Ha, Karma! – Chapter 54

She seems to be angry.

Why didn’t Chu Zhaoqiu push Ye Linlin away?

This question was still on Fu Lianxue’s mind even after she left for work the next day.

She didn’t even know why she’d been so hung up and upset about this matter for so long.

During a break after filming a commercial, she sank into her chair, brows furrowed in thought.

After a while, a sudden chill touched her face, as if a piece of ice had been pressed against it.

Startled, she looked up to find Cheng Hanxi.

“Have something to drink,” Cheng Hanxi said, keeping the beverage pressed against her face. “Stop scowling and furrowing your brow, my dear ancestor. Anyone would think someone here owes you five million.”

Fu Lianxue reached out, took the drink, and inserted the straw, taking a couple of expressionless sips.

No one owed her five million, but someone might owe her an explanation.

Cheng Hanxi sat down beside her, glanced at her expression, and asked, “Why have you looked so preoccupied since you left home? What happened?”

Fu Lianxue’s eyes shifted slightly to look at her, then she looked away. After a few seconds, she looked back at her again and finally spoke, “I have a question for you.”

She wasn’t human, but Cheng Hanxi was.

Humans could understand human behavior better.

“Okay, ask away,” Cheng Hanxi said, her face full of curiosity.

“Well, um…” Fu Lianxue thought about how to phrase it. “If a woman is hugged by another woman, but doesn’t push her away, and even raises her hand to pat her head comfortingly, what does that mean?!”

Cheng Hanxi: “It just means they’re like sisters, what else?”

Fu Lianxue: “?”

Cheng Hanxi: “?”

Fu Lianxue’s eyebrows furrowed even more deeply. “How is that just a sisterly thing?

“She was hugged, but she didn’t push the other person away, and even patted her head! What’s she doing!”

Cheng Hanxi also frowned. “But didn’t you say it was a comforting pat on the head? That sounds like a sister’s affection for a younger sister. There’s nothing else to it, just like how elders will comfortingly pat children’s heads. It’s very normal.”

Fu Lianxue paused.

Then, she heard Cheng Hanxi suddenly ask,

“I say, the ‘older sister’ you’re talking about wouldn’t be Miss Chu, would it?”

Fu Lianxue: “No.”

She immediately sank back into her chair and started drinking, pretending to be innocent.

Cheng Hanxi knew this look all too well – that meant it was!

“Stop cl–” Cheng Hanxi looked around, then lowered her voice. “Stop climbing into other people’s windows, and stop making wild guesses about their relationships!”

Fu Lianxue: “?”

Cheng Hanxi: “She has a good relationship with her younger sisters. Hugging and patting heads are normal. It’s definitely not what you’re thinking.”

Cheng Hanxi’s expression was serious: “She’s a proper person. She wouldn’t do anything like guke¹. Don’t make wild guesses.”

Fu Lianxue: “…”

When did she ever say the younger sister was Chu Sining!

Was it impossible for Chu Zhaoqiu to have other younger sisters outside!

Fu Lianxue retorted in her heart, but on the surface, she bit the straw and remained silent.

Because thinking about it carefully, Cheng Hanxi’s words weren’t without merit.

Chu Zhaoqiu really did seem to treat Ye Linlin like a younger sister…

Cheng Hanxi, seeing her silence, added, “There might be a misunderstanding. Don’t make wild guesses. Use that mouth of yours and ask directly.

“If there’s a misunderstanding, it must be cleared up, understand?”

Fu Lianxue glanced at her.

Cheng Hanxi raised her chin slightly, her gaze falling on the tattoo on Fu Lianxue’s chest. “This misunderstanding also needs to be cleared up.”

She was worried both that Fu Lianxue was making up things about Miss Chu, damaging her reputation, and that Fu Lianxue and Chu Zhaoqiu’s relationship would remain as hostile as when they first met, ready to fight at any moment.

In this world, no one wanted to see them make peace more than she did.

Fu Lianxue looked away, staring ahead, expressionless.

“What misunderstanding could there be about this?”

Fu Lianxue finished work early today and had dinner with Cheng Hanxi and the others before returning home. By the time she arrived, it was just getting dark.

As soon as she entered, she remembered Cheng Hanxi’s words from earlier.

– Don’t make wild guesses. Use that mouth of yours and ask directly.

That’s right, Chu Zhaoqiu was so honest in this life. If she asked, how could Chu Zhaoqiu possibly not tell her?

This matter had bothered her all day, and it needed to be resolved.

So, she first fed Baobao, took care of it, and then went out to find Chu Zhaoqiu.

It was the familiar window, the familiar chair by the window.

And there was that tall, familiar figure, with a hairpin in her hair.

But just as she was about to land on the windowsill, another figure entered her field of vision – Ye Linlin.

She was here.

She was here to see Zhaoqiu-jiejie again.

Ye Linlin, holding a book, came happily to find Chu Zhaoqiu.

She loved spending time with Chu Zhaoqiu the most.

And this was their private time together. The more private time they had, the more opportunities she had!

Fu Lianxue’s movements were interrupted. She stopped in place, watching Ye Linlin open the book, approach Chu Zhaoqiu, and slyly lean her shoulder against hers.

Fu Lianxue narrowed her eyes, her gaze shifting to Chu Zhaoqiu.

Chu Zhaoqiu was seriously reading the book Ye Linlin had brought, completely focused, and oblivious to Ye Linlin’s small movements.

Or maybe she was aware, but had no reaction – she was indulging her.

In an instant, a surge of displeasure rose in Fu Lianxue’s heart, along with an unknown emotion stirring her thoughts, like countless fine needles pricking at her heart, refusing to stop. It made the scene before her even more grating.

A feeling that was both sour and irritating.

Before she had time to think about where this displeasure came from, she saw Ye Linlin move again.

Ye Linlin pointed to something, then turned her head to ask for Chu Zhaoqiu’s opinion.

Chu Zhaoqiu calmly nodded.

Ye Linlin walked away.

The next second, Ye Linlin returned to her field of vision with a bottle of beverage.

From the table – the beverage Chu Zhaoqiu had prepared for her.

Ye Linlin decisively opened it and drank.

Fu Lianxue’s beautiful eyes widened.

Inside the house.

Chu Zhaoqiu finished reading Ye Linlin’s question and already knew how to answer it.

She raised her head, her lips parted slightly, and then her beautiful eyes narrowed, suddenly sensing a powerful yaogi².

The yaogi came suddenly, as if it had been nearby all along, but suddenly couldn’t be hidden, as if… it was angry.

Most importantly, she was very familiar with this yaogi.

Chu Zhaoqiu snapped the book shut and quickly walked to the window, looking out.

The bright moon hung in the sky, the dark sky illuminated by the moonlight.

Nothing could hide its trace, even the wind had a mark.

A cluster of purple-black smoke burned in mid-air, eerie and ethereal³. In the blink of an eye, it melted into the wind, disappearing completely, like the trace of someone who had been there.

“There’s a yaoguai!” Ye Linlin cried out. “I’ll go tell Grandma Chu!”

“No need.”

Chu Zhaoqiu stopped her, her eyes still fixed on the place where the purple smoke had disappeared.

“It’s Lianxue.”

She wouldn’t mistake it. That yaogi was Fu Lianxue.

Fu Lianxue had been here, but this time she didn’t directly enter her room as usual.

And… she seemed to be angry.

Chu Zhaoqiu stared at the moon in the sky, her brows furrowed slightly.

– But why is she angry?

“Thump! Thump!”

The throw pillow on the sofa took two more punches.

“Thump!”

That was the fourth punch.

“Chu Zhaoqiu!” Fu Lianxue shouted angrily. “Die]!”

“Thump!” Another punch.

Baobao was so frightened that it jumped off the sofa and hid under the coffee table, then lay on the carpet, watching its angry mother, innocent and curious.

It blinked again, and suddenly a familiar person appeared in its field of vision.

“Meow~” it called out softly.

Fu Lianxue was about to punch the pillow again when a hand suddenly reached out from beside her and gently, very gently, grasped her wrist.

A familiar voice fell on her ear: “Lianxue.”

Suddenly hearing Chu Zhaoqiu’s voice, Fu Lianxue was stunned.

She whipped her head around to look at the source of the sound, only to see the person who had just been at home answering her younger sister’s questions, now standing right in front of her.

She never expected Chu Zhaoqiu to follow her.

Fu Lianxue snorted coldly, pulled her hand back, and said sarcastically, “What are you doing here? Aren’t you going to teach your Linlin-meimei magic?”

She turned her back, not looking at her.

Chu Zhaoqiu was even more confused.

She walked around the sofa and sat down beside the yaoguai who was angry for some unknown reason, and said, “Lianxue, you’re angry.

“Why?”

For Fu Lianxue to be so angry that she didn’t even hide her yaogi, it must be something serious, but what could it be?

But she didn’t know, and these three words also stumped Fu Lianxue.

Yes, why?

Why was she angry?

Why did she feel like a stone was blocking her heart when she saw Chu Zhaoqiu not pushing Ye Linlin away, when she saw Chu Zhaoqiu allowing Ye Linlin to get close to her?

She didn’t know, and she couldn’t explain what kind of feeling this was. She just knew she was very angry.

Especially when she saw Ye Linlin drinking the beverage Chu Zhaoqiu had prepared for her, this nameless anger suddenly burned even brighter – she wasn’t usually such a petty yaoguai!

Chu Zhaoqiu was waiting for her answer.

Anger was harmful to the body. She didn’t want Fu Lianxue to be angry, and she especially didn’t want Fu Lianxue to be angry because of her, while she remained completely unaware.

“Lianxue?” she called softly.

Fu Lianxue turned her body away again.

“Are you angry with me? Why? Can you tell me?”

Fu Lianxue didn’t speak.

“You need to tell me so I can know where I went wrong, and I won’t make you angry again next time, right?”

Chu Zhaoqiu reached out and gently held Fu Lianxue’s hand, her eyes soft and gentle. “Lianxue, talk to me, okay? Hmm?”

Perhaps it was because her words were reasonable, or perhaps it was because her soft voice was persuasive enough, Fu Lianxue gradually calmed down and was willing to talk to her.

But Fu Lianxue herself couldn’t figure out the reason.

Why was it?

Was it because Chu Zhaoqiu didn’t push Ye Linlin away?

Or was it because Chu Zhaoqiu allowed Ye Linlin to get close?

Or was it some other reason?

Chu Zhaoqiu waited patiently.

After a while, she finally heard Fu Lianxue’s voice, soft, unhappy, and hesitant, as if she wasn’t sure –

“Because she ate my snacks.”

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