The Little Cold That Puzzled Leng Qingqiu

Evening.

"Brother-in-law, you absolutely must not tell my sister that I came out to play today!"

"And I won't mention to her that you brought two girls along either."

Leng Ling'er clasped her hands together, performing the highest gesture of respect from her gang toward Gu Yan.

However, Gu Yan, who would be seeing her again tomorrow, wasn’t buying it.

So, he shook his head and replied amiably, "No."

"As a student, you should act like one. Skipping school behind your sister’s back to go out and play? I definitely have to tell Qingqiu!"

Leng Ling'er panicked—this jerk had initially wanted to keep it quiet too, so why was he suddenly changing his tune?

"Brother-in-law! You’re the worst!"

...

...

Boom!

The car sent to pick up Ling'er drove away.

After seeing off Leng Ling'er and Bai Qionglan, Gu Yan returned to his own car.

He turned to the two sisters in the back seat and asked, "Did you have fun?"

But the moment he spoke, he fell silent.

Gu Yunrou raised a finger to her lips, signaling him to be quiet—Gu Yingying was curled up in her lap, already dozing off.

Seems like they really did have a great time.

Gu Yan withdrew his gaze.

The glow of the setting sun bathed the scene before him, and he raised a hand to shield his eyes slightly.

A hint of something unreadable flickered in his eyes.

After tomorrow... it’ll be time for the annual gathering.

Lost in thought for a moment, Gu Yan suddenly remembered something.

Ah, right. I should let our Qingqiu know about tomorrow’s date plans.

..........

.......

Some time later.

The Leng Family residence.

Click~

Leng Ling'er gently pushed open the front door and tiptoed inside.

But then—

Snap!

The lights suddenly flicked on.

At the same time, an icy chill shot down Leng Ling'er’s spine. She shuddered and forced a nervous smile as she looked up.

There stood Leng Qingqiu, arms crossed, positioned at the entrance like a judge. From her elevated stance, her gray eyes bore into Leng Ling'er’s very soul.

Her voice was frosty. "Your teacher told me you skipped school?"

My... my teacher...

Dammit! Gu Yan didn’t say anything, but the teacher did?! I specifically told them Gu Yan was the guardian!

Besides! Big Sis is way too controlling! It’s just... just skipping one day!

I—I swear, I’ll enter my rebellious phase right now if you push me!

After mentally ranting for a moment—

Thud!

Leng Ling'er dropped to her knees, tears welling up as she scrambled forward and clung to Leng Qingqiu’s leg. "Waaah! Sis! I’m sorry! I messed up!"

"Don’t hit me! I’ll never do it again!"

"Qionglan’s brother got arrested, and she hasn’t been to school in ages!"

"I was worried about her, so I skipped to keep her company!"

"Sis! I’m sorry! If you’re gonna punish me, at least hear me out first!!"

Leng Ling'er sobbed dramatically.

The whole act left Leng Qingqiu torn between amusement and exasperation.

Truthfully, the teacher hadn’t said anything—it was Junzilan, the bodyguard assigned to watch Leng Ling'er, who had reported it.

And she’d also mentioned that Ling'er had gone to the shopping district... and run into Gu Yan.

Of course, Leng Qingqiu had just spoken to Gu Yan on the phone and already knew the gist of the situation.

So if Ling'er came clean now, she’d let it slide.

Right now, Leng Qingqiu was just waiting to see how far her sister would take this performance. "What else? What’s your explanation?"

Hearing her sister’s eerily calm tone, Leng Ling'er trembled like a leaf.

The calmer Leng Qingqiu sounded, the worse the punishment would be.

So... sorry, brother-in-law~~ Time for you to take some heat for me!

"W-well, you see..."

"I ran into brother-in-law at the shopping district today."

"Your brother-in-law? Gu Yan?"

Leng Qingqiu feigned surprise.

Encouraged by the reaction, Leng Ling'er nodded vigorously. "Yeah, yeah! Him!"

"He was out with two drop-dead gorgeous girls!"

"Oh? Were they two girls—one older, one younger?"

"Yep, yep! They looked super close with Gu Yan!"

"He paid for everything they bought too!"

"They must have a special relationship!"

Leng Qingqiu listened, then nodded thoughtfully. "I see... In that case, I should go have a talk with Gu Yan first."

"Right, right! Brother-in-law’s business is way more important!"

Leng Ling'er quickly agreed, already patting herself on the back mentally.

Leng Ling'er, oh Leng Ling'er... how are you just so brilliant?!

Though I do feel kinda bad for brother-in-law... Mmm, sorry, bro-in-law. I’ll make it up to you later—maybe with some pain-relief patches or something.

But before she could fully relax—

A new wave of bone-chilling cold washed over her.

Swish!

Leng Qingqiu’s fingers clamped around Leng Ling'er’s head like a vice as she said sweetly, "Were their names Gu Yingying and Gu Yunrou?"

"Uh... y-yeah..."

Leng Ling'er’s entire body shook, her expression crumbling.

The moment Leng Qingqiu said those two names—

She already knew... she was done for: "Sis... let me explai— Aaahhh!!!"

A heart-wrenching scream echoed through the room.

......

......

Inside Leng Ling'er's room.

The little troublemaker lay face down on the bed, clutching her backside.

Beside her sat Leng Qingqiu in her pajamas, applying ointment.

"Sis... my dearest sister..."

"I'm not a kid anymore, why are you still pulling this childhood punishment on me..."

Leng Ling'er whined, on the verge of tears.

"Hmph, because to me, Ling'er, you'll always be a child," Leng Qingqiu retorted with a light scoff, setting down the ointment before pressing further. "So after that, you all went to the private room? What did Gu Yan do then?"

Without hesitation, Leng Ling'er replied, "Didn’t Gu Yan tell you? Me, Bai Qionglan, and Gu Yingying played video games."

"Gu Yan and his sister were chatting, probably about their childhood or something. I wasn’t really paying attention."

"Though before leaving, Gu Yingying did ask me a question."

Naturally, Leng Qingqiu had no idea what Gu Yan and the others had been up to—after all, she couldn’t exactly interrogate Junzilan about Gu Yan’s every move.

Though they’d spoken on the phone earlier, with others around, she couldn’t afford to act too out of character.

Hearing this, Leng Qingqiu perked up. "What question?"

"Um..."

Leng Ling'er thought for a moment, then said, "She asked me... how Gu Yan and you usually get along..."

Here, she paused, giving Leng Qingqiu a strange look. "She asked if Gu Yan was being a simp for you."

?

At that.

Leng Qingqiu slowly formed a question mark in her mind. A simp?

Was Gu Yan her simp?

She recalled everything Gu Yan had done for her, along with all the thoughts she’d secretly harbored about him.

Shaking her head with a soft chuckle, Leng Qingqiu mused, "If Gu Yan counts as a simp, then I suppose I’m his simp too."

"Huh? Sis, what did you just say?"

Leng Ling'er blinked, clearly not expecting her sister to say something like that.

"Never mind. Just lie still. Did I hit you too hard?"

"Hehe, not at all. Sis, you look really pretty when you smile."

"........."

At those words.

Leng Qingqiu’s hands stilled. As if struck by a thought, she casually remarked, "By the way, Ling'er, aren’t you pretty good at makeup and styling?"

"Of course! I’m a beauty influencer on short-video platforms. Speaking of which, Gu Yan was the one who helped me grow my following."

"Oh."

Leng Qingqiu nodded, then cleared her throat. "Well... Gu Yan and I have a date tomorrow. Could you help me with a makeup look that suits me?"

"Sure, no problem."

Leng Ling'er agreed without a second thought.

But then—

"Huh?!"

She flipped over, staring wide-eyed at her sister, who now seemed uncharacteristically shy.

She sucked in a sharp breath—whether from shock or the pain of aggravating her injury was unclear.

"Sis! You’ve really changed! Oww—ouch—!"

Gu Yan! My sister who never wears makeup! Actually wants to doll herself up!

What on earth did you do to make her like this?!

"Is your reaction really necessary? Lie back down!"

Leng Qingqiu schooled her expression, adopting a stern tone.

"Fine."

Once Leng Ling'er settled down.

Leng Qingqiu continued applying the ointment while silently consulting Xiao Leng in her mind.

Normally, Xiao Leng would’ve chimed in by now.

It was her way of gauging whether she was making the right choices.

"Xiao Leng, what do you think? Isn’t this too unlike my usual self?"

As the words left her mouth, Leng Qingqiu braced for the usual array of possible responses from Xiao Leng.

But this time... to her surprise.

Xiao Leng said something she didn’t understand.

[............]

After a brief silence.

Xiao Leng slowly uttered three words.