Chapter 8: The Unexpected Beauty

“Sister…”

Xiao Xi emerged from the bathroom, fidgeting nervously. Sister Yuan’s gaze swept over him, from head to toe, and she nodded in satisfaction.

Mmm!

“My Xiao Xi truly is the cutest in the whole world!”

Sister Yuan excitedly embraced Xiao Xi, nuzzling against him repeatedly.

She was practically rubbing the skin off Xiao Xi. ‘Wait, Sister, you can’t get that close.’

Xiao Xi instinctively tried to pull back, driven by certain physiological urges, desperate to avoid his sister noticing anything amiss. Yet, the space behind him was finite.

‘We can’t retreat any further,’ he thought. ‘Behind us is Moscow—ah, no… it’s the bathroom!’

‘In this situation, if I were to enter the bathroom, things would surely become even more dreadful!’

“Hoho, Xiao Xi, are you actively inviting me to corner you against the wall?”

Sister Yuan playfully pushed Xiao Xi against the bathroom door, watching him tremble. She then mischievously leaned closer.

‘Hmm?’

‘Wait, why does it feel like something isn’t quite right?’

Sister Yuan blinked in confusion. Suddenly, a flash of realization sparked in her eyes, followed by a playful smile, as if she had understood something profound.

‘Oh dear, this is quite unfortunate.’

“Hmm? Xiao Xi, I think I touched something. Is it… a doorknob? It’s a bit small, isn’t it~”

“Sister…” Xiao Xi was highly displeased by his sister’s deliberate teasing, especially her feigned ignorance. However, the more displeased Xiao Xi became, the more excited Sister Yuan grew, rendering his frustration utterly useless.

“Hehe, are you excited because you’re wearing girl’s clothes?”

“N-no… I’m not excited at all.” Xiao Xi turned his face away. ‘No, I need to calm down now, but Sister’s face is so close, and her voice is so alluring…’

—

“Sister, hurry up and get off me!”

Desperate to escape his predicament, Xiao Xi no longer cared to listen to his sister. Upon hearing him, Sister Yuan showed no intention of letting him go.

“If it’s not because you’re excited about cross-dressing, then is it because I’m cornering you?”

“Neither! Boys… it’s perfectly normal for boys to have a reaction in the morning, alright!” Xiao Xi retorted, continuing his defense.

Sister Yuan wore an expression that clearly said, ‘I understand~’ She then released Xiao Xi, took his hand, and led him first through a quick wash-up, then straight to her dressing table.

‘What is she… going to do?’

Xiao Xi sat bewildered at the dressing table. Immediately after, his sister picked up various tools from the table and began to meticulously and attentively apply makeup and style him.

Xiao Xi remained seated like a rag doll, allowing Sister Yuan to doll him up. ‘Oh, this can’t be right.’

Xiao Xi was somewhat afraid to look at his reflection in the mirror. ‘Do these clothes really fit? Will I look strange? Will people on the street immediately recognize me as a boy?’

Xiao Xi felt utterly uncertain. Yet, there was nothing he could do now. Could he really stand up and declare to his sister, “Hmph, I don’t want you to doll me up! I’m a boy!”

‘Would that even work?’

‘Oh, most likely, Sister would give me a “love education” and make me realize my identity as her child bride, wouldn’t she…’

Gasp—

He felt his status within the Shi family had plummeted. ‘Well, truthfully, even before this, Xiao Xi wouldn’t have dared to say such things to Sister Yuan. She’s just too terrifying, too terrifying…’

‘And also too… too dominant~’

‘Cough, cough, I definitely wasn’t thinking the latter half of that sentence.’

“All done~” Sister Yuan smiled, patting Xiao Xi, who had been lost in thought with his eyes closed. She signaled that she had completed her daily dress-up mission, akin to a new version of ‘Miracle Nikki’ in ‘Earth Online’.

Xiao Xi was somewhat hesitant to open his eyes. Although he had a general sense of what his sister had done to him, if he were to open them…

Ugh—

‘Sister would scold me if I kept my eyes closed. I should just open them. It’s just a glance at myself, right!’

Xiao Xi mustered his courage and opened his eyes.

****

Gasp—

Xiao Xi’s eyes widened. The girl in the mirror, with twin pigtails, rosy cheeks, slightly parted lips, and a hazy gaze… who was she?

‘She’s so… so beautiful?’

‘Is this… truly me?’

Seeing Xiao Xi utterly captivated, Sister Yuan triumphantly embraced him from behind, chuckling softly.

“My Xiao Xi~ you’re truly a beauty in the making, aren’t you~ You’re even prettier than other girls. What do you think, Xiao Xi, are you starting to fall in love with this look of yours?”

“I…”

Xiao Xi desperately wanted to refute her, to prove that he wasn’t some sissy who enjoyed cross-dressing. Yet, the words caught in his throat, refusing to come out.

Indeed, she was too beautiful. Xiao Xi couldn’t tell if it was his own natural advantages or his sister’s exceptional makeup skills. The person in the mirror was the type even he would fall for, and his sister’s aesthetic sense was remarkably similar to his own…

‘Or perhaps, this is simply the appearance Sister likes…’

‘And it just so happens that I like it too.’

Xiao Xi didn’t respond, merely continuing to gaze at his reflection. The person in the mirror sat nestled in his sister’s embrace. When had he started accepting the feeling of being held like this by his sister?

“Look~ such a beautiful face, such a captivating waist~ what a great butt~ and these legs~ so slender and fair, without a single hair. Xiao Xi, your entire body must have grown this way just so you could cross-dress, right~”

Sister Yuan laughed joyfully. Xiao Xi, his face flushed, lowered his head. Sister Yuan’s words made it sound as if he was born to be a master of cross-dressing. ‘Ah—while it’s nice to have a skill, still…’

‘I don’t want to be like this. If I could, Xiao Xi wished he could grow a bit more robust, more imposing, ideally achieving a muscular, golden physique.’

‘That way… I could protect Sister.’

Indeed, Xiao Xi had once harbored such a dream—no, he had always held it, and even now, he still thought the same way.

“Huhu~ Why didn’t I discover this about you sooner? I should have made you cross-dress earlier!” Sister Yuan sighed regretfully. How many delightful sights had she missed by hesitating for so long? To think Xiao Xi would fall into the trap so quickly—it made her feel… both disappointed and excited!

“It’s not like… it hasn’t happened before.” Xiao Xi sighed.

“Hmm? It has?” Sister Yuan frowned.

‘As expected, was it too long ago? Sister Yuan has forgotten… and here I remembered it so clearly.’

Xiao Xi felt a pang of disappointment. Some things, he had believed, would be shared memories between him and his sister. He never expected her to have forgotten.

‘Never mind… Sister is usually so busy. It’s normal for her not to remember things from childhood.’

Xiao Xi was trying to convince himself internally, but Sister Yuan seemed to have become fixated. She poked Xiao Xi, asking seriously, “It has? Xiao Xi?”

“Of course it has!”

Xiao Xi replied excitedly, his thoughts suddenly pulled back to a distant past, to a time when they were both very young.