Chapter 63: Bathing

Description

“Mr. Xia Che, could you explain why there are so many people in your home?”

Xia Che was speechless.

Facing Hui Jin’s cold gaze, he felt he had a thousand grievances to air.

Who could’ve known you’d all come to my house?

“Didn’t I already explain? It really was a coincidence. A coincidence!”

Did he even have the right to refuse?

An eerie silence fell over the small living room as the three girls looked at one another.

Ye Xiao Chi was the first to speak.

She raised her hand.

“Um, Senior Hui Jin, why did you come here?”

“Well, ahem… I recently quit my job, so I’m short on money. My lease just happened to end, and my landlord said, ‘Pay up or get out!’ So…”

Hui Jin recited the excuse she’d prepared on the way over without changing her expression.

“Oh, I see!”

Ye Xiao Chi’s eyes widened.

She rushed over and grabbed Hui Jin’s hand.

“Oh my, what a horrible landlord! Don’t worry, Senior Hui Jin. You can stay here as long as you want!”

Wait, this is my house, isn’t it?

Xia Che wanted to say that, but he opened his mouth, then quietly shut it again.

So what if it was his house? Could he really kick them out?

To ease the mood, Xia Che introduced them.

“This is my cousin, Xia Qing. You two have met before, but you haven’t officially introduced yourselves, have you?”

Hui Jin graciously held out her hand to the girl who looked a little like Xia Che.

“Hello. It’s nice to meet you. My codename is Hui Jin.”

The girl flinched and took a step back.

After hesitating for a long while, she reached out and shook her hand.

“H-hello. I’m Xia Qing.”

Before she could say more, Ye Xiao Chi put an arm around her shoulders and poked her cheek.

“Xia Qing’s a good girl. She just gets shy around people she doesn’t know. Once you get to know her, you’ll find she’s really cute!”

“Sis Xiao Chi!”

Xia Qing’s little face flushed bright red.

“Hee-hee! This is exactly what I mean! There, let your big sister touch you!”

Xiao Chi let out a strange laugh like a villain in an adult game, then kneaded Xia Qing’s cheeks with both hands like an octopus.

The poor little sister was helpless.

She could only shrink back and let Ye Xiao Chi’s hands do as they pleased.

“All right, Xiao Chi. Give her a break.”

Xia Che tapped the barbecue skewers on the table.

“Eat them before they get cold. I ordered your favorite grilled flatbread.”

“Whoa! I almost forgot! Coming, coming!”

The girl let go and scampered over to the table, opened the bag, and dug in.

“So good! Mmm, you really get me!”

How did she manage to have so much energy all day long?

Hui Jin felt a little envious of her own daughter.

Noticing Hui Jin’s gaze, Ye Xiao Chi, who had a chicken wing in her mouth, held out a skewer of grilled flatbread.

“Hm? Senior Hui Jin, do you want some?”

“No, I ate before I came.”

Hui Jin shook her head, then added:

“Hurry up and finish eating so you can wash up. It’s getting late, and you have school tomorrow, right?”

Ye Xiao Chi blinked her bright red eyes and mumbled behind her hand:

“Mmph… Senior Hui Jin, you’re just like my mom.”

Hui Jin was caught off guard and didn’t know how to respond.

She couldn’t do much about her daughter, so all she could manage was a feeble:

“Anyway, hurry up and eat.”

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Buying toiletries for you and Xia Qing.”

Xia Che answered while looking at his phone.

“Hmm… Does Feizuan come over here often?”

Hui Jin picked up on the implication in his words.

Xia Che thought for a moment, then said:

“Sometimes. When she doesn’t want to go home, she stays here.”

So she lied when she told me she was staying at a hotel!

Hui Jin’s gaze flickered as she clutched the hem of her clothes.

“Then… nothing happened between you two, right?”

Xia Che turned to look at the girl, who seemed a little nervous, and smiled as he shook his head.

“Of course not.”

“I see…”

Hui Jin said softly.

She rested her hands on her thighs and stared at the backs of them.

What was this sudden sense of relief?

Ah… I get it!

I was relieved as a father to hear nothing had happened between Xiao Chi and Xia Che, right?

Yes, that’s it.

It must be!

It couldn’t possibly be…

“I’m going to take a shower!”

Hui Jin suddenly stood up and hurried into the bathroom, shutting the door with a bang.

She didn’t even give Xia Che a chance to say anything.

Xia Che looked at the delivery app, which said the order wouldn’t arrive for another 20 minutes, and fell into thought.

Inside the bathroom, Hui Jin leaned against the door, her breathing uneven.

“Ha… Seriously, what am I thinking?”

The girl irritably rubbed her hair.

She felt like she was becoming less and less like herself.

She looked at the mirror, where a stunningly beautiful girl looked back at her.

Her cheeks were faintly pink, and her long gray hair hung in a messy curtain over her shoulders.

She had a delicate nose, red lips, and pearly teeth.

She looked like a doll.

The girl reached out to the mirror, and the girl inside reached out to her too.

When all was said and done, which “her” was really her? Ye Qianqiu, Hui Jin, or both?

The girl stared at her reflection, lost in thought.

Was it because she’d stayed transformed for too long?

She turned away from the mirror and stepped into the shower.

With a light tap on the panel, warm, gentle water fell from the showerhead.

Come to think of it, this was her first time showering in this body.

It… felt pretty good.

Forget it.

She’d stop thinking about it for now.

The girl closed her eyes and let the water run over her cheeks.

It was only for one day.

She’d change back tomorrow.

Fifteen minutes later, the water in the bathroom stopped, and just then, someone knocked on the door.

“Coming, coming!”

Ye Xiao Chi, full and satisfied, bounced over to the door, opened it for the delivery person, and took the bag.

She looked at what was inside and paused.

“Huh? A bath towel? Did Senior Hui Jin go in without bringing one?”

She picked up the towel and said worriedly:

“That’s no good. If you don’t dry off after a shower, you’ll catch a cold. Xia Che, why don’t you take it to her?”

Xia Che was sprawled on the sofa, scrolling through his phone.

He could tell right away what the girl was up to, so he played along.

“No. I’d like to stay alive a little longer.”

“Then I guess it has to be me. Well, what can you do?”

She sighed, but couldn’t hide her smile.

“I’ll leave it to you, then.”

“Oh, I guess it has to be me!”

Ye Xiao Chi knocked on the bathroom door.

“Senior Hui Jin!”

Inside the bathroom, Hui Jin had been using fire magic to evaporate the water droplets from her body.

The sudden noise startled her.

For a moment, she felt like Wendy being attacked by Johnny in <The Shining>.

“W-what is it?” the girl asked nervously.

“You forgot your bath towel!”

“Ah… It’s fine, I…”

“I’ll bring it in!”

“Absolutely not! Get out!!”

BOOM!!!

I hope the bathroom’s okay.