My Little Pink Crocodile - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: You Won’t Look Pretty If You Worry Too Much

After turning on the television for Jiang Yu, Qi Yan settled her on the living room sofa to play with Goudan. Grace stood aside, watching Qi Yan speak to Jiang Yu with such meticulous gentleness. Once Qi Yan had taught her how to change channels, a melodramatic soap opera began playing on the screen.

Grace signaled Qi Yan with her eyes, pointing toward the guest room.

Seeing Grace’s serious expression, Qi Yan nodded. She turned back to Jiang Yu and instructed, “Sit here for a bit. There’s watermelon juice on the coffee table if you get thirsty. If someone knocks, don’t open the door; call me to do it.”

She fussed over every detail as if she were terrified Jiang Yu might be kidnapped, even reminding her to drink water. She was treating Jiang Yu entirely like a child. Then, Qi Yan remembered that in the bedroom, Jiang Yu had been a cunning little liar.

The realization made her fall silent for a moment. But Jiang Yu was just petting the Golden Retriever, looking up at her with a hint of confusion. After Qi Yan finished her instructions, Jiang Yu nodded as if dazed. “I know all that.”

Pretty sister seems to be treating me like a fool. I’m not a fool; I’m very smart. I know not to open doors for strangers.

Thinking this, Jiang Yu gave Qi Yan a sweet smile. Resting her chin on the dog’s head, she pouted. “What are you going to do, Qi Yan? I just saw her winking at you.”

In her beautiful eyes, Qi Yan’s reflection was clear, and Qi Yan could see a flicker of displeased possessiveness within them. Jiang Yu was referring to Grace’s earlier signal. Qi Yan knit her brows and explained, “We have things to handle. She… she wasn’t winking at me.”

Nearby, Grace was still feeling grumpy because her dog of two years had returned only to cling to someone else. She was drinking water to cool her temper while waiting for Qi Yan. Hearing the accusation, she accidentally sprayed her mouthful of water. She bent over, coughing, and hurried to defend herself.

“Don’t go framing me like that, little sister! Even if you like her, you should know we’ve been strictly platonic for years.”

Jiang Yu gave a skeptical “Oh.” Grace felt her reputation was being unfairly maligned, but before she could say more, Qi Yan ushered her into the guest room.

Jiang Yu turned around, a mischievous glit in her eyes. “You can’t close the door.”

As Grace pushed Qi Yan into the room, she replied helplessly, “Fine, fine. You really are a ‘living ancestor’.”

She didn’t expect Jiang Yu to take the comment seriously. After a moment of thought, the girl nodded. “In terms of age, I actually could be your ancestor.” But I only just reached adulthood.

Jiang Yu kept that last part to herself, leaving the other two in stunned silence.

Jiang Yu wants to be our ancestor…

They felt a sense of defeat, but looking at that gorgeous face and those innocent eyes, they held their tongues. “Let’s go in,” Qi Yan said softly. She reached for the door handle but, remembering Jiang Yu’s request, she paused and left it wide open.

Grace saw how much Qi Yan was doting on Jiang Yu but chose not to comment. Now that they finally had a moment alone, she went straight to the point. “What is wrong with you? Abandoning a defenseless little girl in the mountains? At least the second time you had the heart to take her to a police station.”

Qi Yan looked confused. “Where did you hear that? Who did I abandon?” Then it clicked. Aside from Jiang Yu, there was no one else she had sent to the police.

She glanced out the door at the “defenseless” girl, who was currently lifting the heavy Golden Retriever with both hands. Her slender arms looked like they might snap, but she did it with ease. Qi Yan realized Grace had misunderstood something, but she didn’t know why Jiang Yu was telling people she’d been “abandoned twice.”

She could understand the second time, but the first? She was certain she had never left anyone in the mountains. Jiang Yu must be talking nonsense, she thought with a headache. She shook her head at Grace.

“You’ve misunderstood. I only found her once. I never left her in the mountains. The only time we went to the mountains recently was that trip with you. Where would I have found a person to abandon there?”

Grace calmed down and frowned. “True. But I remember you texted saying she found her own way here? She seems a bit dim-witted; is she a runaway like my heartless dog?”

Qi Yan hummed, her eyes downcast in thought. “I suspected as much, which is why I sent her to the police. But Officer Tian said she insisted on seeing me and was extremely unstable and uncooperative with them. Yet, she’s so dependent on me that they had to send her here to calm her down.”

Grace’s frown deepened. “So what is she now? An undocumented person?”

If those pink locks were natural and she wouldn’t say who her family was, the state might not even know she existed. Qi Yan nodded. “Essentially. We just have to hope Officer Tian can find her—”

“I’m not undocumented,” Jiang Yu’s voice rang out clearly from the living room. Her excellent hearing had caught every word. “I am a person of high status.” The only Young Master of the Crocodile Tribe and the future Chief.

Jiang Yu tilted her chin up proudly. “If you follow me, you’ll be a person of status too. That’s why we need to share a bed (Tong Fang) as soon as possible.”

The two women froze. They didn’t stop to wonder how her hearing was so sharp; they were simply embarrassed to have been caught talking behind her back. Qi Yan recovered first, automatically ignoring the “share a bed” part. She looked into Jiang Yu’s bright eyes and felt her face heating up. Even knowing the girl could hear her, she raised her voice slightly.

“I know you’re not undocumented.” She only answered that part—the part she understood and the only part she wanted to acknowledge.

Jiang Yu gave a satisfied smile and added a warning: “Don’t say bad things about me anymore. I can hear everything.”

“Fine, fine, ‘Ancestor’.” Grace had given up trying to resist. She gestured toward her own head and mouthed silently to Qi Yan: Is she… crazy?

Qi Yan shook her head slightly, though she secretly agreed that Jiang Yu acted like a lunatic sometimes. Jiang Yu had let go of the dog and was now lounging over the back of the sofa, watching them with a grin, completely ignoring the TV.

As Qi Yan was about to walk over, Grace grabbed her wrist. She pointed excitedly at her phone. Qi Yan felt a buzz in her own pocket—it was a message from Grace:

“Her eyes. They look just like that crocodile you found.”

That day, when the crocodile had stolen Grace’s bag, it had stared at her from underwater with those same stunningly beautiful eyes. It had left a deep impression. If it really was that crocodile, then everything Jiang Yu said wasn’t nonsense at all.

Qi Yan read the message several times, then looked at Grace and saw she wasn’t joking. She looked back at Jiang Yu and fell silent. Having spent half a month with that crocodile, she had entertained the suspicion herself. The same eyes, the same pink color—the signs were all there. But Jiang Yu was clearly a human being standing right in front of them. How could she be a crocodile?

While they were debating over text, Jiang Yu silently approached and leaned against the doorframe, watching them with pursed lips. Qi Yan noticed her and Ollie the dog. She felt a bit dazed looking into those silver-grey eyes but asked patiently, “What’s wrong?”

Jiang Yu pouted and pointed toward the front. “Someone is knocking. You told me to tell you to open it.”

Just then, Grace’s phone rang—it was the delivery driver with their food. Qi Yan closed the chat. “Don’t overthink it,” she told Grace. But she had already begun to doubt her own reality.

When the food arrived, Qi Yan had no appetite. She took a few distracted bites and put down her chopsticks. Seeing her prepare to head out, Jiang Yu asked, “Are you done eating?”

“Mhm,” Qi Yan replied. “I’m going to Grandma Zhang’s to borrow some dog food.” After all, there was now a dog in the house.

“Bye-bye then!” Jiang Yu smiled shyly. Qi Yan suspected there was some mischief hidden behind that look.

After Qi Yan left, Grace realized that Jiang Yu’s “shyness” was actually embarrassment—she was embarrassed to let Qi Yan see her appetite. Once the door closed, the girl proceeded to devour two people’s worth of food, plus half of Grace’s portion.

Grace watched in awe. Jiang Yu’s thin limbs and oversized pajamas made her look tiny and cute, but she ate like a gluttonous beast (Taotie). Grace worried she might burst, but the plates were already licked clean.

Grace took a deep breath. “Little sister, would you like to sleep alone? I can make a sacrifice and let you have the guest room all to yourself, okay?”

Grace had only seen that crocodile twice. It was pretty, but it was a lethal predator. If Jiang Yu really was a crocodile, she couldn’t let her friend take the risk alone. She’d rather sacrifice her own privacy.

Jiang Yu, now full, patted her flat stomach with satisfaction and went back to playing with the dog. Hearing Grace’s offer, she looked up warily. “Do you want to sleep with Qi Yan?”

Before Grace could say she’d sleep on the sofa, Jiang Yu rejected the proposal. “Your suggestion is nice, but I’m sleeping with Qi Yan.”

Her bluntness made Grace bite her lip. Finally, Grace compromised: “Just… don’t eat people.”

Jiang Yu was about to say that humans don’t taste good and are toxic when Qi Yan returned. Jiang Yu lunged at her immediately. Qi Yan smiled gently but subtly pushed her back. “I need to put the food out for Goudan first.”

Jiang Yu didn’t mind. She joyfully hauled the dog over to its new bowl. “Eat up, eat up! I want to go to sleep.”

When Qi Yan walked over to Grace, she found her friend looking solemn. Grace patted her shoulder. “Be careful. If you make it out alive, I promise I’ll never give you bad advice again.”

Qi Yan didn’t understand. “What are you talking about now?” She looked over at Jiang Yu and the dog. Seeing the girl’s smile, the irritation she’d felt from a text from her parents earlier vanished.

Her parents were coming tomorrow.

That night, Jiang Yu bathed until she smelled sweet and lay in bed waiting for Qi Yan. However, she fell asleep before Qi Yan ever entered the room.

When Qi Yan finally came in and saw the sleeping figure, the blanket had been kicked to the foot of the bed. She sighed and leaned over to tuck her in. But as she drew close, Jiang Yu suddenly woke up. Her hands shot out and grabbed Qi Yan’s collar, pulling her down onto the bed.

“You’ve been drinking again?” Jiang Yu murmured.

Perhaps because she was slightly tipsy, Qi Yan didn’t notice the word “again.”

“Mhm.”

Jiang Yu’s strength was immense. She wrapped her arms around Qi Yan’s neck and pulled her down until Qi Yan was lying on top of her. In a sleepy haze, Jiang Yu whispered, “Don’t worry anymore. You won’t look pretty if you worry too much.”

She knew. Every time Qi Yan drank, it was because something was troubling her.

With that, she held Qi Yan tightly and fell back into a deep sleep. Feeling the warm breath against her neck, Qi Yan’s body stiffened. She tried to pry the girl’s hands away, but she only succeeded in making Jiang Yu shift her grip to Qi Yan’s waist, holding her even tighter.

She heard Jiang Yu mumble something. Helpless, Qi Yan had to let the girl hold her. She began to pat Jiang Yu’s back rhythmically, like soothing a child. The scent of her own body wash mixed with a unique fragrance from Jiang Yu, and strangely, all her stress melted away. She felt an overwhelming sense of peace.

Qi Yan looked at the sleeping face before her. She instinctively wanted to reach out and touch her, but when she tried to move, she realized she was being held in a literal death-grip by Jiang Yu.

Qi Yan: “…”