Secret Lover Who Stealthily Fell in Love with My Older Sister - Chapter 36

Chapter 36: The Scent of Warmth

The fireworks of the New Year rang out all night long, until the faint morning light penetrated the clouds and slowly peered over the horizon. Qiao Xi’s biological clock was more precise than any alarm. Although she was still in a sweet dream, she forced herself awake.

The room was dim. Qiao Xi rubbed her eyes and turned her head to see Shen Ya lying flat beside her, one hand resting on her chest, the other hidden under the blanket. Even in sleep, her body was tense, and her brow was slightly furrowed.

She wondered what Shen Ya was experiencing in her dreams.

Qiao Xi slowly sat up from the bed. She gently lifted a corner of the blanket, trying her best not to make any noise. With every movement, she observed Shen Ya’s state, ensuring she didn’t wake her up.

Putting on her slippers and picking up her phone, she tiptoed out of the room, closing the door without a sound.

When she got downstairs, she found that Shen Ya had washed her clothes from yesterday. They were now placed under the air conditioner, and after blowing all night, they were completely dry. She took them to the bathroom, changed, and checked the time after washing up.

She didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye, but she had to go now and couldn’t disturb Shen Ya’s sleep. Yet, she was afraid that leaving without a word would make Shen Ya overthink things.

So, she cleaned Shen Ya’s rice cooker, found the rice bin, and finally opened an app to search for porridge-making tutorials. She followed every step, a process that was quicker than she expected. After setting the timer, she took her backpack from the sofa, found a notebook, tore off a page, and picked up a pen to leave a message:

【Happy New Year, Teacher Shen. I cooked you some porridge. I have to go pray at the temple today, so I had to sneak off. Teacher Shen, please don’t be angry with me. As for the gift I mentioned last night, I’ll bring it to you the next time we meet.】

Having finished all this, Qiao Xi changed her shoes and left Shen Ya’s apartment. She didn’t linger or dawdle because she was sure this wouldn’t be the last time she came here.

Fortunately, Shen Ya lived in a bustling area. Qiao Xi was able to hail a ride-share as soon as she entered the elevator. On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the streets were deserted, with remnants of firecrackers scattered everywhere. Even though the morning light had begun to shine on the earth, the city had not yet fully awakened.

The black ride-share car was waiting at the entrance when she emerged from the complex. Qiao Xi confirmed the license plate and sent a message to Jiang Yunxi.

Every year on the morning of New Year’s Day, her family would go to burn incense and worship Buddha. She heard her two mothers say that they didn’t have this habit when they were young. Only after her sisters were born and her mothers formed a family did they start going every year to pray for safety for their juniors.

The temple Qiao Xi was going to was in a relatively remote suburb. She had left a bit late. The trip from Shen Ya’s place would take a considerable amount of time even without traffic. Her two mothers and sisters had already reached the destination.

This was the largest temple in Jianglan City, renowned nationwide for its strong incense offerings. The traffic began to queue up long before the entrance, but the main gate was not far now. Qiao Xi decisively got out of the car. Halfway through the journey, she had turned on her real-time location, so she met Qin Shuyao and Jiang Yunxi, who had come to meet her, shortly after getting out of the car.

As soon as they met, Qiao Xi immediately hid behind Qin Shuyao. Jiang Yunxi’s hand, which was reaching out to pinch her ear, missed its target. However, Jiang Yunxi still looked stern, pointing angrily in front of her: “Come here.”

Qiao Xi wasn’t foolish, so there was no way she would go over. Instead, she clung to Qin Shuyao’s arm like a koala, pretending to be wronged: “Sis, Doctor Jiang is scolding me.”

Qin Shuyao’s laughter was like a string of wind chimes. She had a gentle demeanor and a soft personality, the most soft-hearted person in the family. As long as Qiao Xi didn’t commit a major mistake, she usually couldn’t bear to criticize or lecture her.

Now that it was the New Year, and Qiao Xi would technically be considered an adult after the holiday, the old methods of dealing with a child wouldn’t work. On the right was Jiang Yunxi, who was still holding a grudge, and on the left was the sister she had raised since childhood. This wasn’t the first time Qin Shuyao had mediated conflicts between the sisters. Such scenes often played out at home.

She reached out and patted Qiao Xi’s face, asking first, “Why didn’t you come home last night?”

A whole night had passed, so Qiao Xi had certainly figured out a response. She rubbed her face against Qin Shuyao’s hand and answered, “It was so lively last night. We set off fireworks for a long time. When Doctor Jiang called me, I hadn’t even had enough fun yet. Besides, even if I went home, you two wouldn’t have time for me anyway.”

“What are you talking about? How do you know Shuyao and I wouldn’t have time for you?” Jiang Yunxi felt annoyed by Qiao Xi’s words. She wouldn’t deny that Qiao Xi was mostly obedient and sensible, but whenever she acted up, she and Qin Shuyao were left with headaches and helplessness.

“Doctor Jiang, I know you and Sis hug each other to sleep every night. Last night was New Year’s Eve. Could you really spend the whole night with me, the third wheel?”

“You!!”

“Alright,” Qin Shuyao stopped Jiang Yunxi with a look, preventing her hand from reaching out. “Xiao Xi, do you feel like Yunxi and I have been ignoring you lately?”

“No, no, not at all! How could I? I know that even though you two are dating, you still treat me the same as before.” Qiao Xi actually wished her two sisters would ignore her a bit more, so she wouldn’t have to constantly find excuses to go see Shen Ya.

“Mhm. No matter what relationship Yunxi and I have now, we will always be your sisters, Xiao Xi. If you feel unhappy or still can’t accept our relationship, then Sis will try to figure out how to adjust how we interact.”

Qiao Xi released Qin Shuyao’s arm. She walked in front of them, waving her hands: “No, no, no, Sis. I totally accept and support you two being together. It’s just that the college entrance exam is in a few months. I know Mom and Sis don’t have many demands for me, but the atmosphere in the class is pretty intense, so I was honestly just having too much fun yesterday and didn’t want to come back.” After saying that, she proactively stood between them and took both of their hands: “Okay, I promise I’ll tell you in advance next time and won’t change my plans last minute.”

“Good girl. Yunxi and I aren’t angry with you. We were just worried.” Qin Shuyao finished speaking and winked at Jiang Yunxi.

Jiang Yunxi understood Qin Shuyao’s signal. Besides, a whole night had passed, and she wasn’t angry anymore. She just couldn’t help but nag whenever she saw Qiao Xi. After Qiao Xi’s explanation, she also felt she shouldn’t scold her during the New Year. Children just love to play. After realizing this, Jiang Yunxi’s tone softened significantly when she spoke again: “Mhm. We’re not angry. If you’re stressed, why didn’t you tell us sooner? How about this: tomorrow, we’ll take a road trip to a nearby place to relax. What do you say?”

Road trip?

Going out to play??

This was completely outside Qiao Xi’s plan. She had intended to go see Shen Ya again tomorrow. If they went on a trip, she didn’t know how many days they would be gone. She wanted to refuse, but her two sisters were already discussing visiting a city in the south. Not only that, they planned to invite both their mothers and Sister Yunyi.

Since they had already discussed it to this extent, they were definitely going unless something unexpected happened. Qiao Xi could never refuse a family activity. She had been uncharacteristically absent from home lately. If she refused now, it would only raise her sisters’ suspicions further. It looked like she couldn’t escape this New Year’s trip.

Jiang Yunxi and Qin Shuyao were still discussing which city to visit. They asked Qiao Xi for her input with every suggestion. Qiao Xi responded with a cheerful face, but her heart was aching as she thought of Shen Ya. Her holiday time was already limited. If school started right after the trip, she didn’t know how long she would have to wait to see Shen Ya again.

Her internal resistance absolutely couldn’t be detected, so she quickly joined the discussion. Talking made her forget the length of the journey. They walked for a long time before meeting up with their two mothers. Qin Yunxin and Jiang Zhiqing didn’t know Qiao Xi had stayed out all night. Her two sisters wisely kept quiet about it. None of the three wanted their two mothers to worry.

Qiao Xi was already familiar with the process of worshipping Buddha. The temple was huge, and they had to pass through many areas. On New Year’s Day, the temple was crowded. She held Qin Shuyao’s hand tightly to avoid getting separated by the crowd. In fact, their two mothers had already come here to strike the bell and light incense just after midnight last night, but they brought their juniors again in the morning, knowing they disliked these activities.

After the simple prayers and incense offerings, their mothers went to get safety charms for them. In previous years, Qiao Xi just followed along, but this year, passing by the stall selling the charms, Shen Ya’s image flashed into her mind. Remembering the lonely and isolated figure slowly walking into the community gate last night, her heart felt heavy, as if crushed by a large stone, making it hard to breathe. That’s why every time she met Shen Ya, she always found an excuse to stay overnight. Even though Shen Ya never said anything, Qiao Xi just felt that the other person didn’t want her to leave either.

She quietly slipped away from her sister and mother and quickly lined up at the stall selling safety charms. During this process, she opened her phone. The unread messages didn’t contain the person she was hoping for. After quickly replying to some friends, the queue reached her. She chose the most expensive and best safety charm, hoping this charm would carry her blessings and be delivered to Shen Ya.

…

The person Qiao Xi was thinking about had not yet awakened from her dream. Sleeping beside a little heater had allowed Shen Ya to relax more than usual. Undisturbed, she slept soundly and didn’t even realize Qiao Xi had left.

By the time Shen Ya opened her eyes, it was already past noon. Her body felt soft from sleep. After a moment of recovery, she remembered that someone else was home. She turned her head and touched the spot next to her, but she didn’t see the familiar smiling face, and the place where Qiao Xi had slept was already cold. It seemed Qiao Xi had been up for a while.

Shen Ya sat up. She rubbed her hair and yawned, covering her mouth. Her feet found the fuzzy slippers before she stood up. The room was warm, so she didn’t immediately look for a coat but went downstairs to see what Qiao Xi was doing.

She didn’t deliberately quiet her footsteps, but she also didn’t get the vibrant greeting she expected. The ground floor living room was empty. The entire house was silent. The bathroom light was off, and Qiao Xi’s clothes were gone from under the air conditioner.

After a quick search, Shen Ya confirmed that Qiao Xi had left. She hadn’t woken her up, choosing instead to leave without saying goodbye. Could her sudden coldness last night have hurt Qiao Xi’s sensitive feelings?

Shen Ya pressed her forehead. She didn’t know how to explain things to Qiao Xi, nor had she ever had to console someone. But it was indeed wrong of her to ruin Qiao Xi’s mood during the New Year due to her own emotions.

She sat on the sofa and took out her phone, ready to send a message to Qiao Xi, but she saw the sheet of homework paper on the coffee table.

Shen Ya picked up the paper. The handwriting was neat and sharp, exactly the same as the two-thousand-word self-reflection from before. Qiao Xi had left it. The words on it surprised Shen Ya. She remembered Qiao Xi mentioning last night that she was going to the temple today. It seemed she had been sleeping too deeply to notice Qiao Xi leaving.

Knowing that Qiao Xi had even cooked porridge for her, this feeling of being cared for and kept in mind warmed Shen Ya’s entire being. Even though her little sun had left her side, she could still bask in the sunlight.

It seemed she had been overthinking and didn’t know Qiao Xi well enough. She put down the note and rushed to the kitchen, finding a small bowl from the cupboard. The porridge had been cooked for a while. It was just a simple bowl of white porridge, and she took out an unopened bag of pickled mustard stems from the refrigerator.

She brought the bowl to the dining table, then took out her phone and snapped a photo to send to Qiao Xi, with the message: 【Thank you. It is delicious.】

She thought Qiao Xi would be busy, but unexpectedly, she received a quick reply: 【How can a bowl of plain porridge make Teacher Shen praise it so highly? That makes me embarrassed! Teacher Shen, the gift I mentioned last night is going to be two gifts now. However, my family decided to go on a trip for a few days starting tomorrow, so could Teacher Shen please wait for me? I’ll come straight to you with the gifts when I return.】

【Okay, I’ll wait for you.】