “Anime Discussion Group.”
Ye Zhibai routinely ignored it, as they could talk about anything but anime.
Looking below the group chat— “Hmm?”
A message from Lin Zihan?
There were three of them in total. Out of curiosity, Ye Zhibai clicked to open them. All the messages were sent by Lin Zihan earlier this morning.
The earliest one was even sent a little after 5 AM.
[Lin Zihan: Good morning, Ye Zhibai!]Good morning.
At that time, I hadn’t even gone to bed, still fighting for my life!
How amusing.
Following that were two photos. Both were pictures of bouquets.
Ye Zhibai opened them to find that they were photos of the interior of a shop.
Looking at the various types of flowers—
This should be a flower shop.
Ye Zhibai recalled Zhijun mentioning that Lin Zihan and her mother were making a living running a flower shop now.
The messages were sent around 6 AM.
Ye Zhibai said, “Guang Yu… see, hardworking people always start their day at six in the morning.”
Guang Yu replied, “That’s all? I was up moon-gazing until 5 AM, didn’t sleep all night, and ate eight pieces of osmanthus cake. Isn’t that more impressive?”
“…”
Ye Zhibai uttered, “You’re the best.”
There wasn’t much to reply to Lin Zihan, after all, it had already been six long hours since she sent the message.
But not replying at all didn’t feel right, so Ye Zhibai simply responded with three words.
[Ye Zhibai: Good afternoon.]You said good morning, so I’ll say good afternoon.
Perfectly reasonable, the ideal reply.
Ye Zhibai hadn’t forgotten the reason she opened QQ.
She quickly scrolled to Chi Yuliang’s chat window.
Taking a closer look—
“Huh?”
Cool Sister had sent a message last night?
The time the message was received was precisely when I was being “bullied” by Yun’er… er, what bullying, that was mutual love!
Anyway, the message had been sent last night.
[Cool Sister: I’ve thought it over carefully, Ye Zhibai. Maybe you shouldn’t ask your sister about this. It will make things difficult for both of you… It’s okay, I’m satisfied just being able to watch you from afar sometimes. No need to push it, peace is most important.]It was followed by an emoji—one making a heart shape with its fingers.
[Ye Zhibai: Cool Sister!! You’re an angel!] [Ye Zhibai: This isn’t good—this message has been sitting for half a day already, how can I not reply!]Ye Zhibai typed as fast as she could—still quite nimble from last night’s “exercises”!
[Ye Zhibai: It’s okay, I’ve already talked it over. Yun’er understands me, and I understand her. We had a great talk, Cool Sister, don’t worry. I’ll arrange it today so it won’t be such a hassle to meet up in the future.]She added a playful emoji—a dog head with a funny expression.*
[*”狗头滑稽 (*gǒu tóu huá jī*)” – An emoji of a dog head with a funny expression, often used to show humor or playfulness online.]
Speaking of which, Cool Sister responds fast.
Barely a moment after sending the message, a reply came right back.
[Cool Sister: Okay, Ye Zhibai, I’ll wait for your news, haha… I was worried you didn’t reply because Miss Zhijun confiscated your phone after you made that request. I was just thinking of coming to save you, but I guess that’s unnecessary—good job, Ye Zhibai.] [Ye Zhibai: Mmm… you too, Cool Sister.]With that sorted out, Ye Zhibai finally had some time to idle in the group chat.
As one of the proud moderators of the anime chat group, if she didn’t pop up for a while, the group would go silent.
A heavy responsibility.
However, after not sending any messages for two days, when she opened the group chat, she discovered the unread messages… were increasing rather than decreasing compared to when she last spoke.
No respect at all, huh?
Fine, let me see what you’re all lurking and chatting about!
[Qingfeng Waits for Moe Girls: Anime convention, huh. I’d like to go, but it’s too far. The place is miles away from me, and a high-speed train ticket costs over a thousand yuan.] [Cold Night: +1, but the event description is tempting. We definitely wouldn’t have a convention of this scale in our little town, but I can’t afford the travel cost, so I’ll have to miss it~~] [+2]What are they talking about?
Anime convention?
Ye Zhibai scrolled up a bit.
She found that the conversation began with the group owner, Xiao Qiu, forwarding what seemed to be an advertisement picture to the group.
[The biggest anime convention in ten years in Qi City! Coming this summer! Fulfilling all your 2D fantasies! Tickets are 20% off for a limited time, and 50% off for groups of two! See you there!]Oh ho, an anime convention?
Sorry, but—
It doesn’t matter if it’s the biggest in ten years or a hundred. Ye Zhibai has no interest whatsoever.
Some people like anime.
But that doesn’t mean they like social anxiety-inducing anime conventions!
Those places aren’t suitable for true otakus.
They’re places for normies!*
[*”现充 (*xiàn chōng*)” – Slang for “normie” or someone who is seen as having a fulfilling real-life social life, often used disparagingly by introverted or “otaku” types to describe extroverts.]
She thought, But… wait, did the poster mention Qi City?
Where’s Qi City, never heard of it.
Just as Ye Zhibai was about to scroll back, she saw at the bottom of the image a detailed description of the convention’s location.
[July 15th, Qi Hai City Central Business District, Building B, 2nd Floor. Don’t miss it!]“……”
Where do I live again?
Mmm, if I’m not mistaken.
Ye Zhibai is a native of Qi Hai City.
So it turns out “Qi City” is just an abbreviation for Qi Hai City!
Could it be that Xiao Qiu, the online friend I’ve been chatting with for years, is a fellow local?
Wait… maybe not. Since it’s the biggest convention in ten years, Xiao Qiu might just be forwarding the news as a favor. It doesn’t necessarily mean she’s a local.
With all these thoughts swirling in her mind, Ye Zhibai scrolled to the bottom of the chat.
At that moment, Xiao Qiu, with her shiny group owner badge, sent a new message.
[Xiao Qiu: Huh? I just thought this convention seemed pretty big and shared it for you all to see. I never said I was going. I’ve never been to an anime convention, and I don’t have any friends who talk about anime. Going alone would be no fun. Anyway, there’s no way anyone in the group lives in Qi Hai City. The country is so big, how likely is that.] [Kaguya Eats the Moon: Exactly, exactly! We can only chat online; meeting in real life isn’t financially possible.] [Cold Night: Alright, let’s call it quits.] [Qingfeng Waits for Moe Girls: Hahaha, you guys are just lacking dedication. Is the lazy mod* here? Someone @ Leafy, if Leafy’s around, she’ll go meet up with the group owner no matter the distance. That’s the power of the couple I ship!][*”苟管理(*gǒu guǎn lǐ*)” – “Lazy mod,” a playful term for a group chat moderator who doesn’t interact often or take their duties too seriously.]
Qingfeng Waits for Moe Girls has been muted for ten days.
“……”
Ye Zhibai didn’t even feel like commenting on Qingfeng the Warrior, who was always getting muted.
Now, she just felt… it was pretty amazing.
Looking at her phone, at Xiao Qiu, the person with whom she’d chatted about her troubles on countless nights, who used Emonroe as her profile picture, all Ye Zhibai could say was—
What a small world.
