Lin Jianxia's Secret

"..."

"..."

"Lin Tingwan, so you can talk after all!" Jiang Yubai suddenly realized.

"Jiang Yubai!"

Lin Jianxia's voice rose despite herself, but as though she had suddenly realized something, she quickly shut her mouth again.

Biting her lower lip, her heart pounded wildly. She could not help lowering her head, not daring to look at Jiang Yubai's expression beside her.

Before speaking, she had already rehearsed countless humiliating scenes in her mind—him mocking her, her dying of embarrassment on the spot.

Even when she had just revealed the truth, that unbearable sense of shame had still clung to her chest.

But after the words proving that she was "Lin Jianxia" truly left her mouth, another kind of indescribable panic quietly surged up.

Like a tide, it slowly flooded over her chest, tightening her breath.

Would Jiang Yubai... think she had been lying to him all along?

Would he... think she had only found it amusing and had deliberately been teasing him?

Would he... think that he had helped her so wholeheartedly, yet she had refused to tell him the truth, and leave in anger?

She had clearly been thinking about cutting ties with him completely over the weekend and never seeing him again, but when that possibility truly drew near, Lin Jianxia's heart still involuntarily clenched.

She did not dare raise her head to look at Jiang Yubai's expression. She merely sat on the chair as though on pins and needles, waiting for the first question he would ask.

But she waited and waited. Several minutes passed, yet Jiang Yubai still did not make a sound.

"..."

Unable to endure it any longer, Lin Jianxia cautiously raised her eyes, only to meet Jiang Yubai's gaze as he turned to look at her.

Her body stiffened slightly, but she forced herself not to lower her head and simply met his eyes.

He seemed... not angry?

Lin Jianxia quietly tried to read the emotion in his eyes, then hesitantly asked in a soft voice, "Aren't you... going to say anything?"

"Say what?"

Jiang Yubai paused, realizing that he seemed to have reacted a little too calmly.

Belatedly, he gave an "Ah," then thought for a moment and drawled out:

"So—you were the one chatting with me from beginning to end." (flatly)

"So you've been lying to me all this time. How awful." (flatly)

Lin Jianxia: "..."

"Alright, alright, I'll stop teasing you." Jiang Yubai could not help laughing as he waved a hand. "Actually, I already knew."

He had wanted to put on some indignant act of an innocent young man deceived by a wicked woman, discovering that he had been played like a fiddle. Unfortunately, he simply could not summon up the emotion.

He might as well come clean, just like her.

Seeing Lin Jianxia freeze completely, Jiang Yubai blinked, and his tone could not help carrying a hint of guilt.

"Uh... it's true. I'm not lying to you."

Honestly, he had known all along but had not exposed her, instead teasing her the whole time—thinking about it, he really did seem a little unscrupulous.

Just as his gaze began to wander, he caught sight of the girl beside him suddenly biting her lower lip, her eyes visibly reddening.

Jiang Yubai froze. Lin Jianxia's tears had already begun rolling down in streams, one drop after another splashing onto the backs of her tightly clenched hands.

"Hey, hey—" Jiang Yubai panicked at once. "Don't cry! It's my fault, I was wrong!"

He hurriedly moved closer, clumsily trying to reach out and comfort her, yet not daring to actually touch her.

"Please don't cry, sis. I really shouldn't have teased you like that..."

But at that moment, Lin Jianxia could no longer hear his voice.

She had originally been comforting herself in her heart. Maybe it was only... that the job they had agreed on was gone. At worst, she could just find another one.

Even if she truly could not scrape together the rent and she and Wanwan had to move out, there was still time before next month. They would surely find somewhere to stay.

But another voice in her heart grew louder and louder, pressing down on her until she could barely breathe—

No. It was not just that.

She was afraid of returning once more to that cold, silent world.

Going an entire day without saying a single word, going to school and coming home alone, sitting in the classroom as quietly as a shadow.

There would be no notebook slowly nudged over to her, nor the little snacks placed on top of it.

And there would be no... one person who picked up her cup and drank from it.

Perhaps it was not love. Perhaps she was merely a girl who had been steeped in silence for far too long, finally encountering a ray of light shining in.

And just now, she had almost thought she would lose even that ray of light.

On the other side, Jiang Yubai was completely at a loss.

He had truly not expected Lin Jianxia's reaction to be this intense.

Come to think of it, what he had done... really was rather inhumane.

He had clearly known that the person in front of him was Lin Jianxia, yet he had taken advantage of her inability to talk back, relentlessly asking what she liked and disliked. He had practically asked her about her ideal type.

When she had suddenly received this terrible news today, of course she could not accept it.

Wasn't he done for? He had offended the maid before even moving into the house. What if she poisoned his food while cooking later...

As Jiang Yubai's mind spun with all sorts of nonsense, the girl beside him had stopped sobbing at some point.

She sniffled softly, then called in a low voice thick with nasal congestion:

"Jiang Yubai."

"Present!"

Jiang Yubai was practically about to stand at attention.

"When... did you start knowing I wasn't Wanwan?" Lin Jianxia asked softly.

He opened his mouth, but Jiang Yubai ultimately chose a version that would be a little easier for her to accept.

"Actually, not that long ago. It was just that your behavior this morning was really off."

"Then I remembered that when I was at your house, you kept stopping me from talking to your sister... so I only vaguely guessed."

Lin Jianxia looked at him for a while, narrowing her eyes. "Really?"

"Really."

Jiang Yubai's eyes were utterly sincere.

As though recalling something, Lin Jianxia's voice took on a dangerous edge. "...Then those questions you asked this morning—were they all deliberate?"

"I'm sorry, I was wrong. Please be magnanimous and forgive me." Jiang Yubai surrendered in a second.

What a joke. He did not want to be eating one day, only for his vision to suddenly go black and for him to become a wandering ghost sent off by the maid's poison.

Lin Jianxia stared at him for a while longer before speaking quietly. "The thing you said... about having me cook for you. Does that still count?"

"Of course it counts." Jiang Yubai immediately nodded. "I've already contacted the landlord. Once the place is repainted and the furniture replaced, we can probably move in this weekend."

What a joke. He had finally caught himself a cook. If it did not count, who would make food for him?

Lin Jianxia gave an "Oh" and slowly swung her legs.

"Since you said you were wrong, then as compensation... I want to set three rules."

"No problem." Jiang Yubai agreed without hesitation.

"First, the promised wages must be paid on time. No delays, and no docking my pay whenever you feel like it."

"Second, I'm only responsible for cooking and daily housework. I won't do any other... weird or miscellaneous things. When it's time to get off work, I get off work."

Jiang Yubai nodded readily, but after waiting for quite a while without hearing a third rule, he could not help turning to look at her.

"What about the third?"

"I haven't thought of the third one yet." Lin Jianxia curled her lips. "I'll tell you later."

"...Fine."

Lin Jianxia fell silent, and Jiang Yubai did not speak either.

A peculiar silence spread between them. Only the slanting light of dusk streamed into the pavilion, dyeing the air a warm amber.

The sun gradually sank, and the clouds on the horizon burned a soft orange-red.

The silence lasted a long time—so long that Jiang Yubai had nearly thought their conversation was over—when Lin Jianxia suddenly spoke softly.

"Hey, Jiang Yubai."

Her voice was quiet, yet it fell clearly into the twilight.

"Do you want to know... why I came to school in my sister's place?"