Bai Liuyue smiled, the corners of her lips curling up slightly.
She handed over a small white rabbit pendant that she had hand-sewn in her room over the past few days.
The pendant was fluffy, with long white ears drooping down on both sides and a tail made of a white pom-pom. It was exquisite, petite, and adorable.
"Wh-what is this for?"
Xie Manyu took the pendant subconsciously, though her face still remained highly vigilant.
Pouting, she muttered,
"Honestly, how did you know my zodiac sign is the rabbit?"
"Don't think you can win me over with this kind of thing. I won't be bought off by such sweet bribes!"
"I, Xie Manyu, am not that kind of person!" she declared righteously.
Bai Liuyue shook her head. Facing this contrary young girl, she said with a smile,
"This is your payment. May I ask Detective Xie to tell me what she just heard?"
Detective Xie?
Xie Manyu immediately felt a surge of delight. She had actually called her Detective Xie.
She looked down at the small white rabbit in her palm, playing with it fondly, unable to put it down. She thought to herself: This is my payment.
"F-fine. Since you followed the rules and paid me in advance, I will tell you." She raised her chin haughtily.
She methodically recounted the conversation from inside the room.
Then she added,
"Bai Baocheng looks like a gentle scholar. I thought he was an honest and decent person, but I didn't expect him to be so bad."
"It's clearly about my brother's marital happiness, yet he talked about it as if it were a business deal, a mere transaction."
"And sister-in... Bai Baozhu too. She actually didn't refute it."
"I'm starting to dislike her a little."
The last sentence was spoken very softly. Xie Manyu lowered her head, reaching out to tug at the rabbit's fluffy tail.
Mmm, it felt really nice.
"If you don't like her, then you don't like her. Just like how you don't like me," Bai Liuyue replied.
"Who said that?!" Hearing this, Xie Manyu jerked her head up in agitation and said, "I never said I didn't like you! I just..."
"Just found you a bit annoying."
"But, I've realized that you're actually not that annoying after all."
The more she spoke, the more flustered she became, a faint, embarrassed flush creeping across her cheeks.
Bai Liuyue took the opportunity to add another remark.
"Xie Manyu, I actually like you quite a bit. I have since the very first time we met."
"Ah..." Xie Manyu was completely stunned, blinking her large eyes in disbelief.
Was she hearing things?
Bai Liuyue said she liked her.
Xie Manyu blinked, her gaze meeting Bai Liuyue's clear, undisguised eyes.
She listened as the woman's voice, flowing gently like a babbling brook, explained:
"You must have heard Bai Baozhu talk about me. My father is always away busy with government affairs and rarely comes home. My mother is the daughter of a high-ranking official from the previous dynasty, and she has always held me to the strict standards of raising a noble lady from the old era. I have no freedom at all."
"But you are different. Marshal Xie only has you as his daughter and dotes on you in every possible way. You also have an adoptive mother who truly loves you, not to mention that everyone has heard about how much Young Marshal Xie spoils his younger sister."
"You are happy and free. You can do whatever you want, living without a care in the world. How wonderful that is."
"So, I envy you a little, and I like you a little too."
Faced with these sincere and unadorned words,
Xie Manyu blinked, somewhat at a loss, her long eyelashes casting a shadow over her eyes.
Her eyelashes fluttered a few times as she tried to hide her joy and nervousness.
She had never imagined that Bai Liuyue, whom she had treated with such harsh words before, actually liked her!
And what had she done in return?
Xie Manyu did not even dare to think about it.
She only felt that she had truly gone a bit too far. After all, from Bai Liuyue's perspective, it seemed she hadn't done anything wrong either.
"Um..." She swallowed nervously.
"Hmm?"
Bai Liuyue raised an eyebrow slightly, waiting patiently and leisurely for her reply.
Xie Manyu lowered her head and dashed quickly toward the door.
She hastily dropped a sentence.
"Th-then I guess I like you a little too." After saying that, she quickly pulled the door open and fled in a panic.
Watching this scene, a faint smile appeared on Bai Liuyue's lips.
...
Xie Manyu rushed out of the room in a fluster, unexpectedly colliding with someone wearing a blue military uniform in the corridor.
Looking up, she met Pei Yu's carefree and cynical gaze.
"Do you not have eyes when you walk?" Xie Manyu could not help but scold.
"Did you have eyes when you walked?" Pei Yu frowned.
The two of them spoke at almost the exact same time.
As nominal cousins, Xie Manyu had never gotten along with Pei Yu since childhood. If Xie Manyu was a little terror, then Pei Yu was an absolute terror.
When they were young, whenever they met, they would either bicker or fight.
Once, Marshal Xie even entertained the thought of arranging a marriage between them, but seeing how they were as incompatible as fire and water, he gradually dropped the idea.
To Pei Yu, Xie Manyu was nothing more than a stinky little brother who happened to be female.
And to Xie Manyu, Pei Yu was just an arrogant, vain peacock demon; he didn't even count as a cousin!
"Why are you coming out of Second Miss Bai's room?" Pei Yu's gaze was inquiring.
"What does it matter to you?"
Xie Manyu immediately shot back, saying, "I am a girl, and Bai Liuyue is also a girl. Isn't it perfectly normal for us to spend time together?"
Pei Yu narrowed his eyes and said with a hint of profound meaning,
"But I heard you have a better relationship with Bai Baozhu. Bai Liuyue has been at the Marshal's mansion for a while now, and you've been giving her nothing but attitude."
Xie Manyu froze for a moment, then retorted,
"What's it to you? So what if I like Bai Liuyue now? Do you have a problem with that?"
"No problem at all. Good taste." Pei Yu could not help but give her a thumbs up.
This unexpected reaction left Xie Manyu feeling a bit bewildered.
After all, Pei Yu had always gone against her since they were kids. No matter what she said, he would contradict her. Why didn't he refute her today, but instead agreed with her?
Xie Manyu looked the man up and down, noting his upward-slanting peach blossom eyes. Using her detective's sixth sense, she detected something subtle.
"Bai Liuyue is from Jinzhong, and you were also in Jinzhong. Do you two know each other?"
Pei Yu nodded with a smiling face and said, "Yes, I know her, but she doesn't know me."
Xie Manyu rolled her eyes around and immediately grasped the core of the matter.
Clapping her hands together, she teased,
"Oh! I get it. You have a secret crush on her."
Pei Yu, who had just been looking completely relaxed with a lazy, careless smile, suddenly panicked. Waving his hands repeatedly, he said nervously,
"What nonsense are you spouting?"
Xie Manyu stared at him with a wicked smile and asked back, "Is it not true?"
Pei Yu instantly deflated like a punctured balloon and fell silent.
Xie Manyu pointed a finger at him and said,
"Hey, Pei Yu, don't forget that Bai Liuyue is my new sister-in-law. You're trying to steal my brother's girl."
Pei Yu fell silent: "..."
After a while, he finally added a sentence, "Well, it's not a done deal yet, is it?"
