Queen

"Are you using a laptop?"

"Why?"

"Secretary Ning, you look amazing! Even from an upward angle!"

"Heh... What do you want?"

"My part-time job's over, and I got paid!" Chen Shu grinned at Ning Qing on his phone screen. "When does your stint as a secretary end?"

"Anytime."

"Impressive, Secretary Ning!"

"Have you heard that some cultivators can kill people even through the internet?" Ning Qing wore a white shirt and stared straight into the camera. She had thought that would let Chen Shu feel her killing intent, but it seemed a little silly, so she promptly gave up and lifted her chin slightly. "Stop calling me Secretary Ning."

"What does everyone at the company call you?"

"Secretary Ning..."

"Then why can't I?"

"You're teasing me."

"I'm not!"

Chen Shu flatly refused to admit it.

"I'm not stupid."

"All right."

Chen Shu stretched. "I want to go shopping. Coming?"

"Yes."

"You're not even going to ask what I'm shopping for?"

"I'm coming."

"When?"

"Anytime."

"Tomorrow, then. Let's bring Xiaoxiao."

"Mm."

Ning Qing remained seated in the office after the video call ended. She thought for a moment, then glanced at President Ning, who sat in the secretary's seat. "Chasing this gimmick is pointless. Our approach has always been affordability, accessibility, and good service. That's our core market, and it's enormous. I don't think we need to pretend we're high-end. What matters most is maintaining our reputation among young people for quality, service, and value. We shouldn't be thinking about how to make a twenty-thousand-yuan bed. We should be thinking about how to make a two-thousand-yuan bed well-made, beautifully designed, and appealing to young people."

"Do it your way."

"You could discuss it with me."

"I trust your judgment. Make the decision yourself and stop bothering me."

"Tch..."

Ning Qing took a sip of water. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed two messages from Curator An.

How unusual.

She looked back up at her father, who was still reading a report, and said evenly, "President Ning, your wife wants to have dinner together tonight. She asks if you can recommend a restaurant."

President Ning frowned without looking up. "Why does your mother suddenly want to eat together? What's wrong with her? How annoying. Can't she pick somewhere herself?"

Then came a soft whoosh.

President Ning's head snapped up.

Ning Qing had just lifted her finger from the screen. She met his gaze calmly. "Oh, typing was too much trouble, so I sent a voice message. I pressed record right after I asked you."

She even played it back for him. "Why does your mother suddenly..."

President Ning stared at Ning Qing without expression.

Buzz.

Ning Qing glanced down, then looked up again, her tone as mild as ever. "President Ning, your wife asks if you have a death wish."

President Ning put down the report and took out his phone.

The next day, at Taiye Plaza.

Chen Shu brought the sisters soy milk dessert cups he had made himself. They found a milk tea shop and sat down to eat.

"Good?"

"Delicious!"

Xiaoxiao answered more eagerly than her sister. She looked up at Chen Shu. "I've never had one before."

"I'd never made them before."

"Why not?"

"I tried twice a few years ago, but they didn't turn out well. Even my older sister didn't like them, so I never brought you any. I had some free time these past few days and tried again. They turned out pretty well—even Professor Chen thought they tasted good—so I brought some for you to try."

"Thank you, brother-in-law."

"You seem really happy today, Xiaoxiao. Did something good happen?"

"Yes. Two things."

"What were they?" Chen Shu wanted to hear.

"Yesterday, I ordered delivery at home and noticed the shop owner had made a typo, so I mentioned it in the order notes." Xiaoxiao spooned some dessert into her mouth, pursed her lips, and shared a little piece of everyday happiness with her brother-in-law. "The owner gave me a little cookie and left me a note. Seeing them made me so happy."

"That's lovely."

Chen Shu could hardly resist patting her head. If only her sister could be this sweet too.

"And the other thing?"

"Mom was really angry yesterday. She found an excuse to grab Dad and give him a beating." Xiaoxiao kept eating as she spoke, lest her sister finish everything. "But what isn't nice is that people keep asking my sister and me how we study. My sister ignores them, so they all crowd around me."

Ning Qing shot Xiaoxiao a sidelong glance.

"You look like you're having plenty of fun."

Xiaoxiao ignored her sister and sighed softly.

"Ugh, they're so annoying."

She sounded like an adult.

Chen Shu smiled into his lips and took a sip of milk tea. The straw made a hollow gurgle. Seeing that the sisters were nearly finished, he tossed his cup away. "Hurry up and finish. Then we can go shopping and cover the whole mall."

"What do you want to buy, brother-in-law?"

"Just browse. I'll buy anything that catches my eye. I've already bought most of what I need online."

"Oh."

The girl ate faster.

Two hours later.

Chen Shu hadn't bought anything for himself, but he had picked out several tops and pairs of pants and a pair of shoes for Xiaoxiao. He paid for some, and Ning Qing paid for the rest.

If Chen Shu remembered correctly, the last time he had taken the girl clothes shopping was the year before. He couldn't very well choose things for her online, and Xiaoxiao neither shopped online herself nor cared much about dressing up. But how could a young girl go a year without a few new outfits? So whenever Chen Shu went shopping with Qingqing, he brought Xiaoxiao along.

On the way back, Chen Shu was still thinking about the strappy high-heeled sandals he had seen earlier—and the long legs above them. He couldn't help feeling regretful.

"What a shame. Those shoes really were beautiful."

"I'd be taller than you in them." Ning Qing walked on at an unhurried pace.

"I don't mind you looking taller than me. It would make me look rich." Chen Shu turned his head. "Right, Xiaoxiao?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you're too handsome, brother-in-law," the girl said seriously. "You'd have to be older and uglier for it to look like that."

"True..."

Chen Shu nodded, thoroughly agreeing.

Ning Qing rolled her eyes.

They didn't take a taxi. Each carried a few things, and they strolled for an hour before reaching the small courtyard at Ning Qing's home.

Not many flowers were still blooming in the courtyard.

Most rose varieties disliked the heat and bloomed poorly in midsummer, so Ning Qing usually pinched off their buds as soon as they appeared. If they wouldn't bloom well anyway, they might as well not bloom at all. The plants could save their nutrients, grow stronger, and put on a better show in autumn.

That was why most of the plants had no buds.

But a few were blooming beautifully.

Some of the "Summer" series roses could bloom normally even in high heat; when it was cooler, their flowers might not open at all. Chen Shu admired them one by one.

To his slight surprise, Queen in the corner had bloomed too.

Queen had pink-and-white rosette blooms, ethereal as a fairy, held upright like lotuses. The flower was smaller than it would have been in spring or autumn, with fewer petals. It had lost a little of its noble air, but gained a tender, youthful softness.

Chen Shu hurriedly called Ning Qing over to see. She had already noticed it that morning, but she still came to his side and stood watching him.

Click, click.

Chen Shu took two photos.

This variety grew upright, every stem pointing straight up, giving it a tall, elegant shape. But it had a frosty temperament—thorns everywhere, like a spiked club—and rarely bloomed. Even when it did, the flowers faded quickly. In spring and autumn, they lasted three to five days on the stem; in summer, they were spent within a day.

It was a bundle of faults.

But Chen Shu liked it anyway. Whenever it bloomed, he forgave it everything.

He put away his phone, breathed in the fragrance, and asked Ning Qing beside him, "When you go to the Jade Capital, what'll happen to all your flowers? Will Xiaoxiao look after them?"

"Mm."

"With all your particular ways, won't that be hard on Xiaoxiao?"

"She only has to watch them for one semester. I've already buried slow-release fertilizer, so she just needs to water them and spray them regularly as a precaution." Ning Qing paused. "Once I'm in the Jade Capital, I'll try to find a place near school with a courtyard and move the flowers there."

"Oh, you've had it planned all along!"

Chen Shu glanced over the courtyard full of flowers. There was room to plant them in the ground, yet most were in pots. Potted plants could never compare with ones grown in the earth.

Ning Qing hummed in acknowledgment.

Before long, another neighbor came to ask the sisters for their study secrets, banging on the door rather rudely.

The homeowners in this neighborhood were fairly wealthy and took their children's education seriously. A few days earlier, they had learned that one daughter in this household had been admitted early to Ling'an Academy, while the other had skipped two grades and earned excellent marks. Everyone wanted to learn their secret.

Ning Qing had Xiaoxiao receive the visitors. She picked up a pair of pruning shears and silently followed Chen Shu.

Whichever flower Chen Shu liked, she cut it for him and carefully removed the thorns.

In the distance, Xiaoxiao's conversation with a neighbor drifted over.

"How did you score so high?"

"If you get more questions right, you get more points."

"My child gets questions wrong all over the paper."

"Then the score will be lower."

"How are you two so good at studying?"

"Because we're smart."

"Is being smart all it takes? My child isn't stupid either, so why are their grades so poor?"

"That's normal, ma'am. People who are good at studying tend to do a little better, and people who aren't as good tend not to do quite as well."

"Oh, my child only scored a little over four hundred on this year's practice exam. I don't know what kind of college they can get into next year, or whether there's still room to improve."

"With a little over four hundred on the practice exam, they can probably get into a college that takes students with a little over four hundred... If they improve, they can get into a better one. If they do worse, they'll have to go to a worse one."

"Do you have any study tips?"

"Don't sleep or play games while you're studying."

"You're absolutely right! My child is always sleeping or playing games when they should be studying!"

"Then they're very talented."

"..." The woman fell silent for a moment. "Little girl, I heard you have an older sister too. Where is she?"

"She's not home."

"I'll come back another time."

The neighbor left.

The girl quietly said goodbye to the woman. As she turned around, a barely perceptible delight still hid in her eyes, but the instant she faced the others, it vanished.

Frowning slightly, she said to Chen Shu:

"Brother-in-law, these people are so annoying."