Chapter 108: Chapter 76: Jiangg Ning Starts Probing

Jiangg Ning was completely stunned. She had her arm around her sister and was holding snacks in her other hand, but her expression was one of extreme bewilderment. It took her a long moment to react.

’What did I just see?’

Jiangg Ning couldn’t believe it, but her eyes had seen it with perfect clarity. The instant the door opened, she had glimpsed a photo of two people on the computer screen.

It was a close-up, their faces pressed together affectionately, both of them beaming with unrestrained joy.

Most importantly, she thought the boy looked like… Chen Yuan.

’No… it can’t be!’

She dismissed the thought in half a second, but then, Jiangg Ning wondered, ’Could my own eyes have deceived me!?’

Although she hadn’t gotten a perfectly clear look, that overwhelming sense of familiarity was something only Chen Yuan could evoke in her.

And so, Jiangg Ning was just dumbstruck.

…

’How could my sister possibly have any connection to Chen Yuan?’ After their breakup, she hadn’t heard his name from Jiangg Yao’s lips even once. Not a single time.

It was as if that whole online romance had been completely forgotten, as if it had never existed.

It was as if Jiangg Yao had never known anyone named Chen Yuan, living each day happily, with that relationship being nothing more than a trivial interlude in her life…

She wasn’t a teacher at the school; she was often a homebody and didn’t have any social circles where they could possibly connect. It wasn’t like her, Jiangg Ning, who would occasionally run into him at school, which was why she couldn’t get him out of her mind.

At this moment, Jiangg Ning’s thoughts were a chaotic mess. ’Am I dreaming?’

Otherwise, how could everything that had happened in the few seconds since she’d gotten home feel so utterly unbelievable?

She had never imagined that her sister, with whom she’d been inseparable since childhood and had shared every single secret, would actually hide something from her. Nothing like this had ever happened before. They knew every last one of each other’s bad habits and were familiar with each other’s social circles inside and out… Jiangg Ning felt like she must be hallucinating.

While Jiangg Ning was still trying to sort out her thoughts, her sister’s soft voice sounded by her ear. “Sis, I just got back too. I was out all day. Look at the new figurine I bought.”

As she spoke, Jiangg Yao scurried over to the computer desk, picked up a palm-sized figurine, and held it out for her sister to see as if showing it off.

“It’s so cute.” Jiangg Ning finally reacted, forcing a pale smile.

“Of course! I had to wait in line forever. My back is killing me.”

“It seems…” Jiangg Ning temporarily pushed aside her unease and gently, if a bit stiffly, stroked her sister’s hair. “Yaoyao, you’ve completely overcome your reclusive habits. You don’t even need me to go out with you anymore. I’m very happy for you.”

“Hehe, it’s because you told me that people eventually have to face the world. I love being a homebody, but never leaving the house felt like I was actively running away. I’m not scared anymore, and I can’t keep making my big sister worry about me.”

“You’re getting so mature.” Jiangg Ning took out the hawthorn cake, tore open the package, pulled over a gaming chair, and sat down. She spoke intimately with Jiangg Yao as she handed her the pastry. “Here, eat up.”

Her sister gave her a blissful smile, but her sitting position just so happened to perfectly block the computer from view.

Although the window had already been closed, Jiangg Yao was terrified the software would suddenly act up and make the photo pop up again.

’If that happened, it would be game over.’

Blocking the computer was undoubtedly a sign of a guilty conscience.

She was nibbling on the hawthorn cake when she suddenly looked up and found Jiangg Ning staring right at her…

“So, who went out with you today?”

“It was Wan,” Jiangg Yao said with exceptional ease, the words tumbling out of her mouth.

She seemed incredibly relaxed, not at all like she was lying. Jiangg Ning, who had been watching her microexpressions the whole time, let out a small sigh of relief. She had been so afraid her sister was lying.

If that had been the case, she really would have become suspicious.

“I asked you to introduce her to me last time, but you never got around to it. We should all have a meal together when you’re free. I never got to thank her for what she did.”

“Of course, that’s a great—ACHOO!”

The sneeze was so violent it made Jiangg Yao’s whole body jolt. Her fingers clenched, crushing the hawthorn cake out of shape.

A few tears welled up in her eyes. Frowning, she furiously rubbed her nose. “I’ll arrange it.”

“Yaoyao, why do you sound so stuffy? Did you catch a cold?”

The gaming chair’s wheels slid across the floor as Jiangg Ning scooted closer, concerned.

“Yeah, there must have been a patient zero at the comic-con. I was there all morning, and I must’ve caught it on my way out—ACHOO!”

“I’ll go get you some medicine. I happened to stock up last time I went out.”

“No need, I already took some.”

“Huh?!” Jiangg Ning, who had just stood up, froze and turned back to her. “That’s impressive. You don’t even need me to remind you to take your medicine anymore. I’m seeing you in a whole new light, Yaoyao.”

“Oh, stop~” Jiangg Yao wrinkled her nose and waved a hand dismissively. “It wasn’t me. Wan saw I had a cold and made me take it. It was Wan.”

“Is that so…”

Jiangg Ning studied her for a few more moments, then lowered her head in silence. “I’m going to go change. You finish the hawthorn cake.”

She left the room, went to her bedroom, and closed the door behind her.

Jiangg Ning pulled open the closet with a CREAK, took off her woolen overcoat, and grabbed a hanger. But her movements suddenly froze. CLATTER. The hanger fell from her hand to the floor. She stared at it, her mind hazy and distant.

’Just now, Yaoyao was clearly lying…’

’Her hesitation, the way she wrinkled her nose, those flustered microexpressions… I know Yaoyao too well. Whenever she lies, she unconsciously fidgets with the hem of her clothes. It’s a dead giveaway that she feels guilty.’

’Why would she lie?’

’Yaoyao, are you really going to hide things even from me?’

Jiangg Ning squeezed her eyes shut in anguish. She desperately wanted to rush back into the other bedroom and demand to know what that photo was all about. Why did she lie? Did she go out with Wan, or was it someone else?

But she couldn’t do that. If Jiangg Yao denied it…

’…am I supposed to force my way onto her computer to look?’

Without a doubt, a move like that would escalate things into an uncontrollable war. The two sisters had only just reconciled; it would create bad blood between them all over again.

Jiangg Ning bit down hard on her lip. The sharp pain cleared her head, forcing her to accept that this wasn’t some bizarre dream, but stark reality.

Her thoughts ran wild for a long moment, but the suspicion lingered, refusing to fade.

A chilling realization seemed to lay itself bare before her, making her blood run cold… Her sister was hiding a massive secret from her!

…

After taking countless deep breaths, Jiangg Ning forced herself to calm down and began to analyze the situation, point by point.

’I have to find out the truth first. I can’t wrongfully accuse my sister. No matter what it takes, I have to find out what’s really going on before I can decide on my next move.’

Even now.

Even after glimpsing that photo, Jiangg Ning still wanted to believe in her sister.

One couldn’t help but marvel at the strength of their sisterly bond. When faced with such an unforeseen twist, her first reaction hadn’t been anger; instead, she had tried to convince herself it was all a hallucination.

After composing herself.

Jiangg Ning changed into the loose clothes she normally wore around the house. Feigning a relaxed air, she walked out and went to her sister’s bedroom.

“What do you want for dinner? I’ll make it for you.”

Leaning against the doorframe, she asked with a slight tilt of her head.

“Tomato and beef brisket stew, please!” Jiangg Yao looked up from fiddling with her figurine, her mouth already watering at the thought of the beef brisket her sister made.

She finished the last bit of hawthorn cake and said eagerly, “I have such a big appetite all of a sudden. I’m getting hungry. Sis, you should hurry and go make it.”

“Hmph, I knew you’d say that. Most people get full from eating snacks, but for you, it just makes you hungrier. You’ve been like that since you were a kid.”

Jiangg Yao scratched her head in embarrassment. “It’s true. I remember when I was little and you were in high school, you’d bring me snacks every time you came home. I was always so excited to see what new treats you’d brought me.”

“Well, I was going to school all by myself, and I’d be thinking about you at home. Mom wouldn’t let us have snacks, and you’d get so jealous when you saw other kids eating them you could barely move. So I’d have the driver stop the car after school. There was that little roadside stall… the old lady there got used to me buying hawthorn cakes. She was always at her spot after school. And there were chips, lollipops, soda… It was such a hassle. I had to wear thick clothes to hide everything properly, and I even had to let the air out of the puffy chip bags first.”

“Looking back on it now, it’s actually quite a sweet memory.”

“It was bittersweet, but we can’t go back to those days,” Jiangg Ning said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she reminisced with her sister.

“Well, I certainly don’t want to go back to that life. We’re so much freer now, and everything’s happy.”

“That’s true. We’re all grown up. In a few more years, we’ll both be thirty. How terrifying!”

“Don’t say that!”

Jiangg Yao rushed forward and covered her sister’s mouth, suddenly tense. “It’s still a long way off! The thought of being thirty is just too scary.”

“Mmph~ You didn’t even wash your hands after eating,” Jiangg Ning said, her voice muffled and full of mock disgust. “You’re getting crumbs all over my face.”

As the two sisters chatted, night began to fall.

…

「A little while later, in the kitchen.」

Jiangg Ning hummed a song as she tied on an apron and methodically prepared all the ingredients. The oil in the wok was already hot, shimmering with tiny bubbles.

In this quiet, cozy atmosphere.

No one would have guessed that both sisters were harboring ulterior motives.

In the other bedroom.

Guilt-ridden, Jiangg Yao quickly deleted the photo, not daring to edit it any further. She felt a wave of relief, as if she had just survived a disaster—she was sure her sister hadn’t suspected a thing.

And in the kitchen.

As she cut the beef brisket, Jiangg Ning was deep in her own meticulous thoughts.

’During dinner,’ she thought, ’I need to carefully probe Yaoyao and see how she really feels about Chen Yuan.’

Ever since the seed of doubt had been planted, the more Jiangg Ning thought about it, the more wrong everything felt. She remembered how forcefully her sister had tried to talk her out of confessing her feelings, and how they had a huge fight about it after she got back.

’If my sister really is involved with Chen Yuan behind my back… then all of this would make sense.’

Although she hated to think it, her sister’s behavior was strange in every possible way.

It had all started when Jiangg Yao suddenly wanted to be more independent. She hadn’t been as clingy anymore. All of it began right after she had supposedly broken up with Chen Yuan.

The implications were terrifying…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep