The Sickly Fake Daughter, But a Beloved Darling of All - Chapter 37

Wu Boran felt like the world had gone mad.

Her tone was shocked, filled with bewilderment and even disgust at Xu Chengjin’s words: “Why do you still think that?”

“How could I like Jin Xi?” Wu Boran hadn’t particularly liked Jin Xi since the first time she saw her. Every time she interacted with her, she was full of hostility. She had no idea how Xu Chengjin had gotten the wrong idea.

Xu Chengjin shrugged, blinking her eyes: “Just a feeling, I guess.”

Wu Boran: “…Miss Xu, I formally inform you that I don’t like her.”

The protagonist doesn’t like the other protagonist…

That’s rich.

Xu Chengjin hummed, her eyes showing apology: “Then I won’t say it again. But you two shouldn’t have any grudges, so why does it always feel like you’re at odds?”

Wu Boran “tsk”ed, annoyed, and ran a hand through her hair: “It’s just that some people you know whether you like them or not the first time you see them. We just don’t have good ‘eye-affinity’ (a common phrase meaning ‘just don’t click’ or ‘not compatible’).”

“Oh.”

Xu Chengjin said a dry single word, then opened her phone to order takeout: “Are we still eating together tonight?”

Wu Boran shook her head, still looking grumpy: “No, I’ve got a date to play games. I’m heading to the internet cafe soon.”

“There’s a curfew tonight, don’t come back too late.” Xu Chengjin frowned, unable to resist advising, “Be careful on the way, it’s not very safe at night.”

Wu Boran had already slung her bag on. She snapped her fingers at Xu Chengjin: “Got it, I’m off.”

“Bye-bye.”

Xu Chengjin wouldn’t interfere too much with the other person’s thoughts. She quickly ordered a bowl of porridge for herself, then started scrolling on her phone. Her Moments feed had a lot of daily updates, and as she casually looked, quite by chance, she scrolled upon Si Yu’s post.

It was posted ten minutes ago.

She wrote a sentence and paired it with a picture of a kitten exposing its belly. Si Yu wrote: [Turns out kittens will take photos with other people too.]

Xu Chengjin stared at it for a few seconds, pondered the meaning of the words, then immediately took a screenshot and sent it to Si Yu.

Si Yu: [?]

Xu Chengjin: [?]

The two immediately started communicating with symbols. Xu Chengjin pretended not to understand what Si Yu meant and typed: [Just wanted to see the kitten.]

Si Yu: [Just to see the cat?]

Xu Chengjin: [Mhm, what else would I look at?]

Si Yu: [You could look at me.]

When that message came over, Xu Chengjin immediately fell silent. She paused for a few seconds before quietly typing: [I don’t want to look at the cat anymore…]

Si Yu: [[Rose] Don’t be angry, just kidding with you.]

Then she immediately sent many photos of kittens. Whether it was unintentional or not, one of the photos included a picture of Xu Chengjin.

And it just so happened to be the one she posted in her Moments today. Everything that could be cropped out was cropped out, and everything that couldn’t was blurred. It looked like quite a thoughtful effort.

Xu Chengjin took a deep breath and sent a voice message: “Why did you screenshot my photo?”

Si Yu replied with a voice message too: “I think you’re pretty. People have the freedom to pursue beauty, you can’t interfere with me.”

Xu Chengjin looked confused: “When did I interfere with you, CEO Si? Are you overthinking things?”

Not long after she sent the voice message, Si Yu instantly popped up a voice call. Xu Chengjin stared at the screen for a few seconds before answering: “CEO Si.”

“Did you eat the pastries I gave you?”

Si Yu seemed to be at some gathering; the background noise was incredibly loud. She must have pushed open a door and walked out, as the miscellaneous sounds instantly quieted down: “You haven’t touched a single bite until now?”

Xu Chengjin lifted the packaging box back and forth. She hadn’t eaten it, nor had she even opened it, but there was no guilt in her tone: “No, I’m opening it now.”

With that, she opened the box. The packaging was indeed exquisite, with all sorts of beautiful elements piled onto it. After opening the complex outer packaging, Xu Chengjin saw two boxes inside. She took out the largest one first: “Let me see… This seems to be the green tea cake.”

Xu Chengjin was genuinely hungry, so she took a small bite to confirm the flavor. The whole pastry was very delicate, fragrant, and not cloyingly sweet, but instead had the unique sweetness of green tea. She really liked it.

“It’s delicious.”

Xu Chengjin’s eyes lit up as she ate. She curved her lips, then took out the other smaller box. This box was much lighter, and when she picked it up, there was a sound of things colliding, but it wasn’t the sound of candy rattling.

“What’s inside this?” Xu Chengjin carefully opened the box. When she clearly saw what it was, she froze. Inside were some small biscuits, in various shapes. They smelled of milk.

Xu Chengjin pursed her lips. She picked up a biscuit and tasted it. The flavor was great, not too sweet, but perhaps it had been baked for too long; it was a little hard.

“How is it? Is it good?” Si Yu finally spoke. She seemed to have waited a long time without a review, so she spoke up to ask, but her voice held both anticipation and unease.

Xu Chengjin picked up another biscuit. She tasted it carefully: “Hmm… It’s okay.”

“I really like this pastry. If there’s a chance next time, could you bring me some more, okay?”

Si Yu was silent for a few seconds: “Okay.”

“…That’s it?” Si Yu waited a little longer, but didn’t get the review she wanted. Just then, someone came over to look for her, “CEO Si, come have a drink.”

“Recently, we saw some really beautiful girls. Do you want to…”

Si Yu was immediately flustered, covering her phone. She glared at the person: “You’re fickle, don’t come and corrupt me. Get lost, I’m on a call.”

The other person shrugged: “Fine, I’ll come call you later.”

Si Yu watched the person leave before sighing in relief. She picked up her phone again and called out, “Xiao Jin.”

Xu Chengjin had heard their conversation clearly. She chuckled lightly: “CEO Si certainly has a lot of admirers.”

“Those people are just friends I know, not close. They’re the ones with the wandering eyes.” Si Yu sensed the difference in Xu Chengjin’s tone and immediately explained, “You and I are the first. Seriously, I’ve never been in a relationship.”

Xu Chengjin: “…”

She didn’t need to explain that much.

“It’s fine, CEO Si, drink well and enjoy yourself.” Xu Chengjin picked up another biscuit and started eating it. With food in her mouth, many of her words sounded muffled, “Anyway, someone will pick you up if you get drunk.”

Xu Chengjin didn’t like the habits of drinking and smoking, but she wouldn’t overly restrict them. What was their relationship? Good enough to say not to drink?

Of course not. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t use veiled sarcasm.

Si Yu wasn’t stupid; she had long understood Xu Chengjin’s hidden meaning. She immediately said: “I won’t drink. I haven’t touched a drop of alcohol today. I was going to head back as soon as I finished talking to you.”

Xu Chengjin sighed, feigning alarm: “Then it seems I’ve bothered CEO Si. I’m truly sorry.”

“No.” Si Yu’s laugh was a little strained, “Don’t talk like that.”

“Oh.”

Xu Chengjin responded obediently. She ate several biscuits in a row, feeling like she was about to be full: “I ordered porridge, it should be arriving soon.”

Si Yu hummed. She watched the people coming and going behind her. The bright light fell upon her, seemingly coating her whole body with a layer of gentle light: “Xiao Jin.”

“When can we take a photo together?”

Si Yu’s voice was much softer now, as if afraid of startling Xu Chengjin: “Would you?”

She was asking again.

Xu Chengjin closed the box, then placed the small biscuit box on the edge of the desk. She said softly: “The biscuits were baked for too long. Next time, don’t bake them for so long.”

With that, she hung up. After ending the call, Xu Chengjin immediately turned her phone face down. She closed her eyes, seemingly still processing things.

“The flavor is still good, though.”

Xu Chengjin said to herself. She stood up and took her phone with her. Her takeout had arrived; she had to go get it.

“…Hopefully, it can be improved next time.”

Xu Chengjin whispered:

“There should be a next time.”

Rehearsal for the Welcoming Gala

The time for the welcoming gala was very tight. Xu Chengjin and Jin Xi had to dedicate most of a day to rehearsal. They both took leave from morning classes. Xu Chengjin even asked: “Do we get extra credit?”

Hui Lan waved her hand grandly: “Yes! Of course, you do!”

Xu Chengjin nodded: “That’s good. As long as there’s extra credit.”

She was easily satisfied.

This play mainly relied on Jin Xi and the others. Xu Chengjin first went up with them to memorize the blocking (stage positions), then they started the first full version rehearsal. Xu Chengjin went up first, said her lines, and then retreated from the stage with a look of melancholy. Following that was Jin Xi and the others’ scenes.

Xu Chengjin also appeared in the very last scene. She was lying on a bed, hands folded across her chest, eyes closed in a beautiful and serene manner, seemingly undisturbed by the outside world’s commotions.

Jin Xi, as the knight who came to rescue her, walked solemnly to Xu Chengjin, gently tracing her fingertips across Xu Chengjin’s face, and tidying up her princess’s appearance. According to the plot, they would exchange a True Love’s Kiss to awaken the princess.

“I’ve come to take you home.” After saying the line, Jin Xi slowly bent down. The distance between her and Xu Chengjin grew smaller and smaller; she could even see the tiny fine hairs on the other’s face.

Xu Chengjin’s lip shape was very pleasing. She was wearing makeup today, and her lips were very moist, looking especially…

Jin Xi only needed to bend down a fraction more to kiss Xu Chengjin’s lips.

The people offstage were watching intently, especially Hui Lan. She thought it was perfectly fine for two attractive people to be together. She was excitedly gripping her friend’s hand: “Aahhh…”

But Jin Xi couldn’t hear any of that. She was focused entirely on Xu Chengjin, only fully catching her breath when their lips barely missed each other.

A staged kiss via angling.

Jin Xi felt like her heart was about to burst out. Before she could calm down, she heard Xu Chengjin say:

“Thank you, my knight.”