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

Jiang Ran's original plan was actually very simple: to ignore her and leave her hanging, so that she would give up on her own.

In Jiang Ran's view, Jiang Yi, a spoiled young lady, only has a three-minute attention span for everything. Today she chases after her all over the school, but tomorrow she gets bored and will naturally go find the next target.

But what she didn't know was that Jiang Yi clearly didn't think that way.

A week has passed, and she still appears at Jiang Ran's desk, by the water dispenser, and in the row of seats in the library without fail, like a satellite with a set orbit. No matter how many times Jiang Ran goes around, she can accurately find her position.

What Jiang Ran found intriguing was that Jiang Yi never complained.

Whether she was given a cold shoulder or remained silent, she accepted it all, and then reappeared with a smile the next day.

This non-aggressive persistence made Jiang Ran feel like she was punching cotton. She wanted to keep her cold face, but she felt that the other party hadn't done anything wrong. She wanted to tell him to leave, but she couldn't find a suitable reason.

Jiang Yi also keenly noticed this change; Jiang Ran no longer avoided her.

She remembered what her brother had said: proceed gradually, be patient, and let people see your sincerity.

Now that Jiang Ran isn't avoiding her anymore, this must be what her brother meant by "progress," right?

  

So she decided to proceed with the next step of her plan.

During the break that day, Jiang Yi ran to Jiang Ran's seat with her workbook, opened it and spread it on the table. She pointed to a few questions circled in red and cautiously called out, "Xiao Ran."

Jiang Ran glanced down and saw that it was the homework problem that the teacher had just finished explaining today. It wasn't difficult, but the solution required a slight twist.

She looked up at the classroom door again, then looked away and stated a fact in a calm tone: "Turn left after you go out and you'll find the offices, where there are many teachers."

Jiang Yi paused for a moment, then walked around to her side with the exercise book in her arms, grabbed one of Jiang Ran's arms, and shook it from side to side. Her head tilted to the side, and her twin ponytails swayed back and forth, just like the orange cat downstairs in Jiang Ran's neighborhood that would circle around people's legs whenever it was begging for food.

"No, no, Xiao Ran, please tell me... Please, please, please..." She looked up at Jiang Ran with her big, bright eyes blinking.

Jiang Ran stared expressionlessly at the guy in front of her who had suddenly switched to a coquettish mode.

To be honest, all she could think of was that orange cat, the one with the same look in its eyes whenever it wanted to eat.

But letting her "get away with it" like this would be too lenient on her.

Jiang Ran's lips curled into a small smile. She took the workbook, flipped through it, and said in a businesslike tone, "Okay, then I'll explain it to you."

Jiang Yi's eyes lit up, and she immediately leaned her little head over.

Jiang Ran picked up a pen, drew a crooked circle on the draft paper, and then began to talk, starting with the formula for the area of ​​a circle, then moving on to the history of pi, then jumping to a brief biography of Zu Chongzhi, and finally even mentioning the political landscape of the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

After Jiang Yi left, dazed, with a draft paper covered in all sorts of strange symbols, Jiang Ran lowered her head and continued looking at her math Olympiad problem set, the smile on her lips lingering for a long time.

When Su Qing came to pick her up in the afternoon, she saw two little girls walking out of the school gate.

Jiang Ran walked ahead, her pace as unhurried as usual, but a suspicious little smile played at the corners of her mouth.

Jiang Yi followed beside her, her face painted with several small black turtles: two on her forehead, three on her left cheek, one on her right cheek, and a small heart on the tip of her nose.

It was all drawn with washable whiteboard markers, with smooth lines and patterns drawn on the tortoise shell. It was clearly the work of a little drawing prodigy.

Jiang Yi herself seemed completely unaware of this, still excitedly talking to Jiang Ran, gesturing with her hands in the air, and when she laughed, the turtle on her cheeks also wrinkled up, making her look particularly comical.

Jiang Ran was admiring her masterpiece when she suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure under the sycamore tree.

Her smile froze for a fraction of a second, then she suddenly pulled a wet wipe from the side pocket of her backpack, turned around, grabbed Jiang Yi's shoulder, and began to quickly wipe her face.

While wiping, she lowered her voice and said, "Don't move, you've got dust on your face."

Jiang Yi was stunned by Jiang Ran's sudden intimate gesture; Jiang Ran was actually wiping her face!

She stood there obediently, tilting her head back, letting Jiang Ran rub her face back and forth.

When Jiang Ran finished wiping and crumpled the wet wipe into a ball to throw into the nearby trash can, Jiang Yi was still standing there, touching her clean cheeks, and slowly grinning, revealing a smile that almost burst out of her face.

Su Qing stood under the sycamore tree and witnessed the entire operation that was clearly an attempt to cover up the truth.

She leaned against the tree trunk, arms crossed, watching from afar as her little one walked towards her as if nothing had happened.

Jiang Ran walked up to her, looked up, and said in a tone that was so normal it was clearly abnormal, "Sister, you've come."

Su Qing didn't expose her, but just smiled and looked at her, gently rubbing the little one's hair. The smile was faint, but there was a knowing look in her eyes.

Jiang Ran felt a little embarrassed by her sister's gaze, so she turned her face away awkwardly, her ears secretly turning a light pink.

Jiang Yi ran over at this moment, looked up at Su Qing and called out "Hello, Sister Su" in a clear, bell-like voice.

She walked up to Su Qing, reached out her small hand, and gently touched Su Qing's fingers. It wasn't the kind of handshake that required being held, but a very brief touch that expressed intimacy, like a kitten reaching out its paw to touch the back of someone's hand and then withdrawing it.

To be honest, Su Qing felt that it wasn't holding hands, but rather touching.

Su Qing didn't know what she meant, but assumed it was just a child's way of expressing friendliness, so she nodded in return.

Jiang Ran's gaze fell on Jiang Yi's hand, which had just touched her sister's fingers, and her eyes narrowed slightly.

Jiang Yi probably felt the warmth of that gaze, stuck out her tongue at Jiang Ran, waved to Su Qing, said "See you tomorrow, Sister Su," and turned to run towards the car that had come to pick her up.

After running a couple of steps, he turned back, called out to Jiang Ran, "See you tomorrow, Xiao Ran," and smiled like a kitten that had just stolen a bite of fish.

On the way back, Jiang Ran held Su Qing's hand and walked more silently than usual.

But Su Qing noticed that the amplitude of her little hand swings was much larger than usual, and the rabbit backpack bounced up and down with it. The little girl exuded a low pressure.

Su Qing knew without a doubt that it was because Jiang Yi had just held her hand, and her smile widened even more.