Chapter 12

“Phew…”

Xie Shuyun wiped the sweat from her forehead, picked up the water beside her, tilted her head back, and took a gulp.

She was currently inside the Xie family’s private gym. Everywhere she looked, there was high-end equipment, most of which Xie Shuyun did not recognize. She had only used the most basic treadmill and dumbbells.

Looking at the 100-jin dumbbell on the ground, which she could easily lift with one hand, Xie Shuyun could not help sighing. An alpha’s physical fitness was truly too good. She had just run thirty kilometers on the treadmill in only one hour. If this were in her original world, that would definitely be world-class athlete level.

And she did not even feel that tired. Xie Shuyun felt that she could run several more rounds.

However, Xie Shuyun looked at the records on the treadmill, which should have been left behind by the original body. They were much better than her own results, showing that the original body usually exercised regularly.

Touching her firm abdomen, which even had vest lines, she felt that it was completely different from the soft little belly she used to have.

Beep, beep, beep.

The alarm on her phone rang. It was already nine o’clock. Time to go have breakfast.

After washing off the sweat on her body, Xie Shuyun walked downstairs ​bailiantales.com​feeling refreshed, only for her footsteps to suddenly pause.

Cheng Lingxue was standing expressionlessly in front of the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room. She was actually dressed in clothes for going out.

This surprised Xie Shuyun. During the past few holidays, Cheng Lingxue had clearly stayed in her room. What was going on today? Was she going out to have fun?

“Ahem…”

Qin Yu, who was standing in the corner, could not bear watching her Eldest Miss stand there on the stairs in a daze. Moreover, she had not even changed into proper clothes. She could not help coughing lightly a few times to attract Xie Shuyun’s attention.

It did attract her attention, but at the same time, Cheng Lingxue also noticed the movement and turned around.

Her gaze first landed on Qin Yu, who had made the sound, then shifted to Xie Shuyun. Seeing her casual clothing, her eyes flickered slightly, making it impossible to tell whether she was happy or angry.

Uh…

Something about the current situation seemed a little wrong.

Being stared at by two pairs of eyes, Xie Shuyun scratched her head uneasily. Cheng Lingxue’s calm pupils and indifferent expression gave away no information, so she could only look toward Qin Yu for help.

“Eldest Miss, aren’t you going to watch a movie with Miss Cheng today? You forgot the time again because of working out. Hurry and get ready. Miss Cheng has already been waiting for you for more than ten minutes.”

Watch a movie?

Xie Shuyun’s breath caught.

She looked at Qin Yu, then at Cheng Lingxue.

Hadn’t she given the tickets to Qin Yu?

How had they gone around and ended up in Cheng Lingxue’s hands?

And…

The other party had actually agreed!

That made Xie Shuyun feel even more incredulous.

“The movie starts at ten.”

Cheng Lingxue’s leisurely sentence immediately made [bailiantales.com]Xie Shuyun come back to herself. Not daring to delay anymore, she turned and ran upstairs, leaving only her fading voice in the air.

“I’ll go change. Wait for me for a moment.”

===

Inside an extremely luxurious-looking department store, everywhere they went, there were bright and beautiful boutique stores. However, since it was a holiday morning, when countless people were still sleeping in, there were not many people around.

Even so, the two beautiful girls who entered still attracted quite a few gazes.

The tall girl wore a white shirt paired with the most fashionable style of jeans at the moment. The shorter girl wore a light mint-green sleeveless long dress. The plain ribbon at her waist swayed gently as she walked, stirring people’s hearts like a feather.

Although the two of them were dressed very simply, one looked heroic and dashing while the other was pure and beautiful. Standing together, they drew attention not only because of their top-tier looks, but also because of the innate air of nobility and presence revealed between their brows. It made people unable to look away.

Their rate of turning heads could be said to be one hundred percent.

Yet despite having such a perfect, enviable companion, the tall girl’s face carried gloom.

What was with this pink envelope?

Why had the number of tickets multiplied?

Xie Shuyun looked at the tickets and vouchers in her hand. While shocked, she was also somewhat speechless.

After flipping through them for a moment, Xie Shuyun’s gaze landed on Cheng Lingxue. Suddenly, she discovered that the other girl’s eyes seemed to be sweeping across the surroundings.

To be more accurate, she was looking at the faces of passersby, as if confirming something.

Xie Shuyun followed her gaze and looked around too, but did not see anything wrong.

“What are you looking for? Someone you know?”

Hearing Xie Shuyun’s question, Cheng Lingxue’s body stiffened almost imperceptibly. She raised her hand and gently tucked the loose strands of hair behind her ear, then turned around.

The swaying hem of her skirt lightly brushed against Xie Shuyun’s knee, bringing a faint ticklish feeling.

As if noticing her mischievous skirt, Cheng Lingxue took a step back. She did not answer Xie Shuyun’s question and instead asked calmly,

“Where is the movie theater?”

“Ah… the movie theater is on the seventh floor. Should we take the elevator up?”

Xie Shuyun pointed to the elevator not far away, where a few people were lining up, and tilted her head to ask Cheng Lingxue’s opinion.

After Cheng Lingxue nodded, the two of them took the elevator to the seventh floor. There were also quite a few people in front of the movie theater. It seemed that most of the customers had gathered here.

Holding the tickets, Xie Shuyun first went to exchange them for two tubs of popcorn. Then, as if presenting a treasure, she carried them over to Cheng Lingxue.

With a bright smile, Xie Shuyun asked,

“Do you like sweet or salty popcorn? I got both kinds. Pick whichever one you like.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Cheng Lingxue did not stand on ceremony with her. She reached out a finger and pointed at the sweet popcorn.

“This one.”

Her tone lifted slightly, and her chin raised a little, making her look like a proud cat. It made people want to reach out and pat her head.

Xie Shuyun slightly curled her fingers and suppressed that terrifying thought. She gave a dry cough and said,

“Okay. We should be able to enter now. This is hard to carry, so I’ll give it to you once we’re inside.”

Perhaps because it was an early showing, the movie hall was not very large. There were only a few scattered people waiting for the film inside, but most of them were couples in pairs. Such a scene made Xie Shuyun feel a little uncomfortable. She could only lower her head and lead Cheng Lingxue to their seats.

She had to admit, Shang Yan knew how to choose well. The tickets she had given them were for two seats right in the center of the theater. They had the best view and did not seem tiring to watch from.

Cheng Lingxue was just about to take out a handkerchief from her handbag, but in the next second, her movements paused.

Because Xie Shuyun had already bent slightly and carefully patted the seat. After confirming there was no dirt, she called Cheng Lingxue over.

“You can sit now. Be careful of the step below.”

Cheng Lingxue looked at Xie Shuyun with a somewhat complicated expression. She lightly adjusted the hem of her skirt and slowly sat down, taking the popcorn that belonged to her from Xie Shuyun’s hand.

Seeing that there was nothing wrong on her side, Xie Shuyun finally sat down at ease.

At the same time, the movie was about to begin, and the lights dimmed.

In the dark environment, one could only see the vague outlines of the people around. At the same time, the five senses seemed to become much sharper.

Xie Shuyun was exactly like this. An alpha’s senses were even sharper than an ordinary person’s. Beside her ears, she seemed to be able to hear Cheng Lingxue’s light breathing. It was as if faint traces of warm breath drifted over, carrying bailiantales.com a sweet milky fragrance and the fresh sweetness of coconut, making her mouth go dry.

Curling her fingers, Xie Shuyun held her breath and focused.

She did not know whether she was doing it to keep her slightly heavy breathing from disturbing Cheng Lingxue, or because she wanted to carefully savor that sweet, faint fragrance.

Suddenly—

Gurgle…

Her stomach let out a muffled growl.

Xie Shuyun hurriedly covered it and carefully glanced at Cheng Lingxue from the corner of her eye. Seeing that she did not react, she finally let out a breath of relief.

She had exercised for a long time in the morning, then came out without eating breakfast. Because she had been nervous earlier, she had not felt it, but now that she had relaxed, hunger immediately surged up.

She grabbed a few pieces of popcorn and stuffed them into her mouth. The faint salty taste moved her deeply.

It was clearly just ordinary popcorn, but for someone starving, it could already count as a rare delicacy.

She ate very quickly, but Xie Shuyun did not dare chew loudly. It would be bad if it made crunching sounds. So she only held the popcorn in her mouth and waited until it softened before chewing it. Not only did that make no sound, it also made the taste linger longer.

Unfortunately…

The popcorn was only a small cup the size of her palm. In less than ten minutes, she had finished it.

Holding the clean paper cup, Xie Shuyun licked her slightly salty lips, her eyes full of helplessness.

What should she do?

There were still eighty minutes left in the movie, and the food was already gone.

But that little bit was not even enough to line her stomach. Instead, it made her even hungrier.

Being hungry was not the problem. What Xie Shuyun was worried about was that if her stomach growled…

That would no longer be merely social death.

What she did not know was that Cheng Lingxue, who appeared to be watching the movie seriously, was actually observing her every move from the corner of her eye. She had even taken in the sight of Xie Shuyun wolfing down the popcorn.

Now, seeing her look like a disappointed large dog, a trace of amusement slipped through Cheng Lingxue’s calm eyes.

Lowering her head to look at the popcorn in her hand, Cheng Lingxue felt that compared to the purpose of her trip, a small cup of popcorn seemed insignificant.

Still, Cheng Lingxue picked up one piece and put it in her mouth. After feeling the sweet taste on her tongue, she then stuffed the paper cup into Xie Shuyun’s hand.

With this kind of transfer, physical contact was naturally unavoidable.

Compared with Cheng Lingxue’s lower body temperature, which carried a slight coolness, Xie Shuyun could practically be called a little furnace.

If it were winter, this temperature should be very comfortable…

The thought flashed through Cheng Lingxue’s mind, making her brows furrow slightly. Then she quickly withdrew her hand.

Xie Shuyun did not have as many thoughts as she did. She looked at the popcorn in her hand, feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the favor.

She quietly leaned a little closer to Cheng Lingxue. Still remembering that the other girl did not like people getting too close, she kept a distance of one head between them and whispered,

“Thank you. After we go out, I’ll treat you to something to eat.”

In response, Cheng Lingxue only [read the original at bailiantales.com]waved her hand, not seeming to take this small action of hers to heart at all.

She clenched her hand into a fist and lightly rested it against her chin. Looking at the constantly flickering large screen, her eyes were unfocused. It was obvious she had sunk into her own thoughts.

This time, Xie Shuyun no longer wolfed the popcorn down like before. She ate very slowly, one piece at a time, with great seriousness. Finally, she also had the energy to pay attention to the movie.

But in an instant, she was thoroughly shocked by the movie’s cliché plot and character settings.

Whether intentionally or not, the protagonists Shang Yan had chosen were actually very similar to them.

There was also an alpha with a high social status who was frivolous and cynical, and a cold omega whose family had fallen into ruin. In the early stage, they loved and fought each other, enemies meeting with especially flushed faces. Later, they reunited after separation, loving each other so deeply they were inseparable.

Watching the two protagonists embrace, regretting their past and expressing their current love for each other, Xie Shuyun stared blankly. She did not understand how the director had compressed such a long-winded plot into a two-hour movie.

Was concentration really the essence?

But this incredibly similar background also made her panic instantly.

The popcorn in her mouth no longer tasted good.

This…

This trashy plot!

What if Cheng Lingxue misunderstood?

She completely did not mean anything like that.

She swore!