0023: The Intruding Porcelain Doll

Upon returning home, Xu Lin folded up the umbrella that Teacher Su had given him, only to hear a sharp crash from the kitchen—a sound that seemed to be a bowl or cup shattering. He hurried over and found Chu Qingchan, still in her pajamas, both hands poised awkwardly in mid-air while shards of porcelain littered the floor beneath her.

"Xu Lin… sorry, I broke one of your plates."

"Don't worry about it. Just stay still. Let me sweep it up first so you don't cut your feet."

He rushed over, tossing the larger pieces into the trash and sweeping up the smaller fragments into a dustpan. Some tiny shards resisted his efforts; since there was no vacuum or cleaning robot in the house, he had to pick them up one by one by hand.

"Why are you barefoot anyway? The floor may be mopped every day, but it's not as clean as you imagine," Xu Lin remarked, casting a helpless glance at Chu Qingchan, who hadn’t even put on socks and now dared not move at all.

Xu Lin straightened up and, with a thought, opened the system shop, navigating to the section for physique points. Only four thousand points were needed—the cheapest of the three attributes. His base stats were low, and he could train them himself, but since there was a shortcut, he decided to indulge a bit.

In an instant, over twenty-one thousand points dropped by four thousand. He felt a sudden heat surge through his body, though no other changes accompanied it.

Returning to the task at hand, now strengthened, he stretched out his arms, mustering all his strength, and swept Chu Qingchan into his embrace.

She was startled, struggling instinctively, but quickly realized he was carrying her to safety. Though it was only an increase of four points, Xu Lin managed to pick her up steadily—mainly because she was so light.

Such a graceful figure, yet so light—he couldn’t fathom how it was possible. Was this the charm of a charisma score of nine?

Moving her to a spot free of shards, Xu Lin prepared to let go, but as he felt the warmth of her body and the alluring scent, he hesitated for a few seconds.

Then a sharp pain struck his waist—her fingernails had dug in again.

"Have you held me enough?"

"No," he replied, utterly serious.

"Do you want to hold me again?"

"Is that allowed?"

"No!"

"Alright, but next time you’re around me, you'd better wear long pants. Otherwise, I might just lick your legs until they break."

Xu Lin gazed at her legs—straight as lines, white as porcelain—surely everyone would be drawn to them.

To be honest, even he, a man, wished to have such long, straight legs.

"Mr. Xu, last time you said I had issues, but clearly you have even more issues!"

"No problem—no matter how weird a man is, it’s never really an issue."

"Though it feels like you’ve gotten weaker. The other day you carried my suitcase so far without any trouble."

"Well, I’ve been sick. Went to school this morning, the fever returned, got an injection at the campus clinic."

Xu Lin was embarrassed to admit that he wasn’t naturally strong—it was only thanks to the 'Real Man Experience Voucher' he used that day, and who knew when it would refresh next.

"You have a fever again?"

"Not anymore. Just feeling weak and tired."

"Why wouldn’t you let me call a cab for you? Did you walk all that way in the rain?"

Chu Qingchan’s concern deepened, recalling how he looked last night—it reminded her of the days before her grandfather passed away.

"Teacher Su brought me back. It’s alright."

"Teacher Su?"

"Yes, our English teacher." Xu Lin crouched down, picking up the tiny shards with his fingernails.

"Are you going back to school this afternoon?"

"No, why would I?"

"Come with me to visit Ms. Guan."

"Would it be appropriate for me to go?"

"I think a genius creator would be very appealing to her."

"No, she’s already a super creator. I’m nothing by comparison. It’s better for you, as a new singer, to go."

"Alright, if you won’t go, I’ll drop it. But you still need to practice your script in advance."

"The ad short?"

"Yes, not many lines, but there are some, and plenty of gestures and actions. You need to memorize them."

"Okay, since I agreed, I’ll practice seriously. But I have exams soon—let me wait until the weekend so I can focus, alright?"

"Fine. I believe you’ll be a promising talent."

Once the kitchen was cleaned, Xu Lin suddenly realized—why had she come in to wash dishes?

"Have you eaten?"

"No… yes."

"Which is it? I haven’t eaten yet, and I don’t feel like cooking. Planning to order delivery. If you want something, I’ll get you a portion."

"Then I’ll have one…"

"So you haven’t eaten. Why were you washing dishes?"

"Uh…" Chu Qingchan looked embarrassed, pointing to the nearby trash bin.

He looked inside and saw chunks of black, unidentifiable matter.

"What is this?"

"I wanted to cook lunch for you, so we could eat together. I saw some spare ribs in the fridge and tried to make braised pork ribs, but…"

"They turned into blackened pork ribs."

"Yes." She nodded awkwardly. "I’ll make it up to you for the meat—I’ll treat you for lunch." She opened her phone and began searching.

"Did you turn off the gas?" Xu Lin asked, and she jumped up from the sofa.

"Let me handle it. Don’t over-tighten it or it’ll leak completely."

Xu Lin shut off the gas, realizing once again that there was no such thing as a perfect person. No matter how accomplished Chu Qingchan was outside, there were still things she was not good at.

‘Ding-dong!’

The doorbell rang, interrupting his thoughts. Chu Qingchan started toward the door, but Xu Lin pointed to her clothes and she dashed into the bedroom.

He strode over to open the door, and was taken aback—outside stood a doll-like figure.

She looked about fourteen or fifteen, with golden hair and pale blue eyes like gemstones. She wore a beautiful, Lolita-style dress, her lips curved into a sweet smile.

"Hello, what's the matter?"

"Hello, handsome. Is my sister here?"

He had barely finished speaking when she responded in fluent Chinese. He was startled—sister? A foreigner’s sister? In Lin Shui, one hardly saw any foreigners all year.

"Sorry, I haven’t seen any foreigners in ages, let alone your sister."

"No, my sister’s name is Chu Qingchan."

Xu Lin was stunned. Chu Qingchan’s younger sister was a foreigner? But she had no trace of foreign blood. Wait—cousin? Stepsister?

But then he realized—Chu Qingchan probably didn’t want anyone finding her, and as her friend…

"Sorry, I don’t know anyone named Chu Qingchan."

"Is that so… then sorry to bother you." She nodded slightly and turned to leave.

He breathed a sigh of relief, but the next second, she spun around and darted straight at him. Xu Lin instinctively tried to block her, but she slipped through the gap.

"Hey, hey! Young lady, this is called trespassing. In your beautiful country, you’d have emptied a magazine by now!"