Chapter 4: Big Sister Teaches You What It Means to Bare It All

The containment room’s overhead fluorescent light cast a pale glow on the table.

Just as Lu Yiyi, her mind hazy, was staring at the two little cakes on the tray, an unfamiliar weight settled on her thigh.

Five slender fingers had somehow already pressed against her skin.

At first, they just rested there.

Within two seconds, that hand began to slide slowly along the curve of her leg, moving upward with clear exploratory intent.

‘Hmm?’

Lu Yiyi’s foggy brain made a sluggish turn.

‘Miss Xia… is touching my leg?’

She strained to turn her neck and looked at the person beside her.

Xia Qimeng was sitting sideways next to her, her snow-white hair flowing down softly, a gentle and warm smile on her face, quietly watching her.

In those pure black eyes that refracted iridescent light, there was not a shred of embarrassment or impropriety.

Too natural.

Lu Yiyi shook her head, trying to shake off that sticky drowsiness.

“Mi-Miss Xia…“

She stammered, her legs instinctively trying to close together.

But Xia Qimeng’s fingers slipped right into the inside of her knee, effortlessly stopping her retreat.

“What’s wrong?“

Xia Qimeng tilted her head to look at her, her expression calm.

She didn’t withdraw her hand, but instead moved even closer.

The distance between them shrank further.

Close enough for Lu Yiyi to clearly catch the faint, cool fragrance emanating from her, close enough to see her own bewildered reflection clearly in those ever-changing pupils.

“Your hand…“

Lu Yiyi pointed a trembling index finger at the hand causing trouble on her thigh, at a loss.

“What about my hand?“

Xia Qimeng asked with feigned ignorance, raising an eyebrow, her tone utterly innocent.

Not only did she question back, but that hand, as if it had every right, began kneading more aggressively.

“Mm…“

Lu Yiyi let out a muffled gasp, caught off guard.

She quickly bit her lower lip, swallowing the rest of the sound.

‘What is happening?’

She looked at the audacious hand, then turned to look at Xia Qimeng’s face.

Her already dull mind was now a complete mess.

Xia Qimeng’s expression was so natural.

So natural that she had an absurd illusion: maybe she was the one overreacting?

People involved with the paranormal often had abnormal mental states; it was perfectly understandable that their behavior was unconventional.

This Miss Xia had been locked away on the seventeenth underground floor for so long, without contact with others for years.

Perhaps this was her way of showing friendliness?

Yes, that must be it.

She had taken a liking to her, so she casually touched her.

If she reacted too strongly, she’d seem ungrateful.

And if she made this living ancestor unhappy, the bounty reward would slip away.

Lu Yiyi rubbed her eyes, and her tense shoulders sagged.

“It’s just… why are you touching my leg…“

Her gaze grew increasingly distant, and her soft baby voice carried a confusion she herself didn’t understand.

There was no strength in her question; it sounded more like a whine.

“Hmm? Didn’t you say we’d eat the cake together?“

Xia Qimeng tilted her head, looking at her with an innocent face.

‘Where’s the logic?’

‘Was there any connection between eating cake and touching her leg?’

Lu Yiyi blinked sluggishly and, surprisingly, nodded obediently along with her words.

“That’s right.“

“Then you eat the one from Sweetheart Bakery on the left. I’ll eat the one you made.“

Xia Qimeng assigned the tasks in a leisurely manner.

As she spoke, she used her now free hand to lift the plain strawberry cake on the right, took a small spoon, scooped up a piece, and brought it to her mouth.

Elegant movements, proper manners.

Yet the hand resting on Lu Yiyi’s thigh still had no intention of leaving, and instead brushed back and forth over her fair skin.

“Okay, okay… thank you.“

Lu Yiyi blushed, picked up the ornately shaped cake in front of her, took a fork, and took a small bite.

The cream was sweet, melting on the tongue.

But there was an indescribable oddity.

The sensation on her thigh grew more and more pronounced: cool, ticklish.

She kept her head down, mechanically putting cake into her mouth, even her chewing turning stiff.

Xia Qimeng swallowed the somewhat rough cake sponge.

Too much sugar, cloyingly sweet, and the cream hadn’t been whipped long enough, its texture not fluffy enough.

But for a first attempt, it was already quite remarkable.

She ate very slowly.

She chewed each bite earnestly.

More than tasting the cake, it was like tasting the little one’s feelings.

The sensation at her fingertips was delicate and warm.

The girl was soft, with a small frame, but her flesh was distributed sensibly, and the feel of it in her hand was astonishingly good.

Whenever her fingertip pressed a little harder, the little rabbit beside her would slip into a brief daze.

That look of resistance, yet held back by the shallow hypnosis, forcing herself to sit rigidly and accept the teasing, was utterly adorable.

It made one want to tease her even more.

What was even better, as their distance closed, the paranormal disturbance that had tormented her for a full two years had now completely calmed.

No spatial displacement, no mental splitting.

Only peace.

A long-lost, intoxicating peace.

This dual pleasure, physical and psychological, colored Xia Qimeng’s eyes with rich interest.

“How does it taste?” she asked abruptly.

“Ah?“

Lu Yiyi, who had been lost in a daydream, was startled by the sudden question.

Her whole body jolted, and the fork slipped from her hand, nearly falling onto the carpet.

She hastily grabbed a napkin, wiped the cream from the corner of her mouth, and stammered, “It’s, it’s very sweet.“

“I was asking about mine.“

Xia Qimeng tilted her head, her black-and-color interwoven eyes locking onto her, with a hint of mischief.

“This…”

Lu Yiyi put down her fork, nervously pressing her two index fingers together, her head nearly drooping to her chest.

“This is my first time making dessert. I haven’t gotten the heat or the measurements right. If you can’t stand it, please don’t force yourself…”

The more she spoke, the more guilty she felt, afraid that this living ancestor might flip the table in anger.

“Who said I can’t stand it?”

A soft, low laugh sounded right by her ear.

Before the words faded, the hand that had been resting on her leg suddenly acted up, pinching the most tender part of the inside of Lu Yiyi’s thigh, not too hard, not too soft.

“Ah!”

Lu Yiyi yelped, jumping in her seat, suddenly much clearer-headed.

The tray in her hands wobbled violently, and the two small cakes nearly took flight.

She hastily steadied the tray.

Her eyes instantly turned red, tears welling up, and she looked at the culprit with grievance.

“Miss Xia, don’t pinch me…”

Her soft baby voice was tinged with a sob.

She was already scared, and now she was being taken advantage of, and on top of that, she was being pinched.

“Sorry, my hand slipped.”

Xia Qimeng apologized without any sincerity.

She put down the half-eaten cake and leaned forward.

With her movement, the already narrow gap between them was squeezed even further.

The faint cool fragrance, mixed with a rich floral scent, pressed down on her from all sides.

Lu Yiyi was forced to lean back repeatedly until her back was against the chair, with nowhere else to go.

She could only hug the tray tightly to her chest like a squirrel guarding its food, using it as a little shield.

“Your name is… Yiyi, right?”

Xia Qimeng used a more intimate form of address, her tone rising slightly at the end, carrying a unique, bewitching rhythm.

She propped one arm on the edge of the chair back, enclosing Lu Yiyi in her embrace.

“Mm…”

Lu Yiyi shrank into the corner, nodding weakly.

“You’ve been in the Paranormal Bureau for five days. Did they teach you how to perform psychological counseling on a Calamity-level Spirit Tamer?”

Xia Qimeng’s gaze traced down from her eyes and brows, coming to rest on her soft, pink lips.

“No… they didn’t…”

Lu Yiyi sniffled.

Mentioning this, she felt wronged again.

“Sister Zhang always makes me run errands for her. Buy coffee, pick up packages, pick up clothes. She also forced this psychological counseling task on me this morning…”

“No wonder.”

Xia Qimeng nodded in understanding.

Those old foxes at the Paranormal Bureau, too scared to come and die themselves, had shoved out an innocent little white rabbit to take the bullets.

Quite a plan.

But this time, it had accidentally sent over a treasure she liked.

She finally withdrew the mischievous hand from Lu Yiyi’s thigh.

Just as Lu Yiyi was about to sigh in relief, the hand slid upward and instead covered her slender waist.

“Since they didn’t teach you, then I’ll teach you.”

Xia Qimeng’s voice was low and soft, like a fallen siren in the deep sea.

“The first step of psychological counseling is to establish absolute trust. You must drop your defenses… and bare it all to each other.”

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