Chapter 231: Deadline, Enemy, or Family

"You two broke up?"

Xia Ningzhi leaned against the shoe cabinet in the entryway, deep surprise in her eyes.

"Yeah, we broke up," Ke Mingqing said, kicking off his sneakers.

It was the dead of night on September 21, 2026. Ke Mingqing had gone to the city center to meet Kuroki Hitomi, only to realize upon returning home that he had forgotten his keys.

At this hour, Xia Ningzhi was the only one in the house still awake.

Left with no choice, he had asked her to let him in. Given his third sister's personality, a brutal interrogation was inevitable.

The autumn night air was freezing, biting at his skin like needles and forcing out a shiver.

Worse, Xia Ningzhi was wearing nothing but a thin slip nightgown. She looked so cold she seemed ready to summon her Wind and Fire Wheels just to roast herself warm.

Hearing her younger brother, Xia Ningzhi froze for a long moment before looking up at him. Her tone was thick with suspicion.

"Seriously? Weren't you two just doing fine?"

Ke Mingqing clicked his tongue. "Do you really think my girlfriend would let me joke about something like this?"

"True!" Xia Ningzhi nodded. "That little Japanese girl looks introverted at first glance, but I get the feeling she's actually the super controlling type..."

"Right?"

Ke Mingqing replied absentmindedly. He slid into his slippers, then slouched over and sat on the shoe cabinet.

He hunched forward, resting his hands over his stomach, and suddenly fell silent.

"Then, do you need your big sister to comfort you?" Xia Ningzhi looked up at him. The teenager's face was blank and his tone was flat; he didn't look like someone who had just gone through a breakup at all.

"No need."

Ke Mingqing shook his head.

Xia Ningzhi fiddled with her hands, pressing her index fingers together in thought. "Well, that rich girl was bound to go back to Japan sooner or later anyway. A long-distance relationship is tough enough as it is. How were you guys going to handle being in different countries?"

"Yeah."

Ke Mingqing nodded, his response still distant and cold.

Xia Ningzhi sidled over like a crab and opened her arms, initially intending to give him a huge hug, but then she reconsidered and dropped the idea.

Instead, she gave his shoulders a hard rub, offering a somewhat incoherent stream of comfort:

"It's a good thing you broke up early! What's the phrase again... cutting your losses! Yeah, cutting your losses! If worse comes to worst, I can introduce you to some college girls. They love inexperienced high school boys."

"Actually, I think I was the one who hurt her," Ke Mingqing said softly.

Suddenly, Xia Ningzhi let go of his shoulders, took a step back, and flicked him hard on the forehead.

"What was that for?!" Ke Mingqing exclaimed in shock.

"I don't buy it. Don't I know our A'Qing?" She planted a hand on her hip, speaking with the imposing air of a great general. "You must have had a reason. Like, maybe you were afraid of ruining her grades or something?"

"It's not that serious."

Ke Mingqing shook his head. "I just got sick of dating. If I didn't reply to a text for a few seconds, she'd accuse me of giving her the silent treatment. If I got busy and we didn't see each other for a few days, she'd threaten to break up. It was too much pressure!"

"I still don't buy it."

"Whatever, believe what you want. I'm going to sleep."

With that, Ke Mingqing flipped her off and brushed past her.

But Xia Ningzhi forcefully grabbed his finger and bent it back, making Mingqing howl in pain and forcing him to stop in his tracks.

"Seriously, though..."

Ke Mingqing clutched his reddened finger and sighed, turning his head to look at her helplessly. "Sis, if you have time to comfort me, you might as well send her a few nice words on WeChat."

"Why?"

"So she hates me a little less. I'm genuinely terrified that one day she might hire a bunch of Japanese yakuza to assassinate me, okay?"

"Crap... If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten I even had her on WeChat."

Xia Ningzhi tapped her chin in thought for a moment, then tilted her head and asked, "Should I delete her? It feels a bit weird for me to stay in contact with her now that you two have broken up."

Ke Mingqing raised his eyebrows. It suddenly occurred to him that if Kuroki Hitomi ever outed his identity as a player to his family, he would be completely and utterly screwed.

But she wouldn't be that cruel, would she?

With that thought, he lowered his eyes and said, "Heh, you just reminded me. I'll have our second sister delete her later, too."

"Alright. Your second sister will definitely be thrilled to hear you broke up. She's been dying for you to focus on your studies and get ahead."

Xia Ningzhi muttered to herself as she grabbed her phone, opened WeChat, and started tapping away in the dark.

But just as she finished deleting Kuroki Hitomi, she suddenly covered her mouth, her eyes widening in shock as if she had just realized something.

"What's wrong?" Ke Mingqing asked, confused.

Xia Ningzhi turned to him. "Speaking of which, you two go to the same school, and you're even in the same class. Won't you still have to see each other?"

At this, she grimaced, as if imagining herself in his shoes, and carefully stole a glance at Ke Mingqing.

"Isn't that going to be incredibly awkward? Sitting in the classroom will feel like being in prison."

"I don't really care." Ke Mingqing shrugged it off. "Anyway, I already talked to Dad. I'm taking a month of sick leave and won't be going to school for a while."

"Why?" Xia Ningzhi was shocked. "Dad actually agreed to that?"

"Because that bastard Blue Pigeon revealed his identity at our school, didn't he? Thanks to him, the school gets a new trash-tier villain attacking it every single day. It's too dangerous."

"Holy crap, that Blue Pigeon is awful. He only cares about showing off and completely ignores his classmates."

"Yeah." Ke Mingqing shrugged. "So Dad told me I could take some time off and wait for things to cool down before going back."

"Hmm... What did Dad say about your grades, then?"

Ke Mingqing rolled his eyes at her. "Sis, you're way too obsessed with academics. What's more important, my grades or my life?"

"Oh, well, it doesn't really matter." Xia Ningzhi threw her hands up. "I just remembered that our older brother and sister are so outstanding anyway. It's not like the family needs us to make money."

She grinned, baring her teeth. "We can just ride their coattails and mooch off them for the rest of our lives. They definitely wouldn't have the heart to let us live on the streets."

"True."

Ke Mingqing gave a thumbs-up, for once reaching a consensus with her.

'Though, I just hope those two manage to survive the next three months...'

He thought to himself as he shuffled toward the stairs. But right at that moment, staring at his back, Xia Ningzhi suddenly hurried over and hugged him from behind.

"What are you doing n—" Ke Mingqing froze.

Before he could finish, Xia Ningzhi tilted her head slightly, wrapping her arms around his head and pressing it to her chest.

A deep silence fell over the living room as she rested her cheek against the top of his head, speaking softly.

"If something is wrong, you need to say it... This is why you worry me so much, A'Qing. You always bottle everything up. It's going to eat you alive from the inside out."

After a long time, Ke Mingqing finally spoke. "Didn't I already tell you everything?"

"Liar."

"Then what exactly did I lie about?"

Xia Ningzhi shook her head. A moment later, she asked out of the blue, "You two broke up because you feel like your life as a superhero could end up dragging her into danger, right?"

In the darkness, Ke Mingqing suddenly froze.

He thought to himself, 'Are you finally putting your cards on the table, Sis? Took you long enough.' Playing along, he feigned shock and asked, "Sis, how did you know... I was a superhero?"

"I accidentally saw you."

Xia Ningzhi murmured, "One time, I secretly followed you because I wanted to know what you were up to all day. I saw you walk into that train station... The tunnel looked too dark, so I figured I'd wait outside for you. A little while later, guess what happened?"

"What happened?"

"The magical girl Ember flew away holding an umbrella, taking Blue Pigeon with her." Xia Ningzhi shrugged. "That's when I realized my little brother was a superhero. My mind went completely blank."

Ke Mingqing let out a chuckle and joked, "Then why couldn't I be the magical girl Ember?"

Xia Ningzhi paused, seemingly giving the question serious thought, before her cheeks puffed up and she burst into a sudden fit of laughter.

Her shoulders shaking, she lightly smacked Ke Mingqing's shoulder in exasperation.

"Damn it, if I saw my own little brother transform into a magical girl with my own eyes, my entire worldview would actually collapse!"

'I can't turn into a magical girl, but I can turn into a witch, Sis...' Ke Mingqing thought to himself, flashing a smile as well.

"So, was my guess right?" Xia Ningzhi asked again.

"Yeah... It's too dangerous. I don't want to drag her down."

"I knew it. Our A'Qing is just stubborn like that." Xia Ningzhi smiled.

In the quiet living room, moonlight spilled across the floor like quicksilver, falling over Xia Ningzhi's face as her hair gently tickled Ke Mingqing's cheek.

A moment later, she parted her lips and spoke slowly:

"Even though I worry about you every day, seeing how much people love you makes me really happy... I always felt that our A'Qing was too withdrawn and awkward, that he needed someone to pull him out of his shell. I never expected that my little brother would one day become a huge star.

"You can bump into his fans randomly on the street. You just have to look up to see the ads he endorses—even though the acting is super awkward—but he's helped so many people. So many people have been inspired by him, and in my heart I'm just screaming, 'Holy crap! This little brat really grew up!'"

Ke Mingqing lowered his head slightly, his eyes reddening without him realizing it, but what came out of his mouth was:

"Could you be any more cheesy?"

"Isn't this how family is supposed to be?"

"Actually... I never wanted to hurt her," he said after a long pause. "I just didn't know what else to do."

"I know. Our A'Qing is incredibly gentle. It's just a breakup, it's no big deal. You're Blue Pigeon, after all."

Xia Ningzhi murmured, gently ruffling his hair. "Whenever you decide you don't want to be a superhero anymore and just want to live a peaceful life, you can go and win her back."

"Yeah... We'll see when the time comes."

"Exactly. Just don't trap yourself in a dead end." Xia Ningzhi's lips curled into a soft smile as she patted his head once more.

"Alright." Ke Mingqing gently pushed her away. "I have things to do tomorrow. Go to sleep."

"Granted! But don't go overthinking things by yourself in bed. Your big sister can chat with you on the phone! I'm the biggest night owl in this house."

As she spoke, Xia Ningzhi leaned back slightly, releasing her arms from around Ke Mingqing's neck and watching him with a smile in the moonlight.

Ke Mingqing had only taken two steps before he suddenly paused and glanced back over his shoulder.

"By the way, is there anything you want to tell me?"

Xia Ningzhi froze.

"Like what?"

"Like, you having a hidden identity of your own, or something?"

Xia Ningzhi stood completely motionless. After a long moment, she hurriedly waved her hands and forced a laugh.

"Of course not. Your big sister is just a test-taking machine. Do you know what a test-taking machine is?"

"Is that right? Well, that's good."

With that, Ke Mingqing exhaled a breath of cold air, slowly pulled his gaze away from her face, and headed upstairs with his head lowered.

Xia Ningzhi opened her mouth to speak as she watched his back, but the words died in her throat.

In truth, even up until today, she hadn't found the courage to walk into Ke Mingqing's room and look at the fire investigation file on his bookshelf.

Only when Ke Mingqing's silhouette had been swallowed by the darkness did she softly whisper, "Actually, I really want to tell you too, A'Qing..."

Xia Ningzhi took a deep breath, raised both hands, and slapped her own cheeks hard. She wasn't going to run away anymore.

The final deadline she had set for herself was the beginning of next month. That meant that once this month was over, she would try following White Jack's advice, walk into Ke Mingqing's room, and find that file in his bookcase.

Xia Ningzhi lowered her eyes, a self-deprecating smile tugging at the corners of her lips as she thought, 'But... if I was really the one who got your parents killed, how would you look at me then, A'Qing? Would you still treat me like your sister?'

'Would I still be able to hug you and listen to you share your true feelings, just like I did today?'