Substitute Alpha Gets Confessed to by Her Ex’s Aunt on a Survival Variety Show – Chapter 165
by Little PandaThe Mural Is the Mark of Time You and I Leave Behind
Nan Huaixu loved painting. She had once mentioned a classmate she was very fond of — the one who had painted her nails for her.
In Nan Huaixu’s character profile, her wish had listed a family portrait, and what Nan Huaixu cherished most was painting.
Inspired by this, Liu Yinxi wanted to paint with Nan Huaixu once before the competition ended.
But not the simple kind of painting where you scratch lines in sand with a stick — she wanted to paint with vivid pigments.
The thought alone thrilled Liu Yinxi. Teacher Nan loved art so much; if they could paint something meaningful to commemorate this survival journey before it ended, Teacher Nan would absolutely be overjoyed.
Suddenly, Liu Yinxi felt her fingertips lighten. She looked down — Nan Huaixu had released the hand that had been supporting hers, and said to her, “It is done. Do you think it looks pretty?”
Liu Yinxi raised both hands. Her hands were nothing like Nan Huaixu’s, which received daily care; they had long been baked dark by the sun, the skin rough and cracked. Such withered hands paired with annatto-red nails looked genuinely incongruous.
Liu Yinxi smiled and said, “Teacher Nan made them pretty.”
Her hands were not pretty, and red nails only made them less so. What was pretty was the red that Nan Huaixu had dyed for her; what was beautiful was the heartfelt intention behind Nan Huaixu’s kindness.
Liu Yinxi held up her dyed-red nails in front of the robot dog’s camera, displaying them for the livestream audience: “Everyone, please look — Teacher Nan dyed these for me personally. Aren’t they pretty?”
After speaking, Liu Yinxi remembered the most important thing. She turned and asked Nan Huaixu, “You said after the dyeing, we’d be the absolute best in the world — does that promise still count?”
Nan Huaixu raised her head with a cheerful smile: “Of course it counts.”
Liu Yinxi’s eyes lit up with delight, but then she grew alert and asked, “Teacher Nan, have you said this to anyone else? I have watched some variety shows where guests say these things to lots of people just to recruit more teammates for cooperation. Teacher Nan, I am not just one among your ‘absolute best in the world’ crowd, am I?”
“No. I have only ever said it to you.” Nan Huaixu’s expression turned serious and earnest. “And I have not been on that many variety shows, either.”
Liu Yinxi nodded, the gleam in her eyes sparkling bright. She leaned toward Nan Huaixu: “Then how will you be the absolute absolute best with me?”
Nan Huaixu leaned in closer as well: “What do you think counts as the absolute absolute best?”
That lovely face was mere inches away, radiant as peach and plum blossoms1, complexion flushed like spring peach flowers. With every breath came a sweet, delicate fragrance. Liu Yinxi briefly lost herself, almost blurting out nonsense like “girlfriend.”
Fortunately, she regained her senses in time, suppressing the wild pounding in her chest. She blinked her lashes and said, “I — I think… after we return to the country, you buy me a fifty-yuan KFC meal set every Thursday2?”
Before transmigrating, Liu Yinxi and her sisters’ way of proving their closest bond was Crazy Thursday “v me 503.”
Nan Huaixu: “?”
What did that mean? Some new trend among young people? She would have to look it up online after the competition.
Nan Huaixu pondered for a moment, then asked, “A fast-food meal set? Why Thursday? Don’t you want one on Friday or Saturday? Is a fifty-yuan meal set enough to fill you up? Let me buy you a five-hundred-yuan one instead.”
Liu Yinxi could not help but laugh. She had almost forgotten — Teacher Nan was particular about her diet, with a dedicated nutrition team; of course she would not know about these delivery promotions.
Teacher Nan was so thoughtful — she did not care what Crazy Thursday was, only whether Liu Yinxi would have enough to eat.
Liu Yinxi explained to Nan Huaixu: “It is enough. Thursday meal sets have discounts, so we buy on Thursdays. It is a very big bucket.”
Nan Huaixu understood: “No problem. As long as you want to eat, I will treat you even when there are no discounts.”
She curved her eyes and brows, her tender gaze meeting Liu Yinxi’s, and lifted her lips: “Then what about you? How will you treat me the absolute best?”
Nan Huaixu tilted her face close to Liu Yinxi’s neck, her warm breath turning into a gentle breeze that softly stirred the loose strands of hair by Liu Yinxi’s ear.
Liu Yinxi’s earlobes tingled slightly, and the skin behind her ears and on her wrists grew warm. She quietly held her breath, her vision filled entirely with Nan Huaixu’s face, and murmured in a low, husky voice: “You decide.”
Nan Huaixu gazed deeply into her eyes for several seconds, smiled, and drew back, sitting upright: “Alright, then I had better think very, very carefully.”
【Ahhhhhh damn it!!! 0皿0#】
【I want to be the absolute best in the world with Slow Manman too!】
【You are all so naive. Manman is just coaxing Liu Yinxi with red nails (dog head)】
【Is that right? (confused)】
【I am dying, what kind of life did Liu Yinxi live before? Was she not kept by a CEO? Why is she still fighting us for Crazy Thursday? (collapsing)】
【She was even worried Xixi could not get full on fifty yuan! Wanted to buy Xixi a five-hundred-yuan meal set! Goodness, how could anyone finish all that, I am going to pass out from shipping them QAQ】
【They are still not together? How can they hold back?】
【Ah? (shocked)】
【They admitted to being the absolute absolute best and they are still standing that close — is it genuine attraction or just for show?】
【Does someone at Nan Huaixu’s level need to put on a show?】
【So do Manman and Xixi really like each other? Will I get to see my two favorite stars get together in my lifetime?】
【Hold on, is Liu Yinxi even a celebrity?】
【Liu has a million followers now, why would she not count (laugh-crying)】
【Absolutely absurd, can you not tell? Manman and Liu Yinxi clearly share the rare sisterhood between an omega and an alpha — what alpha would let an omega they like paint their nails?】
【Oh my, that is a good point!】
【So it is just big sister and little sister after all. My feelings were misplaced.】
【Obviously! Liu Yinxi’s ex-girlfriend is Nan Huaixu’s Niece. Going from niece to Little Aunt, is that not strange? (frowning)】
【Waaah, is our Huai-Liu finally going to come true? (biting handkerchief)】
【I don’t care, publicly admitting to being the absolute best on camera is basically an official announcement (hmph)】
【Manman, what are you still thinking about? Ask her if she likes you!】
【Maybe it is not convenient to be too obvious on the livestream. Anyway, I think they are genuine TuT】
【Stop arguing, I am thinking.】
【@LalaSuiBingbing, what are you thinking about?】
【If I go survive in the wilderness with my crush, will she fall in love with me?】
The annatto-red nails were still vivid when they woke up the next morning.
The crushed annatto fruit Nan Huaixu had used had not undergone processing4 or extraction, so the color would not last long and could easily be rubbed off. To make it last a bit longer, Liu Yinxi was reluctant to even wash her hands.
At five-thirty in the morning, Liu Yinxi had her backpack packed and ready to head out.
When she set off, Nan Huaixu was still fast asleep. Liu Yinxi left her a note on gauze, written in black ash: “Teacher Nan, I am heading out first. Going to find some materials today. I will be back later. See you this afternoon!”
Liu Yinxi cast one glance back at the shelter bathed in dawn light, smiled softly, and turned toward the dense rainforest.
Alone with her pack and blade, trekking through the jungle. Sunlight dappled the green leaves, and crisp birdsong made the dense woods feel even more tranquil.
After their victory, they had been living quite leisurely; it had been several days since she had gone out this early, and she felt a little dazed.
Today’s supply list: gamboge resin, turmeric root, Assam indigo leaves, brown ochre, chalk, lac insects.
These materials were scattered widely. Drawing on her familiarity with the lake area developed over the past month, Liu Yinxi mapped out a route in her mind that would yield the most while covering the shortest distance, determined to bring everything back to the shelter before four in the afternoon.
She had not yet reached the abandoned field when, across a stream, she saw Nan Huaixu running toward her: “Liu Yinxi! Why are you only just coming back! Where did you go, abandoning me first thing in the morning!”
Backlit by the sun, Nan Huaixu was wreathed in light, as though draped in a fine golden down.
Like a golden kitten trotting over with its tail raised, mewing and yowling.
Liu Yinxi smiled and ran toward her, took her hand, and led her in the direction of the abandoned wooden cabin.
Nan Huaixu let herself be led, her tone playfully scolding even as a smile bloomed across her face: “Where are you taking me? I asked you a question.”
Liu Yinxi patted her backpack: “To a place where we leave the mark of our time.”
“The mark of our time?”
What was that?
Nan Huaixu was already puzzled, and now she was even more in the dark.
She followed Liu Yinxi past the abandoned field, across the stream, around the dilapidated wooden cabin half-hidden among green trees, and arrived at a small slope overgrown with vines.
Liu Yinxi drew her blade and deftly hacked away the vines and brush entangling the slope. Leaves rustled down, revealing the dark brown rock face behind.
“Here, Teacher Nan, take this first.” Liu Yinxi handed her a small brush made of bamboo and banana fiber.
Nan Huaixu took it, watching in surprise as Liu Yinxi produced one plastic bottle after another filled with different-colored juices from her backpack. Liu Yinxi cut the bottles open at the bottom, leaving only a shallow rim to make it easy to dip the brush into the colored liquids inside.
“Pigments!” Nan Huaixu asked in delighted surprise. “Where did you get these? You went out today just to find these?”
“Yes, these are all natural pigment materials. I discovered them while hiking and remembered where they were.”
Liu Yinxi pointed to each color and introduced them to Nan Huaixu one by one: “Deep yellow, gamboge resin. Bright yellow, turmeric root. Indigo blue, Assam indigo leaves. Reddish brown, brown ochre. White, chalk. Orange-red, lac insects. Green, green leaf pulp.”
And of course, there was the ash they most commonly used — for black.
Nan Huaixu brimmed with curiosity. She moistened the brush tip with water and asked Liu Yinxi: “What should we paint?”
Liu Yinxi said, “We paint our journey — from landing on the beach, to building our first shelter, to moving to the big river, then to the waterfall, to the lake, to the meadow.”
Nan Huaixu understood in a flash, her eyes filling with light: “Yes!”
After a moment’s thought, she took up the brush, dipped it in pigment, and began painting from the sea waves and the beach — two little figures meeting on the shore.
That day’s sun shone upon that day’s versions of themselves, just as it shone upon them today.
She could almost hear the sounds of their first encounter when they landed:
— How is it you?!
— Hello, I am Nan Huaixu.
They painted their story on the rock face.
From the beach shipwreck to the coconut groves, from the river mouth to the waterfall, from the lakeside to the alpine meadow.
Every quarrel, every reconciliation, every sorrow, every laugh.
They had come to know and care for each other in this rainforest, passing a hundred days together. Wind, rain, thunder, and lightning had tested their unspoken understanding; sunlight and rosy clouds had adorned their bond.
By evening, after nearly two hours, Liu Yinxi and Nan Huaixu stood hand in hand, gazing at the completed rock face.
The setting sun and sunset glow illuminated their story.
The mural was the mark of time they left behind.
“Liu Yinxi, thank you.” Nan Huaixu softly called the name of the person beside her, her smile radiant as a flower. “Thank you for letting me have this wonderful experience. This has been the happiest time of my life.”
Liu Yinxi felt as though bathed in a warm spring breeze. Everything her eyes saw, her nose smelled, her ears heard, her tongue tasted — all of it was sweet.
Ding.
Liu Yinxi heard the system’s notification chime.
She smiled at Nan Huaixu: “Thank you, Teacher Nan. Me too.”
The time I have spent falling for you has been the happiest time of my life.
Footnotes
- 灿若桃李 | can ruo tao li | Classical Chinese idiom from the 'Book of Songs' describing radiant beauty, literally 'bright as peach and plum blossoms.'
- KFC疯狂星期四 | KFC fengkuang xingqisi | KFC China's viral weekly promotion offering steep discounts on Thursdays, spawning massive internet meme culture around begging friends for money to buy discounted chicken meals.
- v我50 | v wo 50 | Internet slang meaning 'Venmo/transfer me 50 yuan,' referencing the KFC Crazy Thursday meme where friends playfully demand money for discounted chicken meals.
- 炮制 | paozhi | Traditional Chinese pharmacological processing of herbs and minerals through roasting, stir-frying, or other methods to enhance efficacy, alter properties, and improve storage stability.
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