Pry Away Step-Sister's Fiancee - Chapter 7
Chapter 7 – As Long As You’re Willing
Ni Hezhi was in the middle of scolding when she remembered—Shu Hui couldn’t hear. No matter how loud or angry she got, it wouldn’t reach her. She sighed, ready to give up, but Shu Hui suddenly clung to her hand.
Startled, Ni Hezhi looked up. Shu Hui was pointing urgently toward the wheat fields in the distance, clearly distressed and anxious.
Ni Hezhi studied the gestures and guessed, “You mean… don’t tell your sister?”
Shu Hui nodded eagerly.
“You can understand me?” Ni Hezhi blinked in surprise.
Shu Hui paused, then nodded again, tapping her lips meaningfully.
“You read lips?” Ni Hezhi asked, astonished.
Again, a nod.
Then Shu Hui quickly raised her hands and signed a series of motions, ending with her hands over her heart and a shake of her head.
Ni Hezhi was stumped. The beginning had been too fast for her to follow, but she could piece together that Shu Hui didn’t want to worry her grandma or Su Yu.
Though frustrated, Ni Hezhi eventually gave in to the pleading look. “Fine. I won’t say anything.”
Shu Hui still had tears in her eyes but managed a bright smile. She repeatedly signed her thanks.
Ni Hezhi hesitated, her chest tightening unexpectedly. She reached up to gently pluck the grass and leaves tangled in Shu Hui’s hair. Her voice softened. “I’ll keep it secret. But if anyone messes with you again, you come to me. Got it?”
Shu Hui watched her lips and nodded, her smile widening and showing pearly teeth.
The first time Shu Hui had met her, she thought this city girl—elegant and aloof—must be just like everyone else, ready to look down on her. But here she was, standing up for her, not with pity but with real concern. No disgust, no condescension—just genuine protectiveness.
The wall of self-doubt around Shu Hui started to crack.
She signed a playful “I promise,” which made Ni Hezhi laugh.
Noticing the dirt on Shu Hui’s face, Ni Hezhi instinctively reached for a handkerchief—only to find the two coins her grandmother gave her earlier. She smiled and told Shu Hui to wait.
A few minutes later, she returned holding a creamy popsicle.
“For you,” she said, placing it into Shu Hui’s hand.
Shu Hui accepted it and signed her thanks with a fist and bent thumb. Curious, Ni Hezhi mimicked it. “That means ‘thank you,’ right?”
Shu Hui nodded. Then she turned her hands in a gentle twist—another sign.
“What’s that?” Ni Hezhi asked. “Oh—‘you’re welcome’?”
Another nod.
Ni Hezhi’s lips curved with amusement. “Sign language is kind of cool. You’ll teach me more next time, right?”
Shu Hui nodded happily—only to freeze at the sight of a figure in the distance.
Ni Hezhi followed her gaze. Across the sun-drenched fields, Su Yu was dragging a cart, her silhouette dipped in the gold light of late afternoon. Shu Hui made a quick gesture—“I’m off”—and darted away, hiding her basket behind her back as she ran.
Ni Hezhi lingered, watching Su Yu draw closer. When Su Yu finally looked up and met her gaze, Ni Hezhi gave a playful wink, her smile curved mischievously beneath the warm sun.
Su Yu’s breath caught. She instinctively turned her head, her hands fumbling against the cart’s handle, flustered by the sudden intimacy.
“Xiao Yu—”
Ni Hezhi didn’t raise her voice. She mouthed the words, and Su Yu, to her dismay, read them clearly. That soft movement of her lips, the subtle play of tongue and teeth, sent a strange heat blooming under Su Yu’s skin.
For a moment, the harvesters, the buzzing roads, the chatter of passersby—all faded. All Su Yu could hear was the thudding of her own heart.
She kept her eyes down and marched forward, trying to pretend she hadn’t noticed anything at all.
10 meters.
2 meters.
1 meter…
“Hey, dummy, are you planning to walk into a tree?”
Ni Hezhi’s teasing voice brushed her ear, pulling Su Yu back to reality. She jerked her head up—only to find herself face-to-face with Ni Hezhi’s glowing smile.
In that moment, Su Yu knew: she’d already fallen.
She tried to escape again, stepping around her, but Ni Hezhi reached out and tugged gently at the hem of her shirt.
“Su Yu, are you avoiding me?” she asked in a mock-pouting voice.
Su Yu looked down at the small, pale hand holding onto her, her heart clenching. “No,” she murmured.
Just one word. Always just one.
But Ni Hezhi wasn’t the type to back off. She leaned in closer, voice low and coaxing. “Do you have any money on you?”
Su Yu blinked, confused, but nodded.
“Then can you treat me to ice cream?” Ni Hezhi asked with a sly grin.
There was something about the way she smiled—so radiant, so expectant—that Su Yu couldn’t have refused even if she wanted to.
“I… yeah,” Su Yu said. “But my hands are dirty. It’s in my pocket—you can just… take it.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them.
Because Ni Hezhi’s eyes sparkled with mischief. And the next thing she knew, her hands were already exploring along Su Yu’s waist.
“Hm, which pocket is it?” Ni Hezhi teased as her fingers fumbled gently.
Su Yu stiffened, her whole body reacting as if she’d been shocked. The sensation of those fingers brushing over her leg, teasing the fabric, made her knees weak.
“In… the right one,” she managed to say, her voice barely above a whisper.
Ni Hezhi smirked. “Oh, this one? Stay still, or I can’t find it…”
Su Yu was paralyzed, unable to move. Her face was burning, her thoughts in chaos. The simple act of retrieving a coin had turned into something else entirely—something intimate, something electric.
She reached to stop Ni Hezhi, but before she could, the girl popped back up, holding a coin between her fingers.
“Thanks,” she said sweetly, and skipped away.
Su Yu exhaled. Only then did she realize she’d been holding her breath the whole time.
Two minutes later, Ni Hezhi was back, holding a bright pink popsicle. She broke it in half and handed one piece to Su Yu.
“Try it. It’s my first time having this kind of ice cream—it splits in two. Isn’t that cool?”
Su Yu took the offered piece and tasted it. It was cheap, sugary, barely flavored—but in this heat, under that smile, it tasted like the best thing in the world.
“Sweet?” Ni Hezhi asked, eyes sparkling.
Su Yu looked away, trying to act unfazed. “Yeah,” she murmured.
“Su Yu…” Ni Hezhi suddenly sounded serious, almost hurt. “Do you just not like talking? Or is it that you don’t like me?”
Su Yu’s lips parted in surprise. “No… it’s not that.”
Ni Hezhi leaned in close, her voice turning soft again, almost conspiratorial. “That’s okay. You don’t need to talk much. I talk a lot anyway. We balance each other.”
She grinned.
“And besides…” she added, leaning just a little closer, her words slow and deliberate, whispered like a secret.
“You don’t have to say anything… as long as you’re willing to show me.”
Su Yu blinked. “Show you what?”
Ni Hezhi’s breath tickled her ear, and with a knowing smirk, she whispered back two words—light, teasing, full of dangerous promise:
“Be mine.”