Don't get too involved with Qian Yuya, that was Le Yuxin's initial thought.
But because of "Qian Yuliu's tribulation," Le Yuxin had to swallow his pride and mooch off Qian Yuya… The chance to gain spiritual power just by having dinner together was too good to turn down, not to mention he really wanted to experience what "Crossing the Tribulation" was actually like.
Le Yuxin's personality was fundamentally different from Qian Yuliu's, and with Qian Yuliu's memories affecting him, Le Yuxin became increasingly curious about this sister he'd gotten for free, so to speak: He started helping with cooking, checked in with classmates about her, and so on… All these gestures were just his way of trying to get closer.
"He vaguely sensed that ever since he first arrived in this world, a feeling of loneliness and panic never left him, and he was desperate to find an outlet." However, with the Statistical Department's Lan Yan, Kui Zhao, and others all eyeing him like tigers, his subordinate Chen Fu being a master at shirking blame, and his mentor Lin Jinyao taken out by his own hand… "He truly felt like a lost soul, sword in hand, looking in all directions."
And at this point, Qian Yuya, connected to Qian Yuliu by blood, mattered more to him than anyone else—though she could never have his full trust, she was still Le Yuxin's only choice.
"Only kids get to pick, a traitor's got no choices at all."
Le Yuxin's fondness for Qian Yuya was only natural.
In some ways, Qian Yuya even reminded him of his sister from his previous life—though unlike the quiet and mild Qian Yuya, his real sister had a rotten temper and loved stirring up trouble, she'd even purposely come into his room just to fart, and the two of them practically fought every day when they were growing up.
Still, despite their rocky relationship, when Le Yuxin heard in college that his wild sister got dumped by a jerk, he once gathered a group of classmates and staged a little vigilante justice across cities—it wasn't like they beat anyone up; they just pretended to be a squad of zeroes and, when the jerk showed up on a date, rushed up to his face to expose his two-timing ways. From then on, the guy was known far and wide as a "one" in all the surrounding colleges.
"So, Le Yuxin totally got where Qian Yuliu was coming from."
"Whether his little sister adored him or hated him, as a brother, protecting her was an iron rule."
Maybe it was Qian Yuliu's memories, or maybe Le Yuxin really did grow fond of that "mooching," but either way, he'd decided to keep pushing Qian Yuliu's plan and keep up the "jerk brother" persona.
"Why?"
Qian Yuya's voice was layered with emotion, caught somewhere between disappointment and frustration, "Why would you do something like this?"
Le Yuxin smiled, "You really want to know why? Do you think the reason really matters?"
"It matters. The you I knew wasn't like this before." Qian Yuya spoke softly, "You used to… You weren't talkative, but you'd always quietly help people in trouble."
"Qian Yuliu, Qian Yuliu, just how did you manage to let your sister catch you doing good deeds? Were you showing off on purpose in front of her? Did you keep a 'good deeds diary' and then leave it out for her to find?"
"Le Yuxin silently cursed Qian Yuliu in his heart, but his face put on a smile, spreading his hands, "If I told you I've been suffering in silence all this time just to reform the Huiyao from within, would you respect me? If I say I just want fame and fortune, will you look down on me?"
"My clever little sister, your brother will teach you something about life: Don't listen to what people say—watch what they do. The world's full of silver tongues; what you hear isn't always the truth. Instead of letting someone else give the explanation, why not trust what you see with your own eyes?"
Qian Yuya stared at Le Yuxin, biting her lip, "You've changed."
"I've changed, but I haven't." Le Yuxin grinned, "Yuya, just now you said you saw me as a quiet but helpful person, right? Do you think my classmates, teachers, and friends saw me the same way?"
"'Doesn't talk much' means people think you're discreet and mature; 'willing to help' makes people believe you're kind and a person they can rely on. It's the perfect mask—from the moment I put it on, no one ever disliked me. Everyone trusted me, relied on me: my classmates, my teachers, and… you."
For once, Le Yuxin wasn't lying.
Silent and kind—that really was the mask Qian Yuliu had chosen for himself.
Because of his "cold-blooded nature," Qian Yuliu hadn't developed much of a "personality" as a kid; he could put on whatever personality he wanted, and he found that this particular mask offered him the greatest advantage, so he wore it all the time.
The thing was, Qian Yuliu had worn that mask for so long that even up to the moment he died, he never took it off.
But this candid explanation sounded like a stab in the heart to Qian Yuya.
She smacked the table and jumped to her feet, staring Le Yuxin down until her ears turned red from anger, "So, your old personality was all an act? All your kindness and courage—that was just to win people over on purpose?"
Le Yuxin smiled, "You've never really known the real Qian Yuliu."
"But rest assured, nobody in this world knows the real Qian Yuliu. Except for me…" Le Yuxin thought, when all of a sudden a creepy feeling washed over him.
"I've never really known the real Qian Yuliu..."
Qian Yuya mumbled, suddenly shoving her chair aside and striding away. Le Yuxin quickly reached for her hand, "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to my room, I can't eat anymore!" Qian Yuya's voice rose with every word, and the last word just practically came out as a snarl.
Who's going to wash all these dishes then… Le Yuxin quickly scrambled for something righteous to say, "Really? You're going to waste food over something like this? You want to punish yourself because of my mistakes? Refugees in Skyrim don't even have rice to eat, and here you are wasting meat pies?"
There was no fridge here; even if the temperatures were alright and leftovers wouldn't spoil overnight, the idea that food should be eaten fresh and not wasted was drilled into everyone's mind, and this argument perfectly struck a nerve with Qian Yuya—since she was a Medical Officer candidate, she definitely had a bit of a savior complex, so when faced with "there are Skyrim refugees with nothing to eat and you're wasting food," she found she couldn't argue back at all.
Three seconds later, Qian Yuya stomped her foot in frustration and plopped back down hard at the table. She started shoveling food into her mouth with no decorum at all, glaring daggers at Le Yuxin the whole time.
"Oddly enough, Le Yuxin found himself just a bit delighted, 'Even when she's mad, my sister eating looks kind of cute!'"
"Ugh, that isn't me talking—that's Qian Yuliu's influence. I am not that kind of person."
"So this is your new mask, huh?"
Qian Yuya munched furiously and, having finished chewing, suddenly said, "You've never used to come home before dark, but today you came home early. And then, just today, Li Ying dropped by to return a book to me. You answered the door and chatted with her for ages… If you hadn't told her you're Qian Yuliu, maybe Li Ying would start to like you."
Huh?
Le Yuxin blinked. He felt like Qian Yuya's train of thought was going someplace pretty weird.
"And you've been telling me to invite Li Ying over during my free time, so she can see you're not a bad guy and you get more time together. And you're wearing this new mask: funny, chatty, cheerful, sunny, kind of… dim-witted. Given the way Li Ying is, she'd definitely go for a mask like that."
The more Qian Yuya said, the clearer her logic became. She sucked in a breath, "Li Ying's dad is the head of the Registry Department… That's your aim, isn't it? You want to get close to the department head through Li Ying!?"
Except for the "kind of dim-witted" part, which Le Yuxin was not buying, he actually had to give Qian Yuya credit—turns out, even a worldly girl like Qian Yuya could start spinning drama like palace intrigue at the drop of a hat!
Most impressive was that the theory she cooked up even had some legs—Le Yuxin started wondering if maybe Qian Yuliu had really had a plan like this all along!
"Think whatever you like." Le Yuxin barely kept from laughing.
"I won't let you get away with it!" Qian Yuya slammed her empty bowl and chopsticks on the table for emphasis—not a single grain of rice left, looked like she figured that's what would make her worthy of the Skyrim refugees.
Le Yuxin checked the system panel, made sure his tribulation progress was +1, then stopped Qian Yuya from leaving. He got up and said, "You still need to study in the living room, right? I'm headed upstairs to my room. I won't be coming down to bother you."
"Time to bail, or I'll end up washing dishes."
As she watched Le Yuxin head upstairs, Qian Yuya opened her mouth like she wanted to say something.
But after wrestling with herself for a moment, she just stuffed her right hand in her mouth and bit down hard, taking a deep breath through her nose. Soon her expression was back to normal, her tightly clenched left fist relaxed, and whatever she'd meant to say just vanished too.
She touched the white bite mark on her right hand, calmly cleaned up the table and did the dishes, then sat in the living room, laser-focused on her book, totally absorbed in learning, as if nothing that happened at dinner had ever touched her.
…
…
At 9:30, Qian Yuya was already in bed.
Le Yuxin left the Qian house with a pocket watch and the Star Engraving county map tucked in his arms.
He was going to meet "Starcatcher."