“Phew, thank goodness. Xiao Yu is normal…”
Lin Xueling looked at the little cake in front of her, made by An Xiaoyu’s own hands and looking no different from an ordinary cake, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
It was true that An Xiaoyu had learned quite a few cooking techniques from her before, but this was her first time making a dessert like this.
Fortunately, unlike Luo Xinyu, the food she made turned out to be perfectly ordinary. If An Xiaoyu’s desserts were also that delicious, Lin Xueling really would have been devastated.
She said this quietly, not letting the other two hear, because it kind of sounded like an insult, implying Luo Xinyu wasn’t normal.
Of course, she felt she wasn’t exactly normal either. After all, what normal person makes food that’s inedible? Normally, even if you just boiled some plain soup with cabbage and ham sausage, without adding anything, how could it possibly taste bad?
But the fact was, the cabbage and ham sausage soup Lin Xueling made would inexplicably have a rotten flavor, as if the ham sausage or the cabbage had gone bad.
“Not bad, oh~ That’s my Xiao Yu~”
Lin Xueling was generous with her praise.
“Hehe, it’s not as pretty as the ones you make, Sister Xue, and not as tasty as the ones Sister Xinyu makes. I still need to keep working hard!”
Hard to tell if An Xiaoyu was belittling the other two or complimenting them with this statement. It was probably a compliment, after all, modesty is a virtue for Chinese people~
…
On the other side.
“Why do you insist on me taking a bath with you!!!”
Xia Xi hugged the leg of Bai Xiaocha’s dormitory desk for dear life, his ankle gripped by Bai Xiaocha as he hung suspended in the air, being pulled away.
“I’m just a figurine! Figurines don’t take baths!”
Xia Xi was in despair right now.
He had no idea what had gotten into this girl Bai Xiaocha, but she insisted he accompany her for a bath.
Boys and girls should maintain proper boundaries, doesn’t she understand?!
Well… although the Hatsune Miku figurine body Xia Xi was currently using was indeed female…
“Who says figurines don’t need baths? You’ve been carried around by the cat, you must be really dirty. Wouldn’t it be nice to get clean and smell good~”
Prejudice, this was pure prejudice from Bai Xiaocha! There was nothing dirty about that cat!
The tabby cat, Xiao Dao, quietly lay by another desk leg, watching his newly acknowledged big sister argue with the bipedal creature, a look of pure confusion on his feline face.
Although he couldn’t understand the bipedal language, he could tell from their actions, expressions, and tones that they were arguing.
What confused him was, hadn’t this bipedal creature and his big sister been getting along quite well just before? Why were they suddenly fighting?
If it were him, the underlings under him wouldn’t dare argue. If anyone disagreed with him, he’d just go straight for a couple of swipes with his claws.
This was called convincing through ‘reason’ – no, convincing cats!
But even though his big sister was arguing with the bipedal creature, Xiao Dao had no intention of stepping in to help.
First, his big sister hadn’t called for his help. Second, well, it didn’t look like his big sister was getting hurt. If anything, it was the smaller bipedal creature whose palms were getting rubbed red.
“No way, I’m not taking a bath!”
Although taking a bath with a little lolita might sound like a wonderful thing, Xia Xi still had his own moral bottom line. He actually saw Bai Xiaocha, much like Xia Yue and An Xiaoyu, as a little sister.
As an older brother, if he took a bath with his little sister, wouldn’t that be utter chaos?
If they were both little kids back in the day who didn’t understand anything, that would be different – like when he and Xia Yue were young.
But now they were both adults. Adults should have basic sexual boundaries and should respect each other’s reasonable privacy~
Suddenly, Xia Xi spotted Xiao Dao in the distance, watching the drama unfold with an indifferent, detached air, and his eyes lit up.
“Xiao Cha, if you really want someone to accompany you, you could give the little cat a bath~ Look how dirty he gets running around outside all day. As your guard, shouldn’t he be clean?~”
Hearing Xia Xi’s words, Bai Xiaocha thought about it seriously and felt it made some sense.
But she didn’t actually want someone to accompany her to bathe. If that were her intention, she could have just asked Xia Yue or Leng Xiyu to come along. She was sure those two wouldn’t refuse her request for some closeness.
Right now, she simply wanted more contact with her little princess.
This was the first time she’d ever seen a figurine that could talk and move! And it was such a cute girl like Hatsune Miku. Wanting to get close was only natural, right?
But since the other party had put it that way, she wouldn’t force it… Giving this somewhat intimidating, dirty cat a bath wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
“Okay, I’ll let you off the hook this time~”
Having made up her mind, Bai Xiaocha hummed twice and walked towards Xiao Dao.
Xiao Dao tilted his feline head, watching the bipedal creature suddenly ignore his big sister and come his way. He immediately assumed a vigilant posture.
“Meow meow meow!”
(Damn bipedal creature! Couldn’t handle my big sister, so now you want to catch me, her underling, to threaten her! Give up! It’s impossible! This cat will never yield to your evil claws!)
Xia Xi steadied himself, hearing the dumb cat’s ridiculous remarks. He silently thought: How come I never noticed this was such a chuunibyou cat before?
“Be good, Xiao Dao. Let Xiao Cha give you a bath. There’ll be a reward when you’re done~”
To prevent Xiao Dao from running away, Xia Xi dangled the carrot of temptation.
This wasn’t an empty promise. The moment he suggested Bai Xiaocha give Xiao Dao a bath, he had already triggered a quest.
[Optional Quest 1: Bathe Xiao Dao personally
Reward: Title “Princess Who Cares for Her Subjects,” increased Xiao Dao affection]
[Optional Quest 2: Have Bai Xiaocha bathe Xiao Dao
Reward: One Animal Humanization Card (10 minutes)]
[Optional Quest 3: Let Xiao Dao escape and not bathe
Reward: Hatsune Miku figurine body expands to life-size for three days, cannot switch back]
Looking at these three quests, Xia Xi didn’t hesitate to choose Quest 2.
Seriously, look at the rewards for the other two quests. What kind of nonsense were they?
A so-called “Princess Who Cares for Her Subjects” title? He, Xia Xi, was a upright manly man. There was no way he wanted to be any kind of princess!!!
And that life-size figurine body for three days… In his current tiny form, Bai Xiaocha was already obsessed with him. If he actually became life-size, he’d probably be tackled and pinned to the bed by this silly lolita.
Being pounced on by a weak submissive type lolita – just thinking about it was terrifying!
“Meow?”
(A reward? Is it teaching me that spell to transform into a bipedal creature?)
Xiao Dao suddenly got excited.
Wasn’t the whole point of him trying to please Xia Xi to get that?
“You’ll find out after your bath!”
