With My Ability To Swap, I Will Never End Up In A Love Triangle Mess - Chapter 130

“Sis Xuening, do you have a crush on Brother Xia Xi~?”

An Xiaoyu had never met Luo Xinyu. After all, Luo Xinyu couldn’t stay in Yu City forever; her real home was in the capital, Beijing.

So, in her understanding, there were currently only three people who had a thing for Xia Xi: Lin Xuening and the Liu sisters.

For some reason, though, the two Liu sisters seemed to be subtly preventing each other from getting close to Xia Xi, though it was unclear if it was because they each wanted him for themselves.

Lin Xuening lived relatively close to Xia Xi. After getting to know him through several ‘exchange’ incidents, she started visiting frequently.

Her stated reason was usually to hang out with Xia Yue, but her true intentions were obvious to everyone except Xia Xi, that blockhead.

An Xiaoyu thought Lin Xuening was really nice. She always brought small gifts when she visited, was very earnest in everything she did, and was reportedly a top student and academic achiever at school with a bright future.

Brother Xia Xi was also very good to her. He never looked down on her because of her background, instead treating her like a real little sister.

So…

An Xiaoyu decided to play matchmaker for such a wonderful Brother Xia Xi!

“D-Don’t talk nonsense! I’m not…”

Lin Xuening blushed and quickly took small sips of her iced cola to cool herself down.

Because her left ear was covered, Xia Xi could only catch snippets—something from An Xiaoyu about “Sis” and “have a crush”—and he thought to himself how nice it was that An Xiaoyu, a girl who used to live on instant noodles, had made such a good friend.

“Okay, okay. But… if you like him, you have to seize the opportunity. Don’t be all shy and hesitant, only to have someone else snatch him away.”

If Xia Yue heard this, she would definitely stare at An Xiaoyu with a shocked expression and say, “You, a tsundere, have the right to say that?! You’re the most hesitant one here!”

“Mmm, I know…”

Lin Xuening looked at An Xiaoyu and realized the girl meant no harm; she wasn’t here to tease her but seemed to want to help. So, she opened up a bit more.

“Back on the rooftop, I actually wanted to tell him, but I accidentally fell and messed it all up…”

Xia Xi, who had stopped drinking and was quietly eating his food, suddenly perked up when he heard fragments like “rooftop,” “wanted to say,” and “messed up.”

He had been stuck on how to complete the system task “Find out what Lin Xuening wanted to say before she fell down the stairs,” and now, unexpectedly, Lin Xuening was almost saying it herself.

“One failure is nothing. It’s not like you only get one chance. I believe in you, Sis Xuening! Ahem, I mean, I approve of you.”

Seeing Lin Xuening deep in thought, An Xiaoyu didn’t disturb her further and just went back to eating her meal.

If she didn’t grab some food soon, Xia Yue would finish it all!

Their conversation stopping made Xia Xi anxious.

They were at the critical moment! Lin Xuening was about to say it! Come on, Xiaoyu, keep asking!

However, the conversation seemed to have ended there. Later, Lin Xuening’s small talk with others didn’t contain any more key information.

Xia Xi hesitated. Should he just ask her directly? Lin Xuening would probably tell him, right?

Deciding to go for it, under the pretense of washing dishes after the meal, Xia Xi quietly positioned himself right next to Lin Xuening.

Since the kitchen sink was only so big, he had shooed An Xiaoyu away to help entertain the guests and clean up the trash.

That meant the entire kitchen was now occupied by just Xia Xi and Lin Xuening.

“Class President Lin, I just remembered. Back on the rooftop, you said you had something to tell me. What was it about?”

Suddenly being approached and questioned by Xia Xi like this made Lin Xuening’s whole body stiffen slightly, and her dishwashing movements slowed.

“I-It was nothing… I just wanted to ask you when dinner would be ready… Yeah, that’s all!”

Class President Lin, could you please not look down when you lie… The first-person view of the bulging JK uniform was very distracting for Xia Xi…

“Is that so? Alright then. I thought you had something else to tell me. Turns out it was just about the food.”

As the saying goes, to achieve your goal, sometimes you need to play hard to get. Xia Xi’s move here was a strategic retreat to advance, trying to lure Lin Xuening into speaking up voluntarily!

Sure enough, Lin Xuening fell into internal conflict again.

But unlike what Xia Xi expected, Lin Xuening didn’t say anything more before they finished washing the dishes.

…

Xia Yue’s Room.

“Sis Xuening, are you cold?”

Xia Yue tilted her head, looking at Lin Xuening, who was now wearing thermal earmuffs and a single-sided eye patch, her big eyes full of confusion.

Their house had the heating on, so it shouldn’t be cold enough for that, right?

And that single-sided eye patch… if people didn’t know better, they’d think she was cosplaying a JK pirate!

“Ahem, I… maybe it’s my constitution, I feel a little chilly! But it’s fine, the earmuffs help a lot!”

What Xia Yue didn’t know was that Lin Xuening wasn’t just wearing earmuffs—she had also stuffed a cotton ball into her left ear!

“Okay then~”

Xia Yue shrugged, figuring it wasn’t her place to say much.

After all, everyone’s body is different. If she finds it comfortable, just let her be~

“Here, the doll is right here. After I played with it until the batteries died, I just left it in my display cabinet as a decoration.”

Xia Yue took out the “Uma Musume” (Horse Girl Doll) that Lin Xuening had previously given to Xia Xi and handed it to her.

“Mhm, mhm. I actually brought a battery with me. I’ll replace it for you, and then you can play with it again.”

Lin Xuening took a Nánfú battery out of her bag and started fiddling with the doll.

“Thanks, Sis Xuening! I really like its Mambo cry~”

Xia Yue had actually thought about buying batteries to replace them herself but kept forgetting, so it kept getting put off.

If Lin Xuening hadn’t mentioned the doll today, she would have completely forgotten about it.

Lin Xuening opened the back of the Uma Musume doll and took out the sound-producing device, which was basically a pressure sensor.

Along with it, something else seemed to come out—a small, square, white object, a bit like a tiny note. Xia Yue, standing further away and with Lin Xuening’s hand in the way, couldn’t see it clearly.

“All done, the battery’s replaced. Here you go.”

Changing the battery was quick, taking only a few dozen seconds.

But Lin Xuening seemed like several hours had passed, her palms were sweating.

“If everything’s okay, I’ll head out now.”

Lin Xuening turned and pushed the door open to return to the living room, her fist clenched tightly, hiding something inside.

Xia Yue, of course, noticed her furtive movement and suspiciously opened the doll’s back cover again, but didn’t find anything out of the ordinary.

…

Living Room.

Lin Xuening sat on the sofa, seeming somewhat restless and uneasy.

She took off the eye patch and earmuffs, her gaze falling on Xia Xi’s back as he chatted about the novel with the others…