After Being Hopeless at Singing and Dancing, I Exploded in Popularity Due to My Appetite - Chapter 39

Lin Qianman promised: “I’ll give you a gift on your birthday.”

She thought for a moment and added, “By then, you’ll have debuted, and you’ll know more people. Everyone will give you gifts.”

Tao Nian responded perfunctorily. She then thought for a moment, squatted down to adjust herself to the height of the little girl, and placed her hand on Lin Qianman’s knee. She animatedly gestured to her, “Yueyue said…”

She originally wanted to tell Lin Qianman that Zhang Jingyue was making her a cake, but then she remembered Zhang Jingyue had told her to keep it a secret and not tell anyone, so she swallowed the words. Instead, she said to Lin Qianman, “Yueyue said that for a birthday, you have to eat birthday cake, and also longevity noodles and eggs!”

The little girl was originally small, with tiny hands, and her wiggling was very cute. She softly leaned over and placed her hand on Lin Qianman’s knee, that tiny hand smelling faintly of milk and feeling soft. Now, Tao Nian, squatting, was barely a small bundle, but one hand placed on Lin Qianman’s knee just covered it. Lin Qianman felt her palm was warm, which was a little strange.

She could only push her, wanting to move a little further away.

Tao Nian didn’t mind. She retreated a bit with the force of Lin Qianman’s push and told Lin Qianman, “Those longevity noodles are one long strand, they don’t break. Eggs have to be rolled on your body before you can eat them. Yueyue said her family always does it that way, she doesn’t know why.”

Lin Qianman looked at Tao Nian.

Tao Nian hadn’t actually eaten cake before. Although there were many things in the cafeteria, at most there were pastries like date cakes and butterfly crisps. Even those didn’t sell well because not many people ate them, and calorie bombs like cakes were simply nonexistent. So, Tao Nian had never eaten them and only learned about them from Zhang Jingyue.

She was now describing them to Lin Qianman, swallowing a mouthful of saliva every two sentences.

Lin Qianman was a little helpless: “Do you want to eat it? Fang Wen will order a cake then. You can tell her, and she’ll buy you one you like.”

Tao Nian’s legs were a little numb from squatting for a while. She stood up, and hearing Lin Qianman’s words, she wiggled again, speaking in a sweet, affected voice, “Isn’t that bad?”

Both were wiggling, but the first one mimicked the child at the vaccination clinic—the innocent, pure jiggling of a chubby child. This current wiggle, however, she learned from who knows where, a kind of insincere, somewhat coquettish, confirming wiggle. It was a bit affected. As she affectedly wiggled, she also squatted, trying to rest her head on Lin Qianman’s knee.

Tao Nian was roughly as tall as Lin Qianman, making this movement difficult. Lin Qianman found it a little amusing and shook her head: “It’s fine, go ahead.”

As she pushed Tao Nian’s head away, Tao Nian stumbled, putting her hand on Lin Qianman’s leg to maintain balance. Only then did Lin Qianman notice that the scabs on Tao Nian’s arm showed signs of falling off.

Originally, with the warm summer weather and fast metabolism, plus Fang Wen constantly urging Tao Nian to apply medicine every day, and Lin Qianman’s initial blessing, Tao Nian’s wound healed very quickly. Three days ago, it was still a thick scab, but now a bit has fallen off, revealing the tender new skin underneath. However, the tender new skin under the scab was pink, while the outer marks were yellow-brown, and the four bloody holes of the wound were large and grotesque, not pretty at all.

Lin Qianman couldn’t help but ask, “Didn’t Fang Wen give you scar cream?”

Tao Nian followed Lin Qianman’s gaze to the wound on her arm, touched it, and told Lin Qianman, “Yes! That little white tube, I apply it every day.”

To examine Tao Nian’s wound, Lin Qianman placed her arm on her own leg, instinctively pressed the wound area, and asked, “Does it still hurt?”

Although Lin Qianman had been bitten by a Taotie before, the place Tao Nian bit was her temple. At that time, Lin Qianman was in her original form and couldn’t see what the bite looked like. It was only after she transformed into a human and looked in the mirror, discovering a scar on her temple, that she remembered it was from Tao Nian’s bite. Even during the period when she was bitten, her entire body was injured. In comparison, the wound on her temple didn’t hurt much; rather, the ticklish sensation of the little Taotie licking her all over was unforgettable.

Tao Nian also pressed the wound with Lin Qianman, pouting, “It hurts.”

Actually, the wound had healed, but pressing it still made it hurt.

Lin Qianman looked at Tao Nian’s pitiful expression, amused: “If it hurts, apply the medicine properly. You should also apply scar cream, otherwise, if you have a scar like that, it won’t look good on camera later.”

Tao Nian was still squatting in front of Lin Qianman, her arm on Lin Qianman’s thigh, looking up and listening to Lin Qianman speak. When she heard Lin Qianman say the scar wouldn’t look good, she uncontrollably glanced at the spot above Lin Qianman’s eyebrow.

Zhang Jingyue had talked about Lin Qianman to Tao Nian before, praising Lin Qianman’s appearance in various ways, saying she had a face that was perfect from every angle on the big screen, especially in full-face shots, her skin was clean and showed only the most basic texture, making it particularly rich in quality! And the scar above her eyebrow was especially beautiful!

It was already evening. Lin Qianman had removed her makeup and was preparing to rest. Her eyebrows weren’t drawn, and there was no concealer or foundation, so the scar above her eyebrow was particularly noticeable on her fair, clean skin.

I bit that myself.

If Tao Nian were still the initial Tao Nian, she wouldn’t have thought about anything upon seeing this scar. She would only cling to Lin Qianman, sniff her fragrant scent, and persistently beg for the “ball.”

But now, Tao Nian was no longer the arrogant Taotie she once was; she had experienced Maomao’s “beating.” She knew how painful a bite could be.

—Although she had insisted to Lin Qianman in the car that her teeth wouldn’t be as sharp as Maomao’s, and her bites wouldn’t hurt as much as Maomao’s.

But deep down, she also knew that in her original form, she was bigger than Maomao. If she bit in her original form, it would definitely hurt more than Maomao’s bite.

When she went to see Maomao, the dog that bit her, Huang Li had been lecturing Maomao, saying not to bite people, because if he bit people, Mama would have to pay the medical bills for the bitten person, and then there would be no money to buy dog food and treats for Maomao. She said that if Maomao bit someone, the bitten person would hurt a lot and wouldn’t like Maomao, and would be afraid of dogs like Maomao on the street in the future. She said that when Maomao bit someone, the wound wouldn’t just heal quickly, and others would hurt a lot…

Tao Nian and Maomao listened together. At that time, she didn’t feel anything when she saw Maomao lying on the ground whimpering and barking, but now, seeing the scar on Lin Qianman’s eyebrow, she felt she suddenly understood a little.

Empathizing, she compared herself to Lin Qianman. Her own wound hurt so much; Lin Qianman must have hurt a lot when she was bitten. If her own scar wasn’t pretty, Lin Qianman must also think her scar isn’t pretty.

Empathizing, she then compared herself to Maomao. Huang Li said she had to take responsibility and pay for the medical treatment of the bitten person, so she should also take responsibility and not let Lin Qianman be sad because of this scar!

But I don’t have any money…

Thoughts whirled in Tao Nian’s mind, and she couldn’t help but look at Lin Qianman. Lin Qianman still seemed very kind and good-tempered, which made Tao Nian feel embarrassed. She didn’t know what to say, so she could only nod awkwardly and guiltily.

Lin Qianman looked at her wound again, confirmed it was healing well, and let go: “Go back and rest. Find Fang Wen early tomorrow, otherwise, she’ll leave.”

Tao Nian withdrew her hand, stood up, and looked down at Lin Qianman.

Lin Qianman looked up at her. Because of the angle, the dark scar above her eyebrow became even more pronounced.

Tao Nian reached out and touched it, not roughly like before, but very lightly, a ticklish sensation.

Lin Qianman also felt that Tao Nian was different from before. She surprisingly didn’t feel very afraid, nor did she flinch. She just let Tao Nian gently stroke it.

The scab on Tao Nian’s own wound was raised and uneven. But Lin Qianman’s wound had already healed, and that scar couldn’t be felt at all. Lin Qianman looked at Tao Nian, a little nervous and a little expectant, wondering if Tao Nian would suddenly say she wanted to gnaw on the “ball” again—just like she had done many times before.

But Tao Nian didn’t. Tao Nian just stroked it for a while. For a moment, she opened her mouth as if to say something, but under Lin Qianman’s gaze, she ultimately said nothing. She just pulled her hand back, her voice a little dull and listless: “I’m going back to rest. When you see Fang Wen tomorrow, tell her not to leave yet. I want to eat cake.”

That evening, Lin Qianman applied a face mask. As she put on face cream in front of the bathroom mirror, she leaned in to carefully examine the scar on her eyebrow. At that time, two sharp tooth marks were directly bitten into her temple. Now, transformed into human form, it was just a tiny scar, barely noticeable if not examined closely.

She wondered what Tao Nian had been looking at all day.

The next day, Fang Wen brought breakfast to Lin Qianman. She found a tube of ointment at Lin Qianman’s door.

She bent down to pick it up: “How did this fall here?”

Lin Qianman opened the door, just hearing this, and was a little confused: “What’s wrong?”

“The ointment Tao Nian asked me to buy for her yesterday,”

Fang Wen was a little puzzled. She turned the ointment over and over, confirming it was indeed the scar cream of the brand she bought for Tao Nian: “Huh, how did it get here? I clearly put it in her dorm room with the cake. How did it fall at your door?”

Lin Qianman unwrapped the lunchbox Fang Wen brought, took out the pumpkin oat porridge inside, and turned to look at Fang Wen upon hearing her words. She held out her hand for the ointment: “Is that the one?”

Fang Wen handed it to her: “Yes, it is. This is for use with her wound-healing medicine. It’s this one.”

Lin Qianman also looked left and right, then, remembering Tao Nian’s demeanor the night before, seemed to understand something and suppressed a laugh: “This clumsy fool must have dropped it.”

“Why would she come here late at night?”

“Who knows.”

Lin Qianman stirred the still-hot porridge with a small silver spoon, her voice filled with unconcealed amusement.

It couldn’t possibly be that she came specifically to bring me scar cream, could it?

Author’s Note:

Tao Nian: “Exactly!”