In truth, the Xia-Ke household was not particularly lively tonight.
After all, their parents were away, and one of the siblings was absent due to illness. With only four people taking part in this family meeting, it should logically have been exceptionally quiet...
Yet at this very moment, a series of ghostly wails echoed from the living room, sounding much like a model student cornered by street thugs.
"Stay back! What the hell are you animals trying to do to my phone?!"
"This is outrageous! If Dad were home, would you two be throwing your weight around like this? You're only bullying me because Third Sister is sick in bed today. Otherwise, she'd definitely protect me."
"It's over, it's all over... Why is the only one standing on my side a useless little sister? Can you please make yourself useful for once?"
Ke Mingqing huddled in the corner of the sofa, guarding his phone as desperately as if he were shielding a newborn lamb.
He glared at his eldest brother and second sister as though they were a pair of vicious wolves.
Xia Zili shot him a sideways glance and decisively defected, leaning over to hug Xia Lingxue's leg. "What do you mean, 'a useless little sister'?" she said. "Your good sister is about to stand on the other side."
"Please, I already told you that you misheard." Ke Mingqing rolled his eyes. "Do you have to be so neurotic about it?" As he spoke, he forcefully bumped Xia Zili's shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah, you misheard," Xia Zili said dismissively, sipping her juice through a straw.
She scoffed inwardly. Brother, you're on your own now. It looks like the magical girl Ember is the only one in this family who can keep her identity hidden to the very end. This is what they mean when they say true experts never reveal themselves.
Yet no matter how the two of them argued, Xia Lingxue's expression remained entirely unchanged. She had been like this since childhood; once she set her mind on something, she bit down and refused to let go.
"Phone." Xia Lingxue held out her hand, her gaze locked dead onto Ke Mingqing. "Do I take it myself, or do you hand it over?"
"I'm not giving it to you." Ke Mingqing glared at her. "Sister, if you posted this kind of behavior online, you'd get completely canceled. It's the twenty-first century, and you're still doing phone inspections on your younger brother?"
Xia Lingxue crossed her arms and said impassively, "Yes. So let me check if there are any inappropriate conversations between you and your little sister's classmate."
Ke Mingqing's vision went dark as he collapsed back against the sofa, muttering, "I need to make a post begging for a way to escape my toxic family... Just you wait. I'll expose every single one of your crimes on Xiaohongshu."
Xia Zili puffed out her cheeks, trying to hold back her amusement, before finally letting out a snort of laughter.
She averted her gaze and quietly sipped her juice to avoid catching Xia Lingxue's intimidating glare.
Right then, however, Ke Mingqing realized something was wrong. Xia Lingxue had abruptly stopped pressing him, and Ke Linye was being far too quiet—acting so strangely it was as if they had suddenly been replaced by doppelgängers.
No, something was definitely wrong. With that thought, he glanced down, only to discover that the phone he had been fiercely guarding beneath him was gone.
Ke Mingqing froze for a second, then snapped his head around. Ke Linye was leaning against the corner of the sofa, holding a phone in his hand.
The scene looked entirely natural, as if his phone had simply teleported into his eldest brother's grasp.
Damn it, Brother, you aren't even trying to hide it anymore. You're just taking advantage of Little Sister's blind spots, aren't you...
Ke Mingqing was dumbfounded, momentarily forgetting that he still needed to snatch the phone back.
By now, Ke Linye had already passed the stolen goods over to Xia Lingxue. He reached out to unscrew the cap of his cocktail, teasing carelessly, "'Little Red Riding Hood with the Matches.' Little Li, your classmate's WeChat name is quite interesting, even if it makes her sound a bit uneducated. Why is she always sharing videos of the magical girl Ember with you? Is she a fan of Ember? She has good taste."
Xia Zili stared blankly, hesitating before she spoke.
"But, didn't you say earlier that the magical girl Ember was very..."
"My understanding of her was too shallow back then," Ke Linye cut in. "Haven't there been a lot of news stories about her lately? I suddenly realized she's much better than I imagined."
Xia Zili clicked her tongue and, for some inexplicable reason, felt a shiver run down her spine. Holy crap, she thought. I'd rather my older brother just kept hating me.
Taking advantage of the gap in their conversation, Ke Mingqing lunged from the sofa toward Xia Lingxue like a tiger pouncing on its prey!
A split second later, Xia Lingxue snatched both of his wrists and pinned them together.
The gap in strength between the siblings was as vast as the difference between a drill instructor and a college freshman. No matter how Ke Mingqing struggled, he couldn't break free.
Yet he absolutely refused to yield. With his hands bound, he thrust his head forward and violently snatched the phone back with his teeth.
"Wow, so impressive. Brother, were you born in the Year of the Dog?"
Xia Zili raised her hands and clapped loudly, sounding as proud as if she were watching a family member win an Olympic gold medal on television.
"Be careful not to crack the screen with your teeth," Ke Linye gently reminded him, looking down to pour his cocktail.
"I was going to give it back to you anyway. There was no need to reveal your true nature, student Ke Ming-dog..."
Xia Lingxue spoke lightly, extending a finger to tap Ke Mingqing twice on the forehead.
Ke Mingqing shot a vicious glare at the three of them acting in cahoots. Then, he looked down at his phone and gave a slight start.
He saw that by the time he got the phone back in his hands, the voice message Little Red Riding Hood had sent him was already gone.
At this moment, the WeChat interface was essentially blank, leaving only the text messages from their conversation. For some unknown reason, An Youlu had actually recalled the entire series of voice messages...
For Ke Mingqing, this was a perfectly timed rain during a drought. If it had been a single second later, he wouldn't have been able to explain himself.
Xia Zili, chewing on the cap of her juice bottle, leaned over to take a curious peek.
Looking at the string of "Message Recalled" notifications on the screen, she thought, Isn't this just making it look even more suspicious?
But why had Little Red Riding Hood been so cooperative in recalling the voice messages? Wait... shouldn't the real question be how she knew what was happening over here?
Xia Zili froze slightly. Just as she was puzzling over this, Ke Mingqing's voice rang out through the living room, interrupting her thoughts.
"Damn it, all of you are acting crazy! Since you want to hear our voice chats so badly, I might as well just start a video call. You can ask her whatever you want face-to-face!"
Without hesitation, Ke Mingqing made a prompt decision and directly sent An Youlu a video call invitation.
Immediately, a jingling ringtone echoed through the living room—it was the custom ringtone An Youlu had set, an excerpt from a Christmas song.
Xia Zili called Little Red Riding Hood quite often, mostly to talk about work. Hearing this familiar ringtone now made her pause.
Obviously, she didn't understand what kind of trick Ke Mingqing was trying to pull, but she took a sip of juice, pretending to stay calm. The straw flattened slightly under her shallow teeth marks.
Ke Mingqing sat in the middle of the sofa, completely relaxed, while Xia Lingxue and Ke Linye leaned in to look at the screen displaying "Waiting for the other party to answer."
Before long, An Youlu answered the video call.
However, at that moment, two girls of similar age actually appeared on the other side of the screen.
One girl wore a polo shirt with an apron tied over it and had wispy bangs. She looked slightly nervous.
The other girl possessed a cold, aloof aura. She had a teardrop mole by her eye, and her eyes were long and narrow like a cat's. She had medium-length hair and wore a black dress.
Indeed, Kuroki Hitomi had actually been sitting next to An Youlu, secretly peeking at their chat messages, and was instantly caught the moment the video call opened.
Ke Mingqing looked at the face of the girl with the teardrop mole on the video.
The two of them exchanged a glance, both maintaining calm expressions.
The reason An Youlu had recalled that voice message earlier was because Kuroki Hitomi had just happened to come check on her. And since An Youlu did not yet know that Kuroki Hitomi was actually a player, she naturally assumed Kuroki Hitomi was still unaware of Ke Mingqing's identity.
Therefore, to help Ke Mingqing keep his Blue Pigeon identity a secret, An Youlu had reacted quickly, recalling all the voice messages she had just sent in the few seconds before the door opened.
The final question: as for why Kuroki Hitomi's timing for checking the room was so perfect, it was because Ke Mingqing had sent her a message through the player panel a minute prior.
At that time, the chat history between the two had been completely straightforward, without a trace of ambiguity.
[Ke Mingqing: Hey, hey, hey, are you home?]
[Kuroki Hitomi: Yes.]
[Ke Mingqing: Then hurry and help me find where Little Red Riding Hood is. After that, force her to recall the voice messages she just sent. Quick, quick, quick, or else my identity is going to be exposed.]
[Kuroki Hitomi: Alright, I understand.]
Ke Mingqing was always at ease when Kuroki Hitomi handled things. There had already been many times when he had only managed to escape by the skin of his teeth thanks to her help.
Right now, the girl with the teardrop mole on the phone screen blinked.
Kuroki Hitomi looked quietly at Ke Mingqing, then glanced politely at the two imposing figures standing behind him before greeting them with a slightly confused tone.
"Hello... Big Sister and Big Brother. This is my family's maid, An Youlu. Has she bothered you?"
Xia Zili stayed silent for a moment, then frowned and asked, "Who are your big sister and big brother? Going by what you're saying... does that make me your little sister?"
"Yes. Hello, Little Sister."
Kuroki Hitomi spoke softly and picked up a cup to take a sip of tea, her expression completely composed.
Xia Zili froze, immediately burning with anger. She wanted nothing more than to expose this woman's player identity right on the spot, but how could Xia Lingxue and Ke Linye possibly know what a player was?
Furthermore, she had promised Ke Mingqing to let Kuroki Hitomi live in peace for these six months...
Thinking of this, Xia Zili swallowed her anger and lowered her head to take a deep breath.
At this moment, Ke Linye raised an eyebrow and spoke with great interest, "Oh ho... I didn't expect Ah-Qing to be telling the truth. Little Li's classmate is a maid for his girlfriend's family. I thought they were just joking earlier."
Xia Lingxue remained silent, simply staring quietly at the girl with the teardrop mole through the screen.
"They're from Japan, after all. It's a big world, and nothing is too bizarre," Ke Mingqing said lightly.
Then, Xia Lingxue looked at the girl with the wispy bangs who had not spoken a word, and asked, articulating almost every syllable, "So... 'Little Red Riding Hood with the Matches,' why did you suddenly recall all your voice messages just now?"
"Her name is An Youlu," Xia Zili added.
An Youlu fell silent for a moment. "Can I choose not to say?"
"No," Xia Lingxue stated.
Kuroki Hitomi pressed a fist to her lips and coughed twice.
An Youlu sighed, looking as pitifully wronged as a child who had made a mistake.
"I just felt that voice chatting with the Young Lady's boyfriend behind her back was extremely impolite behavior, so I recalled all the voice messages."
"Oh..." Kuroki Hitomi looked down at the teapot, her tone tranquil. "Are you saying that it would be fine to send voice messages to my boyfriend as long as it's done right in front of me?"
An Youlu stiffened, then rapidly shook her head, speaking at lightning speed.
"How could a little girl like me who eats garbage ever harbor such improper thoughts about the Young Lady's boyfriend? If you don't believe me, I might as well commit seppuku to prove my innocence."
In her frantic panic, she actually hung up the video call by mistake.
The screen darkened slightly, reflecting Ke Mingqing's speechless expression. It took quite a while before the video call reconnected.
Then, a completely absurd scene unfolded: An Youlu seemed to have accidentally turned on a "seppuku filter."
As a result, both she and Kuroki Hitomi were now wearing Japanese samurai headbands, and a long samurai katana was stabbed straight through both of their stomachs.
Ke Linye tilted his head slightly, watching the scene with curiosity, while Xia Zili held back her laughter, her shoulders trembling.
Xia Lingxue, however, remained totally expressionless the entire time; no one knew how she managed to hold it together.
Ke Mingqing quietly broke a sweat. He knew Kuroki Hitomi had said that on purpose to distract them, but this was making things a little too hard on Little Red Riding Hood.
Whatever, she just scavenges for garbage anyway. What does it matter if she suffers a little grievance? Thinking this, Ke Mingqing decided to stop worrying about it.
Kuroki Hitomi, sporting a katana through her gut, earnestly searched for the button for a moment and quickly turned off the "seppuku filter," restoring both of their appearances to normal.
"My apologies, Young Lady, I merely pressed the wrong button by accident," An Youlu said softly. "But does this not perfectly express my determination to commit seppuku?"
Kuroki Hitomi ignored her and looked at Ke Linye and Xia Lingxue, speaking mildly, "Please forgive the spectacle, Big Brother and Big Sister. My maid has a rather strange personality."
"It's actually quite entertaining. Young people are always full of energy." Ke Linye shrugged. "Ah-Qing mentioned you were coming to our house as a guest in a few days?"
Kuroki Hitomi gave an "Mhm" of confirmation and turned her head to look at An Youlu. "However, I get a little nervous by myself, so I'll be bringing my maid. If you have any objections..."
"That's fine. The more people, the merrier," Ke Linye interrupted her.
"You're always welcome in our home," Xia Lingxue said impassively. "I apologize for my poor attitude toward you last time."
On the screen, Kuroki Hitomi shook her head. "It's nothing. I know Big Sister was just worried about Xiao-Qing."
Xia Zili rolled her eyes as she listened. Drink in hand, she headed upstairs ahead of the others, refusing to involve herself any further in this farce.
"Young Lady, I believe it would be best to temporarily end this video call. I still have matters I must explain to you." Saying this, An Youlu acted first and explained later, immediately closing the video call.
The screen went dark, reflecting the faces of Ke Mingqing, Xia Lingxue, and Ke Linye.
"Are you satisfied now?" Ke Mingqing sighed. "Psy. Cho. Paths."
He enunciated the words heavily, then shoved his phone back into his pocket and headed upstairs before they could. Before leaving, he didn't forget to look back and glare at the two of them, stomping away so angrily that he walked like a crab.
With Ke Mingqing gone upstairs, silence once again fell over the living room. The chirping of cicadas outside the window gradually faded.
Xia Lingxue and Ke Linye sat on the sofa for a long time without speaking.
After a while, they turned their heads and looked at each other.
"What do you think?"
"You first."
Ke Linye thought for a moment. "That kid named An Youlu should be the magical girl Little Red Riding Hood. That would explain why Little Li is always so close to her."
Xia Lingxue stayed silent for a moment. "Isn't that obvious? What normal person would make their WeChat name 'Little Red Riding Hood with the Matches'?"
"Alright, let's get back to the main topic. Never mind the others for now, Ah-Qing is what matters." Saying this, Ke Linye leaned his head back against the sofa, looking slightly tired.
"'Blue Pigeon'... they mentioned this person in their conversation just now."
"Yes, I know what you mean."
The two locked eyes once more before Xia Lingxue raised a question:
"Tell me, which one of us is going to tail him next?"
Ke Linye shrugged his shoulders. "Whoever has free time can do it... This vacation is still long, anyway. No rush."
"True enough."
........
.......
After heading up to the second floor, Ke Mingqing washed up briefly and returned to his room to rest.
He was very tired today—or rather, completely physically and mentally exhausted by the relentless family combo attacks from Xia Lingxue and Ke Linye. As a result, he fell asleep quickly after collapsing onto his bed.
However, around two or three in the morning, the bedroom door was opened.
The movement wasn't loud, but it came so suddenly that it echoed with exceptional clarity in Ke Mingqing's ears.
In the pitch-black and absolutely silent bedroom, Ke Mingqing woke at the sound.
What is going on... Brother? Or Sister?
The young man abruptly opened his eyes, then slightly turned his head to glance over out of the corner of his eye.
A girl in a nightgown, her back to the faint light spilling from the hallway bathroom, walked over step by step with her head lowered. In the darkness, she slowly crawled onto the bed and pinned Ke Mingqing beneath her.
Immediately after, she reached out with both hands and grabbed him by the throat.
Ke Mingqing watched her in silence, gazing at the girl whose eyes trailed drifting blue flames.
"Kill you... Like you... Kill you... Like you," the girl murmured softly. Suddenly, the corners of her mouth stretched into a wide grin, and her face abruptly turned into a tangled mess.
It was as though a little girl had scribbled wildly over a mannequin's head in a drawing book, turning her head into a black vortex of scribbles.
"Are your memories shared with Xia Zili?" Ke Mingqing asked calmly after a moment.
The witch tilted her head, indicating a denial.
Ke Mingqing coughed twice and grabbed her wrists, forcing them upward to reduce the pressure she was applying to his neck.
"We're actually quite similar."
"...Similar?" the witch asked. Her voice was slightly childish, like that of an innocent, naive little girl.
"Yes."
"Why are we similar?" she asked.
Ke Mingqing thought for a moment, looking down at her hands wrapped around his throat. "Because I quite like you too. No... rather, it's that I don't hate you."
He paused. "But there are actually very few people I don't hate."
"So?"
The witch tilted her head again. Her expression seemed to change within the swirling vortex of black lines, though it wasn't very obvious.
"But I still have to kill you... I have no choice but to kill you. So we're very similar, aren't we?"
As Ke Mingqing said this, he suddenly reached out a hand and gently grasped her throat in return.
In the darkness, the two of them held each other by the throat.
The witch lowered her eyes and stared blankly at him.
Soon, her face was no longer a vortex made of messy lines. She suddenly revealed her true form—a girl who looked as if she had been cut straight out of a child's stick-figure drawing book, with two simple dot eyes drawn in pencil and a blood-red mouth stretched high in a grin.
"Like you..." the stick-figure girl's mouth curled up.
Ke Mingqing looked at her with pity in his eyes.
"Like..." The girl released her grip on his throat and stayed perfectly still.
A moment later, the blue flames drifting from the corners of her eyes vanished, and that childish, stick-figure face disappeared.
As if shedding a mask, the girl slowly revealed her original face. Xia Zili's eyelids were closed tight, and just like that, she slowly collapsed and lay on top of Ke Mingqing.
Ke Mingqing remained silent for a moment, then rose slightly from the bed and lifted Xia Zili, who was still in her nightgown, into his arms.
After thinking it over, he decided he might as well let her sleep in his room. He got out of bed barefoot, closed the bedroom door, and returned to the bed to cover her with a blanket.
He stared at the girl's sleeping face and listened to her steady breathing in a daze for a moment before closing his own eyes.
Sleepiness soon wrapped around his consciousness like a chrysalis, and he sank into a deep slumber.
It felt like plunging into a lightless deep sea. At the bottom of the ocean stood a stick-figure girl, waving to him from afar.
Not another word was spoken that night.