“Hmm? Why are you walking with a limp?”
Luo Xinyu looked at Xia Xi, who was walking out of the hospital room with a face full of springtime joy, looking really happy. She couldn’t help but feel a little confused.
What exactly did Xia Yue say to him that could make him this happy?
“Oh, I just accidentally bumped my leg against the bed. It’s nothing, I’ll be fine in a day or two.”
But is just bumping against a bed really enough to make him look this bad? He’s walking like a complete cripple…
Having spent a lot of time with Xia Xi, Luo Xinyu instinctively felt that something wasn’t right.
She wanted to go into the room and check on Xia Yue again, but Xia Xi blocked her way.
“Come on, Xīnyu. Xia Yue said she wants to rest alone for a while. Let’s not go back in and bother her. Let’s just go home first. Didn’t you say you have a place here too?”
Although Luo Xinyu still had her doubts, since Xia Xi put it that way, she figured they might as well head home first.
After all, there’s no way those two siblings could do anything outrageous. It’s not like they could have done something indecent in the hospital room in just ten or so minutes, right?
Meanwhile, inside the hospital room.
Xia Xi lay on the bed, holding Xia Yue’s phone, scrolling through videos absentmindedly.
For some reason, he kept feeling a tightness across his chest. Could it be because Xia Yue is still at an age where she’s growing, so things are developing faster?
A bit puzzled, Xia Xi paid closer attention. And wow, that was a shock—he felt two hard lumps…
“Xia Yue…!!!”
What kind of high school student wears padded inserts inside their regular clothes?!
Fuming, he yanked out the two uncomfortable lumps. After pulling them out, Xia Xi felt his breathing become much smoother, both inhaling and exhaling.
“Have they left?”
He tossed Xia Yue’s unfinished milk tea into the trash and sent a message to Xia Yue, who was now wearing his original body’s ‘skin.’
“Yeah, we’ve left. Don’t worry, bro, you can come out now.”
The reply came back quickly.
That’s right. Xia Xi and Xia Yue had swapped bodies. The ‘skins’ they exchanged were the bodies in their perfect state, without any injuries. So, wearing Xia Yue’s ‘skin,’ Xia Xi could walk freely without any leg issues.
But it was different for Xia Yue. Even though she was wearing his ‘skin,’ the leg injury from her original body still carried over. So even if she looked perfectly fine on the outside, she’d still walk with a limp.
Seeing her reply, Xia Xi slung Xia Yue’s backpack over his shoulder and went to handle the hospital discharge paperwork. He also picked up all the medicine she needed—both oral and topical.
When he went to check out, the receptionist looked at him in surprise. After all, Xia Yue had only been brought to the hospital this morning. Now, just half a day later, her foot seemed perfectly fine. It looked like a medical miracle no matter how you spun it.
“Geez, with these recent system tasks, I haven’t really gotten anything good out of them myself…”
Lately, the rewards from the system’s tasks were always just to help him complete the tasks better. There was basically no real, tangible improvement for himself.
If I’m being honest… what the hell use is a ‘Princess’ title for a grown man like me?!
Even the reward for the task of taking Xia Yue’s exam was only useful during the exam. Too bad—if it were permanent knowledge, that would be something different.
The only somewhat useful thing was that language proficiency skill that lets him talk to animals.
After taking care of everything for Xia Yue at the hospital, Xia Xi headed toward the school.
“Which class are you in? How come you’re coming to school in the afternoon?”
Since high schools usually require boarding, and even day students go home in the evening after coming in the morning, Xia Xi was naturally mistaken for an outsider.
But the key issue was that Xia Xi wasn’t wearing Xia Yue’s school uniform. He was wearing her JK casual clothes.
The school rule was that uniforms must be worn during school hours. So technically, if no teacher checks, you can wear whatever you want. But if a teacher decides to inspect, not wearing the uniform will definitely get you scolded.
The school’s explanation was that it prevents outsiders from pretending to be students and sneaking in. So Xia Xi, not wearing a uniform, being mistaken for an outsider was understandable.
But what could he do? Xia Yue, that girl, had taken a sick leave in the morning, so she hadn’t brought her uniform with her at all.
“Uncle, I really am a student here. I went out on sick leave this morning.”
Normally, the school’s security booth should have a little notebook recording students who check in and out for leave.
Sure enough, after Xia Xi said that, the security uncle led him into the booth.
The uncle stood with his back to Xia Xi, rummaging around down below. From Xia Xi’s angle, it looked like he was either digging through a desk drawer or… playing with his ‘good brothers.’
Of course, in broad daylight, he was definitely just searching the desk drawer.
“Where’s the stub of your leave request? Show it to me.”
School leave requests are usually in two parts. The top half stays in the security booth, and the bottom half is taken by the student and handed back to security upon returning to school, to verify the student’s identity.
Besides the leave stub, security also needs to check the returning student’s school ID badge.
Honestly, the school goes above and beyond to ensure student safety.
Xia Xi patted his skirt pocket, didn’t feel anything, so he took off his backpack and searched inside.
Xia Yue should have put the stub in her skirt pocket or her backpack.
That girl wouldn’t mess him over by taking the ID badge and stub herself.
Soon enough, Xia Xi found both items in a compartment of the backpack and smoothly entered the school.
Since it was still class time, Xia Xi didn’t plan on heading back to the classroom right away.
He was still technically on leave anyway. Instead of sitting in class listening to a lecture, he’d rather wander around the school for a bit.
“Meow?”
(Strange, shouldn’t this two-legged creature be sitting in a classroom right now?)
A familiar cat meow came from nearby.
Xiǎo Dāo knew Xia Yue, so he was surprised to see Xia Xi walking around school with Xia Yue’s face.
“Hey, if it isn’t my little sidekick~”
Xia Xi noticed Xiǎo Dāo too.
He flashed a smile and moved closer.
But Xiǎo Dāo reacted like he was startled, letting out a loud “Meow!” before turning tail and running.
“Hey, why are you running?”
Xia Xi chased, and Xiao Dao ran.
It was rare to see such a look of terror on a cat’s face.
Xia Xi had no idea what Xia Yue had done to that cat to make him—a cat who normally sees two-legged creatures as servants and slaves—so scared.
“Meow meow meow!”
(Little ancestor, stop chasing me! I really can’t turn into some kind of catgirl!!!)
Recalling what happened the night his own big sister turned into a two-legged creature, Xiao Dao felt like crying but had no tears left.
