Lady of the Fortress

"Did you hear all that noise outside just now? What happened?" Tang Keke and Bai Yuyou sat in front of the TV, engrossed in their drama. Snacks and drinks were spread out before them, along with an assortment of rare tropical fruits.

"I don’t know…" Bai Yuyou nibbled on a potato chip like an adorable little hamster—she wasn’t the least bit interested in whatever was happening outside. To her, only Ye Shuang and good food mattered in this world.

"……"

After a moment of thought, she added, "Oh, Keke is important too."

Tang Keke blinked. "Huh?"

Are we even on the same wavelength?

"Done with the episode. Yuyou, you haven’t taken a bath yet, right? Let’s go together~" Tang Keke giggled, looping her arm around Bai Yuyou’s. "The bathtub in there is huge!"

"I want to bathe with Ye Shuang."

"But doesn’t big brother lock the door when he showers now?" Tang Keke held up a finger.

"Mmm… That’s strange." Bai Yuyou nodded.

"I don’t think it’s strange at all…"

In the end, Bai Yuyou agreed anyway.

……

"Drip—"

Water droplets fell onto the bathroom floor. The bathtub shimmered with a cherry blossom-like hue, filled with some kind of special bathwater.

The tub itself, designed to accommodate guests’ needs, was shaped like a flower and could easily fit four people. It even had temperature control and massage functions.

"Wow, soaking in here feels totally different from being in the ocean." Tang Keke lay back blissfully, once again thinking to herself how nice it must be to be rich. Meanwhile, Bai Yuyou sat beside her, enjoying the warmth enveloping her body.

"Keke, you’re floating."

"Hey, stop touching me there?!"

The two girls stretched lazily as they chatted.

"Yuyou, after we return to the country, do you want to visit my hometown?" Tang Keke asked.

"Hometown."

"Yeah, it’s just a small town, but the scenery and air are really nice. I used to go fishing in the river all the time as a kid." Tang Keke grinned, though she suddenly realized the place she was describing probably paled in comparison to their current surroundings.

Realizing she didn’t have much else to hype it up with, she scratched her head. "Well, never mind. Forget I said anything."

"I’ll go."

"Really?" Tang Keke waved a hand. "It might not be as great as I made it sound. Probably just my childhood nostalgia talking."

"I want to go." Bai Yuyou said. "I’m curious… because I never had a childhood."

For Bai Yuyou, childhood memories consisted only of a dim attic and a window that wouldn’t open. That’s why she was curious about the experiences Tang Keke had growing up.

Of course, she was also curious about Ye Shuang’s past, but he rarely spoke of it.

Ye Shuang…

What he had been through before.

Lost in thought, Bai Yuyou felt drowsy from the hot water.

"Let’s go, Yuyou. We’ve been soaking too long—we might get dizzy."

"Okay."

With a splash, Tang Keke stood up. Bai Yuyou tilted her head back and said, "Keke, you’re blocking the light."

"Keep your head down!" Tang Keke reached out and lightly bonked Bai Yuyou on the head.

After their bath, the two helped each other dry their hair. Tang Keke’s shoulder-length hair was easy enough to manage, but Bai Yuyou’s waist-length locks were a whole ordeal just to towel dry.

"Yuyou, your hair is so long. Maybe you should cut it shorter? It’d be easier to take care of." Tang Keke blew at Bai Yuyou’s strands with the hairdryer, imagining how inconvenient such long hair must be.

"Cut it?"

"Yeah, like my length. What do you think?" Tang Keke pointed at her own hair with a grin.

But then she reconsidered—it’d be a shame to chop off all that beautiful hair. Still, trimming it a bit wouldn’t hurt. Bai Yuyou’s hair nearly reached her hips.

"See? Just drying it is a hassle."

"Ye Shuang dries it for me." Bai Yuyou said.

"Of course he does. That’s just like him. But if you rely on him too much, he’ll keep treating you like a kid." Tang Keke sighed.

"You need to be more assertive."

Bai Yuyou looked puzzled: "?"

"Assertive."

"Right!" Tang Keke pushed up imaginary glasses on her nose. "Class is now in session! If your child has a fever that won’t go away—wait, no, cough…"

"What I mean is, you need to make big brother see you as a woman, not a kid!"

"You’ve got to be more proactive!"

Bai Yuyou’s face was blank with confusion. She recognized every word Tang Keke said, but strung together, they might as well have been gibberish.

"It’s about understanding the differences between men and women." Tang Keke explained, then sneakily pulled out her phone. "Yuyou, let me teach you how to become an adult."

"To explore the ‘forbidden’ realm."

"Adult…"

Just then, a knock came at the door.

The two girls turned. Tang Keke’s expression shifted to one of mild panic. "Is that big brother?"

She suddenly felt guilty—Ye Shuang had explicitly told her not to teach Bai Yuyou any "weird" knowledge.

Though she didn’t think this counted as weird.

Click. Tang Keke opened the door, only to find not Ye Shuang, but a short-haired ninja standing outside.

"An Shiyu?"

"Yo, am I interrupting something?" An Shiyu was dressed in a purple Gengar-themed onesie tonight. Without waiting for an answer, she sidestepped Tang Keke and strolled inside.

"You say that like you care."

Tang Keke muttered under her breath as An Shiyu headed straight for the TV and plugged in an Ethernet cable.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing much. Just seeing if I can hack into the surveillance room." An Shiyu pulled out a small laptop and started typing away furiously.

Tang Keke: "……"

"H-hack the cameras?"

"Yep. Those guys won’t let me near the helicopter, so I’m looking for a weak spot. Someone’s bound to be slacking off." An Shiyu said it so casually that Tang Keke’s face twisted in disbelief.

"You know how to do that?"

"Just the basics, but it’s enough." An Shiyu’s eyes, hidden behind her bangs, remained fixed on her screen.

"Then why are you doing it in my room?"

"Oh, figured if I get caught, I could just pin it on you."

"Excuse me? ↗"

"Stop right now! I don’t want to go to jail!!" Tang Keke grabbed An Shiyu by the collar and shook her back and forth.

An Shiyu’s eyes turned into blank dots as she swayed like a ragdoll, though she was clearly joking. A moment later, the monitor flickered—surveillance footage popped up. She tapped a key, then paused as something caught her eye.

"Huh?"

On the screen, a group of men in sunglasses emerged from a room, carrying a stretcher. Lying on it was a familiar-looking man.

"Was that uncle kidnapped?" An Shiyu raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Soon after, a long-haired woman in a nightgown followed him out.

"Oh, seems like he was taken to be a mountain bandit's bride."

Upon seeing Chen Qin, An Shiyu suddenly understood.