A golden-maned lion

The windows had been left open last night. The curtains fluttered slightly in the morning breeze, which also woke the boy in bed.

Yan Huan opened his eyes groggily. Looking at the unfamiliar ceiling, he felt heavy, his whole body tingling and numb.

The sensation brought back unpleasant memories of last night, making him rub his brow helplessly.

"Mrow~"

Under the warm covers, a warm ball of black fur struggled out too. It shook itself at the edge of the bed, then gripped the sheets with its front half lowered and rear raised, opening its feline mouth wide in a stretch.

Yan Huan propped himself up a little and picked up his fully charged phone from the bedside. It was just past nine.

After checking the time, he sighed and lay back down, burying his head deep in the pillow.

Last night, he had fallen asleep thinking about how to deal with Ye Shiyu's Modifier, and ended up having a nightmare.

He had dreamed he was standing by a cliff, his body walking toward the edge step by step against his will.

Knowing full well that he was in danger yet being unable to control himself felt like torture, right up until he fell and was smashed to pieces.

There was no question about it. Facing Ye Shiyu's Modifier last night had left him unable to sleep in peace.

If he really stayed here long-term, not only would he have to face Bai Yi's indifference at school, but he would also have to come home to Ye Shiyu hypnotizing him.

Seriously, it felt like his whole life would be over.

No. I have to get out.

Yan Huan thought this with his face in the pillow, his head as heavy as iron.

The good news was that his sense of danger had driven him to leave himself some room yesterday instead of immediately agreeing to stay. The bad news was that he still had to spend at least the weekend here.

If he suddenly left for no apparent reason, Ye Lan might merely be puzzled, but Ye Shiyu would probably notice something was off and suspect that Yan Huan knew about last night's hypnosis.

So he could only keep enduring it.

"Ugh..."

Yan Huan's muffled sigh came from inside the pillow.

Normally, he woke up early even on weekends and went out for morning exercise. That definitely wasn't happening today, so he could only treat it as giving himself a day off.

"Meow~"

Meow-chan came up against him with a meow. Yan Huan couldn't help reaching out to rub its head. Remembering something, he asked,

"Meow-chan, you don't need to eat either, right?"

"Nope, meow."

"What a shame. You won't get to eat tasty cat treats or canned food."

You're just disappointed you won't get to feed me cat treats and canned food, aren't you?

Meow-chan had seen through everything. Then it said in a flat voice,

"But if you insist on feeding me, I can eat a tiny bit."

"All right, then. What a greedy kitty."

"..."

Yan Huan sat up, ignoring Meow-chan as it yowled and tried to pounce on him to bite him, and went to the bathroom to wash up.

By the time he finished and went downstairs, Ye Lan and Aunt Chen were already in the living room below, lit by the morning sun.

"You're up, Xiao Huan? Did you sleep well last night?"

Ye Lan sat at the dining table in a white gauze house dress. The bright morning light traced the vague outline of her slender body through the fabric.

With her back to the shafts of light, she sat with her legs crossed, a slipper barely hanging from her toes as it bobbed up and down.

Yan Huan hid last night's nightmare behind a flawless smile. "I slept very well. Nothing I couldn't get used to."

If not for the restrictions concerning Modifiers, he would have reported Ye Shiyu right then for going astray and hypnotizing people at random, an unforgivable crime.

"That's good. Come have breakfast. Your sister's still asleep. She's a little sleepyhead who usually likes staying in bed."

Ye Lan's voice was as gentle as ever. They were mother and daughter, yet they felt worlds apart.

One was an angel, the other a devil.

Aunt Chen brought out a breakfast full of Dragon Nation specialties: pastries, soy milk, and the like, along with a plate of boiled eggs.

Ye Lan took only one egg. Unsurprisingly, a glass of banana-scented milk sat beside her hand.

Seeing Yan Huan still wearing the white shirt from yesterday's school uniform, Ye Lan smiled as she peeled her egg.

"We completely forgot to buy you some clothes on the way home yesterday, Xiao Huan. Let's go buy some today. I heard there's a huge aquarium nearby, next to a famous shopping center. We'll head out in a bit!"

"Sure, Aunt Ye."

Ye Lan smiled at the boy sitting down in front of her. Seeing a little moisture still at his temples, she knew he had only just washed up.

His hair was still a little messy too. Clearly, he hadn't taken much care with it.

With a face like Yan Huan's, he looked good regardless and certainly wouldn't put anyone off. But if he paid more attention to these things, he might just drive girls wild.

He was a boy, after all, and wasn't as meticulous about these things as girls were. She would teach him hands-on later.

"Here, have an egg."

With that thought, Ye Lan handed Yan Huan the egg, leaving a little shell at the bottom to make it easier to hold.

"Thank you, Auntie."

He had only eaten half of the egg she gave him, his cheeks still bulging, when Ye Lan peeled another and handed it over.

Yan Huan blinked and looked up at her. The sight made Ye Lan cover her mouth and chuckle, and she quickly said,

"Sweetie, take your time. Finish that one before eating this, okay?"

Ye Lan put down the peeled egg for the moment, then picked up a tissue beside her and reached toward Yan Huan's face, seemingly wanting to wipe something off.

Just then, faint footsteps came from the staircase behind him. Yan Huan didn't turn around, but he seemed to know who was coming down through some kind of "spider-sense."

He quickly reached out first and caught the tissue Ye Lan was offering. "Thank you, Auntie. I can do it."

With that, he took the tissue and wiped his mouth.

Ye Lan blinked, then giggled.

She pulled out another tissue. This time, with Yan Huan holding his unfinished egg in his left hand and still wiping his mouth with his right, she had already begun gently drying his temples.

"You didn't even dry your face. Trying to be a little messy kitty?"

Apparently, Yan "Failure-Man" Huan's spider-sense didn't work on Ye Lan.

Come on, anyone would think a tissue was for wiping their mouth, right? Who knew there was a second phase?

Yan Huan's eyes widened. Unfortunately, Ye Shiyu, now changed into a long black dress, had already arrived behind him.

Her emotionless gaze was like an invisible blade, nearly making Yan Huan break into a sweat.

Great master of hypnosis, please stop looking at me. I'm begging you.

"Sister Shiyu, good morning."

He forced down his inner speechlessness and greeted Ye Shiyu. Ye Lan quickly waved her over for breakfast too.

"You're up. Go get a bowl and utensils from the kitchen and have breakfast."

"Mm."

Ye Shiyu nodded and silently went to the kitchen to fetch her bowl and utensils, the black porcelain set reserved for her.

Only after she arrived did Ye Lan finally stop feeding Yan Huan and turn to feeding her instead.

It made Yan Huan feel as though he and Ye Shiyu were two hungry nestlings waiting to be fed. Yes... the kind where one could hypnotize the other.

Yet, faintly, Yan Huan sensed that Ye Shiyu kept glancing his way from the corner of her eye.

It wasn't how someone looked at an enemy, nor how someone looked at a person.

I'm behaving now. Please spare me.

Yan Huan lowered his head and focused on eating. The meal passed quietly like that.

There was a long rest after breakfast. Ye Lan told Ye Shiyu about their plans for later, and she didn't refuse, so they each went to get ready.

Women always had more preparations to make before going out than men, starting with the all-important makeup, then their hair, clothes, and shoes. Everything needed consideration.

For Yan Huan, brushing his teeth and washing his face in the morning already counted as being ready to go. If he showered, washed his hair, and put some effort into his clothes too, he was either attending an important occasion or going on a date.

While they were both upstairs, Yan Huan chatted in the group for a while and took the opportunity to text his part-time boss to ask for leave. Last night's little hypnosis incident had made him forget.

"Sister Tong, can I have another two days off? I've got something on this weekend. I'm not in the South District."

"That's straight-up absence without leave. Deducting 400."

"So heartless. Aren't we the best friends in the whole world?"

He sent an "otter looking up" sticker.

"Heh. What do you think?"

Just as Yan Huan was giving the cold, heartless chat window on his phone the middle finger, Ye Lan's voice came from the stairs.

"Xiao Huan, time to head out~"

"Coming, Auntie."

Yan Huan rose from the sofa and looked up. Ye Lan was coming downstairs in a long white pleated chiffon dress.

She wore a little light makeup, her hair styled half-up, along with crystal-set hair accessories and earrings.

If Ye Lan in yesterday's qipao had been a classical Eastern beauty, she was now a European royal princess.

And the reason for her outfit was clearly that Ye Shiyu behind her was likewise wearing a black chiffon dress and carrying a tiny handbag.

These counted as matching mother-daughter outfits, a sign of their bond.

Unlike the casual dress Ye Shiyu had worn yesterday, this one had some intricate detailing at the chest, and its skirt was a little longer...

Her long black hair was pinned up high. Since her ears weren't pierced, she wore no earrings or similar accessories, but a girl like her needed no adornments to enhance her looks.

Her youthful beauty was at its peak. Simply standing there, she drew lingering gazes.

Even after this cold girl's surprise attack last night, that remained a fact Yan Huan couldn't deny.

They really look like sisters.

Yan Huan had originally intended to compliment them that way, but abandoned the idea when he realized it might step on Ye Shiyu's toes.

If repeated, intense interactions in front of Ye Lan made Ye Shiyu furious, and she came straight over that night to hypnotize him into jumping off the building, he really would be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

If he jumped, he was dead. If he didn't, she'd discover her Modifier wasn't working, and then it would undergo a super evolution, his resistance would stop working, and he would still end up dead.

Yan Huan decided to hold back.

So today's Yan Huan was a Yan Huan with low emotional intelligence.

"Okay, Auntie."

He said it rather cluelessly, but hadn't expected that merely seeing his face would make Ye Lan laugh. She squeezed his shoulder and teased,

"If we buy anything later, you'll have to carry it for both of us, Xiao Huan~"

Stare-

Ye Shiyu's gaze, which didn't seem to be looking at a person, landed on him again. Yan Huan already felt like a dead man, ready to give up struggling.

"No problem..."

"Such a good boy, Xiao Huan."

"..."

In the car, Yan Huan discovered that Ye Lan really liked talking to him as though coaxing a small child-he realized this when Ye Lan fed him banana milk from the front seat for the second time.

There was a chauffeur driving up front, and Ye Lan sat in the passenger seat, leaving Yan Huan in the back with Ye Shiyu, that walking disaster.

Drinking his banana milk, he unconsciously compared Ye Lan's tone when speaking to him with her tone when speaking to Ye Shiyu.

Only through that comparison did he feel that, perhaps because they were mother and daughter, she was clearly much less doting when talking to Ye Shiyu.

That feeling of unequal treatment once again gave Yan Huan a bad feeling, prompting him to steal another glance at Ye Shiyu beside him, who was also drinking banana milk.

At that moment, she was as quiet as a doll, yet Yan Huan had clearly witnessed her expressive side last night. She could even pout cutely like Auntie Ye Lan.

With these idle thoughts running through his head, they soon reached their destination.

The aquarium Ye Lan had mentioned covered a large area. They could probably spend a long time inside.

And since it was the weekend, it was fairly crowded as noon approached. Quite a few schools had organized student group outings too, and the plaza outside the aquarium was packed.

Ye Lan said nothing at the crowds gathered outside, but looked troubled when she saw the blazing sun.

"The sun's too strong. Here, you two darlings, put on some sunscreen before going out."

She took sunscreen from her bag and squeezed a little into her palm, then turned and reached toward the two in the back with a smile.

"Shiyu first?"

Ye Shiyu backed away in resistance, shaking her head repeatedly.

But Ye Lan had already leaned over, placing her fair hand on Ye Shiyu's face and gently rubbing.

"Mm~"

The icy sensation made Ye Shiyu close her eyes, frown slightly in discomfort, and press her lips together. Yet her head swayed gently along with Ye Lan's hand as it kneaded her face like dough.

Even after it was all applied, a trace of misery lingered on her face.

"Next, little..."

Seeing this, Yan Huan reached out with the resolve of a man facing death and took the sunscreen from Ye Lan's hand.

"I'll do it myself, Auntie. I'm the best at applying sunscreen!"

"Really?"

"Guaranteed."

Yan Huan squeezed out some sunscreen and solemnly dotted it onto four spots on his face, then rubbed it in just as she had. Finally, with a ta-da, he spread his hands to show Ye Lan.

"Done."

"Pfft, there's still some by your hairline."

"..."

He was indeed good at applying sunscreen. That wasn't a lie.

Because in his previous life, the anime he watched always had a swimsuit episode, and then someone would invariably need sunscreen applied for some inexplicable reason. That was where he had learned.

From the look of things now, knowledge on paper really was shallow.

Had he known, he should have paid more attention to the technique while watching, rather than looking only at all that fair, delicate skin.

With his mental reflection complete and his sunscreen applied, they got out of the car at the aquarium entrance.

Behind him, Ye Lan got out with a parasol. Since she had already arranged for someone to buy tickets well in advance, they only needed to line up for ticket inspection and enter.

"Aunt Ye, the line's over here."

Yan Huan quickly found the ticket checkpoint.

Ye Shiyu stood beside Ye Lan holding the parasol. Just as she was about to bring her over, the phone in Ye Lan's bag suddenly rang.

Ye Lan took out her phone and glanced at the caller ID, then said helplessly to Yan Huan,

"Xiao Huan, hold on. Auntie has something to deal with and needs to take a call. It'll take a little while. Could you and Shiyu wait here for a bit?"

"No problem."

Yan Huan blinked, turned back, and gave her an apologetic smile, pointing behind him.

Seemingly aware that Ye Lan couldn't discuss work here, Ye Shiyu considerately handed her mother the parasol and watched her head somewhere quieter in the distance to take the call.

Amid the bustling crowd, the handsome young man and beautiful young woman standing some distance apart were strikingly conspicuous.

Ye Shiyu stood motionless, while Yan Huan walked over naturally and suggested,

"Sister Shiyu, shall we stand somewhere else? It's pretty sunny here, and we're blocking people in the middle of the path."

"...Okay."

Ye Shiyu nodded, then surveyed their surroundings and pointed at the souvenir shop beside the ticket booth.

The shop was quite large, with plenty of creative merchandise and aquarium souvenirs on display. It also sold drinks.

"Over there," she said.

"OK."

Yan Huan set off first, and Ye Shiyu followed silently behind him to the shop entrance.

Once at the entrance, Yan Huan looked around, while Ye Shiyu played the mannequin again, staring motionlessly at the people queuing in front of her.

She was beautiful, but that utterly unchanging gaze made the people passing in front of her uncomfortable. They began avoiding her eyes, then avoiding her altogether.

Before long, it was as though a force field had formed in front of her, bouncing tourists away. Only Yan Huan still stood beside her, though he felt rather awkward too.

"Sister Shiyu, want something to drink?"

To ease the awkward silence, Yan Huan glanced toward the drinks counter nearby, feeling somewhat tempted.

Ye Shiyu, however, turned and scanned the spacious souvenir shop. Seeming to spot something that interested her inside, she said,

"...I want to look around inside."

So do you want a drink or not?

Speechless, Yan Huan could only say, "Then go have a look around, Sister Shiyu. I'll get the drinks."

"Mm."

She turned and entered the souvenir shop.

Watching her retreating back, Yan Huan walked to the drinks shop nearby, glanced up at the menu, and said,

"Two Méngméng Blue Brews and one Big Banana Sweetie. What the hell are these names?"

"Sure, we'll make those for you right away~"

"Welcome!"

Soothing music played inside the shop. Quite a few people were examining the souvenirs for sale on the shelves, and the shop assistants greeted every customer with their customer-service smiles.

Ye Shiyu stood before a shelf, her gaze passing over the items one by one.

Whale models, dolphin plushies, shark figurines.

Yes, these were the stars of the aquarium. When most people thought of the ocean, they probably pictured these animals. They were very popular products!

But Ye Shiyu merely glanced at them before looking away.

Not interested?

Then... how about sea turtle gomoku sets or manta ray puzzles?

These were a little more niche, but they were still very cute souvenir designs with plenty of fans!

Ye Shiyu silently looked away again and continued forward.

The shelves at the shop entrance always held the items that attracted the most attention. Seeing that these had failed to keep Ye Shiyu there, the shop assistant at the entrance looked away too.

Looks like a tourist who just came in to browse.

That was how Ye Shiyu was categorized in someone else's mind.

"Welcome!"

Listening to the assistant at the entrance greet other tourists, Ye Shiyu silently examined the merchandise around her until, in a corner, she finally saw what had caught her interest earlier.

It was an azure jellyfish keychain, with room to hang plenty of keys beneath its tentacles. Exquisitely crafted, with a crystal-like texture, it hung all alone at the edge of a shelf.

Ye Shiyu didn't hesitate. Like an explorer discovering some treasure, her eyes brightened slightly, as though the jellyfish had captured her entire attention.

Then she eagerly reached out, intending to take it down and buy it.

But at that very moment, another fair-skinned hand reached out beside her and grasped the jellyfish keychain at almost exactly the same time.

With one person holding each side, the jellyfish that had been about to leave the shelf was held in place.

Already holding the keychain, Ye Shiyu paused slightly, then turned her head. Only then did she notice the other tourist she had overlooked in her concentration.

Standing there was a girl her age who also seemed to have frozen for a moment.

The first thing that caught her eye was a thick head of long, naturally golden hair with a slight curl, followed by the beautiful face close at hand.

Her features were more defined than Ye Shiyu's, and her eyes were a sparkling, clear blue. She was clearly of a different race from Ye Shiyu.

Thus, compared with Ye Shiyu's delicate beauty, Blond Hair's features were more striking and more aggressive.

She was about Ye Shiyu's height, dressed in a lightweight black athletic T-shirt, with a black baseball cap bearing some sort of signature on her head.

Her figure was curvier and her muscles firmer. She looked like she exercised often.

Upon realizing that someone else was holding the keychain too, she raised her eyebrows slightly. As her pink lips parted, a particularly prominent canine tooth peeked out.

Like a little golden-haired lion, Blond Hair spoke, her pitch higher than most people's.

"Hm?"

"..."

Ye Shiyu remained unmoved, simply holding the keychain.

Blond Hair did the same, showing no intention of letting go.

Their identical choices invisibly tinged the air with tension. After a moment of silence, Blond Hair before her gave a quiet click of her tongue.

She glanced at the keychain's price tag, then lifted her chin and said to Ye Shiyu,

"I really like this one, so it's mine. Pick something else at the same price, and I'll pay for it. Deal?"

The lure of a free souvenir could avert a dispute over the item. Unfortunately, the seemingly generous offer didn't work on Ye Shiyu.

Ye Shiyu watched her without moving, seemingly oblivious to the displeasure in her words. When she spoke, her tone didn't sound as though she was talking to someone she was competing with.

Of course, it didn't sound as though she was talking to a person, either.

She said softly,

"No."

"Huh?"

Blond Hair's expression darkened at once. She sneered and said,

"Interesting. Then what if I insist on having this today?"

She gradually increased the strength of her grip, making Ye Shiyu's fingers around the keychain slowly turn white-a clear indication of how strong she was.

Ye Shiyu remained expressionless. As though sensing the change in the girl's emotions, the phone she held eerily lit up all by itself.

Yet her tone remained unchanged.

"I said no."