After Transmigrating As The Mother Of The Pitiful Female Supporting Character in a Campus Novel - Chapter 45

Cleaning the house took an entire hour. Dirty clothes were piled in a bucket, and they changed into clean ones. Fortunately, the house was equipped with modern amenities like a hair dryer; otherwise, it would have been a real mess.

Since the children had short hair, the warm air dried it halfway in no time.

Xia Shibai carried the two little girls onto the bed and let them play there, telling them not to get off so they wouldn’t end up covered in sweat again.

The bedroom was empty, and the windows were sealed with vacuum bags—it would be a lie to say it wasn’t hot. The production team wasn’t completely heartless; after they finished cleaning, they delivered two large palm-leaf fans.

They called them “manual fans.”

Xia Shibai wanted to be stubborn and throw the fans back, but as soon as she moved, the heat became stifling. After a few waves of the fan, it actually felt quite comfortable, so she endured the irony and kept them.

She left one for the children on the bed to fan themselves and took one outside with her.

It was hot inside and hot outside. Even standing at the doorway to catch a natural breeze while holding the hair dryer’s cord, sweat still beaded on her forehead.

Xia Shibai stepped out of the house carrying the fan, spinning the slender handle twice in her hand. Her gaze fell on Qin Zhijin, who was slightly tilting her head as she dried her hair.

Qin Zhijin with her hair down and hair tied up looked like two different people. The former appeared gentler than the latter. Without her white lab coat, if she went out and told people she studied art, they would believe her.

As Qin Zhijin tilted her head to blow-dry, her field of vision was fixed in one direction, which happened to align perfectly with Xia Shibai’s gaze. Seeing Xia staring at her, she switched the hair dryer to the off position. “What’s wrong?”

“Are you hot?” Xia Shibai’s own hair was half-dry, tied up with a small rubber band to keep water from dripping down her back.

She stepped forward quickly and fanned Qin Zhijin with the palm-leaf fan. “This fan is actually quite cool. The production team still has a bit of a conscience.”

“Otherwise, I wouldn’t know how we’d survive tonight.”

Qin Zhijin nodded, her fingers sliding slowly from the dry roots to the damp ends to smooth the hair. She pointed to a chair nearby. “Bring a chair over. I’ll help you dry your hair. Once we’re done, we can take an afternoon nap and rest before the evening gathering.”

“I’ll bring two, let’s sit together.” Xia Shibai didn’t refuse the offer. She handed the fan to Qin Zhijin and brought two chairs over, placing them facing each other. Just as she was about to sit, Qin Zhijin stopped her.

“If you set them like that, how am I supposed to dry your hair?”

If they sat face-to-face, no matter how long her arms were, she wouldn’t be able to dry the back of Xia’s head.

Qin Zhijin thought Xia Shibai had been turned silly by the heat, so she pushed her arm to make her change direction.

She changed, but only the chair’s direction changed.

Xia Shibai still sat facing Qin Zhijin. Before Qin could speak, Xia reached out and pulled her down to sit. Xia draped one hand over the back of the chair and rested her head on her arm, while the other hand held the fan, waving it back and forth between them.

Gentle gusts of wind were sent over by the fan.

Aside from being too close and the posture being a bit too intimate…

Qin Zhijin really couldn’t find a flaw in this setup. She was hot too, but drying hair this way required skill and patience.

The warm air from the dryer fell on Xia Shibai. Her damp hair was spread over her shoulders; the rubber band that previously held it was now around Qin Zhijin’s wrist.

The two raised their arms simultaneously, touching from time to time. At each momentary contact, they would instinctively pause for a second before quickly resuming their previous actions.

Xia Shibai rested her chin on her arm, showing no resistance to the hand moving through her damp hair. In fact, because they were so close, her nose was filled with the scent of the exact same body wash she used. The sunlight was blocked by an outer board, though a few stray beams leaked through from above. Her eyelids began to close involuntarily.

Although Xia Shibai sat hunched to give Qin Zhijin as much of a height advantage as possible, holding up a hair dryer was still tiring.

After a while, Qin Zhijin’s arm grew so sore she couldn’t keep it up, and she had to lower it occasionally to rest.

She remained focused throughout the entire process.

She only realized Xia Shibai had fallen asleep when the hand holding the fan dropped onto Qin Zhijin’s leg.

Startled, Qin Zhijin turned off the dryer and leaned over to look. She found that Xia Shibai was exhausted and had already fallen into a light slumber.

Qin Zhijin carefully put away the dryer, slipped the fan out of Xia Shibai’s hand, and stood up from the chair. She walked quietly into the house. Seeing the two little girls also asleep in a tangled mess on the bed, she covered their bellies with a corner of the quilt and returned to her chair.

The chair wasn’t very sturdy. The production team might have been trying to pull a prank, or perhaps it was to match the aesthetic of the dilapidated house; it creaked whenever she sat.

Terrified, Qin Zhijin sat perfectly still for a long while. Only after the creaking stopped did she dare to move slowly.

She mimicked Xia Shibai’s posture, resting one hand on the chair back. Since she wasn’t as sleepy, she used her dominant hand to gently fan the air.

The sudden breeze dispersed the heat of Xia Shibai’s sleep. Today had been tiring enough to shut down her brain; in her daze, she just took it for the wind blowing in from outside. Her fingertips resting on her knees twitched slightly; in her dreams, she was also fanning Qin Zhijin and herself.

The face-to-face distance was less than half a meter, but when Qin Zhijin’s chin met her own arm, that distance shrunk to five centimeters.

Half a ruler’s length, yet it made the air from the fan feel warm, and even the familiar scent of the body wash couldn’t dissipate the tension.

Qin Zhijin stared at the sleeping Xia Shibai. Even though from this angle she could only see the beautiful eyes and bridge of her nose, she found it hard to look away.

She believed her gaze was restrained and that she hadn’t made any intimate or “over-the-line” moves. Had there been no cameras in the room, Qin Zhijin would have likely reached out to touch her.

Dr. Qin, who rarely dealt with cameras, didn’t know that a lens’s ability to capture detail far exceeds human imagination. Even a fleeting thought of desire is displayed vividly before the audience, with nowhere to hide.

The Live Stream Comments

“Sigh, just got back from the Super Topic (fan forum). After watching the sisters’ frame-by-frame analysis, I don’t think we’re overthinking it. If these two don’t have a guilty conscience, I’ll post my Weibo name in my family group chat and hang myself!”

“Been following all day. I feel like CEO Xia is only childish with Dr. Qin. Like a kindergartner: ‘If you tell me not to do it, I’ll do it anyway,’ and after offending someone, she needs Dr. Qin to coax her… wait, did I get the ship positions wrong?”

“CEO Xia is practically flirting right in your face, and you still got the positions wrong?”

“Face-to-face hair drying? My girlfriend and I have never even done that! Is it really okay for you two ‘neighbors’ to be like this? Sisters, do you remember you’re neighbors and not on a dating show?! Sobbing… already screen-recorded. I’m doing face-to-face hair drying tonight too!”

“This damn ‘pure university love’ vibe! This damn secret public display of affection! This damn… can I hear the news that you’re together by the end of this episode? Please, I’m just a primary school student, can’t you fulfill this tiny wish?”

“Aaaaah! Go back to the part where Dr. Qin pulls the fan away. Replay it in slow motion. Their fingers clearly touched, yet they acted all serious on the surface. Dammit, I’m telling you, this show belongs on OnlyFans! Their gazes are like pulling silk. Stop looking; at this temperature, I feel like CEO Xia is going to catch fire.”

“If it was on OnlyFans, everything after the hair drying would be behind a paywall. Wake up!”

“Isn’t ‘Early Access’ a paywall? Production team, please contact OnlyFans immediately. Our country’s lesbians will never admit defeat. If you’re gonna do it, do it big. Trend worldwide, you know what I mean?”

“LMAO, don’t go too far in the comments. I’m really afraid the first live stream of this show aired in the morning, and the four pairs of guests will be in detention by evening.”

“Aaaaah, just for me, get together so I can eat well (enjoy the content).”

Because the house was too hot, sleeping wasn’t easy.

Eventually, Qin Zhijin also became drowsy. Her sleep was shallow; as soon as gongs and drums sounded outside, she woke up, and the fan in her hand dropped to the ground.

Xia Shibai had red marks on her face from where it had been pressed against her arm. She yawned and rubbed her cheek. “What’s all that noise outside?”

“Seems to be the production staff. They’re banging gongs to wake us up.” Qin Zhijin leaned down to pick up the fan. Before she could move, Xia Shibai took it and started fanning.

The face that had been hot from sleep was suddenly cooled.

The crew saw they were awake and told them to hurry to Gathering Point A for a new round of tasks.

Hearing this, Xia Shibai said crossly, “Didn’t you say we’d rest until evening? Starting tasks now? We didn’t even have lunch; we’re starving.”

“We should be able to eat after the task. I just hope the new task isn’t too exhausting. I have zero physical energy left; I can’t squeeze out any more.” Qin Zhijin didn’t feel it while sitting, but upon standing, she found her back was aching. Just as she pushed her arms back to relax her tight muscles, Xia Shibai reached out to massage her numbed back.

“Why did you sleep outside with me? You should have just lied on the bed after drying your hair. Sleeping in the hall is hot and uncomfortable.”

“…” Qin Zhijin bit her lip and didn’t respond.

She searched her mind but couldn’t find a suitable excuse. Once the rhythmic pressure left her back and she felt better, she led Xia Shibai into the house while she went outside to wet a towel with well water that had been warmed by the sun for hours in a bucket.

By the time Qin Zhijin re-entered the bedroom, the two little girls had their hair tied and were sitting on the bed putting on socks, though their gazes were still vacant, looking like they were moving on muscle memory alone.

Xia Yaozhou’s head fell into Xia Shibai’s lap, her small hands clutching her mother’s arm. She was completely dazed. Even after Xia Shibai helped her put on her shoes and told her to let go, she hadn’t fully woken up.

As soon as her hands let go, Xia Yaozhou tumbled back into the quilt, rolled around, and tried to fall back asleep.

The next second, she was hit by a cool, wet towel, which snapped her out of her dream.

Lying down, Zhouzhou opened her eyes. Seeing it was Qin Zhijin, she scrambled into her arms. Her sleepiness made her stutter slightly as she scrunched up her face against the towel, her mouth moving as she mumbled: “I… I was in a dream. Food and drinks were falling from the sky in our house.”

“So, so, so much! Chocolate, sausages, and milk!”

Xia Yaozhou looked up and rubbed her cheek against Qin Zhijin’s, eager to share the joy of her dream.

Qin Zhijin held her, fearing she might be so excited she’d fall off the bed. “Wow, then the hole in our house must be a fairy’s treasure chest. Otherwise, how could so many good things fall from the sky?”

Xia Yaozhou nodded seriously. “Yes, yes! So Auntie Qin, if you want anything in the future, just tell Zhouzhou. When I dream of the fairy again, I’ll make a wish for you!”

“Alright, but we have tasks to do now, we’re in a hurry! Tell me when you’ve thought of something!”

“Okay, definitely!”

After chatting for a bit, Xia Yaozhou’s mental state was significantly better than when she first woke up.

As they were leaving, Xia Shibai initially didn’t want to lock the door; after all, the total value of everything in the house wasn’t even 200 yuan. But on second thought, it was where she lived now, and 200 yuan was still money. Furthermore, they were filming a show and were currently penniless. In the end, she silently locked up using the crew’s primitive lock.

By the time they reached Gathering Point A, the other two families had just arrived.

Compared to the familiarity between the adults, the four children were a different story. While Xia Yaozhou and Gu Mingyi liked to walk and play together, there was a gap as wide as the Yellow River between Jin Minna and Sheng Huaixing.

Sheng Huaixing had changed into clean clothes, her reddish-brown hair tied in a bun. After a day of filming, she could now face the cameras calmly even when they rushed toward her. Occasionally she would clench her hands and stop, waiting for Sheng Liu to come and lead her before continuing.

After today’s lesson, Jin Minna had restrained herself a lot. At least she knew there were no adults around to take her side; her sister was a “Grand Witch” who really would throw her into a pond if she ignored three warnings!

The other three children also didn’t swarm her like the kids in her neighborhood to tell her she was cute and pretty.

Jin Minna stole glances at the other three and felt a bit angry: “Why are there other good-looking children in the world besides her?”

The four adults walked behind, exchanging thoughts—or rather, complaining about the production team.

Sheng Liu spoke first. “How’s your house? Let me tell you, it’s lucky you didn’t pick that fruit forest. Otherwise, you’d realize the production team has their own interpretation of Chinese characters. Don’t even get me started on that house. Whatever beauty was in the picture, the reality is at least 70% off. No, 70% off is being generous!”

“If we hadn’t spent all afternoon working on it, I’d believe you if you said that house was a condemned building!”

Jin Minxi echoed her boss’s words with a pained expression. “It’s really too awful!”

“They call it a ‘forest,’ but there are only two crooked trees! When we asked the director where the forest was, he actually dared to ask us back how many ‘trees’ make up the character for ‘forest’! We asked about fruit, and he said the tree used to bear fruit, but because no one fertilized it and the soil was poor, it had a ‘vasectomy’!” Jin Minxi couldn’t help raising her voice. “It’s the first time I’ve heard such a brazen explanation! I’m going to die of anger!”

Regarding the house, both women gave long speeches; they were clearly fuming.

Because there was no well in their yard, they had to shamelessly borrow one from a nearby family. They drew four buckets just to fill the provided water vat halfway. They didn’t dare visit the neighbors too often, so they just had to endure.

The inside and outside of the house were a mess. Because it was a stilt house, there was a small pen underneath for cattle or sheep, which smelled awful. When they asked the director why it smelled so bad, they acted innocent and said someone used to keep sheep there.

Where are the sheep?

Director: “That’s a task for you adults later.”

Jin Minxi had been pampered for eighteen years at home and had a smooth career since her debut. She had never suffered like this. After cleaning and showering, she still felt like she smelled bad.

“Tell me, is he insane or what!”

Qin Zhijin and Xia Shibai exchanged looks, suddenly feeling that the house Xia Yaozhou picked wasn’t so bad. For a moment, they couldn’t even bring themselves to complain, only mentioning the broken roof and windows.

Fortunately, it was a short walk, and they arrived at the gathering point.

The production team had laid out a spread of delicious food. In front of the food sat a small table and a TV.

Once everyone was seated, the director slowly picked up the microphone to greet the adults and children.

“I believe that throughout the day, you have all felt our team’s sincerity and love for this show, as well as our friendliness and kindness toward the guests! We will spend fifteen wonderful days in Ping’ao Village. Today is the first day, so our team is handing out some benefits.”

The director pointed to the food table. “Each team can send one representative to bring food back to eat. There are no level requirements here; you can take whatever you want. However, the food must be placed on plates. Two people are not allowed to team up and carry the entire table away! That is forbidden!”

Hearing this, the four adults, who had just had that very thought, clicked their tongues in unison.

They had been read.

The comments section went wild.

“After hearing President Sheng and Xiao Xi’s sob stories, I feel like Little Xia’s side had it too easy.”

“It’s a waste of talent not to hire this production team for a new edition of the Chinese dictionary. ‘Forest’ is two crooked trees, so ‘Deep Forest’ must be three. By that logic, since my mom planted a row of money trees on the balcony, I basically live in the Amazon!”

“Aaaaah, why did the director stop them from moving the table! Let them move it! Let them eat! Look at the four kids, they’re about to drool a Yellow River over those New Orleans chicken wings!”

“Director: I predicted your prediction.”

“LMAO, the director didn’t guess it; he clearly learned his lesson after being tricked by the previous batch of guests! Hahaha, the people on the last show were like bandits entering a village by the end—they took whatever they saw. As long as you said there were no ‘levels,’ four strong men would swarm the place and take everything, no hesitation! The director of this kids’ show says: ‘We have experience now!'”

“The predecessors dig the holes, and the successors fall in hahaha. I suggest those people be careful. Watch out, or CEO Xia will write your names in her notebook and take revenge one by one when she gets back!”

“President Sheng: Who are you looking down on? It’s like I don’t have a Death Note too!”

“Director, you’re really a tiger. Did you forget two of the four people are your bosses? Aaaaah, your opening essay specifically thanked Little Xia and Sheng Liu for their full support of the show, sounding so fawning as if you were shouting that Xingkong and Lansui are one family! In the show I strike hard; outside the show I’m weak and submissive. The status of a modern corporate slave.”

“Director, are we those kinds of people?” Sheng Liu looked at the director speechlessly, then leaned against the table and blinked at Xia Shibai. The latter quickly understood her meaning.

Xia Shibai turned off her and Qin Zhijin’s microphones and leaned into Qin’s ear to whisper her guess.

“Are you sure that’s what she means?”

Xia Shibai waved her hand. “More or less. If the table won’t come to me, I’ll go to the table. It’s no big deal.”

The director watched the two talking with their mics off and felt a pang of unease, but he couldn’t say what was wrong. After consulting with the assistant directors, he felt their rule was nearly perfect and there were no more rules to add.

“Guests, please turn on your mics. If there’s a secret, the production team wants to hear it too.” After the assistant directors’ reassurance, the director regained his absolute confidence.

This was valuable experience gained from four months of battling eight regulars and four rotating guests. There couldn’t possibly be a loophole.

“Can we start now?” Xia Shibai asked.

“Yes. Timer is set for one and a half minutes.”

BEEP—

As soon as the whistle blew, Sheng Liu and Xia Shibai jumped up. The stools they were sitting on were pushed over by the force, and the table they used for eating was hoisted into the air.

Jin Minxi and Qin Zhijin teamed up to move the table with the TV and task cards out of the way.

Those unimportant things were pushed aside; eating a delicious meal was what mattered.

The moment the long wooden table hit the ground, Xia Shibai held four plates in one hand. Qin Zhijin stood by, supporting the bottom of the plates with her hand. Food was scooped up with tongs and dropped onto the clean plates as if it cost nothing. Saving time on running back and forth, the long wooden table was covered in food in no time.

They even had dessert and post-meal fruit.

The four children sat on their stools watching the wooden table “take flight” and then get harvested with food. One by one, they excitedly started clapping and cheering.

Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought it was an intense physical competition. Curious villagers who walked over to look thought: Good grief, were these sisters just released from prison? Have they not eaten in centuries or what?

Director: “…”

Everything went dark. He had woken up to see four new “female bandits” entering the village.

Assistant Directors: “We miscalculated. In the end, we were too young.”

The live stream was instantly flooded with a continuous stream of “Hahahaha.”

“The four of them have too much chemistry. President Sheng and Little Xia just blink and know what the other wants to say. This ‘Capitalist Hive Mind’ is amazing.”

“Am I the only one noticing that Little Xia’s first instinct wasn’t to figure out the plan, but to turn and explain it to Dr. Qin, who hadn’t gotten it? Sobbing… what a great person. She must be so gentle when teaching people their homework!”

“Don’t talk about professions, why can’t this be two college girls in love?!”

“As expected, the director is no match for the cunning capitalists. The control you thought you had was just a trap the capitalists intentionally let you see. Pity for the director! QwQ”

“Sobbing… the wives are so beautiful. Wives worked hard moving the table. When will the wives move me to the bed? I can accept all four of them!”

“First, the internet is not a lawless place; second, the internet is not a lawless place; finally, they are MY wives, stay away!”

“Wrong, they are lesbians! They can resolve things internally!”

“The atmosphere is already here, why not let my CP perform a ‘big deed’ for everyone! I beg you, Neighbor CP, the kid is desperate and can’t find the video.”

“The comments on this show always have nothing to do with its age rating. Someone should remember we are an 8+ show and not a 21+ erotic romance show, right?”

“I’d rather it was.”

“I think so too!”

Author’s Note:

Director: We are not a 21+ erotic romance show.

Audience: Why can’t it be? If I want it to be, it must be! It can be, it has to be. If it isn’t, I’ll show you my suicide!

Director: …It really isn’t.