Sister, can I be a maid too?

...Could you make your guilty conscience any more obvious?

There's definitely something fishy going on.

Jiang Yubai twitched the corner of his mouth and casually wrote down:

"Sure, I'll come over on Saturday afternoon."

I want to see.jpg

After finishing writing, he subconsciously took out a packet of cookies from his bag, but suddenly stopped just as he was about to put it on.

Wait a minute, wasn't she the one who asked me this time? Why do I have to feed her snacks?

.....never mind.

He gently placed the cookie on the notebook and pushed it over.

After waiting for two minutes, Jiang Yubai still hadn't received the notebook back.

Looking to the side, I saw that Lin Jianxia was already sitting upright, staring intently at the textbook on her desk, looking like she was focused on solving a problem.

The draft notebook remained untouched on the corner of the table—only the packet of cookies on it was gone.

Okay, okay, you'll eat the sugar coating and then fire the cannonballs back, right? You haven't even replied to my previous messages yet.

Jiang Yubai was so angry he almost laughed.

He reached for his notebook and carefully copied his previous question back: "By the way, what kind of music does your sister usually like to listen to?"

Hmm, add a small bread roll, perfect.

This time, the reply came very quickly.

Jiang Yubai took the notebook and saw four characters written neatly on it.

"Summer Breeze"

—Not bad, not bad, quite tasteful.

Nodding in satisfaction, Jiang Yubai thought for a moment and then casually wrote a question on his notebook.

"Hmm... what kind of person does your sister like? Does she have any criteria for choosing a partner?"

After writing down the questions, he looked down and rummaged through his bag for a moment, finally deciding to give people some vitamins—so he reached out and picked up an orange, gently placing it on the notebook.

...I must say, this really does have that feeling of feeding and interacting with virtual pets that I used to have.

It turns out that the saying that girls eat less is definitely not true for senior high school students.

Staying up late and waking up early every day, coupled with intense mental exertion, will take a toll even on a small appetite, naturally increasing the body's energy requirements.

Lin Jianxia was no exception.

Ever since discovering that snacks have a special effect on her, Jiang Yubai has gone to the supermarket almost every morning without fail, stuffing all sorts of snacks into her schoolbag like a shopping spree, just waiting to be fed them during self-study class.

In just a few days, he subtly inquired about almost everything about Lin Jianxia, ​​including her height, weight, food preferences, and even her daily routine.

Of course, Jiang Yubai did this not as preparation for pursuing her or anything like that.

I just thought... teasing her was really fun.

Although Lin Jianxia herself may not have realized it, the way she was so angry about the problem but dared not show it in person, so she could only vent all her emotions on her pen—it was really too interesting.

He could even roughly judge her current level of anger by the force with which she wrote and the sloppiness of her handwriting.

These fragmented thoughts raced through Jiang Yubai's mind as he twirled his pen and glanced to the side.

The draft notebook was still lying quietly in its original place, and the orange was still placed neatly on it.

After two days of feeding, Jiang Yubai gradually figured out some patterns.

In general, it's not that Lin Jianxia didn't see it, nor that she's picky about food; it's just that this time... she probably doesn't want to answer the question.

Jiang Yubai turned the pen with a hint of regret.

Sigh, asking about her ideal type directly in front of her... it seems I've crossed a line she can accept.

He took the notebook, first crossed out the line of text, then thought for a moment and asked a different question.

-----------------

The familiar rustling sound of paper came again. Lin Jianxia glanced at it out of the corner of her eye and saw the question that had been rewritten.

"Does your sister follow celebrities? Does she have a favorite male star?"

What?! Ah!

Isn't this just a different way of asking about your ideal type?!

Lin Jianxia pursed her lips, surprisingly not feeling much anger.

Firstly, these kinds of problems have been appearing far too often lately, so much so that she's become quite exasperated and can't even keep up with getting angry.

Secondly... Jiang Yubai isn't acting at all! He dares to ask about everything, from height and weight to taste preferences, practically asking, "Is your sister interested in me?" It's outrageous!

Isn't he afraid that his 'younger sister' will go back and complain to her older sister?!

Forget it, it's already Friday anyway. I'll get paid tonight and talk to him about it tomorrow when I pay the rent!

As for now...

Lin Jianxia pursed her lips, reached out and put the orange into her schoolbag, then picked up her pen and wrote two large characters heavily on her draft paper:

"Don't chase!!"

She even added two exclamation marks after it, a self-deceptive attempt to express a little bit of anger.

Just as I handed over the draft notebook, the bell rang to signal the end of get out of class.

Lin Jianxia almost reflexively packed her schoolbag and fled the classroom as if escaping.

Only after she walked out of the school gate and blended into the flowing crowd did she finally relax her tense shoulders and let out a soft breath.

Finally... this week is finally over.

Once I collect my salary from the bookstore, I can pay the rent tomorrow.

The large rock that had been hanging in mid-air was finally able to fall.

And most importantly—she finally didn't have to put up with that bastard's endless harassment anymore!

Thinking of this, Lin Jianxia's lips unconsciously curled up, and she walked briskly towards the bookstore.

Chapter 15 The Girl Hidden in the Dark

Ring ring—

The familiar sound of wind chimes rang out at the entrance of the bookstore.

Because it was Friday, the store was busier than usual. Some people were picking out notebooks and pens in front of the stationery shelves, and several junior high school students who had finished school early were gathered in the comic book section, excitedly flipping through the newly arrived serials.

The proprietress remained seated behind the counter, glancing up as she entered.

"You're here? Perfect timing, a new batch of books arrived this afternoon, and I haven't had time to sort them yet."

She pointed to several unopened boxes of books piled up in the corner: "Here, take these boxes in too. Put the best-selling series outside. Come back to me for your wages after you're done organizing."

Lin Jianxia nodded, avoiding the gaze of the customers in the store, and carried the book box into the backstage area.

Although the job didn't pay much and was purely physical labor, Lin Jianxia cherished it.

Firstly, 'Sisyphus' is not far from Lin San Middle School, and can be reached on foot; secondly, the bookstore is located in a secluded spot, and few students from the school would make a special detour to come here.

More importantly, her work area was almost entirely in the small back-end warehouse.

Even if a familiar face occasionally walks into the bookstore, she has ample time to avoid it, minimizing the possibility of bumping into them.

It wasn't that she felt ashamed to work odd jobs outside, but rather that she was worried about her classmates overhearing her talking to the shop owner in the store...

It would be quite a troublesome thing for her.

Lin Jianxia carried the boxes of books into the back room and realized that the amount of goods that arrived this time was much larger than usual, almost forming a small mountain.

Normally, the landlady might ask her to come back the next day to clean up in this situation, but with the weekend approaching, it seems there's no way to avoid it today.

After everything is sorted out... I'll probably be busy until 7 or 8 pm.

The only thing that gave her some comfort was that she had replenished her sister's snack box with plenty of food over the past few days, so at least she didn't have to worry about her sister going hungry tonight.

Looking at the mountain of books before her, Lin Jianxia pursed her lips, hung her schoolbag on the shelf beside her, and silently began to organize it.

Unpack the kraft paper, tear off the plastic seal, flip through the pages to check, sort by category, and shelve each book one by one...

She would repeat these seemingly simple actions for hours on end.

When her back started to ache so badly that she couldn't stand it anymore, Lin Jianxia would lean against the bookshelf for a while, then grit her teeth and bend down to continue.

By the time the last novel, titled "How Did I Get a Childhood Sweetheart After Rebirth?", was gently placed on the bookshelf, the light outside the small window had completely faded.

In the small warehouse, only the dim incandescent light overhead provided a little illumination.

Lin Jianxia straightened up and let out a long sigh of relief.

I looked up at the clock by the door; the hour hand was pointing brightly to eight o'clock in the evening.

After looking around one last time to make sure no books were left behind, she picked up her backpack and left the small warehouse.

At 8 p.m., the bookstore was nearly empty, with only two or three people still quietly browsing.

Lin Jianxia walked to the counter, her tone finally relaxed: "Aunt Zhao, everything is done."

The proprietress, who was watching a show behind the counter, glanced at her, pressed pause, but didn't say anything. She simply got up and walked towards the small warehouse.

Lin Jianxia was taken aback.

Should we check this out?

She didn't think much of it and just stood quietly waiting.

But the proprietress took much longer than she expected.

Lin Jianxia couldn't help but look at the wall clock several times, watching the minute hand slowly move from "12" to "2" before the boss's wife finally appeared at the warehouse door.

"Aunt Zhao..."

She was about to speak when she was interrupted.