“Sis, I folded your pajamas and left them here. Um... There’s still so much I want to talk about, but you should get some rest first. You just got home, so you must be tired. Oh, right—remember to change into your pajamas before bed!”

“Okay... Got it.”

Ye Zhiyun brought over a pure-white cotton nightdress that looked silky smooth, folded it, and set it by Ye Zhibai’s bedside.

After reminding her, she left the room with a satisfied smile and closed the door behind her.

That left Ye Zhibai alone in the room, her thoughts in a bit of a jumble.

I really still don’t know how to talk to pretty girls...

Ugh! I’m so hopeless!

Yun’er was definitely easy to get along with, but Ye Zhibai couldn’t just become close to her all at once...

She’d have to get to know her little by little.

Get to know her...?

Ye Zhibai had the nagging feeling that someone was watching her from behind.

She slowly turned around. The moment their eyes met...

She jolted in fright!

Ye Zhiyun hadn’t left.

She’d left the door ajar and poked her little head through the gap. Her long black hair spilled down like a waterfall, and her eyes sparkled as if she were still waiting for something.

Well, now Ye Zhibai wasn’t feeling so nervous anymore.

“Yun’er...? What are you doing?”

“Oh, Sis, don’t mind me. I’m waiting for you to change!”

You really are a pervert, aren’t you?!!!

Ye Zhibai was “scared,” but her voice came out rather cold. “You... could you go outside?”

“Sure!! I’ll crawl—cough, I mean, I’ll go!”

But before crawling away, she added one more thing, full of anticipation.

“Hehe, Sis, if you find you don’t know how to put it on, please come call me in my room! I’ll help you get dressed!”

“I already know how... Don’t worry.”

“Oh, okay...”

She sounded a little disappointed.

Ye Zhiyun gently closed the door.

Ye Zhibai hurried over in tiny steps and pressed her ear lightly against the door.

Ye Zhibai’s room was on the first floor, while Ye Zhiyun’s was on the second. That meant she could hear Yun’er going upstairs on the wooden staircase.

Looks like the huge pervert... No! My little sister really did go back to her room this time.

Ye Zhibai turned around and leaned her back against the door. She slowly slid down until she was sitting on the floor, then finally let out a breath.

Phew... Dealing with people really is hard.

Especially dealing with Yun’er, who seemed to be watching me every second. It was downright creepy...

Earlier, Ye Zhibai had asked Ye Zhiyun if she didn’t need to go to school.

Ye Zhiyun had said that she was a senior in high school and would be taking the college entrance exams soon, but her grades were top-notch, so it didn’t matter much whether she went to class or not.

In other words, she had a double safety net. First, she had good grades, so she could do as she pleased. Second, she had money, so she could do whatever she pleased even more.

Ye Zhibai, who’d had neither money nor good grades in her previous life, had nothing to say about that...

Yun’er had also said that, more than going to school, she wanted to stay home and keep Ye Zhibai company. She’d just gotten out of the hospital, after all, and Yun’er was still worried about her.

What was there to worry about, anyway...

Ye Zhibai’s heart was pretty tough!

The new home... was nice.

But she’d probably need some time to get used to it.

Still sitting on the floor, Ye Zhibai drew up her legs and slowly wrapped her arms around her knees.

In this new environment... hugging herself was the only thing that gave her a little warmth.

It was a bit cold...

The central air conditioner was still blowing cold air with a steady whoosh.

Oh! So that’s why I’m cold.

Ye Zhibai stood up and followed Yun’er’s instructions from earlier. She turned the air conditioner’s fan-speed dial from three to one and raised the temperature by two degrees.

After adjusting it, Ye Zhibai’s hand stopped.

She cautiously glanced to her left and right.

I’m the only one in here...

So...

Ye Zhibai changed the direction of her hand, turning the dial she’d just set to fan speed one back to fan speed three!

She turned the temperature back down, too!

Then she raised it again!

Accompanied by a series of beeps, Ye Zhibai fiddled with the air conditioner’s temperature setting three or four times before stopping.

And then...

Ye Zhibai realized she was being childish.

Wah... But this is the first time I’ve had my own air conditioner. Is it really so bad to play around with it a couple more times?

That’s what the novelty’s for. A few more blasts of cold air and I’ll get over it.

Satisfied with her air conditioner experiments, Ye Zhibai set it to a comfortable temperature and sat down on the edge of the bed.

She picked up the phone from her nightstand and opened QQ again.

She didn’t have any particular reason for opening QQ.

It was just a modern-person thing. You absentmindedly open QQ to check it—that’s a habit.

She’d only meant to take a look...

But Ye Zhibai noticed something was wrong.

Her QQ friends list seemed a lot shorter than it had been when she first checked at noon.

More than half of them were gone.

The chat list showed the number of friends... so when the count dropped, it was obvious at a glance.

Ye Zhibai searched her memory as she scrolled through her friends list, piecing together the situation.

—Almost all the people who’d deleted her were classmates she’d added in college.

The news that the Ye Zhibai from her previous life had been hit and killed by a car had probably made its way back to the university.

Those who had her on QQ—the classmates in her department—must’ve thought to delete her right away.

Fair enough... Why keep someone around when they’re bad luck?

It wasn’t a big deal... It was perfectly normal...

But as Ye Zhibai held her phone, her bangs hanging low over her lovely, impassive face, she still felt a sadness she couldn’t quite put into words.

Well... Those classmates were mostly people from her department after she started college. There were also the teachers for her major courses.

In her previous life, Ye Zhibai hadn’t even exchanged more than a few words with those classmates or teachers.

She’d planned to work and save up some money first. Once her life improved and she had a little more to her name, she’d start making an effort to socialize and live a normal life.

But who could’ve guessed... She’d be gone before she even got the chance to start.

Life really is unpredictable...

Ugh, enough. Thinking about it just makes me feel worse.

Reluctantly, she glanced at QQ again.

Aside from a few more people disappearing from her already short friends list while she’d been lost in thought, there was nothing else unusual.

Sigh... Maybe it was better that she hadn’t gotten any messages. Even if Ye Zhibai’s previous life had been miserable, she couldn’t say for sure that absolutely no one had cared about her.

Ye Zhibai made a point of glancing at the QQ account saved as “Sister Liang.”

Aside from asking that morning whether she had class, Sister Liang hadn’t sent her any new messages.

All right, then.

I hope that if there really are good people who care about what I went through in my previous life, they’ll keep me on their friends list. Don’t delete me just because I’m bad luck.

Wah...! The more I think about it, the more miserable it gets!

Nope, I can’t look at QQ anymore!

Ye Zhibai quickly locked her phone and set it facedown on the bed!

By chance, she looked up.

“Huh?”

After the air conditioner, Ye Zhibai had found herself another “treasure.”

In the corner of the wall opposite the big bed, beside the desk...

—stood a huge full-length mirror.

From where Ye Zhibai was sitting, the mirror showed her whole body.

For Ye Zhibai, this... this was a pretty amazing thing.

She’d already used a little mirror to see what she looked like at the hospital, but a full-length mirror seemed like it would give her a much clearer view of herself.

Ye Zhibai kicked off her slippers, moved from the edge of the bed onto it, and sat down. She searched for the right angle, shifting until she was fully within the mirror’s reflection.

She’d found the right angle.

And then... Ye Zhibai was dazzled all over again.

Sitting down, her shimmering silver hair fell to her waist and spread across the bedsheets like a sea of silver flowers, blooming in profusion.

Ye Zhibai couldn’t help slipping off the bed. Barefoot, she padded across the wooden floor, tap-tap-tapping her way to stand right in front of the full-length mirror.

In that dress, with her figure and graceful shape, Ye Zhibai looked truly pleasing to the eye—like everything about her belonged together.

Slender, but not so thin that she looked sickly.

The lovely, gentle curve of her chest made her want to reach out and squeeze it herself!

No... The truth was, it wasn’t just a temptation.

Out of sheer curiosity—pure curiosity, okay?—Ye Zhibai had already timidly reached out and placed one hand lightly on her left breast.

“......!”

A jolt of electricity.

Just like at the hospital that noon... the same strange sensation.

N-no, no, no... What am I doing to myself?!

Ye Zhibai quickly let go and shook her head, trying to clear it.

She looked back at the full-length mirror and continued inspecting herself.

More importantly, there was this face...

Those purple eyes... so cold they could freeze you solid. Even Ye Zhibai felt chilled just looking at them.

Couldn’t she smile a little?

Ye Zhibai tried pressing her index fingers against the corners of her mouth and pushing them up. That made a... rather awkward smile.

Forget it...

That looked even less natural.

There was no rush. If that ball of light was right, then once her soul had fully merged with her body, she’d probably be able to control her expressions freely.

Hopefully that happens soon.

Walking around with a cold expression all the time made her look like the whole world owed her a billion. That wouldn’t do.

But...

Until then, she should take some time to study herself!

How could she get to know the world all over again if she didn’t even understand herself?

Ye Zhibai propped her cheeks up with her fingers again and tried making all sorts of faces. But the natural coldness in her eyes made her look silly, and she couldn’t help laughing to herself.

Nobody understood how to entertain herself better than Ye Zhibai.

Suddenly...

Knock!

“?”

A sound like a knock, but much quieter, rang out.

Ye Zhibai’s fingers sprang away from her face as if she’d been shocked.

Phew... Nobody can see how silly I looked just now. They’d think I was an idiot again.

Knock!

Another “knock” rang out.

Ye Zhibai instinctively turned to look toward the door.

Wait...

Hadn’t Yun’er just gone back to her room?

Besides... that knock hadn’t sounded like it came from that direction.

Knock!

This time, the sound was clearer.

Ye Zhibai pinpointed the source and turned toward the large window leading out to the courtyard.

The curtains were still drawn.

The tapping hadn’t stopped. Every so often, another faint knock sounded.

Now she was sure... the sound was coming from over there.

Someone’s knocking on the window?! What the heck, who does that?!

Uh... Wait...

Knocking on the window?!