Page 31

Tch, she wasn't going to fall for that.

Yu Qing controlled herself, refusing to look toward the table by the floor-to-ceiling window, and continued staring at her tablet.

Last time, Xiang Changge had told her to think about what kind of dog to raise. She was afraid the woman was serious and might actually bring a dog back for her one day, so just in case, Yu Qing had been looking up information lately.

-A Guide to Raising Dogs.

-Things to Pay Attention to When Raising a Dog.

Actually, she quite liked small animals; otherwise, she wouldn't have been funding a rescue base for stray cats and dogs.

It was just that, despite liking them, she had never planned on raising one herself.

She couldn't even take care of herself.

At twelve noon, Aunt Yang came in to collect the breakfast she had brought for Yu Qing that morning.

Looking at the food that seemed completely untouched, Aunt Yang sighed.

Soon after, she brought in lunch.

The weather was beautiful today. Looking at the scorching sun outside, Yu Qing had been feeling a bit drowsy, but the sound of Aunt Yang moving back and forth and the seemingly omnipresent smell of food made her feel a bit more awake.

Perhaps because she was too sleepy to think straight, watching Aunt Yang bustle about, Yu Qing suddenly asked, "Where is the steward?"

Aunt Yang smiled upon hearing this and replied, "The steward just hired three bright-eyed young girls, and they are currently over in the card room."

"The card room?"

Yu Qing was a bit confused; she didn't remember having such a room in her house.

Seeing that Yu Qing didn't know about it, Aunt Yang gave a sheepish smile. "It's next to the tea room on the second floor. It used to be for storing tea leaves, but Steward Xiang had people clear it out and moved the tea to the tea room, so that room was converted into a card room."

Cards—just hearing the name, she could roughly guess what it was.

However—

"Three bright-eyed girls?"

Yu Qing's sleepiness vanished, and she sat up from the bed.

How did that sound so... improper?

Aunt Yang didn't understand why, but she nodded anyway. "Yes, they all seem to be college students. They're all so charming and have such sweet tongues."

As she spoke, the smile on Aunt Yang's face grew even brighter; it seemed those three girls had really won her over.

Yu Qing: "..."

"What are they doing in there?"

Aunt Yang finally sensed that something felt a bit off, and her voice wavered. "They should be... playing, I suppose?"

Oh no, she was basically reporting Steward Xiang to the young miss now.

During working hours, not taking care of the young miss, but instead staying in the main house and spending the young miss's money to invite young girls over to play—

It was excessive, truly too excessive.

Aunt Yang stole a glance at Yu Qing's unreadable expression and tentatively asked, "Would the young miss like to go take a look? You are all around the same age, so you should be able to get along."

In truth, she had always wanted to persuade her young miss to go out more and make friends. Humans were social creatures; staying cooped up alone all the time would ruin even the healthiest of people.

It was just that she never knew how to bring it up.

Ever since the master and mistress had their accident, the Yu Family had been left in the hands of professional managers. Although Yu Qing was incredibly wealthy, she didn't manage the affairs, and being a sickly person, she had never frequented banquets or social gatherings. Now that the elites of City A saw no benefit in befriending her and found it difficult to get an opportunity, they had gradually forgotten about her.

When people spoke of the Yu Family, those who didn't know thought it was mysterious, while those who did only sighed and called it pitiful.

Even if Aunt Yang had the heart to encourage Yu Qing to make friends, she felt like she was building castles in the air, and in the end, she could only remain silent.

Fortunately, there was now a Steward Xiang who was around the same age as Yu Qing.

She felt that this house would definitely become lively in the future.

"Me? Go?"

What would she go there for?

Yu Qing lowered her eyes. "No interest. I'm going to sleep, you can leave."

After saying this, Yu Qing lay back down under the covers.

Aunt Yang opened her mouth to say something, but found it difficult to speak. In the end, she only sighed softly in her heart and left the room on tiptoe.

Yu Qing, who had been on the verge of falling asleep, now found herself wide awake.

She stared at the ceiling for a while, not knowing what she was thinking, only feeling a tightness in her chest.

After a long time, she whispered to herself, "As expected, a boring person like me can only guard this tiny patch of land alone, moldering and rotting away."

"This is my destiny."

Just as Yu Qing finished speaking, there was a rhythmic knock on the door—three times.

Yu Qing froze, suspecting she was hallucinating, and quickly pushed her thoughts aside to hold her breath and listen.

Two seconds later, another rhythmic knock sounded at the door.

Yu Qing pursed her lips.

This knocking rhythm seemed to be that person's habit.

After the third knock, the faint sound of a key being inserted into the lock followed.

Almost immediately, Yu Qing buried most of her face into the quilt and deliberately evened out her breathing.

Sooner or later, she would take Xiang Changge's key away!

"..."

After spending the whole morning busy with the trivial affairs of the Yu Family, Xiang Changge had finally called over the three companions confirmed yesterday, including the female lead Chu Keke, to try them out.

After all, they were going to be playing with Yu Qing. Although they had seemed like good people during the interviews, for the sake of caution, she still needed to interact with them more personally, treating it as a training session.

She wanted to avoid a situation where she intended to make Yu Qing happy, only to end up annoying her instead.

Just as she had started playing with the three of them, Xiang Changge heard the system say that Yu Qing was preparing to sleep.

Why sleep at this hour? If she fell asleep now, she wouldn't wake up until evening, and then she wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

Xiang Changge rushed up immediately.

"Is she asleep?"

Judging by the breathing of the person on the bed, it sounded like she wasn't asleep yet, but for the sake of caution, Xiang Changge still asked the system one more question in her mind.

The ever-responsive system replied: "No, and her level of low mood just dropped to seventy percent."

Xiang Changge: "...Did someone upset her?"

Author's note: Little Yu: Life is meaningless [Wailing][Wailing]

Steward Xiang: What is it this time, my eldest miss [Clown][Clown]

Chapter 18: Turns Out I Am the Master of the House

Did someone upset Yu Qing?

The system couldn't really say. Although it could detect Yu Qing's emotional state, it wasn't connected to her brainwaves, so it couldn't capture Yu Qing's more nuanced thoughts.

However, as a high-intelligence, advanced product, how could the system admit that it didn't know?

System: "Melancholy is her talent. A blade of grass, a tree, or even just a moment of distraction is enough to trigger her innate skill."

Therefore, Yu Qing being in a bad mood was as simple as breathing.

Xiang Changge frowned as she listened: "Then she's quite unlucky."

Who would want a talent like that?

Could this be the legendary 'heavy lies the head that wears the crown'? Wealthy beyond measure, yet melancholy.

How miserable.

System: "..."

Knowing that Yu Qing wasn't asleep, Xiang Changge spoke directly toward the lump on the fresh-colored, comfortable-looking luxury princess bed: "Miss, I have some things I need to discuss with you."

Yu Qing, who had her eyes tightly shut but her ears perked up: "..."

She had things to discuss with her?

What things?

Wasn't she happily playing with those three lively girls? Why come to her now to discuss something?

What could be so important that it had to be discussed right now? Wouldn't those three lively girls feel slighted if she left them behind?

Wait, could it be that she hired three extra people and ran out of money, so she wanted her to authorize more funds?

Forget it, she couldn't be bothered to care what she wanted. She didn't come earlier or later, but chose now of all times. She was going to sleep, so she should just go back to her three lively and interesting girls.

After Xiang Changge finished speaking, half a minute passed, but the person on the bed remained motionless and silent, as if determined to see her act of feigning sleep through to the end.

Xiang Changge, who had no choice but to call her out: "...Miss, I know you aren't asleep."

Yu Qing, whose body stiffened and whose eyes subconsciously cracked open a sliver: "?"

How did she know she wasn't asleep?

No, that was impossible. She couldn't possibly know; she was just trying to bluff her.

Yu Qing closed her eyes again, feeling at ease.

Xiang Changge, who received no response: "..."

How exactly was she supposed to wake someone who was pretending to be asleep?

After thinking about it, Xiang Changge suddenly felt that she didn't necessarily need to "wake" Yu Qing up. She could pretend to sleep, as long as she didn't actually drift off.

Thus, facing the quilt, Xiang Changge began to seek Yu Qing's opinion.

"It's like this, Miss. Because the golf course behind the house hasn't been used for a long time, it hasn't been maintained for ages. I'm hesitating between hiring someone to tidy it up again, or just using the existing space to plant more pasture grass and converting it into a ranch."

"The course is very large, and since it already has fences, we wouldn't need much extra renovation to use it if we turned it into a ranch."