Xun

Six in the evening.

Tang Yao left the office.

Being a manga editor came with a whole host of problems, but it did have a few upsides. For example... the work hours were pretty flexible.

Since the manga artists she worked with all kept different schedules, editors had to adjust their hours to match. Plenty of editors even worked night shifts.

Of course, that meant there couldn't be any fixed work schedule.

This was one of the few advantages Tang Yao had managed to wring out of the job.

"So why did the original owner choose to become an editor, anyway?"

Tang Yao boarded the subway, swaying gently with its movement. She lowered her head and muttered, "Because the hours are flexible?"

Of course, she was only complaining.

She knew the reason. It was simply because she'd been chasing an impossible dream—becoming a manga artist.

A dream, huh?

Would taking the long way around to get closer to a dream really make you feel any better?

Tang Yao turned to look out the subway window at the high-rises, gilded by the setting sun. She felt a little helpless... Drawing wasn't a promising career, especially with AI on the rise. And becoming a manga editor didn't feel anything like being a manga artist.

All she could say was... she'd gone into the wrong line of work.

Today, Tang Yao had visited quite a few upscale residential complexes. She'd even gone to the city's famous rich neighborhood, but there was no way she could afford to live somewhere like that.

In fact, she lived way out in the sticks. After getting off the subway, she still had to take a bus for nearly a dozen stops.

Because rent was too expensive.

As it happened, the city she lived in was also called Magic City, just like the one in her previous life. The layout was different, but one thing was the same: in a big city, every inch of land was precious. On her current income, she couldn't even afford to rent a bathroom stall downtown.

She was renting a place in a remote part of the Southern Suburbs, close to the crematorium... which made it relatively affordable compared with the city center.

Of course, being cheap was its only upside.

Everything else was a downside: the place was run-down, there was no elevator, and it was far from everything...

But she had no choice.

As the saying went, poverty forced her to swallow her pride and endure.

A little after seven in the evening.

Tang Yao finally made it home. After climbing seven flights of stairs in one go, she was a little out of breath. She took out her key and opened the door.

The lights were on inside.

Tang Yao looked around. The apartment wasn't big... Even though housing in this area was more affordable than downtown, it still wasn't cheap, so she'd only rented a one-bedroom, one-living-room apartment with a bathroom.

It was tiny—cramped, even. The bedroom and living room together weren't very large. Once a three-seat sofa and a table were in place, there was barely any room left to move around.

Facing the living room was the balcony-cum-kitchen. The only bedroom was on the left, but since the living room took up most of the space, the bedroom was especially small. To leave enough room to move around, all they could fit was a single bunk bed.

Still.

Small as it was,

thanks to the way the sisters had arranged things, the soft lighting made the place feel cozy rather than shabby.

So even though she was still catching her breath, Tang Yao felt at ease as soon as she stepped inside.

The moment she entered, a slender figure emerged from the room on the left, carrying some clothes. It was a girl whose face looked five or six parts like Tang Yao's. She wore a simple white T-shirt and blue denim shorts, showing off a pair of straight, shapely, milk-white legs that looked especially fair in the light.

They looked somewhat alike, but their temperaments were worlds apart.

Compared with Tang Yao, she was... rather aloof. She was just as beautiful, but gave off a feeling that she didn't want anyone getting close.

Why the sisters had such different temperaments,

Tang Yao couldn't figure out either.

That's right.

This was Tang Yao's younger sister in this world—Tang Xun.

"Xun."

Tang Yao saw her sister carrying clothes, apparently about to take them to wash. She turned and closed the door, then went over to the sofa and sank down wearily.

The girl stopped, but didn't respond. She looked Tang Yao up and down, as if checking something, then carried the clothes to the cramped bathroom connected to the balcony.

About a minute later,

she came back and sat beside Tang Yao, looking at her again. "How was today?"

Her voice was ethereal.

Just a little cold.

"Not bad."

Tang Yao was used to it. She leaned back against the sofa and gazed up at the ceiling light. "Work was just a bit of a hassle."

"...Oh."

Tang Xun's pretty, tense face seemed to relax. She looked away. "That's good. I thought you were going to say some more nonsense about dreaming, like you did a week ago."

"..."

Tang Yao stiffened at that.

To be honest,

when she'd first arrived, she really had been excited... If the girl in front of her hadn't been there, she might not have managed to pull herself together.

The whole situation had been so strange.

"By the way, I asked a doctor. Your condition is caused by too much stress."

Just then,

the girl's cool voice rang out again. "If you're tired, you don't have to worry about me. I'll find a job after I graduate from high school."

"It has nothing to do with stress."

Tang Yao came back to herself. Looking at the ceiling, she yawned sleepily and said, "Just focus on your studies. Don't worry about money."

"No."

"Yes."

"..."

Tang Xun glanced at her older sister's profile, then took out her phone and stopped paying attention to her.

Clearly, she didn't agree with her sister and was staging a silent protest.

Tang Yao thought about it but didn't say anything. She kept staring at the ceiling, letting the tension drain away as she considered what to do next.

As long as she had money, she could put her sister's worries to rest.

The two sisters sat quietly like that.

It was one of Tang Yao's rare chances to relax.

Because nobody would come and disturb them.

As for the sisters' parents—

Well, they weren't dead.

But they might as well have been.

After the sisters' father divorced their mother, he never came to see them again. And their mother... Maybe raising two daughters had been too exhausting, or maybe the family she remarried into had deeply ingrained preferences for sons over daughters.

Either way,

she chose to leave the sisters behind and remarry... and vanished from their lives.

A clichéd and sad story.

Tang Yao had inherited the original owner's memories, but she couldn't bring herself to feel the same way. She just thought their parents were pretty awful.

"Go take a shower. The rice should be done soon."

Tang Xun's voice sounded again, interrupting Tang Yao's thoughts.

She stood up and put away her phone. "Your clean clothes are on the bed."

With that,

she went to the balcony and switched on the light.

"Okay~"

Tang Yao put work aside for the moment, hurried into the bedroom to pick up her clothes, then hesitated before going into the bathroom.

A little over ten minutes later.

In the bathroom,

steam rose through the air. The space was small, so everything looked hazy, but even through the mist, her skin still looked white and smooth, like cream.

Tang Yao dried herself off, went to the mirror, and wiped away some of the fog with her hand. She looked at her blurred reflection, feeling utterly resigned.

As expected,

people really were incredibly adaptable.

Almost too adaptable.

She'd even gotten used to this.

All she could say was, there really was no obstacle you couldn't get past.

As she thought this, she took off the towel that barely covered her graceful curves and prominent feminine features. Her cheeks flushed as she lifted her full, firm breasts, then quickly got dressed and walked out of the bathroom.

When the door opened, steam rushed out, looking hazy and suggestive in the light.

In the living room,

Tang Xun had already brought the food over. It was simple.

There was a dish of eggs with green peppers, along with a pot of red-braised pork.

When Tang Xun saw her older sister come out, she put down her phone and picked up a bowl. Before serving the rice, though, she looked over Tang Yao's damp hair, then let her gaze settle on her chest. "Doesn't that bother you? There's no one else at home."

"Mind your own business."

Tang Yao blushed and sat down on the sofa.

Tang Xun lowered her head and scooped rice into a bowl. "Also, you don't have to wash your hair every time. Doesn't it feel like a hassle?"

"I can't not wash it."

"I don't get it."

"Just think of it as one of my quirks."

"It really is just stress."

"Stop. I don't want to turn my quirks into a discussion about whether you're going to school."

"..."

Tang Xun said nothing more and simply filled two bowls with rice.

The two ate in silence.

Tang Xun cleared the table, then took the dishes back to the balcony.

Tang Yao ran her fingers through her damp hair. After a moment's hesitation, she stood up and went into the room the sisters shared.

If she didn't do something after eating, she'd get sleepy in no time.

She really was pretty lazy.

The sisters' room was indeed tiny.

But since they had a bunk bed, there was still room for a desk. The single computer desk faced the bed and was piled with manga magazines, in addition to the laptop. Of course... there was also drawing paper and a variety of pencils.

Tang Yao pulled out the chair and sat down. She gathered the manga magazines and set them by her feet, then picked up a sheet of drawing paper and fell into thought.

Given her current situation, she was definitely going to quit, but she still needed to hang on for a while...

But as Li Xue had said, when that editor-in-chief who coasted through work had his own interests at stake, he turned into a demon. So if Tang Yao wanted to muddle through without too much trouble, she still had to deal with a few things.

She'd already done her best with both Teacher Ou and Teacher Shao.

If they chose to bring trouble on themselves,

then Tang Yao wouldn't get involved. She'd let them do as they pleased.

That would still be stressful, especially after Teacher Ou's next issue came out. It was bound to cause an uproar...

But the whole Editorial Department knew what they were like. Otherwise, they wouldn't have assigned them to her.

Overall, it was something she could handle.

But with the Manga Award situation on top of that, things got troublesome.

Because it would make her look like she couldn't get anything done.

She might really get fired over this...

So she needed to take care of at least one of these problems.

There was nothing she could do about Teacher Ou, and she didn't want to do anything about him.

So now, she could only deal with the Manga Award issue.

There were really only two ways to handle it... Either she could try again with the manga artist who had "promised" to submit work, or she could find another artist of similar caliber and ask them to submit something.

But Tang Yao didn't want to try either of those options.

There was no other reason.

She was tired of being treated badly.

So she chose a third option—draw it herself.

Mm.

When she told Li Xue she'd give it a try, she didn't mean she'd try to find a replacement. She meant she'd try drawing it herself.

After all... she'd been an artist in her previous life too.

Even though she didn't want to draw at all.