When the Tsundere Rival Turns Into a Cat - Chapter 41

The matter was settled. Li Xingcan’s last glance before losing consciousness fell upon Jiang Qingyue, then her eyes closed.

Her final thought was that when she woke up again, she might simply think she had taken a nap—as if nothing had happened, as if none of it had ever existed.

As she slumped onto the sofa, Li Xingcan’s fingers curled slightly, perhaps the last futile flicker of unwillingness.

Xuan Yu’s fingertip touched Li Xingcan’s forehead, the memory erasure about to begin—when suddenly, Jiang Qingyue grasped her hand.

“Qingyue, what do you mean by this?” Xuan Yu frowned slightly, assuming she was pleading to spare Li Xingcan’s memories.

“Mom,” Jiang Qingyue hesitated, conflict flashing in her eyes. She tightened her grip on Xuan Yu’s hand, the words stuck in her throat for a long moment before she finally steeled herself to speak. “Mom, I want to stay in the human world.”

“You’re not coming with me to the demon realm?”

Xuan Yu asked again for confirmation.

Perhaps the hardest part had been saying it the first time. Now, faced with Xuan Yu’s question, Jiang Qingyue only hesitated briefly before nodding firmly. “I’m sorry, Mom. Maybe… compared to being a demon, I’m more suited to being human.”

The decision might have been selfish, but Jiang Qingyue wanted to make a choice for herself, too.

After speaking, she pressed her lips together, waiting for Xuan Yu’s response.

Instead of the expected anger, Xuan Yu simply released her hand. “You’re almost an adult now, responsible for your own life. If your choice is to stay in the human world, I won’t oppose it. But are you absolutely certain? Here, you’ll have to rely entirely on yourself.”

“I can do it. I’ll graduate high school in a few months. During university, I can rely on scholarships and part-time jobs—I can take care of myself.”

Jiang Qingyue was confident. Growing up, Xuan Yu had constantly been torn between the human world and the demon realm, leaving Jiang Qingyue to fend for herself most of the time. This wasn’t anything new.

Of course, Xuan Yu knew this well.

She nodded. “Every kitten leaves its parents once it grows up. Since you’ve made up your mind, I won’t stop you. But now, I must erase your memories of me and the demon realm, as well as Li Xingcan’s memories of demons. However, I’ll try to preserve some of the memories between the two of you. I’ll ask the Li family to look after you.”

“Mom, I don’t want to forget you.” Jiang Qingyue clutched Xuan Yu’s sleeve. After so many years of relying on each other, was even this much too much to keep?

“Qingyue, these are the rules. You must forget everything about me being a demon. Beyond that, you can retain some other memories—my human appearance, our ordinary moments together. It won’t be like forgetting me completely.”

No one could say which was worse—the pain of separation, or the pain of forgetting.

A flicker of reluctance passed through Xuan Yu’s eyes, and she even felt a waver in her own resolve. As the only enforcer here, no one would come later to investigate or hold her accountable. If she turned a blind eye, she could let them keep their memories without consequence.

But… her conscience wouldn’t allow it.

Steeling herself, Xuan Yu raised her hand—and Jiang Qingyue collapsed onto the other side of the sofa.

Xuan Yu stood by the sofa, gazing at the two unconscious figures. Their memories of the demon race were too recent—extracting too much might cause confusion and discontinuity in their recollections. Thus, she had to proceed carefully, removing or altering only small fragments at a time. It was truly a monumental task.

Time passed slowly as the night deepened, and Xuan Yu’s complexion grew increasingly pale.

The white crane that had accompanied Xuan Yu silently appeared in the living room. Glancing at Xuan Yu’s pallid face and then at the still-unconscious Jiang Qingyue and Li Xingcan, it seemed to understand something and was momentarily taken aback. “Elder Xuan, Qingyue doesn’t want to return to the demon race?”

“Mm,” Xuan Yu responded softly, her fingertips still drawing wisps of memory from Jiang Qingyue’s forehead. Unable to bring herself to shatter them, she extended her hand toward the crane. Understanding her intent, the crane produced a special vial, into which Xuan Yu carefully guided the glowing orb of memory.

Once finished, Xuan Yu sat by the sofa, silently watching Jiang Qingyue for a long while.

The crane couldn’t bear to watch any longer. “Elder Xuan, perhaps you should take Qingyue back now while she’s still unconscious. I believe she won’t resent you when she wakes.”

“But I can’t bring myself to do it,” Xuan Yu murmured, shaking her head as she stood. “It’s getting late. We still have a journey ahead. Let’s go.”

“Elder Xuan…” The crane tightened its grip on the vial, glancing back at Jiang Qingyue before looking at Xuan Yu, who had already turned to leave. With a flick of its talon, it left something in Jiang Qingyue’s palm. “Elder Xuan, I believe the demon realm and the human world won’t remain severed forever. This is only temporary.”

Xuan Yu said nothing. Only when she reached the doorway did she pause for one final glance back before vanishing into the night with the crane.

When sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, bathing the two on the sofa in its glow, Li Xingcan’s eyelashes fluttered. Frowning, she raised a hand to shield her eyes from the intrusive light, only to roll over—and with a dull thud, she landed face-first on the carpet.

Groaning, Li Xingcan pushed herself up, wincing as she leaned against the coffee table. Her mind was still sluggish as she stared at the sofa, utterly bewildered. Why was she here?

As Li Xingcan pondered the mysteries of existence, the commotion roused Jiang Qingyue, who sat up rubbing her eyes, equally disoriented. She blinked at Li Xingcan on the floor, momentarily at a loss.

Li Xingcan met her gaze, only growing more confused. Why was Jiang Qingyue here too?

For a long moment, they simply stared at each other in mutual bewilderment. Finally, Li Xingcan stretched, massaging her aching temples. “Why were you sleeping on the sofa too?”

“I…” Jiang Qingyue couldn’t quite recall either. As she lifted her hand, something slipped from her palm—a small glass bead.

She had no memory of it either. Rubbing her forehead, her gaze fell on the packed suitcase nearby, and something flickered vaguely in her mind.

“I think I remember now,” she said hesitantly. “Yesterday, my mother said she was coming to pick me up, so we packed and waited here. But she never arrived. Maybe we just fell asleep waiting?”

Jiang Qingyue tried to piece together why they’d slept on the sofa, but for some reason, the explanation felt flimsy even as she said it.

Li Xingcan also recalled, “That seems to be the case, but why hasn’t Aunt Xuan come? Wasn’t it agreed upon?”

“She’s always like this—constantly busy with company matters. When work piles up, she forgets everything else. There must have been some emergency this time.”

In Jiang Qingyue’s memory, her mother was always overworked, frequently traveling for business—short trips lasting ten days to half a month, sometimes even over six months. But for their livelihood, her mother needed this job.

Once again, her mother had to leave for work, so Jiang Qingyue was temporarily staying with her father’s friend’s family—the Li household. Several months had passed, and her mother was supposed to pick her up yesterday to complete her school transfer procedures. But now, her mother had disappeared again.

Checking her smartwatch, Jiang Qingyue found a message from her mother explaining that another business trip had come up, forcing her to leave. As for Jiang Qingyue, she would have to continue staying with the Li family.

Sure enough, right after Jiang Qingyue told Li Xingcan about this, Li Xingcan received a call from her older brother, Li Zhixing.

Since Li Xingcan’s parents were also away on business, the responsibility of looking after Jiang Qingyue naturally fell on Li Zhixing’s shoulders. Today, he was to drive them to school and renew Jiang Qingyue’s temporary enrollment procedures.

Ten minutes later, Li Zhixing’s car pulled up in front of Li Xingcan’s house.

Both Li Xingcan and Jiang Qingyue had to carry yesterday’s books back—each with a heavy backpack that looked burdensome.

Li Zhixing rolled down the window and lowered his sunglasses in surprise, eyeing Li Xingcan. “Has the sun risen from the west? Since when does Li Xingcan carry a backpack?”

“Just drive, will you? None of your business!” Li Xingcan tossed her backpack into the trunk and got into the car with Jiang Qingyue.

Jiang Qingyue glanced at Li Zhixing, only to meet his gaze. Startled, she immediately averted her eyes.

“Huh?” Li Zhixing looked puzzled. “Kid, have I seen you somewhere before? You look familiar.”

“Hey!” Li Xingcan shoved the back of the driver’s seat. “Li Zhixing, have you lost your mind? What are you implying?”

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Li Zhixing quickly realized how his words could be misconstrued and hurried to explain. “I genuinely feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before—it’s not some cheesy pickup line! Look at the age gap—do you really think I’m that kind of creep?”

“Rubbish! You weren’t even home the day Aunt Xuan brought Jiang Qingyue over. Where could you have seen her? Just drive and keep quiet!”

Li Xingcan was so furious her temples throbbed, glaring daggers at Li Zhixing as a warning to behave.

Li Zhixing felt utterly wronged—he truly hadn’t meant anything inappropriate!

As the car started moving, the strange feeling Jiang Qingyue had earlier vanished amidst the siblings’ bickering. She could only blame it on having slept poorly on the sofa the night before.