Chapter 69 Online Romance with a Bad Beta 22: Goodnight Cake
After the aircraft arrived at its destination, Tan Yicheng jumped off as if fleeing, stood aside to cool his burning face, and was then caught up by the people behind him.
Gloria lagged a few steps behind them. The aircraft behind her automatically landed next to the restaurant, joined the other aircraft, and lined up neatly together.
She saw Xi Congshuang smiling as she caught up with the woman walking ahead, her fair fingers tucking her long hair behind her hearing-good left ear, and bending down to speak to Tan Yicheng, whose ears were red.
Recently, her boss has been smiling much more often, and it's the first time she's realized that her boss has such a sunny and cheerful side.
Over there, Xi Congshuang said, "I didn't expect you to forget this. What exactly have you forgotten?"
"I forgot this time, but I won't next time." Tan Yicheng raised her expressionless face, but her gaze was unfocused. "The bite mark... was it very deep?"
She paused for a moment, then asked, "Does it hurt a lot?"
Xi Congshuang thought that if she acted pitiful now and said a few words about being in pain and unable to sleep, it would make Tan Yicheng feel guilty for a long time and keep him on his mind.
But rather than making her feel guilty, because being around her would remind her of this trivial little problem, she would rather Tan Yicheng be relaxed and happy.
She shook her head: "No, actually I have a tendency to form keloids, which is why they last longer."
Tan Yicheng's unease lessened slightly, but only slightly, almost imperceptibly.
Her gaze remained unfocused, looking left and right, but refusing to look at Xi Congshuang.
Taking in all of her reactions, Xi Congshuang suddenly had a strange feeling, which was definitely not dislike.
At this moment, she, like Tan Yicheng, was unable to connect the person in front of her with the person she had met for the first time.
She grabbed the other person's drooping hand and pressed it against the skin below their collarbone, trying to prove with facts that she was no longer in any condition and had nothing to worry about.
"...!"
Gloria, who was not far away, strode forward, blocking the doorman's view as he came out to greet guests, and showed him the boss's black gold card.
As a qualified lackey (not really) assistant, one must be able to grace the halls of society, cook in the kitchen, act as a screen on the left and a mouthpiece on the right; being omnipotent is her synonym.
However, Xi Congshuang wouldn't actually make her cook; a housekeeping robot would handle everything. She would only need to call out to her boss to come over for dinner.
Then let the housekeeping robot cook you a meal too.
"Please come this way to the top-floor VIP box."
Sure enough, the doorman no longer looked behind her with a third eye. He showed respect to the black gold card, stretched out his white-gloved hand, and pointed in the direction.
At that moment, the two who had lagged behind also came over and followed the directions into the restaurant.
Everything was planned perfectly by Gloria.
During the meal, Tan Yicheng had a persistent feeling that the hand holding the silver fork still carried the warmth of another person, making her absent-minded.
He ate his meal absentmindedly, and then got up and left with Xi Congshuang in a distracted manner.
As they left the private room, Gloria, who had already finished eating, was waiting at the door. Peeking inside, she was amazed by the perfect view from the top floor, but judging from Miss Tan's absent-minded appearance, she clearly hadn't noticed this excellent view.
Based on her modest and unremarkable insight, she guessed that Miss Tan was still thinking about what had just happened, so she hadn't noticed the scenery outside the window.
In some ways, her way of thinking can be described as pure...
But judging from the boss's expression, she was quite satisfied.
Since the boss is satisfied, it's practically a bargain, and the boss isn't short of money.
The fact that the starry sky went unnoticed is the restaurant's fault; the restaurant's design wasn't attractive enough, which led to this result.
Gloria smiled and pinned all the blame on the restaurant; no matter what, it couldn't be her boss's fault.
If Tan Yicheng, who happened to be passing by, knew what Gloria was thinking about every day, he would definitely marvel at the diversity of species, as her ability to fill in the gaps and find the missing pieces is unparalleled.
The aircraft landed again in front of the familiar school gate. Tan Yicheng got off the vehicle and prepared to go back to his dormitory to wash up and go to sleep.
"I'll be going now."
"Wait a minute." Xi Congshuang called out to the person who was about to leave, and took out a small square box from the aircraft's mini-fridge. "This is for you."
The small cake, still cool to the touch, was placed in Tan Yicheng's hand. She looked through the transparent packaging and saw that it was a small cake.
Judging from the brand, it's the same restaurant I ate at on my birthday.
Why would someone send themselves a cake out of the blue?
Tan Yicheng looked at the people on the aircraft with a confused expression. Xi Congshuang said, "Goodnight cake, as compensation for not being able to take you downstairs. See you tomorrow."
After saying that, Xi Congshuang didn't leave. She sat there watching her. Tan Yicheng suddenly realized that the other party seemed to want her to leave first and see her off.
In a daze, Tan Yicheng, carrying the cake, turned and walked towards the school gate. After passing through the gate and taking a few more steps, she suddenly had the urge to turn back.
If she's still there when I turn around, does that mean... she's unusually impatient tonight and turned away before I could finish expressing my thoughts?
Sure enough, the familiar aircraft was still parked in front of the school gate. The figure inside seemed not to have expected her to turn back. He raised his hand and waved, signaling her to keep going.
Today, Tan Yicheng's ears felt hot far more often than usual. She slowly turned around and walked slowly forward until she was far away from the school gate, then turned the corner and looked back again.
This time, the aircraft parked in front of the school gate was no longer visible, nor were the people sitting inside.
Unable to distinguish between lingering affection and disappointment, Tan Yicheng sighed and continued walking forward.
They had a meal together, then brought the person back, leaving a small cake as a farewell gift.
"What is this? Are you treating me like a child?" Tan Yicheng said incredulously.
Carrying the cake, Tan Yicheng took the elevator upstairs and bumped into Qi Qianqian coming from the opposite direction. Her instinct was to hide the cake behind her back, but when she thought that this action would be too childish, she forcibly restrained herself.
Qi Qianqian didn't understand her senior's little scheme. She strode forward and said, "Senior, so you went out? I just went to your dorm to hang out, but I found no one there, so I came back."
As she spoke, she noticed Tan Yicheng's strange expression, and her own expression turned strange as well: "Senior..."
Tan Yicheng was a little surprised: "What?"
Qi Qianqian said with great sympathy, "Instructor Lin wouldn't have kept you here until now, would he? And then he brought you a small cake to comfort you."
"..." Tan Yicheng, "In your heart, what kind of person is the coach?"
Qi Qianqian: "A tireless perfectionist... So, it wasn't Instructor Lin who gave you the cake."
Tan Yicheng: "No."
Qi Qianqian finally remembered the least likely possibility, and she exclaimed in shock, "You went out to eat? Why didn't you invite the two of us to come with you? There's a restaurant nearby that gives a discount to three people with student IDs!"
Losing just one discount felt like losing a hundred million star coins to Qi Qianqian, who was almost shaking Tan Yicheng by the shoulder: "Three people go together, one person gets a free meal, and the remaining two get an extra 20% off!"
"Senior, you're so confused!"
Tan Yicheng's slight pride and boasting were extinguished just like that, and he witnessed the diversity of human beings once again.
As the daughter of a psychologist and a central star councilor, she is well-informed about all the discounts available at the surrounding facilities and enjoys doing so immensely.
"Wait a minute, that restaurant's cakes weren't that fancy." As she got closer, Qi Qianqian finally saw the brand on the label and instantly recognized it as a high-end dessert shop.
Tan Yicheng said in a low voice, "You finally saw it."
Qi Qianqian was stunned: "Senior, you..."
Tan Yicheng picked up the cake and moved it in front of Qi Qianqian: "Yes, I went out to dinner with someone, and she gave me this goodnight cake."
Qi Qianqian's eyes followed the cake from side to side: "..."
After showing off, Tan Yicheng finally felt better and walked past her towards her dormitory, leaving the petrified Qi Qianqian standing there.
"Click." The dormitory door opened and then closed.
Qi Qianqian finally came to her senses, turning her head slowly and deliberately, her gaze towards the closed door becoming indescribable.
"How old is she? Why is she still sending goodnight cakes? I didn't expect my senior to like this."
Qi Qianqian took a few steps forward in the corridor, then finally realized something was wrong and turned around to walk deeper into the corridor.
"Bang!" The door opened, startling Xiang Wei, who was getting ready for bed. "Who's there?"
When she opened her eyes, she saw that Qi Qianqian was here again. Before she could say that she wouldn't play with her since it was so late, Qi Qianqian, as if they were old friends, dragged a chair to sit on the edge of her bed and started by saying, "Let me tell you," and poured out everything that had just happened, causing the two of them to gasp and exclaim in disbelief.
The next day, Tan Yicheng looked at the two alphas who arrived with panda eyes: "..."
Two panda alphas: "..."
Tan Yicheng: "You guys..."
Qi Qianqian: "I played games all night."
Xiang Wei: "I watched movies all night."
It definitely wasn't out of curiosity about who the senior went out with that I stayed up until midnight trying to figure it out. I got too excited and couldn't sleep, so I took the entrance photo and discussed all the students in the department, drawing up a complicated web of relationships along the way.
As the alarm clock was about to ring, the two suddenly realized that their discussion had unknowingly drifted further and further away from the senior student herself, and eventually had nothing to do with her at all.
Tan Yicheng: "What?"
The two spoke their answers at the same time, their voices mingling together, so Tan Yicheng couldn't hear them clearly.
The two looked at each other, inwardly lamenting that they had forgotten to exchange their statements, so they repeated them again.
Qi Qianqian: "I watched movies all night."
Xiang Wei: "I played games all night."
Very well, another perfect missed opportunity.
Seeing that Tan Yicheng's gaze was becoming increasingly strange, Xiang Wei said helplessly, "I played games in the first half of the night and watched movies in the second half, so I stayed up until dawn."
Tan Yicheng suddenly realized: "It's not a rest day yet. Staying up all night is not good for daily training. Don't stay up so late next time."
The two: "…………"
You actually believe that, senior?
After Tan Yicheng turned and left, Qi Qianqian cautiously approached Xiang Wei: "What should we do? Will they kill me if they find out that my senior is a naive and innocent alpha?"
Xiang Wei glanced at her speechlessly, then pressed two fingers against her forehead and forcefully pushed her away.
Don't get too close, I feel like I might get infected with some terrible virus.
*
Since that Midsummer Night's Ball, more and more people have come to know that Assistant Xi is actually the future pharmaceutical president of Bailongyu Clothing.
People even cleverly linked Weng Li's expulsion from school with the recent lawsuit filed by Future Pharmaceuticals against Cui Lai in the Interstellar Court.
After some speculation, the story eventually came to connect Xi Congshuang with the ancient Chinese proverb "sleeping on firewood and tasting gall," suggesting she endured humiliation and hardship.
The gossiping public, who are happy to see this, don't even consider why the future head of a pharmaceutical company would personally go down to the grassroots level to find evidence, when it would be just a matter of a word for her.
But strangely, when their elders told them that Xi Congshuang, who used the alias Xi Zhaoxue, was actually a playboy who indulged in sensual pleasures and only loved alphas, their first reaction was: How could that be? Don't be ridiculous!
After all, seeing is believing. The Xi Congshuang that everyone sees is aloof and serious, keeping people at arm's length. She would rather use a wound spray than do it herself. Her attitude towards alphas is always "Welcome if you don't come next time." From head to toe, there is not a single thing about her that an alpha would do.
According to unofficial statistics, everyone uses the school clinic's vanity mirror more often than Dr. Fan himself. Now, you can smell the wound spray emanating from the frame of the mirror when you get close to it.
Most importantly, Xi Congshuang has a bit of a temper. She washes her hands for a long time before each student leaves. Although she doesn't show it obviously, she always feels that she is being subtly disliked.
There are dedicated posts on our school forum to complain about this.
The text detailed all of Assistant Xi's misdeeds, claiming she only knew two skills: shoving wound spray to guide people to the dressing mirror on the left side of the room, and delivering bandages and medical tape for self-treatment.
The anonymous post was filled with resentment. At first, many alpha students agreed with it, but as they read on, they felt something was off and realized that the student was driven by love turned to hate, so they quickly left.
However, some beta and omega students among them expressed different opinions.
80% of the beta students said that Assistant Xi was calm, patient, and very gentle, while 90% of the omega students thought that Assistant Xi was curious and gentle, had meticulous techniques when treating external injuries, and had even explained that washing hands was just for personal reasons.
In the end, only the alpha students got hurt.
However, a user with a digital ID that clearly belonged to an older student commented: "She's not a big deal, she just has a severe case of OCD and washing her hands too often damages her skin."
Later, the post mysteriously disappeared, and the students, having had their fill of amusement, stopped caring about the person's love-turned-hate remarks.
A few days later, after being unbanned, Alpha posted again, angrily denouncing someone for reporting his post and declaring, "I'll remember that all-numeric ID."
Tan Yicheng, who was browsing the campus forum, raised his hand and reported the post again, citing reasons such as doxxing, inciting conflict, and inappropriate remarks.
Five minutes later, when she returned, the account had been banned for another three months.
In short, the news that Xi Congshuang is the future head of the pharmaceutical company is spreading wider and wider, and more and more people know about it.
Regardless of the other party's true motives, joining in the fun is never a bad thing. There are also some people who think, "Maybe the rumors are true, and I, a rich woman, no longer want to work hard."
At noon, Dr. Fan, who found her annoying, sent Xi Congshuang out to play, telling her to come back when no one was around.
Dr. Fan muttered, "These alphas are always like this. They always flock together for something, and when they're in the mood, they can say 'forever' to the betas too..."
Xi Congshuang raised an eyebrow: "You mean Colonel Lin?"
"Hmph, who said anything about her?" Dr. Fan raised an eyebrow. "I don't know anyone who would say, 'I'm not going to drag you down, let's just separate,' after just one surgery on the battlefield. Nor do I know anyone who insists on being transferred back to the central star and would rather not get promoted than keep going to the school."
Xi Congshuang understood. This couple, whose relationship was unknown to outsiders, had a small argument today. She didn't hear a trace of resentment in their words; it was all boasting.
"A bouquet of roses today," Dr. Fan said, pointing to the roses and then to the other side, "and a bunch of baby's breath tomorrow. Ha, do you think this is a flower shop?"
Xi Congshuang said apologetically, "I'll have someone come over and handle it later. They'll all be sent back one by one."
"..." Dr. Fan straightened up and looked at the person next to the medicine cabinet. She thought that if Xi Congshuang were a little lazier or less obedient, she would have a reason to ask this big shot to leave.
Well, people have been twisted into all sorts of things by rumors, it's perfectly normal that she doesn't want to go back.
She couldn't be the bad guy.
Besides, given her age, she could have given birth to a child as big as Xi Congshuang.
Dr. Fan pushed up his glasses and waved his hand as if shooing away a naughty child, "Go away, go out and play, stop bothering me."
Xi Congshuang chuckled, but was eventually kicked out of the school clinic and went downstairs for a walk.
Many more people went up afterward, only to find nothing, get scolded, and leave disappointed and dejected.
All of this was irrelevant to Xi Congshuang, who was resting in the woods, enjoying the rare opportunity to breathe in the fresh air filled with the scent of grass and trees.
In the interstellar era, plants were scarce, so artificial plants were used to replace plants in many landscaping projects. Air circulation systems also became more sophisticated over the years, perfectly hidden among the artificial plants.
However, a large number of real plants still exist. For example, the place where Xi Congshuang is sitting is an imperial garden left over from the imperial era. After the palace and the corrupt rule were overthrown, the Federation built a school on the site, and this lush forest has been preserved to this day.
Xi Congshuang sat with her back to passersby. Occasionally, students would run past, a group of them running in unison, their footsteps echoing. They had to run dozens of kilometers to meet the instructors' requirements, and everyone was exhausted, so no one paid attention to who was sitting alone in the woods.
However, one person noticed the solitary figure sitting in the woods and broke away from the group to approach the elegant figure.
Her left ear, which was tied up with her long hair, twitched. She turned around from behind and saw Tan Yicheng.
Just then, Tan Yicheng realized that he had run 30 kilometers and was slightly sweaty. He suddenly hesitated to go forward and stopped at a distance that was neither too close nor too far: "I thought I was seeing things, but I didn't expect it to really be you."
An alpha's eyesight wouldn't be wrong; it was just a simple opening remark to start a conversation, albeit a rather clumsy one.
Xi Congshuang looked at her for a while, then suddenly stretched out a hand, a handkerchief folded in her fair palm: "Here you go."
Tan Yicheng: "What is this?"
Xi Congshuang slightly raised her hand: "Here's a handkerchief for you to wipe your sweat."
Tan Yicheng had never seen anyone carry a handkerchief with them before. It was different from a decorative scarf or handkerchief. In the end, he couldn't resist the temptation and moved closer to her.
Sure enough, she smelled the familiar perfume scent again. Thinking it was a woody fragrance, she took the handkerchief away without touching Xi Congshuang's palm. There was no tap nearby, so she couldn't wash her hands.
However, there was one thing she was still curious about: Tan Yicheng asked, "Why do you bring a handkerchief when you go out instead of choosing the more convenient tissues?"
Xi Congshuang pondered for a moment and replied, "I forgot the reason, but I think it must be because I was cheated by tissues of unknown origin, so I always carry a handkerchief with me."
"..." Tan Yicheng suddenly felt that the handkerchief in her hand was as heavy as a thousand pounds.
Xi Congshuang calmly said, "This one you took is indeed one I use often. If you have time, wash it and return it to me."
Tan Yicheng: "......"
She finally realized that she had taken something extraordinary from Xi Congshuang.
Although her internet speed was a bit slow, it didn't mean she never went online. There was a drama that claimed to be based on ancient Earth, and it had a scene of exchanging love with a handkerchief. In order to exaggerate its level of research, the production team bought a lot of trending searches and even pushed it in front of Tan Yicheng. She also took a few glances at it.
Xi Congshuang, who frequently watches TV dramas, must know this!
Does this mean I've been romantically involved with someone?
Should I reply?
How should I reply?
Wouldn't it seem too insensitive not to reply?
The orange-flavored alpha suddenly panicked, and hesitated several times before speaking.
Xi Congshuang, a genuine ancient Earth native who simply uses a handkerchief, was simply accustomed to it: "?"
She assumed Tan Yicheng didn't like using things that others had used, so she explained, "This was washed yesterday, I haven't used it yet, don't worry."
Tan Yicheng: "..."
No! Not this one!
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