Chapter 47: Where Are Your Tastes?

The next morning.

Roommate Sister B and C got up early and instinctively went to wake up Big Sister, Roommate Sister A.

But her bed was completely empty.

“Where’s Lingling? She’s not the type to get up this early either.”

The two exchanged bewildered glances, having no idea what was going on.

“Hah—”

Their loud voices woke Lin Jiaxin up. She yawned, rubbed her eyes, and sat up in bed.

“Lin Jiaxin?”

The two were even more confused upon seeing her.

Wait, at this hour… shouldn’t Lin Jiaxin still be out on her morning run showing off?

Why was she just getting up now?

What was going on with these two?

“Morning…”

Lin Jiaxin ignored the shock on their faces, got out of bed, and walked past them while yawning.

Then she calmly started washing up as if nothing had happened.

“What’s wrong with her? She’s been acting off since she came back last night…”

“Yeah, and she’s been going on her morning runs no matter the weather this whole time.”

The other two in the room huddled in the corner, muttering to each other.

Was this really the Lin Jiaxin they knew?

Could she have been possessed by some old monster or something?!

“I’m heading out.”

Lin Jiaxin quickly threw on a light jacket, nodded at the two in the corner, and pushed the door open to leave.

Her outfit was completely normal, looking just like an ordinary female college student.

But the more normal Lin Jiaxin acted, the more abnormal she seemed!

“Creak—”

The door suddenly cracked open again.

A pair of eyes carefully peeked inside.

After confirming that Lin Jiaxin’s bed was empty.

And that Roommate Sisters B and C were both standing on the floor chatting.

The owner of those eyes let out a relieved sigh and pushed the door open fully.

Before the others could even ask what was going on, she dropped a bombshell:

“You two… aren’t dead?”

The other two: “……?”

—

On the way to class, Lin Jiaxin watched the people exercising in the morning and fell into deep thought.

She wasn’t thinking about ‘how to restore my Dao Heart.’

She was thinking about ‘Do I even want to go back to how I was before?’

This was actually the question Lin Jiaxin had wanted to ask herself most after failing to find an answer yesterday, after thinking about it all night.

Every memory of the past was crystal clear in her mind.

The thrill of Manifesting Sainthood Before Others, the adrenaline of shocking everyone around her, all slowly resurfaced in her heart.

Lin Jiaxin admitted it—being Jiahao was genuinely awesome.

You didn’t have to care about anyone’s opinions. You didn’t have to care about anyone’s preferences.

You just focused on doing what you wanted to do.

That was cool, wasn’t it?

But without the positive buff of [Resolute Dao Heart],

every time Lin Jiaxin recalled those exhilarating memories, she also felt incredibly embarrassed.

Just like how she was in the very beginning, utterly disgusted by it all.

Because that was way too divine-being-like.

But in this world, not cultivating was simply not an option.

‘What… am I supposed to do?’

Lin Jiaxin habitually clasped her hands behind her back and subconsciously tilted her head at the standard 45-degree angle to look up at the sky.

An intangible aura of melancholy immediately radiated from her.

“Tsk, it’s this show-off again, let’s go!”

Passersby who noticed her pinched their noses and hurried away.

There was a hint of divine-being stench in the air.

“……?”

At that moment, Lin Jiaxin suddenly felt a faint, warm current surging in her Dantian.

[Manifestation True Qi +1]

Wait, what?

Lin Jiaxin looked around in complete bewilderment.

There weren’t even that many people around.

What did she do this time?

“Hey, Lin Jiaxin, is that you?”

Someone patted Lin Jiaxin on the shoulder from behind.

Lin Jiaxin instinctively turned around and looked at the person: “…You are?”

“Tsk, it’s me! Shen Yan. What, you don’t remember me?”

The newcomer stood up straight, introduced himself, and casually slicked back his middle-parted bangs while raising an eyebrow at her.

“Shen Yan?”

Lin Jiaxin genuinely couldn’t place him at first.

But looking at that smug expression on his face,

Lin Jiaxin suddenly remembered!

Wasn’t this the guy who deliberately teased her with the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion (Unrelated to Wind and Moon) backstage at the Freshman Gala?!

“…Do you need something?”

Lin Jiaxin turned her head slightly away.

She was in a bad mood today, and she’d never had a good impression of him anyway.

So naturally, she wasn’t about to give him a friendly face.

“Nothing really, I was just passing by, saw your silhouette looked familiar, and figured I’d say hi.”

Shen Yan didn’t seem bothered by the distance in Lin Jiaxin’s tone, just chuckling lightly.

He always seemed to have that squinty-eyed look.

It made him seem sly and cunning, like he was always scheming about something.

“Oh.”

Lin Jiaxin responded dismissively and started to walk away: “I need to get to class. Talk later.”

Shen Yan stood there smiling without chasing after her, only speaking calmly to her retreating back:

“Oh right, there’s a Salon Tea Gathering this afternoon. Some pretty interesting people will be there. Want to come sit in?”

Lin Jiaxin paused her steps for a moment but didn’t turn around: “Not interested.”

“What if I told you someone there looks a lot like you?”

“……”

Lin Jiaxin stopped walking and turned to look at him.

“Looks like me? What do you mean?”

“Literally, of course. You two just look alike.”

Shen Yan kept that same smiling expression, not like he was desperately trying to convince her, more like he was just stating an irrelevant fact.

“Ha!”

Lin Jiaxin rolled her eyes at him in exasperation and turned to leave.

Could you even say something like that with a straight face?

Someone looks like her? He might as well have come up with a better excuse!

Like going to a party to pick up money or something…

Shen Yan frowned slightly, caught up in two steps, and walked alongside Lin Jiaxin.

“You don’t believe me?”

“What do you think? That excuse is way too lame.”

“Do you think I have any reason to lie to you?”

“I can’t say for sure.”

Lin Jiaxin kept her eyes straight ahead, not slowing down: “You seem like the type of person who’d lure someone somewhere and then suddenly pop out and go ‘surprise! It’s actually your birthday today!'”

“But the problem is, my birthday already passed.”

“Oh? Then when’s your birthday?”

“Why would my birthday matter to you?”

“Tsk.”

Shen Yan wasn’t annoyed, still walking side by side with Lin Jiaxin, muttering endlessly: “But I’m serious, you two really do look alike… the eyes, the nose, the mouth, they’re practically all the same—”

“All facial features, right?”

Lin Jiaxin cut him off irritably, then raised one finger and started listing:

“First, you already messed with me once backstage at the Freshman Gala. You’ve got a track record.

Second, you’re always squinting. You look way too sly and cunning. No sincerity whatsoever.

Third… that middle-parted bangs of yours makes you look like Captain Jia. It’s too rare a sight. I don’t trust you!”

“……?”

Shen Yan’s smile finally cracked a little.

He instinctively smoothed down his bangs, and for once, his tone carried a hint of genuine indignation:

“Hey hey, what’s wrong with my bangs? You can question my character, but you can’t question my taste… Besides, does Captain Jia even have as much hair as me?”

“You? You? You have taste?”

Lin Jiaxin gave him a once-over and curled her lip.

With those classic skinny pants that every wannabe-cool guy loves to wear.

Your taste is already nailed to the pillar of shame!