“Meimei,” a kind voice intones when she’s in the middle of one of Lei Yirui's regular excursions to the library to see if there’s anything in there that doesn’t make her want to rip her hair out of her skull from boredom. A startled yelp finds its way out of her mouth as she nearly falls off of the bullshit ladder-thing.

 

“Could you make like, a little more noise?? Any at all would be good, actually! Your Meimei nearly cracked her skull open and died.” she says, scurrying down from the latter in an admittedly mouse like fashion, tucking the two bamboo strip books she thought looked promising under her arm as she trots over to Lei Shunyuan to punch him in the arm. 

 

Lei Yirui has always imagined these male love interests as strong and able to protect the MC, but it’s really coming to her that both male leads are pampered rich boys, because Lei Shunyuan winces and cups his arm instinctively. Lei Yirui is too busy rolling her eyes up to the heavens to feel bad about it. 

 

“Don’t joke like that,” he says. 

 

“Like this?” Lei Yirui asks, putting up her fists and hopping around like a boxer as she throws fake punches in his general direction. Er, something like a boxer, at least. She feels a little more like one of those kangaroo rats!! 

 

Lei Shunyuan narrows his eyes at her. Lei Yirui freezes. Shaking off the embarrassment of a joke falling flatter than flat— (Flatter than Jia Zhenzhen, if she wants to be crude. Which she does.) What is this?? He looks like he’s about to scold her seriously!! How embarrassing! She prefers the doting brother act, go back, go back please!

 

“About your safety. I’m worried enough as it is, the way things are going. You know I’m….” he frowns, shutting his eye as his brows furrow. He looks angsty and tortured. Lei Yirui can appreciate the aesthetics. She might’ve screenshotted such a scene if she was watching Limitless. “Jia Zhenzhen told me something displeasing.” he says, and suddenly his eye is open and zeroed in on her once again. 

 

Lia Yirui cringes.

“It was nice seeing you, bro! Catch you later!” she says, and turns on her heel to make a hasty retreat! She’d already gotten chewed out by Jia Zhenzhen the other day, this was too much for her fragile heart!! These two don't even like each other, so why are they teaming up now?? Enough!!

 

Lei Shunyuan’s hand clasps Lei Yirui’s shoulder tightly, and he drags her back over. Lei Yirui hangs her head defeated. 

 

“I don’t know what this rebellious streak is—” he starts. 

 

“It’s not a rebellious streak! I’m an adult, not a child.” Lei Yirui interrupts, childishly. Lei Shunyuan sneers, and Lei Yirui is so taken aback by such a mean look on his face that she shuts up.

 

“Stop talking for once and listen. You are only 18 years old, Yirui. Someone tried to assassinate you only a few weeks ago. Forgive me if your high ranking brother is the slightest bit concerned about your reckless, idiotic actions. I could excuse, even encourage, your recent sociability and adventurous nature. But not to this extent.” 

 

Lei Yirui panics. Is this plot happening to her right now?? Please, no!! She wants to keep living in relative peace and prosperity!

 

She pouts— and Lei Shunyuan smacks a hand over her mouth. Lei Yirui goes cross eyed. 

 

“I know you do that to avoid situations. Meimei, this is bigger than you know. We could… It is likely that…. It is inevitable that war will come to our kingdom very soon. We’ve been attacked already. It was Jia Zhenzhen’s hometown, which is why he was speaking to me in the first place. Until you learn a sense of self preservation, you’re going to be supervised at all times.”

 

…

 

“Hm? What? I’m sorry, Gege, did you just say I’m suddenly going to be saddled with a babysitter? I must’ve misheard.” Lei Yirui asks, glaring at him. Lei Shunyuan glares right back. 

 

“You did not mishear anything,” he says, before heaving a heavy sigh. As he raises his hands to his temples, he works his jaw tightly. “I’m not… angry with you. But I’m not going to risk your safety. Jia Zhenzhen - and you two are… friends, aren’t you? His own younger brother was attacked in that town - targeted, actually. Likely because he serves as a guard at the palace, and maybe even because he was the one who protected you that day.” he says. 

 

No, that isn’t it at all, actually, Lei Shunyuan!! Jia Zhenzhen is lucky that the two people who know her assignment at the moment are, A: the man who she’s supposed to kill, who just so happens to find some sort of thrill in attempted murder, and B: her best friend transmigrator who is extremely biased towards her!! Lei Shunyuan himself would probably turn her in instantly if he found out, so… hm. His sympathy for liars likely only goes as far as lying about your gender. Being an assassin is probably a bit too far.

 

Ah, why is Lei Yirui viewing that as a bad quality?? That’s the bare minimum!! But this is a special situation, and she doesn’t want to watch her brother veer into minor antagonist territory by accident, even if he is being a jackass right now!

Lei Yirui, after a prolonged bit of thinking, sighs heavily. 

 

“...Fine. Well.. who’s going to be supervising me?” she asks. Lei Shunyuan visibly relaxes. His hand settles onto Lei Yirui’s head, where he pats her hair fondly. 

 

“I will, Meimei.” he says, and leans down to kiss her on the forehead. 

 

Lei Yirui’s eye twitches. You? You, Gege?? Lei Yirui could probably beat you in a fight!! You may be a chief scholar, but you also were successfully distracted by Ren Wenqian’s dumb ass! You already got your ass kicked once!! Are you trying to lose your other eye, too? What kind of plan is this? She had only been so accepting because she had been almost certain that it would have ended up being Jia Zhenzhen!! The girl clearly stalks her already, considering she happens to show up whenever Lei Yirui has the gall to interact with anyone other than her. 

 

Lei Yirui scrunches up her nose. 

 

“Gross,” she says, and is marginally annoyed that Lei Shunyuan had seemed so pissed just a moment ago but had returned to his old self as soon as she agreed. Lei Yirui starts shuffling back over to the shelf she had been looking over, when her brother's gentle hand is settled between her shoulder blades and she’s directed towards the doorway. 

“This way, Meimei. Unfortunately, I can’t merely accompany you throughout your day. I do have important work to do. You’ll be joining me.” he said.

 

Huh??? Isn’t your work classified? This doesn’t make any sense! Gege, I hate you, this is so confusing!

 

“Don’t worry, I asked Uncle Hu to make you some treats. We’ll pick them up first.” he says. 

 

… Oh.

 

“I love you.” Lei Yirui says. Lei Shunyuan smiles down at her, looking very satisfied with himself.

…

Lei Yirui learns a few new things throughout the day. 

 

The first is that Lei Shunyuan and Zheng Xiaosi apparently work together just about every day, and that it’s remarkable that they get anything done with all of their fighting. It’s not even bickering like she’d have thought - the madness that was the initial fight when Lei Yirui had accused Tang Xiaodan was apparently just the usual!! Just an average Tuesday, guys, don’t worry!!

“They’re setting up camp for their soldiers in our border towns,” Zheng Xiaosi says at one point. “This territory was disputed before my father came into power. Now that the power is shifting to me, they’re attempting to step in while things are rocky. We need to stop them while we’re ahead, not lie passively and wait for them to gut us. We must prove to them what kind of leader I truly am.” 

 

“You cannot attack them when they’re not yet doing anything violent. They’ve already said they’ll declare war if we do such a thing. You already know that they’re willing to attack civilians. We cannot risk their safety for your ego.” Lei Shunyuan says.

 

“Why are you speaking? You and I both know we do not have you here for strategy.” Zheng Xiaosi says, with a smirk. Ahh, he’s even more agitating in person!! That’s her brother you’re talking to, asshole!

“And yet I know more about it than you,” Lei Shunyuan says, and leans over to point at something on the map. Lei Yirui doesn’t recognize a damn thing on there, so she doesn’t even bother looking at it. She just eats her pastries in peace. “I studied the last war extensively. This exact town was disputed and the cause of conflict that has threatened our tense peace with the Shen Tan Kingdom for the past several years. Not only will attacking their forces at this exact spot cause them to declare war on us, their people will rally behind them. This region and it’s vast resources have been something they have considered theirs for a long time. Do not be an idiot - you and I both know you are one of the best educated in this room.”

 

“Blowing smoke up my ass will not win you any favor with anyone in this room other than your sister.” says Zheng Xiaosi, and Lei Yirui averts her eyes and hides her smile behind hand when Lei Shunyuan shoots her a brief, betrayed glance. 

 

The second thing she learns is that Jia Zhenzhen really does seem to be taking pretty close note of what she’s up to. She had been joking earlier - it wasn’t supposed to be true!

 

When they’re allowed a break after about 3 hours of nonstop arguing, Lei Yirui is bursting at the seems and ready to run outside, even though she didn’t do anything at all. Lei Shunyuan is happy to humor her, and Lei Yirui suspects it’s half because he actually wants her to have fun and half because Zheng Xiaosi had clearly been trying to get a word with her as Lei Shunyuan led her out of the room. And all with a gentle smile on his face - who knew that this character would end up being the petty bitch??

 

Lei Yirui does an exaggerated twirl as soon as she hops off of the steps and into the courtyard, throwing her arms in the air and spinning around until she’s dizzy and can’t see straight.

 

“It’s a nice day.” Lei Shunyuan says. 

 

“There could be a typhoon and I’d be thrilled. Anything to be out of that boring ass room.” Lei Yirui says, hiking up her dress so she can hop up onto a planter. Lei Shunyuan does an full body jolt and averts his eyes politely. Honestly, it’s just calves!! Lei Yirui kind of wants to drag him to the modern world and throw him into a nude beach to see how he fares. 

 

“You had those books. You could’ve read those.“ he says.

 

“While you were screaming in my ear at Zheng Xiaosi?? As if! How can I focus in there?” she says, crossing her arms with a huff. She can detect Lei Shunyuan's kind smile from behind her, but no thank you! She doesn’t want it! 

 

Lei Yirui is about to complain some more when a figure is at her brothers side, having arrived completely silent and undetected. Both Lei Yirui and Lei Shunyuan screech like little girls, Lei Yirui falling backwards into the large ceramic planter and Lei Shunyuan quickly gathering himself and apologizing.

 

Ah, Jia Zhenzhen!! It’s the middle of the day, don’t you have a job to do?? Why are you here!

 

Not that Lei Yirui is complaining. She’s happy to see her, but… haven’t they been spending a lot of time together? Jia Zhenzhen probably needs her free time to plot murder, not seek out Lei Yirui 24/7.

 

“Do you not have a job to be doing?” Lei Shunyuan asks, and it’s rude despite his congenial tone.

 

“Why haven’t you eaten yet? I inquired about your whereabouts to see if you were skipping your lessons again, and they told me you’ve been in the main building all day.” she says to Lei Yirui, ignoring the older man like she usually does. 

 

“I did eat, don’t worry. But, ah… I thought you knew? Lei Shunyuan is escorting me everywhere now, since I’m apparently ‘a child’ who ‘constantly endangers herself’.” Lei Yurui says, and Lei Shunyuan purses his lips as she does the air quotes. Jia Zhenzhen blinks.

 

“How old are you?” she asks randomly. Lei Yirui nearly gives the actual answer, before remembering exactly where she is.

 

“18. Why?” she asks. Jia Zhenzhen hums pleasantly, and Lei Yirui nearly faints in shock. What was that?? Jia Zhenzhen scoffs and clicks her tongue at people in curt affirmation that she hears things - what is this humming?? 

 

“Just curious. But…” she turns to Lei Shunyuan, who meets her icy stare with a slight tilt of his head and a tiny smile. “You’re escorting her? Everywhere?”

 

“Yes. I saw it fit to make sure that she’s safe. Surely you agree - otherwise you would not have told me about her excursion into the city. Am I wrong?” he says. Lei Yirui stares at him. Such… passive… aggression!!

 

“Well, my job requires me to tell you,” Jia Zhenzhen says flatly, and Lei Yirui snorts. “But you are rather busy, are you not? And is it really practical to have your sister, who is nothing but a resident of this palace, to sit in on such important conversations?” she says. 

 

Lei Shunyuan’s expression turns into something like a retail worker who is still keeping up a smile but is a few moments away from snapping. 

 

“Are you implying something?” he asks.

 

“Yes. I’m implying that I should be the one to escort her. That is my job after all.” Jia Zhenzhen says.

 

Lei Yirui looks back and forth between them rapidly. They kind of look like they’re about to start throwing down in the middle of the courtyard, so she wiggles in between them, placing either hand on both of their chests as she pushes them apart from each other. Jia Zhenzhen stares at Lei Yirui’s hand for a prolonged period of time, which Lei Yirui chooses to disregard.

 

“Okay! Solution from a neutral party!!” she declares.

 

“Meimei,” Lei Shunyuan starts with a frown. Lei Yirui smacks a hand over his mouth. 

 

“Let’s just split the babysitting duties! Maybe I’m with Lei Shunyuan when he isn’t having very important conversations that I really shouldn’t be privy too, and while he’s doing that, I’m with Zhenzhen. Doesn’t that sound more fair??“ she asks.

 

“That makes much more sense.” Jia Zhenzhen says.

 

“Meimei, don’t call him by his given name. That isn’t appropriate.” says Lei Shunyuan at the same time. He looks a little bit like he’s going to burst a blood vessel, so Lei Yirui pats him on the shoulder.

 

“Don’t worry, Gege. You’re still the most important man in my life.” Lei Yirui says. She finds herself very witty for that one, unfortunately no one else knows she’s in on the joke!! Lei Shunyuan glowers at Jia Zhenzhen who merely meets his eyes with a dead stare. 

 

Lei Yirui feels uncomfortable with the sudden tension, so she clings to Jia Zhenzhen’s arm.

 

“Ah, well, I should see about those lessons I missed!” 

 

“Really?” asks Jia Zhenzhen, and Lei Yirui pinches her arm tightly. No!!! Obviously not!

 

“Your books are still in the room.” Lei Shunyuan tries.

 

“Just bring them to my room later!” Lei Yirui says, waving a hand dismissively. “I’m sure Zheng Xiaosi misses you dearly, but I’m not so sure he’ll miss me.” She says. She isn’t necessarily desperate to get rid of her brother, since he spoils her and she’s usually very happy to just accept it, but she really doesn’t want to be cooped up in that room again!! 

…

Lei Yirui is lying on her side, eyes scanning over one of the books she’d already read that had been sitting in her room. It’s not that interesting, like the rest of them, but it’s something to do that isn’t attending boring ass lessons. The room is quiet and peaceful, the only sounds being the gentle, woodly clacking of the book as Lei Yirui rolls the bamboo strips to read, and the wispy sounds of the burning incense. 

 

When she’s met with a segment about northern rice paddy revenue, she’s officially out of it. So boring!! With a groan, she sets the book down and pushes herself to the edge of her bed, swinging her feet over the side. She folds her arms together and stretches them upwards, yawning. Something in her back cracks loudly, and she makes an exaggerated whine of pain. Jia Zhenzhen is watching her carefully from where she’s leaning against the wall, and Lei Yirui looks back, dropping her hands down onto her sheets with a thump. 

 

With sudden determination in her bones, she pushes herself up to her feet, and Jia Zhenzhen blinks in surprise, pushing herself off of the wall, apparently in preparation to follow Lei Yirui out of the door. 

 

But Lei Yirui doesn’t head out of the door, instead grabbing Jia Zhenzhen and leading her to the seat in front of her mirror. 

 

“What are you doing?” she asks, but allows herself to be pushed into the chair. Her hands stiffly grip the fabric of her pants as Lei Yirui leans over her shoulder to adjust the mirror, standing behind Jia Zhenzhen, resting her hands on her shoulders. She gives them a squeeze, and she can see Jia Zhenzhen’s face turn pink in the mirror. Cute!!

 

“I’m bored. Can I do your hair?” she asks, one hand rising to twirl her index finger around a strand from Jia Zhenzhen’s ponytail. Jia Zhenzhen’s mouth turns into a flat line, before she averts her gaze to the window.

 

“Fine.” she mutters, sounding as if she’s resigning herself to a fate worse than death. Lei Yirui laughs loudly, patting Jia Zhenzhen’s cheek, before her hands slip up to the silk holding up her hair. She slips a finger under it, dragging it out and letting Jia Zhenzhen’s hair roll down her back and shoulders. 

 

When not fanned out on the floor, Lei Yirui can get a proper look at it. She’d had some sort of skewed perspective since she always kept it up, but she’d thought that Jia Zhenzhen’s hair was shorter than was typical in this time period. That’s clearly not the case - when it’s down properly, it’s almost as long as Lei Yirui’s! 

 

She runs her fingers through it, the long black strands slipping through her fingers like water. It’s untangled and soft, and Lei Yirui smiles pleasantly. 

 

“Get on with it.” Jia Zhenzhen grumbles, crossing her arms across her chest. She’s adorably red, and Lei Yirui rolls her eyes. She grabs a vial of oil, gently putting a small bit on her hands like the servants have done. She rubs her hands together to warm it up, before gently running it through the ends and the thickest parts of her hair. 

 

When her nails run against Jia Zhenzhen’s scalp, the girl's eyes flutter closed, and she releases a breathy sigh. For some reason, Lei Yirui feels the need to clear her throat.

 

When she grabs the dark jade comb, it feels pleasantly cold in her hands. She begins brushing Jia Zhenzhen’s hair from the ends up to her roots, before she starts bunching up her hair, pulling it back, and holding it up - trying to figure out a style that works for Jia Zhenzhen’s sharp features and is actually feasible for Lei Yirui to try and do herself.

 

Lei Yirui only ever has her hair done by her servants, and they don’t get very creative. She essentially has the same style everyday — mostly down, with the sides pulled up into loose, flat buns that consist of her hair being plaited and looped over itself. Sometimes there are decorations in it - today, for example, she has identical pins falling from each bun, sticking out to the sides. They have small silver disks inlaid with light gemstones, with light pink sheer ribbons falling from them. 

 

This means that she gets to have fun - she has all kinds of hair ornaments sitting around, after all!! 

 

She ends up discovering that Jia Zhenzhen’s face really is suited for a ponytail. It’s sharp angles, and she has upturned, foxlike eyes that look best when there’s not too much hair covering them. She leaves out two stands in the front, organizing them neatly so they fall in layers and not simply chunks of flat hair, before pulling the rest into a ponytail. Higher than Jia Zhenzhen would usually wear one, and certainly neater, too. 

 

She leaves half of it down, only so that the ponytail looks fuller near the ends. Jia Zhenzhen is watching silently, her eyes flickering across her reflection in the mirror, and frequently darting to Lei Yirui’s focused face as well. Whenever Lei Yirui meets her gaze in the mirror with a cheeky smile, she scoffs and looks away.

 

She seems to think Lei Yirui is done until she notices Lei Yirui begin to look through the ornate wooden box where some of her jewelery is kept, and she makes a startled motion.

 

“That’s — Yirui, those are yours,” and then, as if she’s suddenly remembered herself, “and isn’t that too feminine, anyways?” she asks. Lei Yirui beams at her, shrugging her shoulders. 

 

“Who cares? I don’t, at least. You’ll look pretty, so it’s no big deal.” she says. Jia Zhenzhen remains stiff for a moment, before sighing and relaxing back into the seat. When Lei Yirui returns with the jewelry she’s chosen, Jia Zhenzhen stares at it curiously.

 

First, she sets in a silver and pink pin at the base of the ponytail - it stands up straight, with sharp edges contrasted with the delicate glass flowers and pearls coming off of the silver branches. And then she grabs the next piece, a layered hair chain of a similar design, lining it up over the part in Jia Zhenzhen’s hair. Each linked loop of the chain meets at the peak of her hair, a pink pearl dangling from a centerpiece and falling onto the top of her forehead. 

 

Jia Zhenzhen doesn’t appear to know what to think of this, watching with furrowed brows as she reaches up to touch the decorations with uncertain hands. 

 

Lei Yirui leans back a bit to look at Jia Zhenzhen as the girl examines herself in the mirror, before placing her hands on her hips and nodding proudly. 

 

“Look at that!! Definitely MC levels of beautiful.” she says. Jia Zhenzhen’s eyes meet hers in the mirror. 

 

“Beautiful,” Jia Zhenzhen mouths back silently, and Lei Yirui stutters for a moment, before covering her warming cheeks with her hands. 

 

“Okay! Enough of that! I’m going to check on Shunyuan now!!” she announces.