Chapter 34: I Am Your Brother Lu

Annie returned home, put down her pen, and looked at the sheet of paper filled with writing.

She turned her head, but instead of seeing the wealthy Ms. Xiao from Earth, she saw her familiar maid standing at the doorway, watching her calmly.

"Catherine!!!"

Annie called out to her loudly, "I'm back~!"

"An...nie?"

The maid seemed incredulous. It wasn't until she saw the radiant smile on Annie’s delicate, pretty face that she snapped out of her trance. She hurried over, pulled Annie into a tight embrace, and asked, "Miss Annie... is it really you? Where have you been? Are you hurt?!"

"It's okay, it's okay, I'm fine, I’m doing great!"

Annie happily broke free from the hug and did a little hop on the spot. Her long golden hair swayed with the movement, and the long dress she had put on for afternoon tea with Lu Xing fluttered around her.

Annie chuckled again, "It's so good to have magic again; I wasn't quite used to Earth. Catherine, let me tell you..."

"You went to Earth?"

"Uh, um, I mean..."

"Miss Annie! Lying is not something a good girl does."

"I’m not lying! Oh, it’s just hard to explain it to you all at once. In short, I’m fine! And I’m very happy~"

Annie spun around to show how good her mood was, a beaming smile on her small face, as she took Catherine's hand and asked what "she" had been up to today.

Lu Xing’s intuition was right; as long as Annie acted spoiled, even the most serious maid would forgive her.

Catherine began to recount the day's events.

"Oh no!"

Hearing that Lu Xing had met her parents, Annie’s reaction was instantaneous: "He met my father and mother? They must be worried about me! I have to go see them right now. Catherine, take me there quickly!"

With that, she hurried toward the door.

Catherine called out to stop her: "Miss Annie, you haven't changed your clothes yet!"

"No time for that, just follow me!"

A while later, Annie, now accelerating with wind magic, complained, "Catherine, you're walking too slowly! Tell me where Mother is; I'll go find her myself!"

"Have you figured out how you're going to explain this to the Lady?" Catherine asked suddenly.

Annie stopped in her tracks, turned back, and looked at her with a conflicted, hesitant expression.

Catherine caught up, stared at her for a moment, and sighed helplessly. "Annie, you aren't a child anymore. Don't do reckless things. Now, tell me: who is that man? What is his name? Where is he from?"

"His name is Lu Xing, he is... no, no, no!"

Having blurted it out, Annie covered her mouth with her slender, fair hand, shook her head repeatedly, and started walking again: "Which man are you talking about, Catherine? I don't know what you're saying!"

Catherine followed behind her and said flatly, "He saw your body while you were changing."

Annie stopped walking.

She turned her head stiffly to look at her maid. They locked eyes for a moment, and then Annie’s exquisite little face slowly turned crimson, right down to her ears.

In the beautifully decorated castle corridor, there was only the shy, adorable noble young lady and the helpless, cold-faced, long-legged maid—even when confronted with such a secret, Annie remained strictly on the defensive.

"I am Annie! Whether it was the me from this morning or the me now, it’s all me!"

Annie denied it with a flushed face and continued walking to see her mother.

Seeing her current state, and recalling what the mysterious man named Lu Xing had mentioned about the Traditionalist faction that afternoon, Catherine finally understood why Miss Annie was so obsessed with denying the man's existence.

Conservative noble young ladies of the Traditionalist faction were only permitted to let their husbands see their bodies.

***

Earth.

"I'm not your older sister, I'm your brother Lu!"

Lu Xing corrected Xiao Yu’s address with a straight face.

Xiao Yu recoiled as if electrocuted, quickly pulling back her fair, jade-like hand and shaking it twice, looking utterly disgusted.

Lu Xing couldn't help but laugh. "You were holding my hand tightly just a moment ago; why are you disgusted now?"

Xiao Yu glared at him. "Are you the same as Annie? Annie calls me the 'respected Ms. Xiao,' and after we got close, she’d hold my hand and act spoiled, calling me 'Sister Xiao' or 'Sister.' Do you want to call me sister too?"

Lu Xing thought about it seriously, scanned her curvaceous figure, and nodded. "I don't right now, but I could learn!"

Xiao Yu squinted at him, ready to scold him for his thick skin, when she suddenly thought of something and burst into laughter. She asked with a strange look in her eyes, "Did you learn how to act spoiled while in Annie's castle? Come on, show me. Let me evaluate how much of Annie's 'spoiling' prowess you've mastered!"

"I was wrong, I really didn't learn that!"

"Hehe."

Xiao Yu covered her mouth, stifling her laughter. She looked at Lu Xing, unable to imagine him in a little dress, but then she suddenly realized something: "Is it our turn tomorrow?!"

"It... should be." Lu Xing nodded.

"Then what do we do?" Xiao Yu grew nervous.

"Should I move out tonight?" Lu Xing asked, noting that if he wrote an application to Director Li now, he could move out quickly.

Xiao Yu wanted to agree, but she harbored a sliver of hope that things might change. Finally, she sighed and said, "Not yet. Just remember to wear clothes when you sleep tonight. As for me..." She hesitated.

Lu Xing nodded. "Alright, I'll remember. You wear them too, so you don't accuse me of watching you again."

Xiao Yu blushed slightly. "Don't you know? It's uncomfortable for women to sleep in bras; it restricts blood flow and causes chest tightness. Plus, since mine are quite large... and I have a good figure, it's even more uncomfortable."

Lu Xing nodded in deep agreement, only to be glared at by the blushing Xiao Yu. She bit her lip, hesitated for a moment, and then turned away, unwillingly saying, "Fine, it's not like you haven't seen them before. If we switch again, you can... no, just call me first thing in the morning!"

She got a headache every time it came to this.

Lu Xing laughed. "Fine. But if we do switch, you'll get to enjoy a unique benefit that only I have!"

"Heh." Xiao Yu sneered. "Is it wearing fewer clothes? Or eating more? Your dorm room smells awful. If I turn into you tomorrow, I'm moving out first thing!"

"What 'awful'? That's the scent of a man! Aren't girls supposed to like that?"

"Who cares? So, what exactly is this benefit?"

"If we switch, tomorrow you get to relive your college days!" Lu Xing grinned.

"Didn't I just... wait, you have class tomorrow?! Is the National Day holiday over?!"

Xiao Yu suddenly realized, and seeing Lu Xing nod with a smile, she felt another headache coming on. "I've been working for years, and you're making me go to school? You aren't holding any positions in class, are you?"

"Does being the C# class representative count?"

"I don't know how to program!!"

Xiao Yu darkened, and seeing Lu Xing’s gloating expression, she countered, "I have to meet some entrepreneurs tomorrow. You go handle the contract negotiations for me!"

Lu Xing laughed, "Is that all? Over at Annie's, I've mastered alchemy and magic, and even learned Ancient Elvish. A measly contract worth a few hundred million is just a matter of signing a name; isn't that a piece of cake?"

"So confident?"

Seeing that she couldn't bring him down—and that he was even joking about it—Xiao Yu thought for a moment and changed tactics. "Me going to class is fine, and Annie or Jiang Xuan-nv going to class is probably fine, but are you sure you can get that 'Ice Fairy' to go to class for you?"

Lu Xing's smile froze.

"Not so smug now, are you?"

Xiao Yu covered her mouth and laughed.