The Yandere Queen's Manual for Training Her Wife - Chapter 30

At the corner of the first floor, the red-haired Jennifer was still performing her magic.

She held a rose in one hand and a handkerchief in the other, showing them openly to the crowd.

A moment later, she covered the rose with the handkerchief, then raised it toward Summer Mingtang, who was watching with rapt attention, and said:

“This young lady, please come and touch this handkerchief.”

Summer Mingtang didn’t quite understand, but she still cooperated.

She touched the silky fabric, until Jennifer nodded at her, signaling, “That’s enough.”

Jennifer made a graceful gesture over the handkerchief with one hand, then lifted it again—
the rose that had been underneath had completely vanished.

Still puzzled, Summer Mingtang noticed the other spectators’ shifting gazes and lowered her eyes, only to discover that a fully-bloomed rose had somehow appeared in her own hand.

A simple yet elegant trick completed, Jennifer gave her a little bow:
“For you, beautiful lady.”

Chosen as the lucky audience member, Summer Mingtang felt delighted. She stroked the rose petals.
“Thank you.”

“Tangtang.”

Qin Yan appeared out of nowhere, gracefully descending the stairs from the second floor.

She looked at Jennifer, then at Summer Mingtang, her smile gentle and serene. She reached out and plucked the flower from Summer Mingtang’s hand.

Summer Mingtang: “?”

“You finished so quickly?”

She hadn’t had enough of the magic show yet.

“All done.” Qin Yan stroked the fluffy little head with unusual affection, more tender than usual.

Taking hold of Summer Mingtang’s hand, her voice softened to the point of dripping water.
“Do you want to stroll around nearby, or shall we head back now?”

Summer Mingtang rejected both:
“I want to watch a little more magic.”

Qin Yan didn’t answer immediately. She only tightened her grip on that hand, slightly more forceful.

At that moment, Xie An also came down the stairs.

Holding onto the railing, she was grumbling inwardly:
What’s with this person? Bringing someone to a bar, then hurrying to leave after barely speaking a few words? I came to discuss serious business, and she’s here showing off her romance!

Such a good show, she certainly wasn’t about to let Qin Yan leave so easily. She quickly walked over to Summer Mingtang.

“So this is the little friend A-Yan brought? You do look a bit familiar… have we met somewhere?”

Being called “little friend” instantly annoyed Summer Mingtang. She turned her head toward Qin Yan and bluntly asked:
“This your friend? That’s such a lame pick-up line.”

Xie The Lame An: “…”

“Pfft.” Rarely seeing Xie An at a loss, Qin Yan laughed openly. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind Summer Mingtang’s ear, then kindly explained:

“This is Xie An. She’s older, she’s always like this. Don’t mind her.”

Three years older than Qin Yan, Xie An was utterly speechless.

Summer Mingtang nodded in apparent understanding and even offered kindly advice:

“Since you run a bar, Boss Xie, your customers are mostly young people, right? You should try keeping your mindset younger, it’d help your business. I mean, everything else in this place does feel quite youthful—like Miss Jennifer’s magic show, very exciting, very attractive.”

Her words left both Qin Yan and Xie An in silence.

Suddenly called out, Jennifer flashed a bright smile and greeted Xie An:
“Boss.”

Xie An nodded, signaling for her to continue her performance. Then, noticing the low pressure radiating off Qin Yan, she suggested:
“Why don’t we head to the bar counter for a drink?”

Qin Yan was only too eager to leave the magic stage, so she didn’t object.

Summer Mingtang wanted to keep watching, but with her hand firmly held in Qin Yan’s, she gave in—fine, go have a drink first.

Xie An asked Candy to prepare three Long Island Iced Teas.

Qin Yan frowned.
“Make one of them juice instead, please.”

Summer Mingtang looked at her, sympathy in her eyes.
“You can’t drink? That’s so pitiful.”

“No, you can’t drink.” Qin Yan replied with a smile.

Just the thought of the little drunk kitten on New Year’s Day was enough to make her wary.

At that, Summer Mingtang bristled immediately.

Luckily, Xie An spoke up to break the tension, with exasperation in her tone:
“Come on now, this is a bar.”

She turned to Candy, who was still waiting for instructions:
“Three Long Islands.”

Candy’s bartending was deft and skilled—the shaker filled with liquors and ice cubes danced rhythmically in her hands, like musical notes leaping in midair.

The three Long Island Iced Teas were soon prepared and placed before them. The amber liquid glistened in tall crystal glasses, each topped with a fresh lemon slice—visually refreshing and appealing.

As she sipped, Summer Mingtang found herself appreciating the taste. This bar’s pretty stylish. Run properly, it probably won’t go bankrupt.

The three sat at the counter and chatted idly.

Truthfully, Xie An had no real business to discuss—she was just curious and wanted to gossip.

After all, with Qin Yan’s outward gentleness and inner coldness, she had never seen her care so much about anyone before.

And this girl really did look familiar, though she couldn’t quite place where from.

Although Summer Mingtang was spoiled and willful, when she was in a good mood she could be pleasant company.

Looking at Boss Xie, apart from her corny opening line, since she didn’t keep calling her “little friend” and had defended her right to drink, Summer Mingtang decided she wasn’t so bad after all.

So when it came to harmless small talk, she was happy to respond.

“Tangtang, did you go to J University? You look a lot like a junior of mine.” Xie An leaned closer, shaking her glass.

Before Summer Mingtang could answer, a rose slipped between them, blocking their closing distance.

Qin Yan spoke faster than usual:
“What are you thinking? You’re so much older than her. Even if you were at the same university, there’s no way you’d have crossed paths.”

She knew Xie An wasn’t a J University student at all. She was only fishing for information.

Qin Yan understood that her little fox had secrets, but she believed one day her little fox would willingly share them.

She twirled the rose in her hand.
“Got any empty bottles around? This flower would look nice in one.”

Xie An looked at Qin Yan’s sudden protectiveness and thought: I hadn’t even gotten to the real questions yet.

Reluctantly shelving her curiosity, she told Candy to bring a glass bottle.

The bright rose was placed into the crystal-clear conical vase. Summer Mingtang, satisfied that her “lucky audience prize” had been properly displayed, hoped it would bloom for a long time.

She held up the vase to admire it when suddenly a loud commotion rumbled from below. She stumbled, and Qin Yan instantly caught her in her arms.

Leaning against Qin Yan’s chest, Summer Mingtang blinked in confusion:
“Was that… an earthquake?”

Xie An realized something was wrong first. She left behind, “I’ll check it out,” and headed to the basement.

Of course, Summer Mingtang loved nothing more than a spectacle. She immediately ran after, Qin Yan unable to hold her back.

Inside the underground chamber, the bar’s security—disguised as bouncers in blue uniforms—were locked in fierce combat with several men in dark gray casual clothes. Two sides, two camps, sharply divided by their colors.

The intruders had no weapons, but smashed bottles and attacked with jagged glass shards.

Summer Mingtang had rushed ahead. Suddenly, a shard came flying toward her neck. The nearby guard dodged, leaving her frozen in place.

Just as the shard was about to pierce her skin, a pale hand caught it firmly midair.

Ignoring the blood dripping from her palm, Qin Yan raised a leg and kicked the attacker to the ground. The guard took the chance to pin the man and stuff his mouth with a rag.

With her arrival as reinforcements, the rest were quickly subdued the same way.

Xie An recognized at once that these were the spies she’d caught in recent days. Somehow they’d gotten loose and stirred up trouble again. Luckily, they were subdued in time.

But with outsiders present, she had to put on a performance. Kicking at the captives, she scolded furiously:

“Stealing liquor, showing up on opening day, now again today—breaking bottles everywhere! My small business can’t survive your nonsense! To the police, every last one of you!”

Her acting might have been only slightly better than Summer Mingtang’s, but fortunately the only person she needed to fool was entirely preoccupied with Qin Yan’s injury.

“You’re bleeding so much… does it hurt?” Summer Mingtang pulled out a handkerchief, trembling as she tried to bandage Qin Yan, tears spilling uncontrollably.

She couldn’t stand the sight of blood—she felt as if she had been injured.

But Qin Yan herself was calm.
“It’s just a scratch, doesn’t hurt. But the glass needs to be removed first.”

“Oh—okay.” Summer Mingtang quickly unwrapped the cloth and carefully picked at the shard.

“Hiss—”

Her clumsy efforts hurt far more than necessary. Qin Yan could have managed better with her own left hand, but she stayed silent, letting the little crying fox fuss over her.

Xie An, fed up with their cloying intimacy, signaled the guards to take the prisoners deeper inside.

As they were dragged past, one of the gagged men made loud muffled noises at Summer Mingtang.

She looked up and recognized him—an employee of the detective agency An Ran often worked with.

Could it be he came here to dig up information on Qin Yan?

She had only called An Ran last night, and by morning his people were already in Cloud Town? That was fast.

Summer Mingtang tugged the cloth from his mouth.

“Miss Xia, I was just passing through this bar, I swear I wasn’t stealing liquor!”

Smart—he didn’t say anything he shouldn’t.

“Then how do you ‘pass through’ a bar basement?” She knew the truth, but her guilty conscience didn’t want him sent to the police. She was giving him a chance.

The man caught on quickly:
“I just needed a restroom. You know I’m bad with directions. I couldn’t find it, and they grabbed me.”

Summer Mingtang turned to Xie An, much more polite now:
“Boss Xie, this is a friend of mine. There must be some misunderstanding. How about this—the damages today, I’ll cover them.”

Xie An was silent for a moment, her gaze sweeping across faces.

She noticed Qin Yan, injured but completely unbothered.

Finally, she put on a businesslike smile.
“Since he’s your friend, then a misunderstanding it is. No need for compensation—since it’s our mistake, we’ll apologize instead.”

She told the blue-uniformed guard:
“Peter, see that this gentleman gets safely home.”

The commotion ended. Summer Mingtang borrowed a private room and a first-aid kit from Xie An, dragging Qin Yan upstairs to treat her wound.

Qin Yan had been in plenty of fights before. This was nothing but a scratch. But she enjoyed seeing the little fox worry, so she pretended to be weak.

Except—the little fox cried too much.

Just cleaning with a cotton swab had already soaked half her collar with tears.

“Let me do it.” Qin Yan, unable to keep up the act, held Summer Mingtang’s hand and gently comforted her.

Seeing Qin Yan so tender only made Summer Mingtang cry harder.

She felt deeply guilty—not only for causing Qin Yan’s injury, but also for secretly investigating her, even if it had been with good intentions.

Holding Qin Yan’s injured hand tight, she carefully tended the wound while her tears kept falling.

Qin Yan, seeing her like this, stopped resisting. With her uninjured hand, she brushed the tear-dampened cheek.

The wetness clung to her fingertips. She pinched lightly, rubbing back and forth.

“Why is everything about you always flowing with water… you really are made of water.”

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