My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 102
by Little PandaContinuing to Make Things Difficult
Ren Muhui was depressed, and Ren Chenxi was even more depressed. Since Mu Ning had agreed to let her stand aside and act as an assistant1, Ren Chenxi thought she might as well just take advantage of Mu Ning not paying attention and secretly finish cooking the porridge for Ren Muhui.
But! Ren Chenxi simply couldn’t find an opportunity! Mu Ning was like a strict overseer. It was fine for her to help Ren Muhui chop vegetables and prep the ingredients, but once Ren Muhui started cooking the porridge, she wasn’t allowed to help in the slightest. Ren Muhui even had to fetch the seasonings himself! As soon as she made a move to help, Mu Ning would sarcastically mock Ren Muhui: “You can’t even season it properly. Do you really know how to cook porridge?”
Under the pressure of Mu Ning’s strict oversight, Ren Muhuiโeven with Ren Chenxi’s whispered promptsโwas still flustered and frantic, turning the pot of porridge into an absolute mess.
When the final pot of porridge was scooped into two small bowls, it was so thick and sticky that not a single grain of rice could be seen. The broth had almost boiled away completely, leaving an appearance so unappetizing that it was hard to swallow. Yet even with such a terrible presentation, Mu Ning actually gave him enough face to take a small bite.
After tasting it, Mu Ning took a sip of water to rinse her mouth before slowly saying to Ren Muhui, “Why does it feel like the taste is quite a bit different from the porridge you used to cook for me?” It wasn’t just a bit different; it was completely different!
Ren Muhui could clearly see the blatant disgust in the goddess’s eyes. Having the porridge he worked so hard to cook rejected by the goddess made Ren Muhui feel incredibly wronged. Even though he had only cooked this bowl of porridge under the goddess’s coercion, since he was doing it anyway, Ren Muhui naturally wanted to earnestly make a good pot of porridge to please her and successfully suck up to2 the goddess. Therefore, even though he had been very reluctant before making this pot of porridge, during the cooking process, he had genuinely listened very carefully to every step Ren Chenxi gave him, working painstakingly on every detail!
As a result, having this bowl of Shiitake Mushroom Chicken Congeeโfilled to the brim with his (sucking-up) intentionsโdisgusted by the goddess made Ren Muhui feel like his fragile young boy’s heart was fracturing with countless cracks.
“Goddess Muโฆ” Ren Muhui looked at Mu Ning, on the verge of tears, and explained pitifully, “I haven’t cooked porridge in the two years since the apocalypse began, so I’m completely out of practice3. I’ve mostly forgotten how I used to cook porridgeโฆ” Fortunately, in his sorrow, Ren Muhui still remembered his resolve to suck up to her. Even though the goddess was disgusted by the porridge he cooked, he had to explain himself properly to prevent her from misunderstanding anything.
Ren Muhui still remembered Ren Chenxi’s warning. The goddess’s favorability value had painstakingly been maxed out by his sister, and even though he was on a novice account, he was still wearing Ren Muhui’s identity. Therefore, he absolutely could not let anything slip in front of Goddess Mu!
Just as Ren Muhui was trying hard to manage his facial expressions, wanting to play the victim4 to win the goddess’s sympathy, the cold-hearted5 Goddess Mu turned her face away in disgust.
“You’re a grown man, don’t make that kind of expression. It’s absolutely disgusting!” That kind of expression would only be cute if your sister made it!
“โฆ” What could Ren Muhui do? He could only hold back his tears, swallow his grievances, and scoop up a lump of Shiitake Mushroom Chicken Congee into his mouth. “Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey, ptooey, ptooey, ptooey! It tastes terrible!”
“It’s the apocalypse right now, how can we waste food? Since it’s the porridge you cooked yourself, I assume you’re very willing to eat it all? Also, to avoid any waste, I’ll leave my bowl of porridge to you as well~”
After watching Ren Muhui struggle to finish both bowls of the porridge he had cooked, Mu Ning finally left in satisfaction at Zhang Tongqi’s call to eat her own lunch. That’s right. Even though she had already guessed that these siblings were playing an identity swap game with her, and she didn’t dare question Ren Chenxi face-to-face about why she was doing this, Mu Ning still couldn’t resist deliberately making things difficult for Ren Muhui to satisfy her own petty desire for revenge.
As for why she didn’t make things difficult for Ren Chenxiโฆ she couldn’t bear toโฆ
To “take care of” Ren Muhui’s weak body and frail stomach, for the next three days, Ren Muhui was given special treatment6 with a separate small pot of porridge cooked just for him. Fortunately, Ren Chenxi cooked these later batches of porridge for him. Otherwise, if he had to drink his own Shiitake Mushroom Chicken Congee for three consecutive days, even with a perfectly healthy stomach, he would have ended up sick.
At noon on the fourth day, Ren Chenxi tentatively asked Mu Ning if Ren Muhui could eat with Chen Gu and the others today. Otherwise, every time they ate, the others had a feast of meat and fish while Ren Muhui was restricted to plain porridge and side dishes, which felt quite pitiful. Mu Ning shot Ren Chenxi an inscrutable look, but ultimately nodded in agreement.
On their fourth day at Nanhai Base, Ren Muhui finally got his wish to eat a seafood feast.
Ren Muhui originally thought that Mu Ning’s tests regarding his identity would be about over once he was finally allowed to eat the seafood feast. Unexpectedly, when they teamed up to go to the beach to gather seafood in the afternoon, Mu Ning pulled out a velvet pouch and asked Ren Muhui, “Do you remember this bag?”
Because Mu Ning had kept this velvet pouch on her person the entire time, Ren Chenxi had naturally remembered to tell Ren Muhui about its origins. So, Ren Muhui immediately nodded without hesitation and said, “I remember. When I gave you chocolates in the past, it was the bag used to hold the chocolates.”
“That’s right!” Ren Muhui answered correctly, and Mu Ning merely nodded with a placid expression. Then, she tossed a large piece of red velvet cloth and a sewing box to Ren Muhui, continuing, “I find this bag very useful for holding crystal cores. Could I trouble you to sew another one for me? I can pay you in crystal cores.”
“โฆ”
So, this testing was still continuing, huh! Ren Muhui glared miserably at Ren Chenxi. He could only continue trying to fool Mu Ning with the excuse that he hadn’t touched needlework in the two years since the apocalypse. Unexpectedly, Mu Ning pulled out an entire roll of red velvet cloth and handed it to Ren Muhui. Sounding consoling, but actually much more mocking, she said, “It doesn’t matter if you’re just out of practice. As long as your craftsmanship is still there, I’ll give you this whole roll of cloth to practice with. You can take your time practicing in the villa this afternoon. I imagine you’ll quickly recover your old touch7, right?”
Like hell his touch would recover! Standing to the side, Ren Chenxi could only look at Ren Muhui with sympathy. Ren Muhui wasn’t like her, who had maxed out all kinds of life skill points. With his terrible handiwork, even practicing for a year would probably be useless! With no other choice, Ren Chenxi could only speak up to bail Ren Muhui out.
“Don’t make things difficult for my bro, his touch isn’t coming back.”
“Oh? Why not?” Mu Ning raised an eyebrow, looking at Ren Chenxi, as if waiting for whatever nonsense she was going to fabricate8.
Ren Chenxi’s intuition told her that Mu Ning probably already knew something, but since she wasn’t saying it out loud, Ren Chenxi was perfectly happy to play dumb.
“You didn’t know, did you? On the day the apocalypse suddenly descended, even though my bro was lucky enough to survive the earthquake, his hands were actually crushed by a massive boulder at the time. Fortunately, a kind-hearted person saved my bro later and helped set his broken bones. But ever since then, my bro’s hands were left with lingering damage, making him unable to do any fine work. Just like cooking porridge yesterday, his skill level will never return to how it used to be.”
“โฆ” Holy shit, sis, you’re way too tm good at making things up! Can Goddess Mu really believe such a ridiculous excuse?! Ren Muhui’s mouth twitched. He carefully sneaked a glance at Mu Ning, only to see that Mu Ning wasn’t the least bit angry. Instead, she smiled and asked Ren Chenxi, “Didn’t you think your brother was dead? Then how do you know what happened to him after the earthquake?”
“My bro told me all of this the day he came back. Bro, don’t your hand joints still ache frequently now? Those are the lingering effects from the fracture, right?” After spewing this nonsense, Ren Chenxi turned to look at Ren Muhui, waiting for him to play along. Yet, she saw that her older brother was actually acting completely starstruck9 toward Mu Ning! At a time like this, you punk can still act starstruck! Ren Chenxi was furious. She could only raise her volume and call out again: “Ren Muhui! The lingering damage to your injured hands is very severe, right?!”
Startled by Ren Chenxi’s shout, Ren Muhui finally snapped out of his daze from the goddess’s smile. Just a moment ago, when Mu Ning had smiled like that, Ren Muhui’s soul had almost been captivated away. At the time, his mind was entirely filled with: Holy shit, the Iceberg Goddess can actually smile! She looks so much better smiling than with a cold face! Ever since he started playing the game, he had spent so long trying to conquer the goddess, yet he had never seen her smile. He didn’t expect that he would actually get to see the ice melting from the goddess at a time like this. He was truly too happy~
It was just that this smile was too brief. Brought back to his senses by Ren Chenxi, the goddess’s fleeting smile vanished in an instant. The iceberg that had seemingly just melted was now exuding an even more biting chill toward him.
“Your sister is asking you a question! Why aren’t you answering?”
Swept by Mu Ning’s cold glare, how could Ren Muhui have any thoughts of swooning left? He immediately nodded repeatedly in agreement. “That’s right, that’s right! My hands were crushed. The lingering damage after they were healed is very severe. I’m not as good at cooking porridge as I used to be, sewing is completely out of the question, and as for any other assorted fine work, I can’t do it anymore either.” Although the excuse Ren Chenxi made up sounded quite absurd, after all, it was the apocalypse. Anything could happen, right? He could just play along with this ridiculous excuse. Not only could he get out of sewing this bag, but if the goddess thought of any other messy tasks for him to do in the future, he would have an excuse to refuse~
Mu Ning naturally saw right through Ren Muhui’s petty calculations, but she couldn’t be bothered to expose them. She merely followed Ren Muhui’s words and pressed, “Then why didn’t you tell me a few days ago?”
“Ah? A few days ago, a few days agoโฆ”
“A few days ago, my bro was afraid you’d be worried, so he didn’t say anything.” Seeing Ren Muhui stammering10 and unable to concoct a reason, Ren Chenxi hurriedly stepped in to help explain.
With Ren Chenxi interjecting, Mu Ning’s attitude actually softened considerably. However, she only gave Ren Chenxi a deep look and dropped the line, “You’re overthinking it, I wouldn’t be worried about him,” before turning around and heading out the door.
The crowd, quietly watching the gossip, followed after Mu Ning while wondering in confusion: “The Boss’s feelings toward her boyfriend don’t feel quite so devoted, do they?”
Ren Chenxi froze for a moment. Just as she was about to catch up with the main group, the sound of “Meow meow meow meow” suddenly came from behind her. Ren Chenxi turned around and saw Tantan trotting all the way over to her, acting affectionate.
“Eh? Where did this little kitty come from?”
Because of Ren Muhui’s question, Mu Ning, who was originally almost out of the Villa Area, stopped again and shot Ren Chenxi a meaningful look.
“โฆ” Crap. I calculated a thousand things, explained so much to Ren Muhui, yet I actually forgot to tell him about Tantan!
At her feet, Tantan was still endlessly circling her affectionately. Opposite her, Mu Ning’s dark eyes looked as if they were going to see right through her. And behind her, Ren Muhui was still foolishly using his foot to tease Tantan. As a result, he pissed off11 Tantan, who immediately took a swipe at him. Its sharp claws left three deep scratch marks right across the top of Ren Muhui’s shoe, and at the same timeโฆ
“Aaaagh! My foot, my foot hurts so much! This little kittyโฆ why does this little kitty scratch so viciously?”
While Ren Muhui crouched down, clutching his foot and howling, Mu Ning’s aloof voice also rang out: “Your brother has certainly been through a lot over these past two years, to the point where he could even forget his favorite Tantan?”
Footnotes
- Literally 'strike lower hand' (dว xiร shวu). A colloquial phrase meaning to assist someone or do the prep work.
- Literally 'cling to the thigh' (bร odร tuว). A Chinese internet slang term meaning to latch onto someone powerful or skilled for support or protection.
- Literally 'hands are unpracticed' (shวushฤng). An idiom meaning one is rusty at a skill.
- Literally 'sell misery' (mร icวn). Meaning to play the victim or feign hardship to gain sympathy.
- Literally 'cold heart, cold lungs' (lฤngxฤซnlฤngfรจi). An idiom describing someone aloof or indifferent.
- Literally 'open a small stove' (kฤi xiวozร o). Refers to providing special meals outside the normal communal dining.
- Literally 'hand feel' (shวugวn). The specific sensation or knack for doing a physical task.
- Literally 'blind break' (xiฤ bฤi). Meaning to talk nonsense or fabricate lies.
- Literally 'emitting flower idiocy' (fฤ huฤchฤซ). Describing someone swooning or acting deeply infatuated.
- Literally 'branch branch, hum hum' (zhฤซzhฤซwลซwลซ). An idiom for speaking vaguely or hesitantly to avoid giving a clear answer.
- Literally 'provoke the hair' (rฤ mรกo). Slang for making someone angry or rubbing them the wrong way.
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