"……Ugh."
Ying looked at the hung up call, then stared blankly in the direction of the other room for a while, and finally could only sigh.
buzz-
There was a slight prompt tone coming from the terminal. It was the special prompt tone that Sakura set for her sister. When she opened the terminal, she found the message that Ling had sent her.
■■Month 3th 0:04
Ling: Is your sister asleep?
Ying: Not yet. I’m getting ready to go to bed. But Ling, why are you still awake so late?
Ling: Hehe, of course I miss my sister~
Ying: Really? Don't worry, I'll be back in a few days.
Ling: Is the business trip with Brother Wang over?
Sakura: Yeah.
Ling: So... how's the progress? I saw that my sister always went on business trips with my brother Wang, so how come you guys haven't made any progress at all?
Ling: What about the method I gave to my sister? Did it work? The book says it is very useful! But my sister is stupid, and she became even stupider after meeting Brother Wang. I don’t know if she will use it.
Ling: But you are so beautiful, I think Wang Ge must have been fascinated by you for a long time, right? He is just too shy to speak up. If you give him a little push, Wang Ge will confess his love to you!
Ling: It's said in the book that girls become stupid after falling in love, will my sister become stupid by then? But don't worry, let me and brother Wang take care of my sister together!
Ling: ...Sister? Are you asleep?
However, in reality, Sakura's face was completely red at the moment, and it was unclear whether it was because she was shy or because she was angry with her sister.
■■Month 3th 0:12
Sakura: Shut up! Go to sleep!
Ying: Also, don’t read those weird books anymore! They made me so embarrassed that I almost died!
Ling: Eh? Sister, did you really do it? What about Brother Wang? How did you respond? Did you agree?
cherry:…………
Ying: I told him you wanted to go to the amusement park with him, and he agreed.
bell:…………
Ling: My sister is so timid...so lame.
Ying: Go to sleep! Otherwise I will sell all those weird books of yours when I get back!
After sending this sentence with some embarrassment, Ying closed the terminal, put the long sword wrapped in cloth under the pillow, and then lay on the bed, staring at the pure white ceiling in a daze.
"Amusement park...?"
Placing her hand on her chest, Sakura murmured to herself, feeling her breathing and heartbeat gradually steadying.
"Maybe... it's an opportunity..."
Gradually, I fell asleep.
………………Communication from somewhere unknown………………
"Hello? Al, it's me. [Knife] is still the same today, but he's going to go out and play with [Sheath] during his break later."
"Well, I also learned about this from [Sheath]. Let them go. It would be best if we could give them some help during the journey so that they can live more comfortably."
"Al, I don't quite understand why you want to put restrictions on [Knife]? Is it because he is not loyal enough?"
"Of course it's not enough. There is something that has been staying in his heart. We have to find a way to erase it. At the very least, we have to replace it with our people or people we can control. Otherwise, a [knife] that cannot be fully controlled is too dangerous, especially when this [knife] is so sharp... Don't you see that even though the amount of [drugs] taken by the [knife] has been increasing, many of our related methods have no effect on him?"
"Is that why you want to add the [Scabbard]... But can it really replace it?"
"Of course. Time will wash away everything, and the feelings generated by long-term companionship will slowly settle. With the addition of a prepared environment and a little push, the budding feelings we expect will eventually grow. This outing of [Knife] and [Scabbard] is the best proof of this."
"I see. I hope this method works... By the way, Al, I've gotten some clues on the matter you asked me to investigate. There was indeed a major incident in North America, an incident that caused huge casualties. It shouldn't be a natural disaster as those old liar politicians said, but some more unreasonable danger."
"Normal. Those idiots love to lie to their own people. I look forward to the day when they deceive themselves."
"Also, they seem to have formed a separate organization to deal with the dangers mentioned earlier. Perhaps we should also get involved. I have a feeling that this organization will be key in the future."
"Okay, I still trust your vision. After cleaning up another group of [those guys] this time, we can become stronger and it's time to gain some say... Hey, why don't we just let [Dao] go over there? I think some of [those guys] should be in there. When [Dao] gets to know them, interesting things will definitely happen."
"Don't be too greedy, Al. Although the salami tactic is useful, the [Knife] may know about the [Island]. It must not be exposed to the outside world, and it is not a place we can get involved in. Otherwise, we will only suffer crazy revenge from [those guys], and we can't withstand it... at least not now."
"I will. At the very least, you'll be there to remind me, right?"
"I won't save you every time... Oh, and there's one more thing."
"Ok?"
"[Blade] needs two tickets for Eden's concert. Go get them for him. He and [Sheath] need them for their date. The concert is on the evening of the 15th of this month."
"Huh? That Eden concert? On the 15th of this month? It's already the 2nd... no, the 3rd! All the tickets have been booked. Where are you going to get them?!"
"I don't care about that. After all, you said you wanted to make them live more comfortably."
"I remember you have one there. Give it to him first, and I'll find a way to get another one."
"No, because I want to go too."
"I (expletive)..."
Chapter 12: It’s time to give out candies! It’s time to give out candies!
Time is always like this, it slips away inadvertently, and in the blink of an eye it is time to go out and play.
"Sister, are you going to leave like this?"
Ling looked at her sister, then put her hands on her hips, seeming a little dissatisfied.
"What...what happened? Is there a problem?"
Hearing her sister say this, Sakura subconsciously thought that there might be something wrong with her appearance, and quickly lowered her head to look at herself.
She was wearing a beige off-shoulder dress with a pink corset tied into a bow at the back, which held together the slightly loose skirt and highlighted the girl's slender waist. Considering where she was going and her shy feelings, the girl put on a pair of safety pants and changed into sandals. Her sun hat and shoulder bag were placed on the chair next to her, which she would take with her when she left.
The only problem was that the brown shoulder bag was bulging, as if it was stuffed with things - and Ling remembered that even in this situation, her sister still stuffed a candy box in it.
Ying felt that dressing like this was good enough. After all, although she usually spent some time on her clothes, she was never as picky as she was today.
"No, sister, absolutely not~"
Ling shook her head and spoke in an educational tone.
"You haven't put on any makeup yet. They say women dress up to please themselves. How can you not put on makeup for such an important event as your first date? But you don't usually like to buy makeup, which is too bad. But luckily I have your sister...ah, it hurts..."
"If you read those messy books again, I will cut your pocket money!"
"I didn't read those messed up books!"
Ling protested loudly as she moved Sakura's hands away from her head.
I read all of this on the Internet, so of course I haven’t read those “messy books”!
"Besides, sister, you should buy some cosmetics and make yourself prettier... Okay."
Ling pouted and spoke with a slight complaint, then took out a small gift box from her bag, opened it, and handed it to her sister.
"bell?"
"Lip balm, this is it. Sister, you don't like to wear lipstick, so you should at least have a lip balm, right? I bought the cherry blossom flavored one, I think you'll like it."
"…Thank you, Ling."
Sakura was slightly surprised, then happily accepted it and gently touched Ling's head.
Then he asked a question that made Ling freeze.
"How much is this lip balm?"
“Ah… ahahaha… well…”
Ling looked away guiltily.
"And the style of this [lip balm] seems a little off..."
"this and that……"
Ling felt that the hand on her head was gradually changing from "stroking" to "grasping", and it was getting stronger and stronger.
"Ling, this is actually lipstick, right?"
Sakura said softly.
“Although I don’t buy makeup often, I can still differentiate between lip balm and lipstick.”
"........."
Ling stopped talking.
"... Ling, I don't mean to blame you, I just hope you don't spend too much money on this kind of dress-up stuff."
Ying patted Ling's head again and spoke softly.
"It's not that you are forbidden to buy these, but I hope you can be moderate and at least not overly pursue those expensive things... Even though our family has become much richer, we should still be frugal."
"……Um."
"Good boy, and...thank you very much, Ling."
Sakura said with a smile.
“I like this gift very much.”
buzz-
The terminal rang with a notification sound, and it was obvious that the person who came to pick them up had arrived.
"He's here, Ling."
At this time, Ying became a little timid again, her movements became more flustered and timid, completely different from the gentle and generous sister just now.
"Sister... so lame."
Seeing her sister acting like a fool, Ling was speechless... Would she really have to rely on her and Wang to take care of her sister? That was not the way to do it...
"I...I'm just a little worried..."
A slight blush flashed across Ying's face, and she quickly applied the new lipstick on herself, tidied up her and Ling's clothes a little, then put on her shoulder bag and sun hat and walked out of the house - Xiwang's car was already outside the house.
"Good morning, brother~"
"Although it's already morning to be exact, but... good morning, Ling."
Xi Wang looked at Ling sitting in the back seat through the rearview mirror and responded softly to her lively voice. Then he tilted his head and spoke to Ying who was sitting in the passenger seat.
"Good morning, Sakura."
"Good morning, Wang."
Sakura nodded, seemingly responding normally.
"By the way, this... is for you."
Before driving, Xi Wang took out a wrapped gift, which contained two cherry blossom-shaped pendants. They seemed to be just ordinary ornaments on the market, but if you look closely, they seem to be more refined than similar ornaments you usually see.
"I think this is very suitable for you, so I give it to you..."
Xiwang explained.
"It has some extra little functions. You can try them out when you get back... Oh, and this, for Ling."
As if he had thought of something, Xiwang took out a small sugar bag with some care and put it in Ling's hand.
"Um...thank you, brother Wang!"
Ling was stunned for a moment. Although she felt that the bag of candy in her hand felt like a "gift", she still responded happily.
"Thank you."
While expressing her gratitude, Ying accepted the gifts that Xiwang brought them. At the same time, she took out a candy box filled with light pink cherry blossom candies from her shoulder bag and handed it to Xiwang.
