Chapter 485: The Fiancée Comes to Visit

The morning sunlight, carrying a hint of warmth, spilled over her body. The air was filled with the scent of fresh grass and the faint moisture of dew evaporating.

Facing east, Lu Yibei stood frozen in place, bathed in the morning sun, her mind full of question marks.

What the heck? What’s going on? What am I supposed to do now?

Wasn’t it agreed that bathing in the morning sun would restore her to normal?

Why didn’t reality match the description?

She had thought she could just enjoy a brief taste of the beautiful girl life, then return to normal–like getting a seven-day holiday for May Day, absolutely delightful.

But reality told her that everything comes with a price.

The beautiful girl experience card had expired, and even though she followed the “instructions,” she didn’t return to normal. It was like a supposed seven-day holiday being cut to three days, with make-up work on top–so “delightful” it was suffocating.

Lu Yibei looked down at her own hands.

Those delicate, fair fingers seemed to whisper to her, “Don’t look at us, we’re not the problem–you are. This is what you’ve always looked like!”

It was just like buying something online and getting the wrong item, only to have customer service brush you off and dodge responsibility.

“This is what I’ve always looked like, my ass! Don’t I know what I used to look like?”

Lu Yibei grumbled harshly. Thinking about all the situations she might have to face next, her mood grew heavy.

Never mind the long-term troubles–right now, a huge crisis was speeding toward her.

Honestly, for a moment, Lu Yibei could almost see lines of scarlet WARNINGs flying before her eyes, no FBI filter.

She had previously arranged to meet Nanling Rao Hua and Su Mi today to pick a restaurant for their graduation dinner, but in her current state, there was no way she could show up in front of those two.

Never mind whether Nanling Rao Hua could handle her boyfriend suddenly turning into a sister.

And let’s not mention that, back in their reckless youth, she and Su Mi had sworn that if either of them ever turned into a beautiful girl, the first thing they’d do would be to let their bro have some fun.

Just thinking about how to explain her current situation to those two made Lu Yibei’s cheeks burn. Her mind flashed through countless possible scenarios and endings, like running a galgame in her head.

……

If she pretended to be sick, Nanling Rao Hua would definitely drop everything and rush over to see her.

Then, she’d take out the spare key, open the door, and walk in to find a strange beautiful girl in the house. Most likely, she’d make this strange beautiful girl swallow the humidifier that Gu Qianqian hadn’t managed to swallow.

[the end. Caught cheating at home]

If she contacted Su Mi first and asked him to help cover for her and buy some time while she figured out how to return to normal, there would be two possible outcomes.

Branch 1: Su Mi would rush over to Lu Yibei’s place, eager to have her fulfill her oath.

[the end. The bro’s “bullfighting” party]

Branch 2: Su Mi’s acting would be terrible, his wording off, and his lies would be exposed by Nanling Rao Hua.

[the end. Brothers on the road to the underworld]

……

Lu Yibei spent over ten minutes, using her usual galgame logic, to imagine more than a dozen endings, only to find she had no way to achieve a “happy end.”

It was as if a razor-sharp sword was hanging over her head, engraved with words like [social death], [mental breakdown], [life derailed], [no longer human]…

That sword could fall at any moment, and once it did, her existence as “Lu Yibei” would be blown to pieces, vanishing from this world.

“Damn! What the hell is going on!?”

That’s why people who look for a sense of reality in games and try to bring it into real life all have something wrong with their heads.

Do you really think that after playing hundreds of dating sims, you’ll actually get a girlfriend? Real-life girls are way more complicated than those in games!

You tell her, “Sow postpartum care should start before birth.” She could still somehow twist it back to, “Do you not love me anymore?”

“According to the usual tropes, unless a sudden, all-powerful girl falls from the sky, I’m probably doomed, right?”

Lu Yibei muttered to herself, looking up at the eastern sky.

The sun had fully risen, and her dream of returning to normal…

Was completely shattered.

——–

A moment later.

Bathed in the bright morning sunlight, the spacious house was eerily quiet.

So quiet, it was as if the usual small vendors who recycled furniture and appliances in the courtyard, the guys pedaling tricycles selling fresh vegetables, and the aunties selling handmade steamed buns had all taken the day off.

Even the elderly folks out for morning exercise and the kids playing around had vanished into thin air today.

In her ears, only the living room clock ticked softly as the hands moved: “tick-tock, tick-tock.”

In the bedroom, Lu Yibei lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, like a salted fish that had lost its dreams.

The ticking of the clock kept reminding her that time was inching closer to the appointed hour.

Amid the faint rustling, the jacket crept up beside her, rubbing her cheek as if to comfort her.

Lady Witch, are you not feeling well?

(.•ˇ‸ˇ•.)

Lu Yibei sighed silently, turned her head, looked at the jacket, and muttered, “Jacket, do you know what I’m thinking right now?”

The jacket, like a well-behaved elementary school student, “sat” upright beside her, raised its hood, nodded twice, then slowly shook its head.

Lu Yibei patted the jacket’s hood dispiritedly and said, “I’m thinking, wouldn’t it be great if the apocalypse suddenly came right now.”

If the world ended, would anyone still care whether “Lu Yibei” had turned into a beautiful girl?

She only hoped that the place where she’d be buried wouldn’t have an overly enthusiastic tomb neighbor. She was mildly socially anxious, and she worried…

Worried that the tomb neighbor wouldn’t be able to stand her and would put on a resurrection armor and flash-move the grave overnight. Lu Yibei thought.

——–

It’s impossible for the world to suddenly face the apocalypse without any warning; some things simply have to be confronted.

So-called growth is about accepting whatever happens in life.

Lu Yibei felt that when she was about to send a message to Nanling Rao Hua and Su Mi, trying to muddle through and buy herself a day or two to find a way to return to normal, she had grown up.

She crawled to the bedside table, mustered her courage, picked up her phone from the table, and frowned as soon as she unlocked the screen.

Something seemed… off.

In the upper right corner of the phone screen, the mobile signal, WiFi signal, and battery icons were neatly lined up, but not a single one was normal!

Mobile signal: none.

WiFi signal: none.

Battery… only 12% left–could that be called normal?

In this day and age, charging a phone with almost no battery left isn’t just charging for some people–it’s a matter of survival!

Staring at the anxiety-inducing battery level, Lu Yibei quickly climbed out of bed and paced to her desk.

The moment she watched the data cable plug slide smoothly into her phone, her whole body relaxed, every limb and bone seemed to be cheering, celebrating this wonderful moment.

However…

The delightful charging notification sound didn’t play as expected, and Lu Yibei instantly fell from heaven to hell.

“What’s going on?”

Lu Yibei picked up her phone, switched to another data cable, plugged it in, but still didn’t hear the charging sound.

So, after trying different data cables one after another, she stared at the upper right corner of the screen, lost in thought.

No mobile signal, no WiFi, and now it wouldn’t charge…

Could it be that this lousy phone is broken?

This phone was originally hers, dug out as a backup after her main phone exploded from her body’s terrifying high temperature.

For a phone that’s been idle for so long, having issues during use is all too normal.

If that’s the case, she’d have to log into her social apps on her computer to message Ah-Hua or Su Mi… Lu Yibei thought.

As she pondered, she pulled out her chair, sat at her desk, and turned on her computer.

One minute later.

When the social app popped up a login failure dialog, Lu Yibei frowned and slowly shifted her gaze to the network connection icon at the bottom right of the screen.

In the lower right corner, the little computer-shaped icon had a bright red X on it–clearly, there was a network connection issue.

“That’s strange, how could this happen?”

If the computer also had a network connection problem, then it probably wasn’t just the backup phone’s issue.

But…

Under what circumstances would there be no internet, no power, and no phone signal all at once?

Could it be that I’ve jinxed it and the world really has ended? Lu Yibei joked to herself, then got up and walked toward the front door.

She was going to check the circuit breaker box at home.

Leaving aside the mobile signal issue, if the breaker had tripped, it could explain both the power and internet outage.

She took the breaker box key from the shoe cabinet in the entryway, opened the door, and unlocked the breaker box in the hallway.

When she saw the indicator light off and the electric meter inside the box had stopped running, Lu Yibei frowned. “Is there a power outage? Why wasn’t there any notice?”

“Or maybe some emergency caused a sudden outage?”

She mumbled softly, locked the breaker box again, and went back inside.

Knock, knock, knock… knock, knock, knock…

Lu Yibei had just closed the door and hadn’t even left the entryway when a knocking sound came to her ears, making her heart leap into her throat.

How could she let anyone see her like this?

Even if it was Granny Wang outside, she couldn’t possibly open the door in a bathrobe again, right? Bathing both times someone came by–what were the odds?

But if she didn’t wear the bathrobe, she couldn’t hide the fact that her figure was, compared to Ms. Wang Meili, exceptionally lacking.

The difference in their figures was about as vast as the gobi desert and the Taihang Mountains.

Knock, knock, knock… knock, knock, knock… The knocking continued.

Lu Yibei suddenly sensed something was off and narrowed her eyes.

The knocking was light and weak, as if someone wanted to knock but was afraid the sound would be too loud and alert something.

……

Ah-Hua’s family keeps a spare key to my place; they wouldn’t knock.

And this kind of knocking couldn’t be Granny Wang, Su Mi, or any neighbor in the compound–they wouldn’t be so restrained and cautious.

But if it wasn’t them, then who could it be?

Lu Yibei wondered, puzzled, as she moved closer to the door and peered out through the peephole.

And then…

She saw a pair of clear, bright, wide-open eyes, and heard a faint voice calling through the door.

“Lu Yibei… Lu Yibei… are you home? Can you let me in?”

Damn! In broad daylight, what kind of creepy stuff is this?

Wait, that voice sounds familiar… could it be Gu Qianqian?

She’d only just found out yesterday that she had a fiancé, and now, today, Gu Qianqian had come to her door.

Realizing it was Gu Qianqian outside, Lu Yibei’s face instantly flushed red.

Before reading Gu Xinian’s diary, she could still think of Gu Qianqian as a ghostly girl or a huge troublemaker always scheming against her.

But after learning that Gu Qianqian was the childhood betrothal her father had arranged, seeing Gu Qianqian again made her feelings subtly change.

It was like suddenly finding out that the girl you always bickered and fought with was secretly crushing on you.

Simply put, she felt shy, awkward, and at a complete loss.

Under the intense assault of shyness and embarrassment, Lu Yibei’s body temperature shot up uncontrollably, and soon a few wisps of white smoke drifted from the top of her head.

“Pfft—-!”

The next moment, she heard a miserable scream from outside the door.

Peering through the peephole, she saw Gu Qianqian suddenly jump back, stumble a few steps, and fall to the ground. Her small hands looked as if they’d been scalded by boiling water–palms bright red, covered in blisters.

Lu Yibei’s gaze slowly dropped to her own hands pressed against the door, and the corner of her eye twitched.

With her temperature soaring, the security door had… turned red-hot.

Lu Yibei, “……”

Does this… count as domestic violence?

——–

A moment later, inside Lu Yibei’s living room.

“I’m going to poke it in now, okay? Bear with it, it’ll just hurt for a second.”

“No, no! It’s my first time, I’m not mentally prepared!”

Lu Yibei put down the sterilized acne needle in her hand, glanced sideways at Gu Qianqian, and snapped, “What kind of mental preparation do you need to pop a blister? Just grit your teeth and get it over with!”

When burns cause blisters, in theory, after disinfection, you should break the blister to allow full drainage, to prevent the wound from getting infected by the blister fluid, deepening the injury, and affecting healing.

Considering no one else could see Gu Qianqian, going to the hospital was pointless, so Lu Yibei had to do it herself.

“But just thinking about it hurts…” Gu Qianqian protested weakly.

“……” Lu Yibei pondered for two seconds, then said seriously, “How about this! I’ll get you some painkillers first, guaranteed to work with just one! After you take it, it won’t hurt anymore.”

“Then I’ll help you deal with the blisters, okay?”

“Um…” Gu Qianqian pouted, asking in a small voice, “That medicine you mentioned, is it bitter?”

“Don’t worry, it’s not bitter, it’s sweet!” Lu Yibei said.

How could calcium milk tablets be bitter… Lu Yibei secretly added in her heart.

“Eh? Really?” Gu Qianqian’s eyes lit up. “Then, can I have two?”

Lu Yibei, “……”

My dear old father, what did you even see in her? Couldn’t you have been a bit pickier?

She doesn’t even question it–what kind of painkiller is sweet, or whether I really intend to give her painkillers. She even wants two.

If only I had some knockout drops on hand, I’d put her out right now, then I could pop her blisters without a care… hehehe! Lu Yibei thought.

Completely unaware that Lu Ming’s strategy was “take them all, no need to choose,” Lu Yibei grumbled inwardly, then stood up expressionlessly, went to the bedroom, fetched two calcium milk tablets, came back, and handed them to Gu Qianqian.

Gu Qianqian looked at the “painkillers” in Lu Yibei’s hand, then at her own blistered hands, and said pitifully, “Um, I’m like this right now…”

Lu Yibei rolled her eyes and interrupted, “I get it, open your mouth!”

As she spoke, she picked up a calcium milk tablet and brought it to Gu Qianqian’s slightly open mouth.

“Nom—-!”

Catching a whiff of the sweet scent from the calcium milk tablet, Gu Qianqian couldn’t wait and popped both the tablet and Lu Yibei’s finger into her mouth.

Ever since she snuck out of Lu Yibei’s house last time, she hadn’t eaten for two days.

A sudden warm, moist sensation on her fingertip made Lu Yibei freeze.

She stared blankly at the girl in front of her, only to see Gu Qianqian tilting her head to look back, her seventeen- or eighteen-year-old face all soft and pink.

Pretty and rosy.

Her big, lively eyes sparkled, lashes fluttering, bright as a baby’s, looking utterly pure.

Her pink lips held Lu Yibei’s finger, cheeks puffed out slightly, making her small round face even more adorably silly, tugging at the heartstrings.

Lu Yibei, “……” Who am I, where am I, what am I supposed to be doing?

Gu Qianqian, “……” Why hasn’t the Calamity come to me yet? Is it messing with me again?

Seeing Lu Yibei frozen for so long, Gu “skilled with her mouth” Qianqian frowned slightly, sensing something was off, and immediately resolved to “snatch” the sweet painkiller from Lu Yibei’s hand.

So, her soft tongue, like a nimble little snake, slipped between Lu Yibei’s fingertips and flicked with a gentle force.

The next moment, Lu Yibei’s body radiated an astonishing heat.

“Pfft—-!”

With a sound like pork dropped into a sizzling hot iron pan, a scream echoed through the room.

“Ah—-!”

The scream pierced her eardrums. Lu Yibei snapped back to her senses and looked at Gu Qianqian, the corner of her eye twitching.

She saw Gu Qianqian, eyes brimming with tears, looking at her. In her slightly open mouth, a huge blister had formed on her tongue.

“Uuu, you, you lied, your painkiller doesn’t stop pain at all…” Gu Qianqian mumbled indistinctly.

Is it my fault? I did tell you to open your mouth, but I didn’t tell you to bite down! Lu Yibei held her forehead.

“Stop talking, just look at your mouth, what a mess… Fine, I’ll make you something delicious later, okay?”

At that, Gu Qianqian remembered the delicious Roasted Pig Trotters Lu Yibei had made before. She hesitated, then raised five fingers, puffing her cheeks, and said angrily, “At least five meals, Roasted Pig Trotters!”

Lu Yibei, “……”