Transmigration; A Mother's Redemption and a perfect Wife.-Chapter 448; Honeymoon phase 5 (b)

"Come on! I’ll show you my night routine. We can do face masks!"

"Face... masks?" Qing Qing repeated with uncertainty.

"You know, the sheet masks that make your skin all soft and nice! Momma bought a bunch before she left. We can try them together!"

Qin Xinyu shook his head with amusement as the two girls disappeared up the stairs, Minghao’s excited chatter echoing through the hallway. He headed toward his own room, already mentally planning tomorrow’s study schedule.

—————

In Minghao’s bedroom, the promised "face mask session" had turned into something more elaborate. Minghao had pulled out an entire collection of skincare products that Lady Tang had left for her, explaining each one with the enthusiasm of a beauty guru.

"This one is honey-scented, and this one has green tea extract, and oh! This one is supposed to brighten your skin!" Minghao held up various packages, her eyes sparkling.

Qing Qing sat cross-legged on the queen-sized bed, the one that had become hers since arriving, watching with a mixture of confusion and fascination. In the palace, attendants had handled her beauty routine, elaborate processes involving rare oils and herbal concoctions. This was so much more... fun. Casual. Normal.

"Here, try this one!" Minghao handed her a sheet mask packaged in pink. "It’s rose-scented. Very gentle."

They carefully applied the masks, following the instructions on the packages. Then, with their faces covered in the cool, serum-soaked sheets, they looked at each other and burst into giggles.

"We look so silly!" Minghao laughed, pulling out her phone to take a selfie. "Wait, let me take a picture! Momma will love this!"

"Wait, no..." Qing Qing started to protest, but Minghao had already snapped the photo. She showed it to Qing Qing, and despite her initial reluctance, Qing Qing found herself smiling at the image. Two girls, faces covered in masks, grinning at the camera like they didn’t have a care in the world.

Like they were just... normal kids.

"See? Cute!" Minghao declared, already typing a message to her mother. "Momma’s going to be so happy to see this picture and see you being happy."

They left the masks on for the prescribed fifteen minutes, during which Minghao pulled out her homework again, determined to finish those last eight math problems before bed. Qing Qing helped where she could, though her knowledge was more theoretical than practical; she could explain the mathematical concepts in multiple languages, but had never actually done homework in this casual, collaborative way.

When the timer went off, they carefully peeled off the masks and applied the remaining serum to their skin as instructed.

"Now we’ll have glowy skin tomorrow!" Minghao announced proudly. "Perfect for when we practice our debate presentations!"

Qing Qing touched her face, feeling the unusual softness. "This is... nice. Simple. Not like palace attendants fussing over every detail for hours."

"Hours? Just for skincare?" Minghao’s eyes widened.

"Everything in the palace took hours," Qing Qing said quietly. "Getting dressed, dining, lessons, and ceremonies. Everything was a production." She looked down at her hands. "I thought that was normal. That everyone lived like that. But then..."

She didn’t finish because she didn’t need to.

Minghao understood. She reached over and hugged Qing Qing tightly. "Well, now you’re here. And here, we do face masks in fifteen minutes, we laugh, we do homework together, and nobody cares if we’re not perfect."

Qing Qing hugged her back, feeling tears prickling behind her eyes, but good tears this time. Grateful tears.

When they finally pulled apart, Minghao yawned widely. "Okay, I should actually finish my homework before I fall asleep."

She climbed onto her king-sized bed, spreading her math notebook across the plush comforter. Qing Qing settled back onto her own queen-sized bed, pulling her debate notes into her lap to review one more time.

The room was spacious enough to accommodate both beds comfortably, Minghao’s larger bed positioned near the windows where morning light would wake her gently, and Qing Qing’s bed closer to the ensuite bathroom. A thick, luxurious rug stretched between them, and their respective nightstands held matching lamps that cast warm, amber light across the room.

It was strange, sharing a room after a lifetime of sleeping alone in palace chambers where guards stood outside and silence was absolute. Here, she could hear Minghao’s pencil scratching across paper, her occasional frustrated sighs when a problem proved difficult, the rustle of pages turning.

It was... comforting. Human. Real.

"Qing Qing?" Minghao’s voice broke the comfortable silence.

"Yes?"

"Are you scared? About Friday? About going to school?"

Qing Qing considered the question carefully. "Yes," she admitted honestly. "But also... excited. Is that strange? To be both scared and excited?"

"No, I think that’s normal," Minghao said thoughtfully, setting down her pencil. "I felt like that on my first day too. Well, I was mostly excited because I really wanted to meet other kids. But I was also scared they wouldn’t like me because I’m younger than everyone in my grade."

"Do they like you?"

"Some do, some don’t." Minghao shrugged with a maturity beyond her years. "But that’s okay. Daddy says you can’t make everyone like you, and trying to do that just makes you exhausted and fake. Better to be yourself and find people who like the real you."

"Sai’thoral ki’maer," Qing Qing murmured in Veltharian. "Wisdom from small voices."

"What does that mean?"

"It means... sometimes the youngest teach the greatest lessons."

Minghao beamed at that, clearly pleased. "Your language is so pretty. Can you teach me some words?"

"Really? You want to learn Veltharian?" 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Of course! Then we can have secret conversations that nobody else understands!" Minghao’s eyes sparkled with mischief.

Despite everything, the trauma, the fear, the uncertainty, Qing Qing found herself laughing. A real laugh, light and genuine. "Okay. I’ll teach you. But you have to finish your homework first."

"Deal!" Minghao returned to her math problems with renewed vigor.

Qing Qing watched her for a moment, this small, fierce, brilliant girl who had welcomed her without hesitation. Who shared her room, her family, her life, without asking for anything in return.