Chapter 177: The Cannon Fodder Who Can’t Survive Three Chapters (20)
The jiao’s mating season ended on the third day.
Thanks to the protective array around the room, Bei Xing’s family assumed she was out having fun, and Su Mingxiu had excused her absences from school.
But Bei Xing, having skipped classes for the first time since arriving in this world, wasn’t happy. She felt like she was dying, trapped in bed with Su Mingxiu.
Her mind hazy, her words fragmented, she still managed to whisper:
“I… want… to go to school…”
She would even eat her textbooks if it meant escaping this endless cycle of… intimacy. She had never been so eager to study.
Su Mingxiu, seeing Bei Xing’s obedience, her only form of protest being soft whimpers and tears, as if afraid of angering the jiao, finally relented, letting her get dressed. Bei Xing’s legs wobbled, and she collapsed onto the carpet.
“Maybe… tomorrow?” Su Mingxiu suggested, wanting Bei Xing to rest and recover.
But Bei Xing, her eyes red and swollen, shook her head resolutely, her voice hoarse. “Even if I have to crawl, I’m going to school today.”
Su Mingxiu, also exhausted from their activities, her black robe stained with… evidence of their passion, yet her expression serene, like an immortal,
Chuckled softly, amused by Bei Xing’s determination. “Fine,” she said, “I’ll get you a wheelchair.”
Bei Xing: “?”
There was no wheelchair, of course, and even if there was, Bei Xing couldn’t fake an injury convincingly.
So, after being cleaned and dressed by Su Mingxiu, she was searching online for quick remedies, not for a full recovery, but at least enough to be able to walk without collapsing.
But Su Mingxiu took her phone, her dark eyes looking down at her, making Bei Xing swallow nervously. “Didn’t you say I could go to school?”
“Don’t worry,” Su Mingxiu said, her gaze gentle, her eyes sparkling like melted cheese, a deceptive warmth,
Making Bei Xing tense up, remembering the jiao’s deceptive gentleness.
“I just want to… apply some medicine,” Su Mingxiu continued.
“When did you buy that?” This was their first time, and the protective array was still active, there couldn’t have been any… preparations.
“Do you know that a jiao transforms into a dragon after the tribulation?” Su Mingxiu asked, changing the subject, her hand gently caressing Bei Xing’s cheek.
As Bei Xing nodded hesitantly, Su Mingxiu’s smile widened, like a blooming flower.
Then, she leaned closer, her lips brushing against Bei Xing’s ear, her voice a low murmur, explaining the healing properties of dragon saliva—
A jiao’s saliva wasn’t as potent, but it was still effective for mortals.
Bei Xing’s expression gradually froze as she understood Su Mingxiu’s intentions.
The next moment—
She pushed Su Mingxiu away.
Su Mingxiu sat down beside her, her gaze fixed on Bei Xing’s blush. “It’s just a suggestion, why are you blushing? Or do you prefer… making a grand entrance in a wheelchair, letting everyone fuss over you?”
Bei Xing: “…”
She suppressed her blush, her voice strained. “Are there… other options?”
“No,” Su Mingxiu pinched her cheek playfully. “What, not happy to be helped by your longtime crush?”
Bei Xing, ignoring her teasing, “What if I’m not happy?”
Su Mingxiu, a playful smile, “Then we can… review our earlier activities, see what exactly made you unhappy.”
Bei Xing: “…” She pulled the blanket over her head, defeated.
“Didn’t you want to go to school?” Su Mingxiu poked her through the blanket, her voice teasing. “Besides, you were the one who enjoyed it, why are you hiding?”
Two hours later…
Bei Xing, her ears burning, sat in the classroom, wondering if being in a wheelchair would have been less embarrassing than Su Mingxiu’s “treatment.”
If the past three days had been about her scent clinging to the jiao, now, she was undeniably marked by the jiao’s scent.
Inside and out.
The bedsheets were… a disaster.
She covered her face with her hands, only her red ears visible. Su Mingxiu, now disguised as Su Jin, watched her with amusement, then, leaning closer, despite the other students nearby, she whispered: “Enjoying the memories?”
“Want another round tonight?”
Bei Xing glared at her and covered Su Mingxiu’s lips, but the cool, damp touch made her quickly withdraw her hand, covering her ears instead, refusing to listen.
Su Mingxiu pinched her ear.
Bei Xing didn’t react.
Su Mingxiu poked her again.
Still no reaction.
Until the professor, taking attendance, raised his voice: “Bei Xing? Bei Xing? Absent?”
Su Mingxiu sighed inwardly. “Present.”
Just then, the class monitor, “She’s on leave.”
Their voices overlapped—
Everyone looked at them.
The professor, looking up, saw Su Mingxiu’s alluring face, clearly not a student, and asked: “Are you from another department? Answering for her?”
Thankfully, Bei Xing had recovered from her embarrassment. Although she still blushed as she explained, having experienced much worse, she didn’t mind this minor social death.
The class passed without further incident.
After class, although it wasn’t lunchtime yet, Bei Xing was hungry. She walked towards the cafeteria and bumped into Chu Yinxi near the literature department’s garden.
Chu Yinxi hurried over, a smile on her face. “Xingxing, Su…”
Damn.
Bei Xing touched her nose, remembering that Su Mingxiu and Su Jin were one, and that Su Jin was probably… gone. Chu Yinxi didn’t know.
Did Chu Yinxi even know that Su Jin was pursuing her? And what were her feelings about it? Would she be affected by Su Jin’s true nature?
She had a headache, she should have taken a different route. But Su Mingxiu, with her sharp eyesight, had already noticed Chu Yinxi. Instead of avoiding her, she greeted her politely: “Chu Yinxi, long time no see.”
“Su… Mingxiu.”
Despite the identical faces, Chu Yinxi, like Bei Xing, could tell the difference.
It had indeed been a long time.
Chu Yinxi thought about their time as classmates, then Su Mingxiu’s funeral, the black and white portrait, and now, just a few days later, this ghost, with a demonic aura, a physical body, standing before her.
So much had changed.
And even more so, the things her family had told her. Sensing the mixed aura of ghost and demon around Su Mingxiu, she felt a surge of confusion.
She remembered Su Mingxiu as a classmate, then the snake demon clinging to her, now, those images overlapped.
Seeing her prolonged silence, her unusual pallor, Bei Xing, thinking she was upset about Su Jin,
Decided to give her some space.
“I’m hungry, going to the cafeteria, see you later,” she said, tugging at Su Mingxiu’s sleeve.
Su Mingxiu, who had been staring at Chu Yinxi, or rather, the dragon pearl around her neck, larger than before,
Followed Bei Xing, then heard Chu Yinxi’s voice: “I’ll… join you, I’m also hungry.”
It wasn’t lunchtime yet, and the cafeteria was mostly empty. Bei Xing chose a newly renovated section in the basement.
Sitting on a cold bench, she ordered a jianbing (savory crepe), without cilantro, chili, or scallions, and savored the taste, her first proper meal in three days.
Then, she saw Chu Yinxi push a plate of pastries towards Su Mingxiu.
Hmm?
Bei Xing tilted her head, looking at them. “Long time no see, I remember you used to like these,” Chu Yinxi said.
Beep—beep!
An alarm in Bei Xing’s mind.
She paused, following the pastries with her gaze.
Su Mingxiu, looking at the pastries, then at Chu Yinxi, said: “I remember you disapproving of my relationship with Bei Xing, saying that humans and ghosts shouldn’t be together, how about… humans and demons?”
Chu Yinxi blushed, embarrassed.
That had indeed been her family’s teachings.
But…
Remembering the rumors about the black jiao’s transformation into a dragon, she tried to explain.
“I… I’ve reconsidered, Su Mingxiu was always a good person, and you haven’t harmed Bei Xing, so I’m willing to trust you.”
Su Mingxiu, seeing the pastries, had heard Su Jin’s triumphant voice in her mind.
Su Jin had even thought she could regain control, using love and the system’s help!
But then, a jolt of lightning, and Chu Yinxi’s words of praise—
She deflated.
Even disbelief.
“Why so quiet now?” Su Mingxiu asked her mentally. “Never heard Chu Yinxi praise you before?”
Su Jin: …
“Seems like I was right, tsk, some snakes, despite sharing my face, can’t seem to get the school beauty’s attention.”
Su Mingxiu, as if it wasn’t enough, added: “A simp’s efforts are always in vain.”
Su Jin’s consciousness trembled with rage!
She had been waiting for an opportunity to regain control, but this was too much!
Her sudden outburst played right into Su Mingxiu’s hands. She had been waiting for this, tired of the snake hiding in her mind.
She didn’t even bother replying to Chu Yinxi, her fingers tapping the table seemingly casually, but her consciousness was merging with Su Jin’s, a slow, steady absorption.
“Su Jin has already enrolled, and since you’re back, with your excellent grades, it would be a shame not to continue your studies, I have the latest lecture notes, do you need them?” Chu Yinxi asked, the pastries still between them.
Su Mingxiu didn’t answer.
Bei Xing, sensing the tension, glanced at Su Mingxiu, then, crumpling the empty jianbing wrapper, replied for her: “Thank you, you can give them to me, she’s staying with me.”
Chu Yinxi, usually so tactful, now only smiled at Bei Xing, her aura of a delicate, innocent flower intensifying. “I left the notes at home, I don’t know which subjects you need, it’s better if you come with me.”
Bei Xing, pretending not to understand the hint, “The more, the better, I’ll send someone over tonight, just pack everything.”
Chu Yinxi sighed inwardly.
She knew she was being strange.
But having made up her mind, she continued. “But… I was asking Su Mingxiu.”
Such a strong scent of tea, Bei Xing thought, a sudden realization, so in the original story, Bei Xing and Su Mingxiu were rivals, but Su Mingxiu and the protagonist were actually a couple?
What’s going on? Could it be that Chu Yinxi only rejected Su Mingxiu because she was a ghost, but now that she has a physical body… she’s interested?
But based on her memories and their recent interactions, Chu Yinxi didn’t seem like that kind of person—a homewrecker.
Do delicate, innocent flowers have a preference for forbidden love?
Lost in her strange thoughts, she looked at Chu Yinxi with a puzzled expression, until Su Mingxiu, stopping her tapping, massaged her temples and looked at Chu Yinxi. “Her answer is my answer.”
Chu Yinxi: “…”
She frantically searched for persuasive lines on her phone, then said: “But… even if you two are… close, we can still be friends, right? Can’t friends visit each other?”
Then, suppressing a twitch in her eye, she looked at Bei Xing. “Xingxing, you’re not that petty, are you?”
Bei Xing: “I am.”
Su Mingxiu: “She’s not.”
They exchanged glances.
Bei Xing raised an eyebrow, a silent threat, and Su Mingxiu, who had been planning to play along, smiled and changed her answer.
Chu Yinxi, realizing that she wouldn’t be able to get Su Mingxiu alone today, seeing their increasingly intimate behavior, could only leave, hoping for another opportunity.
As soon as she left, Bei Xing pulled away from Su Mingxiu, looking around nervously, as if afraid of being seen.
“Finally being discreet?”
Su Mingxiu teased her. “Too late, everyone saw.”
Bei Xing blushed, her gaze darting around, then, remembering something, she leaned closer and whispered: “Don’t you think Chu Chu was acting strange?”
“Yes.”
“If she also liked you, she had opportunities before, even when you were a ghost, but she only started now, why?”
“I don’t know,” Su Mingxiu said, her consciousness circling Su Jin’s, now half-absorbed, in their shared mindscape.
“She seemed to want to be alone with you,” Detective Bei Xing continued her deduction.
Su Mingxiu simply hummed in agreement.
Then Bei Xing whispered: “I heard her family has many powerful cultivators, maybe some of them are against demons and ghosts, what if they trick her into killing you? You can’t go, okay?”
Su Mingxiu, amused by her concern, as if she was talking to a child, looked at Bei Xing, her beautiful face illuminated by the harsh cafeteria lights, her skin pale, her features delicate, her dark eyes sparkling, the tear mole at the corner of her eye adding a touch of allure.
Bei Xing, mesmerized, swallowed nervously. “Are you even listening to me?”
“Of course,” Su Mingxiu paused, then added, “but why should I listen to you?”
Bei Xing kicked her lightly under the table. “Because I’m being good, so you should be good too.”
The jiao’s eyes darkened at the word “good,” a storm brewing. “How are you being good?” she asked, her voice husky.
Remembering Su Mingxiu’s tribulation, worried about her safety, Bei Xing, unable to express her feelings,
Suddenly placed her hand on Su Mingxiu’s head and, leaning closer, gathering her courage, let out a soft: “Woof.”
Then she closed her mouth, looking at Su Mingxiu nervously, slightly embarrassed by her own actions,
Then, seeing Su Mingxiu’s silence, her expression turned to grievance, feeling wronged, as if saying, I’m being so good, like a puppy, why won’t you listen to me?
The embarrassment won.
She covered Su Mingxiu’s eyes. “Okay, okay, I was just kidding, forget about it—”
Su Mingxiu pulled her hand away, her gaze intense. “I can’t forget,” she said softly.
Bei Xing, unnerved by her expression, made an excuse about throwing away the trash and left, Su Mingxiu following her.
As they stepped out of the cafeteria, Su Mingxiu chuckled. “Why are you running?”
“Aren’t you going to wait for your master, little puppy?” she teased.
Leave a Reply