After the Scheming Girl Joined a Dating Show - Chapter 6

Before Xia Mozhu spoke those words, she only felt a slight warmth in her face; after saying them, her cheeks felt as hot as a branding iron.

On their very first night living together, she was waking someone up in the middle of the night to escort her to the bathroom.

Su Qin was definitely going to be angry.

“What did you say?” Su Qin’s voice was still thick with sleep.

“Never… never mind.” Xia Mozhu’s voice was like the hum of a mosquito. This was so embarrassing.

Su Qin breathed steadily for a few moments, her eyes gradually clearing as consciousness returned. She sat up from under the duvet and slipped on her slippers. “Let’s go.”

“Huh?” Xia Mozhu was dazed for a second.

“Didn’t you need the bathroom?” Su Qin asked.

“Yes, I do.” Xia Mozhu had been squatting on the floor when she called out to Su Qin; seeing Su Qin stand up, she followed suit.

“Mm.” Su Qin wasn’t angry, nor did she show any sign of mocking her. She simply started walking out.

Xia Mozhu’s reaction time didn’t quite keep up. She froze for several seconds before taking quick, tiny steps to catch up. “Did I wake you up? I’m so sorry.”

Su Qin replied with a concise: “You didn’t.”

Xia Mozhu followed behind with her head down. Her throat felt dry, and she didn’t know what else to say. She licked her lips and unconsciously started biting at the dry skin on them.

If anyone else had woken her up in the middle of the night for something so trivial, she might have had a bout of “waking-up grumpiness.”

Su Qin didn’t seem angry at all.

What a kind person with a cold face but a warm heart.

This was likely the first time someone had set aside Su Qin’s extraordinary looks and temperament just to praise her for being a “good person.” After all, young people these days usually only say “You’re a good person” when they’re rejecting a confession.

Seeing that Su Qin was about to step out of the room and into the pitch-black hallway first, Xia Mozhu quickly shook the irrelevant thoughts from her head and sped up. Her body seemed to have a mind of its own; without any orders from her brain, she tightly hugged Su Qin’s arm.

Through the thin silk pajamas, though she could feel bone more than flesh, the arm felt soft and warm—warmer than hugging her mother.

Su Qin used her phone as a light. Her steps were much smaller now because the person beside her wasn’t just clutching her for dear life, but was also constantly glancing left, right, front, and back as they walked—likely terrified that something might suddenly pounce out of the darkness.

After a journey of a few meters that felt like an eternity, Xia Mozhu finally reached the bathroom. She turned on the light and only then relaxed a little.

She looked at the brightly lit bathroom, then at Su Qin, and lowered her head, murmuring, “You’ll wait for me, right?”

Su Qin gave a faint “Mm.”

Xia Mozhu felt much more at ease. She couldn’t help but marvel again: Su Qin really is a great person!

Having finally resolved her biological emergency, Xia Mozhu let out a long breath of relief.

Normally, after washing her hands, she would definitely linger in front of the mirror to admire the beauty reflected back. But since Su Qin was waiting outside, she washed her hands, turned off the tap, and opened the door as fast as she could.

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!” Xia Mozhu nearly screamed her throat raw.

In the doorway, bathed in a ghostly blue light, stood a pale-faced, disheveled female ghost.

Actually, Xia Mozhu realized it was Su Qin even as she screamed, but while her brain could react, her fear-driven body could not. She barely stopped herself from throwing a punch at Su Qin.

“You scared the life out of me!” Xia Mozhu’s voice was tinged with a sob. She was genuinely terrified.

Su Qin pursed her lips. “Sorry.”

“It’s my fault for being too afraid of the dark,” Xia Mozhu said.

“I shouldn’t have teased you,” Su Qin said.

They spoke at the same time.

“Eh?” Xia Mozhu was shocked. She had thought Su Qin just happened to be holding her phone and looked like a ghost by accident; she was about to apologize for the scream.

She hadn’t expected Su Qin to do it on purpose!

Su Qin, feeling a bit embarrassed, cleared her throat and said, “I’m sleepy. Let’s go back to sleep.”

Since she had dragged the other woman out of bed in the middle of the night, Xia Mozhu felt she was in the wrong and couldn’t make a big deal out of it—besides, she still needed a guide for the walk back.

Xia Mozhu pouted pitifully. This time, she didn’t hug Su Qin’s arm; she only gripped the very edge of Su Qin’s sleeve, keeping her eyes closed and her head down as she walked forward.

Su Qin wore a rare expression of regret.

Back in the room, Xia Mozhu was like a wilted eggplant, still shaken by the scare and the revelation. However, she didn’t forget her manners. She gave Su Qin a solemn bow and said, “Thank you.”

“No need.” Su Qin seemed like she wanted to say something more, but in the end, she said nothing.

Xia Mozhu rubbed her arms and dived under the duvet, her teeth chattering. It really was a bit cold outside.

Su Qin climbed into bed after her.

Just as Xia Mozhu was drifting into a hazy, semi-conscious state, she heard a pleasant, alluring voice say: “Are you cold?”

Xia Mozhu let out an “Mm” in her sleep. Like a little loach, she slid into the duvet on the other side of the bed and hugged a human-shaped heating pad.

The next morning, Xia Mozhu woke up to the sound of the production crew’s megaphone. When she opened her eyes, she saw a face with skin so supple it looked like a bouncy, delicious egg.

“Mmm…” Xia Mozhu’s brain wasn’t fully awake yet. For a moment, she didn’t even remember who this face belonged to.

One, two, three, four, five… sixty seconds later, Xia Mozhu’s entire body went stiff. It felt like her blood had stopped flowing. Her already large eyes widened even further in shock, becoming bigger than copper bells.

She was wrapped around someone like an octopus. This person was… Su Qin, the “Flower on a High Mountain” whom half the entertainment industry worshipped as a celestial!

Hiss—

Xia Mozhu inhaled sharply. Her heart felt like it was leaking air. The very first time they slept together, she had “eaten the other’s tofu” (took liberties) so thoroughly. How was she going to explain this?!

She had always known her sleeping posture was bad—terrible, in fact. She could often flip the sheets right off the bed even when sleeping alone. Last night, she must have rolled around too wildly after falling asleep and ended up in Su Qin’s nest.

What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?

Xia Mozhu swallowed hard in terror. She backed away inch by inch, carefully removing her hand from Su Qin’s body, and then wiggled out of the duvet like a caterpillar. She snuck away from the “crime scene,” feeling guiltier than a thief.

Maybe Su Qin is a heavy sleeper and has no idea I entered her covers last night.

Xia Mozhu comforted herself with this thought.

While her mental gears were grinding at high speed, Su Qin opened her eyes at the exact moment Xia Mozhu was about to successfully escape the duvet.

Xia Mozhu: “…” The word “unlucky” was written stroke-by-stroke just for me.

“Uh… Su… Good morning!” Xia Mozhu struck first, attempting to distract Su Qin with talk while completing the final step of her escape plan.

She still didn’t know what to call Su Qin, so she just slurred over the name.

“Morning,” Su Qin replied.

“It was pretty cold coming back from the bathroom last night. You didn’t catch a cold, did you?” Xia Mozhu asked.

“I’m not cold,” Su Qin said.

“That’s good.”

“Are you very sensitive to the cold?” Su Qin asked.

“A little.”

“So when you’re cold, you always hug other people to sleep?”

“…”

What did that mean?

Xia Mozhu let out a couple of dry laughs, playing dumb. “I didn’t… hug you to sleep last night, did I?”

“You’re still in my duvet,” Su Qin pointed out.

When Xia Mozhu was a little embarrassed, her face would turn red. But when she was embarrassed beyond a certain point, it reached a tipping point—internally, she had jumped off a building a hundred times, but on the surface, she looked perfectly fine.

She nodded “calmly” and said, “I’ve had a cold constitution since I was a kid. Whenever I’m cold, my body automatically finds something warm to hug. I’ve hugged plenty of people before.” She followed this with: “Ha… ha-ha,” and a few dry laughs.

Su Qin suddenly threw back the duvet and flipped out of bed.

Xia Mozhu’s pajamas under the duvet had ridden up quite a bit during her sleep. Now, with the cover suddenly gone, a large portion of her belly was exposed. She was like a little fish suddenly thrown onto ice, shivering several times from the chill.

When Xia Mozhu and Su Qin went downstairs, the scent of breakfast was already wafting from the open kitchen.

Before they even saw anyone, they heard Song Yanran’s voice: “I don’t need your help!”

“I wonder who just cracked an egg onto the floor. How can you miss a bowl that big?” That was An Nuo’s voice.

“I like feeding the floor eggs! What’s it to you!”

“Do you want me to help you draft a trending search title that’ll get you cancelled? ‘Rising starlet Song Yanran wastes food and is proud of it instead of ashamed.'”

“That title is too long. Who would trend that?!”

Because they had lost the game yesterday, the two had been dragged out of bed early by the crew to make breakfast. The moment they entered the kitchen, they began bickering, feeling uncomfortable if they didn’t pick at each other for a few lines.

Xia Mozhu ran over in her slippers. “You guys are up so early! Let me help.”

“No need, this is our punishment for losing,” An Nuo said with a smile while plating the food. “It’s almost ready. Go ahead and sit down.”

“Then I’ll help carry it over,” Xia Mozhu said. “I’d feel too bad just sitting and eating while you sisters do all the work.”

“Alright, then I’ll trouble Little Bamboo to carry these two plates over.” An Nuo was very gentle with Xia Mozhu, her tone worlds apart from how she spoke to Song Yanran.

Song Yanran gave a “Tch.” “I’m younger than you too. Why don’t you say ‘Little Yanran has worked hard’?” Finally, she added with heavy emphasis: “An Nuo-jie.”

Xia Mozhu kept her head down and worked, not daring to interject.

Once at the dining table, Song Yanran finally stopped clashing with An Nuo. She looked at Xia Mozhu, who shared the second floor, and said, “I thought I heard someone screaming last night. Was I dreaming?”

Thinking of the embarrassing scene from last night, Xia Mozhu’s face flushed. Not sure how to answer, she grabbed her glass and took a gulp of milk to try and hide it.

At that moment, Su Qin spoke: “There was a cockroach in the room.”

“Oh, I see,” Song Yanran shuddered. “Thank goodness I didn’t see it, or I would have been scared to death.”

Xia Mozhu licked the milk foam from her lips and stole a glance at Su Qin. Her eyes unconsciously crinkled into a smile.

An Nuo accidentally caught Xia Mozhu’s expression and raised an eyebrow, looking as if she had discovered a whole new world.