My sister, whom I raised, has turned evil after faking her death for three years.

Su Qing held the glass of lemonade that had completely cooled down, staring intently at Yan Ning across from her.

Yan Ning's fingers tapped unconsciously on the table. After tapping, she touched the rim of her cup, circled it twice, and then adjusted her cuffs. After adjusting her cuffs, she moved the sugar packets on the table.

His facial expressions were perfectly controlled from beginning to end; his face remained indifferent and composed, but his ears were slightly red.

"Um... Xiaoqing," Yan Ning finally coughed lightly under this silent gaze, trying his best to maintain his usual indifferent tone, "Did you come back to help your brother?"

Su Qing nodded without saying a word, her eyes still fixed on him.

Yan Ning's lips twitched, and her fingers, which were fiddling with the candy packet, paused.

The air was silent for a few seconds. He finally let out a sigh of surrender, clasped his hands together in front of his eyebrows, his posture upright and his tone sincere, though the red on his ears had spread another half inch: "I'm sorry, I was overthinking it."

The system whispered in Su Qing's mind: [Sincerity of apology: 99%; Failure in managing facial expressions: 63%]

Su Qing put the lemonade glass back on the table, finally withdrawing her scrutinizing gaze, her tone carrying a hint of satisfaction: "Alright then."

To others, this scene might seem strange, showing a strange relationship between the boss and the employee, but Su Qing knew that this was always how things were between them.

Yan Ning is truly cold to outsiders; he speaks little and has few expressions, and when he stands behind the counter, he looks like a giant iceberg.

But it was different with her; it wasn't the kind of polite care he gave her, but rather a slightly cheeky and affectionate one.

When she used to work at the store, Yan Ning loved to tease her.

At that time, Su Qing had been working at the store for less than a month. One morning, while cleaning the glass display case at the front desk, Yan Ning brought out a plate of freshly baked egg tarts from the kitchen and said expressionlessly, "New product, have a taste."

Su Qing took a bite, and just as her brows furrowed, he slowly added the second half of the sentence, saying that wasabi had been added.

  

Seeing Su Qing choking and her eyes welling up with tears, he leaned against the counter, a slight smile playing on his lips.

One morning, Su Qing was counting flour in the kitchen when Yan Ning secretly slipped freshly baked cream puffs into her apron pocket. The puffs were still very hot, and you could feel the heat even through the apron. Su Qing screamed from the heat and chased after him throughout the kitchen, yelling at him. He was tall and fast, and while dodging, he innocently said, "I just brought you breakfast, why are you so upset?"

On one particularly egregious occasion, Su Qing was at the counter calculating her accounts when he silently walked up behind her and pressed a freshly chilled strawberry against the back of her neck. Su Qing jolted, clutching her neck as she turned around. Yan Ning had already retreated three steps away, holding the strawberry in his hand, his expression as serious as if he were conducting some kind of scientific experiment: "Hmm, your nerve reflexes are very healthy. It seems you weren't a vegetable in your past life."

After saying that, he turned around and went into the kitchen.

On another occasion, Su Qing accidentally spilled a whole glass of iced Americano on the freshly cleaned floor at the front desk.

She hurriedly squatted down to wipe the floor, and when she looked up, she saw Yan Ning leaning against the food delivery window, holding her phone and saying expressionlessly that it was too late and the photos had already been taken.

Su Qing's face turned pale. His shop had extremely high hygiene standards; he would frown if there was even a single hair on the floor.

As a result, Yan Ning turned her phone screen around to show her. It wasn't a picture of her spilling coffee at all, but an unflattering photo of Su Qing eating scraps in the kitchen, taken at some unknown time.

Then he said, "I'll deduct it from your salary." Su Qing froze on the spot. He then slowly added, "Just kidding," and turned around to continue kneading the dough.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Alright," Su Qing put the bread bag in her hand on the chair next to her and said naturally, "Starting today, we'll resume normal work. The salary will still be calculated as before, paid daily. If you need to take leave, you have to give advance notice. If you don't, half a day's salary will be deducted."

Just as Yan Ning was about to say something, Su Qing added, "Then, I need to ask for leave at any time. I have to pick Xiao Ran up after school in the afternoon, and I also have to go to school events. My salary can be deducted."

Yan Ning "..."

no?

Am I the boss or are you the boss?

And who is Xiao Ran?

As far as he knew, didn't Su Qing live alone?

Yan Ning narrowed her eyes slightly, as if digesting the name "Xiao Ran", but did not ask any further questions.

Furthermore, he himself didn't realize that he had automatically filtered out the topic of "Who is the boss?" He simply nodded, his tone returning to its usual conciseness, and modified one of the clauses: "Okay, but you can take leave at any time without having your salary deducted."

Su Qing wanted to say something, but then she thought about it and it seemed like something was wrong. Wasn't she here to explain what had happened in the past two months and to stay?

Something seems to have changed?

Su Qing was puzzled and confused. She didn't say anything more, but just nodded.

She thought back to the past when it was the same. She said she wanted to take leave, and he said he wouldn't deduct her salary. She said she wanted to work a few more night shifts to save some money, and he said it wasn't safe for a handsome young man to go home alone at night. She said, "Why are you so rule-abiding?" He said, "I'm the boss, I make the decisions."

Knowing she couldn't win the argument, Su Qing gave up and continued eating her bread.

Yan Ning remained silent, picking up her cup of coffee and slowly sipping it.

The two remained silent, but the air was no longer as tense as before.

Chef Zhong finished piping the last plate of cream puffs and peeked out from the food delivery window to steal a glance at the corner booth.

He worked at this store for five years. He had seen the boss's cold face when haggling with suppliers, the boss's frown when employees made mistakes, and the boss's low-key atmosphere when he worked overtime alone in the kitchen until the early hours of the morning and ignored everyone who spoke to him.

He once thought that the boss was probably born without the ability to "laugh" and "make a scene".

On Su Qing's first day, Master Zhong almost burst his piping bag when he saw the little guy arguing with the boss.

What shocked him even more was that the boss didn't get angry after being rebuked; instead, he retorted and then curled the corners of his mouth slightly.

It wasn't a mocking sneer; it was genuine laughter.

That day, when Master Zhong got home, he told his wife that the boss could actually laugh.

Honestly, I think that was the most relaxed period in the store's atmosphere.

Later, when Su Qing stopped coming for some reason, the boss never did that again, and the atmosphere in the store became heavy again.

Even today, this little girl named Su Qing has reappeared. Master Zhong still doesn't understand what her relationship is with the previous Su Qing, or whether they are the same person. But there is one thing he sees very clearly.

When the little girl slammed her hand on the table and stood up, the boss showed no displeasure whatsoever. In fact, after she sat down again, he even offered her a refill of lemonade.

Master Zhong has lived most of his life. He knows how to conduct himself properly and doesn't ask questions he shouldn't ask, but he's not blind.