Chapter 63

"Thank you, Li Qi." After firmly expressing her true thoughts to the system, Xia Xi felt an immediate sense of relief. The furrow in her brow gradually smoothed out, and she now genuinely regarded Li Qi as one of her own. Glancing at the boy who was about her height, she chuckled lightly and patted his shoulder, praising him, "I didn’t expect someone so young to have such a clear head!"
"Huh?" Upon hearing his goddess’s praise, young Li Qi first awkwardly ruffled his hair, then broke into a wide, beaming smile. "It’s mainly because my mom is too strict with me. It wasn’t until she threw away my Marvel action figures to make me study harder that I finally understood."
Li Qi paused here, glanced at Xia Xi’s expression, and worried that his goddess might see him as an unruly child, he quickly emphasized, "It’s not that I don’t listen to my parents, it’s just that my mom doesn’t respect me, so I had to act this way!"
"Mm, I understand." Xia Xi chuckled softly, feeling a surge of warmth as she looked at Li Qi’s childlike nature. But soon her expression turned serious, and she straightened her face to say sternly, "However, your mom is doing it for your own good. At your age, studying should still be the priority. Only by doing well in your studies will you have more choices in the future."
"Got it, got it." Li Qi pouted upon hearing Xia Xi’s words, his tone full of resignation. He muttered under his breath, "Why does everyone say that? Is studying really that important? And, Goddess, you’re not that much older than me, why do you sound so old-fashioned?"
Xia Xi was momentarily taken aback by Li Qi’s words, then suddenly remembered: this world wasn’t her previous one. Here, she was actually just in her early twenties, not much older than Li Qi, who was about to enter high school. She, too, had limitless possibilities ahead and was in the prime of her life, a time when she could be reckless or strive even harder to pursue dreams she had once abandoned.
So, I’m still young!
Realizing this, Xia Xi couldn’t help but burst into laughter, leaving Li Qi standing beside her utterly bewildered. He looked at his goddess with confusion, his mind racing. What’s going on? After being teased by me, why is she laughing so heartily and genuinely? There wasn’t a trace of gloom left in her expression.
"Goddess, are you, are you okay?" Li Qi gently nudged her arm with his elbow, his face clearly showing concern. When she didn’t respond, he muttered under his breath, "Has she gone crazy?"
"Who’s crazy? You’re the one who’s crazy!" Hearing Li Qi’s remark, Xia Xi rolled her eyes and glared at him. "Aren’t you my fan? Why are you cursing me?" Her tone carried a familiarity she hadn’t even noticed herself.
"So this is where you two are! We’ve been looking for you forever!"
Just as Li Qi was about to say something, a sudden voice interrupted his thoughts, startling both of them. They turned toward the direction of the sound and saw Da He walking toward them, followed by a group of young kids.
"Li Qi, you really made us search all over for you!"
"Yeah, we were so worried about you, but we never expected you to be here chatting alone with the goddess. That’s just too much!"
"Too much, way too much!"
"Totally lacking in brotherly loyalty! How could you chat with the goddess alone and not bring us along?"
As soon as the young kids spotted Li Qi, they started playfully scolding him in a lively chorus. Xia Xi quickly realized that these people following Da He must be Li Qi’s classmates who had come looking for him.
"What do you mean, lacking brotherly loyalty?" Li Qi immediately retorted upon hearing his friends’ teasing. "You only met Sister Xia Xi today, how did she suddenly become your goddess? She’s my goddess! I invited you all to be Sister Xia Xi’s support squad, but you were reluctant at first. It wasn’t until I promised to treat you to a meal that you agreed. So tell me, how did Sister Xia Xi suddenly become your goddess now?"
Hearing their friend expose their earlier behavior right in front of Xia Xi, Li Qi’s buddies awkwardly scratched their heads. They stole a glance at Xia Xi and, seeing no trace of displeasure on her face, gradually relaxed. They immediately pledged their loyalty: "We only acted that way before because we believed some online rumors and thought the goddess had undergone plastic surgery. But now that we’ve met Sister Xia Xi, we’ve completely changed our minds! We’re all die-hard fans of Sister Xia Xi now. And from now on, if anyone dares to say online that our goddess’s face is fake or her photos are edited, we’ll definitely fight back, right?"
"Yes, yes, absolutely!"
Watching these young guys earnestly declaring their loyalty, Xia Xi couldn’t help but find it amusing. She had figured it out, these sudden "fans," just like Li Qi, were probably drawn to her because of her looks.
So, is appearance the most important thing to young people nowadays?
"By the way, Xia Xi, how did you run into Li Qi?" Da He, who had been quietly observing Xia Xi’s expression from the side, noticed a faint smile forming on her lips after hearing Li Qi and his friends’ banter. Feeling pleased, he chuckled and asked, "And it looks like you’re in a really good mood now!"
Seeing Xia Xi like this, Da He couldn’t help but give himself a mental pat on the back. He felt that his decision to have Lu Yisheng personally call Xia Xi was absolutely the right move, it had clearly lifted her spirits.
This is how it should be, just forget that scumbag Luo Chu’an completely!
"Oh, right, Da He!" Remembering why she had run into Li Qi, Xia Xi recalled what he had told her earlier. She repeated it to Da He as a heads-up, advising him to stay vigilant against the PR teams of Lin Wei and Yang Jingyu and to keep an eye on online public opinion so they could prepare in advance.
"Xia Xi, just as you predicted, they really had ill intentions. The overwhelming praise for you online turned out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing. It seems we need to prepare in advance." After hearing the intelligence provided by Li Qi, Da He looked at Xia Xi with astonishment, gaining a direct understanding of her sharp intuition once again. He thought to himself, indeed, dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes, and the son of a rat will dig holes, truly, like brother, like sister. Xia Xi is Yan Wei's sister after all, born with an extra dose of insight.
As for Xia Xi's newly acquired fans, when they heard the news, they initially wanted to say something, but Li Qi stopped them. She gave them a meaningful look, signaling them to keep quiet and discuss any thoughts privately, so as not to trouble their goddess.
Thus, they all unusually remained silent. However, in places where Xia Xi and Da He couldn't see, they exchanged covert glances, their eyes filled with shared indignation, vowing to contribute their part in protecting their goddess.
They were quite a bunch of troublemakers.

Although humans are social creatures, there comes a time in the evening when everyone goes their separate ways.
Xia Xi stood by the window of her house, gazing at the dimly lit world outside, savoring the rare tranquility of the day. She quietly closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh, feeling the day's pressures completely dissipate in that moment.
"Ding."
Hearing the sound of a WeChat notification from her phone, Xia Xi left the window and leisurely walked over to the table. She picked up her phone, sat cross-legged on the sofa beside the table, unlocked it, and checked who had sent the message.
Lu Yisheng?
At the sight of that name, Xia Xi's heartbeat involuntarily quickened. She anxiously tapped on the name.
"Xia Xi, are you home yet?"
Xia Xi's fingers unconsciously hovered over the chat interface with Lu Yisheng, scrolling up and down. Seeing the dismissive tone in her previous conversations with him, she couldn't help but feel a bit awkward.
After pondering for a while, she slowly typed two words: "I am."
She felt both awkward and at a loss.
"That's good. Girls shouldn't come home too late, it worries people."
Worries people? Worries whom?
Xia Xi looked at Lu Yisheng's suggestive words, a faint smile unconsciously curling at the corners of her lips. After a moment's thought, she ultimately replied with just an "Mm."
"What are you doing? Do you want to participate in that variety show? For you, it really has more pros than cons."
Soon, another message came from the other end of WeChat. Clearly, Lu Yisheng didn't want to end the conversation with Xia Xi.
"Thank you, I'll consider it carefully. I'm not doing anything special right now, just watching Feng Yuting's crosstalk performance. It's really good." Xia Xi quickly sent the message, then leisurely typed into the chat box, "What about you? What are you doing?"
Xia Xi noticed that Lu Yisheng's status in the chat interface kept switching from "typing," to blank, then back to "typing," several times before she finally received his reply.
"Me?"
"Actually, I was thinking of you."
On the other side of the screen, Lu Yisheng hadn't intended to say something like this so soon. But he had a feeling that Xia Xi's attitude toward him was different today, and he wanted to test the waters a bit. In a moment of impulse, he sent it.
Although Lu Yisheng considered recalling the message, he felt it would be futile, like covering his ears to steal a bell, so he anxiously waited for a reply.
In his restless anticipation, he couldn't help but mock himself inwardly. This response of his was completely at odds with his usual aloof persona. If anyone who knew him well found out, they'd probably be stunned.
"Thinking of you, thinking of you, thinking of you,"
When Xia Xi saw Lu Yisheng's reply, those three words struck her heart like a heavy hammer. She felt her once-calm heartbeat gradually quicken, so fast that she began to wonder if she was falling ill. Unconsciously, her face flushed red.
"Xia Xi, if it were the old you, I might not have dared to say something like this because I was afraid of troubling you. I could sense that in our past conversations, you always seemed somewhat impatient and conflicted. But today, I feel that all those reservations are gone. I don’t know why, whether it’s because I did something that made you let go of your guard, or because you’ve moved on from liking Luo Chu’an, or maybe you’ve finally remembered something. Honestly, the reason doesn’t matter to me. Whether I know or not is irrelevant. What’s important is that today, you gave me hope, so I want to tell you my most straightforward feelings."
This passage wasn’t typed out but sent as a voice message. Perhaps Lu Yisheng felt typing was too slow and time-consuming, or maybe he thought it would be better for Xia Xi to hear his voice when he confessed these words. Whatever his intention, he succeeded.
Listening to his words, Xia Xi laughed until tears streamed down her face. She didn’t know why, but she felt a deep ache in her heart, as if she and Lu Yisheng should have been together long ago.
She thought about how, over the past month, Lu Yisheng had persistently chatted with her every day. Whenever she posted something unhappy on her social media, he would be the first to offer comfort and tell some terribly unfunny jokes with utmost sincerity. When she shared happy moments, he would also be the first to send his blessings.
Despite his efforts, Xia Xi, burdened by her reservations, had shut out his concern and responded to his messages half-heartedly.
Back then, Xia Xi was both afraid and hopeful.
Now, only hope remained, and her inner conflict had vanished.