With My Ability To Swap, I Will Never End Up In A Love Triangle Mess - Chapter 4

“So… when are you planning to take a bath~?”

Despite the fact that her “friend” was a lecherous man currently occupying her body, Luo Xinyu couldn’t help feeling happy—after all, she’d finally made a friend.

“Stop, stop, STOP! My dear young lady, let’s just drop the whole bath topic, alright? I’m a respectable guy.”

For once, Xia Xi sounded earnest and principled.

“Oh, can I ask you something?”

A sudden thought occurred to him, and he decided to voice it to Luo Xinyu in his mind.

“Of course! Go ahead.”

“Your family’s pretty well-off, right? Why not spend some money on prosthetic legs? Then you could walk normally.”

At this question, Luo Xinyu’s mood visibly dipped. After a moment of silence, she answered slowly,

“The doctors said there’s still a chance my legs could recover… I’d rather experience the world with my own legs.”

Xia Xi didn’t press further.

He knew Luo Xinyu was already feeling down, and prying into such a personal matter would be inconsiderate. Instead, he quietly picked up a sketching pencil from the desk, deciding to test out another skill.

He remembered that the original owner of this body had Level 6 artistic skills—evident from the strikingly lifelike rose sketches nearby. Meanwhile, thanks to the system, he’d only inherited Level 1 drawing ability. It was low-level, sure, but surely he could manage something like a cartoon character… right?

“Pfft—um… are you drawing stick figures? Not that there’s anything wrong with that! Stick figures are cute, I just—”

Luo Xinyu’s emotional resilience was impressive. She’d already bounced back from her earlier gloom and, upon seeing the lopsided, dog-chewed-hair stick figure with a suspiciously long rod protruding from its rear, couldn’t hold back a giggle.

Realizing how rude that sounded, she hurriedly tried to explain—only to be cut off by Xia Xi.

“This is clearly a kid with a tail!”

*So this is Level 1 drawing skill?! A three-year-old could probably do better!*

No way—it’s gotta be because Luo Xinyu’s… ahem, ‘obstructions’ are blocking my vision!

Xia Xi fell silent. Refusing to accept defeat, he drew a few more figures. Without exception, they were either textbook stickmen or wobbly-lined “monsters.”

“There’s a recording of my art teacher’s lesson on the tablet. You could follow along with that.”

Luo Xinyu couldn’t bear to watch anymore. She dreaded to imagine how her art teacher would react upon seeing these… masterpieces.

Xia Xi tightened his grip on the pencil, cheeks flushing pink from embarrassment (or rather, Luo Xinyu’s cheeks did, thanks to his emotional state). Following her suggestion, he opened the tablet nearby and found the recorded lesson.

“Mind if I ask—why don’t you go to school?”

The video was clearly filmed in this very room, meaning her “classes” were actually one-on-one private tutoring.

“I don’t need to. I’ve always studied at home. Dad hired private tutors for everything, and the school’s already taken care of—I just take finals in a specially prepared exam room here.”

Damn, her dad’s got serious connections. Wait, does that mean she even took the college entrance exam at home? That’d be insane!

Luo Xinyu seemed to read his mind and huffed internally, “I took the gaokao at an actual test center! National exams don’t just bend the rules for anyone.”

Xia Xi waved it off. He didn’t care how wealthy or influential her family was—right now, his focus was on leveraging the system to improve his own skills.

The two fell into a comfortable silence, broken only by the art teacher’s voice from the video and the soft scratching of pencil on paper.

“Wow, you’re actually getting the hang of it! I can tell it’s a kid now!”

The sudden praise made Xia Xi’s hand slip, forcing him to erase a stray line. He wasn’t sure if Luo Xinyu was being sarcastic or genuine, but given her innocent nature, he decided to take it as a compliment.

“Why does the kid have a monkey tail?”

As time passed, Xia Xi grew more adept at simple sketches—at least enough to roughly replicate the image in his head. Strangely, learning things in Luo Xinyu’s body felt way faster than in his own. He chalked it up to the system’s buff. No way I’m admitting her brain’s just better than mine!

“Because he’s Sun Wukong,” Xia Xi replied flatly.

“You’re totally lying! Sun Wukong’s a monkey, but you drew a human!”

Luo Xinyu’s tone carried a hint of playful indignation, as if she’d caught him trying to trick a child.

Xia Xi didn’t bother explaining.

From what he knew, this world lacked many pop culture and anime classics. As a transmigrator, he should’ve been able to ride those works to fame and fortune—except reality wasn’t so kind.

Writing novels? He could barely remember the original plots, and his own writing skills were subpar. Knowing a story’s outline meant nothing if he couldn’t execute it. Result: flop.

Music? Ha. His tone-deaf self had no business embarrassing himself in that field.

As for comics… well, did stick figures count?

In short, he had ideas but zero ability to bring them to life. So he’d resigned himself to a normal, unremarkable life.

But now? Now he had a system. The ultimate cheat code for a comeback!

[Daily swap duration: 4 hours. Reward: Partial Swap Card (1x).]

Time flew when he was focused, and soon, the four-hour mark hit. The system’s daily mission rewarded him with a swap card.

Staring at the [Partial Swap] card, an idea struck him. Using Luo Xinyu’s soft, melodic voice, he asked gently,

“Hey, young lady Xinyu… want to experience walking like a normal person?”

“Don’t call me ‘young lady’—just ‘Xinyu’ is fine! We’re friends, aren’t we? As for walking normally… of course I’d love to, but how?” She let out a hollow laugh, the underlying sadness unmistakable.

Her melancholy, though, wasn’t about the inability to walk—it was the lingering sense of distance between her and her new friend, “Chenxi.”

Maybe if I convince him to take a bath in my body, we’ll get closer?

Then we’d really feel like true friends, right?

“If we’re friends, then of course I’ll help make your wishes come true. Don’t forget—I, Chenxi, am the Grand Sorcerer under the Heavenly Emperor’s command!”

Hearing this sweet girl genuinely consider him a friend, Xia Xi couldn’t help but smile.

This is why pure-hearted people are so refreshing to be around.

“Hahaha, alright then, Sorcerer Chenxi. How should I… cooperate?”

Luo Xinyu didn’t find his theatrics childish. Instead, she burst into silvery laughter—the happiest she’d felt in years.