Chapter 28
Ming Ruixue knocked on the door several times in succession, but there was no response from inside. She tried to push the door, but it was deadbolted from the interior.
“Si Xia, open the door or say something, or I’m going to kick it down,” Ming Ruixue said as she raised her foot. Just as she was about to strike, a voice finally drifted out.
“I’m fine… it’s just a bit of a fever and a cold. I’ll be okay after some rest.” The Omega’s voice was weak; she was suffering from a combination of alcohol, a cold, and a fever.
Ordinary medicine wouldn’t do. Ming Ruixue thought of Ban Yun and called her to come up.
Ban Yun hadn’t drunk much, so her head was still clear. “What’s so urgent that you called me?”
Ming Ruixue waited at the door. “Pluck some of your Banlangen (Isatis root) grass for me. I need to brew some water for Si Xia; she’s caught a cold.”
“Huh? A cold? Isn’t she just drunk?” Ban Yun swallowed hard. “Besides, I have actual cold medicine here.”
“Banlangen grass is the best for treating wind-heat colds.” Ming Ruixue grew anxious. “Hurry up and open your door.”
Ban Yun tremblingly opened her door. “Then just take a little. Ning Yu had a cold two days ago and just plucked some… Hey!”
Before Ban Yun could finish, Ming Ruixue had already snatched away half the pot. “Thanks!”
Ban Yun: “Ahhh! My grass! My precious grass…!”
After steeping the Banlangen in hot water, Ming Ruixue knocked on Si Xia’s door again. “Si Xia, open up. I’ve made some Isatis tea for you. Drink it before you sleep.”
The person inside seemed unwilling to respond, so Ming Ruixue knocked even harder.
Worried by the silence, Ming Ruixue hammered on the door—thud, thud, thud. It was so loud that the door finally cracked open a sliver.
Si Xia’s pale palm reached out. “Give it to me.”
“Open the door and let me bring it in. The water is scalding.” Ming Ruixue pushed the door open slightly, and suddenly, she caught a glimpse of a snow-white, tail-like object being pulled back in a hurry.
Ming Ruixue was startled. “Si Xia, what are you doing in your room?”
“Nothing.” Si Xia was barely maintaining consciousness. “Give me the water, I need to rest.”
Ming Ruixue didn’t hand it over, pulling the cup back slightly. Si Xia’s palm grasped at the air twice. Losing her patience, she peered out with a pair of hazy, blurred eyes.
“…You,” Ming Ruixue blinked, looking at the pair of soft, pinkish cat ears on top of Si Xia’s head. She asked curiously, “Are you playing dress-up? Doing some cosplay?”
“Mhm.” Si Xia went along with her words, taking the hot water from Ming Ruixue’s hand. “Thanks. I’m going to sleep now.”
Just as Si Xia was about to close the door, she pulled it open again for a second. “Don’t knock again.”
Ming Ruixue retreated two steps, feeling stiff. “Okay, go rest.”
Once the door shut, Ming Ruixue swallowed hard. Was the Omega just in a cat outfit? Isn’t she sick? How does she have the energy to play dress-up?
Or maybe Si Xia was just drunk and acting out a “drunken frenzy.”
Neither seemed quite right. Ming Ruixue recalled the cat ears that had flashed by for a second—they looked so real. She really wanted to pinch them.
Inside the cabin, Si Xia set the hot water aside.
She didn’t have a cold; Banlangen water was useless.
The spirits were taking a slow effect. Her cat ears and tail had already manifested, and her head was spinning so much she collapsed onto the bed. She didn’t know when she would turn fully into a kitten.
In her daze, something dark crawled past her vision.
Si Xia couldn’t open her eyes properly and thought she was seeing things because of the alcohol. She rubbed her eyes, only to suddenly see a large spider crawling onto her pillow.
—”AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!”
Si Xia bolted upright. The spider moved quickly, lunging toward her. However, it seemed “drunk” as well; it missed its mark, tumbled to the floor, and scrambled onto Si Xia’s instep.
The spider bit down. Si Xia let out another cry of pain. “Ah! Wuwuwu, don’t bite me!”
Outside the door, Ming Ruixue heard the commotion and began knocking. Si Xia couldn’t care about anything else; terrified, she ran to the door, threw it open, and leaped onto Ming Ruixue, her legs wrapping around the Alpha’s waist.
As the “kitten” flew into her arms, Ming Ruixue instinctively caught her. Her hand accidentally brushed against a cat tail, and she hurriedly moved it away.
“Wha—What’s wrong?”
Si Xia pointed toward the cabin. “There’s a spider in my room, a huge one, wuwuwu…”
A big spider.
Ming Ruixue opened the door to her own cabin and placed Si Xia on the bed. “Wait for me, I’ll go check.”
Ming Ruixue grabbed a nearby flyswatter and entered Si Xia’s cabin, closing the door and blocking the gap at the bottom.
“Come out!” Ming Ruixue flipped over the bedframe and indeed found a large spider. “A creature of the shadows like you can only hide under beds.”
Bei Chuanchuan (the spider) scurried about frantically, but Ming Ruixue swung the swatter so effectively it left her dizzy and disoriented.
Damn it. Bei Chuanchuan had originally wanted to take advantage of Si Xia’s drunkenness to mark her, but she hadn’t expected to be caught red-handed by Ming Ruixue.
Losing her patience, Ming Ruixue slammed the swatter directly onto the large spider. Just as she went to pick it up, the spider “came back to life,” lunged toward the balcony, jumped out the window, and fell into the sea.
Damn, I forgot to close the window.
Ming Ruixue leaned over the railing and saw the spider struggling in the waves before curling into a ball and vanishing.
Spiders aren’t usually fans of water, but a “spirit” might be different. Ming Ruixue shut the window tight, thinking it was strange—ever since Bei Chuanchuan arrived, spiders seemed to be everywhere.
Ming Ruixue secured the doors and windows for Si Xia and returned to her own cabin, only to find that Si Xia’s foot was bleeding.
“The spider bit you?” Ming Ruixue grasped Si Xia’s ankle. “It doesn’t look poisonous, but your foot is swollen.”
Only swollen?
Si Xia shed tears of grievance. The pain was sobering up her drunken mind. “It’s all swollen, that smelly spider bit me so hard, it hurts, wuwuwu…”
As Si Xia cried, her cat ears twitched and her tail curled up. She looked exactly like a bullied little kitten.
Ming Ruixue’s heart softened. She wiped away the tears. “Si Xia, take off your cat costume accessories. I’ll take you to the cruise ship’s emergency room to have that looked at.”
“The emergency room?!” Si Xia shook her head frantically. “I’m not going. I can’t go right now.”
“Why not?” Ming Ruixue leaned down to pick her up, but Si Xia dove under the covers, leaving only her face visible. “I’m not going! I feel like it doesn’t hurt anymore.”
What she was “wearing” wasn’t a costume at all. Ming Ruixue might be foolish enough to mistake it, but others wouldn’t be.
“Your ankle is swollen. If we don’t treat it, you won’t be able to walk tomorrow.” Ming Ruixue fished her out of the blankets. “Hurry up, be good.”
“Ah, I’m not going!” Si Xia hugged Ming Ruixue’s waist, acting spoiled to get her way. “Sister, I really don’t want to go, please don’t make me…”
Ming Ruixue’s hands froze, suspended in mid-air. “Alright then… just let go of me first…”
Si Xia let go obediently. Her watery eyes were still red from crying, and her body smelled of alcohol.
A drunken kitten.
Ming Ruixue had no choice. She took her first-aid kit out of her suitcase and opened the cotton swabs and disinfectant.
“Put your foot here. I’ll give it a simple treatment first.”
Si Xia remained wrapped in the blanket, hiding her ears and tail. She had originally wanted to flee back to her own cabin, but her foot hurt too much to walk.
As Ming Ruixue began to treat the wound, Si Xia dizzily stretched out her foot and nuzzled her cheek against Ming Ruixue’s shoulder and neck.
“Thank you, Sister… Sister, you smell so good.”
Ming Ruixue gripped Si Xia’s fair ankle, her body trembling at the sound.
Is this what Omegas are like when they’re drunk?
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