After Stealing a Kiss from My Sponsor Sister - Chapter 22

The night was deep.

Yu Shuang couldn’t eat much.

Seventy percent full—still more than she usually ate at this hour.

Perhaps it was the warm atmosphere, or maybe Auntie’s cooking had improved. Before she knew it, she had finished a whole bowl of rice.

Setting down her chopsticks, Yu Shuang felt full.

She had worked too long and too hard. Lifting her head, her usually sharp gaze was unusually unfocused, almost dazed.

“Miss Yu, why don’t you play with Xiao Huang for a bit? It’s been a while since he last saw you—he misses you.”

Just as Yu Shuang was about to clear the dishes, Jiang Ya spoke up.

Looking down, she saw Xiao Huang sitting on his hind legs, tongue lolling as he stared at her eagerly. Clearly, he understood Jiang Ya’s suggestion. The moment Yu Shuang’s gaze landed on him, his little tail started wagging like a propeller.

“What should we play?”

“Fetch.”

A dog toy was pressed into her hand—brand new, not yet tainted by Xiao Huang’s drool.

After throwing the ball a few times and watching Xiao Huang dash after it with excited barks, Yu Shuang suddenly remembered the unwashed dishes on the table. She glanced up, but they were already gone. The stone countertop gleamed spotlessly, and the warm glow from the kitchen enveloped a slender figure. If she listened closely, she could hear the sound of running water.

Jiang Ya was washing the dishes.

Just like back in the town, clearing the table after meals.

Something felt off, but her sluggish mind couldn’t quite place it. After a few more rounds of fetch, Yu Shuang looked around the spacious house and realized—this was her home, not the one Jiang Ya was responsible for maintaining.

Her gaze drifted back toward the kitchen, her languid, captivating eyes narrowing slightly. Then, she stood up.

Splish-splash.

Water gushed from the faucet.

Pale, slender fingers moved deftly over the porcelain, rinsing away the last of the soap suds.

Suddenly, a weight pressed against her shoulder. Jiang Ya turned her head slightly—and froze, her breath hitching.

It was a face.

Curled strands of hair brushed against her shoulder, and the expression she glimpsed was drowsy, lazy. Half-lidded eyes blinked slowly, and when Jiang Ya met them, their gazes tangled in the air. The closeness stole the oxygen from her lungs.

Her fingers trembled. A plate slipped from her grasp, clinking against the sink with a muffled thud swallowed by the running water.

“Am I bothering you?”

The voice was just as lazy, syllables drawn out. Warm breath brushed against Jiang Ya’s neck, just below her ear, raising goosebumps along her skin.

A shiver ran through Jiang Ya’s very bones, but she suppressed it fiercely.

There was no helping it—she couldn’t bear to push away this rare closeness with Miss Yu.

This kind of intimacy…

Taking a steadying breath, Jiang Ya forced a stiff smile. “No.”

Her voice came out hoarse. Thankfully, Yu Shuang, still half-asleep, didn’t notice.

“Did you need something?” Jiang Ya took the initiative, diverting Yu Shuang’s attention.

“Mmm, just came to see.” Yu Shuang scratched her cheek, a little awkward. “Why not use the dishwasher?”

“It’s too loud. And there aren’t many dishes anyway.”

Yu Shuang’s unfocused gaze lingered on Jiang Ya’s face, carrying a warmth that stirred an inexplicable restlessness.

Yet the woman herself remained oblivious.

After staring blankly for a moment, she suddenly smiled.

Her lips, full and red, bloomed like a dazzling flower at its peak.

Jiang Ya’s heart pounded wildly.

“You’re just like family,” Yu Shuang said, straightening up with complete sincerity.

Jiang Ya’s fingers trembled again. Seizing the chance while Yu Shuang stepped back, she unlocked her frozen limbs and bent her head, using the pretense of washing dishes to hide her unsteady expression.

“Why do you say that?” she asked, unable to resist pushing further.

“Family members, what kind of family members? The definition of family is quite broad.

Girlfriend, I don’t know if that counts.

But a wife definitely falls under that category.

Yu Shuang, however, seemed very natural about it.

“Isn’t it something that family would consider, worrying about disturbing me?”

Jiang Ya lived on the first floor, but the noise from the kitchen couldn’t reach her room; once the door was closed, the sound of the dishwasher was nearly nonexistent.

She would only hear it when she was in the living room playing ball with Xiao Huang.

Indirectly speaking, washing by hand was to keep her ears at peace.

Not to mention that it interrupted her action of clearing the dishes earlier.

Yu Shuang touched her nose, a bit embarrassed, and said, “My upbringing wasn’t very conventional, sorry.”

Jiang Ya was taken aback for a moment, then stopped dragging her feet and quickly finished rinsing the plates. With a twist of her hand, the noisy sound of water finally disappeared.

“What do you mean by an unconventional upbringing?”

Yu Shuang’s gaze drifted away, avoiding eye contact. “Literally, a big family, you know, plus everyone has a strong personality, so it’s quite different from a typical small family made up of parents and children.”

“They don’t accommodate each other too much.”

“It feels like this kind of consideration is probably the tacit understanding between normal families.”

She cleared her throat and exaggeratedly shrugged, “Just my guess; if not, then it’s no big deal.”

Seeing Yu Shuang’s feigned relaxed demeanor, Jiang Ya felt an unusual sting.

“Didn’t Miss Yu grow up with her parents?”

Yu Shuang shook her head. “They divorced when I was old enough to remember. I followed my grandmother when I was little, and later, when I was with my dad, I was closer to the aunt at home…” She paused, her voice becoming very soft. “The aunt who took care of me has passed away; it was two years ago, cancer. Fortunately, the process wasn’t very painful.”

Jiang Ya fell silent, her black-and-white eyes fixed on Yu Shuang.

In the prolonged silence, Yu Shuang realized she had gone too deep.

“Did I scare you? I’m too tired; I spoke without thinking, just said whatever came to mind.”

But she saw the child shake her head firmly.

With her eyelashes fluttering, she looked at her and said, “I actually quite like listening to it.”

“Uh? Ha.”

Jiang Ya turned her back again, starting to tidy up the clean dishes, saying as she worked, “I just feel like Miss Yu already knows a lot about me, but I don’t know much about you… Saying these things makes me feel a bit closer to you.”

After a brief pause, she added softly, “I also really hope to become your family.”

After a moment of stunned silence, a smile suddenly broke out on Yu Shuang’s face as she reached out to pat Jiang Ya’s head.

Her hair got tousled, and Yu Shuang’s voice was cheerful. “Then what’s so difficult about it? Aren’t you just like my little sister now? Hmm? Little brat!”

“…”

As they moved around, Jiang Ya couldn’t tidy up at all; after a few attempts, the plates were still misaligned.

“Miss Yu, the little brat wants to put the dishes away. Even if the adults don’t support, shouldn’t they not make it worse?”

“Do you know what ‘frustration education’ is?”

Not only did she not stop, but she also made a bigger fuss.

“Miss Yu…”

With that shout, it only made things worse; Yu Shuang pounced on her back.

It was… soft.

Clearing her mind of all the chaotic thoughts, Jiang Ya elongated her tone: “Yu—Sister—”

“Call me sister!”

“Miss Yu sister, please have mercy.”

“…”

Yu Shuang reached out to tickle Jiang Ya’s waist, and Jiang Ya burst into laughter. The two of them pushed and shoved, turning the kitchen into a chaotic scene.

In the end, Jiang Ya didn’t call Yu Shuang ‘sister.’

She just couldn’t accept it in her heart.”

“Hah, who wants to be a little sister anyway!

Unless it’s a sweetheart.

But she knew all too well that Miss Yu didn’t mean it that way.

Hot water poured down from the showerhead as Jiang Ya stood there in a daze, letting the steam wash away the messy thoughts in her mind.

After cleaning up, drying her hair, and checking on Little Huang’s cage, she burrowed under the covers.

Just before drifting off to sleep, groggy and half-conscious, Jiang Ya had an epiphany.

It could work.

Being a sister was still closer than being just a sponsored student.

It could work.

She would wedge herself into that position.

She would.

–

The weekend passed in a flash.

Lately, Yu Shuang had been busy with work, so Jiang Ya hardly saw her. But now that it was over, with nothing left to look forward to, Jiang Ya felt even more lifeless.

By Monday, her gloom was so palpable even Pangpang and Xiaohua noticed.

They took turns asking Jiang Ya what was wrong. She insisted she was fine, but they didn’t believe her.

After repeating it a few times, Jiang Ya gave up: “I hate school, I don’t want to go to class. Happy now?”

That did it.

It was far too convincing. The two ordinary students instantly bought it.

Jiang Ya: “…”

Just end me.

In the afternoon, the scores from Friday’s quiz were announced.

Jiang Ya made it into the top five in the class, eliciting a chorus of impressed gasps, though she remained as indifferent as ever.

For a fleeting moment, she wanted to share the news with Yu Shuang but held back.

Only midterms and finals were worth mentioning—class quizzes were too trivial, like making a mountain out of a molehill.

Wednesday. After a week of gossip on the school forum about Jiang Ya and the class president, the rumors took a dramatic turn—thanks to both parties ignoring them.

When Xiaohua shoved her phone at Jiang Ya, she was practically shaking with anger.

“This is too much! Someone must be jealous of you, can’t stand how well you’re doing.”

Jiang Ya read the new post word by word, then laughed.

Xiaohua looked like she’d seen a ghost, frantically shaking her deskmate. “Pangpang, Pangpang, Pangpang! The Great Immortal Jiang has lost it from the slander!”

Ever since the quiz results came out, impressed by her stellar performance, Xiaohua and Pangpang had spontaneously upgraded Jiang Ya’s nickname from “Immortal Jiang” to “Great Immortal Jiang.” They even declared that if she improved again, they’d elevate her to “Goddess Jiang.”

Jiang Ya couldn’t care less.

Pangpang was nervous too. “Immortal Jiang, calm down!”

“I am calm. This photo is really well taken.”

Jiang Ya held up the phone. It was a picture of her standing next to Miss Yu’s sports car, with only a silhouette of Miss Yu reflected in the window.

Watching Jiang Ya smile while holding up the most damning “blackmail” photo, Pangpang nearly fainted.

“R-really?”

He thought she must be furious.

“Mhm.”

Then both of them watched as Jiang Ya saved the photo, saying earnestly, “Send this to me later.”

“…”

“…”

Xiaohua: “Let’s report the post. The school moderators will delete this kind of thing.”

Jiang Ya: “Let me finish looking at the pictures first.”

If only there were photos of them together.

Xiaohua: “…………”

Pangpang: “…………”

Exchanging a glance, they saw nothing but despair in each other’s eyes.

After scrolling through, Jiang Ya tossed the phone aside in disdain.

The only decent thing was the photo, and even that didn’t capture what she really wanted. Useless.

Pangpang: “Should we report it?”

“That’d be no fun.”

“?”

“?”

Jiang Ya opened a chat window, her mood light. “Let’s play along.”

Her expression was normal, her tone not icy, but the cheerful smile on Jiang Ya’s face sent an inexplicable chill down Xiaohua’s spine.

Meanwhile, Yu Shuang received a message from Jiang Ya:

Miss Yu, can I use your walk-in closet?

I need to take some photos. Might borrow some of your clothes and bags.

“Is it okay?”

“I’ll be careful not to get it dirty.”

Ding—

After one class, Jiang Ya received a reply on her phone.

“Use it however you like. If it gets dirty, just have the housekeeper wash it.”

Jiang Ya’s lips curled into a smile. “Thanks, Sister Yu!”