In the blink of an eye, the student’s dream—summer vacation—had arrived.
“Papa~ why hasn’t the little baby in the egg come out yet?”
Xiao Jiu sat obediently in her car seat, still cradling the pure white egg in her hands.
The eggshell felt cool and refreshing; Xiao Jiu comfortably leaned against it, finding it even more invigorating than the car’s air conditioning.
“Perhaps it’s too hot outside, and it’s more comfortable inside the egg,” Aya Tone mused, his hands on the steering wheel, his gaze fixed on the road ahead.
On his lips, he casually spun a tale that hardly constituted a valid reason.
Even though he was the unwitting culprit, Aya Tone had no idea how long it would truly take for Big White to hatch.
Simultaneously, he felt a surge of relief that Xiao Jiu hadn’t thrown a tantrum over Big White’s prolonged absence.
The white egg seemed to have filled the void Big White had left at home.
Consequently, wherever Xiao Jiu went, she now carried that white egg in her arms.
When her arms grew tired, she would simply have her papa carry her, while she, in turn, cradled the white egg.
Her mind remained singularly focused on the egg hatching.
“Really?” Xiao Jiu asked, curiously reaching out to touch the surface of the shell.
It felt cool to the touch.
‘Papa is right,’ she thought. ‘The little baby inside must dislike the heat, which is why it’s hiding and refusing to come out!’
Carefully, Xiao Jiu extended the white egg towards the outside of her car seat, closer to the air conditioning vent.
Catching sight of his daughter’s adorable gesture in the rearview mirror, Aya Tone’s foot instinctively eased off the accelerator.
‘Steady, steady,’ he reminded himself.
The car belonged to Fire Finch, who had lent it to him.
In her words, “How can one go out for fun without a car?”
With that, she simply tossed Aya Tone a car key.
Considering his boss’s words as gospel, Aya Tone hadn’t refused.
Conveniently, he had been planning to rent a car anyway, intending to take Xiao Jiu on a circuitous route around the south; traveling by public transport would have been far too monotonous.
It simply lacked the freedom of a self-driven tour.
If they tired of driving, they could always stop along the way to explore scenic spots and immerse themselves in the local customs and traditions of various regions.
Thus, Aya Tone unhesitatingly accepted Fire Finch’s suggestion.
Still, perpetually accepting Fire Finch’s generosity wasn’t a sustainable solution.
‘Perhaps I should buy a car?’ Aya Tone pondered.
Aya Tone found himself contemplating this, but a moment later, he dismissed the thought entirely.
He didn’t need a car for work; getting there was a simple matter of teleportation.
Moreover, Xiao Jiu’s kindergarten was only a few meters from their apartment, practically just around the corner.
In this light, it seemed a car wouldn’t be a necessity until Xiao Jiu started junior high.
With his thoughts settled, Aya Tone gently pressed the accelerator.
“Xiao Jiu, hold onto the egg tightly now, Papa’s going to speed up!”
“Awoo!”
****
Meanwhile, Fire Finch sat in her office, thoughtfully watching the GPS tracking device in her hand, noting its increasing distance from Yan’an City.
‘That direction… it seems to be north,’ she mused.
‘That Aya Tone fellow, he couldn’t have forgotten to turn on the navigation, could he?’
Fire Finch couldn’t help but rub her temples in exasperation.
‘I truly wonder if lending Aya Tone the car will turn out to be the most regrettable decision I’ve ever made…’
‘It’s fine, there’s still a month until the clan meeting.’
‘He’ll come back.’
‘Right… he should…’
“Smash!”
At that moment, the office door was violently kicked open.
Li Jia entered, her face etched with deep resentment. “You lied to me?”
“Oh, if it isn’t our very own Spatial Magic Master—Li Jia! What brings you to use the door today?”
Fire Finch retrieved a bag of snacks from her secret stash and tossed it to Li Jia.
Li Jia caught the snacks and unceremoniously ripped the bag open.
Eating as she spoke, she demanded, “Can you stop pretending? I went to the address you gave me.”
“And then?”
“And then? You know perfectly well!”
Li Jia gnashed on her snacks, imagining Fire Finch as the target, as if she wished to devour her whole.
She had truly believed Fire Finch would reveal Aya Tone’s address.
But upon arriving at the apartment, the administrator informed her there was no woman named Aya Tone residing there.
A man, however, did live there.
“Me? My heart doesn’t know, nor does my stomach understand,” Fire Finch replied innocently.
Fire Finch sighed, lamenting that nowadays, no one believed the truth.
The address she had given Li Jia was correct; the contract stipulated no exposure.
Yet, she hadn’t exposed anything.
Li Jia had asked her for the address of ‘Aya Tone (female),’ and all she had done was provide the address of ‘Aya Tone (male).’
There was no mistake in that.
She had operated entirely within the rules of the text.
As for whether Li Jia would eventually uncover the connection between the two, that was no longer her concern as the leader.
In fact, it was even better that way.
Ever since Li Jia’s self-revelation that day, Fire Finch had been subtly guiding her closer to the truth.
The moment Li Jia grasped the cruel reality would be Fire Finch’s opportune moment to deliver the fatal blow.
Hee hee hee!
‘Surely no one would think Fire Finch would secretly get rid of Li Jia?’
‘Please!’
‘This is a society governed by law; naturally, one cannot directly resort to physical elimination of enemies.’
‘Illegal and criminal acts are simply out of the question.’
‘Attacks on a psychological level are the eternal and unsolvable maneuvers.’
‘However, it seems Li Jia isn’t particularly bright…’
“If you won’t say it, then don’t.”
Li Jia no longer believed a single word Fire Finch uttered.
The woman had absolutely no credibility left in her eyes.
Furthermore.
‘After seeing a photo of Aya Tone (male) from the administrator, wasn’t he the very man Fire Finch claimed to be interested in?’
This led Li Jia to conclude that Fire Finch’s words were nothing but lies.
Since no useful information could be extracted from Fire Finch, she decided to drop the matter for now.
‘Time is still plentiful; there’s no need to rush for a single moment,’ she reasoned.
“By the way, Jia’er, are you coming to the clan meeting this year?”
Noticing Li Jia’s intention to give up on her, Fire Finch quickly stirred up trouble.
‘The fish can’t break the line here!’
‘If she breaks away, where will I reel her back in?’
“Your family’s clan meeting?”
Li Jia hadn’t expected her best friend to bring this up at such a moment.
Each year, the Fire Clan hosted a clan meeting, inviting close friends to participate.
As their fathers were already good friends, both families would attend the annual gathering.
‘But why would Fire Finch mention it now?’
Li Jia grew wary. “What are you trying to do?”
“Don’t be so tense! My brother misses you, you know.”
“You’re full of it! With your brother’s tastes, he’d miss me?”
Li Jia declared her immediate disbelief.
“Uh…”
Caught off guard by the sudden retort, Fire Finch was momentarily speechless.
‘But the crucial point was that she had no grounds for rebuttal; it truly was because her brother…’
‘…was a lolicon…’
‘What a misfortune for the family, to produce such a degenerate.’
‘He’s a grown man, yet he still spouts nonsense like ‘cuteness is justice’ every day.’
‘How embarrassing.’
Nevertheless, none of this deterred her from what she was about to say next.
“Ahem, he has a collection of Aya Tone’s stuff!”
“I’ll go!”
Upon hearing about Aya Tone’s collection, Li Jia instantly shed her initial suspicion and agreed without hesitation.
‘Even I don’t possess such a thing,’ she thought. ‘I truly wonder where that fellow, Huolin Feng, managed to get his hands on it.’
‘I hope that brat is sensible, or else he shouldn’t blame his older sister for being ruthless.’
‘Heh, plan complete.’
Fire Finch revealed a sly grin, her scheme having come to fruition.
‘As for her brother’s precious collection, that’s no longer her concern. He’s just a nominal brother anyway; they’re not close.’
‘Her only responsibility was to be happy.’