After Being Hopeless at Singing and Dancing, I Exploded in Popularity Due to My Appetite - Chapter 49

Lin Qianman was a little unsure where to look.

According to her usual demeanor, she should avoid looking around and instead gaze sincerely into Tao Nian’s eyes, inviting her into the room. But Tao Nian, in her current state, was simply too adorable!!

So, with great difficulty, she resisted the urge to carefully observe the water droplets sliding down the smooth curves of Tao Nian’s peachy, delicate, and pink-tinged skin, and instead forced herself to look into Tao Nian’s eyes.

Her wet hair was disheveled, strands plastered to her face, and water droplets slid down her cheeks, pausing for a moment at her chin before finally dropping onto the floor.

Like wilting leaves after the rain.

Lin Qianman still brought her into the room, handing her a clean towel to dry her hair: “What’s wrong?”

Tao Nian haphazardly rubbed her hair twice with the towel, making her already messy hair even messier: “Hot water, it’s gone!”

Lin Qianman had never encountered such a thing before and was momentarily confused. She went out to the bathroom to check.

Indeed, there was no hot water left; the water coming out of the showerhead was ice cold. She turned on the water heater, but after a long time, the pump was still empty.

Lin Qianman had no choice but to go back and tell Tao Nian to shower in her own room.

Just now, Tao Nian had carelessly rubbed her hair and, without waiting for it to dry, had placed the towel directly on the bed, looking around at the things in her room.

Lin Qianman was a little helpless and picked up the towel: “You can shower in my room.”

Tao Nian nodded, intending to get up and continue showering.

She had gotten out in a hurry, and now, standing up abruptly, her bath towel swayed precariously.

A vein throbbed involuntarily in Lin Qianman’s forehead.

Yet, Tao Nian was completely oblivious. Realizing her bath towel was about to fall, and recalling Fang Wen’s instructions, she casually pulled at the bath towel, pressing it to her chest: “Okay.”

Tao Nian had already entered the bathroom and turned on the shower. Water splashed onto the floor, initially strong, then its flow was adjusted. Soon, mist spread across the opaque glass of the bathroom.

Lin Qianman’s eyelids wouldn’t stop twitching; she felt as though something was spiraling out of control and heading somewhere she couldn’t fathom.

Tao Nian quickly finished her shower, haphazardly wrapped herself in a bath towel again, and came out with wet hair.

Behind her was a trail of wet footprints and water droplets all the way.

Lin Qianman handed the towel to Tao Nian again: “Dry your hair.”

Tao Nian, holding the bath towel to her chest with one hand, took the towel with the other and rubbed it twice on her head.

It was probably just putting the towel on her head and covering it for two seconds.

She quickly took the towel down and handed it to Lin Qianman: “I’m going back now.”

Watching the water drip from her hair, forming a small puddle on the floor, Lin Qianman couldn’t help but shake the towel open: “I’ll wrap your hair for you. Go back and blow-dry it.”

Tao Nian turned to glance at Lin Qianman, obediently went back to stand in front of her, and slightly squatted down to let Lin Qianman wrap her hair.

They were already about the same height, so even if she didn’t squat down, Lin Qianman could still wrap her hair. Now that Tao Nian squatted down, and because she squatted too low, as Lin Qianman wrapped her hair with the towel, her peripheral vision caught sight of the patch of white beside the hand covering Tao Nian’s chest.

Thick towel, wet hair. First, squeeze the water from the roots with the towel, then wrap the hair. As she moved, strands of hair fell out of the towel, and her long fingers hooked those strands back into the towel. The touch was of water, somewhat cool, but underneath was warm skin, smooth and resilient.

Quietly speeding up the hair-wrapping process, Lin Qianman folded the thick white towel directly into the shape of a hat and placed it on Tao Nian’s head: “Go back quickly.”

Before, when Tao Nian washed her hair, Zhang Jingyue had also wrapped it for her, but at that time, she used Tao Nian’s own 9.9 yuan, free-shipping towel, which was very light, thin, and not absorbent. Moreover, if she kept rubbing her hair with it, it would shed fibers. So, Tao Nian didn’t particularly like drying her hair.

Now, using Lin Qianman’s towel, she felt a heaviness on her head. Tao Nian curiously turned her head, wanting to tell Lin Qianman how she felt.

Lin Qianman didn’t look at her, only at the door: “Go back quickly.”

Tao Nian blinked, covering her bath towel with one hand and holding the towel on her head with the other, pattering out the door.

After the person left, Lin Qianman looked up at Tao Nian’s retreating figure.

It was very strange. Although Tao Nian had changed many outfits during the show, each with its own charm, and many were sexy and showed off her figure—she was already tall with long legs and a slim waist, and when she wore high heels, no matter how pure and innocent her eyes were, at first glance, she was a great beauty, captivating.

At that time, Lin Qianman only found Tao Nian’s appearance a bit strange. She knew that beneath that captivating exterior was a little Taotie, with nothing but food on her mind. So, she never thought anything else.

Now, watching Tao Nian run out wrapped in a bath towel, she seemed to discern something beneath the large, comical towel-hat and the precarious pink bath towel.

Lin Qianman couldn’t help but purse her lips, biting the plump labial tubercle of her upper lip. She felt somewhat confused.

The moon hung high. Lin Qianman sent a message to property management, asking them to come fix the water heater tomorrow.

Much later, Lin Qianman lay in bed, unable to help but toss and turn.

Why couldn’t she sleep tonight?

She wasn’t so clueless as to not know what was wrong with her today. She just didn’t understand why it was Tao Nian.

She already knew Tao Nian quite well, right?

It was clearly pure mother-daughter affection! Even if it was lust at first sight, it had been two months now. It wasn’t the first day she knew Tao Nian was pretty, so feeling lust at first sight now made no sense!

She couldn’t help but recall her thoughts at the time.

Actually, Tao Nian in that moment was just cute, very similar to the little peach in her dream.

Hmm.

And she was wearing so little.

She must be cold, right?

She seemed to sneeze when she knocked on the door; will she catch a cold?

If a Taotie catches a cold, can she take human medicine? Will the little Taotie dislike the bitterness and refuse to drink it? Will she cry directly like she did when getting vaccinated? Can she be appeased with candy if she cries?

Thinking of this, Lin Qianman’s upper eyelids couldn’t help but start searching for her lower eyelids.

In a daze, Lin Qianman gave herself a thumbs-up.

Sure enough, this is the correct way to open it. Still pure mother-daughter affection. She was just worried about Tao Nian, who ran out without drying her hair, she must be cold, and she wondered if she would catch a cold…

The next moment, her recently closed eyelids opened. Lin Qianman turned over, sighed, and went downstairs to find the medicine cabinet. She took out a packet of cold medicine granules, boiled water, and prepared it. She carried it to Tao Nian’s door and knocked.

She waited for a while, but no one opened the door.

Lin Qianman tentatively twisted the doorknob. Tao Nian hadn’t locked it, and the door opened quickly.

Tao Nian, wearing pink peach pajamas, was already asleep.

She had a different kind of obedience than during the day. Her cheeks were sunken into the pillow, and because she was sound asleep, they were tinged with pink. Strands of hair framed her face.

Too cute!

Lin Qianman was momentarily lost in thought, then quickly realized.

This is pure mother-daughter affection! You don’t need to overthink and strategize with yourself! Mother-daughter affection!

It’s not that you can’t be gay, but there’s no need for self-persuasion!

Lin Qianman, having understood everything, let out another sigh of “cute,” then like a strict mother, stroked Tao Nian’s hair.

It was indeed still damp.

She looked again at Tao Nian, who was still sleeping soundly, and at the steaming cold medicine granules. She placed the medicine on the nightstand, found a hairdryer in the drawer, plugged it in, and began to blow-dry Tao Nian’s hair.

Tao Nian’s hair was like the fur of her Taotie original form—hard and coarse, feeling a bit rough to the touch.

Lin Qianman ran her hand through Tao Nian’s hair, massaging her scalp. She slowly used a low fan speed to blow.

The hairdryer made a humming sound. Although the low fan speed was quiet, being so close to her ear, Tao Nian was still woken up.

Just as she was beginning to stir, she felt someone stroking her head, gently rubbing her scalp. It was ticklish and very comfortable.

The little Taotie couldn’t help but let out a sigh of contentment, leaning into the hand and nuzzling her head.

Lin Qianman quickly understood her meaning and increased the pressure slightly, rubbing her head.

Half a minute later, Tao Nian groggily opened her eyes and looked up.

The room was dark, with only a small red light from the hairdryer switch. Lin Qianman sat by the bed, holding the hairdryer in one hand, her eyes filled with doting affection.

Seeing that she was awake, Lin Qianman turned off the hairdryer: “Why did you sleep without drying your hair?”

Tao Nian sat up, still a bit dazed. Hearing this, she blinked and glanced at Lin Qianman.

Lin Qianman was no longer annoyed. She handed the medicine granules to Tao Nian: “Drink some water, or you’ll catch a cold.”

She was afraid Tao Nian wouldn’t drink it, so she didn’t tell Tao Nian it was medicine, only calling it “water.” But she still felt uncertain, worried that Tao Nian wasn’t foolish and could smell the bitterness of the granules.

But she forgot that as long as she was around, Tao Nian’s nostrils were filled with her scent.

Now, too, the hairdryer’s heat lingered, making Lin Qianman’s scent even more appealing to the Taotie.

Tao Nian sniffed and took two more deep breaths, then took the cup.

Lin Qianman, however, held on tightly, and seeing Tao Nian’s confused gaze, she nervously instructed: “Drink it quickly and go back to sleep, drink it all at once.”

Tao Nian obediently nodded, took the cup, and chugged down the granules in one go. She frowned at the strange taste.

But Lin Qianman had already turned on the hairdryer to dry her hair, and her soft, slender fingers massaged her head, which felt very comfortable.

The little Taotie squinted, feeling sleepy again.

When Lin Qianman finished drying Tao Nian’s hair and left that night, Tao Nian was already asleep.

The next day, Tao Nian’s five-day vacation ended, and she had to go to work.

She had been there for five days, eating a lot every day, and everything she ate was delicious, which gave the auntie a lot of confidence. Plus, now that she was leaving, Xiao Nan was also leaving, and there would be no one to help her get garlic when she went grocery shopping. The auntie was quite reluctant to see her go and made Tao Nian many small snacks.

As Tao Nian was moving her luggage and snacks to the car, getting ready to leave, the repairman Lin Qianman had called yesterday arrived.

It was just a water pump not pumping water, so it was fixed quickly.

It was Xiao Nan who had broken it with tools yesterday…

Lin Qianman was a little speechless.

Xiao Nan, however, was already taking out his notebook, planning to learn from his mistake and continue studying.

Meanwhile, Fang Wen, looking at the repairman and Xiao Nan, frowned and asked Lin Qianman: “What’s wrong?”

If there was a hint of ambiguous excitement from the atmosphere and setting last night, Lin Qianman was now as calm as still water. She truthfully recounted yesterday’s events, emphasizing like a worried mother: “She went to sleep without even drying her hair. I don’t know if she’ll catch a cold today. Did you bring her cold medicine?”

Fang Wen: “…”