Custom Audio Caught by My Straight Stepsister - Chapter 2

When it came to her stepsister, Ming Fei considered her own thoughts to be a bit perverted.

Her roommates had no idea that beneath Ming Fei’s honest and quiet exterior hid a mind even filthier than Chen Yujie’s. Sometimes, when they discussed “NSFW” topics, they would specifically avoid her, fearing they might corrupt the only “good girl” in the dorm.

During the summer between her junior and senior year, Ming Fei stayed at Fu Zhisu’s place for over a month. It was during that time that she accidentally discovered Fu Zhisu’s account on “Little Sweet Potato” (Xiaohongshu). In her memory, Fu Zhisu had never been much of an internet addict and didn’t care for social media, so seeing the account made Ming Fei realize she had never considered her sister might have a digital life.

After secretly memorizing Fu Zhisu’s ID, Ming Fei used her own account to browse her sister’s homepage. Aside from a few posts about free check-ins for skincare samples or pastry tastings, Ming Fei unexpectedly found a post from several years ago where Fu Zhisu offered voice acting and custom audio commissions. Fu Zhisu had a lovely voice, though she had no professional training, and her self-introduction was simple. The post only had a few likes and comments, buried deep in the endless ocean of social media content.

In those years, the family situation had been so dire that Ming Fei couldn’t even imagine it getting worse. Fu Zhisu had tried every possible way to make money, and posting about voice acting was just one of dozens of attempts.

What if Fu Zhisu still takes requests now, Ming Fei wondered.

Pretending she had never seen the social media account, Ming Fei went out as soon as the semester started and bought the cheapest SIM card plan. She registered a new WeChat account with the number and added Fu Zhisu as a friend.

[Fei: Hello, Teacher.  I saw your post on Little Sweet Potato about voice acting and I’m very interested. Are you still taking commissions?]

Ming Fei hadn’t held much hope, the post was years old, and their lives weren’t as financially strained now. Fu Zhisu didn’t need to accept every odd job that came her way. To her surprise, Fu Zhisu actually accepted the friend request and politely explained:

[Sister: I’m not a professional. There are many professional voice actors online now, you might want to look for one of them instead.]

Ming Fei thought to herself, I don’t care about professional or not, I only care that you’re my sister.

[Fei: That’s fine. I’m just looking for material for my OC (Original Character), it doesn’t need to be too professional.]

Her burner account nickname was “Fei.”

[Sister: Sorry, what does OC mean?]

Ming Fei gave a simple explanation of the term. She had only recently learned the word herself. Chen Yujie “raised” an OC, often commissioning art, voice lines, and custom dolls for it. Through osmosis, Ming Fei had picked up a bit of the lingo. It hadn’t been a waste of time; it served as the perfect excuse.

Ming Fei knew that the more she chatted with Fu Zhisu, the harder it would be for the other woman to refuse. she sent several messages explaining her “OC” theme with great enthusiasm. Sure enough, Fu Zhisu finally agreed to a voice trial.

Ming Fei clutched her phone to her chest, trembling. After calming her racing heart, she finally sent over the text for the trial.

[Fei: You are my one and only moon. (Mature sister voice, leaning gentle, slow pace.)]

The trial audio that came back was slightly different from Fu Zhisu’s everyday speaking voice. It was raspy, grazing Ming Fei’s ears like sandpaper. Ming Fei lay on her bed, playing it on a loop, her heart thumping like a drum. She pressed her lips tight, feeling so happy and yet so sad she wanted to cry.

She was ecstatic that her initial probe was successful, but she felt a deep sense of guilt for deceiving Fu Zhisu this way.

That night, Ruan Ying, who had returned late, was noisily tidying her bunk across the room. Chen Yujie was on a voice call with her gaming partner, another roommate was on a video call with her parents, and the remaining two were whispering about their grad school exam progress.

In Ming Fei’s world, the moonlight was at full tide.

Her secret crush on her sister, which had wandered through a long, dark alleyway for years, seemed to have finally found an exit.

The first official transaction was fourteen characters long, costing two yuan and eighty cents.

[Content: Xiao Fei is so soft, give Big Sister another kiss, okay?]

[Requirements: Mature sister voice, slight breathiness, slow pace, heavy breathing, rising intonation at the end, finish with a vocalization like “mm” or “ah.”]

Fu Zhisu didn’t reply for ten whole minutes.

Ming Fei’s head was spinning, yet she felt a terrifyingly calm clarity. She pretended that “Xiao Fei” had absolutely nothing to do with her, playing the part of a total stranger who just happened to be interested in Fu Zhisu’s post.

[Fei: Teacher, are you still there? Is there a problem? We can discuss and adjust at any time [Pleading]] [Fei: I really love your voice [Please please]

[Fei: If the content is uncomfortable for you, we can change it. But honestly, most commissions these days are like this. It’s very normal, Teacher, you don’t need to think it’s weird.]

Ten minutes ago, the chat box had already shown “Fu Zhisu is typing.”

She had been typing for ten minutes without sending a single word.

Ming Fei guessed that because “Xiao Fei” (the character) sounded exactly like “Xiao Fei” (her sister), Fu Zhisu felt like she was saying something inappropriate to her own sister. The conservative Fu Zhisu was struggling to cross that line.

Finally, Fu Zhisu replied hesitantly.

[Sister: Sorry for asking, but is your name also Xiao Fei?]

[Fei: Yes, it’s a character from my real name. Is it inconvenient? We can change it to Feifei or A-Fei.]

[Fei: “Wife” works too [Peeking]]

Ming Fei’s heart was in her throat.

Amidst the chaos of panic and anticipation, she inexplicably thought of a joke Chen Yujie had read in the dorm a few days ago: The villain plunged a knife into the hero’s chest, only to find the hero didn’t die, because the hero’s heart had already leaped into his throat.

Trust her to have such random thoughts at a critical moment.

Ultimately, Fu Zhisu chose to call her Xiao Fei.

[Sister: Sorry for asking so many questions. I’ll go with the content you sent. Let me know if anything needs adjusting.] [Sister: One moment.]

From the delay in her responses, Ming Fei knew how difficult this decision was for Fu Zhisu.

Damp, whispered kisses murmured in Ming Fei’s ear. Her wired headphones felt like they were short-circuiting, sending sparks of electricity through her earlobes to every corner of her body. Ming Fei gripped her phone tightly.

The dorm wasn’t quiet, but her ears automatically filtered out the background noise, leaving only her sister’s low voice. Ming Fei couldn’t hear any of the stiffness or awkwardness in the recording. She felt as if she were back in the bed of Fu Zhisu’s rental apartment, with the lights out and the curtains letting in a sliver of faint light. She was lying on Fu Zhisu’s chest, with one of Fu Zhisu’s hands pinning her wrist and the other brushing away the stray hairs from her face. Her sister’s breath tasted faintly of sea salt and lemon toothpaste, cool and refreshing, yet the lips catching her earlobe were incredibly warm.

“Xiao Fei is so soft, give Big Sister another kiss, okay?”

Fu Zhisu loved her, but she had never kissed her. It was strange for an older sister to kiss a younger sister to begin with, let alone since they were step-siblings who had met halfway through life, where being distant would have been more “normal.” Fu Zhisu treated her strictly as a younger sister, leaving Ming Fei with no hope of ever becoming a lover.

Ming Fei squeezed the body pillow between her legs. Her spine felt numb, and her heart felt like it was being pulled apart. As her forbidden desires were met, they transformed into a monstrous flood that threatened to swallow her whole, urging her to seek more, and more.

As her mind replayed the shameful, imagined scenes, she also recalled every little detail of growing up with Fu Zhisu. Ming Fei knew she had to restrain herself. Being able to satisfy her fantasies this way was already more than enough; greed would only lead to loss. She had experienced enough in life to know the importance of knowing when to stop.

Such a sinful thought could never be known by a second person.

Especially not Fu Zhisu.

Parting her lips slightly, Ming Fei stared at the star pattern on the top of her bed curtain and whispered soundlessly, “Okay, I’ll let Sister kiss me…”

Throughout the night, Fu Zhisu’s feelings for Ming Fei hadn’t changed at all, but Ming Fei had the illusion that her secret crush had become a public one. One moment, she was cursing herself for being a despicable, cunning pervert, thinking that Fu Zhisu hadn’t raised her just so she could fantasize about her, and the next moment, she was hitting replay, shamefully continuing the drama in her head.

Ming Fei’s mind was full of these messy thoughts, a battle between ethics and desire. She thought she hadn’t slept at all, but then the click of the door lock startled her. She lifted a corner of the curtain; her two roommates prepping for the grad exams were leaving for the library with their backpacks. Her bed was near the door, furthest from the balcony, yet the morning sun was slowly slanting across the foot of her bed.

***

Suddenly, she felt a bit sick. It was all because these fantasies were built on a lie.

Realizing the pork ribs her roommate had brought hadn’t been eaten and would be stone cold by tomorrow morning, Ming Fei rolled out of bed. Chen Yujie groaned at her, “Didn’t you already brush your teeth? And you’re still eating. I really hate you people who eat at night and don’t get fat.”

Ming Fei gnawed on a rib. There were a few pieces of chicken willow in the bag as well, dusted with sweet and sour plum powder.

Facing Yujie’s accusation, Ming Fei said uncertainly, “Maybe it’s because my intestines are short.”

Previously, when Fu Zhisu saw that Ming Fei ate a lot but never gained weight, she suspected Ming Fei might have roundworms, given that Ming Fei’s living conditions as a child weren’t great. She had dragged Ming Fei to the hospital to take deworming medicine.

Ming Fei had been terrified of actually seeing a worm, so she couldn’t sleep and kept running to the bathroom to check.

She tried to be quiet, but Fu Zhisu caught her anyway. Fu Zhisu knelt down in front of the toilet and stroked her hair. “Xiao Fei, is your stomach upset?”

Twelve-year-old Ming Fei had been trying to be tough, thinking, A worm is just a worm, what can it do to me? I’m a human who took medicine!

But at Fu Zhisu’s question, all of Ming Fei’s courage evaporated. Who wanted to be a brave human fighting worms? She had a sister; she could go back to being a little girl who was afraid of bugs.

Her lip trembled as she grabbed the hem of Fu Zhisu’s shirt.

“Sister, will the worm crawl out while I’m sleeping? I don’t want to die.”

Fu Zhisu’s lips twitched and her nose crinkled. Ming Fei knew she was suppressing a laugh. Was Fu Zhisu happy she might die? Was the old man next door right? Was she going to have to fight Fu Zhisu for the family inheritance? Did Fu Zhisu hate her and wish this stepsister from out of nowhere would just disappear?

She had argued back then, saying her sister wasn’t like that. The old neighbor had taken a puff from his water pipe and said with the tone of someone who had seen it all, “You’ll understand when you grow up.”

“Sister…”

“How could that happen? The pill kills the worms. Once they’re dead, they won’t crawl anywhere, so you don’t need to keep checking. Besides, you might not even have worms in your stomach.”

Fu Zhisu used a wet tissue to wipe away her tears, yawned, and poured her some warm water. She watched Ming Fei take small sips from the cup before leading her back to the bedroom.

The house was tiny, the bathroom only two steps away from the bedroom. Fu Zhisu’s hand was warm. Ming Fei looked up at her sister’s back and thought the neighbor was full of it.

The two of them shared a bed with separate blankets. Ming Fei pulled at the corner of Fu Zhisu’s covers. “Sister, if the worm makes me die, I want to die in your bed.”

“Stop talking about dying. Xiao Fei, you’re so young, you’re perfectly fine,” Fu Zhisu said with her eyes closed. She flipped her blanket open, stretched out an arm, and tucked Ming Fei inside.

“Go to sleep, you have school tomorrow.” Fu Zhisu patted Ming Fei’s back gently. “Xiao Fei, how are we ever going to get some meat on your bones.”

Before she could finish the sentence, Fu Zhisu was asleep. Her palm rested against Ming Fei’s back, and her collar smelled of dry milk.

In reality, Fu Zhisu was even thinner. She was as busy as a gust of wind, blowing back and forth through Ming Fei’s world. Many times, Ming Fei couldn’t remember what the wind looked like while it was blowing; she could only look at the traces left behind to figure out how the wind had bent the saplings in its direction.

Even the wind itself didn’t remember.

Ming Fei said, “My sister took me to get dewormed once. Nothing came out. The doctor said if there are no worms, it’s either a high metabolism or short intestines.”

Chen Yujie said gloomily, “No wonder some weight loss surgeries involve cutting out a section of the intestine… You’re thin, your sister is thin. There’s nothing to say to you gifted freaks… whatever. Life is short, you have to learn to accept your flaws and enjoy yourself—I’ll just have one more bite—oh, oishii.”

An email notification popped up.

Ming Fei wiped the grease off her hands. When she saw the content of the email, she broke into a smile and let out a long sigh of relief. Her roommates all looked at her, and Ruan Ying asked what the good news was.

“I passed the initial resume screening. I have a notification for an online group interview this Friday,” Ming Fei said.

Last month, she had applied for a winter internship at a branch office of an accounting firm in Li City.

Fu Zhisu lived in Li City.