Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Mucheng—!" Ye Xiu breathed out a puff of cigarette smoke, loudly shouting the name as he descended down the staircase. Strangely, there was no reply.

Puzzled, Ye Xiu entered the living room, only to notice that it was vacant.

On the table was a piece of paper:

Ye Xiu,

Mu Mu, Little Tang and I have gone out
for a walk. You'll have to deal with lunch
yourself, but no eating instant noodles!

—Chen Guo

Fuck, Boss really understood his way of thinking. He had just been thinking of asking Su Mucheng to help him cook a bowl of noodles.

Tsk... going into the kitchen to cook was really troublesome...

Ye Xiu furrowed his eyebrows. While it was true that his skill in the kitchen had no parallel, preparing a meal wasted a lot of time, and he certainly didn't have the leisure to do so.

Maybe there was something he could eat in the kitchen he didn't have to put effort in making?

Ye Xiu scratched his chaotically messy hair, walking into the kitchen and rummaging through the shelves. With great difficulty, he found a pack of crackers.

However... he turned it over on its other side, looking at the expiration date.

These crackers had already been expired for a week, how come Boss hadn't already thrown them out yet?

Forget it, it was only a week, and it was in a sealed package too. It probably wouldn't matter too much.

Ye Xiu extinguished his cigarette with a flick of his fingers, then grabbed the crackers and returned to the television in the living room.

His phone was continuously ringing as he entered. Ye Xiu chose to ignore it—it was probably Huang Shaotian using QQ to try and bait him out, something he'd been doing for the past few days without end. In a few days there would be a gathering of professional Glory players, but it was really nothing to be excited about.

Eyes intent on the television, Ye Xiu opened the package of crackers. The hands that were publicly acknowledged as the most beautiful now seemed out of place as they grabbed another handful of dusty cracker crumbs.

Ye Xiu's table manners were not lacking. On the contrary, it could be said that he ate in an excessively graceful manner, every mouthful slowly chewed and swallowed, the seemingly slow speed that he ate at kept at a constant tempo. That pack of crackers quickly diminished into nothing.

Ye Xiu licked his lips, feeling that his stomach was only half full. However, in these kinds of circumstances, it was better to not try and waste anymore effort.

He released a yawn, turning off the television with one fluid motion, and prepared to return to his room and sleep.

Recently, summer break had started. All of the professional players had hence adopted irregular sleeping schedules; Ye Xiu had found himself fighting over BOSS's with other teams during times extremely late at night. Yesterday, with great difficulty he'd stolen one from under the hands of Tyrannical Ambition and the Blue Brook Guild, his eyes staring at the screen for so long he'd almost gone blind. Now that there was no current BOSS to worry about, it was the perfect time for him to take a short nap before he continued later.

Ye Xiu had no idea that after he finished this nap, his entire life would be changed by a heaven-and-earth shaking transformation.

 'Kacha'. The sound of a key turning in a lock sounded through the room.

"Strange, how come the lights are turned off? Where's Ye Xiu, that rascal?"

"Could it be that he's sleeping right now? But it's still pretty early right now."

"Senior stayed up all night yesterday to steal the BOSS. Probably he needed to rest."

"Yifan, come and help. Can you put those two bags on the table, thanks."

"Boss, boss, we've returned!"

"Again, it's really great that we came across you on the road. We were just beginning to worry if we had bought too many items."

"My god, Boss, how come you're treating us as free labor? Furthermore, the three of you somehow bought ten bags of items... no wonder Old Ye always acts dead whenever he hears that you guys are going shopping."

"Don't say anymore, could someone wake Ye Xiu up? I helped buy him dinner while we were out. Or should I just leave it here?"

"Why don't I go and wake Senior up from bed?"

With a quiet bang, all the lights immediately lit up, the dazzling light causing everyone to immediately cringe and shield their eyes.

"Hey, who opened the lights?" Fang Ruo set the bags he had been holding onto the table, staring at the direction of the light switch. "This light came at a really convenient time, I was almost unable to find the table... my God! Who are you?"

Everyone had just adapted to the bright light as they heard Fang Ruo's loud exclamation.

"How come you're wearing Old Ye's clothing? Could it be, that unexpectedly you're... Old Ye's younger sister!" Fang Ruo loudly exclaimed.

Everybody in the room immediately froze, their line of sight locking in on the person standing next to the light switch. The person, who's hand was still on the light switch, was... a young woman.

The young woman's long hair reached her shoulder, a pair of pitch black pupils filled with fatigue, as if she had just woken up. She looked as if she was around eighteen or nineteen years old, and furthermore the male shirt that she was currently donning was indeed Ye Xiu's!

"You, you, you, you... who are you?" Chen Guo's voice trembled with astonishment.

Certainly the young woman was extremely cute, but that didn't answer any of Chen Guo's questions as to how she'd appeared here.

The young woman finally seemed the notice all the attention that all the people in the room was paying her. She wrinkled her eyebrows, opening her mouth to speak. "How come you're looking at me like you've seen a ghost? You idiots, could it be after you've gone out for a walk you can't even remember this Senior's face? You guys should be careful, your chins are almost dislocating. Aren't you going to close them?"

This manner of speaking! This ridiculing expression!

Everybody stared, astonished. The young woman also seemed to become shocked.

"That's strange, what happened to my voice?" The young woman furrowed her eyebrows, reaching a hand to touch her throat. "Eh, my Adam's apple seems to be gone..."

"You, are you Ye Xiu?" Chen Guo's voice trembled, although she was unsure if it was out of astonishment or fear.

"Who else could I be?" The young woman's expression revealed a faint smile, the ridiculing expression that was frequently on Ye Xiu's face now appearing on her own... and unexpectedly looking very cute.

Now that they had time to properly analyze, everybody noticed that the young woman's face was actually very similar to Ye Xiu's, only that her appearance was a little softer, as typical of a girl's.

"Ye, Ye Xiu," Chen Guo swallowed her saliva. "Why don't you go and look at a mirror first?"

The young woman suspiciously looked at Chen Guo, then noticed that everyone else was looking at her with strange expressions. Even the clever and dutiful Qiao Yifan had a pale face, as if he was going to faint any minute.

The young woman reluctantly turned around and went into the bathroom to look at her reflection.

"Fuck!" 

 "So you're saying... after you ate a pack of expired crackers you went to take a nap, and after you woke your body had transformed?" Chen Guo's face was filled with disbelief as she stared at the young woman—no, she should be referred to as Ye Xiu—her mind reeling with the new development.

"That's right." Ye Xiu nodded her head, her face indifferent, as if it was not him that had transformed into a woman but Chen Guo that had turned into a man. "I had no idea that a pack of expired crackers would cause such a drastic effect, or I never would have ate it."

"How interesting." The previously silent Su Mucheng sized up the now-female Ye Xiu's slender frame. "After Ye Xiu became a girl, his looks are certainly uncommonly cute."

"Mucheng, are you trying to tell your Brother Ye that I should stop being a man and just stay a woman?" Ye Xiu joked.

"It's not a bad development. I've always wanted a sister," Su Mucheng said, revealing the faint outline of a smile. "Ah, but you look much younger now. Should I just refer to you as Younger Sister?"

"Don't joke around. Now that Ye Xiu's in this condition, how is he supposed to attend the gathering that's scheduled in a few days' time?" Chen Guo asked, staring at Ye Xiu with an aggrieved expression. Ye Xiu's expression was really too innocent; Chen Guo didn't have the heart to blame her for anything.

"Why don't you just make up a fake identity?" Fang Ruo said, approaching Ye Xiu, his face filled with humor. "You can just pretend to be Old Ye's younger sister at the gathering, and claim that Old Ye has a cold or something and is recuperating in the hotel?"

"You idiot, what kind of words are you saying. Why do I have to pretend?" Ye Xiu pushed away Fang Ruo. "Why don't I just attend like this? Why should I pretend to be somebody's young sister?"

"Yes, what if they want to come and visit the 'sick' Ye Xiu?" Su Mucheng understood more than anyone else the importance that Ye Xiu held within that crowd of people, nodding her head.

"Tsk, this is really so troublesome," Ye Xiu sighed. She reached for a cigarette, only to have Tang Ruo slap away her hand. "Little Tang, what are you doing?"

"Smoking cigarettes isn't good for the skin," Tang Ruo said, shaking her head. As Ye Xiu stared at her, betrayed, she only indifferently confiscated the cigarette from Ye Xiu's fingers.

"How come when I smoked before, you never had this kind of reaction?"

"Right now you're a girl. Girls should make sure to protect their skin before anything else," Tang Ruo said, revealing a smile. "Why don't you first worry about how to resolve that matter with the gathering."

"..."

 Huang Shaotian sat in front of his computer, eyes wide open, on his face a serious expression. On his other side, Lu Hanwen clearly looked uncomfortable. "Shaotian, what's wrong?"

"Something's wrong."

"...what's wrong?" Seldom did Huang Shaotian speak so clearly, making Lu Hanwen feel that something was clearly not right.

"Ye Xiu that rascal hasn't gone on Glory for the past few days he hasn't even opened QQ could it be that something's wrong I must go and take a look..."

Huang Shaotian braced a hand against the table, standing up. Lu Hanwen stared blankly for two seconds until he finally realized what Huang Shaotian wanted to do.

"Captain, Captain, Captain, Huang Shaotian did something stupid again!" Lu Hanwen showed off his impressive reaction time, immediately throwing himself off his seat.

"Shaotian?" Yu Wenzhou was in the neighboring room. Once he heard Lu Hanwen's yells, he immediately came over to see what was going on.

"Captain don't try and obstruct me Ye Xiu that rascal must have something happen to him that he doesn't want us to know about I must immediately go and purchase the plane tickets—" Huang Shaotian immediately unleashed his characteristic barrage of words.

"Shaotian, tomorrow is the gathering. I purchased the airplane tickets a long time ago, we'll be leaving in just a few hours." Yu Wenzhou chuckled, with just a few heavy words immediately crushing Huang Shaotian's word assault. "Be good, go back and sit."

"But Captain!"

"Shaotian."

"...fine."

First round, Huang Shaotian's loss.

Sensing that something was wrong with God Ye Xiu was not just Blue Rain; the other teams also felt that something was wrong inside their hearts.

The most obvious was that whenever they were stealing the BOSS, they never caught sight of that terrifying ID—Lord Grim.

It was not just Lord Grim, but the entirety of Happy that seemed to have disappeared. Originally the other clans had thought that they were planning a sneak attack or ambush, and had therefore been extra vigilant, but even after they had aggroed the BOSS, there was no sign of Happy anywhere.

At this new development, all of the teams developed both peace of mind and also worry.

The peace of mind was because, at least this summer holiday, they wouldn't be short any materials. The worry was because they had no idea what kind of trouble the people from Happy were planning, especially since someone like Ye Xiu was practically impossible to predict ahead of time.

Playing with God Ye Xiu was really tiring, ah... all of the guild leaders individually released sighs of relief.

As for Ye Xiu, 'she' also felt that these few days had been very tiring.

She had no idea what kind of switch had been turned on inside of Su Mucheng, who had been currently buying large amounts of women's clothing for her to wear.

If it had been just 'ordinary' female clothing it would have been fine. However, the skirts that she bought were all extremely short, the tops extremely revealing, and there was a large pile of dresses and skirts thrown haphazardly around.

What really made Ye Xiu the most tired was that Mucheng had bought costumes, including one of a young schoolgirl, a policewoman, and a maid.

Mucheng, what exactly are you trying to make your older brother wear... Ye Xiu silently threw the maid outfit back into the heap of clothing.

She would never admit to anyone else that she had once seen a three-patterned bikini inside of the heap.

In the beginning, Ye Xiu had followed Su Mucheng's instructions and worn whatever Mucheng fancied, since she didn't really have anything better to do. However, she noticed that as she tried more and more clothing, they became more and more bizarre and revealing. In the end, she began to question whether or not she was wearing clothing or cloth.

Mucheng had even teased her whether or not she would take a few pictures to sell to the other teams, one picture in exchange for one level 75 item.

This kind of exchange made Ye Xiu's scowl even deeper. Even Chen Guo had stepped in and destroyed the plan before it could take root.

Ye Xiu had been treated as if some kind of dress-up doll for the entire morning. It wasn't until Steamed Bun finally stepped in to tell everyone to leave that she was free from Mucheng's clutches.

In order to attend the gathering in B City tomorrow, everybody had their packed luggage and airplane tickets ready.

This kind of gathering was something that the Alliance would plan every few months, in order to improve the relationships between all of the teams. Every time the location was always somewhere different; this time the gathering would be held within Tiny Herb's home grounds.

According to past experiences, Ye Xiu knew that the chairperson of the event would not just have everyone eat together and have a good conversation, but would instead plan some kind of event that would make everyone 'pleasantly surprised'...

At the hotel, Ye Xiu expressed that she was tired, and wanted to return to the rooms and sleep.

Everyone else knew that she had been tortured by Su Mucheng for the entire morning, and were furthermore concerned that they would come across any fellow acquaintances, so they did not offer any objections and allowed Ye Xiu to return to the rooms.

On the road Su Mucheng bought a hat for Ye Xiu, which would lower the chance of her being recognized by any acquaintances. Ye Xiu's protests against the purchase were weak, and by the time they reached the hotel she was still wearing the hat.

Ye Xiu held a lollipop in her mouth—the girls had firmly forbidden her cigarettes—lazily walking towards the general direction of her rooms.

Sigh... after eating too much sugar, she was now thirsty...

After thinking for a bit, she traced back her footsteps into the lobby, where there was a vending machine.

Much later, Ye Xiu reflected that it would have been much better to die of thirst then to have gone back into the lobby.

In front of the vending machine stood two men. Furthermore, they were both people Ye Xiu recognized.

"What do you want?" Zhang Jiale gestured towards the vending machine's wide range of displayed beverages.

"I'm not drinking this." Zhang Xinjie, who was beside him, shook his head. "If you can just buy a bottled water for Captain, that'd be great."

"Really? Alright." Zhang Jiale obediently pressed the mineral water choice in the vending machine. After two thump sounds, the bottled water landed in the receptor box.

Zhang Jiale grabbed the water. At noticing that there was somebody in line behind him, he immediately moved aside the let whoever it was go past him.

The female version of Ye Xiu was now shorter by Zhang Jiale by at least a head. With the addition of the hat, these two men were completely unable to recognize the person in front of them as Ye Xiu.

Ye Xiu raised up the corner of his mouth, letting out a shy laugh. "Thanks."

Zhang Jiale had only thought that this young woman was very cute, and had therefore snuck a few more glances in. His eyes immediately traveled to the slender fingers that were currently inserting a coin into the machine.

Those fingers...

"What is it?" Zhang Xingjie noticed that Zhang Jiale's attention was completely focused on the young woman, and blurted out the question before he could help himself.

"Zhang Xingjie, take a look at that young woman's hands." Zhang Jiale approached Zhang Xinjie's side, lowering his voice as he spoke. "Aside from Old Ye himself, I would have never thought I'd be able to see such beautiful hands."

Having heard what was said, Zhang Xingjie took a good look at the young woman. Although the woman's hat was blocking a good half of her face, and the angle prevented him from seeing most of her features, that short stature, slender frame and long hair... this was obviously a young woman. Compared to Ye Xiu's sloppy form, the difference was like night and day.

After pressing the drink button Ye Xiu turned around. She quickly realized that not only had the two men ahead of her not left yet, but they were currently staring at her with focused expressions.

Had she been recognized? Ye Xiu raised her eyebrows, thinking. It didn't seem like the two men had realized that she was Ye Xiu's female form, but rather that they were currently sizing her up.

"Do you want something?" Ye Xiu opened her drink, speaking the two men at the same time.

"No, there's nothing," Zhang Jiale said, somewhat embarrassed. "We were just thinking that your hands were very beautiful..."

Ye Xiu laughed. "Are you hitting on me?"

"Ah? No, that's..." Zhang Jiale unexpectedly stuttered. This young woman's frankness had completely surpassed what he'd imagined!

Ye Xiu, at hearing that she hadn't been recognized, felt like a great weight had been removed from her shoulders. Without speaking, she shrugged, preparing to leave.

"Do you know Ye Xiu?"

Ye Xiu stopped in her footsteps, slowly turning around. "What did you say?"

"Your hands, they resemble my Senior's," Zhang Xinjie calmly said. Actually, what he wanted to say was that they were a carbon copy of Ye Xiu's, but who in the world shared the exact same hands as another person?

Or could it be...

Zhang Xinjie stared at the young woman, who was still looking at him. "Are you Ye Xiu's younger sister?"

Only twins would ever have the chance of having the exact same body proportions, which would explain the similar fingers.

However, if he was speaking about twins of mixed genders, those kinds of twins usually didn't share similar body proportions... furthermore, this young woman didn't look like she was twenty-seven, but rather seventeen; there was very little chance that she and Ye Xiu were twins.

Then how come her fingers resembled Ye Xiu's fingers so closely?

Zhang Jiale stared at him, shocked. "Ah? Old Ye has a younger sister?"

Zhang Xinjie calmly replied. "I don't know, I guessed."

Ye Xiu released a breath. She had almost thought Zhang Xinjie had seen through her... thank God that he hadn't.

Still, getting so much information just by staring at a pair of hands, Ye Xiu could only admire Glory's number one tactician.

Ye Xiu had wanted to reply no straightforwardly at first. However, after thinking about tonight's gathering, she could only modify her previous thoughts. "You'll find out soon enough."

Zhang Xinjie stared at her blankly. Out of all the responses he had expected, he hadn't thought that the reply would be in this fashion.

Ye Xiu thought secretly to herself that it would be better to leave right now—from what she knew, every team in the hotel had all booked this hotel, so there was a very large chance that she would come across some other person she knew.

Just as she finished this thought, Ye Xiu bumped her head against an extremely thick and hard chest.

Fuck, turning into a woman had caused her height to shrink... Ye Xiu used one hand to press against her painfully throbbing forehead, and the other to prevent her hat from falling off her head completely, slowing raising her head to look up.

"I apologize, are you alright?"

...Ye Xiu thought that although her body was certainly alright, her heart was about to burst.

It seemed like over here, she was running into all kinds of people. Ye Xiu was helpless.

How come so quickly, she had already run into Little Zhou and Little Xiang...

Seeing that Ye Xiu hadn't replied yet, Sun Xiang couldn't help but furrow together his eyebrows, lowering his head and trying to see Ye Xiu's expression. "Are you alright? Did you get hurt anywhere?"

"...I'm fine." Ye Xiu's current mood was very complex. Since when had Little Xiang talked to her with this kind of tone of voice? Tsk, tsk.

"Hey hey hey why are you walking so fast don't think that just because your legs are so long that you can bully the short-legged one hundred and eight centimeters me I'll tell you that chasing up to you guys is only a matter of moments..."

Ye Xiu immediately felt like the pain in her head had intensified ten-fold.

If she wasn't deaf, than the person behind Sun Xiang was the one and only Huang Shaotian.

Seeing that that chatterer had appeared, it signified that a certain someone else had also appeared—

"Shaotian, are you confessing that you're short?" Yu Wenzhou could only helplessly sigh. "I think that you shouldn't say anymore."

...perfect, the six Glory players in the front and back of her were currently blocking her only pathways out. Was this Heaven's way of telling her to give up?

"How come it's taking so long to buy a drink?"

After hearing this voice, Ye Xiu's expression turned completely blank, as if she was resigning herself to death.

The seventh player—who was furthermore someone that might recognize her as his ten year rival—Han Wenqing had also appeared.

Heaven really wants me to lose this game...

Ye Xiu pointlessly turned the water bottle in her hand, exhaling.

After approaching the middle, Huang Shaotian finally noticed the young woman inside the sea of men, immediately shouting, "All of you people what are you doing surrounding this young woman don't you have any face to give to anyone else could it be that you no longer care about your moral principles—"

"We haven't done anything bad to her yet!" Zhang Jiale immediately replied, clearly upset.

That's enough you lucky bastard, are you implying that you'll do something worse to me later on? Could it be that this brother's troubles aren't enough?

Ye Xiu's expression seemed to reveal her current exhausted state.

Han Wenqing stared at Zhang Jiale, then turned to Zhang Xinjie. "What happened?"

"I think that she is Senior Ye Xiu's younger sister," Zhang Xinjie didn't try to avoid anything, instead straightforwardly approaching the conversation topic.

This sentence caused a stir among everyone in the lobby, everyone turning to stare at the currently silent Ye Xiu.

She was Ye Xiu's younger sister?

Huang Shaotian stared blankly for only a second before immediately reverting back to his natural state. "Ye Xiu has a younger sister? Ye Xiu that rascal has a younger sister? You better not be lying to me here how come that rascal never mentioned that he had such a cute sister like this and hid it from us isn't this too despicable—"

Shaotian, how come you only seem to hear half of the conversation? Xinjie only mentioned that it was a guess of his? How come you immediately went to the conclusion that I had a sister?

"Huang Shaotian, don't talk so much," Han Wenqing became extremely annoyed, unable to resist cutting down Huang Shaotian, rendering the other man incapable of words.

"You are Ye Xiu's younger sister?" Sun Xiang asked doubtfully, his face filled with disbelief. "It can't be, that rascal never mentioned that he had a younger sister..."

The previously silent Ye Xiu laughed, her voice as sharp as the edges of a silver coin.

"You guys don't need to know who I am," Ye Xiu said, lowering her head, not daring to look up and only add to her troubles. She now was about to become drowned in grievances. "Regardless, you'll understand everything at the gathering."

Just as she said those words, Ye Xiu immediately found a weak point in the wall to make a breakthrough next to Zhou Zekai, where she knew that there was no one to further enclose her. She immediately squeezed past Zhou Zekai, not looking back as she ran down the hall as if she were being chased.

"Tonight's gathering?" Nobody tried to block her way, only staring at each other in confusion.

That person was a professional player?

Ye Xiu calmly and unhurriedly walked through the hall—she was naturally this kind of person—but by the time she reached her room, the cold sweat covering her body threatened to pool together into one giant puddle.

I almost thought I'd be unable to escape...

Ye Xiu silently wiped away the cold sweat from her forehead, throwing the hat onto the bad, then entered the bathroom to clean off the sweat from her body.

Towards the face that now appeared as her reflection in the mirror, Ye Xiu had still not gotten used to it.

Ye Xiu's features had already been extremely pale and delicate due to lack of outdoors exposure. Adding on to the fact that he was now a woman, everything had turned softer. At first glance, it was extremely easy to mistake him as a beautiful young woman, and furthermore someone related to him—like a younger sister.

If those idiot men realized that their respected Brother Ye had turned into a Younger Sister Ye, who knew what kind of expression they would wear... Ye Xiu grabbed a towel and wiped her face.

Having just escaped a crisis of life and death, Ye Xiu felt exhausted, going onto the bed to take a short rest.

As for the gathering tonight... who cares about that, she would deal with it when the time came.

Chapter Text

After the news that Ye Xiu supposedly had a younger sister passed by the likes of Huang Shaotian and Zhang Jiale, rumors began circulating wildly about the matter.

That shameless Ye Xiu unexpectedly had a sister!

"What? Younger sister? I heard that she was a student that God Ye picked up from somewhere else..."

"What do you mean picked up from somewhere else? Do you think that's she's just a normal anybody? I clearly heard that she was his illegitimate daughter!"

"Fuck! God Ye has an illegitimate daughter?"

"Illegitimate your sister, what do you mean illegitimate daughter? I heard that girl looked like she was seventeen or eighteen years old, unless you're suggesting that Ye Xiu that bastard had a child when he was just ten years old!"

"That's still possible, considering we're talking about God Ye..."

"..."

At the gathering, professional Glory players talked animatedly with each other, while Happy, which was sitting together in their own group, became the subject of public criticism.

"Where's Ye Xiu, that fellow?" Wang Jiexi asked. This rumor seemed to be the only topic of conversation in this entire area, but how come the main actor hadn't showed up yet?

"That's right tell Ye Xiu that rascal to come out come out come out and tell us who that girl is because hiding this kind of thing from us is so unscrupulous don't you think so brothers and Captain don't you think so too!" This barrage of words was clearly from Huang Shaotian.

"Let's not talk about who that girl was right now, but how come Senior hasn't come yet?" Yu Wenzhou aptly avoided the discussion if the mysterious girl was Ye Xiu's illegitimate daughter, girlfriend, or younger sister.

"Speaking of which, didn't that girl tell us that we would find out everything at the gathering tonight? How come she recognized us?" Sun Xiang furrowed his eyebrows. "Could it be that she's also a player like us?"

Chen Guo, confronted with question after question thrown at her by the Glory experts, was visibly shaking in discomfort. "Regarding that young woman... she...

How in earth was she supposed to say this! Chen Guo's teary-eyed sight looked around the room, focusing on the comfortably eating Su Mucheng.

Su Mucheng seemed to sense Chen Guo's pleading stare, unable to stop herself from looking towards Chen Guo, and blinked awkwardly.

"Um... regarding the matter with that young woman..." Once Su Mucheng began talking, the entire premises instantly became eerily quiet. "You'll find out soon enough, so why don't you eat right now first."

Everybody in the room instantly felt like hurling themselves against the wall, while the members of Happy secretly praised Su Mucheng's reaction in their hearts.

God Su, do you even know anything?

Huang Shaotian unconsciously snapped the wooden chopsticks in his hand in half, pointing a trembling finger towards Su Mucheng's smiling face, for a rare moment seeming to have no words to say. "Su Mucheng, you—!"

"Shaotian, be quieter." Yu Wenzhong took the broken chopsticks from Huang Shaotian's hands, switching it with a pair of new ones. "What Su Mucheng said was right, it's better that we eat now."

"Then... Senior..." The previously silent Zhou Zekai suddenly spoke, causing everyone in the room to alternate between looking at him or Su Mucheng.

How had they almost forgot, in the midst of all this discussion of his sister where had Ye Xiu, the main lead, gone?

Su Mucheng didn't seem to notice the stares that everyone in the room was sending her, casually picking out a few greens into her plate, then slowly putting them into her mouth. 

Huang Shaotian felt that if he didn't say anything right now his reputation as a chatterbox would be tarnished. "Sister Su how come you didn't way where Ye Xiu that rascal ran away to was he afraid could it really be that it really was his illegitimate daughter—"

The sound of coughing interrupted Huang Shaotian's words. Everybody turned their heads doubtfully to the doorway, just as a slender silhouette pushed open the door.

...who?

The person who entered was a young woman. She was wearing a hat obscuring most of her face, with ink-black hair that reached her shoulders. The hand that pushed open the door was as pristine and unmarred as white jade; if one were to look at the hand alone, they would certainly think that the person who had opened the door was Ye Xiu.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, I got lost." She lowered her head, her sweet voice already giving people a good assumption of what she looked like. "Have I bothered you guys?"

"You you you you aren't you that Ye Xiu's illegitimate daughter!" Huang Shaotian could really be called a master of opportunity, slamming into the conversation the moment that the young woman had finished speaking.

The young woman raised her head, revealing two inky-black eyes hidden under the brim of her hat. "Illegitimate daughter?"

"It's nothing, he's just joking," Chen Guo immediately said, standing up and guiding the young woman to the empty seat next to Su Mucheng. "The food has just been served, it's still very early."

"Who are you?" Han Wenqing menacingly came over, his severe expression making people want to immediately offer their wallets to him and run away. Chen Guo realized that she had unconsciously reached for her purse the moment he had approached.

However, the young woman didn't express even a hint of fear, only revealing a mysterious smile. "Weren't you guys just saying that I was Ye Xiu's illegitimate daughter?"

"So you really are... Old Ye's illegitimate daughter?" Zhang Jiale stuttered, nearly biting his own tongue as he spoke.

Next to him Fang Rui couldn't endure it any longer, accidentally spurting out a mouthful of tea.

No, rather, it seemed like he was coughing to the point of internal injury...

"Why don't you take it easy you trash, this big bro doesn't want to be splashed all over their face." The young woman chuckled as she hit Fang Rui's back, the words she said completely different from her appearance. "Could it be that you're getting so old now that you can't even drink tea? This big bro's heard that there's a nursing home that just opened near Happy, do you want to go there and take a look?"

"Ye Xiu, you—!"

"You just said..." Xiao Shiqin stared blankly at Fang Rui for a few seconds, then turned to stare at the young woman sitting next to Su Mucheng. "Ye... God Ye?"

Ye Xiu smiled, not giving him a reply. Instead she turned her face towards Huang Shaotian, chuckling as she told him, "Shaotian ah, how come your mouth still hasn't become tired yet? Or could it be that your jaw has become dislocated, which is why you can't keep it shut? This trash used to be the same way, do you want to ask him for some guidance on how to keep your mouth shut?"

"Ye Xiu what did you just say are you provoking me no come on let's PK PK PK PK..." Huang Shaotian didn't realize until after he had finished speaking that something wasn't right. "Wait, this taunting way of speaking! How come I never realized that this was Ye Xiu?!"

"It's impossible for her to be Senior," Zhang Xingjie said, silently pushing down his spectacles. "Her height, body type and voice are all different; hair can be changed, but those three characteristics cannot."

"But those two hands, and the way of speaking are all Senior's..." Xiao Shiqin sighed. He had really just imagined that it was Senior standing in front of him taunting and provoking people.

"Yifan," Wang Xinjie promptly looked around, finding the weak spot of Happy. "Who is this person?"

Qiao Yifan turned around to look at Ye Xiu, then back at his former captain, unsure of whether or not he should reveal the truth. "This..."

"Is what you guys are doing right now right? Why can't you just ask this question to all of us? Instead you go and bully Happy's junior, since you seem to be throwing your morals away why don't you pick up what's left?" Fang Rui snorted, showing contempt.

Han Wenqing didn't cut any corners, instead sitting directly in front of the young woman, asking her, "Who are you?"

He really deserved the reputation of Old Han, even by approaching a subject straightforwardly people still felt the urge to give him their wallets!

Ye Xiu chuckled. "Who do you think I am?"

"Ye Xiu." Han Wenqing didn't hesitate as he spoke.

"Captain!" Zhang Jiale said, astonished.

"Captain?" Zhang Xinjie said, doubtful.

"Wait this answer can't be correct how can this cute young woman be that shameless Ye Xiu isn't this just too insulting to everyone really..." Huang Shaotian protested.

"We, how can this pretty young woman be anything close to Ye Xiu?" Chu Yunxiu couldn't help but smile. "Are you playing with me?"

"Excluding voice and body type, everything else is really very similar to Senior," Yu Wenzhou gave a faint smile.

"So what you're saying is that the reason Ye Xiu hasn't been present for the past few days is because he went to Thailand and changed genders?" Wang Jiexi calmly asked, causing the athletes around to spurt out tea.

How deserving of the name Big-Eyed Wang. You make light of my current grievances, even going so far to accuse me of changing genders in Thailand... Ye Xiu's mouth drew back from its smile.

"Senior...?" Zhou Zekai stared at Ye Xiu, puzzled.

"Hai, hai, what Captain means is that if Senior really changed genders, how come his height has also been affected then?" Jiang Botao timely arrived in the argument to back up Zhou Zekai.

How the fuck did you arrive to this kind of conclusion from one word? Everyone in the room silently stared at him in a mutual moment of "what the fuck".

"Right, and what kind of basis did you accuse her of being Ye Xiu?" Sun Xiang crossed his arms, sizing up Ye Xiu a few times. "Aren't you hot, wearing that hat for so long? Why don't you take it off?"

"Are you scared that your face will be recognized?" Xiao Shiqin bared a smile, supporting Sun Xiang.

Ye Xiu only smiled, silently hearing their words but not giving any answer.

"If you're not answer, does this mean that you're agreeing with them?" Han Wenqing coldly said, suppressing the urge to take off the person's hat right now and then.

"This matter—"

"I'm sorry, so sorry, I came late." The door suddenly burst open, interrupting what Ye Xiu had been about to say.

Everyone in the room immediately turned to the person at the doorway, the person entering feeling as if they had entered the wrong room. "What is it?"

"It's nothing, Chairperson Ping. Why don't you come and sit," Su Mucheng said, exposing a brilliant smile. Everyone else gnashed their teeth in fury, forcing themselves to go and greet Ping Xianjun.

After such an intense questioning they had just been about to find out the answer, only instead someone came and interrupted the ending!

Everyone in the room felt that their hearts had become very weary.

"Ah, thank you." Ping Xianjun smiled as he sat down, not noticing the strange, hostile atmosphere around him. "Oh right, I've organized an activity tonight, after everyone's finished eating remember to go back to your rooms and change clothing."

"Change into what kind of clothing?" Chen Guo asked.

"I should have told you guys to bring ceremonial clothing, right?" Seeing the crowd around him nod, Ping Xianjun smiled. "Just like how they danced masquerades in the ancient dynasties, today everyone will receive a mask and dance with a partner, whoever dances the best will receive an award. I hope that everyone will have lots of fun tonight!"

"What...!" Everyone looked like they had just eaten a frog, staring at Ping Xianjun with a doubtful expression.

"What is it? Did I saw something wrong?" Turning around, he saw a new face. "Hey, who is this? I've never seen you before."

The athletes who had just been discussing within themselves about Ye Xiu incessantly heard Ping Xianjun's words, wanting to praise him. Well done!

"This..." 

Just before Chen Guo could rack up her brain and think of some excuse to give him, Ye Xiu cut her to the chase, casually saying, "Ye Xiu wasn't feeling very well today, bro... I replaced him to the gathering instead. I'm just a normal girl, there's really nothing to it."

Ping Xianjun was somewhat bewildered as he nodded, but didn't ask much. Old Ye's body could get sick? Could it be that it would be raining blood next...

The sound of coughing interrupted his thoughts. Ping Xianjun forced a smile on his face as he continued with his original speech.

"Then, then after everyone's finished changing clothes, meet in the tenth floor!"

Chapter Text

Su Mucheng was extremely excited when she heard that there was going to be a masquerade. After dinner, she impatiently urged everyone to go back to their rooms and change clothes.

How could Ye Xiu not know what she was thinking? Immediately, she made an excuse to go to the bathroom and think of an escape plan.

However, this escape plan was immediately shattered by Fang Rui's malicious obstruction and Su Mucheng's sugar-sweet smile.

The rest of Happy, watching Su Mucheng drag an unwilling Ye Xiu into a room, could only silently light a candle for their senior.

Fang Rui just "happened" to pass by the room at this time and overhear their discussion, which went roughly like this:

"Mucheng, your big brother wants to know why you're giving me female clothes?"

"When Ye Xiu wears it, it's very fitting!"

"That's not the question I asked! Wait... Mucheng, no... your brother can take it off himself!"

"Wow, Ye Xiu, your figure is pretty good. Why don't you try this one?"

"Are you telling your brother that people will wear a swimsuit to a masquerade?"

"Ah, then this one is good too. Ye Xiu's legs are so white and tender, if you wear them it will really make them pop out!"

"...isn't this a qipao? Where did you get that from? This slit is a bit too high, isn't it...?"

"You really are stubborn. Ye Xiu, which one do you like, then?"

"Your brother just wants something that he can wear in public!"

By the time everyone had changed, Ye Xiu, who had suffered great mental and physical distress, finally left the room. Behind her, Su Mucheng's face was brimming with satisfaction.

"Senior, you're very beautiful," Qiao Yifan sincerely said.

"Boss, Boss, your chest sticks out so..." Baozi wanted to continue talking, only to be silenced by an elbow to the chest from Luo Ji.

"Senior, you look good no matter what you wear," An Wenyi said, lowering his gaze. His face sunk into deep thought.

"..." Mo Fan seemed to be questioning his existence.

"Really, Old Ye-ah," Fang Rui said, restraining a laugh. His words were unsteady. "I say that you should stay as a girl, the money opportunities are limitless!" He began to take numerous pictures of Ye Xiu.

"This old man agrees," Wei Chen nodded. "Take some more pictures. If we sell to the other teams the potential profit isn't small."

"Ye Xiu, you're very pretty," Tang Rou gently smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind Ye Xiu's ear.

"Fuck, are you guys done?" The always calm Ye Xiu had been roused into fury with all of the compliments directed at her — especially compliments towards her as a woman!

Ye Xiu, suffering through Su Mucheng's deception and pleading, had finally given up and agreed to wear a dress. Not only was the edge of the dress much shorter than what a dress should be like, she had even been forced into high heels and light makeup, which emphasized her gleaming black eyes.

Earlier, when she had looked into the mirror, Ye Xiu had been struck into numbness.

Fuck, who is this...!

"Are you guys ready? Most of the people have already begun congregating upstairs... ah." Chen Guo, who had pushed open the door, couldn't help but widen her eyes and freeze when she saw Ye Xiu. "Ye... Ye Xiu?"

If it wasn't for the fact that this girl looked vaguely similar to Ye Xiu, Chen Guo really wouldn't have recognized her.

"What do you think?" Su Mucheng said, her expression perfectly contented. "Don't you think Ye Xiu's very cute like this?"

"That's right," Chen Guo admitted. She hadn't expected, however, for the indifferent expression on Ye Xiu's face to deepen even further. "Alright, let's not fool around. It's time to go."

The conversation between the athletes consisted more or less the same topics as before, revolving mainly around that young woman and Ye Xiu.

Although everyone was wearing a mask on their face, it only obstructed half of their face. It wasn't hard for people to recognize each other.

"Happy is late," Yu Wenzhou said, glancing at his watch.

"Do you think it's because Ye Xiu that fellow ran away it isn't okay Captain why don't you let me go and find him who knows maybe I'll be able to capture that Ye Xiu..." Huang Shaotian once again began to raise a ruckus.

"Huang Shaotian, are you drunk? Why is your face so red?" With half of his face obscured by a mask, Wang Jiexi's unevenly sized eyes were no longer as obvious.

Who knew if Chairman Ping was trying to liven things up or not, but the venue not only provided desserts and crackers, but wine.

"So what so what so what if this sword saint wants to drink no one can stop me so if you have any complaints—"

"Shaotian," Yu Wenzhou said. The part of his lips not covered by the mask rose up into a gentle smile. "Why don't we go back into the rooms and talk?"

"..."

"Happy's arrived." No one knew who exactly had said this, but when those words were spoken the crowd immediately turned their eyes to the entryway.

The masks were provided at the door, so when the people arrived their faces were all obscured. At first, it was hard to tell who was who; if it wasn't for the fact that Happy was missing was common knowledge, it really would have been hard to recognize them.

Standing at the very forefront of this group were Happy's two young beauties—Tang Rou and Su Mucheng.

Su Mucheng was wearing a deep blue evening gown, which revealed her slender and white calves and ankles. The mask covered her right eye, but still couldn't hide her youthful beauty.

At her side, Tang Rou was wearing a white evening gown. Her short haircut revealed her slender, white jade-like neck. In contrast to Su Mucheng, she was wearing a mask over her left eye.

"Why does Happy have so many beautiful young women? The Heavens aren't fair!" Most of the crowd bemoaned the unjustness of the situation. There were only a few people still searching for that lazy and slouched-over silhouette.

"That's strange. I don't see Old Ye." Zhang Jiale blurted out, looking through the men in Happy.

"Also that strange girl isn't here unless, unless she's not here because she's privately with Ye Xiu—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Huang Shaotian suddenly froze.

It wasn't just him. When the last person in Happy finally entered the room, all of the athletes couldn't help but stop and engage in hushed conversation, burning holes into that figure.

The girl was wearing a short cocktail dress that only covered part of her upper legs. She was wearing a mask that covered the top of her face, making it impossible to tell who she was, but the smirk playing on her lips was one that was extremely familiar to most of the people there.

Her steps were slow, bringing with it a kind of careless air. Without much effort, an aura of mystery arose, making it impossible for many to turn away.

Was she... really Ye Xiu?

This was the question that arose in everyone's minds.

This was definitely a young woman, nothing like that lazy and sloppy Ye Xiu at all!

But... if one disregarded that dangerous and beautiful aura, indeed the careless way that person walked was extremely similar to Ye Xiu.

Her expression was extremely indifferent, and yet when she looked at people her gaze turned incisive.

"Sister Yunxiu," Dai Yanqi curiously walked over, her low-cut red evening gown revealing her white and delicate shoulders. "Who is that young woman? Since when did Happy recruit another beauty?"

Because the room was too small to encompass all of the athletes, another room had been opened on the other side. Within it were the athletes were still relatively young, such as Dai Yanqi, Liu Fei, An Wenyi, Baozi, Luo Ji, Mo Fan, Song Qiying, Liu Xiaobie, Shu Kexin, Shu Keyi and many others.

This time the people in Heavenly Sword had fortunately been overseas on a vacation, and had consequently missed this gathering. Furthermore, Tang Hao had contracted a fever, and Li Xuan and Wu Yuce, unaccustomed to eating fancy food, had returned back to their rooms to eat instant noodles.

Therefore, Dai Yanqi had no idea what big event had just happened in the room adjacent to hers.

"This..." Chu Yunxiu jokingly looked at the young girl who was standing near the dining table.

"Oh, and also, did God Ye not come?" Dai Yanqi surveyed the room again. Only after confirming that Ye Xiu hadn't arrived did she turn back. "I worked so hard to get Captain to ask God Shen to a dance!"

Chu Yunxiu choked on her wine. "Wh—what?"

"And me as well." Liu Fei appeared out of nowhere, a mischievous expression on her face. "I was the one who suggested the idea to Captain."

Was it really just a simple "suggestion"? Chu Yunxiu thought about it, before erupting into a smile.

If that young woman really was Ye Xiu... then there would be a fun scene to watch soon.

Chu Yunxiu expected there to plenty of material to inspire her All叶 fanfictions tonight.

The young woman didn't talk with anyone, instead following quietly behind some of the Happy players. From time to time she would walk over to the dining table and extend that pair of perfect, flawless hands to pick up a snack, making one wish that they were a cracker on the dining table.

The crowd began to discuss the possible identity of that young woman.

"We're talking about the girl that just entered." They all agreed as to that point.

"It seems to be Ye Xiu's girlfriend/daughter/younger sister."

This was something that was yet to be confirmed, but Ye Xiu's association to her was undeniable.

"Then... where's Ye Xiu?"

This was the greatest mystery for the people in the room.