Chapter 34: ◎Cute◎ Part 2

Xu He said, “If you’re no good, blame the uneven road, Little Qiao Qiao. How laughable.”

Qiao Qiao immediately boasted that she would absolutely snag five dolls today to prove herself. If she failed, she would perform street dance right there in public.

Although Zhu Lexing was very interested in Qiao Qiao’s street dance, right as the bold claim wrapped up, Liu Su called. She said she had arrived home and was simmering soup for Zhu Lexing and Yan Mian. The ingredients included fresh mountain spring water and free-range chicken—all pure, natural foods that would definitely be incredibly nourishing.

Zhu Lexing couldn’t help asking about the other ingredients. After hearing a long list of herbal medicine names, she figured it would nourish her, all right… but whether it nourished the body or simply overdid it until she returned to her roots was anyone’s guess.

Unsure, Zhu Lexing decided to head home and try it for herself.

She hadn’t hidden the conversation from the others. Li Nian, showing a rare flash of envy, remarked, “Auntie Liu is so nice. She’s even making soup for you.”

Zhu Lexing figured Yan Mian probably hadn’t told anyone about Liu Su’s cooking skills. Still, having Mom cook for her was more than enough. There was no need to be picky—as long as it wouldn’t kill her.

Zhu Lexing replied politely, “Next time, come over and have some.”

Once she tried it, Li Nian wouldn’t be envious anymore. Practice made perfect, after all.

Li Nian nodded.

Shi Ruofeng frowned.

Xu He’s attention was elsewhere. “So Yan Mian knows how to make soup too?”

Qiao Qiao said, “Love chicken soup? I’m shipping it—here’s five hundred.”

With that, she held out her hand to Shi Ruofeng, who promptly gave her a fifty-cent coin.

Zhu Lexing was speechless. “…So that’s where you picked it up!”

She told Xu He, “Let me share a blogger with you.”

It was someone she’d stumbled across recently while scrolling videos. The guy called himself part of a “Beta-on-the-outside, Alpha-on-the-inside” family. His Alpha partner ran a food blog, posting family recipes every day.

Xu He scrolled through a couple of posts and lost interest. “What’s so great about an Alpha cooking? My Beta food bloggers are way better, and their stats are through the roof. Don’t simp for Alphas too hard!”

Zhu Lexing suggested, “You could watch how he got convinced to embrace family life. Then you can find your own Alpha to cook for you.”

That finally piqued Xu He’s interest.

Qiao Qiao was speechless. “…”

“Hey!” Zhu Lexing said solemnly. “If an Alpha can’t grab a doll, she must be amazing in the kitchen, right?”

With that, Zhu Lexing walked away, leaving Qiao Qiao no room to retort.

Before getting in the car, though, she sneaked a glance back. Xu He was already using the line to tease and mock Qiao Qiao mercilessly.

Zhu Lexing felt a wicked rush of satisfaction.

If Qiao Qiao was going to have a bad day, then everyone might as well join her!

Humming a tune, Zhu Lexing arrived home. Liu Su and Yan Mian were nowhere to be seen in the living room.

As Zhu Lexing began imagining creepy horror stories and scaring herself, Liu Su poked her head out from the kitchen. “Xingxing? The soup needs a little longer. Why don’t you rest for now—what’s that in your hand?”

Zhu Lexing glanced down. “A doll I grabbed.”

Liu Su smiled. “Do you like dolls? Mom will buy you one tomorrow…”

“No!” Zhu Lexing insisted. “I just grabbed it.”

She had no idea why she was so fixated on winning this one.

Maybe it was Yan Mian’s question—”Why?”—that had stuck with her. Yan Mian had asked so calmly, but Zhu Lexing had instinctively felt that no one had ever won a doll for her and given it as a gift. In a moment of impulse, she’d gone and grabbed one.

It wasn’t until she saw Li Nian that the thought crossed her mind again—maybe Li Nian had gotten one before. But by then, the doll was already in her hands, and Zhu Lexing didn’t have time to dwell on it.

After all, lots of things were like claw machines. They didn’t always make sense.

Liu Su returned to the kitchen. Zhu Lexing stared at the Little Sheep doll for a long time before finally taking it upstairs with her.

The moment she lay down, Zhu Lexing let out a long sigh of relief.

The room was utterly quiet. She fiddled with the doll for a bit, but it got boring fast. Just as she was about to check the group chat for Qiao Qiao’s street dance video, the System spoke up. 【Host, things in your room have been moved.】

Zhu Lexing blinked. “?”

That one sentence ruined her entire day.

She flicked on the light and scanned the room. At first glance, nothing seemed off.

It took a few seconds to spot it: her jacket, draped over the chair.

Had Yan Mian done it? Or had one of the servants hung it up for her?

Zhu Lexing instinctively assumed the latter and breathed a sigh of relief. 【Can you not make a big deal out of nothing? It’s just an extra jacket.】

A sudden chill ran through her, and she raised her fist on reflex.

【Can you not tell ghost stories in the dead of night?】

The System continued, 【Your bookshelf has been disturbed.】

It even provided specific examples.

Zhu Lexing checked accordingly, comparing it to her memory from that morning. Sure enough, there were discrepancies.

But what did that prove? Her room held nothing valuable.

The servants wouldn’t go poking around for no reason. Anyone being that careful had to be either Yan Mian or Liu Su.

A chill gripped her heart. 【Am I about to get dissected by my own mom?】

The System gave up trying to reason with her and revealed the truth.

Once Zhu Lexing heard that it was Yan Mian who had entered her room, she sat there in stunned silence.

The System assumed she was reeling from a blow to her trust and tried to console her. 【But she didn’t leave the voice recorder in the end, which means…】

【It means she trusts me.】 Zhu Lexing beamed. 【She has me in her heart!】

System: 【…………？？？】

What kind of logic was this?

Zhu Lexing explained, 【Think about it. She’s an Omega, yet she proactively brought my clothes back. That took real courage! And second, why would she even plant a voice recorder?】

The System ventured, 【To eavesdrop on you and gather evidence that you’re not the real Zhu Lexing.】

Zhu Lexing pressed, 【And what does that mean?】

The System replied, 【…It means she suspects you.】

【Of course not!】

It meant Yan Mian’s eyes sparkled.

And it meant that all the “good” Zhu Lexing had shown toward Yan Mian? Yan Mian had felt it.

Zhu Lexing didn’t want to explain any further: 【You don’t understand at all! I don’t want to talk to you anymore.】

She still picked up the Little Sheep Doll and decided to head downstairs.

The System fell silent for several seconds before issuing a warning: 【Host, you cannot directly tell Yan Mian your identity. That information must remain confidential.】

Zhu Lexing: 【…Do you think I’m that stupid?】

The System said nothing.

Zhu Lexing figured she had only wanted to delay giving Yan Mian the item that was meant for her in the first place, just by a little.

In the living room, Yan Mian was already waiting. Even on vacation, she hadn’t forgotten her books. She leaned against the sofa, quiet and absorbed in her reading.

At the sound of footsteps, she looked up—only to see the Little Sheep Doll thrust right in front of her eyes.

Zhu Lexing spoke awkwardly: “I grabbed it on a whim. I don’t really like it, so it’s yours now.”

Yan Mian stared at the doll for a few seconds. “Thank you.”

She reached out, took it, and set it down beside her.

Zhu Lexing said, “Your neck…”

“I put some medicine on it,” Yan Mian replied. “It should be fine by tomorrow.”

Zhu Lexing sat down across from her and crossed her legs in the flamboyant style of a spoiled young heir. Moments later, it felt too frivolous, so she uncrossed them—only to decide that was too out of character. She went back and forth like this until Yan Mian set her book aside. “Are you not feeling well?”

Zhu Lexing: “…………”

Zhu Lexing said gravely, “I’m contemplating the origins of the universe. Don’t interrupt me.”

Yan Mian’s expression turned especially helpless. She stood and walked off. Zhu Lexing assumed she was heading back to her room and noticed the Little Sheep still sitting beside her, untouched. She opened her mouth to speak—then realized Yan Mian had gone to the kitchen instead.

Zhu Lexing: “…”

Good thing she hadn’t said anything.

The soup was ready.

Zhu Lexing couldn’t judge it from the aroma alone. She lowered her head and took a sip.

Zhu Lexing nearly burst into tears.

Seeing her hesitant look, Liu Su grew nervous. “Is it that bad?”

Zhu Lexing said, “No!”

It tasted like perfectly normal chicken soup!

Zhu Lexing subconsciously wiped at the corner of her eye and drew in a deep breath.

It was profoundly moving.

Liu Su relaxed at last and glanced toward Yan Mian.

Yan Mian’s assessments always leaned positive, and this time she offered extra praise. Delighted, Liu Su said, “Then we’ll have this again tomorrow?”

Neither of them objected.

After washing up, Zhu Lexing reflected that the day had been a true rollercoaster.

She was just about to treat the System like a diary and vent her childish little-kid feelings when she unlocked her phone.

The group chat had blown up with 99+ messages.

Scrolling up, she found Xu He live-streaming her claw machine attempts in real time.

For a solid twenty minutes, Xu He’s updates were all: “0”.

At last, even Shi Ruofeng couldn’t resist and posted an image macro—

“All zeros, huh!?.jpg”

It wasn’t until the twenty-first minute that Qiao Qiao finally snagged her first doll—and using Shi Ruofeng’s exact same technique, no less.

Facing Xu He’s camera, Qiao Qiao said solemnly, “Boss, you have to be happy, okay?”

Zhu Lexing was just about to spam a string of hahahas when Qiao Qiao’s tone shifted in the footage: “But compared to Zhu Lexing, who took forty-nine tries on a single sheep and still came up empty, my twenty-four attempts are an undisputed success.”

Sadly, Qiao Qiao’s triumph was a one-off. Right up until nearly nine o’clock, when everyone headed home, she still hadn’t hit her goal. So Xu He filmed a fifteen-second clip of her busting out some street dance.

It was dazzlingly cool—learned on the spot, according to Shi Ruofeng.

Handsome as hell, but that didn’t stop Zhu Lexing from cracking up with “hahahaha”.

-A pair of eyes gleaming like icy stars, brows curved like strokes of fresh ink. Nailed the dance!

-LOL, where’d she swipe that from?!

-@Yan Mian

Zhu Lexing’s brows shot up at the familiar name. At first, she didn’t think much of it—people fake-tagged others in chats all the time without it actually pinging.

Then she glanced up at the member count under the newly changed group name, 【Sophomore 2.5 Girls’ Health Seminar (7)】: “…”

When the hell had two more people joined the group chat?!

It had been a cozy five-person group before dinner!

Staring at Yan Mian’s familiar avatar in the member list, Zhu Lexing shakily enabled special notifications for her, then frantically scrolled back through the history.

That’s when she saw it: Yan Mian had been added to the group a full hour ago.

She recalled Qiao Qiao’s earlier jab about “fifty tries and still no Little Sheep.”

Zhu Lexing: “…………”

Zhu Lexing slowly dragged the quilt over her head, determined to smother herself that way.

Until her phone buzzed.

Zhu Lexing cautiously peeked out and checked the screen.

Yan Mian hadn’t said a word in the group. Instead, she’d sent Zhu Lexing a photo of the Little Sheep.

Under the warm glow of the desk lamp, the Little Sheep grinned goofily with its paws outstretched—but now it sported a Santa hat. Yan Mian must have added a filter; the scene felt cozy and utterly adorable.

-Very cute

Zhu Lexing fixated on those three words, her fingers tapping and retyping on the keyboard.

【Like this】

【Heh, just this?】

【Hat needs to shift right a bit】

…

She deleted them one by one.

Then, out of nowhere, she typed 【Just like you】.

She stared at it for seconds, thumb hovering over delete—when she accidentally hit send.

The phone buzzed.

Yan Mian paused mid-adjustment of the hat and glanced down.

-Very cute

-Just like you

The next instant—

【Zhu Lexing has withdrawn one message】

-It’s okay I guess

She followed up with a barrage of emojis, as if that would help cover her tracks.

Yan Mian instinctively clutched the doll.

After a long moment of thought, she typed back: You’re cuter than it.

Huddled under the covers, Zhu Lexing took forever before asking: 【Did she withdraw it?】

The System replied: 【No.】

After several seconds of silence, it couldn’t help but remind her: 【Host, it’s impossible for a human to suffocate themselves to death under a blanket. But if you keep blushing like this, your bodily functions will start having problems.】

Zhu Lexing: “…………”

What business is it of yours, System? Just mind your own business!