My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 71
by Little PandaTrue Gender
Hearing Ren Chenxi’s sigh, Mu Ning thought she was no longer angry and considered whether it would be best to temporarily skip this confusing topic that was throwing her mind into disarray. Who knew that Ren Chenxi would speak up again.
“I am truly not Ren Muhui,” Ren Chenxi said.
There were so many flaws in her disguise, yet she still refused to admit it. Mu Ning pondered whether to give Ren Chenxi some face and pretend to agree for now, when Ren Chenxi continued, “You… you helped bandage my shoulder last time. You’ve already confirmed I’m a woman, right?”
Ren Chenxi was a woman; Mu Ning was very certain of this. Accompanied by Ren Chenxi’s soft voice, Mu Ning recalled the scenery she had accidentally glimpsed that night while bandaging her wound, as well as… the sensation transmitted through her palm when she impulsively confirmed Ren Chenxi’s gender.
Inexplicably, Mu Ning felt her own palm tingling and itching right now, scratching at her heart bit by bit. Before this itchiness could pass, Ren Chenxi’s voice carried over again.
“Then you also know that Ren Muhui is a man, right?”
“…” Now Mu Ning couldn’t pay attention to the tingling in her palm. She only hesitated, wondering how to answer without making Ren Chenxi angry.
Mu Ning’s brief silence made Ren Chenxi displeased. Why did you nod so fast when I said I was a woman just now, but when I ask if Ren Muhui is a man, you look so troubled? That is the gender set by the system, a male acknowledged by the system! What the hell are you doubting here!
Seeming to sense Ren Chenxi’s displeasure, Mu Ning hurriedly answered, “Actually, I-I used to think Ren Muhui was quite… quite like a girl…”
!!!
How did I look like a girl? I tried my best to act entirely according to the standards of a boy!
“U-um, in the past, some classmates even said Ren Muhui was a bit of a sissy1…” The classmates said it, not me!!!
“…” Calling this mother a sissy!!! Which bastard said that! This mother clearly had so many girls praising her as handsome and dashing back then, alright! This is jealousy! Definitely the jealousy of some dog men2 who weren’t as handsome as this mother!
Ren Chenxi’s expression grew even uglier. For a moment, she didn’t even know how to continue talking to Mu Ning. Not wanting to look at Mu Ning, Ren Chenxi lowered her head and glanced around randomly. With this glance, she spotted several of Mu Ning’s fingers twitching continuously. Seeing the deep, dark red cuts on that porcelain-white palm, Ren Chenxi could only exhale the stifled breath stuck in her chest and ask awkwardly, “What happened to your fingers!”
“My-my palm is a little itchy…” Mu Ning’s face turned a bit red. To think her palm wouldn’t stop itching just because she recalled the sensation of t-touching Ren Chenxi’s ch-chest earlier… this was simply t-too indecent!
Ren Chenxi didn’t notice Mu Ning’s unusual state. She only saw that because of the sea breeze, the upward-facing palm had a lot of sand stuck to its cuts. Helplessly, she sighed once again. Really, why did I think just applying a Recovery Card to this person would be enough? The internal injuries from the octopus tentacle strike could only rely on the Recovery Card and Mu Ning’s self-healing, but these cuts on her palm still needed to be treated, right?
Thinking of this, Ren Chenxi shifted closer to Mu Ning with some guilt and carefully grabbed her wrist. While Mu Ning was still staring blankly, wondering why Ren Chenxi was suddenly holding her hand again, Ren Chenxi took out a mineral water bottle filled with clean water from her inventory. She unscrewed the cap, poured out the clear water, and meticulously helped Mu Ning wash away the sand grains on her palm. Some grains were stuck to the blood oozing from the cuts and couldn’t be washed away easily. Cupping Mu Ning’s palm, Ren Chenxi lowered her head slightly and carefully blew on the sand. For the grains that couldn’t be blown away, Ren Chenxi pulled out a clean bandage, tore off a small piece, and gently wiped the stubborn sand away.
As Ren Chenxi’s warm breath brushed across her palm, Mu Ning’s heartbeat began to pound uncontrollably. Her cheeks, which had already been a bit flushed, now burned so fiercely that even Mu Ning herself could feel the intense heat radiating from her face.
Mu Ning looked greedily at Ren Chenxi, watching as she helped blow the sand from her palm, carefully sprinkled medicine powder on the cuts, and finally, using a bandage, gently wrapped her hand layer by layer.
After finishing all this, Ren Chenxi turned her head to look at Mu Ning. But upon meeting Mu Ning’s burning gaze, she paused in surprise, then let go of Mu Ning’s hand and asked casually, “How does it feel now?”
“It feels…” It feels like it’s not enough. She greedily wanted more… Mu Ning’s voice was a bit hoarse. However, seeing Ren Chenxi turn her face away to dodge her gaze, she could only suppress her emotions and reply softly, “Much better, thank you.”
Her voice sounded much more normal, but Ren Chenxi hadn’t forgotten the look Mu Ning had just given her. It was very familiar—exactly the same look she had given her when they reunited after the game update.
In the end, this person still thought of her as Ren Muhui!
Ren Chenxi took a deep breath. She felt she had to make it perfectly clear to Mu Ning today that she and Ren Muhui were absolutely not the same person!
“You’re welcome.” Ren Chenxi steadied her emotions, bringing the topic back to before she bandaged Mu Ning’s hand. “Just now, you said you sometimes felt Ren Muhui was like a girl…”
“N-no, I just meant that Ren Muhui was very good-looking, s-so I felt…” Thinking Ren Chenxi still minded being called a sissy, Mu Ning hurriedly shook her head and explained, “I mean… Ren Muhui looks exactly like you, p-perhaps…”
“There is no ‘perhaps’. Even if the appearances are the same, the genders are different. That is a certainty!” Ren Chenxi decisively cut off Mu Ning’s speculation, even though her guess was actually correct.
“…” Hearing Ren Chenxi start denying it again, Mu Ning unhappily pursed her lips, then retorted with some reluctance, “How do you know the gender is different? I didn’t t-touch Ren Muhui back then…”
“…” So you freaking wanted to touch Ren Muhui’s chest! Tell me, is it really okay for a perfectly good Iceberg Goddess like you to have a head full of such messy, indecent thoughts! Ren Chenxi rolled her eyes hard at Mu Ning and said in an unkind tone, “You don’t need to touch him! Go ask those who showered with Ren Muhui yourself…”
“Ren Muhui even showered with other people!!!” Mu Ning’s previously weak voice suddenly spiked with agitation.
“…” Big Sis, what on earth is going on in your head! Ren Chenxi exhaled a breath of stale air, telling herself not to get angry, not to get angry, and just treating it as this wooden-head truly not working properly, before continuing, “Showering in the public bathhouse3! Don’t even ask anyone else, just ask Liao Lan directly. He used to share a dorm with Ren Muhui and saw Ren Muhui walking around shirtless plenty of times. Before they had a falling out with the dorm, he also went to the bathhouse with Ren Muhui.”
S University was a typical northern university. The students all showered in public bathhouses. There were stalls inside, but during the summer, when many boys carried their basins to take a shower, they were used to just walking to the bathhouse shirtless. When Ren Muhui was at home, he already had the bad habit of walking around shirtless, so even after entering the game, let alone going to shower, he probably walked around shirtless in the dorm frequently.
“But Ren Muhui never walked around shirtless in front of me before…” Mu Ning’s voice held some unwillingness.
“Ren Muhui isn’t a pervert!!!” Ren Chenxi was truly about to go crazy! Originally, Mu Ning’s initial impression of Ren Muhui was already bad. If he had run in front of Mu Ning shirtless to show off his figure… he would have been beaten up! Definitely beaten up! Even if Mu Ning didn’t beat him up, Mu Ning’s fanboys and fangirls would have! “Ren Muhui is a normal person. He only went shirtless when going to the bathhouse or in the dorm!!!”
Seeing Ren Chenxi speak so firmly, Mu Ning’s eyes stole several glances at Ren Chenxi’s swelling chest, and her heart began to feel confused as well. “When we get back, I will go ask Liao Lan!”
Mu Ning’s intuition told her that Ren Chenxi was lying again, but… could male and female bodies really be faked? Besides, sh-she had seen a little bit with her own eyes…
Forget it, forget it. Better to wait until they got back to find Liao Lan and the others to ask clearly.
After Mu Ning said she would ask Liao Lan when they returned, Ren Chenxi finally breathed a sigh of relief. Because no matter how Mu Ning asked, the only answer she would get in the end was that Ren Muhui really was a man. Heh, weren’t you just thinking Ren Muhui was like a girl? You even said classmates called him a sissy, hmph! Once you finish asking Liao Lan, let’s see how you still think Ren Muhui is a sissy!
Now that she was relaxed, Ren Chenxi’s mood improved considerably. She raised her eyes to look at the sea not far away. The blue sea and azure sky were sweeping and magnificent. Although the ocean floor hid countless unknown dangers, she had to admit that even after the apocalypse, the sea was still the sea. Earlier, she had only been focused on shoveling seafood and fighting the octopus monster, but now she finally had the mood to sit here and properly appreciate the post-apocalyptic sea.
Wasn’t coming to see the sea her original reason for wanting to come to H City?
With the danger past, even the sea breeze felt much gentler. Another gust of sea breeze softly brushed across Ren Chenxi’s face. Ren Chenxi comfortably narrowed her eyes, and when she opened them again, a familiar black plastic bag flew past her.
This black plastic bag…
It was the same plastic bag she had just stuffed full of mutated seafood!
Protecting the ocean is everyone’s responsibility. She had to get back the two iron buckets she had carelessly tossed aside, as well as the plastic bag that the octopus monster had sent flying! Most importantly, there was so much, so much seafood!
The sea was right there anyway; she would have opportunities to come look at it anytime. It had been quite a while since the octopus monster died, and on the mini-map, some red dots slightly further away were starting to pop up one by one again. It was rare to make a trip to the beach, so she couldn’t just be satisfied with a single Level 8 crystal core! She absolutely could not let the rest of the abundant seafood on this beach slip away!
And so, Ren Chenxi swiftly stood up, dropped a line telling Mu Ning to rest well, and chased after that black plastic bag.
The author has something to say:
Wood (aggrieved): I’ve never even seen your bare upper body…
Xixi: I told you it wasn’t me!
Wood (aggrieved): I’ve never showered with you either…
Xixi: This mother has never showered with anyone else!
Wood: So let’s shower together from now on~
Xixi: Can you listen to me when I talk!!!
Footnotes
- A common slang term (niángniángqiāng) used to describe a man who is effeminate in appearance, speech, or behavior.
- A derogatory slang term (gǒu nánrén) used to curse men who are considered scummy, unfaithful, or otherwise contemptible. Here, Ren Chenxi uses it to insult the male classmates who were jealous of her 'brother's' looks.
- In northern China, many universities and communities have communal bathhouses (zǎotáng) where people bathe together in open shower rooms without private partitions. It is common for male students to walk from their dorms to the bathhouse shirtless during summer.
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