Substitute Alpha Gets Confessed to by Her Ex’s Aunt on a Survival Variety Show – Chapter 147
by Little PandaGround-Rolling Fire, Dangerous and Beautiful
A sudden wave of heat washed over Liu Yinxi’s face. She recoiled instinctively, raising a hand to shield her eyes.
Nan Huaixu burrowed into her arms. Blinding firelight bore down on them, and Liu Yinxi quickly shielded her with one hand while blocking the light from her eyes with the other.
Outside the shelter, a crackling pop filled the air. Liu Yinxi opened her eyes to a thin slit, peering through the gaps in the bamboo wall.
A thunderbolt had struck a tall bodhi tree, exploding into a rolling fireball that tumbled toward the stream, destroying everything in its path with devastating force.
Liu Yinxi’s heart seized with retrospective terror. A chill ran down her spine.
She remembered a story her mother had told her as a child about “ground-rolling fire”—just as terrifying as this.
It was from before the founding of the nation. A family in town, busy with their livelihood, had hired an old woman to look after their children. One stormy day, lightning struck a dead tree in the courtyard, and the ground-rolling fire rolled right into their single-story house. Fortunately, the old woman grabbed the two children and fled, saving their lives—though their entire home burned to the ground.
Thankfully, they had chopped down the tall trees around the shelter just before the thunderstorm. Otherwise, if that bolt had struck the shelter instead of the bodhi tree, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
The person in her arms trembled slightly. Liu Yinxi rested her hand on Nan Huaixu’s hair, gently drawing her against her chest.
The hand Liu Yinxi held in front of Nan Huaixu’s eyes was slick with cold sweat. Her palm brushed against her eyelashes. Nan Huaixu curled up against her, like a bristling kitten—small and huddled in her embrace.
Liu Yinxi was filled with self-reproach. She had nearly put the person she most wanted to protect in the gravest danger. At the thought, a pain like needles twisting in her chest was unbearable—she had experienced death once before. She understood how devastating that was.
Her own pain was one thing, but how could she let Nan Huaixu—the person she had only met because of a second chance at life—get hurt?
Outside, lightning flashed and thunder roared. Wind and rain lashed the shelter. Liu Yinxi tightened her embrace, like a shell protecting its pearl, wanting to fold Nan Huaixu into her very body.
In this moment, she didn’t care about any hesitation or complications. Liu Yinxi wanted to protect Nan Huaixu for the rest of her life.
The thought arose, and her body moved with her heart. Liu Yinxi gently stroked Nan Huaixu’s hair, lowered her head, leaned close to her ear, and said softly, “Nan Huaixu, I will protect you.”
Nan Huaixu gave a small start, then slowly raised her head. Two clear eyes looked up at her, reflecting Liu Yinxi’s earnest face in her pupils.
Rumble—thunder rolled overhead, from the far, far horizon.
Nan Huaixu nuzzled upward, tilting her ear toward Liu Yinxi’s lips. “Hmm?”
Liu Yinxi lowered her lashes, a soft glow welling in her eyes. She leaned down a fraction more, and moved her lips: “I will protect you.”
Nan Huaixu’s lips curved. She tilted her head, leaning up a little more. “I can’t hear you.”
Liu Yinxi leaned down again: “I. Protect. You.”
Less than a centimeter between them. In the flash of lightning, Liu Yinxi could clearly see the fine down on Nan Huaixu’s ear, her breath gently brushing against it.
If Nan Huaixu moved up just a little, and she moved down just a little, she would kiss those lovely strands of down.
Liu Yinxi held still, her gaze wandering over Nan Huaixu’s beautiful face.
She no longer evaded. She no longer retreated.
She thought—such a wonderful person. Who knew how many more times she would see her? Perhaps every meeting was one fewer.
Since heaven had granted her the chance to know Nan Huaixu and walk beside her, she would seize this opportunity and pursue it with all her heart.
In this storm of thunder and lightning, Liu Yinxi swore to the heavens: she would protect Nan Huaixu for the rest of her life.
Just protect. Nothing more. That wasn’t too much to ask, was it?
To protect a peerless fairy flower, one didn’t need the flower to repay her with fragrance and sweetness. Just being able to stand nearby and admire her from afar was already the greatest privilege.
Nan Huaixu’s hands came to rest on Liu Yinxi’s shoulders, and her radiant smile turned Liu Yinxi’s heart to honey.
Lightning streaked across the sky, and thunder drew down a curtain of rain. Nan Huaixu’s lips moved beneath Liu Yinxi’s gaze, her words swallowed by the thunder one syllable at a time.
Liu Yinxi watched her lips intently, waited until she finished her last word, gave a small nod, and cradled the back of her head, drawing her into her embrace.
The firelight outside grew fainter and fainter, already receding.
Liu Yinxi turned, one arm still shielding Nan Huaixu, and lifted the vine curtain—just in time to see the fireball stumbling and tumbling into the swollen stream.
Nan Huaixu lifted her head from Liu Yinxi’s arms. A layer of golden-red light washed over both their eyes. The searing fireball met the icy stream, instantly releasing a vast plume of mist that billowed outward—just like the cascading gold of a sunset spilled across the ground.
The fireball was swallowed wave by wave. Orange-red embers flickered on and off, gradually replaced by dark, blue-black water foam. Nature was the greatest painter, and this was her wondrous palette—a surreal, gorgeous collision of colors that anyone who witnessed would never forget for the rest of their life.
It was too beautiful.
Liu Yinxi watched, entranced, unable to tear her gaze away—until Nan Huaixu sneezed.
Liu Yinxi quickly loosened her embrace, looking at her. “Did you catch a chill?”
Nan Huaixu cupped her nose with both hands, shaking her head with a smile. “Your hair tickled my nose.”
Liu Yinxi couldn’t help but laugh along with her. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine. No wait, this doesn’t need an apology.”
“Mm…”
【So terrifying!】
【Mom, I saw ground-rolling fire!】
【Amitabha, Buddha bless—thank goodness Manman and Xixi are okay (crying)】
【Xixi was so quick-witted. If she hadn’t noticed the tall trees attracting lightning ahead of time, it would have been dangerous.】
【Why not say Liu Yinxi was stupid? Insisting on building the shelter under trees on high ground—looking for death.】
【Please be civil. Anyone who maliciously disparages the guests gets kicked out.】
【I think they could have just gone to the wooden cabin to take shelter. A ready-made house to hide from the rain—simpler than chopping trees, and safer too (thinking)】
【But they had so many supplies—no time to move everything over, and it’s a walk. They’d have to cross the stream too.】
【Just wait until the rain lets up a bit (shrugs)】
【Who knows how high the stream and pools will rise? That area is low ground—floods are just as dangerous. Plus the cabin is badly damaged. It can’t keep out the wind and rain. Catching a chill and getting hypothermia would be awful too.】
【You guys talk so easily watching the livestream. In a thunderstorm like this, nowhere outdoors can be called completely safe. Liu Yinxi’s response was already outstanding.】
【Oh god, Yu Yan’s tarp was half-collapsed. She’s so small, struggling to hold it up all by herself.】
【So pitiful QwQ】
【NONONO, don’t feel sorry for the enemy. It’d be good if she got eliminated.】
【You’re too cold-blooded. Yuyu is a good girl. We love Manman and Xixi, and we love Yu Yan too. Competing fairly is fine, but you can’t curse people.】
【Is your reading comprehension broken? Which sentence did I curse anyone in?】
【Today Manman and Xixi hugged for so long. Huai-Liu shippers are fully satisfied ^o^】
【Xixi protecting Manman—what a girl, what a good little alpha!】
【Too bad the thunder and rain were so loud, couldn’t hear what they were saying (sighs)】
【I don’t care, I saw Xixi kiss Manman’s ear (righteously)】
【Ahhh? Really?】
【She didn’t actually kiss. They were just whispering.】
【Damn it, I want to reach into the screen and press those lips onto that ear!】
Heavy rain shrouded the mountains. The ranges stretched endlessly, the lake gleamed emerald, and all things drank the rain, thriving ceaselessly.
Cooking smoke curled upward.
The damp air carried the aroma of fish soup.
Firelight cast the silhouettes of two people sitting side by side.
Nan Huaixu asked, “Liu Yinxi, this counts as you saving my life again, right?”
Liu Yinxi set down her food container. “Again?”
Nan Huaixu held up two fingers. “Twice. Last time was the crocodile.”
Liu Yinxi’s tone turned heavy. “It doesn’t count. Both times were because I was careless and nearly got you hurt—”
“So, how should I repay you?” Nan Huaixu cut in.
Liu Yinxi thought for a moment, then said cautiously, “Wasn’t it… helping me find a rental, introducing me to a job?”
“Just that?”
“Just that.”
“Then I’ll also get you a nice bag.”
“No need, thanks, Teacher Nan.”
“I’ll decide that myself. I have my own ideas…”
Who knew how long this rain would last.
For now, everything was fine.
Bracelet date: July 5.
The rain cleared and the sky brightened.
Liu Yinxi looked at the dew dripping from a leaf and stretched.
After being cooped up in the shelter for a few days, she could finally get outside for some fresh air and stretch her muscles.
After the last incident of falling into the water, Liu Yinxi hadn’t let Nan Huaixu row and net fish alone again. The lake’s water level had risen after the rain, and the muddy lakeshore made using the raft unsafe too. Liu Yinxi took Nan Huaixu to set fish cages, catching a bottle of earthworms along the way, and used the fishing rod from the “行” Treasure Chest to fish.
Liu Yinxi walked in front, gripping a trekking pole to probe the path carefully. “Teacher Nan, the rocks by the lake are very slippery. Be careful.”
Nan Huaixu followed behind her. They came upon a large boulder, and Liu Yinxi led her around and over it.
Nan Huaixu stopped. Liu Yinxi climbed onto the rock first, turned, and reached out a hand to her. Nan Huaixu smiled and placed her hand in her palm.
“Liu Yinxi.” Pulled up onto the rock, Nan Huaixu spotted a broken tree trunk by the distant lakeshore, snapped in half as if it had endured something terrifying.
She pointed at the broken trunk and asked, “Do you think that tree was struck by lightning?”
Liu Yinxi couldn’t be certain either. “Hard to say. We’d need to get closer and look at the break to tell. The lakeshore beside that tree is a great fishing spot. Let’s go check it out.”
“Okay.”
Liu Yinxi climbed down the rock and walked a few steps forward. Behind her, Nan Huaixu called out, “Hey, wait.”
Nan Huaixu hurried to catch up and held out her hand. “Ahem.”
Liu Yinxi looked at her hand, thought for a moment, then slowly reached out and took it, questioning Nan Huaixu with her eyes: Like this?
Nan Huaixu led her by the hand to her side. “The ground ahead is still slippery.”
She wanted to hold hands.
Liu Yinxi saw that Nan Huaixu wasn’t letting go, so she kept holding her hand as they walked on.
The broken trunk drew closer.
Liu Yinxi slowed her pace and quietly tightened her grip on the hand in her palm.
She looked up at the clear sky, where clouds drifted like cotton wadding over a sea of trees.
A thunderstorm, already like a dream—but a voice lingered in the depths of her heart, vivid and clear.
—You. Protect. Me.
I. Follow. You.
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