No love?
What exactly did Li Siqi mean by that sentence?
If she said that Xia Mengxi had no love when facing Lin Xue’er, that could still pass muster, since her feelings for Lin Xue’er hadn’t even reached the level of liking yet.
But to say Lin Xue’er had no love for her…
T-This is too absurd!
After all, she successfully romanced Lin Xue’er!
If Lin Xue’er hadn’t fallen for her, then how could she have succeeded in the romance?
Wait a minute! Now that she thought about it, the God never explicitly stated what the condition for a successful romance was!
Suddenly, Xia Mengxi realized a very serious new problem—that her success in romancing Lin Xue’er was due to the ‘Progress’, but this ‘Progress’ might not necessarily correspond to the three stages she had been thinking about: acquaintance, getting to know each other, and falling in love.
But if it’s not these three stages, then what else could it be…
Moreover, if Lin Xue’er didn’t fall in love with her, then what exactly were her feelings toward her?
Xia Mengxi furrowed her brows, trying hard to confirm whether Li Siqi’s words were true or false. If they were true, then it would really be a big problem.
Seeing her lost in thought, Li Siqi narrowed her eyes, then suddenly said:
“Oh wow… judging by your expression, you wouldn’t really be together with her, would you? Haha! Two people together without love—now that’s truly unheard of. Oh wait, no, it’s not impossible, since some people do get together for certain reasons. So… what exactly are you spying on about that Lin Xue’er, Mengxi?”
Li Siqi was far too sharp! They had only met a few times, yet she had already seen through her true nature—how terrifying!
But now wasn’t the time to chat with Li Siqi; she had to get her to leave first… uh.
[Hi hi! I’m back again! Young lady, every meeting is a chance to romance a beautiful girl. How could you miss that? So… please choose!]
[Option A: Deny Li Siqi’s words three times in a row: “I’m not, I didn’t, don’t talk nonsense!”]
PseudorandomContentGeneratedByCustomAlgorithmChoosing this option grants the Silver Butterfly Sticker.
[Option B: Lift your head proudly and say: “So what if I am? It’s none of your business! Hmph!”]
PseudorandomContentGeneratedByCustomAlgorithmChoosing this option, when facing despair once, will receive a helping hand from Li Siqi.
Huh? Another reward question! But unlike the last time when she had a choice during the date with Lin Xue’er, this time the God didn’t coax her into picking an option.
So… should she pick A? After all, she had missed two items already, so this time she should choose A, right?
No, she couldn’t. The reason wasn’t that Option A’s reward was unknown and Option B’s was known, but rather, judging by the actions required for each option, Option B clearly had greater potential impact going forward and also fit the character Li Siqi saw in her.
In that case, she would pick B! But… damn! This was already the third time! She had missed the reward three times in a row. Sigh!
“So what if I am? It’s none of your business! Hmph!”
Li Siqi saw Xia Mengxi cross her arms and glance away, and she chuckled: “That really is none of my business, but… hehe, never mind. Why say so much now? You’ll know eventually.”
With that, Li Siqi stood up and reached out to ruffle Xia Mengxi’s head.
“With a personality like yours… you’ll easily suffer losses, but you can rest assured, if the day really comes, I will come to help you.”
Watching Li Siqi leave, Xia Mengxi suddenly recalled their first meeting when she had just arrived in this world. Back then, Li Siqi had said something similar, but for various reasons, she hadn’t taken it to heart or had any intention to.
Forget Li Siqi for now; she needed to sort out this new problem first.
First, if she wanted to verify whether Li Siqi’s words were true or false, she had to determine what exactly the condition for a successful romance was.
To determine the condition for success, she could start from her previous conclusion of the ‘Three Stages’.
To reiterate, the first stage was friendship, the second stage was expressing one’s feelings, and the third stage was accepting each other’s confession—equivalent to love.
Thinking back, at Progress One, she acted coquettishly toward Lin Xue’er, which was something friends might do, so it passed.
At Progress Two, she threw herself into Lin Xue’er’s arms and asked about feelings beyond friendship, which was her expressing her heart, so that also passed.
At Progress Three, when Lin Xue’er clashed with another woman because of her, she chose to stand by Lin Xue’er’s side, and Lin Xue’er confessed to liking her. This was undoubtedly a confession, so… all three passed.
Hiss… so where was the problem? Could Li Siqi’s words be false?
Xia Mengxi scratched her head, puzzled, then sneaked a glance at Lin Xue’er beside her, just as Lin Xue’er looked back.
“What’s wrong, Xiao Xi?”
“Ah, nothing. It just feels like a dream.”
“Hm?”
Lin Xue’er didn’t quite understand what she meant, and Xia Mengxi smiled foolishly: “We became a couple in the first week of school—no, more like after only two days. If this were made public, it might break some sort of record.”
“Hehe, Xiao Xi, what are you saying? We’re childhood friends, not just meeting at school. Of course it’s different from others.”
Yeah, childhood friends. Come to think of it, when she was considering the ‘Three Stages’ last week, the progress was too fast, so she used the childhood friend setting to max out initial favorability… huh? Who said childhood friends’ favorability had to be maxed out?
Suddenly, Xia Mengxi noticed a detail: she didn’t know anything about Lin Xue’er and ‘her’ childhood past. On what basis could she use childhood friend favorability to support the ‘Three Stages’ theory?
Ah! No wonder it felt off—it was this!
Early Saturday morning, after finding the missing pages in Lin Xue’er’s Diary, she had a rough understanding of Lin Xue’er’s childhood experience. But what she overlooked—besides the headache interrupting her thoughts—was a detail she couldn’t focus on: the records of Lin Xue’er and ‘her’ childhood.
Logically, Lin Xue’er’s Diary should have four parts: before meeting ‘Xiao Xi’, after meeting ‘Xiao Xi’, meeting ‘Xiao Xi’ [note: the text uses two variants of Xiao Xi 小希 and 小兮, both listed in the glossary], and daily life.
However, parts one, two, and four were present, but she had never seen the third part of the Diary.
Luckily, she had previously chosen to stay temporarily at Lin Xue’er’s house, so now there was something else she needed to do.
But relying on the time Lin Xue’er took to shower was absolutely not enough! She couldn’t keep burning through the hot water heater repeatedly—it would only arouse Lin Xue’er’s suspicion sooner or later.
If only there was a way to make Lin Xue’er stay out of the house for a long time…
Right! Sick Leave!