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

After returning from the mall, Su Qing asked Jiang Yi to take the dress she had chosen back first, while she went into the Half Sugar Dessert Shop.

Yan Ning was already waiting in the kitchen. The materials she had listed a month ago and asked him to find were neatly stacked on the worktable. Yan Ning leaned against the worktable, watching her tie her apron and roll up her sleeves, and said with a smile that everything was ready.

Su Qing rarely praised him for being reliable, and Yan Ning paused in his coffee cup upon hearing this, almost thinking he had misheard.

Seeing this, Su Qing didn't say anything more, rolled up her sleeves, and started working.

The cake is a three-layer chiffon cake, with fillings of raspberry mousse, vanilla cream, and dark chocolate ganache.

When Su Qing was making chiffon cake, she was much quieter than usual. She whipped the egg whites, folded the batter, poured it into the mold, and put it in the oven. She did each step very slowly and carefully, as if she were performing some kind of ritual that only she knew about.

After the cake was baked and cooled, she unmolded it and began to make the glaze. The tempered chocolate flowed onto the silicone mat, forming a smooth mirror-like surface. She used a spatula to evenly spread the glaze over the cake surface, her movements steady and light, without the slightest tremor.

She made and dried the fondant flowers a week in advance. Each flower was handmade, with petals so thin they were translucent. The colors gradually changed from light pink to milky white, and they were arranged in a staggered pattern around the cake.

At the very top is a chocolate castle, cast from a mold of equal scale. The windows on the tower are painted with icing, and the drawbridge is made of thin sugar strips.

Yan Ning watched for a long time and said that if this cake were sold in a store, the price would have to be followed by three more zeros.

By the time all the procedures were completed, it was completely dark outside.

Su Qing took two steps back and looked at the three-tiered deluxe cake on the worktable. The cream coating was as smooth as a mirror, and the fondant petals shimmered softly under the light. The chocolate castle stood firmly at the top, with a small fondant flag stuck on the spire, on which was written "Happy 15th Birthday, Xiao Ran" in edible gold powder.

She braced her hands on the edge of the control panel, and finally a smile curved her lips.

Yan Ning leaned against the side, looked at the cake, then at her, and suddenly said, "Your smile doesn't seem like happiness, it looks like you're about to cry."

Su Qing looked away, picked up a rag to wipe the icing off her fingers, rolled her eyes at him, and said, "Deliver it on time tomorrow afternoon, don't forget."

Yan Ning raised her hands in surrender, saying that she still didn't trust him to handle things.

Su Qing hummed in agreement, saying that she was just a little worried, which was why she wanted to remind him.

Yan Ning was so angry she laughed. Seeing that she was about to leave, she chased her out of the shop.

After leaving the dessert shop, Su Qing did not go straight home.

She turned into the jewelry store on the corner and picked up the item she had ordered a week earlier.

  

The shop assistant took out an exquisite velvet box from under the counter and handed it to her. She opened it and saw a platinum bracelet lying quietly on a black velvet cushion. The chain was extremely thin, with a warm and non-glaring luster. A small round pendant hung from it, with a hand-carved jasmine flower on the front, its lines simple and delicate.

She turned the tag over, and on the back were four small characters engraved: "Peace and safety year after year."

That was the message she had chosen a long time ago. The shop assistant asked her if she wanted "Happy Birthday" or "Eternal Happiness" engraved on it, and after thinking about it, she chose those four words.

She doesn't need her Xiao Ran to be dazzlingly brilliant; she only hopes that she will be safe and sound every year.

She put the bracelet back in the box, closed the lid, and carefully placed it in the inside pocket of her coat.

This was the fifteenth birthday gift she prepared for Xiao Ran.

When they got home, Jiang Ran opened the door; Cui Ying and Jiang Yi had already gone home.

Jiang Ran was wearing a light gray loungewear T-shirt, her hair loosely draped over her shoulders. When she saw Su Qing, the corners of her mouth curled up in a soft smile.

She didn't mention that her sister had deliberately left her and Cui Ying alone during the day. Instead, she took the bag from Su Qing's hand and placed it on the entryway cabinet. Then, she took out slippers from the shoe cabinet and neatly arranged them next to Su Qing's feet before pulling her hand and walking into the living room.

The two snuggled on the sofa, with Jiang Ran resting her head on Su Qing's lap as usual. Su Qing's fingers ran through her hair, stroking it gently.

The movie playing on TV was the one they had seen many times before. Jiang Ran buried her face in Su Qing's lap, her breathing steady and long. Occasionally, she would chuckle softly at a funny scene, her shoulders trembling slightly with the laughter, only to be gently pressed back down by Su Qing's fingers.

As night deepened outside the window, only the flickering light from the television screen illuminated the two people in the living room.

"Sister, why did you agree to let them come too?" Jiang Ran suddenly asked, her voice muffled, as if it were a casual question, but her tone carried a hint of genuine confusion.

Su Qing's fingers paused for a moment in her hair, then continued to gently comb it, stroke by stroke.

She looked down at Jiang Ran's profile. That face, which had been beautiful and adorable since childhood, now carried a hint of confusion, a hint of helplessness, and a hint of indulgence that she herself couldn't quite explain.

"Because I want Xiao Ran's birthday to be more lively," Su Qing's voice was very soft and gentle, as if she were coaxing a kitten that might get angry at any moment. "I want Xiao Ran to be surrounded by people, to be liked by people, and to have many people say happy birthday to her. I don't want Xiao Ran to be that little mushroom in the corner anymore."

Jiang Ran didn't say anything, but buried her face even closer to Su Qing's legs.

She thought it was enough that her sister was there, but her sister wanted her to have fun, so she decided to have fun.

She gently rubbed against Su Qing's leg, a corner of her heart softening completely.

After one movie finished, Su Qing didn't urge her to go to sleep as usual. Instead, she picked up the remote and turned on the next one.

Jiang Ran lifted her head slightly from her lap, blinked, and said that her sister wouldn't urge her to go to bed early today.

Su Qing didn't look at her, her gaze fixed on the TV screen, her voice carrying a hint of something unreadable: "I'll make an exception for tonight and stay up with you."

Jiang Ran was stunned for a moment, then a smile that she couldn't suppress appeared on her lips.

She couldn't be happier than to stay up late. She felt like she was gaining something if she could spend even a minute more with her sister. Usually, her sister would urge her to wash up around 10 p.m., but today, her sister had unusually suggested watching the next movie. How could she possibly refuse?

So she rested her head back on Su Qing's lap, rubbing herself against him to find a more comfortable angle, like a cat that had been allowed to eat an extra dried fish.

When the movie's end credits were halfway through, Su Qing's phone screen, which was on the coffee table, lit up briefly, and the alarm clock vibrated silently, its hands skipping past midnight.

At the same moment, the system's voice gently sounded in her mind. It was still that emotionless, synthesized electronic voice, with a steady and restrained tone, announcing that she had completed all the contract terms of the Destiny Completion System.

It began to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the mission, mentioning the late night seven years ago when it climbed over the wall, the countless times Jiang Ran's stress response and social skills improvement curve, the contract completion rate, the degree of repair of the fate line, and the host compatibility score.

Su Qing listened quietly, taking in every word, yet also not taking in any of them.

Her fingers were still resting on Jiang Ran's hair, her fingertips touching her, and she could feel Xiao Ran's body temperature passing through her thin skin.

She mentally said "thank you for your hard work" to the system, then took out the exquisite velvet box from her pocket and waved it in front of Jiang Ran's eyes while she was engrossed in watching the end credits, blocking her view of the subtitles.

Jiang Ran blinked and reached for the box, but Su Qing gently dodged her and placed the box in her palm instead.

"Xiao Ran." Her voice was very soft and gentle, completely different from the usually carefree and rough-around-the-edges Su Qing. Her eyes were slightly curved, reflecting the light from the TV screen and the girl who had been with her for seven years.

"Happy birthday."

She knew it was childish; being the first person to deliver a gift right at midnight was something only a child would do.

But she just wanted to be the first to give Xiao Ran the gift on the last birthday she could spend with her.

Jiang Ran looked down at the velvet box in her palm, and was stunned for a moment. She opened it with very gentle touches.

The platinum bracelet lay quietly on a black velvet cushion, with a small round pendant bearing a hand-carved jasmine flower.

She turned the tag over, and four small characters were engraved on the back.

May you have peace and safety every year.