Chapter 7
After returning, Yu Xian taught her how much rice was needed for two people, how to wash vegetables, and how to stir-fry dishes.
As for stir-frying, the young lady truly couldn't manage it. Half the greens would somehow vanish from the wok as she cooked, and the moment the oil heated up, she darted far away for fear of being splattered, often leaving the food burnt to a crisp without even realizing it.
After several failed attempts, Yu Xian sighed and decided to adjust her strategy: she would do the cooking herself, leaving the other chores to the young lady.
The young lady was currently chopping vegetables for her, bringing the knife down with immense effort and extreme caution. If she continued dawdling at this rate, heaven knew when they would ever get to cook the ingredients she prepared.
And so, Yu Xian turned around and fetched a pair of nail clippers: "You need to trim your nails shorter. Otherwise, it's easy to cut your hand."
"I don't want to cut them short, they'll look so ugly." Ming Ruixi wore a small apron, her snow-white swan neck slender and graceful. She was relatively tall, and despite wearing loose casual pants, it wasn't hard to tell that her legs were well-proportioned and shapely.
With her focus entirely absorbed by chopping vegetables, her usual habit of referring to herself as "this lady" had somehow shifted naturally to "I."
Because she had worn a long manicure before, her nails were grown out, which interfered with gripping vegetables and holding the knife properly.
Following a miserable shriek, Yu Xian hurried over only to see a few drops of blood on the cutting board. Eldest Miss Ming was clutching her index finger, her small face pale and filled with terror: "Yu Xian, I'm going to die... it hurts so much..."
A corner of her nail had been sliced off as well.
"What are you screaming for? Stop yelling." Yu Xian took her hand, led her to sit at the dining table, and dabbed away the blood with a tissue. The cut wasn't deep, but it had indeed nicked the flesh. Yu Xian brought over antiseptic and applied it with a cotton ball.
The moment it touched the wound, Ming Ruixi tried to yank her hand back in pain. Her eyes reddened, her usually glamorous voice losing its bright edge as if her spirit had been drained right out of her: "...Ow, ow, ow! It hurts!"
Yu Xian seemed to have anticipated her pulling away; while applying the antiseptic, she held firm, gripping her wrist tightly as she said in a calm voice, "Hold still. I'm putting a bandage on."
Ming Ruixi's gaze fell upon her hands, watching blankly as Yu Xian applied the adhesive bandage. In that moment, she suddenly realized she was seated remarkably close to Yu Xian.
Yet having her fingertip held, with that single index finger being bandaged so carefully, stirred a strange sensation in her heart. Every spot Yu Xian touched felt faintly tingly.
"This bandage... is a bit ugly," Ming Ruixi spoke up out of nowhere. The moment she said it, she felt a twinge of regret—someone was tending to her wound, yet here she was nitpicking again.
Yu Xian merely paused, glanced at her, and looked away without saying a single word.
After smoothing down both ends of the bandage, Yu Xian released her and gave instructions: "Don't let it touch water before it heals."
Ming Ruixi gave an "oh," feeling a lingering reluctance to leave the sensation of being cared for. As Yu Xian stood up, Ming Ruixi inexplicably caught hold of the hem of her shirt.
Holding the first aid kit, Yu Xian looked down at her with furrowed brows: "Is there something else?"
Ming Ruixi bit her lip: "A corner of my nail was cut off just now... can you help this lady trim her nails?"
"Cut them yourself." Without looking back, Yu Xian carried the first aid kit out and set it in the living room.
Ming Ruixi pouted, muttering softly under her breath, "If you won't, then don't. Why put on such a sour face?"
After dinner, Yu Xian sat at her desk brainstorming a background for the client. She held the stylus in her hand for a long time, hesitating to make a stroke.
She was pondering what kind of background would suit such a character without feeling hollow or detaching the figure from the scenery.
If the subject and setting became detached, the artwork would lose its soul, no matter how exquisite the princess-syndrome character design turned out to be.
Knock, knock, knock.
A knock sounded at the door. Yu Xian set down her stylus to answer it. Before her stood Eldest Miss Ming carrying a basin, inside of which lay the formal dress and undergarments she had changed out of at noon.
"Doing laundry, right?" Yu Xian was somewhat surprised by her initiative. "My clothes are in the bathroom. Take them and put them in the washing machine. Once the cycle finishes, hang them out on the balcony promptly. The hangers are on the balcony too."
Seeing Yu Xian turn to head back into the room, Ming Ruixi quickly spoke up: "No, I didn't come to do the laundry."
Yu Xian: "Hm?"
Ming Ruixi offered a polite smile: "This lady came to have you wash them."
Terrified that Yu Xian would threaten to kick her out again, Ming Ruixi hurriedly held up her injured finger and explained, "Didn't you say this lady shouldn't touch water? These delicate clothes and lingerie can only be washed by hand."
Yu Xian grasped her meaning, letting out a sudden, cold chuckle: "You want me to wash your underwear?"
Ming Ruixi pursed her lips, slowly nodding under Yu Xian's frost-cold gaze.
Yes.
"Has water seeped into your brain?" Yu Xian crossed her arms and barked coldly, "Get out!"
Ming Ruixi looked up in bewilderment. It felt as though this was the first time she had seen her so thoroughly unyielding and cold. Even when she had tried to slap her last night, or when she had refused to wash the dishes at noon, Yu Xian had never been so fierce that her eyes turned entirely to ice.
She parted her lips to say something, but couldn't get the words out.
Her nose stung with a sudden surge of grievance. Biting her lip hard, she turned and jogged away.
Running all the way to the bathroom, Ming Ruixi looked down at the clothes soaking in the basin inside, recognizing them as Yu Xian's.
Remembering how she had just been scolded, Ming Ruixi sniffled as resentment welled up, and she kicked the basin of clothes over.
Having vented her anger, Eldest Miss Ming felt vindicated. She had no intention of washing clothes for that woman anyway—expecting a highborn lady like herself to demean herself by washing dirty laundry? The sheer nerve of her!
Ming Ruixi stomped on the clothes on the floor twice and was just about to turn and leave. Who could have known that the moment she turned around, she saw Yu Xian standing behind her at an unknown time, staring at her completely expressionless.
One minute later.
Eldest Miss Ming crouched on the bathroom floor. One basin held her and Yu Xian’s underwear, while the other contained their outer clothes.
Undergarments had to be washed by hand, while the outer clothes could simply go into the washing machine.
Ming Ruixi swallowed hard, not daring to look at Yu Xian’s face in the slightest. Keeping her head lowered, she soaked the underwear in water and poured in a bit of laundry detergent.
She rubbed the fabric against the basin a couple of times, her peripheral vision darting toward the doorway. Seeing that pair of legs still rooted at the entrance, Ming Ruixi didn't even dare to breathe too loudly.
The act of kicking over the other woman's laundry had been witnessed firsthand by the victim herself.
If she didn't put on a good performance now, Yu Xian would kick her out without a second thought.
After all, Yu Xian's face had grown as dark as it could possibly get.
With Yu Xian refusing to leave, Ming Ruixi had no choice but to bite the bullet and begin washing the undergarments. First, she pulled out one of her own black lace bralettes and rubbed it twice against the washboard.
She felt that doing laundry wasn't that difficult after all.
Next, following the same routine, she fished out that woman Yu Xian’s bra. The craftsmanship and beauty of the two garments weren't in the same league at all; one glance was enough to tell that Ming Ruixi's clothes were far more high-end, while Yu Xian's bra looked like a plain, generic item bought off the street for 99 yuan.
Yet in this moment, she had to treat them with equal care, and even scrub with extra effort.
After finishing the bras, Ming Ruixi discreetly flicked her eyes toward the bathroom door again—Yu Xian was still standing there!
Why did she have so much free time?!
What kind of bizarre kink made someone enjoy watching other people wash panties?!
Gritting her teeth, Ming Ruixi fished a pair of panties from the basin and laid them onto the washboard. This pair was the matching black lace panties from her set.
Still luxurious, high-end, and unconstrained by conventional designs.
As Ming Ruixi washed them, a hint of pride and self-satisfaction crept onto her face.
Standing at the door, Yu Xian watched this display as a tear was ripped through the memories buried deep in her heart, allowing past recollections to surge back.
Back then, after finishing the 800-meter fitness run, Eldest Miss Ming’s results had been abysmal. After cursing Yu Xian for taking money without doing real work, heaven itself seemed to find it intolerable: right after finishing her tirade, her period arrived suddenly and heavily.
With so many people on the track field, the young lady valued her pride, demanding that Yu Xian take off her jacket to tie around her waist to hide it. Since the heiress didn't live on campus and her driver wouldn't arrive for another hour, she used the situation as an excuse to go to Yu Xian's dorm to change.
After changing into Yu Xian's clothes, she sprawled across her bed with dramatic wails, imperiously ordering Yu Xian to wash the bloodstained underwear for her; otherwise, not a single cent of the tip for helping her cheat on sit-ups or dragging her through the 800-meter run would be paid.
That had been the very first time in Yu Xian's life that she had washed someone else's bloodstained underwear.
Even humiliating someone had never reached such a level.
...
Ming Ruixi wrung out the fabric and tossed it back into the basin. Next up was Yu Xian's panties. Ming Ruixi’s suds-covered hands paused in midair for a fraction of a second.
Ultimately, she bit the bullet and fished them out. Probably because it was such an intimate garment, Ming Ruixi felt a faint trace of embarrassment and awkwardness as she washed it.
Especially when scrubbing the center gusset, Ming Ruixi’s right hand was practically trembling.
The agonizing ten-odd seconds finally passed. With her face flushed bright red, Ming Ruixi placed it into the basin to rinse through three changes of clean water.
Finally, having wrung everything out, when she went to hang them up, Yu Xian's figure was already gone from the doorway. Ming Ruixi let out a sigh of relief, poking her head out to check. Confirming that no one was there, her tense body finally relaxed.
Yu Xian definitely had some kind of mental problem!
After hanging up the lingerie, Ming Ruixi dumped the remaining basin of outer clothes into the washing machine. Catching sight of her eighty-eight-thousand-yuan black velvet dress, she hurriedly pulled it back out with an ache in her heart.
Formal gowns couldn't be machine-washed; it would ruin the fabric, so it had to be hand-washed.
She wanted to take it to a dry cleaner, but remembering she had no money, she gave up the thought in frustration. Turning around, she carried it into the bathroom to wash it carefully by hand herself.
...
After finishing everything, Eldest Miss Ming collapsed onto the bed and reached for that secondhand phone.
Living without a phone offered zero sense of security; she wanted to happily surf the internet.
Ming Ruixi tapped open the Weibo app, only to find it logged straight into an account.
Huh?
Whose Weibo was this?
Ming Ruixi tapped onto the profile page, and the follower count of 1.8 million gave her a massive shock. Soon, she realized this was Yu Xian’s account, because the handle was unmistakable—just two characters: Yu Xian (余闲).
What caught her attention was her self-designated profile category as a Humanities & Arts Blogger, along with the bio in her profile: I will not fall before the dawn.
Ming Ruixi’s eyes scanned the registration date, discovering it had been created half a year ago. Calculating the timeline, wasn't that right around when they were about to graduate?
In just six short months, she had already amassed so many followers. Thinking about it, that woman was actually pretty impressive.
Ming Ruixi tapped to browse her Weibo feed. There were so many paintings—a dazzling variety of artworks ranging from oil paintings to regular private commissions. Every single post had tens of thousands of comments; the level of engagement was simply astronomical.
Scrolling further down, Ming Ruixi’s finger suddenly halted on a specific post.
That post featured a piece of private concept art that Ming Ruixi had actually seen before being kicked out of the Ming family.
Back then, a friend of hers had sent over an image of a gorgeous custom character design, saying how much she adored it and how desperately she wanted the artist to draw one for her too.
At the time, she hadn't realized that the person was just using her. In a moment of impulsiveness, Ming Ruixi had promised to handle it, tracked down this "Yu Xian" artist's profile, and sent a few brief DMs to the account.
Thinking back, Ming Ruixi recalled her message being along the lines of: This lady has a friend who wants you to paint a piece for her. Name your price—how much?
The other party had simply replied: Sorry, not accepting commissions.
She had been furious upon receiving that rejection, and the matter had simply fizzled out afterward.
Reflecting on it now, why had she been so foolish? Being used by others without getting anything good in return—during the days after she was cast out of the Ming family, that so-called friend had been the very first to turn a cold shoulder and pretend not to know her.
Suddenly, her peripheral vision caught the "999+" notification badge at the bottom of the screen. Ming Ruixi raised an eyebrow. She suddenly felt an urge to check the old chat logs between herself and Yu Xian.
Could it be that Yu Xian had tried to message her later on, only to find she had deleted her?
With that thought, she typed her own Weibo handle into the search bar.
A few seconds later, Ming Ruixi found that nothing came up. How could there be no results? She hadn't changed her handle.
Never mind—she searched directly in the "Discover" tab. Sure enough, Ming Ruixi's account appeared this time. Resting her head against the pillow, Ming Ruixi felt a sudden flutter of excitement. Her profile was packed with photos from her daily life—the picture-perfect definition of an exquisite, glamorous girl. Turning over, she bit her lip and tapped onto her profile picture.
The very next second, her pupils shrank.
A. Blank. Screen.
[You have blocked this user and cannot view their profile content!]
Ming Ruixi was so furious she practically bounced off the bed. How dare Yu Xian put her on the blacklist?!
This woman had truly crossed the line!
Even this lady hadn't taken the initiative to block her!
Fuming with indignation, Ming Ruixi slammed the phone face-down onto the duvet and rolled over, refusing to look at it.
Yet, once she calmed down, the realization dawned on her that Yu Xian had proactively blocked her. Given how many lifestyle photos were on her account, anyone would have recognized who she was at a single glance.
So... had Yu Xian despised her since way back then?
Ming Ruixi's thoughts were a tangled mess. Before she could make sense of it all, a crisp chime of bells suddenly echoed from outside the door.
—"Whenever you hear this bell ring in the future, you must come to the art studio to serve as a human canvas."
Ming Ruixi's small face went stark white...
...
Over in the art studio, Yu Xian set down the ping-pong-ball-sized bell, picking up the palette and palette knife to mix her paints.
She hadn't been mixing for long when a soft click sounded as the door was pushed open.
Without lifting her head, Yu Xian said, "Take off your clothes."
Ming Ruixi still felt an overwhelming sense of shame, trying to negotiate: "Yu Xian, can't we do this another way? How could this lady do something so lowly—"
"Come here," Yu Xian cut her off, raising her eyelids. Her pigments were already blended; all that remained was for this precious heiress to come over and serve as her canvas.
Ming Ruixi gritted her teeth, shut the door, and began taking off her clothes piece by piece.
Right before Yu Xian's eyes, the girl's delicate skin flushed with a faint, tender pink—hovering between snow-white and soft rose. That very flush was the exact base undertone Yu Xian had wanted.
Ming Ruixi walked toward Yu Xian barefoot across the floor, even her delicate toes tinged with a soft blush.
Yu Xian took her seat. Ming Ruixi smoothed a hand over Yu Xian's knees to ensure she wouldn't shift unexpectedly, then slowly lowered herself onto her lap.
The arches of her feet pulled taut, her toes touching the floor, the delicate curve of her soles resting faintly against Yu Xian's exposed, slender ankles.
Yu Xian dipped her brush into the pigment and began to paint.
Ming Ruixi held her back rigidly straight, yet she still couldn't disguise her involuntary trembling: "Can this lady ask what you're painting?"
Yu Xian paused. Glancing at the young lady's quivering voice, a subtle smile curved her lips: "Palace Pink plum blossoms."
Ming Ruixi recalled the scene she had glimpsed in the mirror when she rushed to the bathroom to wash off the paint the night before—a vivid branch stretching across her chest, with a single pink petal resting right over the curve.
Eldest Miss Ming's face drained of color, her lips trembling slightly: "Is it the one you started last night?"
Yu Xian nodded: "Mm. Didn't finish it."
Eldest Miss Ming squeezed her eyes shut, feeling an inexplicable, strange sensation beginning to stir across her chest: "Can you paint the flower somewhere else?"
Painting it right there was simply far too humiliating...
Comments (0)