Early morning.
As a ray of sunlight spilled onto the head of the bed through a gap in the curtains, Xu Yinsheng opened her eyes and let out a yawn. Following her usual routine, she pushed the “octopus” off her body.
She put on her slippers, preparing to head to the kitchen to fix herself a glass of brown sugar water. The faint, cramping pain in her abdomen made her realize what day it was.
However, as soon as she stepped out of the bedroom, an inviting fragrance wafted into her nose. Xu Yinsheng followed the scent and saw a three-person portion of the Breakfast Trio—Jianbing Guozi, Doufunao, and Youtiao—laid out on the round Brocade Table in the living room.
Strange noises drifted from the kitchen. Xu Yinsheng followed the sound and peered inside the doorway. She saw a tall figure busy at the stove. The man was dressed in casual clothes, with his sleeves rolled up halfway to his forearms.
He seemed to hear her footsteps and looked up, a doting look flashing in his eyes.
“Why didn’t you sleep a bit longer?” The man’s voice was warm, his eyes and brows full of smiles.
Immediately after, he noticed Xu Yinsheng clutching her stomach with one hand. As if remembering something, he opened the cupboard, took out a disposable cup, and added brown sugar along with freshly sliced ginger. Very quickly, a cup of brown sugar water was ready.
“Keep yourself warm and drink more hot water.” After stuffing the brown sugar water into Xu Yinsheng’s hand, Zhao Yicheng turned back to continue tending to the Eight Treasure Porridge in the pot.
Xu Yinsheng was speechless.
She looked down at the steaming brown sugar water in her hand, then up at the man working at the stove. She instinctively touched her forehead. Her temperature was normal, showing no signs of a fever, which meant her brain wasn’t broken.
She reached out and pinched the flesh on her cheek. It hurt, which meant this wasn’t a dream.
She snapped her fingers, and a strand of Inky Black Flame instantly flickered to life. This meant her Baibian Ability was still there, which meant she hadn’t transmuted.
So… one, her brain wasn’t broken; two, it wasn’t a dream; and three, she hadn’t transmuted.
Therefore…
“ZHAO!!”
“(A marmot-like scream) YOU NAMED ZHAO!! How dare you pick my front door lock! If I don’t shoot you dead today, I’m not Xu Yinsheng!”
With lightning speed, Xu Yinsheng grabbed the Shotgun hanging on the living room wall. With equal speed, she ran back and blocked the kitchen doorway. The dark muzzle pointed directly at the man, a raging fire burning in her eyes.
“What’s all the shouting for? Screaming so loudly so early in the morning… are you going to let people sleep or what?” a complaining voice echoed by her ear.
Suddenly, a fair little hand reached out from behind her, snatched the Shotgun, and tossed it onto the ground.
The Assassin Girl Xu Yinsheng, wearing Patrick Star pajamas, emerged from behind Xu Yinsheng and walked to her side, standing shoulder to shoulder with her.
She let out a yawn, her eyes still clouded with the sleepiness of someone who hadn’t fully woken up. She raised a hand to rub her blurry eyes.
“Xiao Xuxu, what’s wrong? Why such a big fuse? Even if your period is here, you shouldn’t be this grumpy.”
“He picked the lock to my house! Don’t stop me, I’m going to blast him!” Xu Yinsheng pointed at Zhao Yicheng’s nose, her eyes practically spitting fire.
“The door? He didn’t pick it.” Assassin Girl Xu Yinsheng let out another yawn.
Xu Yinsheng froze.
“Huh? He didn’t pick it?”
“Correct.”
“Then how did he get in?”
“I gave him the Bieshu keys.”
Xu Yinsheng was stunned.
*Bang!*
She slammed the door and stormed out, sitting alone at the Brocade Table. She picked up a warm Jianbing Guozi, her expression hidden as she lowered her head and began to eat by herself.
‘She’s sulking.’ Assassin Girl Xu Yinsheng pressed a hand to her forehead, feeling quite helpless. At the same time, she gave instructions to Zhao Yicheng at the stove.
“Ignore us and keep simmering the Eight Treasure Porridge. Also, remember to bring out two cups of brown sugar water in a bit.” After speaking, she immediately followed after the other woman.
In the living room, at the Brocade Table.
Xu Yinsheng was gnawing on her Jianbing Guozi, her cheeks bulging like a little squirrel hoarding food. It was hard to tell if those bulging cheeks were due to anger or being stuffed with food.
The black-haired girl beside her constantly massaged her shoulders while trying to please her with smiles and explanations.
“Alright, Xiao Xuxu, I admit it was poor planning on my part. I didn’t consult you beforehand.”
“But look at it this way. Why waste free labor? He works without complaint, and he even brought his own supplies.” She pointed toward the refrigerator at the other end of the living room, which was now stuffed full.
“A Pal like this is hard to find on the street.”
Xu Yinsheng gave her a speechless glare.
“Are you truly stupid or just pretending? You know he’s lusting after my body, don’t you?”
“Normally, because of you, I can tolerate him coming over to cook, help out, and eat with us. But now you’ve even given him the Bieshu keys. I’m honestly worried that one day I’ll wake up inside a Cat Cage.” As she spoke, Xu Yinsheng couldn’t help but recall her miserable life during that period, and her eyes uncontrollably reddened.
“Don’t cry, don’t cry. I’ll take the keys back in a bit,” Assassin Girl Xu Yinsheng coaxed carefully. Her small hands continued to thump and rub the other’s back to help her relax.
“Just forgive me this once. The guy basically came running here to volunteer as a laborer; I couldn’t at least give him that much face.”
“Besides, with such a huge box of building blocks, the two of us might not even finish it after 3 days and 3 nights.”
“With a Pal taking the initiative to help, our assembly work will be much easier.”
Xu Yinsheng wanted to argue further, but at that moment, Zhao Yicheng brought the finished Eight Treasure Porridge and two cups of brown sugar water to the table. He placed one in front of Xu Yinsheng and one in front of Assassin Girl Xu Yinsheng.
Trapped by the presence of an outsider, Xu Yinsheng found it difficult to argue with Assassin Girl Xu Yinsheng to her face. She downed the brown sugar water in one gulp and began her listless breakfast.
The Youtiao tasted familiar, the Doufunao tasted familiar, and the Jianbing Guozi was still the same old flavor.
The Eight Treasure Porridge was actually quite good. With one sip, a warm current seemed to flow through her stomach, feeling warm and very soothing.
After finishing breakfast, Assassin Girl Xu Yinsheng used the excuse of a stomachache to go to the restroom. Zhao Yicheng and Xu Yinsheng were once again the only two left in the large living room.
He cleared the table and washed the dishes. In less than 10 minutes, after Zhao Yicheng finished these daily chores, he sat on the living room Sofa and started playing with his mobile phone.
Xu Yinsheng was currently sitting on another Sofa, at least 5 steps away from him. She looked at the man playing with his phone, her eyes full of wariness and defense.
“Why haven’t you left yet?”
“I’m here to help you two assemble the blocks.”
“It’s not needed.”
“I’ll help you cook.”
“That’s not needed either.”
“Then I simply wanted to see you.” Seeing that she was playing hardball, Zhao Yicheng gave a shamelessly stubborn reply.
Xu Yinsheng stomped her foot in anger. “Doing this won’t win my favor, and it certainly won’t earn my forgiveness.” With that, she gave a cold snort, turned her head away, and started playing with her phone alone.
Zhao Yicheng smiled and didn’t speak again.
For him, their current relationship had already hit the freezing point. It was as bad as it could possibly get!
Taking the initiative to get close might not increase her favorability. But if he didn’t take the initiative to get close, her favorability definitely wouldn’t increase!
Since the relationship was already this terrible, he might as well try something bold.
He had already hit rock bottom; it couldn’t possibly get any worse.