Yufei Han walked behind Qinmu, speaking as if nothing were wrong. “So, um, Qinmu—no, what was it again, Hui… Hui-something—HuiXiang, right? Isn’t your brother super busy? Take me to his workplace. I wanna see what he’s doing now.”

Qinmu shook her head in a panic. “No… um, I actually don’t know where he is right now. I’m not really clear on what his department does, either. Let’s just walk around somewhere else. There are lots of nice places on campus—like the flower beds, the bamboo grove, and the old school buildings from back when this was a traditional academy.”

Yufei Han had no patience to listen to her ramble on, and she wasn’t interested in any of that classical scenery. She sped up, stopped a nearby female student who was just leaving the gym, and eagerly asked, “Hey, excuse me. Do you know where the Sports Department clubroom is?”

The girl was a little startled at being suddenly questioned, but she kept her composure and pointed at the building behind Qinmu. “Isn’t it right there? First floor of that building. Just go in and you’ll see it.”

Yufei Han hurriedly thanked her, a bit embarrassed. Then she glared hard at Qinmu, screaming in her head, You actually dared lie to me? It’s right in front of us and you said, “I don’t know.”

Under Yufei Han’s glare, Qinmu’s heart was pounding. She felt horrible. Only now did she realize how ridiculous her excuse had been. How could she say she didn’t know where “her brother” worked? It was literally right there. Wasn’t that just shooting herself in the foot?

Right now, the only confidence Qinmu had left was that her true identity hadn’t been exposed yet. As long as she didn’t make any more fatal mistakes, she wouldn’t arouse Yufei Han’s suspicion and could get through today safely.

Of course, that was all just her wishful thinking. Yufei Han had already seen through her little ploy to divert attention—saying “let’s go somewhere else” and “I don’t know where he works.” She clearly knew everything. She just didn’t dare let Yufei Han meet the made‑up “Qinmu,” because there was no way she could keep that lie going.

Yufei Han forced down the little cosmos burning inside her and smiled at Qinmu. “HuiXiang, your brother’s probably inside, right? Go call him out for me. I’ll wait here.”

Qinmu’s legs trembled a little. I’m literally standing right here… But if I don’t go in, that’ll look weird too. Yufei Han’s watching. I can’t claim my legs don’t work or something. She quickly came up with a plan. I’ll just go in, take a look, then say I didn’t see him and come back out. That should be fine.

So Qinmu followed her plan. She hurriedly pushed open the glass door to the building and headed toward the Sports Department clubroom on the first floor—the room she knew best.

Once she stepped inside, everyone in the Sports Department was busy with their own tasks. But a few girls whose minds were wandering noticed the unfamiliar visitor and let out startled squeals. The others all turned toward the source of the noise, then their gazes shifted, one after another, to Qinmu standing by the door.

The whole room erupted in an instant, like they’d spotted some brand‑new species. The girls started chattering away.

“Is that the captain? But it kinda isn’t… Why would the captain be wearing a girl’s uniform?”

“Captain, do you have a cross‑dressing kink or something? Wow, and I only find out now what kind of person you really are. I’ve gotta like this manually.”

“Is that really the captain? Captain, why are you spacing out? Get over here and work. Look, without you, the whole place is a mess.”

As they spoke, a few girls rushed over to Qinmu, grabbed her, and dragged her to the desk where she usually worked. Qinmu didn’t know what she was supposed to do and just let them move her around.

One black‑haired girl stared curiously at the slightly raised area on Qinmu’s chest. “Huh? Is this for real? Don’t tell me you stuffed pads into your bra, Captain. You really went all out, huh. So your commitment to being a trap is on this level.”

She couldn’t resist reaching out to poke it. Qinmu instinctively covered her chest. The black‑haired girl gasped. “W‑wait, it… it feels real.”

Qinmu couldn’t take it anymore and shouted, “Listen up! I’m not your captain! My name is Nangong Huixiang. I’m your captain’s little sister!”

Everyone was shocked by her anger, and the room fell dead silent. Then it suddenly blew up again.

“The captain’s sister? Wow, she really does look like him. Are they twins? No wonder.”

“Nangong Huixiang… I think I’ve heard of her. Isn’t she the class belle of Class Three? Figures she’d be a natural beauty. That means Senior Qinmu is also their class belle, right? That’s insane.”

“Stop yelling, all of you. You’re here to find your brother, right? He’s not here. No idea where he’s slacking off now. Every critical moment, he just disappears. He’s no better than that so‑called department head.”

“Exactly, exactly. If you know where he is, hurry up and drag him back. If he doesn’t come back soon, this whole place is gonna fall apart.”

Listening to their complaints and criticism, Qinmu felt awful. She might be here as HuiXiang, but the person they were cursing was still her. She couldn’t hold back the mix of excitement and disappointment in her voice. “I’m sorry about my brother. I’ll call him right away and tell him to come back.” Then she fled the clubroom in a panic.

Everyone inside traded looks.

“Did I say something that harsh?”

“How can you scold someone’s brother right in front of his little sister? Of course she’d be upset.”

“I didn’t mean to go that far either. But we’ve worked so hard these past few days, and the captain just runs off without a word? That’s way too irresponsible.”

Yufei Han was zoning out on the steps outside the door. Suddenly she heard quick footsteps behind her. She immediately turned, smiling brightly. “Well? Was he in there?”

Qinmu shook her head. “My brother’s not there. I don’t know where he went.”

Yufei Han’s expression went blank. That answer fit the rules, but it wasn’t what she wanted… And the people inside had let Qinmu walk out that easily. Could she really be Nangong Huixiang?

Yufei Han wavered. If she’d got it wrong, she’d totally lose face in front of Qinmu later. What now? Should she keep testing?

“Hm, HuiXiang. Since your brother’s not here, come walk around with me somewhere else,” Yufei Han said, her voice relaxing as a new plan came to her.

“Okay.” Qinmu felt a bit relieved. She figured Yufei Han had given up doubting her, so her guard slowly dropped.

Yufei Han seized the chance to chat with her while they walked, digging for holes in her story.

“I heard your brother’s grades are really good. He even gets scholarships a lot. Is that true?”

“I guess so. But he doesn’t really talk about it, so I’m not too sure.”

“Does he have a girlfriend right now? Usually guys who are good at studying get a lot of secret admirers, right?”

“Um… I don’t think he has one.”

“Does he play online games a lot? I heard he’s a total pro, can dominate any game.”

“I don’t play online games, so I don’t really know.”

Faced with Yufei Han’s machine‑gun questions, Qinmu kept saying she wasn’t sure or didn’t know, hoping to dodge any traps.

“Listen, Tingyu Muchi, I heard your account got hacked recently. It keeps sending me weird messages.” Yufei Han suddenly switched the name she used and sped up her words, pressing down on Qinmu with pure tempo so she had no time to think.

“Huh? No way. I literally logged on this morning…” Qinmu answered without thinking.

“Tingyu Muchi” was her in‑game ID. She logged in often, so it was burned into her memory. She never expected it to become the key that exposed her.

Yufei Han’s scheme had worked perfectly. She grabbed Qinmu’s arm, twisted it behind her back, and pinned her in place. “I knew it. You really are Nangong Qinmu. You pretended to be your sister and chatted with me for so long—do you take me for an idiot? You’re not getting away now. Start talking. Why did you pretend to be a guy and lie to me? You’re clearly just a simple, cute girl, but everything out of your mouth is a lie…”

“Ow, ow, ow… Let me go first, okay…” Qinmu groaned.

“I’ll let you go if you tell the truth.” Yufei Han released her arm. Qinmu stood in front of her, looking completely defeated, like a kid who’d been caught doing something wrong.

“Actually… I’m the one using the game account now. My brother already quit, so that’s why I reacted so fast just now.” Qinmu made one last attempt, hoping to somehow turn the situation around.

Yufei Han gave a cold laugh. “Still trying to bullshit me? You think I’ll buy that? You said you don’t play online games, remember? So why are you ‘using his account’ now? You’re full of it. You’re Nangong Qinmu—one hundred percent a girl, one hundred percent a giant liar. What else do you have to say? Hmph. You’d better admit it honestly right now, or I swear I’m telling your whole school you’re actually a girl.”

Qinmu looked utterly pitiful, tears shimmering in her eyes as she stared hard at her. It seemed there was no way to overturn this anymore.

Yufei Han floundered a little. “Hey, don’t think that just ’cause you look all pathetic and adorable I’ll forgive you. I’m telling you, no way. If you admit it now, I’ll let it go and won’t dig any deeper. But if you keep resisting to the bitter end, then everyone at your school is gonna find out Nangong Qinmu is a girl.”

“…I am a girl. Just… not in the way you think.” Under the threat, Qinmu finally admitted who she was.

“What ‘way’ do you think I mean? I should be asking you that. Why did you pretend to be a boy for so long? Was it to hook up with girls or something? I really didn’t expect someone this cute to have such dirty, messed‑up thoughts…”

“It’s not like that…” Qinmu had no idea how to explain it to her.

She could only drag Yufei Han to a quiet bamboo grove where no one passed by, then whispered, “Listen. When you first met me, I really was a boy. But later, for some reason, my body turned into a girl’s. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it really happened to me. So… I’m hoping you can help me keep this a secret.”

Yufei Han still didn’t quite believe her. “Turned into a girl? You think this is a manga? This is real life. Stuff like that doesn’t happen. Don’t throw some supernatural nonsense at me. I’m not stupid.”

Seeing she still wasn’t convinced, Qinmu pulled out her wallet from the inner pocket of her blazer. She took out her ID card and student ID and handed them over. “These are my documents. They both list my gender as male. You believe me now, right?”

Yufei Han widened her eyes and checked. Sure enough, like Qinmu said, they said “Male.” But she leaned more toward them being fakes. “How am I supposed to know these are real? There are tons of fake IDs out there. Making one wouldn’t be that hard.”

Qinmu was so anxious she was almost in tears. “Why would I need to fake them? What do you want, for me to go to the police station and prove it? But no matter how I try to prove it now, there’s no way to show I used to be a guy.”

Watching her flustered, helpless expression, Yufei Han finally gave in a little and chuckled. “All right, fine. I’ll tentatively believe you and keep your secret. But… do you really have a twin sister?”

Only then did Qinmu realize that Yufei Han had never believed she had a sister from the very beginning. So this whole misunderstanding had been destined to blow her cover wide open sooner or later.

“Yeah. Her name’s Nangong Huixiang. She’s my twin sister…”

Yufei Han stared at her like she’d seen a UFO. “A twin sister, huh? So that’s actually real. I’m so jealous. But she looks pretty normal, right? It was just you who didn’t really look like a normal guy before.”

Qinmu felt a spike of discomfort, but she had to admit it was the truth. She pulled a helpless crying face. “How’s that my fault? Can I say I inherited it from my sister?”

Yufei burst out laughing. “No way you can say that. It’s just like… a miracle or something. This kind of setup is totally broken.”

Then Yufei suddenly got serious and patted Qinmu on the shoulder. “Hey, so what now? Aren’t you gonna have to compete in your sister’s place these days, and still do all your club stuff?”

Qinmu nodded and grumbled, “Yeah, I’m about to lose my mind. One person, two identities, I can’t split myself in half. Oh right, you’re supposed to be super capable, aren’t you? Can you help me out and act as temporary captain of the sports club for a few days?”

Yufei turned her down tactfully. “I was just joking. I’m only a committee member in the school’s arts club. I don’t really get what you sports people do. Helping you would be pretty hard.”

Qinmu immediately fixed her with a killing-blow level pitiful gaze and just stared, not giving her a second to breathe. Yufei finally broke and yelled, “That’s cheating! Fine, fine, I’ll help you. You’re so annoying. A big guy acting all cutesy—watch it or I’ll make you my manservant. No, maid. Anyway, I’m not promising I’ll do a great job, okay?”

Qinmu smiled. “So that means you’re saying yes?”

Yufei spread her hands, giving a wry smile. “I am. Satisfied now? But you’ve gotta help hide my identity too. Tell them in advance that I’m also a Jintang student.”

Qinmu made an OK sign. “Don’t worry, easy stuff. But those girls might not listen to you that well, so I’ll explain everything to them myself.”

Qinmu let out a long breath. One more troublesome person settled, and the messy problem was dealt with too. Two birds with one stone. But if people kept seeing through her like this… was her acting really that bad? Yet Qi Yao hadn’t done anything weird. He’d even kept talking to her face-to-face about stuff only guys talk about. Was it just that Qi Yao was the only one slow on the uptake?

Now Qinmu couldn’t calm down anymore. She warned herself not to let her guard drop again. If more people figured it out, things would get serious. She might not even be able to stay at school.

After that, she took Yufei Han on a casual walk around campus. Once they agreed on what to do tomorrow, she sent Yufei off in a hurry.

Qinmu slipped carefully to the clubroom’s back door, turned the key, and went in to get her clothes. Even though almost no one ever came in here, she was still extra cautious.

After closing the door, she quickly stripped off the girl’s outfit and changed back into her male look in a rush. Her ahoge, which she’d smoothed down, had already popped straight up again, but she didn’t notice at all.

Then she went in through the front door of the clubroom. Most people were still there. Perfect timing for her to make an important announcement.

The moment the members saw their captain come back, they immediately gathered around. A lot of the girls were unhappy with her doing nothing all day, but rank crushes people, and Qinmu was a prettyboy on top of that. They swallowed their complaints and did their best to act like nothing had happened.

Qinmu spoke in a sincere tone. “I’m really sorry about today. I had some personal stuff to deal with, and I’ll still need a few more days. So tomorrow I’ll invite a senior from our school’s third year to temporarily fill in for me. I hope you can forgive me—and follow the acting captain’s instructions.”

The members didn’t show much outright hostility, but their words definitely had thorns.

“As long as someone’s there to organize things, whatever.”

“Is she actually capable enough? Don’t let her mess everything up.”

Qinmu’s expression turned a little more serious. “She should be more than capable. She’s had experience with this before. Can you trust me one more time?”

Everyone looked at each other. “You’re the captain. How could we not listen to you?”

“Captain, what’re you so busy with anyway? Don’t tell me you went on a matchmaking date or something.”

Qinmu didn’t explain further. After assigning the tasks for tomorrow, she left school and took a bus to the hospital.

She tore through the hallways toward the inpatient ward like a gust of wind, her heart full of worry for HuiXiang’s condition. When she pushed open the door, she saw HuiXiang waving at her. “Big bro, you finally came.”

Qinmu relaxed and answered with a soft “Yeah,” walking to her bedside. “HuiXiang, how’re you feeling today?”

“Much better. Big bro, look who’s here.” HuiXiang sounded like she was about to give Qinmu a surprise. She forced her hand up to show Qingyu, who was sitting right beside her and had completely escaped Qinmu’s notice.

Qingyu smiled and waved at her. “Qinmu, right? Long time no see. I’ve really missed you.”

The extra person caught Qinmu off guard, but anything involving Qingyu made it hard for her to control her emotions.

So Qinmu chose to ignore her. She walked to HuiXiang’s other side instead and asked gently, “Have you eaten yet? Want me to go buy something?”

HuiXiang had always had a soft spot for food. She smiled in satisfaction. “Not yet. Sis, I want a burger and a spicy chicken leg.”

Qinmu stroked her head tenderly, then, feeling it wasn’t enough of a warning, tapped her lightly as well. “You can’t eat spicy stuff. You know that.”

“I don’t know. Sis, go buy it for me,” HuiXiang said, acting spoiled, blinking up at her with a fake-loli kind of cuteness.

“Nope. I can only get you a burger. For the chicken leg, I’ll get you soy-sauce braised.”

“Braised is fine too~” HuiXiang wasn’t picky about that at all. As long as she got a chicken leg, she was happy—way better than some girls who still weren’t satisfied even with designer bags.

Left on the side and suddenly ignored, Qingyu felt incredibly awkward, but she still forced herself to smile. “Why don’t I go buy it for you? Then you two won’t have to run around.”

Qinmu cut in right after her, expression blank. “No need. I’ll go.”

Then she hurried downstairs, not making a sound.

Watching Qinmu’s lonely back, Qingyu sighed, a little lost. “He seems so different now. He doesn’t even want to talk to me anymore. Did I do something wrong?”

HuiXiang lazily played on her phone and answered, “No idea. Maybe it’s ’cause you haven’t contacted her at all these four years, sis. So she might think you ditched her, and that’s why…”

Qingyu looked a bit crushed. “But… I did call him. Just… not very often.”

HuiXiang shook her head right away. “No, Qingyu-jie. I was the one who picked up every single time. Big bro never once answered your calls.”

Qingyu was stunned. “HuiXiang, it was all you? I thought it was Qinmu. Back then, you two sounded almost exactly the same on the phone. Looks like I misunderstood. This is all my fault…”

Only then did Qingyu realize she’d unknowingly neglected someone—her own little brother. She’d made him think she only liked his sister and had chosen to ignore him. Her expression turned dazed. She didn’t know what to do. She’d tried so hard to handle everything, but this ridiculous coincidence had just poured ice water over all her feelings.

“Qinmu… do you think he can still forgive me? I actually care about him a lot. Outside, I always tell people I have a super cute little brother. I’ve even shown off his photos, but…”

HuiXiang thought for a bit, then put down her phone and said seriously, “How about this. Getting big bro to forgive you isn’t actually that hard. It depends on your sincerity. Like, take her out to play, buy her clothes, treat her to food and stuff. Little by little, she should warm up to you.”

Although HuiXiang knew Qinmu was really stubborn, now that he’d turned into a girl, his mindset should lean more toward a girl’s, right? That should make it easier to win him over.

Qingyu wiped away the tears brimming in her eyes, full of gratitude. “Good girl. I know what to do now. I’ll definitely make him understand again that I love him, that I treasure him—because I’m his big sister.”