Chapter 16: Close Enough to Lick Clean

But even the closest tissue was out of her reach.

The two of them were sleeping way too close together. If she separated, or even moved a lot, she would definitely wake the other.

‘If Sister finds out later, will she think I’m that kind of person?’

‘Then she’ll distance herself from me and look at me like I’m a pervert every day…’

At the thought, Shen Anyue’s body trembled.

Though… being ravished by Sister would be pretty nice too. Still, getting along normally was the best!

There were no handy tools nearby. Shen Anyue blinked, trying to kick-start the little brain that hadn’t worked since the college entrance exam. Finally, she hardened her heart.

‘Just lick it clean…’

‘Anyway, Sister isn’t awake…’

Cheng Yiyi slept very soundly.

Even in her sleepiness, she had dreamed.

I can’t say what the dream was about; otherwise, the author and you dear readers might have to say goodbye.

When she opened her eyes, she saw Shen Anyue lying quietly in her arms, face pressed against her chest. Her flawless profile was like a work of art.

‘We slept all crooked,’ she thought. ‘But at least Anyue isn’t heavy.’

Cheng Yiyi had at first been sleeping on her side, her body nearly perpendicular to the bed. She kept feeling that her back had nothing supporting it. That was because she normally slept flat on her back alone.

But Shen Anyue was clinging to her all night. Afraid of pressing the other girl’s hand, Cheng Yiyi had tilted herself slightly under the covers. Over the course of natural movements during sleep, Shen Anyue had ended up half lying on her, with legs tangled in hers.

To be honest, this pose made Cheng Yiyi feel a kind of unspeakable comfort.

Noticing the younger girl still hadn’t opened her eyes, Cheng Yiyi thought, ‘Still asleep?’ and decided she could doze a little longer.

But Shen Anyue, who had been waiting for a while, gave a soft “Mm.” She raised her head, looked at Cheng Yiyi through bleary eyes, and asked, “Mm… Sister, you’re awake?”

After saying that, she subconsciously looked at Cheng Yiyi’s chest.

‘Yes!’

The lip mark had been covered by her cheek for a long time!

“We got up pretty late.” Cheng Yiyi wasn’t suspicious. Or perhaps she simply didn’t care.

She reached for the phone on the nightstand. “11:09. Almost lunchtime. Come on, let’s freshen up and go eat.”

“Mm hm!”

Shen Anyue started to move, peeling apart their skin where it had been stuck together.

There seemed to be a hint of reluctance deep in her eyes.

Cheng Yiyi felt the same. When Shen Anyue’s hand left her, she sensed a faint, nameless loss.

In plain human terms, both of them were seriously sick.

And you readers are too. The idiot typing this is the worst, terminal-stage sick.

No more words. Yuri is the best.

“Miss Cheng, did you sleep well last night?” asked Su Xiaoyu, a maid in the Shen family.

Her job was to handle the odd chores around the household, like serving meals and cleaning rooms.

She had no family. She had been taken in by the Shen family from an orphanage, and had always gotten along well with Shen Anyue.

But she knew her place.

Being the young miss’s playmate was acceptable; being her true close friend was far beyond her.

Now the real miss had come home.

And it looked like the two of them got along well, so Su Xiaoyu naturally hoped Cheng Yiyi would be happy here.

“Mm, I slept very well.”

“Miss Cheng, this morning I came to your room to call you for breakfast. Did you ignore me because you thought I was noisy?”

Su Xiaoyu’s heart was filled with fear and uncertainty as she said this.

She was scared that a careless mistake would upset the young miss.

If that happened, she might be driven out of the Shen family.

Even though finding a job outside to support herself was not hard, Su Xiaoyu had lived here for years and couldn’t bear to leave.

So she wanted to understand exactly what she’d done wrong and correct it.

“I apologize for being rude this morning. I didn’t know you shared Miss Shen’s habit of sleeping in. You can scold me, or even punish me. But please don’t ignore me. If I’ve done anything wrong, tell me, and I’ll change.”

As a lady’s maid of the Shen family, Su Xiaoyu’s good looks went without saying. She could easily have become an online beauty influencer.

And she was special in another way.

The Shen family received guests from time to time. Some of the female guests were germaphobes. Their rooms still needed to be cleaned, but no men were allowed inside. Even married women were not allowed.

In situations like that, Su Xiaoyu was useful. She had never fallen in love since childhood, had guarded her purity, and was as white as paper from head to toe.

Doesn’t she seem important? But for the Shen family, hiring another person with those same conditions from outside was very easy.

If Cheng Yiyi showed the slightest dislike for her, Su Xiaoyu would be let go the next day.

And only Su Xiaoyu knew how desperate she’d been that morning!

Because waking the young miss was part of her duties, yet she didn’t have the right to push the door open on her own. So she stood outside the door for ages, calling out countless times. At an impasse, she hid in a corner and sobbed for a while.

This little maid had really been wronged this morning.

“No, no!” Cheng Yiyi waved her hands in a fluster.

She had thought that, here in the Shen family, her status might not even be a servant’s equal.

It turned out she’d been brainwashed by some novels.

The whole “vicious fake daughter, disrespectful servants, cold parents” routine was all fake.

Everyone here was actually very approachable!

“Then why didn’t you answer me…” Su Xiaoyu’s voice carried a trace of grievance, her eyes full of fear and covered in a layer of mist.

“Was my voice too quiet? Did you not hear me? Do you want me to knock louder next time?”

“No.” Cheng Yiyi was straightforward. “I slept with Anyue last night, so no one was in my room.”

At these words, the others around the table froze.

Shen Xingyao’s chopsticks stopped mid-motion. The meat in them dropped to the table.

“Sorry, slipped.”

He picked up the fallen meat so the table would stay clean, then said, “You were saying?”

After that, he quietly turned off the sound on his earphones and listened intently.

Cheng Yiyi didn’t pay attention to her brother’s slip. “I just wasn’t used to the place last night, so my body clock was a bit off. It’ll be fine after today. Please call me up for meals from now on.”

“Mm, yes, Miss! Got it!” Su Xiaoyu nodded, the heavy stone in her heart finally settled.

The servants around them began to leave.

They had to eat too, after all.

“Um…” Shen Xingyao tried tentatively. “Anyue, what were you two doing last night?”

Shen Anyue blushed. “That’s not it.”

Shen Xingyao: “?”

‘What kind of answer is that, little sis? It doesn’t even match my question.’

Cheng Yiyi’s head was normal enough to understand her brother’s real intent, so she answered truthfully. “We talked about Mom and Dad, and…”

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